ISLAMABAD, Jan 29: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is working on a comprehensive project to improve English Language Teaching (ELT) standards in higher education institutions of the country, official sources told Dawn.

The initiative has been envisaged in the backdrop of the deteriorating teaching standards in English language, they said.

Therefore, the commission as part of its overall plan to improve higher education sector has started this project. It has already constituted a national committee on English which comprises top English language professors.

In this regard, on the invitation of the HEC, Dr Charles Tribble, a prominent English language scholar from the UK, is visiting Pakistan from February 11 to 16, the sources said.

During his stay, he will work with the national committee on English to help finalize the study on how to strengthen the existing ELT departments.

This initiative of the commission will particularly help institutions of higher learning, both in public and private sectors, to improve their ELT standards.

The HEC chairman, Dr Attaur Rehman, has already directed the quarters concerned in the commission to gear up efforts regarding ELT reforms.

The overall goal of the project is to bring about significant improvement in the learning and teaching of English language and research in degree-awarding institutions of the country.

The main areas on which the committee will concentrate its plan of action will be faculty and curriculum development, computer assisted language learning, research publications and improvement of English language centres in universities.