ICLSL 2016

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Problems Faced by a Bilingual Child in Learning
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Thilagarajan, N.
Generally, people start to learn a second language after a particular age when they would have a clear idea about a second language. However, in present society many children happen to be bilingual by birth, because of the multi-ethnic nature in their parents‟ marriage. The child thus begins to acquire the language from his parents‟ mother tongue. When the child lacks words in one language, he replaces them with the words from the other language. Though, children have a flair of understanding both languages from the childhood, they encounter some challenges when the start their initial education. For instance, the inability to understand the differences between the two languages, proceeding their conversations using both languages, making syntactical and grammatical mistakes and suffering to pronounce different sounds properly are some of the perennial challenges in this regard. It is difficult for a bilingual baby to keep every difference of the languages in mind. When a learner is exposed to unfamiliar situations in the learning at the first time, bilingual baby faces a difficult situation and ultimately seeks the help of the rules of his most familiar language to understand the learning. Consequently, the respective children are mentally affected and suffer considerably at the commencement of their primary education. Thus, it should be examined how these problems can be minimised. The aim of this research paper is to identify the problems faced by these children and to suggest viable solutions to overcome them. This study is based on a child whose mother‟s mother tongue is Sinhala while her father's mother tongue is Tamil. This is a qualitative research and data will be collected from a sample of selected bilingual babies and teachers. The ultimate goal of this research is to introduce techniques to overcome the problems faced by a bilingual child in the process of learning.
The Logical Relationship between the Writing Errors and the Acquisition Order of the English Grammatical Morphemes
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Jeyaseelan, S.; Wijeratne, W.M.
The study of the acquisition of the grammatical morphemes seems to be a key concern of this study in terms of the order of acquisition. Acquisition order is very much inter-related with the process of second language learning and acquisition. The grammatical morpheme like third person singular –„s‟ is acquired later than the other morphemes such as the plural-„s‟ and the past tense –„ed‟. The research problem is however, the teachers deal with the learners making errors in such morphemes repetitively. The objective is to investigate the logical relationship between the acquisition order and the errors. The first year students of the Faculty of Business Studies of Vavuniya Campus were selected as the sample. The convenient sampling method was used. The data were collected by conducting tests based on the nine grammatical morphemes. The findings reveal that the use of some morphemes the copula-„be‟, the auxiliary-„be‟, the possessive –„s‟, and the irregular past are used less than the plural –„s‟, the past tense –„ed‟, and the progressive –„ing‟. The reasons for less or no errors in the use of the morphemes can be attributed to the non-attempt nature and a strategy of the respondents to avoid using any forms difficult to be used correctly. There is a logical relationship between the findings of the ranking order of the morphemes based on the results of the closed test and the findings of their use in the creative writing assignment. The morphemes of the lower ranks in the closed-test are used less or not used at all in the creative writing.
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.

ICLSL 2016

Browse

Filters

Settings

Sort By

Results per page

Search Results