http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/20 2026-04-07T07:14:57Z http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/4806 A Comparative Analysis between Rural and Urban Students’ Performance in Speaking English at the SSC level in Bangladesh Akter, Fatema English has achieved the status of most learned and studied language in the world. In Bangladesh, English is taught as a subject from primary to higher secondary level and the objective of the curriculum in secondary level is to develop learners’ communicative competence. Among the four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing), speaking is one of the most fundamental skills for achieving communicative competence. The development of learners’ speaking skill is influenced by several factors. This study aims at finding out the institutional, socio-economic, affective and linguistic factors that impact the development of speaking skill at the SSC level in Bangladesh. Besides, it makes a comparative analysis between rural and urban students’ performance in speaking English as well as determines the reasons behind the difference in speaking performance. The study was conducted in mixed method approach by following convergent parallel design. The data were collected from 10 ELT classroom, 200 students and 20 teachers of secondary schools in Noakhali district and Dhaka city. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected using questionnaires, speaking test, semi-structured interview and classroom observation checklist. The quantitative data was analyzed by using Microsoft Excel, SPSS 25 Version, and AMOS 26. Besides, simple statistics like frequency, mean, and percentage have been employed throughout the study. The qualitative data was analyzed using both content analysis and thematic analysis approach. The findings from the data analysis reveal that though socio-economic, affective and linguistic factors have influence in the development of speaking skill, institutional factors play the most influential role in developing learners’ English speaking skill at the SSC level in Bangladesh. Besides, the findings also affirm that the urban students do better than the rural ones in speaking performance. The main reasons of the difference between rural and urban students’ speaking performance are differences in teachers' qualification, training, and English language proficiency; learners' own linguistic knowledge and psychological issues; parents' education and income; and institutional facilities. The study concludes with some recommendations for the teachers, students, administrators and parents considering the findings of the study and some suggestions for further studies based on the limitations and findings of the study. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy. 2026-03-04T00:00:00Z http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/4734 Pablo Neruda’s Contribution to Marxist Aesthetics Talukder, Tusar Pablo Neruda underwent a transformation from a love poet to a solitary and dejected one and then to a committed one during his formative years. Precisely after he had come in close contact with the key figures of the Spanish intelligentsia, he broke up with his previous interests in romance and romanticism and subsequently embraced communist ideology and politically committed poetry. He published a literary periodical called Green Horse wherein he espoused the concept of “Impure Poetry” in contrast to that of pure poetry that came to the forefront with the catchword of “art for art’s sake” in Europe in the latter half of the 19th century. In addition, his friend Federico Garcia Lorca's assassination by the reactionary forces of Spain considerably changed his political and poetic visions. Alongside this, the onset of the 1937 Spanish Civil War impelled him to respond to the cause of the Spanish masses. His endorsement of the communist ideology helped him condemn the upsurge of international fascism at that time. Through interpreting the poetry of one of his most notable books, Spain in Our Hearts, this dissertation investigates the factors that, in multiple ways, have contributed to Neruda’s emergence as a poet of the people. Furthermore, the poetry of Canto General (1950) and Odes to Common Things (1954) contribute to his development of the Marxist concepts of art, literature, and history, widely known as Marxist aesthetics as a whole. In particular, he blends the philosophy of dialectical materialism with that of historical materialism in the aforementioned books to explore and explain social and political contradictions and tensions across the continent of South America. Firstly, in Canto General (1950), the poet attempts to identify and locate the exploitation and oppression of South American peoples by imperial powers and the capitalist system, on the one hand, and present the struggles of the workers and peasants as part of a more extensive historical process in which opposing forces clash and interact to produce social change, on the other hand. Secondly, in Odes to Common Things, Neruda, on a surface level, celebrates the value of everyday objects of daily life and, on a deeper level, intends to dignify the role of the commoners, whose efforts often go unnoticed in the class systems of society and state. Besides, he uses the Marxist triad of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis to show the upswing of oppressive political and economic structures, and emergence of social revolutions to overthrow the exploiter classes, and the possibility of building a socialist society. He highlights the deliberate omission of the workers’ and liberators' contributions and sacrifices by bourgeois forces and regimes from the textbooks of history, with the aim of misleading future generations of readers and learners. Overall, this dissertation divulges the Talukder v falsification of historical facts that stand as a threat to historicity in a whole continent like South America. This thesis also illustrates how Whitman’s idea of comradery, Quevedo’s satirical poetic style, and Mayakovski’s revolutionary ideas left a myriad of influences on Neruda and his poetry, which, afterwards, founded the basis of his Marxist philosophy. On the whole, it examines Neruda’s contribution to Marxist aesthetics, broadly exposing, on the one hand, the conflicts between the bourgeois and the proletariat as reflected in his poetry and, on the other hand, the inevitability of the proletarian revolution for social and political change that he envisions. Lastly, it argues how Neruda’s world outlook in his works widens and augments the enormous panorama of Marxist ideology and aesthetics. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 2025-11-05T00:00:00Z http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/3596 Idea of Preservation of Nature in Romanticism and Primitivism Munna, Zaheed Alam This Dissertation is submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of Dhaka as Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in English. 2025-02-10T00:00:00Z http://reposit.library.du.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/xmlui/handle/123456789/3595 An Ecocritical Reading of Amitav Ghosh’s Fiction Shahnoor Ameen, Aliya A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Dhaka. 2025-02-09T00:00:00Z