Pakistan Languages and Humanities Review

Countering Islamophobia and Muslim Stereotypes in Ali Eteraz’s Native Believer

2025-10-01T00:12:27+05:00

This research paper attempts to delineate the strategies adopted by American Muslims to counter Islamophobia and Muslim Stereotypes in Ali Eteraz’s novel Native Believer (2016). Employing Sherene Razack’s theoretical perspectives from her book: Nothing has to Make Sense: Upholding White Supremacy through anti-Muslim Racism (2022), the paper focuses on post-9/11 Muslim lives in America and the worldwide. The paper charts M’s journey from being a secular Muslim toward a reckless tramp and then an American civilian completely assimilated into the American society. The colonial encounter between Western powers and Muslim-majority regions, spanning centuries of conquest, colonization and cultural imposition has left indelible marks on both the colonizer and the colonized. As the securitization of Islam, War on Terror, and proliferation of surveillance measures serve to perpetuate a cycle of suspicion and discrimination and affect Muslim communities living at diaporic spaces, the paper shows that generally a Muslim has to devise an assimilative approach to survive in such a society

Silencing Women: A Textual Analysis of Honor Killing in Awais Khan’s No Honour (2021)

2025-10-06T12:50:51+05:00

This paper aims to explores the phenomenon of Honor Killing and investigate the main reasons of honor killing. Also, the researcher aims to highlights the traumas faced by the protagonist due to honor killing and explain how the main character destabilizes the hierarchal structure of the patriarchy in Awais Khan’s No Honour (2021). Honor Killing remains one of the main social issues in Pakistan. In 2021, over 470 cases of honor killing were reported in Pakistan, but it is estimated that around 1000 women are killed in the name of honor every year in Pakistan. Awais Khan’s No Honour (2021) is the portrayal of a misogynistic society, a society where age-old rules are obeyed, and women are suppressed through different social practices. The papers employ Paul Churchill’s notion of understanding and ending of Honor killing to examine how the protagonist escapes from the prejudice and patriarchal society. This study uses textual analysis as a methodological framework to interpret dialogues, paragraphs, symbols to understand the phenomenon of honor killing. Conclusion: The study maintains that there are several social practices that leads to the honor killing. This study also shows the physical, psychological and sexual impacts of honor killing in the selected text of Honor killing. The study further concludes that honor killing is rooted especially in the honor of women in Pakistan. The researcher recommends that other novels or literary texts may also be explored to understand the notion of Honor Killing.

The Illusion of Consent: Hegemony and Resistance in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy

2025-10-06T15:14:41+05:00

This research paper examines Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy (1977) to expose postcolonial African elites being ideologically framed by Western worldviews, thereby perpetuating cultural and psychological domination even in the absence of physical colonization. The primary objective is to investigate the mental conditioning of African self-exiles who adopt and internalize Western ideologies with little resistance, reinforcing a passive form of consent. The secondary aim is to examine the process by which this internalization occurs, thereby revealing the subtle mechanisms of neocolonial control. It critiques the postcolonial notions of hegemony and consent through Sissie’s experiences in Europe and her reflections on neocolonial Africa. A qualitative research design is employed using textual analysis of Aidoo’s novel as the primary data source. The research is grounded in Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony and consent. Key findings reveal that the illusion of consent is maintained through ideological conditioning that frames Western values as universal and superior. They are presented under the guise of politeness or modernity, not through coercion.

Study of Social Factors Affecting Academic Achievement of Students at Higher Secondary Level

2025-10-08T21:20:56+05:00

This study explores how social factors affect the academic achievement of higher secondary students, focusing on parental attitudes, teacher support, and peer involvement. Main research objective was to determine the relationship between peer, parents and teachers’ involvement and students’ academic performance. Using a quantitative survey design, data were collected from 320 randomly selected students from three branches of Punjab College, Islamabad. Analysis through descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation revealed significant positive relationships between parental encouragement, teacher guidance, and peer collaboration with academic success. Findings indicate that achievement is shaped not only by individual effort but also by students’ social environments. Constructive home–school partnerships, supportive teacher–student interactions, and cooperative peer relationships help in learning motivation and self-efficacy. Study provides empirical evidence from Pakistan’s secondary education context, emphasizing that academic success should be understood as a socially influenced and collaboratively constructed phenomenon. It recommends promoting parent–teacher collaboration and integrating peer-support strategies into school improvement programs.

English Verb Switching in Balochi: Patterns, Functions and Sociolinguistic Implications

2025-10-11T23:57:04+05:00

This study investigates the phenomenon of English verb switching into Balochi, a growing sociolinguistic trend in Balochistan. The objective of this research is to examine the intensity, patterns, and sociolinguistic motivations behind the use of English verbs in Balochi discourse. Data were collected from seven districts of Balochistan, Quetta, Hub, Turbat, Gwadar, Jafarabad, Sibi, and Lasbela representing diverse sociolinguistic contexts. A total of 1,050 participants (150 from each district), aged between 12 and 50, were interviewed in different educational institutions, language centers, and marketplaces focusing on situations where English verb switching was most likely to occur. The English verb switching was transcribed and analyzed to gauge the influences of verb switching. The results of the Chi-square software specified a considerable number of English verbs switching into Balochi in the urban areas than the rural ones. This is very alarming for a language which has already been ignored and marginalized.

Influence of American and British English on Pakistani Learners’ Vocabulary: A Study of Attitudes and Choices

2025-10-14T12:10:21+05:00

The present research addresses the influence of the American and the British English on the Pakistani learner’s vocabulary in the light of their attitude and preference along with the socio- cultural factors that influence their vocabulary. The research has aimed at determining what variety of English either American or British, Pakistani students prefer and how education and social media as well as socio-cultural backgrounds impact their decision. English is an official and educational language in Pakistan but students are getting increasingly exposed to different global versions of the language in the social media, technology and entertainment. The current study has applied a mixed methods design for a data of 100 students of the university, a semi-structured interview and questionnaires. Quantitative analysis has revealed that 58 percent of learners were rather oriented to American vocabulary primarily due to the contact with media and the presence of the online version and 37 percent to the prestige of academic and formal English, which was British. Another pragmatic adaptation has also been identified in the qualitative data which is pragmatic alternation among the varieties by the learners depending on the context and the communicative purpose. The findings illustrate that the Pakistani learners are bilinguals which is attributed to the hybrid nature of the Pakistani English. The study has concluded that globalization and the educational traditions are all implicated in the process of the vocabulary choices of the learners. The study recommends that English language teaching in Pakistan need to adopt and integrate the two varieties so as to facilitate lexical awareness and communicative fluency.

Ideological Orientations in Pakistani Primary English Textbooks: A Critical Discourse Analysis

2025-10-16T16:14:42+05:00

This study inspects the various ideologies embedded within the Oxford University Press (OUP) English textbooks at the elementary level in Pakistan, questioning how pedagogical materials are used as a tool for expressing ideology. Its main aim is to investigate the spectrum of sociocultural, religious, and political discourses that are encoded in both the previous (2018) and the new (2021) Single National Curriculum (SNC) editions, and to identify the similarities and differences between them. Utilizing a qualitative research design, the study applies Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis to explore the power relations, value CDA model, and ideologies behind the textual and visual stories. The study finds that both of the textbooks deliberately encode multiple dominant ideologies (religious, nationalistic, social and ethical) which aim to shape the moral consciousness and civic identity of the students. Although both editions reproduce the patriarchal structures that shape Pakistani society, the SNC aligned textbook makes a thin attempt to change the narrative by representing women in more participatory and public roles, but only within the conditioned approval of others. The study concludes by offering critical advice to textbook writers, curriculum writers and policy makers in the Punjab Department of Education to consider and understand the ideological implications of curriculum representation

Reimagining Gender Identities in Gone Girl: A Jungian Archetypal Analysis of the Collective Unconsciousness

2025-10-16T16:29:45+05:00

This study aims to explore how the writer challenges as well as critiques gender stereotypes in the novel Gone Girl written by Gillian Flynn. Departing from the stereotypical characterization, the novel present characters that constantly sway between the traditional masculine and feminine traits. A qualitative research design was employed to map the characters’ actions from a psychological perspective. The findings of the study suggest that the traditional male and female stereotypes that have been glorified in the American society for a long time do not have any scientific basis. Instead they are just over- generalizations of ascribed traits associated with men and women within the institution of marriage. The future researches may extend the Jungian theoretical framework to non- Western narratives in order to reshape the socio-cultural perceptions of gender and identity. Furthermore, the comparative analysis of male and female archetypes within different contemporary novels can uncover new dimensions of gender representations

The Dynamics of Right-Wing Populism: A Comparative Study of Political Leadership and Institutional Impact in Pakistan and Iran

2025-10-21T13:22:21+05:00

This paper examines the use of nationalism, religion, and anti-elite rhetoric by right-wing populist leaders Imran Khan in Pakistan and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran to achieve political power. Populist leaders tend to emerge when the masses are discontented with the political system. In Pakistan and Iran, Khan and Ahmadinejad relied on the symbols of religion and national pride to demonstrate themselves as the defenders of the common people, despite the fact that there are two systems of these countries, one of which is democratic and another theocratic. Paper applied qualitative comparative case study. Both leaders did manage to gain the support of masses through emotional and symbolic appeals. Enhance the democratic institutions, safeguard judicial independence, advance political education, and adopt reasonable economic reforms to narrow the dangers of populist leadership. The comparison should be expanded in future research in order to detect global patterns.

Displacement, an Identity Crisis Metaphor: A Postcolonial Study of Kureishi's The Black Album

2025-10-23T01:55:15+05:00

This study aims to investigate how displacement functions as a metaphor for identity crisis, with a specific focus on identifying the relationship between geographical locations and identity formation. For this purpose, the study analyses Kureishi's The Black Album applying the theoretical framework of Bhabha, particularly his concept of "Third Space". It also investigates the factors responsible for identity crisis—liminality, hybridity, mimicry, interstices, fragmented self, and narcissism—which contribute to the construct or deconstruction of an individual's identity. The study employs Textual Analysis methodology, utilizing Latent Coding to discover the underlying meaning within the texts. The findings reveal that the characters voluntarily choose to displace themselves from their homelands to the host land in pursuit of their aspirations, dreams, and desires. They struggle to assimilate into the host culture by mimicking the lifestyles and norms of the foreign people. Their attempts to adopt foreign norms and lifestyles fail. They become hybrid individuals trapped in the vicious cycle of belongingness—caught between two worlds, belonging fully to neither. This in-between situation accentuates a profound identity crisis. The analysis also reveals that the characters face intense discrimination and marginalization in their journey of dislocation and attempted relocation.

The Dialectic of the Individual and Crowd in Canetti’s Auto-da-Fe

2025-10-26T18:02:25+05:00

This paper examines the dialectic of the individual and crowd in Elias Canetti’s novel, Auto-da-Fé (1935) in a bid to understand crowd’s power to commit violence against the individual self and thinking. Qualitative researches in nature, the authors have employed Theodor W. Adorno’s theorizations to analyze the violent nature of modern ‘crowd society’ pitted against the individual autonomy. Along with utilizing ‘Crowd Theory’, this study also employs Michel Foucault’s ideas regarding madness to understand the constructed nature of sane and insane in relation to power for suppressing the individual identity and freedom. This research, while discussing the tussle between crowd and individual, opines that crowd-led society is essentially paranoid. The paranoia of ‘crowd society’ creates the binaries of normal/abnormal and sane/insane leading to the loss of individual self and dignity. The study is significant and relevant in understanding the modern capitalist society and the populist movements across the world.

Toxic Positivity in Feminist Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Shiza Shahid’s TED Talk

2025-10-26T18:18:17+05:00

This paper explores the discursive construal of toxic positivity in the TED Talk by Shiza Shahid. The study aims to determine transitivity patterns, processes and participants, and explains how they linguistically build toxic positivity, further explaining them in socio- cultural settings. The study applied both the Transitivity Model of Halliday (1985) for textual analysis and the three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis of Fairclough (1989) to the interpretation and explanation of a text. The results showed that most of the processes were Material, Relational, and Mental, which describe self-belief, moral strength, and emotional composure as alternatives to structural critique and thus linguistically construe toxic positivity. The work is relevant to discourse analysts, feminist scholars, and communication researchers because it helps shed light on how motivational feminist discourse can propagate the false hope and make endurance a moral obligation instead of a right of the group.

An Acoustic Analysis of Stop Consonants in Gojri Language

2025-10-27T12:48:38+05:00

The purpose of the study is to identify the stop consonants of Gojri language and measure their acoustic properties. Gojri is an Indo- Aryan language, which is spoken by Gujjar community in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The study is descriptive in nature and used mixed method approach. Data were collected from twenty native speakers of the language. Identified stops are recorded in VCV context for acoustic analysis. The results show that Gojri language contains twelve stop consonant sounds. These sounds are produced from diverse places of articulation; bilabial, dental, retroflex and velar. Voicing contrast shows three way voicing with no voiced aspirated segment. Acoustic analysis reveals that VOT, closure duration and burst and major acoustic cues which vary in terms of place of articulation and voicing. It is the first acoustic analysis of Gojri stop consonants and further researches can be conducted on segmental and supragemental features of the language.

Artificial Intelligence in Language Education: A Review of Emerging Trends and Implications

2025-10-31T15:44:22+05:00

This research paper aims to investigate the impact of incorporating artificial intelligence in language education on students' and teachers’ educational achievements. Due to the swift advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, AI is now being utilized in a variety of global sectors, including education. During this study, a systematic review method was used with PRISMA principles to identify 26 studies. The identified studies were analyzed using content and thematic qualitative analysis techniques. The findings revealed that to enhance an immersive learning experience among language learners, the integration of virtual reality and augmented technologies into language learning will be used to enhance language skills acquisition in an artificial intelligence-powered language learning environment. Additionally, for what aspects of language teaching will change in the context of AI-enabled tools or environments within the education industry, the research discovered that people's pronunciation of foreign language words, like EFL, will be altered by AI language learning tools. Policymakers, educational leaders, funders, and practitioners can use the information provided in this study to acquire a holistic understanding of current trends in the use of AI in EFL learning and teaching, whereas practical implications are provided to guide future AI use in EFL.

The use of Metaphorical Language in the Novel “Hum Kahan Ke Sachy Thy” by Umera Ahmed

2025-11-01T20:07:15+05:00

The purpose of this study was to analyze the metaphorical language that novelist Umaira employed in her distinctive novel Hum Kahan Ke Sachy Thy. The intellectual, conceptual, connotative, and symbolic concepts that readers must explain to understand the intended meanings of these terms comprise the basis of any metaphorical statement. Metaphors are important linguistic strategies that are completely integrated into literary and linguistic terms to enhance their symbolic and suggestive meanings. The researcher selected four texts from the Urdu novel ‘Hum Kahan Ke Sachy Thy’, which represent all aspects of the metaphor. The researcher employed a model of Lakoff and Johnson's Theory of Metaphor (1980) to address each aspect of the metaphor that was employed in the novel. Based on this adopted model to study the aspects of metaphor, two levels of analysis are pursued: contextual analysis and cognitive linguistic analysis. Individual thoughts and symbolism were found to be expressed through the use of metaphors as a type of rhetorical device.

Re-articulation of Black Motherhood: Black Feminist Standpoint on Mothering in Girl, Woman, Other

2025-11-03T19:33:08+05:00

The research paper explores what it means to be a Black mother or daughter in the contemporary world through a black feminist study of different female characters, mostly mothers and daughters situated across multiple contexts and times in Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. Patricia Collins’ ideas regarding Black women’s standpoint on mothering are employed to explore the narrative as a potential site of agency and self-actualization for Black women. The paper establishes that Evaristo’s fiction deterritorializes the White feminist discourse which has ignored the experiences of Black women and stereotyped Black mothers through controlling images of Black womanhood. By contextualizing Black feminist standpoint within Black motherhood, this article suggests that Girl, Woman, Other reconfigures Black motherhood, already problematized by racism and sexism, in a global flux of gender, binaries and multiculturality and thereby decentres and detrritorializes White feminism.

Investigating the Variation of Formal and Informal Vocabulary in Pakistani English on Twitter

2025-11-06T12:21:55+05:00

This study investigates the vocabulary of the English language and its variation of formality and informality within a specified sample of tweets, focusing on the social modulation of linguistic forms in digital communication. Using a mixed-method approach, the study analyzes Twitter data through MAT tagger and corpus analysis tools. A pilot test was conducted to validate encoding using UTF-16 in Python due to Urdu script interference. Quantitative analysis employed a differential scale (20*–20) on both axes, while qualitative interpretation was based on Halliday’s (1960) Register Theory. Findings reveal that formality and informality vary situationally, shaped by social and linguistic constraints. The quantitative outcomes show distinguishable lexical shifts between explicit and situationally dependent expressions, indicating social media’s influence on language construction. The results also confirm that bilingual interference moderates linguistic variability within digital discourse. Future research should expand corpus diversity across platforms and demographics to refine linguistic dimensionality.

Deconstructing West’s Historical Universalism in Siddique’s Snuffing out the Moon: A Spenglerian Analysis

2025-11-08T15:35:44+05:00

This research article employs Oswald Spengler’s critique of Western universalism to examine Osama Siddique’s Snuffing Out the Moon (2017). It seeks to uncover the novel’s repudiation of the Enlightenment universalism, which conceives historical progression as linear, homogeneous and universal. Siddique’s novel problematizes the Enlightenment conception of linear development of civilizations, which is frequently adopted to legitimize imperialism and hegemony. The research elucidates how the novel challenges the dominant Eurocentric model of history and delineates non-Western histories through their autonomous trajectories. In dismantling the West’s historic universality claim, Siddique (2017) resists the dominance of Western narratives and retrieves non-Western histories, cultures, and epistemologies through his multitemporal probing of sociological, cultural, and historical milieus. The novel disassembles Western universalist history by discounting its Eurocentric, linear accounts and foregrounding non-Western civilizations’ cyclical and multifarious trajectories. It not only undermines the hegemonic narratives but also recuperates the agency and survival of non-Western societies and presents a profound counterpoint to the presumption of Western historical universalism.

Impact of Colonialism on Sufism in South Asia: A Case Study of Pakistan

2025-11-08T19:54:56+05:00

This study aims to develop causal relationship between colonial discourse of Sufism and contemporary Islamophobic trends in Pakistan. This paper assesses the impact of colonialism on Sufi institutions and practices and the fall out on Pakistan’s religious landscape. British orientalists misinterpreted the Sufi philosophy while colonial masters politicized their spirituality and traditions to pursue their political agendas and policies in South Asia. This paper provides an overview of the legacy of colonial patterns on Sufism in the postcolonial context without any specific timeframe. During precolonial era in South Asia, there was a mixed history of Sufis conflictual and collaborative role with the state while some of the Sufi groups had apathetic attitude towards the state authorities. Colonial masters found Sufi brotherhoods a formidable challenge against their agendas in South Asia and pursued a policy of co-option with Sufi hereditary leaders (Sajjada/Gaddi Nasheens & Pirs) to gain legitimacy and maintain order in Muslim communities. This paper concludes that in South Asia, British colonial masters and orientalist scholarship employed a strategy to produce a body of knowledge and shaped a discourse through western orientalist lens which not only delegitimized the authentic value of Sufism and its institutions but also weakened its potency to resist against the colonial masters. That legacy continued in postcolonial settings which resulted in the Islamophobic trends in Pakistan mostly peddled by the secular and modern political elite who use Islamic symbolism only in rhetoric to gain public legitimacy.

Confronting the Opposition: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Murad Saeed’s Speeches against PML-N and PPP Governments in the National Assembly

2025-11-13T16:07:30+05:00

The current paper aims to analyze the speeches delivered by Murad Saeed, a Pakistani politician who served as Federal Minister for Communication and for Postal Services, in the National Assembly, in which he compares the performance of Imran khan’s government with that of the former governments (PML-N and PPP). Otherization in political discourse is a prevalent tool of establishing legitimacy. Political discourse may express an event or expose the hidden agenda of a particular political figure, party, or organization. Therefore, political discourse analysis seeks to highlight the discursive strategies used by political actors. The researchers have analyzed various indicators of Van Dijk’s Ideological Square Model in the speeches. The analysis sheds light on how language and linguistic techniques are employed as instruments to establish a distinct contrast between political parties. The findings reveal that the speaker has employed various discursive strategies such as evidentiality, number game, comparison, and hyperbole to legitimize his political stance. His discursive strategies are politically persuasive and reinforce the image of PTI as a reformist party. Further exploration of additional indicators of “US” vs. “Them” is recommended in not only Murad Saeed’s parliamentary speeches but also of other politicians.

Epidemic of Plague: A Critical Analysis of British Medical Policies in Colonial Punjab (1896–1920)

2025-11-13T16:16:54+05:00

British Raj established modern health care system in colonial India which was based on hierarchies in which European medicines and doctors held superior positions. Indigenous medicines lost patronage and modern medicines got superiority. Although modern medicines were not sufficient for the large Indian population. The system of modern medicines launches by the colonial rulers created medical authority upon local system which created subornation of system and people. This paper investigates the outbreak of the bubonic plague in colonial Punjab, and it was critically examined the British response from 1896 to 1920. Using rare primary source evidence—especially from the village of Khatkar Kalan in Jullundur district, a significant location due to its early and severe exposure to the plague—it explores the colonial framework of surveillance, evacuation, and disinfection. This paper argues that the British medical policy was effective in reducing the rates of surface-level infection. However, the policy was caste-based and racial. The medical reports and archival materials are evaluated through the analytical research method, which gave results that the colonial rulers used the authoritative ways that disrupted the indigenous life, eroded trust of the people, not only this but also failed to stop the plague's spread to the neighboring villages.

The Influence of Binary Opposition and Stylistic Devices on Reader Interpretation of Quranic Themes

2025-11-20T12:44:17+05:00

This study examines the structural and stylistic aspects of the Quranic text with a special focus on binaries and dichotomies with the aim of explaining how these binaries are contextually employed and supported rhetorically in selected verses. Binary forms are a distinct characteristic of Quranic discourse which direct the thematic elements of divine justice, divine guidance and dialectic of faith versus unbelief. The structuralist theory presents a powerful analytical model, inquiring the functional interplay of these oppositions. A qualitative and interpretive approach will be used in the current study to analyse specific verses with a view to identifying the binary oppositions that are predominant and the rhetorical devices that perpetuate them. The results indicate that future studies ought to expand their horizons to include larger narrative units to have a more comprehensive mapping of the Quranic dichotomies, conduct comparative studies to understand how these rhetorical units work to shape the meaning for readers, and apply cognitive and reader-response models to gain a deeper insight into the effect of these rhetorical units.

Living in a Copy: Fake Images and Real Feelings in Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending

2025-11-24T13:43:15+05:00

The article is an exploration of Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending through Jean Baudrillard's concepts of simulacra and simulation as misleading image. Tony Webster reflects on his history, making it clear that his memory is not entirely correct, as he misses certain facts and changes others. It creates a made-up past for him that he accepts as genuine, even if it is not the real story. Through qualitative method of research, the study demonstrates how individuals may exist in these fictional realms and how these fabricated narratives might, at times, seem more realistic than what actually occurred. The conclusion explores how tales that mirror reality affect our sense of the feeling of an unreliable identity and significance. Barnes's book, analyzed through Baudrillard's concepts reflects how one's life becomes a simulation, and sometimes, looking for meaning in a postmodern world leads to additional outcomes and knowledge masked by ignorance.

Constructing Womanhood: A Critical Analysis of Female Identity in Pakistani Short Stories

2025-11-24T13:56:02+05:00

Men are the subjects and women often the objects of patriarchal societies. To explore this construction and representation of 'other' being associated with the female, the present study analyses a group of short stories by Pakistani writers through the ideas of Beauvoir presented in her work 'The Second Sex'(1949). Binaries are represented and usually reinforced through literature where women are subject to discriminatory treatment at home or in a professional setting. Pakistani literature also reflects such instances where women are positioned as subservient. These dynamics are illustrated in the selected Pakistani short stories, which show how societies and culture influence women's actual experiences. Therefore, Beauvoir’s (1949) idea of women as others is applied in these Pakistani stories in the context of a larger feminist conversation about identity, construction and oppression. Textual analysis and close reading are used to interpret these short stories. Through close reading, the study examines how selected texts represent women facing suppression and social exclusion. They struggle to find their individual selves within strict boundaries. They undergo oppression and accept the roles imposed by society. The present study affirms the relevance of Beauvoir's feminist ideas to the South Asian context. The finding demonstrate how Pakistani literature reflects and illustrates the limitations imposed by patriarchy on women.

Adaptation of Generative-AI Technologies for Teaching and Learning Innovative Practices and Challenges from the Global Perspective

2025-11-26T19:56:17+05:00

Generative AI technologies have advanced rapidly to bring fundamental improvements to English Language Teaching (ELT). ChatGPT, along with Grammarly and ELSA Speak tools. The present research aims to examine how Generative AI operates within ELT programs while evaluating its functional enhancements and obstacles and forecasting proper usage guidelines. A PRISMA guideline serves as the methodological approach to analyze peer-reviewed articles and case studies, and empirical studies published between 2018 and 2024. The review provides the results that integrated generation of essential content by AI results in better achievement of students through instant feedback and automated grammar checks and interactive conversation practice, and adaptive vocabulary learning features. These tools enable self-learning capabilities, but their computer systems engage students in education while running teacher-administrative tasks automatically. Moreover, the adoption of Generative AI is hindered by three main problems, including questions about content quality and data privacy constraints, algorithmic biases, and the inability to overcome digital disparities. Research results recommend that educational administrators and teachers who intend to introduce Generative AI in English Language Teaching sessions. Furthermore, educational organizations and policy agencies, and research institutions can use these research results to successfully integrate artificial intelligence technology in their teaching practices

The Role of International Media in Shaping Public Opinion on International Conflicts: A Study of Pakistani Youth on Israel-Palestine War

2025-11-28T17:49:16+05:00

This paper explores the international media in the formation of perceptions held by the Pakistani youths on the issue of the Israel-Palestine dispute, with emphasis on the effect of international news stories on perceptions, emotionality, and the priority of the issues. The study, relying on the Framing Theory, Agenda-Setting and Second-Level Agenda-Setting, Critical Discourse Analysis, and Social Identity Theory, considers how young audiences negotiate, interpret, and challenge the portrayal of the conflict in the media. The qualitative research design has been used in the study, purposive sampling has been used, and semi- structured interviews were used to interview 14 students of the university aged between 18 and 29 years who are active consumers of international news via television, digital media, and social networks. Thematic analysis of the data provided has identified four predominant patterns, which are the powerful impact of humanitarian and conflict frames; the agenda-setting impact of a repeated visual and textual cue; the critical recognition of bias, language, and omission in Western and non-Western media; and the mediating role of religious, national, and humanitarian identities in creating emotional and political meaning. The results indicate that international media can influence the issue salience and moral positioning substantially, but the Pakistani youth are not passive observers because they critique, redefine, and at times deny the prevalent discourse. The research adds to the literature as it discusses the interaction of global media discourse and youth meaning- making in conflict situations. It suggests the enhancement of critical media literacy and promotion of diversified media coverage to provide alternative and balanced views on international conflicts.

Reinforcement of Gender Stereotypes in Sports Discourse: A Comparative Qualitative Analysis of Pakistani and International Newspapers

2025-12-01T16:00:07+05:00

This study aims at analyzing the linguistic strategies used for projecting sportsmen and sportswomen in sports news of selected Pakistani and foreign newspapers. Sports are perceived to be male dominated where women are typically viewed as mere intruders and consequently sportspersons are represented in traditional ways by the media. By using Hall’s theory of representation as its theoretical base, the present work has analyzed forty news items qualitatively; gathered from two Pakistani and two foreign newspapers for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively. The analysis has focused upon linguistic strategies employed for depicting male and female sports stars. The study concludes that media is extremely biased in its depiction of sports stars as focus has been laid on feminine attributes of sportswomen while sportsmen have been depicted in athletic ways. The study recommends sensitizing media outlets regarding the detrimental effect of this biased reporting on the public perception of sportspersons.

Development of Pragmatic Competence through Translanguaging among English Language Learners: ELT Teachers’ Perspectives

2025-12-01T16:07:10+05:00

This study qualitatively explores the role of translanguaging in developing pragmatic competence among English language learners at higher secondary level in Punjab. The objective of this study was to analyze how translanguaging helps in developing pragmatic competence among English language learners at higher secondary school level. Using purposive sampling technique, twelve ELT teachers were interviewed for collection of qualitative data. The data was then analyzed thematically. The findings reveal that translanguaging is an effective pedagogical strategy for ELT teachers to enhance pragmatic understanding of learners by connecting English expressions with their native language and cultural backgrounds. The findings also reveal that translanguaging helps English language learners to develop their pragmatic competence by reducing foreign language anxiety and developing their confidence. The study recommends translanguaging as an effective pedagogical strategy in bridging linguistic and pragmatic gaps and advocates its integration into teacher training and curriculum to enrich ESL pedagogy in Punjab.

The Role of Sufi Shrines in Local Politics: A Case Study of Mitthan Kot Rajanpur, Pakistan

2025-12-01T16:20:49+05:00

This study investigates the role of Sufi shrines in the local community and local politics. This study follows a qualitative research strategy and employs in-depth interviews to collect data from different stakeholders, including shrine visitors, local politicians, and the Sajjada Nasheen (custodian of a shrine). The total number of respondents was 50. Thematic analysis has been used to analyze data. The findings of this study showed that the Sajjada Nasheen in Mitthan Kot uses the shrine for their own benefit, as they are only the caretakers of the Shrine. They are not functioning for the shrine's development or for spreading the teachings of Khwaja Ghulam Farid. Moreover, the results showed that after gaining power, Sajjada Nasheen and his family altered their behavior towards the local people and visitors to the shrine.. That is also quoted in the results as one of the reasons that the number of visitors to the shrine is decreasing. Sajjada Nasheen is involved in politics by using the shrine with the help of local politicians. Hence, the nexus between Sajjada Nasheen and local politicians defines the local political landscape in Mitthan Kor, Rajanpur.

Subverting History through Parody, Pastiche, and Historiographic Metafiction in Farooqi’s The Merman and the Book of Power: A Qissa

2025-12-01T16:28:13+05:00

In this research paper, the authors discuss the novel The Merman and the Book of Power: A Qissa by Musharraf Ali Farooq that was published in 2019. It examines the way Musharraf Ali Farooqi (his name is further used throughout the paper in abbreviation as MAF) was experimenting with parody and pastiche to contest existing historical narratives. It challenges the manner of creating and representation of history. The novel is framed by the history of the Middle East and criticizes both colonial and nationalist concepts as well as providing a multifaceted perspective on the past. Through the application of a theory of parody by Linda Hutcheon, the paper demonstrates how Qissa incorporates critical distance and intertextual aspects to disrupt the mainstream histories and elevate the marginal voices. Parody is employed as a means of conversation in the story, challenging the basis of traditional historiography, and redefining the past as something contentious and mutable. Meanwhile pastiche serves to make MAF’s Qissa contemplate mixing styles, genres, and traditions depending on the multifaceted and stratified identities in the Middle East. In this study, Qissa is placed within historiographic metafiction, a genre that is a combination of history and fiction that challenges the authority and objectivity of history. The mixture of myth, folklore and fantasy in MAF’s Qissa’s storyline points to the multiplicity of historical facts and challenges the exclusionary nature of the mainstream historiographical discourse. The paper contributes to the existing debates on the subject of memory, identity, and representation in literary studies. It bridges the gaps in the theoretical knowledge by the application of Hutcheon to a text involving the Middle Eastern setting, providing new information on the functions of parody and pastiche in postcolonial and postmodern literature. Essentially, Qissa is a transformative piece of work, not only in its degradation of the historical accounts of history, but its reinvention of the same to amplify the voices and stories which are not part of mainstream to both criticize and enlighten our perception of the past, our identity, and power.