INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: PREPARATION OF TEACHERS, CHALLENGES IN CLASSROOM AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

The focus of this study was to examine the preparation of teachers, challenges in classroom and future prospects of inclusive education system in Pakistan. The major research questions of the study were: What is the attitude of teachers working in inclusive schools towards inclusive education? What is the preparation level of teachers working in the inclusive schools? What are the challenges faced by the teachers in these schools along with the future prospects of inclusive education system in Pakistan. It was a descriptive study and the researcher used semi-structured interview and accessibility checklist to collect qualitative and quantitative data to answer the research questions. The validated instruments were administered to six principals and twelve teachers working in inclusive schools. The study revealed that the teachers working in the inclusive education schools have not got proper training to work with the students having special needs. Moreover the accessibility of school infrastructure does not address the needs of all student. Curriculum, equipments, teaching learning aids and assessment methods also need to be readjusted. Principals and teachers have mixed opinions (positive as well as negative) about the success of inclusive education system in mainstream schools. They suggested that government may invest more financial and technical resources to train teachers and provide technological equipments if they want to integrate students with special into regular classrooms

COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF CONTEXTUAL AND STRUCTURAL METHOD OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

The study was conducted to find out the effectiveness of contextual and structural method of teaching vocabulary in English at secondary level. It was an experimental study in which the pretest posttest design was used. The population of the study was the students of secondary classes studying in Govt. Secondary schools of Rawalpindi District. Purposive and random sampling was applied to select the school and subjects. The significance of difference between the scores of groups at 0.05 level was tested  applying t–test. The study revealed that the contextual method is more useful for high achievers (HA) whereas structural method is more useful for average and low achievers. The HA performed better with the contextual method due to the study of words in different contexts and taking help from contextual clues that has prompted spoken and written fluency. Better performance of the average and low achievers with the structural method was due to the morphological analyses of a word, the role of the students as the partner in the learning process, the generation and active processing of vocabulary, the provision of multiple exposure of different intensity for practice and personalization of word learning.Keywords: Vocabulary, effectiveness, contextual method, structural method

Price Setting Behaviour of Pakistani Firms : Evidence from Four Industrial Cities of Punjab

Since the introduction of rational expectations in the literature, most of the research focus in the area of macroeconomics has been investigating micro foundations of macroeconomic theory and transmission channels of policy. In 1990s, macroeconomists started working on macro models incorporating the assumption of nominal rigidity with explicit modeling of optimal behaviour of individuals and firms. More recently, these models gained empirical support by looking at both aggregate as well as at firm-level data. In this regard, limited studies are available that focus on developing countries. For Pakistan, there has been little focus on micro level studies in the field of macro or monetary economics, so our study attempts to fill this gap. Besides capturing price setting behaviour, the potential effects of changes in financial cost on the overall pricing and production decisions have also been investigated. It is important to note that this study is different from others throughout carried in different countries in the sense that instead of sending questionnaires by mail, data are collected by enumerators and field supervisors. It was found that Pakistani firms perceive to be in competitive environment they operate in. Most of the clients of the firms are regular and firms relationship with the customers is long-term. The large majority of firms use current information when reviewing prices. Around 70 percent of firms use either a state-dependent pricing rule or combination of both time-dependent and state-dependent rules. Pakistani firms revise and change their prices usually in the months of June and July. Moreover, costs of raw materials, cost of energy and inflation are the main determinants of price increase while the competitors price, raw materials costs and demand changes are responsible for price decrease. When it comes to the main causes of price stickiness, implicit contract with the customers is at the top, while explicit fixed term contract of prices on the second. Further it was observed that most of the firms change their wages once in a year. About half of the firms index their workers wages with inflation and past inflation rate is usually used for the purpose. Labour productivity and changes in inflation rate are found to be the main causes of wage change.Price Setting Behaviour, Effectiveness of Monetary Policy, Wage and Price Contracts

Price Setting Behaviour of Pakistani Firms: Evidence from Four Industrial Cities of Punjab

Since the introduction of rational expectations in the literature, most of the research focus in the area of macroeconomics has been investigating micro foundations of macroeconomic theory and transmission channels of policy. In 1990s, macroeconomists started working on macro models incorporating the assumption of nominal rigidity with explicit modeling of optimal behaviour of individuals and firms. More recently, these models gained empirical support by looking at both aggregate as well as at firm-level data. In this regard, limited studies are available that focus on developing countries. For Pakistan, there has been little focus on micro level studies in the field of macro or monetary economics, so our study attempts to fill this gap. Besides capturing price setting behaviour, the potential effects of changes in financial cost on the overall pricing and production decisions have also been investigated. It is important to note that this study is different from others throughout carried in different countries in the sense that instead of sending questionnaires by mail, data are collected by enumerators and field supervisors. It was found that Pakistani firms perceive to be in competitive environment they operate in. Most of the clients of the firms are regular and firms’ relationship with the customers is long-term. The large majority of firms use current information when reviewing prices. Around 70 percent of firms use either a state-dependent pricing rule or combination of both time-dependent and state-dependent rules. Pakistani firms revise and change their prices usually in the months of June and July. Moreover, costs of raw materials, cost of energy and inflation are the main determinants of price increase while the competitors’ price, raw materials costs and demand changes are responsible for price decrease. When it comes to the main causes of price stickiness, implicit contract with the customers is at the top, while explicit fixed term contract of prices on the second. Further it was observed that most of the firms change their wages once in a year. About half of the firms index their workers’ wages with inflation and past inflation rate is usually used for the purpose. Labour productivity and changes in inflation rate are found to be the main causes of wage change.Price Setting Behaviour, Effectiveness of Monetary Policy, Wage and Price Contracts

Practices, Challenges and Implications of Teaching and Assessment of Cognitive Skills in Higher Education

The key research questions of the study were to check understanding,practices and challenges in teaching and assessment of higher orderthinking skills to students enrolled in pre-service teacher educationprogram. Sequential mixed method design was applied to collectquantitative and qualitative data with the help of structured questionnairescale and semi-structured interview. Descriptive statistics were appliedby calculating percentages and means; and thematic analysis was carriedout by open coding, axial coding, analytical coding and selective coding.Quantitative and qualitative data was integrated to draw findings andconclusions of the study. The major conclusions of the study are thatfaculty in UK conceptualise Cognitive Skills (CS) as processinginformation, constructing understanding, application of knowledge,problem solving and thinking activity. They also incorporate CSs inteaching problem solving and reflective learning practices in whichlearners retrieve, generate, organise, and validate information. Theyassess CSs by open book examination, moderation of assignments,matching and comparing against Teacher Education Standards, and alsoprovide effective feedback. However, faculty do not focus on‘construction of theory’ and linking theory to practice in teaching andassessment

The Levels of Power Relationship in the Kite Runner

The purpose of the present research was to analyse the linguistic manipulation in the novel, The Kite Runner, according to the agenda of Critical Discourse Analysis. The researcher employed Huckin’s analytic tools of CDA to make it clear how the author manipulated the text in favour of his objectives. It was analyzed how the social relations, identity, knowledge, and power were constructed through the use of linguistic devices in the text of the novel. The results of the present research revealed that the writer used specific linguistic devices to influence the readers to make them accept ideological message contained in the text. He used the text as a tool of propaganda in favour of the Western Agenda in Afghanistan. He employed linguistic manipulation as a powerful instrument for the construction of his version of reality. This study is an effort to unfold power relations, dominance, oppression, repression, and marginalization in The Kite Runner. It will help the readers in decoding the text manipulation by applying CDA. Keywords: The Kite Runner, text interpretation, CDA, power relations, propaganda, critical thinkin