Prevalence and comorbidity of psychiatric symptomology in Pakistani female adolescents

Background: Previous researchers have demonstrated the co-existence of psychiatric conditions across clinical as well as non-clinical samples in diverse situations. The present study examined the prevalence and co-morbidity of various psychiatric symptoms (e.g. learning disabilities, depression and anxiety) in school-age female adolescents. Methods: In a cross-sectional random sampling method, 252 girls from two government schools in Lahore were assessed by Learning Disabilities Checklist, Children Depression Inventory and the Spence Anxiety Scale. Results: The results demonstrate significant prevalence and co-morbidity of psychiatric symptoms. Of the 252 participants, 34%, 21% and 68% had significant learning disabilities, depression and anxiety symptoms respectively. In addition, 27% of them presented symptoms of three studied psychiatric conditions. A highly significant positive correlation was found between learning disabilities, depression and anxiety symptoms. Methods: There is a dire need for preventative intervention programs to promote mental health at school level. Further, assessment plans for the screening of psychiatric symptoms in normative samples also need to be put in place

A Three-Tier Model for Intertextuality in the Holy Qurᾱn

In previous literature, intertextuality has been applied to the interpretation of the Holy Qurᾱn, but it lacks a coherent and systematic approach. So far, little or no attempt has been made to propose or design a systematic model of intertextuality for the interpretation of the Holy Qurᾱn. This paper reviews both the modern Western and Islamic theoretical literature on intertextuality. Besides, it exhaustively reviews the intertextual approaches to the interpretation of the Holy Qurᾱn both in classical exegetical tradition and in modern research studies. The findings reveal that the existing approaches are either sketchy and sporadic, or generic or rigid, and cannot account for a comprehensive interpretation of the Holy Qurᾱn. They do not suggest any systematic model for search and selection of intertextual links in the Holy Qurᾱn. The review also shows that the modern theoretical literature on intertextuality in Western tradition misses the theoretical literature on the tool of intertextuality in Islamic discourse. On the basis of its findings, this paper, keeping in view the sensitivity of the religious discourse, suggests a 3-tier model of intertextuality for interpretation of the Holy Qurᾱn, consisting of lexical, topical and grammatical/stylistic intertextual links. This paper also suggests that future research may focus on its application to Qurᾱnic interpretation or/and to frame more vibrant models of intertextuality, drawing on the modern trends in linguistics, to serve the aim of comprehensive interpretation of the Holy Qurᾱn

Critical Discourse Analysis of Tahir-ul-Qadri Dharna 2014 Speeches

This study aims to explore and uncover power play in Dharna 2014 speeches of Tahir-ul-Qadri. The study has followed the theoretical perspective of power (Fairclough; 2003) in its twodimensions i.e. power within discourse and power behind discourse. The research method applies thematic analysis and utilizes Fairclough‘s three dimensional model (1989) as data analyzing tool. Data is collected by using convenient sampling. All the speeches of Dharna 2014 which are available on the internet are analyzed by considering Textual, Discursive and Societal levels of discourse provided by Fairclough 3D Model. The study discusses power within discourse and power behind discourse by considering the mechanism of communication, mechanism of inculcation and universal acceptance. The findings established that discourses has the capacity toform and being formed by social practices. The key findings in case of power within discourse include that the speaker showed the use of pronoun ‗I‘ in order to show his power and by using the pronoun ‗we‘ he gained the support of the audience in order to win their hearts and reflect this as a power on the rulers. The speakers explained in detail the unjust rule of the government by using differences linguistic tools like modal verbs, vocabulary, transitivity, interdisocurse etc. which are part of textual, discursive and societal levels of Fairclough three dimensional model (1989).Moreover, in case of power behind discourse, the key findings include the power of west constitution of Pakistan and Islam in the speakers‘ speeches. This research would enable commonpublic of Pakistan to understand their leader in terms of the concept of power by comprehending the meaning that language conveys

The Semantics of the Preposition “alā” in the Quran: A Conceptual Metaphor Perspective

Traditional syntactic approaches do not offer a plausible explanation regarding the use of the Arabic preposition “alā” with abstract nouns or states. This article adopts a corpus-based approach to investigate the semantic classification of the preposition “alā” in the Quran from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Conceptual metaphor theory (hereafter CMT) was employed to find out conceptual metaphors (hereafter CM) in the data retrieved from the Quran with the help of search Quran software. CMT holds that human sensorimotor neural structures help store spatial relationships, which are then used to map the abstract concepts in language and thought, and that prepositions are the products of human sensorimotor neural structures. This paper found nine key CM themes behind the usage of prepositions in the data. Contact and support schemas were at the heart of the literal and metaphorical use of the spatial preposition “alā” in the Quran. However, it was also found that language generation and comprehension involve the role of multimodal perceptual schemas and linguistic knowledge rather than the unilinear process of one CM. This paper suggests further research into spatial relations across languages to explore the cross-cultural implications of image schemas

Effect of direct and indirect teacher feedback on accuracy of English writing: a quasi-experimental study among Pakistani undergraduate students

Introducing new techniques to improve learner-teacher interaction receives substantial attention from the field of educational psychology. The current research aims to investigate the effect of teacher feedback on the written English accuracy of English as Second Language (ESL) students. In a quasi-experimental study, 90 participants were given three distinct forms of feedback (i.e. oral meta-linguistic, also called direct feedback; written indirect feedback and no feedback) for writing errors of three types (i.e. verb tenses, use of articles and prepositions) and were assessed three times during the study (i.e., pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed test). One-way ANOVA demonstrated that the ESL learners given direct meta-linguistic oral feedback reported fewer errors in two out of the three linguistic forms in subsequent writing in comparison with ESL learners who received indirect written feedback and those who did not receive feedback. Findings suggest that introducing oral meta-linguistic teacher feedback in the Pakistani language learning context can improve the English language learning of students

Stress and coping strategies in parents of children with special needs (SN)

Objectives: To identify the stress level and commonly used coping strategies of parents of children with SN (SN) Methodology: The sample for the study was 150 parents of children with SN selected from three different special schools of Lahore, by using convenient sampling technique from January 2019 to April 2019. The parents were required to fill Perceived Stress Scale and Coping Strategies Inventory. Results: The results revealed that 20.6% parents face high level of stress when managing their children with SN. While, problem-solving (14.66), cognitive restructuring (14.64) and social contact (14.38) were more frequently used coping strategies. Correlation analysis showed a significant negative correlation of stress with cognitive restructuring (r=-.26, p<0.01), problem focused engagement (r=-.237, p<.05) and positive correlation with self-criticism (r=.455, p<.001), social withdrawal (r= .27, p=<.01), and emotion focused disengagements (r=-.431, p<.001). Further, high level of stress was positively associated with high level of disengagement. Conclusion: The currents study concludes that parents use more positive and practical coping strategies to cope with stress induced by taking care of children with SN. Therefore, there is great need of introducing management mechanisms and intervention programs based on these coping strategies Continuous..