English Medium or No English Medium: Parental Perspectives from Pakistan

Abstract

Medium of instruction plays vital role in the education of children. Being major beneficiary or sufferer, parents’ role is integral as one of the major stakeholders in the education policy of Pakistan. This research is aimed to present an analysis of parental perceptions regarding medium of instruction for the education of their children.  The present research draws closely on Woolard Schieffelin & Kroskrity’s Language Ideology Model (1998) for understanding perceptions of parents for English as a medium of instruction. The researchers conducted 12 semi structured interviews from parents of Hyderabad city by using Maximum Variation Sampling (Seidman, 1998). These interviews were analyzed using Constant Comparative Method (Lincoln &Guba, 1985). The findings of the study suggest that Pakistan is a multilingual state and the parents’ preferences of the language they want to be used in their children’s schools are not uniform. Therefore, government should involve parents at grass root level while making education policy for effective outcomes.