CULTURE AND
TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE FOR PAKISTANI STUDENTS
The
Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
The paper highlights the need
to reform and restructure the teaching of English in Pakistan to make it more
relevant and meaningful for the Pakistani students. This would involve not only
an understanding of the needs of English of the students, but also the place of
culture both local and global in their language learning process. The
redesigning and restructuring of the English Language and Literature courses
would have to take into account the sociolinguistic aspects of English in the
Pakistani as well as in the international context.
Culture embraces all that contributes to the survival
of man, such as art, craft, drama, dress, education, music, politics, religion
and technology. It is absorbed by living in it and changed by contact with
outside cultures or inspiration from within. If we examine the concept of
Pakistani culture and Pakistani identity we see that though the different
regions of Pakistan have their own local culture and regional languages, what
unites us is a set of shared beliefs or values regarding standards of
behaviour, qualities of character, human relations and life styles that are
admired by all Pakistanis whether they are Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhis or
Baluchis. Our religious values imbibed through the teachings of Islam affect
every aspect of our cultural life. Another important feature of Pakistani culture
is a sense of nationhood so that other religious groups whether they are
Christians, Parsees or Hindus have this shared feeling of belonging owing to
shared sentiments of patriotism and loyalty towards the nation state, Pakistan.
To make the learning of
English interesting and useful for the learners, Pakistani English teachers
will have to take cognizance of the relationship between language and culture.
The current view of the place of culture in language learning is today more
sophisticated and deeper and broader in scope involving theories of language
acquisition in both affective and cognitive domains. In a sense, education is
society’s cultural reproductive system influenced by philosophical, political,
economic and social forces.
Cultural
Needs of Pakistani Learners
Learning English for Pakistani students is a complex
phenomenon. As second language learners, the learning and teaching of English
has different implications for native
and foreign language learners. English is used widely in Pakistan in official, business and academic
circles, not only to meet the needs of Pakistan as a developing country for the
purposes of modernisation and technology but also because of linguistic,
political and social considerations. Pakistani student needs for learning English are primarily for
instrumental reasons like travelling abroad, reading advanced technical
literature, coping with university classes, access to international books and
journals, getting good jobs, and as the
working language of their future careers (Mansoor, 1993). Students also need it
for social purposes.
To prepare students to use English, the
teaching of English should therefore have the following objectives:
• For academic purposes,
• For inter-active purposes,
• For communication in target areas of work
• For travel and study abroad and meeting native speakers as well as
speakers from ESL I EFL countries.
The first three
objectives point to the need for students to learn English within their own
local contexts and the fourth to learn English for inter-cultural communication
The teaching / learning of English in Pakistan must therefore prepare students
to use English both as a second language in Pakistan and as an international
language.
The implications in terms of language
and culture are manifold. It involves:
a. an awareness and understanding of the students own ethnicity i.e.
his local culture.
b. an awareness of Pakistani culture, and
c. an awareness of the target culture (not only British and American
culture but sensitisation to global culture).
Incorporating the student’s own culture
as well as foreign culture would enable Pakistani students, as second language
learners of the outer circle, to communicate effectively not only with English speakers of their own
country, but also English speakers from other countries whichever circle (inner
or expanded) that they may belong to
(Kachru 1983) .
A critical look at the materials available for the
teaching of English at both Board and University levels reveal that most of
them are imported or books of English writers which are meant to be used for
students whose native language is English. The lack of local materials for
academic purposes and for the teaching of Functional English has led to the
teaching and learning of English being regarded with suspicion. It is felt by
some pressure groups that this leads to undue influence of western culture on
our students and an alienation of their own culture. As a result, despite
highly positive attitudes and high motivational intensity to learn-teach English by learners and teachers
(Mansoor, 1993) the position and status of English in our educational set-up
remains controversial. Inclusion of local culture in the curriculum,
methodology, and teaching materials of TESL would make learning easier and more
meaningful for Pakistani students. The most obvious influence of language and
culture on thought is that of vocabulary. As Boas points out, words are suited
to the environment in which they are used.
In considering the
relationship between second language learning (SLL) and second culture
learning, it is very important to consider several types of second language
learning contexts as each type involves different degrees of acculturation. SLL
in a foreign culture clearly involves the deepest form of acculturation. SLL in
the native culture varies in the severity of acculturation experienced by the
learner, depending on the country, the socio-political status of the language
and the motivation and aspirations of the learners. Kachru (1983) notes that
learning English in India does not involve taking on a new culture, since one
is acquiring Indian English in school. I think that the same is true of
Pakistan where English enjoys a high status and plays a key role in the
educational, official and business set-up. It is therefore of vital importance
that students be taught Pakistani English that reflects their own culture as
well as provides local contexts for using the language.
Presently the materials used
for teaching English pose great difficulty for our learners. They have great
difficulty relating to the foreign contexts and no effort is made by the course
designers or teachers to make it interesting and non-judgemental. Again, the
students are neither sensitised to the foreign culture nor is tact used in
introducing certain ethnic groups or their value systems. Research produced in
this century has evolved a theory that a native culture is as much interference
for SLL learners as for native
language learners.
Likewise, it has been seen
that just as similarities and
differences have been found to be useful in language
studies so too cultural similarities, once identified and understood, can be
used to advantage. For second language teachers, knowledge of the commonalities
between two languages or of the universal features of language appears to be
useful for understanding the total language process. We can recognise not only
different world-views and different ways of expressing reality but can also
recognise through both language and culture some universal qualities that bind
us all together in one world.
The theory by Gardner & Lambert
(1972) that integrative motivation (the intention of becoming a part of the
target culture as well as speaking the target language) leads to more
successful language learning than instrumental learning has been modified by Brown (1980) and Mansoor (1993) where it has
been seen that instrumental motivation such as learning English for passing an
exam or for getting a good job with no or little wish to mix socially with
speakers of the language can lead to effective learning.
What is required to make ELT useful for Pakistani
students is for teachers and materials and syllabus designers to make the
cultural component of the course an aid to SLL rather than a hindrance. We need
to develop our own materials for the teaching of English. In a study conducted
by Khan & Lindley (1993) to assess English language materials published in
Pakistan, it was seen that despite being the ninth most populous country in the world, the approximate number of
titles published in Pakistan by both private and public sectors was an average
of about 3,000 a year. The maximum number of books was in the national language
(Urdu) thus reducing the percentage of books published in English. One of the
reasons for the low number of books published was identified as shortage of
local publishers and the dearth of trained human resources. The study confirms
that very few English language publications are being offered to readers
through an indigenous process as what is available in English are imported
books at exorbitant prices.
Literature: Works / Translations of Pakistani Writers
Professor Farida Javed Malik in the ELT Seminar held
in Lahore 1996, suggested that the
study of the Literature component for Pakistani students in the curriculum
include works of Pakistani English writers especially women poets and English
translations of our well known Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Baluchi, Pushto and other
local writers to enhance students’ understanding of their own cultural
identity.
Bapsi Sidhwa (1993)writes
“Although I speak Gujrati at home and am relatively fluent in Urdu and
understand Punjabi, English is the language I choose to write in. Fortunately,
I dream and think in all four languages. I feel perhaps in common with most
trilingual or bilingual writers, fortunate in having access to these languages.
I am free to take what I wish from the riches each offers - the earthy gusto of
Punjabi, the poetry and delicacy of Urdu, the comedy and farce of Gujrati, the
wealth of choice which makes for exactitude in English, and the body of meaning
encapsulated in any of the words of these South Asian languages and juggle them
to my advantage.”
What is urgently required therefore, is
to publish local materials in English. This would involve not only publishing
writings and translations of Pakistani writers but encouraging Pakistani
authors to create materials for pedagogical purposes.
Language:
Activity Books / Audio-Visual / Authentic Materials
For the study of the Language
component in our English courses there is an urgent need to develop local
materials in English especially:
• Language activity books based on our local contexts
which reflect the cultural values of our students and which aim at the teaching
of functional English for communicative
purposes in our situational contexts.
• Audio-visual materials for teaching spoken English
based on our own models of Pakistani English.
• Authentic materials
especially newspapers and journals that reflect the everyday use of English.
We need to develop language
materials that are easy and assist learners in using English for functional purposes. The language materials
must meet both the learning and cultural needs of Pakistani students from the
primary to the graduate level. Both applied and sociolinguists must play their
due roles in this regard.
experiences. The use of local culture also proved more
effective in improving the oral skills of learners as discussion of issues
involved, elicited more speech in the class.
Baumgardner (1993 ) and Tariq Rahman (1990) have built
the foundation of a serious academic analysis and description of Pakistani
English as a non-native variety of English and not just a mass of ignorant
errors that must not be encouraged. The Pakistani variety of English is a
variety of English in its own right and not just a stage on the way to a more
native-like English. The pedagogical norm in Pakistan remains British Standard
English (BSE) and English Literature is the main focus of English studies in
most of the universities. Many writers like Ahmed Ali use BSE and as yet there
is little realisation that Pakistani English (PE) is an institutionalised,
non-native variety which deserves description and codification.
Dr Rahman’s study describes the
phonetic, phonological, morphological≤ synctactic and lexical semantic
features of PE so as to make a pedagogical model of English which may replace
the BSE model. Kachru has emphasised the influence of cultural forces on
language. For him ‘interference’ is merely indicative of linguistic changes in
a culturally and linguistically pluralistic language–contact situation.
However, there must be
a clear distinction between deviation and mistake. Deviations are rule governed
and follow a distinctive pattern whereas mistakes are not. The way in which cultural contexts produce an
accent or changes in meaning are phonological, lexical and semantic deviations.
According to Kachru, a non-native variety passes through three phases. In the
first phase, the very existence of a local variety is not recognised. In the
second, it is considered sub-standard and in the third, it is slowly accepted as the norm. According to Rahman
(1990), PE is probably entering the second stage. However, thanks to linguists
like Kachru PE is passing through the third phase and is recognised as a
legitimate variety.
Characteristics of Pakistani English
According
to Baumgardner (1993), PE has forged its own linguistic and cultural identity.
The identity is most evident in:
a. Word
borrowings: a large number of loan words from Urdu
and Regional
languages
borrowed freely from indigenous domains of food, clothing,
administration, government, politics, art, education, music
and most of all registers of religion.
Words
which enter English have become a part of its
grammatical system.
b. Word-formations: Another area in which
PE has forged its own identity is thatof
word
formation, prefixes and suffixes e.g. dc-seat, dc-notify, charge-sheeter
and
woolies.
c.
Conversion: shift of word for one part of speech to another is another
area e.g.
air-craft to air-line(noun to
verb conversion)
d.
Obsolete vocabulary: use of vocabulary no longer current in BSE e.g
botheration, conveyance, moot etc.
Illustrations
of Use of Pakistani English
To see how Pakistani English is used, see
a. a select glossary of PE (Urdu or loan-translations)
Baumgardner (1993)
b. crime reporting register ( Kennedy, 1983)
c. loan words
(Baumgardner, Kennedy, Shamim)
d.
well-reported social events like weddings (bilingual shifts)
According to Baumgardner (1993), because
of the language’s new context of use, words from Urdu and indigenous languages
of Pakistan which refer to Pakistani culture and society are often used in
English where no equivalent or appropriate English word exists. Besides these
borrowings, English in Pakistan can
also be identified by certain distinctive features of grammar, word-formation
and lexical variations which are not errors nor an inferior form of the
language as “purists” would suggest. Rather, they are stable features of an
institutionalised variety of English. The crucial question is: can Pakistani
English of the educated variety assume the status of a national standard? I
feel that to some extent it may be possible if we do not diverge too far to
remain a part of the international Standard English. Rahman (1990) has
categorised PE in further sub-varieties. The choice of Variety B, the acrolect
which is the educated variety and differs from BE in all features, but in a way
that does not hamper intelligibility seems to be a suitable choice for
pedagogical purposes. Variety A, the Anglicised variety only differs in
phonological features from BSE and does not represent local or cultural
features. Variety C, the mesolect which is the most commonly used, differs
radically from all dimensions of BSE and hence unintelligible to foreigners.
Pakistani English would incorporate cultural and environmental differences as
well as interference from indigenous languages. Apart from pronunciation which
is a symbol of cultural identity and least liable to be categorised as standard
or non-standard (Rahman, 1990), to remain intelligible internationally, we
would have to invest in the teaching of English and establish language planning
agencies to control development of national standards and monitor printed
materials.
In
order to teach English as an international language it is proposed that global
Literature, that is world literatures in English, include not only British and
American Literature but also South Asian, African, Mid-Eastern, African,
European and Russian writers. The works of these writers that are included
should provide the students with a global perspective of cultural interaction.
It is important to use materials that pose least difficulty for learners.
The materials should be selected with great care
keeping in mind:
a. The language should be easy to comprehend.
The present trend of using
writers and poets like Hemingway, Yeats and Auden are least suitable for
undergraduate students as they are most demanding and need advanced
language skills on the part of the learners.
b. The materials should be easy to exploit for
purposes of language learning.
The Literature component should be accompanied by a Language Activity
Book to help students in Reading Comprehension and Writing skills.
c. The materials should provide a mix of simple
essays of global writers writing
on a variety of subjects such as History, Political Science, Economics and
Geography etc. It
could include excerpts of
national thinkers such as
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan and Allama Iqbal, as well as global
writers like Karl Marx, Margaret Mead and other specialists on diverse issues.
The undergraduate students must be prepared for higher studies in different
fields using materials most of which
are in English.
Teacher’s Role and Classroom
Applications in Creating Awareness of the Student’s Own Culture and Foreign Cultures
As
far as the teaching of English as an international language is concerned
acculturation is not the goal of our Pakistani students. The second language
learner must have knowledge of the target culture to understand behaviour but
not necessarily become a part of it.
The teacher would need to determine the following:
• values
to be stressed.
• methods
and techniques of presentation
• areas requiring tact for certain ethnic groups
• how to make it interesting and non-judgemental
Ethnographic courses are most useful where language
students should be encouraged to understand the new culture without embracing
it. Teachers will need to develop techniques for teaching cultural awareness
and develop research on cultural values of Pakistani and foreign students.
Lessons devised to reflect on individual and cultural values are an excellent
means for cross-cultural learning. By incorporating foreign texts we can give
students experience of the target culture.
• ELT
Resource Centres like AKU-CEL, SPELT Karachi, A I.O.U. & UGC Islamabad,
CALS Lahore and others pool local materials for English language teachers from
primary to graduate levels.
• Text
book designers incorporate texts and translations of Pakistani writers and
poets which meet international standards.
• English
language and literature syllabi at all levels in schools and college include Pakistani, English and global
literature.
• Teacher
training programmes include the component of culture in their classroom
applications.
• Setting
up a National Institute for the study of and research on Pakistani English and
Pakistani culture and English across cultures. It would be responsible for
research programmes, international exchange programmes and graduate teaching
programmes. It would also develop and monitor materials for ELT which meet
national standards.
Challenges for ELT in Pakistan
As Kachru (1983) points out the inclusion of culture
in the learning / teaching of English
poses many challenges for education planners, material designers and teachers
of English. It emphasizes above all, the responsibility to rethink what English
is to be taught and how it is to be taught in their own local (Pakistani)
context. There will have to be state-of-the-art research involving empirical
and pedagogical studies to provide us with new paradigms and perspectives on
the sociolinguistic aspects of English in the international context and in the
teaching of English in countries where English is a second or foreign language.
If we are to make ELT useful and meaningful for our students, we will need to
incorporate these insights so that through English we can find expression of
our own culture and values as well as get to know and understand others.
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