They spoke at an international conference arranged by the Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT) at the Allama Iqbal Open University. The three-day conference was organised in collaboration with the AIOU and the Oxford University Press (OUP).
The participants from home and abroad emphasised that English should be introduced and taught as a language instead of a discipline of social sciences. They noted that the way the English is being taught at schools and colleges is hardly helpful in overcoming language barriers, being faced by teachers and students.
The speakers said that all stakeholders including heads of English departments at educational institutes should be involved in redesigning English language courses.
AIOU English Department Chairman Dr Abdul Hafeez offered SPELT to hold sessions at the university’s regional campuses around the country.
About 40 papers were presented during 16 working sessions of the conference, said Malik Tariq Mahmood, a local representative of the SPELT.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2014.
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In the current world we live in today speaking and writing the English language has become so significant in our lives to the point where not knowing how to speak English is causing people to lose job opportunities. The people that can afford to attend schools in which learning English is the top priority, are the people that already speak it at home and with friends while people that attend government schools are left behind because teachers fail to teach the students correct pronunciation and grammer rules. Pakistan indeed needs to fix the education system but just changing the way English is taught could really benefit the students that are the future of Pakistan.