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Ilkogretim Online - Elementary Education Online, Year; Vol 20 (Issue 2): pp. 483-496
http://ilkogretim-online.org
doi: 10.17051/ilkonline.2021.02.53
483| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS
THROUGH ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
Faisal Irfan, School of Languages, Civilization and Philosophy, University Utara Malaysia,
Mahmoona Shahzadi, Department of English Minhaj University, Lahore,
Tasaddaq Hussain, Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication Minhaj University, Lahore
Syed AbuzarNaqvi, Department of English Minhaj University, Lahore,
TajammalHussainAwan, City District Govt. Primary School Sitara Colony No2, Lahore
ABSTRACT- Linguistic Ecology shows a relationship between a man and his environment and this research work was
carried out for investigating the Ecological Perspectives of English Language Learning in Pakistan. An analytical
technique through qualitative approach was used to analyze the Ecological Perspectives of English Language
Learning in Pakistan. For this Purpose secondary sources were implied and all publications of recent ten years were
analyzed to derive a vocabulary list of those words which are being used in Pakistan and are related to the field of Eco
linguistics. The derived vocabulary list expressed three basic aspects of linguistic ecology and the society of Pakistan
such as i) Ecological words and their class ii) Ecological Relationship among words in Pakistani Language Perspective
and iii) Quality of words in cohesion with ecology and its ecological usage. The extracted vocabulary was expressed in
tables with explanation. The analysis concluded that the attitude of the people of Pakistan towards learning English
language has essentially changed and is still going on to be changed. Pakistani environment for learning language is
not purely equivalent to its own origins as it is the state with diverse languages, behavior, environment, ecology and
cognitivism, so the learning behavior and perspectives of different people towards learning English language also
differ. So, there is a need to review the language planning in Pakistan. As ecological perspectives of English language
learning are not as rich in Pakistan as in other countries so it should be promoted and the new term towards
linguistics i.e. Ecolinguistics must be introduced as a separate field.
Keywords: Ecology, Perspective, Ecolinguistics, Linguistic Ecology, Ecological Perspective, etc.
I. INTRODUCTION
Human beings are social creatures. They need to communicate with one another. They communicate with
each other to keep their relationships. They communicate with one another either for their business
matters or for their personal discussions. In educational fields students have to present themselves in
their academic presentations, teachers have to present themselves to approve themselves as perfect
mentors, or in business any employee has to present himself either for getting some job or to approve
himself as a good intellectual employee, any entrepreneur has to present himself in other markets for
showing their products more useable and utilizable.
Language is a social phenomenon and therefore is constantly influenced by society and environment. He
further added and said that the interface between linguistics, cultural studies, environmental studies,
sociology, ethnology and social philosophy becomes some sort of sense-building field within which
researchers can study individual and social environmental consciousness of the society which may be
able to positively influence it(Abbas, Jalil, Zaki&Irfan, 2020).
Language to society and environment and said that language is the tool to create a link between
individuals and their environment and society. Such links of human beings and their environment are
termed as relationship and such relationships create discourses. Whether they create positive or negative
discourses, it is important to recognize the junctions and blendings of two when brought together (Irfan,
Naqvi, Awan,&Abbasi, 2021)
Stibbe (2015) argued that linguistic ecology is the study of those stories which are related to our day to
day lives and these are connected to our environment.
Objectives
484| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
1. To find out the link between language learning and ecology.
2. To understand the link of ecological perspectives of science languages with English language
learning in Pakistan.
3. To explore the ways to link Pakistani language learning trends with Ecology and Ecolinguistics.
Significance of Research
1. This research may be helpful for language learners and teachers to be aware of new terms
Ecology and Ecolinguistics in Pakistan.
2. This research work may be of great importance for linguists to analyze any language in an
ecological perspective.
3. Such work will definitely pave new ways of linking learning trends of Pakistani language learners
with ecology.
Research Questions
1. What is the link between language learning and ecology?
2. Is there any link between scientific languages and linguistics in terms of their ecological use in
Pakistan?
3. What are the ways which may link Pakistani language learning trends with Ecology and
Ecolinguistics?
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Language: An Epistemological Turn
Harris(1981) pointed out about language and said that whatever is studies area of any
field whether it’s historical, cultural or developmental. Language always paves the way towards scientific
fields. On the other side if science is analyzed it may be the construction of language as the scientists have
to use the language to impose their discoveries.Language has a distinct importance in the lives of
humans.Linguistic studies has produced many effects on human civilizations and their studies like
physics, cultural studies, traditions and customs, biology, chemistry etc.This is uniquefrom a huge
methodological background from linguistics, whose epistemological basics alwaysdisqualify our thinking
and concepts about language.
Language Ecology
Language cannot exist in space and are formed after the use of its speakers in long term.
Languages are affected by those people who use those as their medium of communication. Such
communication form an environment and maintain such relationships which form the actual linguistic
ecology.
Ecology of language is a new term and different views and assumptions of human languages are
considered important when they are employed to any environment. Language ecology is recognized as a
separate field and got recognition in recent few years as other fields were flourished. It went parallel to
economy, sociology and all other fields which were connected to socialism. Sociolinguistics is considered
to be closely related to ecolinguistics and it express the inner relationship of language to environment.
Different scholars put their efforts in the field of ecolinguistics. These are Sapir (1921), Hymes (1964),
Haugen (1972),
Ecolinguistics
Chen (2016) stated that obviously, ecolinguisticscorporates two disciplines which are ecology and
linguistics and they may be analyzed as beingnon-related. Such disconnection may be justified only in the
sense if the concept of ecology could not be proved as an organism. Different ecologists presented such
views which showed that there is a strong relationship of language with any other organism. Languages
do have their physical environment. It may play an important role in the lives of human beings who are
connected to each other through the medium of communication which is one and only language. if
language is considered part and parcel for any society that language may be considered for playing an
important role in all the aspects of the lives of human that how the interact with each other and how they
are connected to each other. (Irfan, Shahzadi, Talib, &Awan 2020)
485| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
Ecology and Ecolinguistics
Cowley (2007) observed that ecolinguistics is the field of linguistic of language studies in which the
concept of biology is not studied up to the mark. He also commented in support of Haugen and said that if
language is considered important in human interactions and interrelated with its environment of origin
that it should be studied in both natural and cultural phenomenon. He argued that ecology must be
considered of great importance in human society for being an important component of living system. He
further added that such living system must be persistent and there should be a positive relationship of
these systems with their environment. He commented that there is no doubt language is an important
feature of the species of human but it should not be considered as a thing.
Language and Ecology of Pakistan
Pakistan is a state where a lot of languages are spoken. The most commonly used languages are five.
These are Punjabi, Urdu, Sindhi and Seraiki. These languages are having more than 10 million users in
Pakistan. It is true that almost all Pakistani languages belong to two language families named, group of
Indo- European and Indo-Iranian linguistic families.
The National language of Islamic republic of Pakistan is Urdu, which is used as official language along
with English language. There are some other languages which are regional and these are Seraiki, Pushto,
Balochi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Brahui, Hindko, Khowar, Shina, Balti, Haryanvi, Marwao,
Wakhi and Burushaski. Such regional languages contain four provincial languages Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi
and Pushto.
The languages which may be counted as individual languages are 74 in number. All 74 languages are
living languages and these are in use to their speakers. These 74 are further divided into indigenous and
non-indigenous languages i.e. 66 and 8 respectively. If we further divide these languages than
institutional languages are 7, developing languages are 17, vigorous are 39, endangered languages are 9
in number 2 languages are dying.
Saraiki was included with Punjabi in the census of 1951 and 1961.
Urdu language is national language and is spoken and understood in all over Pakistan.
Wikipedia, the online resource presented the ecology of Pakistani languages and presented a chart to
represent the use of different languages as first language by different people. Six languages are presented
in the given chart. These estimates are given according to the census of 2008 and 1998.
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Qualitative research means to investigate the quality of relationships, their activities, their situations and
the materials used.The data becomes the direct source of research and the researcher becomes the
integral part of the process. Such research method is used to analyze the data qualitatively.
An explorative research is applied to those research problems which have not been presented as clearer
as these should be. Those topics of discussion which are not explored in some regions need explorative
type of research to introduce those works on that specific regions. Similarly the said research was based
on exploration as in the country like Pakistan, it is impossible to find out any work done on linguistic
ecology. So the aim was to introduce the term through a specific way and systematized procedure.
Numbers of speakers of larger languages
Language
2008 estimate
1998 census
Areas of Predominance
1
Punjabi
76,367,360
44.17%
58,433,431
44.15%
Punjab, Islamabad
2
Pashto
26,692,890
15.44%
20,408,621
15.42%
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
3
Sindhi
24,410,910
14.12%
18,661,571
14.10%
Rural Sindh
4
Saraiki
18,019,610
10.42%
13,936,594
10.53%
Punjab
5
Urdu
13,120,540
7.59%
10,019,576
7.57%
Urban Sindh and urban
Pakistan
6
Balochi
6,204,540
3.59%
4,724,871
3.57%
Balochistan
486| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
So, similarly a descriptive research explains about the research in descriptive way. It describesthe
problems and interprets the results. It may be related to qualitative concepts of relations, some sort of
opinions and evidences of theories that are developing.
Sample of the Study
In any qualitative research work samples may be acquired in three ways (1) to achieve the data of some
publications related to the study, (2) to select the method of random sampling while choosing data from
literature, and (3) to finalize the most related materials of publications to be the representative of the
data.
Definitely, the initial two methods of sampling may not be easy for a new researcher because a highly
professional and well- knowledge researcher may adopt such samples with perfections. So the third
sampling technique was employed and the most related material of publications of recent 10years were
selected as sample for content analysis.
Data Collection
As the original text of corpus is not present and it is not possible to collect so there was not any primary
source of data collection. The data was collected through secondary sources, i.e. journals, books’ chapters,
published newspapers, conference papers and research articles. Most of the data was also collected from
online web resources like environmental websites or ecological vocabulary generating sites. As the main
purpose of the research was to generate some cohesive vocabulary which may show a link between
language and ecology. So the major sources were those websites, journals or publications which
represent such text which contain most of the ecological data related to ecolinguistics. In this research
work, the secondary data demonstrates the validity, and genuineness of research. That is the reason it
requires both hard and soft kind of data and information.
Research Design
The current research was based on qualitative approach. Data was collected through different published
and online sources. But only that data was added which was ecologically relevant and was almost recent
about ten years back. The research was designed through natural physical linguistic features with
relationship and quality of ecolinguistic words.
Analytical Technique
After the collection of data, the most sensitive and crucial task was to analyze the data.Data analysis
embraces of whole range of activities of given research that is qualitative in nature. The analysis of such
qualitative data provided results of the study. As the data was collected through personal observation and
objective was to create an ecological vocabulary list. So, a textual and content analysis strategy was
applied in this research. Linguistic ecology is analyzed in relation with Pakistani society and community.
A vocabulary list is generated keeping in view three basic aspects of linguistic ecology and the society of
Pakistan. These aspects are as under:
i. Ecological words and their class
ii. Ecological Relationship among words in Pakistani Language Perspective
iii. Quality of words in cohesion with ecology and its ecological usage
The main purpose of qualitative research is to encourage and explore the more profound comprehension
of the research.So, the analyzed data was shown through tables. Following the analytical framework, the
selected word categories were analyzed and related to each other. Such relationship showed cohesion of
the selected words with society.
IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
The main concept of the chapter is the data analysis and interpretation of received data. The data was
obtained through personal observation through all available online resources and published materials
like, magazines, newspapers, research articles etc. The data was than categorized into three main
categories, i.e. i. Ecological words and their class, ii. Ecological Relationship among words in Pakistani
Language Perspective, iii.Quality of words in cohesion with ecology and its ecological use.The results are
487| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
presented in table forms and the analysis of data is given in the end of each table. After analyzing the data
findings are derived for concluding the result and putting forward the recommendations.
The analysis and interpretation of this data is given on the next page.
Analyzing Ecological Words and their Class
Table. 1Following table shows list of words along with word class having Noun, Verb and Adverb.
Analysis of Table 1
Ecolinguistic vocabulary is rich in noun and most of the words related to ecolinguistic field
morphologically come from noun. Most of the words which are analyzed belong to Noun class and some
of them belong to verb or adverb class. It is rich in Noun apart from adjective and adverb.
In above given table a sample of 25 words from 1 to 30 is taken randomly from the whole population of
565 words. In the above given table it may be interpreted that majority of words belong to noun class as
ecological vocabulary is rich in noun class. Most of the words in ecological vocabulary morphologically
come from noun class which make it rich in this class. Some of the ecological words are interlinked with
each other. Some of them are noun and adjective too. Hence, their ecological use is different but their class
is same. Verb class of ecological words is seen less if compared to adjectives and nouns.
Analyzing Ecological Relationship among words in Pakistani Language Perspective
Table2
S.N
Ecological words
Ecological Use in Pakistan
1
Bio
Biology
2
Biologic
Biology
3
Biological
Biology
4
Beaver
A common ecological word which may be used in different subjects.
5
Bio nanoscience
Microbiology, Biotechnology, Bio nanotechnology
6
Bioturbation
Geology
7
Community
Sociology, Ecology
8
Climate
Climatology, Ecology
9
Conservation biology
Biology, Ecology
10
Conspecific
Biology
11
Cognitive science
Psychology, Biology, Ecology
12
Commensal
Biology
13
Cytology
Biology, Medicine
14
Cryobiology
Biology
15
Climatology
Environmental Science
16
Commensalism
Biology
17
Degradation
Biology, Geology, Ecology
S.N
Ecological words
Word Class
S.N
Ecological words
Word Class
1
Archeology
Noun
14
Amphibian
Noun, Adjective
2
Agronomy
Noun
15
Ammonia
Noun
3
Abiotic
Adjective
16
Apiculture
Noun
4
Autotrophs
Noun
17
Aerenchym
Noun
5
Aphid
Noun
18
Allopatric
Speciation
Verb
6
Agroforestry
Noun
19
Anoxic waters
Noun, Adjective
7
Agroecology
Noun
20
Anaerobic Bacteria
Noun
8
Aerobiology
Noun
21
Aquatic ecosystem
Noun, Adjective
9
Aquatic
Adjective, Noun
22
Adaptation
Noun, Adjective
10
Alga
Noun
23
Biotic
Adjective
11
Alpine Tundra
Noun
24
Biodiversity
Noun
12
Ant
Noun
25
Biology
Noun
13
Bacteria
Noun
26
Ecologically
Adverb
27
Sociological
Adjective, Adverb
29
Sociocultural
Noun, Adverb
28
Understanding
Noun, Verb
30
Waste
Verb, Noun
488| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
18
DNA
Biology
19
Decomposers
Biology
20
Developmental Biology
Biology
21
Decomposition
Biology
22
Dynamic Equilibrium
Biology
23
Devonian Period
Geology
24
Death of the Forest
Environmental Sciences, Geology
25
Destruction
Linguistically used in all languages
Analysis of Table 2
The second basic objective of the research was the exploration of ecolinguistic studies and the ecological
perspective of English language learning in Pakistan. It was to analyze whether such words are used in
Pakistan or not. Whether such words are used in pure concept of ecology which may be:
i. Climate
ii. Atmosphere
iii. Sea
iv. Cosmology
v. Environment
Or such words have their separate identity in other fields. So searched words were enlisted and were
analyzed according to different fields and the results were positive which means that such ecological
words have their identity in other fields too. Such fields are as under:
i. Biology
ii. Botany
iii. Zoology
iv. Hydrology
v. Astrology
Above table is given for validation and explanation of the derived results. The table illustrates 25
randomly selected words from the whole population. The objective was to explore whether such
ecological words which are being used in Pakistani Language learning perspectives have their separate
identity in different fields or not. Whether such fields are interlinked to each other or not. The above
given table expresses that most of the words are interlinked with each other. They have their separate
identity too and some of the words are linguistically used in all languages which belong to ecology too.
Einar Haugen first of all stated in his ecological theory that ecology and biology are interlinked and same
results are approved that most of the ecological words belong to Biology and its subfields. Other fields
which have been using ecological words with their separate identity are Botany, Zoology, Biotechnology,
Astrology, Planetology, Environmental Sciences Geology and much other scientific fields. Such ecological
words although are used in different fields, in fact all of scientific fields but such ecological words do not
have separate identity or recognition in the field of English language learning in Pakistan.
Analyzing link of Ecology with Biology
Table 2.1
S.N
Ecological
words Linked to
Biology
S.N
Ecological
words Linked
to Biology
S.N
Ecological
words Linked to
Biology
S.N
Ecological
words Linked
to Biology
1
Abiotic
12
Biota
23
Bioinformatics
34
Cryobiology
2
Aerobiology
13
Biomass
24
Biogenic
35
Culture
3
Allopatric
Speciation
14
Biome
25
Biogenesis
36
Consumer
4
Anaerobic
Bacteria
15
Biotope
26
Biocide
37
Cytoskeleton
5
Biotic
16
Biomolecular
27
Bio specimen
38
Cholesterol
6
Biodiversity
17
Biosphere
28
Bio
communication
39
Carnivorous
489| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
7
Biology
18
Bioacoustics
29
Biometeorology
40
Chromosome
8
Bacteria
19
Bio
30
Bioregion
41
Chemosynthesis
9
Biogeography
20
Biologic
31
Biomimetic
42
Cyto chemistry
10
Biophysics
21
Biological
32
Bio diverse
43
Clones
11
Bionomics
22
Bio nanoscience
33
Biogeochemical
44
Coral
45
Biomedical
60
Commensal
75
Brackish
90
Cell wall
46
Bacterium
61
Cytology
76
Biomechanics
91
Coevolution
47
Bioaccumulation
62
Cline
77
Garry Oak
92
Phytoplankton
48
Conservation
biology
63
Carbon cycle
78
Genetic Mutation
93
Parasitism
49
Conspecific
64
Heteroploid
79
Homoeothermic
94
Serology
50
Cognitive science
65
Heterotroph
80
Heterology
95
Subgenus
51
Degradation
66
Herbivores
81
Mutant
96
Sterol
52
DNA
67
Habitat
82
Nutrient cycling
97
Symbiosis
53
Decomposers
68
House
83
Natural resource
98
Subphylum
54
Developmental
Biology
69
Holistic
84
Oikology
99
Salamander
55
Decomposition
70
Intercellular
85
Organism
100
Subkingdom
56
Dynamic
Equilibrium
71
Intracellular
86
Physiology
101
Somatic cell
57
Ethology
72
Invertebrates
87
Psychobiology
102
Soil science
58
Environmental
Science
73
Kin selection
88
Physiological
103
Sea otter
59
Evolution
74
Kinship
89
Protoplasm
104
Sex
chromosomes
105
Evolutionary
Biology
117
Lichen
128
Polyploidy
139
Photo science
106
Entomology
118
Law of
population
growth
129
Prokaryote
140
Tissue
107
Endemic
119
Logy
130
Pathogen
141
Unicellular
108
Estuarine
120
Life
131
Pharmacoenviro
nmentology
142
Endoplasmic
Reticulum
109
Extracellular
121
Limnology
132
Food Web
143
Geosphere
110
Evolutionary
122
Microbiology
133
Germination
144
Photobiology
111
Epidemiology
123
Microbial
134
Gravitropism
145
Phylogenetic
112
Eukaryote
124
Food Cycle
135
Estuaries
146
Gene
113
Ecophysiology
125
Fungi
136
Enactivism
147
Geological
114
Ecosystem
Service
126
Food Chain
137
Ecological
Network
148
Geophysics
115
Ecosystem
Engineer
127
Factory
Farming
138
Echinoderm
149
Glycoscience
116
Genetic Diversity
Analysis of Table 2.1
The table illustrates different words selected from the whole population data. These
words express the link of ecological words with the field of Biology. As Haugen theorized that ecology is
interlinked with biology, similarly the table shows that almost 150 words from 565 words are from
biology. These words belong to ecology as well as biology. As ecology explains the processes of life in
accordance with environment and biology studies the lives of organisms. So both may be interlinked but
in Pakistani community such ecological words are not explored for having a link towards English
language learning rather they have separate identity for being used in scientific field only. Ecology has
practical implications in conservation biology, microbiology but it does not has any significant
implications in the field of linguistics.
490| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
Analyzing link of Ecology with Botany
Table 2.2
S.N
Ecological words
linked to Botany
S.N
Ecological words
linked to Botany
S.N
Ecological words
linked to Botany
1
Autotrophs
7
Flora
13
Lichen
2
Aphid
8
Fauna
14
Over fertilization
3
Agroforestry
9
Heterotrophs
15
Photosynthesis
4
Agroecology
10
Juvenile plant
16
Plantesamfund
5
Consumer
11
Kelp
17
Stem cells
6
Cytoskeleton
12
Kin selection
18
Vegetation
Analysis of Table 2.2
The table illustrates different words selected from the whole population data. These words express the
link of ecological words with the field of Botany. The table shows that almost 18 words from 565 words
are from botany. These words belong to ecology as well as botany. Botany is a subfield of Biology which
includes the study of structures of plants, how they grow and how they can be classified and ecology is
attributed to distribution of abundance of plants and the interactions among and between plants and
other organisms. In Pakistani community botany is a recognized field but the field related to botanical
ecology is not recognized yet. The derived words in above table are such words which are not explored
for having a link towards English language learning rather they have separate identity for being used in
scientific field only.
Analyzing link of Ecology with Zoology
Table 2.3
S.N
Ecological
words linked
to Zoology
S.N
Ecological
words linked
to Zoology
S.N
Ecological
words linked
to Zoology
S.N
Ecological
words linked
to Zoology
1
Abiotic
14
Bacteria
26
Biotope
38
Carbon cycle
2
Ant
15
Biogeography
27
Bee
39
Drought
3
Amphibian
16
Biota
28
Cytoskeleton
40
Detritivore
4
Biotic
17
Biomass
29
Carnivorous
41
Ethology
5
Biodiversity
18
Biome
30
Clones
42
Evolution
6
Fig Wasp
19
Linnaean
taxonomy
31
Phytoplankton
43
Spadefoot toad
7
Fungus
growing ants
20
Leech
32
Parasitism
44
Wasp
8
Factory
Farming
21
Nematodes
33
Social insects
45
Yucca moth
9
Herpetology
22
Naked mole-rat
34
Saprophyte
46
Zoology
10
Hippopotamus
23
Nile crocodile
35
Subgenus
47
Zygote
11
Invertebrates
24
Omnivores
36
Subphylum
48
Zooplankton
12
Kelp
25
Phylogenetic
37
Salamander
49
Zoochemistry
13
Zoo blast
Analysis of Table 2.3
The table illustrates different words selected from the whole population data. These words express the
link of ecological words with the field of Zoology. The table shows that almost 50 words from 565 words
are from zoology. These words belong to ecology as well as Zoology.Ecology studies the organisms and
their interactions with environment and Zoology investigates the living patterns of animals. Both of the
fields understand how animals function on their own and how they interact with other living organisms.
In Pakistani community the field of Zoology is well known but its link to ecology are put behind as the
words in above table are not explored for having a link towards English language learning rather they
have separate identity for being used in scientific field only.
491| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
Analyzing link of Ecology with Hydrology
Table 2.4
S.N
Ecological words
linked to Hydrology
S.N
Ecological words linked
to Hydrology
S.N
Ecological words linked
to Hydrology
1
Aquatic
4
Evapotranspiration Rates
8
Drought
2
Anoxic waters
5
Hydrology
9
Dry
3
Aquatic ecosystem
6
Marine
10
Oceanic
4
Brackish
7
Ocean
11
Trade winds
Analysis of Table 2.4
The table illustrates different words selected from the whole population data. These words express the
link of ecological words with the field of Hydrology. As Haugen theorized that ecology is interlinked with
biology, similarly the table shows that 12 words from 565 words are from Hydrology. These words
belong to ecology as well as Hydrology. Hydrology studies the properties of water movements related to
land and on the other side ecology understands the environment that how it sustains life and the human
impact on it. In fact ecology analyzes that how people and nature can prosper together. But such fields are
not flourished in Pakistani community the words given in above table do not explore a direct link of
ecology and hydrology. Ecological perspective towards English language learning is not recognizedas
having a separate identity and for being used in the field of linguistics as well as its own scientific field.
Analyzing link of Ecology with Astrology
Table 2.5
S.N
Ecological words
linked to Astrology
S.N
Ecological words
linked to Astrology
S.N
Ecological words linked to
Astrology
1
Carbon cycle
4
Earth Science
6
Polaris
2
Earth
5
Escape Distance
7
Phosphorus
3
Universe
Analysis of table 2.5
The table illustrates different words selected from the whole population data. These words express the
link of ecological words with the field of Astrology. The table shows that 7 words from 565 words are
from Astrology. These words belong to ecology as well as Astrology. As Astrology studies the
astronomical bodies and their effect on our lives and ecology is the study of relationship between human
and their environment. Both studies are interlinked to each other to some extent. But, in Pakistani
community such fields are not explored for having a link towards English language learning rather they
have separate identity for being used in scientific field only.
Analyzing Quality of Words in Cohesion with Ecology and its Ecological use
Table 3
S.N
Ecological
words
Ecological Use
S.N
Ecological
words
Ecological Use
1
Archeology
Anthropology, Sociology,
Demography
6
Alga
Plant genetics, Plant
Physiology,
Meteorology, Soil
science
2
Agronomy
Plant genetics, Plant
Physiology, Meteorology,
Soil science.
7
Ammonia
Chemistry
3
Abiotic
Biology, Zoology, Ecology
8
Apiculture
Beekeeping, Apiology
4
Autotrophs
Botany, Plant Science,
Dendrology, Ecology,
Environmental Science
9
Allopatric
Speciation
Plant genetics, Plant
Physiology,
Meteorology, Soil
science, Ecology,
Environmental Sciences,
492| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
Biology,
5
Anoxic waters
Hydrology,
Hydrometeorology,
Ecology
10
Bio nanoscience
Microbiology,
Biotechnology, Bio
nanotechnology
11
Bioacoustics
Acoustics, Biology, Ecology
23
Bio specimen
Biology, Laboratory
sciences, Ecology
12
Beaver
Linguistic
24
Brackish
Hydrology, Ecology
13
Climate
Climatology, Ecology
25
Ecotourism
Ecology, Tourism
14
Cognitive
science
Psychology, Biology,
Ecology
26
Energy
Physics
15
Climatology
Environmental Science
27
Geography
Geography
16
Culture
Biology, Sociology,
Political science,
demography, Ecology,
Anthropology
28
Geology
Geography, Geology
17
Devonian
Period
Geology
29
Herpetology
Zoology, helminthology,
etc.
18
Dump
Linguistically used in all
languages
30
Habitat
Sociology, Ecology,
Biology
19
Earth
Chemistry, Planetology,
Astrology, Geography
31
Life history
Anthropology
20
Economics
Economics
32
Language
Linguistics
21
Ecosystem
Diversity
Sociology, Ecology,
33
Metaphysics
Philosophy
22
Ecosystem
Service
Biology, Ecology,
Sociology, Environmental
science, Biology
34
Matrix
Sociology, Anthropology,
Mathematics, Physics,
35
Ocean
Hydrometeorology,
Hydrology, Ecology
41
Sea urchins
Oceanography
36
Psychology
Neurology
42
Silviculture
Silvology
37
Planetology
Planetology
43
Solar radiation
Radiobiology
38
Radiant energy
Radiography, Physics
44
Timber
Dendrology
39
Sociology
Sociology
45
Trawler
Fisheries science
40
Scientific
Natural Sciences
46
Tectonic plates
Plate Tectonics
Analysis of Table 3
Another objective of analyzing such ecological words was to check the quality of words in cohesion with
ecology. The basic purpose was to check their ecological use in accordance with Pakistani language
learning perspectives. Above table illustrates some of randomly selected words from the whole
population data of 565 words expressing cohesion of words with ecology and their use in Pakistan’s
ecology.
The table illustrates almost 50 words randomly selected from whole population. Some of those words
belong to most closely related subjects to ecology which are Biology, Hydrology, Zoology, Astrology and
Botany. But some other words which are indirectly to ecology belong to different fields and some of them
which are being use in Pakistan are those which are common ecological words which may be used in
different subjects. Some ecological words are linguistically used in all languages whether that it is medical
language or the language of scientists. Such words belong to different fields of science such as:
i. Anthropology
ii. Sociology
iii. Demography
iv. Plant Genetics
v. Plant Physiology
vi. Meteorology
vii. Soil Science
viii. Biology
ix. Zoology
493| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
x. Ecology
xi. Botany
xii. Plant Science
xiii. Chemistry
xiv. Dendrology
xv. Environmental Science
xvi. Bee Keeping
xvii. Apiology
xviii. Hydrometeorology
xix. Acoustics
xx. Microbiology
xxi. Biotechnology
xxii. Bio nanotechnology
xxiii. Laboratory Science
xxiv. Geology
xxv. Climatology
xxvi. Psychology
xxvii. Sociology
xxviii. Political Science
xxix. Tourism
xxx. Geography
xxxi. Entomology
xxxii. Helminthology
xxxiii. Philology
xxxiv. Linguistics
xxxv. Philosophy
xxxvi. Neurology
xxxvii. Radiology
xxxviii. Radiography
xxxix. Physics
xl. Oceanography
xli. Silvology
xlii. Dendrology
xliii. Fisheries Science
xliv. Plate Tectonics
xlv. Astrology
V. SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study is conducted to analyze ecological perspectives of English language learning in Pakistan. No
doubt, language is a social phenomenon and therefore it is constantly influenced by society and
environment. The interface between linguistics, cultural studies, environmental studies, sociology,
ethnology and social philosophy becomes some sort of sense-building field therefore the researcher aims
to study individual and social environmental consciousness in the future which may even be able to
positively influence it. Language is the tool to create a link between individuals and their environment
and society.
Pakistan is a state where people belong to different areas and they speak different languages. The society
of Pakistan is pluralist in the sense that speaking more than one language is considered as asset even with
imperfections. Pakistani variety of English has certain unique characteristics and sociolinguistic contours,
alongside having its own specific cultural norms. As language is influenced by surroundings and Pakistan
has its own ecology and its ecological perspectives towards language are also different.
As the study was designed to analyze Pakistani English language learning trends specifically in ecological
perspectives. The basic objective of the study was to find out the link between language learning and
ecology. Another aim of the study was to analyze to role ecological perspectives for English language
learning in Pakistan. It was also aimed to find out the ways how Pakistani language learning trends may
be linked with ecolinguistics or ecology.
To fulfill such purposes an explorative research was conducted through qualitative ways. Through such
qualitative approach a vocabulary list was generated containing ecological words and those ecological
494| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
words were found out from published material all over Pakistan.Such vocabulary list presented the word
class, meaning, definition and ecological use of those words.
It was analyzed that most of the words were interlinked with each other indirectly but in Pakistan they do
not have a separate identity.
The study further concluded that Ecolinguistic vocabulary is rich in noun and most of the words related to
ecolinguistic field morphologically come from noun. Most of the words which are analyzed belong to
Noun class and some of them belong to verb or adverb class. It is rich in Noun apart from adjective and
adverb.
Another objective of analyzing such ecological words was to check the quality of words in cohesion with
ecology. The basic purpose was to check their ecological use in accordance with Pakistani language
learning perspectives. Some of those words belong to most closely related subjects to ecology which are
Biology, Hydrology, Zoology, Astrology and Botany. But some other words which are indirectly to ecology
belong to different fields and some of them which are being use in Pakistan are those which are common
ecological words which may be used in different subjects. Some ecological words are linguistically used in
all languages whether that it is medical language or the language of scientists.
Findings
After the analysis of data, some findings were gained as under:
Ecolinguistic vocabulary is rich in noun and most of the words related to ecolinguistic field
morphologically come from noun. Most of the words which are analyzed belong to Noun class and some
of them belong to verb or adverb class. It is rich in Noun apart from adjective and adverb.
Most of the words are interlinked with each other. They have their separate identity too and
some of the words are linguistically used in all languages which belong to ecology too.
Ecological words although are used in different fields, in fact all of scientific fields but such
ecological words do not have separate identity or recognition in the field of English language learning in
Pakistan.
Haugen theorized that ecology is interlinked with biology words belong to ecology as well as
biology. In Pakistani community such words are not explored for having a link towards English language
learning rather they have separate identity for being used in scientific field only.
Another objective of analyzing such ecological words was to check the quality of words in
cohesion with ecology. The basic purpose was to check their ecological use in accordance with Pakistani
language learning perspectives.
Some of those words belong to most closely related subjects to ecology which are Biology,
Hydrology, Zoology, Astrology and Botany. But some other words which are indirectly to ecology belong
to different fields and some of them which are being use in Pakistan are those which are common
ecological words which may be used in different subjects.
Some ecological words are linguistically used in all languages whether that it is medical language
or the language of scientists. Such words belong to different fields of science such as Anthropology,
Sociology, Demography, Plant Genetics, Plant Physiology, Meteorology, Soil Science etc.
The findings demonstrate that ecolinguistics is such branch of language which has achieved an
immense attention from researchers for being a growing field of linguistics. Many researchers are
publishing their research work in this filed and are trying to explore it more.
Different research methods are being implied in the field of ecolinguistics to make it flourish and
interlink it with other scientific branches as well as to make it familiar as a separate branch of linguistics.
Conclusion
To be based on findings the conclusion is drawn from the study following the research questions.
The research express that ecolinguistics has a great interest in creating a link of our lives with our
environment. It may be best understood in the situations where language can easily be learned with a link
of ecology.
The first question of the study was to check the link between language learning and ecology. The research
has concluded that definitely there is a link between language learning and ecology but in Pakistani
society such link is not explored. In fact such learning experiences are put behind and are not flourished.
Pakistani language learners are well aware of the terms of ecology but they don’t recognize separate
identity of those words as a subject like biological linguistic, cosmological linguistics and ecolinguistics
etc. A comprehensive analysis of Pakistani publications was done and it was analyzed that such
publications contain a huge vocabulary of English language which links it with ecology but they do not
present them as a separate field. At the end it was concluded that definitely there is a link between
language learning and Ecology but ecolinguistics doesn’t have a separate recognition in Pakistan.
495| Faisal Irfan ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING IN PAKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH
ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW
The second question of the study was to analyze the role of ecological perspectives of English language
learning in Pakistan. As the data was gathered from different secondary resources and such resources
were published materials whether that was online web articles and journals or whether that data was
belonging to different published newspapers. All such published material was than categorized into three
main categories for sampling The samples were than analyzed through a list of vocabulary and by using
analytical technique it was concluded that like all other countries Pakistani community is not far behind
in learning a second language which is English but language learners are not well aware of the term of
ecolinguistics. Pakistani English which is called Pinglish is definitely rich in ecological vocabulary but its
linguistic forms do not recognize ecolinguistics as a separate class or category. So, ecological perspectives
of English language learning is not as rich in Pakistan as in other countries.
Last question of the research was about the ways which may link Pakistani language learning trends with
Ecology and Ecolinguistics. After analyzing the data it was concluded that language and culture are
intricately related to each other. When a word moves from one culture to another culture; it inevitably
takes with all its cultural and environmental considerations. A word may give its complete, more or less,
meaning in its actual ecological context. There are poor results about English language in Pakistan as
Pakistani environment for learning language is not purely equivalent to its own origins.
The attitude of the people of Pakistan towards learning English language has essentially changed and is
still going on to be changed. So such dynamic behavior should be changed and government should
introduce such facilities towards learners which may let them learn language and enhance their language
learning capabilities via ecolinguistics.
As environment affects any language, different writings appear in different texts perform different
meanings of the given texts ecologically. As Pakistan is the state with diverse languages, behavior,
environment, ecology and cognitivism, so the learning behavior and perspectives of different people
towards learning English language also differ. So, there is a need to review the language planning in
Pakistan and to review the people’s perspectives for learning English language.
Recommendations
After explaining the findings and conclusion of the study, some recommendations are made by the
researcher for language learners or language mentors.
Pakistani linguistic community has not introduced this new field of Ecolinguistics in the higher
educational institutes. So a proper learning management system should be introduced in such higher
educational institutes which may motivate learners to learn language in a new perspective which is
Ecological Perspectives of English language learning.
Pakistani State/ Government has not proposed any specific ecology of language related to
language planning. So like other developed countries government should also propose such environment
or facilities to language learners which may help them to enlarge their ecological vocabulary and learn
English language in a new way.
Knowledge of environment provokes a human’s mental capability to make their environment
stable in all senses. Ecolinguistics is such field which may also be helpful in maintaining our
environmental issues through language. So it should be encouraged.
Research work in Pakistan related to language ecology or Ecolinguistics is not viable enough to
help linguists to relate language with environment and to play their role in environmental safety through
language. So, higher educational institutes should motivate students and researchers to do research in
such areas which may link Pakistani language learning trends with ecolinguistics.
Practices of social political and ecological transformations should be encouraged as it may play a
definite role of language in ecosomatics which may be influencing our first person perception of our
bodies and environment.
As language and ecology may create a narrative link in interdisciplinary research. So a platform
should be provided to researchers to promote such research work in areas spanning from biosemiotics,
language ecology, and language acquisition to ecological discourse analysis.
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