ABSTRACT
The global status of English has meant that English language education policy and development projects often promote the idea that an important role of English language teaching in Bangladesh is to support the economic development of the country. In this chapter, we draw on findings from two research projects to discuss critically the local ideologies of English and economic development in the context of Bangladesh. Our findings from the first study, conducted among rural Bangladeshis, show that while the participants associate English generally with social and global participations, employment, and economic migration, many of the perceived needs of English in the rural community are rather basic educational needs in the mother tongue. Our findings from the other study, following up the first one, among a group of returnee economic migrants show that English has useful functional value for the Bangladeshi migrant workers, but that depending on factors like domains, contexts, and interlocutors, is complexly embedded in the linguistic ecology of the Middle East. Based on the findings of the two projects, we argue that English language aspirations and interventions for development should be multilingually aligned and be aware of global and local structural forces influencing English and economic success links.
