Postmethod Pedagogy and English Language Teaching in Bangladesh: Challenges and Potentials

Abstract

Postmethod pedagogy is a recent development in language teaching and learning that emerged after the failure of different methods tried from the classical times till the mid-90s.The idea was developed first by Kumaravadivelu in 1994. Different methods came in and went out of fashion without the desired learning outcome. In 1989 the very concept of method began to face serious criticisms for their “one-size-fits-all” type “Cookie-cutter” approach of language teaching which presents a preselected package of language teaching for all situations which fail to take into account the local knowledge and understanding of local culture and context (particularities). Postmethod pedagogy works through its three pedagogical Parameters: (i) The Parameter of Particularity, (ii) The Parameter of Practicality and the (iii) Parameter of Possibility. In other words, it advocates for devising a context-sensitive bottom-up pedagogy that is solely based on the local understanding of a particular context and connects language with the socio-political reality of teachers and learners. The research questions of the study have been: (i) What are the limitations of the concept of method and the methods Era and what factors lead to the emergence of the idea of Postmethod pedagogy? (ii) What are the key features and parameters of Postmethod pedagogy? (iii) What are the realities (“Particularities”) of English teaching-learning culture and context of Bangladesh? And (iv) What would be the pedagogic potentials of and challenges for implementing the parameter of “Practicality’’ and “Possibility” in Bangladesh? The study examines the idea of Postmethod condition and the theoretical underpinning of Postmethod condition and the key features of Postmethod pedagogy, with special emphasis on its three pedagogic parameters and the pedagogic tools (macrostrategies) through library research. The empirical research in this study focuses on the particularities of teachers and learners with reference to their experience, beliefs, expectations, learning style preferences, learning strategies, teaching-learning situation, testing and evaluation and so on. A brief theoretical discussion regarding the teaching learning situation, material evaluation and also testing and evaluation and their impact on learners have been done in the study.