This paper examines communicative language teaching (CLT) and its significance in terms of language teaching and learning. The actual purpose of the paper is to explore the causes of failure of CLT in Pakistan and other developing countries in order to suggest the ways to make it successfully effective in the context. It is found that contextual problems such as overuse of traditional methods of teaching such as lecturing and large classes always come into clash with the use of CLT in the developing countries such as Pakistan because CLT is in fact a method developed and used in the developed countries where the contextual issues found in the educational institutes are rare as compared to developing countries.

This paper attempts to clarify the relationship between cooperative and collaborative learning and shows that cooperative learning could be more effective in the context of Pakistani higher education. It is argued that although both these approaches are forms of group work, cooperative learning is more structured and controlled. Collaborative learning, on the contrary, is not that structured and depends on students to work independently in groups without involving the instructor authority very much. Therefore, the researchers in this research paper tend to justify how the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) in Pakistani higher education is more or less teacher-cantered and exam-based and how a structured approach to group work like cooperative learning might be of a great assistance in teaching English language in Pakistani universities and colleges. Hence, the study, through the critical review of the studies on cooperative and collaborative learning, aims at providing the rationale that cooperative learning might be more effective in teaching ESL classes in the present context. Furthermore, with the help of the previous research, Pakistani teachers and educators are provided with useful methods and suggestions for how to use cooperative learning in their ESL classes effectively. Thus, the aim of the paper is to offer additional understanding on how instructors can efficiently adopt cooperative learning to ESL teaching-learning processes in their classrooms.

This paper reviews the literature on Vygotskian theory of Socio-cultural learning and constructivist approach to teaching and learning and attempts to relate the socio-cultural theory to constructivism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways socio-cultural theory helps to develop language pedagogies. Critical analysis of the literature on the socio-cultural theory suggests that the theory has potential for forming new context-oriented language teaching-learning pedagogies which can help teachers in maximising the effectiveness of their teaching and their student's learning. The review further suggests that the language pedagogies and activities developed from the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky may not only improve students' language skills, but it also has potential to develop students' cognition. Since theory promotes more and more communication of students with each other through scaffolding, that is, the Zone of Proximal development (ZPD) in Vygotsky's language. Thus, the theory directly points towards the promotion of student-centred learning by establishing learner autonomy.

The language plays an important role in the exchange of information and communication of knowledge of society, history, culture, traditions, and customs. Linguists analyse various uses of language to determine its impact and role in various domains of society such as media, politics, journalism, reporting, advertisement, war, criticism, and other such areas. Discourse analysis is associated with the use of language in various forms of communication such as written, spoken or signs of language. It helps in analysing how people say things, its impact on the audience, and how it affects the society, or the way society influences language/communication. This study aims to provide a systemic review of literature from various domains to determine how previous researchers explored discourse and language use in the society. The result reveals a strong connection between discourse analysis and language that reflect social practices and issues.

The paper aims to stylistically analyze the autobiographical elements in Alice Munro’s Story “Dear Life.” It is discovered that from the starting to the end of the story, it is full of the events which are very closely linked to Munro’s own life. Although the events have close resemblance to Munro’s life, these are factiously and artistically depicted so that they serve the purpose of literature and the stylistic aspects of the story. The researchers in the paper analyze and discuss the stylistic characteristics of the author with the help of the textual evidence from the story and to further support these, they cite the literature on the similar aspects. Finally, it is found that Munro’s fantastic style and the blend of the autobiographical facts and fiction make her story ‘Dear Life’ very interesting and worth reading.