International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka (ICLSL)
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Item Perspective of the Post Advanced Level Students towards Second Language (L2) Speaking Anxiety.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Peiris, A.As observed, students in ESL classrooms find speaking as one of the most challenging tasks even though they had been studying the language for almost 13 years. There are some students who fear the word “speech”, and consequently, most of them skip English lectures. When facilitating English at the tertiary level, it is important to know how to reach and aid such students with L2 speaking anxiety. This research attempts to investigate the perspective of the post Advanced Level students towards speaking anxiety in the ESL classroom. The objectives of the research are to get a better understanding of the student‟s opinion to approach them with effective teaching methods to improve L2 speaking and to help the students to be more confident in L2 speaking. The sample of the research consists of forty-five post Advanced Level students from an intensive course in a private institute. A questionnaire was administered prior to any speaking activity in the class to examine their attitude and subsequently weekly questionnaires were given while engaged in both individual and group speaking activities for 3 weeks. Before the group activities, it was found that only 4% of the students were unafraid of speaking in English irrespective of the situation they faced, and the number increased to 23% during the second week. At the end of three weeks, there was a considerable change in their attitude towards L2 speaking, but there was a drop in the attendance. There were students who did certain speaking activities for the first time using L2 despite their exposure to English in primary and secondary education. Due to the lack of exposure and the attitude towards L2 speaking, majority were disconnected from L2 speaking. It was concluded that Group activities could be used effectively to bridge the detachment of the students from L2 speaking. Further research is suggested to examine the reasons for the drop in the attendance, which was not focused here due to time constraints.Item Teacher Code Switching: Functions and Impact on Students‟ Performance and Attitudes.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Edirisinghe, E. M. H. J.; Ratwatte, H.V.Code switching (CS) or translanguaging in the ESL classroom has been viewed from different perspectives. Some scholars like Chi (2000), Brown (2001), Macaro (2001), Tang (2002), Lie and Martin (2009) have shown that the use of the L1 in the language classroom may lead to more dependence on L1 and that it may hinder progress in mastering the target language (TL). In contrast, researchers like Larsen and Freeman (2011), Makuloluwa (2013), Magid & Mugaddam (2013) and Ratwatte (2014) have argued that CS may facilitate the learning process and the teaching of the TL, as teachers can explain complex ideas more effectively in learners‟ L1. The present study investigates the effectiveness of CS in the teaching and learning of L2 grammar, the attitudes of the students towards teachers‟ CS practices in a university ESL classroom. Qualitative and quantitative data was obtained from 60 first year undergraduate students and 2 teachers of the Wayamba University. Teacher talk was recorded and transcribed. The analysis of the pre and post-test marks reveals a significant relationship between teacher‟s CS and learners‟ learning of verb tenses. The student attitude questionnaires and focus group discussions further confirm that the majority of students perceive CS as an effective teaching strategy because it enables learning in different ways. Consequently, it can be concluded that although the use of the L1 has been criticized by some scholars, a balanced and judicious use of teacher CS can be a useful strategy in classroom interaction with adult learners.