Symposia & Conferences
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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 Correlational Study – The Role of Receptive Language Skills in the Acquisition of Productive Skills; Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Lakshani, W.G.J.P.As Krashen suggests in his “input hypothesis” productive language skills (speaking and writing) evolve from the receptive skills (listening and reading) and, thus, they should be given more attention in the acquisition of a second language (Krashen, 1985). However, there is only limited research-based evidence to prove this correlation between the receptive and productive language skills. The primary question intended to find answers for in the present research was if effective receptive language skills reinforce better productive skills, in learning English as a second language. Thus, in order to explore any possible correlations between these two categories methodically, corresponding test scores of fifty ESL learners were analyzed in the research. Test scores of undergraduates in a placement test conducted for English were recorded for all four skills respectively. In order to avoid significant deviations in the score ranges the marks of students categorized under the same proficiency level; intermediate, were taken in to account. The scores of the two receptive skills; reading, listening and the productive skills; writing, speaking were totaled separately and an average mark for each category of skills was given for every student. Finally, the average scores each student has got for the two varieties of skills were analyzed using Pearson correlation co-efficient measures. A moderate positive correlation was found out between the average scores for the receptive and productive skills in the student sample. Conclusively, it is apparent that the findings of the research solidify the notion, that sound proficiency in the receptive skills paves the way for better writing and speaking skills in learning English a second language.