Search

The proposed research aimed to examine abusive leadership and workplace ostracism as predictors of employee silence among school teachers in Sargodha, Pakistan. Studies further tend to examine the moderating role of power distance. Purposive sampling was employed to acquire the data. The research variables were quantified using the Abusive Supervision Scale (Mitchell & Ambrose, 2007), Workplace Exclusion Scale (Hitlan & Noel, 2009), Silence Scale (Van Dyne et al., 2003) and Power Distance Scale (Dorfman & Howell, 1988). Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between abusive leadership, workplace ostracism, employee silence, and power distance. Results showed that abusive leadership, ostracism, silence, and power distance have a positive relationship with each other. The findings of linear regression revealed that abusive leadership, ostracism and power distance positively predicted employee silence. Moderation analysis revealed that power distance significantly moderated the relationship of abusive leadership and workplace ostracism with employee silence. The proposed research provides some recommendations and conclusions for future researchers who may be interested in examining the abuse that teachers experience in a high-power-distance culture that compels them to act silently.

The present study was aimed to achieve two objectives: (a) translate and adapt the English version of Planned Happenstance Career Inventory (PHCI) in Urdu language, and (b) to establish its psychometric properties with respect to Pakistani culture. The study was divided into two phases. Phase I consisted of forward and backward translation of the scale and its initial statistical analysis, whereas Phase II was focused on establishing the psychometric properties. Results of the Phase I yielded reliable (Cronbach's [alpha] = 0.863) and valid (item-total r > 0.5, p < 0.01) results on a sample of 253 students (female= 147, males = 106). Phase II analysis yielded correlation (r = 0.732, p < 0.01), on a sample of (n=87), which suggests strong Test-Retest reliability whereas discriminant validity was proved with insignificant relationship of Counterproductive Work Behaviour Checklist and PHCI-Urdu version (r = 0.018, p > 0.05), and significant correlation with Urdu Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (r = 0.358, p < 0.01) proved the convergent validity of the two scales. This study concludes that PHCI-Urdu would be an effective tool for individual career counselling as well as trainings related to career counselling to prepare students for uncertain circumstances from public and private educational sectors.

Pakistan has constantly been in the news since the September 9, 2001, attack in New York, USA, and its education system and curriculum have seen a lot of interest from academics, researchers, and civil society organizations, both locally and globally. These researchers explored many aspects such as the concept of Jihad and its connection with violence against religious minorities, the construction of "Us" and "Them," the national, religious, and cultural identity but the development, promotion, and preservation of spiritual capital (SC) remained unexplored. This study was undertaken to take stock of the SC considered worthwhile to be preserved and promoted through language textbooks prepared for elementary school children by the Government of Pakistan. The study used a qualitative interpretive/constructivist research paradigm and chose qualitative content analysis as the data analysis method. The data for this study was taken from language textbooks (12 English and 12 Urdu) and semi-structured interview data, collected using a focus group discussion data collection strategy. This study found a very strong link between pupils' SC and the stories presented to them in the language textbooks showing the rootedness of pupils' SC in Islam, its teachings, and history. The study also showed pupils struggling to modify and expand their SC by including the global SC perspective in their already constructed set of SC. This study recommends that the textbook authorities should make the language textbooks' content inclusive and add global stories emphasizing universal SC.

This paper explores student experiences of language-in-education policies through the lens of colonial processes and traces such logic as they operate through educational institutions. Drawing on semi-structured interviews of high school seniors and recent graduates, I investigate how students in Pakistani secondary schools interact with intersecting modern/colonial structures that rationalize existing hierarchies of power along colonial, racial/ethnic, and gendered lines. The findings suggest that students have internalized dominant colonial ideologies and they also constitute key sites for decolonial resistance at the same time. Student experiences of colonial hierarchies in the school were mediated by their socioeconomic class, gender, ethnic and linguistic background. However, despite internalizing dominant hierarchies, many students understood their experiences through the framing of colonial power structures, which simultaneously positioned them as potential actors for decolonial resistance. In this paper, I analyze their experiences in detail, and in doing so, this study adds to the growing voices in the field of international and comparative education that critically examine the role of modern/colonial formations in the structuring of education globally.

This article drew on the recent dynamic, distributed view of "translanguaging and flows" and the New Materiality view of meaning making to explore content and language integrated learning (CLIL) activities in an English-Medium-Instruction (EMI) secondary Science classroom. Fine-grained analysis of the multilingual and multimodal classroom interactions between a Cantonese-speaking Science teacher and her Urdu-speaking students exemplified how students and teacher engaged in dynamic translanguaging, trans-semiotizing and trans-registering. The analysis supports the dynamic, heteroglossic, trans/languaging view of language learning and sheds light on some of the current queries about translanguaging.

The current study investigates how educational media influences the early bilingual language development of Pakistani children. An exploratory sequential research design was employed, spanning a 16-week observation period and the utilisation of a Likert-scale based questionnaire. A cohort of twenty 5-year-old children and their parents participated in the study. The findings reveal that exposure to second language (L2) culture through educational media can positively impact learning. However, the efficacy of this influence is contingent upon various factors such as media quality, frequency and duration of exposure, and cultural relevance. Furthermore, the study outlines both favourable and adverse outcomes of L2 cultural exposure on children's behaviour. Positive effects include fostering an appreciation for diverse cultures, enhancing language proficiency, and promoting cultural competence. Conversely, negative consequences encompass inappropriate behaviour and an over-reliance on screen time. The paper concludes by offering suggestions to parents and educators for mitigating negative effects. These recommendations involve monitoring screen time, introducing alternative forms of entertainment, and leveraging cartoons and nursery rhymes as tools to teach cultural diversity and encourage identity formation. Lastly, the study underscores the significance of combining the use of educational media with other language learning techniques to deliver a holistic language learning experience.

Thomas Babington Macaulay's 1835 minute on Indian education is widely held to be representative of the views which underpinned the English East India Company's replacement of Persian with English as the official language of administration in India in 1837, and the promotion of English and Indian vernacular languages as part of colonial educational policy. Yet, it is often overlooked that Macaulay failed to even mention Persian in his condemnation of "oriental learning", focusing his attention solely on the shortcomings of Sanskrit and Arabic. Macaulay's omission of Persian is telling: despite its centrality to Mughal rule and the political transactions of the East India Company alike, Persian did not fit easily into emergent colonial formulations regarding Indian languages and their relationships with particular locales, ethnicities and religions. Through an examination of colonial discussions regarding Indian education, this article argues that the complicated, often contradictory, status of Persian in educational discourse allowed the language to elude definitive categorisation and to survive in government schools and colleges during the nineteenth century. It further suggests that as multilingual cultures were formalised and reconfigured within the domain of colonial education, the continued presence of Persian alongside vernaculars such as Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali at colonial institutions both shaped -- and disturbed -- their identification as viable modern languages.

This study adopted a social network perspective to explore the academic discourse socialization experiences of eight degree-seeking multilingual international students at a university in eastern China. Based on a triangulation of ethnographic interviews, social network questionnaires, and supplementary sources (e.g., voluntarily submitted recordings, texts about academic exchanges), the study revealed five patterns of students' social networks, including heterogeneous-sparse network, heterogeneous-dense network, homogeneous-sparse network, homogeneous-dense network, and balanced network. This resulting network typology was utilized to interpret the role of social networks in individuals' socialization trajectories, which were observed to include "affecting capacities to negotiate academic norms, structuring channels to build and transform expertise," and "shaping space for multicompetence development." While different network connections demonstrated different roles, networks with similar characteristics could exert divergent impacts, highlighting the mediation of a range of individual and sociocultural dynamics. Based on the findings, the study contributes to critical multilingual studies by offering theoretical implications for socialization research on community and competence, and providing practical suggestions for research, education, and program administration in international education.

In the current study we used the gaze-contingent moving window paradigm to directly compare the second language (L2) English perceptual span of two groups that speak languages with essentially the same lexicon and grammar but crucially with different writing directions (and scripts): Hindi (read left to right) and Urdu (read right to left). This is the first study to directly compare first language (L1) speakers of languages that differ primarily in reading direction in a common L2, English. While Urdu speakers had a slightly faster reading rate, we found no additional differences between Hindi and Urdu speakers when reading L2 English; both groups showed a perceptual span between 9 and 11 characters to the right of the fixation based on saccade length. This suggests little to no influence of L1 reading direction on L2 perceptual span, but rather that L2 perceptual span is influenced by allocation of attention during reading. Our data are in line with research by Leung et al. (2014) finding that L2 speakers have a smaller perceptual span than native speakers (L1 perceptual span is approximately 15 characters to the right of the fixation). This most likely stems from the increased demands associated with reading in a second language, which led to a reduction in the amount of attention that can be allocated outside of the current fixation.

Pakistan, one of the eight countries comprising South Asia, has more than 212.2 million people, making it the world's fifth most populous country after China, India, USA, and Indonesia. It has also the world's second-largest Muslim population. Eberhard et al. (Ethnologue: languages of the world, SIL International, 2020) report 77 languages used by people in Pakistan, although the only two official languages are Urdu and English. After its Independence from the British colonial rule in 1947, it took much deliberation for the country to make a shift from its monolingual Urdu orientation to a multilingual language policy in education in 2009. This entailed a shift from the dominant Urdu language policy for the masses (and English exclusively reserved for elite institutions), to a gradual and promising change that responded to the increasing social demand for English and for including regional languages in the curriculum. Yet English and Urdu dominate the present policy and exclude regional non-dominant languages in education that themselves are dynamic and unstable, and restructured continually due to the de facto multilingual and plurilingual repertoire of the country. Using Bourdieu's (Outline of a theory of practice Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1977a, The economics of linguistic exchanges. Soc Sci Inform 16:645-668, 1977b, The genesis of the concepts of habitus and field. Sociocriticism 2:11-24 1985, Language and symbolic power Polity Press, Cambridge, 1991) conceptualization of habitus, this study analyzes letters to the editor published between 2002-2009 and 2018-2020 in a leading English daily of Pakistan. The analysis unveils the linguistic dispositions that are discussed in the letters and their restructuring through market forces, demonstrating a continuity between the language policy discourse and public aspirations. The findings also indicate the ambivalences towards Urdu and English in relation to nationalistic ideologies, modernity and identity.

This study problematises the discourses of Pakistan's national curriculum textbooks to investigate how they represent Pakistan's indigenous languages/cultures through the prism of religion to constitute secondary school students' particular postcolonial linguistic identities. It also draws on the perspectives of 12 teachers and 424 students to record their responses. Taking insights from Paulo Freire's "cultural invasion," Robert Blauner's "internal colonisation" and selected postcolonial perspectives, the study notes a dynamic interplay of the sampled textbooks, schoolteachers and the school as a site of discursive social practices. Jointly, they position students within an exclusionary homogenous Urdu-loving group--a language which is represented as Arabic's tributary. Indigenous languages are recognised, however, as an adjunct to Arabic and Urdu, emphasising their role in the proselytisation of Islam in the region. Similarly, fine arts and indigenous cultural festivals are represented from a particular religious lens. The students strongly identify with this curious case of "internal colonisation" and "cultural invasion," and support it. They exhibit self-righteousness and aversion towards linguistic/cultural pluralism and minorities, which entails implications for Pakistan's national cohesion and educational parlance of equity and inclusivity.

Purpose: The construct of well-being using Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) (Corey L. M. Keyes et al., 2008) has been studied across various cultures, validated across several populations and languages. However, there are no published psychometric properties of its Urdu version. This study is an attempt to bridge this gap. The need was felt to translate and linguistically validate the MHC-SF into the Urdu language for male and female Pakistani students. Methodology: The study had two phases: In phase, I, the Urdu translation of the MHC-SF was carried out using Mapi guidelines for the standard forward and backward translation methods. In phase II, validation of the MHCSF was determined, yielding confirmatory factor analysis. For the empirical evaluation, a sample of 712 students, including both 368 males and 344 females of undergraduate and postgraduate level with the age range of 18-28 years (M =23.58, SD= 3.35) were recruited. The psychometric evolution of the MHC-SF turned into excellent validity and reliability estimates for constructs. Moreover, strict measurement invariance was established for MHC-SF across males and females. Findings: The findings showed that the Urdu version of the MHC-SF had strong psychometric properties, and linguistically and culturally was acceptable. Thus MHC-SF was invariant at all measurement standards across males and females. Implications for Research and Practice: It is evident that this study would pave the way for positive psychology to make research available to measure the constructs more indigenously in future. Future research can utilize these psychometric properties of MHC-SF across different demographic variables.

This research is analytical in nature and a comparative study of code-mixing and code-switching among the children of 2 to 5 belonging to the educated and uneducated background. The focus of the research is how the children mix and switch Punjabi and Urdu at their early age. This study of code-mixing and code-switching in Urdu and Punjabi is found in educated and uneducated children's recordings. Mostly the children mix single word insertion from Punjabi in their utterances during the conversation. They also mix and switch the clauses and sentences of both languages. The main work of this study is to quantify how many insertions of Single Word (Noun Insertion, Adjective Insertion, Adverb Insertion, and Verb Insertion), of Phrase (Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase), of Clause and Sentence (Clause Insertion and Sentence Insertion). Hybridization of Single Word and Synthesis (Modes and Terms of Address, Repetition, Tags, and Fillers) have also been identified. The reason why Punjabi is considered as the study of code-mixing and code-switching with national language is that it is spoken not only at home but also outside in the surrounding of the children in the city of Sahiwal.

The "language pyramid" in the post-colonial territories as propounded by Melchers and Shaw in 2003 aptly reflects on the status of different languages in Pakistan. At the top is English, with its heritage as a colonial language. Then is the "national" language Urdu which has nationalist value and is spoken by the majority as a lingua franca; while at the bottom of this hierarchy are the regional languages and their dialects. This hierarchy of languages has deeper repercussions enrooting stratification based on social class and commodification of languages. In this paper, this claim is substantiated by semiotic analysis of a social media text- an amateur video clip that went viral on Facebook in January 2021 in which owners of a high-end cafe in Islamabad mock their manager's English. The video is only the tip of the iceberg of the symbolic and linguistic capitals of English in Pakistan. This analysis is further pleaded by the literature on the critical approach to language policy and planning (LPP). This critical approach can be traced back to the 1980s and Tollefson's oft-cited book in 1991 that endeavors to situate LPP as a part of ongoing conflicts between the elites and the common masses. He regards that the evolution of the critical approach has widened its scope rendering it primarily sociocultural, dealing with the dynamics of status and prestige. Thus stated, this research attempts to converge the critical relational theory of Bourdieu with semiotics to address this issue of class discrimination based on the hegemony of English in Pakistan through a multimethodological approach.

This research yields a review on demotivation among students due to poor language skills resulting in less participation in classrooms. It provides code-switching, the alternating use of languages in the discourse, as a solution to this problem. It is mixed-method research in which the data was collected from university teachers and students on a survey. The study followed Fairclough's model of Critical Discourse Analysis and helped reach conclusions regarding the use of code-switching in classes. It finds out that our university teachers are already using code-switching in their classes to help reduce foreign language anxiety and motivate learners towards learning. The study also highlighted the possible harm code-switching may bring to the students: students suffer in the long run due to their reliance on the usage of code-switching, and this complete dependency ultimately results in poor language skills development. Thus, the study recommends that teachers be careful and judicious in the use of code-switching in classes and that too only in the initial phase of university education.

Urdu language is a member of Indo-European family tree and within the zone of Indo-Iranian branch, whereas Turkish language is a member of Altaic family tree. Both of these languages belong to different family trees, but these languages have many words in common. Urdu language has 41 consonant sounds and 11 vowel sounds, whereas Turkish language has 21 consonant sounds and 8 vowel sounds. Both of these languages don't have same number of phonemes. It is interesting to contemplate, how the speakers of both languages produce and perceive these common words in their languages. Therefore, a study is designed to explore the phonemic variations in similar words of Urdu and Turkish languages. In order to find out variations, a list of 75 words, which are common in Urdu and Turkish language was prepared in form of text. The data of this study was collected from Pak-Turk school of Lahore. The prepared words list was given to 10 Turkish speakers. These speakers were selected by using purposive sampling technique. The audios of the speakers were recorded and transcribed into standard Turkish IPA symbols. Levenshtein algorithm framework is used to draw a comparative analysis of Turkish phonemic transcriptions with standard Urdu phonemic transcriptions of the same words. With the help of Levenshtein algorithm, phonemic variations in similar words of both languages was measured. The intriguing result of the study will help in establishing the understanding about the production directions of the similar words used by the speakers of both languages.

The study aimed to explore the indigenous language of Gujjar and Bakerwal tribal communities of district Ganderbal of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The design of the study is qualitative in nature. The researcher employs purposive sampling in selecting the sample. The researcher surveyed 81 Gujjar and Bakerwal households and interviewed 22 (19 Male and 3 Female) members of both the communities chosen from villages of Hayan Palpora, Ganwan, Harignawan, Jara Pati, Thune, Syed Basti (Surfraw), Chount Waliwar, and Yechihama of Ganderbal district. The researcher employed semi-structured questionnaire, interview schedule, focused group discussion and observation methods to collect data pertaining to the study. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the collected data. The study concluded that the Gujjar and Bakerwal communities are multi-lingual and, their mother tongue is gojri. Variation in mother tongue with respect to mannerism, tone and symbolic meaning of things has been observed between two communities. In intra community settings, mother tongue primarily used and in inter community settings, they mostly interact in Urdu language. Furthermore, in religious observances, both Arabic and Gojri is used. Gojri language has a close resemblance with Mewari and Urdu languages. The speakers of gojri language are declining as dominant languages like English and Urdu are much preferred in school and other settings. The school going children of both the communities learn and speak these dominant language instead of their own mother tongue that becomes a threat for the survival of the gojri language. The development of content in gojri language and financial support to the writers of gojri literature will be helpful in promoting gojri. The translation of school curriculum in gojri and the inclusion of gojri as a separate language subject besides, the usage of gojri as pedagogical method in educational settings will save the language form extinction.

This paper proposes a framework for multilingual language-in-education policy implementation, offered as a critically constructive response to India's recent "National Education Policy 2020" (GOI, 2020). Rooted in India's existing educational language policy, our linguistically inclusive 'Languages for Learning' (LFL) framework is, we believe, structurally flexible, socioculturally feasible, economically viable and academically relevant. It aims to foster equity and also to ensure first language support and cognitive independence. Before presenting the framework, we critically review the multilingual policy guidance offered in "NEP 2020," then lay out a theoretical foundation for the LFL framework based primarily on current translanguaging theory, and also discuss the history of India's much maligned three-language formula (TLF), which forms the core of language policy in India. The framework itself is presented with reference to specific contextual challenges in India that may also serve to indicate its relevance for other multilingual contexts around the world. As such, the LFL framework is offered as a more multilingually-appropriate alternative to the reductive construct of 'Medium of Instruction', which itself originates in the monolingual habitus of historically outdated language-in-education policy theory. We invite critical evaluations of the utility of our framework, both for India and other multilingual contexts.

In many immigrant families, children often learn the language and culture of the host society quicker than adult immigrants. Consequently, children serve as language brokers, translating and interpreting face-to-face communication. The aim of this paper is to present a study based on 19 qualitative in depth interviews with young adults reporting on how they felt and managed their emotions when acting as language brokers in their childhood and adolescence. The study shows the key role that emotions play in the Child Language Brokering experience and how the relationships that the broker establishes with their immediate context (family, teachers, and the community) is intrinsically related to how they assess the experience. It also shows that emotions had an impact on how brokers modulate the message they rendered, especially when they had to deal with sensitive topics. This research proves the importance of the first-person retrospective narratives of the protagonists, which allows to give a voice to a highly invisible group.

A national language policy reflects how a state looks at the languages used by its people. It assigns certain roles to languages, and addresses the issues of language education and language of education. Pakistan, a multilingual country, has yet no language policy at national level. This absence of policy has caused many issues, including the medium of instruction (MoI). Since the country is currently developing a single national curriculum, its success largely depends on resolving the issue of the medium of instruction. the paper, motivated by the same issue, introduces the problem, then, after discussing some major linguistic challenges faced by the country, it spotlights the difference between the Constitution (1973) and the National Education Policy on the issue of MoI. The paper takes insights from Integrative Framework (Hornberger, 2006) of language planning and policy, and Stage Actor Model (Zhao & Baldauf, 2012), to discuss actor agency and their role in solving the problem. The paper proposes a late-exit transitional bilingual model to address the issue of MoI in the country. It concludes with recommendations for a well-framed national language policy capable to de-stigmatise the national language Urdu, to give due recognition to regional or autochthonous languages, and to provide clear guidelines about the MoI in the formal education system of the country.

This article uses Karen Barad's agential realism to re/world the English language as used in Pakistan. My arguments draw on my students' term project where they not only 'resist' the ex-coloniser's language by creatively adapting it while translating an Urdu text into English but make gender related and political statements. Using post/colonialism as a Baradian apparatus, I re/configure my students' relationship with English in conjunction with concepts like Self/Other, linguabridity and appropriation. I suggest that it would be desirable for students to use English in a way that supports international communication, in addition to a local variety that gives form to their beliefs and values, their culture and experience. The re/creation of English in my class as a temporally entangled phenomenon - 'a cut together apart-one move'- denotes the im/permanence and in/determinacy of the relationship which remains open to a new world of diffractive im/possibilities.

Pakistani English is a variety of English language concerning Sentence structure, Morphology, Phonology, Spelling, and Vocabulary. The one semantic element, which makes the investigation of Pakistani English additionally fascinating is the Vocabulary. Pakistani English uses many loan words from Urdu language and other local dialects, which have become an integral part of Pakistani English, and the speakers don't feel odd while using these words. Numerous studies are conducted on Pakistani English Vocabulary, yet a couple manage to deal with morphology. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the morphological integration of Urdu loan words in Pakistani English. Another purpose of the study is to investigate the main reasons of this morphological integration process. The Qualitative research method is used in this study. Researcher prepares a sample list of 50 loan words for the analysis. These words are randomly chosen from the newspaper "The Dawn" since it is the most dispersed English language newspaper in Pakistan. Some words are selected from the Books and Novellas of Pakistani English fiction authors, and concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition. The results show that, when the Urdu language loan words are morphologically integrated in Pakistan English, they do not change their grammatical category. Moreover, four distinguished morphological process are identified in integration of these loan words. The results also reveal that deficit hypothesis is the main reason of this lexical borrowing.

The textbooks are believed to be containing true and authentic historical narratives and it also remained the sole tool employed by a state to impart a certain notion of its identity. The qualitative perspective best suited this research, and within it, the qualitative content analysis method was chosen to analyze the content of textbooks. This study analyzed history textbooks of classes six to eight published by the three state textbook authorities in Pakistan. The focus of the textbook analysis was to identify discourse strategies used to construct, reinforce and strengthen a certain notion of pupils' identity. The study revealed the use of representation, unification, avoidance, and trivialization strategies as the textbook writers created images of invaders, conquerors and rulers of the Indian subcontinent and the impact on Indian people and society. This study suggests that history textbooks should present history with multiple interpretations using multiple sources to construct a historical narrative.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship among Working Memory Capacity (WMC) and Mathematical Performance (MP) of a sample of Pakistani students. A quantitative research approach was used to find out participants' WMC and to discover its relationship with their MP. A sample of 1186 participants' from fifty seven public sector secondary schools in Lahore, through multistage random sampling was selected for this research. Figure Intersection Test was used to measure WMC where as Mathematics Performance Test was used to measure MP. Data were analyzed by using computer software SPSS version 15. The results showed a notable difference in WMC and MP due to gender. Performance of male students on Mathematics Performance Test was better than the performance of female students in the same test. In addition, WMC and MP of English medium students was better than Urdu medium students. Overall, WMC was highly connected with MP. Three groups of WMC (low, medium and high) were significantly different from each other in scores of both Figure Intersection Test and Mathematics Performance Test. Low performance in mathematics is may be due to overloaded working memory; therefore, this study has recommended that curriculum designers may take advantage of this research while selecting mathematical topics for nine graders.

Previous research reported bilingual cognitive strengths in working memory, executive function and novel-word learning skills (Bialystok in Psychol Bull 143:233-262, 2017; Kaushanskaya and Marian in Psychon Bull Rev 16:705-710, 2009). These skills should also support bilingual children's vocabulary and reading development, yet bilingual children show weaknesses in their second language vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. Our primary aim was to clarify these seemingly paradoxical reports by investigating the cognitive strengths and weaknesses associated with both bilingual experience and reading comprehension in a single study. The participants were 102 English-speaking monolingual children and 104 Hindi/Urdu-English speaking bilingual children (mean age = 118.26 months, SD = 11.23 months) in the UK. We tested children's vocabulary, working memory, executive function (cognitive inhibition, updating memory), novel-word learning, and reading skills. All testing was conducted in English. The findings supported the previous reports of bilingual cognitive strengths in working memory, novel-word learning and cognitive inhibition skills. However, despite their cognitive strengths and adequate word reading skills, the bilingual group displayed weaker reading comprehension than their monolingual peers. As anticipated, there was a direct association between bilingual children's smaller English vocabulary size and underperformance on reading comprehension. Along with word reading, vocabulary was the most powerful unique predictor of reading comprehension. The effects of cognitive control skills on reading comprehension were mixed and mostly indirect through word reading skills. These relations were comparable across the monolingual and bilingual groups. Together, our findings highlighted the importance of clear educational policies on oral language assessment and support in our increasingly multilingual classrooms.

Background: Pakistan inherits a multilingual heritage. Along with Urdu, 70 different languages are spoken. The 1973 Constitution officially recognizes Urdu as Pakistan's only national language. Purpose: Until today, the adoption and promotion of Urdu as a medium of educational instruction has remained a point of controversy. Existing research lacks the voice of academicians on the issue. Research Design: The present investigation focused on the voice of 100 university professors selected randomly. As part of the Ph.D. Data analysis: Research, data was gathered using a standardized Likert Summative Ranking Scale. Result: Data analysis revealed that there is a highly significant positive relationship (p = 0.000) between the use of national language and nation-building. Conclusion: This means, academicians across Pakistani universities strongly believe in the use of national language in all lifestyles to realize the dreams of nation-building. It will help to achieve socio-cultural, developmental, strategic, academic, and identity goals amicably.

It is very essential to understand all the phenomena and circumstances running within the process of education or teaching-learning setting, some of the factors that should be considered on the top of the understanding list are pedagogical beliefs and practices of teachers. Pedagogical beliefs and practices are very much related to the tactics, ways, methods and strategies that teachers use for facing or challenging coming in their routine professional line. These are also essential for refining teaching and students' learning atmosphere for keeping their motivation and interest up for enhanced performances. The objective of the study was to compare the pedagogical beliefs of English and Urdu teachers. In order to achieve the objectives of this study related literature was reviewed. A questionnaire on the basis of reviewed literature on five point Likert scale i.e. 5 = Strongly Disagree, 4 = Disagree, 3 = Undecided, 2 = Strongly Agree, 1 = Agree was used for data collection. Random sampling technique was used to draw sample from the population of school teachers from all public -sector secondary schools of the Lahore. Two English and two Urdu teachers were selected randomly from each school total 660 secondary school teachers of Lahore 330 Urdu teachers and 330 English teachers were the sample of the study. Frequency and percentage and t. test used for data analysis. The study revealed that Urdu teacher had High level of pedagogical beliefs in comparison with the English teachers. Which indicates that Urdu teachers recognize themselves more proficient and comfortable in caring out of their responsibilities of teaching as compared to the English teachers. Urdu teachers felt High level of contentment and comfort in involving their students in class activities, planning better approaches to increase students' interest, and handle complex situations in the class during teaching as compared to English teachers.

Both Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, and English the official language are widely used for spoken and written communication in different contexts in Pakistan. In education; however, a linguistic divide is evident in the two-stream system of education - mainly referred to as Urdu medium and English medium - according to the dominant language of instruction in an institutional setting. Urdu medium schools are normally the state schools providing free education to the poorer communities while the English medium schools are private fee-paying schools for the economically well-off sections of society. This disparity in the educational system has loaded the labels English medium and Urdu medium with a range of meanings that constitute self and other's perceptions of identity, in addition to signaling linguistic capital, particularly in terms of proficiency in English. This paper reports findings of a small-scale qualitative study undertaken to understand how students at a higher education public-sector institution in Pakistan experience and construct their own and others' identities in relation to their previous and current educational and social experiences of language learning and use. Insights gained from this study further our understanding of how linguistic inequalities can be sanctioned by the state's language policy and related practices.

In this study, the researcher explored various aspects of Pakistani undergraduate students' learning experiences in their immediate (both formal and informal) learning context. In addition, the researcher also found out and discussed the possible motivational role of these aspects of participants' immediate learning contexts. This qualitative study is based on 20 semi-structured interviews conducted after seeking the written consent of the participants, selected among the students, participated in a large-scale L2 motivation research (Islam, Lamb & Chambers, 2013). In general, the majority of participants appeared overtly enthusiastic and satisfied with their experiences of learning English in their universities. This enthusiasm may largely be because of their strong internalization of the utilitarian roles of English in their future lives. Participants with the English medium background and good communication skills were more confident and satisfied with their English learning experiences as compared to those with the Urdu medium background or less proficient skills. Teachers may create an enabling learning environment, based on necessary motivational tools, to encourage even less proficient and shy students participate in the classroom interaction and learning process. Teachers may also assess the learning preferences of their students, especially those of the less proficient, to address psychological and social obstacles/issues, which hinder their participation in the class.

Assessment and evaluation are key aspects of teaching and instruction, which serve to promote learning through better planning. The procedures should be robust and be able to depict the grey areas for later reviews. Writing as an integral component of literacy, deals with convention and purpose -- essentials that need to be incorporated in children to develop them into quality writers. Writing evaluation has been catered on holistic grounds for much of the time however, for novice and challenged writers some analytical criterion has been proposed in literature. The present study was designed to develop a scientific and analytical tool for the evaluation of writing skills of the deaf that have been identified as struggling writers. Keeping in view the challenges of a typical Pakistani teacher of the deaf, the researcher aimed to develop an analytical tool for writing assessment. The population comprised deaf students studying in public sector schools in Lahore district. The sample comprised 20 students of elementary grades through convenient random selection. The developed tool having analytical qualities had an internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha score) of 0.71. Conducted through a pre-post research design, the tool, when applied to the sample yielded better post-test scores in all three areas of planning, translating and reviewing, the sub variables of which included spelling, mechanics, ability to revise/ evaluate, coherence, cohesiveness, generation and organization of ideas, identifying its efficacy in terms of writing evaluation.

Translation is considered one of the most important skills in studying and learning a language. It is termed as a craft which is thought to be enjoyed by those who aspire to grab a sound command over second language. This study has strived to analyze problem-causing factors faced by the EFL learners in translation particularly in translating present indefinite and past indefinite tenses from Urdu into English and present some suggestions to remedy the problems brought to light by the present study. The present study is quantitative in its approach. The subjects (n=200) of this study are the students of B.Sc. (4th Year) class. In order to achieve the set objectives of the study, the researcher has conducted an achievement test to achieve the set objectives of the study. The test was comprised of such ten (10) sentences of Urdu of which five were of present indefinite and the remaining five were of past indefinite tense. These sentences were taken from the paragraphs which were selected from the past papers of the university (Bahauddin Zakaria University Multan, Pakistan) examinations. This study has also aimed to present some suggestions as remedial measures to remedy these factors which cause problems for the Pakistani EFL learners in translating present indefinite and past indefinite tenses from Urdu into English. The present study recommends that two forms (singular/plural) of the first form of a verb should be given in the first column instead of infinitival meaning of this form, the exact Urdu meaning of this form of should be given and the grammar books should also give the meaning of the past form of a verb.

English as an international language has left its impact on all the languages being spoken in the world. This impact has led to a world-wide language variation on a large scale. This variation can be evidently observed in the form of code-mixing and code-switching. The study explores and analyzes the frequency of code-mixing in the TV ads broadcasted in Pakistan so as to determine the level of variation that took place in Urdu due to English. Seventy commercials that have been shown during the years 2011-2015 have randomly been selected and the frequency of English words has been checked. The results show that so far as the language of commercials is concerned, Urdu has clearly been influenced by English due to multiple reasons such as fashion, ease and technological advancements etc.

This paper reports on a study investigating features related to Chinese linguistic complexities among international students enrolled in Chinese courses in China. The main objective of this study is to highlight the major feature of Chinese complexities encountered by international students and explore whether international students' native languages interfere the process of learning Chinese. The study used a survey questionnaire to collect the data from 147 male and female Bachelor, Master and PhD students enrolled in basic Chinese classes in two universities in China. Based on certain Descriptive and ANOVA calculations, findings of the study indicate that the participants indeed experienced Sound Similarities, Chinese Characters and Chinese Tones as the main features related to Chines linguistic complexities. Moreover, the results also revealed the participants' native language interference in the process of learning Chinese. The study ends in several recommendations to Chinese teachers as well as to foreign Chinese language learners with regard to teaching and learning Chinese.

This qualitative case study was aimed to investigate the notions of power and hegemony in research consultations around the construct of language ideologies. The study employed purposive sampling by selecting two MS (Education) research supervisees with their supervisors. It identified a social wrong of power and hegemony in research supervision practices with a transformative spirit, and aimed to bring about awareness and modifications in research supervision. Methodically, the study followed the analytical approach of Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA, 1989; 2003). Data were collected through observations and transcriptions of research consultation meetings and interviews of the participants. The textual analysis of case one revealed how language became a source of establishing asymmetrical power relations between the participants. Contrastingly, for case two, the consultations were not hinged on language aspects and had more equality and homogeneity between the partners. The findings of the study indicated that language ideologies played a very important role in sustaining the dominant position of the powerful agent, that is, the supervisor. Based on the findings, this research will contribute towards implementation of better democratic practices of supervision, equity and emancipation in supervision as a social practice.

Most refugees in countries of permanent resettlement arrive from first-asylum countries -- countries where refugees initially move to escape crisis in their homelands. Their pre-resettlement educational experiences have largely been undocumented. This qualitative ethnographic study describes the literacy practices of four elementary-aged Afghan refugee children in Pakistan. The findings revealed rich and various literacy practices these children and their families engaged in at home and beyond, such as practicing religious supplications or engaging in storytelling, trying to read and write in Urdu and English, reading the Quran or religious supplications, and helping others with their own literacy development. The parents and guardians highly valued literacy and believed it instilled manners, morals, and essential skills in their children. This research includes important implications for teachers working with refugee students.

Language education policies contain discourses that have language ideologies embedded within them. This study explores the language ideologies in official language education policy documents of Pakistan from 2000 to 2020. Using Corpus Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis techniques, a 1.28 million-word-corpus was generated from 32 policy documents collected from official websites of UNESCO and the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Pakistan. The corpus analysis of frequency, collocation, and MI significance values were utilized to find out the typicality of topics and semantic preferences, while the concordance analysis revealed discourse prosody around the languages mentioned in the corpus. Moreover, seven documents were downsampled through dispersion plot. Discourse Historical Analysis was carried out on these documents based on discursive strategies of argumentation, predication, and perspectivization with reference to intertextuality and interdiscursivity. The findings show that English and to some extent Urdu occupy the ideological space related to education. The local languages were discussed in positive light, but they were marginalized in educational ideological space. The analysis also showed that the policies had underlying monoglossic ideology that can be seen having tolerance-oriented and expediency-oriented policy ideologies for local languages. This implies that the official policies of Pakistan marginalized the local languages in the discourse of language education. These findings invite policymakers to bring the local languages in the ideological space of education and introduce high level of ideological uniformity, consistency and goal setting for English, Urdu, and local/indigenous languages in the language-in-education policies of Pakistan that matches, captures and promotes the linguistic diversity in Pakistan.

Children and young people from migrated families often learn host languages faster than their parents might do, and from very young ages they help their parents, families or community members by translating or interpreting, known as child language brokering (CLB). Language brokers need to mediate with different languages in different contexts and are more likely to become aware of the different status of the languages they use or are in contact with than other non-brokers from a migrant background. This article studies the phenomenon of CLB in Catalonia, a bilingual region, from a sociolinguistic perspective. It seeks to understand the linguistic reality of these language brokers, and their attitudes towards the different languages they speak. The results show a complex sociolinguistic picture in which language brokers are clear archetypes of multilingualism, and the tensions and preferences towards each of the languages spoken. It also reflects on the key role CLB plays in the maintenance and revitalization of heritage language(s) and culture(s).

This cross-sectional study investigated first (L1) and second (L2) language receptive and expressive vocabulary in a sample of 542 typically developing bilingual children of immigrants (age range 6-13), coming from six different L1 backgrounds in Norway. Results demonstrated that children's L1 and L2 vocabulary skills increased with age. From a deficit perspective, the study confirms that in each age group, there is a vocabulary gap between the ranges of Norwegian vocabulary known by Norwegian monolinguals and by Norwegian L2 children. At the same time, when an additive, conceptual scoring approach (taking into account bilingual children's known L1 and/or L2 vocabulary) was used, the persistent gap in vocabulary knowledge diminished or disappeared altogether. This finding is most evident in older age groups. Conceptual scoring provides a more sensitive and positive picture of bilingual children's overall range of vocabulary. The findings demonstrate a need for more nuanced assessment procedures of semantic knowledge across children's' L1 and L2.

Background: Speech and language researchers study phonological acquisition and evaluate the errors that children make to understand this complex process. This information provides clinicians with a scientific reference for better assessment and intervention services to children with articulation/phonological disorders. Urdu is a language spoken by more than 200 million speakers worldwide. However, research on Urdu phonological development is in its infancy. Purpose: This systematic review aimed to identify relevant studies and provide a comprehensive review of which aspects of Urdu phonological development have been targeted, along with the reported findings. Method: Five phases of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed. All retrieved studies published between January 1980 and March 2020 and focusing on Urdu speech sound acquisition and/or phonological processes in typically developing native Urdu speakers aged up to 8 years were included in the review. The final search was conducted on May 4, 2020. Results: A total of 873 records were identified from five databases and a manual search. Nine studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the final review. All studies were published in the English language, five of which were unpublished master's theses and four were peer-reviewed journal articles. Four of these studies focused on consonant acquisition, whereas five explored phonological processes. No study focused on the acquisition of Urdu vowels, diphthongs, or consonant clusters. These shortlisted studies were reviewed in detail to determine participants' demographic characteristics, focused areas of phonological acquisition, data elicitation methods and contexts, transcription systems, and major findings. Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive review of the available literature on Urdu phonological development and highlights areas for future research.

English as a medium of instruction and communication is becoming a central pedagogy in various countries in the world. In Pakistan, most of the advanced academic institutions use English as their medium of instruction, however students and teachers have been observed communicating in their first languages, especially Urdu, in the classrooms. This study was conducted at the Institute of Communication and Cultural Studies, University of Management and Technology, to examine the factors that limit students and teachers from communicating in English. Qualitative research methods were employed to find the factors affecting the use of English in English-only classrooms. A total of 130 participants were included in this study. Among them, 68 participants were engaged in student questionnaires. The participants were students of four native languages (Urdu, Punjabi, Siraiki and Pushto) with different level of English language proficiency. Required literature search was performed using key databases and journals, related to applied linguistics, English language and education. Our results demonstrated that most of the students like to communicate in English and be a part of the English-only environment, however they acknowledged some key factors that prevented them from speaking English in the classrooms. Fundamental factors included linguistics, individual, social, psychological and institutional which were largely based upon their beliefs, assumptions, needs and desires. This study may provide insights to the policymakers to work on issues related to communications and medium of instructions in Pakistan. It may also help teachers and educators to understand the underlying factors that compel students to speak their first languages instead of English.

In every society, language plays a vital role in communicating with each other as it allows speakers to expand their knowledge, deliver their ideas, opinions and feelings in the society. English, as a global language, provides a platform for communication for people who speak the language. Due to the growing trend in linguistic globalisation, bilingualism has become a very common phenomenon in today's world. In bilingual communities all over the world, speakers frequently switch from one language to another to meet communication demands. This phenomenon of alternation between languages is known as code-switching. The present study aims to focus on the teachers' use of code-switching as a language teaching tool in EFL classrooms in Pakistan. It also deals with the functions and types of code-switching in EFL classrooms. Four EFL speaking skill classes were observed, and audio was recorded and transcribed to analyse why and how code-switching was used in the classrooms. The analysis of classroom interaction transcripts revealed that teachers code-switched to maintain discipline, translate new words and build solidarity and intimate relationships with the students before, during and after the lessons. The study found that code-switching from L2 to L1 in the speaking classes did occur although English remained as the main medium of instruction. All the teachers consciously code-switched throughout their lectures. Teachers also code switched to Urdu after the lectures. Three types of code-switching occurred during the EFL classes: tag-switching, intra-sentential code-switching and inter-sentential switching. Hence, code-switching is a useful teaching tool in EFL classrooms to facilitate teaching and learning.

This paper explores the association between school-level factors and learning outcomes of children in 361 rural public primary schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, Pakistan. Two datasets have been used for the purpose: Education Management Information System (EMIS) for school-level factors and Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER) for student learning outcomes. The analysis reveals that school size, multigrade schools, teachers' qualification and teachers' attendance are significant predictors of children's numeracy and English reading skills whereas teachers' qualification and teachers' attendance, were found significant across all the three proficiency levels--reading Urdu, reading English and two-digit subtraction.

The current research aimed at comparing the language attitude of the Pakistani youth towards English, Urdu and Punjabi in a linguistically competitive environment. These languages play significant role in the country and are important in their own way. The objectives of the current research were to explore the integrative and instrumental motivation towards these languages, to analyze the social prestige of these languages and their importance in the global perspective. The study adopted the mentalist approach and employed questionnaire as research instrument in the quantitative paradigm of research. The data was collected from a sample of 445 respondents and was analyzed in SPSS through descriptive and inferential statistics. The study concludes that the respondents attach integrative motivation with Urdu and Punjabi while the instrumental motivation and sense of superiority is attached with English language. The study demands changes in language planning in education with the purpose to create environment for balanced development of all languages and positive attitude towards indigenous languages.

The education system of Pakistan is not unified. Students mainly attend three types of schools with different languages as medium of instruction; private schools, public schools and religious schools (called locally madrassas). Even though mother tongue education is emphasized in education and literacy circles, Pakistan has not been able to implement policies that would allow all students to be taught in their mother tongue. Since mother tongue education (MLE) is not a reality, students have been facing many issues, especially in those regions of the country where Urdu is not spoken at home, rather a different regional language, dialect or language variety. A conference was held in Karachi, where data about the language situation of the country was collected at level one of the data collection and at level two, eighteen experts were interviewed, who provided a list of recommendations to address the matters found at level one, for the improvement of the writing skills of the students all over the country. The most important of these recommendations were to ensure that the students engage on enough writing practice and proper programs of instruction are set into place with properly trained instructors.

This qualitative case study is an exploration of the phenomenon of the ways in which Urdu as the national language is represented in discursive practices of senior business academia. The research design, built on Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model (2009) is of dialectical-relational approach. The participant in this single case study is a senior member of the academia from a business school. Methodologically, the analysis trailed four stages and followed CDA's transdisciplinary traditional methods of social practices in three semiotic categories: genre, discourse and style. Findings of the study indicated that despite strong emotional links with the national language, the participant recognized the utilitarian value of English in academic and in professional domains; additionally, his perspective was that Urdu was largely marginalized due to its perceived lack of utilitarian value. The participant also expressed the viewpoint that this social injustice was needed by the social order because the business school requires English for academic and professional purposes. The study recommends a more inclusive addition of Urdu courses in business studies.

Psychologists and educators throughout the world paid attention to creativity and creative thinking. The routine type of tasks in the school appears to be very simple and uninteresting to the creative students. Atmosphere of some schools is conducive for the development of creative potential. Whereas the atmosphere of many schools comes in the way of its development. Children prefer to learn in creative ways rather than just memorizing information provided by a teacher or parents. It is generally assumed that children are highly creative, with vivid imaginations, and that they learn by exploring, risking, manipulating, testing, and modifying ideas. Language allows children to talk to each other and to write their thoughts and ideas and mother tongue is the most important and comprehensive medium for expression. Self-expression in reading, writing and speech; reading of suitable general books of high quality with interest rather than concentration on textbooks: approach to literature as a source of joy and inspiration rather killjoy drill in grammar and vocabulary. Children learn to connect individual words with objects, ideas, and actions. In the process, they write their thoughts and ideas in very creative ways. The researcher took this study to know the written potential of Urdu medium students. In this paper, the researcher emphasized that Urdu speaking children are not less than children of any other language. The only problem is less opportunities for them. The researcher found that Urdu medium students are naughty, distracted, disturbed due to various reasons but at the same time they are highly creative in writing.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the delegation of financial authority to public primary schools through Parent-Teacher Councils (PTCs) on learning outcomes of primary school children in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Pakistan. The learning outcomes were measured in three subject areas (Urdu, English, and Mathematics). Three sources of data were used: a) Education Management Information System (EMIS), which is obtained from the Ministry of Education KP and is an official compilation of institutional data on education; b) Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER), which is a household based, citizen led survey for evaluating the learning effectiveness of children of age 5-16 years; and c) a specially designed survey questionnaire used to compile information about PTCs and school quality from 222 public primary schools in the KP Province. Results show that "school size," "separate classrooms" and "children's attendance" are significant in determining Urdu reading skills; whereas "school size monograde schools" and "PTR (grades 3-5)" are significant in determining English reading skills as well as numeracy skills.

The study investigates the current state of information demands and the information-seeking behavior of Urdu literary students using digital technologies. Another purpose of the study was to determine the level of satisfaction with both the existing facilities and resources. A quantitative survey method of research is used to achieve the study's objectives. Four major public universities of Lahore were the population. Containing the use of the convenience sample approach, data was obtained using a self-structured questionnaire with open-ended and closed-ended questions. Results show that Urdu literature students were not very familiar and comfortable with using research journals, research reports/theses, and reference works while finding information. There is a need to encourage students the use research journals, research reports/theses. The study focuses solely on Pakistani Urdu literature students. For generalizations, this survey should be reproduced on a larger scale. The findings of the research will contribute to knowledge about Urdu literature students' information-seeking behavior at the university level in Pakistan, which may be beneficial to ultimately provide better services in the domain of Urdu literature. Universities and libraries need to provide more facilities and electronic resources for the Urdu language and literature students, keeping in mind their trends toward new technologies. University libraries should organize special training programs for literature students.