Abstract
Migration has become a vital element of the Bangladeshi economy, which has led to an increasing focus on providing Bangladeshis with the skills needed on the international labour market. English is often cited as one of these skills, and previous research has shown that a primary reason why Bangladeshis wish to learn English is due to its perceived value for pursuing work abroad (Erling, Elizabeth J., Philip Seargeant, Mike Solly, Qumrul H Chowdhury, & Sayeedur Rahman. 2012. Attitudes to English as a language for international development in rural Bangladesh. London: British Council. Available online at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/attitudes-english-a-language-international-development-rural-bangladesh.). The extent to which English is of value in economic migration, however, has been underexplored in research (Coleman, Hywel. 2010. The English language in development. London: British Council. Available at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/english-language-development.). Drawing on data from a qualitative study which provides new insights into the experiences and perceptions of a cohort of returnee migrants, this article investigates the perceived value of (English) language skills for migration. The study finds that economic migrants see the advantages of having particular skills, especially English, for economic gain. However, applying a capabilities lens to their narratives (Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.) reveals the difficulties of classifying their experiences in terms of “success” given the deeply embedded structural issues and challenges the participants report facing. This article therefore questions assumptions that language skills can be transformational when social inequality is (re)produced in the context of migration.
Funding statement: British Council, Funder Id: 10.13039/501100000308, Grant Number: English Language Teaching Research Award
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the British Council for funding the project in which the data for this article was collected, “English for economic development: A case study of migrant workers from Bangladesh”. We also thank The Open University, the Institute of Modern Languages (IML), University of Dhaka and members of the English in Action project team, who all supported this research and facilitated its undertaking. Our gratitude goes to the participants who generously shared with us their life stories, time and insights, often revealing stories of pain and hardship. We owe a particular debt to the people who provided us with links into the community and guided us through our field visits. Finally, we are grateful to Maria Grazia Imperiale, Ingrid Piller and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript, and to Sayeedur Rahman, Jessica Street and Magdalena Kailbauer for their research assistance.
Appendix 1: Profile of participants
| Name | Gender | Age | Countries worked in | Languages (in addition to Bangla) | Occupations | Duration of stay | Experience of migration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Afia | Female | 42 | Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon | Arabic, Hindi | Domestic worker | 20 years | Mixed |
| 2 | Badol | Male | 26 | UAE | Arabic, English, Hindi | Construction worker, electrician | 3 years | Negative |
| 3 | Bashar | Male | 42 | Oman | Arabic, English, Hindi | Family cook and driver | 23 years | Mixed |
| 4 | Bilkis | Female | 48 | UAE, Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi | Domestic worker | 18 years | Positive |
| 5 | Bulbul | Male | 55 | Saudi Arabia, Singapore, UAE | Arabic, English, Hindi, Malay, Urdu | Farmer, pipeline labourer, assistant cook | 21 years | Positive |
| 6 | Faheem | Male | 57 | Saudi Arabia, Libya, UK | Arabic, English | Pesticide worker | 24 years | Negative |
| 7 | Ferdousi | Female | 58 | Kuwait | Arabic | Domestic worker | 10 years | Mixed |
| 8 | Gofur | Male | 58 | Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi | Driver, gardener | 18 years | Positive |
| 9 | Hafez | Male | 38 | Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Farsi, Hindi | Imam and shopkeeper | 2.5 years | Positive |
| 10 | Hakim | Male | 35 | UAE, Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi | Waiter, cleaner, farmer | 9.3 years | Positive |
| 11 | Hasibul | Male | 48 | Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi | Cleaner, shopkeeper | 6 years | Mixed |
| 12 | Imran | Male | 36 | Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi, Urdu | Air conditioning mechanic | 10 years | Positive |
| 13 | Jahid | Male | 42 | UAE | Arabic, English, Hindi | Domestic worker, security guard | 5 years | Positive |
| 14 | Jamil | Male | 35 | Singapore | Chinese, English, Malay, Tamil | Construction worker, painter | 2.5 years | Mixed |
| 15 | Kaisar | Male | 48 | Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi, Urdu | Driver, cleaner | 7 years | Positive |
| 16 | Kalam | Male | 50 | Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi | Hospital labourer, cook | 7 years | Mixed |
| 17 | Liton | Male | 48 | South Korea, Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi Korean | Catering, pipeline labourer | 6 years | Negative |
| 18 | Monjurul | Male | 55 | Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi, Urdu | Catering | 9.5 years | Positive |
| 19 | Piash | Male | 33 | South Korea | Arabic, English, Korean | Motor mechanic, textile worker | 13 years | Positive |
| 20 | Pijush | Male | 59 | Singapore | English, Hindi | Construction worker, painter | 12.5 years | Mixed |
| 21 | Quader | Male | 38 | Saudi Arabia | Arabic, Hindi, Korean | Juice maker | 3 years | Mixed |
| 22 | Rahat | Male | 33 | Singapore, Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi | Security guard, lift operator, automobile mechanic | 15 years | Mixed |
| 23 | Razzak | Male | 25 | Malaysia, UAE | Arabic, English, Hindi, Malay | Food processing, construction worker | 2.5 years | Mixed |
| 24 | Rina | Female | 46 | Bahrain | Arabic | Domestic worker | 3.5 years | Positive |
| 25 | Shawkat | Male | 62 | Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English | Electric worker, builder | 8 years | Negative |
| 26 | Shihab | Male | 42 | Singapore, Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English, Hindi | Pipeline labourer, welder | 10 years | Mixed |
| 27 | Sobhan | Male | 37 | Kuwait, Saudi Arabia | Arabic, English | Shopkeeper | 10 years | Negative |
References
Afsar, Rita. 2009. Unravelling the vicious cycle of recruitment: Labour migration from Bangladesh to the Gulf States. Geneva: International Labour Office. http://www.ilo.org/global/docs/WCMS_106537/lang--en/index.htmSearch in Google Scholar
Afsar, Rita. 2016. Revisiting the saga of Bangladeshi labour migration to the Gulf States. In P. C. Jain & G. Z. Oommen (eds.), South Asian migration to Gulf Countries: History, policies, development, 157–185. India: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Bonfati, Sara. 2014. Towards a migrant-centred perspective on international migration: The contribution of Amartya Sen’s capability approach. Social Work and Society International Online Journal 12(2). http://www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/411.Search in Google Scholar
Buchenau, Juan. 2008. Migration, remittances and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh: Report and proposal. Dhaka:United Nations Development Program.Search in Google Scholar
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). 2018. Overseas employment and remittances from 1976 to 2017. Available online at: http://www.bmet.gov.bd/BMET/viewStatReport.action?reportnumber=17Search in Google Scholar
Callan, Alyson. 2007. ‘What else do we Bengalis do?’ Sorcery, overseas migration, and the new inequalities in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13(2). 331–343. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00431.x.Search in Google Scholar
Coleman, Hywel. 2010. The English language in development. London: British Council. Available at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/english-language-development.Search in Google Scholar
Chiswick, Brian R. & Miller, Paul W. 1995. The endogeneity between languages and earnings. Journal of Labour Economics 13(2). 246–288.10.1086/298374Search in Google Scholar
Chiswick, Brian R. & Miller, Paul W. 2003. The complementarity of language and other human capital: Immigrant earnings in Canada. Economics of Education review 22(5). 469–480.10.1016/S0272-7757(03)00037-2Search in Google Scholar
Dannecker, Petra. 2009. Rationalities and images underlying labour migration from Bangladesh to Malaysia. International Migration 51(1). 40–60.10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00547.xSearch in Google Scholar
de Haas, Hein. 2014. Migration theory Quo Vadis? International Migration Institute Working Paper 100, https://heindehaas.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/de-haas-2014-imi-wp100-migration-theory-quo-vadis.pdfSearch in Google Scholar
Duchêne, Alexandre, Melissa Moyer, & Celia Roberts. 2013. Language, migration and social inequalities: A critical sociolinguistic perspective on institutions. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781783091010Search in Google Scholar
Dustmann, Christian, & Arthur van Soest. 2001. Language fluency and earnings: Estimation with misclassified language indicators. Review of Economics and Statistics 83. 663–674.10.1162/003465301753237740Search in Google Scholar
Dustmann, Christian, & Francesca Fabbri. 2003. Language proficiency and labour market performance of immigrants in the UK. Economic Journal 113. 695–717.10.1111/1468-0297.t01-1-00151Search in Google Scholar
Erling, Elizabeth J. 2017. Language planning, English language education and development aid in Bangladesh. Current Issues in Language Planning 18(4). 388–406.10.1080/14664208.2017.1331496Search in Google Scholar
Erling, Elizabeth J, & Tom Power. 2014. Synthesis report: Evidence of the relationship between English and economic gain in Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh: English in Action.Search in Google Scholar
Erling, Elizabeth J, & Philip Seargeant. 2013. English and development: Policy, pedagogy and globalization. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847699473Search in Google Scholar
Erling, Elizabeth J., Philip Seargeant, & Mike Solly. 2014. English in rural Bangladesh: How is language education perceived as a resource for development in rural communities? English Today 30(4). 16–22.10.1017/S0266078414000352Search in Google Scholar
Erling, Elizabeth J., Philip Seargeant, Mike Solly, Qumrul H Chowdhury, & Sayeedur Rahman. 2012. Attitudes to English as a language for international development in rural Bangladesh. London: British Council. Available online at http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/attitudes-english-a-language-international-development-rural-bangladesh.10.21832/9781847699473-008Search in Google Scholar
Froese, Fabian Jintae, Vesa Peltokorpi, & Kyung A Ko. 2012. The influence of intercultural communication on cross-cultural adjustment and work attitudes: Foreign workers in South Korea. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 36(3). 331–342.10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.09.005Search in Google Scholar
Gao, Wenshu, & Russell Smyth. 2011. Economic returns to speaking ‘standard Mandarin’ among migrants in China’s urban labour market. Economics of Education Review 30(2). 342–352.10.1016/j.econedurev.2010.11.002Search in Google Scholar
Guido, Maria Grazia. 2008. English as a lingua franca in cross-cultural immigration domains. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.10.3726/978-3-0351-0664-0Search in Google Scholar
Hassan, Gazi Mainul., Mamta Chowdhury, & Mohammad S Bhuyan. 2016. Growth effects of remittances in Bangladesh: Is there a U‐shaped relationship? International Migration 105–121. doi:10.1111/imig.12242Search in Google Scholar
Heller, Monica. 2010. The commodification of language. Annual Review of Anthropology 39. 01–114. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.104951.Search in Google Scholar
Hultgren, Anna Kristina, J. Erling Elizabeth, & Qumrul Hasan Chowdhury. 2016. Ethics in language and identity research. In S. Preece (ed.), Routledge handbook of language and identity, 257–270. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
International Organization for Migration (IOM). 2015. World Migration Report 2015. IOM: Geneva. http://publications.iom.int/system/files/wmr2015_en.pdfSearch in Google Scholar
Jha, Shikha, Guntur Sugiyarto, & Carlos Vargas-Silva. 2010. The global crisis and the impact on remittances to developing Asia. Global Economic Review 39(1). 59–82.10.1080/12265081003696395Search in Google Scholar
Karim, Zahidul & Ahmed, Mohammad Naveed. 2011. Temporary Movement of Natural Persons (TMNP): Prospects and Constraints of Bangladesh. International Journal of Business and Management 6(2). 77–92. DOI: 10.5539/ijbm.v6n2p77Search in Google Scholar
Lan, Pei-Chia. 2003. ‘They have more money but I speak better English!’ transnational encounters between Filipina domestics and Taiwanese employers. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 10(2). 133–161.10.1080/10702890304325Search in Google Scholar
Mamun, Khawaja A, & Hiranya K Nath. 2010. Workers’ migration and remittances in Bangladesh. Journal of Business Strategies 27(1). 29–52.10.54155/jbs.27.1.29-52Search in Google Scholar
Moses, Jonathon W. 2009. Leaving poverty behind: A radical proposal for developing Bangladesh through emigration. Development Policy Review 27(4). 457–479.10.1111/j.1467-7679.2009.00455.xSearch in Google Scholar
Pavlenko, Aneta. 2007. Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics 28(2). 163–188.10.1093/applin/amm008Search in Google Scholar
Piller, Ingrid. 2016. Linguistic diversity and social justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199937240.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Piller, Ingrid, & Kimie Takahashi. 2010. At the intersection of gender, language and transnationalism. In N. Coupland (ed.), The handbook of language and globalisation, 540–554. Blackwell: Oxford.10.1002/9781444324068.ch24Search in Google Scholar
Preibisch, Kerry, Warren Dodd, & Su Yvonne 2014. Irreconcilable differences? Pursuing the capabilities approach within the global governance of migration. Solidarity. New York: Center. https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Migration.Purusing-the-Capabilities-Approach-within-the-Global-Governance-of-Migration.-Guelph.5.15.pdfSearch in Google Scholar
Prothom-Alo. 2015. They don’t know English and their salaries are also low [translation]. Available online at: http://www.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/article/662377(October 22th, 2015).Search in Google Scholar
Rahman, M.M. 2000. Emigration and development: The case of a Bangladeshi village. International Migration 38(4). 109–130. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2435.00122Search in Google Scholar
Rahman, Mosaddequor Md. 2012. Bangladeshi labour migration to the Gulf States: Patterns of recruitment and processes. Canadian Journal of Development Studies 33(2). 214–230.10.1080/02255189.2012.689612Search in Google Scholar
Rao, Nitya & Hossain, Munshi Israil. 2011. Confronting poverty and educational inequalities: Madrasas as a strategy for contesting dominant literacy in rural Bangladesh. International Journal of Educational Development 31(6). 623–633.10.1016/j.ijedudev.2011.01.012Search in Google Scholar
Riaz, Ali, & Mohammad Sajjadur Rahman. 2016. Introduction. In A. Riaz & M. S. Rahman (eds.), Routledge handbook of contemporary Bangladesh, 1–14. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315651019Search in Google Scholar
Rozario, Santi. 2007. Outside the moral economy? Single female migrants and the changing Bangladeshi family. The Australian Journal of Anthropology 18(2). 154–171. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-9310.2007.tb00086.x10.1111/j.1835-9310.2007.tb00086.xSearch in Google Scholar
Rubdy, Ran, & Sandra Lee McKay. 2013. ‘Foreign workers’ in Singapore: Conflicting discourses, language politics and the negotiation of immigrant identities. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 222. 157–185.10.1515/ijsl-2013-0036Search in Google Scholar
Seargeant, Philip, Elizabeth J. Erling, Mike Solly, & Qumrul H Chowdhury. 2017. The communicative needs of Bangladeshi economic migrants: The functional values of host country languages versus English as a lingua franca. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 6(1). 141–166.10.1515/jelf-2017-0008Search in Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Sharma, Manohar & Zaman, Hassan. 2009. Who migrates overseas and is it worth their while? An assessment of household survey data from Bangladesh. Policy Research Working Paper 5018. The World Bank.10.1596/1813-9450-5018Search in Google Scholar
Shenk, Mary K., Katherine Starkweather, H.C. Kress, & N. Alam. 2013. Does absence matter? A comparison of three types of father absence in rural Bangladesh. Human Nature 24(1). 76–110. doi:10.1007/s12110-013-9160-5.Search in Google Scholar
Siddiqui, Tasneem. 2016. Routledge handbook of contemporary Bangladesh. In A. Riaz & M. S. Rahman (eds.), International labour migration and remittance, 197–206. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315651019-16Search in Google Scholar
Talmy, Steven. 2010. Qualitative interviews in applied linguistics: From research instrument to social practice. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 30. 128–148.10.1017/S0267190510000085Search in Google Scholar
Thang, L. L., E. MacLachlan, & M. Goda. 2002. Expatriates on the margins––A study of Japanese women working in Singapore. Geoforum 33(4). 539–551.10.1016/S0016-7185(02)00042-8Search in Google Scholar
Tikly, Leon. 2016. Language-in-education policy in low-income, postcolonial contexts: Towards a social justice approach. Comparative Education 52(3). 408–425.10.1080/03050068.2016.1185272Search in Google Scholar
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 2016. World leaders adopt ground-breaking plan to address refugee and migrant crisis. https://www.unfpa.org/news/world-leaders-adopt-ground-breaking-plan-address-refugee-and-migrant-crisis(19 Sept).Search in Google Scholar
Verd, Joan M, & Martí López. 2011. The rewards of a qualitative approach to life-course research: The example of the effects of social protection policies on career paths. Forum Qualitative Social Research 12(3). 15.Search in Google Scholar
World Bank. 2015. Data for Bangladesh, Lower middle income. Online. Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/?locations=BD-XN.Search in Google Scholar
World Bank. 2016. Migration and remittance data. Available online at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/migrationremittancesdiasporaissues/brief/migration-remittances-data.Search in Google Scholar
Zaman, Hasanuzzaman, & Mashfique Ibne Akbar. 2013. Exploring non-traditional sources of development finance: The case of remittance in Bangladesh. Progress in Development Studies 13(2). 105–116.10.1177/1464993412466504Search in Google Scholar
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
