Browsing by Author "Rathnayake, I.A."

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Empowering First-Year Undergraduates with Disabilities in Sri Lankan State Universities during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
(Access To and Through Education Conference, 2021) Rathnayake, I.A.
The purpose of this study is to interrogate the crippling impact of the covid-19 pandemic upon the challenges faced by students with disabilities in Sri Lanka, when transitioning from secondary level education to their tertiary level education at state universities. Research on the education of the students with disabilities at state universities has focalised the impact of unaccommodating built environments and stigmatizing of disability, creating a dearth in the studies that interrogate the facilitation of the psycho-social and pedagogical requirements of the target group, when adopting to a new educational reality. Informed by the lived experiences of learning/teaching in a Sri Lankan state university, the researcher intends to address this lacuna to highlight the importance of a disability inclusive approach to policymaking in the higher education sector. The present study engages with eight narratives of first-year undergraduates with disabilities from the universities of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Jayewardenepura and Jaffna representing different gender, geographical and ethnic identities. Data gathered by interviewing the research participants will be analysed by drawing on the theories of intersectionality, disability and critical pedagogy. This study contends that the Covid-19 pandemic has constructed new hierarchies based on the access to technology, technical proficiency and English language awareness, while exacerbating the impact of segregated learning environments, inflexible pedagogical practices and institutional constraints such as fixed timetables and rigid curricular. Thus, it argues for the importance of improved communicational skills, enhanced participation in extra-curricular and core-curricular activities and the increased accessibility to assistive technologies has been crucial to empower the target group. It also aims to interpret the pandemic as a point-of-departure to re-evaluate the legacy of disability in higher education through a more inclusive perspective.
A Study On Teaching/Learning Of English To Visually Impaired Students In Sri Lanka
(Proceedings of the Undergraduate Research Symposium (HUG 2018), Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2018) Rathnayake, I.A.
This research study examines some of the basic issues that have impacted the teaching/learning process of English language to visually impaired students in Sri Lanka. The research study is conducted with the awareness that the percentage of visually impaired students who are fluent in both written and spoken English remains low in comparison to students with no visual impairment. The necessary information will be gathered through semi-structured interviews to highlight the fundamental issues that impact the English education of visually impaired students. Three interviews will be conducted with visually impaired students within the age group of 10-14, who have had a minimum of two years of school education. Furthermore, interviews will be conducted with a visually impaired teacher and a teacher without a visual impairment, who have taught English to visually impaired students. The research study uses these interviews to identify the issues pertaining to the English education of visually impaired students, by drawing on the theories of language acquisition such as critical period hypotheses, interaction hypotheses and motivation for L2 learning. It also suggests several solutions that can be implemented to overcome these identified issues and sharpen the English language skills of visually impaired students.