International conference at BRAC University
The department of English and Humanities of BRAC University hosted a two-day international conference titled 'Rethinking Disciplinary Diversity: Challenges of Teaching English In The 21st Century' recently. The first day of the conference started with a welcome address by Senior Lecturer Rukhsana Rahim Chowdhry, followed by a lecture of the acting Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, Mr. Shib Narayan Kairy, a conference brief by Assistant Professor Md. Al Amin, an address by the President of BELTA, Harunur Rashid Khan, and the keynote speech of Professor Janinka Greenwood from University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
The programme was divided into 21 unique segments under specific titles, for example- "Practicality of Learner Centeredness," "Literature in English Teaching," "Language, Thinking and the Brain" and so on. Each of these segments offered intensive discussion on the academic papers the presenters had produced in relevance to the title. The academic papers were centered on Applied Linguistics, communicative English teaching, challenges and possibilities of teaching English in rural areas, material designing and techniques of teaching English as a second language among other things. The conference welcomed both new and experienced presenters with a view to supporting fresh and traditional ideas regarding teaching English in a Southeast Asian country. Throughout the conference, important topics like 'English for employability,' 'Commodification of English version or medium school,' 'Improving writing English at the tertiary level,' 'Developing paragraph writing through Moodle, a case study,' and several others were discussed and suggestions were offered by the presenters, with the concern of making the overall English teaching and learning experience in Bangladesh more effective and simpler. During the session titled, 'Materials' for Materials Development in ELT: Global, Local or Glocal?', Professor Goutam Roy expressed his concern about how students prefer to read guide-books more than textbooks nowadays, which only works as a fuel in the guide-book businesses. He added that not having any language policy in our country is a challenge and more effective monitoring is required in material designing before the books reach students.
On the second day of the conference, special speaker Professor Manzoorul Islam discussed how our educational institutions often fail to produce students who know quality English and how fruitful it is when both literature and communicative language lessons work together to contribute to the well-being of English teaching and learning.
According to one of the key-organisers, Md Al Amin, the targets of the conference were successfully accomplished by creating a platform where scholars of applied linguistics and language researchers can gather together to create connections and share their knowledge with everyone.
The conference ended with a session titled 'Between Languages: The Place of Translation,' where the guest speakers shared their experiences of working as translators and acknowledging how the differences among different languages is a fascinating side of translation. The conference was funded by BRAC University and Standard Bank Limited.