Abstract:

Corpus based data are at the forefront of writing text books and lesson material (Biber & Reppen, 2002; Biber et al., 1999). This study attempts to analyze the use of English in Sri Lankan English newspapers and how the findings can be employed in writing authentic lesson material for tertiary level language learning. There have been a limited number of studies on Sri Lankan English mainly focusing on the spoken variety (Herat, 2005). Previous research shows that there is an avoidance of expressions from Sri Lankan languages in formal written English in Sri Lanka (Gunesekera, 2005; Gunesekera,1989). This study attempts to analyze the written Sri Lankan English found specifically in English newspapers in Sri Lanka and tries to analyze the use of Sri Lankan English in two particular sections in the newspaper, viz. the feature writing and the editorial. The study analyzes and examines the trends that have developed in the use and non-use of Sri Lankan English in these two newspaper registers. The study also discusses the possibility and the implications of the findings in writing lesson material that reflect the use of English in real life contexts. The data collection, data coding and the data analysis employed analytical tools in Corpus Linguistics. The study concludes that Sri Lankan English lexical items do occur in both sections that were examined in Sri Lankan English newspaper writing, which is contrary to previous studies that showed that Sri Lankan English lexical items were absent from the editorial section. The study also sheds light on the importance of reflecting the use of English language as it is used in real life experiences, within the classroom.

Keywords:

Sri Lankan English, Corpus Linguistics, Newspaper language, lesson material design.