ALLS Future, Current & Past Issues
A Comparative Study of Grade 10 English Textbooks of Sindh Textbook Board and Cambridge "O Level" in the perspective of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy, 2021
The present study evaluated the cognitive levels of reading comprehension questions present in gr... more The present study evaluated the cognitive levels of reading comprehension questions present in grade 10 English Textbooks namely English Textbook for grade 10 by Sindh Textbook Board and compared it to Oxford Progressive English book 10 used in Cambridge "O Level" in the perspective of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Qualitative content analysis was used as a methodology to carry out the study. To collect the data, a checklist based on Revised Bloom's taxonomy was used as an instrument. A total of 260 reading comprehension questions from both the textbooks were evaluated. The findings of the study revealed that reading comprehension questions in English textbook for grade 10 were solely based on remembering level (100%) whereas the questions in Oxford Progressive English 10 were mainly based on understanding level (75.5%) with a small percentage of remembering (12.5%), analyzing (11.1%) and evaluating level (0.74%). This suggests that the reading comprehension questions in both the textbooks are dominantly based on lower-order thinking skills.
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Cross-Gender Investigation of Instrumental and Integrative Motivation among the Students Enrolled in a Course Delivered via Technology, 2016
Online language learning has become a growing phenomenon in todays' times. The real questions lie... more Online language learning has become a growing phenomenon in todays' times. The real questions lie in what motivates the learners to study language in a non-traditional and a technology-integrated environment. This question was explored with the help of a small-scale survey conducted from 60 students of a technology integrated language course offered by a language institution. This study investigated the motivational orientation of the learners with the help of thirty-five-item questionnaire adopted from AMTB-Attitude Motivation Test Battery. Modest differences were found in students' motivation for learning English via technology (M=2.57, SD=.811) for integrative and (M=2.71, SD=.811) for instrumental motivation. Moreover, the relationship of motivational orientation to the individual background, especially in the context of gender was investigated with the help of one-way ANOVA and Tukey Post hoc tests. The results implied that gender plays a vital role for deciding the integrative or instrumental motivation among the respondents. Tukey HSD test indicated that the mean scores for the integrative motivation in females (M = 2.60, SD = .892) was significantly different from the mean integrative motivation in males (M = 2.54, SD = .735). The females tend to show higher integrative motivation than males. Hence, the mean scores for instrumental motivation in females (M =2.74, SD = .778) is modestly different from males (M = 2.69, SD = .653). It is confirmed by this study that distinction between instrumental and integrative orientation are significant in technology integrated language learning and are very much related to gender differences.
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CONSTRUCTION OF CULTURAL VALUES AND IDEOLOGY IN SOCIAL STUDIES TEXTBOOKS: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVE, 2016
This paper examines the cultural values, beliefs and ideology constructed through Pakistan Studie... more This paper examines the cultural values, beliefs and ideology constructed through Pakistan Studies textbook, published by Sindh Text Book Board, currently used for secondary education in the Government sector in Pakistan. The study aims to critically analyze how discourses are created and what ideologies are embedded in them in the form of textbooks. The paper also analyzes how texts are manipulated in the public education sector to portray certain cultural forces, beliefs and values for the young reader and how these discourses in turn position the learner to go through the way these discourses are developed. The paper states that such discourses are contrary to the young learner's interests and serve the interests of the powerful elite.
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by Advances in Language and Literary Studies [ALLS], Fernandes Arung, Anne Christopher, Munif Nordin, Bahman Zarrinjooee, Irum Abbasi, Shayesteh Ebrahimi, Parvin Salajeghe, Anisha Chugh, Dr Shumaila Memon, Sahar Alkeshwan, Supiani Ani, SAMIR ALSHEIKH, Rezvan Adelnia, Hina Durrani, Sahar Al-Keshwan, and Abid Labidi
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Engineering students' academic writing issues, 2022
This study was conducted to explore the scholastic composition issues that are academic writing p... more This study was conducted to explore the scholastic composition issues that are academic writing problems of the engineering students of the Mehran University of engineering, Jamshoro, and to give answers to these issues. For this reason, four exploration inquiries were postured and the responses to these inquiries were given and talked about. The data for the study was gathered by means of interviews. The population of this study was undergraduate students of communication skill subject students from the third year. The findings of the study uncovered that the students confronted issues in connection to vocabulary register, association of thoughts, language structure, spelling, and referencing.
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Language Learning Strategies (LLSs) in Computer Assisted Language Learning Context, 2022
Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is still in the early
stages of integrating technolog... more Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is still in the early
stages of integrating technology into educational institutions in
Pakistan but, in Pakistani classrooms, using technology in
language instruction is growing as a popular trend. Thus, the
current study’s goal is to investigate the language learning
strategies in CALL contexts should be modified/improved and
can they bring some positive results or not. In doing so, a
mixed-mode pre-test post-test research methodology, using one
identical test (pre-test and post-test) before and after studying
in a CALL setup was used. Moreover, semi-structured interviews
were also used to explore the opinions of learners (n=6). As a
result, one group (experimental) of male college students
(n=55) was chosen for the investigation (experimental group).
The findings of the study revealed positive results in both
analyses (QUAL+QUAN). The study presents future
recommendations also.
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Language Identity of Undergraduate ESL Learners: Understanding role of L1 Identity in English language learning at Undergraduate Level, 2022
The study aims to highlight the language identity of undergraduate ESL learners and role of L1 id... more The study aims to highlight the language identity of undergraduate ESL learners and role of L1 identity in English language learning. Attachment, use of language and encouraging learners` towards their language continuation and vitality efforts are necessary for construction of language identity. In the Pakistani multilingual setting these procedures are vigorously endorsing learners` in representing and constructing their language identities. So for, the current study is mixed method research followed by concurrent triangulation or convergent parallel design suggested by Creswell & Plano Clark (2011). The quantitative data were collected from 200 third and final year undergraduate students of the departments of English, Education and Information Technology studying at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad (SBBU, SBA) by using simple random sampling. The collected dada were analyzed by using IBM (SPSS 26th) version. The results were shown in frequency and percentage organized in tabular form and discussed. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews from 8 students studying in 3rd and final year in the department of English at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad (SBBU, SBA) by using purposive sampling. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by using thematic analysis model suggested by Saldna (2009). The findings disclose that learners' identity is changeable. ESL learners` construct their linguistics identity through use of L1 in ESL classrooms, interaction through code switching and speaking English language with L1 accent. However, they construct L1 identity at their home and hybrid identity at ESL classroom. It is found from the above findings that L1 identity has great impact on English language learning and plays vital role in constructing identity in ESL classrooms.
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Academic Writing Development in English: An Action Research Project, 2021
Academic Writing is considered as the most important yet most difficult task for learners at seco... more Academic Writing is considered as the most important yet most difficult task for learners at secondary and higher education levels in Pakistan.Academic writing is the most difficult of all the four skills of a language (Garcia & Isabel, 2018). Nevertheless, it is considered as one of the prerequisite skills, the enrolled learners at college and undergraduate level need for various educational purposes including passing the exams (Dar & Khan, 2015). One way to study this issue is to first identify the problems of the learners in their academic writing and then seek a pedagogical intervention.The currentstudy followed this approach. It identified the difficulties of intermediate students of pre-engineering in academic writing at Government Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah Higher Secondary School and then in the next phase it developed their academic writing skills by employing instructional teaching and practices through a content-based approach. An essay was used as a tool that assessed in a 5-point Analytical Rubric adopted by Angel and Garcia (2019). The scale included discourse, organization, syntax, convention, and vocabulary as the parameters/categories. Each category was marked for five marks individually and thus making a collective score of twenty-five marks for an essay. The methodology, employed in the research, was an action research that selected thirty participants as purposive sampling. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics atpre-actional phase and post-actional phase to know the extent of improvement. The findings revealed that the participants were found weak in essay writing under academic writing at pre-actional phase level and later improved their competence and performances after the intervention of teachingpractices through a content-based approach. The scores of the essays increased at each category of the assessment gradually. Thus, the findings pave way forward for conducting more action research plans on developing academic writing skills in English and it also encourages further detailed research in this area.
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A Quasi-Experimental Study on the Performance and Attitudes of Pakistani Undergraduate Students towards Hello English Language Learning Application, 2021
With the advancement of technology, more and more avenues of bringing creativity and innovation i... more With the advancement of technology, more and more avenues of bringing creativity and innovation in language learning have opened up. These exciting advances have given rise to a new field of study within linguistics, termed Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL). This paper aims to fill the gap of MALL research in the area of grammar teaching in the Pakistan. Two BS Part 1 classes from University of Sindh, Jamshoro, were chosen for this quasi-experimental study. In total, 62 out of 101 students volunteered to use the Hello English application for 2 months, making up the experiment group, and the remaining 39 students were put in a control group. Paired Samples T-Test was run on pretest and posttest results which revealed no significant difference in both groups' performances, proving that Hello English application could not significantly improve students' grammar performance. However, in spite of the lack of a significant difference between the test results, the data gathered through the attitudinal survey showed that students still found mobile application very easy to use and effective in language learning.
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A Multimodal Analysis of Selected Placards from the 'Aurat March' 2018 of Pakistan, 2021
This study presents a multimodal analysis of selected placards from the 'Aurat March' 2018 of Pak... more This study presents a multimodal analysis of selected placards from the 'Aurat March' 2018 of Pakistan. For the purpose of in-depth analysis, two placards depicting two educated women have been explored. The study is exploratory and uses Royce's framework of intersemiotic complementarity for the analysis. The findings suggest that placards are definitely more than the pieces of material resources they are constructed of. They carry in themselves various linguistic and other semiotic meanings which create a strong message in the placards.
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Impacts of multimedia gloss on Learning Reading Comprehension in ESL context, 2021
With the expansion of education, and technology-mediated tools, the technology mediatedcourses ar... more With the expansion of education, and technology-mediated tools, the technology mediatedcourses are taking high response in teaching and learning by attracting learners' attention, particularly in the reading skills context. Henceforth, the current study's objectives were to know the effects of multimedia glossing in helping engineering students reading comprehension and to know which multimedia features remained the strong factors in enhancing reading comprehension of the engineering students of Mehran UET Jamshoro, Pakistan. Two research tools were used to collect the data from 20 engineering students studying in the first-year first semester of engineering university in Pakistan, and an action research design was followed to accomplish the aim of the research. The sample of the study was selected through the judgment sampling technique. The data collected from the test and analysed on SPSS. The qualitative data collected through the semi-structured interview and analysed through thematic analysis. The findings of the study demonstrated that the employment of multimedia glossing in the ESL reading comprehension class proved useful which scaffolded the process of texts' understanding effectively. In contrast, the audio feature remained the least effective in helping engineering students comprehending the information as compared to audio glossing and image multimedia features. Therefore, one of the suggestions of the research is for teachers and university administration is to plan a multimedia integrated lessons/ modules/ program with a proper guideline to conduct English language classes. Besides that, the university community should incorporate multimedia glossing according to the need of the learners, learning, and context in their lessons as it will let them visualize difficult abstract information without difficulty.
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Teaching Vocabulary through CAVI: An Action Research Project, 2021
Vocabulary learning is a fundamental aspect of language learning for ESL or EFL learners. The spe... more Vocabulary learning is a fundamental aspect of language learning for ESL or EFL learners. The speedy modifications within the advancement of technological and pedagogical ways have proven to be quite captivating for instructors. Therefore, educational practitioners attempt to induct these digital and technological sources in their ESL or EFL classrooms for teaching diverse language skills. This study evaluates ESL learners' performance after computer-assisted vocabulary instruction (CAVI hereafter) induction for about ten (10) weeks. In addition, this experimental study also aims to serve the purpose to examine the attitude of the learners towards CAVI practices. It is an action research (AR) project, where convenience sampling has been used to sort out the target population (n= 74) from an Elite Private School (EPS hereafter) in Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. Moreover, the collected data has been analyzed statistically through SPSS software. According to the results, the learners expressed their eagerness to learn vocabulary through digital resources, and data witnessed that their overall performance pre and post CAVI seems to be going towards improvement. This study is significant because the efficacy of CAVI will promote awareness among Educational practitioners, ESL, and EFL teachers to improve their vocabulary instructional ways.
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An Intercultural Investigation of Interactive Metadiscourse Markers in Research Articles by Pakistani & British Engineers, 2021
This study aims to investigate the use of Interactive metadiscourse markers in engineering and te... more This study aims to investigate the use of Interactive metadiscourse markers in engineering and technological research articles written by Pakistani and British engineers. The objectives of the study were to investigate and to compare the use of interactive Metadiscourse markers between the two sub-corpora. This study has followed Hyland & Tse"s (2004) "Interpersonal model" of metadiscourse. For this purpose, we built a specialized corpus of engineering research articles contained with two sub-corpora of British and Pakistani RA"s, 100 in each. Pakistani research articles were selected from X category research journals recognized by HEC (Higher Education Commission) and Britain papers were selected and downloaded from research repositories published between 2010 to 2016. The corpus consists of 1087091 words.A mixed methods research (qualitative and quantitative) was employed. Before analyzing the frequency of data, the extracted markers (according to Hyland"s (2005) taxonomy of metadiscourse markers) were checked and filtered carefully through the manual examination of the markers into the source texts and the frequencies of occurrences were updated accordingly. The statistical analysis of the data was done using the chi-square test by SPSS v.20. The result of the test indicated that there is a significant difference between both sub-corpora (χ2 = 10.478, df = 4, p = .033 < 0.05.). Taken together, the results indicated that British writers used interactive markers more than Pakistani writers. Pakistani writers used more frequently endophoric markers, code glosses, and frame markers. However, British writers used less endophoric markers, code glosses, and frame markers than Pakistani writers. The only two sub-categories of interactive were used by Pakistani writers with a slightly higher rate than British writers are code glosses and frame markers. On the other hand, British writers used more frequently transition markers and evidential. The result of the analysis shows cultural differences, and it is fascinating that Pakistani engineers used frequently sub-categories of interactive markers in their research articles. Finally, it was also disclosed that British research articles have relatively clear usage of all sub-categories properly as compared to Pakistani engineers. The study has implications for ESL teachers, novice researchers, curriculum designers, and textbook developers.
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A Comparative Study of Grade 10 English Textbooks of Sindh Textbook Board and Cambridge "O Level" in the perspective of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy, 2021
The present study evaluated the cognitive levels of reading comprehension questions present in gr... more The present study evaluated the cognitive levels of reading comprehension questions present in grade 10 English Textbooks namely English Textbook for grade 10 by Sindh Textbook Board and compared it to Oxford Progressive English book 10 used in Cambridge "O Level" in the perspective of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Qualitative content analysis was used as a methodology to carry out the study. To collect the data, a checklist based on Revised Bloom's taxonomy was used as an instrument. A total of 260 reading comprehension questions from both the textbooks were evaluated. The findings of the study revealed that reading comprehension questions in English textbook for grade 10 were solely based on remembering level (100%) whereas the questions in Oxford Progressive English 10 were mainly based on understanding level (75.5%) with a small percentage of remembering (12.5%), analyzing (11.1%) and evaluating level (0.74%). This suggests that the reading comprehension questions in both the textbooks are dominantly based on lower-order thinking skills.
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Genre Analysis: Move Structure in Letters to Editor from English Newspapers of Pakistan, 2021
Genre and genre analysis are considered to be important constituents of Discourse Analysis. This ... more Genre and genre analysis are considered to be important constituents of Discourse Analysis. This paper presents the results of the genre analysis and move structure in a corpus of letters to editors from three leading English newspapers of Pakistan, The Dawn, The Nation and Daily Times. It was observed in the analysis that the letters to the editor normally contain six moves having different steps in each move. The first move tends to have heading and salutation in it and the last carries personal details of the writer such as name and the address. The moves in the middle usually have reference, response, narration of the incident or statement of the problem, presentation of facts and figures, argument for or against the notion and suggestion or opinion. It is also found that some of the letters have some minor variations in their steps, which are presented using A, B and C options. It is hoped that with this analysis of move structure of letters to editors, the result of the current study may serve as a basic guideline for the novice writers to produce a proper letter to editor for publication.
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An Investigation of Listening Comprehension Difficulties Encountered by L2 Learners in Classroom, Sindh Pakistan, 2021
This quantitative research gathered data in form of questionnaire on listening comprehension diff... more This quantitative research gathered data in form of questionnaire on listening comprehension difficulties frequently experienced by English Language students at English Language Development Center (ELDC), Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Jamshoro, Sindh.The sample for this study was taken 140 undergraduate students and answered the questionnaire. The results of the investigation showed that students frequently faced difficulties in listening to aurally-presented text due to insufficient vocabulary, speed of speech delivery, different accents, unfamiliar topics, long listening text, complex grammatical sentences, colloquial words, and physical setting that is noisy and listening equipment that have problem with volume or the quality of sound. The use of learning strategies can remediate the difficulties of more or less skilled learners' during listening activities in classroom. The recommendations for further research suggested.
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Willingness to communicate in a second language and the promise of complex dynamic systems theory: A narrative review, 2021
Willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) is a speaker's voluntary engagement in c... more Willingness to communicate in a second language (L2 WTC) is a speaker's voluntary engagement in communication using a target language. WTC has undergone several conceptualisations over the past twenty years or so. The aim of the current article is to present a narrative review of the major conceptual developments in research on L2 WTC. First, the article discusses the strengths and limitations of the major
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Myths and Realities about Language of Instruction in Pakistan: Parental Perspective, 2021
Language of learning and language of state requires proper awareness in multilingual countries. I... more Language of learning and language of state requires proper awareness in multilingual countries. It demands much clarity if the role of a language in learning is to be acknowledged on the academic achievement grounds. Language of instruction is a controversial issue in Pakistan. Language policies and practices play vital role in shaping the perceptions of individual for the choice of any language. These perceptions may be based on reality or merely myths. Parents are major beneficiary or sufferer of the outcome of the education of their children. This article aims to explore perceptions of parents for the choice of language for the education of their children. By drawing upon Woolard & Schieffelin's Language Ideology Model (1994), this paper analyses how parents perceive the importance of language of instruction for the education of their children. The researchers conducted 20 semi structured interviews from parents of Hyderabad Town by using Maximum Variation Sampling. Constant Comparative Method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) of analysis is used as an analytic technique to discover perceptions of parents regarding language of instruction for the education their children. This research implies that perceptions of parents are fraught with myths and misunderstandings of past practices and unclear language policies in Pakistan. This study recommends that parents' voice must effectively be included in the making of language policy and they must be made aware of the researches in learning mother tongue or second language as the language of instruction for the education of their children.
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Exploring Ways of Vocabulary Instructional Practices in ESL Classrooms in Pakistan, 2020
Word Power offers a key role when it comes to effective communication and comprehensive reading. ... more Word Power offers a key role when it comes to effective communication and comprehensive reading. Language teaching-learning is a complex phenomenon especially in learning L2 vocabulary. A learner is provided with a complete package of textual and non-textual language-based content to develop all four skills of L2 of a learner. A language curriculum is based on text aided by co-curricular activities like role plays, presentations, speeches/debates or declamation, essay writing competitions, etc. to improve the language proficiency of a learner. In such activities, vocabulary has a secondary role to play, whereas, it is hard to find such activities where the prime focus is to be given on the development of language learner's vocabulary size. Language learners view vocabulary enhancement as one of the most challenging domains while learning a language Çelik & Toptaş, (2010). The present study reflects a brief overview of the most frequently practiced pedagogical practices of vocabulary items. This study is qualitative, where secondary level school learners are the target population. The researcher has chosen semi-structured interviews with students (n=20). The study finds that the vocabulary instructional process in Pakistani ESL learners lacks the proper induction of vocabulary teaching strategies. It doesn't target the utilization of vocabulary items in a meaningful context. In addition, vocabulary items are heavily taught explicitly and implicit instructional methods are not taken much into consideration. Thus, the researcher recommends the integration of best teaching practices into the traditional language pedagogical process. It may involve CALL methods and other incidental and intentional approaches that can enable learners to enhance vocabulary size, retain, and use vocabulary items in a real-life context.
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English Language Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms: A Study of L2 Teachers' Strategies to Manage Many Languages, 2020
The teaching plus learning practices have become a challenge for ESL teachers and learners signif... more The teaching plus learning practices have become a challenge for ESL teachers and learners significantly at the undergraduate level in Pakistan. This difficulty occurs to teachers when they have to deal with ESL learners from such diverse backgrounds. In Pakistan, the English languages is majorly taught as second language at college and university levels in public and private sectors. At general level, English language is in practical pedagogy as a compulsory subject from schools to colleges and universities. The English language today is used as the world's language some also call it as ''Universal language'' because of its wide usage across the world, that contributes into the usage and learning of the language in all the domains and areas of study (Yunus, 2013). This research study attempted to investigate the strategies ESL teachers use in multilingual English language classrooms at undergraduate level in universities to deal with learners and cope up with such linguistic diversity in classrooms. The qualitative research paradigm was employed with structured online interviews of the
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ALLS Future, Current & Past Issues
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stages of integrating technology into educational institutions in
Pakistan but, in Pakistani classrooms, using technology in
language instruction is growing as a popular trend. Thus, the
current study’s goal is to investigate the language learning
strategies in CALL contexts should be modified/improved and
can they bring some positive results or not. In doing so, a
mixed-mode pre-test post-test research methodology, using one
identical test (pre-test and post-test) before and after studying
in a CALL setup was used. Moreover, semi-structured interviews
were also used to explore the opinions of learners (n=6). As a
result, one group (experimental) of male college students
(n=55) was chosen for the investigation (experimental group).
The findings of the study revealed positive results in both
analyses (QUAL+QUAN). The study presents future
recommendations also.
stages of integrating technology into educational institutions in
Pakistan but, in Pakistani classrooms, using technology in
language instruction is growing as a popular trend. Thus, the
current study’s goal is to investigate the language learning
strategies in CALL contexts should be modified/improved and
can they bring some positive results or not. In doing so, a
mixed-mode pre-test post-test research methodology, using one
identical test (pre-test and post-test) before and after studying
in a CALL setup was used. Moreover, semi-structured interviews
were also used to explore the opinions of learners (n=6). As a
result, one group (experimental) of male college students
(n=55) was chosen for the investigation (experimental group).
The findings of the study revealed positive results in both
analyses (QUAL+QUAN). The study presents future
recommendations also.
The aim of this study is to investigate the problems affecting EFL learners’ reading
skill at Government College University Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. Out of four
language skills, reading contains great importance as it opens the gateway to world
knowledge. Reading is a dynamic and complex process in which a reader’s thought
and perception work together. This core skill helps to improve academic
performance. The researcher used mixed method approach applying triangulation
method. This study focused on n=150 EFL students and n=10 teachers of
intermediate level at GC. University Hyderabad, Sindh. The researcher used
questionnaire to collect quantitative data and conducted semi-structured
interviews to know teachers’ perceptions. Students were selected through simple
random sampling while the teachers were selected using purposive sampling.
Quantitative data was analyzed by using SPSS 25.0 version and teachers’ interviews
were analyzed thematically. The study reports that EFL learners are really facing
comprehension problems which affect EFL learners’ reading skill. The main
problems which hinder their progress in reading comprehension are limited
vocabulary, lack of interesting reading material and linguistic deficiency. Similarly,
majority of students are unaware of reading strategies and activities. The results
show that most of EFL learners at intermediate level lack of reading strategies and
activities.
KEYWORDS: English reading skill, EFL learners, reading comprehension problems
learners in Pakistan. It also investigated the differences between reading attitudes of
learners from different home backgrounds, rural and urban.
The participants of the study had Sindhi as their L1 and English as their L2. They came
from rural (n=186) and urban (n=202) parts of Sindh. The study employed a mixed
methods approach. It collected data through a questionnaire, and semi-structured
interviews. The questionnaire collected information on four reading attitude variables:
self perception as a reader, utilitarian value for reading, personal involvement for
reading and lack of reading anxiety both in Sindhi and in English. The fifth variable was
learner’s rural/urban home background.
My study partially confirms findings from previous studies indicating that reading
attitudes in L1 and in L2 are related. Rural learners displayed a stronger relationship
between reading attitudes in L1 and in L2, whereas urban learners displayed a weaker
relationship. This finding was further confirmed when, through a multiple regression
analysis, the contribution of each reading attitude was checked in terms of the coefficient
values. A learner’s ‘rural/urban home background’ emerged as the strongest indicator of
a learner’s reading attitudes than his/her reading attitudes in Sindhi. Thus, urban home
background seems to add positively to reading attitudes in English. The findings show the
importance of one’s educational background, home and society on the whole in the
process of developing a learner’s attitudes towards reading in English.
Furthermore, this study also demonstrated marked differences in the reading attitudes of
both the groups in terms of their reading attitudes in L1 and in L2. The rural learners had
better reading attitudes in L1 than their counterparts, whereas the urban learners had
better reading attitudes in English than the rural learners. Such a finding again supports
the role of society and social background in shaping learners’ reading attitudes in L1 or in
L2.