The British Council announced the findings of its English Impact Survey – an evaluation of English Language capabilities of school students across Sri Lanka recently.
An independent research project, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE), the British Council evaluated nearly 1,500 students from Grade 11 across a targeted sample of 148 government-funded schools over a period of a year.
Students were primarily assessed for their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, through the administration of the British Council’s APTIS language test – an internationally employed English proficiency assessment, formulated by British Council language testing experts.The Aptis assessment is a computer delivered test (using tabs in this instant), that was used across Sri Lanka for this study.
Key findings:
* Female students outperformed their male counterparts in all assessments. Of the two, females were also found to have greater confidence in their ability to learn the language and were also more strongly motivated to learn.
* Of the four language skills, listening scored the highest while participants were proven to find reading and speaking the most challenging.
* There is a distinct co-relation between socio-economic status and English language learning motivation. Students from more advantaged backgrounds were found to be greater inclined to study the language than those from less advantaged families.
* Young people hold very positive views of the English language, and understand its importance for their personal, social, professional growth.
Additionally, the survey is a reflection of the MoE’s commitment to reviewing and enhancing the curricula and learning methods of the English language as part of the education reform process; for a lack of, or poor proficiency in English language skills can negatively affect a young person’s ability to get a job, and on a national scale will greatly hold back economic prosperity when competing for business on a global stage.
The British Council is well-established as the primary provider of quality English education and resources in Sri Lanka, and is committed to working with relevant public, private, non-profit, and non-governmental organisations to produce a portfolio of impactful projects such as this English Impact Survey.