دال و مدلول کا باہمی ربط و تعلق: عصری رجحانات، قرآن و سنت پر اس کے اثرات

The issue of signification in language is as old as man. Structuralism has changed the relation of signifier and signified. According to the modern approach language is not more than a name of cultural codes, in this way, importance has been given to the signifying system rather than meaning. In Islamic intellectual history, a group of Muslim scholars had an opinion of natural relation between word and its meaning. One of them was Abbas b. Sulaiman a Mutazali scholar. But ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamat scholars’ have different approach. In short, if we have a belief that a society gives meaning to a word then the approach to Shariah and the Quranic injunctions will be interpreted in the light of societal demands. We will have to admit the authority of time, space and society over meaning of the Quran and Sunnah which is against the teachings of Islam

Critical English Language Learning for Pakistani Graduate Students: Challenges and Possibilities

This study explores the possibilities and challenges of introducing the critical dimension of English language teaching in a graduate classroom in the Pakistani public education sector. It addresses the issue of a lack of critical consciousness among Pakistani graduates and attempts to expose the inadequacies in the prevalent English language teaching set up for developing such awareness. The need of fostering critical consciousness among learners and the reasons that may account for the lack of this important human resource have been thoroughly analyzed besides looking for the possibilities of fostering critical language awareness through English language learning. The major focus is on employing Critical English Language Teaching (CELT), based on Fairclough’s notion of Critical Language Study (CLS) (1993), through an action research in a Pakistani Graduate classroom. CELT serves as a practice of helping students achieve not just critical thinking but more appropriately critical consciousness that requires a harmonious development of all the aspects of a human personality; which may include physical, emotional, cognitive, creative, critical, moral, spiritual, aesthetical, intrapersonal as well as interpersonal skills. With CELT focus, a balanced development of personality necessitates the creation of a meaningful curriculum that relates to the reality of the students. On the one hand, the study observes the effects of a mode of CELT on the students as well as the learning environment in a Pakistani context. While, on the other hand, the challenges faced by a teacher and a student in the adoption of a critical mode of language learning as well as the adaptations needed in the existing setup have been analyzed at length. Critical English language learning has been found to contribute to language development in a socially and culturally relevant environment by integrating oral knowledge with the text book knowledge through engaging students in creative and critical discussions.