The influence of the first language on English as a second language writing of undergraduates of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts in Sri Lanka

Abstract

In this post-globalisation era, communicating in English (L2) is an essential requirement in the private and public employment sectors in Sri Lanka. Students studying Performing Arts: Dance, Music, and Drama and moving into the Performing Arts professions or another profession, government, administration or teaching, are expected to be proficient in English, which is taught as a Second Language (L2) in the country. My experience of teaching ESL to undergraduates for over a decade shows several challenges encountered by them in ESL classes that can be traced back to the influence of their first language (L1). This study examines the influence of L1 (Sinhala) on writing in English in the Sri Lankan higher education context: (i) What are the difficulties experienced by undergraduates in generating and organising ideas in L2 because of the influence of L1? (ii) How do the syntactic patterns of L1 of the undergraduates affect writing in L2? (iii) What differences in semantic patterns in L1 affect their semantic patterns in L2?

The research employed a case study approach. The participants were 24 first-year undergraduates and 10 ESL teachers. A questionnaire, two writing tasks and two focus group interviews were used to collect student data, while teachers were interviewed using structured questions. The questionnaire obtained student demographic information, their perspectives on ESL, and their views on learning English. This was followed by the first writing task, a personal recount of 250 words in L1 and L2. Thereafter, the first focus group interview was conducted to find out the difficulties they encountered, their thought processes, and their ways of generating ideas in writing in English.

The focus group interview with the teachers indicated that teaching L2 writing was challenging. Teachers found their students disengaged in writing tasks due to limited reading skills and low motivation. Students who were emergent writers frequently struggled with writing in L2 due to difficulties in thought processing in the English language. Common concerns included vocabulary retrieval, grammar and syntax complexities, comprehension issues, and confusion with idiomatic expressions between L1 and L2. Teachers observed students using their L1 at various levels in L2 writing to overcome these challenges.

Date of Thesis submission	2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Katina Zammit (Supervisor), Anne Power (Supervisor), Chwee Beng Lee (Supervisor) & Jinghe Han (Supervisor)