京都大学における「英語」 : 全学共通科目としての内実

Abstract

The epoch-making introduction of the EAP (English for Academic Purposes) program into the curriculum of Liberal Arts at Kyoto University in 2006, featuring self-discipline and self-culture, not only anticipates what is to come in the general prospectus for the constantly renewing curriculum of Liberal Arts throughout the world, but also inherits many years' tradition of English teaching in the Department of English, of the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Kyoto University. This article provides a general view of English teaching at Kyoto University in the latter half of the 20th century, with its consistent emphasis on savoir-etre (i.e., ontological knowledge) in terms of intercultural competence, against the contemporary public claim for practical English. My proposal here is that even in our EGAP (English for General Academic Purposes) program, traditional “English for savoir-etre” should be ideal as terminus ad quem. This is because, for nonnative speakers of English, such skill is to be acquired only by learning “English for savoir-faire” (i.e., knowledge of how to act), while native speakers, who have the competence for “English for savoir-faire, ” cannot acquire it without trying to master another language other than English. Useful as English is as a global language, it is not merely because the language is practical but because it is one of many cultural assets the world inherits, and thus is indispensable for non-native academic students and scholars.