LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES AND POWER RELATIONS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING: A CRITICAL SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF CLASSROOM INTERACTION AND INSTITUTIONAL DISCOURSES AT PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN FAISALABAD

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between language ideologies and power relations to determine the opportunities available to learn the second language (L2) in English-Medium Instruction (EMI) classrooms in Pakistani private universities in Faisalabad. The study uses classroom interaction in EMI in Pakistani higher education, which is experiencing a rise in dominance of EMI because of the linguistic distinction between EMI and other languages that is linked to academic excellence, employability, and professionalism, in order to investigate how language hierarchy is reproduced or negotiated in classrooms. The key aim is to examine the effects of EMI-related ideologies on participation patterns, identity of learners, and the access to academic legitimacy. The research is placed in the framework of an interpretivist philosophy and critical sociolinguistic paradigm, which merges the language ideology theory, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and poststructuralist view of SLA. A qualitative design based on observations was used to gather data, whereby non-participant classroom observations were conducted in 6-8 EMI classrooms in selected private universities in Faisalabad, which entailed about 10-12 lecturers and 20-25 undergraduate students in the selected classrooms using purposive and maximum variation sampling. Data analysis was done by CDA and interactional sociolinguistic analysis. The results show that English is symbolic capital, which benefits fluent speakers and restricts the involvement of less competent students, whereas translanguaging acts are subtle types of cognitive resistance. The research shows the dual nature of EMI classrooms both in encouraging the growth of English and causing linguistic inequality to be repeated.