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P-ISSN 2664-0422
Pakistan Social Sciences Review
March 2021, Vol. 5, No. I [975-986]
O-ISSN 2664-0430
RESEARCH PAPER
Insightful Perspectives about Effective Implementation of ESL Single
National Curriculum (SNC) in Pakistani Schools
Dr. Humaira Irfan
Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Education, Lahore, Punjab,
Pakistan
PAPER INFO ABSTRACT
Received:
The research paper has critically evaluated the draft document of
January 24, 2021
ESL Single National Curriculum (SNC) to interpret the purpose of
Accepted:
SNC for its successful implementation across the country. The
March 15, 2021
study is qualitative in nature as content analysis method is used to
Online:
explore the innovative aspects of SNC. It is evidently discussed
March 30, 2021
that curriculum’s fundamental justification is to infuse ethical,
Keywords:
social and universal values in Pakistani learners with themes and
Single National
subthemes such as, peace and social cohesion, ideology, religious
Curriculum
tolerance, respect, equity and conflict resolution. It is surmised
(SNC),
that ESL Single National Curriculum has planned to make use of
SNC Themes,
technology to develop ESL literacy and competency in students. It
Technology,
is implied that the performance of ESL teachers will be evaluated
Teacher
using different evaluation models, such as, Guskey Model of
Evaluation Model
Teacher Evaluation. The study recommends that outcomes of
Corresponding
needs and situational analysis would be beneficial for successful
Author
implementation of SNC in Pakistani schools. The everyday
humaira.irfan@
activities and materials can be synthesized with SNC to improve
ue.edu.pk
creativity, reflection and autonomy in ESL learners and teachers.
Introduction
Pakistan is a multilingual, multicultural and multiethnic country. After
independence in 1947, Government of Pakistan following the footsteps of British
Colonialism in Indo-Pak subcontinent established the schools with diverse mediums
of instruction that is, English medium schools (EMS), Urdu medium schools (UMS)
and Vernacular medium schools (VMS) that have created unjust and inequitable
classification in the country (Irfan, 2017, 2018, 2019). In order to eliminate the social
injustice and economic disparity, the current government of Pakistan has decided to
launch the Single National Curriculum (SNC) in Pakistani schools. The author has
critically evaluated the zero draft of SNC for grades VI-VIII. She has designed the
following model based on the zero draft of SNC.
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Pakistan Social Sciences Review (PSSR) March, 2021 Volume 5, Issue I
Therefore, English is no longer an exclusive property of native speakers but a
lingua franca among communities of local and international languages (Burns, 2005).
To agree with Huntington (1996), p.61:
“A lingua franca is a way of coping with linguistic and cultural differences, not a
way of eliminating them. It is a tool for communication not a source of identity and
community”.
In Pakistan, English has played a crucial role in education, politics and socio-
economic infrastructure of the country (Mansoor, 2005, p.26). Mahboob (2009, p.179)
explains that English has not been removed from its prestigious position for many
reasons such as:
There is insufficient material produced in local languages to be used at all levels of
education (dearth of corpus planning).
There are no other politically neutral languages that can replace English.
The religious parties do not have sufficient political power.
The groups with economic, social, and political strength believe that English is essential
for future development
The Coleman Report (2010, p.3) precisely states:
“The British Council demonstrates its recognition of the importance that the
Government of Pakistan attaches to English, as a tool for individual and national
development, and its wishes to support the government in its desire to address the significant
challenges that the country faces in the area of English language teaching and learning”.
It is observed that large-size classes, lack of resources, unmotivated and
untrained teachers, fixed syllabus, forty minutes duration for English and external
examination bodies in Pakistani act as prominent constraints (Irfan, 2018).
Interestingly, Kamhi-Stein and Mahboob (2006) write that English teachers in
Pakistan teach using Grammar Translation Method (GTM). They scarcely use
English for communicative purposes in the classroom. The teaching faculty do not
use English competently and students undergo language problems. Coleman’s
report (2010, p.17) also reinforces this dilemma:
“Pakistani English teachers have a tendency to teach the language through the
medium of Urdu or a local language because probably their own competence in English is
poor or because they have so little confidence in their own competence”.
Richards (2011) believes that curriculum is the main pillar of an education
system. It includes what and how students learn, teachers’ pedagogy, resource
materials and assessment modes and practices. The model presented below
describes four ingredients of curriculum (see figure 2):
977
Insightful Perspectives about Effective Implementation
of ESL Single National Curriculum (SNC) in Pakistani Schools
Aims
Content
Organization Review
Figure 2 Aspects of English curriculum (Richards, 2011, p. 39)
Richards (2011) explains that effective curriculum development process
comprises needs analysis, situational analysis, learning outcomes, organisation of
course items, selection and preparation of teaching materials and evaluation of
learners and teachers. The curriculum is prepared for learners, therefore, it is needed
to gather information about learners’ educational, social and cultural backgrounds to
perceive their beliefs and learning styles. The purpose of curriculum is to enable the
students to critically examine the existing order so that they can shape their roles in
it. Richards (2011, p.52) further identifies the purposes of needs analysis for
curriculum development in English language teaching:
to find out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role, such
as university student
to help determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs of potential
students
to determine which students from a group are most in need of training in particular
language skills
to identify a change of direction that people in a reference group feel is important
to identify a gap between what students are able to do and what they need to able to do
to collect information about a particular problem learners are experiencing
Nunan (1992, p.176) discusses:
“The effectiveness of a language program will be dictated as much by the attitudes
and expectations of the learners as by the specifications of the official curriculum...learners
have their own agendas in the language lessons they attend. These agendas, as much as the
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