Browsing by Author "Perera, U.B.A.H.N."

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    The Female Athlete Engaged in “Masculine Sports”; A Study of the Depiction of Female Athleticism in Post-Title Ix Western Sports Films.
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2019) Perera, U.B.A.H.N.
    Though women did achieve institutional rights to participate in so-called “masculine sports”, with the enactment of the federal law of “Title ix” in 1970s, they were not recognized well as male athletes by the sports authorities, public or media. Despite this marginalization, since 1970’s, women have been increasingly portrayed as great athletes in media including cinema. The purpose of this study was to examine the “Post-Title ix” cinematic portrayals of female athletes engaged in "masculine sports" and to examine whether the portrayals had genuinely catered to the empowerment of female athlete or had reaffirmed the masculine hegemony under a falsified female empowerment. The study was conducted based on secondary data. To construct the theoretical and conceptual framework, Michel Foucault's theory of “Panopticism”, Margret Duncan’s idea of "ambivalence" and Judith Lorber’s argument about media overemphasis of heterosexuality were taken to use. The Post “Title ix” films “She’s The Man (2006) by Andy Fikman, “Bend it like Beckham” (2002) by Gurinder Chadha, “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) and “The Next Karate Kid” (1994) by Clint Eastwood and Christopher Cain were randomly selected. The findings revealed these films to have taken measures to counterbalance the dismantled power hierarchy between patriarchal system and the empowered female athlete, using different strategies such as highlighting the heterosexuality of the female athlete, making her a disciple of a male coach or by reaffirming typical gender stereotypes. The films were celebrations of “masculinity” which used female athletes as tools to glorify patriarchy. Despite the attainment of institutional rights women have hardly gained social sanction to remain in the territory of “masculine sports”.
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    Teaching English for Grades One and Two: A Study of the Issues and Challenges Encountered by the Teachers in Conducting a Special English Program in the Schools of Wattegama Education Zone
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2020) Perera, U.B.A.H.N.
    Over the past decade, many countries such as India, Pakistan, and Kenya have started to teach English as a second or foreign language at a very early age. In the Sri Lankan school education system, formal English education starts from Grade 3. Yet, for grades one and two, English is taught under the program, Activity Based Oral English (ABOE) aiming at improving English for conversation. Along with ABOE, in 2013, a special English program was initiated to teach English for grades one and two of the government schools in Wattegama Education Zone. The books, The Radiant Way and New Millennium which were mainly used to improve reading and writing were used as the primary teaching materials. The purpose of the study was to investigate the challenges and issues encountered by the teachers in conducting this program. The data were collected from twenty five (25) teachers of fifteen schools (15) through interviews conducted over the phone and were analysed qualitatively, putting the recordings into a paper, defining themes. The findings revealed the lack of teacher training to teach English to pre- primary/ primary stages as a major issue. The mismatch between the assigned books in certain aspects hindered the teaching process. Changing the materials/text books according to the choice of the teacher without informing the authorities, teaching writing despite the authority’s advice not to do so, the lack of importance given to the improvement of listening skill, the lack of a proper syllabus, and facilities were some other issues. The study suggested actions to be taken to overcome these issues which can improve the program to be implemented island wide such as, providing adequate teacher training, setting up a proper syllabus, better supervision system to maintain the consistency of the program, providing adequate facilities for the schools, appointing experts in the field to do a survey of the program to decide whether writing should be introduced at such an early stage. Keywords: Activity based, Challenges, English as a second language, Primary teaching