| dc.description.abstract | While Sri Lankan English (SLE) has been prescribed as the standard for English Language
Teaching (ELT) practices including Language Assessment (LA) in Sri Lanka, there has
been considerable resistance to it both from scholars and teachers. Within this context,
this study investigates why English teachers resist adopting SLE as the Standard/ model for
LA in ELT. The study adopts a qualitative approach since similar studies of quantitative
nature have been conducted. The study collected data from 10 teachers who teach
English at two Faculties (Humanities and Social Sciences as well as Natural Sciences)
at a state university through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The collected data
were coded and then analysed using the method of thematic analysis. Seven themes
explaining teacher resistance to SLE as the model/ standard in LA in ELT were identified
through the analysis of data: SLE as ungrammatical and unacceptable outside Sri Lanka,
teachers’ sense of professional responsibility to train the students in “correct” language
usage, lack of awareness regarding variation within SLE, difficulties arising in marking
student answers due to lack of codification of SLE, image as a competent teacher and
pressure from the academic community, SLE as unacceptable in the domain of English
for Academic Purposes and accepting SLE as the standard as discriminatory against
students whose mother tongue is Tamil. The study highlights the importance of further
research, particularly of qualitative nature, on SLE as the standard in other practices in
ELT such as material development and pedagogy | en_US |
