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Introduction

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literature (FLLD) was established in 1955, one of the founding departments of Tunghai University. Since that time both the University and the FLLD have grown much larger. Forty years ago the FLLD had about fifteen Majors Program students and just a few teachers; now there are approximately four hundred students majoring in English and twenty-four full-time teachers, including one full professor, nine associate professors, nine assistant professors, and five lecturers. The Department also has five part-time teachers to keep the course load manageable.

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literature offers courses in Language Skills, Literature, Drama and Film, Cultural Studies, Linguistics, and English Teaching. Students in the department receive an excellent training in Language Skills to enable them to study the literary and cultural courses taught in English. Language Skills courses include Freshman English with a focus on Grammar study, Listening, Reading, Research Methods and the 3-year Composition and Oral Training Program.

The strength of the Department lies in its literary and cultural courses including the Literature, Performance, and Culture Strand. The students take the required courses History of Western Civilization and Introduction to Literature in the freshman year. Over the next three years students study the required course British Literature 1 (beginnings to the Enlightenment) in the sophomore year, British Literature 2 (Romanticism to the present) in the junior year, and American Literature in the senior year. These core courses in literature are supplemented with a variety of elective courses including European Literature, Women's Literature, Children's Literature, Selected Fiction, Selected Poetry, Selected Drama, Shakespeare, Introduction to Film, Introduction to Cultural Studies, and an ever-evolving choice of electives. Students further enhance their FLLD experience by choosing from a variety of seminars. Seminars are courses limited to 15 students and offer an in-depth study of an instructor's particular research area. The department has offered seminars in James Joyce, Visual Cultural Studies, Representing Apocalypse, Sleuths in Skirts: Women Detectives by Women Writers, Western Writing on Taiwan, Literary Translation, Journalism Translation, Fairy Tales, to list but a few.

The Linguistics Module, which has been developed in the 2008-2009 academic year, includes Introduction to Linguistics as a required course in the sophomore year. A number of electives have been developed including Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition. Students in the department also have the option of selecting a second foreign language including French, German, Spanish or Japanese.

The Department also offers those students interested in pursuing careers in teaching a number of courses in English Teaching. These include Methodology of EFL: Basic, Methodology of EFL: Advanced, TEFL: Service and Practicum, as well as seminars in Special Issues in Education.