Perspectives on American students
Issued Date
2006
Resource Type
Language
eng
Rights
Mahidol University
Suggested Citation
Rorex, Dale (2006). Perspectives on American students. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/32874
Title
Perspectives on American students
Author(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
The widespread interest in American Studies that is now accelerating in
Southeast Asia at the post-secondary level originated in the form of
background studies for students of American literature. The presentation,
usually through lectures of factual information about American life and
institutions, was designed to teach students about the social, economic,
and political background to the great works of literature they were
studying. This, however, often led to the problem of how to relate this
historical information to the realities of contemporary American culture.
A further problem has arisen with the rapid expansion of Englishlanguage
teaching in the ASEAN region over the past fifteen years, since
this has sometimes triggered the belief that cultural studies constitute a
mere topping up or supplement to language studies rather than an area
worthy of study in its own right.
The danger for academics in the university is to fail to respond to the
need for innovative curriculum design where literature courses were
previously the purveyors of American culture. Maintaining old-style
programs and renaming them American Studies or American Multicultural
Studies may appear to be a short-term solution, but in the longterm
will be counter-productive.
Description
The 7th ASEAN Inter-University Seminar on Social Development at The Central Building of the Vietnam National University, July 19-21, 2006. Hanoi, Vietnam