Symposia & Conferences

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    Practical Problems of Learning and Teaching Hindi as a Foreign Language.
    (Department of Hindi Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2016) Hansika, W.A. Maduni
    In Sri Lanka, Hindi is not considered as a main language. Some Indians those who live in Sri Lanka use Hindi language as their first language while some Sri Lankans use it as a second language. However majority of the people are interested in learning foreign languages and Hindi language holds a priority yet there are many problems associated with learning Hindi as a foreign language. For the study, a sample of 32 students who are learning Hindi as a foreign language was taken into consideration. Relevant data was gathered through conducting direct discussions, observation and by administering self-developed questionnaire. According to the findings it was revealed that learners are not practicing what they have learnt and the explanation of the teacher is not given in an understandable language. Specifically, not using interesting teaching methods in the teaching process, teachers' verbal explanations having the many difficult words which are simply too hard to catch and repeated failures in learning Hindi etc. can be given as problems of learning Hindi as a foreign language. Finally, it is recommended from the teachers’ perspective that students have to practice what they have learnt about Hindi, they need to make extra efforts on learning and from the learners’ perspective teachers should use more interesting methods on teaching while encouraging the students to overcome the difficulties in learning Hindi as a foreign language. Furthermore, the teacher should use an understandable language to teach Hindi.
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    Using Poetry in Teaching English as a Second Language as a Means of Improving Language Production
    (Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Gunarathne, N.M.A.D.W.C.
    With the intention of meeting the needs of English Language learners, Language teachers and instructors are trying to use different methods to improve the language skills of the students. It has been observed that the majority of the students are weak in speaking and writing in English Language. Therefore this paper aims to explore how poetry can be used as a teaching tool in improving speaking and writing among English Language learners. A survey was done using 35 students at the Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technology, Tangalle. Several instruments were used in this research. They were some speaking activities, writing activities, questionnaires, interviews. As for the materials, six English poems were selected by different poets. More than 90% students were engaged in all the activities given to them. A significant progress could be seen in both speaking and writing activities with compared to their previous performance in these activities. With respect to the vocabulary they tried to use new words which were learnt through the poems in writing and speaking. Further from the data that were collected through questionnaire, it was learnt 100% of the students agreed with the view that these activities were really helpful and encouraged them to speak and considerably the students were highly motivated, active and enthusiastic since they were free to express their views on the poems unlike on other days. Consequently, the students were less hesitant and became creative in the process. This process was carried out for four weeks and the last two weeks were very important because the students showed considerable improvements. Therefore the results of the research show that the use of poetry in classrooms is very effective and productive indicating fact that poetry can be used as a strategy for improving the language production of the students.