ICT in Facilitating Tertiary-level English: A Note on the Prospect of BSMRSTU

Abstract

Bangladesh has three basic levels of education: primary, secondary, and tertiary. English is taught as a mandatory subject/course at all levels. This is the only language through which people can get information from one part of the world to another. The 21st century has witnessed tremendous growth in information technology. Technology is used in medicine, business, agriculture, airlines, education, and what not. The government of Bangladesh enacted a policy in 2009 to use ICT for multivariate purposes. The policy makers aspire to impart education at all levels through the use of modern technology. This is why the curriculum has been updated. CALL (Computer-assisted language learning) and MALL (Mobile-assisted language learning) have become generic approaches in teaching and learning. To teach English, several computer-based programs and mobile-based applications can be utilized. This paper investigates the prospects of such measures in the context of BSMRSTU (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University). Participants were selected from the students of foundational English courses who are taught using the traditional classroom set-up. Through interviews and focused group discussions, the study diagnoses some pressing pedagogical problems that hinder effective teaching and learning and proposes that technology can be a probable solution in this regard.