Center for Liberal Arts

In today’s globalized world, Japan must contend with highly internationalized and information-oriented activities that encompass virtually all aspects of society, including economic, technological, and socio-political fields and concerns. These same challenges are also common in educational settings, including those within Kitasato University. Communication, particularly via English, the de facto lingua franca, has already taken hold and will continue to be of paramount importance in this new reality.

Many non-English speaking societies can quickly find themselves at distinct disadvantages unless and until they make major efforts to inculcate and to develop strong English communication skills within their workforces. Japan faces similar challenges and Japanese universities must step into leadership roles in this regard. I believe that we at Kitasato university have, with our English curricula, and with our specialized teaching methods, begun the process of globalizing our educational approaches.

All first year students at Kitasato University are required to take two English classes per week. In many ways, these classes are relatively standard in that they are designed to cultivate basic academic skills in English. However, beyond such typical English skill-building approaches, these classes are also designed to accommodate the specific requirements and challenges faced by students within their respective disciplines. Hence, all students are taught to write, at least at an introductory level, academic papers and to make academic presentations. However, because students attending the different Schools will also encounter specialized technical jargon and phraseologies, more specialized English preparation teaching methods are required to assist these students to navigate their respective fields. At this time, the different Schools each provide different levels of English teaching support beyond the first year English curriculum. The situation remains fluid and we, in the English section, are actively working closely with all the Schools to help them customize these more advanced and more specific English curricula.

In the 2010 academic year, our university established three CALL rooms which launch language learning methods into the digital age.

As the name suggests, CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) is a foreign language learning support system which uses computers. The three CALL rooms can all be used for both regular English classes and self-study. The rooms are available for self-study anytime English classes are not being held until 6 p.m. each weekday. To acquire high levels of language proficiency, self study, in addition to regular class meetings, is required. According to his/her objective and proficiency level, each student can use the special language educational software materials on the computers in the CALL rooms. Furthermore, students can make use of a specialized CALL room library to borrow books for speed-reading and to study for certification examinations for English, German and other foreign languages As new freshmen looking at the horizon of their education at Kitasato University, students are encouraged to take full advantage of this opportunity to explore their world and its many cultures, in English.

Seiko Hirai
Professor
Seiko Hirai has been a faculty member since 1998. Her research interests center on English education, especially in Taiwan, and include cognitive perspectives of bilingualism. She is currently a member of the Japan Association of College English Teachers (JACET), the Society for Historical Studies of English Learning and Teaching in Japan, and the Japan Society for Studies on Asian Education.

Yoshiharu Wajimoto
Professor
Yoshihiro Wajimoto has been a faculty member since 1999. His research is focused on medieval English drama, especially morality plays. He is currently a member of the English Literary Society of Japan, the Japan Society for Medieval English Studies, the Shakespeare Society of Japan, and the Society for Emblem Studies.

James Goddard
Associate Professor
James (Jim) Goddard has been a faculty member at Kitasato since 2003. Having an educational background in chemistry, medicine, and veterinary medicine, Jim’s work experience in the United States includes company roles pertaining to medical implants and operative systems. Research interests include distance education, doctor-patient communication, sociolinguistics, student motivation, and WTC (willingness to communicate).

Terue Nakato
Associate Professor
Terue Nakato has been a faculty member since 2012. Her main research interest is in first language acquisition, including theoretical approaches to human language faculty in general. In recent work, she has been investigating the acquisition of syntactic and semantic properties of nominal phrases, especially focusing on English and Japanese.

Hiromi Noguchi
Associate Professor
Hiromi Noguchi has been teaching EFL at Kitasato since 2015. She has an MA in Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language with a TESOL certificate, and Ed.M and Ed. D in Applied Linguistics. She previously taught Japanese as a foreign language for college and graduate students in the US. Her research interest is second language acquisition after puberty, with a special focus on its upper limit.

Hugh A.W. Kirkwood
Junior Associate Professor
Hugh Kirkwood has been a faculty member since 2019. He has an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. His research is currently focused on analyzing online discourse about language teaching.

Nana Yano
Junior Associate Professor
Nana Yano has been a faculty member since 2022. Her research is focused on the 19th Century English Novel. She is currently a member of the English Literary Society of Japan, the George Eliot Fellowship, the Gaskell Society of Japan, the Women’s Studies Association of Japan.

Maki Morikage
Junior Associate Professor
Maki Morikage has been a faculty member since 2022. She has studied the nature of language in the framework of generative grammar theory since she was a graduate student. In recent years, she has also been devoting herself to practical research in language education.

Mathematics(1-year course)
This is an elective course for the students in N (School of Nursing) and V(especially, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Department of Animal Sciences) and a compulsory course for the students in all other Schools.

Our goal is to provide a solid introduction to differential and integral calculus in one variable. Topics include limits, continuity, derivatives, differential calculus and integration through the fundamental theorem of calculus.
Other topics (e.g., partial derivatives, extrema problem, multiple integrals and power series) may be introduced as time permits.

The courses on linear algebra such as vector and matrix theory are also offered to the students in N(School of Nursing) and V(especially, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Department of Animal Sciences). These will be also very useful in science.

Statistics A(1-year course)
This is a compulsory course for the students in M (School of Medicine) and
A(School of Allied Health Sciences except Department of Medical Engineering and Technology) and an elective course for the students in all other Schools.

In the life sciences, a variety of data is obtained through experiments and investigations. Statistics is a mathematical tool for quantitative analysis of data, and as such it serves as the means by which we extract useful information from data. This course introduces students to the basic concepts and logic of statistical reasoning. Topics include sampling and experimentation, descriptive statistics, probability, binomial and normal distributions, and estimation and statistical hypothesis test. This course does not assume any prior knowledge in statistics.

Statistics BI(First term course)
This is a compulsory course for students in the Department of Medical Engineering and Technology.

Goals are the same as in the Statistics course described above. Topics include part of sampling and experimentation, descriptive statistics, probability, binomial and normal distributions and estimation.

Statistics BI(Second term course)
This is a compulsory course for students in the Department of Medical Engineering and Technology.

Goals are the same as in the Statistics course described above. Topics include estimation and statistical hypothesis test.

Basic Mathematics<Elementary>, <Intermediate>(First term course, Second term course)
This is an elective course.

Students who have taken only high school basic calculus (Mathematics I or Mathematics A) are encouraged to take the <elementary>course. This course helps them develop proficiency in fundamental basic skills. Especially, for the MB students who will take the Basic Mathematics course, this is a compulsory course. Topics include elementary functions such as polynomial, trigonometric, exponential and logarithmic functions.
The <Intermediate> course offers differential and integral calculus in one variable.

Advanced Mathematics A (First term course)
This is an elective course.

This course is intended for students with special interests in advanced mathematics. Topics include differential and integral calculus in one variable, partial derivatives, Taylor expansion, extrema problem, multiple integrals and differential equations.

Advanced Mathematics B (Second term course)
This is an elective course.

This course is intended for students with special interests in advanced mathematics. Topics include vector and multi-variable calculus. The theory of vector calculus is essential for mechanics, electromagnetics and gauge theory.