Department of English Language and Literature

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https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/497

Higher degree by research can be a very different experience from postgraduate study. Research, either at the University of Management and Technology (UMT) or elsewhere in the world, opens up new fields of inquiry. When a student is studying hard for his/her degree, he/she wants to be rest assured that he/she is in the best hands.

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Browsing Department of English Language and Literature by Author "Muhammad Shaban Rafi"

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    Promoting critical pedagogy in language education
    (2009) Muhammad Shaban Rafi
    This research investigates effects of critical pedagogy on the development of critical thinking through teaching English essay writing. The research also provides guideline to English Language Teachers to promote critical thinking in language learning and to teach language for reasoning. Quantitative and Qualitative data were collected from 53 English Language Teachers and 34 Civil Superior Services (CSS) students to test the hypothesis (by incorporating critical thinking through English Essay Writing promotes reasoning skills among the students). Descriptive Statistics, Paired Sample t-test and graphic representation were executed for the analysis of data. A marked difference (41.26 Mean Score) was measured in the performance of English language teachers in the result of critical thinking instructions into the composition of English Essay Writing. A significant difference was measured between Post-test I and II among the CSS students. The results signify that by incorporating critical thinking in teaching English Essay Writing promotes reasoning skills among the subjects. The research suggests replacing the old cycle of transmission pedagogy with critical thinking pedagogy in language education – a vehicle through which the students gradually discover themselves in the process of language leaning, and develop the cognizance of appropriate language to reason.
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    Semantic variations of punjabi toneme
    (2010) Muhammad Shaban Rafi
    This study highlights that Punjabi spoken in the suburbs of Lahore is loosing its tonality to mark semantic variations. This study based on numerical data examines: (a) whether or not Punjabi (spoken in Pakistani Punjab) is spoken with its tonal features (level, fall and rise pitch), and (b) Do Punjabi speakers perceive semantic variations of Punjabi tonal words (Kora, Cha and Kera)? Acoustic and perceptual data were elicited from 20 Punjabi speakers between 20 to 22 years old, belonging to the suburbs of Lahore, the Punjab. Tonal words: Kora, Cha and Kera with their conventional semantic variations were manipulated at three different positions: Phrase Initial, Phrase Medial and Phrase Final in 27 phrases in order to neutralize effects of stress. Similarly, to neutralize effects of intonation, these tonal words were also recorded in the form of statement and question. Phonetic analysis and sound manipulations were performed with the help of PRAAT, speech processing tool designed for windows users. Results illustrate that the above mentioned Punjabi tonal words are overwhelmingly articulated with fall pitch and they are perceived with marginal pitch variations in a discourse. Instead of using their phonological knowledge to perceive pitch variations, the Punjabi speakers activate their pragmatic knowledge to entail different meaning of tonal words.
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    Sms text analysis: language, gender and current practices
    (2012) Muhammad Shaban Rafi
    This article tests the assumption that SMS language is like a pidgin in every speech community. The article also examines the assumption that a great motor of SMS lives among females whose lexical and morpho-syntactic choices are different from males. It further speculates influence of SMS language on language of media. One hundred messages were taken randomly from 20 cell phones and perceptions of 25 males and 25 females were recorded on an ordinal scale for analysis. The text was analyzed to look into lexicology, morphology and syntactic levels of texters, and influence of SMS on language of commercials. The results show that a novice intelligible language has evolved through SMS, which is influencing language of media. A significant difference is found between male and female texters’ linguistic properties.