English through Current Religious Issues

Abstract

The purpose of this course entitled “English through Current Religious Issues” is to enable students to develop four language skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking) via current religious issues. Moreover, the course raises students’ religious literacy and promotes interreligious tolerance in the times of “clashes between civilizations” and religious discord. It promotes intercultural communication by using a diversity of religious and cultural contexts. In addition, the course aims at drawing students’ attention to universal religious values that unite different religions and cultures. The current project uses Communicative Language Teaching approaches to generate an interactive environment for learning where students have the opportunity to learn about different religions and get rid of stereotypes about them. The course engages students in reasoning, comparing, contrasting and investigating religions. It employs self and peer-evaluation techniques and enhances students’ ability to communicate more effectively around certain religious issues. The activities take into consideration students’ personal beliefs and their religious sensitivity. The course piloting and research results suggest that “English through Current Religious Issues” can be used successfully for upper-intermediate students both in theological seminary and general public contexts in language centers.

Keywords: religion, religious literacy, tolerance, CLIL, English through Religious Studies.