The role of social media in improving the English language proficiency of pre-school children in Sri Lanka

The English language has now become lingua franca, which means the language that bridges the globe and its importance has been observed much during the past decade. English has become an integral component of human capital, as it is intertwined with various aspects of life. Therefore, in the twenty-first century, many non-English speaking countries across the globe including Sri Lanka, offer importance for the English language in education and the foundation of language is taught from the early childhood stage in preschools. To understand the current nature of the Sri Lankan preschool education system, a qualitative study was performed with some selected participants across Sri Lanka and the results of the study explore the following. Although the Sri Lankan government acknowledges the importance of early childhood education, the preschool system is not administered by the government, instead, administered by private and community-based entities. Among the preschools in Sri Lanka, huge disparity is observed in the standard of preschools, so as the English language teaching in urban, suburban and rural settings. Some preschool teachers interviewed in northern rural Sri Lanka affirm that their students are taught the basics of the English language such as nursery rhymes, alphabets, and phonics sounds, with the help of social media such as YouTube. However, in Sri Lanka, there is no evidence available for the Sri Lankan government to have a clear policy on using social media in preschool teaching. The purpose of the study is to explore the use of social media in teaching the English language in Sri Lankan preschools and offer suggestions for the future policy option of English language induction in Early Childhood Education in Sri Lanka.