English
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Item Words from the ‘margins’: Exploring Sri Lankan English borrowings in the classroom(Kalyani: Journal of the University of Kelaniya, 2015) Fernando, DinaliThe use of Sri Lankan English (SLE) vocabulary among Sri Lankans themselves has been the focus of some debate. While some studies have found that teachers of English tend to reject SLE vocabulary, particularly borrowings, in the classroom, other researchers observe that such avoidance is more prevalent among the so-called non- standard users of SLE. However, studies that focus on specific types of vocabulary, or on specific genres of writing, are rare in SLE studies. In particular, despite the current interest in the pedagogical implications of World Englishes, there are few studies that investigate SLE used in texts produced in the classroom. This study thus aims to investigate the use of SLE borrowings in written texts by learners of English who can be considered users of non-standard SLE. The study takes the theoretical position that the appropriate use of SLE vocabulary is part of the sociocultural competence, a significant learner competence, of the learner. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, this exploratory study attempts to analyse the nature and the extent of SLE borrowings found in 27 informal written samples on a culture specific topic by a group that tends to be marginalized in SLE studies, the adult language learner of English. The findings of the study revealed an unexpected extent of usages and identified two strategies of uses, explication and exemplification, indicating that the so-called non-standard users display a sociocultural competence that has significant implications for classroom practiceItem Sri Lankan English or not? Lexical Choices and Negotiations in Postcolonial Women’s Writing in Sri Lanka(Colombo: Women’s Education and Research Centre (WERC), 2011) Fernando, DinaliPostcolonial studies as well as sociolinguists have long asserted the significance of language in postcolonial societies and the unquestionable power that language has in constructing reality. Both disciplines explore the complex and dynamic relationship between the English of the colonisers and the emerging World Englishes, and the process of adaptation and appropriation (Ashcroft et al. 1989, 1995, 2002) of the language which no longer belongs solely to what postcolonial studies refer to as the “Imperial centre” (Ashcroft et al. 1989, Boehmer 1995), or what World Englishes terms the “Inner Circle” or the “norm-providers” (Kachru 1982). Both disciplines have also acknowledged that the languages of postcolonial societies, whether it is their own indigenous languages or their adaptation of the coloniser’s language, offer postcolonial writers a much richer and more appropriate linguistic resource to express their own unique realities than the language of the imperial centre. (New 1978, Ashcroft et al 1995 and 2002, Boehmer 1995). Similarly, in World Englishes studies Kachru (1992) sees the positive and enriching effect of postcolonial adaptation of language which defines a new identity to the postcolonial writer:Item Teaching literature in times of COVID: views from Sri Lanka(Govt Maharaja Postgraduate College, Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, India, 2020) Fernando, DinaliThis presentation is based on the narratives of Sri Lankan teachers of literature about their experiences of teaching English literature online in times of COVID 19 in Sri Lanka. Online teaching has produced a rather polemical discourse in Sri Lanka at present, as evident most visibly in the local multimodal news media and social media. On the one hand, the affordances of online teaching are being explored, and even reified; on the other, it also records a tenacious resistance towards any form of IT-mediated education based on concerns about the “digital and social gap” of unequal access to resources. However, this discourse tends to be controlled by the powerful voices in education, largely of university academics. While they claim to speak for everyone, the voices of the teachers in primary and secondary schools who were forced to adopt online teaching methodologies almost overnight have remained conspicuously silent, perhaps even silenced, in this discourse. This presentation focuses on exploring the individual experiences of a group of teachers of English literature who transitioned to online and remote teaching since the closure of schools on March 13th 2020. Their narratives, located within their specific teaching contexts, will be analyzed. Issues of significance in teaching literature online during the pandemic, as they emerge from the teachers’ narratives, will be discussed. It is hoped that the presentation will lead to the sharing of insights into the methodologies of teaching literature within and outside the online and pandemic context, which remain a rich but unexplored area of research in our part of the world.Item “Kuppi”, “koku” and “kaakko”: an exploration of the linguistic and ideological significance of contemporary campus slang(University of Sri Jayawardenepura, 2016) Fernando, DinaliUniversities and university students have long been a fertile source of slang, which can be defined as an informal variety of language comprising words and expressions used by a particular social group. Research in campus slang has a long history (see for example Mcphee 1927, Kannerstein 1967, Olesen and Whittaker 1968, Kutner and Brogan 1974, Hancock 1990, Murray 1991, Hummon 1994, Thorne 2005, Preece 2009, Adamo 2013). Many of these studies present word lists and linguistic analyses of these unique lexical items that reflect the academic, social, and personal experiences of student life. Studies of campus slang conducted in American and British universities also indicate several similarities as well as significant differences in the spread and functions of campus slang in Sri Lanka. This, along with the fact that the slang of Sri Lankan university students has not been the focus of much research, provided the rationale for the current study. Examples of slang were obtained from multiple participants at a university in the western province to develop an initial wordlist. A linguistic analysis of each term was then conducted by identifying their morphological features and semantic categories. Reflexive texts written by selected student participants were also obtained to analyse their experiences of encountering, learning and using campus slang. The analysis of this overall data was located in the theoretical framework of linguistic ideology, or the linguistic behaviours that not only characterise a particular social group but also language practices that aim to legitimise dominant political powers. The study concludes that there are significant ideological implications in the usage, function and spread of the slang of the sociopolitically complex discourse community of Sri Lankan university students.Item Sri Lankan English in the classroom(University of Limerick, 2019) Fernando, DinaliSri Lankan English (SLE) was adopted as the model for teaching and learning English by a state programme of teacher training and ELT development in the country, the English as a Life Skill (ELS) project, in 2009. With the slogan 'speak English our way', the programme aimed to develop a team of skilled teacher trainers selected from among the non-elite speakers of English, and to train teachers to teach the much-neglected speaking skills to all school children in Sri Lanka (Kahandawaarachchi 2009). In this project, Standard SLE was identified as the linguistically and ideologically most appropriate model for the classroom, a decision that was lauded and criticised in almost equal measure in the country. Despite its acceptance as a valid variety of English in Sri Lanka by researchers (Mendis & Rambukwella, 2010) and its promotion by many local academics as the most appropriate pedagogical model for English education in Sri Lankan schools (Gunesekera, Parakrama, & Ratwatte, 2001), teachers of English are generally uncertain about the ‘correctness’ of SLE in the classroom. A decade after the launch of the programme, little is known about its outcome in the local schools. In particular, no study has attempted to find out if the views of teachers and trainers with regard to SLE since the programme was launched, reflecting what David Hayes (2005) calls the silence of non- native English educators’ voices in ELT research. This paper thus explores the views and experiences of three trainers from the ELS project on SLE as a pedagogical model for the Sri Lankan classroom through semi-structured interviews. The accounts of the participants reveal their training experiences, their own development as teacher trainers and as speakers of SLE, as well as their views on adopting SLE as a model for teaching. The participants’ views suggest possibilities as well as challenges faced when a local variety is promoted as a pedagogical norm within the current context of English education in a multilingual country like Sri Lanka. The paper concludes with some implications of promoting a World English as a pedagogical model.Item Towards an inclusive standard Sri Lankan English for ELT in Sri Lanka: Identifying and validating phonological features of Sri Lankan English of Tamil speakers(Sri Lanka English Language Teachers' Association, 2014) Fernando, Dinali; Sivaji, KarunaThis paper reports on a study that investigates the views of teachers of English in the Northern Province on the unique phonological features of Jaffna English, a variety of Sri Lankan English (SLE) that has its own unique syntactic, morphological as well as phonological features (Selvadurai 1983, Saravanapava Iyer 2001, Sivapalan, Ramanan and Thiruvarangan 2010). The main research area of this paper is World Englishes in the context of English language teaching (ELT), focusing on variation within SLE phonology.Item World Englishes in the classroom: A critical literature review of attitudes towards variation in English among teachers of English(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo, 2020) Fernando, DinaliThe study of language attitudes has long been a significant area of research. Generally adopting social psychological approaches, language attitudes research at present is dominated by studies of attitudes towards World Englishes (AWEs) in English language teaching (ELT) contexts. Undergirded by the theoretical assumption that attitudes can determine successful language learning, these studies explore the attitudes of teachers and students of English in countries where powerful global pedagogical models, British and/or American English, compete with established local varieties within and outside the classroom. This critical literature review explores the contribution of recent research towards gaining an in-depth understanding of teachers’ AWEs. Over fifty international and local studies conducted in pedagogical contexts, mostly published between 2011 and 2019, were reviewed. Findings revealed a dominant theoretical assumption about attitudes as a stable, measurable construct and the employment of two deductive methods, the language attitudes survey and the verbal-guise test. These approaches have produced quantitative, generaliseable results that have succeeded in identifying global attitudinal trends such as the growing acceptance of local varieties alongside the persisting preference for Inner Circle pedagogical norms. Many studies also adopted a binary view of attitudes, affirming ‘positive’ attitudes while identifying ‘negative’ attitudes as deficient, with little attempt to explore ambivalence in attitudinal reactions. A silencing of teachers’ individual voices which might have shed light on their own attitudes was also observed. The literature review concludes that a more nuanced understanding of current AWEs among teachers of English in Sri Lanka based on their own experiences and worldviews might make a more meaningful contribution to English education in the 21st century characterized by competing Sri Lankan Englishes, and regional and global WEs. For this, the study recommends social constructionist and narrative approaches that view concepts such as attitudes as unfixed, volatile, contextualised, and discursively constructed by individuals.