A Study on the English Language Competency of the First Year Tamil Medium Engineering Students

摘要

Objectives: The study aims to develop the language (communicative) competency of the selected students with the help of activity based language learning strategy. Methods/Statistical Analysis: A sample of 75 students from engineering stream, who had Tamil as their medium of instruction in higher secondary education was taken for the study. A pre-test has been done to identify the issues and the affective factors of language competency among the target population. Tasks are then designed in order to improve the language competency of the selected students based on their needs and also the tasks are designed in order to decrease the level of the affective factors. After the implementation of the tasks, a post-test questionnaire is administered and the effect of the tasks on improving the language competency of the entry level Tamil medium engineering students is analyzed. Findings: Based on the performance of the learners in the activities provided such as mini presentation and group discussion, it has been found that the activity based teaching is appropriate for the target learners. As the learners are from Tamil medium they face challenges in using the second language. The researcher found that the level of competency of the learners is not satisfactory. The researchers have designed that activities based on the competency level of the learners in the entry-test. Finally, the researcher has found that the activity based teaching has enhanced the performance of the level of the learners in the exit-test. Application/Improvements: The study can be applied to improve English language skills of students of any other regional language.