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- PaperELT Journal10 Jul 2026
Teacher code alternation in a Sri Lankan tertiary level EMI classroom
Dilini Leelachandra, Dushyanthi Mendis
A case study of a Sri Lankan tertiary EMI classroom identified five distinct functions of teacher code alternation: enhancing comprehension, managing classroom dynamics, building rapport, alleviating stress, and clarifying complex ideas. Code alternation serves as a strategic linguistic tool for inclusive multilingual education, highlighting teacher–student perspectives in an underexplored context.
Original abstract
This study explores teacher code alternation in an English medium instruction classroom at a higher education institution in Sri Lanka. Acknowledging that code alternation is common in multilingual settings, this case study highlights its various functions, motivations, and implications for classroom purposes, addressing a gap in research within the Sri Lankan higher education context. Data were collected through classroom observations, transcriptions of recorded lessons, and semi-structured interviews. The analysis revealed five distinct functions of code alternation that aid the learning process. As a strategic linguistic tool, code alternation enhances comprehension, manages classroom dynamics, and builds rapport. Specifically, it serves to alleviate the stress of using English, foster a comfortable environment, and clarify complex ideas, thereby underscoring the importance of teacher–student perspectives on the use of code alternation for inclusive, multilingual education.
- PaperELT Journal11 Apr 2026
Trauma and language learning: ELT classroom practices in Sri Lanka
Suresh Canagarajah, Canista Arthie Hensman
Contrasts Global North and South perspectives on trauma in English language teaching, highlighting Sri Lankan educators' community-oriented approaches that treat trauma as collective neurodiversity rather than individual pathology. English teachers in Northern Sri Lanka have adopted pedagogical strategies that co-construct meaning with survivors using diversified semiotic resources, building on relational and cultural practices developed after decades of civil war.
Original abstract
Scholarship in the Global North has traditionally treated trauma as an individual pathological condition that needs medical intervention. However, Global South communities such as Sri Lanka approach trauma differently. Since the whole community has lived through centuries of colonization and decades of civil war, trauma is collective. For this reason, the community has developed everyday practices for a supportive environment. Such community-sponsored cultural and relational practices do not pathologize trauma. Survivors are treated as exhibiting forms of neurodiversity that come with their own strengths such as resilience, patience, and dependency. Their communication is not treated as fragmented and incoherent, but as meaningful when others co-construct meanings with them, adopting diversified semiotic resources, and going beyond normative assumptions. English language teachers have adopted pedagogical strategies influenced by such relational orientations. This article will discuss the intuitive strategies Northern Sri Lankan educators and students have adopted since the civil war.