سائنس اور روحانیت کی تمثیل: ایک تحقیقی جائزہ

Spirituality is usually understood as a way of being that flows from a certain profound experience of reality, which is known as ‘mystical’, ‘religious’, or ‘spiritual’ experience. There are numerous descriptions of this experience in the literature of the world’s religions, which tend to agree that it is a direct, non-intellectual experience of reality with some fundamental characteristics that are independent of cultural and historical contexts. Spiritual and scientific quests are two complementary inquiries into reality. Any feeling of antagonism between them is a product of a narrow vision. Science deals with what is measurable; religion is the quest for discovering and understanding the immeasurable. A scientist is not intelligent if he denies the existence of the immeasurable. There is nothing that is anti-science but there is a lot that is beyond science. The two quests have to go hand in hand. We not only need to have an understanding of the laws that govern the phenomena occurring in the external world around us but also we need to discover order and harmony in our consciousness. Human understanding is incomplete unless it covers both aspects of reality: matter as well as consciousness. Indeed the division between the scientific and spiritual quests is itself the creation of the human mind. Reality is one undivided whole which includes both matter and consciousness. Our thoughts, being limited by our experience, divide the external world from the inner world of our consciousness, in much the same way as our mind divides time from space though they are both two aspects of a single continuum۔

Exploring How English Language Teachers Develop Reading Comprehension Skills of Grade 5 Students in a Private School in Karachi, Pakistan

Reading comprehension skill is an essential component of English language for English language learners. It has a strong link with other skills of English language like writing, speaking and listening. It provides a base for development of these skills through comprehension fluency, critical thinking development, vocabulary enhancement and syntax. Research claims that English language teachers (ELTs) help students to develop their English reading comprehension skills by using different strategies and supplementary materials as well as the role of the teacher is vital. The aim of this study was to explore how ELTs develop English reading comprehension skills of grade 5 students in a private school in the context of Karachi, Pakistan. For this purpose two ELTs and a group of six students were selected as study participants. A qualitative research approach is used to conduct this study. Within the qualitative paradigm an exploratory case study design was used to collect data. Data were collected through various sources such as classroom observations, interviews, FGD, documents analysis and field notes. The generated data were analyzed through making codes, categories, themes and sub-themes and further analyzed in depth. The findings of the data show that the use of reading comprehension strategies, supplementary materials by ELTs and their own understanding and approach towards readings plays a key role in promoting students’ reading comprehension skills . ELTs role was found to be pivotal as a facilitator, monitor and as a guide in promoting the reading comprehension of their learners. The study is significant for teachers, teacher educators, policy makers in general and ELTs in particular to reflect on their teaching practices and to improve the existing practices further. The study recommends that ELTs need to have professional training and experience to have an understanding of accurate strategies, use of supplementary materials which is important to develop students’ RCS.