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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Analyzing the Advertising Discourse-A Journey from Sight to Mind
(International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2013) Mahrukh Baig
This research paper sets out to project an in-depth study of the advertising discourse by applying methodological approaches of Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis to the chosen “advertisements”. It aims at examining the ‘power relations and struggles’ among product-producers and product-consumers, to gauge the level of psychological dominance exercised through the advertising discourse. The study, fundamentally, presents a counteranalysis of ‘advertising strategies’, as to how far they influence the consumers’ attitudes and to what extent the consumers direct their ‘discourse’. In other words, this research attempts to answer the question: ‘who turns out to be more powerful by controlling the other’s mind, in advertiser-consumer relationship?’, whether it is the consumer who shapes the discourse of advertisements through their demands, or the advertiser who affects the consumers’ beliefs through their ‘discourse’! Thus, the current paper presents a comprehensive review of the relevant literature leading towards a theoretical framework of preferred DA and CDA approaches to be further applied on the discourse of advertisements. And towards the end, it states the final remarks concluding the entire discussion and reflecting upon the effectiveness of Critical Discourse Analysis in its application on the advertising phenomena.
A Case Study of Language Development in 0.1-0.9 Year Old Child
(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2015) Naila, Shahadat
The purpose of this study was to observe language development in a child from the birth up to the age of 9 months. The present research focused on the acquisition of human speech sounds by a child, in comparison with non-human sounds. Other than that, the study also tried to explore the effects of audio-visual elements on language development. A newbornbaby boywasthe subject of the current study. The total observation period of 9 monthswas broken down into three stages. Each stagecomprised ofthree months of child’s age. The data was collectedin the form of audio and video recordings, documents and interviews with family members of the subject. After observing the subject for 9 months, conclusions were drawn and compared with past studies in the same area. A child goes through many human and non-human sounds during his language acquisition period but as devised by Chomsky (2004) that language is innate (Chomsky, 2004), child accepts only human speech signals to acquire language. The research concluded that both sound and image help a child to acquire a language. Individually, they cannot be beneficial in developing language in a child. Language development is a systematic process, whichis achieved by a child in the early period of his or her life, no matter child comes across how many human and non-human sounds. It becomes easier for a child when he or shefinds pictorial representation of what he or she listen.
Cohesion coherence interdependence: Analysing cohesive devices to study coherence in the text
(2012-10) Mahrukh Baig
This paper places its focus on an in-depth analysis of text-forming (cohesive) devices in a literature-based discourse. The purpose behind the research is to highlight a significant role of cohesion in generating coherence of a text. Moreover, a detailed study of the language use in a post-war literary piece aims to facilitate the comprehension of linguistic varieties in the chaotic periods of turmoil.
A comparative analysis of Ezra Pound’s "In a Station of the Metro" and T. S. Eliot’s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
(Maryland Institute of Research, 2012-10) Mahrukh Baig
Pound and Eliot’s satiric criticism on the new morality of the modern world is skillfully achieved in their famous poems, “In a Station of the Metro” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. This research paper is aimed at a comparative analysis of these poems, with particular regards to their thematic concerns and stylistic features.
Correlation of Academic Performance with Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation
(2017-04-05) Zoubia, Ashraf
The present study explores whether the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational constructs are two independent orientations of motivation or, alternatively, two opposite poles of a continuum. Following a quantitative research approach, data were collected from a random sample of 279 college students, using Gardener’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). The data were statistically analyzed using Pearson’s correlation in SPSS. The results of the study suggest that different orientations of motivation, i.e. Intrinsic and Extrinsic or instrumental and integrative, are not conflicting, and they can co-exist. Additionally, the study endorses that there are no marked differences in the English language achievement of the intrinsically and the extrinsically motivated students, both male and female. Both sets of students show mixed results in terms of their marks obtained; whereas, any single orientation of motivation could not be clearly linked to any particular achievement level. Keywords: Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Academic Achievement, Gender Differences, Public/ Private Sector
Developing a human resource-best practices scale for Pakistani general public sector universities
(University of Management and Technology, 2012) Furrakh Abbas; Shehzad Ahmed
The purpose of the study was to develop a scale for identifying the effectiveness of Human Resource Practices (HRPs) in general public sector universities in Pakistan. The development of the research instrument was done very carefully, keeping in view all the intricacies and specifications taken from literature review. The prevailing scenario of the higher educational institutes of Pakistan was always kept in mind during the research scale development process. The research scale encompassed the six categories of HRMPs namely recruitment and selection, orientation, training and development, performance appraisal, compensation and benefits, and working environment. The research instrument was validated through peer review and with the help of experts‟ opinions in the field. Finally, a poll of 34 statements was developed. Two hundred and fifty (250) faculty members from different faculties, gender, designation, qualification, teaching experience and age, filled the questionnaire. The overall Cronbach Alpha was found 0.937, whereas for each factor, alpha ranged from 0.598 to 0.927. The positive, strong and significant correlation was found among the six components of the HRBP‟s indicating the uni-dimensionality of the scale.
Developing Urdu WordNet using the merge approach
(Society for Natural Language Processing, Pakistan (SNLP), 2012-11) Ayesha Zafar
The current paper describes the process of developing an Urdu WordNet. The process includes selecting words, identifying their senses and documenting their use. The current work also ties the Urdu senses with corresponding senses in English. Challenges in developing the WordNet and the solutions being implemented are discussed. Finally, this paper presents the work planned in the future.
Deviation from grice maxims in the conversation of schisophernic patients: A qualitative study
(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2017) Majeed, Rabia
Linguistics and psychology both are concerned with locating and discovering the link between language and psychological procedures by which people of a community acquire and use language during social interaction. This research endeavors to discover the deviation of the individuals with schizophrenia in conversation from the Grice maxims so that early detection could be feasible via the analysis of the language patterns. It offers a discernmentto language disorder in schizophrenic sufferers including, troubles in phonology, syntax, semantics, and morphology and so on. Patients affected by schizophrenia have also been located to be deviated of their pragmatic cooperation of communication as quality, quantity, relation and manner while having casual interaction with other inside the comprehension of figurative language (e.g., metaphors, ironies, proverbs). The study further located the existing patterns in the talk of the sufferes as unminfulness of situational context, irrelevant responding, distorted intonation and absence of sequencing in the personal ideas of the sufferes that make their talk abnormal for the common persons.The idea disorder is taken into consideration to be one of the maximum widespread reasons behind of their verbal exchange impairments. Along with this notion, other theories from Psycholinguistics and Discourse analysis are used to discover and explain the impairments. This discipline of research is naturally bordering each psychology and linguistics, however has until now been overlooked through most linguists. This paper offers an overviewof schizophrenia and language as an interdisciplinary field of studies, as a manner of integrating pragmatic notion with psychological approach .For the empirical data, interviews had been conducted. This research has been used a qualitative evaluation of records addressing change within the production of language as measured through verbal fluency testing, in addition to analysis of spontaneous speech of the individuals. However, all the psychiatrists, speech therapists and the own family members of the patients agreed that the sufferers with schizophrenia have several varieties of language impairments. They mentioned approximately the various stylesof the deviation and the way the ones may be detected. This paper concluded with some of the approaches in which the study of schizophrenia may also provide new insights into the cognitive and neural structure of the language system and by improving the pragmatic abilities of the sufferers so that the rehabilitation process can be improved.
Dictionary using habits of electrical engineering students in Lahore, Pakistan
(2012-04-04) Anjum Naseem Rao
The modern day dictionaries, particularly the EFL learner dictionaries, have improved enormously on their micro-macro and super structure, yet the potential users of these kinds of dictionaries are not fully aware of this comprehensive improvement. As a result, the wealth of information, both linguistic and encyclopedic goes unheeded by the potential learners. The main cause of all this is attributed to the lack of requisite reference skill (Dictionary using skills) by the learners. The aim of this study is to find out the extent to which the students of electrical engineering at UMT possess the necessary reference skills to be able to use the EFL learner dictionaries efficiently in situations of linguistic and pragmatic failure. The research methodology used in this investigation is eclectic drawing on the essential principles of both qualitative and quantitative approaches for a comprehensive understanding of the situation under investigation. As many as one hundred students were selected randomly for this study. The findings of the pilot study suggest that most of the students lack the necessary dictionary using skills to make the most of the information provided in the dictionary which, of course, underscores the need to teach the students on how to use the dictionary, the kind of dictionary most suitable for them and integrating the dictionary with the language class. Such a measure is expected to improve the linguistic and communicative competence of the learners and will make them confident and self reliant in their study.
Effects of using short stories in developing language skills at intermediate level in Lahore
(University of Management and Technolog, 2018) jahan, Kalsoom
This research was conducted to know the effects of using short stories in developing language skills at intermediate level in Lahore. It was a quantitative research and random sampling technique was used to collect data from sample of the study. Data was collected from the 11th and 12th year students enrolled in Govt. Higher secondary Schools in Lahore. Data was collected from 585 students by using questionnaire.Data was analysed by using (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) SPSS version 21. Descriptive and inferential statistics (independent sample t-test and one way ANOVA) were used to analyse the data. The results of the study show that short stories were more helpful in developing speaking, reading, and writing skills than listening skills. As the audios and videos of short stories were not easily available of short stories, nor the teacher used them in language classroom, affected the listening skills. Inferential analysis shows there was no significant difference on the basis of gender, education, and medium of instruction, but Urdu speaker shows better opinions than Punjabi speakers in learning language skills. Students enrolled in different programs had different views, as students enrolled in F.Sc (Pre-Medical) had better responses than students enrolled in any other program about using short stories in developing language skills
Grammatical Analysis of Urdu Auxiliary Verbs
(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2015) Mushtaq, Zakia
This thesis examines and illustrates the existence, internal structure, syntactic arrangement and semantic contribution of Urdu auxiliaries (single to multiple in a verb phrase). The study investigates the behavior of auxiliary verbs ending with different morphemes and how these auxiliaries can be classified on the basis of different morphological forms. The different auxiliaries have been classified and enlisted in the form of tables so that one group can be clearly distinguished from the other. The dissertation explores that syntactic places of multiple auxiliaries are generally fixed and the position of auxiliaries cannot be changed or swapped. This aspect has been explained with the help of linear examples as well as syntactic trees. It has been shown that the syntactic trees can acquire various auxiliaries and intensifier simultaneously that evolves the trees from simple to complex forms. The current work also draws attention towards the semantic information Urdu auxiliaries bring with them. It attempts to describe that the inflection in auxiliaries contributes the aspectual meanings of the main verb. Moreover, it is noticed that addition of auxiliaries does not always refer to the addition or change of meanings; it generally emphasizes or strengthens the existing interpretations. This research attempts to enlist all auxiliaries and their individual semantic properties.
Human resource management practices: Perceptions of academia
(University of Management and Technology, 2012-03) Furrakh Abbas; Shehzad Ahmed
The major purpose of this research study was to explore the perceptions of academia about human resource management practices at University of the Punjab, Lahore as well as to examine link among these practices. This study being descriptive in nature, utilized survey technique. A sample of 150 permanent faculty members was selected through simple random sampling technique. Data were collected by using the Human Resource-Best Practices Scale (HR-BPS) developed by Ahmed, Abass & Akhter (2011). Descriptive statistics and item loading were run for data analysis. Results showed that the satisfaction level of academia about the execution of human resource management practices is low, especially about the performance appraisal practice. It was also found that a significant positive relationship exists between various kinds of practices. This research study confirms the need for strengthening the human resource management practices at university.
Humor as an essential component of tourism education
(2012-07-05) Irbaz Khan, Muhammad
Tourism education plays a vital role in promoting tourism. This is the core foundational platform where from emerges tourist guides and tourism administrators. In tourism education classroom, appreciations, rewards and mutual competitions are considered sufficient as attention capturing techniques, but there is another newly evolving technique that is asserting its significance day by day. Humor is an emerging technique now in tourism education classroom. Humor has been finding its place and getting more and more productive and positive effects on learners in improving pleasantness of their personality. Researchers and experts are emphasizing that humor is always engaging and engagement is the key factor towards participator’s involvement. Humor as a motivational tool in tourism education classroom, in this global economic set up hit by recession, is the most economical technique that can be practiced and availed of even by poor countries of the world. It casts nothing but proves more fruitful. Muhammad
The impact of formal feedback on the development of writing skills at o-level in the selected private schools in lahore
(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2016) Ana Ramsha
This study explores the impact of teachers’ written feedback on students’ English composition writing in the selected private high schools in Lahore and also examines students’ attitude towards teacher feedback. A mixed method approach was used to gather both qualitative and quantitative data through the use of survey questionnaires for both students and teachers and composition essays. The study took place during the regular school year in three O-Level classrooms. Research participants (n=75) were selected using random sampling. Small scale pilot study and Cronbach’s Alpha test was conducted to ensure that the research would proceed as predicted and to test the validity and reliability of the data. Closed ended questionnaires were triangulated by analyzing real classroom composition essays. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and is presented using descriptive statistics with frequency and percentage of responses. The ESL composition profile constructed by Jacobs et al (1981) was used in the current research to examine the quality of learners’ first draft and second draft based on the scores on accuracy, content, expression, vocabulary and mechanic features of essay writing. The scores of learners’ essay quality were measured before the feedback (first draft) and after the feedback (second draft). Two unbiased raters were requested to read and grade students’ first draft and second draft using ESL composition profile to examine the quality of essays based on their scores. A paired sample T-test was run to understand whether there was a significant difference between the first draft and the second draft. Results of the paired sample T-Test showed that the scores given by the raters increased significantly in the second draft as compared to the first draft.Teachers’ comments had a constructive impact on the writing quality of the learners and a positive improvement was noticed in their performance in their post-test stage as compared to their pre-test stage.This study revealed that students get assistance even from marginal feedback. Therefore, in the light of this study it is recommended that educational institutions should work on regulating feedback practices in Pakistan and integrating multiple draft strategies in order to maximize learning. Key words: Teacher Feedback, O-Level, Multiple drafts, ESL Composition writing, academic achievement
Investigating the Illocutionary Force of Request used by Pathan Salesmen during their Encounter with Lahori Customers.
(University of Management and Technology, 2018) Iqbal, Huma
Based on the examples from naturally-occurring data collected from Pathan salesmen’s speech, the study investigates the communicative act of request used to achieve the effect of persuasion. Request has been analyzed on the basis of linguistic strategies and the level of directness. The examination of request is based on Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theoretical framework of face work on threatening acts and Trosborg’s request strategies (1995) employed to investigate the level of speech directness of Pathan salesmen based in Lahore’s two busy markets.The data was collected randomly from Pathan salesmen working in Lahore to show an unbiased representation of the group. The result reveals that the speech of Pathan salesmen exhibit culture-specific preferences for lexical down graders (address terms) to soften the illocutionary force of the request and, thus, reducing the threat to the hearer’s face. Frequent use of imperatives with a culturally specific linguistic code (kinship term) were employed to mitigate the effect of direct request.The study contributes to the field of discourse construction where the ability of Pathan salesmen to use certain linguistic code and elements to combine into utterances is demonstrated. This study could be utilized to train salesmen in marketing discourse by looking into the pros and cons of their interaction with the customers.
Leadership discourse and role of humor in it: A new orientation of business English
(2012) Irbaz Khan, Muhammad
The role of English cannot be ignored in global business. Humor, in its quintessence, bears numerous multi-faceted benefits for business and should be taken seriously. Discourse constitutes a crucial aspect of leadership performance. It has even been pointed out that „Imagining leadership outside of language is all but impossible‟ (Lyons & O‟Mealy, 1998). Indeed, it appears that many of the central leadership activities, such as creating and communicating a vision or mission statement, encouraging, motivating and guiding subordinates, setting a goal and ensuring subordinates‟ compliance all involve language (Bennis & Thomas, 2002). In spite of this long-winded relationship between leadership and language, there are amazingly few studies which view leadership performance from a linguistic standpoint (Wodak, 1997; Mullany, 2007). This paper aims at addressing this new orientation by illustrating some of the ways through which analysis of leadership discourse especially that involves humor will be carried out. The data analyzed in the paper proves that humor has a positive and productive effect in leadership discourse. CEO‟s may encourage this feature in their negotiations, daily written and verbal interactions and may feel the difference by miraculous impact of humor in their leadership practices.
Morphosyntactic study of punjabi light verbs
(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2016) SABA, TABASUM
This research concentrates on the morphosyntactic aspects of light verbs in Punjabi language. The understudied South Asian language, Punjabi, manifests a productive formation of light verb constructions which are integral to the structure of the language.The usage of light verb is one of the ways of constructing complex sentential structure. Punjabi light verbs tend to combine with N, Adj, V, Adv, and prep to form light verb constructions in Punjabi. The present study aims to highlight the significance of the light verbs found in Punjabi. Moreover, it attempts to find out the Punjabi light verbs, describe variations of different Punjabi light verbs and to display a number of syntactic and semantic characteristics of Punjabi light verbs. This research presents a list of light verbs and its different constructions. The differences among light verbs, dummy verbs, serial verbs, auxiliaries have also been discussed. The present study is descriptive, corpus-based and qualitative in nature. Light verb constructions in Punjabi have been analyzed under Andrew Carnie‘s theoretical frame work and phrase structure grammar in the light of x-bar theory. The data for the study was collected from personal observation, Punjabi books, articles, journals, recordings, etc.
Natural order of vocabulary acquisition
(EUROPEAN ACADEMIC RESEARCH, 2013-08) Shaban Rafi, Muhammad
Past investigations conclude that L1 (first language) English learners acquire frequent, concrete, typical and basic level words faster and earlier than infrequent, abstract, atypical and super-ordinate level words. This study examines: (a) the natural order of vocabulary acquisition among 5 to 7 years old English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, and (b) whether the order of vocabulary presentation in the Grade-I English textbook, published by Punjab Textbook Board (PTB), Pakistan, coincides with the vocabulary acquisition habits of the learners. A vocabulary test was executed to gather data from one hundred and twenty ESL learners. A corpus analysis of the Grade-I English textbook was also carried out to compare the order of vocabulary presentation with the learners’ acquisition habits. The study revealed that Grade-I ESL learners acquire and memorize frequent, concrete, basic level and typical vocabulary of a category faster and earlier than infrequent, abstract, super-ordinate and atypical ones. Moreover, the order of vocabulary presentation in English textbooks does not match with the acquisition habits of the learners, which has implications for textbook writers.
Phonemic variation experienced by Pakistani immigrants in Sweden
(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2017) Javaria Shafique
This dissertation attempted to investigate the similitude and differences of Swedish and Urdu vowel inventories for the benefit of Pakistani immigrants living in Sweden. The participants of this study were Pakistani immigrants between 25-30 years of age and were regular students of SFI (Swedish for Immigrants). They were selected by using purposive sampling technique. It is a basic requirement for immigrants in Sweden to have at least basic level of knowledge of Swedish. Considering this fact, learning Swedish is very important for Pakistani immigrants. By using the exploratory research design, comparative analysis was used to answer the research question. Analysis shows that Urdu and Swedish are entirely different from each other with respect to phonological aspects that caused differences in vowels articulations. These differences made learning difficult but some similarities are also found in the mid-rounded and back rounded vowels that provided ease to learner in learning Swedish. The results of this study manifested that Swedish government needed to draw new language learning policies for immigrants that help them to learn Swedish language (with the accurate accent). Moreover, research studies reveals that there is a great need to open new SFI institutes in every commune so people could get admission on immediate bases. It is hoped that this research thesis would make some contribution in the field of linguistics.
(Post-)Colonial Silence(s) and Critical Practice(s): Some Perspectives on Waseem Anwar’s “Black” Women’s Dramatic Discourse
(Linguistics & Literature Review, 2015) Muhammad Furqan Tanvir
This article comments on Waseem Anwar‟s book “Black” Women’s Dramatic Discourse: A Psychosemiotic Study of Silence in Selected Plays by African American Women Dramatists to illustrate how the essential plurality of postmodern critical practices, in spite of their overt emphasis on anti-traditionalism, are rhetorically governed by academic jargon that is a multifaceted tradition in its own right. In doing so, it will introduce the reader to Waseem Anwar‟s critique, in the wake of postcolonial studies, of the dialogic nature of language in evaluations of race and gender.

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