A SIMULATION BASED STUDY OF ENERGY CONSERVATION OF RESIDENCES IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN

A house in composite climate of Lahore (Pakistan) needs intensive cooling in summers; energy recovery ventilation to reduce humidity during monsoon and comfortable indoor temperature during winters. All these conditions have to be fulfilled with a reduced load on energy resources. Recent trends in construction and design of residential buildings in Pakistan symbolize uncontrolled use of energy resources. There is no data available with planning and developing authorities of housing sector that shows an account of energy loads of built houses. The potential of conservation of energy will be analyzed by actually studying the cooling and heating loads of recently constructed houses Key Words: Energy Conservation Potential, Module Study, Simulations

EFFECTIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES AND MOTIVATED LEARNERS CREATE AN AUTONOMOUS CLASSROOM

This paper addresses the issue of how to enhance motivation in tertiary level EFL learners to lead them towards achieving independence in learning. Based on a case study at the Global College of Engineering and Technology, Muscat, Oman, it critically examines the scope of application of John Keller’s ARCS model that exhibits four steps for enhancing learners’ motivation - Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction. It recounts how these motivational techniques have been used in classrooms and how each of these steps has enhanced the learners’ self-confidence and their interest in learning the language. The paper argues that efficient use of ARCS model can transform extrinsic motivation into intrinsic one. It recommends that educators should adopt the ARCS model to sustain learners’ interests and accomplishments of the set learning objectives. It makes students reach a level where they begin to take charge of their learning, resulting in strong learner-teacher autonomy in language acquisition. Key Words: Keller's ARCS model, Foundation program students, Index Terms-motivation

IMPACT OF WORKPLACE BULLYING ON THE ATTITUDE AND PERFORMANCE OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS

Workplace Bullying is a form of cognitive extremism at work. It revealed in misbehavior, activities, and verbal remarks, often deceptive, used to destabilize the person. This behavior results in mental surrender. Bullying leads to the victim’s withdrawal from an institute. It often happens in the form of deleterious remarks, unjustified blame, and submitted abuses. It destabilizes the freedom of expression, isolate the victims, querying them personally and professionally, and deny their access to resources to perform their task. It threatens the victims’ health and make them insecure. The current study is designed to investigate the impact of workplace bullying on the attitude and performance of university teachers. One hundred teachers (38 males and 62 females) were selected randomly from a total of 700 faculty members. Data were collected with the help of self-developed instrument, Teachers Workplace Bullying Attitude and Performance Survey (TWBAPS) with Cronbach Alpha reliability .965. Mean, standard deviation, ANOVA and t-test were applied to analyze the results. There was a significant difference between male and female teachers’ attitude and performance. Female teachers were victimized by their colleagues and heads. They showed a more aggressive attitude and low performance. Male teachers showed more violent behaviors than females. It is recommended to stabilize the academic environment at university level by discouraging the negative attitude among faculty members. Key words: Academic bullying, aggressive attitude, teachers’ performance

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF COMPANY PERFORMANCE IN RESPONSE TO DIVIDEND PAYOUT POLICY IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF PAKISTAN

The current study explains the relationship of dividend payout policy on the business performance of companies that exist in sugar of Pakistan. 100 companies are selected from sugar sector. Relationship of dividend payout policy and business performance was controlled with four variables based on relevant theories. These variables include size of company, growth of company, leverage (debt to equity ratio) and corporate governance index. Panel data is collected from 2012-2017 (six years) and then analyzed with unit root, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, OLS regression, Lagrange multiplier, Huasman test, Fixed effect and Random effect models. Following key findings for each research objective were obtained by applying the adopted research method on the data through the adopted method of analyses: The results of the study show sugar companies showed no sign of a relationship between their dividend payout policy and profitability and so there is no controlling factor effective due to the absence of any relationship. Thus, the hypotheses were rejected in case of these two industries. Key Words: Company Performance, Dividend Policy, Tobin’s Q, Size, Growth, Leverage, Corporate Governance Index, Dividend Payout

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: DIFFICULTIES FACED BY SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS DURING EMERGENCY REMOTE TEACHING THROUGH ONLINE LEARNING AND THEIR OPINIONS

The objective of this study was to explore the difficulties faced by special education teachers during emergency remote teaching through online learning to special needs students during covid-19 pandemic and discuss their opinions. Population of study was special education teachers who were teaching to special needs students of secondary level at government special education institutions Faisalabad division of Punjab province Pakistan. The sample of the study was 15special education teachers were selected through random sampling technique. Phenomenology pattern was used in this research as a method of research. Semi structure interview was used as a tool of research. Results of the study clearly showed that almost all the special education teachers were motivated towards providing emergency remote teaching to their special students through online learning system. They have practiced a variety of strategies to provide online education to their students but they face a lot of difficulties in this regard. As majority of special students were from low socio economic background, so they have a lack of online learning facilities i.eandroid cell phones, laptops and internet connection etc. It was interesting to know that all the students who have sufficient facilities of online learning were not utilizing this for constructive purpose and to overcome their academic problems. They were merely wasting it over social media and gadgets are not utilizing for constructive purpose which was creating anxiety for their parents. Key Words: Covid-19, pandemic,special needs students, special education teacher, emergency remote teaching, online learning

ACADEMIC WRITING CHALLENGES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN PAKISTAN

This descriptive qualitative research sought to explore as what would be the best writing approach adopted to teach academic writing skill to the undergraduate university students to identify and minimize the identified problems. The aim of the study was to strengthen the academic writing skill of university students. For this purpose, thirty undergraduate students were selected and involved in focus group discussions to highlight the problematic area in the field of academic writing. Thematic analysis helped to understand the problems faced by the students and suggestions were made on the basis of the study’s findings. The study revealed the students’ inability to use appropriate vocabulary. These students lacked the skill to express themselves in their own words, and often their written work would look patchy. English being the foreign language to the students hampered their ability to think in the target language. The present study contributed to understand the problems and suggested process approach of writing to be adopted by the faculty to overcome the academic writing related problems. Key Words: Process Approach, Product Approach, Genre Approach, Academic Writing

THE CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSES OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN PAKISTAN FROM 1988 TO 1999 (SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SINDH PROVINCE)

This research article’s primary goal is to determine the triggers and implications of Pakistan’s political instability and its effects on the political situation of Sindh during the democratic decade from 1988 to 1999. Despite abundant natural resources, Pakistan is one of the only countries where political unrest has severely hampered the social and political development of the country. So, this paper aims to understand the leading factors of political instability that weakened the country’s political growth and led the nation in general and Sindh province, in particular, to suffer social and ethnic problems in society. To understand the issue deeply, the researcher used unstructured Interviews as a research tool with law-makers, academicians, and political scientists. However, many interviewees accepted that the lack of enthusiastic leadership, the Role of the weak judiciary, the passive role of civil bureaucracy, and political ethnicity had been the leading factors for political and social unrest. Thus, the study’s findings would help the law-makers and academicians of different colleges and universities to design their policies and curriculum. Additionally, this paper would help various nationalists and political parties of Sindh province to comprehend the genuine reasons for unrest in the area from 1988 to 1999. Key Words: Political instability, Weak Judiciary, Political ethnicity, Foreign interference, Role of civil bureaucracy

MANAGING THE POROUS BOUNDARIES: IMPACT OF WORKING FROM HOME ON WORK LIFE BALANCE OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS DURING COVID 19

The closure of educational institutions due to COVID-19 has forced universities to shift from in-class to online education. We aim to address an aspect of this shift that remains widely unacknowledged, namely, the gender inequalities associated with the struggle to manage two separate domains (home and work) under the same roof. Using cross sectional data gathered through an online survey from various universities and degree awarding institutions, we explore the question of how working from home during the covid-19 pandemic has shifted (or not shifted) the work-life balance of male and female university teachers. Our research shows that work from home during covid-19 has some negative repercussions for the work life balance of female university teachers. Females are facing difficulty in maintaining a healthy work life balance. They reported more work family conflicts; more family demands and challenges; and less satisfaction while working from home as compared to male university teachers. The findings of our paper suggest that this new workplace arrangement has disproportionately increased the overall burden on female university teachers in both the important domains of their life (Family and work). Key Words: COVID-19, Gender, Work from Home, Work Life Balance

EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES AND WRITING SKILLS ON STUDENTS’ LEARNING AT SECONDARYLEVEL IN PAKISTAN

The study examines the effects of communicative strategies and writing skills on students learning atsecondary level in Pakistan. The study is experimental in nature and the researcher applieda pre-test post-test equivalent group experimental design to draw the conclusion.For the facilitation of study, the researcher presumed the male students of grade 10 studying at Government Higher Secondary School Renala Khurd.Government Higher Secondary School Renala Khurd was selected as population in Okara district as the spot for intervention.The selection of the students was made through convienience and informed consent which tantamounted to simple random sampling technique. Experimental group and control group comprised of thirty students each as such sample size for this experimental study was stretched over 60 students. The experimental group was exposed to communicate through communicative language teaching-based activities included in the (NECL, 2006) for grade 10 while the control group was imparted intervention through traditional methods for two months.

STRESS, SLEEP QUALITY, PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION AMONG MARRIED WORKING WOMEN

This research was an initiation to explore the relationship of stress, sleep quality, psychological well-being and relationship satisfaction among married working women. Stress, sleep quality and relationship satisfaction were explored as predictors of psychological well-being in married working women. Correlational research design was used to measure the relationship between these variables. Convenient sampling technique was used to recruit sample. The sample of study was comprised of married working women (N= 200) age ranged between 25 to 59 years. Working Women Stressor’s Scale (WWSS) (α=.87), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(α=.74), Ryff Psychological well-being Scale(α=.74), and Relationship Assessment Scale (α=.72)were used as data collection tools. Results showed significant positive relationship among stress, sleep quality, psychological wellbeing and relationship satisfaction. Stress, sleep quality, and well-being emerged as predictors of relationship satisfaction in married working women. Key Words: Stress, Sleep Quality, Psychological Well-being, Relationship satisfaction