Problems in teaching Tamil as a second language to the Sinhala speaking students: a research based on SEUSL Sinhala speaking students

Abstract

In a language the sounds and words arranged in a systematic way, these systems operates at two levels such Phonological and Syntactical. At the phonological level, the sounds of a language appear in some fixed combination. Each language has its own pattern of alphabetic system to maintain its uniqueness. And also each language has its own phonemes and allophones. These phonemes and allophones distinguish from language to language and how it is propagated from phone to phoneme. For Example: In Tamil language the sound /b/ not exists in the word initial. So the speakers who have the Tamil as their first language face difficulties to pronounce a word initial /b/ sounds instead they would misarticulate. Likewise others belongs to different linguistics group may face difficulties in uttering Tamil words. The words in Tamil language is too which phonemes or allophones not occurs in their first language. So, the researcher took the mis-articulation patterns of Tamil articulation of the Sinhalese (Especially the Southern native Sinhala speakers) for the research. So the researcher found that one of the reasons for the problems in teaching Tamil as a second language is the influences of Tamil phoneme and allophones on native Sinhala speakers and took over on handling the research. It is hypothesized that, „The Tamil phoneme and Allophones influences in Teaching Tamil as a second language to the Sinhala speaking students.‟ This research is not a mere attempt to identify the problems in teaching Tamil as a second language to the Sinhala speaking students but it attempts to discover the motives for the difficulties of teaching and learning observes. And the research deals with the methodology of teaching Tamil for the Sinhala speakers. The research is conducted to classify and conclude the Tamil phoneme and Allophones which are influences in Teaching Tamil as a second language, to make aware of proper articulatory patterns and to provide solutions to teach Tamil as a second language to Sinhala native speakers in an operative mode. The reason of the research problem is identified as lack of exposure with the native Tamil speakers, as many students represent the Sothern part of Sri Lanka. The area was mostly restricted by lingual environment; all students belong to the particular age group. During the students‟ school education Tamil was taught as a second Language mostly for the purpose of get a pass in the Ordinary level and with lack of Tamil speaking activity. The students come to the University with the same mentality and develop their attitude to get rid of failing the exam. The quantitative and qualitative methodology has used to achieve the above objectives. Observations made on the articulation of the samples and a questionnaire too used to identify the learner side problems.