THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC HINDRANCES IN EMPLOYING ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN PAKISTANI EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

English as an international language, is being used as a medium of communication (EMC) and medium of instruction (EMI) and becoming a central phenomenon for English pedagogy throughout the globe. Even the administration in elite schools of Pakistan compel their teaching staff to use English as EMI as well as EMC. But it is obvious that most of the students and teachers are observed to communicate in their local languages. The current study was conducted at govt. college Okara and University of Lahore to examine what socio-economic factors limit teachers to give instructions and doing communication in English in their teaching-learning process. A quantitative research methodology was employed to explore the hidden socio-economic factors that affect the use of English during their English-only class-rooms. A total of 160 students from both government and private institutions were involved in this study. The participants were students of 2 native speakers (Urdu and Punjabi) with different level of proficiency of English language. A close ended questionnaire using 5-scale Likert scale was employed by the researchers.  This questionnaire was generated through Google Forum and its link was distributed through WhatsApp and using some other social media apps. For statistical analysis, the researchers used IBM SPSS 26.0.0.0. The researchers demonstrated that students are willing to communicate in English language, but there are some external factors that create hindrance in their use of English in their classroom activities. Some of these external factors are academic, social and economic which are largely dependent on their needs, desires, assumptions and beliefs. The study may give an insight to the education policy makers to work on the solution of problems related to the use of English as a medium of instructions and medium of communication in English-only classes in Pakistani context where most of the language learners’ ad teachers are native speakers. It may also be helpful for the educators and teachers to understand the common needs of students that compel the students to speak their native languages instead of using English in their English-only class-rooms.