Abstract:
Bilingual Education was introduced to the Sri Lankan education system in the recent past since
2001. Compared to other countries, the difference in bilingual education of Sri Lanka is that
few selected subjects are taught in second language (L2). Other subjects are taught in first
language (L1), which is either Sinhala or Tamil. Thus, it is identified as mother tongue based
bilingual education. In the Sri Lankan context, students who learn under bilingual curriculum
are considered more fluent in L2 than monolingual students. However, in class room
observations, such considerations cannot be generalized, which of course is against the
expectations of bilingual education programme in Sri Lanka. Hence, the objectives of the
research are to find out the difficulties faced by bilingual students in speaking L2 and to
investigate reasons related to the fluency of L2 among bilingual students. Accordingly, 68
students who learn under bilingual education curriculum in Grade 10 and 20 teachers who teach
the subjects in English from 03 schools governed under provincial councils in Gampaha district
were given questionnaires and the interviews to collect primary data. Book research was
conducted to collect secondary data. Primary data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively
using the descriptive data analysis method. Thus, the findings prove that the demotivating social
factors, misconceptions of L2 among the students and deficiencies of pedagogical process in
teaching English as a second language and bilingual education system have neglected the L2
spoken aspect.
