Datafication, Teachers' Dispositions and English Language Teaching in Bangladesh: A Bourdieuian Analysis

Abstract

The use of (test) performance data for governing school and teachers' work, defined as datafication, has emerged as a global trend in education. However, how this trend plays out in relation to English language education in the local context, particularly in developing societies, has not received notable attention. Taking Bangladesh secondary education as a case, and drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's conceptual resources, this study highlights how datafication unfolds in schooling contexts and examines the “relations” between this trend and English language teachers' dispositions and pedagogical practices. The study employs a qualitative case study and draws on principal and teacher interviews, and classroom observation as data sources. Findings reveal that datafication has emerged as a practical logic of the schooling field, guiding schools and teachers' dispositions in specific ways, which contribute to reductive practices. Data also indicate teachers' capacity to mediate between competing logics and innovate practices, which are situated and “local.” Based on these findings, this article argues that understanding the interplay between the specific logics of schooling, language education policy and teachers' structuring dispositions is key not only to understanding the nature of pedagogical practices, but also to establishing meaningful “relations” between policy and schooling practices amid growing datafication.