A Critical Study of Salees Sindhi Text Book in the Cultural Context

Abstract

This paper examines the role of Easy Sindhi subject taught to nonnative learners of the Sindhi language at schools in Sindh province. One of the motives behind teaching native languages has been to enable non-native speakers to create connections with the local population and their culture. This study was conducted in order to assess the extent of the success of this motive. The qualitative research methodology was adapted to carry out the study, and the method utilised in the study was thematic analysis. For that, a structured open-ended questionnaire was developed and piloted. After piloting, the questionnaire was administered to a number of non-native speakers residing in Karachi. The responses were collected till a saturation point was reached. Then the responses were categorized thematically for thematic analysis. In light of the emergent themes, it was revealed that hardly any of them had formed an affiliation with Sindhi culture; almost no one knew how to speak or write Sindhi; their knowledge of Sindhi culture was limited to some tangible artifacts; the majority did not feel themselves to be apart from the Sindhi community; etcetera. A number of participants believed that poor teaching quality and limited use of the Sindhi language in classrooms were among the reasons they could not learn Sindhi properly and, as a result, could not assimilate into Sindhi culture. In light of the results of this study, it is recommended that the teaching of Sindhi to non-native learners should be thoroughly revised so that it can cater to their communicative and cultural needs in a sustainable way.