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Language, Literature and “Learning”: Linking Culture and Religion

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dc.contributor.author Barborich, A.
dc.contributor.author Barborich, A.A.
dc.date.accessioned 2015-06-12T04:42:28Z
dc.date.available 2015-06-12T04:42:28Z
dc.date.issued 2015
dc.identifier.citation Barborich, Adam and Barborich, Asantha Attanayake 2015. Language, Literature and “Learning”: Linking Culture and Religion. Heritage as Prime Mover in History, Culture and Religion of South and Southeast Asia, Sixth International Conference of the South and Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culture and Religion (SSEASR), Center for Asian studies of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. (Abstract) p.01. en_US
dc.identifier.isbn 978-955-4563-47-6
dc.identifier.uri http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/8204
dc.description.abstract There is a shortage of Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka who can preach dhamma in English. The problem begins with their inability to communicate in English during the course of their day to day lives, leading to a lack of confidence in their ability to preach dhamma in English. Teaching dhamma to the community is the main duty of the Sangha, the Buddha’s disciples. Since the majority of the Sri Lankan Buddhist community are Sinhalese, the need for English in dhamma preaching seems distant. As a result, Sri Lanka is no longer producing monks who can disseminate dhamma in English. It is rare to find monks who are conversant in English as some of the great Buddhist monks like Walpola Rahula Thero or Narada Thero were. These monks helped to disseminate the teachings of the Buddha to the larger world. As a leading Buddhist country, Sri Lanka needs to equip the Sangha to take dhamma to the whole world. In order to develop the English language skills of Buddhist monks for dissemination of dhamma, a course was proposed at the request of monks at the Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo. It has been envisaged that monks would develop their basic communicative skills first and then higher cognitive skills that are required to preach dhamma in English later in the course. The proposed curriculum is three-tiered, with specific objectives for each tier: 1) To develop the basic communication skills of Sangha to build confidence to speak in English 2) To develop skills to link the dhamma as a way of living to the jathaka stories 3) To improve higher order skills for preaching deep dhamma in English, with an overall aim of disseminating dhamma to other cultures in the world. The course has Jim Cummins (1979) BICS and CALPS theory as the overarching theory while within the framework two other theories operate: the Speech Act theory (Bach and Harnish, 1979) and Deconstruction theory (Derrida, 1967). en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher University of Kelaniya en_US
dc.title Language, Literature and “Learning”: Linking Culture and Religion en_US
dc.type Article en_US


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