Abstract:

This British Council funded research aims to track and evaluate a set of three interconnected, predicted trends concerning the impact of the growing use of digital/mobile technology (DMT) on regional and local ecologies of teaching, assessment and learning of English (TALE) in the four most populous countries in East and South Asia – Bangladesh, China, India, and Indonesia. With a focus on higher education, the two-phase longitudinal study will develop and validate an ecological research approach for tracking and assessing predictions and trends for English and TALE practices.

In this presentation, we will share our findings from the first phase of our study. In the first phase, data was collected through multiple sources mainly an online survey with 5695 undergraduate students and nearly 328 teachers, interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with students (n=54) and teachers (n=15), and padlet discussion with 45 students. Findings reflect greatly on the current trends of the use of technology for teaching learning and assessment of the English language and the roles of English, teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the role of English and technology in promoting or reducing equality diversity and inclusion in students’ access to quality learning in higher education. In addition, the presentation will elucidate the students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the role/value of English in the next ten years in their communities in general and higher education in particular, and it will suggest policy and pedagogic implications.

Keywords:

Technology, equity, inclusion, equality.