LOST IN CULTURAL TRANSLATION? A CORPUS BASED COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PTB GRADE 11 ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS WITH REAL ENGLISH USAGE

Abstract

This study evaluates the extent to which the Grade 11 English textbook, developed by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Authority (PCTB), supports learners in acquiring English for practical, everyday communication. Given the growing significance of English in contemporary global and local contexts, the Government of Punjab has undertaken multiple policy initiatives to enhance English language proficiency among students, including curricular reforms and textbook revisions.The present research adopts a corpus-based approach to examine the linguistic and functional features of the prescribed textbook. The compiled textbook corpus is systematically compared with the British National Corpus (BNC) to assess its alignment with authentic language use. The analysis focuses on lexical frequency, collocational patterns, and communicative relevance to determine whether the textbook adequately reflects real-life English usage. Rather than critiquing policy decisions, this study aims to provide constructive insights and pedagogical recommendations for improving textbook design in line with learners’ communicative needs. The findings are expected to contribute to ongoing discussions on curriculum development and English language teaching in Pakistan.