LANGUAGE PREFERENCES AND ATTITUDES AT THE HIGHER EDUCATION LEVEL: A SURVEY OF PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTES

Abstract

Pakistan is a multilingual country where the language trend has a significant impact on language policies implemented at the higher educational level. The choice of a language to be the medium of instruction at the higher educational level in Pakistan has always been a complex issue as there is always a choice between Urdu, English and regional languages. The research reported here is a survey conducted in two undergraduate and postgraduate degree awarding institutes of Management Sciences and Electrical Sciences – one located in the region of Punjab and one in Federal capital so as to find out views of teachers regarding choices of language at the higher education level. The survey included 80 teachers who responded to the questionnaire in addition to 8 members from the administration who were interviewed so as to find out their views regarding language policy and its implementation in the premises of their institutes. The analysis of the questionnaires and the interviews suggested that teachers and administration have dfferent opinions with regard to language policies. The teachers believe that Urdu alongside English should be adopted in the professional colleges for the medium of instruction which will help in increasing the comprehension of Management Sciences and Engineering Sciences students in their respective disciplines. However, they do not believe in changing the medium of examination which creates problems for students during examination. The administration on the other hand firmly believes that English should be both medium of instruction and medium of examination at the higher educational level. It is important for teachers and administration to be aware of the outcomes of implementing Urdu, English or both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level in Pakistan.