By Abdul Muneeb
Multan, As humanity continues to struggle with the complex realities of life in the post-pandemic world, there is a need to revisit a discipline, its issues, trends and methodologies. In newer socio-global situations and unprecedented challenges of the present times, connecting with experts across the globe updates our fund of knowledge. The field of linguistics which owns a versatility through its multi-disciplinary nature, puts a great demand of research in the background of a new fragile world. The existing research tools and findings before the pandemic may not remain relevant amidst new challenges.
Vice Chancellor Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) Engr. Prof. Dr Athar Mahboob (T.I), and Prof. Dr Jawed Hassaan Chandio, Dean Faculty of Arts and Languages, the Department of English Linguistics IUB organized an International Conference titled “21st Century Issues, Methods & Trends in Linguistics” with an aim to explore new methods for language teaching and research in the post-pandemic world. The one-day online conference on linguistics was intended to search for advances in theory and practice of the field of Linguistics. Speakers from various countries including Malaysia, USA, Turkey and China participated in the global conference. The speakers suggested some solutions for the issues in line with modern and updated ways of teaching. Experts of research and linguistics from National & International Universities included Dr Ali Karakas, Department of Foreign Language Education, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Burdur, Turkey; Dr Mohd Hilmi Bin Hamza, University of Utara Malaysia; Jessica Anderson, University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA; Dr Yusuf Emre Yesilyurt, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Burdur, Turkey; Dr Huma Akram, Northeast Normal University, China; Dr Shazia Ayyaz, Kinnaird College for Women University; Dr Ammara Farukh, University of Education, Lahore; Dr Arshad Ali, NUML Multan; Dr Adnan Tahir, Emerson University Multan; Dr Faraz Ali Bughio, University of Science & Technology, Botswana; Dr Rukaiza Khan, NUST Islamabad, Pakistan; Dr Shazia Riaz Dar, Gift University, Gujranwala and Dr Uzma Anjum, Air University Islamabad
These speakers delivered talks on changing trends in Linguistics including Discourse Analysis, Mathematics & Language Skills, EFL Teaching & Learning, thematic analysis, corpus linguistics and research methodology. Research scholars from all these universities, different cities of the Punjab, Sindh, KPK and the department of English linguistics, IUB participated in this International Conference. Dr Riaz Hussain, Head of the Department of English Linguistics was the focal person of this conference. Dr Shahid Nawaz, Assistant Professor, Department of English Linguistics, IUB was the conference secretary. The coordinators of the conference were Mr M. Ali Zamir, Mr Muhammad Ramzan, Mr Omer Saleem, Ms Samreen Anjum, Ms Ezza Shakil, Ms Maria Saleem, Ms Amna Mushtaq, Ms Maria Rasheed and Ms Uzma Joiya.
In his address as patron-in-chief of the conference, Vice Chancellor Engr. Prof. Dr Athar Mahboob thanked the speakers and appreciated the efforts of the organizers of the conference. He underlined the importance of the discipline and its wider role and multidisciplinary nature in the domains of humanities and social sciences He said that the deliberations would prove fruitful for both students and researchers.
The conference provided brilliant opportunity for the students and faculty to learn and interact with renowned linguistics and academicians. The recommendations of the conference included that Skills for Corpus development should be imparted to researchers. In addition, language skills should be seen holistically in terms of their connection with mathematical and reasoning skills. Furthermore, the experts recommended that real-world English should be introduced into English Language classrooms through collaborative measures and strategies.
