English Language Training Unit

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/5423

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 25

Explicit instructional techniques used in teaching vocabulary through reading
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2013) Ranaweera, M.
The objective of this action research is to find out the instructional techniques used in class to teach vocabulary items that are encountered in reading passages. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods was used. Primary data were collected through self-observation and attentive classroom observation supported by record keeping in the form of note taking. First, a checklist of techniques for direct vocabulary instruction reflecting the researcher’s own teaching was made. This checklist was based on the sample checklist of ‘Techniques for Direct Vocabulary Instruction’ published in Grabe & Stoller, 2002. The data were analyzed to find out the trends in the use of certain vocabulary–teaching techniques and to understand why certain approaches had been preferred over certain others by the teacher. The explicit vocabulary teaching techniques that had been used are analysis of word parts, anecdotes or stories highlighting word meaning, definitions, dictionary consultation, discussing of word meaning, games, illustrations /drawings on the blackboard, synonyms/antonyms and translation. The data very clearly show that the vocabulary–teaching technique that is used mostly, with a total of 76, is giving dictionary definitions to students. The techniques that are under-used are games and analysis of word parts.
Everything in the universe has a rhythm, including learning and teaching
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2013) Gamage, S.; Premarathne, K.
Today, most of the ESL (English as a Second Language) learners in Sri Lanka consider English language learning as anxiety packed, insipid and an unconquerable obstacle. If facilitators can integrate music into ELT (English Language Teaching), the ELT sessions can be converted into a stress free, learner friendly atmosphere. This study attempts to investigate whether music can be implemented in teaching English grammar and vocabulary. The sample of this study consists of 100 students from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Kelaniya. A pre-test was given to test 50 students’ prior knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, in a traditional classroom setting. The control group of another 50 students was exposed to a teaching session of grammar and vocabulary using music. Later on, their acquired knowledge was tested through a post-test. The results showcase that if used properly by the facilitator, English songs are an excellent means of cultivating interest and high motivation in language learning.
Majoritarian discourse, masking and the female suicide bomber in Chandrasekaram’s Forbidden Area
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2013) Pathirana, H.
Sri Lankan theatre productions featuring war rarely place importance on the suicide bomber. As such, Visakesa Chandrasekan’s play Forbidden Area is unique as it revolves round a female LTTE suicide bomber who is on a mission. Thus, investigating the representation of female militancy is important with relevance to cultural studies as well as security studies given the pervasive presence of ‘wars on terror’. Consequently, this paper attempts to discuss whether Chandrasekaran subverts majoritarian discourse which dehumanizes the female suicide bomber, and for this analysis I use the concept of masking. Masking, as viewed by Elaine Savory (1999), is a series of codes signifying multiple levels of personality, indicated by ritual ways. While Urmila dons a ‘mask of courage and defiance’, as the time for the mission dawns she unveils mixed emotions. The complexity of Urmila’s character is heightened as she subverts gender politics and ‘femininity’; she also draws divine inspiration from the Hindu goddess Kali. Although Urmila’s character doesn’t fall short of being “human” her final action is far from being dialectical. In this text, masking functions as a protective and subversive strategy given her precarious situation.
Does proficiency in the second language influence bilingual
(2014) Widyalankara, R.C.
Cross cultural aspects of classroom management in Sri Lanka
(2014) Widyalankara, R.C.
Bilingual pronunciation and first language dominancy
(2014) Widyalankara, R.C.
Cooperative and collaborative language learning: an action plan
(2014) Widyalankara, R.C.
Teaching English as a second language = Theory + Methods + Creativity
(2014) Widyalankara, R.C.
The judicious analysis of The Nightingale and the Rose for people of fifteen
(Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 2015) Widyalankara, R.C.
The expediency hypothesis and models of secondary term formation in ICT terminology in Sinhala: A bilingual corpus analysis
(International Journal of Scientific & Research Publications, 2015) Widyalankara, R.C.
Acoustic characteristics of three vowels of standard Sri Lankan English
(International Journal of Science and Research, 2015) Widyalankara, R.C.
The lumber room: ideal artefact for prose analysis + an epistle on child rearing
(International Journal of Scientific & Research Publications, 2015) Widyalankara, R.C.
Acquisition of English prepositions by ESL learners in Sri Lanka: A comparison between Grade 4 and Grade 6 of Government schools
(Annual Research Symposium conducted by the National Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities & Social Sciences Sri Lanka, 2015) Jayasinghe, R.R.
Research and simple observation indicate that English prepositions are a problem for learners at every level of proficiency (Cowan, 2008). Littlefield (2006) has investigated the existence of four fine-grained categories of prepositions in the domain of prepositions by analyzing first language acquisition of five children (aged 1;2-2;3) using naturalistic speech data as follows: (1) Adverbial prepositions [+ Lexical, -Functional], (2) Semi-lexical prepositions [+Lexical, +Functional], (3) Particles [-Lexical, - Functional], (4) Functional Prepositions [- Lexical, + Functional] Littlefield considered as [+Lexical] those that contribute semantic content, and as [+Functional] those that are able to check the Case of their complements.The overall objective of the study was to validate the existence of these fine-grained categories of the domain of English prepositions by using ESL learners in Grade 4 (aged 9- 9;11) and Grade 6 ( 11- 11;11) of two government schools in Sri Lanka and to compare the order of acquisition of English prepositions in Grade 4 with Grade 6. A dictation task was administered to 65 students from each Grade in two schools. Ten sentences each with each category of preposition were recorded, played to the students and requested them to write them down. The findings were quantified and analyzed using SPSS. . The findings of the study validated Littlefield’s 2006 study that there are four categories of prepositions in the domain of English prepositions. The results showed that in both grades there is a significant difference in the acquisition of adverbial prepositions with particles and functional prepositions. There is no significant difference between the other categories of prepositions in both grades. The findings also showed that the order of the acquisition of English prepositions in Grade 4 and Grade 6 were similar and the sentences with [+Lexical] prepositions are imitated better than the sentences with [-Lexical] categories. The observations conclude that the existence of four fine-grained categories of preposition is validated by ESL learners of both Grade 4 and Grade 6. Both Grades showed the same order of acquisition of English prepositions and it differs from the native speakers’ order. The order of acquisition of English prepositions, found in this study is recommended to the teachers of English to use at the ESL classroom to facilitate teaching English prepositions in schools effectively.
Interlingual texting: Texting in Sinhala using English fonts
(International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2015) Widyalankara, R.C.
International feedback in naturalistic interaction between L2 English learners
(Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2015) Ranaweera, M.
A comparison between the acquisition of phrasal verbs and spatial prepositions by Sinhala speaking ESL learners
(8th Research Conference, the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, 2015) Jayasinghe, R.R.
The phrasal verbs are phrases which consist of a verb in combination with a preposition. They are not only used in spoken and informal English, but also in written and even formal English. According to Fraser 1965, 1976; Bolinger 1971, the prepositions in phrasal verbs trigger an aspectual or idiomatic meaning as follows: (1) The small girl ate up the biscuits (aspectual-finished sense). (2) Women drink skim milk to shape up their bodies (idiomatic). Here up gives an unpredictable meaning and the meaning of shape up cannot be gathered by adding the meanings of the two words: shape and up Spatial prepositions show the spatial relation between two entities, for example, The box is under the bed or the path of movement of one object with respect to another entity, for example, The man swam across the river. The study examines the acquisition of phrasal verbs and spatial prepositions of Sinhala speaking ESL learners in Grade 4 and Grade 6 by using elicited imitation data. The study aims to investigate which category of these prepositions should be introduced first in the ESL class-room through listening comprehension tasks. A dictation task will be administered for about 60 students from each grade from two schools in Colombo. A sentence battery containing 10 sentences each with phrasal verbs and spatial prepositions will be used in this study. Students will be instructed to listen to these 20 sentences carefully and write them in the given answer sheets. Elicitated imitation data will be collected, and quantitative statistical analysis will be applied using SPSS to examine whether there is a significant difference between the acquisition of two categories of preposition within and across the grades. The findings would be used to make necessary suggestions for teaching phrasal verbs and spatial prepositions for Sinhala students. If the acquisition of one of these two categories of preposition shows an advantage over the other, that particular category must be introduced earlier than the other in the ESL class -room.
Acquisition of English Prepositions by the ESL Learners of Sri Lanka
(the International Conference on Postcolonial Societies in Transition, 2015) Jayasinghe, R.R.
Sri Lanka inherited English Language from its last colonizers, the British and a positive interest was taken by British in teaching English for the Sinhala speaking students since then. Today, in postcolonial era, formal teaching of English as a second language (ESL) is introduced in government schools from Grade 3 onwards. Teachers of English in Sri Lanka are well aware that English prepositions are one of the most difficult areas for them to teach ESL students. Moreover, Thilakaratne 1992 shows that in English, prepositions are words, while in Sinhala they are represented as spatial postpositions or suffixes (locative, ablative Case) and create learning difficulties for ESL learner. The study examines the acquisition of prepositions by Sinhala speaking learners of English with respect to the four fine-grained categories of prepositions, where the evidence for the existence has been found by Littlefield (2006) through first language acquisition using five English speaking children (aged 1;2-2;3). The present study aims to validate or disprove this type of fine-grained approach to preposition on the basis of Sinhala speaking ESL learners’ responses in a dictation task. A total number of 65 Sinhala students from Grade 4 from two government schools will be examined for the test and a sentence battery of 40 sentences with10 sentences each for adverbs, semi-lexical prepositions, and functional prepositions will be used in the dictation task. Elicited imitation method is used to collect data and will be analysed statistically by using SPSS. Based on the findings, the order of acquisition of prepositions in comprehension would be detected, and this order could be suggested as a user friendly guideline to teach English prepositions in the ESL class-room.
High-focus and time-immediate indexicals: A study of Sinhala discourse markers me: ‘this’ and dæn ‘now’
(Journal of Pragmatics, 2015) Perera, K.; Strauss, S.
This article is an investigation of Sinhala demonstrative me:2 and temporal adverb dæn, in their functions as discourse markers. We analyze a corpus of approximately 400 min of naturally occurring, entirely unscripted spoken discourse. The data for this study are taken from televised interviews and political debates, involving a total of 16 speakers (11 male and 5 female). The data were transcribed and Romanized (adapted from Gair, 1998a) to facilitate morpho-syntactic-pragmatic analysis, and allowing for both interlineal glossing and the marking of relevant prosodic features. We identified all instances of the target forms me: and dæn and coded them for their functions as demonstrative/temporal reference markers in addition to their functions as discourse markers. We illustrate the functions of me: ‘this’ as a filler and as a clarification marker, and the functions of dæn ‘now’ as a contrastive marker, a discursive strategy building marker, and a marker of defensiveness to deflect designedly direct face threatening accusations. Our findings indicate that me: ‘this’ and dæn ‘now’ function as discourse management markers, exhibiting remarkable patterns of online interactional and cognitive processes of focus, repair, hesitation, and contrast across the majority of speakers and across all interactional settings in our database.
“When I am now reflecting on it”: The interview as the participant’s reflexive moment, DN 17
(2016) Perera, P.A.M.K.
Reflexivity has become a key feature in ethnographic and sociological studies, especially in relation to interviews. However, the reflexive process is for the most part discussed as pertaining to the researcher rather than the participant (Alvesson, 2003; Bucholtz, 2001; Riach, 2009). As such, it is also discussed as an ‘off-stage’ phenomenon rather than a process that can take place within the interview. In this paper, I focus on reflexivity within the interview itself, in an instance where the participant’s reflexivity is the focus. Using an interview during which the participant states a political stance, examines it and shifts it, I examine the discursive features that are part of this reflexive encounter. The interview is from a study on political discourses of academics in Sri Lankan universities. The aim of the paper is to look at the interview as a discursive space for reflexive relationships for both the participant and the researcher.
Buddhism, Mindfulness Based Intervention and the Eclectic Parenting Style Construct in Sri Lankan Female Undergraduates
(2016) Widyalankara, R.C.
Literature states that Authoritative parenting style has a significant role in predicting high quality academic achievement. The hypothesis of this study, while recognizing the positive correlation between authoritative parenting style and academic achievement, investigates the contribution of the demandingness and control of authoritarian parenting and the indulgent responsiveness of permissive parenting towards academic achievement. The religious dimension: Buddhism, is kept a constant and is examined as a contributing factor. Thus the population of the research, middle class, female undergraduates high in academic achievement are Buddhists. Utilizing a quantitative approach the instrument consisted of a Parental Styles Dimensions Questionnaire. A sample of 50 undergraduates of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka obtained under selective followed by random sampling procedures are the respondents of the study. The mean age for the sample is 23.31 years and all are female. Academic performance was measured through the GPA obtained at the end of the academic year 2014/2015 and all participants recorded an above 3.5 score. As data analysis procedures the study employs descriptive level mean and standard deviation methods. The results indicated that the Authoritative Parenting Style was primarily used by the parents of the undergraduates. But characteristics of authoritarian and permissive parenting styles too had a lesser but significant presence in their upbringing. Thus, based on the evaluation on the tertiary level undergraduate population, it is hypothesized that an eclectic method in parenting contributes towards academic achievement enhanced through maximized Buddhist values founded on mindfulness based intervention.