Exploring Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Engagement in Pakistani ESL Classrooms

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore teachers’ perceptions of student engagement in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms in university. Several studies have been conducted on teachers’ perceptions of student engagement globally. However, there is a dearth of such research in Pakistani context. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 teachers teaching English to undergraduate students of semesters II and IV in public-sector universities of Lahore. The findings revealed that students from both prior Urdu and English medium of instruction (MOI) engage differently in an ESL classroom. However, students from prior Urdu MOI face more challenges in engaging in the ESL classroom. It is recommended that teachers should devise different strategies to engage students of both Urdu and English MOI to help them reach a level of autonomy where they can use English language in appropriate contexts in the best possible way.