Junior Research Symposia
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/10648
Browse
733 results
Search Results
Item Madness and Women; Analysis of Madness of Female characters in Literature as Retaliation to Patriarchy(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Arachchi, Hiruni UdumullaMadness is closely associated with female characters and is portrayed as a woman's 'dis-ease' in 19th-century literature. Bertha Mason, 'the woman in the attic' in the pioneer feminist text, Jane Eyre demonstrates madness as an intrinsic quality of hers. In Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator attempts to metaphorically and figuratively while battling a 'nervous depression. Madness is a powerful motif often witnessed in 19thcentury literature and is used by the writers to showcase the unique yet powerful retaliation of women to the restrictive and manipulative culture and norms of the patriarchal society. The madness of women often about marriage or men is associated with the urgency to flee and be free from the restrictions of the mandominant society. This attempt of writers in literature to create a platform to facilitate feminist voices and demonstrate the restrictions of patriarchy through literature is analyzed through the image of 'mad women' who retaliates the traditional representation of traditional women in 3C novels ( Church, Cookery, Children ) This research will analyze the relation of the madness of women in literature as powerful retaliation to patriarchy through the assistance of Foucault’s Madness and Civilization.Item Virtual Mobility Experience on Digital Cultural Exchange(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Bandara, Samali IrugalCultural Exchange steps beyond the concept of one country - one nation. The world is blessed with incredible cultural values which showcase the true prestige and glory of each strong nation. However, people would find it difficult to be mingled together due to various burdens in exchanging cultural values between diversified social contexts. Hence, it is worthwhile to build a single platform for the entire world to learn, respect and accept the diversity of each astounding country bridging the gap between different cultures. Accordingly, the Group 2 Project on international teaching and learning of the Alumni Academy of University of Siegen, Germany on Digitalisation 20+ focused on creating a common digital platform to exchange cultural experience between a group of students Fayoum University, Egypt, Mother Teresa University, North Macedonia, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka and Tongji University, China. The project aimed at offering a virtual mobility experience on cultural exchange. Stepping out of the stigmatic borders, the project was based on the theme of “A Digital Bridge Across Cultures and Continents” with the final group presentations being presented online on selected themes, i.e., food, fashion, cultural festivals, historical places. The intercultural experience that could be achieved from the project showcases all the positive aspects of virtual mobility such as understanding the cultures and traditions of each country, seeking the values of each strong and magnificent country and building a virtual stage to learn to respect the utmost magnanimity. It could enhance the trust and mutual rapport between a set of people from the universities of each country representing the glory of their own cultures. Thus, virtual mobility surpasses the tyranny of time and terrace being a single roof for the whole world to share and care for the values of each country.Item Using Short-Films to Enhance the Writing Skills of Sri Lankan ESL Learners by Writing Essays(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Fernando, W. W. A. P. H.Many non-native English as a second language (ESL) teachers have to go through numerous issues to improve their students' language abilities in developing writing skills. As an innovation, integrating short film in the language classroom is a solution to enhance students' writing competency. The usage of short films on improving writing skills is still not widely used in the Sri Lankan education system, and there are not many studies conducted on enhancing writing skills through short-films in Sri Lanka, which can be mentioned as the research gap. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using short films in developing writing skills and motivating ESL learners to participate in essay writing. The researcher will explore how writing skills, vocabulary, and narrative expressions can be enhanced by watching English short films. The study will further examine whether English films for ESL learning can create opportunities to learn a language with regard to real life scenarios. The population of this study will be ten grade 12 school students in Sri Lanka, and a mixed-method approach will be used to gather data. Data will be collected by conducting teaching sessions, displaying short films, essay writing, and a post-questionnaire. The data will be analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics with graphs and charts. The cognitive theory in writing is supported as the theoretical framework to explore the effectiveness of short films in improving writing skills in a cognitive critical manner. Thus, this study will investigate the manner in which the innovative method of watching short films helps to improve the ESL learners' cognitive critical thinking skills involved in writing essays.Item Usage of Cello as a Western Instrument in Sri Lankan Music Industry(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Rajapaksha, HirunikaThe purpose of this study is to examine how the ‘Cello’ has been used in the Sri Lankan music industry, whether it has been successful. Within the invention of the 16th century in Italy, the cello has been evolving as a unique musical instrument blended with a wide range of genres so far. In this research, data collection includes fieldwork, interviews, internet preferences and discussions with subject matter experts following the qualitative method. There are extremely rare cello players and the instrument’s expansion is very limited in the country. Especially, it was a vital necessity for the researcher to conduct this research since there have been few written pieces of evidence on this subject and no books have been written on this topic in Sri Lanka. Compared to the rest of the world, being used as a matured solo instrument, the cello has been used in very few scopes for music ensembles, orchestration, compositions, solo, and concertos in Sri Lanka. Even when it comes to musical compositions, the usage of tone colours is very compressed and many composers are unfamiliar with the cello and its possibilities for music composition. It persists primarily in limited musical genres together with applied music in Sri Lanka, being employed to feature solely a dark mood or few ranges of scope through the cello for music composing and performing. The findings of this research clarified that the cello hasn’t been used very successfully for music performances and the music industry in Sri Lanka.Item Understanding Cultural Diversity in Sri Lanka through Sri Lankan Portuguese Burgher Weddings: A Narrative Study(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Tunica, Anne; Weerasinghe, Hasini; Wijewardhana, Prasangi; Wijesooriya, SenaliThe Sri Lankan Portuguese or the Portuguese Burghers are a small minority ethnic group of mixed heritage that descended from the Portuguese. A majority of this community currently lives in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka in Batticaloa and Trincomalee. However, little is known about them outside academia, and they still remain somewhat invisible to other Sri Lankans. Their culture also seems to be gradually diminishing from society. Many research studies regarding the Portuguese Burghers focus on the Creole language and its impact on Sri Lankan society, the Portuguese political influence on Sinhala kings, the origin and history of this community, their religion, the ‘kaffirinha’ dance and the ‘baila’ songs, and how it still exists within the contemporary society of Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, no specific research has been conducted so far on the festivals and rituals of the Sri Lankan Portuguese Burghers. This study will focus on their weddings which can be identified as one of their most important cultural events and how they have transformed these by adding new rituals. The methodology used was in-depth, semistructured narrative interviews with five Portuguese Burgher community members including Portuguese Burgher elders in Batticaloa who shared their experiences and recollected their memories. This study explores the customs associated with food, music, dance and fashion related to Sri Lankan Portuguese Burgher weddings. The purpose of this study is to present a fine-grained description of a cultural event to gain a detailed understanding of the rituals of the Portuguese Burgher culture and contribute towards a greater awareness of the cultural diversity found in Sri Lanka.Item Translation of Buddhist Philosophy(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Arachchi, B. A. N. S. A. BThis study investigated the English glossary which is used in Buddhist translations. At present, Buddhism has become a philosophy that people around the world follow and practice. Around 535 million people follow Buddhism as their religion. The Source Language of Buddhism is believed to be Pali alias Magadhi languages. The study examined the lack of English terms to translate Buddhist doctrinal and literary texts and certain practical difficulties that have emerged in Buddhist textual translation. Therefore, possible causes for such complications in Buddhist textual translation were studied. Thereafter alterations and better solutions, which can be used for both Buddhist followers and translators who are engaged with Buddhist philosophy, were explored. Selected Sinhala and Pali documents written on the Buddhist philosophy and culture were taken as source documents in order to identify specific terms that are challenging to translate. The above documents were distributed among final year undergraduates following the bachelor s degree in Translation studies at the University of Kelaniya and their outcomes for certain technical terms were studied and analyzed in this research. Furthermore, particular English dictionaries, glossaries, which are based on Buddhism, were also referred to in order to obtain a comparative understanding. It was observed that most of the issues occur due to several factors such as the conventional dialect that the Buddhism has inherited as a subculture and the conceptual complexity of some sections of Buddhist philosophy such as ‘Abhi Dhamma’ and the linguistic complexity of the Mahadhi language itself. The findings of this study show that most of English definitions in this relevant field are demonstrated erroneously with ambiguous meanings, which can be incomprehensible especially to an outsider to this subject area. In addition, exact translation phrases could not be found for most of the cultural terms in Buddhism. Hence, it can be recommended that by providing descriptive explanations for such phrases and by using accurate glossaries it is possible to achieve better translation outcomes. Following these methods in Buddhist textual translation is of utmost importance since the accuracy in translation is essential to preserve the originality of the Buddhist Philosophy while also ensuring its future existence.Item Traditional Drums in China and Sri Lanka: A Comparative Study(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Attanayake, A. M. T. K. L.Music is an art of human civilization, which revolves around the universal culture. Music arranges the sound of another language, through the elements of melody, harmony and rhythm. The primary purpose of this study is to give a comprehensive idea of about the local musical drums culture of Sri Lanka and China. Sri Lankan and Chinese music play an important role to achieve a large scale of the music. The researcher hopes to point out the traditions of Sri Lankan and Chinese drums as well as the classification of the drums. As a comparative study, the researcher hopes to explore the similarities and differences of the drums. Sri Lankan drums are classified as Aathatha, Vithatha, Vithathathatha and Chinese drums are classified as waist, war and octagonal drum. The researcher will expand the information through appropriate methods and speculations. The final outcome of the research will be important to music learners such as musicians and individuals who are pursuing music. The findings of this research confirm how a variety of traditional drums represent the contemporary society and different characteristics of the traditional drums under the category of percussion.Item Towards a Universal Design: A Needs Analysis for an English Curriculum for the Visually Impaired Learners in the Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Amunugama, A. M. W. D. G. K.Inclusive Education was introduced to Sri Lanka in 2003 and enables the inclusion of visually impaired learners in mainstream classes. Thus, it is essential to address the needs of learners with disabilities of all levels to allow them study alongside the learners without disabilities, in language learning classrooms. The Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles that helps design curriculums in which every individual learner involved can benefit. This study aims to provide visually impaired learners of University of Kelaniya with an opportunity to voice their needs when making adjustments to the English for Humanities course curriculum. The study will follow an exploratory research design to identify, explain, and analyse the data. The needs of the tertiary level visually impaired learners will be gathered through needs analysis, which will be conducted as interviews. Seven visually impaired learners, two English as a Second Language teachers of the visually impaired learners, two course coordinators, an expert in the field of education for visually impaired learners will be interviewed. The thematic analysis method will be used to analyse the data of the study. The collected data will be used to explore the needs of the visually impaired learners. Additionally, the findings of the study will propose changes to the learning materials and their alternatives, assignments and other learning facilities related to the English for Humanities curriculum of University of Kelaniya, by following the curriculum designing principles of the Universal Design for Learning framework. The study intends to increase awareness among curriculum designers regarding the needs of the tertiary level visually impaired learners and how they could incorporate the needs of the visually impaired learners when developing an English curriculum.Item Use of Communication Tools among Japanese Learners(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Kulasinghe, JananiIndividuals use a variety of communication tools in their day-to-day life, where these means of communication via networks is widespread. Communication tools such as networks and applications are used to convey emotions, feelings, and information. There is an inextricable interrelationship between communication tools and language. As language is created by people, it does not exist in isolation or outside the minds of people. Language is a system of words and sounds to communicate ideas in a meaningful way. The act of communication is composed of two main types namely, verbal communication and non-verbal communication. This research study seeks to examine the impact of verbal communication and communication tools on language learning. Communication tools play an important role in improving language learning. This study aims to investigate whether communication tools can be effectively used to enhance Japanese language proficiency of learners. Communication tools can be influential in supporting the acquisition of any language. While prior studies depict the use of pictograms by Sri Lankan university students who use SNS, but there seems to be a dearth of research focusing on improving Japanese proficiency with the use of communication tools. This study has been conducted via a survey of fifty students pursuing both General and Special degree programmes in the Levels I, II and III of the University of Kelaniya. The results of the survey revealed that many of its participants used communication tools via network, that has fostered a development in the reading and writing proficiency in Japanese. Furthermore, the results of the research study outline two important factors that affect student’s learning processes in the use of each communication tool. In addition, communication tools have shown to improve learning skills, reading speed, comprehension speed as well as typing skills.Item The Significant Role of Religious Education: A Comparative Analysis between Germany and Sri Lanka(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2021) Rathnayaka, R. M. R. P. N.humanistic aims and ‘Religious Education’ that is capable of developing a whole person not just through academic skills which has highlighted the need to teach as a core subject in many countries in the world. This study strives to illuminate the significant role of religious education by carrying out a comparative analysis between Germany and Sri Lanka. First, the secondary data based on curricula, websites, books and journal articles will be reviewed. Then the wellexperienced teachers both in Germany and Sri Lanka will be interviewed with the intention of collecting primary data. After studying the curricula of Protestant and Catholic religious’ education in Germany and the curricula of Buddhism, Protestant, Catholic and Islam in Sri Lanka, the results revealed that there is a huge difference in religious education between Germany and Sri Lanka as both Protestants and Catholics have other religions in the curriculum in Germany, but religious education in Sri Lanka has been limited to learn only one religion. However, this research suggests that religious education in Sri Lanka can apply similar concepts of the curriculum of religious Education in Germany. The findings of this study would be beneficial for the novice German specialized undergraduates, religion teachers and curriculum developers. Further research is needed to investigate the research suggestions and to introduce a new curriculum for religious education in Sri Lanka for future.