International Conference on Language, Culture, Technology, and Autonomy [ICLACTA] 2025

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://rda.sliit.lk/handle/123456789/4415

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Open Access
Investigating the Effectiveness of Shadowing as a Listening Technique in Enhancing Listening Comprehension of Undergraduate English as a Second Language Learners
(Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2025-10-10) Liyanage, T
Shadowing is an advanced language learning technique that learners can use independently to improve their intonation and pronunciation. Through this technique, the learners are allowed to listen to a model (i.e., a video or audio of someone speaking) and repeat what is said in real-time. Unlike in the listenpause- repeat method of yesteryear, here one precisely repeats every utterance, sound by sound, wordby word, immediately after they are heard. Based on an experiment involving shadowing, this study examines the impact of shadowing on enhancing listening comprehension among a group of undergraduate English as a Second Language (ESL) learners in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Kelaniya. The research employed a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data through pre- and post-tests and structured interviews to evaluate the efficacy of shadowing in enhancing learners’ listening comprehension skills, while also documenting their perceptions of shadowing as a listening technique. The quantitative findings from the independent sample t-tests indicated a substantial enhancement of the listening comprehension scores during the post-test, with mean scores of 8.10 for the experimental group and 5.50 for the control group. The statistical study validated the importance of these techniques (p = 0.000). The qualitative results gathered from interviews highlighted the students’ initial scepticism and curiosity, increased focus and active engagement in listening, improvement in listening speed and word recognition, enhancement of their pronunciation and intonation, and the positive impact shadowing had on their listening comprehension test performance as the emerging themes. These results underscore the pedagogical value of shadowing as a listening technique under an interactive and cognitively engaging approach to ESL listening instruction. Hence, this study adds to the existing literature on listening instruction and provides practical implications for ESL instructors seeking to integrate the shadowing technique into their teaching practices.
Open Access
Weekly Paragraph Writing in Enhancing ESL Writing Confidence: A Classroombased Action Research Focused on Engineering Students
(Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2025-10-10) Maheshika, H. G. P.
Effective written communication is vital in engineering education, particularly for ESL (English as a Second Language) learners who face additional challenges in articulating the technical content in their assignments. This study investigates the pedagogical impact of weekly paragraph writing on ESL engineering students’ writing confidence and performance. Addressing the lack of sustained, lowstakes writing opportunities within technical curricula, the study was conducted as a five-week classroom-based action research intervention at a government technical institute in Sri Lanka. The research aimed to (1) assess whether short-form writing tasks could improve the students’ academic writing confidence and (2) evaluate the feasibility of integrating writing into large, discipline-diverse ESL classrooms. The participants included 25–30 second-year students from eight engineering disciplines. The data were collected through weekly student paragraphs, instructor field notes, feedback logs, and pre- and post-intervention surveys. A thematic content analysis revealed steady improvements in their paragraphs in terms of structure, coherence, and grammar. The mean scoresincreased from 3.43 to 3.79 over five weeks, with further gains observed in the revised drafts. While the students showed modest gains in self-reported confidence, many valued the opportunity to practice writing in a technical context. The findings support the integration of short, structured writing tasks into technical education as a low-cost, scalable strategy for language development. The study highlights the importance of scaffolding, formative feedback, and peer review in fostering learner autonomy and writing fluency. It contributes a practical, replicable model for embedding language instruction into engineering curricula, especially in multilingual and resource-constrained environments.