Comparative Acceptability of GTM and CLT to the Teachers of Rural Secondary High Schools in Bangladesh

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been innovated in the secondary (and the higher secondary) level of education in Bangladesh by drastically devaluing the principles of the long-practiced traditional Grammar Translation Method (GTM). The present study was carried out on some rural secondary high school teachers in Bangladesh about comparative acceptability of GTM and CLT in respects of achieving four skills, accuracy/ fluency, translating activity, ? group/pair works, and classroom language. The result of the study reflected their mixed attitude to GTM and CLT, though all of them put emphasis on language learning through translating activity in group/pair works. Their tendency and claims were in favor of the multi-syllabus. On the basis of the data findings this paper also presents some suggestions for appropriate methodology in ELT in Bangladesh. Keywords: CLT, GTM, translation, group/pair works, learners, teachers, four skills, grammar, classroom- language, multi-syllabus, etc

Exploring the Reasons of Non-Utilization of Literature in SSC and HSC Textbook English for Today in Bangladesh

Literature is a productive and viable medium in the language classroom. The English for Today textbooks at the secondary and higher secondary levels of education in Bangladesh have significant number of literary works for being used for achieving linguistic skills. But unfortunately, things in the real ELT classroom are utterly frustrating. Both teachers and students try to avoid the literary contents included in the textbooks. Thus, both of them are being deprived of the pleasure ?and possibility of exploiting literature for acquiring language skills. Again, most of the researches carried out in this field in our context have avoided this issue and have gone through the possibility of using literature in ELT class, not considering the practicality. This study has shed light on the practical ELT field and tried to find out the causes of avoiding the literary contents included in the textbooks and suggest the language policy planners of Bangladesh in this respect. Keywords: English for Today, literary contents, language skills, teachers, learners etc

Banking Model of Education in Teacher-Centered Class: A Critical Assessment

Paulo Freire in his seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed rigorously condemns  banking  model  of  education,  which  implies the  learners’ receiving  knowledge passively  as empty  vessels from the  teacher , who is  supposed to be store-house of knowledge, in the  traditional  teacher-centered classroom. This article presents relationships of banking education with  some other  learning  theories, i.e., tabula rasa and nativist theory, Derrida’s logocentrism,  CLT and  post-method pedagogy, and  lastly  it explains the  socio-cultural root of  banking  education and, therefore, the difficulty of  replacing it by other pedagogical innovations. Key words:  Paulo Freire, banking model of education, teacher, learners, knowledge, learner’s potentiality, post-method pedagogy, socio-cultural context, etc

Reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart from the Postcolonial Perspective

Various factors lead Achebe to write Things Fall Apart, which has acquired the status of a classic; among them, the most noteworthy one is his indignation at European representations of Africans in fiction. One such European representation of Africans in fiction was Joyce Cary’s novel Mr. Johnson which depicts exterior picture of Africa. Hence, Things Fall Apart is a counter discourse and the project Achebe adopts in it explains his position based on the interiority of original local contexts. Achebe has declared that he wrote Things Fall Apart “in order to reassert African identity and as part of the growth of Nigerian nationalism” (O’Reilly 2001: p. 61). The present study intends to analyze Things Fall Apart from the perspective of the various issues of a postcolonial text. Key words: Colonialism, postcolonialism, discourse, representation, culture etc

Comparative Acceptability of GTM and CLT to the Teachers of Rural Secondary High Schools in Bangladesh

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been innovated in the secondary (and the higher secondary) level of education in Bangladesh by drastically devaluing the principles of the long-practiced traditional Grammar Translation Method (GTM). The present study was carried out on some rural secondary high school teachers in Bangladesh about comparative acceptability of GTM and CLT in respects of achieving four skills, accuracy/ fluency, translating activity, ? group/pair works, and classroom language. The result of the study reflected their mixed attitude to GTM and CLT, though all of them put emphasis on language learning through translating activity in group/pair works. Their tendency and claims were in favor of the multi-syllabus. On the basis of the data findings this paper also presents some suggestions for appropriate methodology in ELT in Bangladesh. Key words: CLT, GTM, translation, group/pair works, learners, teachers, four skills, grammar, classroom- language, multi-syllabus, etc

Parallel Presentation of Positive and Negative Sides of Igbo Culture in Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe s magnum opus Things Fall Apart reflects authentic presentation of the Igbo society Various social political economic religious psychological and personal issues of the Igbo people have been put forward by the author in this ethnographic novel Achebe has depicted these issues from the perspective of both an observer and a critic The ethnographic depiction of the Igbo life indicates that Chinua Achebe has tried to maintain his objective stance in the novel He is not biased at all It is evident in his contrastive presentation of the culture and beliefs of the Igbo in one hand he presents the constructive and rational side of the Igbo on the other hand he highlights their follies and irrational beliefs too Achebe as an original Igbo expectedly presents the riches and potentialities of the Igbo society But at the same time he is not uncritical of the limitations of his society where he belongs to The present study has dealt with Achebe s audacious attempt to present the limitations and follies of Igbo life in Things Fall Apar

Reading Achebeas Things Fall Apart from the Perspective of Cesaireas Discourse on Colonialism

This article attempts to study Chinua Achebe s novel Things Fall Apart from the perspectives put forward in Aime Cesaire s anti-colonial text Discourse on Colonialism For this purpose various thematic key-issues found in Discourse on Colonialism are studied first These thematic key-issues include old African societies representation colonial effects colonial Christianity decolonization flaws of civilization etc In the text Aime Cesaire has strongly dealt with these issues Then in this paper each of these issues is thoroughly attempted on the basis of their having treated in Things Fall Apart Finally this paper shows that Things Fall Apart can well be analyzed by considering all the thematic concerns voiced by Cesair

Failure of Exploiting Literature in English for Today for Developing Language Skills at the Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels of Education in Bangladesh: Exploring Reasons

Literature is a productive and viable medium in the language classroom. The English for Today textbooks at the secondary and higher secondary levels of education in Bangladesh have significant number of literary works for being used for achieving linguistic skills. But unfortunately, things in the real ELT classroom are utterly frustrating. Both teachers and students try to avoid the literary contents included in the textbooks. Thus, both of them are being deprived of the pleasure ?and possibility of exploiting literature for acquiring language skills. Again, most of the researches carried out in this field in our context have avoided this issue and have gone through the possibility of using literature in ELT class, not considering the practicality. This study has shed light on the practical ELT field and tried to find out the causes of avoiding the literary contents included in the textbooks and suggest the language policy planners of Bangladesh in this respect. Keywords: English for Today, literary contents, language skills, teachers, learners etc

Exploring Linguistic Impairments of the Patients of Brocaas Aphasia and Wernickeas Aphasia in Bangladesh

Language performance of human beings is inseparably related to their brain There are some specific areas in the brain that are responsible for language understanding organizing and producing Broca s area and Wernicke s area are two such types of crucial areas of the brain which are if affected or injured responsible for linguistic problems respectively known as Broca s Aphasia and Wernicke s Aphasia Aphasia is a disorder of communication that impairs a person s ability to use and comprehend language Broca s Aphasia is recognizable when the person affected has a difficulty in speech production writing and finding specific words A patient of Wernicke s aphasia may produce normal speeches but they are nearly nonsensical and irrelevant His her difficulty is in comprehending others messages The present study has investigated the linguistic behavior of some patients of Broca s Aphasia and Wernicke s Aphasia in Bangladesh and shows proximity of the empirical findings with the theoretical claim

“Facebook Distress”: A Model to Investigate Discontinuation of Social Networking Site Use

The study proposes a model to investigate discontinuation of social networking site use based on gratification and distress factors. The model of two contrasting beliefs is founded on Social Exchange Theory (Homans, 1958). The study reviews past research of user motivations to participate in social networking sites, and identifies gratification factors of using the sites, however, uses methods from thematic analysis (Aronson, 1994; Barun & Clarke, 2006) to identify the factors that cause use-based distress. Drawing on the recognition of these two contrasting beliefs and two forms of affective reactions, the article argues that users make cost-benefit assessments leading to post-adoption decisions on whether to continue or discontinue social networking site use. The article concludes with several theoretical and practical contributions