Open AccessReintroduction of English as Medium of Instruction in Sri Lanka: With Special Reference to Jaffna
Author(s) -
Karunakaran Thirunavukkarsu
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of english language and literature studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.136
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 2306-9910
pISSN - 2306-0646
DOI - 10.18488/journal.23/2012.1.1/23.1.1.8
Subject(s) - tamil , vernacular , medium of instruction , sri lanka , mathematics education , government (linguistics) , psychology , neuroscience of multilingualism , pedagogy , sociology , medical education , linguistics , medicine , socioeconomics , philosophy , neuroscience , tanzania
English is now introduced in grade 6 once the children finish their primary education in vernacular. The main aspect of the way in which English is used as medium of instruction is that in government schools some subjects are taught in English while some other subjects are taught in Tamil. This helps the students be balanced bilinguals because they constantly learn their first language while acquiring mastery in L2. Eventually, it is assumed that this will facilitate the additive bilingualism and children would be balanced bilinguals. This paper tried to appraise the potential success of one decade –long English medium program and also see the different perspectives of the stakeholders involved in the English medium education. This study captured the views of parents, teachers and children: English medium and vernacular children.