Browsing by Author "Jayasinghe, R."

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The Accuracy of the Usage of the 'Subject and Verb Agreement' by the Learners of English as a Second Language
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Jayasinghe, R.
Subject -verb agreement is a basic rule of English grammar which states that subjects and verbs must agree in person and number. Therefore, singular subjects need singular verbs whereas plural subjects need plural verbs. At tertiary level, Sinhala speaking ESL (English as a second a language) learners very often get confused with the nuances of the rules of subject -verb agreement. For example, compare, the jury (a collective noun) is walking to the courtroom and the jury (refers to many people as individuals) are discussing among themselves. According to Bock and Miller (1991), elicited sentence productions show that the occasional errors of subject-verb agreement that speakers make are more likely to occur when a singular head noun is followed by a plural as in The producer of adventure stories have arrived than when a plural head is followed by a plural (Nicol, Foster & Veres, 1997). The objective of this study is to analyze the tertiary level Sinhala-speaking ESL learners’ accuracy patterns of the usage of subject -verb agreement in their writing tasks in order to find out relevant methods to facilitate the teaching of subject -verb agreement in English Language. A sample of 50 first year undergraduates who are randomly selected from the University of Kelaniya participated in this study. The research tool of this experimental study is a sentence battery consisting of gapfilling tasks where the learners have to use the correct verb according to the given subject. Excel spread sheets and SPSS will be used for data analysis. Two way ANOVA will be run and the Post Hoc Tukey HSD Test will be computed to compare the significant differences in the accurate use of each sub rule of subject and verb agreement. Findings of these accuracy patterns can be applied to teach subject -verb agreement in the ESL classrooms more effectively. The findings of the study will also inform syllabus design, lesson materials and lesson plans on the use of tenses in English grammar.
A comparative study on the acquisition of the four categories of prepositions in writing by the ESL learners in Sri Lanka: Grade 8 and Grade 10
(Asia TEFL International Conference, 2017) Jayasinghe, R.
The present study attempts to validate or disprove the fine-grained categorization of English prepositions found by Littlefield (2006), on the basis of ESL (English as a Second Language) learners’ acquisition patterns in a writing task. In English, prepositions are words while in Sinhala, they are represented as spatial postpositions or as suffixes (Thilakaratne 1992). This particular cross-linguistic variation as well as the polysemy and the idiosyncrasy of some English prepositions make a negative impact on the acquisition of English prepositions to the ESL learners whose first language is Sinhala. Littlefield (2006) found the existence of four categories of English prepositions as follows: Adverbial prepositions [+Lexical, -Functional], Particles [-Lexical, -Functional], Semi-lexical prepositions [+Lexical, +Functional], and Functional prepositions [ -Lexical, +Functional]. Using naturalistic speech data of five native speakers, Littlefield (2006) has found that the prepositions with [-Functional] categories show an advantage over the prepositions with [+Functional] categories in the acquisition of English prepositions. Here, [+Lexical] featured prepositions are those that contribute semantic content and prepositions with [+Functional] assign Case to their complements. This study examines the frequency as well as the accuracy of production of the four categories of prepositions in writing. It aims to compare the acquisition patterns of prepositions of ESL learners in writing. A picture story writing task in which prepositions needed to be abundantly used was utilized to collect production data from 40 randomly selected students each from Grade 8 and Grade 10 in two schools. Interaction effects and category wise analysis were computed and a two way ANNOVA was run by using SPSS. If the prepositions with [-Functional] rank higher than the prepositions with [+ Functional] features the relevant order can be used to facilitate the teaching of English prepositions and also to prepare the study guides and text books for the relevant Grades in schools.
Effective Use of Home Language and Translanguaging in Learning Spellings by ESL Learners
(12th British Association of Applied Linguistics (BAAL), 2016) Jayasinghe, R.
Recent studies show that educational programs that systematically incorporate the use of English Language Learner’s (ELLs’) home languages result in achievement in English literacy and other academic subjects often better than ELLs in English only programs (Genesee & Lindholm- Leary, in press). Lindholm and Aclan (1991) found a significant positive relationship between ELLs’ bilingual proficiency and their performance in reading in English. The aim of the study is to examine whether the Sinhala speaking ESL (English as a Second Language) learner’s bilingual home language (Sinhala and English) shows a positive influence in learning spellings of English words. Sinhala spelling is phonetic whereas English spelling is not phonetic that some of its words cannot be spelt by merely following the way they are pronounced (e.g. psychology). The hypothesis of the study is that the young Sinhala speaking ESL learners follow their parents’ pronunciation in English words and spell them as the way they are pronounced. A pool of 65 students in Grade 4 were examined. A dictation task consisted of 40 sentences containing one preposition each was used. Both accurate spelling of the prepositions and the number of home languages of each learner were analyzed. ANOVA will be computed using SPSS12. If there is a significant positive impact on the accuracy of the spellings of the given prepositions by the bilingual home language, these learners’ home languages and translanguaging can be used to facilitate teaching spellings of the English words which can be merely spelt following their pronunciation.