Use ofDigital Content in Teaching and Learning English at the secondary Level (XI-XII) of Education

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has blessed education sector as like as other spheres of life. Education in this digital age also demands for the integration of ICT driven teaching-learning materials e.g., digital content (DC) for the better output. With the mandate of present education system, Bangladesh has already embraced digital content driven teachinglearning

process in every tier of education as the government of Bangladesh has focused on achieving ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by her digitally capable citizen. However, the usage of DC in practicing English language skills for grade XI-XII is going on for more than a decade. But how effectively teachers use DC in teaching English, which pedagogy do they follow and what advantages as well as challenges face during using DC have not yet been researched in the context of Bangladesh particularly for English subject at grade XI-XII. Hence, this research has been undertaken by the researcher. The purpose of this research was to identify the use of digital content in teaching and learning English at the secondary level (XI-XII) of education in Bangladesh. Besides, the research determined four specific research questions i.e., What types of DC are being used for practising English Language skills (teaching and learning English) at grade XI-XII? Which types of pedagogy do teachers use in presenting or making DC for effective teaching and learning English at grade XI-XII? What advantages do teachers and students get from using DC in teaching and learning English at grade XI-XII? What are the challenges of using DC in teaching and learning English at grade XI-XII? to meet the purpose of this research.

A qualitative research method was adopted to get answer of the research questions and conduct the study. Data was collected from English teachers (08), digital content specialists (03), students and classroom observation by using semi-structured interview schedule, FGDs (04) and observation checklist (24) respectively for the accomplishment of the research. Collected and processed data was analysed through thematically and presented descriptively with figures and tables.

The comprehensive analysis of data and results brings into light that content related pictures, Ebook or E-text, power-point slide, and, relevant audio and video clips are massively used types of

DC for English where English teachers tend to follow TPACK model mainly, lecture, audio-visual

and CLT method frequently as pedagogy while using DC. Moreover, the study has also revealed

that

students centred advantages (e.g., easier to make students understand), teachers centred advantages (e.g., teacher can study at any time in anywhere), by product advantages (e.g., automatically improve digital skills) and methodological advantages (e.g., shown digitally and lively) are prominently major advantages obtained by using DC in the teaching-learning process of English in the context of Bangladesh. On the contrary, infrastructural challenges (e.g., scarcity of equipment), technical and methodological challenges (e.g., digital divide), and teacher led challenges (e.g., deficiency of skilled and experienced teachers) are the pivotal challenges in using DC discovered by this research also.

Finally, some implications have been offered for the practice (e.g. use relevant DC) and policy level (e.g. provide proper training to teachers) for better utilization of DC in teaching and learning English.