Introduction 16

2.1.1 Introduction to the study

Having described the circumstances that led to the initiative of this study, and also discussed the rationale for undertaking this study at FAS within the Sri Lankan, as well as the Asian, context in the introductory chapter (Chapter 1), I move on to explain further the context of this study by describing the educational situation in Sri Lanka broadly, and English education very specifically. In this chapter I am going to describe three aspects of the study. Firstly, how the language policies of the government over the period from colonisation to decolonisation changed the importance given to the English language and how the English language survived as a dominant language in Sri Lanka, and the challenges it faced during its re-emergence. Secondly, the present structure of the education system in Sri Lanka, and finally how the present study fills a gap in research in a country like Sri Lanka in the area of lecturer-student interaction.

Though this study was undertaken at a tertiary level educational institute in Sri Lanka, it is necessary to look at the structure and development of the education sector in Sri Lanka from the past to the present without narrowing the focus to the tertiary sector only. This is for two reasons. Firstly, Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon), which was ruled by different European colonial powers, has a complex system of education, and has been subject to constant changes in its educational and language policies at all levels (e.g. secondary, tertiary, etc.). Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948 from the British who ruled Sri Lanka from 1796 until her independence. Before the British took control of the island, the Portuguese and the Dutch ruled the country, invading the island in 1505 and 1656 respectively.

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Secondly, input into the tertiary sector comes from the secondary sector and therefore, any changes that take place in secondary education are reflected in the tertiary sector.

2.1.2 Introduction to the chapter

In this chapter, I initially present the geographic and demographic details of Sri Lanka. The island needs an introduction as only a few research studies have been carried out in the field of Applied Linguistics, and many may not be aware that the country has different languages and connected issues in the medium of instruction, though the recently ended civil war is known to many. This description is followed by the presentation of an overview of the education sector, during three periods: the pre- colonial, colonial and contemporary periods. The education and language systems of the three periods differ considerably. Moreover, from the colonial period to the contemporary era the major policy changes that have taken place in the education sector have revolved around the issues concerning the medium of instruction, so an account of these changes is beneficial for the present study. Another concern in this study is the problems in English medium instruction. Therefore, more attention is paid to the medium of instruction and related policy changes in the review. Finally, in order to get a complete picture of the context of the study, the tertiary sector, the study location and the participants are also explained.

Geography

Sri Lanka, a small island in the Indian Ocean, is located off the south-eastern tip of the Indian subcontinent. It is around 432 kilometres in length with a total area of 65,610 square kilometres. Sri Lanka is divided into 9 provinces and 25 administrative districts. Each province has their own provincial council to govern the province and has been vested with limited power, such as education and health, but the authority of

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land, security including higher education, lies under the purview of the central government.

Demography and Religion

Sri Lanka’s current population has been estimated to be around 20.27 m1 (Department of Census and Statistics, n.d(a)). The major ethnic groups are Sinhalese, Tamils (including Indian Tamils)2 and Sri Lanka Moors. The religious affinity of each ethnic group varies. Within Sinhalese, the majority are Buddhists, while Tamils are predominantly Hindus. But there is a certain percentage of Christians within Sinhalese and Tamils while all the Sri Lanka Moors are followers of Islam. The census in 2001 shows that out of the total population, 76.7% were Buddhists, 8.5% were Muslims3, 7.8% were Hindus, and 6.1% were Roman Catholics (Department of Census and Statistics, n.d.(b)). However, this census failed to accommodate the people in the North and the East, and therefore cannot be considered as valid because a higher number of Hindus as well as Muslims live in the northern and eastern provinces.

Languages

Two major languages are spoken in Sri Lanka: Sinhala and Tamil. These are native to Sri Lanka. Sinhala is spoken as the first language by the majority of Sinhalese and a minority of Sri Lanka Moors and Indian Tamils. The Tamil language is the mother tongue of Tamils, as well as the Sri Lanka Moors. In addition, English, introduced by

1

The provisional estimate for 2008 is 20.27 m. At the last census in 2001 it was 18.74 m.

2

They migrated from India during the British period, mainly as a labour force for the tea estates

3

This includes around 50,000 Malay Muslims (as at 2001) who are descendants of Malaysian migrants. They together with Sri Lanka Moors are called Muslims.

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the British when they invaded in 1796, is spoken as a first language by a limited number of Sri Lankans, although official statistics are not available.