Promoting English as a link language in Sri Lanka:

Path to national integration and prosperity

By Indeewara THILAKARATHNE

[email protected]

The history of English Language Education goes back to the colonial era when British introduced English as the medium of instruction from school to the Universities. At that time, English was also the language of administration and commerce.

When the British left our shores, Sri Lanka was considered as the jewel of its colonies with an English educated bureaucracy and system of education which was in par with the education system in Britain. Although it has been conveniently forgotten, the fact remains that colonial masters ‘tongue English acted as a unifying factor in the struggle for independence. English was the language which linked diverse races such as Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims with one another. As the medium of instruction was English, it was possible for Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslim students to sit together in the same class room and to enjoy an education which enabled them to further study and work in any part of the globe.

Formation of mono-lingual constituencies

However, this advantageous position that Sri Lanka enjoyed over the other colonies at the independence from Britain was changed with linguistic politics. Subsequent to the independence and cultural and linguistic revival, it was a widely held belief that Sinhalese and Tamil should replace with English. Culminating of this idea was the passing of the Official Language Act. Though the Act had its own economic and political ramification, primarily it had divided the population on linguistic lines, virtually creating mutually exclusive mono-lingual constituencies, in the North and the East and in the South.

Among other things, switching of the medium of instruction at schools and Universities from English to Sinhala and Tamil has adversely affected the identify formation on the part of the students belonging to diverse ethnicities. For instance, a Tamil student who studies in the Tamil medium tends to form a Tamil identity rather than a Sri Lankan identity.

As there is little or no interaction between individuals belonging to diverse races at any stage of education, understanding of one another’s culture remains at a very low level, effectively hampering national integration. Besides the mutually exclusive mono-lingual constituencies would, in the long run, re-affirm racial, linguistic, religious and regional prejudices among different communities.

Current situation

By now, the linguistically segregated system of education has produced a generation of professionals, office workers, administrators, teachers and even academics who could not work in any part of the country other than the areas where they currently established themselves and work in Tamil or Sinhala. The by product of this vicious circle is that the individuals who were educated exclusively in either Tamil or Sinhala are not in a position to up-to-date knowledge and skills. As these individuals are virtually cut off from a growing body of knowledge in English, they, though may be graduates, could not fill the vacancies generated by the private sector in general and transnational companies in particular. Therefore, it is imperative that government should make policy initiatives to promote English as a link language.

Why English should be a link language?

In a world of increasingly interdependence, the need for a common language or lingua franca is felt today than ever before. Although French and German are widely used in communicating, English remains as the most spread language. Therefore, it is logical to adapt English as a link language in order to arrest the negative trends which are detrimental to the wellbeing of individuals and long term progress of a nation.

However, concrete policy decisions have to be taken to lay a firm foundation for the English Language Teaching in Sri Lanka (ELT) and to promote English as learner-friendly language. The time is ripe to make a perceptional change with regard to the usage of English. It has now been an accepted fact that there are different dialects of English as well as different sub-varieties of English. For instance, Indian English has been recognized as a sub-variety. Significant aspect of these different dialects is that large numbers of words from local languages and phonetics have been assimilated into English whilst preserving the fundamental characteristics of the language.

Better English better opportunities

Apart from widening one’s world view, English offers wide range of opportunities at all levels of one’s education and also improves better employment prospects. It is, therefore, important to encourage the use of English at all levels and to promote the use of English within an organization where diverse races and nationalities interact on a common platform.For instance, English can be adapted as language of administration in an established newspaper publishing house where wide range of newspapers, magazines and periodicals are published in different languages. In such a set up, it is advisable to adapt English as language of administration and a link language instead of preferring one language to another. Interaction among editorial members of otherwise mutually exclusive editorial such as English, Sinhalese and Tamil can be promoted through the increasing use of English. It should be emphasized here that this would not in any way hamper the progress of native languages as in this instance Sinhala and Tamil are being widely used out side the organisation.

Improve standards of ELT

The general standard of English Language Teaching should be improved with a special emphasis on imparting communicative skills to the students. In order to improve ELT at provincial level, government can solicit assistance from NGOs, INGOs as well as volunteers. Measures such as introducing link language classes for trainees during training sessions, promoting Shakespeare drama competitions and activities like English Day, teaching link language to graduate to improve their employment prospects can be adapted.

With the help of international community, incentives such as continuous in -service training and overseas training for teachers can be provided to further their studies in ELT. Since there is growing demand for learning English in Sri Lanka, the task of raising general standards of English and promoting it as a link language would not be difficult if there is a concerted effort to address issues pertaining to English Language Teaching in Sri Lanka.

Strengthening mother tongue based bi-lingual education, assisting pre-school teachers to be tri-lingual, re-introducing English as a medium of instruction in schools and universities, promoting English learning/teaching in rural areas and research in the field of ELT would help further reduce educational gap at various levels.

(The article is based on a Workshop held at Fredrik Ebert Foundation on promoting English as a link language. The workshop was jointly organized by SPARC and Fredrik Ebert Foundation)