In the U.S. colleges and universities, language courses and cultural studies courses are usually under separate departments and programs. This separation represents the heart of liberal arts education, where students can explore a variety of disciplines. However, a comparative nature of cross-cultural analyses may cause generalized and stereotypical views toward the target country. This present study will introduce the practice of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and examine the value of studying the literature in the original language, so that the students will improve linguistic skills, gain knowledge on Japanese literary characteristics, and build on their intercultural competence skills.
This essay will introduce the biography and works of Tsumura Kimiko (1902Kimiko ( -1975, one of the first female professional Noh actors, who threw herself into the male-dominated world and fought against the biased conventions of traditional Noh theater. Not only has she successfully opened the gates to many other female Noh actors, but more importantly, she has reevaluated the artistic value of Noh through her original Noh plays. Precisely, she highlighted the role of natural environment created by the dance accompanied with simple and familiar poetic phrases on the Noh sage. In addition, she redefined the categories of Woman Play (Kazura Mono) and of Warrior Play (Shura Mono) with the main characters in the modern context. Her biography will help us learn how Noh has come to earn its current status of a traditional art form, and explorations of her plays will broaden the canon of Noh plays.
For Japanese language speakers, including native speakers, the formal expression of polite, honorific, and humble forms, called keigo, has been a great challenge to master. This research summarizes the challenges discussed by the previous researchers and will introduce three pedagogical methods of learning and practicing keigo: a conversation with one’s future self, the first encounter conversation, and a spiritual or sacred conversation. Different from methods introduced in previous researches, these methods focus on the use of keigo in one’s true self-expressions rather than reactive or objective expressions.
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