AIOU to hold national moot on contemporary trends in English language

Islamabad

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) will soon hold a national conference on contemporary trends in English language and literature.

This carries great significance for the students, teachers and intelligentsia as it intends to create awareness about the latest trends in both language and literature. It will be a way forward to deal with contemporary patterns and challenges in the field of English language, said Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui.

This also aims at collaborating with other higher institutions in Pakistan. It will also help bringing innovations in traditional teaching style and techniques for achieving excellence in English learning.

The AIOU being the pioneer in English teaching is engaged in providing academic and infrastructure support to the society for promoting English language teaching.

The University’s Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics that is organising the event has already sought registration of the interested participants.

It may be mentioned here that approximately two billion people communicate in English worldwide; 450 million speak English as a first language along with 500 million who speak it as a fluent second language, and another one billion use it as a foreign language. Nearly one -       third of the world's population is studying English, and predictions suggest that by 2050, half of the world population will be proficient English speakers (Crystal).

The approaches to studying and interpreting English language and literature have undergone major changes in the wake of contemporary theories and practices in both the disciplines.

The main objectives of the forthcoming conference is to engage practitioners and researchers in the field of language, literature, and teaching and to encourage greater regional co-operation in research and the dissemination of knowledge and research findings.

The participants will also discuss pedagogical issues relating to English and literature during conference’s working sessions.