ICLSL 2016

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/14246

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    An Investigation on the Problems Encountered by the First Year Students Following French Certificate Course for Beginners at the University of Kelaniya
    (Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kulathunga Arachchi, M.S.
    The Department of Modern Languages, University of Kelaniya being the leading language teaching Department in both undergraduate and graduate levels in Sri Lanka has granted the opportunity for the undergraduates from four all the four faculties of the University to learn French language as beginners. This study intends to analyse the problems of the undergraduates who follow the Part one of the Certificate Course in French encounter at the initiative period of learning the language. In doing the research the undergraduates who follow the Level one of the Certificate Course in 2016 are taken into consideration. The students are interviewed at the end of each lesson individually by distributing a questionnaire to make a database about each and every difficulty that they came across in terms of syntax, dictation, pronunciation etc. This process is going to be followed during a period of six months that can be considered as the initiative period and at the end it is expected to analyse the data with the intention of designing the pedagogy, teacher techniques and exercises in order to minimize the commonly faced problems by a majority of the students. Moreover the research findings will be utilised to select substantial studying materials that can cater to the needs of the beginners of the language which will enable the students to improve their vocabulary, dictation, pronunciation and listening. Especially the research findings will make it easy in selecting the materials that give extra practice to the difficult areas of language. Additionally, the research will open the gates to find out the language acquisition levels of the undergraduates who follow the subjects related to Science, Commerce and recognise the extra exercises that will help them master the language while following their major courses as a lack of enthusiasm towards language learning within the undergraduates from the mentioned faculties has being observed in the last few years owing to the workload in their main Degree course.
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    Colour me…orange? : Incorporating Aspects of the Colourful Semantics Approach into English as a Second Language Lessons at Preschool
    (Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Hettiarachchi, S.; Walisundara, D.; Ranaweera, M.
    Among the challenges faced by Sri Lankan children learning English as an additional or second language is the accuracy of word order and vocabulary knowledge. The Colourful Semantics approach (Bryan, 2008) has been used successfully in the UK and in Australia with children experiencing language-learning difficulties (Bennington, 2011; Chiat, Law, Marshall & Bryan, 1997), with many programmes devised by Speech and Language Therapists (Morrissy, 2010; Wade, 2009). It uses thematic roles and a colour-coding system to support the development of syntax through a semantic route. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using aspects of Colourful Semantics to develop vocabulary knowledge and the use of Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structures in young learners of English. Twenty preschool children in ESL classrooms were included in the study. Key aspects of Colourful Semantics were introduced as a whole-class approach using children‟s storybooks, colour-coding and signing with lessons offered once a week for 12 weeks together with supplementary activities. Pre- and post-intervention measures were undertaken on five receptive and expressive language and literacy measures of vocabulary and syntax. In this presentation we will discuss the programme offered, the pre- and post-intervention assessment scores and statistical results on vocabulary and discuss the benefits of incorporating aspects of the Colourful Semantics approach into the English language teaching classroom.