Bilingual education in Sri Lanka - Part III:

Self-directed learning benefits

It is commonly accepted that successful learners are reflective, self-directed and able to use a range of learner strategies in effective and appropriate combination. The more strategies the learner uses the more they can investigate, process and be thorough in their learning. Thus there is a close link between self-directed learning and strategy practice.

G H ASOKA

Self-directedness achieved in learning through self-directed learning in bilingual education has made the Sri Lankan bilingual learner independent. In Sri Lankan environment, this is a positive remark because Sri Lankan learners mostly try to depend on teachers in their formal classroom set-up. This situation can be eradicated through encouraging self-directed learning which has already become a learning habit of bilingual learners. Consequently independent thinking can be geared to create products with differences through learning and what learners want to do in real life.

Self- directed learning promotes confidence. File photo

The third conceptualization of self-directed learning on psychological control can be noticed more than the other two (independent learning and distance learning) when the achievements that bilingual learners have experienced in Sri Lankan context are examined: ‘Self-directed learning is a purposive mental process, usually accompanied and supported by behavioural activities involved in the identification and searching out for information. The learner consciously accepts the responsibility to make decisions about goals and effort, and is, hence, one’s own learning change agent.’

Bilingual education

In this regard, bilingual learners’ personality traits and cognitive skills developed in the Sri Lankan context are important: self-confidence, inner-directedness and achievement-motivation through learning in two languages. In the Needs Survey, bilingual learners have expressed their interest in bilingual education, interest in continuing their studies in bilingual education. Expectations and experience of learners also show their inner-directedness, self-confidence and desirable achievements in line with education and languages.

Bilingual learners in Sri Lanka usually have two major challenges in their learning: learning the subject and their second language (English) unlike the learners of monolingual education either in Sinhala or Tamil do. The needs survey has clearly shown that the more they use self-directed techniques the more they have become successful in their learning even in the presence of teacher shortage, scarcity of quality text books, lack of other resources and facilities. Such learners have attempted to find ways and means of learning and planned their learning: then they have implemented their plans and completed an informal self-evaluation.

Consequently they have become active in their learning through testing their own strategies of learning. This is a successful and rewarding experience for them to be intrinsically motivated to continue their studies in bilingual education.

The kinds of cognitive skills promoted by the Sri Lankan bilingual learners are obvious in six categories: goal setting skills, information processing skills, other cognitive skills, aptitude in their studies in bilingual education, decision making skills and self-awareness. In information processing skills, strong reading ability through exposure to information in two languages has pushed them to a large pool with a large number of alternatives to observe, explore and elaborate information appropriately. It is clear that the learners mix their deep processing skills and surface processing skills to empower in learning.

Acquisition and learning

Proficiency of achieving competency of English as a second language is systematic and methodical, and depends on both acquisition and learning.

Use of English has become comparatively an easy practice among bilingual learners due to their deviation from the need for learning English: they are opened to acquire English: natural way of grasping language. Learning is always conscious and needs learners’ conscious attempt. Yet acquisition is a sub-conscious attempt of grasping a language. Bilingual learners, without fear, anxiety and demotivation, process in their natural way of becoming proficient in a language. In this situation, learners have become self-directed to communicate in English in a progressive and systematic manner. Thus within maximum around three years, bilingual learners have become fluent in their general English (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills).

It is another positive remark to see that the self-directed learners identified in the survey have become confident. At early stages of learning in bilingual stream, they had not used self-directed learning as a formal process. Yet they have tried out various techniques which reflect characteristics of self-directed learning, especially to overcome their language difficulties as a medium of instruction. Mainly initial use of learning strategies at micro level has allowed them to use more of them later than at the beginning.

Independence is quite obvious and common in bilingual learners’ communication in English. They are not reluctant to make errors in their learning process of language development. Acquisition supports them a lot in this regard and consequently they have become confident in learning and using English parallel to their academic aspects related the target subjects learnt in English.

Self-directed learning, as it influences learners’ responsibility in learning, has promoted practical value of responsibility with an awareness of it. This, in return in their future, will gift responsible citizens to our society. Thus they may not wait till all the resources necessary for a task are provided, instead they may try to activate possibilities to achieve the optimum out of the available.

Once learning process and outcomes have become meaningful for them as a result of their active contribution, bilingual learners have been able to create more learning situations like the previous or better than them through monitoring. Subsequently they have become curious and willing to try new things, view problems as challenges rather than difficulties or barriers, desire expected challenges and enjoy their learning. Furthermore, these learners have become self-disciplined, self-confident and goal-oriented. It has encouraged them to develop their leadership patterns critically thinking by adapting their learning contexts using various strategies in given situations: therefore their participation in curricular and co-curricular activities is exceptionally admirable.

Extensive readers

Sri Lankan bilingual learners’ use of sources is closely linked with their fond of reading, and consequently bilingual learners have become usual intensive and extensive readers. The majority of bilingual learners progress and complete their first three years in reaching proficiency in Basic interpersonal communication Skills, within this period, they silently develop laying a strong foundation for developing their academic English (CALPS-Cognitive academic language proficiency Skills) through mainly reading.

Thus, reading has become a quite popular technique of bilingual learners to be self-directed in their learning. Even at early stages, they start using dictionaries, encyclopaedias and online sources. Their bilingual capacities have allowed them to look at a topic in different ways with different cultural settings and interpretations. Differences that they have identified make their thinking different from that of their monolingual peers. They seek support of their peers in monolingual stream by requesting the latter’s textbooks in Sinhala or Tamil. Before the lesson, they have read those books in addition to extra reading materials available in mother tongue and English as well. They have done this with two purposes, to minimize their challenges in internalization of academic concepts through forward transmission, and to be knowledge seekers to support what they have already learnt or to be learnt. This practice has influenced them to test knowledge transfer with language transfer demonstrating neurolinguistic findings related to bilingual brain. Gradually such learners have self-confident, self-motivated and self-evaluated through exploring different situations inquisitively. At the same time, they have been capable of extending learning beyond the classroom challenging themselves in their learning process when learning in the stream of bilingual education.

The writer is the chief project officer and Head of the Unit of Language Coordination, project leader of Bilingual Education, Faculty of Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Education, Maharagama