English for liberal arts : toward a new paradigm

Abstract

This forum will explore--and elaborate upon--the enriched context that the liberal arts provide for language teaching and language learning. It will begin by briefly re-tracing the rise and principles of liberal arts education, the founding of liberal arts colleges in Japan, and their recent expansion at some of the nation’s top universities (including ICU, Keio, and Waseda), as well as new universities. The panel members will then in turn focus upon specific curricular aspects of liberal arts language-teaching: (1) Reading for Liberal Arts (constructing theme-based content topics such as “Race” or “Ethics”), (2) Writing for Liberal Arts (appropriate genre and evidence use for intellectual inquiry), (3) Lectures for Liberal Arts (meaningful listening practice through engagement of important contemporary or classical issues), and (4) Testing for Liberal Arts (the use of exams which promote the kinds of critical thinking advocated by a liberal arts mission.) The aim of the forum is to show how English for the Liberal Arts potentially poses a paradigm that moves beyond the confines of more purely communicative, skill-based, content-based and EAP approaches by organizing instruction around more liberal principles and purpose, such as capacity for critical thinking, problem-solving, curiosity, self-reflection, and global citizenship.