Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore secondary school English teachers’ attitudes towards English language instructional policy as given in the official English language curriculum documents. This study intended to understand teachers’ attitudes by exploring their beliefs, feelings, and practices constituting their attitudes. This study used a qualitative semi-structured interview research design, and a purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 15 secondary English language teachers from different public schools of Lahore, having at least three years of experience. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data. The analysis of the data revealed a gap between teachers’ beliefs, feelings, and practices. Teachers believed that all proposed methods worth using, and they felt that the methods were beneficial for teaching English at the secondary level. However, the situation was quite different concerning practices. Discussion and cooperative learning strategies were the most preferred methods to use besides the lecture method at the secondary level. Teachers also described the factors which hinder the use of all policy recommended methods.

Key Words

Attitude, Discussion Method, Role-Play Method, Investigation Method, Cooperative         Learning, Project Method, Presentation Method

Introduction

The art of teaching is social and mental work at the same time, which is significantly influenced by the behavioral, emotional, political, cultural, historical, and personal aspects of a teacher’s personality (Fives, Lacatena, & Gerard, 2015; Stacey, 2020). Briefly, it is a complicated sort of work that is directly associated with the learning of students (Buehl & Beck, 2015). Teaching becomes even more complicated when it comes to the teaching of language as it requires a teacher’s view of language teaching, her grip to the content matter, her speaking skills, the grammar of the language, and her knowledge of the socio-political culture of the setting in which language teaching is going to be done and most importantly teacher’s attitude towards the language (Buehl & Beck, 2015).

It is not wrong to say that in the past few decades, English has gained the status of a Lingua Franca (Crystal, 2003; Manan, David, & Dumanig, 2016). Furthermore, in Pakistan, English is supposed to be a passport for a better lifestyle and employment. It is also perceived that one should have to be very fluent in English for social mobility in Pakistan these days (Manan, David, & Dumanig, 2015).  In a society like Pakistan, which has intense class and status systems, everyone wants that their children learn the English language and are able to communicate in English. Now, no one can deny the need for the English language in this era of globalization (Crystal, 2003f). Knowing English as a second language is a necessity of time to live in an internationally connected community and global economy. There has been a great increase in the demand for English as a second language (Paik, 2008). In addition to the demand and need for the English language in the contemporary world, having a proficiency in English not only helps pupils to enter higher education all over the world but also facilitates them to grab better employment opportunities. In short, English is now an accepted passport for better educational, employment, and lifestyle opportunities (Ahmad, 2016).

It is evident that with the increasing demand for English language learning, the quality of teaching the English language is decreasing in Pakistan. According to Nawab (2012), teaching English with traditional approaches to the diversified group of students is not effective anymore in Pakistan.  The reason behind this is that teachers use outdated teaching methods to deal with the students of the twenty-first century (Tariq, Dilawar, & Muhammad, 2019; Jameel & Muhammad, 2019; Ahmed, Muhammad, & Anis, 2020).

In Pakistan, English language teaching was started from grade 6 to onwards since independence. Most parents preferred government schools for their children until the last decade of the 20th century. However, in the twenty-first century, it has been observed that students of government schools were falling behind in the cooperative world because of the lack of English competency skills. The practice of starting English teaching from 6th grade was failing them due to the huge demand for English communicative and comprehensive skills in the market, nationally and internationally. In 1999 military overthrew the elected government of Pakistan, and the new regime introduced reforms in the education system (Muhammad & Brett, 2017). The government of Pakistan received about 100 million dollars from the USA for educational reforms with the plan of five years of educational expansion program in 2002. After the tragic accident of 9/1, the Pakistani government actively participated in the operation against Al-Qaida and, in return, got extensive support from the USA government in the field of education (Javed & Ali, 2017; Muhammad, 2019).

In 2002, there was an amendment that the government of Pakistan decided to teach English as a compulsory subject from grade 1 to higher secondary level with the revised curriculum and new textbooks (Ahmad, 2016). After this amendment, the new policy was presented in 2006, which was made to achieve international education targets, global testing rules, promotion of the English language, and exchange programs across the world (Hameed-ur-Rehman & Sewani, 2013). This educational policy emphasizes the English language, especially at the primary and secondary levels. The English language curriculum policy also suggested an instructional policy for the teachers from grades 1 to 12, which has included 5-6 contemporary methods of teaching a foreign language in secondary schools (Government of Pakistan, 2006; Aamer, Muhammad, & Masood, 2019). This document suggested that teachers should use the discussion method, inquiry-based learning, role-play technique, projects, presentation methods, and cooperative learning styles at the secondary level (Government of Pakistan, 2006). 

Teachers’ practices with respect to this instructional policy in schools are unknown yet. There is a knowledge gap between the announced policy and its implementations. This instructional policy is written very well, but the document has no use if it is not implemented at the grass-root level. This particular study is designed to fulfil this gap as we do not know what is happening in schools, whether teachers are using all these methods or not. Moreover, there is no information about what teachers think and feel about this instructional policy. This research aimed to develop an understanding of secondary school English teachers’ attitudes towards English language instructional policy as given in official English language curriculum documents. This particular study intends to understand teachers’ attitudes through the exploration of their cognition, affection, and behavior. This study also aims to explore the anticipated gap between teachers’ thinking and feelings about the instructional policy and its practice in ground realities. Moreover, exploring the hurdles of practicing the proposed instructional policy is also a purpose of this study.

Theoretical Framework

The tripartite theory of attitudes provides a theoretical base for this particular study. According to the tripartite theory, attitude can be understood by understanding three main domains. This idea that three components constitute an attitude got an appreciation for a long period of time. According to this theory, behavior, affect, and cognition is the three main domains that constitute attitude. Conventionally, the cognitive domain has been referred to as the beliefs and personal knowledge of attitude object one has (Naseer, Muhammad, & Masood, 2020). The effect provides a description of feelings, either positive or negative, that anyone has for an object of attitude. In addition, the term ‘behavior’ refers to obvious responses or reactions one shows for attitude object. The tripartite theory suggests that these components together make an attitude (Albarracín, Johnson, & Zanna, 2005; Naseer et al., 2020). 

Methods and Materials

A qualitative semi-structured interview design (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2018) was used to collect in-depth data focusing on teachers’ attitudes towards English language instructional policy as given in official English language curriculum documents, intending to understand teachers’ attitudes through the exploration of their cognition, affection, and behavior towards the instructional policy. This research design does not require behavioral control as it focuses on contemporary events in natural settings (Kvale, 1996a; Yin, 2011, 2018). Semi-structured interviews were used because they help to develop a complex and nuanced understanding of participants’ attitudes to the phenomenon being studied (Oppenheim, 1992; Ajzen, 2005; Kvale & Brinkmann, 2015). In addition, template analysis (Brooks, McCluskey, Turley, & King, 2015) was used to interpret interview data and to identify recurring features across various accounts of participants’ resulting in the generation of themes.

Sampling and Participants

The purposive sampling technique was used for

the selection of participants since the aim was to gain an understanding of the phenomenon from a specific group of people (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In this study, the specific group of people comprised of permanent English teachers at public secondary schools in Lahore, Since the aim of this research study was to develop the understanding of secondary school English teachers’ attitudes towards English language instructional policy as given in official English language curriculum document, purposive sampling procedure was chosen to select teachers from secondary schools. Moreover, this method of sampling permits the selection of only those participants who are able to give the most relevant information related to the looked-forward topic of the researcher. Participants were selected through purposive sampling because the researcher chose only those teachers who were currently teaching the English language to the secondary students at public schools. Teachers were rigorously recruited. Participants from both genders, regardless of their ethnic belonging, were welcomed to be interviewed for the study.

Teachers with three or more years of English teaching were selected for the study in order to collect information-rich data. Teachers’ experience helped the researcher to understand their attitudes towards the methods of teaching proposed by policymakers. The following mentioned criteria were used to recruit participants for the study: The participant was a permanent teacher of a public school, currently teaching English at the secondary level, and had at least three years of experience in English teaching in public schools.




 

Table 1. Demographic Information of the Participants

Participant	Gender	Age	Academic Qualification	Professional Qualification	Experience (Years)
1	Female	28	MPhil IT	BEd	4
2	Female	48	MA English	MEd	16
3	Male	37	MA English	BEd	8
4	Female	54	BA	BEd	32
5	Female	29	MPhil	BEd	4
6	Male	35	MA English	TEFL	5
7	Female	55	MA	MEd	27
8	Female	47	MA	MEd	13
9	Female	55	MA	MEd	5
10	Male	45	MA	MEd	4
11	Male	31	MA English	MEd	5
12	Female	32	MA English	BEd	10
13	Male	27	MPhil Physics	BEd	3
14	Male	26	MPhil English	BEd	5
15	Female	52	BA	BEd	20

 




Research Sites

For this study, the researcher decided to visit 15 public secondary schools of Tehsil Model town in Lahore. The researcher chose schools from the Model Town Tehsil as it is located in the center of Lahore city and has 79 public schools in total. The researcher chose fifteen schools for the data collection on the assumption that fifteen interviews would be enough in qualitative research design and saturation would be achieved (Creswell & Poth, 2018)f

.

Data Collection Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data for this study. Qualitative interviews were used for data collection because of two main reasons: This technique is most suitable to use when “studying people’s understanding of the meaning in their lived world” (Kvale, 1996b, p. 105). As a matter of fact, semi-structured interviewing is most appropriate “to find out those things we cannot directly observe…feelings, thoughts, and intentions” (Merriam, 1998, p. 72).

The interview guide included 28 open-ended questions with some probing questions to let participants think more deeply and express more intensely their feelings, thoughts, and practices related to teaching experiences (Saldaña & Omasta, 2021). The guide followed the pattern from general to specific questions. The guide was thematically organized, dividing questions into five parts for better understanding and the systematic analysis of data. The first part of the guide included the demographic characteristics of participants like their name, gender, age, qualifications, academic and professional, and school names. In the second part, there were some introductory questions related to their experience of teaching. The third part had introductory questions that dealt with their information, liking disliking, and practices in general. The fourth part included the questions about all proposed methodologies by policymakers to know about how they think about it, how they feel about it, and what their practices were related to those methods. This part also has some probing questions that ultimately helped the researcher to know about their attitudes towards these methodologies, and the last part was comprised of some concluding questions.

The initial draft of the interview guide was discussed in a meeting of all authors, and after discussion, the interview guide’s questions were finalized (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2018; Saldaña & Omasta, 2021). A few questions were ambiguous and seemed to be unclear; therefore, the language of these questions was amended to increase the clarity of the questions (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2015). Few questions were deemed to be irrelevant; therefore, they were removed from the guide. In addition, interview questions were rearranged so that the sequence could be made logical. The interview guide was further refined by piloting with a critical friend (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2020).

 

Interview Process

Semi-structured interviews were conducted in public schools. Permission was taken from their principals and from participants also to conduct their interviews. For the selection of schools, the researcher had to visit the school education department office. They provided her with the list of all public secondary schools in the Model Town Tehsil, Lahore. The researcher chose fifteen schools from them and then came to know that for interviews, she had to seek permission from the District Education Officer, Lahore. The researcher visited the school education office in Lahore and got a permission letter from the DEO Lahore. He gave access to all participants in schools and issued a copy of the letter to the schools as well.

The first author conducted all the interviews. Before starting the interview formally, she explained to each participant the purpose and objectives, research procedures, probable benefits, and the procedure of confidentiality (Seidman, 2019). To build up a respectable rapport with participants and to establish familiarity with the topic and the researcher (Creswell & Poth, 2018), she introduced herself as an MPhil scholar and showed them her university identification card. Interviews were conducted at the time and at the place where participants felt free and comfortable to talk about their experiences (Taylor, Bogdan, & DeVault, 2016).

All interview recordings were transcribed and translated into the English language by the first researcher under the supervision of the second author (Tracy, 2020). Two digital audio recording devices were used to record the interviews. The researcher adopted the iterative method to record the phenomenon in detail. The researcher conducted one interview. Then after the interpretation of that interview, she integrated some points from the ground reality of field data; therefore, in this way, researchers refined the interview guide through the iterative process (Corbin & Strauss, 2015).

The researcher faced some problems while collecting data. Participants were the teachers, so most of the time, they were in their classes, and the researcher had to wait for them for about half an hour or sometimes about an hour. Another problem that the researcher faced was their communication skills. Most of the teachers were not comfortable giving an interview in English. The researcher tried to facilitate them and conducted interviews in the Urdu language where needed. The suitable place for the interview was another issue. Schools did not provide a quiet place for an interview. The researcher had to conduct interviews in noisy staff rooms. But overall, the experience was good: Participants behaved very well, talked humbly, and gave answers to all questions without any fear.

 

Data Analysis Methods

The template analysis method (Brooks & King, 2014)  was used to analyze interview data as it was previously found useful in thematically organizing and analyzing semi-structured interview data (Naz, Hani, & Muhammad, 2020).

This method of data analysis is conducted in six steps. ‘Familiarization with the data’ was the first step of data analysis involving the close reading of data multiple times to become aware of its meanings and the content (King, 2012). The second step was to carry out preliminary coding of the interview data coding (Miles et al., 2020), which involved assigning labels to the data that recognized the vital features of the content that might be related to the research questions of the study. This phase involved labeling the three transcripts with a priori themes based on the tripartite theory’s three components—cognition, affection, and behavior—constituting teachers’ attitudes (Saldaña, 2021). Codes were further examined and then organized hierarchically for the identification of important patterns in the data (themes) and for the construction of an initial coding template for further analysis of interview transcripts (Chauhan, Leeming, & King, 2020). In the fourth step, the initial template was applied to further data and modified as necessary. An iterative process of trying out successive versions of the template was used to modify and try again continued to the extent that allowed a rich and comprehensive representation of the interpretation of the interview data (King & Brooks, 2017). This step also included the organizing of data according to themes from each participant’s data. The reviewing themes step involved scrutiny of the participants’ themes against data to ensure the relevance of their stories to the data and to the research questions of the study. In this stage, themes were refined by combining, splitting, or discarding. Having finalized a template, the researcher applied it to the full interview data. This stage also involved the decision of a brief, informative term for each theme. The writing-up of the data analysis involved writing up the analytical description in relation to the existing literature (Chauhan et al., 2020).

Results

This section of this paper provides an analysis.




Teachers’ Beliefs Regarding English Language Instructional Policy

In a quest for gathering data for question 1, participants were enquired about their beliefs related to the use of six instructional methods of teaching English. Participants were probed to express their thinking about the use of contemporary methods at the secondary level.

Collected data showed that most of the participants believed that the discussion method was very Useful for them in teaching English at the

 Secondary level. On probing their reasons for considering it a useful method, they mentioned some of the benefits of using a discussion method. According to them, it gives students the opportunity to speak and motivates the students to participate in class. They further added that this method is a source of enhancement of knowledge. Some participants believed that the discussion method is useful, but in the Pakistani educational system, it could not prove to be beneficial due to management issues. Few participants believed that the method was only useful for developing speaking skills; however, they argued that English is a language, and teachers have to develop all competency skills in the students, so in this perspective, they did not consider it a useful method for developing all four language skills. For example, two participants mentioned: “I think it is very necessary. Because the English language consists of four components, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, so if we give a chance for students to speak out, the discussion method is very effective” (Participant 12). Another participant highlighted, “It should be used. I think it’s a good method. It is beneficial for teachers and for students too. In fact, when we involve students in our lecture as a discussion, it gives 100% results to us” (Participant 8).

On asking about a role-play method, most of the participants believed the method was good, but they faced a lot of problems in using this method. They mentioned that time, lengthy syllabus, and examination system were their main problems. For example, a teacher mentioned, 

It can be helpful at the elementary level but not at this level. Actually, time is a big issue at the secondary level. We have too much syllabus. Students don’t have time. They even don’t have time to read their content fully. How can we perform this in classes? (Participant 5)In addition, they mentioned that they lacked proper training in this method; therefore, they could not use this. While some of the participants did not even know what this method was. They asked the researcher, “What do you mean by this method?” Only a few participants fully knew the method and considered it a fully useful method. 




Moreover, most participants did not know about the investigation method and were completely unaware of the name of the method. Most of them perceived the investigation method as a question-answer method. Some participants thought that the method was good. They considered it a useful method for teaching English as it encourages students to research. According to the few participants, the investigation method was not useful for teaching English at the school level. They thought that the method is only good for teaching sciences; English is a language, and it cannot be taught with the investigation method. For example, two teachers stated, “I think it is not so good for English, but I also teach chemistry there. I use this method for teaching chemistry and found it useful there. (Participant- 6). Another teacher mentioned: “Actually, I don’t use this. And I think at this level it is not useful. This is my opinion” (Participant- 7).

Most participants considered the cooperative learning method a more useful one than other methods. Participants considered this method useful as it was easy to use in their circumstances. They said that the method was suitable for such a huge number of students in our classes. In addition, they thought that with this method, below-average students could be inspired by above-average students, and as a result, they could also try to produce good results. For example, a teacher mentioned,

The cooperative learning method not only inculcates knowledge in the students but also develops very important skills like social skills and communication skills. So, it must be there because I feel that our society is skipping these skills. We should always use the cooperative method to give them a task based on cooperation that will produce social skills in them. (Participant 3) Only a few participants did not consider the method was useful. They said that the reason was the students did not agree to work with others. Students had their own issues with other students; therefore, they did not want to work together.




The analyzed data showed that most of the participants were confused about the type of project they could suggest to students in English subject. They believed it a useful method in general, but they thought that the project method was irrelevant in the teaching of English, especially at the secondary level. For example, a teacher stated,

Which type of projects can we actually give to the students? …Ummm…Sometimes we use this. Like we give any topic to the students, for example, nations’ strength. I ask them to make cards on this topic and write whatever they feel is important related to this topic. And then, we display those cards on charts. (Participant 7)




In addition to this, most participants believed that the presentation method of teaching is very useful even at the secondary level. Participants highlighted that students tried hard to prepare material for presentations as they did not want to be embarrassed in front of the class. They believed the method was a source of developing confidence in students. Nonetheless, some of the participants believed that the presentation method was not a good method of teaching at the secondary level because students lacked speaking skills.




Teachers’ Feelings Regarding English Language Instructional Policy

In order to collect information regarding teachers’ feelings related to the instructional policy of teaching English, participants were asked to express their feelings related to the methods of teachings. Moreover, they were specifically asked whether they liked to use these methods or not. 

Analyzed data showed that most of the participants liked using the discussion method in the classroom. As reporting them, they enjoyed the method as it helped them in unfolding different dimensions and aspects of a topic. They liked the method because it gave participation opportunities to every student in the class. Some participants reported that they liked the method, but they did not enjoy the use of this as they faced a lot of problems in opening a discussion in class. Time, students’ strength, and lengthy syllabus were their main issues. Only a few teachers felt that the method is now a bit old, but they did not deny its importance in teaching English.

In response related to the role-play method, most of the teachers enjoyed using this method. They added that their students liked the method too and participated in these types of activities very energetically, but they mentioned that they faced a lot of problems in using this method. Similarly, some participants felt that if they use the method, maybe they would like it. Some said straight away that they disliked this method due to circumstantial problems.

Most participants felt that the investigation method was not useful to teach English. According to them, most of the students cannot take part in these types of methods. They mentioned the problems of time, students, and syllabus. According to a few participants, this method was not meant for the English subject; therefore, they did not like this method using in their classes.

Moreover, most participants did enjoy using the cooperative method. They felt the method useful as it was easy to use in this educational system, where they had more than 60 students in a class to teach. Analyzed data showed that only a few participants felt that the method was not worth using, and they said this due to student issues. According to them, students had issues with other students, and they did not agree to work together. That’s why they did not like the method.

In addition to this, most participants felt that the project method was worth using; however, they were disappointed with the education system. According to them, they did not have a syllabus suitable for this method, and the examination system demanded rote memorization from students. Therefore, teachers did not enjoy using a method. Moreover, few participants clearly said that they did not feel the method was good due to their problems and school circumstances.

Lastly, participants were requested to express their feelings related to the presentation method. Almost all participants liked the method. Data showed that they enjoyed using the presentation method in classes. According to them, this method helped them a lot in improving speaking skills and enhancing the confidence level of students. Participants argued that the method was not enjoyable for him because of the huge strength and management issues of class. For example, one participant stated,

The presentation method is good when there are fewer students in the class. Students are controllable, and discipline is not an issue in the class. And secondly students level matters a lot in this. I think for this, their base should have been very strong because only those students who can 

speak or prepare a presentation well have a good base. But we have those students whom we start 

teach ABC in 5th grade. And they hardly can learn writing in 8th grade. They cannot write even a single sentence. So, spoken English is a hard thing at this level. (Participant 9)




Teachers’ Practices in Relation to English Language Instructional Policy

In search of collecting data for teachers’ attitudes, lastly, participants were enquired about their classroom practices related to the methods. They were probed to explain their way of using methods. They were also appreciated to share the problems they faced with using these methods. 

Analyzed data showed that most of the participants were using the discussion method as their routine work. Though the way of using it was different from each other, they considered it an effective way. Some were using it as a group activity, while some liked to indulge a whole class in an open discussion. Some teachers gave topics to each group and asked them to discuss them in a group first and then with other groups. Therefore, they all had their own ways of using this method. Only a few participants were not using this method, and they stated that they had classroom management issues with the method.

Furthermore, most participants did not use the role-play method ever in their class. Data showed that they wanted to use it, but there were many obstacles in their way. They had mentioned time, syllabus, class strength, and examination issues. Some participants confirmed that they had used this method once or twice, and they could not use it on a regular basis. Moreover, they were using the method in its simplest form or in dialogue form. Data showed that few participants had an issue that they did not see any chapter of the state-assigned textbook suitable for the method; therefore, they did not use this method. For example, a teacher stated, 

No, I haven’t used it yet, because the system is not requiring it from me. And secondly, our ground problems are not allowing us to use it. Like we have a huge strength of students in classes and have a lengthy syllabus to cover. So, there is no question about using this method. (Participant 11)

Moreover, the collected data also showed that the participants were not practicing the investigation method at all. They did not like the method, considering it an ineffective strategy, and they were not using this as they had a lot of problems with the system. Their main issue was time and the large class size. They also had an issue with students’ capabilities. Few participants who had used the method had to face the same issues, but somehow, they managed to practice the method in their own ways.

Almost all teachers were practicing the cooperative method for teaching English in their secondary classes. They all had groups in classes, and they preferred to use a method in those groups. They said that they appointed a leader to every group and asked the leader to help group members. Data showed that some participants were practicing the method by dividing mixed abilities students into groups and asked above-average students to help average ones. 

Data related to the project method showed that almost no one was practicing this method in the class. Most of them had never even tried to use a method in the class. On probing, they gave the same old statements regarding classroom strength and time issues. Above all these issues, specifically for this method, they had a problem with students’ capabilities. Their students were not able to accomplish any task on their own as they considered English as a difficult subject and just wanted to pass this subject; therefore, they did not agree to put in some extra effort or do a project related to this.

Analyzed data related to the presentation method showed that most participants were using this method in their classes. They were practicing this method by giving students a topic for preparation and asking them to present in front of the class. Data also showed that some participants were using this method on a daily basis, but they adapted a method according to the classroom situations. For example, they mixed a technique with dialogue or with a role-play method. 

Participants were asked about their most favorite or preferred method, which they usually 

used in their classes. Most of the participants reported that they liked to use the discussion method in their class. They preferred using the discussion method as they wanted to involve students in the teaching-learning process. In addition, they argued that it was the only method in which each student gets a chance to participate in a class and presents his/her own point of view in front of the teacher and the class. For example, a teacher stated,

I like the discussion method the most because the whole class gets involved with you in the discussion method. Every student tries to speak something. Shy students and the ones who don’t want to show in front of the class also try to participate in the discussion. That’s why I like this method more. (Participant 4)

On the other hand, some participants preferred using the lecture method in the class. They argued that the lecture method was a demand of the system. For example, a teacher argued,

These methods are appealing only on paper. We, teachers, use the lecture method in routine. And in my view, the lecture method is the only method that can be applied at the secondary level to cover all syllabus in the given time. (Participant 5)

Discussion

This qualitative study reinforces existing research regarding the attitudes of public-school English language teachers towards the instructional policy. The current study aimed to explore teachers’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains for a better understanding of their attitudes. The researcher interviewed fifteen participants from different public schools in search of information-rich data. 

After the analysis of the gathered data, this study concluded that most of the teachers had knowledge about all methods mentioned in the instructional documents. Teachers considered these contemporary methods very useful strategies for making the teaching-learning process more efficient. Almost all teachers agreed that the discussion method helped them a lot in their classes. Similarly, they all also showed positive thinking towards cooperative learning strategies. Participants were confused about the role-play method and investigation method.

Participants liked all the methods. They felt all methods useful for their teaching. However, they felt that the methods were very appealing on paper. In reality, their school circumstances did not allow them to practice all these methods in classes. However, they also thought that if they used these methods, they would definitely enjoy it.

This study concluded that English teachers were not using all the methods proposed in the national instructional policy. The discussion method and cooperative learning methods were the most practiced methods by teachers. However, teachers had modified these methods according to their own situations. Teachers had a lot of problems like students’ strengths, shortage of time, huge syllabus, and examination demands. In addition, they also mentioned that public school students’ capabilities were not equal to private schools’ students; that’s why they could not use these methods. The current study concludes that there was a difference between what English teachers think and feel and what they practice in the class. They think and feel really positive about some methods, but unfortunately, they could not practice these methods because of the circumstances. 

It is hoped that the participants’ detailed descriptions in this study will provide guidance to policy implementation departments that they have to facilitate English teachers for the effective implementation of the English instructional policy in schools in Pakistan. Moreover, it is also hoped that the study will be helpful for policymakers to understand that they should involve teachers in policymaking procedures to know about the ground-level realities of the Pakistani educational system.

Implications of Research

Recommendations for Policy and Practice

Based on the findings of the current study, the following recommendations for policy and

practice are made:

(1) This study has revealed an area of policy implementation regarding English teaching instructional policy at the secondary level in schools of Lahore. This study illustrated that that teacher has awareness and do believe in the effectiveness of contemporary methods, but they cannot practice it due to the existing examination system. Therefore, it is recommended to revisit the existing examination system for teaching the English language and revise it in a way that may encourage teachers to use contemporary teaching methods, thus developing students’ effective English skills.

(2) This study raises questions about the existing secondary education system and the examination system. Teachers are facing a lot of problems in implementing the current instructional policy, which is ultimately affecting English language teaching-learning processes in secondary schools. Therefore, it is recommended to facilitate teachers in implementing contemporary methods of teaching to improve the teaching-learning processes. Professional development activities in schools can be arranged to develop teachers’ positive attitudes towards instructional policy (Ahmed et al., 2020). 

(3) As shown in the results, it is recommended that policymakers involve in-service teachers with enough teaching experience in secondary school classrooms in the policymaking process to make policy closer to the ground realities. 







Suggestions for Future Research

In light of the study’s findings and limitations,

several avenues for future research studies are suggested below:

(1) Many areas of relevance to this study remained uncovered since these areas were not targeted by the research questions which we explored in this study. Therefore, it is suggested that future researchers can explore those areas, or they can deepen what has been investigated here in the current study. For example, future researchers can explore problems faced by teachers in public schools in relation to teaching English in secondary classrooms. 

(2) Future researchers can broaden current knowledge of the instructional policy of teaching by exploring the attitudes of public and private sector teachers.

(3) Future researchers can expand the current study by examining a larger sample of teachers’ attitudes recruited from all over the Punjab province and public and private teachers. 

(4) There is a need for researchers to examine the current examination system. Though the current study’s findings have highlighted its problems, there is much to be learned about the whole system of evaluation system at the state level. 

(5) This study did not include students’ perspectives regarding the practices of instructional policy, as they would have enriched the findings. Future research studies can design to explore students’ points of view regarding this topic. There is a need to examine the student’s attitudes regarding learning English as a second language, especially in public sector schools. 

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