Religious background and language learning: practical suggestions for deriving best practice in ELT

Liyanage (2004) established a significant association between the ethnoreligious affiliations of high school students in Sri Lanka and their learning strategies in practicing English as a Second Language (ESL). The complex nature of affiliations contributing to this association warranted further investigation. Liyanage, Bryer, and Grimbeek (2010, Asian EFL Journal, Vol 12) examined the role of ethnicity and religion in determining the Language Learning Strategy (LLS) choices of ESL students, indicating a significantly stronger prediction from the latter. Here, we suggest implications of these findings for English Language Teaching (ELT) in localised contexts, and use the specific example of Sri Lanka to highlight the importance of accommodating ethnoreligious affiliations in instructional design.