A Study of English Language Education within Liberal Arts Context at The Japanese Universities in the 21^<st> Century

以下四个主要课题构成了本研究的总体成果：(1)基础调查：我们通过TOEIC测量了东京大学新生的英语能力，并积累了三年的数据。此外，我们还从新旧课程的差异角度对高中英语教材的内容进行了比较，并对结果进行了系统的整理。(2)师资发展：我们建立了一个数据库，不仅包含过去四年东京大学文理系英语语言课程中使用的教材，还包括其内容和一般趋势。这项工作已在2006年的课程改革中得到了英语语言组的实际应用。(3)写作教育的前景：本研究项目最重要的结果是我们发现了“写作”在文科教育课程中英语教学的潜力。基于这一认识，东京大学英语语言组于2005年出版了学术写作教材《第一步》。此外，本研究所带来的知识被有效地应用于同年在东京大学文理学系成立的批判性写作计划（CWP）。(4)与其他相关研究项目的合作：本研究部分成员参加了2002年和2003年文部科学技术部委托的一项研究，对日本大学英语教育的实际情况进行了调查，并对英语教师的态度进行了调查。这四点中的每一点都对应于最后报告的一章。

The following four main topics compose the overall achievement of this research project :(1)Basic surveys : we measured by TOEIC the English competence of freshmen at the University of Tokyo and accumulated data for three years. In addition, we compared the contents of English textbooks for high school students from the point of view of their differences between those of the new curriculum and the old one, and systematically sorted out the results. (2)Faculty development : we made a database containing not only of the texts used in the last four years in the English language classes in the Department of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo, but also of their contents and generic tendencies. This work has been put in practical use in the curriculum reforms by our English Language Section in 2006. (3)Prospects of writing education : the most important consequence of this research project is that we discovered the potential of "writing" for English language teaching in the liberal arts educational curriculum. Based on this recognition, the English Language Section of the University of Tokyo published a textbook for academic writing, First Moves, in 2005. Moreover, the knowledge brought about by this research was effectively applied to the Critical Writing Program (CWP), established in the same year in the Department of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tokyo. (4)Cooperation with other related research projects : some of the members of this research took part in a research commissioned by MEXT in 2002 and 2003 and made investigations on the actual conditions of English language education at the university level in Japan and a survey of the attitude of English language teachers. Each of these four points corresponds to the chapter of the final report.