The Trends of Verbal Bullying among University Students: A Sociolinguistic Analysis

Abstract

Bullying remains a pervasive problem within the educational institutions of Pakistan. Students, especially the ones with any kind of disability are constant victims of bullying. Among the many forms of bullying, verbal bullying is the most common one. The objectives of the present study are to understand the trends of verbal bullying behavior within Pakistani Universities and to identify practical bullying prevention strategies. The study is delimited to studying only the verbal bullying that relates to the use of language to persecute, oppress or victimize people. The researcher has delimited the study to the undergraduate students of three major universities in Islamabad Pakistan: FAST-NUCES, NUST, and NUML. The present study uses questionnaires as a method of data collection. The study highlights the effects of verbal bullying on the health, well-being and also on educational career of students. This study concluded that bullying culture is common among the universities of Pakistan which is mainly reflected in the language students use. Keeping in mind the findings of the study, better strategies can be suggested to the educational institutions to deal with the bullying culture in their institutes so that students do not suffer at the hands of the bullies.