Better curriculum may not bring any good result
Bishwajit Karmaker :
A total of 300 million people in the world use the English language in their daily communication.
English language is used in higher education, medicine, international business, transactions, sports commentary, scientific research papers, and in international conferences, etc.
About 50 per cent of the contents of the Internet, the largest knowledge repertoire of the current information technology age, are written in English.
According to the British Study Centers, English is the official language of a total of 53 countries in the world.
75 per cent of the 300 million English speakers are foreigners whose mother tongue is not English.
Although English is not our mother language in Bangladesh, English is the second spoken language after Bangla.
We learn and use English as a foreign language although it used to be used as a second language in the pre-liberation era.
We learn English as compulsory subject in the current education system for 12 or more years.
Unfortunately, most of our students cannot speak English fluently.
The current literacy rate in Bangladesh is 75 per cent, but the number of people who can speak English is very small.
Why can’t we speak English after studying it for 12 years or more?
According to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), in order to become proficient in a language, a person needs at least 1000 hours of practise in each skill (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in that language.
Then you can speak and write those languages like your mother tongue. Talking to my classmates, I came to learn that none of them have yet practiced speaking English for 200 hours.
All of them studied in reputable schools in Bangladesh.
As I have studied in a village school, I can say for sure that the amount of English-speaking time would be lower in case of the students in the village schools.
If we practise speaking English in our school time for only 30 minutes every working day, then at the end of 12 years, the amount of time would be about 1680 hours, which is one and half times more the 1000 hours suggested by CEFR.
According to research, if it was possible, we could speak English like our mother tongue.
But most of our schools don’t attach that much importance to speaking English. My English teacher Dr. Ranjit Podder sir, Associate professor, Government Teachers Training College, Dhaka and speaking to few other English teachers, I learnt that in the current written exam system, no marks are allotted for speaking.
That is one of the reasons why both teachers and students are not interested in speaking English.
Even English teachers conduct English classes in Bangla.
Students are not interested to speak English because teachers do not speak English in the classrooms and in the school premises.
Even though some teachers try to speak English, environment does not allow them to continue it.
In order to get out of the stagnant situation, the English teachers must start speaking English in the classrooms.
The teachers will speak English in the classrooms and create opportunities for students to speak English.
They may engage students in different English-speaking pair work and group work such as acting out a dialogue, debating on a topic, etc.
If there is a grammatical mistake in speaking, the teacher needs to correct it indirectly so that the students do not feel embarrassed.
Then the students will try again according to the feedback.
If teachers start speaking English, I am sure, the learners will also speak.
However, the teachers must behave friendly with the students. Teachers can encourage students to speak English with their classmates; they should not bother about the mistakes.
Mistake in speaking is naturally corrected.
I watch English movies and listen to music to achieve fluency in English.
By watching English movies, listening to English music, and by talking to teachers and friends, I have been able to speak English better than before.
I am trying to increase my speaking and listening time to reach CEFR suggested 1000 hours. Hope, I can speak English fluently soon.
Students can follow this approach if they want to learn English like me.
Along with the above activities, English speaking clubs can be set up in schools, if required.
In the English speaking club, every student will practise speaking English everyday under the supervision of an English teacher.
From my experience, I can say that learning speaking English is not possible without long practice.
The teacher should be the first to encourage students to practise speaking English. Speaking assessment can be included in the existing examination system.
25 marks can be allotted for English speaking test. Now is the time to change the English teaching-learning system. Unless teachers start speaking, better curriculum may not bring any good result regarding English language speaking-skills achievement of students.
(The writer is a student of Govt. Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka).
