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Item First Language Interference in Learning Tamil as a Second Language:A Case Study.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Srikantharajah, S.Language learning has been one of the significant interest in the humanistic discipline. In recent studies, First Language Learning is viewed as a part of individual's biological development. Second Language Learning is a major discipline in both Applied Linguistics and Psycholinguistics, which have gained significance in educational contexts around the world today. In Sri Lanka Tamil Language acts as the First Language for Tamil and Muslim people, further the Sinhalese students learn it as a Second Language. Since Tamil and Sinhalese Languages belong to different Language families, many similarities and differences can be identified between these two languages. The aim of this research is to identify the Sinhalese Language interference in learning Tamil as a Second Language. A sample of twenty-three first year students, who are following Translation studies at the Department of Linguistics in University of Kelaniya were selected for this study. In the process of learning Tamil as a Second Language, students tend to perform many errors because of the interference of their first Language. The data were collected by studying the answer scripts, written assignments and presentations of the above-mentioned group of students. Twenty-three written assignments and answer scripts were analyzed using the theory of error analysis. Being a structural analysis, it consideres the errors from the lexical level. Thus, the first Language influence could be seen in morphological and syntactic levels. Significantly, many errors could be identified in morphological level, where 75% of the students made errors particularly in cases in Tamil. There are eight cases in Tamil and the Sinhalese students have shown no errors when making sentences in 1st (Nominative) and 8th (Vocative) cases because they are similar to Sinhalese, whereas they have made considerable number of errors when making sentences in other cases, particularly the 2nd (Accusative) and the 4th (Dative). Therefore, word-to-word translation is not effective in teaching cases in Tamil for the Sinhalese students, thus, it is recommended to teach Tamil while comparing the grammar rules with Sinhalese.Item Intralingual Errors in the English Writing Produced by Sinhala Speaking Undergraduates: An Error Analysis.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Shashikala, H. P. L. W.Learner errors are an inseparable part of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) since they serve as the best tool for interpreting the sources of learner errors and the strategies employed by the second language (L2) learner in the learning process. Numerous studies have established the role of first language (L1) interference in the acquisition of an L2 as a major factor for learner errors. Nevertheless, research has forwarded that learner errors do not result only from already acquired L1 knowledge and this category of errors is generally known as „intralingual‟ errors: the confusions caused by the complexities of the target language itself. This study identifies the possible sources of intralingual errors in the English writing produced by Sinhala speaking undergraduates in order to identify the nature of such influence in their L2 learning process. The sample comprises of fifty second second year undergraduates studying English as a compulsory subject in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. The data gathered from the three instruments: students‟ writing, questionnaire and interviews were analyzed using descriptive and contextual methods. Error Analysis Approach (EAA) was used in this research to find learner errors, identify them, and explain their sources. The findings report that a group of errors can be identified as developmental errors and errors due to systematic variation following Larsen-Freeman‟s classification (1991) of learner errors. Precisely, these errors have been caused by these learners‟ efforts to build up hypothesis about the target language from their limited classroom experience. The kind of complexities of the language to be acquired seems to cause the L2 learner a considerable difficulty in learning English. This study recommends that it is the responsibility of the language teacher to realize that if such errors are thoroughly analyzed, the learner‟s language acquisition process can be clearly understood. Further, this will enable students to develop strategies to overcome such errors eventually. This analysis concludes that intralingual errors require much emphasis due to their frequent occurrence in students‟ writing.Item A Case Study on Integrating First Language (L1) to English as a Second Language Classroom for Vocabulary Enhancement and Comprehension Augmentation.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Douglas, S.The debate of including or excluding the students‟ native language to an English as a second language classrooms has been a contentious issue for a long time. There is a need to experiment this issue and investigate the direct impact of mother tongue in the second language classroom. The aim of this study is to identify the impact of using a limited amount of first language (L1) in the second language class room for vocabulary enhancement and comprehension augmentation and its variation across proficiency levels. The study was conducted at Vavuniya Tamil Madhya Maha Vidyalayam with sixty-six Advanced Level students. They were divided into experimental and controlled groups. A pre-test was conducted to recognize the vocabulary and comprehension levels of the students. Subsequently, a reading comprehension session was conducted using the Direct Method for the controlled group. The experimental group attended the session in Principled Eclectic Method. The post-tests were followed and the data were statistically analyzed to identify the impact by paying individual attention to participants‟ proficiency levels and question types. The mean marks of the experimental group in the pre-test is 46.79 and the standard deviation is 29.27. In the post-test, there is a remarkable improvement in the result of the experimental group showing 57.88 and the standard deviation 28.50. The findings confirm that the impact of using L1 differs according to the individual student‟s proficiency where little impact was observed in high proficiency learners while a remarkable impact was observed in intermediate learners. However, the study concludes that there is a fairly high impact in using a limited amount of L1 in the ESL classroom for vocabulary enhancement and comprehension augmentation in facilitating the learners‟ language development.Item Use of Learner‟s First Language in ESL Classroom.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Disanayake, D.M.K.H.This paper attempts to appraise the success of allowing L1 to be used in ESL classroom to a limited extent in achieving the targets of ESL teaching, first teachers being aware of instances where and how they should use L1 effectively. Despite the fact that English, after much controversy, is recommended by many to be used as the sole medium of teaching in ESL classroom, after years of careful observation, it is firmly convinced that English only policy no more helps meeting the targets in ESL classroom. English only concept probably creates a rather threatening than facilitating environment for the learners. This study inquires why teachers should use L1 in ESL teaching and instances where it is much more effective than sticking to English. For the purpose, two ESL classes of a state university each of which consisted of around 20 undergraduate students of the first year were taken into consideration. Evaluation of the performance of the students by a test, questionnaires and interviews held with the teachers from the same university were used in reaching the findings. In this study, it was revealed through observation that 85% of the students do not actively participate in the classroom activities and that the performance of their productive skills, as was revealed at the pre and post assessment tests, is far behind than that of the receptive skills, when the things are taught only in English. Another fact mostly highlighted was that even if the teachers are always encouraged by the system to use only English in ESL classroom, still around 90% of the interviewed teachers use L1 to some extent based on their experience. Another important finding was that, as admitted by 80% of the interviewed teachers, there are instances where teachers do not find a better option than using L1 in order to teach the intended point effectively. In conclusion, it is suggested through the research that L1 should not be used only when all the other attempts fail to meet the targets, but it should be used to make teaching and learning process more efficient and effective.Item First Language Interference in Second Language Speaking With a Special Reference to the Age Factor(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Gunarathne, N.M.A.D.W.C.English language has been playing the role of the second language in Sri Lanka since the British imperialists came to Sri Lanka in 1815. Since then English language has taken significant place in Sri Lankan society because of its role as the second language. Moreover, it has become a medium of communication in both private sector and government sector in providing a wide range of employments and it has become the language of not only the upper class but also upper middle class. Therefore learning and teaching English Language in Sri Lanka have been given priority. However, a problem encountered in the field of English is that although the second language learners are fluent in writing, why the learners cannot achieve native like speech in speaking the English as a second Language. Hence the research focuses on exploring the reason for the above issue. A survey was done taking 120 students whose first language is Sinhala with the intention of identifying the errors made by the second language learners in speaking English as a second language. In order to accumulate the necessary data, both quantitative and qualititative methods are used. Questionnaires, interviews have been done under these methods and in addition to that each student is supposed to make a speech of 3 minutes which is recorded for analyzing the changes of phonology of each language. The results reveal that the learner’s first language interferes when they speak the second language which can also be defined as mother tongue interference or phonetic interference. Moreover the data manifest that the interference occurs where the learner find difficulty to pronounce the sounds of English Language. Thereby these sounds are often replaced by similar sounds in Sinhala sound system. What is more to remark is that this mispronunciation also causes semantic errors and it will be a barrier to the communication. Extending the research further, it is also found that “Age” is a cause for the interference and plays a crucial role in learning a second language. The research draws the attention of the responsible authorities and academics that facilitate teaching and learning English as a second language in Sri Lanka.