Master of Arts in English

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Back to English classrooms: Teachers’ and students’ perceptions on reopened schools
(BRAC University, 2022-09) Promi, Israt Jahan; Ahmed, Dr. Sabreena
This study intends to explore the perception of secondary level students and teachers regarding their experiences of reopened schools. It also focuses on the challenges they faced while attending face to face classes. Besides, qualitative multiple case study approach has been adopted for this study where purposive sampling technique helped the researcher to select seven secondary level students and three teachers. The researcher has designed the conceptual framework of the study with the combination of Blended Learning Assessment Framework (2014) and Learning Affecting Framework (1991) theories. For completing the data collection procedure, the interviews of all participants were taken in the physical setting and qualitative data analysis of the transcripts revealed that both teachers and students preferred offline classes, and they had gone through some basic preparations for in-person classes. Some of the challenges the students had faced in these classes were lack of concentration, interaction and reluctance to write. In the case of teacher participants, it was found that teachers were anxious to take offline classes after long time. Moreover, they faced problems in controlling the classroom and redesigning the lesson plans for the reopened classes. the findings of the study will be beneficial for the teachers, students, authorities of schools, governmental officials to take action for upgrading the English education quality of an ESOL context such as Bangladesh after post COVID-19 era. In addition, the framework of the study can be used for reopened classroom situations in any other country of the world.
Identifying the patterns of readiness in English writing classes among the primary level students of Bangladesh
(BRAC University, 2022-01) Meem, Mehnaz Monir; Ahmed, Dr. Sabreena
Writing readiness is one of the important aspects of teaching English writing skills which combines physical, mental and circumstantial readiness. Teachers should foster the elements of readiness when the students are young for example: primary level. However, in Bangladesh most of the teachers are not aware of the fact that before teaching letters students should be taught how to hold a pen or pencil, outline letters, draw shapes and signs. This study aims to focus on the patterns of readiness in English writing class, teachers’ and students’ perspective on readiness in English writing class and cultural impact on English writing readiness. I applied a qualitative multiple case study approach for my research work. At first I decided on research questions. Based on the research questions, I interviewed ten participants, six of them are teachers and four of them are students. According to the findings, numerous patterns of readiness related to orthographic coding, visual motor integration and fine motor coordination, are visible in English writing classes which I combined thematically. However, readiness is not considered as an important aspect in the cultural context which is alarming for students’ development. This study will help teachers, students and other stakeholders related to primary education to enhance the writing experience of students.
Teaching English writing to Bangladeshi young learners
(BRAC University, 2023-01) Rahman, Maliha; Ahmed, Dr. Sabreena
The purpose of this study was to find out the techniques that are being followed for teaching English writing to Bangladeshi young learners. Additionally, the effect of the applied strategies on young learners’ writing skills. This study was conducted following the qualitative method which included teachers’ perception regarding teaching writing, co-observation of two writing classes, and analysing students’ class works and exam scripts. The researcher selected purposive homogeneous sampling for choosing four English medium teachers and five Bengali medium teachers as participants to collect data. From the collected data it was found that various types of strategies such as discussion sessions with brainstorming and elicitation, providing interactive worksheets, guided writing, independent writing with picture description, story mapping, visualisation with videos and pictures, peer feedback, group work, and pair work are done in English medium schools for teaching writing effectively to young learners. On the contrary, in Bengali medium most of the writing tasks are memorisation based, and there are no interactive or creative tasks for students. Furthermore, teachers are not allowed to create or modify their own techniques or materials. As a result, this hampers young learners’ learning. The findings of this study will help the material developers and teachers to take an initial idea and modify them according to their learners’ needs and classrooms.