Abstract:
In Sri Lanka, the proficiency in the first language as well as a second language,
specifically English language has become a necessity to achieve higher in the current job
market. Though a proficiency in a language should be determined by the mastery of both
productive and receptive skills, the society tend to evaluate an individual’s language skills
mainly through their writing skill. Writing skills involve the accurate use of grammar,
punctuation and spelling and therefore the improvement of the students’ writing skills has
become a necessity in catering to the needs of the job market. Questioning the conventional
language teaching methods, a class room action research was carried out with the participation
of ten university students of lower intermediate level from the Department of Marketing
Management of University of Kelaniya to investigate the necessity for the improvement of
writing skills using modern approaches to language teaching. The objective of the action
research was to assess the effectiveness of adopting the unconventional language-basedapproach
rather than the use of conventional content-based-approach in teaching second
language (ESL) learners. Unlike the content approach, the language-based-approach
incorporates literature and language skills. Thus, the researcher was able to guide students on
the specific literature piece based on their proficiency level, lexical and discourse knowledge
(Lazar, 1993). The classroom action research was conducted in two circles. Each cycle
included four stages, planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. The research data
were collected by using observation, interview, documents, and photographs and tests.The data
were analyzed during and after data collection. The results after the initial data collection
showed the need for the improvement of basic grammatical skills such as the use of articles
and prepositions and by the evaluation of the data collected at the end of the research, the
researcher was able to conclude the effectiveness of the language approach in teaching
language to ESL students.
