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Benefits of co-curricular activities (CA) are numerous, including self-confidence, communication skills and good physical health. So far, little importance has been given to study the relationship of co-curricular activities and exam performance in Pakistan. Consequently students are living in an environment where they have little idea of how co-curricular activities affect their exam performance or grades. They only give importance to their studies in order to achieve higher grades in exam. This research study examined the role of co-curricular activities and exam performance of students at different levels of class attendance. Secondary data (co-curricular participation data, attendance of 10th class and grades in 10th class board exams) of 636 students through multistage purposive sampling was collected from thirty high schools of Lahore. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that co-curricular activities have positive impact on student's exam performance. Sobel test of mediation showed that attendance partially mediated the association of involvement in cocurricular or non-classroom activities with exam performance. Participation in co-curricular activities improves class attendance of students which then play an important role in achieving high grades in exams. "Independent sample t-test" showed that students who were involved in co-curricular or nonclass room activities had better grades or exam performance from those students who were not part of these activities. When both male and female students participated in non-classroom activities then female students had higher average exam grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to investigate the errors of students in the use of English articles (a, an, the, and zero articles). The sample of the study comprised of 60 graduate students selected through simple random sampling method. The instrument used as data collection tool was the essays written by students of BS in the subject of Communication Skills. The essays written by the participants were collected and the errors committed by the students in the articles were identified and analyzed in frequencies. The main finding of the study was; learners' whose mother tongue is Urdu (Urdu does not have any article system) commit more errors as compared to those whose L1 has articles system. Students faced more difficulties in learning indefinite articles and omit it in their writings. Based on these finding some pedagogical implications were proposed, which might assist ESL/EFL teachers with some practicable suggestions and teaching strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of English as L2 for communication is the main purpose behind the teaching and learning of English and the whole task of ESL teaching and learning revolves around its use for communicative purpose. This study is an effort to explore the reasons because of which some of the students seek L2 use more frequently while others avoid it. The present study is carried out to estimate the effect of motivation, willingness to communicate (WTC), selfperceived communicative competence (SPCC) and L2 anxiety (ANX) on the frequency of use of English as L2 for oral communication (FREQ). Moreover, the study aims to explore which of the motivation, WTC, SPCC and ANX has comparatively more or less effect on FREQ. 123 University students studying English at post graduate level (MA English) participated in the study. A survey questionnaire was used as a data collection tool for the study. SPSS- 20.0 software was applied to find out the values of mean, standard deviation, correlation coefficient and co-efficient of regression among the variables. The results showed that within the four variables; motivation, WTC, SPCC and L2 anxiety; SPCC is found to be the first, WTC is the 2nd and motivation is the 3rd positively influencing variable that affect FREQ among post graduate students of English in Pakistan. Anxiety is found to have a weak and negative effect on FREQ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the dimensions of spread of English in Pakistan is through its code-switching, code mixing and borrowing in the national and local/regional languages of Pakistan. These bilingual practices have very significant socio-linguistic implications in education. The present paper explores bilingual practices in the Urdu classrooms at primary level, their advantages or/and challenges in Pakistani context. Five sections of grade 4 are selected as the sample of the current study. Classroom observation, interviews of teachers, role-play and group interviews of sample groups of students from an Army Public school of Rawalpindi are used as research tools to explore what are the bilingual practices of teachers and students in the classroom; how teachers and students use their linguistic repertoire to carry out classroom interaction; and how teachers and students perceive these bilingual practices. Observation notes-data and audio-video recorded data is categorized into two main categories: Category A: Bilingual Practices of Teachers, Category B. Bilingual Practices of Students. Each category is further subcategorized into Standard/Regular Bilingual Practices, and Non-standard/Eccentric Bilingual Practices. The categorized data is analyzed to examine the bilingual practices of teachers and students used to perform various communicative, pragmatic, religio-social and management functions in the classroom. The study provides interesting insights into the phenomena; and it is expected that it will help in understanding the bilingual classroom dynamics in a better way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a Self-assessment Instrument for Teacher Evaluation (SITE II) based on five National Professional Standards for Teachers developed by the Ministry of Education, Pakistan: subject matter knowledge, instructional planning and strategies, assessment, learning environment, and effective communication. The data were collected from 279 English and mathematics teachers of grade 10 in 40 public boys' and girls' high schools in district Okara who self-evaluated their performance on five teacher performance components. The overall reliability of the questionnaire was found high (α = .94). The SITE II factor structure was discovered through exploratory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence of construct validity of the questionnaire. Significant positive relationship was found between teachers' scores on self-evaluation questionnaire and their students' achievement (n = 7245) in English as well as in mathematics. The findings suggest that the questionnaire is valid and efficient tool for measuring components of teacher self-assessment. Teachers can use this scale for evaluation of their won teaching and take remedial actions. Mentors and supervisors can use it for diagnostic purpose and designing professional development courses for teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of researchers rely on genre to analyse academic and professional communication and to see how members of a discourse community use language. Since Swales’ (1990) seminal genre analysis of research article introductions, many researchers have carried out genre analysis of various types of professional and academic documents including job application letters. Subscribing to the view that genre is dynamic and socially constructed (Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1995), the present study explores if genre conventions in job letters written in Pakistan have undergone any change since Bhatia’s (1989) genre analysis of job letters in South Asian context. It was found that the job applicants no longer use the self-degradation moves as noted by Bhatia (1989). However, they still resort to glorifying the employer as a move and use old-fashioned courtly expressions to appeal to the sentiments of compassion of the employer. Although making good use of the typical formulaic expressions of the genre, most of the candidates fail to use language creatively and elaborately to present themselves as individuals with unique abilities and achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the main factors that affect the stress level of engineering students. Our questionnaire is based on the scale. Inventory of college students' recent life experiences (ICSRLE). Randomly collected data from 200 students are analysed with MINITAB14. The Six sigma techniques of Pareto Analysis, SIPOC Analysis, Cause and Effect matrix and Relationship charts are used to identify the most significant factors. It is found that the teachers' communication and marking skills are the most critical factors. The findings of this research underscore the importance of having a transparent marking system to the course's both inside and outside the educational institutions and to guide teachers in improving their communication and marking skills to reduce stress in students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]