Cultural Imperialism in English in English Medium Schools

Abstract

English Medium Schools (henceforth EMSs) do not help to practice Bangladeshi culture when they teach English language and therefore seem to be culturally imperialistic (Haque, 2009). English language is replacing or displacing other languages (Phillipson, 1992: 27). A language is mingled with a culture (Ccnagarajah, 1999; Iredale in Phillipson 1992: 11). So, technically, it is replacing Bangladeshi culture as well. The students of EMSs follow British curriculum and read books written by foreigners based on foreign context (Haque, 2009). As a result, students, studying in EMSs of Bangladesh learn about western tradition, geography, history, political and cultural background, leaving out Bangladeshi resources( e. g. history, geography, literature and so on). For the sake of teaching good English, the schools follow some strategies which seem to hamper the practice of Bangla language and culture. Students of the English Medium schools seem to have little knowledge of Bangladeshi culture and history (Kamol, 2009). As a consequence of being detached from Bangladeshi language and culture, these students are becoming half foreigners, half Bangalees (Al-Qudarie, 2010). So, they seem to be guests in their own house. Data was collected from ten EMSs from Dhaka. A questionnaire survey (having both close and open ended questions) was carried out on 400 students and twenty English teachers were interviewed. Theoretical framework was based on Phillipson’s (1992) theory of linguistic and cultural imperialism. The explanation of the relation between language and culture was taken from Canagarajah (1999) and Modiano( 2001). From the findings of the study, it was revealed that the students of EMSs are much more attracted to western culture than that of Bangladesh. They (the students) follow the western way of life—from greetings to dressing, food habit to recreation, books to movie and from sports to gesture. Everywhere the choices of the students seem to be confined to western culture.