SL undergrads’ English proficiency woefully low, a study reveals

May 29, 2013, 10:06 pm , the island

by Dasun Edirisinghe

Sri Lankan undergraduates’ proficiency in English was rather unsatisfactory, a study carried out by the Ruhuna University, has revealed.

According to excerpts of the research, findings in the Royal Asiatic Society’s 6th Research Conference publication, all undergraduates, save a few, especially in the Arts Faculties, lack knowledge of English.

The research was carried out by Dr. Tilak Wijesundara, of the Department of Sociology, W. A. N. D. Wijesinghe of the Department Economics and Upul Sanjeewa Wijepala of the Department of Sociology of the Ruhuna University.

The study was done with a randomly selected sample of 160 students in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ruhuna University and information was gathered with the help of four data collection methods including observation, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and case studies.

According to the research findings, the Ruhuna University is among the higher education institutions where students’ knowledge of English is very low.

Many respondents had a negative attitude towards the English Language Teaching Units (ELTUs) whereas a large majority admitted having scarcely used modern technology by ELTU in teaching English. They said they had not been motivated to learn English by teachers in ELTU.

It was also found that the majority of respondents attended English classes when they had no other activities to do. However, an overwhelming majority agreed that at least one course unit in a semester should be taught in English.

The researchers have said that based on these findings, it is possible to make some important recommendations such as creating an ‘English friendly’ culture, in universities and using English in conducting regular courses.

The need for using modern technology in teaching English, changing methods used by ELTUs and making English courses more attractive to capture students’ attention has been stressed.

When contacted for comment, Secretary of the Higher Education Ministry Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne said that the problem had been identified several years back and steps taken to tackle it.

"However, most undergraduates have not made use of the opportunities and facilities available to learn English in universities," he said.

"The US government provided 10,000 scholarships to Sri Lankan undergraduates to learn English online in 2011, but only 3,000 have enrolled for the course so far," Dr. Navaratne said.

He said that ministry had decided to test the English and IT knowledge of undergraduates before degrees were awarded.

However, teaching only English grammar, was not enough, Dr. Navaratne said, stressing the need for imparting communication skills to undergraduates to prepare them for the modern world. He said the importance of learning English could not be overemphasised and the Ministry of Higher Education, under the guidance of Minister S. B. Dissanayake, was doing its utmost to help undergraduate to master the English language so that they would be able to grab opportunities available in the job market as well as in the academic field upon graduation.