Dr.  Muhammad Safdar  Bhatti
The Islamia University of Bahawalpur-Pakistan,  Pakistan

Title: Role of Code Mixing in Punjab Text Books and Teachers’ Perspectives: A Survey

Abstract:

Pakistan is a country where textbooks enjoy central position in the process of teaching and learning. In schools, especially, they are considered as the hub of entire knowledge of the subject matter. The processes of their compilation and publishing require a great deal of attention. At the same time, their evaluation and development need careful and constant scrutiny. Code mixing is termed as intra-sentential switching. In code mixed sentences, pieces of one language are embedded in the other language while a speaker is basically using the other language. These 'pieces' of the other language are often words, but they can also be phrases or larger units. Textbooks, generally, are big sources of information for students of every age group. They help to provide a particular world-view to pupils (Rahman, 2002). It is necessary to offer a good piece of knowledge about the subject to whom they are concerned. They also validate social and educational norms and transmit them to the whole children in all classrooms (Sabir, 2008). As far as textbooks of language are concerned, they demonstrate linguistic norms of the society which are to be transmitted. They are not only the source of information but also a radical tool of learning (Mahmood, 2010). The youth learns a language in a formal setting with the help of prescribed books which are based on their pre-planned syllabi. Pakistan’s national language is Urdu; besides Urdu many regional languages are spoken; giving a multilingual status to the country. At the same time English being an official language enjoys a supreme status in the society. This supremacy of English Language, imperialism of western culture, negligence of the government in making a language policy, the attitude and response of the society towards English Language has originated the phenomenon of code-mixing in public daily communication. Books play an effective role in the development of overall language proficiency but at the same time has increased the phenomenon of code-mixing as being noticed in various researches made in the field. The current study spot lights the need to check and take notice against code-mixing as it is rapidly changing Urdu language. It was a survey type of research based on questionnaire to collect the data from the respondents. The sample of the study was taken from the teachers of the Govt. S.D. High School, Bahawalpur-Pakistan. The data was collected and analyzed by using SPSS software. The foci of the study revealed that the quality and quantity of code mixing in our text books need to guard against it. If the textbook boards continue this practice of substituting English words and discarding the Urdu equivalents, it will approximate to language desertion and the desertion can eventually lead to language death. The researchers’ conclusion with suggestions and recommendations was also summed up at the end of the study.

Keywords: Code-mixing, Role, Perspectives, Text-books, learning.

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