In this issue - JALT Publications

Transcription

The
Language
Teacher
ISSN 0289-7938
In this issue:
¥950
• Feature Article
Simon Cole increases student awareness in writing
through task-based learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
• Readers’ Forum
Hudson Murrell describes goal setting with students. . . . . . . . 9
Anita Wilson helps students develop competence in
shifting and changing topics in conversation . . . . . . . . . . . 13
• My Share
Articles by Anthony Ryan and John Young, Jr.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
• Book Reviews
by Michael Thomas and Iain B.M. Lambert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
January, 2007 • Volume 31, Number 1
The Japan Association for Language Teaching
全国語学教育学会
THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
全国語学教育学会
January 2007 • volume 31, number 1
CONTENTS
Feature Article
} Consciousness-raising and taskbased learning in writing. . . . . . . . 3
Readers’ Forums
} Goal setting and dialogue
journals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
} Helping Japanese learners to
develop topic control in
conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Resources
} My Share
» Rugby round robins . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
» Researching graduate schools in
English-speaking countries . . . . . 19
} Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
} Recently Received . . . . . . . . . . . 23
} TLT Wired: Orchestrating
PowerPoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
JALT Focus
} JALT Notices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
} Member’s Profile & Showcase. . . 31
} Grassroots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Columns
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
SIG News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Chapter Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Chapter Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
JALT Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Job Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Conference Calendar. . . . . . . . . 44
Staff List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Membership Information. . . . . . . 48
Submissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
} Advertiser Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
} Online Access Info . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
In this month’s issue . . .
明
けましておめでとうございま
す。
2007年の年頭にあたり、皆
さん、新年の抱負を考えておられる頃
だと存じます。
私の新年の抱負は、前任者の高垣俊
之の業務を上手く引き継ぎ、編集業務
を何とかこなしていくことです。日本
語編集担当者としては、日本語での投
稿数を増やす努力をする所存です。　さて、今月号の特別記事は、
S i m o n C o l e の「ライティングにおけ
る学習者の意識昂揚とタスク中心の学
習」です。日本人学習者による、文頭
でのつなぎ言葉の過剰使用を報告し、
その対処方法について論じます。
R e a d e r s ’ F o r u m では、
Hudson Murrell が、目標設定と対話形
式日誌について解説します。また、
Anita Wilson が、会話におけるトピック
・チェンジとトピック・シフトについ
て、日本人学習者に役立つ活動を紹介
します。
M y S h a r e では、 A n t h o n y R y a n が、有効な教室運営法である
Rugby Round Robinを説明します。John Young は、大学生の英語でのア
カデミック学習スキルを育成する方法を教えてくれます。 TLTでは、日本語と英語のバランスの取れたジャーナル作りを目指し
ています。そして、2008年３月と９月の特集記事に対する提案を募集
しています。
皆さんからのお便りを、心よりお待ちしております。
TLT日本語編集担当
高橋幸子
W
e’ve arrived
at New Year again…and we all have to
think about our New Year resolutions. My resolution
this year is to successfully take over from my predecessor, Toshiyuki Takagaki who contributed a great deal to TLT.
I also look forward to editing Japanese submissions with other
staff members. As Japanese-Language Editor, I would like to
ask more Japanese teachers of Japanese and Japanese teachers of
English to submit articles and reviews in Japanese.
Our feature article this month, by Simon Cole, is
Consciousness-raising and task-based learning in writing. Cole looks
at the excessive use of linking words at the beginning of sentences by Japanese students.
– continued overleaf
TLT Co-Editors:
Jacqui Norris-Holt
& Ted O’Neill
TLT JapaneseLanguage Editor:
Sachiko Takahashi
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER 31.1 • January 2007
Foreword & Information
JALT Publications Online
} More information on JALT Publications can be found
on our website:
<www.jalt-publications.org>
January 2007 Online Access
} To access all our online archives:
[ login: jan2007 / password: ]
Publications Forum
} Information, commentary, and feedback can be found
on our forum page:
<forum.jalt-publications.org>
Contact
} To contact the editors, see the Staff List at the back of
this issue or use the contact form on our website.
Advertiser Index
In Readers’ Forum, Hudson Murrell describes
goal setting and dialogue journals. Murrell
reviews some previous studies and explains his
own implementation. Anita Wilson focuses on
some ways to help Japanese learners in the area
of topic change and topic shift in conversation.
Wilson considers the cultural difference in the
role of silence and suggests some awareness-raising activities.
In My Share, Anthony Ryan introduces his
Rugby Round Robin which can be used as an
effective classroom management technique. John
Young gives us a plan to provide university students with academic learning skills in English.
Lastly, the staff at TLT wish you all well in the
bright New Year ahead. We hope TLT will become
more balanced in English and Japanese. I would
like to remind all TLT readers that we are accepting proposals for themes for our Special Issues in
March and September, 2008.
Sachiko Takahashi
TLT Japanese-Language Editor
Key: IFC = inside front cover, IBC = inside back cover,
OBC = outside back cover
} Thomson Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC
} Monterey Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
} Nellies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
} Longman Japan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
} Aston University. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
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– Correction –
Last month’s issue of The Language Teacher was
unfortunately printed with the incorrect date
and issue number on the front cover. The correct data should have read:
December, 2006 • Volume 30, Number 12
We apologise for the error.
Members may request a sticker with the correct
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Copyright Notice
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FEATURE ARTICLE
Consciousness-raising
and task-based
learning in writing
Keywords
consciousness-raising, task-based
learning, conjunctions, corpus, enquirybased approach, sentence initial position words
This article looks at the excessive use
by Japanese students of linking words at
the beginning of sentences. It explains
the development of materials that incorporate corpus evidence designed
to increase student awareness of the
frequency and textual position of linking
words in formal and informal contexts.
The process leads students through enquiry methods and students discover
solutions through problem solving activities. The origin of the problem (L1
interference) is described as well as the
subjects and their error habits. Results
are evaluated quantitatively from student data and qualitatively from teacher
and student responses.
本論は、日本人学習者による文頭におけるつな
ぎ言葉の過剰使用について論じる。コーパスを
使った教材開発では、様々な文脈の中で、つな
ぎ言葉の頻度とテキスト内での位置を学生に気
づかせるように工夫している。その気付きの過
程で、学習者は探求の方法を学び、問題解決活
動を通して解決法を発見する。この問題の原因
（L1の干渉）、被験者、誤用例なども説明されて
いる。学生データの量的分析、および、教師と
学習者の回答に対する質的分析から、研究結果
が導き出されている
Simon Cole
Daito Bunka University
T
describes the use of consciousness-raising (CR)
and task-based learning (TBL) in a writing course. It
outlines the development of materials for a 90-minute
lesson that focuses on a specific language problem (frequency of
conjunctions at sentence initial position), which was found in a
systematic analysis of Japanese undergraduate student writing.
It argues that CR and TBL are effective ways to lead learners to
an awareness of the low frequency of linking words at sentence
initial position and to the development of strategies for using
them appropriately in their writing. Qualitative and quantitative
data is presented to support the claim.
The study begins with an analysis of the cause of the problem,
followed by a description of the subjects and an error analysis
of their writing. A description of the theoretical basis for the design of materials is provided and how they were implemented.
The significance and appropriateness of the materials are then
explained. The results are evaluated qualitatively through the
piloting experiences and feedback of teachers and students in
several classrooms and quantitatively with statistical data from
the students’ writing.
his paper
Analysis of the origins and cause of the problem
Anecdotal evidence suggests that Japanese students frequently
produce sentences beginning with conjunctions. The enthusiastic
response of my colleagues to pilot the materials for this study
confirms this view. (One teacher commented at the end of the
study: It focused on a specific writing problem that I have been harping on all term.) As will be shown later, data collected showed
that students use and, but, so, and because too frequently at the
cole
FEATURE ARTICLE
start of sentences in comparison to formal text and
it was clearly apparent (without systematic comparison) that this held true for a comparison with
less formal text as well.
There is evidence that the problem may be L1
interference. Swan and Smith (1987) point out that
because English conjunctions have many different
equivalents in Japanese, Japanese students can be
expected to have trouble mastering them.
Japanese clause-conjunctions often double as
postpositions or participles. Perhaps because
of this, Japanese students do not always appreciate the clause-combining role of English
conjunctions, and there is a strong tendency to
use them with one-clause sentences: I am working very hard. Because I want to succeed an exam.
But I am afraid I can’t succeed it. So I must be more
diligence. (p. 221)
Swan and Smith’s speculation about clauseconjunctions seems rather theoretical. It is difficult to think of Japanese equivalents to and, but,
so, and because that function as postpositions or
participles in the way they are used by students
(as in the examples given). My limited knowledge of Japanese informs me that Japanese, like
English, has informal and, but, so, and because as
well as formal conjunctions (such as in addition,
therefore, however, and due to). The difference is
that in English there is a level between informal
and formal where conjunctions are rarely used at
all. In informal contexts, the use of conjunctions
at the beginning of sentences is common and
acceptable. For example, one of the teachers who
participated in this study wrote me an informal
note in which three of his five sentences began
with and, because, and so. However, in a short
paragraph of the kind I requested of my students
in class (100 words of freely written feedback on
the class syllabus, which makes up the corpus
in Table 1), it is not appropriate. Such a context
may not be academic writing, but it is a relatively
formal one. Then again, it is not formal enough
for forms such as therefore, however, although, etc.
Apparently, it is this in-between register that has
no equivalent in Japanese.
Subjects
The subjects were 145 Japanese undergraduates
(falling to 138) in ten 2nd- and 3rd-year writing
classes at two Tokyo universities. A majority of
them were English majors and three of the classes
were the author’s. All the students were Japanese,
with the exception of a few Chinese students.
Table 1. Error analysis results
Category of error and total number of
occurrences from a corpus of 4113 words
Total
Category and sub-category
Tense
present simple/cont
past/past perfect
present perfect
past
passive
future
future will
Articles
general errors
definite
indefinite
a/an
Conjunctions
meaning
position
Vocabulary
Punctuation
Paragraphing
Spelling
Comparatives/Superlatives
Verb structures
modals
verb structures
3rd person verbs
ing as nouns
/to + infinitive
of
phrasal verbs
Relative pronouns
general errors
repeated noun
possessive
derivatives
Determiners
general errors
non/count nouns
plural/singular
numerals
Sentence structure
word order
adjectives
Prepositions
Formal/informal style
1
3
4
3
1
3
7
10
16
8
3
5
64
1
3
3
16
1
2
1
7
1
2
2
4
11
1
1
2
1
22
37
69
11
3
2
3
3
26
11
18
4
14
2
FEATURE ARTICLE
Identifying a common problem
An error analysis of the subjects’ writing marked
for errors above elementary level, using a number
of reputable grammar and course books as a
guide (Soars & Soars, 2001; Swan & Walter, 2001;
Murphy, 1990) indicated that the most common
error was excessive use of conjunctions at sentence
initial position; specifically and, but, so, and because
(see Table 1). This analysis was not triangulated.
Materials design and research
Some teachers respond to this particular problem
by telling their students to simply never use the
words at the start of sentences. I felt this could
be inhibiting and demotivating if the error is a
natural part of the “developmental sequence” of
errors that learners go through (Skehan, cited in
Willis & Willis, 1996, p. 19). In addition, banning is a difficult position to maintain in the face
of ample evidence (which I found in my search
for authentic material) of the words at sentence
initial position, especially in less formal texts of
the target language that students are frequently
exposed to. Despite recognition that the problem
is commonplace, there is little treatment of it in
(even locally) published materials.
An assumption underlying the design of the
materials used in this study was that the students’ target discourse (TD) was native English
speaker-like proficiency. Therefore, authentic TD
materials would need to be carefully selected to
suit student ability level and interests (Wong,
Kwok, & Choi, 1995). To ensure task authenticity,
the material was introduced in a way that readers
outside the classroom typically interact with such
texts (Lee, 1995, p. 326).
The materials were designed based upon the
assumption that students will learn when engaged
in a meaningful process (van Lier, 1996, p. 106). I
therefore took an enquiry-based approach (Learning Development Team, 2002) that employed
elements of both CR and TBL. Enquiry-based
learning is a term used by general educators in
“reference to approaches to learning that place the
process of enquiry at the centre” (Learning Development Team, 2002, p. 1). CR activities involve
students “working out the grammar themselves”
from exposure to the TD (Willis & Willis, 1996, p.
63). I saw this as an appropriate way to raise student awareness. I speculated that through analysis
of TD and questions on overwhelming evidence
from computer-based corpora about the target
items, the students could be led to appropriate
conclusions. An important goal the CR component
Cole
would need to achieve would be to draw a clear
comparison between the way the target items
are used in the TD and the way the students use
them. By incorporating student-produced material
in the design, I felt the activities would be more
authentic to the learners (Nunan, 1988, pp. 99-105).
By drawing comparisons between their writing
and the TD, students could be actively engaged in
isolating a relevant problem. Skehan (1996, p. 20)
describes TBL activities as “learning by doing”.
By analyzing their mistakes, the students could be
encouraged to discover some strategies for avoiding the problem and, having made these discoveries themselves, might be expected to retain them
more than if they had been spoon-fed. At this point
the materials would depart from the CR model,
as students would be required to apply their new
knowledge in practical, self-correction exercises
to come up with practical solutions. Skehan (1996,
p. 20) also describes TBL activities where learners
“primarily engage in meaning” and this is where
my materials would differ from the concept of TBL
in as much as students would need to focus on
textual function.
I felt that including a comparison with informal
text might complicate the exercise; a risk I did not
want to take, nor felt I had the time for with class
time restrictions.
Procedure
The materials begin with three texts from a newspaper, magazine, and an academic abstract chosen
from my textbook for their content, level, length,
and demonstration of the target items (Cole, 2000,
p. 73). After browsing and answering comprehension questions, the students began focusing on the
target items, analyzing the text for patterns and
locating their position in sentences. The text also
provides a convenient opportunity to introduce
formal writing conventions of one of the target
items, however. These tasks were achieved through
student enquiry in response to questions.
Having introduced the issue of position-in-sentence, sample concordances of 20 tokens per item
were then presented to emphasize the evidence
of frequency in the TD (see Table 2). These were
based on a corpus of 80,000 words of academic
text from ELT sources. This was followed, for
maximum impact, by students analyzing six
examples of their classmates’ writing (Table 3
shows two examples) in which they recognized
the disparity with the TD. CR questions led the
students to draw their own conclusions regarding the frequency of the target items at sentence
initial position. A corpus of the students’ own
cole
FEATURE ARTICLE
Table 2. Extract from the materials: Sample of
concordance for the item and
writing was then used to further
illustrate and emphasize the
disparity (see Table 4).
entering the language between 1944 and 1976.
Having established that a
between the ages of 10 and 15.
problem existed, the students
were then set the task of correctare Gomes de Matos (1983 and 1992).
ing the mistakes in the examples
resource for one teacher and a constraint for another.
of their classmates’ writing. In
is, spends Saturday mornings ( and a substantial amount of this learning by doing activity
ought to be preserved) and a bad Australian word ( (Skehan, 1996, p. 20), they were
invited to come up with strateusing them requires time and a clear sense of
gies in the process and make
of this classroom activity and a copy of the
notes in order to consolidate and
labour in our society, and a dash of hope
preserve them for future reference. The examples of student
attendance in elective classes and a decline in interest
writing were carefully selected
Only 1% of all the ands are at the start of sentences.
and ordered to elicit the most
useful strategies with a minimum of confusion. The teachers were provided
Table 3. Extract from the materials: Two
with the necessary information to guide the
examples of students writing for peer
students in this if necessary (see Appendix A). Ficorrection
nally, students were invited to repeat the process
Look at the examples of some students’ writing
individually with their own writing.
about what they think of what they will do in
their writing class. Underline the words and, but,
so, and because.
Evaluation
My evaluation begins with what Ellis (1997, p.
I
36) calls an “impressionistic evaluation” in my
I never have written a diary in English. I seem
own classes. An empirical evaluation follows of
that my English skill will develop. And my
both my classes and the other teachers’ classes
computer skill is not good. I’ll do my best to
to assess “whether the lesson achieved its objecwrite my feelings.
tives” (Ellis, 1997, p. 37). The empirical evaluation
was conducted through questionnaires, follow-up
II
interviews, direct observation, and audio recordI think this syllabus is hard. But I support this
ings. The objectives are defined as outcomes of
syllabus. Thought I sometimes write a word of
the CR and TBL learning activities, as well as skill
diary in my notebook, I have never write in my
development, which was evaluated quantitadiary in English. So, I want to try. And I look
tively based on computer-based text analysis and
forward to exchange a diary for my friends.
statistical data.
And, my pace of writing in English is slow. So,
I hope that writing pace is speed up.
Impressionistic evaluation
Table 4. Extract from the materials:
Conjunctions compared from corpora of
student writing and formal written English
And
But
So
Because
Student
writing
27%
60%
61%
46%
Formal,
written
English
1%
22%
10%
3%
Although my classes generally responded favorably to the lessons, two problems were identified in 90 minutes of audio-recorded data from
two classes. The students found it too difficult to
formulate strategies without assistance. Secondly,
some of them were not persuaded by the comparison of formal text with the students’ informal
writing. The comparison was, perhaps, considered unfair or invalid. Also in this data, a student
states that the problem may be that they are using
Japanese English. This awareness of L1 interference
suggests that the students may find an explanation of the differences in position and frequency
of L1 and L2 conjunctions useful.
FEATURE ARTICLE
Empirical evaluation
Three colleagues piloted the materials in five 1styear university classes with a total of 140 students.
Overall, their reaction was positive. Some comments were I found the components used to be well
designed, Focused on one grammar point, and Seemed
to be well thought-out. The use of CR was particularly well received: They were quite varied and at the
same time incremental in that they followed a logical
and comprehensible progression and Liked the hard
facts in the CR section that back up what I have been
telling them.
I was able to determine whether the task-based
element met its objectives in follow-up interviews
with teachers and most reported having to guide
students through all the strategies, but they did
not report this as a problem.
Although they used the target items more
frequently at sentence initial position, Table 4
and Appendix B show that they follow a similar
pattern of use to the TD (with the exception of so,
which they used much more frequently before
treatment). Does this reveal common patterns of
discourse in English and Japanese, or an emerging knowledge of the TD overlaid with L1 habits?
Is the language processing of interlanguage and
informal English similar with respect to these
items? Answers to these questions may be instructive.
The student questionnaire (see Appendix C)
revealed that most students were able to identify
the aim of the lesson, a major indicator of success.
Several students commented on the difficulty the
problem presents to Japanese learners.
Most of the classes reported good feelings
about what they had learnt (see Appendix C).
They reported feeling better about analyzing the
reading material and correcting their classmates’
writing than the other exercises. This suggests
that although correcting their classmates’ writing
was the most challenging, it was also the most
rewarding. This may be what van Lier (1996, p.
106) describes as Czikszentmihalyi’s concept of
flow, and what Kraft (2003, p. 12) calls authentic
response, “when the students find the materials
interesting and useful, their response is authentic to that aim [of acquiring the ability to use the
target language].”
Although the teachers did not report any
problems comparing informal student writing
with formal TD, one student was clearly skeptical
enough to comment, Always should we use formal,
written English in life…? This echoes the reaction
of my classes.
Cole
Objective evaluation
A quantitative evaluation by word count of my
classes also indicates the materials were successful (see Appendix B). Following Ellis’ (1997, p. 39)
“learning based evaluation” to measure changes
in the way students wrote, data was collected and
analyzed before and after treatment.
A marked drop in frequency of sentence initial
position conjunctions before treatment after the
Syllabus Feedback task may be attributed to the
formality of Assignment 1, the drop in attendance
of less able and motivated students, and the disciplining effect of the first few weeks of semester.
A slight increase in the frequency of because in the
post-treatment task may be attributed to acquisition of the structure as taught and the nature of
the topic, which required giving reasons. The first
post-treatment task was guided only by topic.
Follow-up exercises on conjunctions (Chapter 2
& 10 of the textbook, Cole, 2000) that preceded
Assignment 2 and were the grammatical focus of
that assignment could have consolidated learning.
After converting the frequency data to arcsin
values, a t-test was conducted to compare preand post-treatment performance. The frequencies of each type (i.e., and) in both tasks in both
pre- and post-treatment were taken as replicates,
despite the different conditions acknowledged
previously. According to Deacon’s (2001) student’s t-test, when comparing two means, the
number of degrees of freedom is the number of
replicates of treatment 1 (=8) plus the number of
replicates of treatment 2 (=8) – 2, which equals
14. The t-value is 2.963983, significantly higher
than 2.14, which in Deacon’s table indicates a 95%
probability of making a correct statement.
Conclusion
The results suggest that the CR and TBL approaches were effective in the way they were implemented. The quantitative evaluation indicates
that the materials achieved their ultimate goal
of reducing the frequency with which students
use conjunctions at sentence initial position (see
Figure 1 and Appendix B). The expectations
built into the TB activity were somewhat above
the subjects’ level, but did not result in failure in
most classes because of the skill and ability of the
teachers to adapt and compensate for them.
I believe the evidence used in the CR activity
could be made more persuasive by comparing the
frequency of formal and informal conjunctions in
corpora of informal, academic, and in-between
cole
FEATURE ARTICLE
English, thereby drawing attention to the scarcity of
informal conjunctions between the two extremes. A
graph of this might look something like Figure 2.
This study suggests that approaching the problem from an L1 interference point of view would
enhance the effectiveness of the CR approach taken.
Encouragingly, weeks after the study one teacher
reported some students correcting each other’s use
of conjunctions in peer review exercises.
References
Cole, S. (2000). Write it right! Ashiya City: Seido Language Institute.
Deacon, J. (2001). Welcome to fungal biology. Retrieved
February 3, 2005, from the University of Edinburgh:
<http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/FungalBiology/index.htm>.
Soars, L., & Soars, J. (2001). New headway elementary.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swan, M., & Smith, B. (1987). Learner English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swan, M. & Walter, C. (2001). The good grammar book.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the language curriculum.
Harlow: Longman.
Willis, D., & Willis, J. (1996). Consciousness-raising
activities: Challenge and Change in Language Teaching.
London: Heinemann.
Wong, V., Kwok, P., & Choi, N. (1995). The use of authentic materials at tertiary level. ELT Journal, 49(4),
318-322.
Appendices and figures
Ellis, R. (1997). The empirical evaluation of language
teaching materials. ELT Journal, 51(1), 36-42.
The 3 appendices and 2 figures can be viewed
at <jalt-publications.org/tlt/resources/2007/
0701aResource.pdf>.
Learning Development Team, (2002, Autumn). Approaches to learning: Some concepts, methods, and
terms explained. John Moores University Learning
and Teaching, 2(2), 1. Retrieved June 22, 2004, from
<http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/lid/ltweb/ldu_09/VOL2_
2.pdf>.
Simon Cole has taught at universities in Tokyo
and Fukuoka since 1993. He has also taught
English in Thailand and Australia. His main
teaching interests are corpus linguistics, English
as an International Language, SLA and pedagogic
approaches to writing. He has published many
papers on these subjects and a textbook on academic writing.
Murphy, R. (1990). English grammar in use. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Acknowledgements
Kraft, B. (2003). Authentic response. EL Gazette, 280(12),
12
Lee, W. (1995). Authenticity revisited: Text authenticity
and learner authenticity. ELT Journal, 49(4), 323-328.
Nunan, D. (1988). The learner centered curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Skehan, P. (1996). Second language acquisition research
and task-based instruction. In D. Willis & J. Willis
(Eds.), Challenge and change in language teaching (pp.
17-30). London: Heinemann.
Thanks to my colleagues Susan Binder and
Steven Morgan at Daito Bunka University, and
Anthony Mills and Andrew Martin at Kyoritsu
Women’s University for piloting these materials.
Thanks also to my partner Yasutaka Komatsu
and my brother Terence Cole for assisting with
statistical analysis.
Readers’ Forum
Goal setting
and dialogue
journals
Hudson Murrell
Keywords
Baiko Gakuin University
dialogue journals, goal setting, motivation
The importance of goal setting
This paper reviews literature regarding
the effectiveness of goal setting as an
aid to second language acquisition. A
visual aid, such as a language tree, can
benefit the students. Another important theme which arises from working
with goal setting is the importance of
dialogue journals. These journals should
be non-assessed, with student chosen
content, handed in on a set schedule.
The paper includes summaries of the
author’s implementation of goal setting
and dialogue journals as well as problems encountered.
本論では、第２言語習得における目標設定の有
効性に関する文献を概説する。ランゲージ・ツ
リーのような視覚教材は学生に役立つ。目標設
定の研究から出てきたもう一つの重要なテーマ
は、対話形式日誌である。内容は学生が選び、
所定のスケジュールで提出する。この日誌は成
績評価をしない。著者が実際に行なった目標設
定と対話形式日誌に関する実践例を解説し、こ
れらの問題点にも言及する。
What strategies will help ESL students retain knowledge? One
technique that leads to more motivated and successful students
is goal setting. Goal setting allows the students to take responsibility for their learning by reflecting on their own goals. Students learn that their goals should be more specific than improve
my English, and they also become aware of new methods of
going about this improvement. This paper will survey the literature on the subject of goal setting as well as including observations from my own teaching at the university and adult level.
Reilly’s objectives and attrition
Tarey Reilly (1988) gives three opinions as to why ESL learners
forget, as well as some tips to help learners to be more successful. First Reilly suggests that language acquisition primarily
depends on instructional objectives. Here, instructional objectives
is the key phrase because the goals of the teacher for the class as
a whole are important to language acquisition. The second key
for Reilly is attrition. ESL learners learn English through reading, writing, speaking and listening, and Reilly says that the
four skills are not forgotten at the same speed nor retained with
the same effort. For example, ESL students do not lose their
receptive skills as quickly as they lose their productive skills.
Furthermore, students that focus mainly on oral skills will show
a more rapid loss than students who have stressed comprehension or writing. Reilly's third point is that oral communication
cannot function as the only input. In response to Reilly’s article
I have implemented a dialogue journal in my oral communication class. This journal is a form of non-assessed written communication between two students (and at times between one
student and the teacher). Non-assessed is a key aspect in that
the object is to motivate the students, not to correct or evaluate
10
Murrell
Readers’ Forum
them. They should be given the chance to write
in English without any fear of correction. They
choose all content, and it is neither graded nor
usually read by the teacher.
Yang’s group interviews
Nae-Dong Yang (Yang, 1995) discusses group
interviews and their positive effect on motivating
students. For Yang, entire class interviews aid
the learning process not only in retaining facts,
but also in clarifying aims and strategies. In these
group interviews, the teacher states the overall
goals of the course and introduces strategies for
the students to work on. Yang points out that
because adult ESL learners can be shy, the group
setting allows questions to be asked in a nonthreatening manner, and also provides a free-flow
of information to and between students. One
potential problem is that these meetings can take
up valuable class time. Lastly, Yang emphasizes
the value of feedback, throughout the term. On
the first day of my classes, I elicit effective ways to
learn English, and write these on the left side of
the blackboard. On the right side, often in continuation from the left, I write goals for English learning. An item on the left, such as watching DVDs
with subtitles, can move to the right as watch
DVDs without subtitles. In addition to the dialogue
journal, I also have each student keep a semimonthly vocabulary journal. On the inside cover
of this journal is that individual student’s goal
sheet which they created on the first day of class
(Appendix A). As they hand in their journal every
two weeks, they report on their goal progress,
and I return it to them with my feedback.
Ullman and Gee’s dialogue journals, and
Peyton’s journals and success
Char Ullman (1997) and Roger Gee (1996) say
social identity and dialogue journals are paramount in providing adults a positive and effective learning environment. Adults have a more
developed social identity that needs recognition
in a classroom. Ullman and Gee also stress that
these journals help bridge the gap between oral
and written communication. Peyton also reinforces the importance of ungraded dialogue journals,
as a non-threatening way to involve writing in an
oral classroom. Peyton states that journals are relevant to the student because the student picks the
topics. In this sense the students develop a sense
of responsibility and ownership for their learning.
In dialogue journals, each individual is able to establish a personal connection with the instructor
or another student, and thus let his or her identity
show. It is in this regard that retention is fostered.
Peyton found that a set time period is an important element (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.), rather
than collecting journals randomly. A goal for all
of my students is to write the dialogue journal in
English for each class.
Brender’s conferencing
Brender (1998) also touched on the importance of
the students controlling the topics and content of
journals. His journals were of the student-teacher
(not student-student) model, and said that one
drawback was the lengthy time period between
the student asking a question and getting a
response in the journal. He also discussed paper
versus email journals, and said that the email
group used more opening and closing greetings, asked more questions, and “produced more
Language functions per writing session” than the
paper journal group (Brender, 1998, p. 22). In my
own classes I have found the paper journals between two students to be most useful to students.
I have recently created a blog journal for the entire
class to participate in. For many students this was
their first exposure to blogging; less than half of
the class blogged with any regularity.
Goal setting with Japanese learners
Dale Griffee and Stephen Templin (1997) did a
study with Japanese ESL learners, and concluded
that giving students specific goals is a powerful
and effective motivational tool. In their study,
students with specific and difficult goals did
much better than students who were given easy
goals, impossible goals, or no goals. The study
dealt mainly with vocabulary. Students were
motivated to learn a set number of vocabulary
words each week, and when given specific lists
deemed helpful, Griffee and Templin found that
the students responded well by learning many
of the words. The students that were given the
knowledge of what vocabulary words they had
trouble with went about correcting their trouble,
while (not surprisingly) those students who were
told nothing about their troubles did not focus
on the vocabulary words. I have let the students
choose what vocabulary to write in their journals
by finding words in other classes or in daily life.
At the end of the term I have each student choose
three words from their journal, from which I then
compile and create their end of term vocabulary
exam. They have chosen what they are to learn,
giving them responsibility for their learning.
Readers’ Forum
Skye’s language tree
John Skye (2000) also did a study regarding goal
setting and ESL students, and he found that a device known as a language tree was extremely helpful as a tool to assist students in setting goals. The
language tree is a visual tree that has functional
language skills written on different branches or
leaves as goals. For example, different branches
could have checking information, describing work
and school, and asking for and giving opinions. Skye
found that goal setting students were motivated,
concentrated better, and performed language
skills more confidently and with greater linguistic
complexity than non-goal setting students.
Murrell
11
throughout the term, so that the student has
something to build upon, and to strive towards.
Skye concludes that the stamping of the tree is
motivational, that it enhances the students' selfesteem, self-knowledge, and also provides acceptance and respect from others, as well as praise
from the teacher.
Skye (2000) found certain characteristics in the
goal setting group of students that made them
better students. He found that in comparison
with non-goal setters, they were more confident and focused and took more responsibility
for their learning. They often used cooperative
strategies, asking for help and in turn helping
other students. These students actively sought
help from the teacher, and asked for feedback
often, unlike the non-goal setters. The non-goal
setting group, who did not seek help, were often
lost or left behind and lacked confidence. I found
that putting the tree on the inside cover of a
vocabulary journal (Appendix B) is one way to
offer feedback at regular intervals.
Jackson’s starting goal setting early
The tree also proved to be highly motivational.
Students found that the skills depicted on the
tree were relevant to their lives, and they could
see real-life applications of these skills. In reality,
classes progress, and each new encountered skill
becomes itself the motivation for the students
to learn. The tree is game-like and attributes
success to effort, both qualities which motivate
students. The tree inspired both competition and
cooperation between students.
In borrowing a page from Yang (1995), Skye
also feels that for the tree to be successful, the
teacher must meet and evaluate the students,
either individually or in small groups. For each
skill used, the student receives a stamp over that
skill. These meetings must be held frequently
Shirley Jackson (1999) pushes educators to ask
their students many questions, about topics ranging from short-term language goals to long-term
personal goals. She also finds merit in letting students look at the table of contents of the textbook,
and then have them read over the lists of goals
questions. After they have read these materials
and reflected upon them, she asks them to complete the forms, to fill in answers about personal
goals for the study for the day, goals for the course,
and goals for their whole study of English. She
provides samples of what these could look like,
and then finally encourages students to share their
goals with others. The more people students tell
their goals to, the more likely these goals are to be
achieved. She also provides progress reports for
individual goals, so that students can chart their
progress, and see which goals they need to give
more attention to. Every two weeks my students
write their perceptions of their progress on the
inside of their vocabulary journals, to which I add
feedback. Students will show their sheets to other
students, often with pride when highlighting a
comment from the teacher.
Conclusion
Jackson's (1999) work, taken into consideration
with the others’, is helpful in leading students to
success. By implementing Jackson’s ideas into a
goal setting sheet or language tree, the students
12
Murrell
Readers’ Forum
are forced to think more about their own learning.
After having the students make a goals sheet or
language tree, giving them some form of selfassessing progress report and teacher feedback
appears to be an effective technique. Goal setting
might not be applicable for younger learners, but
for high school age students or older it would be
beneficial. Initially it may be teacher-intensive,
but after implementation, it becomes less taxing.
The students in my classes and in these studies
responded favorably to goal setting.
Skye, J. (2000). A study of goal setting for language
acquisition in the ESL classroom. Korea TESOL Journal Fall, 3 (1), 77-86.
References
Hudson Murrell received an MA in Education/
TESOL from Seattle University in 2003. He is currently teaching at Baiko Gakuin University, and
Shimonoseki University. He previously taught
EFL at high schools in Japan as well as ESL at
community colleges in the US. His teaching focus
is on oral communication and research interests
include teaching idioms, goal setting, and crosscultural studies.
Brender, A. (1998). Conferencing: An interactive way to
teach writing. The Language Teacher, 22(7) 21-23.
Gee, R.W. (1996). Reading/writing workshops for the
ESL classroom. TESOL Journal Spring , 5(3), 4-6.
Griffee, D. T. & Templin, S. A. (1997). Goal-setting affects
task performance. Japan. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service NO.ED413782).
Jackson, S. F. (1999). Teaching short-term and long-term
goal-setting to ESL students for educational, personal,
and career application. Action Research Monograph.
Pennsylvania, U.S. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service NO.ED440224).
Peyton, J.K. (1993). Dialogue journals: Interactive writing
to develop language and literacy. (Report No. EDO-FL93-01). District of Columbia, US. ERIC Clearinghouse
on Languages and Linguistics (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service NO.ED354789).
Ullman, C. (1997). Social identity and the adult ESL
classroom (Report No. EDO-LE-98-01). District of Columbia, US. ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and
Linguistics (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
NO.ED413795).
Yang, N. (1995). Effective awareness-raising in language
learning strategy training. Taiwan (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service NO.ED392278).
Appendices
The 2 appendices can be viewed at
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/resources/2007/
0701bResource.pdf>.
Reilly, T. (1988). Maintaining foreign language skills.
District of Columbia, US. ERIC Clearinghouse on
Languages and Linguistics (ERIC Document Reproduction Service NO.ED296573).
"Wow, that was such a great lesson, I really want others to try it!"
「すばらしい授業！、これを他の人にも試してもらいたい！」
Every teacher has run a lesson which just "worked." So, why not share it around?
The My Share Column is seeking material from creative, enthusiastic teachers
for possible publication.
全ての教師は授業の実践者です。この貴重な経験をみんなで分かち
合おうではありませんか。My Share Columnは創造的で、熱心な教
師からの実践方法、マテリアルの投稿をお待ちしています。
For more information, please contact the editor.
詳しくは、ご連絡ください。
<my-share@jalt-publications.org>
Readers’ Forum
13
Helping Japanese
learners to develop
topic control in
conversation
Keywords
topic control, communicative competence, silence, classroom activities
This paper focuses on some ways to
help learners in the area of topic change
and shift in conversation. It begins by
looking at some features of topic control
among native English speakers. It then
considers the cultural differences in the
role of silence in conversation and how
this is likely to effect topic change. Finally, it provides some suggestions for
awareness-raising and practice activities
to help students to develop this area of
communicative competence.
本論では、会話のトピック・チェンジとトピック・
シフトにおける学習者支援の方法に焦点を当て
る。まず、英語の母語話者間で行われるトピック
・コントロールの特徴に注目する。次に、会話に
おける沈黙の役割についての文化的な違いを分
析し、それがどのようにトピック・チェンジに影
響するかについて考察する。最後に、この分野
のコミュニケーション能力を育成するために、学
習者の意識を高めるための提案をし、いくつか
の活動例を紹介する。
Anita Wilson
Tokyo Joshi Daigaku
T
“ability to order topics within conversations is an
unselfconscious part of communicative competence”
Covelli and Murray (1980, p. 383). However, for Japanese
learners it can be a very difficult aspect of English communication, involving not only linguistic ability but also an awareness
of cultural differences, and it is one for which English classes
and textbooks usually do little to prepare them and may even
hinder them. Typical pair and group work activities often take
the form of short discussions of one topic, whatever the theme
of the lesson or unit might be, or conversations covering a
wider range of topics but based on a given list of questions or
cues. The latter tend to result in rather disjointed question and
answer sequences about a variety of apparently unconnected
topics, none of which are developed.
However, many Japanese university students will, in the future, need to communicate with English speakers in a variety of
contexts, and therefore the skills involved in following a wideranging conversation and developing, shifting and changing
topics appropriately should not be ignored in our classes.
This paper will first examine some basic features of topic change
and shift among native English speakers. It will then briefly discuss
the difference in the role of silence in English and Japanese conversations and consider its importance in the area of topic change.
Finally, it will suggest some awareness-raising and practice activities to help students in the difficult area of topic control.
he
Definition of topic
The literature reveals many definitions of the term topic (Keenan
and Schieffelin 1976; Schank, 1977; Bublitz, 1988). However, the
one used here is based on a “semantic framework” (McCarthy,
1991, p. 132) whereby sections of conversation can be described
14
Wilson
Readers’ Forum
in one word or phrase, for example, clothes or
problems studying English. The definition of topic
change used here is that suggested by Gardner
(1987, pp. 138-139): a new topic with “no links to
any previous exchanges in the discourse history.”
Native speakers and topic change
The first important point to note is that native
speakers generally avoid sudden topic changes.
Sacks, in a 1972 lecture, showed that a common
feature of topical organization is movement from
topic to topic by stepwise moves, “linking up
whatever is being introduced to what has just
been talked about, such that, as far as anybody
knows, a new topic has not been started, though
we’re far from wherever we began” (cited in Jefferson 1984, p. 198).
Despite this preference for topic shift, there
are circumstances in which native speakers do
change topics and these are closely related to the
need for continuous talk. Sacks, Schegloff and
Jefferson (1974) noted that native speakers’ turns
have as little gap or overlap between them as
possible. Furthermore, Maynard (1980) points
out that topical talk is collaborative in that while
one person develops the topic, the other asks
questions and makes comments. Failure to do
so results in silence, which can indicate lack of
attention and, therefore, a need to change topic.
However, Maynard argues that topic changes are
often preceded, not by one silence, but by a series
of utterances each followed by a silence of one
or two seconds or more, indicating “unsuccessful transfer of speakership” and the topic is then
changed in order to re-establish continuous talk
(Maynard,1980, p. 266).
In addition, Covelli and Murray (1980, p. 385)
list three cues that can signal that a topic needs
to be changed. One is where a speaker lists a
number of examples in answer to a question
followed by a general summary of what was
just stated. Another is backchannelling where
interlocutors indicate support for the same idea
but neither introduces any new information.
The third is where minimal responses are given
until the other participant changes topic. In each
of these, however, silence is still likely to play a
significant role.
Cultural differences regarding silence
and topic change
Since silence seems to be such a significant factor
in topic change, it is likely that the differences regarding silence in Japanese conversation will result
in differences in the occurrence of topic change.
In the words of Takie Sugiyama Lebra, “Japanese
culture tilts towards silence” (1987, p. 243). She
explains that hesitation in Japanese is seen as
indicating modesty, unobtrusiveness, politeness
and empathy, and pauses between turns indicate
avoidance of interruption. Yamada, in her study of
meetings of bank executives (one group of Americans, one of Japanese and one mixed) found that
in the Japanese meeting there were much longer
and more frequent silences than in the American
meeting, the possible reason being that in Japanese
conversation silence “does not belong to anyone”
and is the “ultimate form of unspoken interdependence”. Instead of viewing the silence as a breakdown in communication, the goal is to remain in
this “silent bonding” for as long as possible (1997,
p. 77). Thus, in Japanese, silence is not regarded as
awkward or as a cue for a topic change in the way
that it is in English and this difference may contribute to the frequently expressed native English
speaker perception that Japanese are too passive in
conversation.
However, feedback from my students suggests that the differences are not so great, at least
among younger Japanese. In a questionnaire I
asked them about their feelings and what they
would do in different situations (Appendix A).
About 50% said that they feel uncomfortable if
there is a silence of a few seconds in a conversation with a friend and about 50% also said that
during the silence they try to think of a new topic.
About 25% said that they enjoy the silence and a
little less than 25% said that they make a comment about the setting. Almost 100% said that
in a conversation with an acquaintance they feel
uncomfortable if there is a silence of a few seconds. Nevertheless, they expressed surprise at the
very short length of time that most native English
speakers are likely to tolerate silence, so the difference is perhaps not so much in the feeling of
discomfort but the speed of its onset.
Achieving topic change
A number of ways have been identified by which
topic change can occur. One is by introducing a
new topic line either in the form of a question
or a statement (Maynard, 1980, p. 283). Another
is to use an element from a story that has just
been completed (McCarthy, 1991, p. 134), while
Maynard (1980, p. 283) explains how changes are
often achieved through “setting talk”—comments
related to the surroundings and situation—for
example, the food in a restaurant, or the room one
is in, which often develop into “transitional topics”
Readers’ Forum
as they normally result in “other work whereby
formal turn-by-turn talk is maintained.” Moreover,
Button and Casey (1984, p. 168) describe the use
of “topic initial elicitors” such as “Anything else
to report?”. Such questions provide opportunities
for the other participant to introduce a completely
new topic. In a recording I made of a native speaker conversation all the above techniques occurred,
as well as one similar to the topic initial elicitors
but asking very open general questions on a topic,
such as How’s your work going?.
Suggestions for classroom activities
Having considered some of the issues related to
topic control in English conversation, this paper
will now suggest ways in which we can help our
students to develop this area of communicative
competence.
Awareness raising activities
Firstly, it would seem useful to raise learners’
awareness of the cultural differences in attitudes
to silence. This could be done in a variety of
ways. I chose to do it through the questionnaire
referred to above and in Appendix A, which led
to some interesting discussion of cultural similarities and differences. Comparison of what we do
during long silences can highlight the fact that
while a Japanese participant may be enjoying the
silence, their English speaking counterpart may
be desperately trying to think of a way to break it.
Another approach could be to use extracts of
transcripts of authentic conversations in English
and Japanese with position and length of pauses
indicated and ask students to compare the place
and length of silences, or with enough stopwatches they can listen and time the silences in the
conversations themselves. Japanese learners also
need to be made aware of the preference for topic
shift rather than change. A guided analysis of
extracts of transcripts of authentic conversations
is possible, highlighting how, where and why
shifts and changes occur, noticing especially what
happens after a series of silences.
Practice activities for topic shift
Becoming aware of these features is only the first
step. Learners also need opportunities to develop
skills and thinking patterns in order to be able
to shift topics effectively in English, and for this
various activities can be adapted.
Word association games around the group,
Wilson
15
where learners take turns to give a word associated with the one before can be helpful, especially if
they then have to explain the association. This is
also a good way to introduce the concept of topic
shift, since the parallel with shifts in conversation
topics can be highlighted.
Playing Just-a-Minute type games where learners need to keep talking for a fixed length of
time can also be very helpful, but instead of one
person talking about one topic, they can be given
initial topics or questions and then in pairs try
to keep the conversation going for about five
minutes, not just on the initial topic but with
freedom to shift to others. The conversations can
be recorded and then analyzed to see how the
shifts occur and whether there are sudden or
inappropriate changes. Alternatively, students
can work in groups of three and take turns to act
as secretary, listing the topics as they occur. At the
end the lists can be examined for connections and
sudden changes, and some examples discussed as
a class.
An interesting factor in my classes was that
one student (A) would ask the initial question to
the other (B) and the conversation would then
progress with several topic shifts. However, after
some time B would ask A the original question.
Despite demonstrating that this was rather unnatural the tendency remained. It could have
been because it was an easy way to keep the
conversation going, but it could also have been
because this is the pattern of many classroom
conversations and I had never corrected them
before—a possible example of classroom activities
hindering the development of natural conversation skills.
Practice activities for topic change
Learners might also be introduced to specific
techniques that native speakers use to fill silences
and change topics. To introduce and practice setting talk, my classes first brainstormed different
aspects of settings that they could comment on
and the type of things they could say. For example, in a restaurant they could talk about the food:
This is really delicious; in the classroom they could
comment on the temperature: It’s hot in here; in
any situation they could comment on something
about the other person, for example, I like your
sweater. They then walked around the class,
beginning conversations with a partner and at the
first silence commented on some aspect of the setting, which often developed into a new topic. At
the next silence they could end the conversation
and move on to the next partner.
16
Wilson
Readers’ Forum
Similarly, topic initial elicitors or very general
questions can be introduced as easy ways to
break a silence and to provide an opportunity for
a new topic to be introduced, for example, What
have you been doing recently? or How’s your studying going?
In addition, learners can listen to or read a story
and then brainstorm all the elements of the story
which could be used to continue the conversation. They can then practice in pairs, one giving
an account of something that happened to them,
the other listening and responding and then picking an element from it to tell their own story.
Free practice
The above activities can all be useful for awareness raising and controlled practice, but learners
also need opportunities for free practice. As well
as being given specific topics to discuss in the
classroom, students can benefit from being given
freedom to talk about their own topics. Instead
of always providing a follow-up activity for pairs
or groups who finish activities quickly, I have
recently sometimes set them free to talk about
any topic they like as long as it is in English. I
realize that I am fortunate to teach relatively
small classes with some very motivated students
and such free conversation may not be possible
or advisable in all teaching contexts. However, if
learners are introduced to the techniques above,
this kind of very free activity can be an ideal place
to practice them, especially if they are reminded
of them before they start.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed the importance of
helping students to have more natural conversations in terms of topic control and has given an
overview of some of the main features of topic
control among native speakers. It has then suggested a variety of awareness raising and practice
activities. Like all areas of language learning,
topic control is not something that can be taught
once, learnt, and put into practice. However, with
regular practice and reminders I believe that it
is possible to help our students in this important
area of communicative competence.
Anita Wilson has taught English in France, Britain and Japan. She worked at the British Council
in Tokyo for eight years, where she taught all
skills and was involved in designing courses and
materials. She currently teaches Communication
Skills, Composition, and Research and Presentation courses at Tokyo Joshi Daigaku. She received
her MSc in TESOL from Aston University, and her
areas of professional interest include developing
communicative competence and genre analysis in
writing.
References
Bublitz, W. (1988). Supportive fellow-speakers and cooperative conversations: Discourse topics and topical actions,
participant roles and ‘recipient action’ in a particular type
of everyday conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Button, G., & Casey, N. (1984). Generating topic: the
use of topic initial elicitors. In J. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of Social Action, (pp. 167-190).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Covelli, L., & Murray, S. (1980). Accomplishing topic
change. Anthropological Linguistics, 22, 382-389.
Gardner, R. (1987). The identification and role of topic
in spoken interaction. Semiotica, 65 (1), 129-141.
Jefferson, G. (1984). On stepwise transition from talk
about a trouble to inappropriately next-positioned
matters. In J. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures
of Social Action, (pp. 191-222). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Keenan, E.O. & Schieffelin, B.B. (1976). Topics as a discourse notion: A study of topic in the conversations
of children and adults. In C.N. Li, (Ed.), Subject and
topic, (pp. 335-384). New York: Academic Press.
Maynard, D. (1980). Placement of topic changes in
conversation. Semiotica, 30 (3), 263-290.
McCarthy, M. (1991). Discourse Analysis for Language
Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turntaking
for conversation. Language, 50, 696-735.
Schank, R.C., (1977). Rules and topics in conversation.
Cognitive Science, 4, 421-441.
Sugiyama Lebra, T. (1987). The cultural significance of
silence in Japanese communication. Multilingua, 6 (4),
343-357.
Yamada, H. (1997). Different games, different rules. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Appendix
The appendix can be viewed at
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/resources/2007/
0701cResource.pdf>.
Resources • my share
…with Lorraine Sorrell
<my-share@jalt-publications.org>
We welcome submissions for the
My Share column. Submissions
should be up to 1000 words describing a successful technique or
lesson plan you have used which
can be replicated by readers, and
should conform to the My Share format (see any edition of The Language
Teacher). Please send submissions to
<my-share@jalt-publications.org>.
MY SHARE ONLINE
A linked index of My Share articles can be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/myshare/>
T
articles are in this month’s
My Share. Anthony Ryan has produced a
useful system for ensuring that conversation partners in large classes are changed in the
most efficient manner. His Rugby round robins
can be used for classes from 15 to over 40. John
Young gives us a four-lesson plan which helps
students do their own research for graduate
schools, while also providing valuable experience
in emailing, interviewing, and article writing for
all students.
wo interesting
Rugby round
robins: Setting up
a classroom seating
and partner grid
Anthony Ryan
Aichi University of Education
<ryan@auecc.aichi-edu.ac.jp>
Quick Guide
Key words: Classroom management, conversation pairwork, tasks, seating grid
Learner English level: Any level in which pairwork takes place
Learner maturity level: Junior high school and
above
17
Preparation time: An hour or two at the start of
the semester depending upon class size
Materials: Round robin schedule (example given
below)
Uses: Please note that this is a classroom management technique, not an activity or game. Specifically, it is useful for teachers who often do activities, tasks or conversations in pairs.
Are you tired of arriving in front of an English
Communication or Oral Communication class
every week and noting that the students are sitting either close to or exactly where they sat last
week? Or perhaps, it is the first few weeks of the
semester and the freshmen don’t know the person
seated two rows over from them. In many nonEnglish major classes, students often do not even
know the names of other members of the class
who are not in their social group, even well into
the second semester. Aside from the quality of the
classroom activities that the teacher assigns, a further answer to solving both problems is to make
sure students know every other student in the
class well enough to be able to work with. How
to do this is quite simple and effective: require
students to sit next to and work with someone
different each class or each activity. Anyone who
has played sports, such as soccer, rugby, or even
tennis, knows that they are often organised on
a round robin basis. In this format, every team
gets to play every other team. For example, a
season-long rugby competition, in which there
are fourteen competing teams, has seven games
each weekend. This constitutes a round. If there
are 15 teams, one different team has a rest or bye
each round. Classes can be organised along the
same principle, although each individual student
becomes a team. The following procedure takes a
bit of work at the start of the semester, but after it
is done and the students have been given a copy,
teachers will never again have to waste time organising students into pairs for activities or tasks.
Procedure
Step 1: At the start of the semester, add up all the
students in the class. If there is an odd number,
a blank space can be left in the grid for a bye.
The important thing to remember is there must
be an even number. For example, in a class of 31
students, adding the teacher makes a total of 32
people in the room. That means that each person
has to speak to 31 other people. In other words,
there will be 31 rounds or games in the competition.
18
Ryan
Resources • My share
It is best to do this after the second week of class
to allow for those students who for some reason
or other missed the first week, or those who decided not to take the class after the first week.
Step 2: Set up a grid using Excel. To calculate the
number of columns necessary in the grid, triple
the number of rounds (31 x 3 = 93). Each set of 3
columns constitutes one round. To calculate the
number of rows necessary in the grid, halve the
number of people in the room and add one row to
be used for headings. In the example, there are 32
people, which means 17 (16+1) rows are needed.
Step 3: The width of the columns in each set of
three is important. The first column is for the
conversation station number, and so this column
is quite narrow. If there are 16 pairs talking at any
one time (as in the example), there are 16 stations.
Number the cells in the first column 1 through 16,
starting with the first cell of the second row. The
other two columns in the round are for the names
of the students and must be of equal width. The
width is determined by the actual length of the
longest name among the students in the class.
The fourth column is the beginning of the second round, and so should be the same width as
column 1. Columns 5 and 6 are for the names and
are therefore the same width as columns 2 and 3.
Continue in this fashion up to column 93. Column height is not important, although it is a good
idea to size the total grid so that it fits on a single
sheet of double-sided A4 paper.
Step 4: After adding the headings, enter the
names of the students. It is important to keep one
name (the same name) in the same position in
every round. This name is the key and all other
names rotate around that name in a clockwise direction. The cell in the top left position is ideal for
the key. If there is an uneven number of students
and the teacher prefers to circulate around the
class, this position can be labelled bye. When the
student rotates to be opposite the bye, he or she
then gets a rest from talking. The example below,
comprising six people, shows the principle of the
round robin system. At the end of round 5, all
participants have spoken to or worked on a task
with each other once.
S
1
2
3
ROUND
Tony
Mika
Yuki
1
Kenta
Ai
Akira
S
1
2
3
ROUND
Tony
Yuki
Akira
2
Mika
Kenta
Ai
S
1
2
3
ROUND
Tony
Akira
Ai
3
Yuki
Mika
Kenta
S
1
2
3
ROUND
Tony
Ai
Kenta
4
Akira
Yuki
Mika
S
1
2
3
ROUND
Tony
Kenta
Mika
5
Ai
Akira
Yuki
Step 5: Cut and paste the entire grid (while still in
Excel) so that it can be printed on one A4 piece of
paper. Hand it out to the students and get them to
paste it into the front of their notebook or textbook so they do not lose it.
Options
Add a few extra rows at the bottom of each round
so that students can write the dates they talked
to each person, and to help them when they next
come into the classroom.
Conclusion
This system has successfully been used for class
sizes ranging from 15 to 47. Considerable time
is saved as students come into class each week
knowing whom they are working with that week
and where they are sitting. Additionally, once the
teacher starts thinking in pairs, he or she can tell
at a glance how many are absent on any given
day. Note that if a class has over 15 students, one
round per week is not sufficient to get through
the lot by the end of the semester. In order for one
particular student to become familiar with every
other student in the class, it is preferable for him
or her to get the opportunity to talk with every
student more than once in the semester. Therefore, it
is a good idea to make the students change partners during the class. The most suitable number of
Resources • my share
Ryan / Young
19
changes-of-partners during each class is dependent upon the total number of students and the
teacher’s preference. If changing during the
class, it is easiest if the station positions remain
at fixed locations in the room so that the students
are always moving to the station they have been
assigned to for that particular round. The fixed
station idea also means that all students, with the
exception of the key student, are up and about
and moving at some stage during the lesson. The
system works especially well with timed conversation sessions where students have to speak for
a period and then move on to another partner,
and with activities that require repetition. When
students are absent and gaps appear, pair off
those without partners. If it is an odd number, the
teacher can talk with the remaining student, or
they can join a pair near them to make three.
Materials: Computer with Internet access, handouts
Appendix
Step 1: Produce a handout with a number of
interview questions (5 to 10) that the students
should use to conduct an interview with one professor in their department. The questions should
relate to the professor’s experiences in choosing
and attending graduate school, as well as their
use of English in their academic life. Space should
be left at the bottom of the handout for students
to formulate at least two or three of their own
questions.
Step 2: Choose a news article from a newspaper
or online source for students to use as a style template for writing an article based on the interview
with their professor.
Step 3: Prepare a sample one-page informational
handout for a university of your choosing. The
handout should include the name of the university, general information about the school (size,
location, number of international students, cost,
etc.), general information about a specific department at that university, and information about
one professor who teaches in the department.
Pictures of the campus and of the chosen professor could be included to make the handout more
aesthetically pleasing. Students will use this as a
template.
Step 4: Prepare a handout discussing basic English email etiquette.
The appendix shows a sample round robin for a
class of 31 students plus the teacher, and can be
downloaded from <jalt-publications.org/tlt/myshare/resources/0701a.pdf>
Researching
graduate schools
in English-speaking
countries: A taskbased project for
EFL learners
John Young, Jr.
Kwansei Gakuin University
<jayoung@ksc.kwansei.ac.jp>
Quick Guide
Key words: Graduate school research, overseas
correspondence, information sharing
Learner English level: Intermediate and advanced
Learner maturity level: College upperclassmen
Preparation time: Varies
Activity time: Four 90-minute classes
The School of Science at our university offers
third-year students an elective class called SciTech
English, which meets once a week for 90 minutes
and provides motivated students with an opportunity to further hone their skills in English
for Scientific Purposes. Because many of these
students have expressed interest in continuing
their academic careers beyond their four-year
degrees, the following lesson plan was developed
to provide them with a structured way of learning more about graduate schools in general, and
graduate programs in English-speaking countries
in particular.
Preparation
Procedure
Step 1 (1st Class): Introduce the topic of graduate school, define the different levels of graduate school, mention some differences between
graduate schools in Japan and other countries,
20
Young
Resources • My share
and conduct a discussion of the pros and cons of
deciding to attend.
Step 2: Distribute the professor interview handout
and discuss the questions. Give the students time
to formulate their own questions to include at
the bottom of the sheet. Discuss the merits and
demerits of their questions as well as grammatical difficulties.
Step 3: Distribute the sample newspaper-style
article you have chosen, and discuss the visual
format and English register with the class.
Step 4: For homework, students should find time
to interview one of the professors in their department (in Japanese or English), and using the notes
taken on their interview handout, should create a
newspaper-style article using a word processing
program and bring a hardcopy to the following
class.
Step 5 (2nd Class): Students should peer review a
partner’s interview article and suggest improvements in both content and style. Each student
should send the final draft of their article to the
instructor by email prior to the third class.
Step 6: After the peer review, distribute the sample one-page university information sheet and
discuss the format with the class. If the classroom has Internet access, go to the homepage of
the university you have used in the sample and
discuss webpage navigation to find specific information (department site, professor homepage,
prospective student information, etc.).
Step 7: Students should choose a university in an
English-speaking country as the subject of their
own one-page university handout. A website,
such as Universities Worldwide <univ.cc>, can
be used to locate their desired university. For
homework, the students should use the provided
template to create their own handout using a
word processing program and bring it to the next
class.
Step 8 (3rd Class): At the beginning of the third
class, students should peer review their one-page
information handout with a partner, examining
both content and visual style. (The final draft of
each student’s professor interview article received
by email can be printed out and posted to a bulletin board or on a class webpage.)
Step 9: The handout regarding email etiquette
should be distributed and discussed. Following
this, students should draft an email that will be
sent to a professor or graduate student in the department of the university that they have chosen
to research. In the email, students should ask the
professor or graduate student three questions
regarding graduate school. The instructor can
aid the students as necessary during the drafting
process. For homework, students must a) send
their email, b) revise and send their one-page
information sheet by email, and c) prepare a short
PowerPoint presentation about the university
they have chosen to research.
Step 10: (4th Class) Students conduct their university/graduate school presentations and are
evaluated based on presentation style, visual aid
use, and content. In addition, as with the professor interview article, the final draft of their onepage university information sheet can be printed
out and displayed on a bulletin board or posted
on a class webpage.
Conclusion
Though few students may actually decide to
attend graduate school, and fewer still will have
the opportunity to study in an English-speaking
country, this project allows Japanese university
upperclassmen to practice the four skills in a
meaningful context. It provides an opportunity
for them to a) converse with their own professors on the subject of graduate school, b) practice
navigating university webpages and requesting
information via email, c) produce meaningful
texts that can be shared not only with classmates
but also with students in the entire department or
school, and d) present their findings in a communicative manner. Though the preparation for the
project may seem daunting, the end products, in
my opinion, are rewarding for both teacher and
student. Handouts listed in the preparation section can be provided upon request.
You’ve done the research,
read the literature, and
thought a lot...
What next?
Write it up and submit it
to The Language Teacher of
course!
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/call/>
Resources • book reviews
…with Robert Taferner
<reviews@jalt-publications.org>
If you are interested in writing a
book review, please consult the list
of materials available for review in
the Recently Received column, or
consider suggesting an alternative
book that would be helpful to our
membership.
BOOK REVIEWS ONLINE
A linked index of Book Reviews can be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/reviews/>
H
New Year! Michael Thomas begins
the column with Business Venture 1 &
2, which is designed to provide basic
Business English content, followed by Iain B. M.
Lambert's review of Looking Back, Moving Forward,
a textbook that primarily focuses on listening and
speaking skills.
appy
Business Venture
1&2
[Roger Barnard and Jeff Cady, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000. pp. 96 & pp.
104. ¥2,400. ISBN: 0-19-457238-2 & 0-19457325-7.]
Reviewed by Michael Thomas,
Nagoya University of Commerce
and Business
Business Venture 1, first published in 1992 and
followed a year later by Business Venture 2, is
designed for low-level learners studying Business English. This edition offers a Student’s Book,
a Teacher’s Booklet (called a Teacher’s Guide in
Business Venture 2), and a Workbook. The series
is aimed at learners who need to develop their
understanding of English in everyday business
situations and focuses especially on speaking
and listening skills, though shorter reading and
writing activities are provided in the accompanying workbook. The series clearly targets lower
21
level learners with some job experience, as well
as those who wish to refresh their knowledge and
fluency of basic Business English.
Each student’s book consists of a total of 12
units, with Book 1 focusing on a group of userfriendly themes, among which are introducing
yourself to a client, making requests and offers,
stating preferences and opinions, and entertaining. Each unit develops students’ skills by using
a repeating formula of activities: first and second
listening tasks, follow-up exercises for the development of context and a Culture File. Activities
also include dialogue practice, pairwork, information gap, and a business board game entitled
The Chicago Contract in Business Venture 1. With
my students, the board game proved to be a
particularly good warmer, and I used it to get students thinking
about the practical language
functions they
had been studying. The Culture
File presents
additional information relating to national
traditions and
cross-cultural issues and covers
such themes as
gift giving, appropriate forms
of dress, and
how to be polite
in different business situations. Like the board
game, the Culture File can also offer the teacher
alternative directions to contextualize each unit’s
content, and I found this to be a feature Japanese
learners were interested in exploring.
The supplementary workbooks follow a similar
format, providing extra language practice activities for each of the units in the Student’s Book.
Activities include cloze exercises, dialogue completion, business writing (letters, emails, faxes,
a resume, job applications), crossword puzzles,
word squares, and matching questions. An answer key is also provided for autonomous study
purposes. The Teacher’s Guide presents some additional ideas for supplemental activities, photocopiable resources for the Culture File, as well as
two Listening, Writing, and Speaking Tests aimed
at Units 1-6 and 7-12 respectively. A Speaking Test
Evaluation Scale with useful descriptors based on
a 1-4 scale is also included.
22
Thomas / Lambert
Business Venture 2 follows the same format as
Book 1, and has 12 units which build on the platform its predecessor established, but focus more
on company information, products and services,
holding meetings, and making a speech. The Culture File, the business board game, and Information Gap sections are also included here and have
a similar emphasis.
I have used Business Venture 1 and 2 with both
English major and non-English major students at
the undergraduate level studying at a business
university. On balance, the series clearly proved
more useful with non-English major students,
who were still sufficiently challenged by the
rather basic listening and speaking exercises, and
as business majors were able to identify with the
content focus. I found the tapescripts contained in
the back of the book especially useful and a good
source of additional cloze exercises and materials
for review tests.
English major students, on the other hand,
found the format rather repetitive and the content lacking in opportunities to develop more
advanced communication skills. While Brinton,
Snow, & Wesche (1989) argued that effective content-based learning must be based on authentic
materials, it must also be relevant to the learners.
A large percentage of my students had part-time
jobs; however, the content and language functions were targeted at learners who had already
obtained the type of business experience not generally available to a convenience store cashier or
pachinko parlor assistant. In this respect, Business
Venture is typical of many Business English textbooks in that it needs to focus more on how its
target learners can transfer communication skills
from the classroom to practical business contexts.
Chen’s (2005) notion of a collaborative task-based
syllabus, in which simulation companies are
established by learners and developed through
interactive activities such as case studies, offers
one possible solution to this quandary.
Ultimately, the book’s business focus makes it
a textbook specifically for Business English rather
than General English for Japanese learners. If you
are looking for an entry-level business textbook
for non-major English students in Japan, Business
Venture is still a reliable choice.
References
Brinton, D. M., Snow, M. A., & Wesche, M. (1989). Content-based second language instruction. Boston: Heinle
& Heinle.
Chen, P. (2005). Effectively implementing a collaborative task-based syllabus (CTBA) in EFL large-sized
Business English classes. Retrieved on June 5, 2006,
from: <www.esp-world.info/Articles_10/CTBS_
.htm>
Looking Back,
Moving Forward
(Listening and
Speaking)
[Chris Summerville. Tokyo: MacMillan
Languagehouse, 2006. pp.78. ¥2,100. ISBN:
4-7773-6113-6.]
Reviewed by Iain B.M. Lambert,
Tokyo Denki University
Looking Back, Moving Forward is a two-book series,
divided into Listening and Speaking and Reading
and Discussion. Both texts share an identical
topic-based 12-chapter structure, with Chapters
1 and 2 covering Shopping, followed by Food,
Health, Energy, Transport, two chapters (7 and 8)
on Nature, then Travel, Recreation, and the two
final chapters, entitled
Looking Back and
Moving Forward. The
two books complement
each other, with
Reading and
Discussion containing
longer reading
passages instead of
the listening sections.
A two-CD pack with
the listening passages
and Teacher's manuals
with the scripts and
answer keys for the
exercises are available separately, while students
are encouraged to download mp3 files of the
listening passages from the dedicated website
<www.mlh.co.jp/textbook/lbmflas>.
I used the Listening and Speaking text with a
group of 16 2nd-year university engineering
majors studying once a week. I initially feared
that, with a class average TOEIC score of 322, the
material would be too challenging; however the
option of downloading the listening passages
proved invaluable. In cases where I felt the
content of the listening sections was of particular
importance but did not want to spend too much
class time on them, it was useful to give students
a copy of the script and have them listen at home.
The layout is user-friendly, with a good mix between text, which is not too cluttered, and photos.
It is refreshing to see pictures of real people and
places rather than those taken from a publisher's
CD, and despite one or two minor lapses in
quality, all images are clear in black and white.
The contents deal almost entirely with Japan;
however, the focus is very much on linking global
environmental issues to students' lives and in this
respect it succeeds. The subject matter is topical
and suitably mature, striking a balance between
familiar topics such as waste disposal and those
students may not have considered, such as
chemicals in food.
The structure of each unit follows a similar
pattern. Warm-up and Focus on the Topic
speaking activities prepare learners for the
first listening activity, which is in three stages:
Listening for Context, Listening for Main Ideas,
and Listening for Details. Sentence heads such
as "I'm very concerned about …" (p. 42) provide a useful framework at the warm-up stage.
Students then continue by interviewing a partner
and discussing a topic related to what they have
heard before going on to the second listening
activity. Each chapter concludes with Discussion
questions and a Vocabulary exercise. I found that
while the similarity in structure was reassuring
for students, there was enough variety in the
activities to keep them from getting bored. For
example, in the Listening for Main Ideas part of
each listening, they might be required to complete
a summary by circling the correct word, complete
sentences, mark statements as True or False, or
choose a title for each section. One heartening
feature throughout the book is the way in which
students are encouraged away from display
questions towards deductive reasoning, for
example, by identifying the speakers' positions in
Chapter 6, or looking for examples of supporting
material in the passages (e.g., Chapter 4, in which
they are asked to match a farmer's concerns about
GM crops with a scientist's counterarguments).
While the length of the listening passages
proved not to be a major problem, I do have
two criticisms of the text. Firstly, although it is
heartening to see some varieties of English from
the outer and expanding circles in Chapters
7 (Japanese) and 9 (Indian English), the other
accents on the recordings are almost exclusively
North American. Given the scope of the text
and its focus on real people and situations, it
seems rather a wasted opportunity not to have,
for example, a Thai person read the part of the
Thai student in Chapter 9 or a Japanese person
read Ken Noguchi's part in Chapter 10. Any
interaction in English that my students will have
in the future is most likely to be with speakers
of English from other Asian countries, and so I
feel that a chance has been missed here to expose
them to such varieties. Secondly, the listening
sections are used as vehicles for information and
the teacher is left with some hard choices to make
about pre-teaching of vocabulary, given the absence of a glossary.
Despite these caveats, I would recommend this
text to any teacher looking for material that will
not only challenge and engage students but also
encourage them to reflect on their own lifestyles.
Resources • recently received
…with Scott Gardner
<pub-review@jalt-publications.org>
A list of textbooks and resource books for language
teachers available for review in TLT and JALT Journal.
RECENTLY RECEIVED ONLINE
An index of books available for review can be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/reviews/>
* = first notice; ! = final notice. Final notice items
will be removed January 31. For queries please
write to the appropriate email address below.
23
Lambert
23
Books for Students (reviewed in TLT)
Contact: Scott Gardner
<pub-review@jalt-publications.org>
! Achieve BULATS: English for International Business
(self study text for Business Language Testing
Service). Whitehead, R., & Harrison, M. London: Marshall Cavendish, 2006. [Incl. CDs].
! Amazing Body Series (five illustrated readers
for young learners on the five senses: hearing,
sight, smell, taste, touch). Rau, D. M., & Peterson, R. Minneapolis, MN: Picture Window,
2005.
24
Resources • Recently Received
* Computers for Communication Part C: PowerPoint.
Lewis, P., & Cullen, B. Nagoya, Japan: Perceptia, 2006.
* Everyday English: A Phrase Book. Clankie, S. M., &
Kobayashi, T. Tokyo: Goken, 2006. [Incl. CD].
Foundations Reading Library Series: The Tickets, Sk8
for Jake, I Always Win!, I Spy, The Big Test (graded
readers, latest in series). Waring, R., & Jamall,
M. Boston: Thomson, 2006. [Incl. CD].
Gairaigo and Japan’s Built-in Lexicon. Daulton, F. E.:
Multilingual Matters, 2007.
! Grammar Rules of Spoken English. Kobayashi, T.,
& Clankie, S. M. Tokyo: Goken, 2006. [Incl. CD].
An Introduction to Japanese Linguistics. Tsujimura,
N. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.
* Octopus Activities: A Book for English Conversation, Discussion, Research and Presentation. Lewis,
P. Nagoya, Japan: Perceptia, 2006.
24
Time to Train Yourself. Kawana, N., & Walker,
S. Tokyo: Seibido, 2006. [Incl. CD, teacher’s
manual].
Books for Teachers
(reviewed in JALT Journal)
Contact: Yuriko Kite
<jj-reviews@jalt-publications.org>
! Connecting Speaking & Writing. Weissberg, R.
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 2006.
* New Directions in the Analysis of Multimodal
Discourse. Royce, T. D., & Bowcher, W. L. (Eds.).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007.
Resources • TLT Wired
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER
Orchestrating
PowerPoint
Lawrie Hunter
Kochi University of Technology
…with Paul Daniels
& Malcolm Swanson
<tlt-wired@jalt-publications.org>
In this column, we explore the issue of
teachers and technology—not just as it
relates to CALL solutions, but also to
Internet, software, and hardware concerns that all teachers face.
TLT WIRED ONLINE
As well as our feature columns, we
would also like to answer reader
queries. If you have a question,
problem, or idea you’d like discussed in this column, please email
us or visit our website at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/wired/>
or go to the forum at:
<forum.jalt-publication.org>
T
PowerPoint is software, it has a
rather unique aspect: it’s used for performing in front of an audience. That is to say,
the output of PowerPoint is used in coordination
with human action. For this reason it is valuable
to consider how to use a PowerPoint presentation
as well as how to make one.
There are extensive resources available for
guidance on the making of PowerPoints; some
rather good ones are linked from <del.icio.
us/rolenzo/powerpoint>. The advice is quite
consistent: don't use more than x lines in a slide;
don't use more than y words in a line; don't use
the ready-made project palette, it's SO tacky; and
more. However, little is said about the uses of
PowerPoints: reading material, publication, web
document and performance art.
hough
Wittingly break rules
First, as for the rules of how to make a PowerPoint,
rules are made to be broken. For example, the car-
dinal rule, “Don’t put a paragraph on a slide” can
be broken if you want to have your audience read.
For this purpose it is important to time a nonnative
speaker reading the slide and allot that much time
in your presentation for that slide.
PowerPoint as reading material
On the other hand, if the PowerPoint is going
to be posted on the web, it can be designed as a
reading experience, full of text, or as an invitation
to a reading experience. However, that makes it
unwieldy as a presentation device, so the presenter has to caution the audience repeatedly not to
read everything during the presentation, encouraging them to go and read the PowerPoint on the
web when they get home (maybe put a graphic
over half of the text to reinforce the message).
PowerPoint files can be mounted on the web
easily, and make a good kind of self-publication.
An example may be found at <www.core.kochitech.ac.jp/hunter/uses_of_ppt/index.html>.
The reader can either browse the presentation
online or download it. This kind of generosity
is not career suicide. For those who would like
mild, moralistic protection, the very hip Creative
Commons labels can be tailored to your wishes:
<creativecommons.org>
As well, PowerPoint can now be very handily
mounted on the web for free as a flash file, e.g., at
<slideshare.net/>.
An alternative is to make presentations in
HTML. These work well for mounting on the
web, and can have handy menus for jumping
around during a presentation, e.g., <www.core.
kochi-tech.ac.jp/hunter/criticalthinking/index.
html>. However, it is so very easy to author beautiful, web-ready PowerPoint presentations.
Performance art: foregrounding yourself
(or not)
Whether the PowerPoint is going to be used for
teaching or for presenting at a conference, the
issue of backgrounding/foregrounding demands
attention. Backgrounding occurs when two
stimuli compete for a person’s attention, e.g.,
when someone is talking face to face with you
and at the same time checking their phone mail.
The stimulus which gets less attention is backgrounded. You need to decide if and when you
want to foreground yourself as speaker/teacher
during your performance, and orchestrate that.
The speaker can be foregrounded by a number of
techniques:
Hunter
25
1. Lighting. Turn down the lights and you are
backgrounded, the screen foregrounded.
2. Screen size. Use a small screen in the classroom and you are somewhat foregrounded.
3. Speaker location. Stand amongst the audience and you are foregrounded if you use
your personal aura magnetism.
4. Remote control. Change slides by using a
USB remote with your laptop/PC and you
can foreground yourself more freely.
5. Text volume. Place large amounts of text on
a slide and depending on the audience, you
will be fore- or backgrounded.
6. The BLACK SLIDE. Insert a plain black slide
for moments when you want to be completely foregrounded.
7. Dim, earth color slides. Use darker slides for
reducing visual/emphasizing aural.
8. Text vs. graphics. Graphics don't compete
with speech, text does.
An example of foregrounding in teaching: to
introduce a new set of phrases about measurement to a junior high class, begin with almost
all white slides, very bright, to match the hyper
nature of the students. Begin with very graphical
slides, e.g.
Slide 1: a palm tree with a vertical dimension
arrow and a large question mark. Oral input:
"What's the question?" wait… elicit "How
high is it?"
Next slide: the text "How high is it?" appears.
Choral repetition.
Next slide: the question mark has been replaced
by a measurement: "15 m." Wait…elicit "Fifteen meters."
Next slide: The question has been replaced by
"It's fifteen meters high." Choral repetition.
This sequence is followed by a second iteration
of the pattern for a different object/person, but
the slides are darker, earth tones, to calm the students and to foreground the aural. Near the end
of the session, the slides brighten again to create
energy for the hands-on activity to follow.
A hazard of using PowerPoint for teaching: you
will surely use the same PowerPoint next year
regardless of how well it went the first time. DO
refine your PowerPoint immediately after using
it, before filing it for future use. No, do it now.
26
Hunter
PowerPoint with audio input for learners
It’s easy to link from PowerPoint pages to the
sound or video clips you use for your teaching.
Put the media files in the same folder as the PowerPoint (so as not to lose them), and use Insert:
Movie to place the file on the page. It is possible
to have the files play through a number of slides
(right click on the movie: Edit Movie Object), and
even possible to time the slides to automatically
change in synch with the audio/video (Slide
Show menu: View Presenter Tools; Slide Show
menu: Rehearse Timings).
Minuses: PowerPoint is linear, frozen
Edward Tufte and others have raged about the
linearity of PowerPoint, and how it makes users
think of simply going forward or back in the
line of slides. However, that criticism assumes
that you work through one PowerPoint for your
whole talk, and that you don’t use PowerPoint’s
less-used slide to slide linking feature. It’s easy
to have several smaller PowerPoints arranged
(and open already) and use them in an order
that matches the audience’s reaction. The same
is true of other media, in particular video, audio,
web, and Word files. In fact if you have other files
open, you can switch to them without “escaping”
from your PowerPoint slide show: in Mac OS X,
just use command-tab to toggle through open applications, and command-tilde to toggle through
open files in one application. In Windows, use
Alt-tab.
Another common criticism of PowerPoint is
the difficulty of writing on the fly. For those who
want to type to their audience, it is worth learning how to make a “docpoint,” an MS Word file
which fills the screen and is set up to be readable
(Page Setup: Landscape; View: Zoom; Font size:
48+). Your docpoint file can be set up and open
already for alternating with PowerPoint and
other media. For comfortable, effective typing to
your audience, docpoint can be maximally useful if you make two macros which are operable
with key commands (one for instantly changing
selected text to red, and one for inserting a page
break). Please write to the author at <lawriehunter@yahoo.com> if you want help with MS Word
macros (or with anything else).
Resource
<del.icio.us/rolenzo/powerpoint>
Lawrie Hunter teaches critical
thinking and academic writing
at Kochi University of Technology. He is co-author of Critical
Thinking (Asahi, 2001) and
author of Thinking in English
(KUT Press, 2004). Please visit
<www.core.kochi-tech.ac.jp/
hunter/>. Inquiries welcome
at lawriehunter@yahoo.com
People choose
to join JALT because they have made a
commitment to professional growth.
JALT’s publications offer advertisers
direct access to these motivated people.
For more information on advertising with
JALT, please contact the
JALT Central Office <jco@jalt.org>,
or visit our website at
<www.jalt-publications.org/admin/
advert.html>.
JALT Focus • From JALT National
…with Joseph Sheehan
<jalt-focus@jalt-publications.org>
JALT Focus contributors are
requested by the column editor to
submit articles of up to 750 words
written in paragraph format and
not in abbreviated or outline form.
Announcements for JALT Notices
should not exceed 150 words. All
submissions should be made by the
15th of the month, one and a half
months prior to publication.
JALT FOCUS ONLINE
A listing of notices and news can be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/focus/>
JALT Calendar
Listings of major upcoming events in the organisation.
For more information, visit JALT’s website <jalt.org>, or
see the SIG and chapter event columns later in this issue.
} 3-4 Feb 2007: Executive Board Meeting (EBM) at Tokyo
Medical and Dental University. The nearest station is
Ochanomizu, and the main accommodation will be at
Ochanomizu Garden Palace Hotel. More details will be
available soon.
} 27 Apr 2007: Deadline for submissions to present at
JALT2007. See <conferences.jalt.org/2007> for more
information.
} 12-13 May 2007: Sixth JALT Pan-SIG Conference at
Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University in Sendai, Japan. See
<jalt.org/pansig/2007> for more information.
} 22-25 Nov 2007: JALT2007 “Challenging Assumptions:
Looking In, Looking Out” at the National Olympics
Memorial Youth Center, Tokyo.
JALT Watch
JALT National news and announcements in brief.
} Results of the 2006 JALT National Officer Elections:
President: Steve Brown
Vice President: Cynthia Keith
Director of Records: Donna Tatsuki
Director of Treasury: Kevin Ryan
Director of Public Relations: Sayoko Yamashita
Director of Membership: Ann Mayeda
Director of Programs: Philip McCasland
Auditor: Tadashi Ishida
} If you need to contact JALT Central Office, note that the
email address is now <jco@jalt.org>.
27
From JALT National
Finding time and
space
G
you all and a warm welcome
to the year of the wild boar! May it be a
healthy and prosperous one for JALT and
for all our members.
It’s already two months since the Kitakyushu
conference, yet it feels as if it was just a couple of
weeks ago. Perhaps it’s the onset of middle age,
but I find that time seems to gather pace with
every passing year, and it becomes more and
more difficult to find the time and space to do
everything I want to do.
And that, I realize, is the task that faces us as
an organization: creating the space and time for
our members’ personal and professional development—space to share and develop ideas, and
time to reflect and grow.
Part of this creation of space is about making
way for new people to become involved in different areas of JALT. A well-balanced turnover is
important for the health of any organization, and
so I’m particularly pleased to welcome our four
new Directors—Cynthia Keith (Vice President),
Ann Mayeda (Director of Membership), Phil McCasland (Director of Program), and Kevin Ryan
(Director of Treasury). They replace Steve Nishida, Hugh Nicoll, Andrew Zitzmann, and Peter
Wanner, who all deserve a very special word of
thanks—not only for their hard work during their
time in office, but also for staying around and
continuing to be ready to offer their energy and
support to the organization.
There are also other changes as we welcome
new blood into the fabric of JALT. Ken Hartmann
and William Matheny have done a great job as
Chapter and SIG Liaisons and have passed the
batons to Steve Quasha and Megumi KawateMierzejewska; David McMurray has stepped
down after more than a decade as JALT’s International Liaison—Steve Nishida is now chairing
the International Affairs committee—and after
two years of overseeing the return of the Research
Grant Awards, Andy Barfield is handing over to
Anthony Robins.
There are other changes too numerous to mention here, but to all those who are stepping aside:
reetings to
Advert: Nellies
JALT Focus • From JALT National / JALT Notices
Thank you! And to all who have stepped up to
the plate: Welcome—and yoroshiku!
2007
Together with the Executive Board (made up of
representatives from all chapters and SIGs), the
new Board of Directors will be working to create
space and opportunities for collaborative development and growth: presentations at your local
chapter, continuing SIG events and publications,
the Pan SIG conference in Sendai (May 12-13), new
opportunities to make connections and work with
current JETs, national publications (The Language
Teacher and JALT Journal), the national conference
in Tokyo next November, and increasing collaboration with our partners in the Pan-Asian Consortium (PAC) of language teaching organizations.
We are also currently working on an interesting new opportunity which will offer members
further space for professional development—an
opportunity which we hope to be able to bring to
your attention in the next few months.
In the meantime, of course, we hope that you
don’t forget to enjoy JALT. The space is there for
you to contribute, share, and grow with the rest
of us. And if you have any ideas for creating new
spaces, just let us know!
Remember, it’s your organization: the opportunity’s there for you to contribute and join the
collaboration in any way you like.
Happy New Year!
Steve Brown
JALT President
JALT Notices
National Officer Elections
The 2006 NPO JALT National Officer Election
was held during Aug and Sep 2006, with balloting officially closing on 30 Sep. A total of 166
ballots were received, of which four ballots were
disallowed. The remaining 162 ballots were tallied, giving the following results:
President
• Steve Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
• Write-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
• Abstentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Vice-President
• Cynthia Keith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
• Beverley Lafaye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
29
• Write-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• Abstentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Director of Records
• Donna Tatsuki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
• Write-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• Abstentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Director of Treasury
• Kevin Ryan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
• Write-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• Abstentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Director of Public Relations
• Sayoko Yamashita. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
• Write-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• Abstentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Director of Membership
• Nicolas Gromik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
• Ann Mayeda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
• Abstentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Director of Programs
• Philip McCasland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
• Write-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• Abstentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Auditor
• Tadashi Ishida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
• Write-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• Abstentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
All newly elected NPO JALT National Officers’
terms are for 2 years and began immediately after
confirmation at the Ordinary General Meeting at
the JALT2006 conference in Kitakyushu.
Thanks are extended to all members who took
the time to participate by sending their ballots
and to Kariya Post Office, Paul Collett, Junko
Fujio, Eri Robins, and Malcolm Swanson for their
help with election arrangements.
Anthony Robins
NPO JALT Nominations & Elections
Committee Chair 2006
The Language Teacher and JALT Journal
. . . are looking for people to fill the following
positions: Associate Editor, English language
proofreader, and Japanese language proofreader.
Job descriptions and details on applying for these
positions are posted on our website <www.jaltpublications.org>.
Advert: Longman
JALT Focus • Member’s Profile
…with Theron Muller
<memprofile@jalt-publications.org>
Member’s Profile is a column
where members are invited to
introduce themselves to TLT’s
readership in 750 words or less.
Research interests, professional
affiliations, current projects, and
personal professional development are all appropriate content.
Please address inquiries to the
editor.
T
in Member’s Profile Renata Suzuki shares how her various experiences in
Japan shaped her views on teaching. Have
your own story to share? I’m looking forward to
hearing from you.
his month
31
understanding of diversity on a planetary scale,
the first step toward respectfully approaching
others on their linguistic terms. While working in
a kindergarten, I wrote eco-songs, available free
at <www.onegreenleaf.net>, to explore how we
are part of a biosphere. This project is very much
alive, with mentions in the JALT2005 conference
proceedings and the Young Learner SIG Newsletter. It has been presented at many online conferences and meetings across the globe. Currently
I am working with musicians Greg Chako and
Michael Fogarty to create free music. Keep an
eye out for updates! I am also developing learning units with the songs while studying for the
extremely thought-provoking and highly recommended Peace Education Certificate from Teachers College Tokyo, Columbia University.
MEMBER’S PROFILE
Renata Suzuki
I’m the mother of all JETs. I came to Japan in
1985 on the precursor of the JET scheme, the BET
(British Exchange Teaching) Programme. Two
years in the midst of rice paddies and lotus fields
improved my Japanese by leaps and bounds.
Now I’ve practically gone native; sometimes I
don’t know which language comes easier, English or Japanese. Both my sons went through the
Japanese education system, and following in their
footsteps I taught kindergarten through high
school at Japanese institutions before landing at
Sophia University where I currently teach economics.
I love the teaching profession: what other calling pays you for the healthy opportunity to share
time with eager hearts and minds in the process
of discovering and learning? I always create my
own materials, thinking about learners’ and my
interests. When I first arrived at my local junior
high, I wheedled some paint out of the board of
education and painted my classroom walls yellow, which stimulates the brain and helps to create an upbeat learning atmosphere. I welcomed
students to my all English environment, named
Merry-go-Round. I loved revamping the Monbusho textbook to make pairwork information
gaps with manga cutouts.
For me, learning a foreign language is peace
education: the door to global awareness, the first
At elementary schools in Yokohama I worked to
raise awareness of similarities between cultures
and to celebrate the diversity of life on our planet.
It moved me to see young students appreciate
and reflect on their own culture in tandem with
the British childhood world of animals, food,
dance, games, and mascots we explored. At high
school, I worked with a whole movie approach to
help students express personal opinions and cope
with an all English environment in preparation
for homestays, which I wrote up and submitted
to TLT. I hope it will be published soon.
I’m also a member of the Electronic Village
online group, Webheads in Action, whose preTESOL training helped me become more proficient with Internet tools. My students enjoy
online access and in class explore PowerPoint
presentations, Yahoo groups, Survey Monkey,
and famous Economist blogs. My paper on blogs
and diaries, which reports on teacher use of
motivation strategies, written during the Birmingham MA programme, was published in the
32
JALT Focus • Member’s Profile / Grassroots
TESL-EJ last year <www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej29/int.html> and has recently been
published as a book chapter in Blogs: Emerging
Communication Media. This year I’ve co-authored
a further paper on blogs as research tools, Blogging Out (in press), with friend and colleague
Karen Garcia.
Right now I’m at the last stage of my MA, writing a thesis on supporting vocabulary acquisition
with autonomous learning techniques in Economics English classes. I am eager to be finished,
and to have free time to share the results of my
research. Meanwhile I hope to see you in person
at Yokohama JALT, where I am Program Chair.
Check out this month’s presentation at our website: <yojalt.bravehost.com/>. I’ll leave you with
Finke’s (2001) quote of the day:
I think it is a mistake to believe that technical
experts and natural scientists, especially ex-
32
perts of the diverse biological sciences, are the
appropriate or the only experts in this field [of
nature conservation] . . . . in order to protect
or even restore the stability and richness of
our natural ecosystems, one has to analyse, to
influence and change our cultural ecosystems
which are responsible for their damage. That
is to say, the problems of the environment are
problems of the consciousness of our self and
its role, rather than problems of nature itself.
(p. 89)
Reference
Finke, P. (2001). Identity and manifoldness: New perspectives in science, language, and politics. In A. Fill
& P. Muhlhausler (Eds.), The ecolinguistics reader: Language, ecology and the environment (pp. 84-90). London
& New York: Continuum.
JALT Focus • Grassroots
…with Joyce Cunningham &
Mariko Miyao
<grassroots@jalt-publications.org>
The co-editors
warmly invite 750word reports on
events, groups, or
resources within
JALT in English,
Japanese, or a
combination of
both.
This month we have two short pieces.
Tim Murphey’s song introduction of Bonny
Norton at JALT2006 and his description
of three guests from the Closing Panel are
reproduced below, as well as a poem by
Shoko Yoneyama. Next, Malcolm Swanson
suggests various ways that SIGs, chapters,
and groups within JALT could improve the
organization’s image.
Tim Murphey’s
introduction of Bonny
Norton at her JALT2006
plenary entitled Critical
Literacy, Language
Learning, and Popular
Culture
I
2002 I attended the Summer Institute in
Applied Linguistics at Penn State University
and sat in a course that Bonny Norton was
teaching. I found out what a wonderful, sharing
teacher she is, something that has been confirmed
by awards for teaching at her own university
and elsewhere. As often happens when students
adore a teacher, they start talking like them. In
fact, there were three things that the learners in
that course picked up.
One was the term investment, which is Bonny’s
special take on motivation.
The second was Bonny’s mantra that summer
(perhaps it still is): “Under what conditions?” She
would listen to an assertion, nod encouragingly,
and then ask, “Under what conditions?” Perhaps anything was possible, but Bonny was very
interested in teaching us that conditions were
n
the crucial elements of any method, idea, process, or result. Outside class, students used this
mantra over and over again. “I think grammar
is important.” And someone would say, “Under
what conditions?” I love skiing—”Under what
conditions?” People are intelligent—”Under what
conditions?”
The third phrase was something she said many
times a day for about 5 days before we figured
out what it meant (and we were all language
teachers and linguists). You, the reader, can put
yourself in our shoes and try to figure out what
“nowadamin” means. As it turns out, in South
Africa that is how they say “Know what I mean?”
In the last class we composed a goodbye song
for Bonny and I would like to sing it to you now
and ask you to join in when you get the hang of
it.
Nowadamin
Lyrics by Tim Murphey & friends at the Summer Institute in Applied Linguistics, Penn State
University, 2002. JALT2006 backup singers:
Rohini Deblaise, Pauline Baird, Janell Pekkain,
Maria Trovela, Yukiko Watanabe, and the audience! To the tune of My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean,
with the words in parentheses spoken.
My Bonny invests in her students (Under what
conditions?)
My Bonny invests in research (Under what conditions?)
My Bonny criticalizes pedagogies (Under what
conditions?)
NOWADAMIN WADAMIN
Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my identities,
BonNIE!
Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my communities, BONnie
Note: A sound file of this song should be on
Murphey’s website by time of publication. Go to
<www2.dokkyo.ac.jp/~esemi029/> and click on
Sound Files. Then look for Nowadamin.
The closing panel
The closing panel for the conference was composed of Donald Freeman, Bonny Norton, Zongjie
Wu (our Asian Scholar), and Tim Murphey. We
had much lively questioning and conversation.
This was partially because we asked three guests
to say a few words at the start of the session. First
was Keiko Konoeda, a graduate student at the
University of Hawaii and a first time attendee,
who spoke about her enjoyment and stimulation
at the conference.
Then, Shoko Yoneyama, a sociologist from the
33
University of Adelaide, Australia, gave a perspective of someone outside our profession. She did
this in an open poem (see below).
Finally Greg Rouault, the Learner Development
SIG Travel Grant Award recipient, spoke passionately about his change of profession from business to teaching and how the conference opened
many doors for him.
Concluding remarks—by Shoko Yoneyama
I’ve never talked and listened so much in three days
in my life.
I’ve never felt so energized and empowered after attending a conference.
I’ve never felt as HOPEFUL as now about Japanese
education.
I’ve never seen a plenary speaker to be introduced
with a song!
I am very grateful for being able to take part in this
wonderful JALT conference in Kitakyushu.
I was deeply impressed with the extent to which the
conference theme was addressed – Motivation, Identity, and Community.
These are the essential CONDITIONS for LEARNING and MEANINGFUL COMMUNICATION.
The communication I experienced has been friendly,
critical, and constructive.
And perhaps the most important message of the
conference is that POSITIVE and CARING human
relations are the key to taking a step forward.
And I think we have done extremely well!
Reported by Tim Murphey
JALT2006 Conference Chair
Dokkyo University
Professionalising
JALT: It’s all in
the details
O
smallest events in our lives can
ripple out to the biggest changes! In my
case, one such formative event occurred
in a teachers’ college design elective. The class
had been on a field trip, and my friend and I were
the first back to the studio. I hastily scrawled a
note telling everyone which pub to meet us at
and pinned it to the wall. Four hours later, the
two of us were still sitting there, sulkily nursing
ften the
34
our beers. Certain we’d been abandoned, we eventually slunk home. It turned out that when one
of the lecturers had seen the note, he had torn it
down and thrown it out. I angrily confronted him
about it, to which he retorted that even the smallest things should be done properly. I was a design
student—I should’ve taken a moment longer to
add some style to my note. Lesson learned.
JALT often finds itself in similar situations. In
our rush to get projects finished, conferences up
and running, or publications printed, we decide
to use our limited volunteer resources to get the
job finished quick and dirty, rather than looking for
more elegant solutions. This bushman’s spirit has
its roots in the days when JALT’s resources really were much more limited—membership was
smaller, money was tight, and the resources technology assists us with now were just not available. Decisions were made on the fly, meetings
were heated and passionate, and the pioneering
spirit prevailed—an era which some of our older
hands still wistfully pine for.
However, JALT is no longer such a seat-ofthe-pants organization. It has matured into an
organization with professional status and international standing. Our conferences are large and
well run, and our publications are the envy of
many other larger groups. We even have NPO
status! To its credit, so much of JALT reflects this
professional integrity. Our mainstream publications are exceptionally well run, and the quality
that members regularly receive is huge value for
the relatively minimal membership fees we pay.
Our national website is attractive, functional, and
well maintained. Our conference machine glides
along noiselessly (slightly tongue-in-cheek here)
each year, delivering an event without major upsets or oversights. JALT’s Central Office quietly
handles all the behind the scenes administration
with grace and good humor. All this is the result
of years of gentle massaging of the systems JALT
runs on and the benevolent oversight of a board
of directors well aware of where they sit in the
synergy that is JALT.
But where this veneer of professionalism starts
to wear a bit thin is when we look outside of the
mainstream areas of JALT, and this is the focus
of this article. Generally, JALT’s major activities
have effective oversight and sufficient resources
of people and funding. In those situations where
mistakes or omissions do occur, there are always
enough observers ready to energetically respond.
However, what we tend to forget is that EVERY
activity that takes place under JALT’s name (and
inherently, patronage) reflects on the status of
the organization. This means that every SIG,
chapter, or group event has a responsibility to
maintain and promote the status of the organization. Thinking about many of the SIG or regional
mini-conferences and events I have attended, my
lasting impression is often of chaotic registration, tacky signage, shaky documentation, and
beleaguered or bickering organizers—which is
too bad, as the content of these events is generally of exceptional quality and very relevant to
my interests and needs. What is evident is that
the organizers have poured their energies into the
programme, with the trimmings being left to the
end or even overlooked. Unfortunately, that is
the side of the event that attendees see, and often
what leaves the strongest impression!
Likewise with local chapter events. As a chapter
officer, I know the focus is usually on the three
Ps—presenter, place, and people. Find someone
willing to talk, secure a venue, and encourage an audience to attend. But often the events
I’ve enjoyed most were those with a warm and
helpful reception desk, local members willing to
make me feel at home, an organized programme,
and a smooth but clear cut ending. Even the best
presentations can be derailed when the enclosing structure is not well implemented, yet those
small, homely touches take only a moment, and if
shared require minimal commitment on the part
of local officers.
Thankfully, SIG publications have made huge
improvements in recent years, and the quality
of content, editing, design, and printing makes
many SIG journals of high standard and a joy to
read. The same cannot be said of SIG and chapter websites, however. While publications tend
to have continuity, websites run in peaks and
troughs, depending on the commitment of one
or two individuals. Many feature content that is
months, even years, out of date. Design is often
fragmented or downright tacky, and navigation
is a nightmare. Like most people, it is the Internet
I turn to first when I want information quickly
and easily, but if I were to rely on the impressions
I get about JALT groups from their websites, I
would be missing the richness of activity and
community that really exists. Groups that are
tech-stretched need to avoid creating sites that are
complex and full of flashes of “Wow!” that quickly date. A simple, clean, fast-loading site that is
easily (and often) updated achieves everything
the group needs! Likewise with the SIG tables at
the recent national conference. Rather than showcasing the activities and resources of the SIGs,
these were generally a motley montage of hastily
assembled materials. SIGs had the prime location
this year—right next to the EME and encircling
the food court. Yet I felt drawn to very few of the
displays as most looked forlorn and ill prepared.
With minimal outlay, reusable signs and display
stands, an attractive tablecloth, and some informative brochures could be purchased that would
transform the SIG area from a gloomy backwater
to the vibrant part of the conference it should be!
Finally, every group in JALT needs to look at
their commitment to the mother organization
more carefully and take advantage of events,
websites, and publications to not only advertise
JALT, but to also show very clearly that they are
one part of the whole. The JALT logo should ap-
pear on everything, with brief descriptions and
contact info for JALT National clearly placed. Yes,
we are all semi-autonomous groups, but we are
all under the one umbrella—a point that is often
not sufficiently expressed.
In closing, I want to state that these are my
views—they are not necessarily shared—and are
presented here in full recognition that I also need
to put much more effort into the details, because
an organization that is viewed as professional is
one that will suit my needs much more.
Malcolm Swanson <swanson@seinan-jo.ac.jp>
Seinan Jo Gakuin University
Column • SIG News
…with James Hobbs
<sig-news@jalt-publications.org>
JALT currently has 16 Special
Interest Groups (SIGs) available
for members to join. This column
publishes announcements of
SIG events, mini-conferences,
publications, or calls for papers and
presenters. SIGs wishing to print
news or announcements should
contact the editor by the 15th
of the month, 6 weeks prior to
publication.
SIGs at a glance
Key: [ � = keywords ] [ & = publications ] [ ó =
other activities ] [ ô = email list] [ ^ = online forum]
Note: For contacts & URLs, please see the Contacts page.
Bilingualism
[ � bilingualism, biculturality, international families, childraising, identity ] [ & Bilingual Japan—4x year ] [ ó
monographs, forums ] [ ô ]
Our group has two broad aims: to support families who regularly communicate in more than one
language and to further research on bilingualism
in Japanese contexts. See our website at <www.
bsig.org> for more information.
当研究会は複数言語で生活する家族および日本に
おけるバイリンガリズム研究の支援を目的としていま
す。どうぞホームページの<www.bsig.org>をご覧下さ
い。
35
35
Computer Assisted Language Learning
[ � technology, computer-assisted, wireless, online learning, self-access ] [ & JALT CALL Journal Newsletter—3x
year ] [ ó Annual SIG conference, national conference,
regional workshops, publications ] [ ô ] [ ^ ]
The CALL SIG announces the JALTCALL Conference 2007 CALL: Integration or Disintegration?,
reflecting the fragmentation of CALL into other
areas. This event will be an excellent gathering at
Waseda University, with exciting and innovative
presentations. The featured speaker is Mike Levy
from Griffith University. Also, buy the new book
Glocalization: Bringing People Together, packed with
articles from the CALL SIG 2005 Conference. For
more information about this and all CALL SIG
publications, visit <jaltcall.org>.
College and University Educators
[ � tertiary education, interdisciplinary collaboration, professional development, classroom research, innovative teaching ] [ & On CUE —3x year ] [ ó Annual SIG conference,
national conference, regional workshops, publications ]
Information about what is going on in CUE can
be found at <allagash.miyazaki-mu.ac.jp/CUE/>.
Check for regular updates on the 15th of each
month.
Gender Awareness in Language
Education
The GALE SIG researches gender and its implications for language learning, teaching, and training. We welcome submissions for our newsletter
(published in spring, summer, and fall) on theoTHE LANGUAGE TEACHER 31.1 • January 2007
36
Column • SIG News
retical and practical topics related to our aims.
Book reviews, lesson plans, think pieces, poetry—
basically anything related to gender and language
teaching—are welcomed. To see past newsletters,
visit <www.tokyoprogressive.org.uk/gale>. Send
submissions to Steve Cornwell <stevec@gol.com>
or Andrea Simon-Maeda <andy@nagoya-ku.ac.
jp>. To join GALE, use the form in the back of TLT
or contact Diane Nagatomo <dianenagatomo@
m2.pbc.ne.jp>.
Global Issues in Language Education
[ � global issues, global education, content-based language teaching, international understanding, world citizenship ] [ & Global Issues in Language Education Newsletter—4x year ] [ ó Sponsor of Peace as a Global Language
(PGL) conference ] [ ô ] [ ^ ]
Are you interested in promoting global awareness and international understanding through
your teaching? Then join the Global Issues in
Language Education SIG. We produce an exciting
quarterly newsletter packed with news, articles,
and book reviews; organize presentations for local, national, and international conferences; and
network with groups such as UNESCO, Amnesty
International, and Educators for Social Responsibility. Join us in teaching for a better world!
Our website is <www.jalt.org/global/sig/>. For
further information, contact Kip Cates <kcates@
fed.tottori-u.ac.jp>.
Japanese as a Second Language
Learner Development
[ � autonomy, learning, reflections, collaboration, development ] [ & Learning Learning, 2x year; LD-Wired, quarterly
electronic newsletter ] [ ó Forum at the JALT national conference, annual mini-conference/retreat, printed anthology
of Japan-based action research projects ] [ ô ]
The Learner Development SIG focuses on the
theory and practice of learner and teacher autonomy. At JALT2006 we reaffirmed our commitment to our bilingual roots and to the collective
exploration of collaborative practices in language
education. For more information, please visit <ldsig.jalt.org>.
Materials Writers
[ � materials development, textbook writing, publishers
and publishing, self-publication, technology ] [ & Between
the Keys—3x year ] [ ó JALT national conference events ]
[ô][^]
The MW SIG shares information on ways to create better language learning materials, covering
a wide range of issues from practical advice on
style to copyright law and publishing practices,
including self-publication. On certain conditions we also provide free ISBNs. Our newsletter
Between the Keys is published three to four times a
year and we have a discussion forum and mailing
list at <groups.yahoo.com/group/jaltmwsig/>.
Our website is at <uk.geocities.com/materialwritersig/>. To contact us, email <mw@jalt.org>.
[
Other Language Educators
ter—4x year ] [ ó Annual general meeting at the JALT
conference ] [ ô ]
[ � FLL beyond mother tongue, L3, multilingualism, second foreign language ] [ & OLE Newsletter—4-5x year ]
[ ó Network with other FL groups, presence at conventions, provide information to companies, support job
searches and research ]
� Japanese as a second language ] [ & 日本語教育
ニュースレター Japanese as a Second Language Newslet-
Junior and Senior High School
[ � curriculum, native speaker, JET programme, JTE, ALT, internationalization ] [ & The School House—3-4x year ] [ ó teacher
development workshops & seminars, networking, open mics ]
[ô]
The JSH SIG is operating at a time of considerable
change in secondary EFL education. Therefore,
we are concerned with language learning theory,
teaching materials, and methods. We are also intensely interested in curriculum innovation. The
large-scale employment of native speaker instructors is a recent innovation yet to be thoroughly
studied or evaluated. JALT members involved
with junior or senior high school EFL are cordially invited to join us for dialogue and professional
development opportunities.
OLE has issued OLE Newsletter 40, containing a
JALT2006 update and abstracts of presentations
in OLE-related events which are usually not
available publicly, a Call for Papers for PAN-SIG
2007, which features an OLE plenary speaker,
reports of the Matsuyama mini-conference, OLErelevant summer 2006 conventions, the coordinator’s activities, where to find more information,
and the “syllabus” of the visit-a-company course
just accepted as a Creative Course by Ehime
University. For more info contact <reinelt@iec.
ehime-u.ac.jp>.
Column • SIG News
37
Pragmatics
Teaching Older Learners
[ � appropriate communication, co-construction of meaning, interaction, pragmatic strategies, social context ] [ &
Pragmatic Matters (語用論事情) —3x year ] [ ó Pan-SIG
and JALT conferences, Temple University Applied Linguistics Colloquium, seminars on pragmatics-related topics,
other publications ] [ ô ]
[ � lifelong learning, older adult learners, fulfillment ] [ & Told You So!—3x year (online) ] [ ó PanSIG, teaching contest, national & mini-conferences ]
[ô][^]
The Pragmatics SIG was very active during
JALT2006. In the Forum this year (Groups at Work)
Deryn Verity explained how sociocultural theory
can help us understand the pragmatics of classroom language use. Todd Squires presented a
narrative analysis of student written reflections,
and Donna Fujimoto shared a study of group discussions using Conversation Analysis. At the business meeting the SIG officers were elected and the
SIG Constitution was approved. For more information, see <www.pragsig.org>.
Professionalism, Administration, and
Leadership in Education
The PALE SIG welcomes new members, officers,
volunteers, and submissions of articles for our
journal or newsletter. To read current and past issues of our journal, visit <www.debito.org/PALE>.
Also, anyone may join our listserv <groups.yahoo.
com/group/PALE_Group/>. For information on
events, visit <www.jalt.org/groups/PALE>.
Teacher Education
[ � action research, peer support, reflection and teacher development ] [ & Explorations in Teacher Education—4x year ]
[ ó library, annual retreat or mini-conference, Pan-SIG sponsorship, sponsorship of speaker at the JALT national conference ]
[ô][^]
Teaching Children
[ � children, elementary school, kindergarten, early
childhood, play ] [ & Teachers Learning with Children, bilingual—4x year ] [ ó JALT Junior at national conference, regional bilingual 1-day conferences ]
[ô][^]
We will hold our first Tokyo Regional Gathering:
Feelings—How Can We Reflect Them in Our Teaching? on Fri 26 Jan 10:30-13:00 at Nellie’s English
Bookstore in Asakusabashi. We will share and speculate on this theme, which is also the theme of the
most recent issue of Teachers Learning with Children.
All are welcome. Register by Fri 19 Jan. Contact:
Yuco Kikuchi <yuco@onlineworkshop.net>. Details
available at <jalt.org/groups/Teaching_Children>.
The increasing number of people of retirement
age, plus the internationalization of Japanese society, has greatly increased the number of people
eager to study English as part of their lifelong
learning. The TOL SIG provides resources and
information for teachers who teach English to
older learners. We run a website, online forum,
listserv, and SIG publication (see <www.eigosenmon.com/tolsig/>). For more information or
to join the mailing list, contact Amanda Harlow
<amand@aqua.livedoor.com> or Eric M. Skier
<skier@ps.toyaku.ac.jp>.
成人英語教育研究部会は来る高齢化社会に向けて高
齢者を含む成人の英語教育をより充実することを目指
し、昨年結成した新しい分科会です。現在、日本では
退職や子育て後もこれまでの経験や趣味を生かし積極
的に社会に参加したいと望んでいる方が大幅に増えて
おります。中でも外国語学習を始めたい、または継続
を考えている多くの学習者に対してわれわれ語学教師
が貢献出来る課題は多く、これからの研究や活動が期
待されています。ＴＯＬでは日本全国の教師が情報交
換、勉強会、研究成果の出版を行い共にこの新しい分
野を開拓していこうと日々熱心に活動中です。現在オ
ンライン<www.eigosenmon.com/tolsig/>上でもフォーラ
ムやメールリスト、ニュースレター配信を活発に行っ
ております。高齢者の語学教育に携わっていらっしゃ
る方はもちろん、将来の英語教育動向に関心のある方
まで、興味のある方はどなたでも大歓迎です。日本人
教師も数多く参加していますのでどうぞお気軽にご入
会ください。お問い合わせは Amanda Harlow <amand@
aqua.livedoor.com>。または Eric M. Skier <skier@
ps.toyaku.ac.jp>までご連絡ください。
Testing & Evaluation
[ � research, information, database on testing ]
[ & Shiken—3x year ] [ ó Pan-SIG, JALT National ]
[ô][^]
For more information
on JALT’s SIGs,
please visit
<jalt.org/main/chapters-sigs>
38
Column • Chapter Events
…with Aleda Krause
<chap-events@jalt-publications.org>
Each of JALT’s 36 active chapters
sponsors from 5 to 12 events every
year. All JALT members may attend
events at any chapter at member
rates—usually free. Chapters, don’t
forget to add your event to the JALT
calendar or send the details to the
editor by email or t/f: 048-787-3342.
CHAPTER EVENTS ONLINE
You can access all of JALT’s
events online at:
<www.jalt.org/calendar>.
If you have a QRcode-capable
mobile phone, use the image
on the left.
H
New Year in the Year of the Boar!
You’re sure to find a friendly
and enthusiastic (certainly not boaring) welcome at
a JALT chapter event. Check
and see if something interesting is
going on at a chapter near you. If
your local chapter isn’t listed, go to
the online calendar. There may be
late-breaking news.
appy
Chiba—Using Song Lyrics for Reading Content
Words With Young Learners by Richard Barber,
Toyo Gakuen University and Cartoons, Global
Issues, and Young Learners by Sarah Louise
Birchley, Toyo Gakuen University. Barber will
demonstrate how, after getting to grips with the
meaning of a song, young learners do various
activities to learn to read the words. Birchley will
explore how cartoons can be used successfully
with young learners to develop critical thinking
skills, encourage creativity, and develop awareness of global issues. Sun 28 Jan 14:00-16:30; SATY
Bunka Hall, Room 1, 4F (1 min. walk from Inage
Station east exit on JR Sobu Line); one-day members
¥500.
Gunma—The New TOEIC®: Understanding
and Overcoming the Challenges by Grant Trew,
author: Teacher’s Guide to the TOEIC® Test (OUP).
The TOEIC Test is the primary tool for assessTHE LANGUAGE TEACHER 31.1 • January 2007
ing English proficiency in Japan. The change
to the test format in May 2006 has significant
implications for students and educators, who
will need both an understanding of the changes
and appropriate preparation to deal with them.
This workshop aims to clarify the changes to the
test, highlight the impact and implications for
both test takers and teachers, and present some
approaches to overcoming the problems Japanese
learners are likely to face. The presenter will give
examples of the new format and use interactive
tasks to highlight some of the key challenges test
takers will face. Sun 28 Jan 14:00-16:30; Maebashi
Institute of Technology; free for all.
Himeji—EAP Colloqium by Sonia Strain, Susan
Jackson, Greg Sholdt, Maggie Lieb, and John
Cambell-Larsen. This colloquium will introduce Himeji Dokkyo University’s EAP program
designed for intermediate (and lower) level
students by means of a step-by-step, studentfriendly approach. It will begin with a summary
of the Core Seminar followed by a presentation
of activities used for teaching EAP grammar, EAP
speaking, EAP listening, and EAP writing. Sun
14 Jan 14:00-16:00; Hanakita Shimin Hiroba (directly
across from Nozato Station on the Bantan Line. Plenty
of free parking. Bantan Line train leaves Himeji Station at 13:46); one-day members ¥1000.
Hokkaido—Teaching Speech Acts Can Enrich
Our Students’ Learning by Jeremie Bouchard.
The presentation will discuss a pedagogical initiative involving a textbook designed around the
teaching of speech acts, which was introduced at
Sapporo Sacred Heart School, a Catholic school
for girls. Speech acts are attempts by language
users to perform specific actions. Hopefully,
discussing this initiative will lead to a general exchange on the teaching of speech acts as a means
of enriching our students’ performance and on
material design. Sun 21 Jan 13:30-16:00; Hokkai
Gakuen University, Toyohira (2 min from Gakuen
Mae subway station, Toho Line); one-day members
¥500.
Kobe—The New TOEIC® Test: Understanding
and Overcoming the Challenges by Grant Trew.
(See Gunma for description.) Sat 27 Jan 16:0018:00; Kobe YMCA (2-7-15 Kano-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe,
t: 078-241-7204); free for all.
Kyoto—Concept Mapping in Content-Based
Courses by Heidi Evans and Todd Squires,
Ritsumeikan University. The presenters will show
how concept maps can provide students with a
tool for learning new vocabulary, comprehending
texts, and synthesizing and organizing new information in meaningful ways. In this workshop,
participants will learn how to create their own
concept maps, following a step-by-step framework, and experience how concept mapping
can be put into practice in the classroom. Fri 19
Jan 18:30-20:30; Kyoto Kyoiku Bunka Center, Room
203; see <www.kyotojalt.org> for directions; one-day
members ¥1000.
Matsuyama—Extensive Reading—the Whats,
Whys, and Hows by Ron Murphy, Ehime University. In an ideal world, teachers would be able to
offer learners stimulating lessons with interesting
content at an appropriate level for each student.
Extensive reading programs claim to do just that.
Murphy will review the claims of extensive reading proponents and skeptics. He will also present
lesson ideas and results of a study of extensive
reading classes at Ehime University. Sun 14 Jan
14:15-16:20; Shinonome High School Pierce Building
3F (parking NOT available); one-day members ¥1000.
Nagasaki—January News. Best wishes to everyone for a great new year in 2007 from Nagasaki JALT! Our meeting information was not
completely confirmed at press time, but please
feel free to check with us at our chapter website
<www.kyushuelt.com/jalt/nagasaki.html>or via
our monthly email newsletter <www.kyushuelt.
com/jalt/ nagamail.php3> in the next few days.
Nagoya—Drama Activities for the EFL Classroom by Miho Moody. One of the challenges for
an EFL teacher is to engage reluctant students
in classroom activities. Drama is a useful tool to
achieve this aim. Students are thrown into meaningful situations where they have to use their
English knowledge to resolve situational problems. In this workshop, Moody will demonstrate
some drama activities and explain the rationale
behind them. Sun 21 Jan 13:30-16:00; Nagoya International Center 3F, one-day members ¥1000.
Omiya—Reading and Young Learners: Song Lyrics for Reading Content With Young Learners by
Richard Barber, Toyo Gakuen University. After
understanding the meaning of a song, young
learners do activities to read the lyrics. They work
39
together to read the content words. This activity
encourages peer interaction and collaborative
dialogue. The interaction that is created also provides an example of how participation, as well as
acquisition, is a strong metaphor for understanding the way in which young Japanese learners
develop their EFL ability. Sun 14 Jan 14:00-17:00;
Sakuragi Kominkan (near Omiya Station, west exit,
map <jalt.org/chapters/omiya/map.htm#sakuragi>;
one-day members ¥1000.
Sendai—Teaching Debate and Structured Discussions in EFL Classes by Mark Neufeld, Sakura
no Seibo Junior College, Fukushima. Mark will
first look at the format of parliamentary-style debate and the vocabulary and methods involved in
teaching and conducting it. Then he will describe
a technique called Structured Discussions for high
school and college students with high-beginner to
advanced English abilities. It can be used in oral
English or integrated skills classes and incorporates many debate skills, but does not require
the learning of specialized vocabulary or debate
procedures. Sun 28 Jan 14:00-17:00; AER Building
28F, kensyuusitu 2 (map <www.geocities.com/jaltsendai/map-e.gif>; one-day members ¥1000.
Shinshu—The New TOEIC® Test: Understanding
and Overcoming the Challenges by Grant Trew,
Oxford University Press, and STEP BULATS:
A Practical Test Suite That Makes Real Business Sense by Hirai-sensei. IMPORTANT: This
is a free workshop; however, all those planning
to attend are requested to pre-register with Dan
Brearley <danbrearley@gmail.com>.
1) The TOEIC workshop focuses on helping instructors to better understand the changes to the
recently revised TOEIC test. 2) The STEP session
familiarizes you with STEP BULATS, a language
assessment service that evaluates the four skills
in practical business contexts. Sun 21 Jan, 13:0016:00; Luna International, MK bldg 2F, 1-9-16 Motomachi, Matsumoto; free for all.
Toyohashi—An Integrated Oral Communication
Program by Paul Mason. Mason will introduce
the Oral Communication Program in use at Nanzan Junior College and will describe how the activities were developed, as well as show videos of
two of them in action. He will also introduce the
most important component of the program: the
three inter-class activities which provide students
with a clear focus for their studies and which are
used for assessment purposes. The approach will
be practical, though of course there are theoretical
40
considerations involved. Sun 14 Jan 13:30-16:00;
Aichi University, Bldg 5, room 543; one-day members
¥1000.
Yamagata—Comparing Russian and Japanese
Language Education by Alla Mikhaylenko. The
presenter will enlighten us on the differences in
the educational approaches to learning English in
Russia and Japan. Sat 13 Jan 13:30-15:30; Yamagata
Kajo Kominkan Sogo Gakushu Center, Shironishimachi 2-chome 2-15, t: 0236-45-6163; one-day members ¥800.
Brown. How do we learn new words? What connections do we make between words? How can
we use our knowledge of the mental lexicon to
further our learners’ lexical development? This
workshop, based on classroom research, leads
through a series of tasks to examine word associations, exchange teaching ideas, and consider how
to encourage students to explore their own lexical
development, better understand relationships
between words, and further empower themselves
with regards to learning and teaching vocabulary.
Sun 14 Jan 14:00-16:30; Venue TBA; one-day members ¥1000.
Yokohama—Word Associations and Vocabulary
Development Through Tasks by Philip Shigeo
40
Column • Chapter Reports
…with Heather Sparrow
<chap-reports@jalt-publications.org>
The Chapter Reports column is a
forum for sharing with the TLT readership synopses of presentations
held at JALT chapters around Japan.
For more information on these
speakers, please contact the chapter
officers in the JALT Contacts section
of this issue. For guidelines on contributions, see the Submissions page
at the back of each issue.
East Shikoku: October—East Shikoku JALT &
JALTCALL Workshop: Teaching and Learning
with Technology. 1) Delivering Digital Content
Through Moodle by Paul Daniels and Timothy
Gutierrez. Daniels and Gutierrez showed how
this free content management software can be
utilized to support in-class language learning
activities. 2) Effective PowerPoint Presentations
by Lawrie Hunter. Hunter guided his audience
through techniques for effective use of PowerPoint in the language classroom and suggested
useful tips for the design, content, and use of this
software. 3) The Website as Narrative: Scripting a Site with a Notepad and a Cup of Coffee
by Davey Leslie. Leslie shared ideas for creating
unique sites based on his experience as a professional website developer and language teacher.
During a unique digital format poster session,
presenters had four notebook PCs with Internet
access, digital video, and still cameras to demonstrate digital course content, useful websites,
student projects, and classroom lessons, giving
their audience hands-on experience with their
software and content. Presentations included:
Online Learning Sites by Marcus Otlowski, Using Mobile Phones/Digital Cameras for Storytelling by Sean Burgoine, Mobile Blogs by Michael
Sharpe, Use of Video Storyboarding by Charlie
Robertson, Moodle: Classroom Use by Paul Daniels and Tim Gutierrez, and An Online Refereed
Journal for Students by Ian Isemonger.
Reported by Darren Lingley
Nagasaki: October—Discourse Across Cultures:
Preparing Japanese to Use English as an International Language by Larry Smith. Smith discussed
the meaning of discourse across the parameters of
national culture, followed by a definition of English as an international language (EIL). He presented statistics about L1 and L2 users of English,
and tested our knowledge, not only of the origin
of some common English words, but also on the
meanings of common English vocabulary and
forms of address used in Asia. He then briefly
examined issues surrounding politeness, and concluded with useful advice for equipping students
to converse in English with people from different
cultures. Smith demonstrated both depth and
breadth of knowledge in a delightfully warm and
humourous manner, interspersing his talk with
anecdotes taken from his own experiences.
Reported by Melodie Cook
Shinshu: October—Planning for Immersion
Education by Michelle Nagashima. Nagashima
41
Column • Chapter Reports
introduced the history and many forms of Immersion Education (IE) and the pedagogical philosophy behind IE at Katoh Gakuen. Teaching in
English and Japanese, the program adheres to the
guidelines established by MEXT.
The entrance exams are rigorous: 2 days of IQ
tests, Japanese and English proficiency, self-management, and teacher observation of student
behavior are all considered for entrance into the
school. Over 150 applicants vie for a chance to be
one of 40 admitted. For grades 1-3, the students
are taught 70% of the time in English, and from
grades 4-6, 50% in English, with the remainder of
class time taught in Japanese. For grades 7-12, the
courses are taught in both languages.
Highlights of the program include a trip to Utah,
U.S.A., with a home stay, outdoor camp, horseback riding, and school time in English. Students
often exchange emails with their host families
and friends before and after traveling abroad.
Graduates have entered Keio, Waseda, and ICU
in Japan; another outstanding result of the program is that some have entered Harvard, Yale,
and Michigan State in the United States.
Reported by David Ockert
Column • JALT Contacts
For changes and additions, please contact the editor
<contacts@jalt-publications.org>. More extensive listings
can be found in the annual JALT Information & Directory.
Publications Officers
}
National Officers
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
President—Steve Brown; <prez@jalt.org>
Vice President—Cynthia Keith; <vp@jalt.org>
Director of Treasury—Kevin Ryan;
<treasury@jalt.org>
Director of Membership—Ann Mayeda;
<membership@jalt.org>
Director of Programs—Philip McCasland;
<programs@jalt.org>
Director of Public Relations—Sayoko
Yamashita; <publicity@jalt.org>
Director of Records—Donna Tatsuki;
<records@jalt.org>
Auditor—Tadashi Ishida; <auditor@jalt.org>
Appointed Officers
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
Business Manager—Andrew Zitzmann;
<business@jalt.org>
Central Office Supervisor—Junko Fujio;
<jco@jalt.org>
Chapter Representative Liaison—Steve
Quasha; <chaprep@jalt.org>
SIG Representative Liaison—Megumi KawateMierzejewska; <sigrep@jalt.org>
JALT2007 Conference Chair—Yuriko Kite;
<ykite@ipcku.kansai-u.ac.jp>
JALT2007 Programme Chair—Aleda Krause;
<aleda@tba.t-com.ne.jp>
JET Liaison—Marcos Benevides; <jet-liaison@
jalt.org>
41
}
Publications Board Chair—Kim BradfordWatts; <pubchair@jalt.org>
JALT Journal Editor—Steve Cornwell;
<jj-editor@jalt-publications.org>
TLT Staff—See the back of this issue
Conference Proceedings Editor—Kim
Bradford-Watts;
<proc_editor@jalt-publications.org>
Chapter Contacts
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
Akita—Takeshi Suzuki; t: 018-422-1562;
<takeshis@mail.edinet.ne.jp>;
<www.edinet.ne.jp/~takeshis/jalt.htm>
Chiba—Fiona MacGregor; t: 047-555-8827;
<fjmacgregor@yahoo.ca>;
<jalt.org/groups/Chiba>
East Shikoku—Lawrie Hunter;
<lawrie_hunter@kochi-tech.ac.jp>;
<jalt.org/groups/East_Shikoku>
Fukui—Takako Watanabe; t/f: 0776-34-8334;
<wtakako@vesta.ocn.ne.jp>;
<jalt.org/groups/Fukui>
Fukuoka—Jack Brajcich;
<jackb@jcom.home.ne.jp>;
<jalt.org/groups/Fukuoka>
Gifu—Steve Quasha; t: 052-781-4734;
<quasha@yahoo.com>; <jalt.org/groups/Gifu>
Gunma—Michele Steele; <sjmr1990@ybb.
ne.jp>; <www.harahara.net/JALT/>
Hamamatsu—Greg O’Dowd; <gvg75@hotmail.
com>; Gregg McNabb; <mcnabb@ns.sist.ac.jp>;
<hamamatsujalt.org>
Himeji—William Balsamo;
42
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
t: 0792-54-5711; <balsamo@kenmei.ac.jp>;
<www.geocities.com/yamataro670/HimejiJALT.htm>
Hiroshima—Caroline Lloyd; t: 082-228-2269;
<cajan3@yahoo.co.uk>; <hiroshimajalt.org/>
Hokkaido—Ken Hartmann; t/f: 011-584-7588;
<office@jalthokkaido.net>;
<www.jalthokkaido.net>
Ibaraki—Martin Pauly; t: 0298-58-9523;
f: 0298-58-9529; <pauly@k.tsukuba-tech.ac.jp>;
<www.kasei.ac.jp/JALT/>
Iwate—Mary Burkitt; t/f: 019-663-3132;
<iwatejalt@hotmail.com>;
<jalt.org/groups/Iwate>
Kagoshima—Sue Kawahara; t: 099-216-8800;
f: 099-216-8801; <jalt@jellybeansed.com>;
<www.jalt-kagoshima.org>
Kitakyushu—L. Dennis Woolbright
t: 093-583-9997 (h); t/f: 093-583-5526(w);
<woolbright@seinan-jo.ac.jp>;
<www.jalt.org/chapters/kq/>
Kobe—David Heywood;
heywood@smile.ocn.ne.jp;
kobejalt.bravehost.com/
Kyoto—Heidi Evans; <publicity@kyotojalt.
org>; <www.kyotojalt.org>
Matsuyama—Richard Blight; t/f: 089-927-8341;
<rgblight@hotmail.com>;
<MatsuyamaJALT.50megs.com/>
Miyazaki—Etsuko Shimo; 0985-20-4825 (w);
<shimo@miyazaki-mu.ac.jp>;
<allagash.miyazaki-mu.ac.jp/MiyaJALT/>
Nagasaki—Michele Ruhl; <michele@net.
nagasaki-u.ac.jp>;
<www.kyushuelt.com/jalt/nagasaki.html>
Nagoya—Katsumi Ito; t: 070-5642-3339;
f: 0569-34-2489; <itokatsumi@h5.dion.ne.jp>;
<jaltnagoya.homestead.com>
Nara—Steven Nishida;
<steven.nishida@gmail.com>; t/f 0742-51-1702;
<groups.yahoo.com/group/Nara_JALT/>
Okayama—Gavin Thomas; <gavin_chiaki_
thomas@ybb.ne.jp>; t: 086-277-2995;
<jalt.org/groups/Okayama>
Okinawa—Caroline C. Latham;
t: 090-1945-5224 <kamadutoo@yahoo.com>;
<www.okinawateacher.com>
Omiya—Roberto Rabbini; < rob@saitama.email.
ne.jp>; <www.jalt.org/chapters/omiya/>
Osaka—Robert Sanderson; <sanderson808@
gol.com>; <www.osakajalt.org>
Sendai—Thomas Warren-Price;
<tomprice6@hotmail.com>;
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
<www.geocities.com/jaltsendai>
Shinshu—Fred Carruth; t: 0263-36-3356;
<fredcarruth@hotmail.com>; Mary Aruga;
t: 0266-27-3894; <mmaruga@aol.com>; <jalt.
org/groups/Shinshu>
Shizuoka—Masahiko Goshi; <goshimms@ybb.
ne.jp>; <jalt.org/groups/Shizuoka>
Tokyo—Stan Pederson; <spjalt@yahoo.com>;
<www.jalt.org/groups/tokyo>
Toyohashi—Laura Kusaka; t: 0532-47-4111;
<kusaka@vega.aichi-u.ac.jp>;
<www.kokusai.aichi-edu.ac.jp/jalttoyohashi/
entry.html>
West Tokyo—Alan Stoke; <ams-tut@gol.com>;
<www.geocities.com/jaltwesttokyo>
Yamagata—Fumio Sugawara; t/f: 0238-85-2468;
<chricofu@sgic.jp>;
<jalt.org/groups/Yamagata>
Yokohama—Renata Suzuki; t: 045-759-4136;
<renate@zaa.att.ne.jp>;
<jalt.org/groups/Yokohama>
SIG Contacts
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
Bilingualism—Bernadette Luyckx;
t: 046-872-3416; <luyckx@cool.email.ne.jp>;
<www.bsig.org>
College and University Educators—Philip
McCasland (Coordinator); t: 024-548-8384 (w);
024-522-3121(h); <mccaslandpl@rocketmail.
com>; <allagash.miyazaki-mu.ac.jp/CUE/>
Computer-Assisted Language Learning—
Paul Daniels (Coordinator); <sig-coordinator@
jaltcall.org>; Journal editorial team <signewsletter@jaltcall.org>; <jaltcall.org>
Gender Awareness in Language Education—
Salem Hicks; <salemhicks2@yahoo.com>;
<www.tokyoprogressive.org.uk/gale/>
Global Issues in Language Education—
Kip A. Cates; t/f: 0857-31-5148 (w);
<kcates@fed.tottori-u.ac.jp>;
<www.jalt.org/global/sig/>
Japanese as a Second Language—Hiroko Sato;
t: 0475-23-8501; <hirokosato36@ybb.ne.jp>;
<jalt.org/groups/JSL>
Junior and Senior High School—William
Matheny; t: 052-624-3493; <willheny@nifty.
ne.jp>; <www.geocities.com/jssig2004/>
Learner Development—Hugh Nicoll;
<hnicoll@gmail.com>; <ld-sig.jalt.org/>
Materials Writers—Jim Smiley;
t. 022-233-3268; <mw@jalt.org>;
<uk.geocities.com/materialwritersig/>
43
}
}
}
}
Other Language Educators—Rudolf Reinelt;
t/f: 089-927-6293(h); t/f: 089-927-9359(w);
<reinelt@iec.ehime-u.ac.jp>
PALE—Robert Aspinall; <aspinall@biwako.
shiga-u.ac.jp>; <www.debito.org/PALE/>
Pragmatics—Megumi Kawate-Mierzejewska;
<mierze@tuj.ac.jp>;
<groups.yahoo.com/group/jaltpragsig>
Teacher Education—Paul Beaufait;
<pab@pu-kumamoto.ac.jp>
}
}
}
Teaching Children—Naoko McLellan;
<popripop@hotmail.com>;
<www.tcsigjalt.org/>
Teaching Older Learners—Eric M. Skier;
<skier@ps.toyaku.ac.jp>;
<www.eigosenmon.com/tolsig/>
Testing and Evaluation—Jeff Hubbell;
<01jhubbell@jcom.home.ne.jp>;
<www.jalt.org/test>
Column • Job Information Center
…with Derek DiMatteo
<job-info@jalt-publications.org>
To list a position in The Language
Teacher, please submit online at
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/jobs/>
or email Derek DiMatteo, Job
Information Center Editor, <jobinfo@jalt-publications.org>.
Online submission is preferred.
Please place your ad in the body
of the email. The notice should
be received before the 15th of
the month, 2 months before
publication, and should contain the
following information: location, name of institution, title of
position, whether full- or part-time, qualifications, duties, salary and benefits, application materials, deadline, and contact
information. Be sure to refer to TLT’s policy on discrimination. Any job advertisement that discriminates on the basis of
gender, race, age, or nationality must be modified or will not
be included in the JIC column. All advertisements may be
edited for length or content.
Job Information Center Online
Recent job listings and links to other job-related websites can
be viewed at <jalt-publications.org/tlt/jobs/>
JIC in the New Year
T
JIC area at the JALT National Conference in 2006 was a success, thanks to the
hard work of Kent Hill, Mark Zeid, and
several other volunteers.
We are working hard to make the JIC more
relevant and useful, both for job seekers and employers. For example, last year we began a series
of articles that we will continue in 2007, covering
topics ranging from interviewing and CV advice
to unions and contract issues. We are also lookhe
43
ing at streamlining the job opening listing process
by enhancing the functionality of the JIC pages
on the JALT website, and redesigning the listing
page to make it easier for users to sort, read, and
print job listings.
I invite the JALT community to send feedback
about their experiences with the JIC (online, in
TLT, or at the conference) and suggestions for
how the JIC can be improved. In addition, you are
welcome to submit proposals for column articles.
Please send your comments and proposals to the
JIC Editor at the address listed above.
Best wishes for the New Year,
Derek Di Matteo
Job Openings
The Job Information Center lists only brief summaries of open positions in TLT. Full details of
each position are available on the JALT website.
Please visit <www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/
jobs/> to view the full listings.
Location: Aichi-ken, Nagoya, Nisshin-shi
School: Koryo International College
Position: Assistant or associate professor of
English
Start Date: Apr 2007
Deadline: Ongoing
Location: Anywhere
Company: ReallyEnglish.com
Position: Online graders
Start Date: Feb 2007
Deadline: Ongoing
44
Column • Job Information Center
Location: Niigata-ken
School: Niigata University of Health and Welfare
Position: Part-time general English language
lecturers
Deadline: 12 Jan 2007
Location: Saitama-ken and Chiba-ken
School: Shumei Gakuen
Position: Full-time English teacher
Start Date: Start of each term
Deadline: Ongoing
Location: Tokyo-to
School: Waseda University
Position: Part-time English teacher
44
Deadline: Ongoing
Location: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku
School: Kanto International Senior High School
Position: English teacher (2)
Deadline: Ongoing, until filled
Location: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku
Company: Society for Testing English Proficiency
(STEP)
Position: Part-time editors, writers, and proofreaders
Start Date: Ongoing
Deadline: Ongoing
Column • Conference Calendar
…with Alan Stoke
<conferences@jalt-publications.org>
New listings are welcome. Please
email information to the column
editor by the 15th of the month, at
least 3 months before the conference date (4 months for overseas
conferences). Thus, 15 Jan is the
deadline for an April conference
in Japan or a May conference
overseas.
Upcoming Conferences
24-25 Feb 2007—Third CamTESOL Conference
on English Language Teaching: Internationalising ELT, at Royal U. of Phnom Penh. Contact:
<www.camtesol.org/index.html>
15-17 Mar 2007—13th International TESOL
Arabia Conference: Celebrating Best Practice in
English Language Teaching, in Dubai, UAE. Contact: <tesolarabia.org./conference/>
21-24 Mar 2007—41st Annual TESOL Convention & Exhibit, in Seattle, USA. Contact:
<www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.
asp?CID=1244&DID=6071>
24 Mar 2007—Wireless Ready: Podcasting, Education, and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning,
at Nagoya U. of Commerce and Business. The
aim is to consider the role of podcasting and mobile learning devices in foreign language learning.
Contact: <wirelessready.nucba.ac.jp>
9-11 Mar 2007—TESOL-Spain 30th National
Convention: Content and Language Learning—
Two Birds, One Stone, in San Sebastián. Contact:
<www.tesol-spain.org/convention2007/>
26-28 Mar 2007—17th International Conference
on Pragmatics and Language Learning, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The conference will address a broad
range of topics in pragmatics, discourse, interaction, and sociolinguistics. Contact: <nflrc.hawaii.
edu/prodev/pll/>
14-16 Mar 2007—10th Biennial University of
Seville Conference on Applied Linguistics:
Issues in Teaching, Learning, and Using Vocabulary in an L2, at U. of Seville. Contact: <elia@siff.
us.es>
30 Mar-1 Apr 2007—GLS 2007: Language and
Globalization: Policy, Education and Media,
at Georgetown U., Washington, DC. Contact:
<www.glsconf.com/>
45
12-14 Apr 2007—Social and Cognitive Aspects of
Second Language Learning and Teaching, at U.
of Auckland, NZ. Contact: <www.arts.auckland.
ac.nz/sociocog>
20-22 Sep 2007—Second International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching: TBLT:
Putting Principles to Work, at U. of Hawaii.
Contact: <www.tblt2007.org>
18-22 Apr 2007—41st IATEFL Annual
Conference & Exhibition, in Aberdeen, Scotland.
The annual conference of the International
Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign
Language normally attracts about 1,500
participants from more than 70 countries.
Contact: <www.iatefl.org/conference.asp>
13-14 Oct 2007—First Annual Japan Writers
Conference, at Ochanomizu U., Tokyo. Contact:
<jwconference1@aol.com> <jwconference@yahoo.
com>
21-24 Apr 2007—AAAL 2007 Annual Conference, in Costa Mesa, California. The annual
conference of the American Association for
Applied Linguistics. Contact: <www.aaal.org/
aaal2007/index.htm>
5-6 May 2007—24th ROC English Language and
Literature Conference: Life-Long Learning: Creative Approaches to Fostering Autonomous Learning, in Taipei. Contact: <wsconf@nccu.edu.tw>
8-10 Jun 2007—Fifth Asia TEFL International Conference: Empowering Asia: New
Paradigms in English Language Education, in
Kuala Lumpur. Contact: <www.asiatefl.org/
2007conference/conference2.html>
9-11 Jun 2007—29th Language Testing Research
Colloquium of the International Language
Testing Association: Exploring Diverse Methodologies and Conceptualizations in Language
Testing Research, in Barcelona. Contact: <www.
iltaonline.com/ltrc07/index.htm>
14-16 Jun 2007—Second Biennial International
Conference on Teaching and Learning of
English in Asia: Exploring New Frontiers, in
Langkawi, Malaysia. Contact: <staf.uum.edu.
my/tleia2/index.html>
27-30 Jul 2007—Third Corpus Linguistics
Conference, at the U. of Birmingham, UK. Contact: <www.corpus.bham.ac.uk/conference2007/
index.htm>
22-25 Nov 2007—JALT2007 International Conference: Challenging Assumptions: Looking In,
Looking Out, at National Olympics Memorial
Youth Center, Tokyo. Contact: <conferences.jalt.
org/2007/submissions/>
Calls for Papers or Posters
Deadline: 16 Jan 2007 (for 30-31 Mar 2007)—
Eighth Annual Texas Foreign Language Education Conference: TexFLEC 2007, at U. of Texas,
Austin. Themes include: innovative approaches
to technology; classroom strategies; principles of
instruction; methods of research. Contact: <studentorgs.utexas.edu/flesa/texflec/>
Deadline: 30 Jan 2007 (for 5-8 Oct 2007)—Third
International Conference of the Independent
Learning Association: Exploring Theory, Enhancing Practice: Autonomy across the Disciplines,
at Kanda U. of International Studies, Chiba. The
aim is to provide participants with opportunities
to expand their theoretical horizons and reflect on
practice; and to support and consolidate growing
interest in self-access learning and autonomy in
Japan. Leading scholars from Japan and around
the world will present, including Henri Holec
(CRAPEL, U. of Nancy II, France—Autonomy in
Language Learning: Past, Present, Future); James
Lantolf (Pennsylvania State U.—Autonomy and
Sociocultural Theory); Klaus Schwienhorst (U.
of Hannover, Germany—Autonomy and CALL);
Kathleen Graves (School for International Training,
USA—Autonomy and Teacher Education). Proposals
are invited for presentations and posters relating to
autonomy in language learning and in other disciplines. Contact: <www.independentlearning.org>
Deadline: 5 Feb 2007 (for 1-3 Jul 2007)—32nd
Annual Congress of the Applied Linguistics
Association of Australia: Making a Difference:
Challenges for Applied Linguistics, at U. of Wollongong. Contact: <www.uow.edu.au/conferences/ALAA/home.html>
46
Deadline: 9 Feb 2007 (for 12-13 May 2007)—Sixth
Annual JALT Pan-SIG Conference 2007: Second
Language Acquisition: Theory and Pedagogy, at
Tohoku Bunka Gakuen U., Sendai. The conference
will be co-hosted by the Materials Writers [MW],
Other Language Educators [OLE], Pragmatics
[Prag], Teacher Education [TE], and Testing and
Evaluation [TEval] SIGs, and the Sendai JALT
Chapter. The aim is to explore the relationship
between L2 acquisition and the mechanics of the
L2 classroom. Proposals are invited for papers (45
minutes), workshops (120 minutes), and poster
sessions. All will be anonymously vetted. Preference will be given to those that promote the
aims of a participating SIG or the theme of the
conference. Two versions of each abstract should
be submitted as email attachments in plain text,
Word, or PDF format. One abstract should include
the name, institution, phone number, and email
address of the (main) presenter. The other should
present only the title (up to 50 letters) and the
contents (up to 250 words). The subject line should
read “Submission for [abbreviation] SIG” or “Submission for other” (if not related to a participating
SIG). Multiple submissions are acceptable but
should be sent as separate emails. Contact: Send
proposals to <pansig2007@yahoo.co.uk>
Deadline: 15 Feb 2007 (for 11-14 Sep 2007)—17th
Annual Conference of the European Second
Language Association (EuroSla 2007): Interfaces
in Second Language Acquisition Research, at
Newcastle U., UK. Proposals are invited for papers, posters, and colloquia on any aspect of SLA.
Contact: <www.ncl.ac.uk/niassh/eurosla17>
Deadline: 28 Feb 2007 (for 24-29 Aug 2008)—15th
World Congress of Applied Linguistics: Multilingualism: Challenges and Opportunities, in
Essen, Germany. Proposals are invited for presentations related to policy, research, and theory in
any area of applied linguistics. Contact: <www.
aila2008.org>
Deadline: 31 Mar 2007 (for 1-3 Jun 2007)—JALT
CALL SIG Annual Conference 2007: CALL: Integration or Disintegration? at Waseda U., Tokyo.
The CALL SIG invites proposals for presentations
that illuminate the theme: the current fragmentation
of CALL and its reintegration into more traditional
disciplines; and the widening scope of CALL, for
example, into wireless learning and electronic dictionaries. The featured speaker will be Mike Levy
from Griffith U., Australia. Contact: <jaltcall.org>
Deadline: 30 Apr 2007 (for 21-24 Nov 2007)—
Second International Conference on Language,
Education and Diversity, at U. of Waikato,
Hamilton, NZ. Proposals for presentations are
welcomed in these areas: ESL; EFL; bilingual or
immersion education; language policy; literacy
education. Contact: <www.led.ac.nz>
Deadline: 1 May 2007 (for 11-14 Oct 2007)—30th
Annual Second Language Research Forum:
Second Language Acquisition and Research:
Focus on Form and Function, at U. of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. The aim is to highlight the
interconnections and interfaces between form
and function in SLA research and practices; and
to explore the implications of these interfaces for
second language pedagogy. Papers are invited for
the general session, three colloquia, and a workshop. Contact: <slrf-2007@uiuc.edu>
The Language Teacher • Staff
Editorial Staff
} JALT Publications Board Chair
Kim Bradford-Watts
pubchair@jalt-publications.org
} Editors
Jacqui Norris-Holt
tlt-editor@jalt-publications.org
Ted O’Neill
tlt-editor@jalt-publications.org
} Associate Editor
TBA
tlt-editor2@jalt-publications.org
} Japanese-Language Editor
高橋幸子 (Sachiko Takahashi)
tlt-editorj@jalt-publications.org
} Japanese-Language Assoc. Editor
稲森美穂子 (Mihoko Inamori)
tlt-editorj2@jalt-publications.org
} Assistant Editors
Aleda Krause
Paul Lewis
tlt-assist@jalt-publications.org
} TLT Online Editor
Malcolm Swanson
webadmin@jalt-publications.org
} Contributing Editors
Robert Long
Amanda O’Brien
Scott Gardner
Resources Editors
} My Share
Lorraine Sorrell
Jerry Talandis
my-share@jalt-publications.org
} Book Reviews
Robert Taferner
reviews@jalt-publications.org
} Publishers’ Review Copies Liaison
Scott Gardner
pub-review@jalt-publications.org
Okayama University, Faculty of Education,
3-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Okayama 700-8530
} TLT Wired
Paul Daniels & Malcolm Swanson
tlt-wired@jalt-publications.org
JALT Focus Editors
} JALT Focus Editor
Joseph Sheehan
jalt-focus@jalt-publications.org
} JALT News Liaison
Donna Tatsuki
jalt-news@jalt-publications.org
} Member's Profile & Showcase
Theron Muller
memprofile@jalt-publications.org
} Grassroots
Joyce Cunningham
Mariko Miyao
grassroots@jalt-publications.org
t: 029-228-8455; f: 029-228-8199
} Outreach
David McMurray
outreach@jalt-publications.org
Regular Column
Editors
} SIG News
James Hobbs
sig-news@jalt-publications.org
} Chapter Events
Aleda Krause
chap-events@jalt-publications.org
} Chapter Reports
Heather Sparrow
chap-reports@jalt-publications.org
} Job Information Center
Derek DiMatteo
job-info@jalt-publications.org
} Conference Calendar
Alan Stoke
conferences@jalt-publications.org
} Old Grammarians
Scott Gardner
old-grammarians@jalt-publications.org
Production
} Proofreading Team Leader
Paul Lewis (see Assistant Editor)
} Proofreaders
Aleda Krause, James McCrostie,
David Stephan, Ben Shearon, David
Hufford, Junko Izawa, Damian
Rivers, Greg Rouault, Shari Young,
Joseph Sheehan, Alan Stoke, Hiroko
Lewis, Torkil Christensen
} 和文要旨作成協力者
} Editorial Advisory Board
Michael Carroll – Momoyama Gakuin
University
Torkil Christensen – Hokusei
University Junior College
Steve Cornwell – Osaka Jogakuin
College
Michael Furmanovsky – Ryukoku
University
Scott Gardner – Okayama University
Chiaki Iwai – Hiroshima City
University
Masataka Kizuka – Hokkaido
University of Education
Masaki Kobayashi – Kanda University
of International Studies
Robert Long – Kyushu Institute of
Technology
Laura MacGregor – Gakushuin
University
Daniel J. McIntyre – Creative
Communications
Chieko Miyanaga – Osaka Prefecture
University
Bern Mulvey – Fukui National
University
Tim Murphey – Dokkyo University
Yoko Nakano – University of Kochi
Jonathan D. Picken – Tsuda College
Stephen M. Ryan – Eichi – Sapientia
University
Lorraine Sorrell – Macquarie
University
Deryn Verity – Osaka Jogakuin College
Christopher Weaver – Tokyo University
of Agriculture & Technology
Fukiko Yoshida – Rikkyo University
} Additional Readers
Lyle Allison, Wade Carlton, David
Dycus, Heidi Evans Nachi, Timothy
Gutierrez, Kent Hill, James Hobbs, David
Hufford, Yoko Ichiyama, Aleda Krause,
Wilma Luth, Steve McGuire, Theron
Muller, Andrew Obermeier, Andrea
Simon-Maeda, Eric Skier, Donna Tatsuki
Peer Support Group
} Coordinator
Torkil Christensen
peergroup@jalt-publications.org
} Members
Paul Beaufait, Torkil Christensen, Loran
Edwards, Mark Hamilton, Katsumi Ito,
Wilma Luth, Steve McGuire, Theron
Muller
(Japanese abstracts)
阿部恵美佳 (Emika Abe)
伊藤勝己 (Katsumi Ito)
迫　和子 (Kazuko Sako)
} Design & Layout
Pukeko Graphics
graphics@pukeko.ws; www.pukeko.ws
t/f: 093-962-8430
} Printing
47
Koshinsha Co., Ltd., Osaka
JALT Central Office
Urban Edge Bldg. 5F, 1-37-9 Taito,
Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016
t: 03-3837-1630; f: 03-3837-1631
jco@jalt.org
48
JALT • Membership Information
The Japan Association for Language
Teaching (JALT)
• a professional organization formed in 1976
-1976年に設立された学術学会
• working to improve language learning and
teaching, particularly in a Japanese context
-語学の学習と教育の向上を図ることを目的とし
ています
• over 3,000 members in Japan and overseas
-国内外で約 3,000名の会員がいます
Annual international conference 年次国際大会
• 1,500 to 2,000 participants
-毎年1,500名から2,000名が参加します
• hundreds of workshops and presentations
-多数のワークショップや発表があります
• publishers’ exhibition
-出版社による教材展があります
• Job Information Centre
-就職情報センターが設けられます
JALT publications include:
• The Language Teacher—our monthly publication - を毎月発行します
• JALT Journal—biannual research journal
- を年2回発行します
• Annual Conference Proceedings
- 年次国際大会の研究発表記録集を発行します
• SIG and chapter newsletters, anthologies,
and conference proceedings
- 分野別研究部会や支部も会報、アンソロジー、
研究会発表記録集を発行します
Meetings and conferences sponsored by local chapters and special interest groups (SIGs)
are held throughout Japan. Presentation and
research areas include:
• Bilingualism
• CALL
• College and university education
• Cooperative learning
• Gender awareness in language education
• Global issues in language education
• Japanese as a second language
• Learner autonomy
• Pragmatics, pronunciation, second language
acquisition
• Teaching children
• Teaching older learners
• Testing and evaluation
• Materials development
支部及び分野別研究部会による例会や研究会は日本
各地で開催され、以下の分野での発表や研究報告が
行われます。バイリンガリズム、CALL、大学外国語
教育、共同学習、ジェンダーと語学学習、グローバ
ル問題、日本語教育、自主的学習、語用論・発音・
第二言語習得、児童語学教育、生涯語学教育研究部
会、試験と評価、教材開発。
JALT cooperates with domestic and international partners, including [JALTは以下の国内外の
学会と提携しています]:
• IATEFL—International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
• JACET—the Japan Association for Teachers
of English
• PAC—the Pan Asian Conference consortium
• TESOL—Teaching of English to Speakers of
Other Languages
Membership Categories 会員と会費
All members receive annual subscriptions to
The Language Teacher and JALT Journal, and
member discounts for meetings and conferences. 会員はThe Language TeacherやJALT Journal等
の出版物を購読出来、又例会や大会にも割引価格で
参加出来ます。
• Regular 一般会員: ¥10,000
• Student rate (undergraduate/graduate in
Japan) 学生会員（日本にある大学、大学院の学
生）: ¥6,000
• Joint—for two persons sharing a mailing
address, one set of publications ジョイント
会員（同じ住所で登録する個人2名を対象とし、
JALT出版物は2名に１部）: ¥17,000
• Group (5 or more) ¥6,500/person—one set of
publications for each five members 団体会員
（５名以上を対象とし、JALT出版物は5名につき
１部）：1名6,500円
For more information please consult our website <jalt.org>, ask an officer at any JALT event,
or contact JALT Central Office.
JALT Central Office
Urban Edge Building, 5th Floor, 1-37-9 Taito,
Taito- ku, Tokyo 110-0016 JAPAN
JALT事務局：〒110-0016東京都台東区台東1-37-9 アーバンエッジビル５F t: 03-3837-1630; f: 03-3837-1631; <jco@jalt.org>
The Language Teacher • Submissions
The editors welcome submissions of materials concerned with all aspects of language education, particularly with
relevance to Japan. If accepted, the editors reserve the right to edit all copy for length, style, and clarity, without
prior notification to authors. Materials in English should be sent in Rich Text Format by either email (preferred) or
post. Postal submissions must include a clearly labeled floppy disk or CD-ROM and one printed copy. Manuscripts
should follow the American Psychological Association (APA) style as it appears in The Language Teacher. Please
submit materials to the contact editor indicated for each column. Deadlines are indicated below.
49
Submissions can be sent through the JALT Notices online submissions form.
掲示板：日本での論文募集や研究計画は、オンライン<www.jaltpublications.org/tlt/focus/>で見ることができます。できるだけ前もっ
て掲載いたしますが、終了次第、消去いたします。掲示板オンライン
・サブミッション形式に従い、400字以内で投稿して下さい。なお、
日本国内での語学教育に関わる投稿をお待ちしています。できるだけ電子メールにリッチ・テキスト・フォーマットの添付ファイルでお送会議、セミナーは Conference Calendar で扱います。
り下さい。郵送の場合には、フロッピーディスクかCD-ROMにラベルを張り、プリントアウトしたものと一緒にお送り下さい。書式はアメリカ SIG News. JALT’s Special Interest Groups may use this
心理学協会(APA)スタイルに基づき、スタッフリストページにある各コラムの編集者まで締め切りに留意して、提出してください。提出され column to report on news or events happening within
たものにつきましては編集者に一任していただくことになります。
their group. This might include mini-conferences, pre-
Feature Articles
English Features. Submissions should be well-written,
well-documented, and researched articles. Analysis
and data can be quantitative or qualitative (or both).
Manuscripts are typically screened and evaluated
anonymously by members of The Language Teacher Editorial Advisory Board. They are evaluated for degree
of scholarly research, relevance, originality of conclusions, etc. Submissions should:
• be up to 3,000 words (not including appendices)
• have pages numbered, paragraphs separated by
double carriage returns (not tabbed), and subheadings (boldfaced or italic) used throughout
for the convenience of readers
• have the article’s title, the author’s name, affiliation, contact details, and word count at the top
of the first page
• be accompanied by an English abstract of up to
150 words (translated into Japanese, if possible,
and submitted as a separate file)
• be accompanied by a 100-word biographical
background
• include a list of up to 8 keywords for indexing
• have tables, figures, appendices, etc. attached as
separate files.
Send as an email attachment to the co-editors.
日本語論文：実証性のある研究論文を求めます。質的か、計量的か
（あるいは両方)で追究された分析やデータを求めます。原稿は、匿
名のTLTの査読委員により、研究水準、関連性、結論などの独創性
で評価されます。8,000語(資料は除く）以内で、ページ番号を入れ、
段落ごとに２行あけ、副見出し(太文字かイタリック体)を付けて下さ
い。最初のページの一番上に題名、著者名、所属、連絡先および語
彙数をお書き下さい。英文、和文で400語の要旨、300語の著者略歴
もご提出下さい。表、図、付録も可能です。共同編集者まで電子メー
ルの添付ファイルでお送り下さい。
Readers’ Forum articles are thoughtful essays on topics related to language teaching and learning in Japan.
Submissions should:
• be of relevance to language teachers in Japan
• contain up to 2,500 words
• include English and Japanese abstracts, as per
Features above
• include a list of up to 8 keywords for indexing
• include a short bio and a Japanese title.
読者フォーラム：日本での言語教育、及び言語学習に関する思慮
的なエッセイを募集しています。日本での語学教師に関連してい
て、6,000字以内で、英文・和文の要旨、短い略歴および日本語のタ
イトルを添えて下さい。共同編集者まで電子メールの添付ファイル
でお送り下さい。
sentations, publications, calls for papers or presenters,
or general SIG information. Deadline: 15th of month, 6
weeks prior to publication. Send as an email attachDepartments
My Share. Submissions should be original teaching ment to the SIG News editor.
techniques or a lesson plan you have used. Readers SIGニュース：SIGはニュースやイベントの報告にこのコラムを使用
should be able to replicate your technique or lesson できます。会議、プレゼンテーション、出版物、論文募集、連絡代
表者などの情報を記入下さい。締め切りは出版の2か月前の15日ま
plan. Submissions should:
でに、SIG委員長に電子メールの添付ファイルで送ってください。
• be up to 1,000 words
• have the article title, the author name, affiliation, Chapter Events. Chapters are invited to submit upemail address, and word count at the top of the coming events. Submissions should follow the precise
format used in every issue of TLT (topic, speaker, date,
first page
time, place, fee, and other information in order, fol• include a Quick Guide to the lesson plan or
lowed by a 60-word description of the event).
teaching technique
Meetings scheduled for early in the month should be
• follow My Share formatting
published in the previous month’s issue. Maps of new
• have tables, figures, appendices, etc. attached as locations can be printed upon consultation with the
separate files
column editor. Deadline: 15th of the month, 2 months
• include copyright warnings, if appropriate.
prior to publication. Send as an email attachment to the
Chapter Events editor.
Send as an email attachment to the My Share editor.
マイシェア：学習活動に関する実践的なアイデアについて、テク
ニックや教案を読者が再利用できるように紹介するものです。
1,600字以内で最初のページにタイトル、著者名、所属、電子メール
アドレスと文字数をお書き下さい。表、図、付録なども含めること
ができますが、著作権にはお気をつけ下さい。My Share 担当編集
者に電子メールの添付ファイルでお送り下さい。
Book Reviews. We invite reviews of books and other
educational materials. Contact the Publishers’ Review
Copies Liaison <pub-review@jalt-publications.org> for
material listed in the Recently Received column, and
the Book Reviews editor if you wish to review unlisted
material, including websites or other online resources.
Review articles treating several related titles are particularly welcome. Submissions should:
• show a thorough understanding of the material
reviewed in under 750 words
• reflect actual classroom usage in the case of
classroom materials
• be thoroughly checked and proofread before
submission.
Send as an email attachment to the Book Reviews editor.
書評：本や教材の書評です。書評編集者<pub-review@ja ltpublications.org>に問い合わせ、最近出版されたリストからお選びい
ただくか、もしwebサイトなどのリストにない場合には書評編集者と
連絡をとってください。複数の関連するタイトルを扱うものを特に歓
迎します。書評は、本の内容紹介、教室活動や教材としての使用法に
触れ、書評編集者まで電子メールの添付ファイルでお送り下さい。
支部イベント：近づいている支部のイベントの案内情報です。トピ
ック、発表者、日時、時間、場所、料金をこの順序で掲載いたしま
す。締め切りは、毎月15日で、2ヵ月前までに、支部イベント編集者
に電子メールの添付ファイルでお送り下さい。
Chapter Reports. This column is a forum for sharing synopses of presentations given at JALT chapters around Japan. Submissions must therefore reflect the nature of the
column and be written clearly and concisely. Chapters are
limited to one report per month. Submissions should:
• be interesting and not contain extraneous information
• be in well-written, concise, informative prose
• be made by email only – faxed and/or postal
submissions are not acceptable
• be approximately 200 words in order to explore
the content in sufficient detail
• be structured as follows: Chapter name; Event
date; Event title; Name of presenter(s); Synopsis;
Reporter’s name.
Send as an email attachment to the Chapter Reports editor.
支部会報告：JALT地域支部会の研究会報告です。有益な情報をご
提供下さい。600文字程度で簡潔にお書き下さい。支部名、日時、イ
ベント名、発表者名、要旨、報告者名を、この順序でお書き下さい。
支部会報告編集者まで電子メールの添付ファイルでお送り下さい。
ファックスや郵便は受理いたしませんので、ご注意下さい。
Job Information Center. TLT encourages all prospective
employers to use this free service to locate the most qualiJALT Focus. Submissions should be directly related to re- fied language teachers in Japan. The notice should:
cent or upcoming developments within JALT, preferably
• contain the following information:
on an organization-wide scale. Submissions should:
City and prefecture, Name of institution, Title of
• be no more than 750 words
position, Whether full- or part-time, Qualifica• be relevant to the JALT membership as whole
tions, Duties, Salary & benefits, Application
materials, Deadline, Contact information
• encourage readers to participate more actively
in JALT on both a micro and macro level.
• not be positions wanted. (It is JALT policy that
th
they will not be printed.)
Deadline: 15 of the month, 1½ months prior to publication. Send as an email attachment to the JALT Focus Deadline: 15th of month, 2 months prior to publication.
editor.
Send as an email attachment to the JIC editor.
Interviews. If you are interested in interviewing a wellknown professional in the field of language teaching
in and around Japan, please consult the editors first.
Lengths range from 1,500-2,500 words. Send as an JALTフォーカス：JALT内の進展を会員の皆様にお伝えするもの
求人欄：語学教育の求人募集を無料でサービス提供します。県と
email attachment to the co-editors.
です。どのJALT会員にもふさわしい内容で、JALTに、より活動的
都市名、機関名、職名、専任か非常勤かの区別、資格、仕事内容、
インタビュー：日本国内外で言語教育の分野での「有名な」専門家に参加するように働きかけるものです。1,600字程度で、毎月15日給料、締め切りや連絡先を発行２ヶ月前の15日までにお知らせ下
にインタビューしたい場合は、編集者に最初に意見をお尋ね下さまでにお送り下さい。掲載は１月半後になります。JALTフォーカスさい。特別の書式はありません。JIC担当編集者に電子メールの添
い。3,600語から6,000語の長さです。共同編集者まで電子メールの編集者まで電子メールの添付ファイルでお送り下さい。
付ファイルでお送り下さい。
添付ファイルでお送り下さい。
JALT Notices. Submissions should be of general relevance to language learners and teachers in Japan. JALT
Notices can be accessed at <www.jalt-publications.
org/tlt/focus/>. Calls for papers or research projects
will be accepted; however, announcements of confer学会報告：語学教師に関心のあるトピックの大会に出席された場 ences, colloquia, or seminars should be submitted to
合は、4000語程度に要約して、報告書を書いてください。共同編集 the Conference Calendar. Submissions:
者まで電子メールの添付ファイルでお送り下さい。
• should be no more than 150 words
• should be submitted as far in advance as is possible
• will be removed from the website when the announcement becomes outdated.
Conference Reports. If you have attended a conference
on a topic of interest to language teachers in Asia, write
a 1,500-word report summarizing the main events.
Conference Calendar. Announcements of conferences
and their calls for papers as well as for colloquia,
symposiums, and seminars may be posted in this column. The announcement should be up to 150 words.
Deadline: 15th of month, at least 3 months prior to the
conference date for conferences in Japan and 4 months
prior for overseas conferences. Send within an email
message to the Conference Calendar editor.
催し：コロキウム、シンポジウム、セミナー、会議のお知らせと、論
文募集の案内です。Conference Calendar編集者に400語程度で電
子メールの添付ファイルでお送り下さい。締め切りは毎月15日で、
日本、および海外の会議で３ヶ月前までの情報を掲載します。
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
1
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
2
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
3
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
4
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
5
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
6
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
7
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
8
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
9
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
10
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
11
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
12
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Yukari
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
13
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Michiyo
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
14
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
Yusuke
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Akie
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
15
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
Masumi
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Yuka
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
16
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
Taeko
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Naoki
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
17
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
Masataka
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Akane
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
18
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
Yuzo
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Makiko
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
19
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
Chika
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Ryoto
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
20
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
Shinya
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Hikaru
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
21
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
Yoko
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Eri
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
22
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
Atsushi
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Ai
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
23
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
Kanako
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Takahisa
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
24
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
Shiho
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Maiko
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
25
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
Akihiro
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Yukie
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
26
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
Yui
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Anna
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
27
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
Kaori
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Takuji
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
28
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
Hidetoshi
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Yusuke
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
29
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
Yukari
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Masumi
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
30
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Michiyo
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Round
Tony
Taeko
Masataka
Yuzo
Chika
Shinya
Yoko
Atsushi
Kanako
Shiho
Akihiro
Yui
Kaori
Hidetoshi
Yukari
Michiyo
31
Masumi
Yusuke
Takuji
Anna
Yukie
Maiko
Takahisa
Ai
Eri
Hikaru
Ryoto
Makiko
Akane
Naoki
Yuka
Akie
Appendix A. Extracts from the Teachers’ Guide
Peer correction. Start the students off by demonstrating how they can correct their classmates’ sentences
in the first two examples. Explain that And should be deleted because the topic of the sentence is
unrelated to the topic of the previous sentence. In example II, explain that But should linked to the
previous sentence because the topic of both sentences is the same – this syllabus. The first three examples
have been carefully selected to lead students to the four strategies listed below. Have the students work
alone or in pairs on examples IV – VI. By correcting the examples students may discover a few of the
strategies on their own. Go around the class providing help and guide them toward the strategies. Have
them compare their solutions with their classmates. When you go through the possible solutions with the
whole class, have them write notes to consolidate the strategies. For example:
Start the sentence without the word. (Ask myself Do I really need it?)
Join the word to the previous sentence.
Only use because to start a pattern; Because…(reason),… (result).
Make the word formal. But → However,…
Suggested solutions:
I. Delete and.
II. Link but. Delete or link so. Delete and (twice). Link so.
…
Appendix B. Statistical Learning-based Evaluation
Instantiations and frequency of and, but, so, and because at sentence initial position: Pre and Post treatment results
Types
And
23
all and’s
But
85
33
all but’s
So
55
33
all so’s
Because
all because’s
54
14
30
0.27
0.60
0.61
0.46
Frequency
Syllabus
Feedback
Frequency
Writing
Tasks
Average Pre treatment
Frequency
0.13
0.18
0.46
0.50
0.49
0.53
0.20
0.29
Assignment 1
50
381
26
56
47
96
12
60
Total essay word
count
4113
13,382
No. of Students
73
78
And
17
all and’s
But
339
29
all but’s
So
82
26
all so’s
Because
all because’s
120
12
48
0.05
0.35
0.22
0.25
Assignment 2
32
562
25
99
20
110
4
58
Frequency
Types
Posttreatment
Task
Frequency
Writing
Tasks
Average Posttreatment
Frequency
0.06
0.05
0.25
0.28
0.18
0.20
0.07
0.13
Total essay word
count
11,896
7029
No. of Students
Group 1 = 46
Group 2 = 29
G1 & G2
Frequency = # of tokens at sentence initial position divided by all tokens of the same type; e.g. # of And’s /
# of all and’s.
Appendix C. Qualitative Evaluation by Students
Total number of students who completed evaluations = 135
Student responses: 1 = one hit from one student
1. a - d Reading from
newspapers and magazines.
Answering questions.
2. a - b Finding and, but, so
and because.
3. Looking at the lists.
4. a - c Checking and
correcting students’ writing.
miserable
confused
bored
okay
happy
very
happy
1
6
7
66
36
15
2
5
15
44
44
23
1
13
16
49
31
19
1
18
18
37
31
23
And, but, so, and because are not using at the start of sentence.
I learn how to write the beginning of sentences in English. I learn
how to use and, but, so, and because.
What did you learn from this
lesson?
I learnt about how to write formal English. I am glad to know about
that because I also made the same mistakes.
I learned we shouldn’t use these words and, but, so, and because at
the beginning of sentences in formal writing. This lesson is very
useful for me!
The data was so interesting and useful. Actually I didn’t the fact.
When I read the students’ sentence I think easy to read. This reason
is why maybe I often use this way of writing too.
How do you feel about what
you have learnt?
1
3
5
23
41
39
Always should we use formal, written English in life…?
I could learn correct skills about writing.
Any comments?
It’s a very interesting survey.
This is very difficult for me to not use start of sentences.
I know how unsightly my composition is, but I can’t improve well.
Figure 1. Graph of student use of conjunctions as sentence initial position, post and pre-
treatment. (Treatment occurred after Assignment 1.)
Figure 2. Speculative comparison of the frequency of formal and informal conjunctions at
sentence initial position in formal and informal text.
Informal
conjunctions
Formal
conjunctions
Frequency
Informal
corpus
In-between
corpus
Formal
corpus
Goal setting and dialogue journals
Hudson Murrell
Baiko Gakuin University
Appendix A. Goal setting
In the first class, I elicit effective ways to learn English from the students, and write
these on the left side of the board. At times I offer good or fun as substitutes for effective.
I use effective first so that the students realize this is a serious task.
I will offer hints when necessary, and continue until most of the following are written
on the board: email friends, listen to music, read books, read the internet, read
magazines, read newspapers, study and use new vocabulary, talk with foreign friends,
watch movies (with Japanese and English subtitles), watch television shows, and write a
journal (all of these are pertaining to English). I will add to these that email friends can
be with a computer or with a cell phone, and that writing a journal is easier to maintain
if you exchange the journal with a friend.
Students will want to write be able to watch and understand (completely) a movie in
English without subtitles” as a goal. For many, this is unrealistic. I encourage the
students to make smaller steps of progression. Thus I introduce the difference between
short-term and long-term goals. While the above goal could be a long-term goal, in the
short-term merely watching a movie in English with English subtitles will suffice. The
percentage of comprehension is difficult to measure, so I encourage the students by
noting that with each successive viewing, they are likely to understand more.
Goals Sheet
Think about your short-term and long-term goals. Write down your long-term goals at
the bottom, as well as your goals for weeks one and two. After Week 1, you should fill
in the goal for Week 3, and continue in this pattern.
Short-term Goals
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:
Week 7:
Week 8:
Week 9:
Week 10:
Week 11:
Week 12:
Week 13
Long-term Goals
1.
2.
3.
4.
Sample Goals Sheet
Think about your short-term and long-term goals. Write down your long-term goals at
the bottom, as well as your goals for weeks one and two. After week one, you should
fill in the goal for week three, and continue in this pattern.
Short-term Goals
Week 1: Watch “You’ve got mail.” Write dialogue journal before each class for my
partner.
Week 2: Watch “You’ve got mail” twice. Dialogue journal. Text message Eriko in
English.
Week 3: Watch “The Wedding Planner.” Dialogue journal. Text Eriko and Kyoko in
English. Look at English magazine.
Week 4: Watch “The Wedding Planner” twice. Dialogue journal. Text 3 friends in
English. Look at English fashion magazines.
Week 5: Watch “You’ve got mail” at least 2 times. Dialogue journal. Write one
paragraph in my private diary. Text friends in English.
Week 6: Watch “Maid in Manhattan” twice. Dialogue journal. Private diary. Watch
“Full House” in English.
Week 7: Watch “Maid in Manhattan” three times. Dialogue journal and diary. Text
three friends. Watch “Full House.”
Week 8: Have lunch with American Exchange student. Dialogue journal and diary. Text
friends.
Week 9: Watch “The Wedding Planner” three times. Dialogue journal and diary. Text
friends. Look at English magazines.
Week 10: Go to the movie theater with American Exchange student. Dialogue journal
and diary. Text friends.
Week 11: Watch “You’ve got mail” two times. Dialogue journal. Text friends.
Week 12: Watch “Maid in Manhattan” two times. Dialogue journal. Text friends. Look
at fashion magazines.
Week 13 Study for tests. Practice using new vocabulary words. Ask American exchange
student to help.
Long-term Goals
1. Watch movies in English and understand them.
2. Read magazine articles in English.
3. Talk with foreign friends (more than one at a time) in English.
4. Live in Hawaii.
Appendix B. Language tree
For lower level students, I find it helpful to put a language tree on the inside of their
semi-monthly vocabulary journals. I then draw a green bubble on each new branch or
skill that they have learned. The tree on the sheet of paper is rudimentary, with a trunk
and (in this instance) twenty-nine stick branches, which leaf out in green as the skills
are attained.
The twenty-nine skills for one example class studying Interchange are:
1. introducing yourself
2. introducing someone
3. checking information
4. exchanging personal information
5. saying hello and goodbye
6. describing work and school
7. asking for and giving opinions
8. describing daily schedules
9. talking about prices
10. giving opinions
11. discussing preferences
12. making comparisons
13. buying and selling things
14. talking about likes and dislikes
15. giving opinions
16. making invitations and excuses
17. talking about families and family members
18. exchanging information about the present
19. describing family life
20. asking about and describing routines and exercise
21. talking about frequency
22. discussing sports and athletes
23. talking about abilities
24. talking about past events
25. giving opinions about past experiences
26. talking about vacations
27. asking about and describing locations of places
28. asking about and describing neighborhoods
29. asking about quantities
Reference
Richards, J. (2005). Interchange. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Helping Japanese learners to develop topic control in conversation
Anita Wilson
Tokyo Joshi Daigaku
Appendix A. Questionnaire given to students
Discuss the following questions in your groups:
Situation 1
You are having dinner with a friend. There is a silence of a few seconds. How do you
feel?
a) comfortable
b) uncomfortable
What do you do?
a) enjoy the silence
b) think about the last topic
c) try to think of something to add about the last topic
d) try to think of a new topic
e) make a comment about the food or restaurant
f) other _____________________
Situation 2
You meet an acquaintance in the street and stop to talk. After a few minutes is a
silence of a few seconds. How do you feel?
a) comfortable
b) uncomfortable
What do you do?
a) enjoy the silence
b) try to think of a way to continue the conversation
c) say goodbye
d) other______________________

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