Department of English - University of Kelaniya
The English Department has always been a strong teaching and research department which is committed to the harmonious relationship between teaching, research and larger concerns of society. The University of Kelaniya boasts the largest student body of any English department in the country. It practices an interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approach to teaching and has accommodated changes that reflect the development of English studies around the world.
Thus, members of the faculty contribute to teaching by bringing in their multidisciplinary research interests into their English courses from such areas as French and South Asian Literature, Feminist Studies, Women’s Studies, Social Sciences, Critical Theories, Linguistics and Language Studies, Post-Colonial Literature, Sri Lankan Literature, Disapora Studies and Cultural Studies.
In keeping with the needs of the students at a professional level, the English department also includes in its curriculum, courses which are geared to develop and enhance soft skills, communication skills and professional skills which are on par with the overall vision of the University of Kelaniya. Making English department students employable has always been the commitment of its faculty. Graduates of the department have gone on to excel in journalism, advertising and the foreign service among many other careers.
In short, our concern at the Department of English is not only to teach literature as a passive reflector but as an active agent in the moluding of culture, values, ethics and personalities.
