Faculty Research/Publications
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Grants
ACU Gender Grant 2021
Status: Completed
Project summary: This project aims to identify the obstacles that women scholars from the humanities face in Bangladesh. It will inquire if the over-prioritization of STEM disciplines for women has contributed to the marginalization of humanities research and study. The intention is to pinpoint the discriminatory impact of such emphasis on women scholars from the humanities and social sciences, seeking funding and institutional support for their work.
ACU Grantee Info: https://www.acu.ac.uk/funding-opportunities/for-university-staff/grants/acu-gender-grants/gender-grantees-2022/
Research collaborators: Arifa Ghani Rahman, Prof. Shamsad Mortuza, Mohammad Zaki Rezwan, and Samirah Tabassum
Hollings Center Small Grant 2020
1. Get Started: A Video Series for Educators Preparing to Teach Online
Chief Investigator: Dr. Colla Mcdonald, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Ottawa
Co-Investigator: Dr. Shamsad Mortuza, Professor
Co-Investigator: Arifa Ghani Rahman, Associate Professor
Co-Investigator: Dr. Suhail Islam, Associate Professor, Nazareth College, Rochester, New YorkStatus: Completed
At the South Asia Higher Education symposium held in Istanbul, Turkey from 23-28 April 2019, it became clear that many South Asian educators need and want eLearning training. It was also evident that some educators are tentative and skeptical toward eLearning. The needs identified at the symposium coupled with the gap between the available technologies and understanding how and under what circumstances academic staff will use them, is the catalyst for the “Get Started: A Video Series for Educators Preparing to Teach Online” small grants project to design and deliver an inter-nations innovative digital online mobile video series to help educators attempting to adopt digital education and implementing best practices.
The accessibility of digitally mediated learning is positioning the online environment as a primary context for higher education. However, few academic staff are trained in utilizing available technologies in teaching. The ‘Get Started’ project will provide academic staff who are less enabled with regard to digital education, with the support and resources to take first steps toward adopting digital technologies and innovative approaches in their teaching. The videos will also include points of pedagogical interest.
US Department of State Research Grant 2017
1. Evaluating Secondary School English Language Teaching and Learning in Bangladesh
Chief Investigator: Dr. Shamsad Mortuza, Professor
Co-Investigator: Dr. Asifa Sultana, Assistant Professor
Co-Investigator: Dr. Mahmud Hasan Khan, Associate Professor
Co-Investigator: Arifa Ghani Rahman, Associate Professor
Co-Investigator: Mahmuda Yasmin Shaila, Assistant ProfessorStatus: Completed
The project offers a platform to connect secondary and university-level education in Bangladesh. Currently there is a gap between high schools that are supposed to instill the basics of English Language Learning and a university sector that is entirely in English with little remedial support. Stakeholders of the three streams of secondary education in Bangladesh (Bangla Medium [Bangla and English versions], English Medium and Madrasah), the national textbook curriculum, and higher education will assess the needs and establish an action plan for closing the gap between the secondary and tertiary levels.
The project comprises four workshops, evaluation of existing materials, and a training component. Faculty from the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) will audit and assess curriculum documents and classroom resources to determine if they reflect a strong, sequenced, and contemporary focus on teaching and learning in preparing secondary school students for higher education. If they do not, the project will identify the areas in which the quality of learning and teaching is compromised. The workshops and training component will be designed to cascade with participants committing to further train teachers at their institutions.
2. English Vocabulary Learning Material Development: A Multimodal Approach
Chief Investigator: Dr. Shamsad Mortuza, Professor
Co-Investigator: Nazah Farhat, Lecturer
Co-Investigator: Arifa Ghani Rahman, Associate Professor
Co-Investigator: Dr. Mahmud Hasan Khan, Associate ProfessorStatus: Completed
The project aims to develop a multimodal language learning software/web application. This web application will help learners learn English vocabulary. It will integrate audio-visual input, images, sound, gif, videos, texts, colors and all the required modes to make the complete meaning of a word. Learners will learn the form, meaning and use of a word. Language is multimodal. Speech and written texts are only two of the many modes of language. Unfortunately, we try to learn multimodal language using only one or two modes. It is one of the reasons we face difficulty in learning a new language. Traditional teaching methods are still used in Bangladeshi classrooms. Learners memorize long lists of words and their meanings. They are expected to use those newly learned words in appropriate contexts. Only verbal modes of language get attention even though nonverbal modes of language create the context. Every learner has an innate modality preference. Some are visual/verbal learners; some are visual/nonverbal learners. When learners come across materials that trigger their preferred modality, they learn most effectively. The information is stored in their long-term memory.
ULAB Research Grant 2015-2016
1. Syntactic Analysis of Tripura-Bangla Code-switching: A Case Study of Internal Colonization in Indigenous Community of Bangladesh
Chief Investigator: Md. Muntasir Mamun, Assistant Professor
Status: Ongoing
ULAB Research Grant 2014-2015
1. Literature on the Side: A Conditional and Historical Study of Little Magazines in English and the Literary Supplements of English Language Newspapers
Chief Investigator: Dr. Kaiser Haq, Professor and Dean
Co-Investigator: Dr. Shamsad Mortuza, Professor
Co-Investigator: Arifa Ghani Rahman, Assistant ProfessorStatus: Ongoing
This research investigates the influential role of various little magazines, literary supplements, and occasional journals in English published in the sub-continent, particularly “Bengal.” The objective is to trace the first generation Bengali/Bangladeshi writers writing in English. South Asian writers writing in English have already found their niche in a global platform. By archiving the efforts of the previous generation, the research wants to locate the contemporary writers in a literary tradition and the place of Bangladeshi writers writing in English.
2. Lost in Translation: Making Sense of Bangla Proverbs and Idioms
Chief Investigator: Arifa Ghani Rahman, Assistant Professor
Co-Investigator: Dr. Shamsad Mortuza, ProfessorStatus: Ongoing
This research purports to collect proverbs and idioms in Bangla to be translated into English and published as a dictionary as a translation aid for Bangla to English translators. The investigators aim to fill the gap in the translation scenario in Bangladesh by compiling as complete a list as possible of Bangla proverbs and idioms that will be translated into their closest equivalents in a dictionary format that will function as a translator’s aid.
3. A Study of Adaptations of Foreign Texts by the Major Theater Groups in Bangladesh (2004-2014)
Investigator: Nadia Rahman, Assistant Professor
Investigator: Tahmina Zaman, Senior LecturerStatus: Ongoing
The objective of this research is to focus on three leading theater groups of Bangladesh, Nagarik Nattya Sampraday, Theater (Bailey Road) and Nattyakendra as well as departments offering academic programs on theater and drama studies in two public universities, to investigate their adapted texts to find the reasons behind choosing particular texts for adaptation, its cultural implications, and relevance.
4. Professional Development for English Language Teachers in Bangladesh: Opportunities and Challenges
Chief Investigator: Md. Shayeekh-Us-Saleheen, Assistant Professor
Status: Complete
This research addresses whether encouraging English language teachers’ professional development contributes to ELT at universities in Bangladesh. More precisely, the research investigates the potential opportunities and challenges of the teachers’ professional development at Bangladeshi universities.