About Us
History Mission Educational Facilities and Resources
History
Established August 1, 1982, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature enrolls a freshman class of about fifty every year. The cultivation and promotion of talent in foreign languages and in literature inform our undergraduate program. The required undergraduate curriculum consists of a core of foundational courses and an ample selection of upper-level courses in both literature and language. Not only does the solid selection of undergraduate courses offer students a wonderful opportunity for academic learning and intellectual enrichment, but the accessibility of courses to undergraduates in the department's master's program (in both literature and language teaching) as well as those in the Linguistics Institute also offers undergraduates further opportunity for advanced learning. In addition, the department offers a practicum of elective courses, preparing students for a smooth transition to the professional market beyond their studies.
A merger in 1995 of what were formerly known as the Literature Institute and the Foreign Literature faculty at the university resulted in the founding of the department's master's program. In 1997, building upon already existing faculty, resources, and facilities of our department, we added formally the Foreign Language Education faculty to complete the graduate program in foreign languages and literature. Consisting of 18 permanent faculty and 31 adjuncts, our faculty has the tremendous professional strength and depth to serve the entire university's needs for foreign language education, in addition to covering the department's own curriculum. The specializations of our faculty range from western literature, linguistics, foreign language education, to oral translation, and courses that professors in the department offer allows students to take an intellectual interest in a wide variety of topics and areas. Our faculty is known for excellent teaching, as many receive excellence in teaching awards from the university on a regular basis. In addition, our faculty is widely acclaimed for its research, as many members receive funding for research projects from the National Science Foundation, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Culture, and as the research results of faculty are frequently awarded and recognized by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, and other agencies and organizations.
Mission
The heart of our mission lies in cultivating and promoting intellectual and professional talent in foreign languages and literature. National Tsing Hua University's academic goals and its core pluralistic commitment to education and human endeavor inform the goals and objectives of our undergraduate as well as our master's program.
The undergraduate program has three major goals and objectives: 1. To develop the masterful familiarity and grasp of the English language in practical usage and all aspects of communication, and the acquisition of basic proficiency in a second foreign language (in addition to English); 2. To develop independent thinking and skills for in-depth analysis through the study of literature and linguistics and professional training in applied linguistics; 3. The cultivation of a cosmopolitan worldview.
Core capability:
．The ability to communicate and express oneself in the English/a foreign language.
．The ability to analyze classic canons of literature.
．The ability to look for problems and conduct research (including conducting linguistic analysis through scientific methods)
．The ability to think creatively
．The ability to examine issues through global and multicultural perspectives
The master's program in literature has the following major goals and objectives: 1. To cultivate and promote academic and research talent in the areas of British, American, and world literature; 2. To strengthen the theoretical foundation that forms the basis of the criticism and study of literary works and cultural phenomena, and to expand the ability for in-depth critical thinking and research; 3. To provide research training for the preparation and writing of a thesis in literary criticism and cultural studies.
Core capability:
．The ability to interpret and analyze British, American and world literature
．The ability to understand the close relations between literary texts and social, cultural, and historical phenomena
．The ability to think critically and analyze creatively literary texts and cultural phenomena
．The ability to conduct research and write research papers In the fields of literature and cultural studies
The master's program in language teaching has the following major goals and objectives: 1. To cultivate and promote professional talent in language teaching in English and other foreign languages, and to cultivate and promote research talent in academic research in the area of applied linguistics; 2. To develop problem-solving and other practical abilities in applied linguistics; and to strengthen knowledge in the theoretical foundation of English and other foreign language learning, in particular, in understanding trends in language teaching and theories of English language teaching, the practical as well as related issues of research; and finally, to develop the ability to carry out English-language testing from a pluralistic approach and the ability to analyze the results of testing for further research; 3. To provide research training for the preparation and writing of a thesis on a relevant subject matter; 4. To cultivate a sense of mission in English language education and a broad and open worldview.
Core capability:
．Familiarity with theories and practices of applied linguistics and related topics of research
．An awareness of current trends in applied linguistics, and its applications with enhancement of using information technologies
．Skills in material development, curriculum design, and multiple language assessment
．The ability to conduct applied linguistic research and analyze research data
．The capability of thinking and conducting research professionally and independently
．The ability to respond to environmental and societal changes
．A sense of mission and responsibility toward the development and applications of applied linguistics
．A broader perspective on the world
Educational Facilities and Resources
The department is located in NTHU's College of Humanities and Social Sciences, a spacious building which has its own library, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, a branch of the university library with 198 study desks for students and researchers. Currently the college's library collection includes about 483,907 items in Chinese-language and western-language books and journals from Taiwan and China, more than 1,884 up-to-date journal subscriptions, and the library's collection in all categories of reading, research, and media resources continues to expand.
The department space includes the department office, faculty offices, a lounge for adjunct and non-permanent faculty, assistants' offices, regular classrooms, multi-media computer-equipped classrooms for language teaching, language lab, conference rooms, graduate students' computer lab and study.
Every classroom has air conditioning and a complete set of multi-media technology, allowing and encouraging the use of film media and software in classroom teaching, and offering students more possibilities in academic enrichment through the use of the school's system in digital learning. Moreover, the language lab provides multi-media facilities and ample visual and aural media material for language learning, such as hundreds of DVDs encompassing language-learning material for English, Japanese, German, French, Russian, and Spanish. Students are free to access such language-learning material in their spare time, and faculty members also reserve material in the lab for students working on language proficiency outside the classroom.