INDEX NO:

TTIE INSTITUTION OF ENGINENIS, SRI LANKA

Language SkiII Development- fryf I0Ot

Time allowed:2 hours Decemberr20ll

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

. This paper contains 5 questions in7 pages.

. This examination accounts for lA}oh of the module assessment. The total maximum

mark attainable is 100. The marks assigned for each question & section thereof are

indicated in square brackets.

o This is a closed pook examination.

o Answer all questions.

o Answer Question 2r3 and 5 in the space provided.

Ouqs(iop l.T7

HM -1001

Imagine that the government is going to close a school and arrange the .-students to be transferred to a few other schools in the vicinity. The viilagersoppose this and demand that the school should be rehabilitated and providedwith more teachers and facilities.

I

i,i

The following arguments are put forward to justiff the closure of the school.Counter the arguments.

Write at least five sentences to substantiate your argument against each ofthe six arguments given. [25 marks]

The student population is comparatively low and hence any fuitherdevelopment would not be justified. It would lead to a situation wherevaluable resources will be underutilized.

The expenditure involved in upgrading the infrastructure and otherfacilities to a reasonable level would be very high and time consuming.

It is difficult to atfract qualified teachers to the school due to itsremoteness from the main city. Those who are appointed from the urbanareas as a rule try to go back to their home areas as soon as possible.

students would not be sufficiently motivated due to lack of competition.

students will miss the opportunity of mixing with those coming fromdifferent backgrounds.

Ouestion 2. Read each of the following seven sentences and rewrite it to giveapproximately the same idea using the words given belorv each of thefr tobegin your sentence. [15 marks]

i. Many people argue that our higher education system needs to be radicallychanged because it cannot accommod. ate a reasonable number of thestudents who pass their GCE (Advanced Level) examinations.

A fundamental change in the existing system is expected to generate moreopportunities for those

ll.

lil-

IV.

v.

Pase 3 of7

continued ...

ii- We see more newS-dbout unemplqyqqntshortage of giaduates to fiIl available jobs'

4140ng graduates than

Our problem is more a matter of

1u- There are many disappointed young people who have passed their

Advanced Levei examination quite well and yet are unable to enter

university.

The inability of many AL qualified students to gain admission to the

university

education would

Ti'

iv. The argument is that if all districts were equal.in terms of facilities and

access to education, the performance of their students would be similar'

The rationale was that the availability of equal facilities and access to

{

v. To achieve this goal of equality, cleverer students are deprived of the

opportunity to reciive a degree while we accept weaker ones'

Weaker ones are admiued at the cost of

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continued ...

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HM -1001

vi. Do they, Withmeir bresent-ieiOords of atrodities committed, have a riSt-todictate such terms to Sri f,a*il

Do their present records of atrocities justiff their

Ouestion 3. Write a summary of the following passage in approximately 109 words.

English as a second language is indispensable for us Sri Lankans to have a good moderneducation, and to be successfully comietitive in the job market. Someone's kn"owledge of aIanguage is usually represented as their ability to speak it. For example, we may ask a [erson,"Do you speak English?", but not "Do you writeiread English?" when we want to find ouiwhether that person knows English. This is because ordina'rily we assume that speech is themost basic form of language.

But you can't just speak English or any other language for that matter unless you havesomething to speak about; even when you have ro*"thlrrg that you could speak about youmay not speak about it unless you feel an urge/ a desire/ a need to do ro; uguin your urgentdesire to speak about a particular subject may not make you speak about itir English if thatlanguage is not your mother tongue or first language. So speaking in English-involves astrong enough motive to speak about a worthwhile mattei in efttish, ina in no otherlanguage. Providing such a motive is crucial for students to respond p"ositively to any courseof English language instruction. Our failure to do this, dr. to a variety ofcauses/circumstances, goes a long way towards explaining why so many earlier initiatives

Howatt (1984) identifies two "versions" of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT): astrong version and. a weak version. The "strong" version is explalnei as "using:Englisf to .

learn it, instead of learning English to use it", whereas the "wJak" version is interp[ted as"learning English to use it".

vii. It is thought that the facilities of a particular area make no difference to theperformance of students in the Arts stream

It is thought that the performance of Arts students is not affected

Page 5 of7

continued ...

Iir- terms of CLT (strong--61 weak), a maJor responsibility that devolves on teaChers is to

generate oppo.toriti.,'ht i"arneis to uie En[iish for meaningful commrrsioation and

Interaction.'Along with this, it is now generally accepted by second languago acquisition

theorists that rea"iling and writing activities, al-ong with listening, speaking, and thinking

+(109)

Page 6 of7

Ouestion 4. Edit and rervrite the following passage to make it more readable. you mayfocus on: deleting needless words, correcting spelling or awkwariphrasing/words, adding words/phrases where n...rrary

"t".

HM -1001

[20 marks]

homes to watch their favorite

loT" and pressing some buttons world happenings iue . ..... pr"..rt.abefore us' Children nowadays develop faster in language, owing to the early exposure tote,levision programs. At such tender age, it would be ... for them toread- books or papers. Thus, television programs are a good source of learning for them.Furthermore, pronunciations by the newscasters, ictors or actresses *" usuallystandardized, hence young children watching these programs will leam the 'righi'pronunciations Owning a telivisio., i, ulro extremely beneficial toworking parents who are usually too .. or tired to take their kias out forentertainments. Surrounded by the comforts of their home, the family can have a chanceto get ... ... and watch their favorite televisio, prog.u*r.

Aluminium is using luxuriously in the modern world, and the usages of metal is extremelydiverse due to it's -many unusual combinations of properties. No other_ metallic elementcannot be used in so many ways across such a variety of atmospheres, like in the home, intransport, on land, sea and in air, and in industry and tommerce.

Aluminium's uses are not always as oblivious as they may see, with sizeable proportions ofmanufactured aluminiuq and aluminium oxide being into other separate processes, likethe manufacfure of glass than towards the commo, .orrro*er products that.we mostvoluntarily associate Aluminium.

One of the most common end users of aluminium is packaging, including drinks cans, foilwrappings, bottle tops, foil containers. Each of these rely inaluminium to provide a way ofcontaining the food clearly and to protect them from changes in the local invironment outof the packaging. Aluminium still used in a very big way in the food packaging industrythough recent health sorows linking aluminium io Alzheimer's decease.

Aluminium's natural resistant to corrosion aids it in its roll in packaging, as unless in iron,aluminium oxide forms a protective and not destructive layer. Aluminium also completelyimpermeable, (even when rolled into extremely lean foil),Ld d.o do not let the *o-u o.taste to out of food packaging, the metal is non-toxic and aroma-less itself too, makingperfect for package.

Ouestion 5. Fill in the blanks with suitable words.

[20 marks]

With the invention of televisions, mzury ......of entertainment have beenreplaced. Lively programs like television serials and world news, have .

from us the need to read books or papers, to listen to radios or even to watch movies. Infact, during the 1970s, when televisions were first introduced, cinema theatres

:.....-. great losses as many people chose to stay in the comforts of their

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End ofpaper.