Practice:ICT and ELT

ICT and ELLT
We live in an era of information explosion. Once there was famine of information, today we are drowned in the deluge of information. Gale of change is blowing in the pedagogy of English Language Teaching (ELT). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a catalyst agent. ICT has initiated new possibilities into the classroom. The marriage between education and Internet technology has made a deep impact on perspectives about teaching and learning. The role of the teacher, the nature and context of learning, as well as the function and relative importance of course content have all been challenged and redefined. Technophobic teachers have no place in this new world order.

This paper aims at sharing practical experiments with ICT in teaching English language and literature. It deals with the pragmatic aspects of using ICT with the student community of Business Management and Humanities. The extensive use of web 2.0 components, internet, blogs, e-groups, SMSs, emails, socializing portals, e-dictionaries, e-ncyclopedia, ppt presentations, webcasting, audio-video etc as teaching tools were made in the classroom. The student community was motivated to make use of cyber cafes and GPRS mobiles to interact with the teacher.

The paper deals with very pertinent questions: •	How far is ICT useful to student community, or is it useful at all? •	What is the Role of ICT in teaching English language and literature? What kind of methods can be used to overcome students' problems? •	Can it empower student community? Can it improve their proficiency of learning? If yes, to what extent. If no, why?