Choosing the Medium of Instruction in a Mixed-Language Classroom
A government college in a district town has 120 first-year students in two sections. Section A (72 students) came through Bangla-medium secondary schools; Section B (48 students) came through English-version schools, though 30 of them speak Bangla at home. The English lecturer must cover a 14-week syllabus and has one shared question paper at the end. In the last term, the same lecturer taught entirely in English: Section A's pass rate was 61% and Section B's was 88%. When a colleague taught entirely in Bangla, Section A rose to 84% and Section B fell to 70%. The principal wants one consistent policy for both sections, and the students' parents have complained that switching languages mid-course confuses their children. The lecturer has 4 contact hours per week per section and no assistant.
1. Should the lecturer adopt a single language of instruction for both sections, or differentiate? Justify your recommendation using the pass-rate data and the constraints given.
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Differentiate, but within a defensible common framework.
Evidence: The data show an interaction effect, not a main effect. English-only favours Section B (88 vs 61, a 27-point gap); Bangla-only favours Section A (84 vs 70, a 14-point gap). No single language maximises both. Under English-only the weighted average is (72×61 + 48×88)/120 ≈ 71.8%; under Bangla-only it is (72×84 + 48×70)/120 ≈ 78.4%. So Bangla-only is better on aggregate, but it still leaves 30% of Section B failing.
Constraint check: One shared question paper means the content and terminology must be common, but the explanation language need not be. Four contact hours and no assistant rule out duplicating full lessons.
Recommendation: Teach core concepts in Bangla for Section A with English technical terms always written on the board; teach in English for Section B but gloss key concepts in Bangla. Keep a shared glossary and identical assessment tasks so the common paper remains fair. This respects the parents' concern by fixing the language per section for the whole term rather than switching mid-lesson.
2. A parent insists that using Bangla in Section A will disadvantage students in the national English examination. How should the lecturer respond, and what safeguard should be built in?
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The lecturer should separate comprehension from examination performance.
Response to the parent: Bangla is used to explain concepts, not to replace English. Every lesson still requires students to read, write and answer in English; the board carries English terms; and all assessments remain in English. The evidence supports this: Section A's pass rate under Bangla-medium teaching was 84%, higher than 61% under English-only, so comprehension support is raising, not lowering, achievement.
Safeguard: Build in a weekly English-writing task (short answers, 5–8 sentences) marked for subject terminology, plus one full mock paper in English at week 8. Track Section A's mock scores against Section B's. If the gap exceeds roughly 10 percentage points on the English production tasks, increase English writing practice rather than removing Bangla explanation. This keeps the bilingual support accountable and prevents it from becoming a crutch.