Learning in an Unfamiliar Language: A Quiet Barrier in Pakistani Classrooms

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Knowing an answer and having the words to express it are different things. A child may understand a concept in the language spoken at home but struggle when a textbook introduces it in Urdu or English. If the teacher mistakes that hesitation for lack of ability, the child faces two problems at once.

Pakistan's classrooms are linguistically diverse. A single approach cannot describe every province, school or family. Still, teachers can ask a useful question everywhere: is the child struggling with the idea, the language, or both?

Separate language from understanding

Imagine asking students to explain why a plant needs light. A learner who cannot produce the textbook wording might explain the idea through a drawing, a familiar-language sentence or an everyday example. This is an illustrative teaching example, not evidence from a particular school.

Those responses give the teacher a starting point. They need not replace learning Urdu or English. They can build a bridge to the language the lesson requires.

A bridge rather than a sudden jump

Teachers can introduce a small set of important words, explain them with pictures and examples, and revisit them in later lessons. Students can discuss an idea in a familiar language before trying to express it in the target language. Sentence starters make that next step less intimidating.

A classroom glossary can connect terms across languages used by the learners. Teachers should check translations carefully and invite clarification rather than assuming every child shares the same home language. The goal is access to meaning, not one rigid formula.

Assessment needs care

When a science test is intended to assess a concept, an unclear instruction can distort the result. Schools can distinguish subject knowledge from language proficiency while continuing to teach both. Exam requirements also need explicit practice so children are prepared for the language they will encounter.

Parents should not be made to feel that speaking their own language at home harms a child's future. Storytelling, discussion and questions can support thinking while the school develops additional language skills.

Support teachers too

Teachers need suitable materials and opportunities to share methods that work in their own classrooms. The World Bank's 2023 discussion of language and reading explains why understanding the language of instruction matters. Its examples concern other countries; the classroom practices here are proposals to adapt and check locally in Pakistan.

A child's first language is part of the knowledge that child brings to school. Good teaching can use it as a resource while opening access to new languages, rather than making learning begin with silence.

Source and context

World Bank: Learning in a Language Children Understand (2023). Recommendations are proposed steps to adapt to local needs.

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