Department wise Listing | NUML Online Research Repository
List of Content
Back to Listing
Title Abstract Action(s)
Teachers’ Beliefs and Students’ Motivation about Emerging and Existing Methods of English Language Teaching: A Case Study of Intermediate Teachers and Students of Faisalabad. The present study investigated the teachers’ beliefs and students’ motivation towards different methods of English language teaching in Faisalabad. The data was collected from the intermediate teachers and students through questionnaires. Both questionnaires were analyzed statistically through SPSS software. It guides the teachers to rethink and analyze their teaching methods and bring improvement in their practices. The results of present study revealed that students are motivated towards new English language teaching methods while teachers are not in favor of any specific method. Even there were not significant differences between private and government participants in terms of being motivated by different methods.
Power Relations in “The Shadow of the Crescent Moon”: A Foucauldian Study” This study explores power relations in “The Shadow of The Crescent Moon”. This work draws attention to power and resistance to power and resultant large scale fragmentation that occurred invariably on social, cultural and geographical landscape. The focus is on power relations and lives of individuals, the destruction of self and limitation of choices, the present internal political turmoil of Pakistan, war on terror and counter terrorism. The land where life was very comfortable is not a place worth living now. People actually have lost identities. In their native town, people are in search of their homeland. War on terror demolishes everything. People are deprived of their home and identity. They are facing chaotic situations. The counter terrorism is a result of the war on terror. People are in search of suitable place for their survival. According to Michael Foucault, a renowned Postmodernist, where there is power, there is resistance. War on terror and limitation of choices are the main issues discussed in this research. The present research highlights the issues of social, cultural, religious and geographical fragmentation shown in “The Shadow of The Crescent Moon” by Fatima Bhutto. Bhutto has beautifully depicted the devastated scenario of the tribal region of Pakistan. Bhutto has portrayed the actual story of Pakistan. It has become difficult to shift from traditions and state authority. The vivid details of sufferings and agony endured by the major characters in the novel give the present internal political turmoil of Pakistan. The research findings bring to light how war affects the lives of central characters in the novel and how it becomes difficult to live in the presence of limitation of choices.
Robert Lee Frost’s Poetry: An Eco-linguistic Analysis Nature and literature have always shared a close relationship as is evidenced in the works of poets and other writers down the ages in almost all cultures of the world. Today the intimate relationship between the natural and social world is being analyzed and emphasized in all departments of knowledge and development. . Language plays an important role in modern world as it changes the views of public at large. Similarly literature as a genre, in this case helps to reflect the problem caused by the behavior of man towards nature and also suggest solution. Eco-linguistics emerged in year 1980 as a new paradigm of linguistic elements which not only emphasizes on social context of language introduced and applied but also the ecological context in which the societies are embedded. Most studies in the field of nature poetry explain the subject matter from thematic perspective of view and little attention is given to linguistic elements and their role in literature. Keeping in view the effectiveness of language in shaping its users behavior. The current study tends to analyze Roberts frost’s poetry from eco-linguistics perspectives in order to identify and interpret the linguistic patterns used for the representation of nature. Robert frost is one of the greatest poets of nature who loved and penned colors with a great message. Being an enigmatic public reader he was popular for his visits. This popularity can be observed from his writings in which depiction of farm life and temptations for the old traditions is there. His subjects are universal apple picking, stone walls, fences, country roads. Frost’s poetry portrays nature in an unforgettable manner. In this thesis, the researcher would like to point out the close relation between ecology and the selected poems of Robert frost. As Robert frost’s poems are socially and academically very relevant in today’s globalized world. His work is analyzed in a way to attain a sustainable society through the his work of literature
Daud Kamal’s Translation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s Selected Poems: Application of Mona Baker’s Taxonomy in Translation This qualitative research study attempts to find out the types of non-equivalence across the selected poems in Urdu by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and their translated versions in En glish language rendered by Duad Kamal. It searches out grammatical, textual and pragmatic differences across selected source text (ST) in Urdu and its target text(TT) in English. Furthermore, it also analyzes the types of strategies used by the translator at word and above word levels while transferring the selected poems from one language to another language. At the same time, it examines the ways through which the translator deals with grammatical, textual and pragmatic differences of the selected poems and their translations. Keeping in view the objectives of this research, the selected version of source texts and target texts will be analyzed qualitatively by applying the Mona Baker’s taxonomy as theoretical framework. An in-depth analysis will be carried out of the selected samples with the help of various levels in Baker’s bottom-up approach such as at word level, above word level, grammatical level, pragmatic, and textual level. This study aims at stressing the significance of equivalence in translation process, as well as, raising reader’s awareness on the matter of equivalence as well as non-equivalence. Secondly, how these various differences at word, and above word level can be tackled while translating a text from one language to another language. Thirdly, what types of grammatical and pragmatic differences exist across languages and how these differeces can be approached with help of various strategies to render as equivalent as possible from one language culture to another language culture. Lastly this research study also contributes to academic curriculum of translation studies and as well translators in sense that how to deal various with non-equivalence at various levels such as at word level, above word level, grammatical equivalence, textual equivalence, and pragmatic equivalence with help of various strategies found by the researcher
Examining the Trajectories of Self Actualization in Khaled Husseini’s The Kite Runner Broadly speaking, identity is a marker attributed to the attempt to integrate and differentiate a sense of self along different personal and social dimensions. Often, the attempt to define identity and self relies on representation of self i.e., psychological construction about us as an individual in terms of how we are identified by others and what we are identifying with. In the present study the self-actualization process of Khaled Huseini and all of his male characters in the novel The Kite Runner have been investigated. The researcher has applied Abraham Maslow’s model of hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1968) as a comprehensive approach to analyze the work to understand the role of physiological and psychological needs in identity formation. The main focus in this project has been on examination of the self as a concrete whole with its appearance and essence, whereas the essence is the factors involved in giving the appearances. While identity and self has been used largely as synonyms, the findings have been examined and interpreted within the context of post colonialism in the light of Hegel’s Dialectical framework. It is pertinent to know that behind every reality the system of development works which involves many forces in bringing reality into existence or in taking out of existence here the researcher has attempted to detect the writer’s motivational force or need in undertaking this huge task to present Afghan realities in postcolonial era. Moreover, by examining the self-actualization process of male characters the researcher wished to inquire whether the work belongs to the class of postcolonial autobiographical writing. The study of human behavior and the questions of why people behave in certain ways have always been an interesting field of study. Humanists believe that as an individual grows and develops over the life span it is necessary to study the person as a whole. The great exponent of Humanistic Psychology, Abraham Maslow has rejected the idea that only external and internal forces control the human behavior. Instead, Maslow in his hierarchy of needs states that both internal and external factors control man’s behavior. He focuses on human potential, believing that humans seek the frontiers of creativity, strive to reach the highest levels of their consciousness, capabilities and wisdom to be esteemed. He also accentuates the humans’ unique ability to exercise free-will and make choices, believing that people are not merely controlled by unconscious instinctual impulses or mechanical forces (forces of behaviorism and stimuli). People at this level were labeled by Freud and Jung as possessing a healthy personality and fully functioning and Maslow called these people self-actualizing persons. His studies have led him to believe that people have certain needs and each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs are unchanging and inborn, having evolved over a span of years. These needs are also the same in all cultures and are both physiological and psychological or the Basic needs and the Growth Needs. Maslow posits that physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem and self-actualization needs motivate human behavior and decision-making (Maslow, 1948a; Maslow, 1955). Maslow proposes that humans are motivated without any discrimination of cast and creed, to satisfy lower level needs like physiological and safety needs before higher level needs like belongingness, esteem and self-actualization and they have a basic right and a need to strive for self-actualization (Maslow, 1956). However, same needs cannot drive all people - at any time different people may be motivated by entirely different factors. In case of The Kite Runner Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs and Hegel’s Dialectic framework seemed relevant and important to understand the motivational factors and the needs being pursued by the writer and each character to get insight into the role their needs played in directing their lives, purposes and personal development.
Ahmed Ali’s Twilight in Delhi: A Naturalistic Perspective The present study is qualitative in nature and is based on theoretical explanation and textual analysis. The study aims at analyzing the novel Twilight in Delhi written by Ahmed Ali in the light of naturalistic elements .Naturalism as literary theory originated in the late 19th century. This theory focuses on the fact that human actions are controlled and determined by heredity, fate, environment and other social obligations. Naturalistic works present a very grim picture of life. The present research is an attempt to explore that the human beings in this world are controlled by their environment .The ones who change themselves with the changing trends can survive, the rest fall and deteriorate socially, politically and psychologically. These and other key features of naturalism will be highlighted in the novel through qualitative analysis.
Machiavellian Echoes in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Conrad’s fiction, this thesis argues, reveals his ambivalent response to the experiences of ruthlessness and cruelty in the form of adopting Machiavellian strategies. On one hand, Conrad's notorious obscurity attempts to criticize a world that has been thoroughly mapped and remapped for the sake of the selfish motives of some powerful states. On the other, Conrad's formal innovations inextricably coupled with his spatial imagination unveil the reality of the selfish and utilitarian behavior of humans. The dissertation addresses the ‘state of qualitative inquiry’ twice; first, re-imagining the character of Kurtz as the Machiavellian prince; second, as an experiment in thinking and proving Congo as Machiavellian principality. The theoretical framework mainly focuses on Machiavellian philosophy supported by post-colonialism and new historicism while the method is close reading. The findings are the chaos in result of ‘Machiavellianism’ and dishevelment created by it in the present society in general and the world in particular. It offers a working example by connecting the past with the present to pave the way for a bright future.
(MIS) Representing Islam: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Western Print Media with a Focus on The Times The present research attempts to explore how ideologically loaded discourses of “The TIMES” newspaper represent Islam and Muslims discursively. The data for the study in hand has been collected from the mentioned western newspaper .The research has been further delimited to the articles of the newspapers which appeared form June1, 2015 to June30, 2016 regarding the representation of Islam and Muslims. The study begins with the discussion about construction of reality and its representation, role of print media discourses, war of words between Islam and non-Muslims (West),ideological conflicts and the way various discursive techniques are employed to deconstruct a desired version of reality in order to make things naturalize and common sense, regarding fear-based representation of Islam and Muslims. The researcher has employed an amended research model by triangulating Dijk’s (2004), Wodak’s (2009) and Leuween’s (1996)frameworks for Critical Discourse Analysis .The research model employed in the study has been triangulated in accordance with the nature of existing data and the analytical categories emerged from the analysis of the data. The researcher has supplemented her qualitative findings by documenting the frequency of occurrence of loaded lexical items, analytical categories and the emerging themes regarding representation of Islam and Muslims. The findings of the study highlight that the discourses of the newspapers are ideologically loaded and are deliberately employed in the propagation of desired ideology, worldview and to hegemonize the target readership about Islam and Muslims .All the levels of analysis used in the present research are an instrument through which the process of negative “Othering” of Islam has been played up. Additionally, the study reveals that highly politicized terms like Islamophobia, hardliners Muslims and radical Islam are employed to represent negative, irrational and violent nature of Islam, which carry the systematic discrimination against Islam and Muslims .This is how print media discourses are employed insidiously to propagate the negative image of Islam and Muslims. Key Terms: Representation, Implication. Print media, Discourse, Ideology, Hegemony, and CDA.
Language and Ideology in ‘I am Malala’ By Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb Language and ideology as an instrument in the hands of the powerful has an overarching hold on the people. The relationship of language and ideology is so ingrained and basic that it would be difficult to them operate in isolation from each other. No one can deny this dichotomous nature of both language and ideology. Fascinated by the language-ideology nexus, this study is broadly concerned with the analysis of ideology in discourse. More specifically, it is aimed at the empirical and systematic investigation of the role of language in reflecting the ideological positions of both the verbal and visual text of the biography of ‘I am Malala’ (2013). Demanded by the flexibility of the notion of ‘ideology’ and complexity of the definition of word ‘language’, the study did not employ any single specific model strictly. However, an operational framework was an adapted one, based on Fairclough’s (1989, 1992 & 2003) ‘Three-dimensional model’ and Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) ‘grammar of visual design’. Since research was mainly qualitative in nature, the data were analyzed through the mode of the thematic analysis with the hermeneutic approach. The analysis of the data showed the indoctrination of the West’s anti-Islamic ideologies through the manipulative use of language. Thus, conclusively, the importance of the language as a means of discursive practice cannot be underestimated.
Linguistics Pluralism and Identity Crisis: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Islamabad The term ‘Identity’, symbolically as well metaphorically, has been discussed since ages by the Behaviourists and they usually relate it with culture and hence language. When coined with language, Identity evolves various issues and identity crisis is one of them. In multilingual and linguistically pluralist society, the phenomenon of identity crisis mounts to such an extent that most of the time it causes the decay and death of some languages especially mother-tongues. Since Pakistan is linguistically pluralist country where majority of the people can speak more than one language in which one is obviously regional language and the other is either Urdu or English or sometimes both. As a matter of fact there has been great probability of presence of such language speaker who possibly face identity crisis from linguistic perspective. This research study aims at highlighting the possible impacts caused by linguistic pluralism in Pakistan and more precisely and specifically in Islamabad where the people have settled by migrating from all the provinces of Pakistan and they do not have any roots in Islamabad since it has come into existence during 60s of 20th Century. This research also aims at exploring the phenomenon of identity crisis which may exist among the regional language speakers because of their association with their mother-tongue. Moreover, the study provides a comprehensive photographic view of present status of regional languages in Islamabad; to what extent these languages have been practiced and if anyone is not practices what factors are playing role behind the whole situation. The research involves a process of triangulation to complete the analysis as both questionnaires as well as interviews have been employed as tools of data collection from the inhabitants of Islamabad. The research results in concrete output and highlights the actual and current situation of regional languages as well their speakers. According to the analysis and evaluation of questionnaires and interviews the research reaches at a conclusion that regional language are in alarming situation of their existence. These languages have been too much spoken to be existed in near future
News Media and Code-switching: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Pakistani English Journalese. The study analyzes Urdu-English code-switching in two Pakistani English Journalese, Dawn (daily) and The Nation (daily). The data for the present research has been collected from the Headlines, Editorials and Showbiz sections of the mentioned newspapers at word, phrase and sentence level. The time-span delimited for the present research is one month i.e. from February 1, 2017 to February 28, 2017. This study employs Myers-Scotton’s(1993a) Markedness Model of code-switching which deals with the social roles associated with language, Negotiation principle, Rights and Obligations, Marked Vs Unmarked code choices, Normative Function of language, Rationale Actor Model (RAM), and Matrix Language Frame (MLF). In accordance with the nature of the existing data, the researcher has amended the model by adding the concept of language and ideology in the existing model employed in the present study because attempt has also been made to locate possible causes of linguistic pluralism propagated through print media discourses of Pakistan. The researcher excludes the category of Negotiation Principle as it only deals with the conversational aspects of code-switching. Besides categorizing the process of code-switching and documenting the frequency of occurrence of each category in Pakistani print media discourses, the researcher has also attempted to locate the possible ideological factors causing rapid changes in the different jargons of language. This is how the researcher has validated her findings qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings of the research highlight that the process of language change/ linguistic pluralism is inevitable and has become rapid across the globe. Additionally, the research reveals that different social, political, cultural and religious factors contributing a lot in the process of code-switching. This is how it is proved that code-switching is a sociolinguistic phenomenon which results in creating different Englishes(non-native varieties of English) across the globe. Despite having Urdu-English equivalents, bilinguals/ multilinguals employ culture specific words to give exact expression to their feelings and thoughts and to make their statements more effective. Key Words: Code-switching, Sociolinguistics, Print Media, Language change
A Study of Surveillance and Society in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Allegiant by Veronica Roth The present dissertation focuses on the development of surveillance theory with reference to its social and political implications in everyday life particularly in dystopian fiction. This study analyses social and political strategies of discipline and control enabled by the contemporary surveillance technologies. The particular ideology of surveillance is an agenda of few individuals to dominate, discipline, control and establish a totalitarian rule over rest of the populace. The research uses the theoretical perspectives provided by Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish (1975) and David Lyon’s The Rise of Surveillance Society (1994). Foundation of surveillance theory was laid by Michel Foucault while Lyon focuses on the contemporary development of surveillance societies. Data for the purpose of analysis is selected from the genre of dystopian novels The Hunger Games (2008) by Suzanne Collins and The Allegiant (2014) by Veronica Roth. Textual analysis of these works reveal the pervasive and controlling nature of surveillance technology as it takes over individual’s social and personal space by reducing him into a docile body and force him to submit to dominant authorities. Textual analysis of the selected texts led to certain pertinent findings. It is found out that contemporary culture of surveillance has reduced individual autonomy by reducing him into nameless entity that readily provides his personal and public information to digital systems. It is concluded that current rate of advancement in contemporary digital technology is alarming for the solidarity of individuals and modern nation states. Key Words: Surveillance, Dystopain, Digital technology, discipline, control, society
Evaluating Reporter Voice in Pakistani News Reporting: A discourse-based study The study evaluates ‘reporter voice’ as a text type in Pakistani broadsheet journalistic discourses. It explores the patterns of evaluation in hard news reporting and investigates the ways broadsheets carry a different style in reporter voice. For this purpose, it focuses on three broadsheets of Pakistani print media, namely Dawn, The Nation and The News. In order to reach the aims of the study, Appraisal Framework (Martin & White, 2005) is applied. Since the study focuses on authorial attitude and solidarity towards reporting/ reported news event therefore the domains of Attitude and Engagement have been focused within Appraisal Studies. With the help of these devices, appraisal patterns are identified in the text and text annotations have been done manually. In the end, the study concludes that Pakistani journalistic culture is more prone to Judgement in all selected broadsheets: both in inscription and invocations. Affect is slightly higher in range than of Appreciation. It is noticed that the manifestation of affectual evaluation gives an enhancing effect to news relevance, and high occurring of sanctioned judgmental values, opposite to other journalistic cultures (Thomas & White, 2008), gives an impact of cultural salience with a society where action constraints are more active.
A Feminist Stylistic Analysis of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and King Lear The present study critically analyses the stylistic devices employed by female characters in Shakespeare’s plays The Taming of the Shrew and King Lear. It focuses on the ideo-stylistic analysis of female speeches in the mentioned texts. For this purpose, the researcher has not only analysed the use of various stylistic devices used by female characters qualitatively but has also documented the frequency of the stylistic devices such as simile, metaphor, comparative, weak form, use of comma, rhetorical question, sign of exclamation and first person pronoun employed by each female character to support the findings of her ideo-stylistic analysis quantitatively as well. The methodology employed in the present research is mixed approach because the texts have been analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. On one hand, the research explores the embedded ideologies in the speeches of female characters, this has been done by critically decoding different layers of loaded language and stylistic devices to lay bare underlying ideology /s in the speeches of the mentioned female characters and how particular use of stylistic devices correlates their mindset with the dominant tendencies of the age and on the other hand, these findings have also been quantitatively represented in the form of pie charts and graphs. The frequency of occurrence of stylistic devices used by Goneril, Regan, Cordelia, Katherina and Bianca is 252, 263, 178, 381 and 124 respectively. The researcher has employed Mills’ (1995) model of feminist stylistic analysis and Fairclough’s (2012) model of critical social analysis (CSA) after making certain amendments in accordance with the nature of the present data. Additionally, the findings of the research highlight that no use of stylistic device is ideology free. The change in form results in changing the function of the language. Moreover, the findings of the research highlight that the way one employs different stylistic devices to express his/her ideas becomes one’s identity marker and up to great extent implicitly or explicitly illustrates the mindset of the language user.