Private English tutoring: dynamics of abstention, adverse choices and socioeconomic considerations in rural Bangladesh

• In Event: Perceptions, Practices and Discourses in Education

Proposal

Paper summary
Although private English tutoring, supplementation of mainstream English lessons, has long existed, a substantial number of students have been abstaining from tutoring in English for particular reasons in disadvantaged areas. The study employs an explanatory sequential mixed methods design which begins with quantitative data through questionnaires of 448 participants including students and parents as well as individual interviews of 24 participants comprising students, parents and teachers. The research focuses dynamics on why students are stimulated to abstain from private English tutoring despite its significance in rural Bangladesh. It identifies how socioeconomic considerations influence students’ adverse choices of private tutoring in the rural area. The study conceptualizes the theories of economic capital and capability approach, accounting for determinants of abstention from private English tutoring.
Keywords: Private English tutoring; dynamics of abstention; socioeconomic considerations; shadow education.

Introduction and background
Across various societies, students’ socioeconomic fundamentals and inabilities are remarkable. A significant number of students have been abstaining from private English tutoring despite its significance. Socioeconomic foundations impact learners’ tutoring attraction or distraction (Bray and Kwok, 2003; Entrich, 2018; Heyneman, 2011; Kobakhidze, 2018). Intents for abstaining from tutoring in English and socioeconomic conditions are actually associated, which are expressed disputatiously. Deficiency of parent’s prosperity in rural societies may not support children’s extra fee-paying English learning on occasion. Some students receive tutoring in many subjects regularly over lengthy periods, while others receive it only in a few subjects and on an intermitted basis (Bray, 2009).

Research objectives/questions
The study seeks to answer to the following research questions:
• Which dynamics stimulate students to abstain from private English tutoring despite its significance in rural Bangladesh?
• What socioeconomic considerations do impact adverse choices of private English tutoring in that rural area?

Inability, abstention and tutoring
Tutoring system is not mandatory, but some parents suppose that if they do not engage their children in private English tutoring, they might fall in educational attainments. Participation or nonparticipation in tutoring is driven by a combination of factors, and these factors are likely to differ within the region itself based on the political, economic, social and educational contexts (Silova, 2010). Family financial circumstances may prevent the option from hiring a tutor. In India, a study of school dropouts in the slums of Delhi found that 25.9% of the respondents expressed their inabilities to bear the costs of private tutoring (Chugh, 2011). The nature of exams should not be the chief causal factor for the occurrence of private tutoring. At times private English tutoring is concerned with eye-catching advertisements and neighboring friends’ motivation. In Taiwan, the most common way is to use promotion pamphlets (Tong, 2001).

Theoretical framework
The socioeconomic foundations play significant roles in abstention or nonparticipation in private English tutoring. The study draws on theories of ‘economic capital’ (Bourdieu, 1986) and ‘capability approach’ (Sen, 1983). Bourdieu (1986) observes that students come from different social positions which may be determined by the amount and forms of economic capital. Family property, money and incomes can be defined as economic capital. The theory reflects the relationship between students’ family socioeconomic backgrounds and their academic participation or nonparticipation. Development can best be explained as a procedure of the expansion of the capabilities of people (Sen, 1983). Within Sen’s framework, any account of human well-being and development can be seen in the evaluative space of capabilities or functioning (Clark, 2005).

Context: Bangladesh education, English and tutoring
The study is situated in Patuakhali, a rural site of Bangladesh. Usually, household socioeconomic considerations are associated with the setting’s economic, educational and social backgrounds. More than 70% people live in the rural area of the country. Most rural students do not have necessary support, resources and opportunities for learning English. In rural schools, quality English teachers are commonly less available. Besides, teachers have some limitations while they deliver their English lessons in classroom. They focus only on reading, grammar, and memorization in schools but perfect English learning concerns many other contexts that include writing, listening, and speaking skills.

Methodology
The researcher drew on an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. The design consists of the first collecting quantitative data and then collecting qualitative data to help explain or elaborate the results (Creswell, 2012).

Participants and sampling
The research got in contact with participants via schools. ‘Opportunistic’ and ‘Snowball’ (Creswell, 2012) purposeful sampling were employed. Grades 8 and 10 (secondary) students were chosen from 4 schools in rural Patuakhali, Bangladesh. A sample of 224 students and 224 parents (either mother or father) in the survey process and a sample of 24 (3x8) participants comprising 8 students, 8 parents, 8 teachers provided their interview data.

Data collection procedures
Two structured questionnaires (student and parent) had been developed for the survey process. Students were told to fill out their own questionnaires at homes and supply parent-questionnaires to their respective parents. Accordingly, students returned the filled-out questionnaires (both questionnaires) to the investigator in schools. Individual interviews were audio-recorded, which took 30-40 minutes.

Data analysis
The analysis was a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. Descriptive statistics for the quantitative and coding process for the qualitative were used in data analysis. Several colors and tags were employed for classifying different chunks to detect answers to research questions. In the analysis, the researcher followed three concurrent activities: data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Results, implications and conclusions
The research contributes to the apparently contradictory consideration, including the rise of dynamics of abstention from private English tutoring in the disadvantaged and rural setting. Based on the findings, parents and students faced educational, psychological, social, and economic challenges that raised them to abstain from fee-charging private English tutoring despite its needs. The theoretical framework and research design provide a potential value in global tutoring literature. Findings will be favorable to policymakers who may think on the problem to sustain students’ learning values. Parents, teachers and authorities will be able to comprehend rural English tutoring situations including students’ learning pitfalls and perfection.

Author

• Rafsan Mahmud, Bangladesh Open University