Punjab Textbook Board Research Articles

Curriculum of Mathematics in Pakistan and International Standards: A Comparative Study

Curriculum which is considered as the main tool education cannot remain the same endlessly. With the expansion of spectrum of knowledge, upgrading of the curriculum is needed with the passage of time. It is nevertheless, the timely updates and restructuring of curriculum can enhance the standard of education. It is therefore, change in curriculum and comparative analysis of the curriculum has been a hot debated topic not only in Pakistan but also all around the world. Current design of the study can be used to analyze the curriculum of mathematics for secondary level of education prescribed by the Punjab Text Book Board. The sole purpose of this comparative study of mathematics is to better analyze the policy objectives of the subject of mathematics curriculum for education at secondary level in Pakistan. Secondly, the study was aiming to analyze curriculum processes while referring to certain objectives, content, methodology and assessment techniques. Thirdly, this research study was aiming to critically review the subject matter of mathematics while highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the subject of mathematics taught at secondary level of education in Pakistan. Fourth, the aim of this research study is to explore the suggestions of curriculum specialists about the salability of the value of mathematics curriculum in education of secondary level in Pakistan. Fifthly, the study used to recommend measures to upgrade the curriculum of mathematics implemented for secondary school education in the country. The population under study comprised of teachers, students, opinion of national curriculum professionals and materials provided about the mathematics curriculum from the Curriculum Bureau in Provinces of Pakistan. Suggestions and recommendations are provided in the end of the research study while better concluding the results and findings in the end of the paper.

Concordance between Test Items and Lesson Objectives of Pedagogical Discourse

The aim of this study is to see if there is any discrepancy between constructed response test items and learning objectives of Grade IX English Textbook published by Punjab Textbook Board, Lahore. As product oriented syllabi have clearly defined objectives, each lesson of the book contains a specified set of objectives. The researcher studied these objectives and their relation to the test items set in annual and supplementary exams conducted by Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Islamabad. It was a descriptive study and the data was interpreted using the theoretical framework propounded by Robert J. Marzano and Johns Kendall (2007). It was found that though most of the objectives fulfilled the recommended criteria of the taxonomy. Yet, they remained unfruitful as the test items are not related to them. Thus, the textbook needs to be improved in this regard.

Human Values in Textbooks: A Case Study of General Zia and Post-2010 Democratic Regimes

The study is qualitative in nature using the content analysis method of research. The core objective of the study has been to gauge and compare the values in the textbooks during two eras; viz, General Zia-ul-Haq (1978-1988) and Post-2010 democratic regimes. For this purpose, the textbooks of two different time periods have been selected – primary level (grade I to V) English (as a subject) textbooks published by the Punjab Textbook Board during General Zia-ul-Haq regime and the same level English textbooks published by the Punjab Textbook Board during post-2010 democratic regimes. The human values such as tolerance, patience, empathy, honesty, justice, equity, and humanism have been divided into some categories with further subcategories as indicators to match with the content of textbooks. The collected data revealed that neither the textbooks during the Zia-ul-Haq period nor the textbooks of post-2010 regimes promoted these values in the students, as they ought to be. A minor percentage of human values have been found in the textbooks of both eras.

Problems of Teachers and Students due to Implementation of English as Medium of Instruction at Primary Level in Punjab

The Punjab Government Education Department has chosen English as a medium of instruction. The proclamation further declares that all the books except Urdu and Islamic studies will be published in English language by The Punjab Text Book Board, without considering the problems of multi languages children in Punjab. Pursuing the targets it has been made essential to follow the instruction. The study was descriptive in nature and survey method is used to collect data. The population of the study was primary schools of District Rawalpindi selected as twenty seven schools from Rawalpindi district were the sample of the study. The research tool was questionnaire by student and teacher to explore their difficulties.This study finds out the problems of teachers and students studying and teaching in the schools of province of Punjab where English has been made a medium of instruction. This study also the capabilities of teachers in primary school of district Rawalpindi in Punjab. It is recommended that the measure to overcome the issue by taking remedial steps Punjab government needs to change the medium stepwise and systematic way. It should not be

Evaluation of Listening Skill of ELT Textbook at Secondary School Level

Textbook evaluation means development of textbook that is based on rigorous research. In Pakistan text books are designed on communicative language teaching which focuses on communication. Morley (1991) has asserted that listening has a critical role in communication and in language acquisition because the better the students understand, the better they will be able to speak. In our text books, listening practices (text and activities) are missing, and listening plays a secondary role as compared to speaking, as it is part of oral work that are dialogues and role play, neglecting that during conversation in English our students face hurdles in quick thinking and accurate predicting because of ignoring listening skill which help in learning sound, rhythm, intonation, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical details. The researchers’ intention here is to put different views on importance of listening skill and to evaluate English Text Books prescribed in Punjab government school whether they contain listening material, corresponding activities and related audio video material in text books. Keywords : Evaluation, listening skill, ELT , textbook, Punjab Textbook Board (PTB)

Curriculum Implementation and Feedback Mechanism at Secondary School Level in Punjab Pakistan

The article is planned to investigate curriculum implementation and feedback mechanism at secondary school level in Punjab Pakistan. Data was collected from randomly selected 23 curriculum experts from Ministry of Education, curriculum wing Punjab and Punjab Textbook Board. Data was statistically treated using percentage and mea score. Finally keeping in view the major findings of data, conclusions and recommendations were formulated. The study conclude proper implementation and monitoring mechanism need to be reconsider in curriculum development process.

Narrative Comprehension and Story Grammar

Every text has an underlying structure which has a vital contribution in making it a meaningful whole. Awareness of a text’s structure therefore is significant in deriving the sense of the text. Story grammar offers a simple and effective framework to analyze a coherent structure in narrative texts, hence is assumed to facilitate the comprehension of narratives. The research has been designed to be a descriptive study, with the objective to explain and illustrate how story grammar can function in constructing and decoding meanings in a narrative text, and, to highlight the scope of story grammar in pedagogy. A short story text has been randomly selected from the short story collection in the English text book by Punjab text book board for Intermediate level. A three stepped comprehensive analysis of the sample text has been done by implementing the selected story grammar model. It has been found that story grammar helped in deriving a coherent structure from the short story text; hence it has pedagogical implications in developing narrative comprehension.