ABSTRACT
Pakistan, a socioeconomically and linguistically diverse country, presents complex interrelationships between access to English via schooling and social class dynamics. Schooling in Pakistan is delivered in either an Urdu or an English medium, with public schools providing education in Urdu and private schools providing instruction in English. This chapter focuses on how students’ English language learning experiences during early schooling and access to educational resources, their interpersonal abilities in a second language, and their skills that promise social mobility all shape their social habitus. The schooling context in Pakistan is exceptionally complex. Three dominant streams of education run in parallel: public schools; private schools; and madaris or madrassahs. Unless access to English is equitably granted through schooling systems, social class dynamics will get stronger day by day, resulting in persistent cultural reproduction. Such disparities could be reduced through students’ improved access to English in the public-school system in Pakistan.
