AN OPINION SURVEY ON ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION AT BENGALI-MEDIUM JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL IN WEST BENGAL.

Present study was a descriptive field survey with a researcher-made opinionnaire in order to investigate whether students of Bengali-medium schools under WBBSE prefer English as the medium of instruction and to vindicate the nature of such preferences. The target population of the study was the junior high school students of Bengali – medium schools under the curriculum of WBBSE in the state of West Bengal. Convenience sampling technique under non-probability sampling method was used in order to make a sample size (N) of 850 students in total. Two sub samples were formed with equal number of participants, namely, n1 = 425 from rural districts and n2 = 425 from urban city. Findings of the study revealed that irrespective of socio-cultural differences and divergences of locality, participant students preferred English as medium of classroom instruction. The study finally determined the nature of such preferences.