The Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) and Education in Sri Lanka have been considered vital for human development (UNICEF, 2007 cited in Gallardo, 2009). Yet, there is less attention paid to the scrutinised formulation of policies related to this aspect in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, child-related studies conducted in Sri Lanka are limited. This paper aims to contribute to this necessity by conducting a critical evaluation regarding the responsibility of the formulation of ECCD and education policies in Sri Lanka. A qualitative research design was used for this study. Thirteen policy documents related to ECCD and education were critically analysed and interviews were conducted with responsible informants of ECCD and education in order to gather data. The findings exhibited that there was no single designated authority that is responsible for the formulation of policies related to ECCD and education in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, it was noted that the responsibility of ECCD and education-related policy formulation constantly shifted from one authority to another. In addition, it was noted that the responsibility regarding the formulation of policies for different aspects of ECCD and education were delegated to
Directives is an important area of study in child language development and language socialization since it illustrates children's ability to affect the behavior of others around them by using language. However, we have no account of directives by children in Sinhala. A study of Sinhala directives by children is important given that research on diverse languages contribute to significant changes in our knowledge of both the typology and the linguistic resources used for directives in general. The main aim of this study is to record the forms of directives used by children speaking Sinhala as a first language. Sinhala, the dominant language of Sri Lanka, is little studied in terms of pragmatics. Therefore, a secondary purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge of Sinhala pragmatics. Using recorded data and observation from children and their caregivers, this paper studies the use of Sinhala directives by middle class children and their adult caretakers in Sri Lanka. The study shows that children from 2-4 years of age are able to use directives appropriate to their pragmatic function. It also shows surprising findings on children's use of (im)polite language, an area that needs more research.
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