Bangladesh is predominantly a monolingual country. Most of the people speak Bangla. Though there is no officially designated second language, English is being widely used in non-government offices, in judicial documents and in electronic and print media. English is also widely used in higher education.

This critical study of the English language assessment intends to help the English language question setters, examiners, language assessment researchers, policy makers and other stake holders at all levels of English language assessment in Bangladesh. This study will also have the potential to contribute into the large body of existing literature on language assessment by bringing the Bangladeshi context.

English language has been taught as a compulsory subject at all levels of education in Bangladesh. In the primary level (class1-class5) students study an English language course for 100 marks. In the secondary level (class 6 –class10) two English language courses (English 1st paper and English 2nd paper) are taught for total 200marks. At the higher secondary level (class11&12) again students study two English language courses for two years for 100 marks each. English language is also taught as an obligatory subject for 100 marks for all majors in all public and private universities and honours level colleges.

Besides sitting for a year-end exam after every year, students have to sit for a public examination where they have to compete with other students of other schools or colleges under each education boards. For the primary, secondary and the higher secondary levels the English language assessment is done by eight education boards across the country. Students of each education boards have to sit for a public examination on English subjects at the end of every academic level. Though there are different question papers for different education boards, students of the same education board are tested by the same question paper. However, the assessment system at the tertiary level is