Impact of Bilingual Education on General Certificate of Education (GCE), ordinary Level (O/L) English Results, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka, despite its relatively high literacy rate compared to other South Asian nations, faces challenges in developing a workforce proficient in English, aligning with labor market demands. To address this, Bilingual Education (B.E) was introduced in 2001, aiming to enhance the English language pass rate among students sitting for the GCE Ordinary Level examination (G.C.E.(O.L.)). The study was conducted to assess the trend in the G.C.E.(O.L.), English language performance of secondary students in Sri Lanka and to assess the impact of bilingual education on the G.C.E.(O.L.), English language performance of secondary students in Sri Lanka. The descriptive and correlational research design was carried out using secondary data obtained from Statistics reports published by the Department of Examination and Annual census reports published by the Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka. Descriptive statistics, Graphs, and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. Between 2007 and 2021, G.C.E.(O.L.) English results exhibited a consistent upward trend, with a growth rate of 2.16. The number of students enrolled in B.E. has steadily increased since its inception. In 2005, 33,795 students participated in B.E., constituting 0.86% of the total student population; by 2021, this percentage rose to 2.56%. Pearson correlation coefficients between the number of bilingual students and those obtaining A, B, C, S, and W grades were found to be 0.569, 0.905, 0.886, and -0.912, respectively. The study establishes a robust correlation between the enrollment of bilingual students and G.C.E.(O.L.) English language performance, highlighting the importance of increasing the number of students enrolled in B.E.