No abstract

This paper endeavors to study how male and female characters reflect differences in social identities through speech, gendered way of talking and misinterpretation in their articulation. Deborah Tanen's Difference theory as framework is used and data is collected from the dialogues of Pakistani drama serial "Anaa" and analyzed qualitatively using thematic approach. The results show that language of men is significantly different from that of women because of traditional gender roles assigned and assumed under the influence of ideologies propagated by different agencies including family, society, institutions and media discourses. Findings of the study can be useful to bridge the gap between the opposite sexes to bring harmony and healthy atmosphere especially in educational institutions and workplace. The study suggests that awareness about cross cultural communication should be made an integral part of syllabus especially in foreign and second language acquisition to bring harmony in opposite sexes and avoid social conflict

The philosophical stance about the existence of being and the meaning of life has been a widely discussed subject among philosophers and critics. Existentialism says that a man can construct his own meaning of life by making judicious use of his awareness, free wills and personal responsibilities, but absurdism believes that there is no meaning of life out there. The focus of this study is to explore the absurdist and existential aspects in Kafka's fiction The Metamorphosis (1915) and The Trial (1925). This is qualitative comparative research, and the data which have been collected for this purpose is through purposive sampling techniques. In this study, Camus' theory of absurdism and theory of existentialism has been adopted as a theoretical framework. The study explores in what ways the traces of absurdism and existentialism are present in Kafka's fiction The Metamorphosis and The Trial. The findings show that characteristics of absurdism and existentialism are found in both the works of Kafka and are comparable with each other. For future recommendations, a comparative stylistic analysis of these selected novels can be carried out.

Keeping in view the significant role of E-Learning during COVID-19 and psychological issues of students and teachers resulting from the abrupt shift of teaching-learning mode to online, it is imperative to have a good understanding of motivational strategies being employed in EFL classes during this period. The present research being descriptive is designed to explore the perceptions of Pakistani teachers and learners about motivational strategies used in EFL classrooms during emergency remote learning. The frameworks of Dornyei and Csize´s model of Motivation in the EFL context (1998) and for E-Learning Computer Assisted Language Learning via Videoconferencing by Davies (2008) have been adopted. Following the pragmatic paradigm, a mixed-method study was designed and data was collected through an online survey from one hundred students and interviews from five university-level teachers.  The findings revealed that teachers were more inclined to adopt and favor a student-centered approach to keep the EFL learners motivated, by maintaining a cooperative E-Learning environment, through using CALL’s Web-based approach of Videoconferencing and by extracting students’ responses.  Students, on the other hand, were found to be reluctant to take initiative; the reason may be the psychological trauma caused by the quarantine period during the first wave of COVID-19. The implications of the study will instill a new insight for researchers and language learners to consider the scenario of the COVID-19 Pandemic as a blessing in disguise, acting as a foundation stone towards digital advancement, in the Pakistani E-Learning context in general and in the E-EFL context in Particular.

The main aim and objective of this study is to understand the effectiveness of MALL during Covid-19 in the Pakistani context through the insights gathered from the views of EFL learners at the higher education level. The theoretical framework employed in the research is the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) proposed by Davis (1986). The framework employed in the study is of TAM; its two factors were mainly focused, which are perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). The purpose of this model in the paper is to understand the behavior and attitude of the learners towards mobile technology. This research is mixed in its nature as it encompasses both qualitative and quantitative research designs. The data have been gathered from fifty students of the undergraduate and postgraduate level of English Department at the Women University Multan. The results of the study have revealed that the factors of PEOU and PU have been found to be working in this study as the learners’ views about the smartphones indicate it.