‘ICT-Periodism’ in the Classroom: Lessons Learnt from English in Action

This paper illustrates the factors affecting the use of ICT in the classroom in a large scale language development project in Bangladesh. The project, called English in Action (EIA) provides ICT materials along with print based materials for the teachers as well as face-to-face training to bring changes in primary and secondary classroom practices. On-going monitoring data showed that the use of audio materials increases as the intervention progresses through the year, however, the pattern changes when a decrease is observed during the third quarter. The study focused on the factors that have an influence on the use of audio in EIA classrooms during different quarters of the year and explored the underlying causes. The study adopted a mixed method approach and used classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with fifteen primary teachers to gather data. Findings showed that different nature and the pressure of the contents during different quarters of the year and the examination focused education system are the key factors that affect the use of ICT in English classes at the primary level. This raises the concern regarding ‘negative back-wash effect’ (Pan, 2009) of the exam system, which can stop effective pedagogical changes in the classroom from happening.