BRAC Institute of Languages (BIL) held its nineteenth Journal Club session on March 09, 2017, at the Writing Centre of BRAC University. Ms. Farrah Jabeen and Mr. Pankaj Paul, Lecturers at BIL, individually presented the article titled “Humanistic Education: Concerns, Implications and Applications” by Mohammad Khatib.
As the title suggests, the article is about the concerns, implications and applications of humanistic education. The presenters focused on the physical and psychological condition of learners in language classrooms. They further discussed the obstacles that learners may face in humanistic education and how to help those learners. According to the author, humanistic education goes beyond the cognitive development of the learners. The article encourages instructors to think about learners as a ‘whole person’ and to focus on their ‘self-actualization’ instead of providing only content-based education.
Most of the participants present in the sessions were enthusiastic to share their teaching experiences in relation to the topic. However, while discussing how humanistic education could be useful for language teachers and how it could be implemented, they showed their concern regarding the barriers of humanistic education. According to them, humanistic feedback could be provided, but humanistic education may become difficult to deliver.
Overall, the session was informative and collaborative as all the faculty members shared their opinions and knowledge with one another. The topic was deemed beneficial by the faculty members as they had the chance to consider how humanistic education may be delivered in class.