Abstract
Bilingual Education was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2001, initially through Amity School Programs. In this Bilingual Program, English is the medium of instruction in selected subjects from grade 6 to grade 11. The students of Bilingual Program are expected to be competent both in First Language- L1 (Sinhala/Tamil) and Target Language (English). However, the students find it difficult to express themselves in English especially in academic performances. The research findings of NIE, 2007, too, correspond with the relevant observation. I adapted the descriptive method to collect data by giving questionnaires to students in the sample of 60 students and 20 teachers including English teachers, non – English teachers who work in the Bilingual Program and teachers who work in Activity Based Oral English (ABOE) Program in primary education. An analysis of collected data suggests a 65% of the sample is not expressive themselves in English, especially in academic performances. This revelation is important because it helps to anticipate the propositions find in Bilingual Education and to take necessary steps to guide its move. In this paper, I try to interpret the difficulties in speaking in English faced by students in the Bilingual Education Program with the help of theoretical explanation.
Highlights
Bilingualism is the mastery of two languages
It is expected that students will reach acceptable level of proficiency in English at the end of junior secondary education without jettisoning Sinhala and Tamil which will continue to be the medium of instruction in selected subjects.” ((Bilingual Education, Teacher Developmental Manual, 2007)
“Initially, the English medium in selected subjects were made available in National Schools and in schools identified as provincial centers of Excellence to which scholarship holders are to be sent, so that at least one or two schools in each administrative division could teach the selected subjects in English as early as possible” (Bilingual Education, Teacher Developmental Manual, 2007)
Summary
Bilingualism is the mastery of two languages. The regular use of two languages is the distinguished characteristic of a bilingual. This paper focuses on sequential bilinguals and the difficulties in speaking in English faced by them in their Bilingual Education. Bilingual Education is an educational program, which has an involvement of two or more languages in varying degrees Defined broadly, it can mean any use of two languages in school – by teachers or students or both – for a variety of social and pedagogical purposes. This research focuses only on difficulties in speaking in English, it is important to remember that these four skills are more or less interrelated to each other. The general objective of teaching – learning process in a language classroom focuses on to develop the four skills of students. In second language teaching – learning process, often, speaking is less focused. Unlike reading and writing, the role of speaking and listening is less than clear
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