Akhter Jahan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Akhter Jahan
BELTA Journal
Online education appeared to be effective among stakeholders worldwide following the closure of e... more Online education appeared to be effective among stakeholders worldwide following the closure of educational institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the technology used for online education has hardly been explored to such a massive extent earlier, stakeholders soon self-educated themselves in new technological skills. However, challenges became more complex when the issues of assessment arose. Maintaining the validity, reliability, fairness, and academic integrity in online-based assessment became an insurmountable task; again, there was a pressing need for endorsing resilience and empathy for the assessors and assesses, especially for those who faced discrimination due to COVID-19. This study draws on the findings of a nationwide survey of online programmes offered by Bangladeshi private universities during the late 2020. They reveal the locally adopted methods and supports for assessing learners online, identify several challenges of online assessment, including the use ...
Asia Pacific Journal of Education
Equity is crucial in maintaining human rights in the education sector. It has become more crucial... more Equity is crucial in maintaining human rights in the education sector. It has become more crucial due to the abrupt global spread of coronavirus and the initiation and affordances of unequal accessibility to online teaching, specifically in resource deficit peripheral countries like Bangladesh. Hence, it seems pertinent to explore if online education ensures educational equity, fairness, and social justice for students and teachers in Bangladesh. Data were collected from teachers and students at private universities in Bangladesh through online surveys followed by Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), and the data were analysed through descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Based on the findings, the paper shows that students from underprivileged backgrounds in rural and suburban areas in Bangladesh do not have educational equity. They do not have access to uninterrupted internet facilities and amenities required to attend online classes. Fairness seems to be absent too. Both students and teachers feel that academic integrity in assessment has not been maintained adequately. Universities have not taken appropriate redistributive policies and removed institutional mechanisms that discriminate against low-income people. Consequently, social justice seems compromised. In the end, the paper suggests possible ways to ensure equity, fairness, and social justice in online pedagogy in higher education.
The Qualitative Report
The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in rec... more The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in recent times, specifically during the critical period of COVID-19. Based on the findings drawn from the qualitative data through focus group discussions of five groups of teachers (16 females and 8 males) and students (10 males and nine females) at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh, this paper shows that online teaching during COVID-19 is affected by personal and social challenges, and consequently, both teachers and students experience anxieties and stresses. Teachers are anxious because of the university authorities' surveillance, frequent pay cuts, and fear of losing jobs due to students' low enrollment in universities. They also suffer from physical discomforts, such as back pain, blur vision, and headache because of the prolonged engagement with online activities. Students, especially those from a non-privileged background located in peripheral rural contexts, seem ...
The Qualitative Report, 2022
The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in rec... more The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in recent times, specifically during the critical period of COVID-19. Based on the findings drawn from the qualitative data through focus group discussions of five groups of teachers (16 females and 8 males) and students (10 males and nine females) at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh, this paper shows that online teaching during COVID-19 is affected by personal and social challenges, and consequently, both teachers and students experience anxieties and stresses. Teachers are anxious because of the university authorities' surveillance, frequent pay cuts, and fear of losing jobs due to students' low enrollment in universities. They also suffer from physical discomforts, such as back pain, blur vision, and headache because of the prolonged engagement with online activities. Students, especially those from a nonprivileged background located in peripheral rural contexts, seem to suffer more from contextual realities that are non-conducive for technology-based learning. Increased numbers and various forms of online assessments also seem to become a burden for them. In general, educational experiences of online teaching seemed to have a peripheral role in their conceptualization of wellbeing. The paper concludes that the insurmountable attention given to online pedagogic practices across the world needs to be balanced out by an equal effort in improving the wellbeing of both teachers and students.
The Routledge Handbook of English Language Education in Bangladesh, 2020
Textual Enhancement (TE) can be distinguished as the focus on form procedure that intends to incr... more Textual Enhancement (TE) can be distinguished as the focus on form procedure that intends to increase input saliency in any kind of texts so that learners can notice target forms in a meaning oriented context and thereby acquiring the form-function mapping of those items (Schmidt, 1995, 2001; Smith, 1991, 1993). Lee (2007) and White (1998) suggested that this implicit procedure would be able to assist the language acquisition process of those learners who have pre-knowledge regarding target forms. In spite of having long term pre-exposure to English, most of the Bangladeshi tertiary learners encounter problems in using present perfect and past simple tenses accurately. Therefore, this experimental study investigated whether or not TE could facilitate those learners’ noticing, intake and acquisition of those forms. With this aim, the study was conducted with pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test research design. 100 Bangladeshi undergraduate participants were divided in...
Journal of Education and Practice, 2011
Providing vocabulary instructions is one of the most effective ways through which EFL teachers in... more Providing vocabulary instructions is one of the most effective ways through which EFL teachers in Bangladesh can facilitate the tertiary learners' development of communicative competence in English. Because weak knowledge of vocabulary causes ...
Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 2021
With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide,... more With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide, private universities in Bangladesh transitioned to online classes to ensure continuity of education. Therefore, it was important to investigate the private university teachers’ and students’ perceptions regarding various dimensions of accessing online instruction and coping strategies used by teachers. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from 208 teachers and 674 students through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that teachers and students encountered several barriers, including unstable internet connection, costly internet packages, minimal support for teachers, issues with online assessment, and an unsuitable home environment. To combat existing problems related to assessment and to increase interaction in the classroom, teachers used a small range of coping strategies. Measures are suggested to ensure access to stable internet connectivit...
This paper aims to explore the problems of teaching speaking in English at tertiary level in Bang... more This paper aims to explore the problems of teaching speaking in English at tertiary level in Bangladesh and tends to find out the solutions regarding this issue. Since English is a significant vehicle of communication in this era of globalization, the complications in learning and teaching these skills must be solved. Therefore, through questionnaire survey including teachers and students, those conditions have been investigated by some statistical tools and found that the problems lie mainly within the teaching methods and techniques. Moreover, significant statistical association has been tested between students' satisfaction of language competence in spoken English before instruction and the level of their improvement in speaking skills after instruction.
This paper explores the importance of developing fluent reading skill and tends to find out the s... more This paper explores the importance of developing fluent reading skill and tends to find out the strengths and weaknesses of its teaching at the tertiary level in Bangladesh. In order to give our students sufficient exposure to English, we have to solve the problems of learning and teaching fluent reading in English and find out effective ways of approaching this significant skill. With reference to research evidence, that we have studied both from the teachers' and students' point of view on the basis of a questionnaire survey, we now turn to the role of fluent reading in fostering learners' progress in reading skill as well as developing the other three major skills-listening, speaking and writing.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2013
Stamford Journal of English, 2013
Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 2021
With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide,... more With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide, private universities in Bangladesh transitioned to online classes to ensure continuity of education. Therefore, it was important to investigate the private university teachers' and students' perceptions regarding various dimensions of accessing online instruction and coping strategies used by teachers. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from 208 teachers and 674 students through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that teachers and students encountered several barriers, including unstable internet connection, costly internet packages, minimal support for teachers, issues with online assessment, and an unsuitable home environment. To combat existing problems related to assessment and to increase interaction in the classroom, teachers used a small range of coping strategies. Measures are suggested to ensure access to stable internet connectivity, financial support to students and teacher training on online pedagogy and assessment.
BELTA Journal
Online education appeared to be effective among stakeholders worldwide following the closure of e... more Online education appeared to be effective among stakeholders worldwide following the closure of educational institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the technology used for online education has hardly been explored to such a massive extent earlier, stakeholders soon self-educated themselves in new technological skills. However, challenges became more complex when the issues of assessment arose. Maintaining the validity, reliability, fairness, and academic integrity in online-based assessment became an insurmountable task; again, there was a pressing need for endorsing resilience and empathy for the assessors and assesses, especially for those who faced discrimination due to COVID-19. This study draws on the findings of a nationwide survey of online programmes offered by Bangladeshi private universities during the late 2020. They reveal the locally adopted methods and supports for assessing learners online, identify several challenges of online assessment, including the use ...
Asia Pacific Journal of Education
Equity is crucial in maintaining human rights in the education sector. It has become more crucial... more Equity is crucial in maintaining human rights in the education sector. It has become more crucial due to the abrupt global spread of coronavirus and the initiation and affordances of unequal accessibility to online teaching, specifically in resource deficit peripheral countries like Bangladesh. Hence, it seems pertinent to explore if online education ensures educational equity, fairness, and social justice for students and teachers in Bangladesh. Data were collected from teachers and students at private universities in Bangladesh through online surveys followed by Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), and the data were analysed through descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Based on the findings, the paper shows that students from underprivileged backgrounds in rural and suburban areas in Bangladesh do not have educational equity. They do not have access to uninterrupted internet facilities and amenities required to attend online classes. Fairness seems to be absent too. Both students and teachers feel that academic integrity in assessment has not been maintained adequately. Universities have not taken appropriate redistributive policies and removed institutional mechanisms that discriminate against low-income people. Consequently, social justice seems compromised. In the end, the paper suggests possible ways to ensure equity, fairness, and social justice in online pedagogy in higher education.
The Qualitative Report
The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in rec... more The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in recent times, specifically during the critical period of COVID-19. Based on the findings drawn from the qualitative data through focus group discussions of five groups of teachers (16 females and 8 males) and students (10 males and nine females) at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh, this paper shows that online teaching during COVID-19 is affected by personal and social challenges, and consequently, both teachers and students experience anxieties and stresses. Teachers are anxious because of the university authorities' surveillance, frequent pay cuts, and fear of losing jobs due to students' low enrollment in universities. They also suffer from physical discomforts, such as back pain, blur vision, and headache because of the prolonged engagement with online activities. Students, especially those from a non-privileged background located in peripheral rural contexts, seem ...
The Qualitative Report, 2022
The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in rec... more The wellbeing of teachers and students has emerged as a common concern in research studies in recent times, specifically during the critical period of COVID-19. Based on the findings drawn from the qualitative data through focus group discussions of five groups of teachers (16 females and 8 males) and students (10 males and nine females) at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh, this paper shows that online teaching during COVID-19 is affected by personal and social challenges, and consequently, both teachers and students experience anxieties and stresses. Teachers are anxious because of the university authorities' surveillance, frequent pay cuts, and fear of losing jobs due to students' low enrollment in universities. They also suffer from physical discomforts, such as back pain, blur vision, and headache because of the prolonged engagement with online activities. Students, especially those from a nonprivileged background located in peripheral rural contexts, seem to suffer more from contextual realities that are non-conducive for technology-based learning. Increased numbers and various forms of online assessments also seem to become a burden for them. In general, educational experiences of online teaching seemed to have a peripheral role in their conceptualization of wellbeing. The paper concludes that the insurmountable attention given to online pedagogic practices across the world needs to be balanced out by an equal effort in improving the wellbeing of both teachers and students.
The Routledge Handbook of English Language Education in Bangladesh, 2020
Textual Enhancement (TE) can be distinguished as the focus on form procedure that intends to incr... more Textual Enhancement (TE) can be distinguished as the focus on form procedure that intends to increase input saliency in any kind of texts so that learners can notice target forms in a meaning oriented context and thereby acquiring the form-function mapping of those items (Schmidt, 1995, 2001; Smith, 1991, 1993). Lee (2007) and White (1998) suggested that this implicit procedure would be able to assist the language acquisition process of those learners who have pre-knowledge regarding target forms. In spite of having long term pre-exposure to English, most of the Bangladeshi tertiary learners encounter problems in using present perfect and past simple tenses accurately. Therefore, this experimental study investigated whether or not TE could facilitate those learners’ noticing, intake and acquisition of those forms. With this aim, the study was conducted with pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test research design. 100 Bangladeshi undergraduate participants were divided in...
Journal of Education and Practice, 2011
Providing vocabulary instructions is one of the most effective ways through which EFL teachers in... more Providing vocabulary instructions is one of the most effective ways through which EFL teachers in Bangladesh can facilitate the tertiary learners' development of communicative competence in English. Because weak knowledge of vocabulary causes ...
Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 2021
With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide,... more With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide, private universities in Bangladesh transitioned to online classes to ensure continuity of education. Therefore, it was important to investigate the private university teachers’ and students’ perceptions regarding various dimensions of accessing online instruction and coping strategies used by teachers. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from 208 teachers and 674 students through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that teachers and students encountered several barriers, including unstable internet connection, costly internet packages, minimal support for teachers, issues with online assessment, and an unsuitable home environment. To combat existing problems related to assessment and to increase interaction in the classroom, teachers used a small range of coping strategies. Measures are suggested to ensure access to stable internet connectivit...
This paper aims to explore the problems of teaching speaking in English at tertiary level in Bang... more This paper aims to explore the problems of teaching speaking in English at tertiary level in Bangladesh and tends to find out the solutions regarding this issue. Since English is a significant vehicle of communication in this era of globalization, the complications in learning and teaching these skills must be solved. Therefore, through questionnaire survey including teachers and students, those conditions have been investigated by some statistical tools and found that the problems lie mainly within the teaching methods and techniques. Moreover, significant statistical association has been tested between students' satisfaction of language competence in spoken English before instruction and the level of their improvement in speaking skills after instruction.
This paper explores the importance of developing fluent reading skill and tends to find out the s... more This paper explores the importance of developing fluent reading skill and tends to find out the strengths and weaknesses of its teaching at the tertiary level in Bangladesh. In order to give our students sufficient exposure to English, we have to solve the problems of learning and teaching fluent reading in English and find out effective ways of approaching this significant skill. With reference to research evidence, that we have studied both from the teachers' and students' point of view on the basis of a questionnaire survey, we now turn to the role of fluent reading in fostering learners' progress in reading skill as well as developing the other three major skills-listening, speaking and writing.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2013
Stamford Journal of English, 2013
Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 2021
With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide,... more With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of the education systems worldwide, private universities in Bangladesh transitioned to online classes to ensure continuity of education. Therefore, it was important to investigate the private university teachers' and students' perceptions regarding various dimensions of accessing online instruction and coping strategies used by teachers. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect data from 208 teachers and 674 students through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that teachers and students encountered several barriers, including unstable internet connection, costly internet packages, minimal support for teachers, issues with online assessment, and an unsuitable home environment. To combat existing problems related to assessment and to increase interaction in the classroom, teachers used a small range of coping strategies. Measures are suggested to ensure access to stable internet connectivity, financial support to students and teacher training on online pedagogy and assessment.