The Impact of the Change in the Medium of Instruction on the Performance of Undergraduates in University Examinations

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to determine the impact of the medium of instruction on the performance of undergraduate students in university examinations. The results of six Biological Science course units in Zoology and Microbiology and six Physical Science course units in Physics and Statistics & Computer Science of two groups of undergraduates who entered the Faculty of Science of the University of Kelaniya in years 2000 and 200 I were considered in the analysis. Those who have entered in 2000 followed all course units in Zoology, Physics and Statistics & Computer Science in Sinhala medium and Microbiology in English medium. Those who entered in 2001 followed all Microbiology course units and those in other subjects from 2nd semester onwards in English medium. Analysis of results using the Kolmogrov - Smimov tests revealed that the medium of instruction has no significant effect on the performance of undergraduates in university examinations.