Expectations of English Language Curriculum and Ground Realities in the Classroom at the Secondary Level in Bangladesh

Abstract

A curriculum includes desire, tendencies, ability, experience and demands of a learner according to the society of a country (NCTB,2012). A curriculum gives aim and objectives of education and it is a proper guidelines for teaching - learning activities. It is called the blue-print for education, designing textbooks and teaching materials. For any educational program curriculum is an obvious process. Identifying the weakness and strength of any educational program curriculum is very essential. For effective implementation of curriculum policy its evaluation is most needed. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) was introduced in Bangladesh in 2001, but still we have failed to imply CLT effectively for English language teaching in the classroom context. Secondary level of education is a very important stage to build up the skills properly but after twenty two years of introducing CLT; still our primary focuses are on reading and writing where CLT demands communication between the teachers and learners. Still our leanings are exam oriented so, our students and parents are more eager to achieve a good score in the exam. A classroom should be communication oriented where it demands equal participation of teachers and students. As English is a foreign language and it is included in our curriculum, it should be fit in our socio-cultural context . New curriculum is re-established considering those facts and gives proper guidelines about teaching-learning activities in communicative methods, effective assessment and designing textbooks. After giving the proper curriculum policy the objectives of applying CLT in the classroom are not fulfilled. This study will investigate what the policy says regarding English language education in Bangladesh, what the existing study unfolds about the implementations of the policy and the gaps between policy and practices. The methodology of this study will be a qualitative method where it will analyze the curriculum and the practices mentioned in the existing literature.