Irene Mine
Utsunomiya University
I am a full-time EFL lecturer at Utsunomiya University. My primary reserch interest is intercultural communication.
Sessions
Developing a First-Year Student Study Guide
The university’s English language program teaches all first-year students with the goal of covering all the basic English skills needed for their own personal requirements and further academic study. In order to do this more uniformly and efficiently, it was decided that a new first-year study guide needed to be developed. This presentation will detail the reasons behind the need for such a study guide, and the planning, writing, testing and editing of the materials.
Raising Cultural Awareness in EFL Classes
Teaching culture in EFL class is essential. However, problems arise as teachers attempt to incorporate it into their classes: target-culture is indefinable and it could lead to create a stereotypical image of other countries. Therefore, cultural teaching in EFL classes should focus on raising awareness of the students rather than teaching culture explicitly. This presentation will explore the outcomes of cultural teaching done in first-year university English classes for the purpose of raising cultural awareness.