Graduate Studies
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Item Understanding the Relevance and Implications of the “English-Only Policy” in ELT/L in Tertiary Level Education in Sri Lanka(International Postgraduate Research Conference 2019, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Ekanayake, E.M.P.E.Researchers such as Phillipson claim that the ELT/L pedagogy promoted by inner-circle English-speaking countries in the postcolonial age was founded on five fallacies: the monolingual fallacy, the native speaker fallacy, the early start fallacy, the maximum exposure fallacy, and the subtractive fallacy. Based on these arguments made by Phillipson on the linguistic imperialism of English, others like Canagarajah point out that the “English-only policy” has become part and stock of many ELT practices of periphery countries where English in not considered “native”. The current study attempts to contextualize these theories by investigating how educators and learners negotiate between the “English-only policy” and the use of the vernacular in teaching/ learning ESL in tertiary level education in Sri Lanka. The study was analytical in nature and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. 100 questionnaires were distributed among second year undergraduates of University of Peradeniya using the purposive sampling method to collect data from students belonging to all levels of competence in English. Also, data was gathered through formal interviews (18) and casual conversations (07) with ESL educators from the ELTUs of University of Peradeniya, SLIIT (Malabe) and ACBT (Kandy). The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive/ inferential analysis while the qualitative data was analyzed using discourse/ thematic analysis methods. The analysis of data collected from questionnaires distributed among students revealed that there is a correlation between high competence in English with preference towards “English-only policy” and conversely, low competence in English with preference towards the use of the vernacular in learning ESL. The data from formal interviews and casual conversations revealed that 19 out of 25 educators subscribed to the “English-only policy” due to institutional standards/ requirements, certain (sub) conscious reasons of socio-economico-educational nature. The study highlights on the paradox/ discrepancy between student/ teacher attitudes towards “English-only policy” and complex dynamics that resist the use of the vernacular in teaching/ learning which could potentially shed light into student militancy against ELT/L in tertiary education in Sri LankaItem Anxiety Experienced by Adult ESL Learners in Sri Lanka: A Case of First Year Undergraduates of University of Peradeniya(International Postgraduate Research Conference 2019, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Ratnayake, J.C.; Ekanayake, E.M.P.E.According to theorists like R. C. Gardner and Stephen Krashen, extra-linguistic factors with socio-psychological overtones play as much a critical role as linguistic factors in teaching/learning ESL/EFL. Anxiety has been identified as one of the aforementioned affective factors that can have a significantly negative impact on language acquisition/learning process of students. As such, the current study investigates the nature and scale of anxiety experienced by first year undergraduates of Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya, belonging to groups of basic level competence in English. The study was exploratory in nature and both quantitative and qualitative data were collected for the purpose of the research. Questionnaires were distributed using the purposive sampling method i.e. 25 questionnaires were distributed among undergraduates whose L1 was Sinhala while another 25 were distributed among undergraduates whose L1 was Tamil. Also, interviews were conducted with 10 instructors that teach undergraduates of basic level competence in English. The quantitative and qualitative data collected through questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive and inferential analysis. The qualitative data gathered though interviews were analyzed using the discourse and thematic analysis methods and then the data triangulation method was deployed. The analysis of data from the questionnaires revealed that students whose L1 is Tamil face significantly higher levels of anxiety (88%) compared to students whose L1 is Sinhala (48%). The students faced anxiety in the form of communication apprehension/ anxiety, test anxiety, anxiety regarding negative evaluation and anxiety in the ESL classroom environment. These findings were corroborated through findings from the interviews with the instructors. While the study provides insight into the intensity and scale of anxiety experienced by adult ESL learners of tertiary level education, it also highlights on the role of the student L1 as a defining factor in ESL learner anxiety.Item Difficulties Faced by G.C.E. (A/L) Students When Learning English as a Second Language in Sammanthurai(International Postgraduate Research Conference 2019, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Rizwan, M.S.M.This study aims to examine the difficulties encountered in written tasks of General English subject when learning English as a second language by the first-year students of G.C.E. (A/L) in the academic year 2018 -2020 at KM/ST/ Dharussalam Maha Vidyalaya, Sammanthurai. The specific objectives of the study are to identify the grammatical difficulties made by the students when accomplishing written tasks; to provide the language teachers with new techniques and methodologies of language teaching by analyzing the students’ difficulties and to make the students aware about their syntactic errors. The Research samples were 30 monolingual students who learn English as their second language. These students were selected randomly. A pre-test and post-test which comprise grammatical and paragraph typed questions based on the General English subject were administered. A quantitative data analysis approach was implemented to analyze the pre and post test scores of the experimental and controlled group. EA method was deployed to analyze the grammatical errors. The findings of the study show that many students face difficulties in the grammatical components such as parts of the speech, syntactic structures and vocabularies due to lack of exposure to English language, mother tongue interference, incompetence in English grammar, incomplete application of rules, omission, addition, bad formation of sentences and redundant lexical choice. The study suggests assigning the students with plenty of written tasks continuously, using effective syntactic strategy in the authentic classroom to get the interests of the students, improving the skills on the grammatical components by using visual aids, strengthening teachers with smart classroom facilities to carry out the teaching process and building up the culture of using the second language in the learning and teaching process. These efforts as remedies are used to solve the difficulties faced in written tasks by G.C.E. (A/L) students when learning English as a second language in Sammanthurai. The study hopes to help the ESL teachers and educators to be familiar with the most frequent difficulties faced by L2 learners and to adopt appropriate strategy in preparing learning teaching activitiesItem “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 purposesItem Impact of integrating Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for Sri Lankan ESL students at tertiary level (With special reference to reading skills).(Journal of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2017) Alahakoon, P.P.; Alahakoon, P.P.This study examines the impact of implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning for Sri Lankan ESL students at tertiary level with special reference to reading skills. Two hypotheses were identified; CLIL group performs better than ordinary ESL group in terms of reading skills and application of CLIL methods in reading comprehension at tertiary level increases students’ ability to use reading skills strategies. The sample consists of two groups: experimental and controlled and they are given a pre-test. After weeks of teaching, the groups are exposed to a post test. Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) is employed to examine the use of comprehension strategies by students. The findings are analyzed through SPSS. The research findings show the degree of improvement in reading skills of the sample and their metacognitive awareness after being exposed to CLIL. The study further provides factors to be investigated in future research in order to enhance English language competency of ESL students in Sri Lankan Universities.Item The Significance of Music in Teaching English Verb Forms to Learners of English as a Second Language.(2016) Gamage, S.U.Today, most of the ESL learners in Sri Lanka consider English language learning as anxiety packed, insipid and an unconquerable obstacle. As a facilitator in ELT (English Language Teaching) the researcher has experienced the negative responses of the students in terms oflearning English grammar in ESL classrooms. Most of the students find English verb forms as a difficult grammar section to be mastered in ESL classrooms. They tend to do many grammatical errors in their writings with specific reference to primary helping verbs and main verbs. Moreover, Karunarathna (1993) has mentioned that the methods employed by the facilitator have not been successful at improving English proficiency of ESL learners. Especially, when teaching English verb forms most of the facilitators have used the same old chalk and talk method. If facilitators can integrate music into ELT (English Language Teaching), the ELT sessions can be converted into a stress free, learner friendly atmosphere. This study attempts to investigate whether songs and background music can be implemented in teaching English verb forms. The sample of this study consists of 80 students from the Faculty of Management studies and Commerce of University of Sri Jayewardenepura. A pretest was administered to test their prior knowledge in English verb forms. After that, the selected sample was randomly divided into two groups. The control group was taught English verb forms in a traditional classroom setting whereas the experimental group was exposed to a teaching session of English verb forms using English songs and background music. Later on, the first test instrument, a posttest on English verb forms was administered - to assess the proficiency level of the students after getting them exposed to two different types of treatment. Then, the second test instrument, a likert type scale questionnaire was distributed to assess the feelings and attitudes of the students about iii the English class. Finally, the third test instrument, delayed posttest was administered to assess the memory retention of ESL learners. SPSS data package was used to analyze the data gathered from the questionnaires. The results of the posttest showcased that, the students of the control group outperformed the experimental group in terms of the proficiency level obtained at the posttest. Furthermore, the students of the experimental group claimed that the use of songs and background music in the classroom has turned the classroom into an enjoyable and relaxing setting where the students' interest, self-confidence and motivation towards learning English verb forms have achieved an immense growth. The results of the delayed posttest depicted that songs and background music have been a positive factor to increase the memory retention of the students. Even though, the combination of songs and background music negatively affected the acquisition of English verb forms the application of songs and background music in the classroom has increased the motivation level, entertainment and self-confidence of ESL learners and positively affects the memory retention of the targeted population. In conclusion, it is clearly evident that the use of English songs and background music in ESL classrooms has not been a supportive tool to teach English verb forms.Item 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.Item Impact of Integrating Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) For Sri Lankan ESL Students at Tertiary Level (With Special Reference to Reading Skills)(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Alahakoon, P.Keppetigoda and Chandradasa (2015) highlighted that the theoretical framework of bilingual education is the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), a new approach in language education as students learn both target language and content in target language (Cross, 2014). However, majority of the undergraduates are exposed to education totally in an environment where L2 is used after their learning in monolingual stream in L1 (Sinhala and Tamil) and bilingual stream (only a few subjects are taught in L2) at schools. To address this issue, the universities conduct compulsory ESL courses for the first year students. Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology too conducts an ESL course which needs a revision of the existing syllabus. The researcher introduces CLIL method to upgrade the existing syllabus. Thus this study examines the impact of implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning for Sri Lankan ESL students at tertiary level with special reference to reading skills. Two hypotheses were identified; CLIL group performs better than ordinary ESL group in terms of reading skills and application of CLIL methods in reading comprehension at tertiary level increases students’ ability to use reading skills strategies. The sample consists of two groups: experimental and controlled and they are given a pre-test. After weeks of teaching the groups are exposed to a post test. Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) is employed to examine the use of comprehension strategies by students. The findings are analyzed through SPSS. The research findings show the degree of improvement in reading skills of the sample and their metacognitive awareness after being exposed to CLIL. The study further provides factors to be investigated in future research in order to enhance English language competency of ESL students in Sri Lankan Universities.Item Perceptions of ESL Learners and Teachers Towards the Corrective Feedback(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Udeshinee, W.A.P.Over the last few decades, the role played by the corrective feedback (CF) in Second Language Acquisition has become a highly controversial issue. As a facilitator in ESL classroom, the researcher has also noticed both positive and negative aspects of corrective feedback on speaking. Some students correct their errors after receiving the corrective feedback while some make the same error repeatedly. Thus, it can be assumed that sometimes students do not consciously note their errors in speaking. The researcher observes this situation as a new research avenue in Sri Lankan context, which should further be explored. In this context, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of corrective feedback on speaking through the perceptions of ESL learners and teachers. The research study was carried out among two randomly selected groups of first year IT undergraduates of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). One group was from the Elementary Level (N= 30) while the other group was from the Advanced Level (N= 30). The objective of selecting two different ability groups was to investigate whether the students’ perceptions towards the efficacy of corrective feedback is affected by their performance level. Data was also collected from lecturers (N= 6) who teach the first year undergraduates of SLIIT to find out their perceptions towards the effectiveness of corrective feedback. Quantitative data was collected through well-structured questionnaires and analysed using SPSS. Classroom observations are made to obtain a better picture of the perceptions of students. The findings of this research show different perceptions of Sri Lankan ESL learners and teachers towards the efficacy of corrective feedback. Most of the teachers and students believe that corrective feedback is certainly effective. Repetition is the most preferred type of corrective feedback among students of Elementary Level while implicit corrective feedback and explicit corrective feedback are the most preferred type of corrective feedback among students of Advanced Level. Moreover, this research identifies key factors that can be investigated in further research. Thus, this research has important implications for second language teaching and learning in Sri Lankan context.Item Using Windows Speech Recognition Tool to Improve English Speaking Skills of Undergraduates Learning English as a Second Language(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Lakshani, W.G.J.Undergraduates who pursue their main stream studies in English find the ability to express themselves in English imperative not only for day-to-day communication in the academic setting but also as a prerequisite skill as future professionals. However, many students complain of being extremely nervous and apprehensive when assigned speaking tasks and consequently switching back to express themselves in the first language. The key objective of this empirical research is to test the usability of Windows Speech Recognition Tool as a resource to improve English speaking skills of undergraduates in an ESL context. The Windows Speech Recognition Tool is a program originally designed by Microsoft to command personal computers with the users‘ voice and to dictate voice to word documents. It was hypothesized that the practice gained by learners when interacting with the computer in English speaking tasks would pave the way to communicate with peers and mentors in English more confidently. A sample of 30 undergraduates who had scored comparatively low marks for the speech component in an English language test was selected. An induction was given to the students about the use of the speech recognition tool, for instance, the correct use of microphone and the need to pronounce words correctly in order to be recognized by the tool, etc. Subsequently, each student was assigned an array of tasks to be completed at their own pace. These assignments consist of activities that require the use of speech recognition tool in order to comment on videos, describe given pictures, and to give instructions to carry out medical tests, etc. The scripts of the speech that the students produce are recorded by the tool and the students are given feedback for improvement accordingly. The students face a speech evaluation test conducted by the mentor at the end of the course. These marks will be comparatively analyzed using the t-test strategy with the marks of the pre-test.