سیرت نگاری کی مشرقی و مغربی روایت: منتخب مصنفین کا تقابلی جائزہ

In the past, mode of Sirah writing was historical and descriptive but during the 19th century, this trend has been changed to the empirical research methodology. Due to religious devotion, unauthentic narrations were not judged and had been quoted constantly in Sirah literature on which orientalists laid the foundation of their objections. In response, various books are produced introducing argumentative, logical and scholarly way of writing to defend “Sirah of Prophet (PBUH)”. Question is what are the motives and causes which have changed classical trend of Sirah writing and what are its consequences? In this paper, a comparative analysis will be taken of books of Eastern Muslim scholars; Rehmatullah Keranwi, Syed Ahmad Khan, Karam Shah Alazhari, Shibli Noumani, Sana ullah Amertasri as well as Western Muslim scholars Mohammad Hussain Haykel, Hameed ullah, and Mohammad Asad. This paper will elaborate the difference between both of their research methodology and its effect in the field of Sirah writing and will be helpful for researchers.  

Improving Teaching English Speaking Skills in Lower Secondary Schools of Karachi

English is taught as a second language in the Pakistani context where traditional methods such as Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) are dominant in most of the English language teachers' classroom practices. Generally, teachers are found to be neither equipped nor familiar with the communicative ways of teaching English in general and English speaking skills in particular. Therefore, they face challenges and difficulties in their classroom teaching practices, which limit students' learning and drive the teaching-learning processes towards rote- and examination-oriented learning. Many research studies have been conducted in all aspects and skills of second language learning. I have conducted my study with a similar aim that is, to improve the teaching and learning of English language speaking skills. The study was conducted in a lower secondary community school in Karachi, Pakistan, having a low socio-economic status. The methodology selected for the study was Action Research. This study was conducted to explore how teachers can be facilitated in improving their teaching of English speaking skills to grade six students. This entailed introducing new teaching strategies, such as role play, story-telling, and discussion, along with songs as encouraging activities. The findings of the study can facilitate the present researcher in his context, and therefore, improve his own practice as a teacher educator. Data were collected by using different methods and tools, such as observation, audiorecording of interviews of the participant teacher and classroom lessons, video-recording of the first and last teaching lessons, researcher's and teacher's reflective diaries, and document analysis. The study findings, during the reconnaissance stage, reveal that the existing teaching practices are teacher-centered, GTM- oriented, and replete with use of Urdu language. They also reveal the participating teacher's lack of pedagogical content knowledge and skills in addition to her inadequate English speaking skills. They further show students as passive listeners with minimum class participation, overloaded with tasks requiring heavy writing at the same time. Overall, reading and writing skills were focused with less emphasis given to speaking skill. In contrast, the findings after facilitating the teacher-participant with new teaching strategies demonstrate the following, the strategies improved: her practices of teaching English speaking skills; her awareness concerning pedagogical skills and content knowledge; her understanding of the teacher's role in the class; she also developed various teaching materials and lesson plans, and kept a reflective diary. In addition, the findings revealed some challenges that emerged in the process of facilitating the teacher-participant. For