The Effect of Inference Skills on Reading Comprehension ... · among the words and sentences in the written text and understand the text as a unitary construct. 2. Literature Review

Pakistan Journal of Language Studies

Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018

ISSN (Online) 2664-1461

ISSN (Print) 2664-1453

[email protected] 1 https://pjls.gcuf.edu.pk/

The Effect of Inference Skills on Reading Comprehension among EFL

Learners

Amir Sadeghi1 & 2, Leila Gilani 1, & Mitra Niyazi1

1Islamic Azad University, Damavand Branch (Iran) 2University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract

The Simple View of Reading (SVR) suggests decoding and linguistic comprehension as the two components

involved in reading comprehension. Linguistic comprehension is vital in this process since it supports the

comprehension of the written text. Decoding is also fundamental to enable the reader to read the written

text; decoding is supposed to become habitual and automatic over a couple of years of schooling for most

children. Once the reader can decode effortlessly, other strategies are required to accelerate

comprehension; among these, inference skills seem to be very important. Given the importance of reading

and inference skills, the current study sought to investigate the relationship between inference skills (lexical

and global inferencing) and reading comprehension among English language learners (ELL) in Iran.

Additionally, the study aimed at finding the effect of teaching inference skills on reading comprehension

performance. One hundred and twenty female high school students from Tehran were selected based on

their scores on the Oxford Reading Test, indicating that they were at intermediate levels of English

proficiency. The participants were randomly divided into a control and experimental group (each

consisting of 60 students). The participants in the control group received conventional instructions of the

school, while the participants in the experimental group were also taught inference skills. The participants

in both groups were pre- and post-tested on their reading comprehension ability. Additionally, a multiple-

choice test of reading comprehension measuring the global and lexical inferencing abilities was given to

the participants. The results of the Spearman correlation coefficient indicated that there was a significant

relationship between lexical inferencing and reading comprehension as well as global inferencing and

reading comprehension. Additionally, the results of the independent samples t-test revealed that teaching

inference skills had a significant effect on reading comprehension performance among ELLs. The findings

of the study have implications for ESL/EFL contexts concerning teaching reading comprehension in

general and inference skills in particular.

Keywords: reading comprehension, inference skills, lexical inferencing, global inferencing

1. Introduction

Text comprehension is essential for modern life. For instance, success in

education, finding a good job, being productive and effective in the society all entail

being a professional reader who can read rapidly and comprehend what they read using

high inference skills (Yuill & Oakhill, 1991). Inference skills are to help readers read

purposefully; hence, learning inferencing is an important learning goal, which allows a

Pakistan Journal of Language Studies (PJLS)

Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




reader to gain as much information as possible from the text. Inference makes readers

more interested in reading so that readers find themselves as part of the text. Inference is

based on what readers read and what they already know (Logan & Johnston, 2009).

Concentrating on individual words while reading would make comprehension process

laborious, boring, and time-consuming without proper understanding. Therefore,

inference skills can be considered very important to improve reading comprehension

among readers, particularly English language learners (ELLs) who usually find reading

more challenging since they may read English texts and translate them to their first

language.

Based on SVR (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), reading comprehension has two main

components: decoding and linguistic comprehension. Decoding refers to the knowledge

of graphemes (alphabets/letters) and phonemes (sounds of the language) as well as the

ability of putting them together. In other words, decoding is an individual's knowledge of

reading strings of letters applying grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules. This skill is

expected to be taught to children, usually at Grade 1 primary school. Most of the children

are supposed to have no problem in this aspect. Linguistic comprehension is another

aspect of reading comprehension, which is virtually multifaceted by encompassing verbal

skills, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic knowledge. Reading comprehension is believed

to be enhanced through using multiple strategies and higher-level skills of language

processing (Tunmer & Chapman, 2012). For example, inference, as a higher-level skill,

should help students comprehend the text better (Nassaji, 2007). In learning a new

language, learners should first obtain lower-level skills in L2 such as knowledge of

phonology, decoding, being able to read fluently, vocabulary, morpho-syntax, etc. the

skills that may enhance working memory space, allowing learners to use higher-level

skills such as inference to competently comprehend the text.

Given that reading starts from decoding (i.e., entangling printed form of the

language), less proficient readers quintessentially focus on decoding and understanding

individual words, which undermines their ability to understand the underlying meaning.

Decoding should be fluent; otherwise, it may occupy the reader’s working memory, and

as a result, the reader cannot make proper communication with the writer’s purposes

(Logan & Johnston, 2009; Knudsen, Jensen de Lopez, & Archibald, 2018). However,

professional and fluent decoding skill does not guarantee reading comprehension because

readers not only need effortless decoding skills (as a lower-level skill), but they also need

to be aware of higher-level skills (e.g., comprehension monitoring and inference skills) in

reading comprehension (Yuill & Oakhill, 1991). Although most students do not struggle

with decoding, they may still have problems in comprehending texts if they do not have

enough lexical or syntactic knowledge. Understanding a text is the ultimate goal of


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




reading. Reading a text word by word is time-consuming and boring, which usually

undermines text comprehension. Hence, learning skills that may help readers read and

comprehend what they read effectively are crucial to help readers make connections

among the words and sentences in the written text and understand the text as a unitary

construct.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Reading

Reading is one of the four main skills in learning a foreign language. It is a

dynamic process including word-level decoding and language comprehension (Logan &

Johnston, 2009). Reading comprehension is a guessing game: the reader tries to

reconstruct the message intended by the writer. In fact, reading comprehension involves

textual information plus prior knowledge (Spiro, 1980). Reading is mainly aimed at

enabling the reader to grasp the meaning and message of the written text (Goodman &

Goodman, 1983). During the early years of reading, children's text comprehension

depends largely on decoding ability. Following the improvement of readers' reading

skills, decoding is expected to become a fluent process. Reading comprehension is

assumed to be part of linguistic comprehension too (Catts, Hogan & Adlof, 2005;

Knudsen et al., 2018). Reading is a schema-based process meaning, which requires rich

knowledge of vocabulary and prior knowledge to comprehend the written text. Reading

comprehension also requires lower level and higher-level competencies such as decoding

ability, meaning retrieval, knowledge of grammar, the ability to combine syntactic and

semantic aspects, and world knowledge to perform complex mental processes such as

inference (Silagi, Romero, Mansur & Radanovic, 2014); professional readers are

expected to be fluent in most of these areas. Grabe (1991) believed that a number of skills

and knowledge are needed to read fluently, including automatic word recognition skill,

knowledge of vocabulary and structure, knowledge of discourse structure, world

background knowledge, evaluation skill, and metacognitive skills such as monitoring.

2.2 Inference Skill

Inference is a cognitive and mental process involved in comprehension (Logan &

Johnston, 2009; Savic, 2018). It is a skill, which draws implicit information to the

representation of what is read or heard. Reading is usually a difficult and challenging

process, especially in texts that have unknown vocabulary items, complicated structures,

and complex patterns. Reader's background knowledge, level of language proficiency,

and reading fluency seem to influence reading comprehension. Beginning readers seem to

mostly rely on bottom-up processing when they read skipping difficult parts, technical


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




information, and graphic illustrations. Hence they may experience difficulties during the

reading process to derive the underlying meaning of the written text, which may make the

recognition of the text’s tone or style challenging for them (Nuttal, 2000; Hall, 2016). In

order to tackle such problems and comprehend the text fully, readers should learn how to

think inferentially and use their reasoning ability. That is, the way someone is thinking

can help them to predict and infer the meaning of the text better. Students should make a

connection between clues in the text and their background knowledge in order to

comprehend the text that they read (Nuttall, 2000; Ribeiro, Cadime, Freitas & Viana,

2016).

Over the years, children should read to learn instead of learning to read (Chall,

1983). This is the stage where inference skill emerges, and readers become professional

readers. Successful readers go beyond word decoding and sentence understanding. They

also go beyond the text, constructing text meaning based on the state and situation of the

text and readers’ prior knowledge. All of these are subsumed under the mental model

(Kintsch & Kintsch, 2005). The process of decoding or bottom-up procedure becomes

automatized, leading to more accessible memory space to accomplish its job (Perfetti,

1985). Inference skills increase with age. Studies show that learners who are in higher

grades can use their reasoning ability more competently and, therefore, infer better than

their younger peers (Ribeiro et al., 2016).

Some skills such as word decoding (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Perfetti & Hart,

2001; Shankweiler, 1989), spelling (Shankweiler et al., 1999), and phonological

awareness (de Jong & van der Leij, 2002) are believed to predict reading ability. Such

skills, known as lower-level skills, are to be learned at the early stages of reading

acquisition (Freebody & Anderson, 1983; Landi, 2010). Other skills such as inference

making and comprehension monitoring, known as higher-level skills, require readers to

become relatively competent in lower level skills so as to have enough space in their

working memory in order to achieve high levels of comprehension and recognize

coherence in the text and meaningful ties between different parts of the text (Perfetti,

1985; Landi, 2010).

Broek (1997) believed that there are three types of inferences. First, the cohesive

inference in which the reader uses linguistic knowledge in order to comprehend the text.

Second, knowledge-based inference in which the reader tries to use background

knowledge to make text cohesive and to create a mental model of the text. Third,

evaluative inference by which the reader uses background knowledge to connect different

events in the text in order to understand characters, emotions, motivations, feelings, and

goals. Beer (2003) also suggested ten types of inference including comprehending


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




pronouns’ antecedents, meaning of unfamiliar words from clues in the text or lexical

inference, grammatical functions of unknown words, intonation of the writer in a text,

characters' beliefs, personalities, goals and motivation, relationship between characters

and events in a text, details about events and settings of a text, writer's point of view

about the world, relationship between what the reader reads and what the reader has

known about the world, and finally come to some conclusion from details and clues that

the reader has read in a text. Other researchers believe that there are two kinds of

inference: bridging and elaborative. Bridging inference is an online gap-filling event that

occurs during reading when conceptual gaps occur. This pushes the reader to use bridging

inference in order to avoid misunderstanding and incomplete comprehension (Fincher-

Kiefer, 1995; Gould, 2008; Graesser & Bertus, 1998). Elaborative (forward) inference is

off-line in the text that is related to a deeper understanding of a text. This kind of

inference is not essential to coherence or cohesiveness; however, previous experience

helps the reader extract extra meaning from text. For example, in the text "Sara stirred her

coffee." the reader understands that Sara must have used something like a spoon to stir

her coffee (Gould, 2008; Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994).

Bowyer-Crane and Snowling (2005) proposed three kinds of inference to

comprehend a text accurately including cohesive inference in which readers use linguistic

knowledge to understand a text, knowledge-based in which readers use background

knowledge to interpret a text, and evaluative inference in which readers use prior

knowledge in order to connect events in a text to understand characters’ feelings,

motivations, and purposes (Van den Broek, 1997). Kispal (2008) divided inference skills

into six types. First, coherence inference, which is known as text-connecting or inter-

sentence inference. This kind of inference provides a textual connection. For example,

Sara is a student; she goes to school every day. The reader understands that the pronoun

“she” refers to Sara. Second, elaborative inference, which is known as gap-filling

inference. In this kind of inference, the reader uses his/her general knowledge and life

experience to understand the meaning of a sentence. For example: "John shot a ball and

the vast dropped. His mother brought towels to clean the floor". Third, local inference

thereby a reader understands coherence, role assignment, and antecedent causal in the

text. For instance: "Jack ran, leaving his bicycle unchained in the street". The whole

sentence has coherence; street is assigned to a location role. The reader guesses Jack was

probably in a hurry. It is antecedent causal. Fourth, global inference is related to the

whole text using which the reader infers the main idea, theme of text, and, morality in it

according to all local coherence in a text. Fifth is online inference, the inference that is

drawn during reading automatically. Finally, offline inferences that is strategically drawn

after reading.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Lexical and global inference can encompass almost all types of inference skills

(Singer, Graesser & Trabasso, 1994). Lexical inference refers to the ability of dealing

with unknown items within a text at the word level. Relying on this skill, learners use

immediate co-text and linguistic cues to make informed guesses about unfamiliar lexical

items (Riazi & Babaei, 2008; Ahour & Ranjbar, 2016; Savic, 2018). Global inference

represents the ability of synthesizing distant information within a text, discovering causal

relationships, semantic connections, and thematic cues to monitor coherence of the text

components to gain full and deep comprehension at the text level (Singer et al., 1994;

Shea & Ceprano, 2017).

Studies on inference skills suggest that inference making is more successful in the

first language than it is in the second or the additional language, hence it is interesting to

examine the role of inference skills in second language setting (Van Zealand, 2014). The

present study aims to investigate the relationship between inference skills (lexical and

global) and reading comprehension in English (L2) and also the impact of such skills on

reading comprehension in English language learners.

3. Method

3.1 Participants

This study initially recruited 180 Persian native speakers from a female high

school in the north of Tehran. The participants were learning English as a foreign

language for a while. The participants were relatively from similar socio-economical

backgrounds and resided in the same neighborhood. They were also relatively similar in

their English reading ability assessed by the Oxford Online Placement Test (OPT) (Allan,

2004). Those who scored between nine and 13 (n=120) were selected, indicating that the

participants were at intermediate levels of reading proficiency in English. The

participants were all girls aged between 15 (n=64) and 16 (n=56) years of age. Table 1

displays the descriptive statistics of the 120 selected participants for the purpose of this

study.

Table 1

The Results of the Oxford Placement Test of the Selected Participants

N Min Max Mean SD

Oxford Placement Test

(reading module) 120 9.00 13 11.38 1.16

Note. SD = Standard Deviation


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




The participants were briefed that their results were to use for research purposes

anonymously and could withdraw whenever they wanted with no penalty. All tests were

taken in group sessions in their school. At the beginning of each test, the participants

were given a clear instruction. No one could use a dictionary during the test. Before

starting the data collection, all instruments were assessed in terms of reliability. While

some of the tests were standardized norm-referenced tests, all measures of the study were

piloted among 30 participants.

3.2 Procedure

First, the Oxford Online Placement Test (the reading module) was given to the

participants, then those who were at intermediate levels of reading comprehension ability

in English were selected (n=120) and divided randomly in two control and two

experimental groups with thirty students in each group. Then the vocabulary test (Nation

& Beglar, 2007) was given to all groups to control the participants’ vocabulary

knowledge and further ensure there was no difference among the groups. The reading

comprehension multiple-choice text was then given to the participants to assess their

referential and inferential skills, followed by the reading comprehension cloze test and

the passage comprehension measure of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement

(WJ III ACH) (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001).

After the pre-test, the control groups proceeded with the daily teachings according

to the curriculum, while the experimental groups were also taught inferential skills

implicitly and explicitly. Intervention sessions included eight sessions (each session took

about 30 minutes) over one month. During these sessions, participants were primarily

given situations and were asked to guess about the items and events. For example, by

simply presenting a sentence, “there are a lot of dirty dishes in the kitchen”, the

participants in the experimental group were supposed to guess about dish types and

relevant events to such a scene. Having made their guesses, they were then explicitly

taught how to find contextual clues and think about relevant ideas and how to link them

to discover the whole story. Presented situations grew longer and more complicated

throughout the intervention sessions to enable the participants to independently find out

about facts, characters and their feelings, and possible consequences that were not

explicitly mentioned in the text.

After the intervention sessions, the participants in both groups took the two

reading comprehension measures as the posttests to measure their potential improvement

in reading comprehension skills.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




3.3 Instrumentation

In the current study, several English instruments were used including a reading

proficiency test of the Oxford Online Placement Test (OPT) (Allan, 2004), the

vocabulary test (Nation & Beglar, 2007), and three reading comprehension tests

including the reading comprehension cloze test, the reading comprehension multiple-

choice test, and the English passage comprehension test (WJ III ACH) (Woodcock,

McGrew & Mather, 2001). The English reading proficiency test of OPT (Allan, 2004)

was used to examine the participants’ reading comprehension ability. The test included a

passage followed by 20 multiple-choice questions. Since vocabulary is known to have an

important role in text comprehension, the participants’ vocabulary knowledge in the

current study was controlled utilizing the vocabulary test developed by Nation and Beglar

(2007) modified for the purpose of this research. The test included nineteen sentences;

each sentence had a word in the bracket with one answer and three distractors.

Three parallel reading comprehension tests were also utilized, including the

reading comprehension cloze test, the reading comprehension multiple-choice test, and

the passage comprehension measure (WJ III ACH) (Woodcock, McGrew & Mather,

2001). The reading comprehension multiple-choice test included five short passages

assessed inferential (lexical and global) and referential skills by including both referential

and inferential questions. The passage comprehension test (WJ III ACH), which is an

American norm-referenced standardized test, was utilized to assess the participants’

reading comprehension ability. The test included 19 items from which 15 items included

pictures with each sentence requiring the testee to utter an appropriate word to complete

them. The rest of the items were sentences and short paragraphs with no picture clues.

Additionally, the reading comprehension cloze test included six short passages with some

blank spaces in order to assess students' reading comprehension ability.

4. Results

4.1 Reliability of the Instruments

Since reliability is sample dependent, all instruments were piloted on 30

participants having similar characteristics to the main participants of the study, and

Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated to assure appropriateness of the instruments for the

current research context. Table 2 illustrates the results of Cronbach’s Alpha for the

instruments utilized in this study. Since the Cronbach’s Alpha indices are all above .70, it

can be interpreted that all measures of the study met a satisfactory level of reliability

(Brown, 2007).


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Table 2

Cronbach’s Alpha Indices for the Instruments of the Study

Instrument Cronbach’s Alpha Number of Items

Oxford reading proficiency 0.71 20

Vocabulary 0.73 19

Reading comprehension cloze 0.82 24

Reading comprehension

multiple choice 0.73 22

English passage

comprehension (WJ III ACH) 0.79 19

4.2 Analysis

To examine the relationship between lexical and global inferencing and reading

comprehension, the reading comprehension scores of the 120 participants were correlated

once with the lexical inferencing and once with the global inferencing scores. As

mentioned earlier, reading comprehension in the present study was measured through a

reading comprehension cloze test and an English passage comprehension test with a total

of 43 test items. Global and lexical inferencing skills were assessed by giving the learners

a 22 item multiple-choice test. In this test, 12 items measured inferential (lexical

inferencing skills), and 10 items assessed referential (global inferencing skills). Table 3

demonstrates the descriptive statistics of the reading comprehension and lexical as well as

global inferencing scores of the 120 participants of the study.

Table 3

The Descriptive Statistics of the Reading Comprehension, Lexical and Global Inference

Skills of the Participants

Number

Total

score Min Max Mean SD

Reading Total 120 43 8 35 21.35 6.95

Lexical Inferencing 120 12 1 9 5.32 2.29

Global Inferencing 120 10 2 9 5.69 1.99

Note. SD = Standard Deviation

In order to identify whether parametric or non-parametric tests should be used to

analyze the data, the one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test of normality was run. Table

4 demonstrates the results of the One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test of normality for


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




the reading total scores as well as the lexical and global inferencing scores of the

participants (see Table 4).

Table 4

The Results of One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test of Normality for Reading

Comprehension, Lexical and Global Inference Skills of the Participants

N Most Extreme Difference Test Statistics Kolmogorov-

Smirnov Z

Asymp. Sig.

(2-tailed) Absolute Positive Negative

Reading

Total

120 .10 .10 -.10 6.95 1.16 .13

Lexical

inference

120 .11 .11 -.11 2.29 1.30 .06

Global

inference

120 .14 .14 -.14 1.99 1.57 .01

As Table 4 presented, one of the variables showed a significant value lower than

0.05, indicating that the normality assumption was not met. Thus, the Spearman

correlation coefficient was calculated to investigate the relationship between the reading

scores and the lexical and global inferencing scores. Correlations among all the measures

were found significant (see Table 5).

Table 5

The Results of the Spearman Correlation Coefficient between Reading Comprehension

and the Lexical/Global Inference Skills of the Participants

Global inference Reading total

Lexical inference .956** .418**

Global inference .444**

The results showed that lexical and global inference skills were significantly

correlated with others, and both types of inference skills (lexical and global) were

interrelated with reading comprehension ability (p<.01).

The present study also aimed to investigate the impact of inference skills on

reading comprehension ability. To this end, the control and experimental groups were

examined to ensure that there was no significant difference between them in terms of

reading comprehension ability before the treatment. Table 6 displays the descriptive


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




statistics and the results of the independent sample t-test of the results of the pretest

performed by the control and experimental groups.

Table 6

Descriptive Statistics and the Results of the Independent Sample t-test of the Reading

Pretest and posttest of the Control and Experimental Group

Control group Experimental group

N Mean SD N Mean SD Mean

difference t

Sig.

(2-tailed)

Reading

(pretest) 60 20.86 7.15 60 21.83 6.78 -3.48, 1.55 -.75 .44

Reading

(posttest) 60 21.53 7 60 27.41 5.46 -8.15, -3.61 -5.12 .00

Table 6 demonstrates the descriptive statistics of the pre- and posttest results of

the participants along with the results of the independent sample t-test to examine any

significant difference between the groups before and after the intervention programme.

The results of the pretest showed that the control and experimental groups (M=20.86 and

M=21.83, respectively) were relatively similar. The results of the independent samples t-

test between the reading pretest scores of the control and experimental groups showed the

significant value higher than the confidence level of 0.05 (p=.44). Thus, it can be

concluded that the participants’ reading comprehension scores in the two groups were not

significantly different prior to the administration of the treatment.

After the intervention programme, which focused on teaching inference skills and

strategies explicitly besides the conventional teachings that all participants were exposed

to, the posttest results of the reading comprehension measures were compared. As

illustrated in Table 6, the mean score for the control and experimental groups on reading

posttest were slightly increased; however, the results of the t-test revealed that the two

groups became significantly different (p=.00). Thus, it can be concluded that the

participants’ reading comprehension posttest scores in the two groups were significantly

different after the administration of the treatment with the experimental group performing

better. Additionally, the results revealed that teaching inference skills had a significant

and positive impact on the reading comprehension performance of EFL learners.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




5. Discussion

This study examined the relationship between inference (lexical and global) and

English (L2) reading comprehension and also the effects of inference skills on reading

comprehension ability of EFL learners. The overall results of the correlation and the

independent sample t-test revealed a significant relationship between lexical and global

inference skills and the reading comprehension in English as L2. Additionally, findings

revealed that inference skills positively influence reading comprehension ability among

EFL learners.

Reading comprehension requires both lower level and higher-level language

skills. Lower level skills including vocabulary and grammar help the reader to construct

the literal meaning of the text (Kintsch & Kintsch, 2005; Landi, 2010). However,

previous studies have shown that the higher-level skills such as inference are also

important in reading comprehension (Cane, Oakhill & Lemmon, 2004; Graesser &

Bertus, 1998).

The findings of the current study also indicated that inference skills are important

in reading comprehension and can contribute to the ability of EFL learners to understand

the text more effortlessly (Nuttall, 2000); Ribeiro et al., 2016; Van Zealand, 2014). Given

that professional readers make inference while reading by reaping benefit from their

background knowledge (Yuill & Oakhill, 1991), it can be further argued that inference

skills from the ability of monitoring the immediate and distant information within a text

may facilitate filling information gaps and help the reader go beyond words which in turn

may accelerate text comprehension. Hence inference skills help readers create a

comprehensive mental model (Bowyer-Crane & Snowling, 2005). Inference skills help

readers understand the underlying meaning instead of the literal meaning, which should

enhance comprehension of the written text.

This study also revealed that above decoding and linguistic comprehension that

are suggested by the SVR, inference as a higher-level skill of linguistic comprehension is

important in reading comprehension, and it can contribute to and improve reading

comprehension ability among English language learners. Lexical inference refers to

connecting linguistic and contextual cues in the text and using them to indirectly find out

the meaning of unknown words by using the surrounding context (Nassaji, 2007). Hence

to learn how to infer unfamiliar and implicit facts from the text, readers need to be fluent

in basic reading skills such as decoding, vocabulary, and morphosyntax to be able to find

clues in the text (i.e., words that convey the crucial meanings) (Calvo, 2005; Ahour &

Ranjbar, 2016).


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Additionally, comprehension of the overall meaning of the text is needed to

enable the reader to utilize lexical inference. This study revealed that EFL learners who

are more competent in inferring the meaning of unknown words from the context and

immediate co-text are better readers and comprehend the deeper meaning of the text

compared to those with lower lexical inference skills. In addition to the ability of making

informed guesses about the immediate unknown words and facts within a text, being able

to retrieve the underlying meaning of the whole text and bearing all key information in

mind plays an important role in comprehending a passage. Having a holistic view of the

text and connecting all distant information together can be defined under global inference

skills (Graesser et al., 1994; Perfetti & Stafura, 2014).

This study also supports the association between global inference and reading

comprehension. A skill that goes beyond lower levels of comprehension such as

vocabulary and syntactic knowledge and enables readers to get away from the literal

meaning of the text and monitor crucial factors within the text, and move toward deeper

comprehension (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014; Singer et al., 1994).

Although decoding (word recognition) and vocabulary knowledge are undeniable

aspects of reading comprehension as proposed by the simple view of reading, full grasp

of underlying idea and making a connection between the components of the text to make

informed guesses is also required to enhance reading comprehension, the process that is

referred to as higher-level skills of comprehension. Since comprehending referential

questions seems easier than those of inferential questions, instructions, and methods

focusing on inference techniques need to be utilized in teaching reading skills to enable

readers to make inference habitual. According to the findings of the current study,

explicit instructions on making informed guesses along with teaching and practicing

strategies to recognize and remember determining factors of the text can improve

inference making and consequently reading comprehension skills.

Consequently, there was a strong and positive relationship between inference

skills and reading comprehension in English among EFL learners. The results of this

study also showed that teaching inference skills significantly affect reading

comprehension ability. Explicit instructions and teaching methods to read efficiently may

also help learners increase their comprehension ability.

References

Allan, D. (2004). Oxford placement test 2: Test pack. Oxford: Oxford university press.

Ahour, T., & Ranjbar, R. (2016). Iranian EFL learners' lexical inferencing strategies at

both text and sentence levels. Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies, 8(2),


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




1-26. DOI: 10.22111/IJALS.2016.3078.

Beers, K. (2003). When kids can’t read: What teachers can do. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann.

Beglar, D., & Nation, P. (2007). A vocabulary size test. The Language Teacher, 31(7), 9-

13.

Bowyer-Crane, C., & Snowling, J. (2005). Assessing children’s inference generation:

What do tests of reading comprehension measure? British Journal of Educational

Psychology, 75(2), 189-201.

Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching. New York: Pearson

Education.

Calvo, M. G. (2005). Relative contribution of vocabulary knowledge and working

memory span to elaborative inference in reading. Learning and Individual

Differences, 15(1), 53-65. DOI: 10.1348/000709904X22674.

Cane, K., Oahkhill, J., & Lemmon, K. (2004). Individual difference in inference of word

meaning from context: The influence of reading comprehension, vocabulary

knowledge and memory capacity. Journal of Education Psychology, 96(4), 671-

681. DOI: 10.1037/0022-0663.96.4.671.

Catts, H. W., Hogan, T. P., & Adlof, S. M. (2005). Developmental changes in reading

and reading disabilities. In H. W. Catts & A. G. Kamhi (Eds.), The Connections

Between Language and Reading Disabilities (pp. 25-40). Mahwah, New Jersey:

Erlbaum.

Chall, J. (1983). Stages of reading development. New York: McGraw-Hill.

de Jong, P. F., & van der Leij, A. (2002). Effects of phonological abilities and linguistic

comprehension on the development of reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 6(1),

51–77. DOI: 10.1207/S1532799XSSR0601_03.

Fincher-Kiefer, R. (1995). Relative inhibition following the encoding of bridging and

predictive inferences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and

Cognition, 21(4), 981–995. DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.981.

Freebody, P., & Anderson, R. C. (1983). Effects on text comprehension of differing

proportions and location of difficult vocabulary. Journal of Reading Behavior,

15(1), 19–39. DOI: 10.1080/10862968309547487.

Gough, P., & Tunmer, W. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial

and Special Education, 7(1), 6–10. DOI: 10.1177/074193258600700104.

Gould, J. K. (2008). The processing of predictive and bridging inferences, with reference

to age- and task-related differences (doctoral dissertation). Boston University,

Massachusetts, United States.

Goodman, K. & Goodman, Y. (1983). Reading and writing relationships: Pragmatic

functions. Language Arts, 60(5), 590-599.

Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL

https://dx.doi.org/10.22111/ijals.2016.3078

https://doi.org/10.1348/000709904X22674

https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-0663.96.4.671

https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532799XSSR0601_03

https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.981

https://doi.org/10.1080%2F10862968309547487

https://doi.org/10.1177%2F074193258600700104


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Quarterly. 25 (3) 375-406. DOI: 10.2307/3586977.

Graesser, A. C., & Bertus, E. L. (1998). The construction of causal inferences while

reading expository texts on science and technology. Scientific Studies of Reading,

2(3), 247–269. DOI: 10.1207/s1532799xssr0203_4.

Graesser, A. C., Singer, M., & Trabasso, T. (1994). Constructing inferences during

narrative text comprehension. Psychological Review, 101(3), 371-395. DOI:

10.1037/0033-295X.101.3.371.

Hall, C. S. (2016). Inference instruction for struggling readers: A synthesis of

intervention research. Educational Ssychology Review, 28(1), 1-22. DOI:

10.1007/s10648-014-9295-x.

Kintsch, W., & Kintsch, E. (2005). Comprehension. In S. G. Paris & S. A. Stahl (Eds.),

Current Issues in Reading Comprehension and Assessment (pp. 71-92). Mahwah,

NJ: Erlbaum.

Kispal, A. (2008). Effective teaching of inference skills for reading. Literature review.

research report DCSF-RR031. National Foundation for Educational Research. The

Mere, Upton Park, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 2DQ, UK.

Søndergaard Knudsen, H. B., Jensen de López, K., & Archibald, L. M. (2018). The

contribution of cognitive flexibility to children's reading comprehension–the case

for Danish. Journal of Research in Reading, 41, S130-S148.

DOI: 10.1111/1467-9817.12251.

Landi, N. (2010). An examination of the relationship between reading comprehension,

higher-level and lower-level reading sub-skills in adults. Reading and Writing: An

Interdisciplinary Journal, 23(6), 701-717. DOI: 10.1007/s11145-009-9180-z.

Logan, S., & Johnston, R. (2009). Gender differences in reading ability and attitudes:

Examining where these differences lie. Journal of Research In Reading, 32(2), 199-

214. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2008.01389.x.

Lorch Jr., R. F., & van den Broek, P. (1997). Understanding reading comprehension:

Current and future contributions of cognitive science. Contemporary Educational

Psychology, 22(2), 213-246.

Nassaji, H. (2007). Schema theory and knowledge-based processes in second language

reading comprehension: A need for alternative perspectives. Language Learning,

57(1), 79-113. DOI: 10.1111/0023-8333.00189.

Nuttall, C. (2000). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Hong Kong: Macmillan

Heinemann English Language Teaching.

Perfetti, C. A. (1985). Reading ability. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Perfetti, C., & Hart, L. (2001). The lexical basis of comprehension skill. In D. Gorein

(Ed.), On the Consequences of Meaning Selection: Perspectives on Resolving

Lexical Ambiguity (pp. 67–86). Washington, DC: American Psychological

Association.

https://doi.org/10.2307/3586977

https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0203_4

https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0033-295X.101.3.371

https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12251

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-009-9180-z

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2008.01389.x

https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00189


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Perfetti, C., & Stafura, J. (2014). Word knowledge in a theory of reading comprehension.

Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 22-37. DOI:10.1080/10888438.2013.827687.

Riazi, A., & Babaei, N. (2008). Iranian EFL female students' lexical inferencing and its

relationship to their L2 proficiency and reading skill. The Reading Matrix, 8(1),

186-195.

Ribeiro, I., Cadime, I., Freitas, T., & Viana, F. L. (2016). Beyond word recognition,

fluency, and vocabulary: The influence of reasoning on reading comprehension.

Australian Journal of Psychology, 68, 107-115. DOI: 10.1111/ajpy.12095.

Savic, V. (2018, November). Reading in English: Inference skills of young language

learners. Retrieved on December 29, 2019 from

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/329156345.

Shankweiler, D. (1989). How problems of comprehension are related to difficulties in

decoding. In D. Shankweiler & I. Y. Liberman (Eds.), International Academy for

Research in Learning Disabilities Monograph Series, No. 6. Phonology and

Reading Disability: Solving the Reading Puzzle (pp. 35-68). Michigan: The

University of Michigan Press.

Shankweiler, D., Lundquist, E., Katz, L., Stuebing, K. K., Fletcher, J. M., Brady, S., &

Shaywitz, B. A. (1999). Comprehension and decoding: Patterns of association in

children with reading difficulties. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3(1), 69–94. DOI:

10.1207/s1532799xssr0301_4.

Silagi, M. L., Romero, V. U., Mansur, L. L., & Radanovic, M. (2014). Inference

comprehension during reading: Influence of age and education in normal adults.

CoDAS, 26(5) 2371-1782. DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20142013058.

Singer, M., Graesser, A. C., & Trabasso, T. (1994). Minimal or global inference during

reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 33(4), 421-441. DOI:

10.1006/jmla.1994.1020.

Shea, M., & Ceprano, M. (2017). Reading with understanding: A global expectation.

Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education, 9(1), 48-68.

Spiro, R. J. (1980). Prior knowledge and story processing: Integration, selection, and

variation. Poetics, 9(3), 313-327. DOI: 10.1016/0304-422X(80)90025-X.

Tunmer, W., & Chapman, J. (2012). The simple view of reading redux: Vocabulary

knowledge and the independent components hypothesis. Journal of Learning

Disability, 45(5), 453-466. DOI: 10.1177/0022219411432685.

Van Zealand, H. (2014). Lexical inferencing in first and second language listening. The

Modern Language Journal, 98(4), 1006-1021. DOI: 10.1111/modl.12152.

Woodcock, R. W., McGrew, K. S., & Mather, N. (2001). Woodcock-Johnson® III Test.

Itasca, IL: Riverside Publishing Company.

Yuill, N., & Oakhill, J. (1991). Children’s problems in text comprehension: An

experimental investigation. New York: Cambridge University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2013.827687

https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12095

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/329156345

https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0301_4

https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1994.1020

https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-422X(80)90025-X

https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022219411432685

https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12152


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Media Discourse as Representative of Socio-Cultural Milieu of Law and

Order in Pakistan: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Newspapers’ Headlines

about Model Town Tragedy, Lahore

Dr. Syed Kazim Shah1 & Asma Mubarak2

1Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Linguistics, Government College University

Faisalabad, Pakistan 2MPhil, Department of Applied Linguistics, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan

Correspondence email: [email protected]

Abstract

The present study aims to explore how the underlying ideological perspectives of newspaper groups are

depicted in reporting the same incident with the help of different linguistic choices. The study also focuses

upon the use of brutal and deadly police violence against protestors and in result the deteriorating conditions

of law and order in Pakistan pertaining to the Model Town incident, Lahore. The study takes into account

the newspaper coverage of the incident and tries to shed light upon how CDA can help in creating awareness

among common reading audiences to understand the hidden ideological agendas of the dominant groups

and thus bring social reforms in society. The analysis is structured by utilizing the “three-dimensional

model”, proposed by Fairclough, limiting the study to textual and socio-cultural practices only. The findings

show a sharp contrast in the ideological stance of both newspaper headlines, totally depicting what the media

groups want to portray and how they develop certain mindsets of masses in general. Secondly, deadly police

violence is not something unusual in Pakistani context while dealing with protesters, and in this case, it is

evident that nobody has been brought to justice till date, and the case is still in the court of law.

Keywords: newspaper headlines, CDA, Fairclough, ideological perspective, deadly police violence

1. Introduction

Today, the mass media has power which is discursive and symbolic in nature, and

it is the most unmistakable source of imparting information to the general public. One may

contend that the readers have the flexibility to decipher and, consequently, address, distrust

or reject what is being said by the media. Van Dijk (1995, p. 22), however, notices that

individuals often do not have the basic knowledge to unearth and reveal implicit procedures

and strategies in discourse or to distinguish the lies that are being accounted for as reality.

Also, he presents the absence of alternative sources in the media to check the conventional

sources, which are generally the elite class institutions (Van Dijk, 2002, p. 154). Van Dijk

(2006, p. 4) accentuates the way that columnists, for the most part, are not critically

educated themselves.

As indicated by Van Dijk (1993a, p. 243; 2000, p. 38; 2002, p. 151-152),

individuals have a tendency to believe everything the media says in regard to different

incidents and events as they see the media as a sound and reliable source, giving the

primary facts and actual meanings of a happening. Consequently, it is anything but difficult


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




to control their mind-set, particularly in towns and urban areas where individuals frequently

allude to the media when they express or protect their (negative) sentiment on certain

situations.

This study confines its concentration and focus to media discourse. Particularly, the

focus in this study on mass media will essentially be on the reportage of police violence on

the workers of a party in Lahore. The present study is occupied with discovering contrasts

between daily newspapers, The News and Dawn, in their giving an account of the same

event keeping in view the different ideological perceptions of the newspaper editors and

their subsequent political affiliations. This phenomenon will be explored to find out the

underlying ideologies of the newspaper outlets. The study is limited to the investigation of

textual and socio-cultural practices only.

The 2014 Lahore clash between police and protesters, is usually known as the

Model Town Tragedy or the Lahore Massacre. It was, basically, a savage conflict that

followed between the Punjab Police and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) activists on June

17th, 2014, bringing about the sad demises of 14 protesters at the hands of the police

gunfire.

1.1 Research Questions

1) To what extent ideologies are constructed and spread through print media text?

i) How do two local English newspapers exhibit a similar news item distinctively

regarding their own ideological points of view?

ii) How do the prevailing components of the considered news discourses on the

police violence against the workers of a party identify with the socio-cultural

practices of the Pakistani society and particularly to the government's stance in

the matters of law and order?

2) To what extent can CDA bring social reforms in the prevalent circumstances of

Pakistan’s social, political, and print media ideologies?


CDA is an approach that is keen on breaking down “social phenomenon” which are

essentially intricate and subsequently require a multi-methodical approach (Wodak &

Meyer, 2009). Van Dijk (2003) attested that CDA is a recommendation that concentrates

on how power abuse, strength, and imbalance are presented in the “discursivity” of the

social and political setting. Moreover, Jorgensen and Phillips (2002) saw CDA as a multi-

disciplinary way to deal with the connection amongst 'discourse and social and cultural

advancements' in multi- or cross-cultural areas. In connection to this approach, Fairclough

(1995) contended that the point of CDA is to “systematically explore the opaque

relationship of causality and determine between a) discursive practices, events, and texts,

https://pjls.gcuf.edu.pk/


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




and b) wider social and cultural structures, relations and processes” (p. 132). Another

defender of CDA, Janks (1997) saw CDA as a type of social practice whereby critical

hypotheses are connected to break down the misty relationship. With reference to the

thought above, CDA practices the critical speculations which review language in

connection with power and efforts to overpower, which consequently uncovers the

personalities of oppressors. Van Dijk (2003) expressed that CDA concentrates on how a

social group's mental representation is being influenced upon by social structures. The

subject of a discussion may influence how individuals highlight the essential information

in a content or talk.

CDA is portrayed as an “inter-disciplinary multi-methodical approach” as opposed

to a disengaged discipline all alone. Van Dijk (2009) stated that CDA is a mix of “critical

theory and application as opposed to a “critical analysis” which accordingly prompts the

term (critical discourse studies). Media discourse can be broadly comprehended as any path

in which the media- including news outlets, distributors, and others- frame certain issues

and produces discussions among the general population (Sabeha, 2016). In some sense, all

media advances some kind of discourse just as an element of its basic nature.

To comprehend media discourse as a different method of communication, two

essential kinds exist: composed or written communication and spoken communication.

Discourse alludes to the way in which people and groups impart information and

knowledge. At a more profound level, it might symbolize the frameworks of

contemplations and convictions that decide how people comprehend and decipher the

world. Media discourse would incorporate the different outlets that people in the media

utilize, for example, daily papers and magazines, TV, radio, and the Internet. Media

discourse is comprehended as the convictions that guide media-related fields, than

standards like objectivity or ideological predisposition may depict it.

Media is just like a transport line for discourse. Discourses are spread by

organizations and divide the world in particular ways. The prevailing discourses are

comprehended by the existing arrangement of law, education and the media, and are thus

fortified and imitated, and less intense discourses underestimated, misjudged and

overlooked.

News identified with different areas as political, social, and financial matters

through a distinct arrangement of explanations and words, make, by and large, multilayer

discourse in a similar society adding up to various class of individuals (readers) yet it ought

to be unmistakably noted here that speech and writing are seen from the perspective of the

convictions, qualities, and classifications which it typifies. These convictions constitute a

method for perceiving the world, an association, or representation of experience and

philosophy in the nonpartisan non-pejorative sense. Distinctive methods of discourse

encode diverse representations of experience.



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




The present study is related to the newspaper reportage of two print media outlets

about the police violence against workers of a party in Model Town, Lahore, applying

approaches of CDA. There are few past studies on police news stories dealing with

different situations around the world. Mahfouz (2013) conducted research to recognize

some stories which were related to police in two Egyptian daily papers before January 25

Revolution, one newspaper was a government-controlled and served as official information

outlet, "Al-Gomhuria", and the other was free and independent "Al-Dostour". They had

been picked up in view of their political status. The study was done by means of a Critical

Discourse Analysis (CDA) point of view to investigate the extension and nature of the two

daily papers' philosophies, i.e., for or against the previous administration and how the

journalists' intercession is utilized as a part of encircling the news stories to make readers

comprehend them in the planned way by the creator of the content. This mediation showed

itself vivaciously in the way recommendations were developed, consolidated, and

sequenced and at some linguistic levels, for example, lexis, sentence structure, semantics,

and pragmatics.

Paul (2010) investigated newspaper scope of police-oriented manslaughters which

reflects and advances public and official resilience for police viciousness. Interpretive

substance investigation was performed on 105 news articles showing up in 23 noteworthy

daily papers somewhere around 1997 and 2000 that focused on occurrences of lethal force

used by police. Utilizing Thompson's (1990) conceptual framework, examples of

ideological substance were distinguished and investigated. Most articles, unpretentiously

drawing upon notorious pictures of police experts and vigilantes, cast victims of all those

police killings as ‘physical and social threats’ and centred police activities within the

legitimate domain. Articles showing up after police executed “Amadou Diallo” are more

averse to decry both cops and victims, reflecting endeavours to outline lethal force and

police bias and racism as systemic issues.

3. Methodology

For the present study, the qualitative research paradigm has been utilized to explore

the representation of the same news item in two contemporary Pakistani daily newspapers.

The paradigm is relevant to the study in the sense because the study aims to uncover

principle linguistic components that describe how the image of the Model Town incident

has been represented in the Pakistani press with the help of the theory of Critical Discourse

Analysis (CDA).

The data for this study comprises of news headlines that were printed in two daily

newspapers, i.e., The News and Dawn in two-month time frame from 18 June 2014 (when

clash between Punjab police and workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek resulted in casualties

of 14 workers in Model Town, Lahore) until 18 August 2014 (for follow up news for the

same incident). The information has been obtained and retrieved from the official websites



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




of the two daily newspapers. The online corpora have been retrieved from the web archives

of both newspapers. With a specific aim to distinguish the news headlines to be inspected

in this study all the items have been skimmed keeping in mind the aim to distinguish news

headlines that bear explicit or implicit references to the fateful incident and come under the

very categories of textual analysis proposed by our selected three-dimensional model.

The present study has taken its inspiration from Fairclough's (1989, 1995, 2001)

model. In his book ‘Language and Power’, Fairclough gives a model to CDA, which is still

relevant and in use today. Fairclough built up a CDA model of ten inquiries and sub-

questions for textual analysis, separated into three sub-bunches: vocabulary, grammatical

aspects, and the textual structures of the given text.

Table 1

Formal features and its three types of value

Dimensions of meaning Values of features Structural effects Contents Experiential Knowledge/beliefs Relations Relational Social relations Subjects Expressive Social identities

As cited by Biebuyck (2014), the initial four inquiries of Fairclough’s model are

identified with the vocabulary usage in the discourse; the following four inquiries are

related to grammar use; the last two inquiries deal with the textual structures in discourse:

The ten questions are divided into three main groups:

A. Vocabulary

1-What experiential values do words have?

Are there words that are ideologically contested?

Is there rewording or over-wording?

What ideologically significant meaning relations are there between words?

2-What relational values do words have?

Are there euphemistic expressions?

Are there markedly formal or informal words?

3-What expressive values do words have?

4-What metaphors are used?

B. Grammar

5-What experiential values do grammatical features have?

What types of processes and participants predominate?

Is the agency unclear?

Are nominalizations used?

Are sentences active or passive?

Are sentences positive or negative?



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




6-What relational values do grammatical features have?

What modes are used?

Are there important features of relational modality?

Are the pronouns we and you used, and if so, how?

7-What expressive values do grammatical features have?

Are there important features of expressive modality?

8-How are (simple) sentences linked together?

What logical connectors are used?

Are complex sentences characterized by coordination or/ subordination?

What means are used for referring inside and outside the text?

C. Textual structures

9. What interactional conventions are used?

Are there ways in which one participant controls the turns of others?

10. What larger scale structures does the text have?

Note, however, that not every one of these inquiries are significant for the present

study. As question 9 is related to only dialogue form, no further reference will be made to

this feature.

4. Data Analysis and Discussion

The textual analysis is based upon ten questions and sub-questions formulated by

Fairclough for such type of analysis along with detail of each question.

Question 1: Experiential qualities of used words

i) Ideologically contested words

ii) Re-wording or over-wording

iii) Meaning relations (synonyms, hyponyms, antonyms)

If we examine the news items from both newspapers in the light of above mentioned

sub-questions in Question 1, we come to know that both newspapers have utilized words

in their reporting of the Model Town incident that are ideologically contested.

For example, The News reported the incident as “clash” between police and

workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in their headline as “Eight killed in police-PAT

clash” (June 18th, 2014) whereas Dawn termed it as “raid” of police on the party’s head

quarter in Lahore which resulted in deaths of people as “Raid on Qadri headquarter” (June

18th , 2014). Both the words give a different ideological contestable impression.

Secondly, both newspapers have used to some extent synonymous words, i.e., “to

quit” (Model Town Tragedy: Imran asks Shahbaz Sharif to quit: The News, June 6th, 2014),



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




“to step down” (Imran asks Shahbaz to step down: The News, June 22nd, 2014), and “to

resign” (Raid on Qadri’s headquarters: PTI asks Shahbaz to resign: Dawn, June 6th, 2014)

for Shahbaz Sharif.

There is also found a kind of re-wording and over-wording in both newspapers’

headlines. The News termed this as “Lahore tragedy” (Political leaders condemn Lahore

Tragedy: The News, June 6th, 2014), “Lahore incident” (Prime Minister perturbed over

Lahore incident: The News, June 18th, 2014) “Model Town tragedy” (Model Town

Tragedy toll nine: The News, June 19th, 2014).

But the stance of Dawn pertaining to this kind of structure is quite different as it

termed it “Lahore model Town Killings”, (Qadri’s multi-party conference blames PML-N

for Lahore Model Town Killings: Dawn, June 30th, 2014), and “raid on Qadri’s HQ” (Raid

on Qadri headquarter: PTI asks Shahbaz to resign: Dawn, June 18th, 2014) two times in

their headlines.

Question 2: Relational qualities of used words

This question is based upon two features as:

i) Euphemistic expressions

ii) Use of formal/informal words

So far as the use of euphemistic expressions is concerned, both newspapers have

made use of them, and, at some places, the newspapers have utilised the direct and

straightforward expressions instead of the euphemistic ones. Dawn has utilized a

euphemistic expression as “resign” (Raid on Qadri Headquarter: PTI asks Shabaz to resign:

June 18th, 2014) as opposed to “quit” and to “step down” published in The News (Model

Town Tragedy: Imran asks Shahbaz Sharif to quit: June18th, 2014).

Secondly, The News has reported the removal of Punjab Law minister at the hands

of the Chief Minister in a polite way as “The Chief Minister shows Rana Sana Ullah the

door” (June 20th, 2014) whereas Dawn has reported it directly and to some extent in a blunt

way as “Shahbaz removes Rana Sana Ullah (June 20th, 2014). Both newspapers have

reported the misappropriation of charity funds by Qadri in a euphemistic way with Dawn

being politer as “Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) gets scent of Qadri’s graft (June 26th,

2014), as compared to “FIA claims misuse of charity funds by Qadri” (August 5th, 2014)

used by The News.

The News used formal expressions as “perturbed” (Prime Minister perturbed over

Lahore incident: June 18th,2014), “security at stake”( No one to be allowed to put country’s

security at stake, Nawaz : June 19th,2014), and “pre-empted” ( Model Town incident could

have been pre-empted if GEO had not been off-air as it would report the truth: June 19th,

2014), etc. whereas Dawn has used formal expression as “out of the loop” (Shahbaz Sharif



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




protests he was “out of the loop”: June 20th, 2014)), scent the graft ( FIA gets scent of

Qadri’s graft: July 26th, 2014) etc. So far as the informal words are concerned, only one is

found in the given news headlines. The informal word is “Katcheri” instead of “court of

law”, printed in The News (Public, lawyers beat Gullu Butt at Model Town Katcheri: June

20th, 2014).

Question 3: Expressive qualities of used words

As per requirement of Question 3, words with expressive qualities can be arranged

in two principal ways- those which have positive connotations and those which are

negative. Both newspapers have used words with expressive qualities, but Dawn has used

words with negative connotation overall.

The News:

Positive connotation:

1- Punjab Chief Minister orders judicial inquiry. (June 18th, 2014)

2- Political leaders condemn Lahore Tragedy. (June 18th, 2014)

Negative connotation:

1- Eight killed in police-PAT clash. (June 18th, 2014)

2- Imran asks Shahbaz Sharif to quit. (June 18th, 2014)

Dawn:

Negative connotation:

1- Raid on Qadri’s headquarter. (June 18th,2014)

2- PTI asks Shahbaz to resign. (June 18th,2014)

3- Shahbaz protests, he was “out of the loop”. (June 20th,2014)

Question 4: Metaphoric expression

In question four, Fairclough examines the significance of metaphors, which may

contain an understood reference to a specific belief system, and, thus, may impact the

recipients’ opinions and point of view. He observes that an utterance can be communicated

in various types of metaphors, each referring to an alternate ideological position, e.g.

referring to a social issue as a malady (1989, pp. 119-120).

In the given data from both newspapers, only Dawn seems to have utilized

metaphoric expressions to some extent. For example:

1) Shahbaz protests he was “out of the loop.” (June 20th, 2014, Dawn)

2) FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) gets ‘scent’ of Qadri’s ‘graft’. (July 26th,

2014, Dawn)



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




3) PTI and PAT- “poles apart” yet similar at heart. (August 17th, 2014, Dawn)

Question 5: Expressive qualities of grammatical features

i) Process and Participant pre-domination

ii) Ambiguous agency

iii) Nominalization

iv) Active or Passive sentences

v) Positive and Negative sentences

Relying upon the word order and, henceforth, the procedure of a sentence, the

participant can be depicted in a positive or negative way, e.g. by ‘stressing or minimizing’

his agency, that is, his obligation all the while. This is closely identified with the second

sub-question, which is related to the agency in a sentence.

Dawn has made mention of this type of participant and pre-domination in its news

headlines where agency is unclear, but the underlying thought is conveyed thoroughly as:

1) Large scale police deployment ahead of Dr. Tahirul Qadri’s arrival. (June 23rd,

2014)

2) Ban likely on Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). (August 13th, 2014)

The ambiguity of agency is mostly found in the news headlines of The News. The

News quoted the Prime Minister as saying, “No one to be allowed to put country’s security

at stake” (June 19th, 2014) and “No one can stop revolution” by Qadri (July 23rd, 2014).

Here agency is not clear at all as to whom these statements are referred to in the current

context by both leaders.

Nominalization is said to be particularly well suited to the expression of power

through the mystification of time and participants (Batstone, 1995, p. 206.) We do not find

many instances of nominalization in the given data by both newspapers as most of the time,

no clear-cut distinction is being made in the process of nominalization. A few instances of

nominalization from the given data of both newspapers are provided below.

The News:

1) Opposition walks out of Punjab Assembly against Model Town incident. (June

18th, 2014)

2) Lahore tragedy distracts people’s attention from Zarb-e Azab. (June 19th, 2014)

Dawn:

1) Qadri terms Shahbaz murderer of PAT workers. (August 08th, 2014)

2) Anti- Terrorist Court (ATC) sends 6 PAT workers on physical remand, 121 on

judicial remand. (August 12th, 2014)



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




In the above-mentioned headlines, the first headline reflects the same sentiment of

Chief Minister being the mastermind of this tragedy as it is mentioned in the headline of

The News. But the difference between the two is that The News termed it in an indirect

way as only the person who issued orders and also not mentioning the name of the Chief

Minister. On the other hand, Dawn has mentioned the name of Qadri in the initial position

of the sentence clearly making it a direct stance of Qadri. Regarding the active and passive

sentences, most of the news headlines are in the active voice in both newspapers. The

examples are as under:

The News:

1) Punjab Chief Minister orders judicial inquiry. (June 18th, 2014)

2) Qadri terms police action state terrorism. (June 18th, 2014)

3) Political leaders condemn Lahore tragedy. (June 18th, 2014)

Dawn:

1) Shahbaz removes Rana Sana Ullah, Official. (June 21st, 2014)

2) Prime Minister wants to engage Qadri through Governer. (June 25th, 2014)

3) Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) hands over to Federal Investigation

Agency (FIA) everything it has on Qadri. (June 28th, 2014)

From the point of the grammatical structure of sentences, some headlines in both

newspapers have used the negative structure, whereas some negative connotations have

been delivered with the help of linguistic choices (as mentioned in question 3).

The News:

1) No one to be allowed to put country’s security at stake: Nawaz (June 19th,2014)

2) Politicians, not bureaucrats handled the Qadri mess. (June 25th, 2014)

On the other hand, Dawn has made mention of only one sentence in the whole

given data with negative structure i.e.

Dawn:

1) Prime Minister made no mention of Model Town Tragedy in his address: Qadri.

(August 12th,2014)

Question 6: Relational values of grammatical components

i) Mode of sentences

ii) Components of relational modality

iii) Utilization of pronouns “we” and “you”



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Question six of Fairclough's CDA model is especially related with the mode of a

sentence. He recognizes declarative sentences, imperatives and grammatical questions. The

same phenomenon is for modality, communicated by auxiliary verbs, adverbs or tenses, as

this is related with the power and authority of the author or speaker. Fairclough recognizes

relational modality from expressive modality. The previous is a matter of the power of one

member in connection to others, while the latter is a matter of the speaker or writer's power

concerning reality or likelihood of a representation of reality (1989, p.126). All the news

headlines in the given data are in the declarative mode most of the time in both newspapers.

The examples of the questioning mode of headlines utilized by The News are as under:

1) Why does Qadri want to land in capital? Asks Nisar (June 23rd, 2014)

2) Why is Qadri being singled out? (June 27th, 2014)

So far as relational modality is concerned in the given data, The News has utilized

this feature in reporting the wishful thought proposed by GEO media group (banned by

Pemra during those days) as “Model town incident could have been pre-empted if GEO

had not been off-air as it would report the truth.” (June 19th, 2014). This suggests if GEO

considers itself inevitable and epitome of truth since it proposes that due to its coverage,

Model Town tragedy could have been avoided.

No pronouns as “we” and “you” are used in the given data by both newspapers.

Question 7: Expressive qualities of grammatical features

i) Important features of expressive modality

Fairclough (1989) observes that expressive and relational modality are often

interlinked and related, and I feel it is practically difficult to separate them neatly. I have

effectively recognized claims of authority and knowledge under question six. The verbs in

most of the above-mentioned cases are in non-modal tenses giving the impression

(legitimized or not) of power and information. These perceived truths should be addressed

by the readers as they are certain opinions camouflaged as truth and reality appearing in an

irrefutably positive way when it may not really be so.

Question 8: Linkage of simple sentences

i) Logical connectors

ii) Coordination and subordination for complex sentences

The logical connectors and elements of cohesion and coherence are established in

the given data of both newspapers with the help of punctuation marks most of the time.

The coordination and subordination of complex sentences is accomplished by the use of

“if” at one place in The News.



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Logical connectors in The News:

1) PTI stands by PAT over Lahore incident: Imran (June 20th, 2014)

2) Qadri’s aircraft diversion was wrong: Najam Sethi (June 28th, 2014)

As mentioned already, question nine is for dialogue form and not required for our

study.

Question 10: Larger scale structure of text

In Question 10, the content structure of discourse and more particularly with the

larger scale structures is elaborated. Fairclough (1989, p. 137-138) states that news gives

an account of an occurrence; it, by and large, has a similar structure, in the light of

newsworthiness. The instant influence and a sign of what happened and what caused it are

said in the main passage, followed by what move was made to deal with the occurrence

and particularity of what happened. The rest of the sections give subtler information on the

prompt impacts and ends up with the long-term outcomes. In any case, the author can

intentionally change the order, and henceforth no longer write “top-down”, to underline

certain realities and de-emphasize the other ones with a specific goal to give the reader a

chance to decipher the news report in a different way.

Keeping in view the above-mentioned data from both newspapers indicate that

both papers elaborate the details of incident according to their own ideological positions

and political affiliations.

Moving towards the second research question, the capability of CDA in bringing

social reforms in prevalent circumstances of Pakistan’s social, political, and print media

ideologies become evident. This study is based upon the theories and one of the models of

Critical Discourse Analysis. The tenets of CDA pertaining to newspapers ‘headlines and

their hidden ideologies are explored from textual and socio-cultural aspects. The

subsequent results of the analyzed data have revealed how the newspapers develop a

peculiar mindset of the masses by presenting the news items emphasizing their own

ideological positions and political affinity. The results have also provided us with an idea

that this opinion making on the part of the newspapers is conscious and unconscious on the

part of the masses. People may ingest these opinions as their own even without realizing

and propagate them to be true (even if they are not true).

5. Conclusion

The current study consolidated the assumption that Critical Discourse Analysis has

the capacity to observe, discover, and make explicit the underlying ideologies of

newspapers headlines that are otherwise implicit for the general public. In the case under

study, it is observed that this is another incident of police brutality against the protestors,

and sadly, in the Pakistani context, deadly police violence is not so uncommon. Most of



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




the time, deadly violence is legitimized by the powerful people in authority. Such practices,

in return, play havoc with the functioning of the state institutions.

So far as the future implications of this study are concerned, the present study will

help the future researchers and analysts of CDA in Pakistani context to understand the need

of understanding tenets and scope of CDA in order to discover its underlying potential for

bringing reforms in society by creating awareness among masses. As CDA is directly

related to society and its issues, the knowledge of CDA can help people understand the

ideological stances of various discourses before establishing an opinion on a “fed” point of

view by powerful and dominant groups.

References

Batstone, R. (1995). Grammar in discourse: Attitude and deniability. In G. Cook & B.

Seidlhofer (Eds.), Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics (pp. 197-213).

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Biebuyck, I. (2014). Crime news reports in Belgian and British nuality newspapers: A

critical discourse analysis of racial bias (master thesis). Ghent University, Ghent,

Belgium.

Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. London and New York: Longman.

Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language.

London: Longman.

Fairclough, N. (2001). Language and power. Pearson Education.

Hirschfield, P. J., & Simon, D. (2010). Legitimating police violence: Newspaper

narratives of deadly force. Theoretical Criminology, 14(2), 155-182.

DOI: 10.1177/1362480609351545.

Janks, H. (1997). Critical discourse analysis as a research tool. Discourse: Studies in the

Cultural Politics of Education, 18(3), 329-342. DOI:

10.1080/0159630970180302.

Jorgensen, M. W., & Phillips, L. J. (2002). Discourse analysis as theory and method.

London: Sage Publications.

Mahfouz, A. R. (2013). A critical discourse analysis of the police news story framing in

two Egyptian newspapers before January 25 revolution. European Scientific

Journal, 9(8), 309-332.

Qadri, M., & Mufti, S. (2016). Films and religion: An analysis of Aamir Khan’s

PK. Journal of Religion & Film, 20(1), 1-29.

Thompson, J. B. (1984). Studies in the theory of ideology. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Thompson, J. B. (1990). Ideology and modern culture. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Elite discourse and racism. Newbury Park, CA: Sage

Publications.

Van Dijk, T. A. (1995). Discourse analysis as ideology analysis. In C. Schäffner, & A.


https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1362480609351545

https://doi.org/10.1080/0159630970180302


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Wenden (Eds.), Language and Pace (pp. 17-33). Aldershot: Dartmouth

Publishing.

Van Dijk, T. A. (2003). Critical discourse analysis. In D. Tannen, D. Schiffrin & H.

Hamilton (Eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis (352-372). Oxford:

Blackwell.

Van Dijk, T. A. (2006). Discourse and manipulation. Discourse & Society, 17(3), 359-

383. DOI: 0.1177/0957926506060250.

Van Dijk, T. A. (2009). Critical discourse studies: A socio-cognitive approach. In R.

Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (pp. 62-86).

London: Sage.

Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2009). Critical discourseanalysis: History, agenda, theory and

methodology. In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of Critical Discourse

Analysis (pp. 62-86). London: Sage.


https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0957926506060250


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Elements of the Translator’s Cultural Bias in Urdu Translation of

The Alchemist

Aisha Aslam1 & Dr. .Sikandar Ali2

1 & 2Department of English Language and Literature, University of Lahore, Lahore Correspondence emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

The study aims at investigating various elements of the translator’s cultural bias in the Urdu translation of

The Alchemist (in English). As culture, language, and translation are interlinked, the translator is

inevitably influenced by his own culture while translating a text. This bias may exhibit itself in different

forms in the target text. The study explores these various elements of cultural bias shown by the translator.

It employs Al-Masri’s (2017) conceptual framework of emic-etic approach originally given by Pike (1954).

Data are analysed qualitatively and various examples of the cultural bias of the translator are analysed by

the researchers. It is concluded that the translator has chosen to either not translate the items at all or has

altered the meanings of the source text items when translating them. His choice of preferring one strategy

over the other does not seem to be following a set pattern except that he did that based on his cultural bias.

Keywords: cultural translation, translation studies, English-Urdu translation, translator’s bias, emic-etic

1. Introduction

The study investigates the elements of the translator’s cultural bias in the Urdu

translation of The Alchemist. Although the twentieth century was called the ‘age of

translation’ by Jumplet ( as cited in Newmark, 1981, p. 3), we stand in the post-twentieth

century world still unable to define translation, and, as Das (2005) suggests, it is ‘not an

easy task’. As translation is a difficult process, the role of the translator becomes equally

demanding. The ability to understand any language depends on the culture it comes from

(Morgan & Cain, 2000). Das (2005, p. 7) also says that ‘the translator has to make a

balance between maintaining close fidelity to the original and utter freedom from it’. This

balance is never easy to achieve for any translator. The study attempts to analyse those

elements that are rooted in the cultural bias of the translator and these elements become

apparent in the target text as it is translated. The study may prove to be a useful reference

guide for both aspiring and experienced translators in the Urdu-English translation

context.

Although research has been done exploring the relationship between culture,

language, and translation and the way culture influences the translator, there seems to be

a lack of specific analysis of actual text that has already been translated by translators in

the Urdu-English context. In other words, there is a need of both qualitative and

quantitative research of the target text (TT) in Urdu from the source text (ST) in the

English language. This study investigates one area in this domain and looks into the

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




elements of cultural bias of the translator as he translates from the ST (in English) into

the TT (in Urdu).

The study aims at investigating various elements of translator’s cultural bias while

translating the source text (The Alchemist) into the target text (Keemyagari). The

objectives of the study are to:

1. highlight the translator’s bias due to his cultural background, and

2. identify the various ways he employs to convey the source text meanings while

trying his best to not compromise on his cultural norms.

In line with the objectives of the study, the following questions are considered:

1) In how many ways does the translator showcase his cultural bias while translating

the items (words, phrases, or sentences) he deems inappropriate in his particular

context?

2) How successful is the translator in preserving his cultural norms by not

transmitting the source text culture as much as possible?


Culture encompasses all the various aspects of human activities, both physical and

spiritual. The anthropologist Malinowski suggested that culture is not only a way for

people to get their physical needs but also to fulfill the needs of their souls such as

creating art or coming up with a system of belief (Sulaiman, 2012).

Culture may be defined as a set of beliefs, which governs the behavioural patterns

of a society. These beliefs include religion, economy, politics, literature, and language.

Thus, language is an integral part of the culture. Translation, in turn, involves two

cultures, the culture of the source language (source culture) and the culture of the target

language (target culture) (Aziz & Muftah, 2000, p. 85).

Some societies are more rooted in religion than others. Generally, Eastern

societies are more impacted by the religious beliefs than the western societies (Sulaiman,

2012). A translator, who belongs to such a culture which is more conscious of religion, is

more inclined to cultural bias rooted in his religious beliefs.

A translator is not only a creator, but also a comparatist (Das, 2005). Hence, a

translator may take liberty and alter the ST and substitute ideas that may not be

equivalent into the TT. A translator’s choice of this alteration depends on the culture he

belongs to. The study looks at the various ways the translator may show these choices

based on his cultural bias.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




3. Methodology

The study is qualitative in nature. The data analysed are the words, phrases, or

sentences found in the translated text of The Alchemist (the source text) in its Urdu

translation Keemyagari (the target text). This Urdu translation was published by Centre

for Human Excellence, Lahore, in 2009. A point worth mentioning is that The Alchemist

is itself an English translation of the original O Alquimista by Paulo Coelho written in

Portuguese. The English version is translated by Alan R. Clark and published by Clays

Ltd. in Great Britain. The English version analysed in the study is the 2002 edition

published by HarperCollins Publishers, London. The following parameters are used to

guide the data collection. Words, phrases, or sentences are collected for analysis if the

translator chose to do one of the following:

i) delete the item ( word, phrase, sentence) from the source text altogether i.e. he

did not translate the item at all as if it was non-existent in the source text, or

ii) substitute the item from the source text with a completely different item in the

target text.

3.1 Conceptual Framework

The basic concept adapted for the study comes from Al-Masri’s (2017) adaptation

of Pike’s (1954) emic-etic approach to cultural translation. The basic terms are elaborated

as follows.

3.2 Pike’s Emic and Etic

Pike (1967) originally coined the terms ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ from the ideas

‘phonemic’ and ‘phonetic’, respectively. Morris et al. (1999) have elaborated this

distinction of Pike’s emic and epic as related to the (1)‘inside perspective of

ethnographers who strive to describe a particular culture in its own terms, and (2) the

outside perspective of comparativists researchers who attempt to describe differences

across cultures in terms of a general, external standard’ (p. 781). Ever since then, the

distinction has been adapted in numerous researches (see Watson-Gegeo, 1988; Olive,

2014; Sabbagh, & Golden, 2007; Morris et al., 1999; Monteagut, 2017; AL-Masri, 2017).

3.3 Adaptation of Al-Masri’s Framework of Emic-Etic Approach

Al-Masri (2017) adapted this distinction and put forth her proposed implications

of Pike’s (1954) emic-etic approach to cultural translation. The last of the three

implications she proposes suggests that while bringing the two cultures closer to each

other, the researcher ( translator in this case) who belongs to the ‘outside’ culture (in this

case Urdu native speaker translator, translating into English), ‘carries along with him

inevitable bias (imposed by her/his own emics)’ (Al-Masri, 2017, pp. 12-13). This


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




cultural bias is reflected by the choices the translator makes while translating the text

from an outside culture into his own, of which he has an inside perspective.

4. Data Analysis and Discussion

The data are analysed qualitatively. Various elements of cultural bias shown in

the TT are analysed by comparative analysis of both the ST and the TT. Any instances of

‘deletion’ or ‘substitution’ in the TT are analysed based on the cultural background of the

translator. These instances in the form of words, phrases, or sentences are shown, both

written in the TT, and the ST in a tabular form with an additional column of ‘back

translation’ (Newmark, 1991, p. 7). Tables are preferred as they provide a better visual

representation of comparative data. The additional step of ‘back translation’ is employed

in the study to further elaborate the textual differences created by the elements of the

cultural bias. The first column shows the source text by the English translator of The

Alchemist. Similarly, the second column shows the target text in Urdu in Keemyagari.

The final column shows the back translation of the target text done by the researchers.

The tabular illustration of data precedes the analysis of the example text.

Table 1

Concepts Based on Religious Beliefs (i)

Source Text (English) Target Text (Urdu) Back Translation

1. He drank from the wine that

remained from his

dinner…(Clarke: 7)

ےکےل اس نے جھنجھالہٹ دور کرنے پان

پیا۔۔ (AlGhazali: 27)

To get rid of the irritation, he

drank water

2. …fill his wine bottle,…

(Clarke: 11)

بوتل ےسبھرے گا تازہ پان

(AlGhazali: 30)

fill the bottle with fresh

water..

3. ..and he found a bench in the

plaza where he could sample the

new wine he had bought. The

day was hot and the wine was

refreshing ( Clarke: 16)

تک شدت تیھ ۔اس نے دھوپ میں ابیھ اپنے بوتل نکایل اور

پینے لگا. پان

(AlGhazali: 34)

The sun was still too intense.

He took out his bottle and

started drinking water.

4. He said he was tired and

thirsty, and asked if he might

have a sip of the boy’s wine.

( Clarke: 17)

"کیا میں آپ یک بوتل ےس تھوڑا سا ےل پان

سکتا ہوں۔" بوڑےھ نے کہا۔ (AlGhazali: 35)

“Can I have some water from

your bottle?”, asked the old

man.

5. He was sitting in a bar very

much like the other bards he had

seen along the narrow streets of

Tangier. (Clarke: 35)

ایک دورسے قہوہ خان تانجیں ےک تمام ےس نے حد مماثلت رکھنے تھے۔

(AlGhazali: 46)

All the cafes in Tangier

resembled each other a lot.

Table 1 illustrates five different examples from the ST and the TT. In the first four

examples, the word wine has been substituted by the translator for a more culturally

acceptable word water. As an insider of the Urdu speaking culture, the translator is well

aware of the cultural norms and beliefs or the ‘emic’ of his culture. As an ‘outsider’ of

English culture, when he realized that the word wine when translated into Urdu would be

اب'' رسر which is illegal in Pakistan where Urdu is spoken as a first language and this is

where his intended reader is actually coming from. He has most probably decided to alter


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




it and substituted it with a neutral, commonly occurring, one of the basic necessities of

human survival, water ( پانے) in Urdu. This has been repeatedly done by the translator on

multiple occasions (four times in the first part of the novel that is the focus of this study’s

analysis); hence, this is clearly not an unconscious slip on his behalf. Similarly, he has

not just deleted it, he has actually substituted a word from the ST with another in the TT,

so this seems to be a more deliberate, well-planned attempt at keeping the reader of his

translated text more at ease. For many Urdu readers, reading about drinking wine could

cause a feeling of discomfort, especially when it is associated with the hero of the novel

they are reading. A verse in the Holy Quran clearly bans all kinds of intoxicants; "O you

who believe, intoxicants, gambling, altars and arrows of chance are afflictions which are

the work of the devil; you shall stay away from him that you may succeed" (Holy Quran,

5:90). A similar explanation may be given for changing the word bar to a word in Urdu

which means ‘cafés’. Undoubtedly, cafes and bars are not the same in terms of ’قہوہ خانے ‘

their services and what one expects to get at each of these places. Bars would offer

alcoholic beverages and drinks while cafes normally serve tea, coffee, and similar non-

alcoholic drinks. Hence the translator has changed the word bar to a permissible word in

Urdu ‘ قہوہ خانے’.

Table 2

Concepts Based on Religious Beliefs (ii)


1. When someone sees the same

people every day, as

happened with him at the

seminary, they wind up

becoming a part of that

person’s life. (Clarke: 16)

اس ےک خیال میں جب آپ کیس ےک۔تو آپ اس شخص ساتھ زیادہ دیر تک رہیں

۔ ہیں کا حصہ بن جانے

ی یک زندیک

(AlGhazali: 34)

He believed that once you

spend a long time with

someone, you become a part

of that person’s life. (The

phrase in bold in the

source text is not

translated in Urdu.)

2. “That’s never happened to

me,” they boy said. “They

wanted me to be a priest,

but I decided to become a

shepherd.” (Clarke: 19)

ے ساتھ ایسا کبیھ نہیں ہوا" لڑےک نے "میں جواب دیا۔

(AlGhazali: 36)

“Nothing like that has ever

happened to me,” the boy

responded. (The phrase in

bold in the source text is

not translated in Urdu.)

3. Arabs often appeared in the

city, shopping and chanting

their strange prayers

several times a day. (Clarke: 19)

شہر میں اکیر عرب نظر آنے تھے۔ (AlGhazali: 36)

Arabs were often seen in the

city. (The phrase in bold in

the source text is not


4. The gods should not have

desires, because they don’t

have destinies. But the king

of Salem hoped desperately

that the boy would be

successful. (Clarke: 35)

سلم ےک بادشاہ یک شدید خواہش تیھ کہ وہور کامیاب ہو۔ چرواہا ضے

(AlGhazali: 45)

The king of Salem

desperately wanted that

Shepard to be successful.

(The sentence in bold in

the source text is not



Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




5. From where he sat, he could

observe the plaza. People

continued to come and go

from the baker’s shop. A

young couple sat on the

bench where he had talked

with the old man, andthey

kissed. (Clarke: 29)

Paragraph not translated at all.

NA

Table 2 presents six different examples where the translator has either not

translated the ST at all, or he has altered it with items (words or phrases) that he

considered more appropriate according to his ‘emic’ knowledge of the TT culture. All of

these examples of the translator’s choices seem to be influenced by his culture which is

rooted in his religion (See Sulaiman, 2012). In Example 6, the word seminary is not

translated into the TT, and to avoid translating it, the entire phrase in the ST containing

this word is not translated. Similarly, in example 7, a related word priest is not translated

as well and the same technique of not translating it is employed by the translator. In

example 8, ‘shopping and chanting their strange prayers several times a day’ is not

translated and it is clear that the idea of ‘ shopping is not translated too as it is a part of

the phrase that contains the description of Muslim Prayers that they offer five times a

day. This may be kept without translation, as for Muslims it is extremely inappropriate to

mock their religion or religious rituals, and their culture does not allow that either. As the

translator is the ‘insider’ of this culture and is also aware of the impact of religion on it,

he has most probably avoided translating this entire phrase. In example 9, ‘The gods’ is

not translated as the TT culture is mainly influenced by Islam, and to talk about more

than one god would be completely unacceptable for the followers of this monotheistic

religion. Hence the entire sentence is not translated into the TT. As for example 10 in the

ST, interestingly, the translator has not considered translating an entire paragraph

apparently because it mentioned a couple kissing in public. This paragraph was

completely omitted in the TT. Public display of affection, even for those who are

married, is considered extremely inappropriate in the target text culture so the translator

has not translated the entire paragraph.

Table 3

Concepts Based on Cultural/Social Norms (iii)


6. “…you’ll learn that our

countryside is the best,

and our women the most

beautiful.” (Clarke: 10)

احساس ہوگایک دن تمہیں ےا کہ تم جس عالقکو چھوڑکر جا رہے ہو وہ دنیا کا سب ےس

(AlGhazali: 29) خوبصورت عالقہ ہے ۔۔۔

One day you will realize

that the region that you are

leaving is the most beautiful

region on earth. (The


source text is not


7. and he had thought how

he would become rich,

and have beautiful

women at his side as he

grew older. (Clarke: 47)

اور وہ بہت جلد امیں ہونے کا خواب دیکھتا تھا۔ (AlGhazali: 53)

And used to dream of being

rich really fast. (The phrase

in bold in the source text is

not translated in Urdu.)


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




8. That wind had brought the

Moors, yes, but it had also

brought the smell of the

desert and of veiled

women (Clarke: 29)

ا ےک ساتھ کبیھ عرب اات آ ایس لیونیےان لوگوں ےک پسین تھے۔اور اس ےک یہ دوش پر

تیھی ۔ او خوابوں یک خوشبو بیھ آن

(AlGhazali: 42)

With this levanter (wind)

once came the Arabs. And

through it also came the

fragrance of these people’s

sweat and dreams. (The


source text is not


Example 11 shown in Table 3 represents an instance of deletion where the

translator has chosen to not translate an entire phrase of the ST into the TT. It seems he

did not translate ‘our women the most beautiful’ in Urdu because people in his culture

(which he shares with his intended reader) do not like to talk about women and their

physical beauty as openly as they do in the ST culture. The textual context of this

example is that in this part of the novel, the father of our protagonist is talking to him and

trying to tell him how beautiful his own village and their own women are compared to

those in any other part of the world. Considering the TT culture, it seems absurd,

especially in culturally conservative families that a father and son could be engaged in a

conversation about the beauty of women as freely as they have engaged in the ST.

Example 12 illustrates a similar cultural issue arising from the translator’s ‘emic’

knowledge of his culture which he shares with the target readers of his translated text.

The phrase, ‘have beautiful women at his side as he grew older’ is not translated into the

TT as the idea of being in a relationship with multiple women is considered extremely

inappropriate. As for Example 13, ‘smell of the desert and of veiled women’ is not

translated as it should have been. The reason seems to be that ‘veiled women’ are

considered to be more religious, and, generally, it is not appropriate to describe their

beauty or in this case ‘their smell’. Hence the entire phrase was altered this time instead

of completely avoiding the translation at all, ‘the fragrance of these people’s sweat and

dreams’ as shown in the back translation of his TT.

These ideas about not discussing women’s beauty or not engaging in illicit

relationships with women have also evolved from the religion of the majority of the

people in Pakistan who are the followers of Islam. Hence the translator has completely

removed these concepts from his TT and does not translate them at all.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Table 4

Concepts Based on Social Norms

Examples 14, 15, and 16, as shown in Table 4 seem to be purely based on the

social norms of the TT culture. In Example 14, the greeting ‘Good afternoon.’ is not

translated most probably because there is no cultural equivalence available in the TT.

People do not greet by saying ‘Good afternoon’ in Urdu. There are equivalents for ‘Good

morning’ صب بخیں and ‘Good night’ شب بخیں but not for ‘Good afternoon’. As for

example 15, people in the TT culture mainly eat a special type of bread called ‘roti’ or

‘chapati’, which has no loaf. Hence most probably the translator has not even considered

translating it and has substituted more generic phrase ‘so he could buy something to eat’

instead. Moreover, Example 16 is an example that illustrates a kind of a taboo idea which

people normally will not discuss openly with each other or in public, i.e., pregnancy.

Instead of translating ‘how to care for pregnant ewes’ the translator changed it to ‘He also

knew how to treat some minor ailments for sheep.’ So it is interesting how the translator

has chosen to translate ‘pregnancy’ into an ‘ailment’.

5. Conclusion

Data analysis has proved that the translator has avoided translating the culture of

the ST as much as possible, even at the cost of the sense of the actual meaning. It is also

concluded that in the majority of instances, whenever a term was used in the ST that was

religiously inappropriate, the translator tended to delete it from his TT. Sometimes, he

substituted a religiously unacceptable word with a completely different word from the

target language, even if it did not convey the sense at all. To summarize, it is clear from

the results of the data analysis that the translator has shown cultural bias in his TT based

on (a) his religious beliefs, or (b) his social norms. He has used two strategies to

showcase that bias:

1. Deletion of ST items ( word, phrase or sentence), or

2. Substituting the items with completely different items from the target text

language.


9. And I will tell you how to find

the hidden treasure. Good

afternoon. (Clarke: 26)

اور میں تمہیں خفیہ خزانے کا پتہ بتاؤں گا۔

(AlGhazali: 40)

And I will tell you the way to

the hidden treasure. (The

phrase in bold in the source

text is not translated in Urdu.)

10. He went over to the bakery

and bought a loaf of bread,

(Clarke: 26)

لگا تا وہ اٹھا اور بیکری یک طرف چلنے د سےک۔کہ کھان ےک لیے کچھ خری

(AlGhazali: 41)

He stood up and started walking

towards the bakery so he could

buy something to eat.

11. He knew how to shear sheep,

how to care for pregnant

ewes, (Clarke: 27)

ڑ یک یہ بیھ جان لیا تھا کہ بھیںاس نے

۔ ہیںوں یک اون کیےس اتارنے ڑ وہ بھیے

معمویل بیماریوں کا عالج بیھ جانتا (AlGhazali: 41) ۔تھا

He had learned how to shear a

sheep. He also knew how to

treat some minor ailments for

sheep.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




There seemed to be no consistency or pattern in the way he utilized these two

strategies. In other words, there appeared to be no relationship between his choice of one

strategy over the other based on his either purely religious beliefs or social norms.

Sometimes, he chose to delete an entire paragraph (see example 10) whereas on other

occasions he substituted a word from the target text language that did not mean the same

(inappropriate according to the translator’s culture) in the ST (see examples 1-5). Hence

it may be concluded that as an ‘insider’ of the target text culture, the translator takes the

liberty of altering the source text, of which he is an ‘outsider’. By doing this he avoids

translating the cultural aspects of the language he is translating.

References

Addulaimi, A. S. I. (2012). The impact of culture on translation. Journal of Al-Frahids

Arts, 13, 2-13.

Al-Masri, H. (2017). The influence of the translator’s linguistic/cultural background on

cultural equivalence. Linguistics Applied, 6, 11-24.

Aziz, Y., & Muftah, S. (2000). Principles of Translation. Benghazi, Libya: Dar Al-

kutub Al Wataniyya.

Das, B. K. (2005). A handbook of translation studies. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers &

Distributors.

Monteagut, L. E. (2017). Etic approach to qualitative research. In J. Matthes (Ed.), The

International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods (pp. 1-2). US:

John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0092.

Morgan, C., & Cain, A. (2000). Foreign language and culture learning from a dialogic

perspective. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto and Sydney: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Morris, M. W., Leung, K., Ames, D., & Lickel, B. (1999). Views from inside and

outside: Integrating emic and etic insights about culture and justice

judgment. Academy of management review, 24(4), 781-796.

DOI: 10.5465/amr.1999.2553253.

Newmark, P. (1988). Approaches to translation. New York: Prentice Hall.

Olive, J. L. (2014). Reflecting on the tensions between emic and etic perspectives in life

history research: Lessons learned. Forum: Qualitative Social Research. Retrieved

on December 27, 2019 from http://www.qualitativeresearch.net/

index.php/fqs/article/view/2072/3656.

Pike, K. L. (1956). Language in relation to a unified theory of the structure of

human behavior. The Hague: Mouton.

Sabbagh, C., & Golden, D. (2007). Reflecting upon etic and emic perspectives on

Distributive justice. Social Justice Research, 20(3), 372-387.

DOI: 10.1007/s11211-007-0042-z.

Watson‐Gegeo, K. A. (1988). Ethnography in ESL: Defining the essentials. TESOL

Quarterly, 22(4), 575-592. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3587257.

https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0092

https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1999.2553253

http://www.qualitativeresearch.net/

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-007-0042-z

https://doi.org/10.2307/3587257


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Code-Mixing: A Dilapidating Trend in the Punjab Textbook

Dr. Saba Sadia1 & Hassaan Bin Zubair2

1Lecturer, Department of English, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan 2PhD English (Scholar), Faculty of English, National University of Modern Languages,

Islamabad


Abstract

Code-mixing is one of the dimensions for the increased spread of the English language around the globe.

In Pakistan, it is now a common trend among masses not only in their spoken discourse but also in their

written genre. Education is one of the most influenced field of the English language. The present paper

investigates the occurrence of code-mixing in textbooks published by the Punjab Textbook Board (PTB). A

vigilant analysis of English vocabulary in General Science Book (Grade 9-10), published by The Punjab

Textbook Board (PTB) and approved by the Punjab Curriculum Authority according to National

Curriculum 2006 and National Textbook and Learning Materials Policy 2007, has been conducted. A

robust examination of the textbook shows that a good amount of code-mixed words have been used in

textbooks even when the Urdu language is capable enough to present its Urdu-version equivalents. The

current study has raised many questions, i.e., why Urdu words are so frequently replaced by English lexis

even though Urdu has equivalent words? Is code-mixing in textbooks making Urdu language more flexible,

or it is progressively declining individuality of Urdu language? The current study suggests that textbooks

are the most influential tool for learning and teaching in academic institutions. Textbooks developers

should aim to maintain the individuality of the Urdu language by avoiding unnecessary replacement of

English lexes.

Keywords: code-mixing, Urdu language, English language, textbooks

1. Introduction

Among all the sources of communication, language is the only means which is not

unique in nature but also complicated and flexible. Many languages have been coexisting

and influencing each other being part of the same community. The English language is

one of the languages which always has a powerful influence on other languages. Being

part of the different societies, many languages came under its leverage because of its fast

spread and Urdu language is one of them. Numerous English language terminologies are

part of Urdu language at present. This caused continuous switching and blending of code.

Switching, mixing, and borrowing codes of English in the national and provincial

languages is one of the scopes of the spread of English in Pakistan (Rasul, 2013).

Pakistan is the land where many languages are being spoken and people are

bi/multilingual. This is one of the major reasons for emerging code-switching/mixing. As

far as English is concerned, it has always enjoyed prestige in Pakistan. Due to its

powerful effect, people feel proud to use English lexis in their day to day communication.

It resulted in many words of the English language becoming part of the Urdu language.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




It is recognized by the term intra-sentential switching. Code-mixing is

characterized by the use of utterances or chunks of a language interleaved with another

language while the speaker is mainly using the former language. These particular

‘chunks' of the additional language are frequently lexical items, but they can be utilized

as phrases or larger units (Rasul, 2013). Kachru (1978) stated, fundamentally, there are

three stimuli for code-mixing, i.e., "role identification, register identification, and desire

for elucidation and interpretation." Maschler (1998) proclaimed code-mixing as

"employing two languages in a manner that a third, new code surfaces, in which

essentials of the two languages are merged into an organizationally definable

configuration." It is conceived that code-mixing happens when the user of language does

not have equal proficiency in both the languages, and in most cases, this is an

unintentional process.

1.1 Origin of Code-Mixing in Urdu Language

The origin of the Urdu language, according to Grierson, is Turkish, Arabic,

Persian, and Sanskrit (as cited in Mushtaq & Zahra, 2012). After the invasion of the

British Empire in the subcontinent, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan thought of educating people

through literature and he advocated the simplification of the Urdu language. According to

his point of view, the language gets more effective as it gets simpler. Not only he stressed

utilizing Urdu literature as teaching material for education and development of Muslims

that reside in the subcontinent but also paved the means for the English Language. In the

start, Muslim community of the subcontinent showed some resistance, but later not only

"Urdu Assan Tehreek" came into being but also remained successful in changing

traditional Urdu and Muslims' viewpoints towards the English language. This influence

was much deep-rooted that even after independence one could not get free from the

clutches of the English language. Consequently, English has become the official language

of Pakistan. History is the witness that the Urdu language has undergone many changes

from 1857 to 1947. It became more simple and flexible and the influence of the Persian

language decreased. Now in the current situation, English has penetrated in Urdu to the

degree that even a layman or illiterate is using English vocabulary in one's day-to-day

communication. Words like plate, glass, television, dressing table, sorry, thank you, etc.

are frequently used in routine communication without any awareness of code-mixing.

1.2 Role of Code-Mixing in Punjab Textbooks

The progressive development of language in the form of enrichment, expression,

and wordsmithing entails from linguists, intellectuals, and academic institutions. In

academic institutions, the academic curricula and textbooks at the early period of

schooling lay the foundation stone to conform to the language with contemporary

advances. As for as Pakistan is concerned, English is ruling in academia before and after


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




its inception on the globe and is playing its role as a primary channel of imparting

knowledge at all levels.

Textbooks are one of the biggest and reliable sources of information for students

of every age group. They assist in offering a selected global-view to scholars (Rahman,

2002). It is vital to provide a very good piece of expertise about the situation to whom

they are concerned. Textbooks, according to Chambliss and Calfee (1998), are collections

of new and exciting understanding of fantastic experiences. They function as a primary

means of imparting content knowledge and a fundamental device inside the system of

teaching and gaining knowledge of (Mahmood, 2011, 2009). They also authenticate

social and academic standards and transmit them to all the children in classrooms (Sabir,

2008). As far as language textbooks are involved, they exhibit linguistic norms of the

society that are to be conducted. Textbooks are not only the most effective supply of

records but additionally a radical tool of gaining knowledge (Mahmood, 2010).

Textbooks of a language have a large part of the legacy of that particular language and

used to preserve the purity of the language. The students learn a language in a classroom

situation with the help of recommended books that are founded on their previously

planned curricula.

1.3 Significance of the Current Research

Code-mixing is not a new phenomenon, and it takes place in almost all languages

around the globe. The current study aims to explore to what extent code-mixing of the

English language is used in Urdu medium textbooks and whether or not the Urdu

language has sufficient equivalents of the inserted English lexis. It also investigates the

use of continuous insertion of English words making Urdu language flexible or worse.


In the process of learning and teaching, textbooks have always enjoyed a central

position in Pakistan. Especially in schools, textbooks are considered as the hub of entire

knowledge on the subject content. The process of compilation, evaluation, and publishing

demands a great deal of constant attention and vigilant scrutiny. In Pakistan, as in every

country, there is a proper system of textbook evaluation (Mahmood, 2009). Mahmood

(2009) studied eight characteristics of textbooks and pointed out some flaws in the

quality of selected textbooks. He proposed to assign the duty of development and

evaluation of textbooks to experienced curriculum developers rather than teachers. The

researchers hold the same stance and strongly suggested taking notice of improving the

quality of textbooks. Rahman (2002) also presumed the ideological prejudice in Pakistani

textbooks and recommended immediate improvement.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Mushtaq and Zahra (2012) analyzed code-mixing in television advertisements.

The researchers aimed at analyzing the extent and impact of code-mixing in

advertisements shown on different channels in Pakistan. Data recording of 3 Pakistani

channels, which were Geo TV, ARY Digital Network, and Hum TV were used for

analysis. A questionnaire was established and circulated to identify the views and effects

of code-mixing on the spectators of TV advertisements. The study established on the

result that code-mixing is a common practice, and it is used as a tool to grab the attention

of the viewers.

Likewise, Asghar (2012) conducted a study, and he was of the view that

hybridization is the result of code-mixing. Hybridization is a common phenomenon in the

bi-multilingual community. Due to frequent mixing of languages, a new variety emerged

which shared features of both languages, but having its independent grammatical

features. Asghar (2012) supported his conclusion by giving some examples such as

"leaderan, machinain, classon, quomi assembly, hakomatimemberan". He also observed

that some speakers are in the habit of repeating English equivalents of Urdu words either

to show their knowledge and command on the English Language or to express their status

consciousness.

Furthermore, Talaat (2002), in her study titled "The Form and Functions of

English in Pakistan", collected data from English newspapers and magazines published in

Pakistan. The selected text was inspected by comparison of "standard British English"

and Urdu sentence construction. It was perceived that the structure of Urdu has

significantly influenced the English language giving rise to Pakistani English. She also

observed structural discrepancy in language and concluded that it was due to code-mixing

and literal translation.

Poplack (1978) added tag switching as an additional type, but, mainly, the term

code-switching contains the rest of the types. Most of the studies overlook code-

switching in written text beside its existence, even in the mentioned definition. His study

focused on code-switching in newsletter articles by native English speakers living in

Japan. Language textbooks-based research is, particularly, a neglected area of research.

Bing (2011) highlighted loan words in Chinese textbooks and of the view that the

majority of words are from the English language. The research emphases on the

quantification of borrowed incidences. Moreover, the researcher proposes the protection

of language from the effects of foreign language and culture. The idea supports the

researchers' claim that redundant code-switching needs to be controlled in the field of

education, particularly, in language textbooks.

Hall-Lew (2002) studied two utmost significant languages of the globe, Chinese

and English, Chinese with the perspective of English used in the Chinese language. The


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




researcher was of the view that the overuse of code-mixing had resulted in language

change.

In Pakistan, Khurshid et al. (2010) studied female representation in English and

Urdu textbooks. According to his study, females are portrayed as undervalued. He

recommended amendment in them. Though this study has no direct relation to the current

research, it highlights the weaknesses existing in Pakistani textbooks.

Anwar (2007) studied code-switching in Pakistani English newspapers and

informed switching of Urdu phrases and clauses, whereas, Qadir and Rasul (2009)

analyzed code-switching in Pakistani Urdu newspapers and reported recurrent switching

of English. They illustrated that it mainly stemmed from globalization and language

contact. These studies highlighted frequent code-switching in the written text through the

medium of print media in Pakistan. The studies of English borrowing in Urdu magazines

prompted this study, and it investigates the extent to which the English language has

penetrated Urdu textbooks. Textbooks are supposed to provide standard language and

serve a series of functions from providing an outline for a program to the maintenance of

quality in instruction and education. Byred (2001) states that teachers mostly depend on

textbooks because they believe that books have the required content. Hence, if textbooks

are intended to develop language competence, they are supposed to contain the best form

of language they are teaching.

The researcher holds the same opinion but from a different perspective

concerning textbooks-based study. The researcher has observed the unnecessary use of

English in Urdu textbooks although Urdu has substitutes for such words. The current

study is unique in the sense that it will be helpful for the writers, authors, and evaluators

of the textbooks to be careful about the use of the English words in Urdu script textbooks.

3. Methodology

The presented study has focused on the insertion of code-mixing in PTB. The

researcher had chosen Urdu language textbooks published by the Punjab Textbook Board

approved by The Punjab Curriculum Authority according to National Curriculum 2006

and National Textbook and Learning Materials Policy 2007. The researcher collected the

corpus from the General Science book of Matriculation level for Arts Group. It

investigated the frequency of occurrence of the code-mixed words.

The current study falls in qualitative and quantitative research. It not only counts

the occurrence of each instance but also explores why and how it occurs.

In the data analysis section, data were classified under two major categories:


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




a) At word level

b) At compound words and phrase level

It was examined whether the words/linguistic items that are code-mixed have an

Urdu equivalent or not. It is significant to mention here that many linguistic items/words

are used recurrently in the book. To avoid any confusion in the quantification of data,

every new item that occurred in the book is counted as one ‘instance' of code-mixing;

nevertheless, any element that occurred more than once, its occurrence was shown

against it in the table. The term ‘occurrence' is used to refer to the total times these items

are found. It indicates that if the word ‘pollution’ is found nine times in a magazine, it

will be considered as one ‘instance’ and nine ‘occurrences’ of the linguistic item

pollution.

4. Results and Discussion

The research data were analyzed and results are inferred therein. The total

instances of code-mixing of single lexical items in General Science Book are presented in

Table 1.

Table 1

Total Instances of Code-Mixed Words in ‘General Science Book’ of PTB

Code-Mixed Words Urdu Equivalent

Words Code-Mixed Words

Urdu Equivalent

Words

Energy 124 Tawanai Growth 17 Nash-o-Numa

Protein 70 Lehmiyat Negative 17 Manfi

Temperature 65 Darja e Hararat Difference 17 Faraq / Tafreeq

Reaction(s) 55 Rad-e-Amal Metal(s) 16 Dhatein

Elements 52 Anasir Positive 16 Musbat

Chemical 50 Chemiyai System 15 Nizam

Carbohydrates 40 Nishasta Respiration 14 Tanafus

Compounds 38 Murakbaat Digestive 14 Inhazam

Process 33 Amal Electric 14 Barqi

Material(s) 31 Mawaad Enzymes 13 khamra

Fats 30 Chiknai Growth 13 Nash-o-Numa

Tissues 30 Raishey Photosynthesis 12 Ziya-e – Ta’aleef

Density 25 Kasafat Starch 12 Nishasta

Oil(s) 24 Tail Crystal 11 Qalam

Cell(s) 23 Khliye Stimulus 11 Moharik

Biological 20 Hayatiati Atmosphere 11 Aab-o-HAwa

Veins 19 Nus / Rug Resistance 11 Muzahammat

Acids 18 Taizaab Oxidation 10 Amal-e-Takseed

Ion(s) 17 Barqi Para Infrared 10 ZirienSurkh

Response 9 Rad e Amal Calories 7 Hararey

Current 9 BarqiBaar Infection 7 Waba

Pollution 9 Aloodgi Random 7 BeyTarteeb


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Electrical 9 Barqi Solvent 6 Mohalil

Size 9 Jisamat Vertebrate 6 Fukra Dar

Lipids 8 Hayatiati Fix 6 Pukhta Karna

Lubricant 8 ChiknaiWala Recycling 6 Baz Gardani

Solubility 8 Hal Paziri Glands 6 Ghadood

Bodies 8 Ajsam Vessel(s) 6 Shiryan

Muscles 8 Uzla / Bafat Motion 6 Harkat

Salt(s) 8 Namkiat Range 6 QisamWaar

Effect 8 Asar Rare 5 GhairMamooli

Medicine 8 Dawa Lighting 5 Roshni

Transport 8 Naql o Hamal Organic 5 Na’miyati

Potential 8 Kabliat Drug(s) 5 Dawa

Supply 8 Mohiyakarna Injection 5 Teeka

Function 8 Fa’al Type(s) 5 Iqsaam

Charge 8 Qeemat Depression 5 Dabaoo

Paints 7 Rung Amaizi Transport 5 Naqal o Hamal

Code-Mixed Words Urdu Equivalent

Words Code-Mixed Words

Urdu Equivalent

Words

Combustion 7 AtishGiri Constant 5 Mustqil

Dispose 7 Nakas Catalyst 5 AmalAngaiz

Universal 4 Aalami Species 3 Nou / Anwaa

Vegetative 4 NamoPazeer Potential 3 Qabliyat

Malnutrition 4 GhazaiQilat Record 2 Mehfozaat

Counselling 4 Mushawarat Branches 2 Shakhein

Quality 4 Khasiat Agriculture 2 Zara’at

Solar 4 Shamsi Transgenic 2 Jean Yafta

Direct 4 Bilawasta Herbicide 2 Nabata Kush

Force 4 Taqat Packing 2 Bandhana

Instrument 4 Alaa Sucrose 2 Chini /Shaker

Diamond 3 Heera Rickets 2 Sookha

Inert 3 GhairFa’al Puberty 2 Balooghat

Donor 3 AtiyaDaineyWala Aging 2 Burhapa

Fungus 3 Funjai Unit 2 Akai

Lubricant 3 Chiknai Influenza 2 NazlaZukaam

Coordination 3 Tawun Sewage 2 Kechar

Stage 3 Marhala Carrier 2 BaarBardaar

Space 3 Jaga Endangered 2 PurKhatar

Products 3 Ashiya Store 2 Godaam

Reactor 3 Ta’amulAngaiz Orbit 2 Madaar

Electric 3 Barqi Fitness 2 Mozooniyat

Variable 3 Mutaghiar Leakage 2 Akhraj

Alternating 2 Mutabaadil Live 1 Lachakdaar

Position 2 Jaga / Halut Wire 1 Taar

Display 2 Numish Fungal 1 Funjai

Device 2 Alaa / Tadbeer Retort 1 HazirJawabi

Display 2 Muzahira Community 1 Baradari

Attend 1 Hazirhona Waste 1 Zaya Karna

Inertial 1 Jamoodi Saliva 1 Thook


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Reservoir 1 Zakheera Smog 1 Dhund

Assimilation 1 Istehaala Beach 1 Sahil

Grease 1 Chiknai Anti-bodies ZidJism

Table 1 above shows the occurrence of each instance in the book. According to

Hoffman (1991), ‘code switching most commonly occurs at the word level’. It is easier to

insert open-ended words into the grammar of the target language. In the presented data, a

large number of such occurrences have been found under this category.

Prasad (2008) accounted code-mixing as ‘linguistic cocktail’ which involves ‘a

few words of one language and a few from others, and again a few words from the former

and a few from the latter and so on, mix up’ and such ‘changes generally take place more

or less randomly’. In General Science Book, a total of one hundred and forty-five (145)

code-mixed words have been used. In the category of code-mixed words, the researcher

found those words for which Urdu equivalent was used almost a decade ago, including

the following words: photosynthesis, compounds, reactions, temperature, boiling point,

freezing point, energy, biological, chemical, tissues, bodies, agriculture, growth, nature,

system, elements, coordination, response, glands, puberty, salts, injection, stage,

depression, atmosphere, space, quality, force, alternating, resistance, solar, positive,

negative, motion, live, wire, function, and instruments. These are commonly used words

in PTB. Although their Urdu equivalents do exist, still they are preferred and used so

frequently that now they have become part of daily Urdu conversation. It is found that in

terms of code-mixing of the single lexical item, all the mixed items are nouns. The words

energy (tawanai), protein (lehmiyat) and temperature (darja-e-hararat) occurred with the

highest frequency of 124, 70, and 65, respectively.

Table 2

Total Instances of Code-Mixed Compounds and Phrases in ‘General Science Book’

English

Compounds and

Phrases

Urdu Equivalent

Compounds and Phrases

English Compounds

and Phrases

Urdu Equivalent

Compounds and

Phrases

Chemical

Reactions

Chemiyai Ta’amulaat Building Blocks Amaarti Blaak

Nuclear Energy Johari Tawanai Paper Bag Kaghaz ka lafafa

Building Material Amaarti Samaan Mineral Salts Samndari Nimkiyat

Freezing Point Nuqta-e-Injamaad Root Tubers Jarrka Warum

Boiling Point Nuqta-e-Hararut Balance Diet Mutwazan Ghaza

Fire Fighting Aag Bujhana Nerve Cells Asbi Khliye

Advertising Sign Ishtehari Alamut Sterilized Food Jarseem kush khorak

Non-reactive Ghair Fa’ali Global Warming Alamgir Hararut

Street Lighting Noor Andazi Kinetic Energy Harki Tawanai


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Nervous System Asbi Nizam Live Stock Maal Mowaishi

Endocrine system Daron-e-Afraazi System Earth Wire Zameeni Taar

Waste Material Fuzla

Code-mixed instances are those for which the target language has equivalents, but

for the purpose of convenience, code-mixed words from the other language are used. It is

observed that in Urdu medium textbooks, not only mixing of single words but also

compounds and phrases are found. In Table 2, the total number of such occurrences has

been mentioned. The total number of such instances are twenty-three (23). Compound

phrases are those in which the phrases are formed by two or more English words (e.g.

building material, freezing point, boiling point, balance diet).

5. Conclusion

The occurrence of code-mixing is an integral component of a bi/multilingual

society that allows bi/multilingual speakers to converse conveniently. Code-mixing is

limited to single words or idiomatic phrases." Code-mixing occurs when a bilingual

speaker fails to communicate intelligibly in one language. Sometimes, the code-mixing of

a word occurs because it is shorter and thus requires less linguistic effort. Books are the

future of any society, therefore, they reflect contemporary literary practices.

The analysis of the current study has shown that English language has become an

integral part of the Urdu language. The data for this research was taken from the General

Science book of PTB. Textbooks are considered to present the Standard Language of the

country. It is quite irrational to use scientific names and forms for different linguistic

items, especially when Urdu has its equivalent forms.

The findings show that a substantial number of code-mixed words were repeated

several times, i.e., 1 to 145 times in the text. The greatest frequency of words occurred in

the bracket of 8-145 at several locations in the lessons. This aspect signifies that a wide

number of words from the English language had been inserted into Urdu text as to make

the subject-matter more familiar to the students. Therefore, it is recommended that

minimum number of code-mixed words may be imported from English language into the

textbook of Urdu-medium of instruction. The code-mixed words may be borrowed in

case alternative words are not currently available in the Urdu language.

The researchers strongly advocate a careful analysis of Urdu textbooks. There is a

need to improve the quality, as well as the evaluation procedure because textbooks are

the heritage of language and culture of the people who own it. This heritage needs to be

protected by the frequent insertion of outlandish words because the lifespan of every

loanword, according to Mayers-Scotton (1995), begins as a code-switch. There is a need

to fill the gap in textbook research methodology as well as research as pointed out by


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Nicholls (2003). Some code-mixing from English is essential to replace the words for

which proper Urdu equivalencent do not exist such as community, charge, team, internet,

radio, computer and so forth (Asghar, 2004). Some others have their equivalents, but

bi/multilingual people avoid it due to their convenience.

The researcher supports the standpoint of Rahman (2002) who strongly

recommends the state to take immediate action to review textbooks. This is so because

textbooks are influential tools for teaching and learning. Another reason for the same

issue is that Pakistani students learn Urdu (their native language) in schools with the

assistance of textbooks. They perceive these English shifts and add them to their Urdu

lexicon. In this way, they remain unable to learn their Urdu equivalents. It harms the

enthusiasm towards their national language as well as to the nation's unity.

References

Ahmad, M., & Shah, S. K. (2019). A critical discourse analysis of gender representations

in the content of 5th grade English language textbook. International an

Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences, 8(1), 1-24. DOI:

10.17583/rimcis.2019.3989

Anwar, B. (2009). Urdu-English code switching: The use of Urdu phrases and clauses in

Pakistani English (A non-native variety). International Journal of Language

Studies, 3(4), 409-424.

Arshad, A., & Mahmood, M. A. (2019). Investigating content and language integration in

an EFL textbook: A corpus-based study. Linguistic Forum, 1(1), 1-25.

Asghar, S. (2012). Code-mixing and language hybridization in Pakistan. Lahore

Pakistan: Government Razvia Islamia College.

Byrd, P. (2001). Textbooks: Evaluation for selection and analysis for implementation. In

M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (pp.

415-427). US: Heinle & Heinle.

Chambliss, M. J., & Calfee, R. C. (1998). Textbooks for learning: Nurturing children's

minds. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.

Hall-Lew, L. A. (2002). English loanwords in Mandarin Chinese (master thesis). The

University of Arizona, Tuscon, United States.

Hoffmann, C. (1991). An introduction to bilingualism. London, New York: Longman.

Kachru, B. B. (1978). Toward structuring code-mixing: An Indian

perspective. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1978(16), 27-46.

DOI: 10.1515/ijsl.1978.16.27

Khurshid, K., and Gillani, I. G. and Hashmi, M. A. (2010). A study of representation of

female image in the textbooks of English and urdu at secondary school level.

Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, 2(30): 425-437.

http://doi.org/10.17583/rimcis.2019.3989

https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1978.16.27


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Mahmood, K. (2009). Indicators for a quality textbook evaluation process in Pakistan.

Journal of Research and Reflections in Education, 2(3), 158 -176.

Mahmood, K. (2011). Conformity to quality characteristics of textbooks: The illusion of

textbook evaluation in Pakistan. Journal of Research and Reflections in

Education, 5(2), 170-190.

Maschler, Y. (1998). On the transition from code-switching to a mixed code. In P. Auer

(Ed.), Code-Switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction and Identity (pp.

125-149). London: Routledge.

Mushtaq, H., & Zahra, T. (2012). An analysis of code-mixing in television commercials.

Language in India, 12(11), 428-439.

Myers-Scotton, C. (2003). Code-switching as indexical of social negotiations. In L. Wei

(Ed.), The Bilingualism Reader (pp. 140-166). London: Routledge.

Nicholls, J. (2003). Methods in school textbook research. History Education Research

Journal, 3(2), 11-26. DOI: 10.18546/HERJ.03.2.02.

Noor, M., Anwar, D., Muhabat, F., & Kazemian, B. (2015). Code-switching in Urdu

books of Punjab Text Book Board, Lahore, Pakistan. Communication and

Linguistics Studies, 1(2), 13-20. DOI: 10.11648/j.cls.20150102.11

Poplack, S. (1978). Dialect acquisition among Puerto Rican bilinguals. Language in

Society, 7, 89-103. DOI: 10.1017/S0047404500005340.

Prasad, T. (2008). A course in linguistics. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited.

Qadir, S. A., & Rasul, S. (2009). Code-mixing in Pakistani newspapers: A socio-

linguistic analysis. Kashmir Journal of Language Research, 12(1).

Rahman, T. (2011). 12 Images of the ‘other’in school textbooks and Islamic reading

material in Pakistan. In L. Yates & M. Grumet (Eds.), World Yearbook of

Education 2011: Curriculum in Today’s World: Configuring Knowledge,

Identities, Work and Politics (pp. 177-194). London: Routledge. DOI:

10.4324/9780203830499.

Rasul, S. (2103). Borrowing and code mixing in Pakistani children’s magazines:

Practices and functions. Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies 5(2), 46-72.

Sabir, A. (2008). Review of Moroccan school textbooks for gender equality and human

rights by regional director (HREA): project results. Retrieved March 14, 2008

from http://www.achr.hn/newen63.htm, 1-2.

Talaat, M. (2002). The form and functions of English in Pakistan (doctoral dissertation),

Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.

https://doi.org/10.18546/HERJ.03.2.02

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500005340

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203830499


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




The Role of Affective Filters in Oral Communication: A Case Study of

Pakistani Students and Teachers

Hajra Arshad1

1Assistant Professor, Head of English Department, Bilquis Post Graduate College, Rawalpindi


Abstract

This is a qualitative and exploratory study. The main aim of the researcher was to find out the impact of

affective filters and language input in second language communication. The study was carried out in the

Pakistani context. English is taught as a subject at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of Education.

The fear of English as alien language acts as a strong barrier for learning of English communication skills

at every level. The population of the study comprised of Pakistani students studying in an English medium

high school. The students and their English teachers got an opportunity to visit a native English country for

a period of six weeks. The researcher interviewed 2 teachers and 5 students in order to explore the causes

that helped them to improve their oral communication skills in the second language (SL). The students and

teachers identified three factors as affective filters inside the classroom, which act as affective filters and

barriers to improve SL. Researchers analyzed these interviews and found that there are three main reasons

due to which students feel difficulty in SL learning inside the class, which are lack of motivation, shyness,

and fear of making mistakes. On the contrary, in native English-settings (providing massive input),

unavailability of code-switching environment and motivational attitude of host families turned out to be

major factors that acted as a catalyst in improving English communication efficiency of the exchange

programme participants.

Keywords: L2 learning, input, affective filters, Pakistani classroom, natural setting

1. Introduction

In history, English rulers enforced a foreign language in India, and this resulted in

inevitable changes in the developmental history of the subcontinent. English was taught

at educational institutes. In early stages, British rulers of the subcontinent used this

language as a bridge to teach and implement British policies (Arshad, 2018). After the

departure of English masters, the language maintained a prominent status in the region.

With the passage of time, English as a language got the status of world’s most powerful

language and now in the 21st century, English is considered as lingua franca due to its

prime importance. English is the language of the globalized world; it is the language of

commerce, science, technology, literature, and industry in present times. Phillipson

(2001) adds that English as a language is not a matter of superiority on demographic or

geographical basis, rather it is more essential to know that it is the language of decision-

makers; individuals who control the political and financial system of the earth and they

are the most dominant individuals of the world. These communities control 80 percent of

the world resources and these nations are obscenely richer (Phillipson, 2001, p. 189). It is

believed that 85 percent of the world population can either speak or understand the


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




English language. In order to have access to newly produced information, journals,

books, and international literature, having command on English has become a

prerequisite. It has become the language ‘of need’, not ‘of choice’.

Developing countries have adopted English either as an official language or a

second language in order to have a familiarity with the language. Pakistan is a South

Asian country where English is the second or third language of the educated class. It is

taught as a subject at school and college level. Unfortunately, conventional methods of

language teaching are used to teach English, which promote rote learning. Reading and

writing skills are developed in teacher-centered classrooms. English speaking ability of

the learners at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels remains an issue. When students go

for higher education internationally, they face a great difficulty in communicating with

native English speakers due to poorly developed listening and speaking skills. The high

school students focus on writing skills, as they have to pass written exams for promotion

in the next classes. So, rote learning is taken as the easiest option to memorize the content

with or without conceptual understanding. Moreover, the English teachers, as well as

students, use the choices of code-switching and code-mixing in classroom situations. This

provides liberty to students so they do not strive to improve listening and speaking skills

in English.

L2 learning is different from L1 learning due to various factors including the

extent of language input (natural settings or artificial setting like classroom), critical age,

plasticity of the brain and vocal tract, age factor, and willingness of the pupils. Unlike L1,

second language acquisition is a conscious effort; it needs proper instructions to learn the

rules and grammar of the new language. The present study is an effort to see the grey

areas due to which non-native English students and teachers feel difficulty in achieving

proficiency in the English language. The study would also highlight the difference

between learning English communication skills inside an average Pakistani classroom

and native-English country (USA), and how these factors influenced speaking ability of

Pakistani students and teachers. There is a need to adopt different methods in ELT

teaching, which help to develop the English skills of Pakistani students and prepare our

students to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Moreover, teachers should adopt new

methods of teaching the second language in order to train our students and prepare them

to meet challenges in academic and professional careers.

1.1 Aims and objectives

The study has the following aims:

a) To identify the affective filters which act as obstacles in improving verbal English

communication skills of Pakistani students inside the classroom.

b) To see how native English country visit helped these students in improving the

English proficiency of students.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




c) To suggest to ELT teachers different ways to help students to improve verbal-

English communication skills.

1.2 Research Questions

a) What kind of affective filters act as hurdles due to which students are reluctant to

communicate inside the classrooms?

b) How Pakistani students improved English speaking proficiency in international

exchanges?

c) What measures can be taken to improve English learning conditions in Pakistani

classrooms?

1.3 Significance of the Study

At the elementary level, we generally see three types of institutions, viz. public

schools, private schools, and madrassa schools. These three types of institutes generally

represent the social stratification of the country. Public schools are economically

affordable for the lower class and lower middle class. The students studying in these

schools receive average education where completion of syllabus and teacher-centered

classrooms are dominating. In these classrooms, teachers use conventional methods to

teach English. The second category is private schools, which are affordable to people

having enough resources to provide quality education to their wards. Except for a few

brands like The City School, Roots IVY, Pak Turk Schools, Froebel's, and a few more,

other street schools run as private schools are not making outstanding efforts to adopt

new ways of teaching. The students coming out of eminent private schools are more

competitive and eligible to adjust across the globe. The third and last are madrassa

schools which have maximum student strength. The students in these schools get

religious and contemporary education at the same time. The teaching methodologies are

conventional, and very few of these students get a chance to avail of global scholarship

facilities and find it too difficult to improve oral communication skills. It is very

unfortunate that examination scores are considered the ultimate goal of learners and

teachers both work together to earn good marks. The interactive and communication

skills are ignored. As a result, when these gold medallists and high scorers compete for

scholarships, they face major challenges due to poorly developed communication skills in

foreign countries. Similarly, those who get admission or jobs in native English countries

fail to adjust due to limited interactions with students and community and sometimes give

up their careers. This study will coax academicians and policymakers to know how

classroom learning and teaching work in real situations.

Most of the parents send their children schools, expecting that the child will get better

education and improve English proficiency. Unfortunately, most of these parents are

disappointed because students get very good writing and reading skills, but the speaking

skills of students remain an issue. The present study is an effort to highlight a few grey


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




areas due to which students could not get English speaking proficiency. Studying a group

of students who got chance to visit native English country provides a better sample to

study. In addition, observation of teachers acts as an aid to identify loopholes in the

classroom instruction.


In 1977, Dulay and Burt put forwarded a hypothesis named as ‘Affective Filter

Hypothesis’. They explained that people with high affective filters have lower intake of

language as compared to people having lower effective filter and greater intake. Later in

1985, Krashen incorporated this hypothesis in five input hypotheses. Krashen (1985)

argued that people acquire second language only when affective filters are low enough to

allow input ‘in’. In his studies, Krashen explains these factors as self-confidence,

motivation, attitude, and anxiety. His main viewpoints are as follows:

• A raised affective filter can block input from reaching LAD.

• A lowered affective filter allows the input to “strike deeper” and be acquired.

• The affective filter is responsible for individual variation in SLA.

These affective filters act as hurdles in acquiring the second language. There are

four factors that control affective filters in second language learning (Xioyan, 2009).

Motivation is the first and most important factor, which has greater influence in

controlling affective filters and improving second language acquisition. Gardner (1985)

defines motivation as the extent to which the individuals work or strive to learn the

language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity.

Positive motivation helps the learner of the language to lower down affective filters and

get better understanding of language. Negative motivation has a contrary effect on

learning of language. Attitude of the learner is the second factor that influences L2

language learning skills. Xiaoyan (2009) argues that attitude has three components, i.e.

affect, cognition, and behavior. The language learners having a positive attitude learn

language easily and show rapid progress. On the other hand, the acquirer of language

having a negative attitude towards target language makes slow progress in getting

language proficiency.

Anxiety is another factor that controls affective filters. Garden and Maclntyre

(1993) explaining the cause of anxiety hold that “The situation requires the use of second

language with which the individual is not fully proficient”. Test anxiety, fear of negative

evaluation, and shyness affect L2 learner’s efficiency. Self-confidence is the final and

important reason which controls affective filters. People having self-confidence succeed

more, dare to adventure, and can communicate in second language more efficiently

(Xiaoyan, 2009). People having a lack of self-confidence are afraid of losing face and

making mistakes.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




The theories and ideas of Krashen (1985) were very helpful and influential in the

field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language. The hypothesis mainly explains that

language cannot be learned if a student is blocking the learning process. If the affective

filters are high, the learning will be low and vice versa. In addition to the factors

explained by Krashen, Ghazali (2006) includes quality and quantity of input, age factor,

and limitations of classroom in second language learning. According to him, the age of

learner has a reasonable effect on the learning capacity of an individual. The quality of

input depends on the source from where student is receiving input. The L2 speaker does

not have proficiency like the native speaker and as a result the input is of average or

below average quality depending on the person providing language-learning opportunity.

The quantity deals with the type of vocabulary used by the source, including the

intonation and grammatical accuracy of the language. Since the L2 speakers have limited

language skills, they repeat the same expressions and linguistic items during speech. As a

result, the receiver rarely receives variety of expressions and learns what s/he receives.

The output is dependent on the input. If input is better, output will also be good. The

present study will explore how affective filters, input, and code-mixing influences

language learner’s proficiency in classroom and natural settings.

3. Method

Researchers used the qualitative approach for this study. Qualitative studies are

considered better to have a deeper insight and subject interpretation of the context of the

text, and it also helps to see themes and patterns in the discourses (Hsieh & Shannon,

2005).

3.1 Population

The population of the study comprised of HIT education city students and

teachers. HITEC is an average private school having students coming mostly from the

lower or middle class of society. These students and teachers participated in US-HITEC

exchange programme where they got an opportunity to go to the US and stay with the

American host families for 6 weeks. It was a short duration programme where students

and teachers of both countries got engaged in an online programme which later matured

into an exchange programme. The USA government funded for the programme and the

programme was conceived to provide education and cultural exchange opportunity to

educators and students involved in the program. Three groups visited USA from 2010-

2013. Each group had 20 students, 8 teachers, and 2 administrators. Each participant was

living with a separate American host family and was attending American school to have a

first hand experience of academic and cultural activities of US schools of Watauga

County, NC. The interviews were recorded in 2013, a few months after Pakistani

participants’ visit.

3.2 Sample


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




The Researcher interviewed 2 teachers and 3 students. The students are studying

at elementary and high level and this was the first foreign visit for all the participants

including teachers and students. The number of participants is kept low in order to have a

better understanding of the issue.

3.3 Research Tools

Semi-structured interview questionnaire was used as a research tool. There were

two sets of questions, one for the teachers and another for the students. The questions can

be seen in Appendix A.

4. Results and Analysis

4.1 English Language as Lingua Franca of the World

The first question intended to know participants’ views about importance of

English as a global language. In response to this a student replied: “I think it’s important

because today English is the main language of the world, so we should learn English in

more proper way and we should communicate with one another in English at school”.

For the same question, the second student shared the following:

If we talk about English language, it is quite necessary for us. I am

glad we are having plenty of academic courses in English

language…there are professional jobs in English, so it is important.

English is communicating language all over the world, its not only in

Pakistan.,,

4.2 Discussion 1

Students’ responses show that they are aware of the importance of English as an

academic and international language. They are also aware of the fact that English is the

lingua franca of the globalized world. Though they never said it explicitly, but the

students were well aware of the importance of English language. A student talked about

different professional opportunities for people having good communication skills.

The purpose behind asking this question was to see whether students of 9th or 10th

grade are familiar with the importance of English as the second language or not.

Understanding the importance of English as the second language is the key motivating

factor that helps students to have a positive learning attitude for this language. The

responses of the students show that they recognise the importance of English as the

second language and language of the globe.

4.3 Fluency and Affective Filters

In response to a question about how this international exchange programme

influenced students' English speaking proficiency, here are two responses form students.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




Before going to America, in our class, if I speak wrong English, my all

friends laughed on me. But after coming from America, my fluency

improved a lot. Now I can speak English fluently, correctly… so this

programme helped us a lot. Personally, my proficiency level has

increased by this. I am quite confident to talk in English now.

The adolescence is the age where affective filters of individuals are high because

individuals’ change biologically at this age of puberty. The shyness of children is

maximum at this age of development. The shyness and fear of getting embarrassed in

public and in front of others act as strong affective filters for students of this age. As a

result, the students are in need of motivation to overcome filters in order to learn. But in

this case, student shared that her friends laughed at her when she spoke wrong English.

At this point, the role of teachers becomes important where they should provide a

moderate classroom where everyone gets motivated. Students shared, this international

exchange programme had an effect on the second language learning, especially

communication skills. In detailed talk, students shared that there should be exchange

programmes like this in future as well. Students were very much impressed by the culture

and shared that they have plans to go for study abroad programmes if they got

opportunity.

4.4 Discussion 2

Students felt that their second language learning got better in natural settings (i.e.

native English country). Firstly, the classroom acts as a site where affective filters are

high. This issue is more prominent in case of language fluency and English speaking in

front of the class. As shared by a student in the above paragraph, when he spoke wrong

sentences, his friends laughed at him. Student’s shyness acted as an affective filter, and,

student being egocentric, tried to avoid humiliation. Lack of motivation from the class-

fellows inside the class acts as hindrance and students remain reluctant to speak in front

of class fellows. Secondly, native English settings act as a stimulus for second language

learning. The environment has its own role to play. As Vygotsky holds, it is the

conceptual shift from the individual to collaboration, social interaction, and sociocultural

activity (in Guvain & Parke, 2010). As learners socialize and interact with others, the

positive response and motivation from the environment acts as stimuli and students feel

more competent and learn more. In these situations, affective filters are low and learning

can be enhanced.

In natural settings, the environment aids students in language learning. The

students, while living at home with native English speakers and having full exposure to

English language, do not get any chance of code-switching to L1. These factors lower

down affective filters and language learning becomes involuntary. Now learning of

language is passive and curiosity to know more and more about new culture acts as a

motivational factor.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




4.5 Teaching Strategies and Student Role

The researcher asked the teachers about their experience of going to the USA,

visiting schools there, especially, how the experience influenced their teaching

methodologies for teaching English. Here is a valuable response from one of the

teachers. She is an English teacher and teaches students at elementary and secondary

school.

We use lecture method to teach students. I have seen in the US that

people go for activity-based learning. Whatever they are making them

learn, they engage them in activity. For example, what I had been

doing in novel reading that I ask them to read to text and I keep on

explaining the lines. Whereas what they do, they ask the students to

read the novel at home and present summary in front of the class. And

usually they ask the students to read whole novel. Although I can't

make my students to read whole novel in duration of one week, at least

I ask them now to read one chapter of the book, and come and present

summary in front of class. In this way they get proficiency, they get

confidence and at least they speak.

4.6 Discussion 3

There are many points highlighted by the teacher in the above statement. Firstly,

she admitted that language teachers are still using conventional ways of teaching

language. In the 21st century, having bombardment of new strategies, technology and

innovation, teachers are reluctant to adopt new learning methodologies. It is due to this

reason that our language classrooms are boring and they do not have anything new for

students. The teachers are reproducing the same group of students who have nothing new

to offer except learning second language, as they do not have any escaper from it.

Traditional lecture method, which I believe is designed for adults, is used in language

classrooms. The teacher is authority, and students are afraid of speaking in front of the

teacher (both in the first and second language). Teacher in the above statement showed

evolution by making class more interactive for students after visiting USA.

Secondly, teaching strategy has been improvised. The teacher reports how she

transformed her teaching method after the visit. She made students speak through

activities including presentations. They might add new dimensions when they compete to

excel other class fellows. Secondary class students belong to the age group in which one

likes to do experimentation, and, I believe, this transformation will act as a positive sign

for English learning ability and proficiency development of students.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




4.7 Code-switching and Input

The researcher asked the teachers how this exchange programme has affected

students when it comes to second language learning. Here are the views of teachers.

The students have learnt a lot. Obviously, through reflective sessions

they have tried to convey and share with fellows, but their experience is

obviously more than that. They have learnt many things from their

society, their education system, from their culture, they groomed their

personalities.”

Another teacher shared that:

Not necessarily we specify some time… During my activities, I

encourage them to speak, even if they are speaking wrong English, I

don't discourage them… if someone laughs, I ask them don't laugh, at

least he is speaking… I ask them that do not switch, do not switch to

Urdu language, and they always hesitate. They say teacher I will not be

able to make my point. I say, I will be able to understand, I will try my

best to understand.”

4.8 Discussion 4

In the first statement, the teacher talks about reflective sessions. Reflective

sessions are held on the last day where students reflect on their experience in front of

fellow students and teachers who could not get opportunity to visit the USA. Reflective

sessions allowed students and teachers to share what they learnt and experienced

culturally and academically. The teacher acknowledges the fact that reflective sessions

were only a pinch of what students experienced in US, but she shared that students were

very confident while sharing their experience.

In the second statement, the teacher shared that after visiting US, she revisited her

teaching methodologies; now she encourages students to speak in front of the class. If

other students make fun of speaking students, it is teachers' job to discourage such

attitudes. Language input difference inside the classroom and outside the classroom has a

great impact on fluency of second language learning. As Ghazali (2006) discusses the

difference of input in case of LI and L2, it is true in this study. Classrooms have limited

exposure of students to L2 whereas native English countries have a bulk of input, and it

helps learners to acquire language consciously and unconsciously.

The third thing highlighted by the teacher in statement two is the benefit of code-

switching inside the classroom. When students feel that they would not be able to convey

their meaning accurately, they use crutches of native language, and this becomes a hurdle

in acquiring proficiency in second language. Natural settings do not allow people to


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




switch language, and it is possibly a good reason, which helps learners to grasp L2

efficiently.

5. Findings and Conclusion

The study aimed at identifying the factors which act as a hurdle in improving the

oral communication skills of the learners. It explored how the input is important in

developing language skills and what reasons lie behind poor oral communication skills of

the students, especially English communication skills in this case.

In this study, researchers found how affective filters influence second language

acquisition. Language input is very critical, and at the same time, teaching practices are

pivotal in motivating students to learn second language efficiently. Traditional methods

of teaching the second language, discouraging attitude of fellow students, and absence of

motivation from teachers hinder successful second language learning. There is need that

teachers incorporate new methods for teaching language and make classroom more

interactive and appealing for students. Teacher motivation has very important role in

lowering down the affective filters of students. Code-switching to L1 can have a negative

effect on L2 learning, so teachers should encourage students to avoid code-switching in

L2 classrooms. Researchers feel that changing teaching methodologies for L2 learning

will have an exemplary effect on second language learning of students.

Moreover, the input of language is very important. ESL teachers, who got their

education in Pakistan, put a lot of emphasis on grammatical skills of the students;

authoritativeness also acts as the main affective filter for the learners. The learners are

reluctant to communicate in class because they do not want to get embarrassed in front of

the fellow students. As a result, they give secondary or nil importance to communication

in classroom settings. They come, hear lectures, and stay quite. This demotivated

classroom acts as an affective filter and has adverse effect on the English language

learning of the students. Krashen believed that second language learning is similar to first

language learning where learners make mistakes; they receive a lot of input and give

adequate output. The natural order hypothesis presented by Krashen argues that second

language should be taught like the first language. It is a gradual process, and learners

attain proficiency slowly just like the child who is acquiring the first language.

Additionally, the 21st century demands the teachers to be less authoritative in the

classroom. The revised pedagogic skills are presented where critical thinking, practical

application of knowledge, and innovative skills are very important to compete. The 4 c’s

of 21st century skills enlists communication skills amongst the most valued skills in

today’s age. The English teachers should be aware of contemporary trends in education

and should encourage the learners to interact inside the classrooms. Proficiency and

competency of language are two different dimensions of English language learning.

Proficiency can be achieved through practice only. Pakistani students rarely get an


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




opportunity to polish English communication skills outside the classrooms. The teachers

have to seriously think about different ways of improving the language skills of the

students. Policymakers and curriculum setters should have an updated curriculum as per

the current needs. A better-developed curriculum, frequent teacher trainings of English

teachers, and student-centered classroom settings can have a beneficial effect on

academia.

Having good speaking skills is a need of the time. With great advancements in

research and education, outcome-based education (OBE) is trending in academia. The

classrooms are the places where teachers are preparing learners for global citizenship.

The students have more opportunities to avail national and international scholarships in

study programmes. International exchange programmes like YES Programs, IREX,

Fulbright and HEC scholarships provide an opportunity to students to compete for

academic excellence and get best education across the world. There are six-week

programmes, bimonthly programmes, annual programmes, and long duration

programmes for nonnative English students and teachers. Some of these exchange

programmes offer students to live with native families (native English host families in

this case). Students participate in these programmes, and at the end of these exchange

programmes the oral English communication skills are enhanced. Having better oral and

written communication skills are critically important in this age of technology and

research. Siddiqi (2007) argues that Pakistani teachers use conventional teaching

practices, which have a direct influence on communication skills of students. According

to him, Pakistani English teachers are more focused on completion of syllabus,

irrespective of students’ learning. On the contrary, Pollard (2002) claims that a teacher

should be concerned about aims and consequences of teaching. The teacher is

accountable if students do not learn well. The teachers should focus on developing

conceptual understanding of the students as well. Pollard further adds that teaching is a

cyclic process where teachers keep on refining teaching methodologies in order to

facilitate the learners.

Reflective teaching can be a successful tool for teachers. The idea of reflective

teaching was put forth by John Dewey at the start of 20th century and later on researchers

like Schon (1987) and Killen (1995; 2003) further elaborated the idea. In order to

improve the teaching of English, teachers have to be more reflective about the classroom

happenings, learning styles, and contemporary trends in teaching. The teachers should

integrate the latest teaching techniques in order to facilitate the students. Recent

pedagogical approaches like cooperative learning, reciprocal learning, and collaborative

learning can play a decisive role in enhancing the conceptual understanding of the

student, and it can have a great impact on the improvement of oral communication skills

of the learners.


Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2018




References

Al Ghazali, F. (2006). First language acquisition vs second language learning: What

is the difference? (unpublished paper). The Centre for English Language Studies,

The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.

Arshad, H. (2018). Unveiling the efficacy: The relationship between reflective

teaching practices and learning of English at graduate level in Pakistan

(unpublished master thesis). National University of Modern Languages,

Islamabad, Pakistan.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books.

Du, X. (2009). The affective filter in second language teaching. Asian Social

Science, 5(8), 162-165. DOI: 10.5539/ass.v5n8p162.

Dulay, H., & Burt, M. (1977). Remarks on creativity in second languge acquision. In

M. Burt, H. Dulay, & M. Finocchiaro (Eds.), Viewpoints on English as s Second

Language (pp. 95-126). New York: Regents.

Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of

attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.

Gardner, R. C., & Maclntyre, P. D. (1993). A student's contributions to second language

learning. Part II: Affective variables. Language Teaching, 26, 1-11. DOI:

10.1017/S0261444800000045.

Gauvain, M., & Parke, R. D. (2010). Socialization. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook

of Cultural Developmental Science (pp. 239-258). New York: Psychology Press.

Hsieh, H., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content.

Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288.

DOI: 10.1177/1049732305276687.

Killen, R. (1995). Improving teaching through reflective partnerships. To Improve the

Academy, 14(1), 125-141. DOI: 10.1002/j.2334-4822.1995.tb00287.x.

Killen, R. (2003). Effective teaching strategies: Lessons from research and

practice. Australia: Social Sciences Press.

Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. New York: Longman.

Phillipson, R. (2001). English for globalisation or for the world's people? International

Review of Education, 47(3-4), 185-200. DOI: 10.1023/A:101793732.

Pollard, A., with Collins, J., Simco, N., Swaffield, S., Warin, J., and Warwick, P. (2002).

Reflective teaching: Effective and evidence-informed professional practice.

London: Continuum.

Schön, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Siddiqui, S. (2007). Rethinking education in Pakistan: Perceptions, practices, and

possibilities (1st ed.). Karachi, Pakistan: Paramount Publishing Enterprise.

https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v5n8p162

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444800000045

https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1049732305276687

https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2334-4822.1995.tb00287.x

Documents

The Effect of Inference Skills on Reading Comprehension ... · among the words and sentences in the written text and understand the text as a unitary construct. 2. Literature Review