Almost every CBNU student must take some specific English liberal arts during their semesters. However, many students don’t know about why they have to take the subjects and what institute makes the subjects. Some students just take the classes because the subjects are on the curriculum. As the students pay the tuition fees every semester, not only do they need to know about what the subjects’purposes are, but they also need to know why those subjects were made for the students.


Introduction of GELT and English Department

  First of all, GELT stands for General English Language Teaching. In this institute, a lot of liberal arts are made and designed for CBNU students. GELT was established in 2010 with the purposes of providing CBNU students with an in-depth liberal arts education and managing the liberal arts more systematically. GELT consists of several departments, and among the departments, there is one department that takes charge of only English education.
  In the past, the students had to focus on grammar points or reading comprehension in the class, but after the English department was established, the students no longer focus on those points because the English Department has tried to change the old-fashioned methods of teaching English into new ones that are more suitable for the students living in the 21st century. The new ones are based on the purpose of helping the students communicate with foreigners and express their thoughts in English.

The Activities and Plans of the English Department

  The English Department has held many workshops for the professors who are in charge of English classes in CBNU before every semester commences. In these workshops, many Korean and foreign professors have gathered to discuss the effective methods of teaching English. In addition to that, the English department on occasion invites some famous professors from overseas countries and asks them to deliver a lecture to CBNU professors.
  In the workshop which was held in Feb., they dealt with the subject of the textbooks used for the classes. As a result of this workshop, they came to the conclusion that they need to teach the students about how to utilize the textbooks not only in the class but also outside of the class via the internet.
  For now, the plan of the English Department is that they are considering adding two more skills to the class. One is a reviewing skill and the other is a presenting skill, which is said by many language educators to be a hot topic in the academic society. The educators think that only reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills are not enough for the students who live in this global age. Therefore, if the students have a chance to learn the two skills before graduating from the university, they will have no problem living in the global age.

By Lee Seong-ho
shl36@cbnu.ac.kr