DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

Why English at GB

The official designation of the entity, under investigation is English Language and Literature; in short ELL. The entity, at the beginning of Gono Bishwabidyalay (GB), was a component of the Department titled Language, Culture and Communication under Basic and Social Science faculty. Although the scope was vast and broad, it was started with the teaching of only English and Bengali, former as an instrument of international communication and the later as an instrument of understanding national culture and communication. Dr. Mahmud Shah Qureshi, a person with competence in Bengali, English and French and, a very reputed scholar of the country and a freedom fighter was entrusted with the responsibility of the embryonic entity. Preliminary official formalities were accomplished under his supervision.

The entity ELL had started moving with 5 students who are the 1^st Batch of the Department of English. In the meantime, Terence Penheiro B.A (Hons) M.A (USA) became the chairperson of the ELL and the Department got a separate status and reasonable dynamism. The entity got the approval of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2003.

ELL of GB has two dimensional concentration on English Literature and English Language, especially English Language Teaching (ELT). At this stage, Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui, Ex-Vice Chancellor of a neighboring university- Jahangirnagar University, entered into the stage as a Professor Emeritus from the beginning of August 2007. As a bilingual scholar, he could understand the importance of Bilingualism of the Nation. Curriculum development progressed towards a balanced direction; understanding English language and culture and appreciating the benefit of literary excellence of English speaking world.