Challenges to Computer Assisted Language Teaching at University Level (original) (raw)

Abstract

The present case study explores the challenges to Computer Assisted Language Teaching at a private sector university to teach English as a communicative language in the perspective of incompetence of university students" in communication skills. The study is an effort to groom university students as global individuals in the perspective of the status of English as a lingua franca. The study fills the gap in ELT studies to incorporate modern technology into English language pedagogy to improve Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in Pakistani universities. The main research questions focus on the issues faced by English language teachers while teaching the module Communication skills in BS (Hons.) classes without modern technology. The research tools include observations of the BS (Hons) second semester classrooms and interviews of the English language teachers of a private sector university. The findings of the research suggest that English language needs to be taught as a living language instead of a bookish language by establishing state of the art English language classrooms or language labs to integrate four skills of English language for interactive teaching and learning process. It is recommended to Higher Education Commission (HEC) and stake holders in Pakistan to revise policies to assess students" written and oral communication skills for qualifying English Communication Skills as a core subject. It is imperative to improve university students" communication skills to face the contemporary challenges in the global village.

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