Browsing by Author "Amaraweera, S."

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Tackling the Most Challenging Spatial Preposition in English
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Amaraweera, S.
This study attempts to identify and tackle the issues in the use of “at”, the most challenging and one of the three most commonly-used spatial prepositions in the English language, - „at‟, „in‟ and „on‟ – in teaching English as a second language to Sri Lankan undergraduates. It also aims at promoting some novel strategies of overcoming the difficulties encountered in using spatial prepositions in general. Although the particular group of undergraduates who were involved in the experiment continue to learn English at the university as an ancillary subject, it is common to find errors in the use of spatial prepositions in their oral and written productions. Therefore, as research problem this paper deals with what hindrances are experienced by Sri Lankan undergraduates in mastering spatial prepositions and which preposition causes most challenges in this process. It is realised thus that lack of exposure to language directly affects the grammatical and semantic structure of their utterances. In the empirical study carried out in this regard, quantitative data was collected by conducting two tests focused on prepositions. The first test was carried out without giving prior instructions and the second was carried out after giving instructions. A comparative analysis of the results of both tests revealed that the spatial preposition “at” is the most challenging preposition for the undergraduates and it poses challenges to them due to mother tongue interference and lack of exposure to English. Hence it is understood that the undergraduates should be provided with long-term exposure to the correct use of the spatial preposition „at‟ of English in comparison with equivalents of spatial indications in the Sinhala language. Also it is considered essential to create an environment equipped with electronic and print media that would allow the learners to have a natural exposure to English.
Usage of Mobile Applications as a Resource in Teaching Phrasal Verbs
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Amaraweera, S.
Popularity of the usage of smartphones is widely observed among young undergraduates, who are increasingly dependent on these devices (Yu, 2012). Although commonly used in written and oral discourses, phrasal verbs are often omitted if their correct usage poses a hurdle to the English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. As a substitute for the use of phrasal verbs, ESL learners tend to use single word units (Imrose, 2013). This negligence of the use of phrasal verbs is surmised as an issue in the ESL teaching/ learning process. Thus, utilising the omnipresent smart devices, this research aims at promoting a novel method to determine the effectiveness of teaching phrasal verbs by the use of one of the popular mobile applications designed for communication. Thirty undergraduates were selected for this experimental study. Pre- and post-tests consisting of 40 commonly used phrasal verbs in a study carried by Liu (2011) based on two corpora – The Corpus of Contemporary American English and The British National Corpus were conducted. The first test was given without any instructions on the phrasal verbs and the post test was carried out after instructions. The experimental group comprising 50 per cent of the selected undergraduates were instructed in phrasal verbs using the selected mobile application throughout a period of eight days while the controlled group was given traditional classroom instructions within one hour. A comparative analysis of the results of both tests revealed that the experimental group outperformed in the post test than the controlled group highlighting the use of mobile applications in the English Language Teaching (ELT) process as an effective recourse in the teaching/ learning process of phrasal verbs.