Guests at the international symposium on ‘Teaching of English Pronunciation in Bangladesh: Issues and Practices’ organized by Department of English of Daffodil International University
Speakers at the symposium said that ‘Pronunciation as a English language course should be given much importance and stressed on the need for practicing English Pronunciation in tertiary education to fit the graduates to face the employability challenges of 21st century as the pronunciation is more practical than theoretical. They also emphasized on the need for adequate courses on systematical, methodical and well organized English pronunciation and teachers should be motivated and skilled regarding this issue. The said this while addressing at an international today on January 14, 2017.
Department of English of Daffodil International University organized a day-long symposium on ‘Teaching of English Pronunciation in Bangladesh: Issues and Practices’. The program was graced by the Guest of Honor, Prof. Moshiuzzaman, Member (Curriculum), NCTB, and by the Chief Guest Professor Dr. Md. Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari, Vice Chancellor, Islamic University, Kushtia. Amongst others Professor Dr. Yousuf M. Islam, Vice Chancellor, Daffodil International University and Professor A. M.M. Hamidur Rahman, Dean, FHSS, of the university were also present in the inaugural session as the Chair and Special Guest respectively.
Prof. Dr. Arifa Rahman, English Language and Teacher Education Specialist, IML, DU, delivered the keynote speech on ‘English Pronunciation and Global Intelligibility’, followed by a colloquium on the ‘Importance and Necessity of Teaching English Pronunciation in Bangladesh’, where Vice Chancellors of different universities of Bangladesh participated. The session was chaired and moderated respectively by Professor Dr. Yousuf M. Islam and Mr. Mohammed Shamsul Hoque, Associate Professor, Department of English, DIU. After that Dr. Qais Khan, KiiT University, Odisha, India delivered his plenary speech on ‘Teaching of English pronunciation to Indian learners: Experience from Teaching Accent Neutralization courses at Bhubaneswar’.
A partial view of the audience at the international symposium on ‘Teaching of English Pronunciation in Bangladesh: Issues and Practices’
Six parallel paper presentation sessions and a workshop continued throughout the day where 22 national and international participants from distinguished universities from India, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Bangladesh presented their research papers. There was an amusing ‘Dramatization’ session by the DIU students and teachers in the afternoon.
At the end of the program a plenary session titled ‘Teaching of Pronunciation in Bangladesh’, chaired and moderated respectively by Harunur Rashid Khan, President, BELTA and Dr. Md. Mohoshin Reza, Head Department of English, DIU, took place in the auditorium. A host of scholars including Prof. Iffat Ara Nasreen Majid (Dhaka University/IML), Prof. Dr. M. Shahidullah (Rajshahi University), Prof. M. Shamsul Hoque (Bangladesh Open University), Prof. Abdus Selim (Central Women's University), Prof. Harunur Rashid Khan (Southeast University & President, BELTA) and Mr. Goutam Roy (NCTB) took part in the plenary discussion. They talked on various aspects of the problems of teaching pronunciation in Bangladesh. The program ended successfully by the Symposium Convener, Dr. Binoy Barman’s closing remark and vote of thanks.
The day-long event drew a huge audience from difference universities of Bangladesh.
