The impact of the language medium shift on undergraduates specializing Social Science subjects in the University of Kelaniya

Abstract

This research study discusses the impact of the change of language medium instruction from Sinhala to English medium in the case of pursuing special degree of courses offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences in the University of Kelaniya. It has been identified as one of the major long standing issues confronted by undergraduates who chose to specialize in Social Science subjects. This process of language medium shift in education is known as Content and Language Analysis (CLIL) which is a dual focused teaching approach aimed at acquiring subject knowledge as well as foreign language competence simultaneously. Several studies have been carried out in this fieldsuch as by Cenoz, Genesee and Gorter (2013),Georgiou (2012) and Evans and Morrisons (2011). Howeverdespite of such research, a gap had always existed in terms of research focusing on university education. A questionnaire and interview based survey was carried out to gather necessary information and perspectives from undergraduates specializing in International Studies, Economics and Sociology in which this shift was prevalent. The results of this research can be used to devise strategies for major improvements in this field.