Literacy, Reading Culture, and Multilingual Context: Examining Gaps in Mid-Level Private Schooling in Karachi, Pakistan

• In Event: Educational reforms and policies in South Asia

Proposal

Introduction
This paper is part of a larger project which analyzes factors that contribute to a dwindling interest in reading among students in higher elementary, middle, and senior grades in schools in Pakistan. Although schools make early gains in teaching literacy, there is an increasing disinterest in reading beyond school requirements among students as they become older, resulting in the lack of a school-wide reading culture. This is especially puzzling in the private school sector – despite the fact that they have an advantage over public or non-profit schools in terms of funds, infrastructure, an educated and engaged parental base, consistent student attendance, committed teachers, and access to books, they still struggle to motivate students to read in the later grades. Through a case study of private schools in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, this paper examines the efforts of administration, teachers, librarians, and parents in creating a school-wide reading culture. In the process, it investigates how the contradiction between mother tongue (Urdu or another language) and medium of instruction (English) complicates the efforts for the creation of reading culture in mid-level private schools in post-colonial contexts.

Attaining Reading Culture in Multilingual Context
Analyzing the absence of reading culture in a literacy-rich and resource-rich environment that is also multilingual contributes to current research on literacy, reading, and schooling. Kachru (1985; 1992) describes the usage of English worldwide in terms of concentric circles: inner, outer, and expanding circles. Inner circle refers to states whose native language is English. Outer circle indicates countries with a colonial past who have institutionalized English. And, the expanding circle denotes nations where English serves a functional purpose. Pakistan falls in the outer circle of Kachru’s definition. As a result, English is taught from an early age within the school setting, and sometimes even before Urdu script is formally introduced. All subjects are taught in English, except for Urdu, which is in fact taught as a second language in many private schools. While increasingly bilingual and translanguaging studies are emphasizing the need to center the student’s first language in order for him/her to thrive both academically and socially (Helman, 2016; Pacheco & Miller, 2015; Garcia-Mateus & Palmer, 2017; Norton, 2010), the Pakistani private school context complicates this by treating English as the first language when the reality is that middle class families predominantly speak Urdu.

Mid-level private schools are particularly interesting to study in this context because elite schools deal with families that are already well-versed in English whereas low-fee schools have a predominantly Urdu-speaking clientele. Mid-level private schools, however, strive to create an English language environment even though students come from diverse backgrounds: for some, both parents speak English; for others, one parent speaks English, and for yet others, neither parent speaks English. I hypothesize that mid-level private schools help children reach functional English language proficiency but are not able to instill a habit of reading in them by virtue of such exposure to the English language. Alternatively, I might find that students are able to develop reading habits despite this dichotomy.

Data and Methods
The case study research centers on two mid-level private schools. These schools have been around for the last twenty years or so and attract middle-class families that undergo a competitive admission process. They have built purposeful school buildings rather than operating in bungalows, including dedicated science and sports facilities. The school’s high reputations draw committed teachers who undergo both a rigorous hiring process as well as in-house training. The tuition fee structure for these schools is between that of elite and low-fee private schools. Data collection will be taking place in January, 2019.

I will be conducting semi-structured interviews with administrators and teachers to seek their views regarding the dwindling interest in reading among students as they reach higher grades and what they attribute it to, including strategies administrators and teachers may have tried over the years to ameliorate the situation. In doing so, I will be focusing on the role school resources play along with complications created by the dissonance between mother tongue and medium of instruction in the opinion of administrators and teachers when it comes to achieving literacy and supporting reading. I will also interview school librarians and record their input regarding how teachers and students utilize the library and what that tells us about reading culture in the school.

A second component of my research strategy is to conduct semi-structured interviews with parents of students from those grades to obtain their views on current school efforts for attaining reading culture. In order to ensure a well-represented sample, attempts will be made to seek feedback from parents who have a range of exposure to the English language. I will ask parents why they chose mid-level private schooling for their child(ren) and which school resources they appreciate the most in terms of their child(ren)’s reading instruction. Moreover, parents will be questioned regarding their child(ren)’s reading habits at home. I will also inquire about home language and whether it supports the mother tongue or medium of instruction. In the end, I will further press parents to tell me of their opinion of their child(ren)’s performance regarding reading in school and whether they perceive the dichotomy between mother tongue and medium of instruction as problematic.

Conclusion
This project enriches existing studies and efforts on literacy in Pakistan by extending the focus in a number of ways. Firstly, instead of centering the narrative on public education in remote rural areas or urban slums, this study tackles the highly literate environment of mid-level private schooling in urban centers. Secondly, it investigates factors that hamper the cultivation of reading culture in such literacy-rich settings. Thirdly, by examining these factors in light of the dissonance between mother tongue and medium of instruction, this research strives to explain the challenges around comprehension as well as cognitive development and provide recommendations for how these obstacles can be overcome without overhauling the entire educational system.

Author

• Saulat Pervez, International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)