English Abstracts

An Overview of the New English Curriculum
NAGAHATA Akitoshi

The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the new
English curriculum to be introduced in the general education programat Nagoya University in 2009. The new curriculum, replacing thecurrent one that was implemented in 2003, aims at developing
students' proficiency in "Academic English," the ability to read, writeand present academic papers in English. It also aims at a general
improvement of students' overall English proficiency; it helps
students with lower English proficiency to improve their English
skills and assists those with higher proficiency to achieve still higher
levels. To realize these aims, the new curriculum adopts a sequenced
approach with proficiency-dependent class formation for the firstsemester, self-study e-learning materials, TOEFL-ITP and Criterion
tests for objective evaluation, and classes for developing skills inparagraph reading, paragraph writing and presentation. By
developing students’ proficiency in “Academic English,” the new
curriculum will help Nagoya University students to acquire practicalEnglish skills indispensable in the age of internationalization.
Chief, Section of Language and Culture Courses, Institute of Liberal
Arts and Sciences
Professor, Graduate School of Languages and Cultures, Nagoya
University

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Reading, Writing, and Presentation Skills
for Academic English
SUGIURA Masatoshi

In the academic year of 2009, our new English curriculum will be
introduced, where “Academic English” is the focal point. This
curriculum is not a mere integration of four skills, reading, listening,speaking, and writing. We set the development of basic skills for“Academic English” as our goal of new curriculum. This curriculum
includes three stratified core course: Academic English Basic (AEB),
Academic English Intermediate (AEI), and Academic English
Advanced (AEA). In this paper, these courses will be illustrated interms of the fundamental concept of paragraph/essay reading andwriting. For the evaluation of the achievement of this curriculum,
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and Criterion will be
adopted as partial measurements for grading. Our motivation for the
introduction of these global standards for Academic English will also
be argued. In the last section, the guideline for the courses and the listof recommended textbooks will be provided, and a sample teachingplan for the courses will be given to show some concrete image of our
new English curriculum.
Professor, Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya
University

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English Learning through GyutoE andA Socially Collaborative Video Conference System
SUZUKI Shigeo

GyutoE, a network-based learning system to be used in Nagoya
University English classes, would ideally function as a means toprevent the English ability of freshmen and sophomores from deteriorating, despite assurances that the material will noticeably improve
the learners’ abilities. Students may fail to achieve their linguistic
goals when material of the same level is assigned to all students
without regard to differences in competence and the different departments to which they belong. Uniform assignments will probably
reduce the significance of the new English curriculum, where learning
proceeds in a step-by-step basis. As for the video-conferencing andcollaborative work classes, which are planned for advanced students
in the new course, distantly located students will use internet
communication tools to participate in presentations, dialogues, anddebates for the purposes of language development and culturalawareness. An example of this class by four Nagoya University sophomores suggests that interactions within the group and expectations for a new solidarity with students from different social andcultural backgrounds can provide opportunities to assimilate conflicting ideas and divergent opinions into their learning process.
These types of classes may even provoke changes in the students'sociolinguistic competence.
Professor, Graduate School of Languages and Cultures, Nagoya
University

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Towards Improving English Language
Abilities for Academic Purposes
TAKIZAWA Naohiro

Nagoya University is scheduled to adopt a whole new curriculumin the 2009 Academic Year, the core of which lies in the focus on what
is called "Academic English". The new curriculum has four main
characteristics. (1) All students are to use Internet-based e-materials
as part of their learning materials. (2) Students are divided into three
categories (A-, B- and C-levels) according to the performance on aplacement test to be given at the beginning of the academic year. (3)C-level students are to take an additional class which is designed to
improve their basic English abilities. (4) Finally, students are urged todevelop their paragraph reading/writing abilities in class.
While discussing these characteristics of the curriculum, thisarticle discusses what, in the opinion of the author, constitutes"Academic English" and how best to improve (Academic) English
abilities of Nagoya University students. Two specific proposals havebeen made. One is, as the curriculum itself dictates, the importance of
paying attention to the macro structure of the paragraph/essay. The
other is the importance of getting students familiarized with"easy-to-understand-but-difficult-to-write" word combinations. Finally,
the use of corpora for improving their English writing ability is briefly
discussed.
Professor, Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya
University

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English Training for Students
in Fields of Engineering
INOUE Jun-ichiro

We first describe the necessity for English training and the present
status of English education in the field of engineering. We then pointout that English training is closely related to communication training.
English training may include two aspects, the presentation skill of
English and preparation of message to be presented. The latter isimportant also in the communication in Japanese. We point out thatdecline of the communication skills of university students, which has
been often pointed out recently in many occasions, might actually beincorrect. That is, when the students have appropriate messages,
they may communicate with each other quite frequently undersuitable discussion environments. This conclusion is provided being
based on a discussion held by the committee of “Education programsfor engineering students” organized by deans of engineering facultyof eight universities. Therefore, it is important for each student tohave an appropriate message and a suitable environment for effective
English training. As for the English skill, the students should also notethe difference between the structures of logic in English and Japanese.
Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University

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English-Taught Courses in Japanese Universities
NAKAI Toshiki

Recently, English-taught courses have been encouraged inuniversities of countries where English is not the domestic language
as in Japan. This paper aims to examine issues with English-taught
courses in Japanese universities. To diffuse effective teaching ideas,
the Center for the Studies of Higher Education developed andpublished a handbook, Teaching in English: A Faculty Guide toClassroom English. Findings from the analysis of the development
process of the handbook and reactions to it can be summarized asfollows:
First, faculty members are required to have course design skills aswell as English skills to teach their courses in English effectively. Thisis supported by the results of interviews with faculty members who
have many years of experience with English-taught courses.
Second, many faculty members need ideas that will assist them toteach courses in English. More than 10 percent of faculty members in
Nagoya University asked the Center for the Studies of Higher
Education to send them a copy of the handbook. Faculty members
need support to start teaching in English if institutions desire toincrease the number of English-taught courses.
Associate Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University

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Sharing Skills and Know-how
in Graduate Research Supervision
CHIKADA Masahiro

Research supervision is a core of graduate education as well as thecoursework. As Japanese graduate education has been expanding
since the 1990’s, it is hard to retain the traditional apprenticeshipmodel.

This paper clarifies current issues on graduate researchsupervision in Japan and examines the possibility of sharing the skills
and know-how in its practices.
According to interviews with teaching staff at Nagoya University,
they have not shared the skills or know-how of effective practices in
research supervision. Professors must endure extra stresses andanxieties with given the lack of the student abilities in academic
writing, critical thinking, and motivation. Each professor develops
practices to attract and motivate students such as creating learning
communities in the laboratories, implementing joint research projects,
providing overseas field-works opportunities and so forth.
Professors believe that active learning and mental strength areimportant in the life of graduate students in addition to the basic
academic abilities and skills.
Most of these ideas and practical knowledge in graduate researchsupervision are common across the academic fields. Sharing theknow-how among faculty may improve the quality of researchsupervision and the satisfaction among faculty and students.
Associate Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University

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The Change of Physics Students throughParticipation in Teaching Development Activities
YASUDA Jun-ichiro*
CHIKADA Masahiro**

The education committee by the students (ECS) was established byseveral students in April, 2003, with the aim of improving educationin the physics department of Nagoya University. This committee wasestablished voluntarily by the students without request from faculty
members. As voluntary activity, the students of ECS plan and manage
events to develop the academic ability of the students in the physics
department.
The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect on students as aresult of spontaneous participation in teaching development activities.
At first, we propose the assumption that students will become
independent learners through the activities. To verify the assumption,
we interviewed the 11 member of ECS with semi open-ended
questions. We learned that such a program needs more than three
years for students to become aware of becoming independent
learners through participating in ECS activities. The developments ofthe students through activities are classified as three processes:
developing the ability to put things in perspective, developing theability to plan and manage the events, becoming independent
learners.
*Designated Lecturer, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University**Associate Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University

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The Hundred Mysteries of the Universe:
Laboratory-based Training of
Science Communication
SAITOH Yoshiko*
TODAYAMA Kazuhisa**
FUKUI Yasuo***

The Hundred Mysteries of the Universe was a three-year project ofscience communication, which is designed for graduate students toimprove their science communication capabilities. The whole project
was embedded into the daily activities of a single laboratory (theAstrophysics Laboratory at Nagoya University). This style is different from the usual style of science communication training in Japan,
where the training is mostly offered as courses, and requires students
a tough negotiation with their supervisors and hard work aside frompursuing their research.
The strength of the laboratory-based training was verified throughinterviews with the graduate students involved in the project and theparticipatory observations undertaken by the authors. The project
enabled students to become aware of the importance and pleasure ofscience communication directly and naturally with the laboratory
professor acting as a good role model. They also came to realize what
it means to be an expert, as the project was closely related to theirdiscipline. Arrangement of modest institutional or external support issuggested for a wider application of the laboratory-based style to thetraining of science communication.
*Assistant Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education,
Nagoya University**Professor, Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University***Professor, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University309

Coporatization of National Universities:
Success or Failure ?
HOＭMA Masao

Almost 5 years have elapsed since April 2004 when all 89 national universities were corporatized with their 120,000 academic andnon-academic staffs deprived of their public servant status. The National Universities Corporatization Law stipulated that at least half ofthe Management Consultation Council members be appointed fromoutside the university, while at least one member of the Executive
Board be recruited from outside the university. In addition, according
to the Law, the Minister of Education is to appoint two auditors, oneof whom should be selected from outside the university. All of thesestrategies are aimed at enhancing social accountability for education
and research activities by national universities as well as at introducing efficient management expertise and skills from the private
sector. The current paper examines whether these non-university
people successfully function based on a national survey that the author conducted in the fall of 2006 with national university management as well as with the non-university people themselves. The result
was mixed: steady progress was observed toward increased accountability and enhanced efficiency, while there were some instances when those within the universities neglected the advice,suggestions and proposals made by outside people. Yet, whether national universities could and would take advantage of the wisdom,
skills and know-how is an essential key to the success of corporatization.
Vice Chancellor, Ritsumeikan Trust
Professor, Ritsumeikan University
President, Association of National University Management310

Needs and Challenges for Clinical Studyin Faculty Development:
the Effect of Faculty Developers
Using Individual Consultations
SATO Hiroaki

This paper presents the needs and challenges for clinical researchon the effect of faculty developers who use individual consultations
with faculty clients. The pilot study assesses the effectiveness of afaculty developer working in a consulting relationship with six faculty
members to develop educational and supportive activities to improveteaching and learning in their classes.
Individual consultation is the one-to-one and continuous activity
between a faculty developer and a client for solving together various
problems in individual classrooms. From the viewpoint of a faculty
developer, it is an assessment of the current situation and possible
interventions for the client. In addition to confirming that the interventions are successful, faculty developers need to be assessed also
for their contribution to the improved outcomes.
According to an e-mail survey on the effect of individual consultations by a faculty developer for six clients, results confirmed that all
clients felt the process improved their motivation for better teaching
and caused behavior changes in different ways.
More of these types of clinical studies are needed in faculty development for the following reasons. First, they could identify effective methods that could be used by faculty developers to promotechange in teaching and learning. Second, they are needed to develop
collaborative partnerships between faculty members and developers
to insure change. Third, such studies could contribute to the improvement of the performance of centers for teaching and learning,both outside and inside the campus.
Associate Professor, Institute of Education and Student Support,
Ehime University311

Factor Analysis of Post-doctors' Career-pathin Science and Technology
OKUI Takao

The continuous promotions of innovation become important because of the change of social and economical structures. Doctors are
considered as the promotions of innovation gradually. In order topromote innovation, it is thought that career-path diversification of
doctors is necessary to be promoted.
Doctors should develop their career voluntarily. The universities
which support career development of doctors and the organizations
which employ doctors should consider how to promote career-path
diversification of doctors in order to derive a good deal of social
benefit from doctors.
From the results of the web questionnaire about the career development of doctors, the following is read. Many doctors seem to besatisfied with their experience in their doctor’s programs and hope toturn the experiences to advantage in their lives. And they seem toconsider their seniors in their research fields. Finally, the points ofpromotion of career-path diversification are discussed on the basis of
the results of the questionnaire.
Webmaster, Hakasenoikikata: Staff Engineer, Matsusaka Plant, Central Glass Co., Ltd.

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