About
Majors
Education Course
LEIS offers a curriculum that allows students to obtain a specialized English teacher license. This can be earned by studying English language education and English studies to a level beyond that through which they have already obtained (or will soon obtain) a first-class English teacher license during their four years of undergraduate study. This allows them to become highly specialized and skilled English language teachers. A TESOL certificate which meets international standards can also be earned by taking an intensive summer program offered jointly at an overseas university. An internship program at a nearby prefectural high school is also available, which allows direct observation of a teaching environment. Students can also take classes available in other LEIS courses, namely, Japanese Language Education Course and Course in Linguistics and Studies of Communication and Expression. In this way, after completing their studies, a wide range of opportunities become available to students, including teaching positions and also research positions and employment in companies.
Education Course
This course offers a systematic curriculum that allows students to acquire expertise in advanced research methods in language learning processes, teaching of Japanese both in Japan and abroad, and the relationship between language and culture and society, which are prerequisites for Japanese language teaching professionals. Students who complete the necessary requirements can obtain a certificate of completion of the Japanese language teacher training course. The program provides an environment in which our graduate students can mutually enhance each other’s skills to reach a higher level. They come from diverse backgrounds, including those who majored in Japanese language education or Japanese language studies as undergraduates, current Japanese language teachers and international students who have specialized in Japanese language and culture.
Studies of Communication
and Expression
This course enables graduate students to study a variety of phenomena in linguistics and studies of communication and expression. It is possible to research individual languages such as Japanese and English, and also carry out contrastive studies of multiple languages and the dialects of each language. Some past master’s theses have applied research findings from Japanese and English to analyze Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese languages. Not only research using data from face-to-face interaction but also methods for using corpora (large language databases) and brain science to study language can be learned. Alternatively, methods for researching various examples of communication expression can be learned, ranging from analysis of specific vocal expression and written works to interactions in real social life situations.
