Content area
Full Text
Abstract Despite relatively lesser number of native speakers, English carries an enormous symbolic capital in Pakistan. Therefore, it seems necessary to see how young Pakistanis envision the role of English in their individual and collective lives. This study aims to explore the attitudes of a sample of Pakistani learners towards the expanding national and global roles of English in the contemporary world. In addition, the study also investigates the socio-cultural and contextual factors that shape their views about English language. The study is qualitative in nature. Twenty semi-structured interviews of Pakistani undergraduate EFL learners were conducted to get an in-depth data about their linguistic attitudes. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that Pakistani learners, overall, reveal an ambivalent attitude towards English and its culture. However, they seem to have internalized the socio-educational roles of English in their lives.
The findings also indicate the symbolic capital and linguistic imperialism of English as participants consider its knowledge necessary for socio-economic uplift in the contemporary world including Pakistan. Policy makers and academicians can use the findings of this study to analyse the possible effects of English on the roles of local languages, especially, in Pakistani educational settings.
Keywords: L2 Attitudes, Symbolic capital, Linguistic imperialism, Ambivalent attitude.
Introduction In the varied linguistic fabric of Pakistan, English has remained an important, dominant and prestigious language in Pakistani society since the creation of the country (Abbas, 1993; Shamim, 2008; Jilani, 2009; Coleman and Capstick, 2012). There is no official number of English language speakers in Pakistan. However, the researchers have estimated it differently. Rahman (2007) argues that almost 3 to 4 percent of Pakistani population can or do speak English with proficiency, including those who use it as their first language. Pakistan is a multilingual and multicultural country. However, the teachings and traditions of Islam (religion of 97% population) seem to provide some common grounds to the people of Pakistan (Norton and Kamal 2003; Rahman 2007). Almost 72 languages are spoken in Pakistan (Rahman, 2007; Asher, 2008; Coleman, 2010).
There are six major regional languages Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki, Urdu and Balochi which have the dominant majority of speakers (almost 96%) in Pakistan (Rahman, 2003, 2007). Despite its relatively limited number of native speakers, Urdu is the...