LEIS English web

2008.08.01

The Master of Arts program combines two courses: (1) Language Education and (2) Language Information and Communication. The Language Education course is composed of an English Language Education module and 　a Japanese Language Education module.

This course aims at cultivating talented language teachers who combine a high proficiency in the target language with the skills necessary to manipulate the multi-media devices and teaching materials demanded by today’s educational environment. The course also serves as a teacher-retraining program for those already in the profession.

(i) English Language Education Module

With the advance of globalization, foreign language education in Japan has had to focus more on strengthening communication capability and raising the standard of English education from elementary and secondary education to the university level. The new graduate school at Ritsumeikan University aims to meet the demands of this new age by creating English education experts who have both specialized knowledge and specialized skills in the field of language education.

This module implements the study of teaching practice and the utilization of multimedia devices at the cutting-edge of Information Technology. An optional program, TESL/TESOL Certificate Program, is offered at overseas universities to selected students wishing to obtain proficiency in TESL/TESOL studies.

(ii) Japanese Language Education Module

In recent years, Japanese language education programs have been developed both in Japan and overseas to meet new interest in the field of Japanese language education. This comprehensive Japanese language education module seeks through a combination of practice and theory to provide Japanese language education specialists with the tools to cope with the demands of the current environment.

The objective of this language information and communication course is to teach students language communication theory and practice, as well as to train students in high-level language information processing and information media activities such as analysis and database processing (corpus) in natural languages and computers, as well as the initiation of electronic dictionaries and electronic tools and publishing in applied fields. This course also aims to train students to be active in the fields of I.T., mass communication and various international organizations.