DefinePK

Abstract

The current study intended to analyse the attitude of seminary students towards the English language and its learning in the two purposefully selected seminaries in the southern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Further, it also investigated the significant difference between the different seminary students' attitudes towards the English language and its learning, one from an urban and one from a rural background. This study employed a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. The data was collected from two seminaries in the southern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, with the survey completed by 200 students, 100 from each seminary, and the semi-structured interviews conducted on 10 students. The quantitative data were analysed through SPSS, and an independent sample t-test was used to determine the significance of the difference between the two seminaries’ students' attitudes towards the English language and its learning. The qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. It is evident from the proposed study that the majority of the seminary students have a positive attitude towards the English language along with their Islamic education, but they are not provided with the proper environment in the context of seminaries. Furthermore, they have their own curriculum, and the fact that English is not part of it makes it difficult for them to learn it. They preferred the English language to be part of their curriculum along with their own system of education. Further, it is also revealed that the majority of the students are reticent due to religious impetus, especially in the rural background, and overall, both in urban as well as rural backgrounds, they are reluctant due to the poor environment at seminaries in terms of the English language and its learning.