Integrating ICT into the teaching of English

Having finished my MA in English, I went to London where I had the opportunity to do PGCE (post graduate certificate in education) from one of the leading universities during my stay there for almost 17 years. During my teaching engagements in a number of inner city schools in London, I gathered invaluable and extensive experience on modern, effective, and stimulating teaching strategies, including a careful integration of ICT to enhance the quality of English teaching.

In my last school, where I was also an ICT coordinator, I had been able to enrich and modernise my teaching experiences to a greater extent. There, to say the least, I realised that teaching of English can be really fun, interactive, and stimulating through contextualised activities supported by very sophisticated audio-visual software and other creative resources.

There are, literally, hundreds of software, teaching aids and mind blowing resources to teach rules of grammar, spellings, punctuations, vocabulary, phonics and phonology, comprehension, improving reading and writing skills, games, puzzles and what not. And all of these skills can be taught easily and effectively using a very innovative teaching tool called interactive whiteboard.

The learners, nowadays, don't need to memorise rules of grammar, vocabulary, spellings, etc any more. Through this ICT-based framework the students/children can interact, investigate to find the rules of grammar and spellings through animated and interactive games without putting any stress on the learners.

I remember quite clearly, when I had my education from primary school up to university in Bangladesh, what I did, like many others, was memorise and memorise without understanding what we were learning. Our teachers were not well trained on interactive and effective teaching strategies to be able to teach us properly to the international standard. The old, ineffective method of teaching and rote learning is still practised widely in almost all schools, colleges, and universities in our country.

As a nation we will never be able to maximise our potentials if the students in our country are not educated to the international standard, particularly if the importance of English language skills are ignored or are not taught using a range of stimulating software and modern teaching aids such as computer, interactive whiteboard, cassettes, DVD, electronic games, and puzzles.

The world has moved on and some countries have taken ICT to a different level altogether, paving the way for the new generation but unfortunately we, in Bangladesh, have not realised the importance of integrating ICT in our daily teachings. Therefore, we are falling behind in the race to compete in the international job market, with our neighbouring countries, let alone developed and western countries.

One other thing that hurts and annoys me most is that our educated graduates and post graduates are not able to speak fluently in English. Why? What seems to be our problem? Is it because we don't have a comprehensive structured syllabus on spoken English? Is it because we don't have trained or qualified teachers to teach English language to the international level? Or don't we have modern resources? Quite simply, the problems are embedded in our pedantic educational system which needs a drastic face-lift or modernisation.

I have spoken to a number of graduates and post graduates who studied English Language, and Literature including ELT students and teachers. To my surprise, they were not fluent in English, nor were they found to be articulate, with persuasive language skills. Ideally and professionally they all should have advanced level of English language skills. Now my question is; what's the point of studying English language and literature if the students don't have the necessary skills of spoken English? Have we done enough to upgrade the quality of education, particularly the teaching of English language?

As far as I know, from primary to master degree, there's no syllabus or curriculum for Spoken English in our country. What we have, invariably, is grammar, comprehension and written English. No room for spoken English which is the most powerful and effective means of communication in the modern era of technology based education and employment.

Is there any one who would be able to tell me, what's the point of studying Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats etc if the students don't have the required basic language skills to appreciate the beauty of literature? No one can deny the fact that one needs to master the language first to be able to comprehend and enjoy highly literary and poetic language of English literature. We need to ensure giving our students the necessary skills of language first, then they will be able to enjoy studying literature.

Not surprisingly, we don't see any children's story, or literature written in English by anyone who has graduated from English department.

May be there are some books written by the students of English language and literature but not many. If the purpose of studying English is to become an ELT, IELTS, TOEFL, TESOL instructor or to be a teacher in English medium schools or lecturer in college and university then, my question is, were the students given any training on teaching of English? Suppose, the students will pursue a career in multinational organisations, banks, or sit for BCS exams, then were the students given any support/training on related English skills? Definitely not.

Quite understandably, it only makes sense to bring a positive change in the teaching of English and its curriculum, making it more job oriented so that the employees can meet up with the global challenges of modern age.

The following suggestions can be taken into consideration to improve the quality of English Language Teaching in our country:

The English curriculum right from primary education needs to be developed/modified with a strong focus on speaking, listening and reading with a structured teaching of phonics and phonology. Assessments/tests to be conducted regularly to monitor the progress on these skills.

Marks would be given or added against those skills. Specialist teachers will train the teacher on teaching, planning and assessment. A set of manageable resources, including books, I-Fly books, software, online teaching and learning resources, would be used to enhance the teachings of English using ICT where necessary and possible.

The young children/students need to read a range of stories, including fairy tales, Aesop's Fables and lots of popular stories and poems available, on CD/DVD and Interactive whiteboard. There are innumerable free resources and assessment opportunities available online which can used to enhance the teaching and learning of not only English but also many other subjects.

In secondary and college level the English curriculum will focus more on creative writing, reading, speaking, listening, comprehension, grammar, stories, poetry and use of powerful language etc. Students in this category depending on their class/age/level can also work on reports, essays, seminars, presentations and dissertations.

Planning, assessments and teachings will be carried out according to the terms and the specialist teachers will train the teachers to teach the curriculum. It only makes sense to have short and long stories/poems back on the syllabus of Bangla medium schools and colleges.

Comprehension alone is not the way to improve the basic skills of English, rather it's a negative and ineffectual strategy. I had a good look at the recently held SSC English papers and I could not make any sense out of the both papers, having same kind of question patterns on comprehensions dealing with mcqs, matching, cloze procedure, ticking the boxes etc. Even the text chosen was full of mistakes. What is the point of removing literature and creative writing from the syllabus?

Students need to read a huge range of fiction and non-fiction to provide them with

opportunities for contextualised activities through which they will be able to understand

the use of grammar, punctuations, vocabulary and spelling patterns. These all can be

taught, yet again, using a range of very rich and creative online resources and software.

At University level, the students, in their first two years, will study phonics and phonology, improve skills on speaking, listening, reading and writing with a strong focus on reading a range of fiction and non- fiction including children's literature. Again rigorous and efficient assessments will be carried out to ensure the progress in the respective area.

Here the students can use software like Kar2uche to make a variety of projects using interactive graphics, sound and animation to produce a multimedia story/ play on a CD. In the final two years the students can study either English literature or applied linguistics or ELT, etc. A very innovative assessment and monitoring will be conducted at the end of the academic year to assess students' ability, skills and competence on all those major skills particularly about their spoken skills. The students will listen to a variety of stories, poems, commentaries, interviews and arguments to enrich and advance language skills. They will also be supported on how to organise seminars, dissertations and learn business English skills. How to write an impressive CV can be a part of the curriculum too.

It is, therefore, an undeniable fact that, in the modern age of technology, spoken language skills and ICT are a must to be able to maximise human resources which, given the international standard of education, can make a significant contribution in generating national and international employments.

Once there was a report about how our graduates and post graduates are not able to compete with Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani employees in the Middle East and Far East. Only thing that our educated employees lack primarily is spoken English skills, which is letting them down and keeping them from getting the managerial and supervisory posts. Maybe there are some exceptions, but generally our English is not as good as that of the Indians. Why? Are we inferior to them in terms of intelligence? Or, don't we have trained teachers, or do we have a seriously flawed curriculum?

Let's work together to eradicate this age old problem and upgrade our English to the international standard now. Better late than never.

The writer is Principal, British Interactive School, Dhaka.