Faculty of Business Studies

A Linguistic Stylistics Analysis of the Poem 'Breakfast' by Jacques Pervert in theEnglish Language Teaching Contex

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

A Linguistic Stylistics Analysis of the Poem 'Breakfast' by Jacques Pervert in theEnglish Language Teaching Contex Subajana, J. Stylistics is an essential linguistic approach and is often considered a sub-branch of Applied Linguistics. This paper aims to investigate the poem at four distinct linguistic levels of stylistic analysis: graphological, lexical, morphological and syntactical. The poem 'Breakfast' by Jacques Pervert was selected for this study as it is one of the important poems in the curriculum of the GCE (O//L) literature in Sri Lankan secondary education. ESL learners and teachers think that understanding poems is challenging and are reluctant to learn and teach in the classroom as a regular activity. Analyzing the text stylistically in linguistic layers, the readers grasp the relevant information from each aspect to increase their comprehension and the faculty of interpreting poems. The study is significant in analyzing a framework of the author's writing style for easy comprehension for the readers. The collected data were analyzed with the application of mixed methods. Leech and Short's heuristic checklist of linguistic and stylistic models was used. The findings reveal that identifying the insights of the writer's language style, structure, theme, and the poet's intention and attitude. Further, the study addresses that text analysis helps ESL learners interpret the text's meaning, explain the content structure, and analyze the style at the communicative or discourse, lexical, textual and morphosyntactic levels. Stylistics is closely related to linguistic and literary criticism, which examines how language and the meanings of texts are communicated. Therefore, analyzing the poems at various linguistic levels gives the learners linguistic expertise and a better understanding of the poem.

Syntactic factors impacting essay writing skills of learners of English as a second language

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Syntactic factors impacting essay writing skills of learners of English as a second language Subajana, J.; Senaratne, C. D. Writing essays at the tertiary level has always presented challenges to students in Sri Lankan universities as it involves a multitude of linguistic competencies. It is identified through essay writing activities and assignments that the first-year students are weak and have limitations in showing the variety of sentence patterns and phrasal and clausal embeddedness and sophistication. The objective of the study is to investigate how syntactic factors impact the essay writing skills of first-year undergraduates following the degree program in the English medium at the Faculty of Applied Sciences of the University of Vavuniya. The sample size was 10% of the population, and their written texts consisted of 150-160 sentences. The semi-structured interview was conducted as a supplementary component and analysed qualitatively. The texts were selected based on their marks, and the collected data were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. This result shows that most students' performance scores in< Subject+ Verb+ Complement>(SVC) sentence pattern usage are above 50%. Therefore, it proves that the students acquired SVC better than other patterns. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated that when students construct sentence patterns during essay writing in a constrained environment, the tendency to show structural variation, diversity of sentence types, and structural embeddedness are considerably low and grammatical errors in their written constructions are high. The study concludes that the syntactic factors, such as diversity of sentence types, variety of sentence patterns, syntactic structures, structural embeddedness, disinterest towards …

The use of complex noun phrases in essay writing of English as a second language (ESL) learners

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The use of complex noun phrases in essay writing of English as a second language (ESL) learners Subajana, J.; Senaratne, C. D. This study investigates first-year students at the University of Vavuniya and their ability to construct complex noun phrases in academic essay writing. Complex noun phrases, including pre- and post-modifiers, are essential for mature academic writing and effective communication of compact information. With simple random sampling using a mixed-method approach, the study finds that students primarily used simple noun phrases with minimal embedding, mainly relying on prepositional phrases as post-modifiers. Most noun phrases were endocentric, and students frequently made errors, such as misordering, plural-singular misuse, malformations, and inappropriate word choices, highlighting a critical need for enhanced grammatical instruction. The findings reveal that students struggle with forming complex noun phrases, typically using only one or two modifiers, indicating a basic level of proficiency. The study recommends targeted training in noun phrase construction, emphasising agreement pattern and specific writing strategies. Strengthening students’ ability to use complex noun phrases improves their writing clarity, conciseness, and overall academic proficiency. Mastering noun phrase construction allows writers to convey detailed information efficiently, enhancing their ability to write well-structured and high-quality academic essays.

An investigation of clauses in essay writing by ESL undergraduates at a state university in Sri Lanka: A critical study for enhancing teaching pedagogy

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

An investigation of clauses in essay writing by ESL undergraduates at a state university in Sri Lanka: A critical study for enhancing teaching pedagogy Subajana, J.; Senaratna, C.D. Essay writing is crucial in Sri Lankan education, especially in the state examinations such as the GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels. The essay is a compulsory question which typically carries fifteen marks based on specific criteria: content, five; language, five; format and organisation, two; and writing mechanics, three marks. These benchmarks emphasise the significance of essay writing in evaluating students’ writing skills from a scholarly perspective. It is a mandatory assignment, assessment, and evaluation practice across all levels of education in Sri Lanka. Despite a decade of learning English as a second language (ESL) in school, first-year students at the University of Vavuniya continue to face significant challenges in correctly using finite and non-finite clauses in their essay writing. Students are expected to demonstrate an academic-level formal writing style typical to universities and scholarly contributions since they follow the degree programme in English in addition to ESL courses. Students often rely on simple, clichéd constructions to lower proficiency levels as they lack knowledge of a variety of clauses. The structural complexity expected in university writing is habitually absent, preventing students from demonstrating the sophistication required in academic essays. Using clauses is a challenge for ESL students, even for those who scored better overall marks. Previous studies have focused on other aspects of improving essay writing, but little attention is given to the complexity of using non-finite clauses in Sri Lankan contexts. This study examines the extent to which second language learners use clauses in English essay writing to help teachers refine their teaching methods. The study signifies the necessity for greater emphasis on syntactic complexity in essay writing at the tertiary level. The thirty-three essays were randomly selected from sixty students enrolled in the Faculty of Business Studies, and mixed methods, qualitative and quantitative, were used to analyse the data. The findings reveal that if-clause 14%, that- clause 14%, wh-clause 24%, to-infinitive 42% were used while participial and bare infinitive clauses were not used; 87.3% relied on simple sentences, and 12.3% used complex sentences. Errors in using clauses were observed, providing insights into challenges the students faced and how to improve the structural knowledge to enhance the quality of essay writing. The study recommends that the proper use of clauses improves academic essay writing, language maturity and authenticity of the text. It emphasises training students on operating the process with deliberate learning of Chomsky’s transformations, setting the goals for raising their analytical and higher-order thinking skills, as Bloom's Taxonomy outlines.