Humanities
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Item Cognitive Barriers in Learning English as a Second Language at Tertiary Level: A Survey of English as a Second Language Class at the University of Jaffna(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Santhirasegaram, S.This paper aims to probe the principal difficulties and barriers of the second language learners in the ESL classroom at tertiary level. This study mainly focuses on the barriers of learning English as a second language at the University of Jaffna and to provide some effective teaching approaches to improve English knowledge of undergraduates. The researcher has conducted this survey to explore the cognitive barriers in the skill of writing in English. This study has been carried out in relation to the second year students in the Faculty of Arts, University of Jaffna. The objective of this study is to examine the cognitive barriers in the ESL classroom. The researcher tries to investigate what are the causes for the difficulties and the link between the barriers and the language learners‟ family factors, cultural factors and psychological traits. This study also provides valuable suggestions to improve the learners‟ language acquisition level and the development of writing skill, how to motivate them via effective teaching approaches and strategies and help them to overcome their learning barriers. The data has been analysed through qualitative and quantitative research methods. This study is based on writing materials that were collected from the undergraduates to gather information and discussions regarding this study. This study helps to diagnose the learners‟ cognitive barriers in writing, to bring an effective learning outcome and to improve the learners‟ cognitive level in the ESL classroom.Item Teaching English through Simple Poems in the ESL Context.(English Language Teaching Unit, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kulathunga, N.This article reports the experience of a teaching session conducted using poetry in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. Poetry is perhaps the literature genre least open to the attention of ESL learners and teachers, due to its highly allusive and metaphorical language and the cultural alienation. Yet teachers can use different categories of poetry which introduce various methods of language application, based on the learner requirements. The purpose of the teaching session was to identify the effectiveness of using simple English poems in the ESL classroom as a solution to the difficulties encountered in using highly advanced poems. The teaching session involved 20 ESL learners in the University of Kelaniya. All these participants were native speakers of Sinhala. The participants’ English language competency level was varied from low level to the higher level. The practical strategy approach was used as the teaching approach to teach poetry in the ESL classroom. Acrostic poems, haikus, narrative poems, picture poems and poems making use of different grammatical patterns were used as the resources in conducting the teaching session. Poetry based activities were designed according to the pre, while and post reading activities. All the students were given the freedom to write their own poems under post reading activities. At the end of the teaching session student feedback was collected through a questionnaire. Results of the questionnaire demonstrate that the majority of the students enjoy poetry based ESL activities. Therefore simple English poems can be used as a resourceful tool in the ESL context.