For over two years, from March 2020, universities in Bangladesh were closed, and online education prevailed. Conventional education in Bangladesh, as we knew it stopped. Almost all educators and learners struggled with online teaching, learning, evaluation, and maintaining academic honesty during the COVID-19 lockdown. Over 60,000 schools completely vanished. To dispense higher education during the pandemic-induced lockdown, universities in Bangladesh, private and public, invested in developing technological infrastructure, educational technology, and training faculty members and learners. Before the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the online community of language learners/teachers was practically non-existent in Bangladesh. In post-pandemic Bangladesh, universities went back to in-person teaching, while keeping provision for online teaching under specific circumstances. What was the experience of online communities of language learners/teachers during the pandemic crisis? How does that experience compare with the somewhat limited online exposure to online teaching in post-pandemic Bangladesh? Online communities concerning English language learning/teaching have grown since the pre-pandemic days. However, how much of that growth can be attributed to the bleak period during the pandemic crisis? This needs to be academically discussed. It is with this aim that the paper explores the troubles and tribulations of the online communities of English language learners/teachers during the pandemic crisis with online teaching/learning in the aftermath of the pandemic crisis in Bangladesh universities. Valuable lessons could be learned by critically looking at the two experiences of the online communities of language learners/teachers in Bangladeshi higher education.

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Abstract Summary
This paper aims to explore the online communities of English language learners/teachers in the aftermath of the pandemic crisis in higher educational institutions of Bangladesh from mid-2022 to mid-2023. Online communities have grown since the pre-pandemic days. However, how much of that growth can be attributed to the English language learning/teaching communities needs to be academically discussed.

Authors:
Muhammed Shahriar Haque, East West University, Bangladesh

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Muhammed Shahriar Haque is a University Professor/Principal Lecturer at East West University (EWU) in Bangladesh

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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