Browsing by Author "Kariyawasam, W."

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An Error Analysis of the Acquisition of Chinese Modal Verbs by Sri Lankan Students
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kariyawasam, W.
Chinese is one of the most spoken language in the world next to English. Every sound in Chinese phonetic transcription system pinyin has four distinct pronunciations and its characters and grammar is also considered as difficult to learn. In addition, syntactical structures among modal verbs in Chinese consist of complex grammar patterns. The purpose of this study is to examine the common errors made by the Chinese learners of the University of Kelaniya when using ten modal verbs hui, neng, yao, xiang, keneng, yuanying, yinggai, keyi, gai, and de. The significance of this study has implications for both the Chinese learning students and for the Chinese language teachers who will be able to recognize the common errors in using modal verbs. Teachers have the opportunity to improve their teaching methodology, learning materials as well as new strategies in lesson planning to avoid the identified errors and to facilitate the effective learning of Modal Verbs in teaching Chinese. Data was collected through the distribution of questionnaires among both students and teachers, classroom observations and semi structured interview sessions. According to the above survey, the common errors made by the students in using modal verbs in learning Chinese were identified. These errors types consist of omission, redundancy, word order and misuse, justifying the theory that the modal verbs are ahead of functional category. Furthermore, the study indicated that the reason behind the commonly made errors of using modal verbs was the negative transfer of the learners’ mother tongue as well as learning strategies, teaching methodology, teaching materials.
Utilizing Digital Media in Teaching Chinese Characters.
(International Conference on the Humanities (ICH), 2017 Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Kariyawasam, W.
Chinese characters known as Hanzi are regarded as one of the earliest forms of written languages in the world, in which learning the characters is considered a fundamental step as Chinese characters are formed as pictograms forming images of animals, persons and objects. Sri Lankan students learning Chinese language at the Department of Modern Languages, University of Kelaniya find it difficult to write the characters properly and also to remember the meanings of the pictograms. The main difficulties for the problems faced by students are the irregular attendance and not regularly practicing writing the characters. In fact, the students do not write the characters repeating them several times till they remember their meanings and patterns. As a result, within a short period of time the students forget the correct stroke order of the Chinese characters. Therefore, with the use of the suggested software, the students have the possibility to practice Chinese characters outside the classrooms. It is also more reliable to learn characters using the software when the students are free. The findings of the research are presented by statistics and the research is mainly based on interviews and opinions of the students using the software to practice Chinese characters and on the evaluation remarks of the written class tests. According to the findings of the research it was evident that students have identified the use of software as an influential motivating factor in learning Chinese characters as it gives them the freedom to learn the characters without the authority of a teacher and to correct and to understand the mistakes that occur when learning Chinese characters.