Prospects and Challenges of Dynamic Bilingual Education in the Light of Pakistan’s Language Policy

Abstract

This research investigates challenges and prospects of the dynamic, bilingual education in the light of Pakistan’s language policy. It guides language policymakers to adopt the dynamic, bilingual policy in Pakistan’s education system. However, the researcher revealed that most of the participants willingly favored and practiced the dynamic model of bilingual instruction, but there is no formal policy guide for them. The employment of this education model is valid and feasible in both theory and practice. Besides, readers and policymakers through this research paper would come to know that the dynamic, bilingual education improves students’ socio-cognitive, linguistic performance and functional biliteracy through translanguaging and multimodalities. The issue of monoglossic separation of languages in Pakistan is yet to be solved. Furthermore, the researcher used qualitative, empirical methodology to do analysis and employed open-ended questionnaires to collect data. The researcher used purposive sampling to collect data from sixteen respondents.  Additionally, findings show that the subtractive language policy, linguistic politics, the power elite’s monolingualism, parents’ obsession with English, and students’ negative attitudes are challenges to the dynamic, bilingual education. In contrast, Pakistan’s multi-lingual reality along with translingual practices, the use of multimodalities, students’ multi-lingual repertoire, functional biliteracy, and transcultural interaction are some of the prospects of the dynamic, bilingual education policy in Pakistan. Thus, there are both challenges and prospects of the dynamic, bilingual education policy in Pakistan.