Browsing by Author "Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K."

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ESL Learners’ Perception of the Medium of Listening
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K.
Listening is the most significant part of communication as it is pivotal in providing a substantial and meaningful response while playing a vital role being one of the four major skills in language acquisition. Further, being a receptive skill that is first developed in a human being, listening awakens awareness of the language. Consequently, sound, rhythm, intonation, and stress of the language can only be adapted through listening. Other than being the primary form of communication, listening assists learner to understand the beauty of the language forming the concrete basis for complete language proficiency. Hence, the current research was conducted with the objective of ascertaining ESL learners’ perception of the media of listening and randomly selected sample of 44 undergraduates at Uva Wellassa University were utilized while employing questionnaire survey and observations to collect primary data. Accordingly, the result revealed that the majority (52%) listen to English frequently at the university or college while 39% of the respondents listen to English by using television or audio equipment. Consequently, more than half of the respondents (52%) prefer to listen to English spoken in Great Britain while nearly one forth (26%) of the respondents’ preference is to listen to the USA variety. Moreover, similar percentages (48%) of ESL learners have learned to listen to English through teachers at their schools as well as movies and music. However, only 17% have learned to listen to English through English courses and seminars. As perceived by the participants, the biggest obstacle they encounter in listening is, understanding rapid speech of native speakers (39%) and vocabulary (39%). Hence, the results are advantages to facilitate ESL learners to acquire listening skills while exposing learners to a variety of listening comprehension tasks implementing both bottom-up and top-down processes. These are some suggestions to overcome the challenges in listening as well as to upgrade listening skills of students.
Intention of Pursuing English as a Second Language by Undergraduates
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K.
English opens new avenues in almost all the aspects especially in communication and technology in the modern globalized world. When it comes to Sri Lankan context, English language is commonly known as Kaduwa; the sword which kills those who are not competent in it. Hence, pursuing ESL has become a widely spreading passion in contemporary Sri Lanka as no one likes to be discriminated by others caused by lack of proficiency in English. Thus, most of the students tend to follow English courses in public and private institutions. Consequently, current study intends to investigate the intention of pursuing English as a Second Language (ESL) by tertiary level students. In order to achieve the objective, primary data were collected utilizing a questionnaire survey from 96 undergraduates of Uva Wellassa University using stratified sampling technique. The results ascertained through the analysis revealed that majority of almost all the faculties has the prime intention of obtaining a nice job with attractive salaries and good working conditions through pursuing ESL recording 85%. Further, gaining the ability to read English books and magazines with ease and gaining the ability to communicate freely in English with people from different countries have been reported parallel with the percentage 72 by each as second highest intentions of respondents who follow ESL. However, thirdly most of the respondents (71%) intend to pursue ESL as they want to get a job in which they can use English. Moreover, more than half of the respondents (60%) have the intention of achieving good marks and improve their evaluation in the academic transcript. Conversely, the fewest number of respondents (19%) wants to work either for an international organization (e.g. the EU) or for a global company (e.g., Nokia) by pursuing ESL. Thus, the results are crucial in designing ESL curricular for tertiary level students in order to better facilitate learners and furthermore teachers are benefitted with selecting ESL materials and activities. In conclusion, the prospective researchers will be enlightened to conduct further research pursuing this line of the study.
A linguistic analysis of errors committed by English medium students with special focus on first year students in Uva Wellassa University
(University of Kelaniya, 2011) Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K.; Premarathna, C.D.H.N.
This study was conducted to examine errors committed in writing and speaking skills of first year students of eleven different degree programmes of Uva Wellassa University, Badulla, Sri Lanka. To achieve the objectives, 55 students: 23 male and 22 female in the academic year 2009/2010 were observed as the corpus of the study. English is the only medium of instruction for their academic programmes. The sample of the study reflects a vivid picture of different social and ethnic backgrounds island-wide. Written compositions, oral presentations and oral test have been implemented as research instruments while manipulating the statistical software Minitab 14 for analytical purposes. All the identified errors have been classified into eight main categories: Grammar, Syntax, Semantics, Lexical, Orthography, Morphology, Phonology and Other. The results of the study have explored grammar as the greatest category where undergraduates are committing errors in both writing and speaking aspects. Moreover, advanced analysis has found that newspaper reading and committing errors in grammar and syntax as dependant variables; it evidently revealed undergraduates who read English newspapers commit fewer errors in grammar and syntax than others who do not read English newspapers. In addition, this study has explained causes of errors mostly affected as intralingual and interlingual. Being a linguistic analysis, this study has shed light on the manner in which students internalize the rules of the target language, which is English. Such an insight into language learning problems is useful to teachers as it provides information on common difficulties in language learning. Furthermore, the findings of the study are vital in designing curricula for the better fulfillment of the objectives of second language teaching and learning while providing guidelines on effective teaching methodology and interesting teaching materials. Moreover, it has suggested areas to conduct further research based on this study.
A Linguistics Analysis on Errors Committed in English by Undergraduates
(International Journal of Scientific & Research Publications, 2011) Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K.; Premarathna, C.D.H.M.
Preferences on Learning English as a Second Language
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K.
English occupies the place of a Second Language (ESL) in primary, secondary and tertiary levels playing an inevitable role in the Sri Lankan education arena. Moreover, the necessity of English as a medium of instruction is realised by the government and steps have been taken to elevate the competency in English among students in Island‟s education system. However, much attention has not been paid to the favorite learning methods and styles of ESL learners even though methods and styles create enormous impact in acquiring language competency. Hence, the present study intends to explore ESL learners‟ preferences on learning English. Therefore, the research problems were formulated as the ways in which ESL learners wish to pursue English, their favorite methods of learning, learning styles and strategies preferred by the learners. In order to acquire the research objectives, a sample of 50 respondents from Uva Wellassa University was selected using stratified sampling technique. Further, a designed questionnaire was utilised to collect primary data while implementing graphs and charts for graphical depiction of the result. According to the results, most of the respondents (43%) are with the view that they need to improve their speaking skill further and secondly, one fifth of the respondents require enhancing their writing skill. When considering the ESL learners‟ favorite method of learning English, the method of conducting presentations has acquired the highest number of preferences by the undergraduates. However, lectures and videos both are placed at second with equal percentages. Moreover, more than fifty percent of the respondents wish to apply visual learning style while nearly one third of the respondents prefer to use a combination of visual, auditory and kinesthetic styles in order to pursue English. Thus, the results are beneficial for the teachers, the syllabus designers and the researchers to uplift the ESL learners‟ proficiency levels while highlighting the importance of recognising the learners‟ preferences in ESL teaching process.
Speaking: The ESL Learners’ Perspective
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayasundara, J.M.P.V.K.
English language was a Colonial inheritance to Sri Lanka, reflecting the one of the major consequences of colonial era which still remains supreme in all aspects, gaining more power and acceptance throughout Sri Lankan society. Hence, in Sri Lanka teaching and learning English as a Second Language (L2) is a common and popular phenomenon all over primary, secondary and tertiary educational arenas. In order to be competent in the English as L2, it is essential to acquire the basic language skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. However, it is a well accepted fact that teachers need to stressmore on Speaking and Listening opportunities for the ESL/EFL learners in language classrooms to make them exposed towards their target language. Consequently, the most significant consideration should focus on facilitating the ESL learners to be fluent in English. Thus, the present research intends to explore the perspective on speaking skill by undergraduates who pursue English as their Second Language. In order to achieve the objective, primary data, collected utilizing a designed questionnaire from randomly selected sample of 60 undergraduates at UvaWellassa University. Further, statistical software “Minitab 15” has been employed for analytical purpose. The results ascertained through the analysis revealed that majority (61%) of the respondents’ belief of their language skills as average. Moreover, highest number of respondents (65%) stated that the best chance they gain to speak in English is at the university than anywhere else. Subsequently, the biggest problem in speaking English has been reported as finding appropriate words (48%) while second bigger problem has been mentioned as constructing sentences correctly by 35% of respondents. According to opinion of the mainstream, reporting 74%, the best way to improve their speaking skill is, working in an English speaking environment. Most interestingly, no one believes attending English tuition classes as the best way to improve their English skills. If students had to speak in front of an audience, majority of (43%) respondents would choose to present a subject which have been prepared before while only 17% has declared that they take part in “impromptu” speech with short notice. Hence, the findings are imperative to better facilitate ESL learners in achieving speaking skills. Introducing remedial measures to uplift the performance and moreover it is of assistance in motivating L2 learners in Sri Lankan education arena while focusing attention on enhancing listening as a receptive skill in order to make L2 learners competent orators in English. Moreover, the results entail in assisting syllabus designers and curriculum developers as well as providing advantageous for future research to be conducted pursuing this line of research.