CALL and English at tertiary level ;: teacher cognition in Bangladesh

This research focuses on university teachers’ cognition regarding the use of computers for teaching English in Bangladesh, one of the developing countries in the world. Though both teachers and students are leading players in CALL environments, teachers, particularly university teachers who teach English as a second language in Bangladesh, are the primary participants of the study. The study aims at seeking answers to the following questions: (1) What conceptions and attitudes do university English teachers hold about CALL in Bangladesh as a developing country? (2) What is the relationship between these conceptions and attitudes and teachers’ reported practices regarding CALL? The research data, collected through online-based questionnaire and interview, reveal that university English teachers conceptualize computers mostly as an essential tool in their CALL practices for various pedagogic and administrative purposes. They conceptualize themselves mostly as ‘resource providers’ and computers mostly as ‘presenters of information’ in CALL lessons. Teachers also hold favourable attitudes towards CALL due to their experienced benefits with CALL despite the presence of certain contextual constraints such as load-shedding and slow Internet. They also hold positive attitude towards the future improvement of CALL in Bangladesh. All these conceptions and attitudes, namely teacher cognition is revealed to be a strong influence on teachers’ reported practices which interacts with contextual constraints directly by altering their practices accordingly. Thus, the study explores the complexity of teacher cognition regarding CALL in Bangladesh.