Language Attitude and English Language Learning in Pakistan (original) (raw)

Attitudes Towards English at English Language Centers in Dadu District of Sindh Pakistan

Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics

The study aimed at gaining an insight into the attitudes of students towards English. It is tried in the paper to explore the mentality of the students and the people around them, towards English language through different questions related to English language and their point of view regarding those questions. The study further explores the current position of English in the context of interior Sindh through the views of the participants pursuing language courses. The study also explores the reasons behind the expansion and popularity of English language and language centers. The motives of the students to go to learn English also explored in the study along with the role of the elite class and the state in the spread of English and the agenda of past colonial powers. The study used five questions to analyze the attitudes of the learners. The results suggested that the state and the past colonial powers have succeeded in keeping our minds colonized

Attitude and its Aspects towards English Language Learning among the Students of Public and Private Schools of Gujranwala

Global regional review, 2018

This comparative study investigates the learners' attitudes towards learning English from two comparative education systems (private and public sector) of Pakistan. This study is an attempt to measure the cognitive, emotional and behavioral attitudes of these young learners towards English. The research methodology is quantitative in nature. The tool used for data analysis by the researchers is questionnaire. Steal's (2004) questionnaire has been used to measure the attitude of the learners towards English language. The data has been collected from 100 students of four different schools including two private and two public schools in Gujranwala district. The quantitative analysis of the data is executed by SPSS and the findings reveal that the students of private schools show positive attitude towards English language as compared to the public schools' students. The researchers also suggest a large-scale study from various parts of the country with larger population to know the reason behind the positive or negative attitude of students.

Pakistani ESL Students Attitude towards English Language

Over the years incorporating communicative competence has become the focus of English language teaching which emphasizes more on speaking skills than grammatical skills. In this perspective, this paper intends to investigate Pakistani student's attitude towards English language grammar. For this purpose 100 students studying Functional English I and Functional English II courses in BS programs at University of Education Multan Campus were randomly selected as a sample and a questionnaire consisting of 15 items was used to get their responses in order to study their attitude towards English grammar. The analysis of the data shows that majority of students like to learn the rules of grammar as they consider it important to learn grammar in order to communicate effectively in English language and view it as a basic skill to develop language proficiency. Moreover they are more interested to learn grammar deductively than by the inductive methods. The results of the study show that students have a positive attitude towards grammar. Introduction Language learning is an inevitable process in childhood. The learning of a second language is creditable rather than accomplishment. Some only can acquire it well, although millions of people, world over, every year, start learning a language. It is the habit pattern with the first language that creates an obstacle to learning a new language. Therefore in order to learn a second language, it is necessary to know the correct grammatical rules used in that language. Different theories of grammar teaching are at the disposal of English language teachers which suggest different ways to approach grammar teaching. Recently the focus of second language teaching has changed to develop communication skills. In this scenario it is important to know students' attitude towards grammar and learning of grammar rules in order to understand the place of grammar in second language teaching and learning. This particular study therefore, aims to explore students' attitude towards English grammar in Pakistani ESL classroom and will be helpful for English language teachers to understand students' attitude towards grammar, the difficulties they face in learning it and the areas of grammar which they find interesting.

An Attitudinal Study of Pakistani English

Defining the status of non-native variety of English depends more on sociolinguistic, political, geographical and economic factors than merely on linguistic grounds. Hence intra-national and international attitudes towards the variety are considered major factors in defining the status of a language and its varieties. The status of Pakistani English has been discussed by many . There are a number of studies on attitudes towards English but there is almost no research on attitudes of English language users in Pakistan. The present research focuses on the attitudes of English language learners towards the status of Pakistani English. A questionnaire survey of 100 participants was conducted focusing on their attitude towards English as a lingua franca and the empowerment of non-native speakers. The results of the survey indicate that Pakistanis have both positive and negative attitudes about the usage of English in Pakistan which shows that English language in Pakistan has progressed beyond the EFL status.

An Attitudinal Study of English as a Foreign Language in Sukkur Sindh Pakistan

Journal of Education and Educational Development, 2018

Foreign language learning is a complex process and is influenced by various factors. The attitude of students towards language learning is a major decisive factor in this process; therefore, the current study was carried out to explore this phenomenon. The students of English Works Program Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan were the target population for the current study. The said program was initiated by a Karachi based organization which enrolled fifty students for a 240 hours certificate course in English language. The students already had some formal education ranging from Intermediate to Masters level and belonged to different age groups. The aim of this quantitative study was to investigate their language learning attitudes from three aspects: behavioral, cognitive and emotional. For data collection purposes, a questionnaire comprising 30 closed-ended items was adapted from Eshghinejad, (2016), Boonrangsri, Chuaymankhong, Rermyindee, & Vongchittpinyo, (2004) and Gardner (1985). This was followed by descriptive and inferential statistical analysis by using independent sample t-test (SPSS-22). The results show that the students have positive attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language.

ROLE OF LANGUAGE ATTITUDES IN LEARNING ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGE IN THE EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT OF BALUCHISTAN

The present study " Role of Language Attitudes in Learning English as Second Language in the Educational Context of Baluchistan " set out to investigate the relationship between language attitudes and learning of English as second language in the educational context of Baluchistan. The study also aimed to investigate the extent to which the status of a language affects learners 'attitude and to evaluate attitudes of students of Pakistan towards English in term of their behavioral, cognitive and emotional aspects. Questionnaire consisted of a series of standardized questions (Likert scale) on five point scale i.e. strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and strongly disagree. Data was collected from Language Centre of SBK women university Quetta. Participants were selected through convenience sampling. They were 40 in number. Participants showed negative attitudes towards English in term of behavioral and cognitive attitudes, while showed positive attitudes in term of cognitive aspects .The researcher has found out through her research that this might be the main cause of their low aptitudes in English because the cognitive abilities might not be achieved unless learners hold positive behavioral attitudes and relish procuring particular language .The researcher has presented data through the exhibition of tables and graphs .The collected data has been detailed, tabulated and shown graphically with the help of bar charts. Future research must modify the research strategy, taking into consideration the limitation of the study.

What Are the Factors Affecting the Use of English Language in English-only Classrooms: Student’s Perspectives in Pakistan

English Language Teaching, 2018

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.

Socio-Cultural Variation and its effects on Learning English in Pakistan

Liceo journal of higher education research, 2013

This study was conducted to see cultural factors affecting on learning English as a second language in Pakistan. Culture is collection of attributes of a group of people and language is an important part of it. As culture varies from country to country, region to region, family to family even sometime within family that affects on nurturing the children’s habits that makes attitudes that affects on learning. So is the case of English learning that is affected by culture especially when it is being learned as a second language. This study was conducted to explore some dimensions in this perspective. The objective of this study was to see socio-cultural factors affecting on learning English at intermediate level students. In this study 430 students were participants and rural and urban is used variable. A validated survey questionnaire was used to collect required information. The collected data was analyzed with the help of SPSS-16. The results revealed that social factors affect on learning English that vary with respect to area. Keywords - second language, multilingual, socio-cultural, variation, learning English, Pakistan

A Study on Attitudes towards Varieties of Spoken English in Pakistani Context

Pakistan has a multilingual environment and thus has a rich setting for the exploration of language attitudes. Despite the intense interest in this issue in the media and at both the governmental and community levels, there have been little systematic attempts at documenting this phenomenon. Keeping in view the status of English and its importance in Pakistan, this study has been designed to investigate attitudes towards different varieties of English and the importance of PE as a non native variety of English. Specifically, the researcher is interested in understanding English from the perspective of a Second Language Listeners " (ESL) perceptions of two different varieties of English – Standard English (SE) and Pakistani English (PE) The present study deals with the concept of language attitude, speakers' perceptions in different contexts of language use with a special focus on the perceptions of Pakistani ESL students in Pakistan.