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Item Comparative Discourse Analysis of Khawaja Ghulam Farid’s Selected Saraiki Poetry and Huxley’s Mystic Tropes(UMT Lahore, 2018) Afsheen KashifThe research aims to investigate the Saraiki poetry of Khawaja Ghulam Farid (1845-1901), a legendary mystic poet and a great scholar of the 19th century. For the purpose of current research, the mystic tropes proposed by Aldous Huxley have not only been employed as a model for comparison but his selected essays have also been analyzed to consolidate the analysis of the theme of ‘Oneness’ in Khawaja Ghulam Farid’s selected poetry. Aldous Huxley’s mysticism is taken as a model because although being from different cultural, geographical, and religious backgrounds, Khawaja Ghulam Farid and Huxley convey the same spiritual message. The present study brings forward the collateral likeliness of the Mystic approach of both literary figures. The research highlights the role of spiritualism in the present world choked with materialism. The research also aims to understand not only the semantic aspect of the theme of ‘Oneness’ in Khawaja Ghulam Farid’s poetry but also to explore the pragmatic dimensions through the thematic, connotative and contextual understanding of his Saraiki Kafis. The study is a descriptive research based on qualitative paradigm. The research design will be drawn from James Paul Gee’s method of Discourse Analysis, which is the study of language in use. Through Discourse Analysis, the significance of the poetry of Khawaja Ghulam Farid in his era and in the present social context will be studied. The study is a step towards unveiling the broad spectrum of Khawaja Ghulam Farid’s Sufi poetry in particular and the poetry of great Sufi poets in general. The discourse analytical study finds that the philosophy of ‘Oneness’, although exists in different forms, spreads out the same message for all religions and beings.Item Zygmunt Bauman and the Continuing Legacy of Existentialism: An Interpretation of Cookshaw’s Double Somersaults and Hawkins’ 250 Grams of Poetry(UMT Lahore, 2018) Bushra MumtazThis study analyzes two collections of verse, i.e., Marlene Cookshaw’s Double Somersaults (1999), and Spike Hawkins’ 250 Grams of Poetry (2001), with a view of exploring how, at the turn of the millennium, they highlight the continuing relevance of themes and issues popularized by the existentialist philosophy in the wake of the World Wars. In this regard, the analysis of the two poets is contextualized by Zygmunt Bauman’s pithy critique of the experience of modernity and postmodernity in his book Modernity and Ambivalence. Drawing on the continuities and discontinuities between modernism and postmodernism, the study expands the idea that even though the sensibility of these poets at the turn of the millennium understandably does not focus obsessively on the sort of alienation or nihilism that characterized their predecessors, the recognition of strains of ambivalence, a central concern in Bauman’s philosophy, in such themes as interaction with the other or hopes of salvation, does necessitate a partial leaning on the inheritance of what is most easily categorized as the early to mid-twentieth century existentialist mindset.Item Sara Suleri and the Work of Memoir(UMT Lahore, 2018) SAMRA HAFEEZThis study formally analyzes two nonfiction works of Sara Suleri as examples of memoir writing. Memoir, a sub-genre of creative nonfiction, is defined as “an account written by an individual about their personal life or experiences” (oxforddictionaries.com). Suleri’s works have not yet been analyzed through the lens of memoir as a genre. I have attempted to do that according to the qualities set down by the practitioners of memoir. Even though Suleri’s work have been described as memoirs, no one has done in-depth analysis of these two texts in the light of the theories of memoir writing as a genre defined by practitioners in the field of creative nonfiction, such as Lee Gutkind, Judith Barrington, Philip Lopate, Bill Roorbach, William Zinsser etc. Claiming Suleri’s memoirs as pieces of creative nonfiction explains these works in the light of the theories of different practitioners of the fourth genre also known as creative nonfiction. To quite an extent, writing a memoir can be an act of re-living and re-experiencing the past by the process of recall. Suleri attempts to find a relationship with her past in these works. Her memoirs Meatless Days and Boys Will Be Boys: A Daughter’s Elegy revolve around multiple phases of her life. She has penned her experiences in an artful and fictionalized manner. In her memoirs, Suleri has sketched the picture of her life in such a way that it reveals different meanings centered on her individual memories. She has defined her past through the echoes of the voices and the silence of her characters. This study fills the gap in the critical appreciation of Suleri’s memoirs to date.Item Resurrection of the Self: A Comparative Thematic Study of Rumi’s Selected Poems and Hesse’s Siddhartha(UMT Lahore, 2018) Shazia ParveenThis research aims to deal with a person’s journey towards spiritual development. It underscores different stages which are essential to pass for a mystic to reach his or her goal, i.e. self-fulfillment, a higher state of a man’s existence in which Phenomenal Self immerses into the Divine Self. In order to chart out the stages of such a journey, this research does a thematic study of Hesse’s masterpiece, Siddhartha, and Rumi’s selected poems which has helped me to draw similar themes from both writers. The motive behind the selection of these texts is to highlight the phenomenon of resurrected self from two different perspectives i.e. Eastern Sufism and Western mysticism and to merge them to propose a comprehensive perspective to understand the Divine. Taking inspiration from Fowler, I have categorized the spiritual journey into three stages and named them as The Childhood Stage, The Adulthood stage and The Young Stage. At the first stage, a person remains focused on his/her selfish desires such as the desire to achieve reputation, honor and wealth which eventually leads him/her toward different recalcitrant feelings like jealousy, anger and hatred. At the second stage when a person becomes a little mature, s/he starts swimming against the current of childish attempts to attain happiness and struggles to find the eternal source of happiness and peace. At the third and the last stage, he achieves the ultimate source or truth of happiness and becomes a divine source for others. This research also highlights a person’s attitude, feelings and perceptions at different levels of his development. A comparative thematic study on Rumi and Hesse has not been done before and this research bridges this gap.Item Ecofeminism in Summer’s End: Mapping Change in Turkish Society(UMT Lahore, 2018) MASHAL FAROOQIThis study explores the prospects of ecofeminism in Adalet Ağaoğlu’s novel Summer’s End. Ecofeminism is an interdisciplinary inquiry based on studies including feminism, women’s health and ecology. This thesis contends that the work of Adalet Ağaoğlu gives us evidence of ecofeminism and maps the political and environmental change in Turkish society. Drawing on the knowledge of ecology and women’s liberation, fundamentally ecofeminism is a belief system which upholds the idea that the force which approves abuses based on race, class, sex, sexuality, physical capacities, and species originates from the same philosophy which endorses the persecution of nature. Social, political, and cultural upheavals have left permanent marks on Turkey’s ecology and women. Turkish women writers have used their pen as a tool to discuss the changes in culture, society and environment of the nation. This study explores the connection between the female characters of the novel and the change in Turkish natural environment. This study fills in the gap as Eastern Mediterranean is underrepresented in Turkish literature. To analyze the text deeply factors in the sociopolitical, cultural, economic and environmental transformation of the country have been incorporated in the study. Turkish society faces many environmental threats and dangers. Summer’s End takes in environmental problems which arise with the construction of hotels, motels, roads and tourism sites in Eastern Mediterranean region.Item Lexical and Conceptual Language Compression/Decompression through Antonymic Construals in the Quran(UMT Lahore, 2018) Shaheen MubarikThis study investigates the lexical and conceptual compression/decompression of the Arabic language brought about by means of antonymic construals in the selected category 'Signs of Allah's Magnanimity and Omnipotence' in the Quran. It aims to have an insight into the usage based and context dependent functions of antonymy in creating compression and decompression of language. A new theoretical approach, i.e., Cross Categorical Construal Approach (CCCA) is introduced based on the dynamic construal approach and cross categorical approach to study the Quranic antonyms. The data were gathered by using homogeneous purposive sampling technique. Eighty four verses containing antonymic pairs were selected as sample for the study out of the population of 203 verses. The data were analyzed to answer four research questions: (A) To what extent the context affects language compression and decompression that take place in the selected category, i.e. 'Signs of Allah's Magnanimity and Omnipotence' through antonymic construals? (B) Do the members of antonymic pairs in the selected category belong to the same word class? (C) Does the difference in the word class of antonymic pairs in the selected category affects language compression or decompression? (D) To what extent the gradability or non gradability of the antonymic pairs in the selected category is triggered by the context? The study finally concluded that the context plays a central role to cause language compression and decompression through the antonymic pairs in the Quran. Moreover, the delivery of the opposite concepts through two opposite lexemes is the focus in the Quran and their syntactic category is not necessarily the same for being termed as antonyms. Further, it is also observed that the discrepancy in the word class of the opposite pairs does not hinder the process of language compression and decompression and gradability/non gradability of the pairs is also context dependent. This research activity is replicable for future studies.Item Dissecting Trump’s Show off Power under Van Dijk’s Strategies(UMT Lahore, 2018) Ahmed Bilal KhanThis study explains the discursive approach with reference to power relation exercised in Donald Trump’s speech. Being descriptive study under the qualitative paradigm, the data is in the form of words and utterances. The sample is based on the maiden speech of US President Donald Trump delivered at the 72nd session of Annual Head of States’ Summit of United Nations’ General Assembly, at UN Headquarters on Tuesday, Sept 19, 2017. This study takes into account the theory or Critical Discourse Analysis represented Van Dijk (1993) to evaluate the utterances that point out discursive strategies of power relation as an approach to manipulate “people’s” intellect by the discourse structure of talk and text. The researcher primarily examines that among the strategies applied by Trump, the most used by him are the strategies of Self-Glorification to glorify Americans and strategy of Victimization to downgrade the other nations and countries. The outcome of this research reveals Donald Trump mirrors his power relation towards masses and nations through the discursive strategy of discourse. The purpose of power relation is to discursively delegitimize other people and races to victimizing, underrating yet discerning others with a view to portray himself more authoritative as compared to others. The structure of discourse is chiefly used to make the audience ideologically influenced and controlled. Discourse structure involves topics, schema and structure units that expose the authority toward others. Future investigators are proposed to carry out the study by probing power relation that is revealed in others like media, education and discourses.Item A Pragmatic Analysis of Facial Emoji and Their Impact on Pakistani Millennial Facebook Communication.(UMT Lahore, 2018) Aleena IslamThis study investigates the pragmatics of five facial Emoji (Winky, Laughter, Teary, Surprise, and Horny) by taking real sample of Facebook exchanges by Pakistani Millennial. The aim of the study is to determine whether Facial Emoji are just emotive building blocks in the transmissions of Pakistani Millennial exchanges or these are surrogates or substitutes for new linguistic trends in Millennial Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). In pragmatic analysis, this study explores multiple functions of Facial Emoji; as relational and contextual in meaning making or regulating and disambiguating communication. In order to identify Emoji pragmatics in Millennial Facebook exchanges data of 20 participants from Pakistani Millennial Facebook Homepage-Wall posts in the form of exchanges and transmissions were scanned and scrutinized. The participants of the study were divided into two cohorts of Millennial. First 10 participants were individuals born during 1980-1990, while the second cohort consisted of participants born during 1991-2000. Males and Females from each group in equal number were included to check the gendered perspective of Facial Emoji. This data were analyzed qualitatively through content analysis by using the theoretical framework of ‘Semiotics’ and ‘Pragmatics’ with Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (1996) Multimodality. Politeness strategies and Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) in ‘Pragmatics’ and MacCloud’s (1994) model in multimodality are used to check Emoji’s hybrid nature in two medium i.e. image and text. This descriptive analysis revealed that Emoji are cultural and gender specific. Age group, education, profession and online ‘Millennial Identity’ are the influencing factors in Pakistani Millennial choices for employing the selected five Facial Emoji. Millennial socialization and communication varies in accordance with the individual personality traits. Over all, the Emoji paradigm is not a paramount shift in Millennial E- communicative norms to be awarded the status of an independent linguistic repertoire in Pakistani Millennial Facebook Exchanges.Item Language Learning Strategies and performance of students in ESL classrooms at UMT(UMT Lahore, 2018) Sadia AshrafThis study was conducted in order to investigate the language learning strategy use of undergraduate students in ESL classroom in relation with their language performance. Moreover the difference in strategy use on the basis of gender was also part of investigation. Participants of the study were 160 undergraduate students including 97 male and 63 female students, from a private university in Lahore, who were enrolled in an ESL course. Participants were from different fields of study and they were nearly on same proficiency level. The data was collected through Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by Oxford (1990) which is a recognized instrument for investigating strategy use. SILL is based on 50 items on the pattern of five-point Likert scale which represent six strategies proposed by Oxford (1990) .These strategies include memory strategy, cognitive strategy , compensation strategy , meta-cognitive strategy , social strategy and affective strategy. Students’ GPA scores were collected for the relevant course in order to examine language performance. The data was analyzed through SPSS 15.0 through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Pearson co-relation was computed in order to examine the relation between the language strategy use of students and their language performance. In order to examine the difference between male and female students’ strategy use t-test analysis was carried out. For detailed evaluation regression analysis was performed on the dataset in order to see the prediction of performance on the basis of strategy use. Results indicated that out of six, four strategy subscales memory, cognitive, compensation and meta-cognitive were significantly co-related with performance. Out of six subscales three including memory, meta-cognitive and affective were found to be the predictors for language performance. Cognitive and memory strategies were most used strategy subscales while affective and social strategies were less used types. The difference between male and female strategy use was not significant except for affective strategies, though female students use slightly more strategies. These differences however did not create difference in male and female students’ language performance.Item Effects of Using Short Stories in Developing Language Skills at Intermediate Level in Lahore(UMT Lahore, 2018) KALSOOM JAHANThis 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.Item Perceptions of teachers and students about the functions and usage of English to Urdu code-switching in Pakistani ESL Classroom(UMT Lahore, 2018) Rana Muneeb-ur-RehmanThis topic of this research is the investigation of the perceptions and beliefs of Pakistani students and teachers concerning the usage of code-switching in the Pakistani ESL classroom. Functions and usage of code-switching are also examined in the context of the classroom. Forty teachers and eighty-six students belonging to Lahore, Pakistan, were the participants of this study. The data was collected through questionnaires. The results indicated that teachers generally perceived code-switching as an effective tool which could be employed to further enhance the process of language instruction. Nevertheless, some reservations were expressed by the teachers related to the adverse repercussions of code-switching. The opinions of the teachers conflicted with one another when it came to employing code-switching in the educational institutes, mainly in the classroom environment. This clash between opinions could be ascribed to the prevalent principles of monolingualism in the field of Second language acquisition (SLA). Students generally gave a positive response towards the usage of code-switching in classroom but not without reservations. Students believed that code-switching helped them in overcoming their lack of proficiency in English when it comes to peer to peer communication but were conflicted on the using code-switching in the classroom. These reservations are due the administrations’ and teachers’ encouragement of using English only in all contexts. Educational administration and teachers should develop strategies to employ code-switching in the classroom and minimize its negative effects rather than shunning it completely which would also give students the confidence to rely on this pedagogic tool for improvement in language learning.Item A Comparative Analysis of US Presidential Debates 2016 on the Use of Speech Acts and Grice Maxims by Clinton and Trump(UMT Lahore, 2018) SUMRA FARHEENThe language plays an important role in winning the hearts of the people and gaining their support. The political speeches/debates made by various politicians have been analyzed from different perspectives by the researchers at national and international level. In political speeches/debates politicians interact with the audience with the help of language. Language is used by politicians not only as a medium of communication but also as a tool to influence the public. The present research attempts to analyze US presidential debates 2016 made by Hillary Clinton and Donald trump during the US election 2016. The debates have been analyzed within the framework of Searle’s Typology of Speech Acts and Grice Maxims. The data consisted of the answers of the questions asked by both the candidates. Moreover, the questions have been categorized according to the main themes of the debates. The study analyzes the use of speech acts by the candidates in order to make their language more influential and persuasive. They employed assertive, commissive, directive, declarative and expressive speech acts while answering the questions. The study revealed that Trump employed more assertive and directive speech acts as compared to Hillary whereas she employed more commissive speech acts as compared to Trump. The study also revealed that candidates followed/violated maxims of quantity, relevance and manner consciously or unconsciously in order to hide certain information or to show commitment to their words and promises. Trump violated more and followed less number of maxims as compared to Clinton. The employed speech acts and followed/violated maxims by both the candidates have been presented in the form of a table along with each question. The percentages of the employed speech acts and followed/violated maxims have been presented in the form of bar-charts and pi-charts.Item An exploration of the use of vocabulary learning strategies at the tertiary level in Pakistan(UMT Lahore, 2018) Zara AnwarThe thesis deals with the elementary theme of Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS) and perceptions of the readers regarding learning vocabulary. A brief note on school education, corporal services, the instruments and teaching methodologies implemented by the educators for learning of English Vocabulary is presented. The study compares the perceptions of Pakistani undergraduates along two dimensions: a) Traditional VSL approach and Communicative VSL approach. Perceptions of male and female students regarding the two VSL approaches have also been compared. The research seeks solution for vocabulary learning problems, and therefore, descriptive method of research has been preferred. The results of the study reflect that the students have a marked preference for Traditional VSL as compared to Communicative VSL. different methodologies and their implementation is also classified by taking the view of male and female population, which is mutually a wide-ranging style in distinguishing the view of both the genders. The major finding is that 72.15% students I prefer. As compared to 72.15% responses for the traditional approach, their preference for Communicative VSL is only 55.90%. The study also finds out that there is not much difference between male and female students’ perceptions about Traditional VSL and Communicative VSL. The present study will be useful in getting an insight into vocabulary learning practices in ESL setting in Pakistan. For future research it is recommended that the root cause of students’ preference for Traditional VSL may be explored.Item Reading Comprehension Problems of EFL Learners at secondary level: A study of Urdu Medium Schools in Swat, KPK(UMT Lahore, 2018) Nadia ShaukatAim of this study is to analyze the role of grammar and vocabulary knowledge in developing competence regarding reading comprehension in secondary school students of Swat, KPK. This study has also drawn a purpose to analyze the reading comprehension problems faced by students. The reading comprehension in L2 is considered very important especially in under developing countries. It is considered that the skills and traits of an individual influence his ability of reading comprehension. The factors which were considered important to determine the L2 reading comprehension of the nonnative people include: vocabulary, background knowledge, grammatical skills and comprehension skills. For this research study, 298 students of 9th and 10th grades were selected from four different schools of different tehsils of district Swat in KPK. They were taught English as their second language along with Pashto being their first one. Four types of tests were conducted which included: L2 reading comprehension tests, L2 vocabulary knowledge test, L2 grammar knowledge test and Perceptions of teachers and students regarding to L2 reading comprehension through structured questionnaires. The results suggested that the grammatical skills and vocabulary knowledge does not affect comprehension reading abilities. Comprehension itself is the most important determinant of such competence. Additionally, significant differences were found among comprehension reading performance with vocabulary knowledge and grammar knowledge of the student’s. Moreover, students were perceived in troublesome situation regarding L2 reading comprehension whereas teachers found it easy. This study has implications for both academia and for practical field too.