The current National Curriculum 2012 of Bangladesh for English (VI- X) incorporates both listening and speaking skills for its English language education. English for Today (EfT), the only textbook for the whole country for secondary level, has been developed accordingly in 2013 for grades 6 to 10 to help students attain competencies in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, although the listening module is now in policy and classroom practice, it is neither assessed in school exams nor public exams at the secondary level. This study explores the perceptions of policy and practice of listening in secondary English education. This study is significant because little research has been done so far in Bangladesh on listening skill and its significance for language competence, let alone on the teaching of listening in the connection to language learning. This qualitative study is based on in-depth interview data. The interviews include pertinent participants of policymakers and secondary English teachers. The findings indicate that there is a disconnect in curriculum, classroom practice and assessment in secondary English education.
Listening skill is supposed to be included as an integral part of the CLT approach that is mandated in Bangladesh for teaching and learning English. Bangladesh, nevertheless, has no dedicated listening instruction at any level of its mainstream education except the post-HSC students preparing for the IELTS exam as they have to face listening as one of the modules in the test. Listening poses an obstacle to the post higher secondary Bangladeshi learners as oral skills are not included in the academic assessment process, and they have to embrace it while taking the IELTS exam. According to the research by Shurovi in 2014, all the teachers pointed to the necessity of listening and speaking skills for the development of students’ English language competence. Abedin, Majlish, and Akter (2010) carried out a survey with post higher secondary learners in Bangladesh that showed 100% of participants agreed on the necessity of practising listening to understand real-life English and to communicate properly in their academic and non-academic settings. At the same time, 96.15% of participants who were teachers regarded listening skill as a significant channel of language learning and suggested that they should take special care to develop these skills for learner's overall English language proficiency (Abedin et al., 2010). Podder (2011) argued that listening and speaking should be properly practised as young learners were better learners of the language. If the students had proficiency in these skills, they would face fewer language-related problems when they went for higher education or job or immigration abroad. The Common European Framework in its educational context also identifies listening skill not only as a core skill for language learning but also highlights the risks of cultural misunderstanding in relations with others if anyone has a weak listening skill while communicating with each other (Jeffery & Beuningen, 2019).
The present study addresses the following research questions:
Research Question 1: What is the current policy and practice of listening skill at the secondary level in Bangladesh?
Research Question 2: How does any difference between curriculum policy and practice for listening skill affect English language education at the secondary level in Bangladesh?
The theoretical framework of this study is a “grounded” one, as the contextual phenomenon was "grounded" in data, which can provide a better explanation than a theory borrowed "off the shelf" (Creswell, 2012). It does not limit the role of the research in the process-making but gives choices to make categories of interpretation, connects questions to the data, and interweaves personal values and experiences (Creswell & Poth, 2018).