Karachi, After the completion of phase-I of English Language Teaching Reforms (ELTR), the Higher Education Commission (HEC) is starting its second phase from April 2010 with an initial target of training 1,400 English Language Teaching (ELT) faculty of colleges and universities across Pakistan.

ELTR is the first language based project which caters to the teaching faculty of colleges along with universities. So far, 1,504 teachers of colleges and universities have been trained under Phase-I of ELTR.

The Phase-II of ELTR aims at bridging the critical gap between faculty of English language and literature and grouping both in the courses of professional development. The Phase-II will be implemented through long-term and short-term programmes.

Universities and colleges will be supported in establishing self-access centres as well as strengthening the existing English departments and research centres. The Phase-II of ELTR will also help upgrade the English language proficiency of faculty of other disciplines in humanities and social sciences. In this regard, 150 long-term indigenous fellowships will be offered to the college and university teachers which range from one to two years and will include MS/MPhil in Applied Linguistics and other related disciplines.

On the other hand, 1,250 short-term CPD trainings ranging from one week to one month courses will also be offered in computer-assisted language learning, testing and evaluation, research methodology and skills.

International resource persons (IRPs) from the internationally recognised universities and academic bodies will also visit Pakistan and engage with the local faculty in one month short-term trainings in specialised ELT/linguistics areas. ELTR will also extend partial support and fund ELT related events such as conferences, seminars and research journals.