Towards an Effective Pedagogy: Evaluation of Materials Used in Foundation English Courses at Rajshahi University

Abstract

This paper is an exploratory study of the materials used in the English language courses offered by the various departments at Rajshahi University. The foundation English language courses at these departments were introduced to help students cope with the rigours of academic programmes conducted in English besides developing their necessary communicative skills. The argument in this paper is based on the theoretical position that materials need to correspond to their respective contexts for effective language teaching and learning. Document analysis was conducted to assess the materials used in the foundation English courses of 16 departments under the 7 faculties of Rajshahi University. It has been found that the language courses fall short of their objectives as the materials focus basically on language forms with little emphasis on practical application of the target language. The situation may be improved by implementing appropriate materials geared towards the learners’ needs through a major overhaul of the whole system or by adopting an eclectic approach that incorporates feasible CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) features into the existing traditional approach of teaching English in the various departments of Rajshahi University.