All Punjab English Studies Colloquium Resolution

Department of English, University of Jhang (UOJ) organized All Punjab English Studies Colloquium on 19-20 September at VC Secretariat, UOJ. Chairman Punjab Higher Education Commission, Dr. Shahid Munir was the icebreaker for the event. Dr. Waseem Anwar, Dr. Amra Raza, Dr. Safeer Awan and Dr. Ahmar Mahboob were the discourse leaders for the colloquium. Heads of English departments from various universities, especially nascent institutions across Punjab participated in the event to formulate a resolution on the future of English studies in the Punjab, Pakistan. Dr. Nabila Rehman, Vice Chancellor University of Jhang and Dr. Muhammad Abdullah, Head of English department University of Jhang were the hosts for the event. The Resolution include aspects of ideological interventions, policy perspectives, and practical procedures.

Ideological Interventions

• Given that English is the medium of instruction in most universities across the Punjab, English studies is one of the most central domains of studies and requires interdisciplinary teaching and learning approaches.
• The English curriculum needs to include subject knowledge along with social and cross-cultural training which promotes inclusive and diverse worldviews and practices.
• The English curriculum should train students to identify and analyze social challenges and provide potential solutions for these.
• The English curriculum should train students to take a proactive approach to engage with and address community issues and problems.
• The English curriculum should engender cross-cultural understandings, which include diverse international, national, and regional cultures, practices, and places.
• The English curriculum, while recognizing the importance of English for global engagement, needs to be decolonized. This work should adopt an inter-disciplinary approach and recognize and empower Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing.
• The English curriculum should adopt a CREDIBLE approach in research and teaching. CREDIBLE is an acronym which stands for: Contextually relevant, Responds to practical needs (not only theory), Engages stakeholders, Draws on an understanding of local beliefs and practices, Informed by diverse approaches (including but not restricted to the west), Benefits local communities, Leads the fields and contributes to global theories, Ethical responsibility. (Ahmar Mahboob)
• The nascent English departments and universities should draw on their flexibility and opportunities to set trends that influence other institutions.

Policy Perspectives

• HEC revised 2017 curriculum sets out some core requirements for English studies. The English departments should add to this curriculum and design new optional courses to enable interdisciplinary and CREDIBLE approaches. The new courses should address student needs, local challenges/opportunities, and socio-economic mobility.
• The English departments should develop networks and inter-institutional partnerships which enable transfer of training and expertise.
• A country-wide directory of people associated with English studies should be worked upon for better cooperation and welfare of the people associated with it.
• Successful policies, projects, and practices should be shared across institutions and publicized to influence other programs and institutions.
• Programs in linguistics tend to be housed in English departments. This implies that linguistics tends to be limited to English language and teaching. The English departments need to expand the scope of the linguistic programs; and, at the same time include literature written in English from around the world (not just the west).
• Linguistics has applications and relevance across many disciplines, such as health sciences, computer sciences, business, social sciences, and humanities. The English departments and nascent universities should consider best practices to increase interdisciplinary work and CREDIBLE projects.

Practical Procedures

• Budget and financial constraints should be dealt with ethically in English departments and nascent universities.
• Heads of English departments and faculty should be provided appropriate training and resources.
• English departments should establish need-based linkages which may include co-teaching and designing of courses, resource sharing, faculty exchange, student exchange, and capacity building.
• To decrease repetition and to better use resources, academic activities, teacher training, workshops, seminars etc. should be jointly organized with measurable outcomes.
• Institutions established in diverse social, cultural, and regional locations have different needs and potentials. These should be studied with a goal of enabling stronger cross-cultural programs that lead to recognition and empowerment of diversity and differences.
• Writing centers should be established with the purpose of aiding students, staff, and faculty members for discipline and genre specific language abilities.
• In addition to the staff in English departments, language experts should also be housed across different disciplinary areas and departments to ensure discipline and genre specific language support.
• The English departments tend to be amongst the largest in the faculties of social sciences and humanities. This requires development of transdisciplinary and translingual material and approaches.
• The English curriculum should include training that increases the employability and independence of students. English in the real world serves in various domains including digital media and digital workplace, Education, Entertainment, Healthcare, Indigenous Contexts, Law, Marketing, Migration, Politics, Print and Social media, Sports, Tourism, and Transport. The English curriculum should train students to engage across these and other areas and expand their abilities and potentials.
• The English curriculum should take holistic, uniting, and empowering approaches. Any trends in the curriculum which are divisive need attention and revision.
• The English curriculum should incorporate Indigenous knowledge and work and promote this both locally and globally.
• The English curriculum should be localized and contextualized. Canonical curriculum of the West should be studied for its potential of enabling continuing colonization and be revised.
• The English curriculum as well as the broader educational frameworks should focus on nation building instead of training people to go abroad.
• Open access policies should be utilized.
• Research and quality should be assured and students and faculty trained to achieve this.
• Channels for and approaches to constructive criticism and feedback need to be developed.
• Students and faculty should be motivated and enabled to create CREDIBLE projects, carry out positive discourse analysis, take action, and carry out ethical work.
• The English curriculum should espouse flexible approaches that encourage development of ideas, theories, and practices. Education and learning implies a growth and change in one’s work; this needs to be recognized and enabled.
• The English departments need to develop counselling resources for students.
• The English curriculum should foster creative writing skills in students; including writing and performing plays, film scripts, poetry, and narratives.
• The English departments should train research supervisors on how to effectively and empathetically pave the research journey for students.
• The English curriculum should reduce the possibility of plagiarism and encourage ethical work and practice.