Implementing Social Justice in Teaching and Learning English at University Level in Bangladesh: Necessities, Approaches and Challenges

Both English language teaching and learning are overwhelmingly in practice in Bangladesh, for English is a compulsory subject up to grade twelve in the education system of the country. Moreover, majority of the public and private jobs select prospective candidates on the basis of their proficiencies in English here. As a result, students belonging to multifarious academic, social, religious and economic backgrounds opt for learning English, which is why the magnitude of the number of English teaching institutions and teachers is also quite staggering across the country. Consequently, teaching English in the context of Bangladesh encounters numerous issues some of which are cooperating but many of which are hindering to the process. That is why, teaching and learning English in Bangladesh demand some considerations into the incorporation of the lessons on social justice not only for the academic excellence of the learners but also for ingraining among them the senses of equality, fraternity, tolerance, kindness, empathy, confidence and all the good attributes that are imperative for bringing positive changes into the classrooms as well as the community. Accordingly, this study aims at exploring the views of the English language instructors at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh relating to the necessity of, pragmatic approaches to and possible challenges in implementing social justice in English language education. This research also focuses on identifying what sorts of changes take place among the English as a foreign language (EFL) learners while they go through lessons on English language skills embellished with the teachings of social justice. Furthermore, the study ventures for discovering how the English language teachers and students at the university level in Bangladesh react to and expect about social justice education in EFL classrooms. Pedagogically, this research attempts to come up with effective approaches to incorporate the knowledge of social justice into English language education and succeed in effectuating significant transformations among the EFL learners in Bangladesh.