The Effectiveness of the Modulation of Lessons for the Sri Lankan ESL Learning Undergraduates at a State University based on Content-Based Language Teaching in ESL Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Content-based instruction (CBI) is a significant approach in language education (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989), designed to provide second-language learners instruction in content and language (hence it is also called content-based language teaching; CBLT). It is considered to be more practical since it uses the learner’s knowledge as a subject matter to teach a language. Language teaching should cater to all four aspects of the language: reading, writing, listening and speaking. The samples for this research are thirty undergraduates who were selected randomly from the Faculty of Commerce and Management representing each department (Finance, Accountancy, HRM and B-com) at the University of Kelaniya and the fifteen DELT lecturers who teach these particular lessons. Their one year English course which is designed by the Department of English Language Teaching at the University of Kelanya is completely based on their main subject areas, hence, it is named as “English for Business Communication”. The course mainly includes lessons on academic writing, business report writing, facing interviews and interviewing, public speaking etc. along with the grammar lessons. The data was collected by distributing two questionnaires for the lecturers and the selected sample of students and the quality and the effectiveness of the lessons were evaluated through their opinion. From the collected data, 65% state that these lessons are effective as it fulfills the English needs of the Commerce faculty students. 43% of the lecturers state the lessons should focus more on speaking. Around 58% of the students mentioned that they need more focus on grammar and vocabulary. However, the overall view is that the CBL method is successful in teaching and learning process. Taking the data into consideration, it is evident that the lessons need an improvement in several areas such as grammar and speaking. Further, the integration of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) to the lessons would help the lecturers to create a more learner friendly environment within the classroom