Listen up or lose out! Policy and practice of listening skill in English language education in Bangladesh

This thesis reports an investigation into the status of listening skill in English language education in secondary schools in Bangladesh. The study also touches upon speaking skill as both listening and speaking skills are symbiotic and can be considered together as the skills of oracy in language education. Although English is a mandatory subject for twelve years of schooling, the reality indicates that students are weak in mastering the subject. The students are taught and tested only for orthographic skills excluding listening and speaking skills, whereas it is already known that authentic listening inputs help students achieve their overall English language proficiency. Therefore, listening as a skill can facilitate the improvement of the other three basic skills of the English language: speaking, reading, and writing. This rationale gives rise to this study. The conceptual framework of this study draws on literature from intersecting fields: research from Bangladesh about communicative approaches to English language teaching, the influence of successive colonisations, international research related to both theoretical understandings of listening skill and the practice of teaching and assessing the skill, and writings about the IELTS listening test. The overall design of the research is based on grounded theory. The methodology predominantly uses a qualitative framework, with some supportive quantitative survey data. Thus, a pragmatic research approach is applied to this research project. The methods to collect data included semi-structured interviews, surveys, a review of the documents related to curriculum policy, several government gazettes, and artefacts. A corpus-based approach is used following the KWIC (keywords-in-context) technique for a thematic analysis of the data. The learning of the English language with communicative competence has become a social and economic force in Bangladesh. So, in the current National Education Policy 2010 and the National Curriculum 2012 English is recognised as an essential tool for building a knowledge-based society to face the challenges of the 21st century, for jobs locally and globally, and for economic development. Policies argue that Bangladeshi students need to develop oral proficiency and that includes becoming a good listener and speaker. Therefore, the emphasis on communicative competence in English language education is on the increase. This research explores the policies and practices of listening skill in English language education in Bangladesh. The research study finds multiple disconnections between the policies and practice of listening in secondary classrooms. It then discusses the challenges of implementing listening in classroom practice and assessment procedures. As the National Curriculum 2012 for secondary English education suggests a similar sort of assessment to that in IELTS, this research also investigates the experiences of post-secondary IELTS preparatory students and examines their listening difficulties and, from this basis, considers possible ways that listening could be practised in schools and assessed. In conclusion, the implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed. A working model is provided that can be used by teachers in the classroom for the teaching of listening in secondary schools. A range of recommendations has been offered to the stakeholders in English language education in Bangladesh. The study also offers a platform for discussion and reflection on listening skill for English language education in Bangladesh and, by implication, other countries with similar ELT contexts. A direction for future research is also suggested

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Learning: Assessing Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor Skills

The acquisition of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills is highly important for successful learning outcomes. This article aims to evaluate the Three-Domain Model (TDM) of learning (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor) during the COVID-19 online classes for tertiary students in Bangladesh. This current study aims at the psychometric evaluation and validation of tertiary students' learning loss during the pandemic. A survey questionnaire is administered using the Likert scale. The components of the questionnaire are based on the Three-Domain Model reflecting the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills of the students. The article informs of the learning loss due to the pandemic while suggesting the benefits of online classes. The major finding of the article is that learners lost their skills mainly related to the cognitive domain during the pandemic due to online classes. However, at the same time, their skills related to affective and psychomotor domains increased. Therefore, recommendations for minimizing learning loss are also provided to guide future empirical work in the post-pandemic era

Prioritizing and Addressing Perceived Listening Challenges of IELTS Test Takers in Bangladesh

Listening comprehension is an essential part of L2 learning. However, listening skills are neither taught nor assessed in the mainstream secondary and higher secondary public exams in Bangladesh. As a result, mainstream higher secondary students do not face a test of their listening skills until they attempt an IELTS test. For this reason, the listening test for the IELTS is challenging for post-higher secondary students. The purpose of this study is to explore the difficulties in the IELTS listening test perceived by Bangladeshi test takers; how test takers are prepared for the test and how experienced test takers report on the preparation for the test. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been adopted for this research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six IELTS preparatory-course trainers. In addition, five experienced IELTS test takers were also interviewed who secured a band score of 7.0 or above. All the participants were selected through purposive sampling. As a part of the quantitative research approach, 224 participants from an IELTS preparatory course were surveyed. The findings show that the primary challenge for the test takers is their inability to recognize unknown words as well as new vocabulary while listening to audio in the IELTS test. The findings of the study may help IELTS trainers assist potential test takers in dealing with the difficulties of the IELTS listening test