English Language Teaching (ELT) in Pakistan

[imported_Uzma Rani]

English Language Teaching (ELT) in Pakistan in still based on old-fashioned methodologies. In mainstream schools, the so-called 'grammar translation method' is used in which the teacher is always lecturing and talking to the students, who act mostly as passive listeners.

Students are taught grammar and how to translate material into English. In fact, grammar and its rules are given much more importance than their use in daily life. Speaking and listening skills are completely ignored and the student's ability to read and write the language are instead concentrated upon. One important factor why such a teaching methodology continues to hold sway is the fact that classes are very large. The strength of classes in many schools is around 50 students. New methods and techniques for teaching English as a language have been developed but they are more relevant and effective when applied to smaller class sizes.

When the class is large, it becomes very difficult for the teacher to interact individually with each and every student. He or she then has to stand in one place, so that the students can all see and hear what is being said by the teacher. Besides, limited space also means that the teacher cannot fully interact with each student.

Listening and speaking skills suffer the most because they particularly need individual practice. Given the size of the class and the limited space, it becomes very difficult for teachers to hone the listening and speaking skills of their students. Lack of resources also means that teachers cannot or do not know how to use audio-visual aids like overhead projectors or PowerPoint presentations. The large size of the class also creates problems for the teacher in terms of workload vis-a-vis checking and marking homework, assignments, tests and exams. Besides, they have to cover the syllabus and doing that with a very large class presents problems.

As a result, those who want to learn English find the going quite difficult. The results are before us, with many college graduates unable to write an application or fill a form properly in the language. Furthermore, their reading habits are not developed, though this isn't entirely their problem since the large class size makes it difficult for the teacher to encourage each student individually to speak up during the lesson.

However, this state of affairs can be changed for the better if the following suggestions are implemented: The teacher should consider organizing the seating of the class in a way that students can work in pairs or groups. They can be asked to work in pairs or groups. This way, the teacher can become a facilitator rather than being perceived as a dictator by his or her students. The teacher should try and get to know students individually. Activities in which students and teachers get more chance to interact with each other and share their ideas should be arranged. For example, students can be asked to give their opinions about stories and poems, or how they would like a change in the ending of a particular story. Overhead projectors should be used by teachers to make the class more interesting. Newspaper clippings can also be used as can be coloured chalk to make the board look less drab.

To resolve the problems of classroom management, monitors can be appointed. This will also give students valuable leadership experience. To reduce their own workload and to give students come confidence and a chance to check their own knowledge, teachers should ask students to correct each others work in class. In the end, the teacher can do the questions and announce the right answers before the whole class.

Other than this, activities can be carried out which improve the various skills of the students in the class. Students can be asked to make drawings, pictures or draw maps after listening to the teacher's instruction. They can be asked to answer questions relating to a comprehension passage - the passage can be read out in class. And, they can be asked to perform certain