This document involves evolution of language policy in Pakistan, stages needed to make a language policy and so much more as you keep exploring.

1. Language Policy and
Planning
PRESENTED BY: HAFIZA AYESHA IRSHAD
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2. Ideas to discuss
 Definition
 Scope
 Language of Education
 Importance of Studying LP in Pakistan
 Brief History of Language Policy in Pakistan
 Current Language Policy
 Language policy and National Identity
 Language and Media
 Language and Economy
 Language and CPEC
 LP and China
 LP and USA
 Identification of best practices
 Implications for future language policy in Pakistan
 Summary
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3. Overview
 It can be categorized into three components
 its language practices
the habitual pattern of selecting among the varieties
 its language beliefs or ideology
the beliefs about language and language use
 any specific efforts to modify or influence that practice by any kind of
language intervention, planning, or management
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4. Definition of language policy
 Kaplan and Baldauf (1997), "A language policy is a body of ideas, laws,
regulations, rules and practices intended to achieve the planned language
change in the societies, group or system“
 Lo Bianco defines the field as "a situated activity, whose specific history
and local circumstances influence what is regarded as a language problem,
and whose political dynamics determine which language problems are
given policy treatment”
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5. Definition continued…
o Refers to laws and policies- traditions and customs
o Includes rules regarding status of language
o Can be directed at government level or individual
o Can be negative or positive
o Includes rules regarding status of language
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6. Scope
The traditional scope:
 concerns language regulation
 what a government does either officially through legislation, court decisions or policy
 to meet national priorities or to establish the rights of individuals or groups to use and
maintain languages.
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7. Language of Education
 According to an estimate 95% of children in Pakistan do not have access to
education in their mother tongue
 This ambiguous policy of Urdu as national and English as official language
has resulted in three different types of education systems in Pakistan
o English
o Urdu as medium of instruction
o the third, madrassas (religious seminaries) use Arabic and Urdu as medium
of instruction.
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8. Importance of Studying LP in Pakistan
 policies both explicit and implicit that influence what languages are spoken
when, how, and by whom
 as well as the values and rights associated with those languages.
 Urdu is spoken by the people who migrated from India to Pakistan at the
time of partition.
 Urdu has become the language of:
 domain of power
 indigenous people have to learn Urdu and English, which is the official
language, to get a job in public and private sectors.
 Thus indigenous languages lost their vitality for their own people for
pragmatic reasons.
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9. Stages of Language Planning
 1.Selection:
 it refers to the choice of a language variety to fulfill certain functions in a
given society.
 2. Codification
 The creation of a linguistic standard or norm for a selected linguistic code.
It is divided up into three stages:
o 1) Graphization – developing a writing system.
o 2) Grammaticalization – deciding on rules/norms of grammar
o 3) Lexicalization – identifying the vocabulary
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10. Stages Continued…
 3. Implementation
 Promoting the previous stages (selection, codification) by making society
more exposed to this language by: The production of books, newspapers,
education, administration... etc
 4. Elaboration
 The stylistic development of a codified language to meet the
communicative demands of modern life and technology
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11. Brief History of Language Policy in
Pakistan
 Pakistan emerged as an independent Muslim state
 Ethnic groups:
 Bengali
 Punjabi
 Pashtuns
 Sindhis and Balochs.
 Bengalis were more than 50% of the total population
 Bangla, was one of the grievances that led to the division of Pakistan on
ethnic and linguistic lines.
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12. Brief History
 Pakistan is home to four major ethnic groups with their own distinct languages, cultures,
histories and geography.
 However, they share common religion of Islam.
Language Speakers (%)
Punjabi 44.15
Pashto 15.42
Sindhi 14.1
Siraiki 10.53
Urdu 7.57
Balochi 3.57
Other 4.0
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13. Year Event Policy Implementation
Pre-1947 Colonial rule Urdu medium for masses, English
medium for elite
As policy
1947 Independence Urdu declared to be the national
language
Urdu medium for masses,
English medium for elite
1959 Sharif Commission Primary and secondary education
in Urdu, higher education in
English
No change
1973 New constitution English to be replaced by Urdu
within 15 years; provinces free to
develop their language policies
No change
1977 Coup by Zia-ul-Haq Islamisation and Urduisation English taught from Year 4;
schools begin to prepare for
complete Urduisation of exams by
1989; private English
medium schools begin to grow
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14. Year Event Policy Implementation
1989 Benazir Bhutto elected English to be taught from Year 1 Little effective change
1998 New education policy No statement regarding language
policy
Private English medium
schools flourish
1999 Coup by Pervez
Musharraf
English to be taught from Year 1
“where teachers are available”
Little effective change
2007 White Paper English to be taught from Year 1;
mathematics and science to be
taught through English from Year
6
Little effective change; in Punjab
science taught through
English from Year 10
2009 National Education
Policy
Science and mathematics to be
taught through English in Years 4
and 5; all science and
mathematics
to be taught through English
from
2014
Punjab declares science to be
taught through English starting
in Year 4 from April 2009
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15. Language-In-Education Planning
Education sector has to take a number of language planning and policy
decisions:
 Medium of instruction
 Supply of teachers
 Profile of the students
 Methodologies to be employed
 Assessment process involved
 Economic and physical resources required
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16. Current Language Policy
 Strengthen the state by promoting Urdu as a national language
 Modernize the state through English as official language.
 The language policy according to the Constitution of Pakistan is:
o 1. The national language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements shall be
made for it being used for official and other purposes
o 2. The English language may be used for official purposes until
arrangements are made for its replacement by Urdu (Article 251 of the
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973)
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17. Language policy and National Identity
 Language policy often dictates a nation's collective identity.
 Being an integral part of the national identity, language reflects what is
most essential for any nation, its culture, history, customs and traditions.
 when political dominance determines the status of a language as a lingua
franca
 Language is the carrier that reflects our identity to others and delivers our
culture. Identity is “people's concepts of who they are, of what sort of
people they are, and how they relate to others” (Hogg and Abrams 1988
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18. Language and Society
 Language and society have a reciprocal relationship
 language shapes society and social interactions shape language.
 A language is a tool for interaction that humans use to communicate with
other humans.
 Language and culture are codependent.
 Language is strictly communicative
 uses, language has social uses such as signifying group identity,
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19. Language and Media
 Biasness in educational policy the mainstream mass media in Pakistan are
Urdu- and English-based
 the most influential press in Pakistan is none other than English
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20. Language and Economy
 Four factors of production:
o land
o labor
o capital
o entrepreneurship.
 These can be considered the building blocks of an economy.22-D
 Several studies show that languages boost earning power.
 Language shift often reflects the influence of economic factors, such as the
need for work.
 In Florida, workers who speak both Spanish and English earn $7,000 per year
more than those who only speak English.
 According to a Canadian study, bilingual men earn 3.6% and bilingual women
earn 6.6% more than their English-only peers.
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21. Language and CPEC
 Chinese officials and stakeholders communicating with Chinese workers
through Mandarin or other Chinese languages
 Chinese officials, stakeholders and workers communicating with
Pakistani worker through English, Urdu, or through interpreters
 Pakistani officials, stakeholders and workers communicating with each
other using English, Urdu, or any of the other local languages
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23. LP and USA
 The USA is known for considerable linguistic diversity which has been a
distinctive feature of the country since the time of the Founding Fathers.
 English is a predominant language in the US, its status is not officially
determined at the federal level.
 Decision of the Founding Fathers to stick to “policy not to have a policy”
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24. LP and China
 Mandarin in China does not hold the official language status
 it is referred to as the national language.
 “the people of all nationalities have the freedom to use and develop their
own spoken and written languages, and to preserve or reform their own
ways and customs”
 Its external LPP is based on a wide network of Confucius Institutes, whose
primary linguistic task is to teach Mandarin.
 They also aim to spread Chinese culture, encourage trade, and improve
China’s image abroad
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25. Identification of best practices
 Language practices refer to the selection of the language to be used on
the policy
 Language practice is the practice of working with language.
 People who are language practitioners usually work in:
o translation
o interpreting
o text-editing
o Copywriting
o Teach language skills across all curriculum topics
o Speak slowly and be patient
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26. Implications for future language policy
in Pakistan
 in the context of nationalism, language is perceived as an important
political tool, which helps in shaping national identity, hence nation-state.
 Language policy planning, national language planning particularly, is
important in creating and maintaining national identity, nationalism and
nation-state
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27. Summary
 keeping Urdu as national Language and giving importance to regional
languages
o National language
o Symbol of identity
o Maintenance of cultural roots
o Additional tools for communication
 Support for English:
o English entrenched in domain of power especially civil services and military
o English separates elites from masses
o Means of wider communication
o Globalization
o English is the international language
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