This empirical study is focused on cultural differences between worldview
perspectives of Bangladeshi eight- and nine-graders of a particular type of
educational institutions teaching national curriculum in English medium of
instruction and the worldview perspectives of the students of other Bangladeshi
schools to test widely spread belief that foreign medium of instruction alone do
inflict evolving native cultural values and beliefs of adolescents though in lesser
degree than as a vehicle for a foreign curriculum. The entire idea of the study is
rested on the assumption that students from different types of schools practically are
growing in distinct sociocultural milieus and, subsequently, are developing from
slightly- to moderately different perceptions of real social context. A quantitative
survey via attitude questionnaire was conducted for 960 eight- and nine-graders
(420 females and 540 males) from 11 Bangladeshi schools of both urban and rural
context. To elicit the attitudes of the respondents in six Hofstede’s dimensions of
national culture, the Values Survey Module (VSM 94 and VSM 08) was utilized as
a main framework with minimal modifications to the age and occupation of targeted
population. Data obtained, were grouped, averaged and compared through four
population subsamples defined by different linguistic and learning environments.
Research indicates that: a) English Version school-sections do contribute to
divergent cultural perceptions of their students even more than international schools
(following foreign curricula in English) do; b) the embodiment of traditional
cultural values does progress with little difference of intensity and degree in
teenagers of the same nation (i.e. Bangladeshi) but from diverse sociocultural
milieus; c) neither English medium of instruction nor a combination of foreign
curriculum and English medium play a decisive role in transformation of students’
cultural values.