This paper analyses the management of foreign languages in the language planning of Afghanistan after the fall of Taliban. The analyses assess the suitability of foreign languages performing developmental and peace-making roles in domains where distribution of power is contested by the Afghan ethnolinguistic groups. Primary data of the paper comes from a questionnaire based survey and followup interviews. Analysis reveals the presence of various modern languages such as French, German, Russian and English in Afghanistan. The acceptance of foreign languages especially English is overwhelming in Afghanistan. Among foreign languages, English happens to be the most vigorous and promising language. However, a significant portion of Afghans oppose the growing influence and power for the foreign languages in Afghanistan. The paper notes, an uneven spread of English as the dominant foreign language in Afghanistan. Therefore, foreign languages' role in development and peacemaking may not be achieved due to lack of equal access. The paper recommends a wide-range of interventions to help in making foreign languages a resource for development and peacemaking. The intervention includes social, economic and political equality and equal opportunities in learning of foreign languages. It is also emphasised that the promotion of local languages is not to be affected by the availability of foreign languages.

Teachers professional development is central to meet the ever-growing challenges at the elementary school level. In this article we describe the development and use of Teachers Development Scale at the elementary school level in Pakistan. An exploratory factor analysis (n=274) showed two basic dimensions of teachers professional development: community development, and individual development. Community-based developments included collaborative projects, participation in conferences, and system of educators for proficient advancement. On the other hand, individual developments related to improvement in course work, coaching, observation visits to other schools and qualification degree programs. The implication of the study identifies constraints and suggestions for educators, educationists and instructor mentors.

The current study investigates the prevalent gender-binary narrative in Pakistani television commercials. It tends to portray the dominant gender representational mechanisms which are implicitly employed by the advertisers. Television commercials, having the power to (re)frame the ideology of larger audience through visual/linguistic content and agency to pave the way for social change have become one of the most viable social institutions of disseminating information to a wider audience. The theoretical underpinning of the study is based on the theory of semiotics outlined by Dyer in “Advertising as Communication”. Semiotics is considered a critical tool for investigating meaning making process in media discourse because of its wideranged acceptability and reliability. The data for the current study comprise television commercials which are broadcast on popular Pakistani television channels. The sampling technique is purposive in nature including only those commercials which largely reflect gender representation. The study finds the commercials presenting layers of meanings at symbolic level of semiotic modes where men and women are displayed in stereotypical manner, subscribing to patriarchal structures.

Friere’s (1970) notion of critical pedagogy empowers marginalized section of educative practices. Neutral education process guarantees autonomy of learners and effective pedagogy. The paper uses this approach to critically investigate academic discourse. It was hypothesized that there were power structures and ideological underpinnings in academic discourse distorting the notion of critical pedagogy. The students instead of harboring reflexivity and performing as co-workers bank upon whatever is deposited in their minds by their mentors. The study was limited to written academic texts in various universities. The academic texts were investigated in the light of one of CDA strategies. Textual analysis helped investigating power structures formed implicitly by nexus of forces which perpetuate nexus of domination. These findings were revealed in different shapes which were exposed with the help of relevant CDA tools. The study offers an important dimension of Pakistani academic discourse for future researches.

The grouting of foundation rock is a critical constructional technique for most of the mega projects across the world. Grouting operations come up with the challenges of pre-planning, visualization, presentation of data, quantity control, cost effectiveness and budget management. Unless properly managed, the above factors can contribute to project complexity and cost overruns. This paper deals with the application of innovative Arc Geographical Information System (ArcGIS) to effectively present the GIN (Grouting Intensity Number) data and its interpretation. The case study is being carried out on Tarbela4 th Extension Hydropower Project during the foundation grouting of Omega Thrust Block for Penstock area. Data taken from the grouting record are analyzed and presented through GIS. By assigning the locations (i.e., coordinates or project station number) and boreholes plan; the details for each primary, secondary and tertiary boreholes are displayed through GIS. The final data metrics retrieved from the grouting station comprises of borehole grouting logs, total grout takes, grouting stages suspended, etc. The GIN grouting report obtained from the GIS user interface delineates information on 1) Grout consumption per primary versus secondary holes; 2) Showing areas of high grout takes; where secondary, tertiary and quaternary boreholes are required; 3) The grouting stages remained unsuccessful. The final interpretation of GIS data is used to avoid unnecessary secondary, tertiary and quaternary holes executions which lead to the completion of the project within the given time frame and allocated resources.