English Language Education Research in Bangladesh

Abstract

The objective of this study is to offer a symptomatic reading of 326 journal articles produced in the field of ELE from 1995 to 2013 in Bangladesh. In the first reading of symptomatic reading, I tried to discover presences/absences or sightings/oversights of the ELE research establishment of Bangladesh. In the second reading, I tried to detect the problematic/unconscious of the journal articles. Precisely, the first reading reveals that ELE research in Bangladesh revolves around technical-mechanical issues—which signifies the presence of reification in the field. The second reading indicates that the unconscious/problematic of the ELE research establishment of Bangladesh is positive, eurocentric, and dehumanized. In addition, research activities of Bangladesh are not immune to professional fallacies and mechanical reproduction. In short, ELE research establishment of Bangladesh is suffering from—what I have termed—creative impotency. In this study, I have proposed a South Asian Paradigm which can democratize and humanize ELE research. In particular, the South Asian Paradigm contains the following components: dialectic materialism, anti-colonial struggle, and peoples‘ humanism. Precisely, a paradigm shift can cure the creative impotency of this discipline.