by Md. Abu Bakkar (Author)
Abstract: Teaching methods have long been treated as the primary determinant of learning outcomes in English language teaching (ELT). This study examines how learner individuality and learning pace relate to English language achievement and task-based performance among secondary students in Bangladesh, a context in which classroom instruction typically blends communicative and grammar-translation elements rather than implementing either in isolation. The study adopted a convergent mixed-methods design involving 120 students from Grades 8-10 (40 per grade; class sizes ranging from 35 to 45) in one government-regulated secondary school. Quantitative data were collected through a general pre-test and post-test of English achievement and through a speaking task and a translation task completed by all participating students. Qualitative data were gathered through classroom observations, reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews. Paired-samples t-tests showed statistically significant improvement in post-test scores across all three grades (all p < .001); the associated effect sizes (Cohen's dz) were unusually large because individual gain scores varied little around a consistent mean improvement of approximately 19 points, a pattern that is explained in full, together with the underlying formulas, software, and robustness checks. Across all grades, translation-task scores were consistently higher than speaking-task scores by an equally consistent margin; because these two tasks assess different language constructs (accuracy-focused written translation versus spontaneous oral communicative production) using different scoring criteria, and because class-level instructional-method membership was not retained as an analytic variable, this pattern is interpreted as a difference between task types rather than as evidence that one instructional method is more effective than another. Qualitative analysis identified four interrelated themes: learner motivation, confidence, and willingness to participate; learning pace and classroom constraints; the influence of examination orientation on learning behaviour; and the differential benefits that communicative and grammar-focused activities offered to different learners. Together, the findings suggest that instructional activities function as supportive tools whose relationship with learning outcomes is shaped by learner individuality, learning pace, and assessment orientation, rather than as an overriding determinant of outcomes in itself. Implications include a need for post-method, principled-eclectic pedagogy, differentiated instruction, more balanced assessment, and teacher training to support diverse learners in examination-oriented contexts such as Bangladesh. Given the single-school context, the absence of a class-level instructional-group comparison, and the short intervention period, the findings should be interpreted as context-sensitive and descriptive rather than as a causal or generalisable comparison of teaching-method effectiveness.
Keywords: teaching methods, learner individuality, learning pace, mixed-methods research, post-method pedagogy, secondary education, Bangladesh, task-based assessment, Communicative Language Teaching, Grammar Translation Method
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