English Pronunciation in Policy and Practice at College Level in Bangladesh

Abstract

Pronunciation, despite being an obviously important component of speech and anticipated communication, seems to enjoy little or no room in the policy and practice in Bangladesh. This study, therefore, aimed at exploring the issues of teaching oral proficiency especially pronunciation at the HSC level in Bangladesh. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether students at college level encounter problems in English pronunciation. The present study also aims to unearth reasons working behind the negligence toward pronunciation. To do so, students were interviewed with the Students Interview Questionnaire focusing on problematic utterance in terms of sound and orthography for Bangladeshi learners as suggested by some previous studies (Banu, 2004; Akter, 2007; and Maniruzzaman, 2008). Teachers were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire focusing on the reasons of students’ difficulty in pronunciation, their own attitude toward pronunciation and finally their suggestion for the beneficial implication in this regard. The current study also analyzed the syllabi and curricula and EFT for classes XI-XII for further support. The findings show that pronunciation teaching is inadequate in policy and practice. Finally possible remedial measure for integrating pronunciation with other skills with the help of a Balanced Approach to teaching pronunciation and same inquiries in other setting were recommended.