In most Urdu medium public schools of Pakistan English language teachers use Grammar Translation Method to teach English, consequently, affecting students' language learning in term of skills like speaking, reading, writing and listening' Recognizing this as an indication of the teachers’ unawareness of the innovative language teaching strategies, this study was planned how English language teachers could be helped in order to improve the teaching of Reading Comprehension (RC) in public schools in a multilingual context of Karachi, Pakistan. Qualitative approach using collaborative action research within the cyclic process of observe, reflect, act, and plan was used to study the situation. One English language teacher from a public school was exposed to different Reading Comprehension strategies like, pre-, while and post-reading activities such as guessing, predicting, skimming, scanning, vocabulary and comprehension questions. Data were collected through reflective journals, pre- and post-intervention interviews, informal discussions, classroom observations and field notes' In addition, four randomly selected students' works from the teacher's class were collected to look at the effectiveness of teaching from perspective of students' learning. The study revealed that the teacher was using GTM method without engaging students in Reading Comprehension process through different Reading Strategies (RS) such as predicting, guessing, skimming, and scanning, etc. The action helped the teacher to improve Teaching of Reading Comprehension (TRC); was able to develop lesson plans, learnt to implement the new strategies and to some extent improved reflective practices. Similarly, the action enhanced students' RC, developed motivation and interest and helped to deeply understand the problem from different dimensions; interconnectivity of different factors like, system of examination, family background of the students', school's context, etc., relating to the TRC process while working in the natural environment and inform the policy management. The findings of the study imply that in order to improve the TRC in EFL context teachers' critical engagement in different professional programs inside and outside the school is necessary.
کچھ مصنف کے بارے میں بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم نحمدہٗ و نصلی علی رسولہِ الکریم قانون ِقدرت ہے کہ جب دنیا میں صدق و حقیقت پر خواہش اور نفس پرستی کے غبار اور پردے پڑ جاتے ہیں تو اللہ تعالیٰ اپنے بندے پیدا کرتا ہے جو صدق و سچائی اور حقیقت کو دنیا میں روشن کر دیتے ہیں۔ ایسے ہی میرے تایا زاد حافظ محمد اکرم راشدؔ صاحب کو اللہ تعالیٰ نے گو نا گوں صفات سے نوازا ہے۔ عارف والا کے نواحی گائوں 37 ای بی میں 1962 کے اوائل میں علمی خانوادے میں آنکھ کھولی والدِ محترم حافظ اللہ یار رحمۃ اللہ علیہ عالم باعمل تھے ابتدائی تعلیم اُ ن سے حاصل کی ۔ پانچ سال کی عمر میں والدِ محترم داغِ مفارقت دے گئے ۔ اُس کے بعد حقیقی چچا میرے والدِ محترم حضرت علامہ حافظ شیر علی رحمتہ اللہ علیہ نے آغوشِ محبت میں لیا اور علم کی تکمیل تک ساتھ دیا ۔ میٹرک کر نے کے بعد علمی پیاس بجھانے کے لئے کراچی گئے وہاں علم کی پیاس بجھاتے ہوئے علم کے سمندر بن گئے ۔ فاضل درسِ نظامی ، فاضل طب وجراحت، فاضل عربی، فاضل اردو کرنے کے بعد پنجاب گورنمنٹ میں بطورِ مدرس تعینات ہوئے ۔ دورانِ سروس ایم ۔اے ایجوکیشن ،ایم اے اسلامیات اور ایم اے عربی (گولڈ میڈلسٹ) پاس کیا۔ علمی زندگی میں روزنامہ ایکسپریس ، نوائے وقت میں مضامین لکھے اور عوام کی کثیر تعداد نے مضامین کو پسند کیا۔عارفوالا کے نواحی گائو ں میں ہیڈ مدرس رہے، اب ریٹائر ہو چکے ہیں اور عارفوالا شہر میںبطورِ خطیب خدمات سر انجام دے رہے ہیں ۔ حافظ صاحب اپنے حلقہ احباب میں اپنی خوش اخلاقی اور بذلہ سنجی کی وجہ سے بہت مقبول ہیں ۔ اِن کی کتاب نسیمِ سخن اُن کے علمی تبحّر کی گواہ...
Firstly, I would like to welcome all the readers, authors, editorial team and management of Pakistan Biomedical Journal (PBMJ) to this new journal in Biomedical Sciences. It is an intenational peer-reviewed, open-access journal that merges the basic and clinical research for the better outcome in terms of diagnosis and therapeutics. This approach will update and upgrade the existing knowledge among the researchers and clinicians, regarding the patient care and practice as well as understanding of underlying mechanisms of diseases. The ultimate beneficiary is patient and community as a whole. PBMJ is led by an outstanding Editorial Board comprising of national and international members with multidisciplinary research background. Our goal is to promote the basic and clinical research, health and disease perspectives. We receive original studies, review articles, case reports, systemetic reviews on medical, biomedical, basic and therapeutic research. We welcome scientific contributions from all over the world. It is the need and demand of the recent world scenario to focus on biomedical research. In the current world, basic and medical science cannot be considered as two separate and independent entities. There should be coherent efforts to unveil the basic understandings of pathologies at physiological, cellular and molecular level. Furthermore, the therapeutic strategies should also be explored on regional and global levels, by keeping in mind the different genetic makeups and considering the individual identities. It leads to the field of ‘personalized medicine’. There are many other recent therapeutic regimens such as regenerative medicine, exosomes, gene silencing and gene editing technologies. The world has also advanced in diagnostic modalities. Much focus has been emphasized on rapidness, accuracy and cost-effectiveness of these techniques. Imaging, scanning, histopathological, biochemical and hematological techniques have been much advanced than before. World has been changing rapidly in medical profession. Hence, it is important to be aware of these advancements worldwide and also to share the health related researches at local level. We hope this new journal will be a good addition in this perspective of sharing the recent knowledge, advancements and create awareness among masses.
Teachers‟ professional commitment is a critical issue among our educationists these days. To address this issue, a study entitled “A study of professional commitment of teacher educators in Punjab” has been undertaken by the researcher. The main objectives of the study were to: i) determine the level of professional commitment of teachers ii) find effects of gender differences on the level of professional commitment of teachers iii) explore the affect of demographic differences on the level of professional commitment of teachers working in Govt. Colleges for Elementary Teacher Institutions in Punjab. Actually the teachers of GCETs are called as teacher educators in the Punjab province. To measure these objectives following research questions were developed: i) what is the level of professional commitment of teachers ii) what is the level of professional commitment of male and female teachers iii) what is the difference between the level of professional commitment of rural and urban teachers iv) what is the level of professional commitment of teachers with different age v) what is the level of professional commitment of teachers with different working experiences vi) what is the level of professional commitment of teachers with different qualification vii) what is the level of professional commitment of teachers with different pay scales viii) what is the level of professional commitment of married and un-married teachers? The study was mix method both qualitative as well as quantitative in nature. In the first phase, various educational experts from universities and the education department were invited to discuss different aspects of professional commitment. This discussion was conducted in a one day seminar held at Lahore. Review of literature also helped to find some domains in this respect. Twenty nine out of thirty three GCETs were selected as population of the study. There were 29 (17 male and 12 female) principals, 320 teacher-educators (200 males and 120 females) and 2785 (338 male and 2447 female) prospective teachers enrolled in B. Ed program in the session 2012-2013. From this population all the 29 principals (100%) and 320 teacher-educators (100%) were considered as sample of the study and 50% prospective teachers (1403) were selected randomly from GCETs of the Punjab province. To collect data three types of instruments were developed i.e. questionnaire for teacher-educators, questionnaire for prospective teachers and semi-structured interview for principals. Response rate remained 89% from principals, 90% from teacher- educators and 93% from prospective students. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS software. Both descriptive as well as inferential statistics were used to test the design research questions. After data analysis it was found that female teachers were more committed than male teachers to their profession in all domains except the domain, commitment to work group. Urban teachers were more committed than rural teachers in all domains of professional commitment. Commitment level increases with the increase of age of teachers in all domains of commitment except the domains, institutional behavior climate and collegial participative leadership. Commitment towards the teaching profession increases with the increase of experience. More qualified teachers were more committed towards the teaching profession in all domains except commitment to work group domain. Commitment level among GCET teachers increases with the increase in Basic Pay Scale and also high monthly salary. Marital status affects commitment level i.e. commitment level of un-married teachers is high as compared to married teachers. In the end it was suggested that i) Ministry of Education should encourage teacher educators for better performance by giving them financial increase. ii) There is need to compare school teachers and university teachers with regard to their level of commitment.