Integrating the Spiritual-Cultural, Rights-Responsibilities, and Economics of a Citizenship Development Higher Learning through a Differently Conceived and Practiced Sociology in (Second Language) English in the Japanese University

Abstract

School classroom life and study can be thought of as a threefold social sphere which encompasses the economic, the rights-responsibilities, and the spiritual-cultural. In order that there be a healthy threefold social sphere in the classroom, all three intertwined sub-spheres must be equally developed and work together. Human development and the instilling of socially beneficial values in young people are the publicly stated goals of Japanese education at all levels in Japan. Language of wider use and communication (LWUC) English medium study integrated with and directed by content study in a one-world ontology of knowing and communicating, has an important role to play in the implementation of this goal. However, to do so requires the creation and nurturing of an intersubjective well-being class study framework that can serve as an ongoing resource to create opportunities for civic dispositions to be learned and relearned. A study framework is required that prioritizes 1) people over technology; 2) progress over status quo arrangements; 3) the valuing of study over operational or epistemic outcomes; and 4) a process co-constructed and evolving curriculum over a closed already decided and other-directed curriculum and syllabus. This study framework will contribute to enhancing individual and communal awareness of participants’ civic responsibility.