Medium of Instruction

A question we are still grappling after 62 years is, what should be the medium of instruction in Pakistan

by Sultan Muhammad

Introduction

In Dhaka Quid-e-azam said “let me make it very clear to you that the state language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Anyone who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without one state language, no nation can remain tied up solidly together and function. Look at the history of other countries. Therefore, so far as the state language is concerned, Pakistan's shall be Urdu. (Jinnah 1948 : 89).”

The purpose of my research is to explore the important issue which Pakistan face since it independence in 1947. Education plays a vital role in the development of nations and society. Education promotes the social and economic life of the nation. Education is the back bone of any nation who wants to be a model country in the today world

For this purpose good education is very necessary and for good education a society or nation need a good medium of instruction. Which could help a teacher to achieve his goal and nourish the minds of the children and prepare them for the society and transform them in to a better citizen.

By definition “Medium of instruction is the language that is used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language.”

“Ishfaq Ahmad – Communication, expression and the capacity to listen should be first encouraged in the mother tongue and then in the official or national “

According to the experts the best medium of instruction is the mother tongue of the students. Use of the second language will effect their learning ability and they will left behind those who are learning in their mother tongue, According to Prof Mujib of Jamia Millia (Delhi), when a child is learning in a second language he translate a world in 17 seconds from foreign language to his mother tongue and then retranslate to the forgin language in other words when a student is talking to his teacher it take him 34 second to translate and retranslate. So imagine how much time he is wasting instead of direct approach.

Education creates leader in the Society, who lead the nation toward a better future In Pakistan, after more than six Decades, we have not produced good leader who could lead us. Due to the lack and quality of education in Pakistan, The Quality of education is low comparatively to other countries of the region. We have all type of issues related to education but the more serious one that hinder our whole education system, which is responsible for the destruction of education system in Pakistan is, the medium of instruction. From the last 60 years we have not decided what should be our medium of instruction? Every party when came in to power impose her own education policy and bring new changes in the education system without involving real educationist who know about the process of education. Instead, a few bureaucrats tickle this important issue and take decisions on the basis of their own interest not for the nation.

Psychologist are clear and recommend mother tongue as a medium of instruction because they say language and cognitive development are inter related and child learning best happened in mother tongue because it is a very direct approach towards learning..

The question is still there, why after 60 we could not adopt one language as medium of instruction in our country, although we have selected Urdu as our official language from the very beginning. In Dhaka Quid-e-azam said “let me make it very clear to you that the state language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Anyone who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without one state language, no nation can remain tied up solidly together and function. Look at the history of other countries. Therefore, so far as the state language is concerned, Pakistan's shall be Urdu. (Jinnah 1948 : 89).” But still we are far away from our goal to choose a single as medium of instruction in Pakistan. Every new government prepares new education policy and tries to change the old policy and bring about major changes in medium of instruction. Here the question is why we are not able to select a single language as medium of instruction in Pakistan, what are the reasons and obstacles? From where, this language controversy started. Who are behind the scenes that don’t want to implement one language as a medium of instruction? How could we address this problem to put the education of Pakistan in the right direction?

History of language controversy in Pakistan

At the time of independence of Pakistan the issue of language also emerged, Urdu was declared the official language of Pakistan while the official business continued in English,

Dr. Shahidullah begins the language controversy in Pakistan and the movement of Bengali language by publishing a booklet in Dhaka on 15 September 1947, titled, Pakistaner Rashtra Bhasha Bangla na Urdu

He proposed that;

1. Bengali language shall be the medium of instruction and court communication in East Pakistan

2. Official language of office communication

3. The official language of the central government shall be Urdu and Bengali. (Tamaddun Majlis 1947 : 1-2).

After the victory of the United Front in East Pakistan, in the 1^st constitution Urdu and Bengali was declared the official languages of Pakistan on the condition for another twenty years from the day of Constitution, English shall continue as official language too. After ten years from the Constitution Day, “the President shall appoint a committee to make recommendations for the replacement of English (Constitution of Pakistan 1956 “

CU RRENT SITUATION

Pakistan is a multilingual country and right now we have two parallel medium of instruction in Pakistan

1. Urdu medium

2. English medium

Today every province of Pakistan, operate various languages at various levels, it operates in three and some times in four languages. First each province has its own regional language as language of every day communication; And in schools Urdu as language of instruction. English as a language of official business and language of instruction in the higher education

What should be the language of instruction in Pakistan and why

Mother tongue should be the language of instruction in school because the researchers have tested children who are taught in their mother tongue and found them better then those whose medium of instruction was alien to them.

In case of multilingual society, the language of instruction should be the language which is the medium of communication or commonly spoken language in the society

The language of media (TV, News Paper etc)

Language which bring unity to the country

Language that parents could understand

In cause of second language, the script must be the same as mother tongue so it would be easy to learn due to the common script.

A develop language, which could accept words from other languages

Give equal opportunities in competition of jobs

Due to diversity of Local languages in Pakistan we have to chose between Urdu and English language as medium of instruction

Both are international languages which are spoken in more than one country

Both are still using as medium of instruction at different level in Pakistan education system

Comparison between English and Urdu

Today English has the vocabulary up to 450000.00 and Urdu 390000.00 words

English is the most spoken language on the face of earth.

After Chinese, Urdu is the third spoken / communicate able language of the world, according to a united nation report

Urdu language has great ability to accept words from other languages comparing to English language

ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

Before the independence of Pakistan the medium of instruction of subcontinent was English and after the independence of Pakistan English is still the official language of Pakistan. It is used in all domains of Power. Bureaucracy, Government , Military, Media, Judiciary, Commerce, Education & Research

Misconception

It is widely believed that English medium schools in Pakistan are doing a better job of educating the children and their products are far better in life. But the fact is that, they have the resources to get the best teachers and the best books

Schools in slum areas with boards declaring them to be English-medium written in the Urdu script! Needless to say they teach in Urdu while striving to use some form of broken English as medium of instruction.

With out parents help students cant achieve their full potentialities in the filed of education ( parents who cant read or speak the language in which their children are getting education)

Less then 20 % Pakistani can speak or read English

On the other hand more than 70% Pakistani can understand and speak Urdu thanks to media, PTV and radio

“Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman– His point was that if children were taught in their first language, their comprehension would increase. He justified his view by saying that though English is the language of science and technology and without adopting that language we cannot progress, yet it does not suffice because by adopting this language, we still have not progressed”

IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH MEDIUM

English is an international and rich Language.

The language of thousands of words and phrases.

English is the language of science and technology.

English is the language of Employment opportunities.

Language of Internet and computer usage.

The Highest numbers of books At all level are published in English language every year.

IMPORTANCE OF URDU

Teacher and student easily understand it

It removed cultural diversity

Mother tongue is also promoted.

National language place a vital role in creating mutual understanding

It is widely understood language of Pakistan, though Urdu is the mother tongue of only 7.57 percent of Pakistan population.

Urdu is the official language of Pakistan, Fiji and India (in 5 states)

Reasons / Hinders

Bureaucracy of Pakistan, the bureaucrats never want any other language than English because these are the people who served British government, As Macaulay wrote in his report to British government to introduce an education system in India to prepare English minded people who will work for them. They are spiritual slaves of British according to Maulana Mododi

The owners of private schools and colleges: Education became a business in Pakistan and this dual system of education give opportunities to open more English language school and colleges to make money due to this reason they always against the one system of education and one medium of instruction (urdu),

The policy makers: These are Politicians, Bureaucrats, elite class of Pakistan and the business community of private institutions. They are not the real representatives of Pakistan so they make polices which suite them.

The elite class of Pakistan: who don't want to see common man to challenge them in the high level job competitions? They speak in home English as their first language. They have good English tutors who teach their children, they never want to see Urdu as medium of instruction in Pakistan because then they will have to compete with the real talent of Pakistan.

Recommendations

1. Change the examinations at CSS and public service commission level from English to Urdu (Preference should be given to Urdu medium )

2. Like Sri Lanka it should be compulsorily for the government servant to admit their children in government schools and colleges

3. One curriculum and one education system should be adopted in Pakistan with one medium of instruction (Urdu).

4. Urdu and mother tongue should be introduce from primary level (class one)

5. English should be introduced from six class as functional language so the students could read English books at later stage

Bibliography

Khalid, S. M. (1996). Pakistan Men Jame`At Ka Kirdar: Mujallah 8 . Islamabad: Institute of policy studies.

Sajjid, M., & Mansoor, s. (2005). Pakistan main zareya taleema ka masala. Lahore : Institute of policy studies Islamabad

Website

Afzal, N. (n.d.). CHAPTER 5 PROBLEMS. Retrieved May 26, 2009, from http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:vEAwwtxWLl4J:faculty.ksu.edu.sa/NaeemAfzal/Documents/Chapter%25205.pdf+%22Language+Problem+There+has+been+a+serious+break+down+of+our+educational+system.+It+has+happened%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk&client=firefox-a

Mustafa, Z. (2005, November 16). Debate on Medium of Instruction. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from http://www.apnaorg.com/articles/dawn-11/

Islam, R. (n.d.). Amor Ekushe : International MotherLanguage Day. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from http://www.21stfebruary.org/eassy21_5.htm

Causes of Poor School Administration

CAUSES OF POOR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION AT GOVT: HIGH SCHOOLS AT TEHSIL JAMRUD KHYBER AGENCY.

BY: GUL NAZIR KHAN 

 SUBJECT SPECIALIST GOVT: HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL
JAMRUD KHYBER AGENCY.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to determine the areas of
weaknesses in relations to the existing administrative practices in
FATA Government High Schools for boys of Khyber Agency, Tehsil Jamrud.
It is the descriptive type of research, which is mainly concerned with
the existing conditions, and evaluation of school administration by
the head masters in secondary schools of the Tehsil Jamrud. The method
adopted for the research is a survey method. Ten out of fifteen
schools were selected through simple random sample. A questionnaire
was distributed among all the head masters of the schools. The result
was calculated through simple percentage. Sixty percent of the head
masters /principals observed that there is grouping in their school
.About 70% of the school head masters/principals responded that there
is deficiencies of infrastructures and teaching staffs especially
science teachers. In order to avoid grouping in the school it is
necessary on the part of the head master/principal that he should be
impartial, unbiased and neutral in the school. A need is felt to
provide in-services refresher training course to these staff. So that
they may be able to acquaint themselves to the problems arises in the
field of administration. In order to avoid grouping in the school it
is necessary on the part of the head master/principal that he should
be impartial, unbiased and neutral in the school.

FATA- (Federally administered tribal area), Khyber agency-(part of
F.A.T.A), Jamrud-(tehsil of Khyber agency), Head master- (head of the
school).

Introduction-; the word administere is derived from the latin word
ministiare which means to serve. In its common sense administer means
to manage the affair of other or to look after people (A.R Tygi nd).
The educational leader "must stay focused on core business despite
desperate stakeholder demands, uncertain funding, critical labor
shortage and must be highly skilled at dealing with sensitive and
divisive issues with in politically charged environment.." (carr,2003)

The world today is a rapidly changing world. New goals are being set
up and new techniques are being devised in order to achieve
readjustment of society to new situations. This is particularly so in
the case of a developing country like Pakistan. The present condition
calls for headmasters or principals with a broad, deep and thorough
understanding of life, to achieve the objectives in an educational
organization. Our school administration lacks such skills. What are
the causes of these poor school administrations, the research was
conducted.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: The purpose of this study is to determine
the areas of weaknesses in relation to the existing administrative
practices in F.A.T.A government high schools at tehsil jamrud Khyber
agency.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM: the main purpose of this study is to
evaluate the head masters awareness of administration under the
present system. Secondly is to determine the benefits being gained by
the teachers students and community.

DELIMITATION OF THE STUD: In view of the shorter time and limited
resources the study is confined to:

1: Tehsil Jamrud( one of the three tehsils of Khyber agency).

2: Boys high schools.

3: One academic year.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: The objective of this study are'

1 To point out the effect of deficiency of staffs on school administration.

2 Influence of deficiencies of infra structure on school administration.

3 The effect of groupings among the teachers on school administration.

NATURE OF THE RESEARCH:

It is the descriptive type of research, which is mainly
concerned with the existing conditions, and evaluation of school
administration by the teachers in secondary schools of the Tehsil
Jamrud. The method adopted for the research is a survey method. It
involves collecting and interpreting of the data collected with regard
to the existing administrative practices in High schools of Tehsil
Jamrud Khyber Agency. The instrument used in the research was
questionnaire which consists of ten questions. Ten out of fifteen
schools were selected through simple random sampling.

2. CONSTRUCTION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE:

The questionnaire was designed for principals/ head
masters including one type of item, that is Yes/No, item;

Formal discussions in connection with the questionnaire were
frequently made with the supervisor of the research study to make the
questionnaire more objective. Some items from the questionnaire were
excluded, refined the remaining ones and finally items were selected
for duplicating under the guidance of the research supervisor.

After construction of the questionnaire, it was cyclostyled for
sending out to the concerned schools. Some extra copies made for
try-out purpose.

3. CONTENT OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE:

The items included in questionnaire are of closed form type because
they are easy to fill in, take little time, keep the respondent of the
subject, relatively objective and fairly easy to analyze.

The questionnaire was constructed to collect factual information's
about the extent and nature of the existing conditions of "poor
administrative practices" in the high schools of Tehsil Jamrud.
Questions concerning the ways and means of relationship between the
school and the community were also included on the questionnaire.

4. AREAS CONTAINED IN THE INSTUMENT:

The instrument contains questions regarding the following areas:-

a. Headmaster teacher's relationship.

b. Training in management and administration.

c. Principal's self-confidence, commitment and vision.

d. School-community relationship.

e. Rules and regulations in the school.

f. Teaching and non teaching staff cooperation

g. Political interference.

h. Shortage of infrastructures.

i. Deficiencies of staff.

j. Grouping among teachers.

k. School's location.

1:GROUPING IN THE SCHOOL

N = 10

Response of the principals and head masters about any types of
grouping in the school.

Yes

06

60 %

No

04

40 %

DISCUSSION:

In the above table 60% head masters/principals admit that there is
grouping in their school. These grouping were either community based
(relatives, friends etc) or on political party based, on the basis of
their religion while in the big school these grouping are on the
ranking bases according to the detail discussions with them . These
groupings are fatal to the school administration. For effective
administration no grouping will be required.

2:DEFICIENCY OF TEACHING STAFFS ESPECIALLY OF SCIENCE TEACHERS..

N = 10

Response of the principals about deficiency of teaching staffs
especially science teachers in their school.

Yes 07 70 %

No 03 30 %

Undecided

00

00%

DISCUSSION

About 70% of the schools in Tehsil Jamrud Khyber agency are deficient
in staffs especially of science teacher, which also contribute to the
poor school administration.

3:DEFICIENCIES OF INFRASTRUCTURES.

N = 10

Is there any deficiency of infrastructure in your school?

Yes 70 70 %

No 30 30 %

Undecided

00

00%

DISCUSSION:

About 70% of the schools in Tehsil Jamrud Khyber agency, face shortage
of infrastructures like classrooms, play ground, wash rooms'
facilities, clean and drinkable water, laboratory apparatus etc. Most
of the schools lack proper buildings. The situation is further worse
for science students provided no laboratory, apparatus, and chemicals.

CONCLUSION:

Sixty percent of the school head masters/principals said they have
grouping in their schools. These grouping are either on community
based, Political based or on religious based.

Forty percent of the schools were deprived of teaching staff
especially of science teachers.

About 70% of the schools face the shortage of basic facilities in the
form of infrastructures like classrooms, ground, washrooms facility
and laboratory equipments.

RECOMMENDATION:

In the light of the above study following recommendations were made
on the government as well as for further research study.

Government should keep strict vigilance on the performance of teachers.

Provide staffs to schools and give infrastructures facilities to each
school. The study is not final; however there are some areas in this
connection which needs further research like low socioeconomic
condition of the teachers and principal, relationship of the
headmasters with the teachers and students and lack of commitments on
students behalf.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carr,N, 2003, Leadership: the toughest job in America, American school
board journal special report: Ed: vital sign 2003, no 122,14-20.

F. Hennery, (1949) General and Industrial Administration, New York, Pigeon.

F. G. Dickey, (1983) Basic Principles of Supervision, New York,
American Book Company.

F.W.Johnson, (1925) The administration and supervision of high school
New York, Ginnad Company.

Harray.N.Rivin, (1993) Encyclopedia of Modern Education New York, the

Philosophical Library of New York City.

H. C. Hunt, P. R. Pierce, (1958) The Practice of School administration Boston

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.

J. W. Best,(1970) Research in Education. New Jercy, Prentice Hall INC.

M. Sultan Mohiyuddin,(1999) School Organization and Management Lahore,
West Pakistan Publishing company Ltd.

Rao Ush, (1991) Education technology Bombay, Himaliya publishing house

S. J. Knezevich,(1962) Administration of Public Education New York,
Harper and Brothers.

Wilson P.S (1971) Interest and discipline in education London,
Routledge and kagan.

Information Processing Theory

BY Gul Nazir Khan

§ Information processing theory-Claude Shannon

§ Information processing

§ Short term memory

§ Long term memory

§ Mnemonic memory devices.

BIOGRAPHY:

Shannon was born in Petoskey, Michigan, on April 30, 1916. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1936 with bachelor's degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering. In 1940 he earned both a master's degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Claude Shannon was a founder of information theory. He combined mathematical theory with engineering principles to get the stage for the development of digital computer. The term bit, today used to describe an individual unit of information processed by a computer was coined from Shannon's research in 1940.He published a mathematical theory of communication in the bell system technical journal(1948).His work founded the subject of information theory and he proposed a linear schematic model of communication system.

• The use of the term "bit" as a unit of information first appeared in this paper. In an age in which communication took place with continuous, analog waveforms, it was a startling notion that information traveling across any communications system could be defined mathematically as some quantity of binary symbols. It was entirely new that information of any kind-- whether for use on a telegraph, telephone, radio, or television-- could be decomposed into zeros and ones, encoded, transmitted, and decoded. He went on to present the concept of the maximum rate of transmission on a channel-- the capacity or "Shannon limit"-- which provides the benchmark against which all codes and modulations are measured

Memory

Psychologists define memory as the capacity to record, retain and retrieve information-the three R’s of remembering. Without memory learning would be impossible. Most cognitive psychologists define memory as a perceptually active mental system that receive encode modifies and retrieve information. The collections of all of our memories are the library of our personal history. Our memory forms a living record of what we have read, heard, seen and experienced over the period of our life.

Types of Memory

There are three types of memory:

• Sensory memory: This type of memory exists for vision and hearing. However many psychologists assumed that it exist for other senses as well. We are not controlled over the information that enter into our sensory memory-its capacity being unlimited. The information being held is much briefed. But the question is that “why we are not overwhelmed with the incoming data?” The answer is that we do not attend to every data that enters sensory memory, if it failed to attend it fade away in a second or so.

Functions of sensory memory

The main functions of sensory memory are:

• It makes the visual world smooth and continuous despite the blinking of eyes.

• Give a moment or two to determine if the incoming data should be processed or not.

• It can group facial features into a complex pattern of face. Without sensory memory the world will be a jumble of unrelated elements.

• Class room implications: O f the stimuli in the environment some succeed in providing an orienting response, others do not. Orienting response makes us curios, arouse our interest and make us want to know more about the stimulus. Perhaps the simplest way to make the students attention is to:

• Commands

• Variations in the stimuli

• Emotional stimuli

• Novelty.

Short term Memory

Short term memory is also called working memory and relates to what we are thinking about at any given moment in time. In Freudian terms, this is conscious memory. It is created by our paying attention to an external stimulus, an internal thought, or both. Nearly a hundred years a go William James give the concepts of “primary” and “secondary” memory which later refer to short term memory and long term memory. Short term memory (STM) refers to the process of attending to information in sensory memory or attending the information in to your conscious thoughts and perceptions at any given moment.

STM has two characteristics:

• The information that enters it is available for a very short period of time unless it is actively processed. This process take the form of maintenance rehearsal as when you repeat a word over and over again to your self also take the form of manipulating information-with out some kind of mental effort. Information fades away from STM in 15 seconds.

• STM have limited capacity. Most people can hold only about seven bits in it at any one time e.g. if you were given the strings of random numbers to remembers, and you come to the seven one, you would be approaching the limit of your STM. For example how you can remember a phrase which consist of 36 individual letters. It can be remember through chunking. By chunking individual letter into seven meaningful words. You can easily keep this information active. You can store the idea of this phrase into a single chunk leaving room for other information

Forgetting from STM

• Some researchers believe that interference is the primary reason why information is forgotten from the STM (zechmeister & Nyberg, 1982).

• Long term memory (LTM): In contrast to STM, LTM store information with relative permanence and has almost unlimited capacity. Information is normally transferred into LTM through an attention related process. One such process is rehearsal which itself can take several form. In maintenance rehearsal, you repeat information silently over and over, without giving it real thoughts. It’s not enough to transfer information into LTM.

• Much more effective and getting information into LTM are attention based process that involves making association between aspects of the new information and information you already known (Howard, 1983).

• How STM & LTM work together:

Suppose you read lists of 31 authors name and you asked to recall one by one in any order as you can. This is called a free recall test.

• You will probably recall:

• Common author regardless of where they appear.

• Your favorite authors.

• However tests show that best recall for items presented at the beginning of the list called primary effect.

• Further more naming at the end- recency effect.

Psychologists explain these by pointing to the different functioning of STM & LTM.

You may still recall the name of the authors at the end because it is still exist in your STM. On the other hand you may recall the first authors name because of more time to rehearse them into LTM. Poorest recall for middle items because it is not yet processed in LTM, at the same time new items have displaced it from STM.

KINDS OF LTM

• Procedural memory: it include to perform a numbers of skill like drive a car, ride a bike play tennis etc, because you stored the necessary knowledge to perform skills in one part of the LTM, that is called procedural memory.

• Episodic (ep-ih-sah-dik) memory: we remember 100 of daily events, such as getting up early in the morning, taking breakfast watching a movie because we personally experienced in a type of LTM. You can answer the question “how was your day?” from episodic memory.

• Semantic memory: in semantic memory we can remember definition of mole, education and learning because we have stored information or relationship between things in a type of LTM called semantic memory. When you take an exam, you recall information about mental representation of objects, facts and relation from semantic memory.

Transfer information from STM & LTM (various kinds of LTM) Involve a number of attention related process.

Information Processing

Incoming Information

Sensory memory system

Does a person attend to information?

No ----------------- (yes)

Information is lost SHORT TERM MEMORY

· How information is processed?

· No processing (information loss after 15 second)

· Shallow processing (information is maintained in STM for longer time)

· Deep processing (LTM) If information is later needed, it is transferred to STM (Lindal, Davidoff,1987)

v Stage Model of Information Processing

v One of the major issues in cognitive psychology is the study of memory. The dominant view is labeled the "stage theory" and is based on the work of Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968).

v This model proposes that information is processed and stored in 3 stages, i.e. Sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory.

Diagram of information processing Atkinson and Shiffrin(1968)

APPLICATION OF INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY

• Problem solving

• Decision making

• Information gathering and storage

• Other cognitive process

How to improve learning

• Organization: e.g. to learn type of memory one must organize it in SSL i.e. Sensory, short term, and long term memory.

• After organizing the materials use the following three techniques to help you to remember it.

• Mediation

• Imagery

• Mnemonic

Mediation associate two items to be remembered by using a third that ties them together e.g. all men are mortal, Ahmad is a man, and therefore Ahmad is mortal.

Imagery: It involves making mental picture of events and things that you want to remember. it is difficult to define mental picture but most people agree that they can form mental picture, although they are differ with the ease with which they form mental picture, vividness of picture, and the amount of detail included.

Mnemonic: It is a Greek word meaning to remember. A mnemonic is a device that helps to improve one’s memory without expensive and time consuming memory aids.

Mnemonic devices

• Laird cermak in his book, improve your memory, suggest a method which is also called cermak method. This method involves two basic steps and three techniques.

• Pay close attention to what you want to remember.

• Organize your thoughts.

• SQ3R method: This method includes survey, question, read, recite and review-is systematic method to improve your ability to learn.

• Separate the task into smaller units, reading one or two sections of each unit each day.

• Quickly survey the material

• Question yourself about the most important aspect of what you have just surveyed

• Read it carefully

• Recite the important points out loud.

• Finally review all material covered.

· Elaborative rehearsal-while you are rehearsing information, elaborate on the information to enrich encoding. One way is to make an association with the material.

· Method of loci: First practiced by Greek narrator the singular of loci is locus which means place. The method of loci is a means of remembering the order of a list, a name or objects –by associating them with some sequence of place with

References

• Berliner D.C, Gage N.L (1992)“educational psychology” Fifth edition, Houghton Mifflin company Boston.

• Davidoff.l(1987) “introduction to psychology” 3rd edition, Macgraw Hill Book Company USA.

• Plotnik .R(1989) “introduction to psychology” second edition Random house, New York.

• Sehraie ,Asim(2007) “exploring psychology”vol-, A-1publisher Lahore.

• http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/infoproc.html on 29-3-2009.

Planning the Research study

PLANNING THE RESEARCH STUDY

Gul Nazir Khan
I.E.R P Peshawar University

§ Sources of Research ideas/Problems.

§ Formulating hypotheses

§ Review of the Literature

Research problem

One of the most difficult phases of any research project is the
identification of research problem. The identification of a good
research problem should be considered a discovery in itself.

In the beginning after the preliminary study of review literature
the investigator thinks that most of the problems of education have
already been studied (problem blind), However in the field of

education there are a number of variable factors in terms of

pupils,teachers,parents,communities, curricula, text book etc.

The problem lie everywhere around us, need is to develop problem
awareness, problem consciousness in order to locate and recognize
them.

How to proceed?

n Select a field of specialization

n Develop a concern for that field

n Critically study the available literature in the specialized field.

n Accept the difficulties or obstacles of that field as a challenge.

n Prepare a record of that problems already studied in the areas
of specialization

n Acquaint yourself with the research underway in that area.

n Analyze the trend in the field of specialization.

n Widely discusses any problem that come to your mind

Sources of the research problem

n The classroom, school, home, community, and other agencies of education.

n Social development and technological changes are constantly
bringing new problems and opportunities.

n Record of previous research..

n Discussions.

n Questioning attitude.

n Consultations.

M.S Surindhar: has further pointed eight other sources of research i.e.

· Reading

· Academic

· Experiences,

· Daily experiences,

· Exposed to field situation,

· Consultation,

· Brainstorming,

· Research,

· Intuition.

According to William M.K Trochim(2001) the sources of the research problems are:

n Practical problems in the field,

n Literature in your specific field,

n Request for proposals,(from government or from non government)

n Think of the problems by your own self.

Criteria of a good Research problem:

n Novelty (original one)

n Interesting

n Importance

n Feasibility

n Availability of data

n Availability of cooperation

n Availability of guidance

n Immediate application

n Aim of research

n Level of research

n Courage and confidence.

n

Formulating and stating the problem

There are two different way of stating the research problem, one is
posing question/questions and the other is making declarative
statement/statements. Both of these ways may be used, keeping in mind
that question form has an advantage in focusing the issue.

DEFINITION OF PROBLEM:

After stating the problem it must also be defined. By
definition the separation of problem from the complex of difficulties
and needs. It means to put a fence around it, to specify it in detail
and with precision.

DELIMITION OF PROBLEM

n Here the investigator states the limitation restriction which he
imposed on his study it will provide information concerning

n who

n What

n Where

n How many

It will determine the boundaries of research project

Justification of problem

n The investigator has to indicate:

n To what extent this study would contribute to the human knowledge.

n The chief purpose of the study

n And other subsidiary related specific objectives that compel him
to undertake such an investigation

Hypothesis

n A hypothesis is tentative assumption drawn from knowledge and
theory which is used as a guide in the investigation of other facts
and theories that are yet unknown.

n A hypothesis states what we are looking for. A hypothesis looks
forward. It is proposition, which can be put to a test to determine
its validity. It may prove to be correct or incorrect. (Goode and
Hat,1952 course code 837 a.i.o.u). According to Lundberg _A
hypothesis is a tentative generalization the validity of which remain
to be tested. In its most elementary stage the hypothesis may be any
hunch , guess, imaginative ideas which become a base for further
investigation

Importance of Hypothesis

n Provide direction to research

n A guide to thinking process/discovery

n Focuses research

n Prevents blind research

n Serve as framework from drawing conclusions

n Link together related facts and information and organize it.

1 Investigator eye

n Clarify method and procedure to be used.

n Place clear and specific goals before us.

n Sensitized the individual to facts and condition that otherwise
might be overlooked.

n Gather relevant data, discourage haphazardness

Sources of Hypothesis:

n General culture (religion or moral values)

n Scientific theory

n Personal experience

n Analogies

Types of hypothesis:

§ Null hypothesis: states that no significant difference exists
between the two variables concerned. For example there is no
significant difference between age and intelligence.

§ Prediction form: applicable in action research. For example
there may be a significant
difference between age and intelligent.

§ Declarative form: for example there will be a significant
difference between age and intelligent.

§ Question form: for example "is there will be a significant
difference between age and intelligence?"

Characteristics of hypothesis:

n A good hypothesis is in agreement with the observed facts

n Does not conflicts any law of nature

n Stated in scientific language

n Stated in the simplest possible language

n Its test should provide an answer to the original problem

n Testable

n State relation between variables

n Limited in scope

n Testable in reasonable time

Formulation of hypothesis:

n According to Goode and Hatt;" The theorists who does not know
what techniques are available to test his hypothesis is in poor way to
formulate his usable hypothesis"

n According to P.V Young, "the more insight the researcher has in
to the problem, the simpler will be his hypothesis about it"

Steps in formulating hypothesis

n Deep knowledge of a clear theoretical framework

n Ability to make use of theoretical framework logically

n Familiar with the available research techniques

Review literature:

n According to Bruce (1994), the review forms an important chapter
in a thesis where its purpose is to provide the backgrounds to and
justification for the research undertaken.

The purpose of the review is to analyze critically a segment of a
published body of search through summary, calssification and
comparison of prior research study.

Bourner (1996), mentioned the reasons for the review literature:

Ø : Identify the gap in the literature.

Ø To avoid reinventing the wheel (avoid making the mistakes
committed by the others)

Ø To carry from where other have already reached (build the
platform of ideas and existing knowledge).

Ø To identify other people working in the same field.

Ø Increase breadth of knowledge of your subject area.

Ø Identify seminal (strongly influencing later development) work
in your area.

Ø Identify opposing views.

Ø Provide intellectual context to your work.

Ø Identify information and ideas relevant to your work.

Ø Identify method relevant to your project.

Ø To demonstrate that you have access previous work.

Ø provide your work in to perspective.

Ø Find models( other research)

Ø Clarify your problem

Ø Narrow your topic

Ø Use current sources of information.

According to william M.k trochim(2001)

· Concentrate your effort on scientific literature.

· Do the review early, in the review we should:

· Look for quite similar study

· Include all the relevant constructs in your study

· Use prior experience of other and to avoid their common traps.

· Anticipate common problems in your research context

· Methodology of research

· Measuring instrument to employed.

Introduction

n In introduction you should:

n Identify or define the general topic, issue or area of concerned.

n Point out overall trend what have been published about the topic
or conflicts in the theory, methodology, evidence and conclusion.

n Establish the writer's reason (point of view) for reviewing
literature. Explain the criteria to be used in analyzing and comparing
literature and organization of review (http://www.ludwig.mission.edu)

Body of research

n In body of research you should:

n Mention research study and other types of literature

n Summarize individual studies or articles with as much as little
according to its importance

n Provide the readers with strong umbrella sentences (different
things) at beginning signposts throughout (direction) and brief
somewhat.

n In body of research you should:

n Mention research study and other types of literature

n Summarize individual studies or articles with as much as little
according to its importance

n Provide the readers with strong umbrella sentences (different
things) at beginning signposts throughout (direction) and brief
somewhat.

Summary and syntheses

n In summary: A recap of the important information of sources

n But in synthesis a reorganization or reshuffling of that information occur

References

§ Trochim M.K W the research method knowledge base 3rd ed
atomic dog publication 2001 cincinnati ,OH.

n Bruce ,c.1994"supervising literature review",in zuber skert,O and

Ryan,y(eds) quality in postgraduate edn kogan page London

n Good,Cater.V.,Introduction to Educational Research.new

york :Appletion century crofts,1959.(a.i.o.u)

n Rashid.M,Allied material of educational research,National
book

Foundation (A.I.O.U) Islamabad (2000).

n Surinder.M.S Rsearch Methodology part-2 ISRO satelite centre

Banglore(nd), retrieved on 17-3-2009(www.google.com/sources

n (www.uns.edu/dept/wcweb/handout/lit-review..html) retrieved on 19-3-2009.