Letter of Intent
John Paul Shimanto Sarkar

I am John from Bangladesh. I have completed my Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in 2019 from Brac University with a CGPA of 3.81 (out of 4) with a minor thesis titled “English Medium Instruction in a Private University in Bangladesh:
A Phenomenological Inquiry” which is currently under review for publication at the journal “The Qualitative Report”. I have received a Vice – Chancellor’s Gold Medal Award for my efforts in the MA in TESOL degree from Brac University. I have a Bachelor of Arts in English majoring in English Language & Linguistics from American International University Bangladesh (AIUB) in 2016 with a CGPA of 3.74 (out of 4) where I have received another Vice – Chancellor’s Gold Medal for my efforts. My professional work experience consists of working as an Elementary level English teacher for one year at an international school in Dhaka, followed by working as a Lecturer at Brac University Institute of Language (BIL) for a year. My responsibilities as both a teacher at the elementary level and as a lecturer consisted of materials design and development, assessment & evaluation, and classroom
teaching. During my time at Brac University, I was part of several materials review team, materials development team, and took part in various professional development workshops.

The country of my origins, Bangladesh, is a quite poor, not so well-planned and a flawed infrastructural state. Several reasons motivate me to study a Masters of Educational Administration that relates both to my personal and my nation’s gains. Being a third world nation in South Asia, various flaws that run deep into its infrastructure crippled the country, and language education is one sector that is severely affected due to this. English language education has had a proverbial impact on the development of nations that initially did not have English as a dominant language (ESL/EFL territory) such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, etc. In Bangladesh, English education has different exposure, and
prioritization of English language education has fluctuated due to political reflux and short-sightedness of the nation. At times, the country placed English language education at the top of its priorities but implemented with critical flaws. The lack of planning, allotment of
resources multiplied with incorrect ideology, and painfully backdated implementation techniques and strategies led to an awful language education scenario. The curriculum set for English language education was deeply flawed as there was no clear-cut instruction regarding medium of instruction. All of the problems rooted from the executive level of knowledge, and this had a ripple effect in the entire country’s education system.

The little amount of work done in the educational field of the country has further restricted the nation’s insight into the educational niches, including English language teaching-learning. I hold the lack of knowledge and educational administration’s poor insight accountable for the lack of development in language education. My proposed project for the Masters of Educational Administration at the University of Saskatchewan underlines a detailed investigation into the medium of instruction implementation in higher education scenario in Bangladesh that focuses on teachers’, students’ and the parents’ perceptions regarding English Medium usage. I believe that this study will be beneficial to the industry executives, curriculum, and policy planners at the administrative level to consider these stakeholder’s perceptions while formulating any micro and macro-level policy regarding English language education. As for my benefit, I believe that being able to conduct high-profile research under the supervision of a faculty at the University of Saskatchewan, while attaining a research-based degree will be a massive boost to my profile. It would allow me to remain in the research area interest of my own –curriculum and instruction; while providing me with the opportunity of exploring peripheral fields such as leadership, identity, and teacher education. The University of Saskatchewan is my preferred destination for a higher education degree in Canada. The available supervisors of my field, I believe, are of excellent caliber under whom I feel I can excel. The university currently boasts a QS ranking of 439 globally and has shown a very high research output that puts it at the top tier of Canadian universities. The state-of-the-art facilities provided by the university is sure to enable me to generate cutting edge research in the field of education. Apart from the academic side, I am a firm believer in extracurricular activities, especially in sports. The university has a top-notch sports and physical activity facilities is another aspect that attracts me.

Even though I specialized as an English teacher, I hold deep regard towards research based on language-related education. I want to be an educational researcher in my country so that I can make a difference in my country’s educational administration. While being a practicing teacher of English education at the tertiary level because that would allow me to be at the forefront of the scenario of language education policy and its implementation within the country’s border and help identify flaws that hamper the country’s growth. As for the completion timetable for my research project, I will need 18 months or roughly a little over three semesters to produce a complete thesis work. The proposed work will complete within the first six months of commencement of the degree. Data collection will take another three to four months, roughly a semester. The further chapters, such as data
analysis, data finding, discussion, and conclusion, will require an additional semester to finish. The final thesis will be ready to be presented to the defense counsel by the middle of the fourth semester. All of this is, however, tentative as further discussion with my assigned supervisor will determine the actual timeline.