Implementing English as Medium of Instruction at the Bangladeshi Universities:—Policies, and Potentials

Abstract

This paper focuses on the policies for, and potentials of implementing English as a medium of instruction (EMI) at the universities in Bangladesh. There are 109 private and 53 public universities in Bangladesh as of 17 October, 2022—and the figures are on ever increase for both. While all the private universities opt for EMI at the policy level, some public universities keep the options open for both Bangla and English as the Medium of Instruction (MoI). Ideally, the technical subjects, such as, Science and Technology, Engineering, BBA, English, etc. require teaching employing English as a medium in both contexts. However, the realities are far away from the ideals, and there are gaps between policy directives and practices in the private universities too. Against this backdrop, this paper addresses some critical questions such as: What problems do learners face to get educated in EMI or in mixed Bangla and English instruction? What challenges do the teachers encounter while delivering lectures in English? How do the job markets, socio-economic valuations of English, tertiary education etc. influence such English-in-Education policies in Bangladesh? The agency-structure perspective (as articulated by Liddicoat & Taylor-Leech, 2020) was employed as a theoretical position to explore the above questions. The investigation being exploratory in nature, and following a qualitative approach, we analyzed relevant policy documents (i.e., education policies of Bangladesh) and collected data through interviews. Our findings show that despite some challenges in implementing EMI policies, both teachers and learners feel it is necessary to have an explicit EMI policy for Bangladeshi tertiary educational institutes, especially for the public universities. Moreover, the provision of translanguaging is strongly recommended in line with the spirit of the findings and discussions.