English Language Learning - Assignment Example

English Language Learning Q1. Knowing how to speak and write English language has many essential advantages as it is one of the widely spoken languages in many parts of the world. With the rapid advancement in international trade, English language is the most widely used medium to interact with people belonging to different countries who speak different languages (Shahid,2008).. The importance of English language is not only limited to just the corporate sector, but also in education institutes as most of the subjects in any university is taught in English. The institute for learning English Language would be a successful venture in Asian countries where English is not the mother tongue. We have selected Pakistan as our target market as Urdu is their mother tongue and most of the people like to go abroad to work or get higher education. Therefore, they usually face problems if they are not familiar with this language and hence join different institutes in order to learn English ( Shahid, 2008).. The demand for English language is not only for people who go abroad, but people who are eager to work in multinational companies located in Pakistan also need to know English to communicate with their colleagues. Moreover, the government language of Pakistan is English; hence all the legal documentations are made in English. Because of low standard of education in Pakistan, people usually prefer to join some professional English language learning institute to learn English (Place of english language in pakistan. 2004).. Hence, this market has a great potential for your English language institute to get successful. In the following report, we have identified and explained various aspects of the market of Pakistan based on our research in the region with respect to the potential of English language learning institute in Pakistan. Pakistan is a country with a population of 17 million people belonging to a range of cultures and speaking different languages, other than Urdu, which is the national language of the country ( Rehman, Tariq. 2008). A large percentage of educated and uneducated people from Pakistan go abroad to either work or get higher education from foreign universities as the employment rate of Pakistan is low and the standard of education is not high enough to meet international standards except for a few good universities. People who plan to go abroad usually have to give and English language test, IELTS and they prefer to become proficient in speaking and writing English so that they can easily communicate with people abroad. Many private schools and colleges have also become English medium in Pakistan, that is, all subjects are taught in English language in many schools. Schools usually look for native English teachers or those teachers who can deliver lectures in English, so there is a great demand of teachers who know English. In order to meet the demand, many teachers, who do not have good English, look for institutes where they can learn the language (Mansoor, Sabiha. 1993). Often, English is also a requirement for employment, both abroad and locally. Therefore, English language institutes are a successful business venture in this country. The opportunity to operate an English Language Learning institute is already been exploited by local and foreign people situated in Pakistan. People who have studied abroad or are familiar with the language offer services to teach English language to other people while charging a price for their services. At times the price is very high as well based on the proficiency of the person teaching English and the services they offer. As a product, English language learning can be divided into different categories (Mansoor, Sabiha. 1993). Many institutes are operating in Pakistan teaching English language, they offer a range of English language courses, some of them are focused on speaking skills, some on reading and writing while others are a combination of all the three. We can categorize the services into the following segments: Basic English speaking courses: This program focuses entirely on teaching people to learn to speak Basic English with proper grammar so that they can easily carry out conversation in English. Advanced English speaking: This course is for people who are going abroad and want to learn to speak English along with the accent and vocabulary commonly spoken in the country such as American or British accent. English reading and writing skills: In this program, students are taught how to write proper English statements, letters, essays, sentences etc with the right use of grammar and punctuation. This program is specially made for people who plan to work for an organization where they will have to make and analyze reports or presentations. Moreover, this program is also useful for students who plan to go abroad to study. Specific English language courses: A lot of institutes now also provide services to prepare students for English language exams they need to pass in order to either go abroad or which is a compulsory requirement in some other line of education. Specifically, many language institutes now offer preparation for IELTS, SAT or TOEFL which are required to be able to go abroad to study in a foreign university or college. Q.2 Following is a table indicating which service is taken by which segment of the population ( Zaman, Muhammad. 2002): Product Age group Income Category Reason for learning Basic English speaking 22-40 $500-$1000 Students , business men and working class To go abroad. To be able to speak english at college or work place. To trade with other countries. Advanced English speaking 22-30 $500-$2000 Students, working class and families planning to migrate to other country To be able to communicate easily with people of other language. English reading and writing skills 20-60 $500-$2000 Students, Business men and women and people looking for jobs. To be able to read and write English in academic work. To effectively make and read reports or in companies. To read legal documents involved in trade with other country. Specific English language courses 20-30 $500-$5000 Mostly students Students wanting to go abroad to get admission in foreign university Q.3 In order to gain a competitive edge over other institutes offering English language teaching services, we can come up with innovative services or we can offer various different packages revolving around the same services currently offered by institutes in Pakistan. Our suggestion is to make the institute different from others by, first of all, forming an institute which is specialized just in English language learning rather than offering all types of courses, which is a normal practice in Pakistan. Following are the changes and improvements which we can make in the above mentioned programs to make them more attractive to potential customers: We can hire native English speakers from their respective countries to teach basic English language in Pakistan. We can hire professional English language teachers who have specialized in teaching English language. If we want to move towards achieving economies of scale, we can keep our charges lower than the competition to attract more customers. We should focus on group sessions and lectures so that students not only learn to speak English, but also practice it so that they can master the speaking power. We can make special agreements with companies who want to teach their staff English language courses and offer them a discount and separate batch dedicated just to the employees. We can offer employment opportunities to students, who meet our standards and whom we think can teach well, to teach English language courses at our institute. In order to make the current programs more attractive, we can make the following changes in them: Basic and advance English speaking: We can charge a nominal fee to teach students so that we can attract more customers. We can also include presentation development skills in the program. We can include movie sessions or audiovisual lectures so that students develop the listening skills and at the same time develop learn how to speak English in the correct accent and the right usage of words. English reading and writing skills: Along with the traditional grammar and essay writing skills, we can also include other programs in the curriculum such as report writing skills, letter writing etc so that the program appeals to working people as well. we must also include English literature in our program so that students don’t only learn English as a subject, but must also enjoying their learning process. Q.4 There are also new trends developing in the country which we must analyze beforehand so that we can exploit those opportunities as well. Following are the recent trends which we have observed in our target market: Nowadays, English language is gaining prominence in the region as many people are planning to go abroad or as many multinational companies are coming into Pakistan. The GCSE and GCE system of education system has also gained a lot of popularity in the region. The system is adopted from Cambridge and London boards of education, hence we can exploit the opportunities of marketing our institute for students of the age group of 16-20. The trend in schools in Pakistan is changing from teaching in Urdu language to English language. As a large percentage of students do have difficulty in it, so we can offer them home tutoring services to learn English language. In order to market our services to the new identified segment, that is, students between 16 and 20, we can launch a campaign where we visit schools and distribute flyers. We can also offer group concession to students coming in the form of groups. We should also carry out special programs to explain families and students the importance of English language in the corporate world or as a language. References Place of english language in pakistan. (2004). www.nation.com.pk, Retrieved from http://www.pakpositive.com/2004/08/15/place-of-english-language-in-pakistan/ Shahid, . (2008). What Do you know about scope of english in pakistan?. Blurtit.com, Retrieved from http://www.blurtit.com/q386307.html Rehman, Tariq. (2008). Language policy, multilingualism and language vitality in pakistan. academy of punjab in north america, Retrieved from http://www.apnaorg.com/book-chapters/tariq/ Mansoor, Sabiha. 1993. Punjabi, Urdu, English in Pakistan: A Sociolinguistic Study. Lahore: Vanguard 2002 Language, Ideology and Power, Language Learning Among the Muslims of Pakistan and North India Karachi: Oxford University Press Zaman, Muhammad. 2002. Report on a Language Survey Trip to the Bishigram Valley [http://www.geocities.com/kcs_kalam/ushoji.html] Read More