Bilingual Education in Sri Lankan Schools: An Analysis of Difficulties in Speaking English Experienced By Students in Selected Schools in Sri Lanka

Bilingual Education was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2001, initially through Amity School Programs. In this Bilingual Program, English is the medium of instruction in selected subjects from grade 6 to grade 11. The students of Bilingual Program are expected to be competent both in First Language- L1 (Sinhala/Tamil) and Target Language (English). However, the students find it difficult to express themselves in English especially in academic performances. The research findings of NIE, 2007, too, correspond with the relevant observation. I adapted the descriptive method to collect data by giving questionnaires to students in the sample of 60 students and 20 teachers including English teachers, non – English teachers who work in the Bilingual Program and teachers who work in Activity Based Oral English (ABOE) Program in primary education. An analysis of collected data suggests a 65% of the sample is not expressive themselves in English, especially in academic performances. This revelation is important because it helps to anticipate the propositions find in Bilingual Education and to take necessary steps to guide its move. In this paper, I try to interpret the difficulties in speaking in English faced by students in the Bilingual Education Program with the help of theoretical explanation.