Implementation of CALL in Bangladeshi private universities : students' perspective

Abstract

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is among the latest approaches of English language teaching. With the rapid growth in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the increasing use of technology in every sphere of life, CALL is getting more popularity day by day, especially among the young generation. It is a very new concept for Bangladeshi education system. This dissertation tries to find out to which extend CALL is being implemented in the Bangladeshi private university classrooms and if there is any problem regarding the implementation. The study focuses on the students’ perspective, and thus tries to discover the present condition of the students. Since, not much existing work is available on this topic in Bangladeshi perspective; it is mostly a primary research. However, the researcher tried to use extracts from the existing works on CALL by authors from different countries to show the validity of CALL in present day English language teaching. Some works by Bangladeshi authors are also studied and used in the paper to interpret the present English language teaching system in Bangladesh. The researcher used survey questionnaires to collect data from the classrooms. The data was analyzed using both the quantitative and qualitative methods. Journal articles and topic related books were used by the researcher to analyze the data and to relate the arguments of the researcher with the findings. The results show that the teachers and the students have quite enough technological facilities in their classrooms and home, however they use only basic technological aids, for example word processing software and general internet browsing for language learning. They rarely use any specific CALL oriented applications or webpages. Therefore, the findings of the research show that although a certain amount of CALL is implemented in Bangladeshi private university classrooms, surely there are lots of scopes for improvement. Moreover, this research is focused only to the students’ perspective. A further research compiling the teachers’ opinions should reveal a broader perception on this issue.