ChatGPT and Death of an Author

The proposed piece seeks to critically explore pedagogical implication of ChatGPT, especially on students’ capacities to author a text. The piece suggests that increased reliance on the ChatGPT, while provide short term solution to produce a text, in the long term it is likely to lead to ‘death of an author’. Here the usage of the phrase is a twist to earlier usage by Barthes- which refers to ‘death of an author’ where once the text is written, it gets re-created in readers’ reception and through interpretive act and imagination. The overarching argument of the paper emphasizes that technology is not neutral, especially in a context where its opacity has risen concerns about surveillance, control, and manipulation of human behavior, and therefore its infiltration in education begs critical questioning and sensitive e-value-ation. The discussion argues that rise of AI in education should be checked and not embraced uncritically, but rather it should be critically scrutinized, debated, and scaffolded through critical theoretical, pedagogical, and ethical references to counter its hegemonic and de-humanization of learning. For empirical part, the analysis draws upon reflections generated through a focus group discussion with four undergraduate students enrolled in a Bachelors degree in Computer Science who employed use of ChatGPT in preparing their speeches in context of a humanities course. The students found ChatGPT useful in terms of composing a text/speech and saving time and efforts. However, they realized that its use caused them loss of authentic learning, imagination and suppressed self’s voice. Based on the analysis, the piece shares further insights into pedagogic implications, and suggest a pedagogical scaffolding using critical pedagogical references of relationship between technology and human/learners’ values, distinction between information, knowledge, and wisdom, application and experiential learning references, and praxis in learning

Teacher Training in Pakistan: Overview of Challenges and their Suggested Solutions

Education is a key component of progress in the present-day world. But this progress cannot be made without efforts of teachers. Therefore, teacher education, in particular teacher training becomes extremely important. In this regard, several trainings programs are initiated and executed across Pakistan but the desired outcomes have not been achieved so far. Hence, this study was conducted to explore the challenges in teacher training in Pakistan and the ways through which these issues can be resolved. The sources for the data of the study were the published studies in the field in the context of Pakistan, national education policy, and other relevant literature. Based on secondary data, the study concludes that the issues with teacher training in Pakistan are administrative as well as faculty related. The findings reveal that the challenges related to policy and planning, poor induction of teachers, lack of resources in teacher training institutions, demotivation among teachers, and unequal distribution of skilled and productive teachers, dual training system and infrequent trainings. These issues can be fixed by fostering encouraging environment, ensuring accountability and merit, providing necessary resources, systematizing professional training programs and their continuation. The findings of this study will, therefore, positively guide policymakers to develop the right and effective policy to improve the standard of teacher education in the country

Qualitative Research in Applied Linguistics: A Practical Introduction, edited by Juanita Heigham and Robert Croker

This review makes a point in favor of the assertion made for the book that it is a practical introduction to the qualitative research in applied linguistics. The book consists of four parts: an overview of qualitative research, qualitative research methods, qualitative data collection methods, ethical practice issues and the writing of research reports. After proving a rich introduction to the qualitative research, the book discusses qualitative research approaches using a reader-friendly and interactive structure: pre-reading and post-reading questions along with the list of further readings. Then the data collection tools have been thoroughly discussed. What makes this book more useful is the use of illustrative examples for each qualitative research approach and data collection tool. The last part discusses core issues of ethics and drafting a research report. From the perspective of a novice researcher, it has achieved the goal of educating readers about qualitative research methods and data collection tools, as it gradually tracks the reader and provides them with a linking concept for a better understanding. However, reference to one study for both ethnography and case study remains a confusing point. Besides, the review suggests addition of some images to make reading of the book more interesting, especially for visual learners. Besides, a diagram should be given at the end of research methods chapters to outline the steps taken by researchers to do their studies

Desafíos y estrategias de los estudiantes universitarios en las clases de enseñanza media en inglés (EMI): un estudio de caso

English has developed into the lingua franca of today’s world. As a result, even non-English European and Asian countries use English as their medium of instruction. Despite its great lin-guistic diversity and Urdu as the language of instruction at the school level, English has always been the medium of instruction in higher education in Pakistan. This study explores university students’ perspectives on English-medium instruction, the cha-llenges they face in English-medium classes, and the strategies they propose to alleviate the problems. According to qualitative data acquired through semi-structured interviews, students see English-medium instruction as advantageous for higher educa-tion, jobs, and progressive thought. However, teachers’ English competence, code-switching, vocabulary, and receptive and productive abilities create some obstacles for them. Besides, their confidence and participation are also gets affected in Engl-sh-medium instruction classes. They believe that English-skilled teachers, constant English use, and university language support can all help them overcome these obstacles.El inglés se ha convertido en la lengua franca del mundo actual. Como resultado, incluso los países europeos y asiáticos que no hablan inglés utilizan el inglés como medio de instrucción. A pesar de su gran diversidad lingüística y el urdu como idioma de instrucción a nivel escolar, el inglés siempre ha sido el medio de instrucción en la educación superior en Pakistán. Este estudio explora las perspectivas de los estudiantes universitarios sobre la instrucción en inglés medio, los desafíos que enfrentan en las clases de inglés medio y las estrategias que proponen para aliviar los problemas. Según los datos cualitativos adquiridos a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas, los estudiantes ven la instrucción en inglés como una ventaja para la educación superior, los trabajos y el pensamiento progresista. Sin embargo, la competencia en inglés de los profesores, el cambio de código, el vocabulario y las habilidades receptivas y productivas les crean algunos obstáculos. Creen que los profe sores con conocimientos de inglés, el uso constante del inglés y el apoyo lingüístico de la universidad pueden ayudarlos a superar estos obstáculos

Examining Visual and Auditory Learners' Reading and Listening Comprehension Skills: A Causal Comparative StudyStudy

Reading and listening are two receptive skills indispensable for English language acquisition. Students are given reading and listening comprehension tests in academic settings, increasing the importance of these skills. However, reading and listening comprehension depends on various factors, including learning styles. While previous research in Pakistan has explored the connection between learning styles and academic success, there is a gap in the literature in understanding how specific learning styles, such as visual and auditory, influence fresh undergraduates' reading and listening comprehension. Therefore, employing a causal-comparative design under a quantitative paradigm, this study examined whether reading and listening comprehension differed based on their students' learning styles (visual and auditory). The data was collected using a learning style questionnaire, a reading comprehension test, and a listening comprehension test, and it was analyzed using an independent sample t-test. The findings revealed that students' reading and listening comprehension scores did not significantly differ based on their preferred learning styles, visual or auditory. The findings indicated that sig. values of reading comprehension (0.672) and listening comprehension (0.668) were greater than the p-value of 0.05. Hence, H0 was accepted, and Ha was rejected. The study will have implications for teachers who want to adapt their teaching methods to fit the individual learning styles of their students