Raqib Chowdhury
Dr Raqib Chowdhury taught English literature at the University of Dhaka (Bangladesh) from 1997 to 2004 as Lecturer and Assistant Professor, and then joined the Monash Faculty of Education upon completing his PhD here in 2008.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in English, a Master's degree in English Literature and a Master's degree in Education (TESOL) and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In his doctoral thesis he investigated how vested interest groups - such as universities and governments - construct and understand the term 'international' to establish the so-called 'needs' of international students in Australia and how such understanding is promoted for largely implicit commercial and hegemonic reasons. He is author of Desiring TESOL and International Education: Market Abuse and Exploitation (Multilingual Matters, 2014) and has published widely in the areas of TESOL and ELT, culture and pedagogy, English teacher education, international education, social justice and identity. Raqib has been invited as Keynote Speaker and Visiting Scholar at several international conferences and universities and he delivers seminars and workshops overseas for graduate research students on a regular basis.
His recent edited books are Engaging in Educational Research: Revisiting Policy and Practice in Bangladesh (Springer, 2018), Equity, Identity and Social Justice in Asia Pacific Education (Monash University Publishing, 2019), and Transformation and Empowerment through Education: Reconstructing Teaching and Learning (Routledge, 2019). His latest book is The Privatisation of Higher Education in Postcolonial Bangladesh: The Politics of Intervention and Control (Routledge, 2021).
Raqib received two Monash University Vice-Chancellor's Social Inclusion Awards in 2010 (Winner) and 2011 (Commendation), as well as the Dean's Award for Programs That Enhance Learning in 2012. In 2003 he won the Dean's Award for Outstanding Research Publication in the Faculty of Arts, Dhaka University, where he was teaching at the time.
In 2023, Raqib received the Monash Education Dean’s Excellence Award for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, the President’s Commemorative Medal from Vietnam National University, the Rector’s Distinguished Scholar Award from the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam and was nominated as Monash Graduate Association Supervisor of the Year.
Raqib has supervised 16 PhD students to completion and is currently supervising seven. He is involved in a number of international collaborative projects involving Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and China on the themes of higher education reform, teacher training and professional development, and research capacity building.
Raqib is recognised as an Indonesian Expert with the Monash Herb Feith Indonesian Engagement Centre.
Phone: +61 3 9905 5396
Address: Faculty of Education
19 Ancora Imparo Way
Monash University
Clayton VIC 3800
He holds a Bachelor's degree in English, a Master's degree in English Literature and a Master's degree in Education (TESOL) and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In his doctoral thesis he investigated how vested interest groups - such as universities and governments - construct and understand the term 'international' to establish the so-called 'needs' of international students in Australia and how such understanding is promoted for largely implicit commercial and hegemonic reasons. He is author of Desiring TESOL and International Education: Market Abuse and Exploitation (Multilingual Matters, 2014) and has published widely in the areas of TESOL and ELT, culture and pedagogy, English teacher education, international education, social justice and identity. Raqib has been invited as Keynote Speaker and Visiting Scholar at several international conferences and universities and he delivers seminars and workshops overseas for graduate research students on a regular basis.
His recent edited books are Engaging in Educational Research: Revisiting Policy and Practice in Bangladesh (Springer, 2018), Equity, Identity and Social Justice in Asia Pacific Education (Monash University Publishing, 2019), and Transformation and Empowerment through Education: Reconstructing Teaching and Learning (Routledge, 2019). His latest book is The Privatisation of Higher Education in Postcolonial Bangladesh: The Politics of Intervention and Control (Routledge, 2021).
Raqib received two Monash University Vice-Chancellor's Social Inclusion Awards in 2010 (Winner) and 2011 (Commendation), as well as the Dean's Award for Programs That Enhance Learning in 2012. In 2003 he won the Dean's Award for Outstanding Research Publication in the Faculty of Arts, Dhaka University, where he was teaching at the time.
In 2023, Raqib received the Monash Education Dean’s Excellence Award for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, the President’s Commemorative Medal from Vietnam National University, the Rector’s Distinguished Scholar Award from the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam and was nominated as Monash Graduate Association Supervisor of the Year.
Raqib has supervised 16 PhD students to completion and is currently supervising seven. He is involved in a number of international collaborative projects involving Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and China on the themes of higher education reform, teacher training and professional development, and research capacity building.
Raqib is recognised as an Indonesian Expert with the Monash Herb Feith Indonesian Engagement Centre.
Phone: +61 3 9905 5396
Address: Faculty of Education
19 Ancora Imparo Way
Monash University
Clayton VIC 3800
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Books by Raqib Chowdhury
https://www.academia.edu/38445446/Identy_equity_and_social_justic_-_Lilly_-_Raqib_Final.pdf
Invited Keynotes by Raqib Chowdhury
Teachers themselves on the other hand often complain of having little time or energy left for research because of heavy workload as well as a lack of extrinsic rewards for research-based activities. Why should teachers do research when they are already overwhelmed with the daily tasks of teaching and other school commitments?
Yet school teachers are indeed not just capable of doing research but are already involved in the same intellectual engagement as researchers - such as participating in everyday practices of reflective inquiry on their teaching performance and classroom interaction. These activities however are not acknowledged as research, often because the engagement is ‘casual’, undocumented and not subjected to the critical scrutiny of other teachers.
The intellectual pursuit of learning about new theories and approaches of teaching and learning, keeping abreast of current research through reading journals and conducting action research on a regular basis are no longer activities confined to the publish-or-perish dictum of university academics. In a world of an increasing awareness of equity, access and social justice, research becomes our responsibility in our pursuit to achieve the best outcomes for all. As researchers it is also crucial to disseminate our work to a wider audience and to see it as an integral part of our own ongoing professional development.
This paper looks into the importance of research to improve teaching and how it facilitates teachers into forming collaborative partnerships with their peers in integrating research into their everyday practices. It highlights why and how research needs to be the foundation upon which our everyday pedagogical practices should be built upon and informed by, because it is only through research that we can live up to the promises we have espoused as teachers.
In addressing such complexities, the presentation will also discuss how, as much as our personal biases can have a detrimental effect on our research, when used judiciously, they can also be a fruitful and unique resource in understanding social phenomena. We look at ways in which we can develop a critical disposition as learner and educators, one that makes our engagement with learning and research not only more meaningful, but one that opens up unique avenues that lead to higher order thinking and innovation. Given the continuing preference for and predominance of quantitative research in developing countries, this presentation will also highlight how qualitative research can yield outcomes that resonate more with the major preoccupations of contemporary educational research such as empowerment, equity and the need for social justice.
This presentation problematises the dangers of homogenising and thus oversimplifying the needs of our students as ‘typical’ EFL learners. Despite its wide practice, the idea of one-size-fits-all instruction has been criticised as not just ineffective but socially unjust and inequitable. As educators, today we need to be aware of the social justice agenda of our profession, adopting a more responsive approach with differentiated instruction – one that allows teachers to accommodate and build on students' diverse learning needs by acknowledging and respecting their individual differences.
A differentiated approach to teaching allows us to recognise how the composition of our classrooms has changed due to not only technology and socio-economics, but because of the needs of students with various physical and learning disabilities, life experiences, learning preferences, personal interests, as well as varying levels of readiness. To that extent, the provision of differentiation essentially becomes a prerequisite for fairness and equal opportunities to learn, which maximises students’ learning.
This presentation will offer ideas on our core agenda of providing equitable, socially just and fair learning opportunities to all students and allow us to move towards a more dynamic curriculum in which diversity is valued through the adoption of a differentiated instruction approach. The presentation also discusses some of the mechanics of managing a differentiated classroom and the practicalities of ensuring this within the confines of state-regulated curriculum and assessment. In particular, we look at the EFL environment in Indonesia and consider how to adopt a balanced approach between individualised instruction and teaching uniformly in a time of great academic diversity in contemporary classrooms.
Papers by Raqib Chowdhury
https://www.academia.edu/38445446/Identy_equity_and_social_justic_-_Lilly_-_Raqib_Final.pdf
Teachers themselves on the other hand often complain of having little time or energy left for research because of heavy workload as well as a lack of extrinsic rewards for research-based activities. Why should teachers do research when they are already overwhelmed with the daily tasks of teaching and other school commitments?
Yet school teachers are indeed not just capable of doing research but are already involved in the same intellectual engagement as researchers - such as participating in everyday practices of reflective inquiry on their teaching performance and classroom interaction. These activities however are not acknowledged as research, often because the engagement is ‘casual’, undocumented and not subjected to the critical scrutiny of other teachers.
The intellectual pursuit of learning about new theories and approaches of teaching and learning, keeping abreast of current research through reading journals and conducting action research on a regular basis are no longer activities confined to the publish-or-perish dictum of university academics. In a world of an increasing awareness of equity, access and social justice, research becomes our responsibility in our pursuit to achieve the best outcomes for all. As researchers it is also crucial to disseminate our work to a wider audience and to see it as an integral part of our own ongoing professional development.
This paper looks into the importance of research to improve teaching and how it facilitates teachers into forming collaborative partnerships with their peers in integrating research into their everyday practices. It highlights why and how research needs to be the foundation upon which our everyday pedagogical practices should be built upon and informed by, because it is only through research that we can live up to the promises we have espoused as teachers.
In addressing such complexities, the presentation will also discuss how, as much as our personal biases can have a detrimental effect on our research, when used judiciously, they can also be a fruitful and unique resource in understanding social phenomena. We look at ways in which we can develop a critical disposition as learner and educators, one that makes our engagement with learning and research not only more meaningful, but one that opens up unique avenues that lead to higher order thinking and innovation. Given the continuing preference for and predominance of quantitative research in developing countries, this presentation will also highlight how qualitative research can yield outcomes that resonate more with the major preoccupations of contemporary educational research such as empowerment, equity and the need for social justice.
This presentation problematises the dangers of homogenising and thus oversimplifying the needs of our students as ‘typical’ EFL learners. Despite its wide practice, the idea of one-size-fits-all instruction has been criticised as not just ineffective but socially unjust and inequitable. As educators, today we need to be aware of the social justice agenda of our profession, adopting a more responsive approach with differentiated instruction – one that allows teachers to accommodate and build on students' diverse learning needs by acknowledging and respecting their individual differences.
A differentiated approach to teaching allows us to recognise how the composition of our classrooms has changed due to not only technology and socio-economics, but because of the needs of students with various physical and learning disabilities, life experiences, learning preferences, personal interests, as well as varying levels of readiness. To that extent, the provision of differentiation essentially becomes a prerequisite for fairness and equal opportunities to learn, which maximises students’ learning.
This presentation will offer ideas on our core agenda of providing equitable, socially just and fair learning opportunities to all students and allow us to move towards a more dynamic curriculum in which diversity is valued through the adoption of a differentiated instruction approach. The presentation also discusses some of the mechanics of managing a differentiated classroom and the practicalities of ensuring this within the confines of state-regulated curriculum and assessment. In particular, we look at the EFL environment in Indonesia and consider how to adopt a balanced approach between individualised instruction and teaching uniformly in a time of great academic diversity in contemporary classrooms.
Thank you Jennifer Lund for your review of our work!!!!!
This book offers an insightful and critical look at how the teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) industry has become a commodity for universities in this era of globalization. Taking a post-colonial stance, the authors consider the global role of English and, more pointedly, the role of universities with large numbers of international students studying in teacher training programs in countries where English is regarded as the dominant language. The chapters are organized to first problematize international study abroad programs and their connection with globalization, colonialism, and various discourses. Then, the authors introduce their theoretical framework to explain the interplay between power, knowledge, and individual subjectivity, which they claim has the potential to create " desire " to position oneself within the field of TESOL. Subsequent chapters provide concrete ways in which international students in these teacher training programs may choose to appropriate or resist the label of other often assigned to them. The view of the international student as consumer and TESOL course material as product is emphasized. For scholars of poststructuralism and postmodernism, Chapter 2 features relevant ideas of several key theorists, including an explanation of Foucault's concept of archaeology used prominently in this text as an instrument to " extract " and examine fragments of students' .....
Using a case study this study looks at why and how parents implement Family Language Policies and the complexity of their connection to domicile and identity. The research involved mothers from Russia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Indonesia who were living in Melbourne at the time of the study. The data were collected through three rounds of in-depth semi-structured individual interviews with each parent over a period of three months, exploring the rationales, strategies, and behaviours of FLP implementation. In analysing data, cross-case comparisons were made to identify possible correspondence between contextual variables and FLP choice.
It was found that families living outside their home countries would often impose upon their children to speak their heritage language in fear of language loss, although the level of implementation of heritage language use in the family context significantly varied. While some families used the heritage language exclusively, others let English freely intervene the use of heritage language at home.
This study establishes the nature of correlation between their domicile status - whether families were living temporarily or permanently - and the adoption of a particular language ideology. The notion of different FLP choice between families with temporary residence and permanent residence status develops because of the analysis on the future prospects of the heritage language maintenance that the families are confronted with.
1. Desiring TESOL and international education", by Raqib Chowdhury and Phan Le-Ha , London, Multilingual Matters, 2014, 288 pp., £29.95 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-783-09147-8; and
2. Transnational education crossing ‘Asia’ and ‘the West’, by Phan LeHa, New York, Routledge, 2017, 260 pp., £36.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-13860460-5
The review essay is published in International Studies in Sociology of Education.
Published online: 15 April 2019.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09620214.2019.1601583