Browsing by Author "Karunarathna, J.A.M.B."

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An Analysis of Speech Competency of English as a Second Language among Students Who Learn in Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Karunarathna, J.A.M.B.
Bilingual Education was introduced to the Sri Lankan education system in the recent past since 2001. Compared to other countries, the difference in bilingual education of Sri Lanka is that few selected subjects are taught in second language (L2). Other subjects are taught in first language (L1), which is either Sinhala or Tamil. Thus, it is identified as mother tongue based bilingual education. In the Sri Lankan context, students who learn under bilingual curriculum are considered more fluent in L2 than monolingual students. However, in class room observations, such considerations cannot be generalized, which of course is against the expectations of bilingual education programme in Sri Lanka. Hence, the objectives of the research are to find out the difficulties faced by bilingual students in speaking L2 and to investigate reasons related to the fluency of L2 among bilingual students. Accordingly, 68 students who learn under bilingual education curriculum in Grade 10 and 20 teachers who teach the subjects in English from 03 schools governed under provincial councils in Gampaha district were given questionnaires and the interviews to collect primary data. Book research was conducted to collect secondary data. Primary data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using the descriptive data analysis method. Thus, the findings prove that the demotivating social factors, misconceptions of L2 among the students and deficiencies of pedagogical process in teaching English as a second language and bilingual education system have neglected the L2 spoken aspect.
The Impact of Studying English Literature in Improving English as a Second Language
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Karunarathna, J.A.M.B.
The four language skills are of varying degrees of importance to the second language learner. Listening and reading are considered as the receptive skills of language and speaking and writing are considered as the productive skills of language. Reading provides learners with a wide range of individual lexical or syntactic items. The students become familiar with many features of the written language such as syntax, discourse functions, by reading. The research aims at analysing the impact of English literature towards improving writing skills of English in the Sri Lankan context. The sample consists of 22 students who are learning English as a subject in the G.C.E. Advanced Level class, Co/Muslim Ladies College. The students have been learning English literature for a duration of 16 months. The instruments of data collection are questionnaires, interviews and analysis of texts written by the students in the 02nd week of study and in the 14th month. Specifically, in analysing the texts written by the students, the analysis was limited to subject-verb-object agreement, tenses, spellings and punctuation. An analysis of data was done descriptively and statistically, since both types of data, i.e. qualitative and quantitative data were collected. In the analysis of the texts 48% of improvement of accurate subject-verb-object agreement, 68% of improvement in the tenses, 52% of improvement of accurate spellings and 62% of accurate use of punctuation were observed. Thus, through the findings of the research, it could be discerned that learning English literature has a positive impact on improving writing skills of English as a second language.
“Shadows of the Hidden Dragon”; A Case Study of ESL Writing Anxiety at the Tertiary Level
(19th Conference on Postgraduate Research, International Postgraduate Research Conference 2018, Faculty of Graduate Studies,University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Karunarathna, J.A.M.B.
Studies related to English as a second language which are taken place in the Sri Lankan tertiary education context show that, out of four language skills among the undergraduates, the weakest skill is writing. Second language writing is strategically, rhetorically and linguistically different from first language writing because specifically at the tertiary level, students have different writing experiences, different aptitudes and different motivation levels in second language writing. Varying metacognitive knowledge in first language and second language, different experiences in using the first language and the second language and different individual characteristics affect writing skills in a second language. However, since the medium of instruction and medium of assessment at the tertiary level of the Sri Lankan context, is in English, writing in English becomes a decisive factor. Hence, the aim of the present study is to determine the extent of writing anxiety in English and to find out the underlying causes for writing anxiety. As the method of data collection, questionnaires adopted from Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) (Cheng, 2004), Second Language Writing Anxiety Reasons Scale (SLWARS) (Kara, 2013) were utilized among 90 first year undergraduates representing approximately 30 each from three different degree programmes, at the University of Vocational Technology. The study reveals that the majority of the students, irrespective of the nature of the degree programme that they follow, experience high or average level of writing anxiety towards writing tasks in academic purposes