People

Samanthi JAYAWARDENA

Samanthi Jayawardena is a Senior Lecturer, attached to the Department of Modern Languages, University of Kelaniya. She holds MA in French and PhD in French from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research interests focus mainly on translation studies (literary translation, humour in translation, translation strategies). She has also conducted research on folklore/oral culture (proverb studies).

She currently serves as the Director, Centre for International Affairs of the university. Thus, she takes the lead of the LocalLing team from the University of Kelaniya. Within the project, she will contribute to exploring language identity, language attitudes towards minority/micro heritage languages, language policy implementation and folklore/oral culture practices. Her experience in curriculum development at national level, and teaching of language and culture will be a valuable addition to the project.

Sarasi KANNANGARA

Dr. Sarasi Kannangara is a Senior Lecturer in German Studies at the Department of Modern Languages, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She holds a PhD in Germanistik from TU Darmstadt and a Master’s degree in German as a Foreign and Second Language from the University of Kassel.

Her research focuses on multilingualism and L3 learning, particularly the learning of German as a third language, with a specific emphasis on oral participation in L3 classrooms. She has published on dominant language constellations, the linguistic repertoires of multilingual learners, and the complex nature of L3 learning processes, including contributions to volumes published by Springer.

Her broader academic interests include language attitudes, linguistic diversity, and identity in multilingual societies. Within the LocalLing project, she contributes perspectives from Sri Lanka’s complex linguistic ecology, where multiple languages, dialects, and heritage varieties coexist, and explores heritage language dynamics, language attitudes, and multilingual practices in educational and community contexts.

Romola RASSOOL

At present, Dr. Romola Rassool is the Director of the Postgraduate Institute of English of the Open University of Sri Lanka. Previously, she served as the Senior Academic Expert of the Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development (AHEAD) project which was funded by the World Bank and implemented by the Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka.

Romola is currently on secondment from her role as a full-time academic attached to the Department of English Language Teaching of the University of Kelaniya. She is an experienced lecturer who specializes in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) and Sociolinguistics. Her PhD, which she obtained from the University of Melbourne, was based on a multi-sited study of the Sri Lanka Malay community’s ideologies on the endangerment of their mother tongue.

Her present research interests include the lesser-known languages of Sri Lanka, the nexus between language, politics, and identity, and Academic Literacy as a means of supporting Bilingual Education and English Medium Instruction. Romola completed her MA in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University, as the recipient of a Fulbright Award and obtained her BA in English (Honours) from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

Anton PUSHPARAJAH

Dr. Anton Pushparajah is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of English Language Teaching at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. He holds a PhD in Education (Language Testing and Assessment) from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.

An assessment specialist and passionate educator, Dr. Pushparajah brings international teaching experience from both the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka to his research interests, which span paired speaking assessment, interactional competence, teacher professional development, and inclusive language testing practices.

Beyond his academic work, Dr. Pushparajah is actively engaged in professional and corporate training, designing and delivering programmes in language assessment, teacher professional development, personality development, and workplace communication. His work bridges scholarly research with practical application, empowering educational and professional communities to adopt effective, equitable, and human-centred approaches to language learning, assessment, and professional development.

Shashikala ASSELLA

Shashikala Assella holds a PhD in American and Canadian studies with a special interest in South Asian women’s narratives both locally and in diasporic locations.

She is a senior lecturer at the Department of English, University of Kelaniya where she currently serves as the Head of the Department. Her research interest in Cultural Studies, particularly food and memory studies has made her research and publish about identity and cultural memory in both Sri Lankan and Diasporic South Asian women’s fiction. Her research intersects digital humanities, particularly the digitising of memory and practices that allow communities to build and preserve identities, leading to the preservation and maintenance of heritage languages.

Udara de SILVA

Dr. Udara Iroshini de Silva is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese at the Department of Modern Languages, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, with over 20 years of experience in Japanese language education and research. She holds a PhD and Master of Arts in Language and Society from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan, where she was a MEXT Scholar and recipient of the Tsukada Memorial Award for Best Master’s Thesis by a Foreign Student.

Her research sits at the intersection of sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, and identity, with a particular focus on language motivation through the lens of Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System. She has published widely in Japanese language education and translation studies, and serves on several editorial boards. Her current scholarly interest extends to minority heritage language revitalization in Sri Lanka, exploring how motivational self-systems can enhance the lived linguistic experiences of endangered language communities such as Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole and Vedda.