Abstract:
English speech has been given a lot of prominence in Sri Lanka in the ESL context. In the recent past, English was introduced as a life skill and is taught from grade one to grade eleven and is offered as a compulsory language for the Ordinary Level Examination. As only written skills are tested in the examination, students do not concentrate on developing their oral proficiency. As a result, some ESL learners carry various ideas regarding learning English speech. Some of them, which are myths, are passed down from one generation to another. Hence, this research paper attempts to explore the myths and attitudes of Sri Lankan ESL learners regarding English speech. As the research study is qualitative it is conducted through interviews. 15 students from Grade 11 were selected for this study from Pinnawala Central College, randomly. Also, in order to see if some of these myths have been passed down from one generation to another and 3 teachers from different disciplines from the same school were interviewed. The results show that some myths have been passed down from generation to generation and overall there are many negative ideas related to learning English speech.
