Designed for failure: English instruction as a tool for the perpetuation of students’ dependent and dominated status

ABSTRACT English, being used predominantly at the official level, in higher education, and in the job market, is the most sought after language in Pakistan. Access to quality instruction in and for English, however, remains a dream for most of the socio-economically disadvantaged students. This study explores the amount, intensity, and quality of access to English instruction in general school systems in Pakistan through a phenomenological multi-case study perspective. Employing symbolic power and sociolinguistics of globalization as theoretical framework, observations of and interviews with the relevant stakeholders were used as instruments of data collection. The data were analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory approach. The findings suggest that the very education system hinders the students studying at general schools from ever achieving the high-level English skills that could accrue cultural, symbolic or economic capital for them. The general schools inculcate in students a habit to be dependent instead of original thinkers and to resolve with the fate of serving at lower social positions, thereby perpetuating their dominated status. The general schools are thus breeding social inequality and stifling the mobility of the underprivileged students. Language education policymakers and practitioners, therefore, need to reform education systems in order to rectify the inequality perpetuated.