The Education Gazette - Perspectives on Linguistic Privilege and Student Participation at DU

How does linguistic privilege shape student participation at Dhaka University? Dr. M Moninoor Rashid shared his perspectives on this topic.

Dr. Mohammod Moninoor Roshid is a Professor in the Department of Language Education at the Institute of Education and Research (IER), University of Dhaka. He completed his Ph.D. at Monash University, Australia; and undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Currently, he is serving as a Wing Manager (Research Coordination Specialist) in the World Bank and the Bangladesh Government-funded HEAT (Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation) project implemented by the UGC.

Interviewed on: October 3, 2026

Good morning, sir. In your experience, what are the biggest language-related challenges students from rural backgrounds face when they first start at Dhaka University?

Well, first of all, the core issue, or the main challenge, is actually our foundation. If we consider the students coming from outside Dhaka, you will notice an ongoing internal mobility of talent. Good teachers and talented individuals generally don’t stay in rural areas; whenever someone shows strong talent, they or society feel that they have to move out.

Because of this, the teachers who instruct these students outside Dhaka, mostly teach English in Bangla except for those in cadet colleges. English isn't taught the way it should be; it is taught based on memorization rather than functional application. This is a systemic, policy-level problem in our approach, so we cannot just blame the teachers. People talk about the four skills in English, but we actually emphasize only reading and writing, completely ignoring speaking and listening. Even that reading and writing is highly structured; you read a book by Chowdhury & Hossain, memorize a specific part, and answer exactly like that. Critical reading and creative writing simply do not happen.

So, when these students arrive at Dhaka University, they face a real struggle and challenge. In faculties where the medium of instruction is explicitly English, such as IBA, the Science faculty, or the English Department, they struggle intensely. Adapting to an environment where lectures are suddenly delivered in a foreign language becomes quite difficult for them.

If you look at students coming from madrasas, their situation is often even tougher. While there are exceptions, their foundational teachers are frequently even weaker in English. It’s like the phrase "the poorest of the poor" from the novel Kuber; they are among the weakest of the weak and face immense challenges coping with the curriculum.

However, at Dhaka University, things are slightly different because the medium of instruction isn’t strictly specified like it is at elite private universities. At our IER, for instance, it’s mostly bilingual. The presentation slides might be in English or Bangla, but we mostly lecture in Bangla. Because of this, the initial challenge doesn’t feel quite as overwhelming as it could be, though the underlying weakness remains.

Do you think the issue is truly a lack of proficiency in the English language or is it more about confidence and lack of exposure?

The problem lies in our entire policy and system. When a building is constructed, if the foundation is weak, the entire structure is at risk. The real investment needs to go into the foundation, and the taller the building you want to build, the stronger that foundation has to be. For education, that foundational stage is primary and secondary schooling, but that is precisely where our teachers are weak.

Blaming the teachers alone won't solve it because this is a flaw in government policy. The reality is that talented graduates do not come into primary or secondary teaching because the incentives and benefits are minimal. For a salary of 12,000 to 25,000 taka, meritorious people simply won't enter this profession. Only those who have no other options take up these jobs.

You can see this when people rush into the BCS Administration. I have seen candidates in BCS viva boards get recommended for the Education cadre, only to sit for the exam again just to switch to Admin because there is far greater power and privilege there. If a teacher isn't paid enough to lead a decent life, they often join just to pass the time. They teach superficially in class and run private coaching on the side as an alternative income, because if they taught everything in class, no one would come to their coaching. School becomes just a system for certification.

The foundation itself has a massive weakness spanning pedagogical issues, teacher training, and assessment. The government doesn't truly prioritize it; they make big verbal promises, but they don't even know how to implement them because the right people aren’t in policy-making positions.

To attract good teachers, you must offer an attractive package and ensure accountability. Instead, heavy investments go into the military or cadet colleges. The investment per student in cadet colleges is the highest, and naturally, those students do exceptionally well because they receive proper nourishment. Rural and madrasa students are not getting that same nourishment, and whatever they achieve is entirely through their own grit and family push.

Why do you think many students struggle with presenting in English and classroom participation despite performing well academically?

As the saying goes, "the mistake is at the very root". A student gets admitted to Dhaka University because of tremendous academic excellence in board exams and admission tests. But once they enter the university, many simply don’t get the opportunity or the environment to nourish their English. In fact, they don't even strictly need English for their studies here.

Teachers mostly lecture in Bangla, and course materials are frequently in Bangla. If you look at IER, most books and lecture notes are bought from local publishers like Provati Prokashoni. Students only encounter English texts in specific areas like research methodology or psychology, and even our university foundation courses aren't always given serious attention by either students or teachers.

On top of this academic reality, rural students coming to university halls face severe external pressures. They navigate hall politics, attend mandatory programs, and often have to tutor students privately just to survive financially. As a result, they just don't find the inner urge or the time to deliberately prepare themselves in English. The medium of instruction makes a massive difference. At private universities which I saw firsthand back in 2006 when I taught at ULAB, a student who could barely speak a word in their first semester was speaking fluently by the third semester. They have an enormous number of presentations, around eight in a semester if they take four courses, and the system forces them to become proficient. Everything must be in English, which naturally builds their speaking capacity.

At public universities, teachers themselves feel relaxed lecturing in Bangla. I have even seen students from elite institutions like Viqarunnisa, who were highly proficient in their first semester, gradually lose that sharpness by their fourth semester. When I asked them why, they told me, "Sir, everything we do is in Bangla; we don't need English anywhere". The practical reality is that when you don't use it, you lose it.

Have you observed students becoming reluctant to speak because they fear being judged for their accent, grammar, or pronunciation? What are the long-term consequences of this reluctance in your opinion?

Let me address this from a linguistic perspective: we know that intelligibility and fluency are the primary goals, rather than accent or native-like pronunciation. But at the end of the day, society judges people based on their accent. People determine whether someone speaks "good" or "bad" English by how they sound.

Students who have a weak base or come from rural backgrounds feel incredibly intimidated by this. While living in an urban area doesn't automatically make someone great at English, urban students have significantly more exposure and opportunities to practice. When rural students sit in a university classroom surrounded by peers from renowned schools who speak polished English, they feel extremely shy. They fear they will be judged by their pronunciation, and this psychological block creates deep anxiety, fear, and embarrassment. Because of this intense anxiety, they choose to stay silent. Day after day, this silence breeds an inferiority complex, and they ultimately go through their entire university life without speaking up.

This is where a teacher’s role is absolutely critical. Every learner is important, and a teacher's responsibility is to engage the quieter students, provide opportunities, and create a safe, non-judgmental environment to ease their fear. Additionally, universities must foster language clubs and societies. Students learn immensely outside the classroom, and speaking with peers in a club feels far less intimidating than speaking in front of an evaluating professor.

Do you think universities unintentionally reward fluency over critical thinking? Are students with ideas overlooked at times simply because they cannot express themselves confidently in English?

Universities aren't rewarding fluency; in fact, public universities aren't doing much of anything regarding fluency. Most departments still teach traditional grammar in their mandatory English courses. Students study grammar for 12 years in school, and at the university level, they are still being taught grammar instead of practical communication skills. You cannot achieve proficiency in six months without a communicative approach.

Now, regarding critical thinking: are we actually fostering it? If our examination system is based strictly on rote memorization, how will students think critically? At IER or elsewhere, 60 to 80 percent of an exam is just regurgitating memorized notes. To build critical thinking, you need problem-based learning, project work, and industry collaboration. Memorization is at the absolute lowest level of Bloom's Taxonomy.

In most university classes, teachers simply show PowerPoint slides and deliver one-way lectures. While some try interactive methods, large class sizes make it nearly impossible. In departments like Sociology or Political Science with over 100 students in a single class, a teacher has virtually no choice but to give a traditional lecture. Even when I recently visited the National University for curriculum development, they talked about Outcome-Based Education (OBE), yet 80% of the evaluation was still allocated to traditional written exams.

Furthermore, the problem is that our education system rarely hosts sustained platforms for creative ideation. Many students have brilliant, creative ideas, but we don't organize idea contests or incubation platforms where they can pitch them. Whether someone shares an idea in Bangla or English shouldn't matter. Both types of students struggle: those with strong ideas can't advance because the system doesn't nurture them, and those who lack English proficiency fall behind. The system itself is the barrier, not just the language.

Sir, when you compare between students from different departments and institutes of DU (ex IER vs IBA), is English functioning as a communication tool at Dhaka University or has it become a marker of privilege and social status?

Language itself carries status, and English definitely carries an element of elitism in our country. If you go to an event and someone speaks in English while someone else speaks in Bangla, society naturally tends to elevate the English speaker as part of the elite.

At IBA, since the entire medium of instruction is English, proficiency is seen as vital capital. Drawing from Bourdieu’s concept of cultural and linguistic capital, English is deeply tied to prestige and status. When IBA students present, they usually do so in English, whereas IER students generally present in Bangla.

I won't say IBA students are superior solely because of English, but their institutional culture targets an elite segment. Students from top backgrounds like BUET or renowned colleges gravitate there, creating strong market branding where language plays a key role in their identity. The demand for IER graduates is also very strong within our own educational domain, but English undeniably operates as symbolic capital and a status marker across broader society.

We see students sometime feel embarassed to talk in English because their speaking is not so good. In your opinion, how can teachers encourage participation without making students feel embarrassed about making linguistic mistakes?

A traditional lecture is inherently one-way. If a teacher simply lectures, students have absolutely no room to participate. We need to transition from traditional lectures to interactive ones, carefully balancing Teacher Talk Time and Student Talk Time. In the 70s and 80s, teaching was seen as an art of oratory, where teachers like Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed were celebrated for eloquent lectures, but today education needs to be task-driven and collaborative.

We must move away from the "jug and mug" theory, where the teacher is the full jug pouring knowledge into empty student mugs. Teachers should act as facilitators, assigning tasks rather than just talking. In my classes, I assign problem-solving group projects, and I tell the students to discuss the problem among themselves. Crucially, I decide who will present at the end, which ensures that every student stays prepared rather than letting the one who speaks English well dominate the group.

When students are actively working on tasks, they forget their language inhibitions. Language acquisition happens naturally through meaningful practice and situational necessity. I have seen young kids in Egypt working as tourist guides who speak multiple foreign languages fluently. They didn't learn from grammar books; they learned through interaction. We need to recreate that situational necessity in our classrooms.

If you were given complete authority to reform Dhaka University’s approach to academic English, what would be the first three changes you would make?

To bring about real transformation, you need changes in knowledge, skills, and attitudes both among faculty and students. My first reform would be gradually shifting the medium of instruction toward English across more departments, while maintaining bilingual options where needed. For example, Cairo University offers two parallel tracks: an English medium option and an Arabic medium option, allowing students freedom of choice. Alongside this, we must shift English teaching away from grammar drills toward activity-based tasks like reviewing literature and writing synthesis papers.

Additionally, we absolutely must internationalize our classrooms by actively admitting international students. When you have international students sitting in the room, teachers and local students are naturally compelled to communicate in English. This situational necessity breaks the hesitation and naturally lifts university standards. Most importantly, we must introduce strict teacher accountability and student course evaluations. Teachers must be held accountable for whether they are taking classes regularly, whether their teaching is interactive rather than passive, and whether assessments are objective. These systemic pedagogical reforms are required for genuine transformation.

What advice would you give to first-year students from rural backgrounds who may feel intimidated by English academic activities?

First, understand that being from a rural background does not mean you are inherently weak in English, nor does being from a city guarantee excellence. However, you do face an exposure gap, and my primary advice is that the university will not hand-feed you everything; you must take proactive ownership of your own learning.

If I were a student again at Dhaka University, I would immediately engage with the university's clubs and societies. Join drama clubs, recitation workshops, film societies, debating clubs, and language clubs. Getting involved in these groups helps you communicate with diverse people, overcomes your intrinsic shyness and fear, and builds immense self-confidence.

Second, find a study partner or "buddy" to practice English with regularly. Back when my colleagues and I were preparing for IELTS, we would test each other's speaking skills constantly. Today, you don’t even necessarily need a partner; there are numerous AI tools, language apps, and YouTube tutorials. You can write an essay, feed it to an AI tool, and instantly see how to refine it.

Lastly, take the university's English courses seriously right from your first year and dedicate at least 30 to 60 minutes every single day to practicing English. Make it a daily habit. You won't see results overnight, but if you harness the power of habit and stay consistent, you will notice a significant transformation within six months. Invest in yourself now, because once you enter the job market, you won't have the luxury of time.

Thank you for your time, sir!

You are most welcome!

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse