First Undergraduate Research Symposium (HUG 2015)
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Item The effect of explicit instruction on the use of indefinite and definite articles by ESL learners(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Kaushakee, L.H.N.The English article system presents many problems for non-native speakers of English, particularly when they do not have an equivalent structure in their first language. Researchers have employed different approaches to the teaching of articles in order to overcome this problem. This study investigates the effectiveness of using explicit instruction on the use of indefinite and definite articles by Sri Lankan ESL learners. The research questions addressed in the study were “Which of the articles is most difficult to the Sri Lankan ESL students? And the reasons for its difficulty”, “Does explicit instruction help to overcome the overuse and underuse of indefinite and the definite articles by Sri Lankan ESL students?” The study embraced a quantitative methodology and was conducted with a group forty secondary school ESL learners having different proficiency levels. Same cloze type pretest and a posttest were administered to collect data. A control group and an experimental group were assigned based on the marks of the pretest. The experimental group received four interventions, each of which represented a form-function and usage framework. The control group received no intervention. After the intervention, the posttest was administered to every participant during class time under the same conditions. By encouraging the students to address the specific rules of using indefinite and definite articles in English, the researcher was able to improve students’ understanding of this difficult area and guide them to a more accurate usage of the English article system. This study will contribute to the underdeveloped area of research related to pedagogy and its effectiveness in addressing the errors made by ESL learners in the use of articles. In addition, the study would enable academic researchers, language teachers, and linguists to build a further discussion on explicit instruction as an effort to minimize the errors made by ESL students.Item Teaching language through literary texts(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Hettiarachchi, H.V.A.In Sri Lanka, the proficiency in the first language as well as a second language, specifically English language has become a necessity to achieve higher in the current job market. Though a proficiency in a language should be determined by the mastery of both productive and receptive skills, the society tend to evaluate an individual’s language skills mainly through their writing skill. Writing skills involve the accurate use of grammar, punctuation and spelling and therefore the improvement of the students’ writing skills has become a necessity in catering to the needs of the job market. Questioning the conventional language teaching methods, a class room action research was carried out with the participation of ten university students of lower intermediate level from the Department of Marketing Management of University of Kelaniya to investigate the necessity for the improvement of writing skills using modern approaches to language teaching. The objective of the action research was to assess the effectiveness of adopting the unconventional language-basedapproach rather than the use of conventional content-based-approach in teaching second language (ESL) learners. Unlike the content approach, the language-based-approach incorporates literature and language skills. Thus, the researcher was able to guide students on the specific literature piece based on their proficiency level, lexical and discourse knowledge (Lazar, 1993). The classroom action research was conducted in two circles. Each cycle included four stages, planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. The research data were collected by using observation, interview, documents, and photographs and tests.The data were analyzed during and after data collection. The results after the initial data collection showed the need for the improvement of basic grammatical skills such as the use of articles and prepositions and by the evaluation of the data collected at the end of the research, the researcher was able to conclude the effectiveness of the language approach in teaching language to ESL students.