Engineering Humanism in EFL Classroom: Depicting an Optimal Zone

The purpose of humanistic education is educating the whole person-the intellectual and the emotional aspects. Similarly, Lei (2007) believes that the aim of the humanistic educations is not only developing the cognitive and linguistic capabilities of the learners but also paying attention to the learners' emotions and feelings. Arnold (1998) goes on to hold that humanistic language teaching does not mean to substitute the cognitive for the affective, but rather to add the affective. This paper first presents a brief overview of philosophy, rational and principles of humanism, then some points to humanize materials are recommended. Afterwards, an optimal zone is regarded for humanism, and at last some critical points are mentioned.