The Relationship between Culture and ELT: The Representation of Aesthetic Sense Culture in “Oxford Progressive English”

The present research is basically a qualitative study using also quantitative methods which involve the role of culture in English language teaching (ELT) mainly focusing on Pakistani context. The research makes hypothesis that the Pakistani learners of English (especially from religious and rural cultural background) are de-motivated to learn English because the textbooks developed for them by foreign textbook writers are culturally irrelevant. The study involved evaluation of “Oxford Progressive English” (OPE) textbook series for cultural relevance. For evaluation the data was collected from “Oxford Progressive English” series designed especially for Pakistani learners of English. An evaluation model was developed for the content analysis of the OPE textbooks for cultural relevance from Adaskou, Britten and Fashi (1990) and the data has been analyzed to explore in the textbook series the cultural gaps between the target culture and the learner’s culture in the aspect of aesthetic sense culture. Various instances regarding cultural contrast in these textbooks have been highlighted and their irrelevance to Pakistani culture has been explored. The findings of the research show that the OPE textbooks by the foreign authors mainly focus on the target culture with little knowledge and information of the indigenous or learner culture. Moreover, the learner culture is presented as negative stereotypes. The OPE textbooks are culturally biased and based on hidden curriculum to impart Western values among the young learners to westernize them. Key words: ELT, Aesthetic sense culture or high culture, colonialism, hidden curriculum, motivation, textbook evaluation

Representation of Target Culture in the ELT Textbooks in Pakistan: Evaluation of “OXFORD PROGRESSIVE ENGLISH” for Cultural Relevance

In the guise of inseparable relationship between language and culture the ELT textbooks writers and publishers of the native speaker countries produce such textbooks in which a great cultural gap is found between the contents of the textbooks and the needs and objectives of the ESL learners in Pakistan. In the present research the evaluation of “Oxford Progressive English” (OPE) was carried out through an evaluation model for the content analysis of the aspect of sociological sense culture; the second aspect of culture posited by Adaskou, Britten and Fashi (1990) in the foreign language teaching. The detailed analyses of the contents and the findings of the research highlight that there are such social, cultural, religious and pedagogical contents in these textbooks that do not match with the cultural values and pedagogical needs and objectives set for the ESL learners in Pakistan. The research concludes that course contents of OPE textbooks are not culturally relevant to the learner. These are heavily imbued with the target culture as compared to the learner’s culture. These OPE textbooks impart foreign colonial agenda in the guise of hidden curriculum which is a great hindrance in learning English. There is a dire need to replace these foreign cultural contents in the ESL/EFL textbooks written by the foreign authors with the local and indigenous culture so that the ELT objectives may fully be achieved. Key words: Culture, ELT, Sociological sense culture or culture with a small ‘c’, content analysi

A Study of and Violence against Women in Feudal Society with Special Reference to “My Feudal Lord’’ by “Tehmina Durrani”

This study aims to explore the sexual harassment and violence against women in a feudal society in the novel “My Feudal Lord” by “Tehmina Durrani”. It spotlights how women live under social restrained destiny; where they suffer letdown, thwarting, dismay and mocking. Physical violence is usually accompanied by psychological abuse and in many cases by sexual assault. Wife beating is a century old phenomenon; which transcends all natural, ethnic and class boundaries. We can see the same condition in Durrani’s “My Feudal Lord”, where women are not only ill-treated by their husbands but also by the feudals of their areas. All these problems and incidents are dangerous for women’s identity. The paper deals with major aspects of hegemonic masculinity, sexual harassment and violence against women. This report will study the threats to female identity in the light of Kristeva’s feministic views (1980, 1983, 1986, 2008). Keywords: Sexual harassment, Feudal lord, Violence against women, Women identit

A Corpus Driven Comparative Study of Representation of ‘Man’ and ‘Woman’ in Pakistani and British English Fictions

This study is a comparative stylistic analysis of Pakistani and British English fictions. The purpose of this study is to bring forth the representation of Man and Woman in both Pakistani and British English fictions.  The research is a mixed method research but its major inclination is towards qualitative methodology. For this research, data has been collected from Pakistani and British English Fictions. The corpora of Pakistani English Fiction (PEF) and British English Fiction (BEF) consisting one million words each has been compiled. The research has examined the use of adjectives and verbs that have been used with Man and Woman in both the corpora. The research will open new vistas for the future researchers and will assist teachers as well as the student of literature in the better understanding of Pakistani English Fiction

A Corpus Driven Comparative Analysis of Modal Verbs in Pakistani and British English Fictions

The aim of the study is to carry out a comparative corpus driven stylistic analysis of modal verbs in Pakistani and British English fictions. For this purpose, corpora of Pakistani English fiction (PEF) and British English fiction (BEF), consisting of one million words each has been compiled. POS tagging has been done on both the corpora, using software CLAWS tag set C 7. With the help of software Antconc 3.2.4, concordance lines of the tagged data have been manually explored for detailed study of modal verbs. The research is important as it helps to identify various insights that have been conveyed through the use of modal verbs in PEF and BEF. The study also assists in the stylistic interpretation of other word classes. This research has opened new horizons for the future researcher. It is also helpful for the teachers as well as the students of literature to have a better understanding of literature. Key Words: Corpus Stylistics, PEF, BEF, Modal Verb

Course Contents of English Language Textbooks and their Relevance to Learners’ Culture in an Islamic Context

The study is an attempt at analyzing the cultural authenticity of the course contents of English as a foreign language at International Islamic University Islamabad. This study assumes that these course contents increase cultural barriers for the learners who belong to a different set of cultural values and religious and educational background. It traces the limitation of foreign textbooks writers because of their unawareness of the local culture and the social, educational and religious environment. The study on the one hand questions the suitability of such textbooks for the learners (mostly from religious institutions) and on the other hand gives proposals for the development of English textbooks based on indigenous or Islamic culture. Usually, the evaluation of course contents is descriptive in nature and is done to describe or find out a problem rather than to address it. To bring an improvement in course contents is the basic goal of course evaluation. Although, it would be irrelevant to manipulate a problem statement for this type of research yet ignoring the student factor in writing English text books and selecting these books without doing a prior research into the needs analysis of the learners can be cited as the main problem which inspired the study. This study adopts both a descriptive as well as a prescriptive approach. It analyses the contents to see what is there in the contents and what is required for the learners from a cultural perspective. On the basis of its two fold description the study has given suggestions as to what should be an ideal situation for the selection, adaptation and development of English language textbooks for the learners. The main hypothesis of the study was that there was no cultural relevance between the objectives of the learners for learning English, their social and educational background and the contents of the course book. The inappropriateness of the theories that advocate the inclusion of target language culture in language courses as an essential factor for teaching and learning English in every situation and for all learners is the secondary hypothesis of the study. The study has narrowed down its focus to the cultural relevance of the course contents being taught at the IIUI, the communication gap between the authors and the target learners, and to give suggestions regarding the possibility to include the learners’ culture in English language courses.   The study adopts a first glance evaluation in the light of guidelines provided by pedagogical theorists and deliberately avoids learners’ response method (in which learners responses are measured) because of the   researcher’s own interest in the impressionistic evaluation. The main purpose of the study was to bring the learners in the lime light of focus to make teaching of English more learners’ centered, to create awareness among the teachers, policy makers and course designers to consider learners needs in the process of textbooks selection and development. The study proves that the themes, setting, characters and worldview, presented in the contents of the book represent a foreign and unfamiliar world for the learners. The study suggests that the learners would be more motivated to learn English if language were presented in the context with which the learners could identify themselves. Keywords: language, English, Culture, Textbooks, Learner

A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Left and Right Wing Ideologies in Pakistani English Newspaper Editorials

The present study basically analyzes the Left and Right Wing ideologies in Pakistani English newspapers regarding Osama Bin Laden’s death and PNS Mehran base attack. The study conducts the content analysis of the editorials of two Pakistani English newspapers; the Daily Dawn and the Daily Nation from 3rd May, 2011 to 3rd June, 2011. Editorials have the potential to shape opinion, create reality and convey ideologies. In order to investigate the issues this study explore the ideologies in the discourse through certain levels of analysis as social analysis, cognitive analysis and particularly discourse analysis which consists syntactic structure, lexicon, global and local semantics and rhetorical structures of the discourse by using van Dijk’s model(1993) of critical discourse analysis. For this purpose both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis were used. Finally it brings the results that editorial writers construct reality, advance the ideologies of the in-group and are influenced by their own ideological leanings and those of the newspaper owner. The analysis of selected 20 editorials from both the dailies reveals that editorials cannot be treated as objective opinion pieces but as representative dominant ideologies. Keywords: Osama Bin Laden, PNS Mehran attack, US, Pakistani defense, Intelligence failure, Military, Taliban, Newspaper editorials