Attitudes of Pakistani University Students towards English as a Lingua Franca

Abstract

This research observed the attitudes of Pakistani university students towards English as a Lingua Franca. It focused to analyze the opinion of university students through a close ended questionnaire to reveal their perspectives about learning English language as an integral and obligatory part of their education. The study is quantitative in nature represented statistically with the help of data collected and analyzed from a sample size of fifty (50) students, twenty-five (25) each from University of Lahore and Punjab university-Law college. The study analyzed the attitude of Pakistani students towards status of English as a global language limiting the status of Urdu and its impact in Pakistan with major influence on educational institutions. To justify results and interpret the findings, Braj Kachru’s concentric circles (1985) and David Crystal’s work on English as Global Language (2003) were used as a model to conduct data collection and discussion analysis. The findings of this research depict that English enjoys the official status, and Pakistani students are under its enforced influence to be competitive in the market altogether sabotaging the status of their national language i.e., Urdu. Learning English has become mandatory for them to be a part of the economic sector with good future opportunities. Moreover, English is a status symbol in Pakistani society, where elitism is attached to its speakers, and any educational institution is considered significant because of its highly paid focus on English as a subject for their students.