SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVES ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE ATTITUDES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF URBAN AND RURAL COLLEGE STUDENTS IN KPK

Abstract

This research explores the sociolinguistic perspectives on English language attitudes of rural and urban students of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) toward English. This study primarily focuses on the comparative analysis of urban and rural students’ attitudes toward English in KPK, and it also focuses on the reasons behind these diverse perspectives of urban and rural students. This research also sheds light on the purposes of urban and rural students for which they learn English. The researcher uses a qualitative approach for data analysis in this study using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews as research tools of inquiry. The study employs language attitude theory as a theoretical framework for this study; for the data collection, the researcher selected a sample of 10 students from the metropolitan city of Peshawar, which represents the urban area, and ten students from a rural area of Mardan, which represents the rural area. These participants are college students enrolled in grade 11^th. The study shows that urban students are more exposed to English language than rural students due to the availability of resources. Results show that many rural students also acknowledge the importance of English, but the emphasis on English is less than that of urban students. Urban students have a more positive attitude toward English, and rural students have less positive attitude toward English. The rural and urban students believe that the primary reason for learning English is to avail future opportunities, and it's a key to communicating with the international community. Additionally, the present study uncovers the reasons for the difference in the attitudes of urban and rural students of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which mainly include a lack of family support and a lack of resources for language learning in rural areas of KPK. At the same time, the case is different in urban regions of KPK.