IJTE - ISSN: 2768-4563 International Journal of TESOL & Education Vol. 2; No.

2; 2022

Investigating the Problems Faced by the University EFL Learners in Speaking

English Language
Wahidul Islam1, Saleh Ahmad1,2*, Md. Didarul Islam1

1
Institute of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
2
Department of English, Uttara University, Bangladesh
*
Corresponding author’s email: saleh.elt30@[Link]
*
[Link]
[Link]

Received: 30/01/2022 Revision: 01/04/2022 Accepted: 04/04/2022 Online: 07/04/2022

ABSTRACT

Speaking English is a part of the daily academic life of the EFL

learners at the undergraduate level of the major English programs in
Bangladesh. This practice sometimes creates many problems for
first-year undergraduate public and private university students.
Despite its importance, sufficient data about the problems
Bangladeshi university students face in speaking English was not
found. To investigate the problems of speaking faced by the
undergraduate students, the current study applied mixed methods,
and eighty-eight students and four teachers from four universities
participated in it. The result shows that both public and private
university students with English majors face a lot of problems
communicating in English. However, this study has found that
public university students are slightly more competent in English
and face fewer problems than private university students. The
participants expressed different insights on the roles of curriculum,
Keywords: English, teaching techniques, and individual institutions to overcome the
speaking skill, EFL students' weakness in English speaking skills. Finally, the study puts
learners, public and forward some very specific recommendations on the basis of the
private universities findings for the concerned stakeholders.

Introduction
The English language fluency has been recognized as one of the most important factors to
pursue a successful career in Bangladesh, like many regions of the current world (Ahmad,
2008; Hamid, 2012; Hamid, Jahan, & Islam, 2013; Leitner, Hashim, & Wolf, 2016; Rahman
& Pandian, 2018). With a British colonial history of about two centuries, English is the most
widely used language for business, technology, education, and overall communication after

CITATION | Islam, W., Ahmad, S., & Islam, M. D. (2022). Investigating the problems faced by the university
EFL learners in speaking English language. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(2), 47-65. DOI:
[Link]

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[Link] Islam, W., Ahmad, S., & Islam, M. D. Vol. 2; No. 2; 2022

the only predominant language of Bangla in Bangladesh (Rahman, 2015). Although there is a
debate about whether English is an ESL (English as a Secondary Language) or EFL (English
as a Foreign Language) here, it is taught as a compulsory subject from the primary level to the
higher secondary level of education. English is also used as the medium of instruction at the
tertiary level in Bangladesh's public and private universities. There is no doubt in the fact that
speaking skill is an important aspect of English communicative competence in the era in
which it is the most dominant language of the current world, and Bangladesh is one of the
largest countries in the world in respect of population in which the presence of the English
language is found widely.
Bangladeshi educational premises adopted a "communicative approach" to language teaching
to make English language learning and teaching more effective. The communicative approach
aims to teach all four skills of a language so that the learner can have a good command over
all the four skills, i.e., reading, writing, listening, and speaking, while communicating. After
four decades of adopting the approach, the state is yet to find that common EFL learners reach
a satisfactory level of English language skills (Rahman & Pandian, 2018; Rahman, Islam,
Karim, Chowdhury, Rahman, Seraj, & Singh, 2019).
The problem in speaking becomes acute and visible when the learners enter universities where
the medium of instruction is English. In Bangladesh, both public and private university first-
year English major undergraduate students face problems while speaking English. Surely, it is
an eye-catching fact as this is the very discipline in which they intend to complete their
graduation. Suppose the major English students face problems in speaking in spite of
choosing the subject to study. In that case, it is surely a common problem for all the students,
and it indicates the standard of English language teaching (ELT), especially regarding
speaking skills, at the secondary and higher secondary levels in Bangladesh. The researchers’
own experiences show that EFL learners face some problems while speaking English,
especially during the first year of their undergraduate studies in the English department.
Moreover, students face problems regardless of the institution type, i.e., public or private.
Hence, both public and private universities have been taken into consideration in this study
for identifying and evaluating the problems on a general scale.
It has been seen that speaking skill is the most problematic skill for learners even at their
tertiary level of education. The learners inside the classroom mostly use English for
educational purposes, and when they face problems communicating in English, the whole
education process becomes a problem to carry out and bring success. In spite of studying
English as a compulsory subject since primary level education, which is also focused on the
communicative approach, when the students fail to speak in English, it becomes an alarming
issue. Therefore, it requires a study. Focusing on the speaking problems of the undergraduate
fresher students of public and private universities will bring out their nature of problems with
comparison. The investigation may shed light on eradicating or overcoming problems of the
students and find out if any other factors related to institutions, study environment, or peers
are related to the problem.

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In most cases, in Bangladesh, tertiary-level education is provided in the English language.

Moreover, the English-speaking capacity of the newly admitted students of the English
departments may indicate the standard and problems of ELT at the secondary and higher
secondary levels in Bangladesh. That is why the researchers felt the necessity the
identification the problems of the undergraduate fresher students in speaking English. The
purposes of the study were not only to analyze the problems of both public and private
university students comparatively but also to find some common solutions to those problems.

Literature review
There existing studies on the problems and challenges of teaching and learning spoken
English in Bangladesh have not covered the specific group of participants, i.e., the freshers of
university English departments, that are addressed in this study. Some studies were conducted
in the urban contexts, whereas some others were in rural contexts. Another research was
carried out by Hamid (2011) on the problems and English proficiency of EFL learners in the
country's rural schools. He analyzed some socio-economic factors that affect English teaching
and learning.
Some other studies found the factors like language anxiety or 'English-phobia', family
solvency, the educational background of family members, and location of the educational
institutions to be crucial factors to affect the quality of ELT and motivation of the EFL
learners and the speaking skill was found to be the most neglected language skill in the
colleges of rural and urban areas in Bangladesh (Ahmad, 2014; Ahmad, 2017). Hasan and
Akhand (2009) conducted a study on the challenges and sustainability of ELT at the college
level in Bangladesh. That large-scale study covered all the sixty-four districts of the country,
including colleges of both urban and rural areas. Its findings marked that the two factors that
affected the teaching and learning of spoken English were the scarcity of appropriate teaching
materials and the teachers' low level of ELT competence.
Communicative competence and speaking skills
Communicative competence is one of the most important survival skills in the globalized
world. It has been an extensively studied topic in the field of education since the 1970s
(Celce-Murcia, 2008). Dell Hymes coined the influential term Communicative competence in
the 1980s. As Larsen-Freeman (2011) states, it indicates "knowing when and how to say what
to whom, … which focuses on the components of the ability to communicate through a
language" ( p. 152). It comprises four components according to Canale and Swain (1980):
grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic
competence. Linguistic competence refers to the knowledge of syntax, phonology,
vocabulary, and word-formation processes that enable us to use the language for a range of
different purposes and functions. The second ability, sociolinguistic competence, includes the
sociocultural knowledge of how to vary the use of language to suit the setting and the

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participants. Discourse competence is related to the knowledge of how to produce,

differentiate, and interpret various types of texts in different modes, such as speaking,
listening, reading, and writing. Lastly, strategic competence is concerned with the language
user's ability to use different kinds of communication strategies to maintain communication to
meet the gap caused by limited language knowledge.
Speaking skill is considered a very important skill because it is necessary for oral
communication. Speaking is also important because of its use in conversations and describing
something, and it also works hand in hand with listening. Speaking is an interactive process of
constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving, and processing information (Florez,
1999). In addition, speaking is also defined as a productive skill. It is the ability of
participants to communicate and express their ideas, thoughts, feelings, and needs in order to
make sense of them (Brown, 2004). It goes without saying that the importance of speaking
skills is beyond measurement. Speaking skill is also important as it is directly related to
communication and interaction. Therefore, competency in any language is largely dependent
on how well the person speaks in that language.
Importance of speaking skills in education
In order to empower ourselves, we need knowledge; and in order to gain knowledge, we need
formal education. English is widely used as a medium of education or instruction in many
countries. In Bangladesh as well, the medium of tertiary level education is English. The
medium of instruction in the country's many public as well as private universities, is English.
Books and materials followed are mostly written in English. Lectures are given in English as
well. We all know that education is an interactive process, and in order to receive the
knowledge, we need interaction. As the medium of instruction is English therefore, speaking
skill is very important for the students. Suppose the students do not know how to use this
language inside the classroom. In that case, it is easily understandable that they will not be
comfortable or confident in using English outside the classroom in their day-to-day
conversations. Hence, speaking skill is very important for learners to practice and master.
Commonly faced English-speaking problems.
Acquiring a skill is never easy as many difficulties and obstacles keep blocking the
development of the skills and make it harder for the learners to grasp. Speaking problems are
faced by learners all over the world. Studies conducted so far have pointed out several
speaking problems the learners face. Speaking is an interactive skill that has problems and
difficulties of many kinds. According to Thornbury (2005), the main problems learner-
speakers face are in two areas - knowledge factors and skills factors. The knowledge factors
refer to the speaker's linguistic knowledge that is used for oral production. The skill factors
mean that the learners’ knowledge is not sufficiently automated to ensure fluency. Therefore,
English speakers should have linguistic knowledge. They should have functional knowledge
about the purpose of speaking, whether as a transactional or interpersonal function. Secondly,
the speakers need to have discourse competence which controls the capacity to connect and

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organize individual utterances. Thirdly, learners need pragmatic competence that relates to a
particular language and the contexts in which it is used, including the purpose for which
language is used. Last of all, English speakers should speak grammatically correct English
and have a wide range of vocabulary with good pronunciation.
In her study, Hadijah (2014) found out some reasons why students face problems in speaking
English. The reasons were not limited to having little knowledge of the components of
speaking skills, including vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and comprehension
but also personal reasons such as lack of self-confidence, shyness to perform speaking, lack of
speaking practice, time management, speaking material, and exposure problems. Therefore, it
is clear that speaking has a vast domain of problems or difficulties that obstruct learners'
successful learning of the skill.
Many studies have recommended the integration of Information and communication
technology (ICT) into ELT practices (Chau, 2021; Nguyen, 2022; Pham, 2021). But this type
of practice was not very common in the ELT scenario of the country before the pandemic of
COVID-19. But this scenario is expected to change slowly due to the forced online
educational practices caused by the pandemic.
Speaking problems in the Bangladeshi context
English is used as an official language and as a medium of instruction for tertiary-level
education in both public and private universities in Bangladesh. Though English is taught as a
compulsory subject from the primary level of education, the students have yet to reach the
speaking fluency level inside and outside their classroom. In her study, Bhattacharjee (2008)
stated that exposure to speaking situations is extremely limited in the classroom. Moreover,
the students get very limited access to English outside the classroom. They spend most of
their time with their family, friends, and the community where the Bangla language is used
predominantly. In an EFL context like Bangladesh, the learners are not required to engage in
English in practical situations outside the academic context. That is why they cannot practice
oral communication in English. The learners consider it only as an academic subject rather
than a means of communication.
Research objectives
The primary purpose of the research was to explore the problems while speaking English as
undergraduate students. It was designed to find and analyze the nature of their speaking
problem or the most commonly faced difficulties. A part of its purpose was to check if there
was any significant difference between the two types of university students’ speaking
problems. On the basis of the data, the study aimed to present some recommendations for the
concerned ELT practitioners to improve their fluency in English speaking.

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Methodology
Pedagogical setting & participants
The aim of the research was to find out the speaking problems faced by the first-year English
major students and conduct a comparative study between the public and private university
students. For this reason, the research was conducted at two public and two private
universities in Dhaka city. It included four university teachers and eighty-eight randomly
chosen students. All the students were first-year English-major undergraduate students.
Table 1. Research Participants

Participants Public Private Total

Number of universities 02 02 04

Student - survey participants 44 44 88

Focused Group Discussions (FGD) - students 05 05 10

Teachers 02 02 04

Research design
To elicit enough valid data, a mixed-method approach by Creswell (2014) was followed in the
study to investigate the relevant issues. Both the quantitative and qualitative data were
collected side by side.
Research instruments and data collection
This mixed-method study used both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools. The
study used a survey questionnaire of seventeen items and the five-point Likert scale to collect
the quantitative data. The speaking problem of the students was identified and measured by
themselves. The self-reported data about the speaking problem was the primary tool to
measure and analyze the phenomena.
The qualitative data was collected through interviews and focused group discussions. The
researchers conducted focused group discussions among the students and took teachers'
interviews in order to collect and analyze qualitative data.
Data analysis
The quantitative data were analyzed according to the five major questions of the
questionnaire. Then the interviews were transcribed for coding. After that, the thematic
analysis of the qualitative data was prepared. Finally, the two types of data were triangulated
to present the overall findings and recommendations.

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Research findings and discussion

Students’ perspectives
English competence level and problems
It was found from the study that most of the English major first-year undergraduate students
of both public and private universities, more or less, faced problems speaking English due to
both linguistic and communicative competence.
Communicative competence in English
Q1. How well can you communicate in English?
Figure 1 shows that 6.8% of the private university student ratings and 11.4% of the public
university student ratings of the communication capacity in English is "Excellent."

Figure 1: Communicative competence in English

No one rated their competence as "Poor ."After the overall calculation of the ratings given by
the students, an average of 48% of ratings go to private university students, whereas 51% go
to public university students.
Therefore, according to the students' own responses, we can state that public university
students are slightly more competent than private university students in terms of English
communication skills.
The problem of linking sentences
Q2. How often do you face problems linking sentences while you speak?
It seems that linking sentences while speaking is a common problem for most of the
respondents. Only 2.3% of response is "never ."Regarding linking sentences, public university

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students are again in an advantageous position. The ratio of easiness of this problem is Private
46: Public 53.

Figure 2: Problem of linking sentences

Fear of making grammatical mistakes

Q3. How much do you agree that “Thinking about making grammatical mistakes while
speaking” is a hindrance to speaking English fluently?

Figure 3: Fear of making grammatical mistakes

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At least two-thirds of public and private university students have agreed with this statement
that thinking about grammatical mistakes is a hindrance to speaking fluently. The ratio of
ratings to this question is Public 50: Private 49.
Anxiety is as a problem while speaking.
Q4. To what extent do you think anxiety can cause any problem while speaking English?
The ratio of ratings of answers is Private 50: Public 50. It expresses that both parties have the
same perception about anxiety as a problem with speaking English.
From figure 4, it is clear that most students find language anxiety as a problem always or
often.

Figure 4: Anxiety as a problem while speaking

Role of the institution

Q5. Do you think your current institution plays any positive role in developing your speaking
skill?

Figure 5: Role of the Institution

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Here, the public university students expressed the opinion that institutions have a role to play
regarding speaking skill development. The ratio of responses from private and public
university students is 47: 52.
Absence of listening and speaking practices at the school level
Almost three-fourths of the students reported that they did not have enough scope of doing
speaking-listening activities in the schools. Those skills were not tested as a part of the
common examination systems at the school level. That is why the teachers did not emphasize
developing the speaking skill.
Lack of motivation caused by lack of the scope to use English in real life
In the non-academic context in Bangladesh, the research participants did not need to use their
discourse and strategic competence in English. The lack of scope to apply academically
acquired linguistic competence in real-life demotivated them to increase their speaking skill.

Suggestions from the students

Few participants have addressed some more issues that are relevant to the problem of
speaking. They have suggested a number of ways from their own experience to develop their
English speaking.
New vocabularies or tough words are problems. For example, someone used the word
"propensity" while talking to me, and I was embarrassed as I didn't know its meaning.
It takes time to get on the momentum. I don't find appropriate words, and I also make
grammatical mistakes. (FGD, Public university student 2)
As English is our second language, we translate from Bangla to English. Therefore, it
causes problems while speaking. (FGD, Private university student 3)

Listening is the most important thing to me for the development of speaking skills.
(Interview, Public university student 4)
A number of students have proposed "mirror therapy" to relieve the fear of speaking.
We have to be confident. Everybody makes mistakes. It is not necessary to be super
correct. Body language is also important. Practice with a partner or in front of a
mirror is necessary. We have to have a desire to develop our speaking level, but we do
not necessarily need to be like native speakers. We can also listen to podcasts and
have foreign friends talk to them. (FGD, Public university student 1)

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Teachers’ perspectives
The teachers from both public and private universities opined that first-year undergraduates
face speaking English problems throughout the year. They mentioned several factors behind
their impairment in speaking English. The study collected insights into the nature of the
problems faced by the students. They defined the role of institutions and curriculum at large.
Finally, the teachers of both public and private universities have given some, more or less
similar, suggestions so that the first-year undergraduate English major students can overcome
their English-speaking problems.
The teachers interviewed have pointed to several factors that are causing difficulties for the
students. The interviewees have talked about several natures of students' speaking problems
they have encountered. The problems of private and public university students have little
difference. Most of the problems are very common to the learners of English as a Second or
Foreign Language.
Bangla medium or poor schooling background
It is notable that all the teachers have mentioned that the students who are from Bangla
medium backgrounds face more or less the same problems speaking English.
Social and economic constraints
One of the interviewees has mentioned that students of public universities do not get enough
time to practice and develop their skills because of some financial issues.
Public speaking
Almost all the students felt uneasy speaking in front of a public audience. Most of the teachers
have shared their experiences about this issue with the researchers.
Translate from Bangla
The function of the learner's first language is considered a major issue in second language
learning. Here, in this research, it was found that students try to make sentences first in their
native language, i.e., Bangla, and then try to translate them into English.
Affective filter
The teachers have suggested that the student's high level of affective filters hinders their
language production.
Lack of vocabulary
All of the teachers interviewed have said that their students face problems mostly because of
their lack of vocabulary.
Pronunciation and accent
Another reason the teachers have mentioned is that students face problems with the correct
pronunciation of English. They also have trouble understanding the English accent.

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Role of the curriculum

All the teachers have expressed the importance of a planned and consistent curriculum. They
have shared different opinions regarding the status of the curriculum and what changes should
be brought to it.
Teaching techniques
Both the teachers of public and private universities have agreed that teaching techniques of
the curriculum have a major role in overcoming the students' speaking problems.
Syllabus design
Almost all the interviewees have put emphasis on a change in the syllabus. Some of them
have said that more changes should be brought to the school and college levels.
Motivation
The teachers have remarked that motivation is an important factor that influences students'
speaking skills. According to them, if students can feel the necessity to develop speaking
skills, they will put more effort into it.
Role of the institution
All the interviewees have opined that the institution has immense importance in developing
students' speaking skills. Most importantly, institutions can provide good teachers and
mentors and ensure a friendly environment for developing speaking skills.
Role of the teacher
As the teacher can be a role model in front of the students in second language learning,
interviewees have suggested that students may follow them and their experience of mastering
the English language.
Environment
Interviewees have significantly emphasized the necessity of a good environment for learning
English:
I advise students to go to the American center and British Council to get an English-
speaking environment. I invite some foreigners to our university. Students can talk with
them and this way they can improve their English very easily. (Teacher 2)
Digital technology
A teacher remarked that current students, unlike the university students of the batches of a few
years ago, are getting more facilities because of the availability of multimedia devices and
contents:
The students are gradually improving because we did not have these opportunities like
the internet, YouTube, etc., before. (Teacher 3)

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Private university students get more care about speaking fluency development
One of our interviewees has claimed a very significant issue that the private universities take
more care about their speaking skills than public universities do. Moreover, the interviewee
also remarked that nowadays, university students are becoming more interested in language
skills and linguistics than literature, which badly affects their speaking performance.
Public university students are more concerned about their CGPA. They are unwilling to
learn speaking though it is highly necessary for the job market. Even some English major
students don't love reading books or watching movies. Even I also read and reread fairy
tales books like Cinderella. I watch movies with my kids. I read out books for my kids.
Nowadays, English major students are becoming more interested in linguistics than
literature. (Teacher 4)

Overall discussion and recommendations

The new major findings in comparison to the existing relevant literature can be highlighted
through the following points:
The lack of speaking fluency of the undergraduate students is caused due to the absence of
listening and speaking practices during the 12 years of academic studies from Class 1 to Class
12 at the primary, secondary, higher secondary (known as intimidating college in Bangladesh)
levels at the schools. The Junior School Certificate (JSC), Secondary School Certificate
(SSC), and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC.) English curricula focus on those two skills to
a limited extent. On top of that, the existing major national public examinations, including the
JSC, SSC, and HSC, which are held at the end of Class 8, Class 10, and Class 12,
respectively, do not include the evaluation of listening and speaking skills. Surprisingly, the
concerned national authorities named the English curricula as the Communicative English
curriculum in 2010 and have been developing them since then, excluding those two skills in
the rubrics. Hence, the students' foundation of English communicative competence is weak in
the country, due to which they suffer at the undergraduate level.
The English language teachers have limited knowledge about how to apply the inductive
approach in teaching. That is why the learners are too much concerned about grammatical
mistakes, which has caused language anxiety.
Both public and private university students are weak in speaking fluency. But the private
universities are found to take greater care to develop speaking fluency. The curricula and
facilities of the private universities are better in this regard. The private universities have
integrated the use of digital equipment and apps to implement E-learning more than the public
universities, making English learning and teaching more effective there.
The following recommendations can be forwarded based on the findings of the study that may
have an effective way to understand and overcome the challenges of English speaking skills
faced by undergraduate students of English.

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Grammar
The students should not only memorize grammar and its rules but also understand and be able
to use it in practical life. While speaking, a lack of grammatical knowledge often causes
problems, which was seen in this research based on the findings. Therefore, grammar and its
competency should be dealt with seriousness.
Vocabulary
From the students' as well as teachers' point of view, it has been found that students' lack of
vocabulary causes problems in their speaking. Therefore, students should give effort to
building their vocabulary knowledge, and teachers should also take necessary measures so
that they can ensure that students are learning vocabulary accordingly.
Anxiety
The students should reduce their anxiety and phobia about English speaking. They should
take it naturally and overcome their shyness. Until and unless they defeat their psychological
barrier, their speaking cannot be improved.
Motivation
The EFL learners should be more self-motivated. At the same time, the teachers also should
motivate them in the class so that they take the initiative and willingly start giving efforts to
overcome their speaking problems.
Institution
The institutions should also make necessary arrangements to help their students remove their
speaking problems. From the research, it has been found that many students were benefited
from the English club and practice sessions arranged by the institution. Therefore, the
institution should put emphasis not only on their academic results but also on their English
speaking competence.
Syllabus and curriculum
In order to overcome the speaking problem, the curricula and syllabuses should be updated
timely, and the authorities should develop them in such a way that students can engage more
and more through the lessons and tasks.
Outside the class activity
The speaking skills can be improved in various ways, including outside class activities. The
teachers should encourage students to use English media on the internet. The students may
use the outside resources provided by the British Council.

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Conclusion
In this research, several issues came forward regarding the English major undergraduate
students, which include the lack of practice, guidance, and self-motivation of the EFL learners
to improve their speaking in their primary and secondary level education. It also explored
their lack of practice and incompetence in grammar and vocabulary, the absence of the scope
of a friendly environment to practice speaking. The overemphasis on grammar is common in
the ELT scenario of the country at the school level, where the Grammar Translation (GT)
method is followed despite the presence of communicative curricula. The poor ELT input with
a minimum focus on the listening and speaking skills at the school level caused the EFL
learners of the undergraduate level show poor performance in spoken English. The socio-
economic background was also found to play a crucial role in this respect.
The delimitation of the study was that it was undertaken in four universities due to a lack of
time and funding. But this research explored some experienced English teachers' opinions and
feedback based on their long time teaching experience. Therefore it brought out some
important factors that included the roles of higher educational institutions and the roles of
English undergraduate syllabuses in this regard. It also sheds some light on the core areas of
the undergraduate English curricula: literature, language skills, and linguistics. All these
factors play important roles in influencing the English speaking performance of the EFL
learners of the undergraduate level.
The problems which came to light throughout this research suggest that the nature of
problems faced by the students are more or less the same in public and private institutions.
The challenges are also similar in both types of institutions, yet the approach toward the
problem is variable in some aspects. The teachers of these institutions also have almost
similar points of view regarding the students speaking problems though their feedback
towards the solution is versatile and different on some points.
The teachers and students should consider English more as a medium of communication than
only an academic subject. The findings strongly demand more attention from the national
education policymakers to develop ELT quality at secondary and higher secondary levels. The
country needs an effective implementation of a stable and farsighted language-education
policy and multidimensional short-term and long-term plans for the school level and the
undergraduate level. Suppose the EFL learners gain the minimum fluency in speaking English
at the school level. In that case, they can be nourished and polished further at the
undergraduate level, which will enable them to communicate in the English language to
survive in the competitive age of globalization.

Declaration of conflicting interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in this work.

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Biodata
Wahidul Islam has completed his MA in ELT from the Institute of Modern Languages,
University of Dhaka. He started his career as a lecturer in English at University of Global
Village, Bangladesh. Currently he is working at United Commercial Bank-PLC as a
compliance officer. He’s an ex-BMA cadet of 68 BMA L/C. Apart from his banking career, he
enjoys reading books and has a very keen interest in educational research area. He has served
as convenor of TESOL society of Bangladesh (Barishal Chapter) and worked under different
govt. research projects earlier as a research associate as well.
Saleh Ahmad is currently an Assistant Professor of English at the Uttara University, Dhaka.
He is a Ph.D. Fellow (English) at the Institute of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka in
Bangladesh. He has been teaching English at different universities at home and abroad and
doing research for more than twelve years. His research interests include TESOL,

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sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, CALL, translanguaging, and ethnography.

Md. Didarul Islam is currently working as a Research Associate in the project titled “English
and Employability in TVET: Issues and Challenges in Policy Implementation”, funded by the
University of Dhaka. Previously, he pursued his BA ESOL and MA TESOL from the Institute
of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka. His research interests include the ELT industry,
Program Evaluation, Syllabus Design, Sociolinguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis,
Educational Technology, and Education in Bangladesh. Besides, he is a professional
proofreader, translator, copy-editor, and research consultant. He has already provided
services to several relevant organizations in those fields.

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