Amali Borlaugoda

Possibilities and Challenges of

Implementing EIL in Sri Lanka : Attitudes of Sri

Lankans

Language Profile of Sri Lanka

Democratic, Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Sinhala Tamil English

Constitution of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka declares,

[1]. The Official Language in Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala.

[2]. Tamil shall also be an Official Language.

[3]. English shall be the Link Language.

13th Amendment of the Constitution (2011) of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,

Once upon a time…..Date Event

1796

Treaty of Amiens

The British East India Company annexes the Maritime Prov-

inces, and English becomes the only official language.

1948

Dominion Status

Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) gains independence from Great

Britain. English remains the only official language of inde-

pendent Ceylon.

1956

Official Languages Act

Sinhala becomes the only official language of Sri Lanka.

English is dethroned.

July 1987

Indo – Sri Lanka Accord

Sinhala, Tamil and English are declared the official languages

of Sri Lanka.

November 1987

13th Amendment to the constitution

English is the link language, Sinhala and Tamil are the official

languages of Sri Lanka.

Queens' "ENGLISH" & OUR "english"

The variety of English we use in Sri Lanka at

present is identified as the English of colonized but

not of colonizer.

SSLE has its own dictionary and literature.

SSLE

Tamil English

“Not Pot” English

Burgher English

English =

English as a Foreign language

English as a Second Language

English native speakers

Usage based approch to English in SL

A ^ mini survey on attitudes towards English

micro

65 – Participants, Sri Lankans in the age group of 20 - 40

1. English is important to find a good job and for higher education.

2. English is important for successful online communication

3. It is important learn English as an International Language.

4. English is required to communicate with native speakers of English.

5. English is required to communicate with non native speakers of English.6. It is important to have native like pronunciation.

7. English has to be learned from native speakers of English.

8. Sri Lankan English teachers are capable of teaching not only grammar but pronunciation effectively.

9. Are you aware of different varieties of English ?

10. Which variety of English do you want to learn and use? Rank them in order of preference.

Conclusions of the study1. Sri Lankans accept the importance of learning Eng-

lish for upward mobility in the society.

2. The participants acknowledge the importance of

English as an international language and admit that

English is used to communicate with native as non

native speakers of English.

3. The participants of the study are aware of different

varieties of English and they do not discriminate

native and non native models of English.

4. Despite of positive attitudes towards non native

varieties of English the participants still prefer to

learn and use inner circle varieties of English.

•2009 has been declared as the year of IT and

English in Sri Lanka

•on July 19, 2009, the President launched the

National Road Map to promote Spoken/

Communicative English skills in Sri Lanka.

• English as a Life Skill Speak English Our way

Back to Sri Lanka…

“..children should be allowed and encouraged to

speak English our way and they should not feel

ashamed or inferior to do so. Many countries in

the world have their own ways of speaking

English and there is no reason for Sri Lanka to

be an exception and children should not be

deterred from speaking English our way….”

Sunimal Fernando

the Coordinator/ Convener of the Presidential

Task Force on English and IT,

“The classroom is a powerful site of policy

negotiation. The pedagogies practiced and texts

produced in the classroom can reconstruct policies

ground up. In fact, the classroom is already a policy

site; every time teachers insist on a uniform variety

of language or discourse, we are helping

reproduce monolingualist ideologies and linguistic

hierarchies.”

(Canagarajah : 2006)

In Conclusion…

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

0

0

1

16

48

1. English is important to find a good job and for higher education.

.

Number of Participants

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

0

1

2

24

38

2. English is important for successful online com-munication

Number of Participants

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

0

0

0

13

52

3. It is important to learn English as an international language.

Number of Participants

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

0

2

3

30

30

4. English is required to communicate with native speakers of English.

Number of Participants

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

0

6

17

36

6

5. English is required to communicate with non native speakers of English.

Number of Participants

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

5

22

23

13

2

It is important to have a native-like pronunciation.

Number of Participants

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

2

29

19

15

0

7. English should be learned from native speakers of English.

Number of Participants

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

3

1

19

26

16

8. Sri Lankan English teachers are capable of teaching not only grammar but pronunciation effectively.

Number of Participants

No

Yes

3

62

Are you aware of different varieties of Eng-lish?

Number of Participants

Koren English

Singapore English

South African English

Pakistani English

Indian English

Hongkong English

New Zealand English

Canadian English

Sri Lankan English

Australian English

American English

British English

2.65

3.17

3.4

3.91

4.37

5.42

6.02

8.23

9.28

9.74

10.82

11.02

Average Ranking according to the preferred variety to learn/use

Avarage Ranking