Gender studies have been an invigorating field of study under numerous lenses. Such explorations explore the inimitable distinctiveness and resemblance between the two genders. Correspondingly, this study focuses particularly on written communication of Pakistanis. Utilizing Searle’s Taxonomy for Speech Acts (1969) and Wulandari (2014)’s Taxonomy for Speech Act Functions, this research investigates differences and similarities of language use among Males and Females on the online social platforms of Facebook and Twitter. Data comprises of a thousand utterances accounted from selected social mediums. Results reveal Pakistani Males tend to use Expressive Acts often within their language while updating their status messages on Facebook and Twitter; contrastingly, Pakistani Females prefer to employ the Directive and Assertive Acts frequently in their language used in Facebook and Twitter status updates. Furthermore, Pakistani Males utilize the medium for informing their potential audience about various topics. While, Pakistani Females make use of the status messages to achieve multiple purposes, including: informing, suggesting and asserting. Through application of ANOVA, study’s results validate linguistic differences in language use of Pakistani Males and Females. It corroborates the fact that gender-based differences are part of the identity of a person and these are reflected through the medium of language elaborately.
Storytelling was initiated, as a part of this study, in a Pakistani university's undergraduate English class, involving reflective discussions and journal writing, to create a safe space where students can raise their voices. In a collectivist society, like Pakistan, society's norms are preferred over individual agencies (Bittles & Small, 2016), which instills a “collectivist obligation” amongst the youth to follow society's ways (Watkins & Biggs, 2001, p. 282) and, ultimately, distancing critical thinking (Feyyaz, 2016) and muting disparate voices (Zaidi et al., 2016). Moreover, Pakistan, being a developing country, faces multiple social and political issues (Droogan, 2018; Saeed et al., 2014) adding further pressure on these young minds. With technology, media, and education, the country's youth, especially majors in English, have started comparing their norms with modern values (Zubair, 2006) resulting in adjustment issues (Haidar, 2021a) which require attention and ventilation. In this study, the classroom was developed as a venting space for students whereby storytelling helped students in confronting conflicts, deliberating causes and navigating solutions. Data from journaling, discussions, and students' interviews revealed these practices were helpful in attaining mental peace, developing tolerance and building stronger human connections.
Power, conforming to particular political groups of the society, is exercised on the masses by making them believe in the legitimacy of that dominance. This association enables the groups to exercise their power and promulgate their ideologies through their discourse as well. One illustration of this discourse appears in the form of political manifestos. Utilizing the tool of language, the political actors (as agents of political parties) set agendas, pertinent topics and position their stance in these manifestos. Framed under critical discourse analysis, the current study attempts to investigate this act of ‘legitimation’ promulgated by Chilton (2004) and the strategies of Authority Legitimation, devised by Van Leeuwen (2008). The article illustrates how the power-holders utilize their linguistic resources to authorize their stance, idea, and action. The study helps explicating the relation between power, ideology and language and promulgates consciousness regarding the reality constructed by humans, as social and political actors.
Negative framing of the image of Muslims, especially after 9/11, has caused numerous Muslim communities to become apprehensive about the way their identity is presented in the mass media. One such community being affected by negative representations based on Islamophobia and other gender‐related stereotypes is Pakistan. As a result, these misunderstandings are being addressed through the construction of alternative and contrasting online identities by Pakistani vloggers through digital media. This paper excavates the diversified constructions of vloggers’ online identities using two theoretical approaches to explaining identity construction: micro‐hegemonies and the investment model. Nineteen Pakistani vloggers were purposively selected for the study, who were observed over a period of two years using online observations, interviews, and email conversations, adopting a digital ethnographic approach. The investigation found that the vloggers choose to portray their religious practices, Pakistani identity, and local culture and norms while simultaneously utilizing Western norms to indicate their modernity. Moreover, they regularly emphasize that they are normal, regular human beings. Hence, the paper contributes to understanding how Pakistanis present a complex, hybrid identity which counters the dominant narratives in the media.
One major part of language learning pedagogy includes identifying and rectifying discrepancies while communicating through the target language. In such educational settings, the importance of understanding learners’ errors becomes undeniable for both the pupil and pedagogue. Keeping this in forefront, the current investigation sampled two-hundred and ten emails jotted down by ESL (‘English as a Second Language’) students to their teachers. This comparative investigation divided the learners’ emails into two groups; First Semester and Fourth Semester, enrolled in MA English at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Virtual Campus, Islamabad. Utilizing Corder’s Model (1967) and Sawalmeh’s Categorization (2013), the emails were scrutinized and the results established that selected Pakistani learners commit nine different errors regularly in their electronic mail communiqué. Moreover, these outputs were comparatively studied utilizing the statistical software of SPSS (Version 16.0). These results highlighted a significant difference between the two semesters, which revealed a considerable reduction of errors in the learners’ language use as they move from first to fourth semester of the prescribed degree program. Additionally, Richards’ framework (1974) for deciphering source of learners’ errors was employed, which depicted that the first semester students’ first language (Urdu) frequently interferes when they use the second language (English) in writing emails. Meanwhile, the fourth semester students’ language errors majorly contained deviant structures or ignorance of target language’s (English) rules. Considering these findings, the study proposes similar studies to be conducted on other institutes’ pupils and also recommends practical methodologies like corrective feedback for teachers, in aiding learners to fortify their command on English language.
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