Font Size:     

This paper addresses the need of language labs in Pakistani educational institutions to teach English as a communicative language in context to which the students’ capabilities and skills are marred by their limitations in communicative English language. The study is an effort to reconcile the local educational priorities with global imperatives by educating Pakistani students to become cosmopolitan individuals from the linguistic status perspective of English as a global language. The study is offered as a contribution to fill the gap in ELT studies by incorporating modern technology in Pakistani educational institutions. The main research questions focus on the need to establish language labs, their impact in improving the attractiveness of educational institutes for students and on the redesigning the current English syllabus between theory and practice on the basis of 3 to 1 ratio respectively as in the teaching of science and computer science subjects. The research tools employed are questionnaire for the students and the semi-structured interview for teachers to explore their views located in different departments of three private sector universities in urban Lahore. The findings of the research suggest that language labs in educational institutes are desperately needed to integrate the four component of English language and to improve the attractiveness of educational institutes by making English language teachers and learners active participants in the process of teaching and learning. The division of the English syllabus into theory and practice has the potential to improve English language learners’ communication skills to cope with the demands of ever-changing world. Farhana Yasmin is a Senior Lecturer, Department of English Language & Literature in Lahore Garrison University, Lahore, Pakistan.