Complications Associated with Teaching Content- Based Language in Higher Education.

Abstract

Teaching content- based language is one of the most important facets which is embedded in teaching English in higher education. Teaching practitioners have identified teaching content based language to be a demanding task, which takes a considerable amount of factors into consideration. This research is mainly based on the qualitative data gathered from a self- administered questionnaire, structured interviews and the inspection of teaching materials. Sample for the self-administered questionnaire was drawn from 150 undergraduates from University of Moratuwa, University of Ruhuna and University of Sri Jayewardenepura (SO participants from each university). Structured interviews were conducted with a sample of ten experts in the field of higher education while the teaching materials are proportionately gathered and evaluated from all three higher educational institutes mentioned above. As gathered from data, it has become a complicated process owing to many factors, such as the previous exposure of the students to English language, their relative basic interpersonal communication skills, requirements of specific course units, available resources, and process involved in curriculum development etc. In the absence of the implementation of the afore mentioned factors in appropriate proportions, teaching content based language becomes a challenging task. As stated in the questionnaire, 78% of students articulated the fact that they cannot grasp the subject matter effectively as it is delivered in English. To correspond to that majority of teachers who were interviewed, were of the idea that it is complicated for some students to understand the content owing to their less competency in basic communication skills which they were supposed to have mastered by the time they enter the higher educational institutes. Even though it remains a complicated issue in teaching in higher education, the literature reviews examined confirmed that it is not yet being identified as a matter worthy of noticing, specially within Sri Lankan higher education sphere. Thus, the purpose of this study was to bring this issue into notice and to mitigate the deficiencies in teaching content based language in higher education. It was also expected that this study will inform the teaching practitioners and responsible authorities about the nature of this complicated issue, in order to enable a successful teaching process.