Page 58 - RASAS 2025

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10 Ruhuna Arts Student’s Annual Sessions (RASAS) -2025

Exploring English as a Second Language Teachers’ Awareness of Teaching
Methodologies and Approaches: A Survey of Schools in Colombo

S. S. Jayawardhana
Department of English and Linguistics, University of Ruhuna
sanjulajayawardhana211@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Teaching methodologies are theory-based approaches that teachers use to enhance learning, including teaching
instructions, classroom management strategies, and assessment methods. Although, these approaches provide
general frameworks, there appears to be a lack of awareness of these frameworks among English as a Second

Language (ESL) teachers in the Sri Lankan context. Accordingly, this paper examines the awareness and
application of teaching methodologies among ESL teachers in Sri Lanka with reference to the principles

defined by B. Kumaravadivelu in his book Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to Postmethod.
The research employed mixed-method design and was conducted as a survey involving 10 ESL teachers,
randomly selected from both government and international schools in the Colombo district. Data was collected

through a structured questionnaire to determine the teachers' familiarity with Kumaravadivelu’s perspectives,
their preferred teaching methodologies, and the challenges encountered during implementation. Inductive
thematic analysis was used to inspect the qualitative data to identify and interpret awareness and the

adaptability of the teaching methodologies and approaches. Quantitative data was identified and observed in
terms of frequency patterns by using descriptive statistics. It was found that 60% of teachers were slightly
aware of the work of Kumaravadivelu, while only 40% of them felt moderate satisfaction with the

implementation of his strategies. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) was the most popular
methodology, followed by Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), which shows a high interest in interactive

and student-centered methodology. Moreover, the teachers said they were flexible in adapting approaches to
suit their students with varied proficiency levels. The reported challenges were student diversity, lack of
resources, and a lack of basic grammar knowledge. The research found that, although the ESL teachers are

open to adopting new practices, they cannot be successfully implemented without systemic support, such as
adequate resources, special training, and exposure to diverse teaching methods. The findings highlighted the

need to use diverse methodologies at the early stages of education and the necessity to improve the teacher
resources to create a more flexible and dynamic environment of ESL teaching.

Keywords: Approaches, ESL Teaching, Kumaravadivelu’s Framework, Methodologies, Teachers’ Awareness

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