This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, ... more This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, the granted constitutional human rights of transgender persons, and contradictory social practices from the perspective of making them powerless and marginalized in terms of non-gender binary. The quantitative analysis of the second section of the Constitution related to human rights and principles of policy for government in terms of nouns and personal pronouns to represent generic pronouns and its implication for gender representation in a legal document was carried out through simple concordance program 4.0.5 by generating word list of data to find the frequencies. Moreover, the basic human rights of dignity, education, health care, financial security, employment opportunities, and equality in all respects ensured to all the citizens of state are discussed and social realizations of these rights for transgender are explored. The findings reveal that transgender persons neither have a...
VFAST Transactions on Education and Social Sciences, 2023
Textbook Evaluation refers to the procedure under which the decision is made about the selection ... more Textbook Evaluation refers to the procedure under which the decision is made about the selection of textbook by emphasizing the need of learning-teaching scenario. This paper seeks to evaluate the listening skills in Grade 5 English Textbook for apprehending what role listening skill has to play in textbook of this level by analyzing the recruitment of listening skills at the primary level. This research addresses what percentile the listening activities are given along with the other activities in the book. This research also lists the problems seen as per the implication of listening skills. The research methodology focuses on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of listening skills through Cunnings worth’s framework to assess what kind of activities are involved and are they beneficial for learners. From Cunning worth’s model, three main aspects are looked at in detail: Appropriacy, motivation for the learner and learners’ content, and pedagogic analysis and language content. The findings reveal that the first two sections contribute more as compared to pedagogic content. The textbook authors should revise the textbook content related to listening skill after consulting listening skills theory and its evaluative perspectives for primary grade learners. Thus, the findings imply that book has some shortcomings as more activities can be incorporated promoting communicative and linguistic competence and critical listening skills.
Evaluation of Phonics Content in Academic Degrees, Pre-and In-Service Teacher Training Programs, and Primary Grade Teacher Instructional Materials in Pakistan, 2022
Teacher training and teacher instructional materials play integral roles in developing the knowle... more Teacher training and teacher instructional materials play integral roles in developing the knowledge and skills among the teachers and the learners and implementing any change in pedagogic policy. This research aims to probe the preparation of government primary grade teachers to teach phonics since its inclusion in the government school syllabus from 2015-2016 to identify the areas of teacher preparation that need improvement. The data was collected through a survey of 230 (Male=115, Female=115) government primary school teachers' academic and professional qualifications alongside the pre-and in-service teacher training programs they had attended. Based on their responses, the contents of the academic & professional degrees, preand in-service teacher training programs, and teacher instructional materials were evaluated through the researcher-made checklists. The analysis and the findings realize that although the pronunciation component is part of these teacher preparation programs, no phonics-related content is included in all these teacher preparation programs. Teacher instructional materials are a good resource to teach phonics as they provide all the linguistic information related to phonics instruction but ironically only a few teachers consult it as a teaching resource. It can be concluded that primary-grade teachers are not fully equipped to teach phonics. On these grounds, it is recommended that phonics should be incorporated alongside the pronunciation component in the academic and professional degree programs and pre-and in-service teacher training to bring a positive change in primary grade classrooms and make the pedagogic policy change effective.
The Ideological Media Representation of Putin and Zelensky in BBC Profiles: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, 2022
The current study aims to explore the ideological representation of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr ... more The current study aims to explore the ideological representation of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in BBC's online profiles to see how sociopolitical ideologies are embedded with the help of semiotic resources within images and their accompanying texts. These ideologically loaded media representations are a medium used to build social realities and political opinions of the public. The selected data, nine images and their captions alongside details, are analysed by adopting Machin's framework of multimodal analysis together with Fairclough's model of representation of social events and van Leeuwen's representation of social actors. The analysis rigorously focuses on the conscious choices of the BBC editors in terms of visual and linguistic features of the profiles and embedded structures of power relations which are represented as common-sense social constructs. The findings suggest that BBC's profiles are far from neutral and they have used discourse and semiotic resources to represent Putin as rigid, vastly powerful and a threat, whereas Zelensky is shown as amiable but dauntless in the face of war and political strife.
The Effectiveness of the Sighted Teachers' Use of Deictic Expressions for Blind Students in Mainstream Classrooms Having Majority Sighted Students, 2022
The main objectives of this study are to shed light on the difficulties of visually impaired stud... more The main objectives of this study are to shed light on the difficulties of visually impaired students regarding deictic markers in inclusive classrooms and to inform the teachers' community how effectively they can teach such students. Not much research has been done on this subject, therefore, lack of information regarding special needs of visually defective students creates hurdles for them in getting education. The main idea is that as deictic markers rely mostly on visual cues then how a visually defective student can grasp these markers with equal informativeness. Semi-structured interviews of eight visually impaired students were conducted who were pursuing their education in different universities of Pakistan. More or less all the participants voiced this observation that they have to face a lot of problems in inclusive classrooms due to the use of deictic markers. This study recommends that professional training seminars should be organized to improve the skills of the teachers in tackling such classrooms where visually impaired students are also present.
COMPARING THE ROLE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY (ELP) WITH OTHER FACTORS IN PAKISTANI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' DROPPING OUT AND UNIVERSITY TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS (ABOUT IT), 2022
This article aims to compare the role played by English Language Proficiency (ELP) with other fac... more This article aims to compare the role played by English Language Proficiency (ELP) with other factors in the students' dropping out among university students of Sciences, Social Sciences and Arts/Humanities groups. It is hypothesized that not being proficient in English Language can increase the risk of dropping out at the university level as compared to other factors i.e., academic, administrative, family, health issues and financial or personal problems. The participants were thirty students of three major disciplines from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan who had taken re-admission; the data collection tool was a questionnaire divided in three sections in which statements about five factors of dropping out Likert scale. The analysis was done through measuring the coefficient of variation (CV) by grading the factors from most important to least important. Lacking English Language Proficiency and Health/Personal/Financial factors were rated as the most significant causes of dropping out. In this regard, university teachers' perceptions about the role played by English Language Proficiency impacting learners' academic achievements have also been explored through a survey. Although, they also consider ELP as the vital factor affecting the university students' performance; yet, they have mixed tendency to consider it to be wholly responsible for failure. Some suggestions, related to academic practices and administrative policies based on the opinions on students, are also made at the end to reduce the dropout rate.
Multimodality as a Tool to Create Positive Self-Image and Enhance Interactivity through Websites: An Investigation of Top Rated HEC Recognized Public and Private Universities of Pakistan, 2021
Present study investigated the semiotic resources exploited by the homepages of the official webs... more Present study investigated the semiotic resources exploited by the homepages of the official websites of top rated HEC recognized public and private universities of Pakistan with an aim to explore the tactics used to enhance the interactivity level of these websites and to attract the audience. It scrutinized the variations present in these websites in terms of basic layout and design features and the use of multiple modes of representation to create desired effects. The homepages of ten university websites were analyzed by applying Pauwels' (2012) social semiotic multimodal framework for the analysis of websites as cultural expressions. The findings indicated that the interactivity level of these websites was independent of the sector they belonged to and most of the universities like LUMS, CIIT, Riphah International University, IIUI, UoK and BZU had adopted unique ways to provide the means of interaction to the target audience. Both the private universities namely LUMS and Riphah and some public universities like BZU, UoK and IIUI focused more on increasing the interactivity through social media sites and blog posts, CIIT focused on the use of multilingual approach to facilitate the audience while PU was the only one that provided a chance of one-to-one interaction between the users and the producers.
Linguistic Iconicity in Brand Names: Derivational Morphology Based Analysis, 2015
This paper analyzes linguistic iconicity in brand names broadcasted on Pakistani electronic adver... more This paper analyzes linguistic iconicity in brand names broadcasted on Pakistani electronic advertisements from the perspective of derivational morphological processes. The rationale behind this is to find out what kinds of experiments with linguistic choices are being made in the language of advertisement and are these choices arbitrary or Iconic in nature being conscious and functional. A corpus from 150 advertisements is collected and analyzed empirically. The quantitative analysis of data, through quantifying and measuring the percentage and frequency of each derivational morphological process, reveals the most frequent and the most least method exercised for the construction of names of brands with others given on the quantum. The focus on the purposefulness of each derivational process reveals, not only the iconic nature of brand names but also the psychological impact of these, exercised through the more striking linguistic choices made on the morphological level.
Investigating Gender, L1 and Voice Onset Time based variations in Urdu aspirated voiceless and voiced plosives: An Acoustic analysis, 2018
This article explores the feature of aspiration in Urdu voiceless and voiced plosives /ph, bh, th... more This article explores the feature of aspiration in Urdu voiceless and voiced plosives /ph, bh, th, dh, kh, gh/ from the perspective of three variables i.e., gender, L1 and VOT. It attempts to investigate which of these variables has a significant impact in the production of bilabial, alveolar and velar Urdu plosives. A wordlist of 60 tokens was used as stimuli which carried 10 instances from each category of plosives. 30 postgraduate male and female students, from Punjabi, Seraiki and Urdu L1 aged between 20 and 25, were selected as participants of the study. The recordings were analyzed to measure VOT of hold phase of plosives using PRAAT. The independent t-test and ANOVA were applied to probe into significance of each variable. Findings revealed that belonging to different L1 backgrounds did not have significant differences as the mean values were almost the similar and p>.05 for each category except for Punjabi speakers in /bh/. For gender variable, significant variation was found in /ph, bh, dh, kh, gh./. The most significant variable was VOT where p<.01 in each plosive category with huge differences in the high mean VOTs for voiceless plosives /ph, th, kh/ and very low mean VOTs for voiced plosives / bh, dh, gh/. It also implied that voicing impeded the hold phase of aspirated voiced plosives resulting in huge VOT differences; although a tendency of rising VOT from alveolar to bilabial and then to velar was found between voiceless and voiced plosives.
Evaluation of phonics content in PTB primary grade text books and assessment schemes: Scope for technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) and assessment tools
This research aims to evaluate the phonics content in primary level textbooks by Punjab textbook ... more This research aims to evaluate the phonics content in primary level textbooks by Punjab textbook board and the assessment schemes from the perspectives of their strengths and weak aspects for teaching and assessing phonics as an oral skill. The scope for the technology-enhanced learning and assessing tools is also highlighted as a supporting tool for phonics teaching in government school system for the leaners and teachers simultaneously. Following a qualitative approach, the macro-evaluation of textbook was adopted through researcher made checklists. The English textbooks taught from Grade 1-Grade V were surveyed thoroughly to investigate the phonics related teaching and assessment activities given in each unit of book; the formative and summative assessment schemes were also probed into to explore the synchronization between teaching and assessment material. After listing the nature and mode of phonics related content in primary grade textbooks, 20 visual excerpts from textbooks and 9 assessment questions from LND and Grade 5 board sample paper were also discussed. The findings realized a serious discrepancy that phonics content in the textbooks despite being relevant and appropriate could be potentially exploited to be taught through alphabetic method in case of not supported with some audiovisual material. Assessment schemes related to phonics skill of primary grade learners also assessed it mostly through written exercises that can have serious impact on the teaching practices and methodology of teachers as they may tend to make the learners cram the phonics concepts instead of uttering the sounds and develop the sound-letter association. On the basis of these findings, recommendations are made to use technology-enhanced tools for phonics teaching at primary level as supporting materials and assessing it as an oral skill.
Constitutional Human Rights Of Transgender Persons In Pakistan: A Linguistic And Social Inquiry, 2022
This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, ... more This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, the granted constitutional human rights of transgender persons, and contradictory social practices from the perspective of making them powerless and marginalized in terms of non-gender binary. The quantitative analysis of the second section of the Constitution related to human rights and principles of policy for government in terms of nouns and personal pronouns to represent generic pronouns and its implication for gender representation in a legal document was carried out through simple concordance program 4.0.5 by generating word list of data to find the frequencies. Moreover, the basic human rights of dignity, education, health care, financial security, employment opportunities, and equality in all respects ensured to all the citizens of state are discussed and social realizations of these rights for transgender are explored. The findings reveal that transgender persons neither have any representation in the Constitution of Pakistan nor they are the recipients of basic human rights in Pakistani society as compared to other marginalized groups like women, children and differently able people. To conclude, it can be said that although in the last decade, governments have passed some policies (Transgender Persons Welfare Policy, 2018) to empower Transgender community, yet, a long-term nation based social awareness program and implementation of policies are recommended to make transgender persons' lives better in letter and spirit.
A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF MUNIBA MAZARI’S SPEECH, BE CONFIDENT, BE YOU, 2022
The current research aims to figure out stylistic devices employed in Muniba Mazar's most recentl... more The current research aims to figure out stylistic devices employed in Muniba Mazar's most recently published speech, Be Confident, Be You, on October 31, 2021. To analyze the speech stylistically, the researcher chooses the model of Stylistic Analysis proposed by Leech & Short in Style in Fiction (2007). Through this model, the study examines the use of stylistic devices to create a rhetorical impact in the speech. The findings of the research conclude that Muniba Mazari mainly uses metaphor, symbolism and repetition, among all other stylistic devices, to manipulate her message and persuade the audience.
A comparative analysis of assessment schemes in Secondary School Certificate and Cambridge O Level English examination papers in Pakistan: Need for reform, 2020
This article attempts to analyse the relationship between the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) an... more This article attempts to analyse the relationship between the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and evaluation systems of two simultaneously existing examination systems in Pakistan: Secondary School Certificate (Matriculation) and Cambridge O Level system. The major concern of the paper lies in observing the targeted outcomes of the two types of examination systems in the light of the aims and objectives specified by the two systems. One paper from each testing system has been analysed and the prospective outcomes have been matched with their exclusive aims provided by their respective boards. Results show that both the systems, in their own distinct syllabi, aim at making the students proficient in the learning of English as foreign language through a system that involves skills which are incorporated into the learners and then tested so as to make them proficient in the language. The evaluation system, however, differs widely in both. Matriculation assessments are purely a test of memory and assess the students" ability on the basis of discrete implementation of skills in the questions while the Cambridge O Level system offers as process-based learning of the language by keeping in view a holistic approach of applying various modes of skills in to its question papers. Hence, a reformation in the system of evaluation as well as that of teaching needs to be promoted to meet the prescribed outcome mentioned in the syllabus of Punjab Board.
This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, ... more This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, the granted constitutional human rights of transgender persons, and contradictory social practices from the perspective of making them powerless and marginalized in terms of non-gender binary. The quantitative analysis of the second section of the Constitution related to human rights and principles of policy for government in terms of nouns and personal pronouns to represent generic pronouns and its implication for gender representation in a legal document was carried out through simple concordance program 4.0.5 by generating word list of data to find the frequencies. Moreover, the basic human rights of dignity, education, health care, financial security, employment opportunities, and equality in all respects ensured to all the citizens of state are discussed and social realizations of these rights for transgender are explored. The findings reveal that transgender persons neither have a...
VFAST Transactions on Education and Social Sciences, 2023
Textbook Evaluation refers to the procedure under which the decision is made about the selection ... more Textbook Evaluation refers to the procedure under which the decision is made about the selection of textbook by emphasizing the need of learning-teaching scenario. This paper seeks to evaluate the listening skills in Grade 5 English Textbook for apprehending what role listening skill has to play in textbook of this level by analyzing the recruitment of listening skills at the primary level. This research addresses what percentile the listening activities are given along with the other activities in the book. This research also lists the problems seen as per the implication of listening skills. The research methodology focuses on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of listening skills through Cunnings worth’s framework to assess what kind of activities are involved and are they beneficial for learners. From Cunning worth’s model, three main aspects are looked at in detail: Appropriacy, motivation for the learner and learners’ content, and pedagogic analysis and language content. The findings reveal that the first two sections contribute more as compared to pedagogic content. The textbook authors should revise the textbook content related to listening skill after consulting listening skills theory and its evaluative perspectives for primary grade learners. Thus, the findings imply that book has some shortcomings as more activities can be incorporated promoting communicative and linguistic competence and critical listening skills.
Evaluation of Phonics Content in Academic Degrees, Pre-and In-Service Teacher Training Programs, and Primary Grade Teacher Instructional Materials in Pakistan, 2022
Teacher training and teacher instructional materials play integral roles in developing the knowle... more Teacher training and teacher instructional materials play integral roles in developing the knowledge and skills among the teachers and the learners and implementing any change in pedagogic policy. This research aims to probe the preparation of government primary grade teachers to teach phonics since its inclusion in the government school syllabus from 2015-2016 to identify the areas of teacher preparation that need improvement. The data was collected through a survey of 230 (Male=115, Female=115) government primary school teachers' academic and professional qualifications alongside the pre-and in-service teacher training programs they had attended. Based on their responses, the contents of the academic & professional degrees, preand in-service teacher training programs, and teacher instructional materials were evaluated through the researcher-made checklists. The analysis and the findings realize that although the pronunciation component is part of these teacher preparation programs, no phonics-related content is included in all these teacher preparation programs. Teacher instructional materials are a good resource to teach phonics as they provide all the linguistic information related to phonics instruction but ironically only a few teachers consult it as a teaching resource. It can be concluded that primary-grade teachers are not fully equipped to teach phonics. On these grounds, it is recommended that phonics should be incorporated alongside the pronunciation component in the academic and professional degree programs and pre-and in-service teacher training to bring a positive change in primary grade classrooms and make the pedagogic policy change effective.
The Ideological Media Representation of Putin and Zelensky in BBC Profiles: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, 2022
The current study aims to explore the ideological representation of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr ... more The current study aims to explore the ideological representation of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in BBC's online profiles to see how sociopolitical ideologies are embedded with the help of semiotic resources within images and their accompanying texts. These ideologically loaded media representations are a medium used to build social realities and political opinions of the public. The selected data, nine images and their captions alongside details, are analysed by adopting Machin's framework of multimodal analysis together with Fairclough's model of representation of social events and van Leeuwen's representation of social actors. The analysis rigorously focuses on the conscious choices of the BBC editors in terms of visual and linguistic features of the profiles and embedded structures of power relations which are represented as common-sense social constructs. The findings suggest that BBC's profiles are far from neutral and they have used discourse and semiotic resources to represent Putin as rigid, vastly powerful and a threat, whereas Zelensky is shown as amiable but dauntless in the face of war and political strife.
The Effectiveness of the Sighted Teachers' Use of Deictic Expressions for Blind Students in Mainstream Classrooms Having Majority Sighted Students, 2022
The main objectives of this study are to shed light on the difficulties of visually impaired stud... more The main objectives of this study are to shed light on the difficulties of visually impaired students regarding deictic markers in inclusive classrooms and to inform the teachers' community how effectively they can teach such students. Not much research has been done on this subject, therefore, lack of information regarding special needs of visually defective students creates hurdles for them in getting education. The main idea is that as deictic markers rely mostly on visual cues then how a visually defective student can grasp these markers with equal informativeness. Semi-structured interviews of eight visually impaired students were conducted who were pursuing their education in different universities of Pakistan. More or less all the participants voiced this observation that they have to face a lot of problems in inclusive classrooms due to the use of deictic markers. This study recommends that professional training seminars should be organized to improve the skills of the teachers in tackling such classrooms where visually impaired students are also present.
COMPARING THE ROLE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY (ELP) WITH OTHER FACTORS IN PAKISTANI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' DROPPING OUT AND UNIVERSITY TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS (ABOUT IT), 2022
This article aims to compare the role played by English Language Proficiency (ELP) with other fac... more This article aims to compare the role played by English Language Proficiency (ELP) with other factors in the students' dropping out among university students of Sciences, Social Sciences and Arts/Humanities groups. It is hypothesized that not being proficient in English Language can increase the risk of dropping out at the university level as compared to other factors i.e., academic, administrative, family, health issues and financial or personal problems. The participants were thirty students of three major disciplines from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan who had taken re-admission; the data collection tool was a questionnaire divided in three sections in which statements about five factors of dropping out Likert scale. The analysis was done through measuring the coefficient of variation (CV) by grading the factors from most important to least important. Lacking English Language Proficiency and Health/Personal/Financial factors were rated as the most significant causes of dropping out. In this regard, university teachers' perceptions about the role played by English Language Proficiency impacting learners' academic achievements have also been explored through a survey. Although, they also consider ELP as the vital factor affecting the university students' performance; yet, they have mixed tendency to consider it to be wholly responsible for failure. Some suggestions, related to academic practices and administrative policies based on the opinions on students, are also made at the end to reduce the dropout rate.
Multimodality as a Tool to Create Positive Self-Image and Enhance Interactivity through Websites: An Investigation of Top Rated HEC Recognized Public and Private Universities of Pakistan, 2021
Present study investigated the semiotic resources exploited by the homepages of the official webs... more Present study investigated the semiotic resources exploited by the homepages of the official websites of top rated HEC recognized public and private universities of Pakistan with an aim to explore the tactics used to enhance the interactivity level of these websites and to attract the audience. It scrutinized the variations present in these websites in terms of basic layout and design features and the use of multiple modes of representation to create desired effects. The homepages of ten university websites were analyzed by applying Pauwels' (2012) social semiotic multimodal framework for the analysis of websites as cultural expressions. The findings indicated that the interactivity level of these websites was independent of the sector they belonged to and most of the universities like LUMS, CIIT, Riphah International University, IIUI, UoK and BZU had adopted unique ways to provide the means of interaction to the target audience. Both the private universities namely LUMS and Riphah and some public universities like BZU, UoK and IIUI focused more on increasing the interactivity through social media sites and blog posts, CIIT focused on the use of multilingual approach to facilitate the audience while PU was the only one that provided a chance of one-to-one interaction between the users and the producers.
Linguistic Iconicity in Brand Names: Derivational Morphology Based Analysis, 2015
This paper analyzes linguistic iconicity in brand names broadcasted on Pakistani electronic adver... more This paper analyzes linguistic iconicity in brand names broadcasted on Pakistani electronic advertisements from the perspective of derivational morphological processes. The rationale behind this is to find out what kinds of experiments with linguistic choices are being made in the language of advertisement and are these choices arbitrary or Iconic in nature being conscious and functional. A corpus from 150 advertisements is collected and analyzed empirically. The quantitative analysis of data, through quantifying and measuring the percentage and frequency of each derivational morphological process, reveals the most frequent and the most least method exercised for the construction of names of brands with others given on the quantum. The focus on the purposefulness of each derivational process reveals, not only the iconic nature of brand names but also the psychological impact of these, exercised through the more striking linguistic choices made on the morphological level.
Investigating Gender, L1 and Voice Onset Time based variations in Urdu aspirated voiceless and voiced plosives: An Acoustic analysis, 2018
This article explores the feature of aspiration in Urdu voiceless and voiced plosives /ph, bh, th... more This article explores the feature of aspiration in Urdu voiceless and voiced plosives /ph, bh, th, dh, kh, gh/ from the perspective of three variables i.e., gender, L1 and VOT. It attempts to investigate which of these variables has a significant impact in the production of bilabial, alveolar and velar Urdu plosives. A wordlist of 60 tokens was used as stimuli which carried 10 instances from each category of plosives. 30 postgraduate male and female students, from Punjabi, Seraiki and Urdu L1 aged between 20 and 25, were selected as participants of the study. The recordings were analyzed to measure VOT of hold phase of plosives using PRAAT. The independent t-test and ANOVA were applied to probe into significance of each variable. Findings revealed that belonging to different L1 backgrounds did not have significant differences as the mean values were almost the similar and p>.05 for each category except for Punjabi speakers in /bh/. For gender variable, significant variation was found in /ph, bh, dh, kh, gh./. The most significant variable was VOT where p<.01 in each plosive category with huge differences in the high mean VOTs for voiceless plosives /ph, th, kh/ and very low mean VOTs for voiced plosives / bh, dh, gh/. It also implied that voicing impeded the hold phase of aspirated voiced plosives resulting in huge VOT differences; although a tendency of rising VOT from alveolar to bilabial and then to velar was found between voiceless and voiced plosives.
Evaluation of phonics content in PTB primary grade text books and assessment schemes: Scope for technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) and assessment tools
This research aims to evaluate the phonics content in primary level textbooks by Punjab textbook ... more This research aims to evaluate the phonics content in primary level textbooks by Punjab textbook board and the assessment schemes from the perspectives of their strengths and weak aspects for teaching and assessing phonics as an oral skill. The scope for the technology-enhanced learning and assessing tools is also highlighted as a supporting tool for phonics teaching in government school system for the leaners and teachers simultaneously. Following a qualitative approach, the macro-evaluation of textbook was adopted through researcher made checklists. The English textbooks taught from Grade 1-Grade V were surveyed thoroughly to investigate the phonics related teaching and assessment activities given in each unit of book; the formative and summative assessment schemes were also probed into to explore the synchronization between teaching and assessment material. After listing the nature and mode of phonics related content in primary grade textbooks, 20 visual excerpts from textbooks and 9 assessment questions from LND and Grade 5 board sample paper were also discussed. The findings realized a serious discrepancy that phonics content in the textbooks despite being relevant and appropriate could be potentially exploited to be taught through alphabetic method in case of not supported with some audiovisual material. Assessment schemes related to phonics skill of primary grade learners also assessed it mostly through written exercises that can have serious impact on the teaching practices and methodology of teachers as they may tend to make the learners cram the phonics concepts instead of uttering the sounds and develop the sound-letter association. On the basis of these findings, recommendations are made to use technology-enhanced tools for phonics teaching at primary level as supporting materials and assessing it as an oral skill.
Constitutional Human Rights Of Transgender Persons In Pakistan: A Linguistic And Social Inquiry, 2022
This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, ... more This paper aims to investigate the lexical choices made in the Constitution to represent gender, the granted constitutional human rights of transgender persons, and contradictory social practices from the perspective of making them powerless and marginalized in terms of non-gender binary. The quantitative analysis of the second section of the Constitution related to human rights and principles of policy for government in terms of nouns and personal pronouns to represent generic pronouns and its implication for gender representation in a legal document was carried out through simple concordance program 4.0.5 by generating word list of data to find the frequencies. Moreover, the basic human rights of dignity, education, health care, financial security, employment opportunities, and equality in all respects ensured to all the citizens of state are discussed and social realizations of these rights for transgender are explored. The findings reveal that transgender persons neither have any representation in the Constitution of Pakistan nor they are the recipients of basic human rights in Pakistani society as compared to other marginalized groups like women, children and differently able people. To conclude, it can be said that although in the last decade, governments have passed some policies (Transgender Persons Welfare Policy, 2018) to empower Transgender community, yet, a long-term nation based social awareness program and implementation of policies are recommended to make transgender persons' lives better in letter and spirit.
A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF MUNIBA MAZARI’S SPEECH, BE CONFIDENT, BE YOU, 2022
The current research aims to figure out stylistic devices employed in Muniba Mazar's most recentl... more The current research aims to figure out stylistic devices employed in Muniba Mazar's most recently published speech, Be Confident, Be You, on October 31, 2021. To analyze the speech stylistically, the researcher chooses the model of Stylistic Analysis proposed by Leech & Short in Style in Fiction (2007). Through this model, the study examines the use of stylistic devices to create a rhetorical impact in the speech. The findings of the research conclude that Muniba Mazari mainly uses metaphor, symbolism and repetition, among all other stylistic devices, to manipulate her message and persuade the audience.
A comparative analysis of assessment schemes in Secondary School Certificate and Cambridge O Level English examination papers in Pakistan: Need for reform, 2020
This article attempts to analyse the relationship between the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) an... more This article attempts to analyse the relationship between the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and evaluation systems of two simultaneously existing examination systems in Pakistan: Secondary School Certificate (Matriculation) and Cambridge O Level system. The major concern of the paper lies in observing the targeted outcomes of the two types of examination systems in the light of the aims and objectives specified by the two systems. One paper from each testing system has been analysed and the prospective outcomes have been matched with their exclusive aims provided by their respective boards. Results show that both the systems, in their own distinct syllabi, aim at making the students proficient in the learning of English as foreign language through a system that involves skills which are incorporated into the learners and then tested so as to make them proficient in the language. The evaluation system, however, differs widely in both. Matriculation assessments are purely a test of memory and assess the students" ability on the basis of discrete implementation of skills in the questions while the Cambridge O Level system offers as process-based learning of the language by keeping in view a holistic approach of applying various modes of skills in to its question papers. Hence, a reformation in the system of evaluation as well as that of teaching needs to be promoted to meet the prescribed outcome mentioned in the syllabus of Punjab Board.
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they beneficial for learners. From Cunning worth’s model, three main aspects are looked at in detail: Appropriacy, motivation for the learner and learners’ content, and pedagogic analysis and language content. The findings reveal that the first two sections contribute more as compared to pedagogic content. The textbook authors should revise the textbook content related to listening skill after consulting listening skills theory and its evaluative perspectives for primary grade learners. Thus, the findings imply that book has some shortcomings as more activities can be incorporated promoting communicative and linguistic competence and critical listening skills.
they beneficial for learners. From Cunning worth’s model, three main aspects are looked at in detail: Appropriacy, motivation for the learner and learners’ content, and pedagogic analysis and language content. The findings reveal that the first two sections contribute more as compared to pedagogic content. The textbook authors should revise the textbook content related to listening skill after consulting listening skills theory and its evaluative perspectives for primary grade learners. Thus, the findings imply that book has some shortcomings as more activities can be incorporated promoting communicative and linguistic competence and critical listening skills.