ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS

ONE-DAY CONFERENCE at MEIJI GAKUIN UNIVERSITY, TOKYO

‘THE PLACE FOR LITERATURE IN JAPAN’S ENGLISH CURRICULUM’

Venue: Meiji Gakuin University Shirokane Campus

Date and Time: Saturday 20 February, 2010, 10AM – 6PM

This event will bring together those teachers who firmly believe that literature has an essential place in the university English classroom. By ‘literature’, we mean authentic texts that use language in creative and careful ways to tell stories, convey impressions, express original opinions, pose critical questions and demand more than simplistic, pragmatic responses. Those texts could include poetry, novels, plays, movies, songs, TV series, or thoughtful authentic writings on culture, society, or history. Teaching literature always means teaching much more than just language. This conference will address attitudes and approaches to ‘literary’ texts in English.

We lament the ongoing ‘dumbing down’ and ‘infantilisation’ of English education in Japan and the consequent marginalization of literature in the curriculum at all levels. Our conviction is that literature offers learners access to the kinds of creative, critical, and non-complacent views of the world that Japanese students sorely need and indeed, in many cases, crave. Literature has the power to engage and motivate second-language learners; its potential for multiple interpretations develops the minds of students who often believe that every question has but one answer, and the authenticity of literary texts respects them as intellectually maturing adults. Eye-opening materials and mind-widening methods should be an integral part of the education process at all levels, but are essential at university level before students go forth to live among the complexities of the ‘real’ world.

The conference will explore the idea that it is unkind and disingenuous to deprive students of the marvelously varied, meaningful, and challenging content that only great works of literature and thoughtful authentic writings on culture can offer. It will also explore techniques, methods, and ways that literary texts can foreground the roots of education, liberate English language into maturely creative uses and instigate a freer, bolder expression of original opinions. With your participation, we hope this conference will open up an active and collaborative community of thought, reflection, inquiry and discussion. We hope to make this conference the first step in an ongoing forum in which we can establish how, where, and why literature should rightly figure in Japan’s English curriculum.

Call for Papers

Proposals are invited from persons wishing to present a paper. Presentations should be 50 minutes long (including 10 or 15 minutes for questions and discussion). Those wishing to present should send a title and abstract of no more than 200 words by e-mail to Michael Pronko at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Deadline for submissions is midnight on Friday 31 July 2009.