In recent years, the globalization of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) policy has grown e... more In recent years, the globalization of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) policy has grown exponentially, driven by socio-economic, political, cultural, and educational desires and forces. Despite having a well-established elite English-medium education in Bangladesh, EMI-based, a new type of education system has emerged recently at primary and secondary levels called English-version (EV) education. This paper investigates parents' desires to choose EV schools for their children and how those desires contribute to marketizing EV schools as a new and popular commodity in the education market of Bangladesh. Data were collected using open-ended questionnaires from 120 parents of primary school children studying at five EV schools. Moreover, further qualitative data was collected by conducting three follow-up focus group discussions (FGDs) with 14 parents and three key informant interviews (KIIs) with three EV school principals. Findings show that parents believe in the materia...
The Commentary critically reflects on the papers published in the Special Issue (SI) of Applied L... more The Commentary critically reflects on the papers published in the Special Issue (SI) of Applied Linguistics Review titled ‘Reflection and Reform of Applied Linguistics from the Global South: Power and Inequality in English users from the Global South’. While the papers in the SI add new insights to the recent innovations in the ontology and epistemology of Applied Linguistics based on research studies done in the contexts of Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Nepal, the Commentary shows that more research studies on the multi-modal meaning-making processes and the spatiality and temporality of semiotic resources will give a greater understanding of the meaning-making processes. The Commentary also indicates that the politics underlying the governance, policy packages of neoliberalism in education, and hidden linguistic governmentality observable in language policies and practices in both Global South and Global North require further attention. Decoloniality, mor...
With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide,... more With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide, private universities in Bangladesh transitioned to online classes to ensure continuity of education. Therefore, it was important to investigate the private university teachers’ and students’ perceptions regarding various dimensions of accessing online instruction and coping strategies used by teachers. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from 208 teachers and 674 students through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that teachers and students encountered several barriers, including unstable internet connection, costly internet packages, minimal support for teachers, issues with online assessment, and an unsuitable home environment. To combat existing problems related to assessment and to increase interaction in the classroom, teachers used a small range of coping strategies. Measures are suggested to ensure access to stable internet connectivit...
A few years ago, I was invited to serve as the Honorary President of the Festival of Teaching in ... more A few years ago, I was invited to serve as the Honorary President of the Festival of Teaching in Difficult Circumstances. It was a humbling experience. I met inspirational teachers doing innovative and creative teaching and research with minimal resources and support. Through the Festival, we did our best to showcase this work, but at the time, I thought how wonderful it would be if these local practices could find their way to a global audience. It was a publication such as this that I had in mind. It is therefore an absolute delight to endorse this fine collection. Finally, a major international publisher has seen fit to provide a vehicle through which scholarly work in Bangladesh can be introduced to the rest of the world. This is a monumental piece of work and the editors and publisher are to be congratulated for bringing it to fruition."
Abstract This article seeks to expand the current discussions on the notion of ‘translingual Engl... more Abstract This article seeks to expand the current discussions on the notion of ‘translingual Englishes’ by incorporating the idea of ‘unequal Englishes’ as a way of understanding the role of English in relation to understudied Asian peripheral contexts such as Mongolia and Bangladesh. It is clear that young speakers in these Asian countries are creatively involved with ‘translingual Englishes’, in which various English and other linguistic and cultural resources are in constant interplay. Yet there are also particular local constraints that either limit or expand their usage of English. Translingual Englishes may be creative and playful but they are also associated with differences in one’s unequal social class, wealth and power.
The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in rec... more The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in recent times, specifically during the critical period of COVID-19. Based on the findings drawn from the qualitative data through focus group discussions of five groups of teachers (16 females and 8 males) and students (10 males and nine females) at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh, this paper shows that online teaching during COVID-19 is affected by personal and social challenges, and consequently, both teachers and students experience anxieties and stresses. Teachers are anxious because of the university authorities' surveillance, frequent pay cuts, and fear of losing jobs due to students' low enrollment in universities. They also suffer from physical discomforts, such as back pain, blur vision, and headache because of the prolonged engagement with online activities. Students, especially those from a non-privileged background located in peripheral rural contexts, seem ...
Languages are at the centre of nationalistic discourses across South Asia since they have played ... more Languages are at the centre of nationalistic discourses across South Asia since they have played a historically and politically significant role in defining nationhood and both uniting and dividing countries throughout the British Empire. Despite multilingualism and multiculturalism, and vast differences in individual access to, and command of, mother tongue, national and official languages, paradoxically a collective language is always considered as an important imagined marker of ‘national’ identity. It is this latter point I explore by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork amongst Bangladeshi youths from indigenous ethnic communities who are designated as ethnic minority groups in Bangladesh. Positioning the paper at the nexus of multilingual ecology, I thereby investigate how youths from the indigenous ethnic communities perceive themselves with reference to their mother tongue, national language, and foreign language, and what impact their relationships, their preferences, and use ...
This chapter shows how sports represent a major part of many young people’s daily linguistic live... more This chapter shows how sports represent a major part of many young people’s daily linguistic lives. From young Bangladeshis’ fascination with Indian cricket stars to young Mongolia students’ use of terms from Japanese sumo, these affiliations have both cultural and linguistic implications. While young speakers actively support their favourite sports’ team or athletes, they also relocalize varied sports-associated linguistic and semiotic resources as a means of self-identification and peer-bonding. Sport in the contexts of Bangladesh and Mongolia is often bound up with young men’s daily activities, with implications for particular performances of masculinity. Young males engage with varied sports-associated linguistic and semiotic resources as part of their gendered and group solidarities. The transglossic take-up of sports thus becomes a key site for the production of a linguistic and cultural matrix of masculine and group identity.
This chapter focuses on the transglossic practices of young adults and their involvement with var... more This chapter focuses on the transglossic practices of young adults and their involvement with various cyber-culture-associated resources, including the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities, social media, texting, chatting and emailing. Cyber speaking is not restricted only to online contexts but can also be stretched to offline contexts, as young people’s Facebooked, Twittered and hashtagged lives cross easily between different modes. This chapter includes a discussion of the notions of flows and locality, dealing in particular with the different conditions that afford or preclude forms of online engagement. Cyber-centric transglossia presents us with data which show inconsistency, disparity and uneven distribution of resources amongst young speakers. Not all speakers have control over or access to certain resources, since the uneven localizing processes of certain linguistic resources are tied to the uneven distribution of other resources.
In recent years, the globalization of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) policy has grown e... more In recent years, the globalization of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) policy has grown exponentially, driven by socio-economic, political, cultural, and educational desires and forces. Despite having a well-established elite English-medium education in Bangladesh, EMI-based, a new type of education system has emerged recently at primary and secondary levels called English-version (EV) education. This paper investigates parents' desires to choose EV schools for their children and how those desires contribute to marketizing EV schools as a new and popular commodity in the education market of Bangladesh. Data were collected using open-ended questionnaires from 120 parents of primary school children studying at five EV schools. Moreover, further qualitative data was collected by conducting three follow-up focus group discussions (FGDs) with 14 parents and three key informant interviews (KIIs) with three EV school principals. Findings show that parents believe in the materia...
The Commentary critically reflects on the papers published in the Special Issue (SI) of Applied L... more The Commentary critically reflects on the papers published in the Special Issue (SI) of Applied Linguistics Review titled ‘Reflection and Reform of Applied Linguistics from the Global South: Power and Inequality in English users from the Global South’. While the papers in the SI add new insights to the recent innovations in the ontology and epistemology of Applied Linguistics based on research studies done in the contexts of Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Nepal, the Commentary shows that more research studies on the multi-modal meaning-making processes and the spatiality and temporality of semiotic resources will give a greater understanding of the meaning-making processes. The Commentary also indicates that the politics underlying the governance, policy packages of neoliberalism in education, and hidden linguistic governmentality observable in language policies and practices in both Global South and Global North require further attention. Decoloniality, mor...
With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide,... more With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide, private universities in Bangladesh transitioned to online classes to ensure continuity of education. Therefore, it was important to investigate the private university teachers’ and students’ perceptions regarding various dimensions of accessing online instruction and coping strategies used by teachers. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from 208 teachers and 674 students through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that teachers and students encountered several barriers, including unstable internet connection, costly internet packages, minimal support for teachers, issues with online assessment, and an unsuitable home environment. To combat existing problems related to assessment and to increase interaction in the classroom, teachers used a small range of coping strategies. Measures are suggested to ensure access to stable internet connectivit...
A few years ago, I was invited to serve as the Honorary President of the Festival of Teaching in ... more A few years ago, I was invited to serve as the Honorary President of the Festival of Teaching in Difficult Circumstances. It was a humbling experience. I met inspirational teachers doing innovative and creative teaching and research with minimal resources and support. Through the Festival, we did our best to showcase this work, but at the time, I thought how wonderful it would be if these local practices could find their way to a global audience. It was a publication such as this that I had in mind. It is therefore an absolute delight to endorse this fine collection. Finally, a major international publisher has seen fit to provide a vehicle through which scholarly work in Bangladesh can be introduced to the rest of the world. This is a monumental piece of work and the editors and publisher are to be congratulated for bringing it to fruition."
Abstract This article seeks to expand the current discussions on the notion of ‘translingual Engl... more Abstract This article seeks to expand the current discussions on the notion of ‘translingual Englishes’ by incorporating the idea of ‘unequal Englishes’ as a way of understanding the role of English in relation to understudied Asian peripheral contexts such as Mongolia and Bangladesh. It is clear that young speakers in these Asian countries are creatively involved with ‘translingual Englishes’, in which various English and other linguistic and cultural resources are in constant interplay. Yet there are also particular local constraints that either limit or expand their usage of English. Translingual Englishes may be creative and playful but they are also associated with differences in one’s unequal social class, wealth and power.
The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in rec... more The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in recent times, specifically during the critical period of COVID-19. Based on the findings drawn from the qualitative data through focus group discussions of five groups of teachers (16 females and 8 males) and students (10 males and nine females) at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh, this paper shows that online teaching during COVID-19 is affected by personal and social challenges, and consequently, both teachers and students experience anxieties and stresses. Teachers are anxious because of the university authorities' surveillance, frequent pay cuts, and fear of losing jobs due to students' low enrollment in universities. They also suffer from physical discomforts, such as back pain, blur vision, and headache because of the prolonged engagement with online activities. Students, especially those from a non-privileged background located in peripheral rural contexts, seem ...
Languages are at the centre of nationalistic discourses across South Asia since they have played ... more Languages are at the centre of nationalistic discourses across South Asia since they have played a historically and politically significant role in defining nationhood and both uniting and dividing countries throughout the British Empire. Despite multilingualism and multiculturalism, and vast differences in individual access to, and command of, mother tongue, national and official languages, paradoxically a collective language is always considered as an important imagined marker of ‘national’ identity. It is this latter point I explore by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork amongst Bangladeshi youths from indigenous ethnic communities who are designated as ethnic minority groups in Bangladesh. Positioning the paper at the nexus of multilingual ecology, I thereby investigate how youths from the indigenous ethnic communities perceive themselves with reference to their mother tongue, national language, and foreign language, and what impact their relationships, their preferences, and use ...
This chapter shows how sports represent a major part of many young people’s daily linguistic live... more This chapter shows how sports represent a major part of many young people’s daily linguistic lives. From young Bangladeshis’ fascination with Indian cricket stars to young Mongolia students’ use of terms from Japanese sumo, these affiliations have both cultural and linguistic implications. While young speakers actively support their favourite sports’ team or athletes, they also relocalize varied sports-associated linguistic and semiotic resources as a means of self-identification and peer-bonding. Sport in the contexts of Bangladesh and Mongolia is often bound up with young men’s daily activities, with implications for particular performances of masculinity. Young males engage with varied sports-associated linguistic and semiotic resources as part of their gendered and group solidarities. The transglossic take-up of sports thus becomes a key site for the production of a linguistic and cultural matrix of masculine and group identity.
This chapter focuses on the transglossic practices of young adults and their involvement with var... more This chapter focuses on the transglossic practices of young adults and their involvement with various cyber-culture-associated resources, including the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities, social media, texting, chatting and emailing. Cyber speaking is not restricted only to online contexts but can also be stretched to offline contexts, as young people’s Facebooked, Twittered and hashtagged lives cross easily between different modes. This chapter includes a discussion of the notions of flows and locality, dealing in particular with the different conditions that afford or preclude forms of online engagement. Cyber-centric transglossia presents us with data which show inconsistency, disparity and uneven distribution of resources amongst young speakers. Not all speakers have control over or access to certain resources, since the uneven localizing processes of certain linguistic resources are tied to the uneven distribution of other resources.
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Papers by Shaila Sultana