Exploring Perceptions and Practices about Information and Communication Technologies in Business English Teaching in Pakistan

Year 2009, Volume: 12 Issue: 2, 31 - 42, 01.04.2009

Hussain Muhammad Athar Muhammad Zafar Iqbal

Abstract

Language Reforms and potential use of ICTs has been a focal area of the Higher
Education Commission of Pakistan. Efforts are being accelerated to incorporate fast expanding ICTs to bring
qualitative improvement in language instruction in higher education. This paper explores how university
teachers are benefitting from ICTs to make their English classes effective and what types of problems they
face in practicing ICTs during their lectures. An in-depth qualitative study was employed to understand why
language teachers tend to use ICTs in their instruction and how they are practicing it. A sample of twenty
teachers from five universities located in Islamabad, three from the public sector and two from the private
sector, was selected on a non-random (Snowball) sampling basis. An interview with 15 semi-structured
items was used as research instruments to collect data. The findings reveal that business English teaching is
facilitated and improved through the use of ICTs. The language teachers need special training regarding the
practices and implementation of ICTs. It is recommended that initiatives might be taken to equip university
language teachers with modern methodology incorporating ICTs as a focal area and efforts might be made to
remove barriers regarding the training of language teachers and proper usage of ICT. 

Keywords

Business English Teaching, Higher Education Comission of Pakistan

Exploring Perceptions and Practices about Information and Communication Technologies in Business English Teaching in Pakistan

Abstract

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