Learning English in Pakistan and Australia: A Comparative Analysis

Running head: LOGISTICS AND ENGLISH
LOGISTICS AND ENGLISH
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Children from Pakistan were mainly taught Urdu and English was only taught if it was seen
that the parents wanted to. Earlier, Pakistan did not have proper educational centers that
taught proper vocabulary and grammar (Ahmad & Rao, 2013). However by the time the
interviewee reached university, he thought that if he wanted to get better at speaking English,
he would have to do it from abroad and specially from a country that has English as its first
language. Pakistan was not a country that had English as its main language. European
countries like UK however, he decided to go to Australia. He took this decision is because of
the modern classroom setting in the country. What he noticed here is that the students and the
teachers are treated as equals and of the many creative approaches that has been used in
educational institutes as a learning strategy. He has been taught in groups as well as
individually what ge was surprised to notice that most classrooms improve grammar or
vocabulary by showing movies or listening to music because that way it was very immersive
for him as a student and engaging as well. The rate of absenteeism is also less in classes
because students like the learning method so much that everyone attends it. When he used to
visit my classroom, what he loved was the stimulating way of learning language. Every day it
was something new and exciting and creativity was used to its full potential. Not only that,
the homework given were also was also interactive and reflective. He had to bring in forums
of discussion of websites and allowed students to gain confidence, as we would engage in
interactions and voice their opinions about the task. As the first language was Urdu, it was
initially hard for him to get a grasp at speaking fluent English and especially in Australia. Not
only they have a unique accent but also it is quite fast. It was very hard at first to understand
however while understanding the teaching methods and following the tutorials day by day, he
not only was able to understand, but also was able to speak in a much similar accent. As a
native of Pakistan, it was initially difficult, not only because of the accent but also because of
the dialect. It is also different from the Urdu writing and the sentences having nothing in
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similar. It had to contrast the differences learning what the English word is and what it means
and what is the Urdu word for the same meaning. By utilizing that method, it was easier for
him to remember the words and keeping practice of the sentences and vocabulary made it
simple. By breaking down a sentence and understanding what it means, it helped him to
understand what the words would be (Pegrum, Oakley, & Faulkner, 2013). When he knew
the words, he could construct a sentence by my own. During my school days, it was not
mandatory to learn English as a major language. He did knew some of the words like “Thank
You” or “Hello” like most people, however not understanding it when he used to watch
television or listen to someone speaking fluently. By understanding the gestures, he would
make out what the person is trying to tell. The first step was to read books in school and he
found that he took quite a liking to the language. His parents also did not encouraged him too
much because it was common it the country that learning English was not a necessity
(Mahboob, & Elyas, 2014). When his parents grew up, English speakers in Pakistan was
mainly from the family that were rich and wanted to go abroad to study. People who looked
for jobs within the country did not needed to learn as it was not mandatory at all. Even
schools had just basic English words and grammar (Bughio, 2013). The participant’s beliefs
and experiences in the Pakistani classroom reveal the lack of important facilities that enable
student learning and the development of their English learning skills. However, in addition to
this the way that language is taught in Pakistan is often archaic, lacking engagement and
seemingly uninteresting to students. It took his own dedication towards the language to help
to get better at it. Once he wrote an English essay on a common subject and the schoolteacher
appreciated it (Alam, & Uddin, 2013). The teacher told him that he was good at it and he
should continue to learn it. After getting inspired, he followed the teacher’s instructions and
improved by pronunciations and vocabulary accordingly. He used to watch the English news
on television and repeated that they say, most of the times he could not understand what was
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being said but he continued practicing either way. Not sure how much that helped him but he
was certain that his confidence certainly increased with that method. During his childhood,
Pakistan did not offer much of a learning course because of the educational system. It has
improved a lot over the years as earlier it mainly focused of Urdu language and Islamic
studies. He decided that if he had to become better in the English language, the only option
he had was to learn from abroad. After looking for many options he decided to go for
Australia (Manan, David, & Dumanig, 2016). In Pakistan, the language learning system in
classroom was hugely different from that of Australia. During his initial school days, it was
mainly manual and they had to learn by reading textbooks and doing homework. It was very
straightforward and repetitive as students had to learn with one way and could not apply their
own methods. This method was used in most educational centers before there was a
technological advancement all over the world (Ahmad, Khan, & Munir, 2013). In Pakistan,
the language learning method was as per the textbooks and it creative was not generally
appreciated. There was once time when he was scolded for paraphrasing a sentence instead of
writing what was actually written. The teacher knew that what he wrote was indeed correct
however, as per the rules, he had to write exactly what was needed. The participant’s
description of the materials provided in the classroom includes no visual or other resources.
The only resource for learning is the traditional textbook and black board (Luke, 2018). This
means that students are expected to listen attentively as the only form of learning, allowing
them to both respond in class and in exam conditions. In Australia, this was completely
different as the language learning method is totally based on creativity (Bilal et al, 2013).
Classrooms show movies and makes students listen to songs to get a better grips on the
language and the accent. The teachers and the staff are very interactive with the students and
they provide the utmost help required. In Australian language classroom can find a different
type of learning technology that helps students to improve their English language not only in
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