Browsing by Author "Pathberiya, P.A.N."

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Moodle Based Language Teaching: Challenges and Solutions.
(International Conference on the Humanities (ICH), 2017 Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Pathberiya, P.A.N.
The mainstream scholars’ studies and research on Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) frequently line up a particular set of factors as impediments or limitations to CALL, among which the unavailability of resources and the lack of technical knowledge are predominant. Nevertheless, in cases where gaps in resources and technical knowledge are successfully filled, the obstacles are still felt existing in the sphere of CALL. This trait is distinctly noticed when it comes to “Moodle” based language teaching; regardless of continuous teacher training and facilitations, students show less enthusiasm in using Moodle as a tool of language learning. Hence, this research intends to pragmatically examine as to what encourages or discourages students using Moodle as a method of language learning. The first-year students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura who studied English as a compulsory subject, in 2015 and 2016 were the participants of this study. The methodology to this mission includes meticulous observations of the student activities on Moodle, login-behaviours and patterns, assessment data and student/teacher interviews alongside the classroom activities. The results have brought about several important findings. The research proposes that, Moodle being one effectual mode of enhancing English language as well as academic character and productiveness of students, what hinders the usage of Moodle is the absence of “need” and “dynamism” in Moodle-based activities, rather than “technical” or “resource-related” matters. In other words, rather than the mere availability of activities or material on Moodle on language learning, a properly maintained link between Moodle and class-work, and the interdependency of Moodle-work and class-work, tends to encourage the usage of Moodle by the students. The research suggests how the link between the classwork and Moodle-work should be maintained, and how to overcome practical issues that supervene in this endeavour.
Re-Building American Self-identity through the “Muslim Other”:A Study of Positioning the Muslim as the “Terrorist” in Post 9/11 American Cinema
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Pathberiya, P.A.N.
September 11 2001 was the date that the United States of America was plunged into a state of cataclysm. Given the magnitude of the September 11 attacks, a noticeable emergence of a distinctive cinematic category, centered on this attack and its consequences and affiliations, is discernible in the post September 11 era. In this particular context, a considerable number of post–September eleven American films are observed to bedepicting the Muslim as a “violent other”. This study focuses on three such films from American cinema; The Kingdom (2007) by Peter Berg, Body of Lies (2008) by Ridley Scott and Traitor (2008) by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. The intended outcome of the study, through a meticulous analysis of the above cinematic works, is to discover the socio-political reasons and rationales behind the ideological distortions of the image of the Muslims in the abovementioned cinematic works. While this discourse is mainly substantiated by Edward Said’s theoretical study of Orientalism, it highlights how the previous ethno-religious identity of “the Muslim” is now re-structured through a political identity; the “terrorist other”. In the global political arena, having the United States’ identity of “supremacy and authority” jeopardized after September 11, these cinematic works stand – even though they are fantasies – as a “fictional remedy” or a “ideological foundation” of re-building the globally lost self-identity of America. Thus, the new ideology perceives the Muslim through cultural and religious components, which are a blend with a negative undertone. In contrast to the “vehement Muslim other”, America is depicted as the “savior” nation with the overarching idea that the humanity, peace and order are the “American’s Burden”. Further observations through a theoretical scope reveal how America subtly engages in a task of politically re-mapping and re-defining the world in relation to the “terrorist others”.