Abbas Husain

Abbas Muhammad Husain (born 16 March, 1956) is a leading Pakistani professor, educator and Islamic scholar.

Education and career

Born in Karachi, Husain has an M.A. in English Literature from Karachi University and M.Ed. in TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) from Manchester University, U.K. He has received professional training at the Universities of Toronto, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Chicago. He served as lecturer and assistant professor at the Karachi University from 1983 to 1992 and is a founding member of the Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT).

Husain has conducted numerous workshops and courses in the field of Linguistics and English proficiency across Pakistan. He has conducted workshops for institutions including PIA, National Institute of Public Administration, Agha Khan University, Habib Bank and the Higher Education Commission. He also served as consultant for UNICEF at its regional meeting in Kathmundu, Nepal, 1998. He is currently the Director of the Teacher's Development Centre (TDC), a private institution which he founded in 1997. Teachers' Development Centre has been a significant contributor to a variety of training needs and services. TDC offers courses and lectures in classroom management to teachers for both Public and Private sectors of the country. Sindh Education Foundation, Oxford University Press, British Council, Academy for Educational Development, ESRA, Frontier Education Foundation, Peshawar, Roots School System, Educacy Foundation, Islamabad, Directorate of Staff Development, Punjab [among many others] have all invited the Director for an ongoing dialogue on improved education in Pakistan.

He was invited as a speaker at UK Pakistan school Leadership Conference at The National Centre for School Leadership (www.ncsl.org.uk) in Nottingham, UK on 12th May 2008.

The Varieties of Verbosity in Pakistan

Abbas Husain is the author of the article titled The Varieties of Verbosity in Pakistan English by World Englishers, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne, USA, March 1992. This paper examines three kinds of study guides to show their influence on Pakistani graduate students majoring in English Literature. The guides are: Paraphrase books, essay volumes, and success guides. Each type of guide reflects inconsistent and verbose use of language. [http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070122_nicholas_schmidle_reforming_pakistans_dens_of_terror/ link title]

He is the co-author of three textbooks titled Al Islam (with Khurram Ali Shafique published by Oxford University Press, Pakistan. His research studies have been published in SPELT newsletter, of which he is a Life Member. He has trained 13,000 teachers all over Pakistan.

His interview on Early Childhood Education and Language Learning has been published in NURTURE, a biannual publication of Sindh Education Foundation, Pakistan. It is available online at http://www.ecdpak.com/nurture/abbas-husain.asp

References

* [http://www.tdc.edu.pk/ Teachers' Development Centre, Karachi]
*http://www.ncsl.org.uk/