Department of English, American International University-Bangladesh, in collaboration with TESOL Society of Bangladesh recently organised a seminar on ‘Discover English 2022: Student Conference on English Language and Literature.
The motto of the conference was ‘A conference by the students and for the students!’
The event took place at American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), Kuril, Dhaka, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on 8 December.
The conference received a huge response from the students. A total of 126 research papers from students of BA, MA and MPhil levels from the disciplines of English Language and Literature of 24 public and private universities were presented at the day-long conference.
University Grants Commission member professor Biswajit Chanda was chief guest at the event.
Carmen Z. Lamagna, Vice Chancellor, AIUB, Lady Syeda Sarwat Abed, founder and senior director, BRAC Institute of Languages (BIL), BRAC University, and professor Tazul Islam, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, AIUB attended as special guests.
The head of the Department of English, AIUB and acting president and TESOL Society of Bangladesh, M Hamidul Haque, delivered the welcome speech.
Mohammad Shams Ud Duha, PhD student at Purdue University, USA delivered the keynote speech titled ‘Why Do Research?’
The keynote session was moderated by the convener of the conference Akibur Rahman Khan, graduate student, IML, Dhaka University. Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir, Head and Associate professor, Department of English Language, IML, University of Dhaka was present as the session chair and discussant.
There were 32 parallel sessions in the conference and each student received feedback on their paper presentation from experts of the respective fields. Eight papers in four categories received special mention.
The conference was organised by the student volunteers of AIUB and TESOL Society of Bangladesh.
TESOL Society of Bangladesh general secretary Hasna Khanom in her concluding speech inspired the participants to contribute meaningfully in the English teaching and learning landscape of Bangladesh.
The event was organised with an aim to foster student leadership and to provide a platform for the students to present their research in academia.