Rafi, Abu Saleh Mohammad (2023) Language weaponization, missed opportunities, and transformational spaces in Bangladeshi English departments: A biographical perspective. In: Bryan, Kisha C., and Pentón Herrera, Luis Javier, (eds.) The Weaponizing of Language in the Classroom and Beyond. Language and Social Life, 28 . De Gruyter, Berlin, Germany, pp. 13-34.

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Abstract

This chapter examines how Bangladeshi English departments promote Anglo-normative practices by weaponizing the English language, and how they could benefit from the shifting paradigms of English departments in England. I employ a biographical perspective to draw on my experience as an English major, English teacher, and critical applied linguist. I also provide a retrospective analysis of the linguistic, economic, and political factors that led me to enroll in an English department in Bangladesh and, later, England. Next, I discuss how my expectations and accomplishments as an English department student and teacher were met and denied. Throughout the chapter, I point out the ways in which teachers and students in Bangladesh are affected by the linguistic, cultural, and ideological dimensions of weaponization. I conclude this chapter by recommending changes to improve linguistic and cultural inclusivity in Bangladeshi English departments.

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