I am looking at the lived experiences of the language policy in a high school in Karachi in order to understand the language ideologies being promoted, contested and negotiated at the level of school. I am particularly interested in understanding how people learn to live with these language ideologies and whether the language norms at the school reflect some other language ideologies not stated elsewhere. What roles do school play in supporting a particular language or languages in their validity, functionality and dissemination within its portals and what implications are there of these accounts for broadening our understanding of Language policy and practices issues and constraints in Pakistan?

My study is motivated by my personal experiences of being a secondary school teacher in three different schools in Karachi for more than a decade where a multilingual majority has been forced to become monolingual English speakers. Students and teachers are pressurized directly and indirectly to speak only in English. Proficiency in English is a mark of being civilized, well- educated, socially and intellectually superior in a multicultural and multilingual Pakistan. By implication, language practices in the schools where I worked as English Language teacher force students and teacher to give up their local languages.

The present ethnography of the English-medium school in Karachi in which data will be collected to ‘capture the human experience of language policy’ Tollefson (1991:204) of a school. I will observe the classes, notice boards, conversations among the staff members , conversation among students in the corridors, at play ground, school’s library and I will be interviewing teachers, students, parents stakeholders in groups; will attend school functions and staff meetings. I will also be participating and observing the staff meeting, reading the documents of the school, its admission policy and the language school selects while communicating with the parents. The process of data collection would require me to stay in school for about ten months.

The ethnography would allow me to have rich in-depth data on the language practices of the school and will allow me understand the language ideologies at work in the school. It will also help me understand the complexity involved in the issues of multilingualism and monolingual educational arrangements in the context of global realities and to develop an insight into the social order that these practices give rise to:  Who has a vested interest in a particular arrangement of language education and a particular set of linguistic ideologies. Who gets the privilege and who gets marginalized in the highly contested global realities of the present day Karachi?

Why is my study important?  I would argue that it is important to understand how institutions like schools are affected by the globalised new economy and how it impacts the country’s language policy and the language practices of the institutions. How it affects the live of common citizens. It is equally important to understand the complexities and ideologies behind a particular set of linguistic ideology. It is important to understand as why institutions do not encourage students to learn languages rather than learning a particular language. Why is it that people are forced to give up their languages? The study will particularly reveal the power relations among the speakers of different languages in Pakistan and how the relative statuses of local and dominant languages have been institutionalized in present day Pakistan. The focus of the study will be linking the micro processes of language practices with the macro aspects of language ideologies.

My works relates to Language on the Move because the portal addresses the questions and complexities involved in multilingualism, language ideologies, language practices etc. If I don’t go too far in my assessment of Language on the Move, I would say that it follows the critical model (Martin-Jones) of Bilingualism studies. This model’s interest is in power relations; its focus is on linking micro with macro process. Its methodology is eclectic and it views society as dialectical and historical.

My work would be enhanced by ALMA 2010 as I will get the attention of my senior in the field of language ideology. My work will get posted on the web site. My supervisor will know that my work is being given importance outside the university and that I have broadened my professional network.  It is said in Urdu that : Aalim key sohbat soo kitab parney sey behtar hai. Rough translation. Interaction with an scholar is better than reading hundreds of books.