Browsing by Author "Kulathunga Arachchi, M.S."

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The Impact of Social Media on the Reading Habit of the Youth
(Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kulathunga Arachchi, M.S.
In the recent decades the Social Media plays a pivotal role in the mass communication. A vast majority of Social Media users are youth. Thus most of the positive and negative impacts of Social Media usage fall on the youth. The amount of time allocated for internet usage of the youth has increased dramatically with the increase of latest Social Media networks and as a result the reading habit of the youth seems to be dramatically decreasing. This research intends to examine how the Social Media has influenced the reading habits of the youth. It is conducted through questionnaires and the interviews and thereafter the collected information is analyzed systematically to find the final result. It further investigates the negative impact of the youth by the social media on their reading habit. Reading is capable of enriching one’s intellectual capabilities and it develops insights into human problems and has a major impact on their attitudes towards society. Social media which is designed with the intention of promoting social connection seems to be not fulfilling its main objective by reducing the reading habit of the youth. Moreover the usage of modern abbreviations to communicate on the social media hinders the proper language acquisition and development which affect their basic language skills such as speaking, writing and reading comprehension. Owing to the rapid change or the update of content on social media sites the youth is not given a reasonable time to cultivate one particular thought and think about it analytically which again makes a negative impact on their intellectual and profound thinking habit which is an essential quality for a good personality which is mastered by reading books.
An Investigation on the Problems Encountered by the First Year Students Following French Certificate Course for Beginners at the University of Kelaniya
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kulathunga Arachchi, M.S.
The Department of Modern Languages, University of Kelaniya being the leading language teaching Department in both undergraduate and graduate levels in Sri Lanka has granted the opportunity for the undergraduates from four all the four faculties of the University to learn French language as beginners. This study intends to analyse the problems of the undergraduates who follow the Part one of the Certificate Course in French encounter at the initiative period of learning the language. In doing the research the undergraduates who follow the Level one of the Certificate Course in 2016 are taken into consideration. The students are interviewed at the end of each lesson individually by distributing a questionnaire to make a database about each and every difficulty that they came across in terms of syntax, dictation, pronunciation etc. This process is going to be followed during a period of six months that can be considered as the initiative period and at the end it is expected to analyse the data with the intention of designing the pedagogy, teacher techniques and exercises in order to minimize the commonly faced problems by a majority of the students. Moreover the research findings will be utilised to select substantial studying materials that can cater to the needs of the beginners of the language which will enable the students to improve their vocabulary, dictation, pronunciation and listening. Especially the research findings will make it easy in selecting the materials that give extra practice to the difficult areas of language. Additionally, the research will open the gates to find out the language acquisition levels of the undergraduates who follow the subjects related to Science, Commerce and recognise the extra exercises that will help them master the language while following their major courses as a lack of enthusiasm towards language learning within the undergraduates from the mentioned faculties has being observed in the last few years owing to the workload in their main Degree course.