Abstract
The internationalization of higher education in Thailand has necessarily seen English as a General Education (GE) requirement as it is widely accepted as the medium of academic and vocational instruction. While internationalizing education is important for preparing students for the employment opportunities that globalization has brought to Thailand, it is also about instilling cross-cultural values in a globalized world such as humanism and cosmopolitanism. Many international programs are geared more to the former goal of internationalization rather than to the latter, resulting in more English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses, which this author argues is contradictory to the goals of a 'general' education. The author of this paper and presentation calls for the development of academic literacy in English through exploration of themes that are not tailored to industry, but instead emphasize critical thinking and humanism that is crucial to the twenty-first century. This presentation will describe such an approach to the English Studies curriculum at an international college in Thailand.
Author Information
Matthew Robert Ferguson, Mahidol University International College, Thailand
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