Learning Language through a Speech-based Method

Abstract

Earth at present is dominated by human beings who are changing the socio-economic dynamics of the planet. Be it change that is environmental, social or cultural, man is at the helm of this change. Change can be positive, giving lasting peace and world solutions for problems that threaten its extinction, or negative, giving effects that worsen its problems while bringing new ones that bring world destruction closer. But man communicates with his world. And the tool of this communication is language. Language has empowering effects; it could sway crowds, convince the unconvinced and help metacognition that ignites inventions that could create what is necessary for world survival and keep away from earth, change that is destructive. English is a global language, and the mastery of English means possessing a powerful tool to communicate with the world. In the Faculties of Arts, in Sri Lankan universities, English has a greater degree of importance. The Arts students have singular ammunition in the subjects they study when taken through the perspective of the Sri Lankan context. For example, most are knowledgeable in Buddhism, Buddhist culture, Sinhala literature etc. and some are doubly fortunate to have studied for their secondary education a blend of religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Thus these students, if empowered with English, could communicate their knowledge worldwide in various ways to bring revolutionary change in all spheres of knowledge and in all walks of life because what they know, like Buddhist thought, has roots in all areas of study. The need for empowering students in the Faculties of Arts with English has brought about many new methods that are cost effective and speedy in language mastery. The study indicated that metacognition or 'inner speech' (Vygotsky 1962) in an adult learner that triggers 'higher order thinking' is activated through a speech-based method, making students perform better at a given task in comparison to the traditional method of reading and writing.