Sally Rehorick & David Rehorick
In a previous article in Réflexions ("Reflections on Second Language Education in Japan", May 1998), Sally Rehorick characterized the typical pattern for learning English as a second language in Japan in the following way: "rote memorization of grammatical facts with little or no emphasis on using the language for communication." The authors taught for two years at the Miyazaki International College (MIC) in southern Japan, a small liberal arts institution established in 1994. MIC represents an experiment in Japanese higher education which endeavors to provide its students, the vast majority of whom are Japanese, with an education to prepare them for the increasing internationalization in Japan. Emphasis is placed on critical thinking while studying liberal arts subjects through the medium of the English language. The English language level of most incoming students is very low (the average TOEFL score is around 360 to 380, which places the students at about a high novice to low intermediate level). This content-based language learning, familiar in Canada through school immersion programs and in university programs such as the sheltered courses at the University of Ottawa, is quite unique in Japan. The purposes of this article are first, to describe briefly the curriculum design and teaching model at MIC and second, to give some examples of how the use of computer technologies and the World Wide Web are integrated into the college curriculum and individual courses.
An Integrated curriculum design |
All content classes in the first two years are co-taught by a discipline specialist and a language faculty member. This integrative team-teaching model requires extensive collaboration between the two faculty members who must meet regularly to design the course syllabus, to plan classes and to evaluate student progress. In contrast to other team- teaching models, the MIC faculty partners teach together at the same time in the same classroom. The key objective is to make individual classes a seamless blend of content and language objectives and, in most cases, the casual observer would not know which faculty member is the discipline specialist and which the language instructor. In direct contrast to the passive learning model of most Japanese schools (particularly at the middle and high school levels) and universities, MIC's courses are based on the principles of active learning. Students are taught skills in problem-solving, investigation, group research, and making presentations. Thus traditional lectures are kept to a minimum in favour of cooperative group learning and individual projects.
Computer technologies inside |
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