A renowned research scholar and linguist Prof Dr Habibullah Pathan has said that language plays role in socio-economic development of the country. He said that without language it is unthinkable to see any development in any country. He said that the ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MGD) is a platform set by the United Nations to establish a sustainable place for the marginalised sections of the society. MDG aims at eradicating poverty and hunger, spreading primary education to all the people across the world, empowering women, improving health and fostering global partnership for development. Professor Dr Habibullah Pathan said that language is central to MDG. In his special interview with Daily Times, he said that language is a major means of connecting people in the world. He focused on language and its importance and role in socio-economic development of the country. He talked in detail about language and its importance with different aspects. Dr Habibullah thinks the situation of language-teaching in Pakistan is complex because we are caught in debate of native and non-native models of teaching the language Prof Dr Habibullah Pathan has established himself as one of the leading linguists of Pakistan. He is currently working as Director of the English Language and Development Centre, Mehran University, Pakistan. Prof Dr Pathan has envious educational background with his first Master’s degree in English from Pakistan, followed by his second professional Master’s and Doctorate (PhD) in Applied Linguistics from the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. Later, under the Hubert H. Humphrey’s professional affiliation opportunity, Dr Pathan did his Postdoctoral research at the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in USA, under supervision of Prof Noam Chomsky who is known as father of modern linguistics and the most influential intellectual alive in the world. Later in 2015-2016, Dr Pathan received his leadership development training under the most prestigious Hubert H. Humphrey fellowship at Boston University, USA in the fields of higher education administration, policy and planning and received certifications from the State Department signed by US president Obama and senator John Kerry and from Questrom Business school in non-profit management and leadership. To his credit, Dr Pathan has more than 25 research papers published in journals of national and international repute. He has also presented his research papers in international conference such as ‘Financial literacy and financial inclusion in Pakistan’ at Boston University, on higher education reforms in Pakistan at the University of California Davis, a group presentation at the Global Leadership Forum in Washington DC on green financing and many more. Dr Pathan is the founder of the first ever research degree program in English Linguistics at Mehran University—a first in the more 50-year history of the university. He is member of both provincial and national curriculum review committees, Chair Board of Studies at Mehran University and a Board Member at various other universities in Pakistan. He also works as supervisor of many MPhil/PhD theses and as a member of advisory board and reviewer of various research journals in Pakistan and overseas. Dr Pathan has authored a book titled Indus Identity: A study of textbooks in Pakistan. His two other books, My Days with Noam Chomsky and Language Motivation are in publication process. With the help of the HEC and his team, Dr Pathan has established the first ever Self Access Centre at Mehran University, serving as a teacher- training hub in computer assisted language learning. The researches and articles of Prof Dr Habibullah Pathan are taught by the universities across the globe. Dr Pathan, taking on language, further said that it is an important means of self-expression and identity. He said that Inclusion of people in development ultimately leads towards the inclusion of their languages, without which, they cannot have their voice heard. He said that if their voice is not heard in their local languages, they cannot be included in development process. He claimed that we will lose human resource that can contribute in socio-economic development and unfortunately, the local languages are not given much space in domains of power due to global hegemony of dominant languages. He elaborated that Skutnabb Kangas — a renowned linguist uses a term ‘Linguistic Genocide’ for the extinct languages in the world caused by global hegemony of English language. He said that she labels it as a crime against humanity. He said that the sustainable development is possible when ethnic languages are preserved and promoted in education at all levels. He further said, “Pakistan is a semi-industrialised economy and according to World Economic Outlook (WEO, 2015) Pakistan ranks 40th largest economy in the world and Pakistan is likely to be among world top 25 economies by 2025.” Dr Pathan continued, “Current economic situation in Pakistan is alarming especially in interior Sindh where people have no access to proper education, economic empowerment and prosperity. The wealth in interior Sindh is concentrated in hands of a few powerful feudal lords. Such scenario which sees division in line with social, economic and educational aspects, according to Marx, will never prosper as the elite social class always exploits the working class.” “Given such conditions where the people in rural areas of Sindh have very little access to financial services such as mobile banking and ATM services, it is essential to first educate them and help increase literacy rate so that people can read, understand, interpret and write the texts in mother tongue and somehow in English language which dominates the banking services. However, I believe that country can really prosper and develop by including local languages in ‘developmental domain’. Language is central to development.” To a linguist, language is a semio-genic system — a system of symbols that constructs meanings, socialises through its content and indoctrinates with the dominant narratives through academic circles Replying to a question about how would you define ‘linguistics’ being a linguist and researcher for several years. He said that most people in Pakistan who are unfamiliar with nature and scope of linguistics consider it a discipline dealing with grammar and syntax only. Basically, linguistics is a human science. He said that it functions like other disciplines of natural science. A linguist is not somebody whose opines are based on what he believes and thinks rather he theorises based on what he observes, finds and quantifies. He added that linguistics studies a language scientifically. “Noam Chomsky-an American linguist philosopher and my researcher supervisor states, ‘language is a distinctive property of human being which distinguishes human beings from other organic world’. Linguists study how language actually works; how it originated; how it evolves changes and dies over time”. Dr Pathan said that a common perception among people about language is a tool to communicate. To a linguist, language is a semio-genic system — a system of symbols that constructs meanings, socialises through its content and indoctrinates with the dominant narratives through academic circles. He said that linguistics is a growing field today. It integrates itself into a number of other fields including sociology, psychology, philosophy, computer science, education, artificial intelligence, medicine, engineering and other fields of knowledge. Talking on language for socialising and indoctrinating, he said that language is an active socialising agent. People communicate with each other through either language or non-verbal modes (sign language, gestures, body language and facial expressions). He said that the first component of language which is purely linguistic in nature is actively engaged in socialisation and indoctrination process. The textbooks taught in schools, colleges and universities are never neutral. Language in textbooks is ideologically loaded—ideologies are embedded in language. He said that in Pakistani context, ideologies are disseminated through two dominant languages, Urdu and English. He commented, “In my postdoc project at MIT, USA under Chomsky, my research found that Pakistani textbooks are highly intended to indoctrinate the students. They are less helpful in developing critical thinking skills among students. They are taught to be submissive and obedient and encouraged to accept the content without questioning it.”He said that this way, language is an essential tool to carry the burden of ideologies which shape a particular mindset of the students in Pakistan. Talking on status of English in Pakistan and teaching and learning scenario in the country, he elaborated that English language has deep roots in Pakistan due to the fact that Pakistan was a part of subcontinent India, colony of British Empire. He said that British left but their legacy in shape of local Pakistanis in colour but English in their morals and intellect continued to rule them. “Due to this influence, language used in major institutions such as military, court and bureaucracy is English. English enjoys great status in Pakistan. With good English, people can get better jobs and earn well. English today is unrivalled language of science and technology. The major challenge facing English Language Teaching today is lack of qualified human resource in schools, colleges and universities.” Dr Pathan said that the teaching materials and methods of teaching used by teachers are ineffective. “I believe the situation is alarming. Employers’ feedback on our graduates’ soft skills especially English is not encouraging,” he said. He referred to the recent reports of Federal Public Service Commission indicating poor performance of students in English Essay, Precis and Composition. He said that on standardised tests such as IELTS/TOEFL, students’ scores are low. However, case of elitist educational institutions is different. English therefore has scarcity value in Pakistan. As for research publications in well reputed journals are concerned, our faculty and researchers at university level find it extremely challenging to overcome English barrier. Majority of papers are rejected upon poor quality of English. He said that as coping strategy, Higher Education Commission has set up National Committee on English and has initiated English Language Teaching Reforms Project. He said that the mandate of this project is to help English departments and centres at various universities to bring about qualitative change in language teaching and learning situation. As coping strategy, Dr Pathan said, to produce qualified human resource in language teaching, Mehran University has also started research degree and training programs for teachers in Sindh. He said, “I believe we have created a ripple effect. In few years time, things are going to change at university level. I believe the qualitative change is required at all levels of education in schools and colleges as well. Government should devise tangible policy by appointing experts to design new courses and impart training to teachers in addition to allocation of sufficient funds for training.” Sharing his final comments as linguist he concluded, “I believe situation of language teaching in Pakistan is complex. We are still caught in debate of native and no native models of teaching English. Still, employers wish to appoint people having native English accent and meticulous pronunciation. Things have changed globally.” He added, “I think it is because of high expectation of achieving native like accuracy in English—we have not been able to help students learn English at all.” Dr Pathan said that we need to come out of American and British English fever and consider other expanding varieties such as Pakistani English. Dr Pathan said that we need to carefully think through some policies which help us grow nationally and internationally. Published in Daily Times, April 17th 2018.