ABSTRACT
As the population of high school graduates is constantly decreasing, many universities in Japan, especially private institutions, are working hard to attract applicants. One of the strategies is to promote ‘internationalization’ of the campus including foreign language instructions.
In this chapter, the author will introduce an attempt by a mid-sized private university and discuss various challenges an English program has had to face in order to establish campus-wide ELF-based English for a general academic program. After an introduction on the role of public discourses and their influence on English language programs in Japanese higher education and the gap between learners’ beliefs about learning English and the way English is used in the contemporary world, the author will give a brief description of the program, including its student body, curriculum structure, and hiring practice. This will be followed by the discussion on the challenges the program has had to face in the process of its development.
In conclusion, the author suggests that universities need to strategically implement the concept of ELF awareness to their programs step by step in order to establish a program that can ‘internationalize’ their institutions.
