LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 17:8 August 2017
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com is included in the UGC Approved List of Journals. Serial Number 49042.

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A Historical Perspective of Pakistan’s
Language in Education Policy

Fareeha Javed, Ph.D.

Abstract

The shifts and gaps in English language policies and medium of instruction have always been a hurdle in the achievement of English language and overall education goals in Pakistan. This situation has raised a continuous debate on language-in-education policy and medium of instruction in Pakistan since independence and Pakistani governments to date have been indecisive regarding this. This chaotic situation has caused a great setback to the education system in Pakistan. To understand the issues and challenges pertaining Pakistan’s English language education, this paper presents a historical perspective of Pakistan’s language in education policy. This paper concludes that there is a dire need of discarding the obsolete colonial language policies and formulating effective language-in-education policy for the achievement of language education goals and ultimately the education goals for the better future of the country. The first step to achieve this goal is to provide Pakistani students with equal opportunities to learn English and have access to learning in English medium.

Keywords: language-in-education policy; medium of instruction; English language; British colonial rule; Pakistan

Introduction

Since decolonisation in many Asian and African countries during 1950’s, English has become the international language of technology, scientific research, education, business and media (Canagarajah, 2006; Rassool, 2007). The dominant status of English language has created a number of language and education issues in the postcolonial countries, such as Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Kenya and Pakistan, making it difficult to formulate coherent language-in-education policies and make a final decision regarding the medium of instruction (MOI) at school level (Rassool, 2007). On the other hand, university education in majority of such countries is imparted in English MOI (Rassool, 2007; Tsui & Tollefson, 2004). Due to receiving school education in language other than English, this situation has been and is still creating problems for university students and presenting them with challenges due to lack of proficiency in English, such as difficulties in following lectures imparted in English, making presentations, academic writing, assessments, understanding content in English, and grasping the concepts and ideas underpinning a topic or subject (Rassool, 2007).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Fareeha Javed
Department of English
Institute of Languages and Culture
Lahore College for Women University
Lahore
Pakistan
fareehajaved_1971@yahoo.com

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