They Hardly Afford Quality Food and Care for the Children, Let Alone English Education

• In Event: Making Learning Accessible to Rural Students: Critical Approaches to Access and Pedagogy

Abstract

The research explores teachers’ views on parental engagement in teaching English as a foreign language to elementary and junior learners in rural Bangladesh. It analyses the English teachers’ beliefs about how the impoverished parents’ low engagement and involvement reduce the underprivileged learners’ language learning aptitudes, motivation, and achievement. Data were obtained from interviewing five teachers working at different elementary and high schools in northern Bangladesh. Results demonstrate that despite teachers’ positive attitudes and additional efforts, parents’ low involvement because of extreme poverty is the leading cause of academic failure. The research calls for rethinking the rural high school curricula, pedagogical approaches, and teacher education to improve the parental support systems needed for language education in peripheral areas.

Author

• Mili Saha, University of Wollongong