Developing the communicative competence of bilingual Bachelor of Education undergraduates using the subject content; Action Research

Background Lack of English Communication skills – one main reason for graduate unemployment ( Perera, Silva, & Marambe, B. 2009) BME introduced in schools in 2001 – prepare students for higher education & employment Important to B.Ed (E/M) students – two ways

The Iceberg Theory (Cummins, 2000) Development of BICS – & CALPS. Basic Communication Skills & Academic Communication Skills Students not developed BICS BICS & CALPS of B.Ed students should be developed simultaneously Using the subject content is the most suitable

Objectives 1. Identify the problems students face in communication in the second language 2. Examine ways of minimizing the above problems 3. Implement a programme to develop the communicative competence 4. Assess the level of development of the students

Methodology Action Research Interviews, classroom observations Identify Problems students encountered in speaking Intervention – (8 weeks) to develop speaking skills Sample – B.Ed Part 1 undergraduates

Data Collection - Observations - Recordings - Reflections - Feedback of the students The students recorded their own speech and were encouraged to identify their own errors in speech through reflection. Common errors were discussed at the end.

Activities (based on the content) dialogues group activities asking and answering questions explaining concepts in simple language reporting and narrating expressing preferences and objections group discussions on issues presentations and teaching a small section of the content

Findings Reluctant to speak - fear of making mistakes. All the students made grammatical errors –word order, prepositions, conjunctions etc. Did not use appropriate questioning structures Eg. “True Education is what?”

Inappropriate use of vocabulary Eg. “I think the major idea is an Education emerging the innate potentialities” Main idea of Education is to draw the ….. “Education should be create a develop people.” Education should contribute to ……

Common Pronunciation errors different pronunciations of the same syllable in different contexts Eg. district/diversity silent letters in words - pour, halves. consonant clusters ‘recognize’ pronounced as ‘recoraganize’

At the end of the Intervention Ability for self and peer corrections (through reflections) Ask simple questions, give simple, relevant answers accurately. (content based) Explain parts of the content in simple language Confidence to make presentations

Conclusion Using subject content of the undergraduates to develop their communication skills is successful because; Language used in practical, authentic situations motivates the students to use the language meaningfully. Dialogues, group discussions, competitions, explanations and presentations effective in the development of communication skills

References Cummins, J.(2000).Language, power and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the cross fire, by J. Buffalo. NY: Multilingual Matters Ltd. National Education Commission. (2003).Proposals for a national policy framework on general education in Sri Lanka; Envisioning education for a national policy framework. Sri Lanka Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; Learning, teaching assessment. Language policy unit, Strasbourg. Retrived from www.coe.int/lang-CEFR Perera, E.R.K., Silva, G.L.L.P. & Marambe, B. (2009). Development of an outcome based curriculum embedding employability skills, institutional goals and values: a Sri Lankan experience. Country Reports-Enhancement of Graduate Employment. ASAIHL Conference, 20th – 22nd May 2009, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Pp. 19-25

Dept. of Humanities Education Supervisor : Prof. Marie Perera Thank You Sulochana Neranjani Dept. of Humanities Education Faculty of Education Supervisor : Prof. Marie Perera