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THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING 全 国 語 学 教 育 学 会 style Readers’ Forum . . . JALT2011 – Teaching talk 62 James York offers suggestions to primary school teachers Learning Growing terminology on using music in the classroom November 18-21, 2011 tongue 68 Meredith Stephens discusses why exposure to prosody National Olympics Memorial should precede the teaching of reading utterance Center, Yoyogi, Tokyo verbalization
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THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 1 The Language Teacher » Foreword & Information
人は、飼い主はいないかもしれないが野良犬ではないと言 in the proceedings. Add to this four excellent ってその犬を守りました。保健所の人はその犬の飼い主と plenary sessions: Jack Richards on teacher して誰かが登録すれば、犬は解放すると言いました。そこ competences, Laurel Kamada on how identity で、ハーンはすぐに自分の名前で登録することに同意しま interacts with early experiences of English, Phil した。店主や職人や地元のお寺の人でさえ登録しました。 Benson on learner autonomy, Ken Wilson on こんなに手厚く保護されている犬はいませんでした。コミュ motivation, and the JALT Junior plenary speaker, ニティがこの雑種の犬によって絆をより強めたのです。 Emiko Yukawa, on the connection between el- 私たちが支持するアイディアは、この飼い主のいない犬 ementary school and junior high school English; とよく似ています。大会は私たちが教師コミュニティとし 10 Featured Speaker Workshops, the English て集まり、様々なアイディアを認め合う場所です。以前の Materials Exhibition and numerous social events 大会で、私はサイレント・ウェイの発表に参加しました。こ and you have every reason to join us Teaching, れは、少しわかりにくい教授法ですが、しばらくの間私の Learning, and Growing 教授法に影響を与えていたものでした。私はこのなつかし at JALT2011. い教授法にまた出会えたことを喜び、発表はサイレント・ For more information about the conference, ウェイが私の教授法になおも関係があるかどうかを考えさ to register, and to book your hotel room, please せてくれました。私はそれが大会や、教室でまだ生き続け consult the Conference Preview included with ていることを嬉しく思っています。たぶん、いつかこの教授 this issue of The Language Teacher. 法が広く普及する日が来るかもしれませんが、今は私たち の豊かな語学教育の伝統の一部として存在し、私たちの Stan Pederson, JALT2011 Conference Chair 個人的な教育レパートリーに貢献し、新しいアイティアを 呼び起こすでしょう。 elcome to the July / August Special いろいろなアイディアを集めることによって、私たちはリ Pre-Conference Issue. In this edition サーチ結果以上のことができます。大失敗や、注意点に of TLT, readers will find short papers ついて語ることができます。さらに重要なことに、私たちは W 次の大きなプロジェクトについて話し合ったり、同じ考え (and one interview) previewing the plenary を持った教師や協働する仲間になりうる人に会ったりする talks of Jack C. Richards, Phil Benson, Laurel ことが で きま す 。 Kamada, Ken Wilson, and Emiko Yukawa このように様々な理由から、400以上の口頭発表、ポス (JALT Junior). We are also pleased to present ター発表、フォーラムは論文やプロシーディング以上のこ papers (and another interview) by some of our とをもたらしてくれます。基調講演では、教師の能力に distinguished Featured Speakers, including 関するJack Richards、早い時期の英語とアイデンティティ Andrew Boon, Kip A. Cates, Philip Chappell, の関係についての Laurel Kamada 、学習者自律に関する Fiona Copland, Keith Johnson, Kathy Kampa, Phil Benson、動機づけの Ken Wilsonなど4つの講演に加 Tom Kenny, Theron Muller, and Gregory えて、JALT Juniorの基調講演者 Emiko Yukawaが小学 Sholdt. Along with this special content comes 校英語と中学英語の関係について述べます。10の招待講 some of our regular fare. This issue’s Feature Ar- 演、英語教材展、数多くのイベントがありますので、ぜひ ticle by Michael Crawford and Yasuo Ueyama JALT2011においでください。 looks at teaching reduced forms from textbooks. 参加登録や宿泊などに関しては、本号に付属していま There are also two Readers’ Forums. The first, すConference Previewをご覧ください。 by James York, offers suggestions to teachers Stan Pederson, JALT2011 Conference Chair of young learners on how to use music in the classroom. The second, by Meredith Stephens, addresses the issue of why prosody should be 年次大会特集号へようこそ。本号では、基調講演者 のJack C. Richards、 Phil Benson、Laurel Kamada、Ken taught before basic reading. We at TLT hope the Wilson、そしてJALT Junior のEmiko Yukawaの講演内容 content of this issue will both whet your appetite を前もって少しご紹介します。また、招待講演者のAndrew for the upcoming conference and support your Boon、Kip A. Cates、Philip Chappell、Fiona Copland、Keith endeavors in the classroom. Johnson、Kathy Kampa、Tom Kenny、Theron Jennifer Yphantides, TLT Coeditor Muller、Gregory Sholdtの論文やインタビューもあります。 さらに、通常のFeatureでは、Michael CrawfordとYasuo Ueyamaがテキストで弱形を教えることについて検証して ALT2011開催委員会は、“Teach, Learn and Grow”をテ います。Readers’ Forumでは、James Yorkが年少者を教え ーマとする東京での年次大会に皆様をお誘いします。 る教師に対して教室での音楽の使用を提案しています。 J 本年も様々なアイディアや語学教育コミュニティが集 また、Meredith Stephensは基本的なリーディングを教える まるこの祭典への、皆様のご参加をお待ちしています。 前になぜ韻律を教えるべきかを論述しています。本号の ラフカディオ・ハーンが東京へ引っ越したとき、ある犬を 内容が2011年次大会への参加を促し、教室での皆様の実 引き取ることになりました。日中は自由に外を歩き回り、夜 践を支援できるよう願っています。 には彼の家を守るその犬は、近所の人から残飯をもらった り、子どもたちに背中に乗られたりして、どこでも歓迎され Jennifer Yphantides, TLT Coeditor ていました。保健所の人がその犬を捕まえたとき、近所の
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content knowledge should consequentially be in Japan. Learning to teach involves understand- able to make better and more appropriate deci- ing the dynamics and relationships within the sions about teaching and learning and to arrive classroom and the rules and behaviors specific to at more appropriate solutions to problems than a a particular setting. Schools have their own ways teacher without such knowledge. of doing things. In some schools, textbooks are The Teacher Knowledge Test developed by Cam- the core of the curriculum and teachers follow a bridge ESOL is an example of a recent attempt to prescribed curriculum. In others, teachers work provide a basis in relevant pedagogical content from course guidelines and implement them as knowledge for entry-level teachers. they see fit. In some institutions, there is a strong sense of professional commitment and teachers are encouraged to cooperate with each other. In Teaching skills others, teachers work in relative isolation. This is The initial challenge for novice teachers is to ac- reflected in many different aspects of the way the quire the basic classroom skills needed to present school functions (Cooke & Simpson, 2008). and navigate their lessons. Teaching from this The notion of context here is hence a very broad perspective is an act of performance, and teachers one, since it includes issues such as the school’s need a repertoire of techniques and routines, goals and mission, its management style and including routines and procedures for such things school culture, its physical resources, including as opening the lesson, introducing and explaining classroom facilities, media, and other techno- tasks, setting up learning arrangements, checking logical resources, the curriculum and course students’ understanding, guiding student prac- offerings, the role of textbooks and tests, as well tice, making transitions from one task to another, as the characteristics of teachers and learners in and ending the lesson. Teacher training involves the school. Learning to teach means becoming the development of a repertoire of teaching socialized into a professional culture with its own skills, acquired through observing experienced goals, shared values, and norms of conduct. This teachers and often through practice-teaching in a hidden curriculum is often more powerful than controlled setting using activities such as micro- the school’s prescribed curriculum and teacher- teaching or peer-teaching. learning involves learning to teach within the This view of the process of teaching has been constraints of the hidden curriculum. extended through research on teacher cognition (Borg, 2006, 2009). Concepts such as teacher deci- The language teacher’s identity sion-making introduce a cognitive dimension to the notion of skills, since each skill involves the teacher One of the things a person has to learn when engaging in sophisticated processes of observation, he or she becomes a language teacher is what reflection, and assessment and making on-line it means to be a language teacher. Identity decisions about which course of action to take from refers to the differing social and cultural roles a range of alternatives that are available. As teachers teacher-learners enact through their interac- accumulate experience and knowledge, there is thus tions with their students during the process of a move towards a degree of flexibility in teaching learning (Miller, 2009). These roles are not static and the development of what is sometimes called but emerge through the social processes of the improvisational teaching. classroom. The concept of identity thus reflects how individuals see themselves and how they enact their roles within different settings. Contextual knowledge Native-speaker and non-native-speaker Language teachers teach in many different teacher-learners may bring different identities contexts and in order to function in those contexts to teacher-learning and to teaching. For many they need to acquire the appropriate contextual ESL teachers their identity may partly reflect knowledge that will enable, for example, an their wish to empower immigrants, refugees Australian teacher to learn how to be an effective and others for whom English is a way out of teacher in China or vice versa, or a Singaporean their current circumstances (Cooke & Simpson, teacher to learn how to be an effective EFL teacher 2008). Untrained native speakers teaching EFL 4 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 5 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Plenary Speaker Article
Membership of a community of practice of work where membership is based on entry requirements and standards. There are two Teacher development involves capitalizing on different dimensions to professionalism (Leung, the potential for learning and growth that comes 2009). The first can be called institutionally pre- from participating in a community of teachers scribed professionalism—a managerial approach having shared goals, values, and interests. The to professionalism that represents the views of school or the teaching context becomes a learn- ministries of education, teaching organizations, ing community and its members constitute a regulatory bodies, school principals, and so on community of practice. A community of practice that specify what teachers are expected to know has two characteristics: and what quality teaching practices consist of. 1. It involves a group of people who have com- There are likely to be procedures for achieving mon interests and who relate and interact to accountability and processes in place to maintain achieve shared goals. quality teaching. Such specifications are likely 2. It focuses on exploring and resolving is- to differ from country to country. The second sues related to the workplace practices that dimension to professionalism is what Leung calls members of the community take part in. independent professionalism, which refers to Membership of a community of practice in a teachers’ own views of teaching and the pro- school provides opportunities for teachers to cesses by which teachers engage in reflection on work and learn together through participation in their own values, beliefs, and practices. A key to group-oriented activities with shared goals and long term professional development is the ability responsibilities, involving joint problem solving. to be able to reflect consciously and systemati- Collegiality creates new roles for the teacher, cally on one’s teaching experiences. such as team leader, teacher trainer, mentor, or There are many ways in which teachers can en- critical friend (Richards & Farrell, 2005). gage in critical and reflective review of their own This collaboration can take a number of differ- practices throughout their teaching career (see ent forms (Johnston, 2009). For example, collabo- Richards & Lockhart, 1994; Richards & Farrell, ration with fellow teachers focussing on teaching 2005), (e.g., through analyzing critical incidents, issues and concerns, such as use of the textbook, teacher support groups, journal writing, discus- development of tests, and course planning; sion groups, action research, and portfolios). collaboration with university colleagues through Reflection involves both looking back at teaching collaborative research or inquiry into issues of experiences as well as looking forward and shared interest, such as exploring aspects of sec- setting goals for new or changed directions. ond language acquisition or learning strategies; and collaboration with others in the school, such Conclusions as working with administrators or supervisors Any attempt to characterize the nature of quality, on issues of concern to the school. expertise, professionalism, or effectiveness Many forms of professional development can in language teaching is liable to the charge of help foster a sense of a community of practice, such different kinds of bias, since it is bound to reflect as reading groups, action research, team teaching, understandings that are shaped by culture, by peer observation, and peer coaching, though this context, by individual belief and preference as may require a change in mind-set for some teachers well as by limitations in our present state of who do not see themselves as members of a team. knowledge. These limitations, however, should For others, however, collaboration can be seen as a not prevent us from reflecting on the beliefs and source of strength that can have valuable personal assumptions that shape the way we understand as well as practical benefits. the nature of teacher knowledge and teacher de- velopment for language teachers. For when we Professionalism do so, we are in a better position to assess what English language teaching requires a specialized the goals of teacher development for language knowledge base obtained through both academic teachers are, as well as the means by which we study and practical experience, and it is a field seek to achieve them. 6 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
* A longer version of this paper appeared in 2010 ing English as a second or foreign language, (3rd as Competence and performance in language ed., pp. 415- 427). Boston: Heinle & Heinle. teaching, RELC Journal 41(2), 101-122. Miller, J. (2009). Teacher identity. In A. Burns & J. C. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to References second language teacher education (pp. 172-181). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bailey, K. M. (2006). Language teacher supervision: A case-based approach. New York: Cambridge Richards, J. C. (1998). Teachers’ maxims. In J. C. University Press. Richards (Ed.), Beyond training (pp. 49-62). New York: Cambridge University Press. Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching au- tonomy in language learning. London: Longman. Richards, J. C., & Farrell, T. S. C. (2005). Profes- sional development for language teachers. New Borg, S. (2006). Teacher cognition and language York: Cambridge University Press. education: Research and practice. London: Con- tinuum. Richards J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. New Borg, S. (2009). Language teacher cognition. In York: Cambridge University Press. A. Burns & J. C. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teach- 163-171). Cambridge: Cambridge University ing: Foundations of the new reform. Havard Press. Educational Review, 57(2), 4-14. Canagarajah, A. S. (1999). Interrogating the Tudor, I. (1996). Learner-centredness as language “native speaker fallacy;” Non-linguistic roots, education. Cambridge: Cambridge University non-pedagogical results. In G. Braine (Ed.), Press. Non-native educators in English language teaching (pp. 77-92). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum. Author bio Cooke, M., & Simpson, J. (2008). ESOL: A critical Jack Richards is an interna- guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. tionally renowned applied Farrell, T. S. C. (2009). The novice teacher ex- linguist, teacher educator, perience. In A. Burns & J. C. Richards (Eds.), and textbook author, a The Cambridge guide to second language teacher specialist in the teaching education (pp. 182-189). Cambridge: Cambridge of English as a second University Press. language (TESOL) who has Johnston, B. (2009). Collaborative teacher devel- had an active career in the opment. In A. Burns & J. C. Richards (Eds.), Asia Pacific region (Singa- The Cambridge guide to second language teacher pore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Hawaii) for education (pp. 241-249). Cambridge: Cambridge many years. He has written many books and University Press. articles on language teaching methodology and teacher training, as well as many widely used Khamhi-Stein, L. D. (2009). Teacher preparation classroom texts including the best selling series and nonnative English-speaking educators. In Interchange, which has sold over 30 million A. Burns & J. C Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge copies worldwide. His most recent publications guide to second language teacher education (pp. are Cambridge Guide to Second Language Teacher 91-101). Cambridge: Cambridge University Education (edited with Anne Burns, CUP 2009), Press. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics 4th Edi- Leung, C. (2009). Second language teacher tion (with Richard Schmidt, Pearson, 2010), and professionalism. In A. Burns & J. C. Richards Teaching Practice: A Reflective Approach (with Tom (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language Farrell, CUP, 2011). Forthcoming publications teacher education (pp. 49-58). Cambridge: include Cambridge Guide to Pedagogy and Practice Cambridge University Press. in Language Teaching (edited with Anne Burns) Medgyes, P. (2001). When the teacher is a non- and a new 4-skills series Four Corners (with native speaker. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teach- David Bohlke, CUP, 2011). THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 7 8 | JALT2011 • PLENARY SPEAKER Acts of identity: Typical and new English learners
globalisation, English is human capital. . .” (2007, Laurel Kamada p. 112). Drawing on Bourdieu’s (1977) theory of cultural capital, Pennycook’s notion of human Tohoku University capital may be seen as a resource which can be converted into a fundamental linguistic/cultural This plenary explores the notion of ‘English as an ideology’ in capital contributing to an individual’s personal Japan rather than just as a means of communication or a school worth in society. subject, where local English usage functions as a cultural symbol of globalization. Emerging notions of English learning/usage in Based on a larger study on hybrid identities Japan as acts of identity highlight the changing role of English. of six early-adolescent girls’ mixed-ethnicity I examine the construction and deconstruction of English, in the context of Japan (Kamada, 2010), here I not only of typical Japanese learners/users of English, but also highlight how ethnic identity, explored through of a new growing sector of atypical Japanese nationals from families of mixed-parentage (Japanese and non-Japanese) who participants’ access to English and other forms of stake claim to diverse ethnicities. How do half/double (minority cultural capital, significantly contributes to our Japanese) perform “acts of Englishing” while resisting, altering understanding of the globalizing role of English or celebrating their multiethnic, multilinguistic identities? What in Japan today. I examine how the glocal (local/ ideologies/stereotypes do typical (majority Japanese) children global) construction and de-construction of take to elementary school English classes with them? How do they construct/perform identities of themselves as Japanese, English is performed or “discursively done” in and images of non-Japanese-looking people in Japan? Japan by a growing community who, along with 本講演では、単なるコミュニケーションの手段や学校の教科としての英 their Japanese heritage, language, nationality, 語 と い う よ り は 、日 本 に お け る「イデオロギーとしての英 語」の概念につ education, also have access to another world いて検討する。というのは、日本における英語の使用は、グローバリゼー ションの文化 的な象 徴として機 能しているからである。最近、日本 では、 language and culture. While the position of 英語の学習や使用は、acts of identity (アイデンティティー活動)という English in Japan has been conceptualized from 概念として把握されつつあるが、これは英語の役割が変わってきている ことを浮き彫りにしている。私はここで、「典型的な」日本人の英語学習 the viewpoint of typical Japanese learners/users 者・使用者だけでなく、最近その数が増加している「非典型的な」（日本 of English (Seargeant, 2009), a new growing 人と非日本人の）多様な民族の特徴を持つ両親の下で育った日本国籍保 sector of atypical Japanese nationals from families 持者による英語の構築と脱構築について検討する。（少数派の日本人で ある）「ハ ーフ」「 ダブル」は、彼らが持つ多民族や多言語のアイデンティ of (Japanese and non-Japanese) mixed-parentage ティーに抵抗したり、修正を加えたり、あるいは享受しながら、どのよう (who also stake claim to other ethnicities) has にacts of Englishing (英語の言語活動)を実践するのだろうか。「典型的 な」（多数派の日本人の）子どもたちは、小学校の英語の授業に、どんな only begun to be examined (Kamada, 2010). This イデオロギー・ステレオタイプを持ちこむのだろうか。また、彼らは、日本 has motivated the first research question: 人としての彼ら自身のアイデンティティーや、日本に暮らす日本人に見え ない人々のイメージとしてのアイデンティティーを、どのように作り上げ、 1. How do half/double (minority Japanese) 実践するのだろうか。 youths perform acts of Englishing while Keywords: identity, Englishing, Japaneseness, globalization, resisting, altering, or celebrating their mixed-ethnicity multiethnic and multilinguistic identities? In order to put the earlier study in context, I also examine what ideologies/stereotypes typical his paper explores the notion in Japan (majority Japanese) children take to elementary of “English as an ideology” rather than school English classes with them. This has mo- T English just as a means of communication tivated the second question (and sub-question, or a school subject. Pennycook emphasized how which will not be addressed in this paper). language is materialized through discourse: “English is not so much a language as a discur- 2. * How do (majority Japanese) children con- sive field: English is neoliberalism, English is struct and perform identities of themselves
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as Japanese, and images of non-Japanese- with nationality, race, ethnicity, language and looking people in Japan? looking Japanese. Someone who does not look * How might these constructions change Japanese, must then be a foreigner, an outsider. over time from 4th grade (before English The mixed-ethnic girls sometimes constructed instruction) through 5th and 6th grades their identities within a “positive difference” (after English instruction)? discourse where “good difference” is celebrated as a form of cultural capital. Bourdieu’s (1977) Participants theory of cultural capital proposed that various forms of “capital” can be accumulated, invested, The participants of this study are all Japanese exchanged, exercised, and converted into other citizens who were born and raised in Japan, forms (Swartz, 1997). Besides cultural capital attend(ed) Japanese schools, and speak Japanese (cultural goods, education), other forms of as their first (or one of their first) language(s). capital include: symbolic capital (legitimation), Sharing this cultural/ethnic background, par- social capital (friendships), economic capital ticipants can nevertheless be divided into two (money, property), and linguistic capital (lan- separate groups: (half/double (minority) Japanese guage proficiency). children (of Japanese and non-Japanese mixed Within the context of a predominantly mono- parentage) and Japanese (majority) children. lingual country, the participants celebrated lin- This paper begins by examining contested and guistic capital of bilinguality, a signifier closely celebrated linguistic and ethnic “hybrid” identi- linked to their ethnic identities. However, in ties of adolescent half/double girls in Japan. Their different contexts, they were also seen rejecting English proficiencies varied: two were “receptive the position of the “English knowing bilingual” bilinguals” (not proficient speakers, but able to (Higgins, 2009) in the context of monolingual understand their parentese English); two were Japanese peers. highly bilingual and biliterate; the other two fell in-between. The data was collected in six meetings Glocally situated language practices over several years spanning their early adoles- cence (ages 12-15) between March 2001 (6th year, While non-Japanese-speaking foreigners may elementary school) and May 2003 (3rd year, middle appreciate attempts by Japanese to speak English school) (see Kamada, 2008, 2010). (For a compari- with them, the situation is very different for the son with ethno-gendered identities of adolescent mixed-ethnic “Japanese” girls. Being addressed half boys in Japan, see Kamada, 2009). by Japanese people (often peers) in broken The data on majority Japanese children were English, rather than in Japanese, constitutes collected in two diversely located elementary them as foreign outsiders in their own country schools (N=368) in Kyoto (city) and Hirosaki, and works to “gaijinize” (Iino, 1996) them. This Aomori. Both quantitative survey data and positioning within discourses of “homogene- qualitative spoken data are used. For comparison ity” and “otherness” denies the existence of purposes, similar data were collected on Japa- non-Japanese-looking Japanese citizens and nese adults (N=25) and long-term permanent- racially stereotypes them as outsiders on the resident foreigners in Japan (N=25). basis of their appearance. In response, the girls deconstruct this positioning by “doing English” differently than might be expected; their discur- Discourses and cultural capital sive acts of “Englishing” (Joseph, 2004) serve to In spite of the tremendous impact of globaliza- empower them as they reject the use of English tion on Japan in recent years, one of the most (see extracts below). dominant and persistent ideologies (discourses) In both extracts, bold print is used to transcribe of ethnicity continues to be a commonsensically Japanese speech. This is followed by English accepted “discourse of homogeneity” which translation in italic print enclosed in parenthesis. denies (and conflicts with) the concept of ethnic Regular print is used when participants speak diversity in Japan. While being challenged in English (see Appendix: Transcription Conven- recent years, this discourse conflates Japaneseness tions). THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 9 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Plenary Speaker Article
Extract 1: Noo chenji (ages: 13 & 14) (“how do I say that, in English,” 27 R: and the register person said, like) 37 “noo chenji” (no change) and “anata no koto ga sukidesu” toka 28 “a, chanto nihongo shaberimasun na, “soiutte nanto iuuno” (“I like you,” something like de” tte ittara , that, [they ask me] 29 “a, shaberarerunda, gomen ne, “how do I say that [in English])” otsuri denaino” te (laughs) (“hey, I can speak Japanese just 38 so “I think you are so stupid” fine,” she said, and 39 tte na oshieru no (is what I teach [the clerk said] “oh, you speak them to say) [Japanese], sorry, 40 N: (laugh) there is no change given [with 41 H: [in an affected voice] “I book tickets].”) (laugh) think you are so stupid” 42 sore toka na, de “watashi wa In her narrative, Rina (R) used an intertextual tensai desu” [in an affected voice of the cashier, who instead of using Japa- voice] nese with Lia (Rina’s half/double friend, not pre- (things like that and “I’m a sent there), attempted to use an abbreviated and genius” [in an affected voice] poorly-pronounced Japanized-English version 43 toka toiu toki wa (and, like, of “no change” (noo chenji). This construction times like that) worked to constitute this mixed-ethnic girl in a 44 “I am so, I am such an idiot” denigrating position as outside of the category of Japanese (as “foreign outsider”) within a “dis- 45 toka na oshieta (I teach them course of homogeneity.” The girls have to work stuff like that) hard to constantly remind their fellow country- men that they indeed speak Japanese and that Being asked to say something in English by her they also claim Japaneseness for themselves. It is Japanese peers was disturbing to Hanna as such interesting to note how Rina quoted Lia using a requests work to shift her from being unmarked somewhat mocking voice, albeit in an ordinary and like-everyone-else-in-Japan to being marked register, but used a more colloquial, somewhat and different and foreign. In her work to counter rude register for the cashier. Extract 2 below a positioning of difference, Hanna displayed hu- continues directly after a short ellipsis. mor (confirmed by Naomi’s laugher in line #40) in her rejection of this positioning. Hanna then proceeded to provide other prankish examples: Contesting being the English-knowing for “I like you,” she reported facetiously teach- bilinguals ing them to incorrectly say, “I think you are so Not only do the girls reject being positioned as stupid.” For “I’m a genius,” Hanna provided, “I English experts, but they also demonstrate a re- am such an idiot.” flexive and metalinguistic awareness of intricate While the girls used Japanese dominantly here, linguistic functions of their two languages. This all examples of the English expressions provided is a form of linguistic capital they celebrate for in the exchanges with the Japanese girls were themselves which is not readily accessible to produced in English through language alterna- their Japanese peers. Hanna starts out using an tions of affected-sounding voices (#38, #41, #44). intertextual voice of a Japanese peer who asks Even though being asked to speak in English her to speak in English. by monolingual Japanese peers could function to positively position these girls in possession Extract 2: Pranks and humor (age 14) of privileged globalized linguistic capital not accessible to their Japanese peers, here these 36 H: a “nantoiuno, eigo de” saa, girls contest being positioned as the “English- nankane, 10 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
Responses: Is he/she Japanese? Name Photo Details (not included on survey) Adults Kids Foreigners Konishiki (Former Sumo Yokozuna: Naturalized No Yes Yes Japanese (Hawaii, American heritage) No
Bekki (TV talent: Born/raised in Japan: “half” Yes Yes Yes (Japanese/white) No No △(uncertain) Eiji (TV talent: Born/raised in Japan: “half” Yes Yes Yes (Japanese/white) No No △(uncertain) Renho (Bureaucrat: Japan raised: “half”(Japan/ Yes Yes Yes Taiwan-Chinese,) (Before: No) No
Honda (Soccer star: Japanese with bleached Yes Yes Yes blonde hair)
Jero (Enka singer: American, black, Japanese No No No grandmother) △(uncertain)
Figure 1. Q: Are these people Japanese?
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 11 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Plenary Speaker Article
and the children were divided on it. Renho, (of Next I asked participants to circle which Taiwan-Chinese and Japanese mixed-parentage), child corresponded with each question such as has recently become Minister of the Upper House “Which child is kind?” (see Figure 3: Display of of the Diet (only held by Japanese nationals). more than one item in the same box indicates the Before being appointed Minister, most Japanese range of responses. The items circled by higher people (who I surveyed elsewhere) perceived number of respondents were listed first. Multiple Renho (at that time) as a Chinese foreigner. But, answers were eliminated.) as indicated in the present survey, Japanese adults now perceive her as Japanese, although the children were divided on this. Everyone Japanese Japanese perceived the bleached-blonde-haired Honda Adults Children as Japanese and nearly everyone perceived Jero, Which child: the black-American enka singer (with a Japanese is liked by Japanese Japanese, half grandmother in America), as not being Japanese. adults? These results revealed that, while long-term permanent residents in Japan evaluated Japanese- is not liked by Chinese Chinese, S. ness on the basis of nationality, Japanese children adults? Africa and adults tended to conflate the categories of is kind? Japanese, Japanese Japaneseness, nationality, ability to speak Japanese USA and how Japanese they look. Thus the Japanese is not kind? Chinese, S. Chinese, S. respondents were divided on how they categorized African, USA Africa halfs (Bekki, Eiji, Renho). This denial of Japanese- ness of the mixed-ethnic Japanese nationals was would you Half, USA Japanese, half, the very conundrum that the mixed-ethnic girls of like to be? USA the earlier study were trying to deconstruct. is good/cool Half Japanese, half looking? Stereotypical thinking do you want Half/USA Japanese, half, Another section of the survey was influenced by a as a friend? USA 1960s American survey which set out to examine Figure 3. Which child is kind? racist and stereotypical views of black and white children in America. I used five identical pictures The Japan permanent-resident foreigners of a girl with only skin and hair color/texture refused to answer this section, with virtually all differing and labeled them (along with their coun- of them leaving it blank. A few of the Japanese try’s flags) as Japanese, Chinese, South African, adults also left it blank, but most of the children half/double (having a parent from America and responded. Japanese children and adult re- Japan), and American (see Figure 2). sponses were similar on most categories. Re- sponding to “Which person is liked by adults?” and “Which person is kind?” both children and adult respondents circled “Japanese,” with some adults circling “Americans,” and some children circling “halfs.” In selecting the person who was not liked and not kind, both Japanese adults and children circled the Chinese or the South African person. Both adults and children circled “halfs” or Americans for question asking which person is good looking, they wanted to be like, and they would like for a friend. These results show that both Japanese children and adults Figure 2. Japanese; Chinese; S. Africa; “half” tended to perceive people of different origins or (USA/Japan); American ethnicities/races differently; they tended to have 12 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
Discussion and conclusion Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. (R. Nice, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge This paper has shown how a certain growing University Press. sector of (Japanese minority) mixed-ethnic Higgins, C. (2009). English as a local language: adolescents discursively construct their English Post-colonial identities and multilingual practices. identities in unfixed and multiple, sometimes Bristol/NY: Multilingual Matters. competing and contradictory ways - often drawing on alternative, rather than dominant
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 13 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Plenary Speaker Article
Iino, M. (1996). “Excellent foreigner!”: Gaiji- Seargeant, P. (2009). The idea of English in Japan: nization of Japanese language and culture Ideology and the evolution of a global language. in conflict situations. (Unpublished doctoral Bristol/Buffalo/Toronto: Multilingual Matters. dissertation). University of Pennsylvania, Swartz, D. (1997). Culture and power: The sociology Philadelphia. of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago/London: University Joseph, J. (2004). Is language a verb? Conceptual of Chicago Press. change in linguistics and language teaching. In H. Trappes-Lomax & G. Ferguson (Eds.), Author bio Language in language teacher education (pp. 29-47). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Laurel Kamada has been residing, researching, and Kamada, L. (2008). Discursive ‘embodied’ identi- working in Japan for the ties of “half” girls in Japan: A multiperspective latter half of her life. She approach. In K. Harrington, L. Litosseliti, H. has published numerous Sauntson, & J. Sunderland (Eds.), Language academic works and and gender research methodologies (pp. 174-190). presented papers widely Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. at international and local Kamada, L. (2009). Mixed-ethnic girls and boys conferences on Japan topics as similarly powerless and powerful: Em- such as: bilingualism and bodiment of attractiveness and grotesqueness. multiculturalism; English Discourse Studies , 11(3), 329-352. education; gender and Kamada, L. (2010). Hybrid identities and adolescent ethnic studies; masculinity; and glocal identi- girls: Being “half” in Japan. Bristol: Multilingual ties. She serves on the editorial boards of Japan Matters. Journal of Multilingualism and Multiculturalism Pennycook, A. (2007). The myth of English as an and the Gender Awareness in Language Educa- international language. In S. Makoni & A. Pen- tion Journal. She is on the advisory council of the nycook (Eds.), Disinventing and reconstructing International Gender and Language Association. languages (pp. 90-115). Clevedon: Multilingual Her most recent book is: Hybrid Identities and Matters. Adolescent Girls: Being “half” in Japan (Multilin- gual Matters, 2010). Appendix: Transcription Conventions (laugh) laugh , (comma) continuing intonation (utterance not completed) bold print Japanese transcribed into Romanization (the actual speech) (Hepburn System of Romanization) regular print the actual speech in English (not a translation) [explanation] explanation or implied speech in brackets (not the actual speech) “quotation marks” words enclosed in quotation marks indicate quoted speech, emphasized lexis, voice of someone else or self at an earlier time [. . . ] ellipsis: omission of one or more lines of the excerpt (italic print, in parenthesis) the English translation of the Japanese ([italics, parenthesis, brackets]) English translation of implied nuance, not actually stated All Names are Pseudonyms: H = Hanna, N = Naomi, R = Rina Visited TLT’s website recently?
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 15 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Plenary Speaker Article
ideas that have remained constant, at least in value of educational interventions that aim the revision of my work: the basic definition of to foster it, on the other. If any of these claims autonomy and the basic claims that we make for were proven to be false, it would be hard to it. justify a focus on autonomy in language teach- On the basic definition of learner autonomy, ing and learning. Most of the recent research there has been a remarkable degree of consensus studies do, in fact, address one or more of these around the idea that autonomy involves learn- claims: they describe autonomous learning in ers taking more control over their learning. In various settings and assess the ways in which recent work, this definition is also often linked educational interventions foster autonomy and to the philosophical idea of personal autonomy, better language learning. We might hope for a which involves people struggling for greater more comprehensive description of autonomous control over the course of their lives. In the light language learning behaviour and its underlying of the recent application of the philosophy of principles, more analysis of failed attempts to autonomy to a variety of areas of human activ- foster autonomy, and more studies providing ity, we might also come to see language learner evidence of impact on the quality of language autonomy as a specific form of personal au- learning. Nevertheless, none of the three claims tonomy within our own field. At the same time, have been repudiated and, on the contrary, the we recognize that autonomy is multidimensional evidence in support of them accumulates year by and takes many different forms according to year. the person, the setting, and multiple contextual and micro-contextual factors. Learners display What is new? autonomy in very different ways, which allows At the same time, our thinking on autonomy has for a variety of views of the kinds of autonomy not stood still and, in addition to research on the that should be aimed at in particular contexts. core issues of language learner autonomy, there The proliferation of studies on autonomy inside has also been work in new areas, among which and outside the language classroom, therefore, three particularly stand out. reflects the proliferation of settings and contexts for language learning and leads to multiple variations on what is essentially the same idea Sociocultural implications of autonomy of autonomy as the capacity to take charge of The shift towards more social ways of thinking one’s learning. This core definition of autonomy about language teaching, learning, and use has, has proved remarkably resilient as a focal point perhaps, been the most important development for theory and practice; especially so, I would in the field of language education over the past argue, when compared to related ideas, such as decade (Block, 2003; Firth & Wagner, 1997). This learning strategies and motivation, which are shift has involved the import of new approaches seemingly “endangered” by rival ideas, such as (notably Vygotskyan “sociocultural” theory and “self-regulation” (Tseng, Dörnyei, & Schmitt, situated learning theory), the conceptualization 2006) and “investment” (Norton Pierce, 1995) at of classrooms and other teaching and learning the present time. arrangements in terms of social context and There has also been a good deal of consensus community, and a questioning of the ways in on the major claims we make for autonomy, of which second language acquisition theory has which, according to both the first and second separated cognition from social context. The idea editions of the book, there are three: (a) language of autonomy has also been subject to critique for learners naturally tend to take control of their its focus on the individual learner (e.g., Toohey, learning, (b) learners who lack autonomy are 2007), although advocates of autonomy have capable of developing it, and (c) autonomous tended to side-step this critique by insisting language learning is more effective than non- that autonomy is a social construct that implies autonomous language learning. These claims interdependence rather than independence. are crucial to the health of the idea of autonomy, Indeed, the process of exploring more social or because they relate to the reality of autonomy, collaborative approaches to fostering autonomy on the one hand, and to the feasibility and predates the social turn in language teaching and 16 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 17 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Plenary Speaker Article beginning to appear, however, that challenge Block, D. (2003). The social turn in applied linguis- this assumption by showing how more and tics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. more people around the world are using online Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (1997). On discourse, com- resources to learn and use foreign languages in munication, and (some) fundamental concepts innovative ways, often without the knowledge of in SLA research. Modern Language Journal, their teachers. One implication of these studies 81(3), 285-300. is, perhaps, that after a period in which the Gremmo, M. J., & Riley, P. (1995). Autonomy, pendulum of autonomy has swung towards the self-direction and self-access in language classroom, we may be entering a period in which teaching and learning: The history of an idea. it swings back towards out-of-class learning, or System, 23(2), 151-164. (Also published in at least towards the ways in which classroom French in Mélanges Pédagogiques, 23.) teaching with students’ self-directed language learning beyond the classroom. Little, D. (1995). Learning as dialogue: The dependence of learner autonomy on teacher autonomy. System, 23(2), 175-182. Conclusion Norton Pierce, B. (1995). Social identity, invest- In conclusion, I would say that sifting through ment, and language learning. TESOL Quarterly, the many interesting and informative papers on 29(1), 9-31. autonomy that have been published in the past Toohey, K. (2007). Autonomy/Agency through decade has taught me that although much has socio-cultural lenses. In A. Barfield & S. Brown changed, much has also remained unchanged. In (Eds.), Reconstructing autonomy in language comparison with other key concepts in language education: Inquiry and innovation (pp. 231-42). education, autonomy has displayed a remark- Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. able persistence. There is a remarkable degree of cohesion in published work on autonomy, which Tseng, W. T., Dörnyei, Z., & Schmitt, N. (2006). conveys a sense of practitioners working in very A new approach to assessing strategic learn- different settings and contexts around the world, ing: The case of self-regulation in vocabulary but with shared assumptions and shared goals. acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 27(1), 78-102. This suggests to me that autonomy in language teaching and learning is a work in progress, to Author bio which more and more practitioners are contrib- Phil Benson is a professor uting year by year. in the English Depart- ment at the Hong Kong References Institute of Education, Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and researching where he teaches on the autonomy in language learning (2nd ed.; first department’s Ed.D and published, 2001). London: Pearson Education. MATESOL programmes. He is also director of the Benson, P., & Chik, A. (2010). New literacies Faculty of Languages and autonomy in foreign language learning. Centre for Popular Culture In M. J. Luzón, M. N. Ruiz-Madrid, & M. and Education. He has published widely on the L. Villanueva, Digital genres, new literacies, subject of autonomy, including the book Teaching and autonomy in language learning (pp. 63-80). and researching autonomy (Pearson, 2nd ed., 2011). Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars His current research projects include a collabora- Publishing. tive project on second language identities and Benson, P., & Huang, J. (2008). Autonomy in study abroad with partners in Australia and the transition from foreign language learning New Zealand. to foreign language teaching. DELTA: Docu- mentação de Estudos em Linguística Teórica e Aplicada, 24/Especial, 421-439.
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To be honest, I sometimes worry about the Steve Cornwell amount of flying that I do for work–my family and I are trying to reduce our collective carbon e are pleased to have Ken Wilson footprint and we’re doing OK at home–but returning to Japan and JALT2011. In all this flying puts me up there with the worst W this interview, Ken discusses a variety offenders. of topics with Steve Cornwell, the Director of Having said that, I realize how incredibly Programs for JALT. lucky I am to get these opportunities, and I really enjoy speaking to teachers all over the world. It’s the conversations with people that I meet SC: Ken, we are thrilled to have you come back at conferences that give me a lot of my research to JALT this year! And to speak on the topic information about what’s going on in classrooms of motivation, (Note: Ken will be speaking on and how to make the materials I write provide Motivating the unmotivated – do teachers have to what teachers and students need in the second do ALL the work? at the conference.) As many decade of the twenty-first century. of our members know, you have had a busy career as a performer, director, author, teacher Regarding what I’m working on now, my trainer, plenary/keynote speaker, and much writing partner Mary Tomalin and I are coming more. You have had a busy travel schedule this to the end of a series of elementary-level books year. I know you have been to Turkey, China, for Indonesian schools. The project has taken us not to mention IATEFL UK. Where will you be three years so far and we’re currently writing conducting workshops/speaking between now Level 6, the last level. (July) and the conference? And what are you It’s going to be published by an Indonesian working on currently as far as material goes? publisher called Dass Sebastian, a Malaysian, who publishes school books in Indonesia and Australia. What attracted us to the idea was Dass KW: Since the start of the year, my itinerary has Sebastian’s integrity as a publisher and his great taken in a week of training in Belgrade, Serbia, track record of locally-produced materials. a British Council roadshow in China (subject: But the real plus was his enormous enthusiasm Motivating Young Learners), talks at two confer- for this work and the vision of the project he ences in Istanbul Turkey and another one at had in mind. Dass wanted to produce a series IATEFL UK in Brighton, which I had to leave of books locally in Jakarta, with western writers early in order to do an author visit to Taiwan. who had an understanding of local conditions, My wife Dede and I also managed a two-week which he described to us in clear detail before we vacation in Cuba in January. started. In July, I’ll be in Brazil, then in August I’ll take I’m very interested in producing materials a short break on Prince Edward Island, Canada which are relevant to local needs, rather than (where Dede’s family live). In September, I’ll ones which merely follow a series of interna- be at the ETAS conference in Zug, Switzerland tional norms. Although my book Smart Choice is and in October, I’ll be in Mexico for MexTESOL. sold in other countries as well as in Japan, it was Finally, before I come to JALT in November, I’ll the Japanese college freshman compulsory year be doing some work in Korea for Oxford Univer- of English requirement that gave us our student sity Press. model when we were writing it. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 19 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Plenary Speaker Article
SC: Your plenary topic Motivating the Unmoti- for what he says. His dogme approach to teach- vated is one that will be of great interest to those ing is designed to allow language to ‘emerge’ of us teaching in Japan. At my school in meet- from the natural exchanges you have with your ings sometimes people say, “we need to motivate students, and should relate to whatever is going the students more!” But, I wonder how much on in their lives or what they are thinking about we can really do (or can we really do anything?) at any given time. Without giving away your entire plenary, can But at the end of the day, most teachers would you give us your thoughts on this? Or tell us be at a loss how to conduct an entire course what we might be thinking about in the months based on starting the day desperately hoping for building up to your plenary? emergent language from their students. Imagine trying to do that on a slow Monday morning! KW: I think the key is that you can’t separate And it is simply impractical to imagine doing student motivation and teacher motivation and this with beginners or elementary students. you won’t get one without the other. Motivated teachers exhibit enthusiasm for their work, and However, at the same time, teachers should research by, amongst others, Zoltán Dörnyei, a ‘allow the class to breathe’, with student input Hungarian Professor of Psycholinguistics who impacting on what goes in the classroom. This works at the University of Nottingham in the approach reduces reliance on the book itself UK, suggests that teacher enthusiasm is the and can lead to some amazingly inventive stuff single biggest factor in student motivation. happening in the classroom. But telling teachers that their enthusiasm could All this should also lead to a positive and be the difference between success and failure fulfilling atmosphere in the classroom, which in their students just heaps more stuff onto the makes teaching a more pleasant occupation. So, shoulders of people who are already overworked if you show a little enthusiasm, you get it back in and stressed out. bucket loads. My solution is that our students have to take I will give examples of what I mean in my talk! more responsibility for their own learning, but SC: In an email you mentioned you know Nicky again, we can’t achieve this just by shouting, Hockley who was one of our plenary speakers at “Will you please DO something?” at them. We JALT2010. Nicky has shared with us how early need to use classroom activities and techniques in her career she just did not use technology; which bring out their latent skills, and which now she is one of the leading proponents of also give them more responsibility for what goes using technology to teach English! And she has on in the classroom. a blog, which is what I want to ask you about. I By giving students more responsibility for see you have a blog at
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songs you have composed and recorded for ‘fun’ activities as a waste of time. Some teachers English Language Teaching. (Can we interest agree with them. I think students like this are in a you in a visit to sing karaoke while you are here minority and I hope teachers like this are, too! in Japan?) Seriously, I have met many teachers I love karaoke, so I’ll take your invitation who have a background in the performing arts. seriously. What is it that draws people from drama into teaching ESL/EFL? And what is it about drama SC: Our field seems to be changing rap- and song that appeals to many learners around idly. What advice would you give to teachers just the world? starting off? And while you are offering advice, what would you suggest that old, or should I say KW: That’s a very good question and one that experienced teachers, think about to keep their I have to be a bit careful about answering. You teaching current and fresh? often hear people say things like, ‘A good teacher is like an actor’ or other claims that suggest all KW: I think the answer is the same for both– teachers should have acting skills. embrace the great things that technology has to My personal take is that acting skills are quite offer. Young teachers will know the technology useful to teachers, but so are drawing skills, and just have to work out how to make it help mime skills, and the ability to sing. Being good them with their teaching. More experienced at mental arithmetic is useful, too. But none of teachers may be alarmed by it (many are not, of these skills are essential in teaching. You can be course), but I recommend that they just dip their a good teacher even if you can’t do any of these toe in and see how the water is. things. Just taking your computer into the classroom I only make this point to make sure I’m and using it to project images onto the screen is NEVER quoted as saying that teachers should a huge time-saver when it comes to preparing always be actors. lessons. From there, I suggest checking out But you’re right. You do meet a lot of people what iTools and Learning Management Systems with some kind of background in theater who are available to supplement the course material are now working as teachers. I’ve worked with you’re using. Once you understand how to use lots of professional actors and I think they are them, they will make your life easier. amazing people, who work very hard at an It’s funny when teachers say they are no good interesting but desperately unstable job. I guess at technology. These same people have a com- teaching is a more stable and long-term prospect puter, a smart phone, they routinely use social for some of them. media sites and if you suggested they should My own personal journey into theatre was try to do without email or Google for a day, they completely accidental. Because of my presumed would look at you as if you were mad. No good expertise as a guitarist, based on the fact I’d at technology? Most teachers use more powerful written and recorded the songs, I was asked to technology every day than the guys who went to join the English Teaching Theatre as a teacher- the moon in the 1960s. guitarist. I picked up any acting skills I have I describe myself as a techno-klutz, even though from the actors I worked with. And I stayed I blog, tweet, have a Facebook account, and use long enough to float to the top and become the Skype and other social media services. And I director of the company. would be lost without my Macbook Pro, my As to why drama and music appeal to stu- iPhone, and my iPod. I don’t have an iPad yet, dents, I think the answer is something to do only because I can’t justify the expense of some- with the classroom need of most learners to take thing that I probably wouldn’t use for work. a break, change focus, and not be so tied down But when I see all the cool things you can do to sitting at desks and using books. There are with technology, I really wish I was starting out some students who prefer to do just that–spend as a new teacher. the whole lesson at their desk, working through the book. They see drama, music or any other
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SC: Here in Japan it is approaching the end of Just one idea for using emergent language. the semester. Any advice to our readers on how we might spice up our classes on Monday? SC: Ken, thank you for taking time to answer my questions and share some thoughts with KW: Having eulogized the use of technology in our readers. We look forward to continuing this the last answer, I will now risk sounding like an conversation at JALT2011 in November! advocate of dogme. If it’s the end of term, and all thoughts of exams, end of term assessments, etc. are over, I would recommend concentrating Ken Wilson is an on what the dogmetists call emergent language. In author and trainer. other words, go into class expecting the students He has written more to be the driving force of what happens. than thirty ELT titles, It can be difficult to do this without looking including a dozen as if you haven’t prepared for class, so the way series of course books, to do this (if your students aren’t used to this including Smart Choice approach) is to come into class with a clear and for Oxford University visible lesson plan, but tell the students that you Press (OUP). He also can go for the planned lesson, or do something writes lots of sup- unplanned and improvised. plementary mate- rial, and in 2008, OUP The key is NOT to then ask students to tell you published Drama and Improvisation, a collection of something obvious, like what they did last night. more than 60 of his ELT drama and motivational You need something different and thought- activities. His first publication was a collection of provoking to create an atmosphere. songs called Mister Monday, which was released I recently took a class of students I didn’t when he was 23, making him at the time the know. I knew that I would only have about 20 youngest-ever published ELT author. Since then, minutes with them, and I also knew that they he has written and recorded more than 150 ELT knew each other very well. I didn’t want to songs, published as albums or as integral parts spend the whole of course material. He has also written more than time finding out a hundred ELT radio and television programs their names, so I for the BBC and other broadcasters, including started the class by fifty radio scripts for the Follow Me series, thirty putting this image Look Ahead TV scripts and a series of plays called on the screen. Drama First. Until 2002, Ken was artistic director Rather than ask of the English Teaching Theatre, a touring com- them the obvious pany which performed stage-shows for learners questions like of English. The ETT made more than 250 tours ‘What do you think to 55 countries, including three visits to Japan. he might be look- Ken is an enthusiastic blogger, tweeter and social ing at?’ (the kind of networker. He lives in London, England with his complex question wife Dede and two cats, and works in a shed at that students of any level find really compli- the end of his garden. cated!), I simply asked them to put themselves into the man’s position and write down how they felt, what was happening, etc. They then shared their written thoughts with JALT2011 Teaching • Learning • Growing other members of the class. Eventually, we talked Nov 18–21, 2011 National Olympics Memorial Center, Yoyogi, Tokyo about fear, its causes, its effects, and how to deal
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 23 24 | JALT2011 • PLENARY SPEAKER Communication, confidence, and achievement in public school English states that building up “the foundation of com- Emiko Yukawa munication abilities (communication nooryoku no soji )” is the overall aim (MEXT, 2008). Emphasis Ritsumeikan University continues to be on oral English over written and on having communication experiences over From this year, foreign language, in most cases English, instruc- accumulating English language knowledge per tion has been made compulsory for 5th and 6th graders once se. Although English is compulsory only for 5th a week with the aim of building up the foundation of commu- and 6th graders, the reality is that former experi- nication abilities. A debatable point for many asks if instruction at this age level is meaningful (i.e., will it lead to higher English mental schools and others which had offered proficiency later at the secondary school?). Also in question English education to other grades are finding is “the foundation of communicative competence,” which is ways to squeeze in some hours in their curricula supposedly the goal of elementary school English. Still others to continue to teach English in those grades as include: What is the relationship between nurturing positive well. attitudes toward English learning and building up basic English communication skills? How can such primitive English be as- Given the current situation, what do/can sessed in non-threatening and formative manners? How does 6th graders achieve in terms of English com- the result differ depending on the pedagogical technique? The munication abilities and attitude toward English purpose of this talk is to explore these points and to share how the findings from a recent project show what students can learning, and how is such a “foundation” being achieve through elementary school English education and what sustained and further developed once they move this will mean for Junior High School teachers. to junior high school ( 7th grade)? In order to 今年から小学校5年生と6年生に対して週1回の外国語（たいていの場合 answer these questions, the plenary lecture in 英語）指導が、コミュニケーション能力の素地形成をねらいとして始まっ November will focus on Japan’s recent situa- ている。多くの人が議論の余地を感じている問いは、このレベルの英語 教育は意味があるのかどうか、つまり、この時期の教育のおかげで後の tion, drawing primarily on a project I have been 中等教育でより高いレベルの英語力につながっていくのだろうかという working on with two other researchers, Tsuneo ことである。また、小学校英語の目的であると言われている「コミュニケ ーション能力の素地」とはそもそも何なのだろうか。また他の問いとして Takanashi and Tetsuharu Koyama. I will refer to は、英語学習に肯定的な態度を養うことと、基本的な英語コミュニケー the project as the YTK project. ションスキルを育てることとはどういう関係にあるのだろうか、こんな初 歩的なレベルの英語を恐怖感を感じさせずに形成的な効果のあるやり The effectiveness of English education at the 方でアセスメントをするにはどうすればよいのだろうか、その結果は教 elementary school level, in terms of enhanc- え 方に よってどう変わってくるのだろうか、などがある。本講演の目的は、 こうした問いを検討し、近年行ってきたあるプロジェクトの結果をふまえ ing English learning at the secondary school て 、小 学 校 英 語 教 育 を 通 し て 子 ど も た ち ができるようになってきたことは level, was debated for some time. A couple of 何なのか、またそのことが中学校の先生にとって何を意味するのかを公 開することにある。 review articles revealed that studies had yielded contradictory results and that there were pos- Keywords: elementary school English, assessment, speaking sible reasons for such inconsistency (Butler, test, listening test, continuity between elementary and second- 2005; Yukawa, 2003) including the variability ary schools of sampling and validity of tests, the quality of instruction at the elementary level, and the What can 6th graders achieve through lack of continuity in terms of curriculum and elementary school English? instruction between elementary and junior high The year 2011 marks the start of Japan’s com- schools. Therefore, the YTK project has been pulsory English instruction (officially called conducting a series of case studies to understand English Activities-Eigo Katsudo) at the elementary the relationship between assessment results school level. The new Course of Study for Foreign and the characteristics of and types of teaching Language Activities at the Elementary School (CS ) practice found in each school. The cases vary 24 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
site as a pair to have a conversation with a discuss these topics as well as others related to foreign/native English speaker. They can help the listening and speaking assessment data in the each other in Japanese, resort to L1 if absolutely plenary in November. necessary, and can also use gestures and what- ever other strategies they are able to use to aid References their expression and comprehension. In fall 2007, four private schools, and in March 2008, Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language one public school administered this test. Since testing in practice. Oxford: Oxford University the test is an enjoyable and new international Press. encounter for most students, especially in public Butler, G. Y. (2005). Shoogakko eigo: hyooka o me- schools, one school which joined this practice in guru mondai [English at the elementary school 2008 has been offering this ‘elementary school level: Issues on assessment and evaluation]. final fun event’ to its students every year since JASTEC Journal, JASTEC 25th Anniversary Special then. Another public school has been using the Issue, 24, 1-18. test for three years now for the same reason, Koyama, T., Yukawa, E., & Takanashi, T. (2009). and the two other schools in the same school Shoogakkoo eigo de mi ni tsuku komyunikeeshon district followed their example this March. In nooryoku: YTK speaking test no shinraisei to da- order to make inter-school as well as intra-school toosei no kenshoo [Communicative competence comparison easier and also to understand the expected to be learned in elementary English characteristics of learners’ conversational skills education: Validity and reliability of the YTK in detail, we created a rating system with five Speaking Test]. Paper presented at the Annual criteria (phonology, vocabulary and syntax, Conference of the Japan Association of English attentiveness, expressiveness, and management) Teaching in Elementary School. Tokyo Gakugei with four standards (1 to 4, 4 being the best). We University, Tokyo. July 19-20, 2010. also tested the reliability and validity of the test Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science (Koyama, Yukawa, & Takanashi, 2009). and Technology (MEXT). (2008). Shoogakkoo One important finding is that the students did gakushuu shidoo yooryoo [The course of study manage to perform this task of carrying on a for elementary school-foreign language activi- conversation with an English speaking foreign ties]. Tokyo: Tokyoshoseki. adult collaboratively with another student for Yashima, T. (2010). Dookizuke kara mita shoogakkoo three to five minutes, and they all said that they no eigo katsudoo [Elementary school English had fun. Students’ performance levels naturally seen from the viewpoint of motivation]. In differ, depending on the quality of English in- E. Yukawa & Y. G. Bulter (Eds.), Shoogakkoo struction and instructional hours. By comparing eigo katsudoo hisshuuka no tame no karikyuramu, performances at the same school over two years, kyoozai, oshiekata- kookai kenkyuukai hookokusho we know that if the students could ask ques- [Curriculum, materials, and pedagogy for com- tions rather than just answer the interviewer’s pulsory English instruction at the elementary questions, they tend to look more confident and school level- Open Forum Report] (pp. 42-55). proud. Furthermore when they learn how to Internal report. use simple backchannel phrases like ‘Nice’ or ‘Me, too,’ the flow of the conversation becomes Yoshida, H. (2011). Japanese seventh graders’ smooth, and both the interviewer and students English language achievement and motivation. feel that they are actually ‘conversing’ (Yukawa, A Master’s Research Project Paper presented to Koyama, & Takanashi, 2010). the Graduate School of Language and Informa- tion Science, Ritsumeikan University. The YTK team has been carrying out two other projects: one to create a model curriculum and Yukawa, E. (2003). Eigo no kyookaka o kangaeru teaching materials (though only for one year mae ni iru kiso kenkyuu [Basic research needed so far) and another to investigate 7th graders’ before discussing compulsory English instruc- change in motivation and its relationship with tion]. JES (The Japan Association of English the initial English abilities (Yoshida, 2011; Teaching in Elementary School) Bulletin, 4, 1-8. Yukawa, Koyama, & Sugimoto, 2010). I will 26 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
Yukawa, E., Takanashi, T., & Koyama, T. (2009). University, College Shoogakkoo eigo de mi ni tsuku komyunikeeshon of Letters, where her nooryoku [Communicative competence main responsibility is to expected to be learned in elementary English train future secondary Education]. Tokyo: Sanseido. school English teachers. Yukawa, E., Koyama, T., & Sugimoto, M. (2010). Her research interests An exploratory study on 7th grade students’ include English educa- affective state in relation to their achievement. tion at primary/second- Paper presented at Asia TEFL, Hanoi, Vietnam. ary schools, bilingual August 5-9, 2010. education, and language attrition. Recently she Yukawa, E., Koyama, T., & Takanashi, T. (2010). has been supporting a What does ‘Let’s Talk’ tell us?: Elementary number of elementary school students’ speaking performance vari- schools on a regular/irregular basis and their ability and its relation to instructional content. linked junior high school teachers as well, JASTEC Journal, 29, 1-15. offering in-service teacher training and collect- ing data to evaluate their teaching practice. The Author bio results are published as Communicative compe- Emiko Yukawa (PhD in Bilingualism, Stock- tence expected to be learned in elementary English holm University) is a professor at Ritsumeikan education (2009, in Japanese) and journal articles.
JALT2011 • FEATURED SPEAKER | 27 The reflective teacher: Towards self-actualization
力を得るための方法と教育上の自己実現に向けた探 究 を 論 議 す る 。ま た 、 教師が自身の教授法を客観的に考察する上で必要な、多様な方策と枠組 Andrew Boon みを提示し、研究テーマのための新しい発見、可能性や着想点を探る。 Toyo Gakuen University Keywords: action research, cooperative development, inquiry-based approaches, professional development, reflective practice In the act of teaching, we have little time to reflect on the successes or puzzles that occur within our classes and can lose valuable opportunities for gaining insights into our pedagogic magine that we teachers were able to be the practice. There is a need, therefore, for practical ways to students in our classes for just one day. What help us think back upon our experiences more deeply and to discover what is actually happening in our classrooms. This I would we see? What would we think? How workshop discusses the process of becoming reflective and the would we feel? Imagine all that we could learn journey towards pedagogic self-actualization. It also provides from this unique perspective. Although every- a number of strategies and frameworks that can be used by day classroom experiences can provide us with teachers to facilitate critical reflection on their teaching and find the potential to understand and learn more about new discoveries, possibilities, and ideas for research themes there. our individual pedagogic practice, in the hectic 指 導 中 、教 師 は授業内の成功や問題を再考する時間がないので、教 育 実 activity of teaching we often have little time to 践の場において、洞察力を得る貴重な機会を失っている。した がって、よ consider the reasons for and implications of the り深く我々教師の経験を考察し、教室内で実際に起きている事象を理解 するための効果的な方法が必要で あ る 。本 ワークショップでは、深い考察 many “instinctive and automatic” (Peck, 1993, p. 83) decisions we make in our classes. Moreover, THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 27 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Featured Speaker Article
there is often too much unfolding at one time to our teaching may become ritualistic, mechanical, process, respond to, and remember all aspects of and overroutinized. As Prabhu (1990) states, a particular lesson. Since much of what happens our sense of what may be plausible at any given may remain hidden or unknown to the teacher moment in a lesson may become “frozen, ossi- (Richards & Lockhart, 1994), we need to make fied, or inaccessibly submerged, leaving only a opportunities to revisit our teaching experiences schedule of routines” (p. 174). Thus, it is through in order to increase our awareness of what it is continual critical reflection on what we do by we actually do, to understand it, challenge it, which we remain open, active, and alive to the modify it, and develop from it. As Edge (2002) possibilities each lesson provides for the growth states, “Everyone has experience. Not everyone of our students and for ourselves as teachers. learns very much from it. I want to take on the responsibility of doing so” (p. 15). Strategies for reflecting This responsibility is “a process of continual, 1. Self-monitoring intellectual, experiential, attitudinal growth for teachers” (Lange, 1990, p. 250). It is an ongoing Self-monitoring refers to “a systematic approach commitment to try to discover more about our to the observation, evaluation, and management classes, to identify problems or puzzles, and of one’s own teaching behavior” (Richards & experiment with possible methods to solve them. Farrell, 2005, p. 34) in order to achieve a greater It is accepting the need to keep consciously understanding about it. Here, teachers develop exploring and learning from our experiences; to their own methods of recording their classes so keep questioning our intuitions, ideas, and be- that information can be accessed later for self- liefs; to keep expanding our teaching repertoire; review. Such strategies as using pre-designed and to keep increasing our ability to respond to checklists, keeping diaries, and video-recording the many diverse needs of our students. Through lessons allow teachers stimuli towards recall critical reflection both in the act of teaching (our when reflecting on classroom events. However, spontaneous responses towards critical incidents in a typical busy working day, it is often difficult in the classroom) and on the act of teaching (our to find the time either during or after teaching sustained thoughts and reflections post-lesson to document, examine, and explore the many regarding our actions and their consequences) critical classroom incidents or habitual actions (Schon, 1983), we may “evolve in the use, that have occurred in each lesson. Thus, we need adaption, and application of our art and craft” a quick and immediate means of self-evaluating (Lange, 1990, p. 250) and empower ourselves our performance after each class to help jog our towards self-actualization–the realization of our memories of what has happened and to facilitate full potential as teachers. reflection at a more convenient period of the day. Thus, I often assign lessons a football score (soccer for American readers!) as a method of The ritualistic teacher: Towards over- self-monitoring. The match has two teams : the routinization teacher and students working together towards As we try out new ideas or activities in the achieving the lesson objectives on one side classroom, either when thinking on our feet or (Teacher and Students United–T.S. Utd.) versus planned, we tend to pay great attention to them things not working as expected on the other side in terms of their success or failure, their contribu- (Unforeseen Chaos/Collapse–Un F.C.). Let me tion to achieving the lesson outcomes, and their explain how this works. A lesson begins well, reception by the students. Once used a couple the students are on task, and actively engaged of times, the particular ideas or activities may in using the L2 (the score is T.S. Utd. 1 Un F.C. become habitual, routine, and a recurrent part of 0). In the middle of the lesson, one activity is too our pedagogic bag of tricks. As classroom actions difficult for the students. This results in several and behavior are repeated over a period of time, students code-switching to the L1, whilst others we may begin to accept without question or simply do not complete the assigned task and regard to existing beliefs and classroom proce- begin to play with their cellular phones (the dures. The danger here is that if this continues, score is now T.S. Utd. 1 Un F.C. 1). The teacher
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Richards, J., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective 2004, presented at numer- teaching in second language classrooms. Cam- ous conferences, and has bridge: Cambridge University Press. published several articles Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner. New on teacher development, York: Basic Books. motivation, and methodol- ogy. At the time of writing, he is currently working on Author bio a new coursebook, Discover Andrew Boon is an associate professor in the the News with David Har- faculty of humanities at Toyo Gakuen Univer- rington (Language Solu- sity. He has been teaching in Japan for over 13 tions, 2011). He is sponsored years and is an Aston University PhD student. by
30 | JALT2011 • Featured SPEAKER Teaching for world citizenship in the language classroom
ップ で は 、こ の グ ロ ー バ ル な 語学教育のアプローチが、若者が多様な文 化の世界で社会的に責任感を持つ人間になるのにどのように役立つかを Kip A. Cates 論じる。現実の世界のトピックに関する意義深い内容の資料、教材、活動 を通して、教師がどのように教室に国際的な観点をもたらすことができる Tottori University かを概説する。 Keywords: language teaching, world citizenship, global educa- tion, global issues, international understanding In our globalized world of the 21st century, we need young people who can communicate effectively in foreign languages, who appreciate the cultural diversity of our global village, who strive to promote international understanding, and who can he year 2011 marks the 20th anniversary contribute to solving the global issues that face our planet. of JALT’s Global Issues in Language Educa- This requires an approach focused on “teaching for world T tion Special Interest Group (GILE SIG). citizenship” designed to stimulate interest in the wider world, Its founding in 1991 kicked off an exciting two promote cross-cultural empathy, foster critical thinking, and decades of educational activity and led to the encourage social responsibility. The foreign language classroom can be an exciting place for students to acquire this “global lit- formation of similar groups in other organiza- eracy” as they develop language and communication skills. This tions, including a Global Issues SIG formed in featured speaker workshop will explain how a global education 1995 by IATEFL (International Association of approach to language teaching can help prepare young people Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) and for socially responsible citizenship in a multicultural world. It will TESOLers for Social Responsibility formed in 1999 outline how teachers can bring an international perspective into their classrooms through resources, materials, and activities within TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of featuring meaningful content on real-world topics. Other Languages). These groups have enabled 21世紀のこのグローバルな世界で若者に求められるのは、外国語で効果 language teachers involved with global educa- 的にコミュニケーションし、世界の文化の多様性を正しく認識し、国際理 tion to receive funding, issue newsletters, create 解を深め、世界が直面するグローバルな問題の解決に貢献することであ る。これには、「世界市民を目指す指導」に焦点を当てたアプローチが必 websites, initiate projects, hold workshops, spon- 要であ る 。そ れ は 、より広い世界への関心を学生に持たせ、異文化への理 sor conferences, and build networks in order to 解を深めさせ、批判的思考力を育み、社会的責任を強めることを目指す ものである。外国語の教室は、学生に言語とコミュニケーション能力を share their research, teaching experience, and 発達させる「グローバルな能力」を養う刺激的な場である。本ワークショ classroom ideas.
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Global education aims to prepare young it’s obviously not possible for everyone. What people for socially responsible citizenship language teachers can do is bring the world into in a multicultural world. While “global ed” their classrooms through their courses, lessons, is a relatively new concept, there has been a and materials. consistent commitment to global awareness A global education approach involves bringing and social concern throughout the history of an international perspective to the language our field. Rivers (1968) notes that “increasing classroom through meaningful content based international understanding” (p. 261) has always on real-world topics. Global teachers strive to been a prominent language teaching objective design language lessons around world regions and cites a 1933 U.S. document which proclaims (e.g., Africa, Asia, Latin America), social issues the prime value of language study as “breaking (e.g., racism, sexism, AIDS), international themes down the barriers of provincialism and building (e.g., world religions, world flags, the Nobel up a spirit of international understanding and Peace Prize), and global problems (e.g., poverty, friendliness, leading toward world peace” (p. landmines, tropical rainforests). They view the 261). The establishment of global issues groups language classroom as a place to teach against in language teaching associations represents a prejudice and to experiment with global educa- professional attempt to implement these goals tion activities, videos, role plays, and simula- through content-based instruction drawing from tions. They see the Internet, Twitter, and social fields such as global education, peace education, networking sites as ways to promote language and education for international understanding. practice and global awareness, and arrange over- Individuals involved in global education seas visits and exchanges to promote students’ include classroom teachers, curriculum design- intercultural understanding. ers, program directors, and textbook writers, all Global educators talk about four types of working in their own ways to promote world teaching: teaching about, teaching for, teaching in, awareness and social responsibility. My own and teaching through. Teaching about focuses on involvement in this area grew out of frustration knowledge, topics, and content. Teaching for aims with traditional language learning. In high at skill-building and empowerment. Teaching school in Canada, I studied modern languages, in deals with classroom atmosphere and the specializing in French and German. Despite learning environment. Teaching through focuses countless word lists and grammar-translation on teaching methods and the learning process. exercises, I held on to my dream of speaking A good EFL curriculum combines all four of both languages fluently. By the time I finished these: second year at university, I realized I had been studying for seven years but couldn’t speak • teaching about English means providing either language. In frustration, I dropped out of students with knowledge about English, its university, flew off to Europe and began a four- linguistic features, and the countries where year trip around the world. it is spoken. As Mark Twain noted, travel is fatal to preju- • teaching for English proficiency means help- dice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. For me, ing students acquire English communication this adventure certainly opened my eyes to new skills. horizons. Living in France and Germany soon • teaching in English means promoting got my language skills up to scratch. Working language acquisition by using English as the in Sweden and traveling in Holland brought me classroom language. face-to-face with Europeans my own age who • teaching through student-centered tasks spoke three or four languages as a matter of ensures active learning and increased course. Traveling overland through the Middle motivation. East and Asia made me aware of the rich diver- For global educators: sity of our multicultural world and forced me to confront global issues of war, poverty, prejudice, • teaching about the world means providing and pollution. While a round-the-world trip students with information about the world’s is a great way to promote global awareness, peoples, countries, cultures, and problems. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 31 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Featured Speaker Article
• teaching for global citizenship focuses on see themselves as world citizens in some sense. In developing the skills needed to work for a Germany 19% of respondents and in Italy 21% better world. considered themselves primarily “citizens of the • teaching in a global classroom means world.” Each year, countless people around the creating an international atmosphere which globe donate money to international charities stimulates global awareness. and campaigns, in effect paying a self-imposed global tax to make the world a better place. • teaching through global activities means World passports have been available for 50 designing learning experiences that incor- years from groups such as the World Service porate discussion, debate, role plays, and Authority, which claims de facto acceptance from simulations. 150 countries. While no one votes for a world Global education entails more than just impart- government, examples of global voting do exist. ing facts. It involves a dynamic balance of infor- The TV show American Idol is broadcast to 100 mation and inspiration. Our job as teachers, after nations worldwide with foreign viewers eager to all, is to both inform and inspire our students. vote for their favorite singer. A global appeal to Traditional teaching approaches often conceive choose the new Seven Wonders of the World claims of learners as lumps of clay which teachers and to have resulted in 100 million votes. schools mold into the desired shape. For global A growing number of people worldwide aspire education, learners are unlit candles. The job of to be international, to take part in our global teachers and schools is to light the fire of curios- village and to live as if they were world citizens. ity, stand back, and let their students’ passion for International events such as the Olympics and learning about the world burn brightly. World Cup bring together members of our In teaching for world citizenship, global educa- global family for shared experiences. People tors strive to introduce role models–inspiring worldwide enjoy music, food, and entertainment individuals who have worked for a better world. from around the globe. When disaster strikes, These can include historical figures such as Gan- the world becomes a neighborhood of concern, dhi and Martin Luther King, socially concerned coming together to help the victims of terrorist celebrities such as Bono and Angelina Jolie, attacks in New York, earthquakes in Haiti, and as well as lesser known figures such as Garry tsunamis in Japan. Davis, who gave up his nationality to become the Of course, the aim of education for world citizen- first-ever world citizen, and Craig Kielburger, the ship is not to set up a world government or 12-year-old boy who set up his own NGO, Free establish legal status for world citizens. Instead, the Children, to end child slavery. it aims to promote responsible citizenship–at the For some, the idea of teaching for world citizen- local, national, and international level–so that ship may sound overly vague, arrogant, or young people can promote peace, fight preju- idealistic. Yet, “world citizenship” is a very real dice, end poverty, and protect the environment concept analyzed by scholars, discussed by in their communities, their countries, and the educators, and dealt with in numerous books. wider world. As Osler and Starkey show in their A casual search for world citizen on Google turns book, Citizenship and Language Learning (2005), up 24 million hits. The British NGO Oxfam has language teachers in Latin America, Europe, even created a guide for schools on education for and Asia are all working to promote equality, world citizenship” which is available online. tolerance, and human rights while promoting Skeptics may argue that world citizens are language proficiency and communication skills. nothing like real citizens. After all, national The world is divided into three kinds of citizens identify with a nation, pay taxes, carry people: those who make things happen, those passports, and vote. World citizens can’t do any who watch things happen, and those who ask, of these, can they? Surprisingly, thousands of “What happened?” What Japan–and every people around the world do identify themselves country–needs is young people with language as global citizens. A 2009 World Values Survey skills, international experience, and a sense found that 72% of people in 45 nations said they of social responsibility who can take action as
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THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 33 34 | JALT2011 • Featured SPEAKER Using genre-based teaching to support the development of oral skills communities. Because of this access difficulty, Phil Chappell learners may face greater difficulties than others in learning the discourse conventions of those Macquarie University communities. Further, many learners in high enclosure (HE) EFL settings, do not have ready Second language learners who are in high enclosure settings access to opportunities to participate in a variety (with restricted access to authentic language use by the target of communicative situations using English. discourse communities) can have greater difficulties than others Given that many English language learners in in learning the discourse conventions of those communities. Genre-based teaching (GBT) is designed to bridge this gap and HE EFL settings are learning English to engage has achieved successes in the teaching of literacy skills. It can in social, commercial, or academic activity, also be applied to the teaching of oral language skills. either for immediate or future needs, language- In this workshop, the theoretical background to GBT will teaching programs are often aimed at addressing be explored. Participants will carry out explorations of texts these issues. which represent different spoken genres, analyzing the texts at a variety of levels. Following this, the GBT framework will be In Australia in the 1980s and 1990s, a different introduced, and participants will have the opportunity to reflect group of learners was facing access issues of its upon and discuss how appropriate GBT is for their own teach- own. Students in the Metropolitan East Region ing contexts. of Sydney’s Disadvantaged Schools Program Upon completion of this workshop, participants should have were found to have limited access to the written a clearer idea of the theoretical bases of GBT, have exposure genres required for academic success. While the to analyzing spoken texts, and have considered the pedagogic framework of GBT. social, cultural, and historical factors that led to 第2言語学習者は、目標談話コミュニティーによる自然な言語使用にあ these problems are very different to those faced まり触れることのできない非常に隔離された環境にいる場合、その談 by English Language learners in HE EFL set- 話規則を学習する際に他の学習者より苦労する。ジャンルに基づく指導 tings, the range solutions in terms of pedagogy (Genre-based teaching）はこのギャップを埋めるためのもので、読み書 きスキルの指導に効果的だが、オーラルスキルの指導にも応用できる。 can be similar. Genre-based Teaching (GBT), incorporating the Teaching Learning Cycle was 本ワークショップでは、GBTの理論的背景を検証する。参加者は様々 the most significant development of Australian なレベルのテクストを分析して、異なった会話ジャンルのテクスト調査を 行う。次に、GBTの枠組みが紹介され、参加者は、それぞれの指導環境に genre theorists and educators as a response to おいて、適切なGBTはどうあるべきかを考える機会を与えられる。 this problem. Originally devised for primary 本ワークショップを通じて、参加者はGBT理論的根拠に対する、より and secondary teaching, it was later adapted 明白な考えを持つようになり、会話テクスト分析とGBTの教育的枠組み の考察を経験することができる。 for adult second language learners by TESOL teachers in the NSW Adult Migrant Education Keywords: genre-based teaching, teaching speaking, sociocul- Program (AMEP) (Feez, 1998). tural theory, systemic functional linguistics, text analysis This leads to my own experience with GBT, which is both in Australia in academic writing egardless of one’s view of how appropriate settings, and also in an HE EFL setting–in adult the EFL acronym is in 2011, the situation English classes in Bangkok, Thailand, for both R remains that in countries where English the teaching of writing and the teaching of oral is not a language of wider communication, skills (Chappell, forthcoming). I found that the second language learners are often in what approach gave me, the teacher, a rich and varied Schumann (1978) described many years ago as array of teaching and learning activities from high enclosure settings, with restricted access to which to draw; it gave lessons a focus on au- authentic language use by the target discourse thentic language and students a “theory” behind 34 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social Author bio semiotic: The social interpretation of language and Phil Chappell is Lecturer meaning. London, Edward Arnold. in Linguistics at Macquarie Kongpetch, S. (2006). Using a genre-based University and convenes approach to teach writing to Thai students. the Postgraduate Cer- Prospect, 21(2), 3-33. tificate in TESOL. Phil has Lantolf, J. P. (2000). Sociocultural theory and second been involved in English language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Language Teaching, Press. Language in Education/ Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches Applied Linguistics and and methods in language teaching. Cambridge ELT program manage- University Press, Cambridge, England. ment since the early 1990s. He spent over ten years living in Thailand, where he was involved Schumann, J. H. (1978). The pidginization process: with adult language teaching, language teacher A model for second language acquisition (5th ed.). education, curriculum development, program Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers. management, distance TESOL education and Vygotsky, L. S., & Rieber, R. W. (1988). The col- developing in-service professional development lected works of L. S. Vygotsky(stet) Vol. 1: Problems programs. Phil’s research interests are aimed at of General Psychology. London: Plenum. achieving greater understandings of effective Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). The classroom practices in second language teaching role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of and learning, especially the talk of the language Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17, 89-100. classroom.
36 | JALT2011 • Featured SPEAKER Teaching young learners in a global context
本 ワー クショップ で は 、イ ギ リ ス・ア ス ト ン 大 学 と ブリティッシュ・カウン シルのプロジェクト「若い学習者指導のためのタスク」の一部として、世 Fiona Copland 界中の英語教師によって提案された若い学習者指導のアクティビティに 焦点を当てる。「これらのアクティビティは自分の学習指導現場で役立つ か 」「 そ れ ら を 活 用 す る にはど の よ う な 改 善 が 必 要 か 」を 検討する。み ん Aston University なで共有するための「ベスト・アクティビティ」に加えるため、ワークショ ップ 参 加 者 に は 、Ａ ４ 用 紙 に 自 分 の お 気に 入りのアクティビティを記 入し てもらう。ま た 、若 い 学習者を指導する世界中の教師達が直面した問題 In this workshop, we will look at example activities for teaching と、その問題がどのように解決されたかを理解し、自分自身の教室で試 young learners suggested by teachers of English around the みるための新しくて良いアイデアを持ち帰ってもらいたい。 world as part of the Aston University/British Council project, “Tasks for Teaching Young Learners.” We will ask, “Would Keywords: teaching young learners, activities, global perspec- these activities work in my learning and teaching context?” and tives “What adaptations would be necessary to make them work?” Workshop participants will be invited to bring their own favour- ite activities on a sheet of A4 paper to hang on the “Best Activi- nglish is being introduced to ever more ties” line for sharing with others. Participants at the workshop and ever younger children, and in many should leave with an understanding of the challenges faced by young learner teachers around the world and how some of E countries around the world English is now these challenges are met. They should also leave with some compulsory in primary education (Nikolov, great new ideas to try out in their own classrooms. 2009; Pinter, 2006). However, knowledge and
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by children if it is not taught by a teacher who the recordings to provide children with a native teaches other important subjects such as maths speaker model of English (which they might and history. As the new Foreign Language feel is appropriate), while the native speakers of Activities curriculum is launched in primary English relied on themselves to give an appropri- schools this year, it may be time to consider not ate model. only what is taught in English language classes, However, it is also interesting to compare the but how the value of English is presented to use of the computer in the classroom. In the learners. case studies, the researchers found extensive use being made of the computer in English lessons in the United Arab Emirates, Italy, and South Korea (with 40% of Korean teachers in the survey reporting they used computer activities every lesson or often). However, in Japan, teachers reported that they rarely used computer activities (only 12% said they used a computer every lesson or often) while in Taiwan, the number was higher at 22%. Given the finding that most teachers in Japan responding to the survey felt that lack of time was the main impediment to providing a good learning experience, perhaps it is not surprising that computer activities, which can take time to set up, were not popular. Figure 1. The organisation of English language teaching in schools globally Nevertheless, it is undeniable that computer assisted language learning is a growing area and that many students have been supported by Language teaching practices learning materials found on the Internet. Another interesting finding from the research What is more, the opportunities computer concerns the pedagogical practices teachers of assisted learning provides for independent study young learners employ in classrooms (see Figure are huge and could be nurtured in learners from 2). In Japan, the most popular activities were an early age. By largely disregarding computer playing games, singing songs, repeating after the activities, teachers in Japan could be reducing teacher, memorising words or phrases, and role their children’s learning opportunities inside and play. The least popular activities were creative outside the classroom. writing, watching TV or videos, activities on the computer, reading silently, and copying from the board. These practices compare interestingly with those of South Korea and Taiwan where songs, repeating after the teacher, and games were also popular, but so too were listening to the tape recorder or CD (83% of teachers in Tai- wan and 81% of teachers in South Korea stated they did this either every day or often compared to 44% in Japan). This might be explained by the fact that in both South Korea and Taiwan, the majority of teachers answering the survey were Korean or Taiwanese nationals, while in Figure 2. A comparison of pedagogic activities Japan, the majority of teachers answering the in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan survey were native speakers of English. It may be that the Korean and Taiwanese teachers used 38 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online »
Planning used to teaching English, or not used to teaching in primary schools. Let us now turn to what teachers find most helpful when planning their lessons. For teach- Should it be the prerogative of a publisher to ers in Japan, the most important planning tools provide the curriculum or is it the prerogative of are the lesson plan, supplementary materials, the government? and the coursebook (see Figure 3). This mirrors what teachers throughout the world found Challenges faced by teachers helpful. However, in South Korea, the na- Finally, let’s look at the challenges teachers face tional curriculum was considered very useful or when working with young learners. The greatest somewhat useful by a large majority of teachers challenge reported globally was large classes in comparison to Japan, where just over half and, partly as a result of class size, discipline valued it. This might be because at present there problems. Out of 32 comments from teachers is no national curriculum in Japan for teaching of English in Japan, the largest number with six English at the elementary school level. There comments, stated that time available for teaching are official guidelines for conducting foreign was the greatest challenge (echoing responses language activities issued by Ministry of Educa- to the question about the most important factor tion, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) in improving learning and teaching), while five (2008), but these do not constitute a curriculum other comments related to difficulties of motivat- per se. In South Korea, in comparison, English ing the learners. has been a compulsory subject in grades five and six for some years and the national curriculum is Four comments cited discipline as an issue, strictly adhered to by teachers. while four others stated that team teaching caused the greatest challenge. These comments contrast with those of teachers of English in Taiwan who cited motivation as the greatest challenge, closely followed by teaching in a “mixed ability” classroom. Indeed, of 45 com- ments, 13 were related to motivation and 12 to mixed ability teaching. Team teaching was not mentioned at all and the length of time available was only cited by one teacher as a challenge.
Concluding comments There is no doubt that Japan faces a great challenge in embedding its Foreign Language Activities into primary schools. While it is following many countries in its decision to lower Figure 3. Helpful planning tools in Japan the age that learning of foreign languages begins, it is taking, at present, a different path, in some respects, in terms of developing and implement- This is not to say, however, that teachers of ing a curriculum. It will be interesting to see if English in primary schools welcome the lack the approach has the desired result of forming of prescription. According to a recent Benesse the foundation of pupils’ communication abili- Corporation survey (2011) of English in primary ties through foreign languages while developing schools, 86% of respondents stated that they fol- the understanding of languages and cultures low the example curriculum set out in the Teach- through various experiences, fostering a positive ers’ Guide to Eigo Note, the course book adopted attitude toward communication, and familiariz- by most primary schools in Japan for teaching ing pupils with the sounds and basic expressions English. It might be worth considering whether of foreign languages as presented in The Official there should be a stronger lead for teachers not Guidelines for Foreign Language Activities (2008).
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 39 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Featured Speaker Article
As yet, MEXT has not indicated how it mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/new-cs/youry- will evaluate the success of the innovation or ou/eiyaku/gai.pdf>. measure the pupils against these criteria. Nev- Moon, J., & Nikolov, M. (2000). Research into ertheless, within two years, teachers in junior teaching English to young learners. Pécs: Pécs high schools will be able to carry out their University Press. own assessment of learners, and in doing so, Nikolov, M. (Ed.). (2009). Early learning of modern form their own views of the Foreign Language foreign languages: Processes and outcomes. Bristol: Activities guidelines. Of course, everyone hopes Multilingual Matters. for success, but it may be that having followed other countries in starting language learning Orosz, A. (2009). The growth of young learners’ early, Japan may now wish to look to how other vocabulary size. In M. Nikolov (Ed.), Early countries deliver language learning activities; learning of modern foreign languages: Processes South Korea or Taiwan might not be a bad place and outcomes (pp. 181–194). Bristol: Multilin- to start. gual Matters. Rixon, S. (1999). Young learners of English. Har- Acknowledgements low: Longman. Samo, R. (2009). The age factor and L2 reading I would like to thank Brian Gaynor for comments strategies. In M. Nikolov (Ed.), Early learning of on an earlier draft of this article; his insights on modern foreign languages: Processes and outcomes the teaching of English in the primary sector in (pp. 121-131). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Japan have been invaluable. Slattery, M., & Willis, J. (2001). English for primary teachers. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Global Practices in Teaching Young Learners Author bio The survey for this study is still live. If you teach English to children between the ages of Fiona Copland has 7 and 11, we would be delighted if you could taught English to speak- fill it in. It will take about 20 minutes. The ers of other languages survey can be found at: THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » attention to differences between how the experts Keith Johnson and the novices went about their assignment. Lancaster University, UK In 2005 I was involved in a further research project, funded by the British Arts and Humani- ties Research Council, which gave me the chance long, eminent career finally brings Keith to look at the practices of teachers of other Johnson to JALT as a featured speaker, subjects and consider their relevance for lan- A co-sponsored by TED and CUE. In this guage teachers. The other subjects were classical interview, Keith Johnson discusses teacher singing, table tennis, and the training of airline expertise with Deryn P. Verity, coordinator of pilots in a flight simulator. Not obvious choices TED SIG. perhaps, but areas we felt were comparable to language teaching. DPV: How and why did you first become DPV: Tell us how you chose singing, table tennis, interested in the topic of expertise? and pilot training as relevant fields! KJ: In 1995 I became involved as a researcher in KJ: One of the characteristics of many skills, in- a three-year project funded by the British Eco- cluding fluent language use, is that they involve nomic and Research Council entitled, “Captur- “doing many things at the same time” (what I ing expertise in task design for instruction and call “combinatorial skill”). Singing, table tennis, assessment.” The aim was to look at how expert and pilot training involve this element. The best task designers worked, and what made them example is the last. When you land an aircraft experts at designing tasks. you have to think about many things at the same This was my first encounter with expertise time–height of aircraft, speed, position in relation literature. We had sixteen subjects. They were to runway, etc. In fact, you could say that a major all language teachers, but eight of them had had part of the skill is the putting together element. little experience in designing activities or tasks The individual skills may be easy enough; the for classroom use. The other eight were the ex- problem is doing them at once. perts–people who had spent a good many years Pilot trainers know very well that combinatorial writing tasks. We asked our sixteen subjects, skill is a major part of what they need to teach–not working alone, to produce a task for use in an the bit stuck on at the end (rather as language EFL classroom. We gave them a general idea of teachers used to handle fluency practice, late on a what kind of task we wanted, who the students Friday afternoon). My belief is that combinatorial would be, and other important background skill needs to be right at the centre of our foreign information. Then we asked them to design language (FL) teaching; I was interested in finding the task. In order to capture their thoughts and out how pilot trainers (and the other trainers we processes we asked them to “think aloud” as looked at) handled this aspect. they did this. We recorded these think-aloud sessions, so DPV: Why is teacher expertise an important that we had sixteen transcriptions of individu- concept for the profession? als producing the same task. We then set about KJ: The answer to this question can be stated by analysing the think-alouds, paying particular posing another one: how can we even think of THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 41 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Featured Speaker Article producing good/expert teachers unless we know method, so that an expert audiolingual teacher something about what makes a good/expert will be different from an expert communicative teacher? Stated like that, it really is extraordinary one. But culture and educational system are also that we have reached the twenty-first century important variables. without looking all that closely at the expertise Most areas of human knowledge and skill area. have elements that are universal as well as Where, one might ask, do the ideas that we situated, and I think it is possible to arrive at pass on to trainee teachers come from? A good statements about expertise that are probably part of the answer is “from theories about universally true. One candidate that springs language teaching.” In recent decades, the domi- to mind is that experts are often flexible. They nant theory has been communicative language are able to change the way they do things quite teaching (CLT). We, as teacher trainers, have easily, while less expert teachers find themselves read what the CLT theorists have said about unable to deviate from the way they have always how languages should be taught, and we have done things. converted these ideas into thoughts about what good/expert teachers do. We, as teacher trainers, DPV: The assumption that experience = exper- then pass on these ideas to our trainees. tise must be very widespread. Fine. But perhaps at some stage we should ask KJ: Yes, there is a strong assumption that experi- a simple and very practical question: what do ence automatically confers expertise, and there teachers who are generally regarded as experts is a degree of truth in it. This is why very many actually do in their classrooms? We can all think expertise studies select their experts in terms of of teachers who are looked up to as being good. how much experience they have. Why not just study what they do? See how they Experienced non-experts pose huge problems for conduct their classes, watch how they handle trainers. It’s like someone who has learned to speaking practice, reading comprehension, and play a musical instrument wrongly over many so on. Then perhaps look at the behaviour of years–trying to get rid of well-ingrained habits inexpert novice, teachers and compare the two. and replace them with the right ones is a huge You may have noticed that I contrast experts task. There are also immense affective problems. and novices. But the notion of novice is an idea to People assume experience is expertise, and if you do with amount of experience. The opposite of a try and change their behaviour, you are likely to novice is not in fact an expert but an experienced be told: “I have been doing this for 30 years, so person. Expertise and experience really are two I know what I am talking about.” Lamentably, different ideas. You do get experienced teachers sometimes they don’t. who are not expert. We have all come across them, and in one study I was involved in, our Recommended reading initial assumption was that the most experienced of a number of subjects would be the most Johnson, K. (1982). Communicative syllabus design expert, and this was clearly not the case. As and methodology. Oxford: Pergamon Institute of someone once said, a teacher with ten years’ English. experience may in fact have had just one year’s Johnson, K. (2003). Designing language teaching experience, repeated ten times. tasks. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (By the way, in passing, experts do not always Johnson, K. (Ed.). (2005). Expertise in second realize their expertise, and it is possible for an language learning and teaching. Basingstoke: expert teacher to give a poor, non-expert lesson on Palgrave Macmillan. occasions.) Johnson, K. (2008). An introduction to foreign lan- DPV: Does your research suggest that expertise guage learning and teaching. (2nd ed.). Harlow: is a situated, context-dependent concept? Pearson Education, Longman. Johnson, K., & Brumfit, C. J. (Eds.). (1979).The KJ: Yes, I think that much expertise in teaching is communicative approach to language teaching. contextually dependent. It certainly depends on Oxford: Oxford University Press. 42 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Johnson, K., & Morrow, K. (1981). Communication (LAnguage Teaching in the classroom. Harlow: Longman. EXpertise); see Expertise in Second Language Learning Author bio and Teaching (2005). Other influential publications Keith Johnson’s featured speaker workshop include the 1979 title The at JALT will be co-sponsored by TED and CUE Communicative Approach to SIGs. Starting his career as a teacher of English Language Teaching (co- and linguistics in Croatia, Malta, and Italy, Keith editor C.J. Brumfit), 1981’s Communication in the moved to the Centre for Applied Language Classroom (co-editor K. Morrow), Communicative Studies at the University of Reading in 1974 Syllabus Design and Methodology in 1982, and and joined Lancaster University’s Linguistics 2003’s Designing Language Teaching Tasks. Cur- Department in 1994. His years of teaching on rently, he is pursuing an interest in the language MA programs produced An Introduction to of Shakespeare, as well as developing his interest Foreign Language Learning and Teaching (2008). At in expertise. Lancaster he founded the research group LATEX JALT2011 • FEATURED SPEAKER | 43 The M&M’s of teaching English to young learners 習者に学ばせる。しかしながら、音楽と運動は全ての学習者にとって有 効なのであろうか。学習者が学ぶための他の方法も必要ではないのだろ Kathleen Kampa うか。 本講演では、音楽と運動がどのようにEFL教室で若い学習者を学ば Author, teacher, and teacher せる手助けをするかを検証する。また、多重知性ストラテジー（Multiple intelligences strategies）がどのように音楽と運動を補完するかを考察 する。これらのストラテジーをどのように教室で使用するかも考える。本 trainer 講演に参加して、一緒に歌ったり、動いたり、知性を大いに高めたりして ほしい。 Discover the power of music, movement, and multiple intel- Keywords: young learners, music, movement, multiple intel- ligences (MI) to create a dynamic learning environment for ligences strategies your students. Music is celebrated in many cultures around the world. Its universality can be found in its shared structures. Music en- s I was riding the bullet train (shinkansen) hances memorization, a critical process in language acquisition. Movement invites students to learn by doing, a process that back from Osaka after our spring break, I builds neural networks in the brain and throughout the body. A heard beautiful sounds around me. There However, are music and movement effective for all learners? were many young children on the train. Without Do we need more ways for students to learn? any prompting by the adults around them, each In this session, we’ll look at how music and movement can child was singing and dancing! help young learners succeed in the EFL classroom. We’ll look at how multiple intelligences strategies can complement music Music is celebrated in many cultures around and movement. We’ll explore ways in which these strategies the world. Its universality can be found in its can be used immediately in your classroom. Join us as we sing, shared structures. As Brewer and Campell (1991) move, and let all of our intelligences soar! note, 音楽は世界の多くの文化で親しまれており、その共通の構造には普遍が 性見られる。音楽は言語習得において重要な作業である記憶力を高め Music was in the breath, the heartbeat, the る。運動は脳や体中に神経ネットワークを築く作業である動作により学 walking movements, and the gestures of the THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 43 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Featured Speaker Article child. Music, rhythmic patterning, vocal ton- long-term memory. This is called the song-stuck- ing, tongue-lip movements, and the aware- in-your-head phenomenon. Sousa (2008) notes, ness of melody in language patterns were everywhere and were primary to life-learning When a song is imagined, the brain cells that itself (p. 15). are activated are identical to those used when a person actually hears music from the outside Many teachers of young learners intuitively world. When a song is imagined, brain scans believe that music and movement serve an show that the visual cortex is also stimulated important role in early childhood education. so the visual patterns are imaged as well (p. Articles abound in magazines for teachers of 342). young learners advocating the use of music and movement in an early childhood classroom. Music certainly has some magical qualities Neuman (2006) suggests that, that we can utilize in teaching English to young learners. songs, rhymes, and poems . . . can improve Like music, movement is commonly used children’s memory, vocabulary, and creative in children’s classrooms. Almost every young uses of language . . . Not only do they love the English learner knows the song Head, Shoulders, lilt and the lyricism of these jingles, but they Knees, and Toes with its accompanying move- also benefit in terms of developing literary ment. Children perform fingerplays, do move- language and recognizing the sound structure ment songs, and play movement games. TPR of words (p. 13). (Total Physical Response) has been promoted Many teachers of young English learners by Asher (1969) as a means to teach language frequently use music in their English classes. through movement in an implicit manner. Han- Carolyn Graham (1992), creator of Jazz Chants, naford (2005) suggests that learning by doing says, builds more neural networks in the brain and throughout the body, so that the entire body can Music opens doors, giving language students a be used for learning. Pica (n.d.), an advocate for greater awareness of the new culture to which active learning cites Jensen, saying “that not only they are being exposed and a sense of feeling do children learn by doing – and that movement more at home with the sounds and rhythms is the child’s preferred mode of learning – but of the language they are learning. Hearing also that physical activity activates the brain the sounds sung and singing the sounds can much more so than doing seatwork” (para. 7). both be very helpful in acquiring the tools that Music and movement are certainly powerful lead to real communication, but perhaps the strategies based on research by experts and the best thing about music in the classroom is the experience of classroom teachers. However, are pleasure it brings to students (p. 43). music and movement effective for all learners? Do we need more ways for students to learn? How do we know that music is useful in teach- ing English? Brain research by Eric Jensen (2001) When Harvard’s Project Zero came to Tokyo, suggests that music activates attentional systems, I had the opportunity to explore the theory of increasing the chances of remembering, and Multiple Intelligences, developed by Howard focuses on learning. Music enhances memoriza- Gardner in 1983. His theory suggests that intel- tion, a critical process in language acquisition. A ligence might not be something we can measure research team from Tufts and Dartmouth found only in a test. Because we have experts from that contrary to previous assumptions, music is many different walks of life–painters, scientists, not processed solely in the brain’s auditory cortex musicians, mathematicians, counselors, danc- - which controls hearing . . . the brain tracks tunes ers, and more–he reasoned that there may be in an area located behind the forehead (the frontal many different kinds of intelligence. He cited lobe) where learning, the response and control of eight different intelligences, including musi- emotions, and memory converge (Bharucha, 2002). cal and kinesthetic intelligence, which I was very familiar with. The other six intelligences Sousa (2008) found that music can be imagined included linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, because of stored images of music in one’s 44 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 45 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Featured Speaker Article Medina, S. (1990, March). Using music to enhance Heyge, L., & Sillick, A. (1994). Music and move- second language acquisition: From theory to prac- ment: The cycle of seasons, a musical celebration of tice. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting the year for young children. Greensboro: Musik- of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other garten/ Music Matters. Languages, San Francisco, CA. Retrieved from Hoffman, C. (2001). Songs that cause the brain to JALT2011 • FEATURED SPEAKER | 46 5 Eureka language moments Some people are athletes or artists or good with numbers, Tom Kenny but I’m not good at any of that, so I stick with what I know: Language. I’m okay at it. I make mistakes in English, my native language, regularly, but I’m basically a language person. I’m also Nagoya University of Foreign a teacher. That was a conscious decision on my part. You see, I was never a very good student at anything, so that gives me a Studies special insight into the minds of students who are just average. Which is not to say that I’ve never had any flashes of inspira- tion. I’ve had at least five that I can name, fiveEureka moments 46 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » recommend it to readers interested in gaining Intellectual dislocation more experience of academic publishing. The issue of “intellectual dislocation” (Flow- erdew, 2000, p.131) for scholars who have Issues facing authors in pursuing finished formal studies then take teaching posts academic publication away from their home country or university The literature on the issues authors face in is illustrated by the experience of an emerging academic production and suggested solutions scholar participating in my research in this area. for overcoming them is not comprehensive and In her case, she completed her MA in the US tends to rely on author reflections and testimoni- then moved to Japan to teach. While in the US als (Casanave & Vandrick, 2003), with Lillis and she felt confident in her writing and research, Curry (2010) an exception. Thus the following and it wasn’t until she was in Japan that she list is not comprehensive, but presents issues realized how much support her home institution authors face which I feel are of interest here. provided for writing and research. While she still had email access to her former supervisor, • Deciding what to research she felt it “wasn’t the same” as face-to-face • Finding the time to conduct research meetings and that conducting research in Japan • Dealing with “intellectual dislocation” was like “starting over.” While my evidence (Flowerdew, 2000, p. 131) is still limited, I would suggest the experience • Writing papers for publication is similar for distance students who complete their degrees in Japan; they feel they don’t have sufficient access to the resources and guidance Deciding what to research that would otherwise be available if they were This aspect of academic writing came to light fulltime students in residence at their respective when a participant on my MASH Academic universities. Publishing Course (MASH Collaboration, 2011) One way to overcome this obstacle is to build explained how he has access to students and support groups that mimic the support formal understands there is the potential to conduct university study provides. For example, in Na- research with them, but has trouble conceptual- gano, for several years a group of English teach- izing what research to do. Potential ways to ers met regularly as part of a research support overcome these concerns are to find an existing group. An unexplored question is whether with study of interest to replicate, an example of technologies such as Skype and forums similar which is research I did using Boston (2008) as support groups could be sustained online. a template (Muller, 2009). Another way to find inspiration is to tap the interests of the people where you teach. For example, if your institution Writing for publication is implementing extensive reading, approach the I’ve intentionally saved this issue for last, as I organizers to conduct collaborative research into would assert, and Lillis and Curry (2010) concur, how the program benefits students. that the issues of building support networks and accessing resources are paramount in Finding the time to conduct research production of academic writing, and it appears, although evidence is still limited, that without As someone without a research day or budget, such networks, efforts toward publication tend this is a particularly salient issue for me. Finding to be unsuccessful. Yet in the end it is the text the time to research appears to require individual that appears in print, not the support group, or solutions, although many of the people I know conversations with publishing gatekeepers, and find specific deadlines motivating. In my case, so ultimately written text needs to be produced, this often means writing abstracts as presentation and here again standards and expectations tend proposals before I’ve conducted research. Getting to be “occluded” (Swales, 1996, p.45), particu- accepted to present means I have no choice but to larly for emerging researchers. Just how this can find the time to conduct the research. My IATEFL be overcome is the subject of the next section. presentation is a case in point (Muller, 2009). 50 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Moving from the periphery toward the Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2010). Academic writing core in a global context: The politics and practices of publishing in English. Abingdon, UK: Rout- Lave and Wenger (1991) describe professional ledge. practice in terms of a large group of people on the periphery of the community. One such exam- MASH Collaboration. (2011). Retrieved from ple could be a JALT member trying to publish in has emerged. On many occasions, I have heard Gregory Sholdt teachers talk about the rich training in pedagogy Kobe University and theory from their own graduate studies, and yet, despite some anxiety toward the subject mat- ter, they lament a lack of instruction in research Making the transition from teacher to teacher-researcher methods and statistics. I have encountered can result in a range of classroom and career benefits: from improved learning environments and deeper professional satis- pervasive interest in collecting and analyzing data faction to publications and job opportunities. However, getting and conducting experiments in their classrooms. started in classroom-based research can be a bewildering en- There is recognition of the importance to present deavor without training or guidance. The goal of this workshop and publish in order to stay competitive in the is to provide a template for a simple and versatile quantitative job market but also a desire to participate more research design that can be adapted to fit a variety of research topics and can be implemented in most language classroom actively in our professional community and settings. Working together in small groups, participants will make contributions to the English as a Foreign explore potential research topics, complete a set of worksheets Language field. Teachers describe frustrations that outline the key steps of a quantitative study, and leave the with trying to understand published quantita- workshop with a clear research plan tailored to their personal tive research studies, having to skip through interests. Additionally, the presenter will introduce and explain a unique opportunity for teachers to join a collaborative incomprehensible results sections and put blind research project built on this approach to professional develop- faith in authors’ conclusions. Many have talked ment through classroom-based research. about purchasing research methods and statistics 教師が研究者としての視点や技能を身につけることは、学習環境の改善 texts only to be discouraged by how quickly they といった授業運営上の利益はもとより、専門職者としての充実感、就職や 転職に必要とされる研究発表や論文執筆といった業績につながるなど、 became lost in the material. Often, these discus- 幅広い利益をもたらしうるものである。ただし、指導や支援もないところ sions lead to the same question, “How can I learn でclassroom-based研究を始めようとすると、気が遠くなるような努力 about quantitative research?” が必要になることもある。そこで、本ワークショップは、語学授業の異な る環境や多様な研究課題に対応する、シンプルかつ応用可能な量的研究 Inspired by this question, the challenge of デ ザインの テンプレートを提 供することを目指す。具 体 的 な 作 業 は 、少 人 数グループに分かれ、量的研究の主要なステップを示したワークシート the task, and the joy of sharing statistics, I have を使いながら、参加者がそれぞれの現場に見合った課題に取り組むこと been exploring approaches and developing になる。これにより、ワークショップ終了時には、個々の興味関心に適合 presentations, workshops, and even an online した、明確な研究計画が完成するようにしたい。さらには、こうしたワー クショップ が 、classroom-based研究を通じた共同プロジェクトの開発、 course with the goal of helping busy but moti- ひいては教師研修の新機軸となりうる点について解説する。 vated language teachers to get a start in doing Keywords: action research, teacher development, statistics, classroom-based quantitative research. As with quantitative research, collaborative learning most significant skills or knowledge, there is simply no quick and easy route to mastery of these methods. There are three major interrelated ver the past eight years of my involve- components to consider: measurement, research ment in JALT, I have been fortunate to design, and statistical analysis (Pedhazur & O make a large number of connections Pedhazur Schmelkin, 1991). Each one essentially and friends. As I have gotten to know these represents an entire field of study with its own wonderful teachers and also shared about myself, corpus of specialized vocabulary and vast particularly in relation to my experience in a pool of theories, concepts, applications, and graduate program that gave as much weight to procedures. However, there is in fact a modest research methods and statistics as it did to Vy- set of fundamental concepts and core methods gotsky and Sociocultural Theory, a familiar story that guide both simple and sophisticated studies 52 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 53 TLT » JALT2011 Special Issue • Featured Speaker Article a grand discovery. It is best if the actual experi- References mental treatment and data collection period is Bachman, L. F. (2004). Statistical analysis for short and easy to complete with most time and language assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge energy devoted to studying critical aspects of the University Press. research design along with the measurement and analysis components. The study can be written Brown, J. D. (1999). Understanding research in sec- up following standard formats with significant ond language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge attention given to discussing sources of validity University Press. concerns. Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative action research for There are wonderful texts available that lay English language teachers. Cambridge: Cam- out the fundamentals of statistics and quantita- bridge University Press. tive research methods with user-friendliness Freeman, D. (1998). Doing teacher research: From as a goal, and there are many specifically inquiry to understanding. Boston: Heinle ELT. designed for language teachers (e.g., Bach- McMillan, J. H. (1996). Educational research funda- man, 2004; Brown, 1999). It is entirely possible mentals for the consumer. NY: Harpers Collins. for a determined teacher to develop research Nunan, D. (1992). Research methods in language skills through small-scale studies using these learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University materials as resources. However, without some Press. previous experience or training, I almost always recommend starting the process with a guide Pedhazur, E. J., & Pedhazur Schmelkin, L. (1991). or a friend. Negotiate an arrangement with Measurement, design, and analysis: An integrated an experienced researcher or find a colleague approach. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum with similar interests and goals. Collaborative Associates. partners can build upon each other’s strengths, Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1999). Reflective push each other to keep moving forward, give teaching in second language classrooms. Cam- alternate perspectives, and inspire new ideas. bridge: Cambridge University Press. And perhaps most importantly, they can make Wallace, M. (1998). Action research for language the process fun. teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A collaborative endeavor JALT2011’s theme of teaching, learning, growing Author bio represents precisely the spirit of classroom-based Gregory Sholdt teaches in research, and I believe the social component the School of Languages and underlying that theme is also critical for the Communication at Kobe successful transition from teacher to teacher- University. His interests researcher. At my workshop, I will guide partici- include teacher development, pants through a set of worksheets that outline a classroom-based research simple but versatile quantitative research design methods, English for academic that can be used for meaningful classroom-based purposes, and fluency instruc- research and development of research skills. tion. Based on his graduate studies and teaching Additionally, I will look to assemble a group of of introductory statistics courses at the Univer- enthusiastic and dedicated teachers to participate sity of Hawaii, he has been exploring innovative in a unique research project that will provide approaches to professional development through team members with the opportunity to conduct classroom-based research. He has developed and a quantitative study in their own classrooms, given a number of professional development produce a publishable manuscript, gain valuable workshops and presentations throughout Japan, research experience, and help build a network of and created an online research methods course in individuals interested in professional develop- 2009 for language teachers through MASH Col- ment through collaborative research. laboration. He currently serves on the Editorial I hope to see you there! Advisory Board for the JALT Journal. 54 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Coverage and instruction of reduced forms in EFL course books Keywords Michael J. Crawford coverage, EFL coursebooks, listening instruction, reduced forms Dokkyo University As the development of bottom-up skills in L2 listening instruction begins to gain Yasuo Ueyama greater attention, more and more EFL course books are beginning to include exercises that are designed to improve Hokkaido University of Education, learners’ abilities to understand reduced forms such as gonna, wanna, and didja. Hakodate Campus As a step towards understanding how forms such these are being integrated into these materials, this study exam- esearchers of second language (L2) listening echo a ined 13 EFL course books and analyzed the number and frequency of the forms similar refrain about the place of their specialty in the they contain, as well as the types of R wider field of English Language Teaching (ELT). Namely, exercises they include. The number that despite its importance for the linguistic development of and frequency data was then compared to 13 different books that are specifi- learners, listening does not get the attention it deserves. Field cally designed to teach reduced forms, (2008, p. 1) writes the skill has been, and continues to be, on the thus allowing for a determination of the back burner, and states “there is still plenty of evidence that extent of coverage course books are providing. Overall, the results provided listening is undervalued.” Wilson (2008, p. 17) argues that of the a favorable picture of course books’ four skills, “listening is probably the least understood, the least handling of reduced forms. However, researched and, historically, the least valued.” some recommendations are made for improving coverage and making One consequence of listening having been somewhat ne- instruction more effective. glected over the years is that the methods employed to teach L 2リスニング指 導においてボトムアップスキ it have not been subject to much critical review. Field (2003) ル の 開 発 が 注 目 さ れ は じ め る 中 、学 習 者 の argues that one shortcoming has been the lack of attention to gonna, wanna, didjaのような弱形に対す る理 解度を高めることを目的とした練習問 the difficulties L2 learners face when confronted with connected 題が含まれているEFL用テキストが増えて speech containing assimilation, elision, and other forms of いる。弱形がこれらの教材にどのように導 入されているかを明らかにするために、本研 linguistic variation (hereafter referred to collectively as ‘reduced 究では13冊のテキストを調査対象とし、そ forms’). This can be attributed at least partly to the fact that れらの中に含まれている弱形の数および出 listening instruction has tended to emphasize the development 現頻度、練習問題の種類を分析した。さら に 、数 と 出 現 頻 度 の デ ー タ を 、弱 形 を 中 心 に of top-down listening processes over bottom-up processes 取り上 げる 専 門 書 の 調 査 デ ー タと 比 較 する (Vandergrift, 2004). Increasingly, however, researchers are こ と に よ っ て 、テ キ ス ト で の 収 録 範 囲 を 確 認 した。分析の結果、テキストにおける弱形の recognizing the importance of bottom-up skills for successful 取 り 扱 い 方 は 、概 ね 専 門 書 の 調 査 結 果 と 一 listening. This applies to reduced forms, as the publication five 致し、良好であるということが分かった。し かし、収録範囲の細部や教育方針に関して years ago of a book-length treatment (Brown & Kondo-Brown, は、改善の余地があると思われる 2006a) of teaching and researching these forms evidences. The authors of this book note that despite the importance of reduced forms for learners, little research on their instruction has been THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 TLT » Feature Article conducted, and state that the goal of their book 2, 3 (Cengage); Interactions Access, Interactions is to “kick-start interest” in the field so that more 1, 2 (McGraw Hill) research is undertaken (Brown & Kondo-Brown, • Books on reduced forms: Mimi Narashi Eigo 2006b, p. 6). Hearing 2-shuukan Shuuchuu Zemi, Eigo As the teaching of reduced forms receives Hearing Tokkun-hon (ALC Press); Kiku Tame no greater attention in the field, a growing number Eigo Renshuu Note 1, 2 (Asahi Press); Eigo wo of ELT course books now include exercises that Kikitoru Tame no Mimi-narashi Kuchi-narashi expose learners to these forms and give them a Listening Drill (Asuka Publishing); Eigo chance to practice them aurally and/or orally. Listening no O-isha-san (Japan Times); Sound However, due to the fact that even in the field Advice, Whaddaya Say (Longman); Hit Parade of phonology, reduced forms have not been of Listening, Top of the Pops Listening (Macmil- central concern, and that few linguists have lan); Listening wa Kou Manabe (Nippon attempted to develop a systematic explanatory Jitsugyou Publishing); Listen and Learn: framework for them (Obendorfer, 1998), course Native no Oto ga Wakaru Eigo Listening, Eigo book authors face a challenging task when no Mimi ni Naru (Sanshusha) it comes to deciding which forms to include All of these course books are available in in their materials. Additionally, because little Japan and are all published by major American research has been done to examine how best to or British publishing companies, and the teach reduced forms, they also face difficulties levels range from high-beginning to upper- deciding what kind of exercises to include in intermediate. As for the books on reduced forms, their course books to teach the forms. four are published by major American or British As a step towards understanding how reduced publishing companies, while the remainder are forms are making their way into the curriculum, published by Japanese publishers of textbooks the purpose of this paper is to examine the and/or self-study books. It could be argued that coverage and instruction of reduced forms in a greater consistency could have been achieved ELT course books. Course books will be analyzed by only including books published by American to see which forms have been included, and the and British publishers. However, this is compli- coverage they provide and will be compared cated by the fact that very few books devoted to to books that are specifically designed to teach teaching reduced forms are available from these reduced forms. The types of exercises they use publishers. For this reason, a mixture of US/ to teach the forms will also be examined. The UK and Japanese publishers was utilized in the following research questions will be addressed: study. 1. How many forms for different types of reduction are included in the course books, Procedures and how does this compare with books on In order to answer the first two research ques- reduced forms? tions, a computerized database of all of the forms 2. Which individual forms are most frequently for five different types of reduction covered included in the course books, and how does in the 26 books used in the study was created. this compare with books on reduced forms? The five types included were assimilation (e.g., 3. What types of exercises are included in the meet you à meechu), elision (e.g., them à ‘em), course books to help learners to improve flapping (e.g., butter à budder), fused forms their understanding of reduced forms? (e.g., going to à gonna), and glottalization (e.g., button à bu’on). The database included the Method following information: 1. the form itself; 2. the name of the phonological process associated Materials with the reduction in the form (e.g., assimila- Thirteen course books and 13 books on reduced tion, elision, etc.); 3. the actual word(s) used to forms were included in the study: illustrate the reduction (e.g., the words meet you • Course books: Interchange Intro, 1, 2, 3, Active being used to illustrate assimilation of /t/ and Listening 1, 2, 3 (Cambridge); World English 1, /j/ to /tʃ/); 4. the title of the book in which the 56 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 57 TLT » Feature Article Table 3. Top 10 forms included in books on not in the same rank order. This makes for a total reduced forms of eight out of ten forms being found in both tables or an overlap of 80% with regard to the Form Example Process Books ten forms with the highest rates of inclusion. In (N) order to investigate whether this overlap also /d/ + /j/ à /ʤ/ would you assimilation 12 applies to the remainder of the 26 forms included ∅ /d/ à could à elision 12 in the course books, the correlation between the could frequency of inclusion for all of these forms and /t/ à ∅ can’t à elision 12 their respective frequency of inclusion for the can’t books on reduced forms was calculated. A rela- /t/ + /j/ à /ʧ/ get you assimilation 11 tively strong correlation was found: r(24)=.60, /h/ à ∅ he à he elision 10 p<.001. /g/ à ∅ doing à elision 9 Despite the relatively strong correlation with doing respect to the frequency of inclusion for different /k/ à ∅ talk à elision 9 forms, there were several forms for which there talk were clear differences. A list of these forms is provided in Table 4, along with the number of going to à gonna NA fused form 9 books they appeared in (for both types of book). got to à gotta NA fused form 9 As Table 4 shows, some forms that had rela- want to à wanna NA fused form 9 tively high levels of inclusion in the books on reduced forms had little to no inclusion in course As Tables 2 and 3 demonstrate, individual books. The first four forms in the table were forms were more likely to appear consistently in included in approximately a third to a half of the books on reduced forms than in course books. In books on reduced forms, but were not included fact, only one form, specifically assimilation of in any of the course books. The remaining forms /d/ and /j/ to /ʤ/, appeared in more than half had similar levels of inclusion in the books on of the 13 course books. In contrast, in the books reduced forms, but only limited inclusion in the for reduced forms, many forms were found in course books. the majority of books. Although the books on reduced forms showed greater consistency in Types of exercises terms of which forms they included, it should also be noted that there is a substantial overlap A total of eight different types of exercises that with respect to the most frequently included were devoted to reduced forms instruction were forms in the two types of book. The top three found in the course books. Table 5 lists these forms in the Tables 2 and 3 are identical, and five types and provides information about how other forms are found in both tables, although commonly they were employed. In order to give Table 4. Forms with large differences in coverage Form Example Process Coursebooks (N) Books on reduced forms (N) /t/ à /ɾ/ water flapping 0 7 /z/ + /j/ à /ʒ/ as you assimilation 0 6 /s/ à ∅ makes elision 0 6 could have à coulda NA fused form 0 5 /s/ + /j/ à /ʃ/ makes you assimilation 1 7 /1/ à ∅ feel à feel elision 1 7 /p/ à ∅ help à help elision 1 7 has to à hasta NA fused form 1 7 /v/ à ∅ give à give elision 1 5 /ð/ à ∅ that’s à that’s elision 2 7 58 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » tively strong correlation was found between the EFL students. Statistically significant gains of frequency of coverage for the forms included 32% were found between pre-test and post-test. in course books with that of books on reduced In a similar study conducted with Japanese EFL forms. In other words, forms that were consid- students, gains of 30%, also statistically signifi- ered important by authors of books on reduced cant, were found (Crawford, 2006). Dictation was forms were also found to be important for course also found to be effective in two other studies book authors. Nevertheless, two shortcomings (Crawford, 2005; Matsuzawa, 2006). However, were found. First, there was less consistency the gains the learners achieved between pretest in the course books, with only one form being and posttest, at 15% and 12%, respectively, were found in over half of the books examined. This not as large, although they were found to be suggests that a consensus about which forms are statistically significant. The strength of dictation important to teach has yet to develop. Second, is that it simulates the cognitive processing that there were several forms that were included learners must engage in when they encounter frequently in books on reduced forms, but were reduced forms, namely to hear them and decode not included in course books. This includes them into forms that they already know (i.e., the flapping, discussed above, but also forms citation forms). While the other types of exercises involving assimilation and elision that are very that were found in the course books can provide similar to forms that were frequently included valuable practice, they do not simulate this in the course books. The fact that these forms process as closely as dictation. For this reason, it were not included points to the main problem is hoped that course book authors take note of with reduced forms instruction in course books. the effectiveness of dictation and include more Namely, that they tend to teach forms as isolated such exercises in their materials. instances of reduction, rather than as the result of processes that can affect many different sounds. Conclusion While there is probably not room in course books for detailed explanations of reduction processes, Considering that reduced forms can create a simple explanation (e.g., that word-final conso- significant comprehension problems for learn- nants have a tendency to be reduced), followed ers, it is encouraging to see that more and more by examples would give learners the tools they authors of EFL course books are including them need to understand reduced speech when they in their materials. Although this study revealed encounter new instances on their own. some shortcomings with respect to how reduced forms are taught in course books, such as a lack Finally, with regard to the types of exercises of consistency and a tendency to introduce forms included in the course books, it was found that as individual instances of change as opposed to having students listen to example sentences that the products of a limited number of phonological include reduced forms and then practice saying processes, overall the results were positive. The them aloud were by far the most common. A course books examined in the study covered number of the course book sections that were close to a third of the forms introduced in books examined also included follow-up exercises, and that are specifically designed to teach reduced most of these involved further listening practice. forms, and there was a significant overlap in the Considering that for most students, the ability to forms included in the two types of books. With understand reduced forms in real world encoun- this good start behind them, let us hope that ters is likely to be more important than being course book authors continue to see reduced able to produce the forms themselves, this is a forms as an important part of the curriculum, welcome result. Nevertheless, only two out of and that efforts are undertaken to make improve- the 13 course books included dictation exercises. ments in the selection of forms for inclusion and Although there is still not much research on re- in the methodology employed to teach them. duced forms instruction, most of the studies that have been undertaken have used dictation, and have found it to be effective. In perhaps the earli- Acknowledgement est study of its kind, Brown and Hilferty (1986) This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for used dictation to teach reduced forms to Chinese Scientific Research (Kakenhi). Grant #: 21520628. 60 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » References Matsuzawa, T. (2006). Comprehension of English reduced forms by Japanese business people Brown, J.D., & Hilferty, A. (1986). Listening for and the effectiveness of instruction. In J.D. reduced forms. TESOL Quarterly, 20(4), 759- Brown & K. Kondo-Brown (Eds.), Perspectives 763. on teaching connected speech to second language Brown, J.D., & Kondo-Brown, K (Eds). (2006a). speakers (pp. 59-66). Honolulu: University of Perspectives on teaching connected speech to second Hawai’i Press. language speakers. Honolulu: University of Obendorfer, R. (1998). Weak forms in present-day Hawai’i Press. English. Oslo: Novus Press. Brown, J.D., & Kondo-Brown, K. (2006b). Intro- Shockey, L. (2003). Sound patterns of spoken ducing connected speech. In J.D. Brown & K. English. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Kondo-Brown (Eds.), Perspectives on teaching connected speech to second language speakers (pp. Vandergrift, L. (2004). Listening to learn or 1-15). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. learning to listen? Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 3-25. Crawford, M. (2005). Bottom-up skills and L2 listening pedagogy: A study on the teaching of Wilson, J.J. (2008). How to teach listening. Harlow: reduced forms in English. Journal of the English Pearson Education. Literary Society of Hakodate, 44, 23-40. Crawford, M. (2006). A study on teaching Michael J. Crawford teaches in the Interdepart- reductions perceptually. In K. Bradford-Watts, mental (Zenkari) English Language Program at C. Ikeguchi, & M. Swanson (Eds.), JALT2005 Dokkyo University. His primary research interest Conference Proceedings. Retrieved from 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 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 61 62 | The Language Teacher » Readers’ Forum Music and MEXT: How songs can help primary school English teachers teach and their students learn James York Keywords young learners, music, MEXT, Eigo Tokyo Denki University (English) Note In this paper, I address Japanese ith the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, primary school teachers who may find Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) recently themselves having to teach English for W introducing new guidelines regarding English educa- the first time as a result of MEXT’s tion at the primary school level, primary school teachers find plan to introduce compulsory English themselves at an important time of change. Unlike secondary education in primary schools nation- wide. I propose that using music and schools, which may have multiple specialist English teachers, singing in such contexts is beneficial for primary schools may have one, or, as in the majority of cases, no both students and teachers. For stu- specialist English teaching staff. According to the MEXT (n.d.) dents, I argue that music has positive guidelines, it is the role of “homeroom teachers” (students’ effects on lowering the affective filter, everyday teacher, not a specialist English teacher)—who may provides the opportunity to practice pronunciation, can help improve have low English language ability, as well as no experience in acquisition of the target language, teaching English—to teach English to their students. However, and can assist in the development without presuming that homeroom teachers are incapable of of automaticity. For teachers, the teaching English to their students, the current paper explores paper provides practical lesson ideas how the use of songs can be considered an important aid in separated into speaking and listen- ing language skills. I also provide an helping both non-native teachers teach, and their students learn overview of how specific songs may in this context. be incorporated into the fifth-grade This paper is designed to provide practical ideas regarding English syllabus proposed by MEXT. the use of songs in the Japanese primary school EFL context. 文部科学省による学習指導要領改訂で、公 However, the theoretical grounding behind such ideas is also 立小学校における外国語活動が新設され、 presented. Following this, concerns and considerations when 初めて英語を教えるという小学 校教師が多 using songs as a source of language are presented. Songs that いと思われる。本論では、そんな小学校教 師への提言を行う。そのような場面では、音 complement the MEXT model syllabus are selected and a 楽や合唱が児童にも教師にも有益である。 number of song-based activities designed to improve listening 音楽は学習者の情意フィルターを下げ、発 音練習の機会を与え、目標言語の習得に好 and speaking skills are introduced. The advantages of using 影響があり、automaticityの養成にも役立 the selected songs and activities from a teacher’s standpoint つ 。教 師 に と って 実 用 的 な 授 業 の アイ デ ィア を、スピーキングとリスニングのスキル別に are also considered. Finally, a conclusion highlights the paper’s 提案する。また、特定の曲を題材に、文科省 findings. の第5学年のシラバスへの取り入れ方も提案 する。 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Literature review theoretically grounded affective, linguistic, and MEXT foreign language education cognitive reasons. guideline In his Affective Filter Hypothesis, Krashen (1982) claims that if the affective filter is high, MEXT updated the national primary school learners will not seek language input, and education guideline in 2006 with the initiative of language acquisition will not occur. The af- introducing 70 hours of English over grades five fective filter can thus be described as student and six (10-11 year old students). This initiative apprehension or anxiety towards learning, and has been put into practice nationwide since lowering this filter has been deemed important March 2009. The objective is to foster speaking in fostering a positive attitude towards learn- and listening skills, using English as the medium ing in students. The casual nature of learning for purposeful communication. The keyword through singing can help promote a productive “communication” appears twice within the main atmosphere in class, lowering the affective filter objective, and other key points of the guideline and in turn increasing the potential for language suggest that communicative activities should be acquisition. used where possible (MEXT n.d.). Linguistically, songs provide learners with a Rather than following a MEXT-prescribed chance to hear informal or colloquial English model syllabus, schools are to establish their that they may encounter outside the classroom. own appropriate English education syllabi based Songs such as those in Jazz Chants (Graham, on the circumstances of their students and local 1994) are rich with alliterating phrases, which communities. MEXT is however aware of the can be used to encourage noticing of particular difficulties that teachers face in creating their phonemes, and to refine students’ pronunciation. own syllabi and has produced a model syllabus, As an example, Mary Had a Little Lamb can be accompanying student workbook, and teacher’s used for /l/ sounds and Row, Row, Row Your Boat manual for both grade levels. Even assuming for /r/ sounds; a point particularly significant in that teachers will not implement every lesson the case of the present study, as Japanese English from the provided teacher’s manual, Medgyes learners struggle at differentiating these two (1986, p. 110) writes that textbooks ensure “a phonemes (Thompson, 2001). great deal of linguistic safety” for non-native teachers and thus it is a fair assumption that Cognitively, songs have been linked to the they may emulate the model syllabus, and rely development of automaticity in students, which on at least some parts of the student textbook is the ability to know what to say and be able in their English lessons. The current paper is to say it without pausing. Automatisation was based on this assumption, and aims to show how traditionally thought of as an element of fluency songs can be implemented to enable teachers developed through rote learning. However, with to introduce English in a student-centered, the worldwide shift towards teaching methods meaning-focused classroom environment. that emphasised communication from the 1970s, automatisation was to be developed through Reasons for using songs in EFL classrooms different activities (Schoeopp, 2001). Songs can be considered a useful tool for developing From young learners to adult learners there are automatisation in communicative contexts due to ways of including songs into lessons according their repetitive nature, and ability to be worked to the linguistic ability and interests of students. into communication-based activities. Children are particularly receptive to sound Similar to how Asher’s (1969) Total Physical and rhythm, with musical intelligence appear- Response (TPR) links physical responses to ing early on in their intellectual development linguistic components, the strong rhythmical (Davies, 2000). This provides enough of a reason element of songs makes acquisition of the to include music and songs in the classroom; language easier than trying to remember a however, Schoepp (2001) researched reasons spoken version. Murphey (1990) notes that songs for including songs in EFL classrooms and have the ability to get “stuck in one’s head”, a concluded that teachers use songs based on phenomenon where one continues to sing a song THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 63 TLT » Readers’ Forum long after listening to it. This phenomenon in This paper concentrates on activities that conjunction with the rhythmical and melodic improve student speaking and listening skills for elements of music can help students to memorize two reasons: (a) due to word-limit restrictions on linguistic properties of the language. Further- the paper, (b) to comply with MEXT’s decision more, incorporating gestures and actions into to focus on these two skills at the primary school songs can make them even more meaningful and level. enjoyable. Listening skills Criticisms of songs in EFL classrooms An activity presented by Hill-Clarke and While there are strong, theoretically grounded Robinson (2003) can be used as a lesson or topic reasons for using songs in primary school starter to help students link emotionally to settings, there are several criticisms. The nature songs. The activity requires students to draw of the language used in songs is not always a pictorial representations of how each of a variety realistic model of useful discourse – e.g. some of musical styles makes them feel. Benefits songs are repetitive, word order is sometimes include lowering the affective filter, and vocabu- distorted to fit the rhyme, and intonation is lary acquisition. This activity can help teachers often distorted to fit the melody of the song. deepen their connection with students. Advice is to use songs as an introduction to new Listening activities linking TPR methodology vocabulary and grammatical items, but to not to songs are frequently used in primary school dwell solely on the notion of English as a song. settings, a typical example being Head, Shoulders, Instead, a focus on songs as a reference to the Knees, and Toes where students touch the relevant target language during post-singing activities is part of their body as words are introduced. A fol- recommended. Using the language from songs low up listen-and-do activity is typically a Simon in communicative activities can help support Says game, where students obey commands students’ language acquisition. given by the teacher or other students. Getting students to remember a sequence of body parts Application of songs and activities into in a memory game can expand this activity MEXT’s model syllabus even further. Having the vocabulary introduced through songs and linked to gestures means that An overview of MEXT’s model syllabus for fifth teachers can concentrate on managing the game. grade students is shown in Table 1 along with the target language for each topic. Subsequently, an activity that facilitates the acquisition of specific vocabulary items requires Topic No. Target language students to listen to a song and mark a work- 1 Greetings. sheet each time a predetermined word appears. 2 Greetings and feelings. At the end of the activity the teacher replays 3 Numbers. the song, confirming the number of times each 4 Expressing preferences. item appeared. Asking students to listen out for several words or full sentences can further Polite requests, negative state- 5 expand this activity. With a lyrics sheet available ments, and possession. in most CD covers, teachers have quick access to 6 Polite requests. the answers. 7 Interrogative clauses. Giving students the task of rearranging a School subjects and days of the 8 number of illustrations of a song that is still week. relatively new to them increases student focus on 9 Asking preferences. song’s contents. Similarly, exposing students to a Table 1. MEXT model syllabus for grade five song and then performing a true-false test based students on the contents can help achieve an increased focus on language components. True-false tests also expose students to question formation in English, and asking students to create their 64 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » The act of singing is inherently connected to Do You Like Create strange or unique pronunciation practice; however, it is important 4 Broccoli Ice foods. to increase awareness of pronunciation features Cream? (SSS3) Interview other students. using focused activities. Old McDonald can be used both as a listening activity asking students to Put On Your Play charades. 5 listen out for instances of vowel sounds, but more Shoes (SSS3) Design role-plays. importantly to help with student pronunciation. How Much? Design role-plays. As mentioned in the literature review, Mary Had a 6 (Genki English 1) Little Lamb and Row, Row, Row Your Boat are con- sidered particularly useful in the current context What’s This? Hide objects in a box, for practicing /l/ and /r/ sounds. For non-native (Genki English 2) quizzing other students teachers who may have as much difficulty as their 7 about the contents. students in pronouncing certain phonemes, the Old MacDonald. Focus on vowel sounds. native-speakers in songs provide an accessible (Apricot) model of correct pronunciation. Days of the Week Link feelings and gestures 8 Songs can be used as the basis for role-play (Apricot) to weekdays. activities. Examples include How much (Genki English, n.d.) and Put On Your Shoes (Super Breakfast! (Genki Use the song as a template Simple Songs 1, 2005). In the case of How Much, English 7) for introducing lunch menus. gestures and actions could be added to the lyrics 9 before being performed. Subsequently, the song Relate the song to the can be rewritten with purchasable items and dialogue featured in Eigo prices replaced with alternative, topic-appropri- Noto. ate vocabulary. Finally, a skit or role-play can be Table 2. Possible songs and activities to created that is independent of the original song. accompany the MEXT model syllabus. Songs and activities for the MEXT model Further considerations syllabus The fact that music is a recorded medium means Table 2 outlines how songs and the aforemen- that it can be replayed outside of the classroom tioned speaking and listening activities may be at any time. Thus, students could be given a CD THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 65 TLT » Readers’ Forum copy to listen to at home, be it for pleasure or as Conclusion homework. This would increase their familiarity The purpose of this paper is to highlight how with the melodies of new songs, or help them re- songs and appropriate follow-up activities can view songs that they already know. Furthermore, be used effectively as a pedagogical tool in Japanese primary schools broadcast a student- Japanese primary schools to support the devel- governed radio show at lunchtime featuring opment of listening and speaking skills. Songs quizzes, music requests, and announcements. are considered particularly beneficial in young I propose that this period could be utilised to learner contexts as they promote a positive learn- introduce or review English songs. ing environment as well as a base for a range of Considerations have also been made to ensure individual, group, and class-based activities. The that the songs mentioned in Table 2 are readily songs and activities that are selected here are in available to Japanese teachers. All featured CDs accordance with the MEXT-designed English are produced in Japan and aimed specifically at syllabus and the learning context of Japanese young EFL learners. This consideration is espe- primary schools. The paper shows that there are cially beneficial to non-native Japanese teachers, not only songs to support every lesson in the syl- as all publishing companies have excellently labus, but also that communicative activities can maintained websites written in both English and be incorporated to increase students’ language Japanese featuring a multitude of games and acquisition. Effort has also been taken to ensure activities that can be used in conjunction with that selected songs are available in Japan, from their songs. In addition, both the Genki English companies that feature bilingual websites to series (Graham, R., n.d.), and Knock Knock English support non-native teachers. have dedicated YouTube channels where teachers can view lesson demonstrations on demand. 66 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » References Thompson, I. (2001), Japanese speakers. In M. Swan & B. Smith (Eds.), Learner English: A Asher, J.J. (1969). The total physical response teacher’s guide to interference and other problems, approach to second language learning. The 2nd ed., (pp. 296-309). Cambridge, UK: Cam- Modern Language Journal [online], 53(1), [Ac- bridge University Press. cessed 13 October 2009], pp.3:17. Davies, M. (2000). LEARNING... the beat goes on. Childhood Education, 76(3). James York was a full- time primary school Graham, C. (1994). Mother Goose Jazz Chants. English teacher for a New York: Oxford University Press. total of four years (April Graham, R. (n.d.) Genki English Volume 1. Ehime, 2006 to March 2010). Japan: Genki English. During that time, he Graham, R. (n.d.) Genki English Volume 3. Ehime, worked on numerous Japan: Genki English. classroom-based research Graham, R. (n.d.) Genki English Volume 7. Ehime, projects, including the use Japan: Genki English. of music and literature Hill-Clarke, K. Y., & Robinson, N. R. (2003). in young learner EFL Locomotion and literacy: Effective strategies to contexts before eventually enhance literacy instruction. In Annual Meeting specialising in how a task-based language learn- of the National Council of Teachers of English, ing (TBL) methodology can be adapted for use in November 21-26, 2002, Atlanta [online]. [Ac- Japanese primary school contexts. Although he cessed 14 October 2009]. is currently employed at Tokyo Denki University as a full-time English lecturer, he is still commit- Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practices in ted to performing classroom-based research, and second language acquisition. Oxford, England: in particular student motivation and the adapta- Pergamon Press. tion of TBL in the Japanese EFL context. Medgyes, P. (1986). Queries from a communica- tive teacher. ELT Journal [online]. 40(2), [Ac- cessed 1 October 2009], pp.107-112. OVERHEARD MEXT (n.d.). [online]. Accessed 25 September Sometimes the most important “learning moments” 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: come during the chats between presentations, such as this randomly overheard comment: “Interviews THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 67 68 | The Language Teacher » Readers’ Forum Why exposure to prosody should precede the teaching of reading Meredith Anne Stephens Keywords reading comprehension, prosody, East Shikoku Institute of Socio-Arts and orthography, pedagogy, examinees Sciences Japanese students of EFL typi- cally demonstrate superior reading comprehension to oral skills. This is ummins (2001) makes a distinction between Basic a reflection of an examination system Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS), which are weighted in favour of reading com- C acquired by all speakers in their L1, and Cognitive/ Aca- prehension skills (see Garant, 2000). demic Language Proficiency (CALP), which refers to literacy However attaining reading compre- skills required for academic language proficiency. This distinc- hension skills without an oral founda- tion is burdensome (Watanabe, 2002) tion explains the discrepancy in skills of immigrant children in and typically requires considerable English speaking countries who sometimes demonstrate surface memorization. Studies of first language fluency in L2 English but have difficulties with academic writ- acquisition indicate the formative role ing. ESL teachers who are familiar with this pattern may thus be of prosody in developing reading unprepared for a very different trend in Japan; many students comprehension. (Fox, 2010; Whalley & Hansen, 2006). Japanese EFL demonstrate comprehension of complex written texts but strug- learners would benefit from increased gle to engage in daily conversation (see Takeda, 2002). This is exposure to prosody in order to arguably the washback effect of an examination system, which develop reading comprehension more demands a high level of reading comprehension but has no oral efficiently. exam. This remarkable achievement has been at a considerable cost to the examinees, because it frequently entails many hours 外国語として 英 語を学習する日本人学生 は 、通 常 、会 話 力 よ り も 読 解 力 が 優 れ て い of homework and attendance at cram schools in order to learn る 。読 解 力 に 重 き を 置 い た 入 試 の 在 り 方 が through memorization rather than exposure. 反映されているからである。しかし、会話の 基礎力がない状態で、読解力を伸ばすのは、 Contrasting approaches to attaining English literacy are 学生の負担になり、通常、相当な丸暗記が必 要になる。第1言語と第2言語の習得に関す evidenced between L1 settings, and L2 settings in Japan. In る研究では、読解力を伸ばす上での音素認 L1 settings educators are urged to provide a strong base in 識と韻律の役割が指摘されている。つまり、 oral language skills as a prerequisite to English literacy (e.g. このふたつが読解学習の前提条件とみなさ れているのである。第1言語学習者が頻繁に Christie, 1984). In L2 settings in Japan written texts, rather than 音 読 を 聞 か さ れ る の と 同 じ く 、日 本 の 子 ど も oral language skills are principally used to inform the teaching たちに、読解力をより効率的に向上させるの に役立つよう、音読を頻繁に聞かせるべき of reading comprehension. The studies reviewed below indicate である。 the considerable benefits, which accrue if an understanding of prosody precedes the teaching of literacy. Clearly L1 acquisi- tion of English cannot be replicated for Japanese L2 learners of English because of the different learning contexts and age of exposure to English. However at least one aspect of L1 acquisi- THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 69 TLT » Readers’ Forum Japanese, English is a stress-timed language and The reason prosody has been neglected in the thus the use of strong or weak syllables signals teaching of EFL in Japan may be because it is changes in meaning. A largely written approach only minimally featured in English orthography, to EFL instruction ignores some of the impor- and is used unconsciously by L1 speakers. tant means of conveying meaning inherent in Ubiquitous prosodic features such as nuclear intonation: “Some of this intonational meaning and word stress, and the schwa do not appear is shown in writing, through the use of punctua- in English orthography. Although every vowel tion, but most of it is not.” (Wells, 2006, p. 5). may be sometimes produced as a schwa, this is not represented in the orthography. The rule that The importance of nuclear stress a full vowel in the first syllable is followed by a syllable with a schwa tends not to be explicitly Jenkins (2000, p. 234) devised the well-known taught. (Wade-Woolley & Wood, 2006, p. 254). Lingua Franca Core, in order to promote com- Despite their infrequent treatment in textbooks, munication between speakers of English as an prosodic differences are one of the major ob- International Language; the minimum features stacles confronting EFL learners in Japan, and of English pronunciation are included in order consequently, the acquisition of English literacy. to “guarantee mutual phonological intelligibil- The following discussion concerns how prosody ity.” Jenkins does not recommend the inclusion aids L1 learners of English to acquire literacy, of features of L1 pronunciation, which are not and suggests that some of the techniques used to crucial for intelligibility, but does include nuclear teach prosody also be adopted for L2 learners. stress. Nuclear stress is essential for accurately conveying meaning in English because it fulfills Lessons from prosody in L1 literacy a function other languages can undertake by instruction other means; other languages may rely on word order, inflections or particles to highlight impor- Spoken and written English provide differing tant information. Because English word order is clues to signal the beginning and ending of relatively fixed nuclear stress is implemented to words. In written English this is represented by identify the focus of the message (Creider, cited spaces. If the EFL classroom focuses predomi- in Jenkins, 2000, p. 46). nantly on written text, students may not learn Jenkins (2000, p. 150) acknowledges the how to separate the stream of speech into chunks difficulty of teaching word stress: “word stress of meaning. Children learning English as their L1 rules are so complex as to be unteachable”, and learn this skill thanks to the exaggerated prosody therefore recommends that just the core features provided by their caregivers. Prosody is thus the of word stress be taught. However the teaching means by which the stream of speech is made of nuclear stress is deserving of particular atten- meaningful. tion: Prosodic cues help segment the speech stream Nuclear stress, whether unmarked (or on the into phrases, words and syllables, inform last content word in the word group), or con- syntactic structure and emphasize salient trastive (somewhere else) is the most impor- information to facilitate understanding. Lan- tant key to the speaker’s intended meaning. guage users perceive speech to be made up of It highlights the most salient part of the mes- discrete sentences, phrases, words and even sage, indicating where the listener should pay phonemes, although utterances are produced particular attention. And contrastive stress in an almost continuous speech stream. In is particularly important in English, as the English, the prosodic stress pattern of alter- language does not have the morphological or nating strong and weak syllables provides a syntactic resources that many other languages reliable and useful tool to separate words in have to highlight contrasts: English has few speech, because strong syllables generally inflections, and its word order is relatively are assumed to mark the beginning of lexical inflexible. (Jenkins, 2000, p. 153) words (such as nouns and verbs). (Whalley & Hansen, 2006, p. 289) 70 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Adults are better able to impose prosody on have been introduced to reading before they written text than children: “prosody may play have had time to familiarize themselves with the a more integral role for children when learning contours of the text provided by prosody. to read than for adults who have mastered both Regarding the teaching of reading to L1 oral and written language” (Whalley & Hansen, English-speaking children, Ashby recommends: 2006, p. 289-299). Hence the scaffolding of prosody provided by parents or teachers, read- our research suggests that skilled readers do ing aloud to children, is a means of facilitating more than activate a series of phonological comprehension of written text. Parents are often segments. Readers also appear to activate a exhorted to read to their children in order to help prosodic structure. Therefore, it is possible them become proficient readers (e.g. Fox, 2010). that teaching simple letter-sound correspond- The act of hearing the text read aloud provides ences is not always sufficient for skilled prosodic modeling for children, that is not reading development. Developing prosodic evident from visual processing of the text. sensitivity in young readers may prove to be Accordingly, in the case of children learning an important piece of reading instruction, as to read English as their L1, studies indicate that our studies suggest that the ability to form an awareness of prosody facilitates the process elaborated, prosodic representations is a of learning to become effective readers. Wood characteristic of skilled adult reading. (Ashby, (2006, p. 284) claims, that “while stress sensitiv- 2006, p. 331) ity is part of phonology, it also contributes Krashen (2004, p. 4) claims that the “effects something distinctive to literacy development of deliberate, direct skill-based instruction are beyond this association.” Ashby (2006, p. 210) very weak and fragile”, and argues that the argues that skilled silent readers of English rely elements of grammar, spelling and vocabulary on prosody as they read: “Skilled readers might are “too complex to be consciously learned.” activate multiple levels of prosodic information This argument could be extended to include during silent reading, as they appear to do when prosody. The consequences of not presenting processing spoken language.” Although prosody prosody are an enormous burden on the memory is not evident from the orthography, skilled read- to process written text without clues as to how ers unconsciously superimpose their prosodic to segment meaning. Few students are able to awareness on the text. “Fodor (1998) stated this generalize from written texts to spoken interac- idea in the implicit prosody hypothesis, which tion. Watanabe (2002) argues that EFL pedagogy claims that readers impose a prosodic contour in Japan must reinforce the association between on text as they read it silently. Such a scenario orthography and phonology. This disassociation would suggest that readers exploit pervasive between these elements may explain Japanese linkages between spoken language and reading EFL students’ tendency to demonstrate strength systems during silent reading” (Ashby, 2006, p. of CALP over BICS. There would be less strain 319). on the memory if students were encouraged These explanations may be intuitively ap- to generalize from spoken language to reading pealing to EFL teachers who notice the contrast comprehension. Exposure to prosody in the form between the way they read silently, imposing of aural input, before learning to read may help prosody on the orthography as they read, and students develop reading comprehension more the painstaking processes observed in some efficiently. EFL learners; Harold Palmer, who was invited to Japan by the government back in 1922 to L2 reading acquisition of stressed-based promote TEFL, considered that “reading should languages by L1 speakers of syllable- be as fluent or natural as speaking or hearing, timed languages not the word for word puzzling out of meaning” (Masukawa, 1978, p. 246). A comparison of read- Goetry et al. (2006) conducted a study of cross- ing while listening to prosody with one’s inner linguistic differences between children learning voice, and the word for word reading sometimes Dutch, a stress-based language, and French, a observed in EFL students, suggests that the latter syllable-based language. Goerty et al. (p. 351) THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 71 TLT » Readers’ Forum speculate that native-French speaking children children have had the opportunity to familiarize may have difficulties processing reading and themselves with the sound of spoken English. spelling a stress-based L2 such as English or Watanabe appeals for a greater focus on listening Dutch because of the demands of processing comprehension throughout subsequent stages prosody, and conclude “If SPA (Stress Processing of EFL education through to university. Hence Abilities) influence reading development in exposure to prosody needs to occur not only stress-based languages like English and Dutch, before children are introduced to literacy, but then the inclusion of exercises aimed at develop- simultaneously as they learn to read. Accord- ing some sensitivity to prosody and stress should ingly, students should be able to gain more be beneficial for L2 learners, especially if their extensive exposure to the prosodic features of L1 presents very contrasted prosodic properties English which are implicit in written texts, and and/or functions” (p. 361). Similarly, because which make written texts meaningful. contrasting the prosody between English and Japanese creates a difficulty, English prosody Conclusion should be presented to Japanese EFL learners in order to facilitate their English reading compre- The suggestion that prosody be taught before hension. literacy is not incompatible with the principles of English as an International Language; it is not suggested that prosody be taught in order for How can prosody be presented to EFL learners to conform to Anglo-American norms. learners? Rather, prosody is critical because of the ways Explicit instruction to L2 learners is considered in which it informs literacy. Given the major necessary because the conditions of L1 acquisi- prosodic differences from Japanese, in order tion cannot be replicated for L2 learners (see for English to be taught effectively it should be Shen, 2003). However, prosody is too complex introduced in the primary school before literacy to be exclusively taught in a bottom-up manner. instruction. Japanese children could learn to read If modeling of prosody is provided from the more efficiently, and be spared the burden on the early years children may be able to acquire some memory of learning a stress-timed language for aspects of it effortlessly. This could be provided which prosodic cues are unavailable orthograph- either by increasing children’s exposure to ically. This may facilitate reading comprehension listening to English through partial immersion, at high school, and thus relieve children of the or regularly reading English stories and rhymes considerable time and effort in the memorization to children. Children’s author and literacy that currently characterizes the learning style of consultant Fox (2010) highlights the importance many examinees. of prosody for L1 children learning to read. Fox advises that before children learn to read they References need to hear a thousand stories, to hear the same stories read repeatedly, and for parents to Ashby, J. (2006). Prosody in skilled silent read- maintain the same intonation for each reading. ing: evidence from eye movements. Journal of Equally, children learning to read L2 English Research in Reading, 29(3), 318-313. should be read to frequently in order to acquire Christie, F. (1984). The functions of language, prosody and thus a foundation for literacy. pre-school language, learning and the transi- Watanabe (2002) has proposed ways in which tion to print. In F. Christie (Ed.), Children Japanese schoolchildren can be exposed to more writing: Study guide. Deakin: Deakin University spoken English in order to facilitate their general Press. proficiency. This begins in the primary school Cummins, J. (2001). The entry and exit fal- by attuning children to listening to English, in lacy in bilingual education. In C. Baker & N. order to later reinforce sound and letter cor- Hornberger (Eds.), An introductory reader to the respondence. Watanabe criticized the tendency writings of Jim Cummins. Clevedon, UK: Multi- to present all four skills of listening, speaking, lingual Matters Ltd. (pp. 110-138). reading and writing in middle school before 72 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Fox. M. (2010) Mem Fox: Teaching, Living, Learn- Whalley, K. & Hansen, J. (2006). The role of ing. Retrieved Mar 9, 2010, THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 73 TLT » Resources » MY SHARE TLT ResouMyrces Share elcome to the July-August issue of Materials: A sample A4-size poster as audio- My Share. This summer is sure to be visual material and copies for each student, a list W a scorcher, but we’ve got lots of cool of names of endangered species (one species for ideas to keep your students happy and motivated. each class member), writing task instructions, and In our first My Share, Ian Munby uses endangered an example of a completed writing task. A kitchen species to get students researching and writing timer is also useful for timing presentations. creatively. Next, Scott Peters has students writing dialogues and creating their own comics online. Introduction Our third contributor, Dana Kampman, brings fashion into the classroom and gets students writ- In this activity, each student researches, prepares, ing about it. Finally, Yuka (Maruyama) Yamamoto and presents an oral presentation about an develops learners’ listening strategies with a endangered species. In the follow-up activity, reconstructive listening activity. Have a great they assume the role of the same endangered summer with these great activities. species and write an essay detailing the story of their lives (and deaths) in the first person. Endangered Preparation You will need to research an endangered species species and give an example presentation to the class in the week before presentation day. You will Ian Munby also need to provide an example of a completed Hokkai Gakuen University writing task. MY SHARE ONLINE: A linked index of My Share articles can be found at: 74 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Step 2: Divide the class into four or six groups groups play the role of small, mobile audiences. of three or four students. Assign one different Each student in each group presents on their endangered species to each member of the class. species for 3 minutes. In this way, there are three Here is an example I used with a class of 24. or four presentations happening simultaneously in different corners of the room. After each group Japan Africa India finishes, the audience groups move around 1. Japanese 5. Cheetah 9. Tiger to listen to the next group. In the second half Otter of the lesson, the presenting groups become audiences (and vice versa) and the process is 2. Japanese 6. Mountain 10. Ganges repeated. In this way, each group repeats their Giant Ibis Gorilla River presentations three or four times. I use a kitchen Dolphin timer to control proceedings. With very large classes, presentations can be done over two class 3. Ryukyu 7. White 11. Snow periods. Flying Fox Rhinoceros Leopard 4. Japanese 8. Gazelle 12. Dhole Follow-up activity Crane Assign a writing task for independent study. See Appendix B for an example. Ask the students North Europe Asia to imagine they are the endangered animal they America have researched for their presentations and to describe their life history and the events of the 13. Sea Otter 17. Iberian 21. Giant Panda last seven to 24 hours of their lives, leading to Lynx their deaths, as in the sample essay. The length 14. Gray Wolf 18. Golden 22. Orangutan should be about 400-500 words. Eagle Conclusion 15. Steller Sea 19. Ibex 23. Komodo Lion Dragon From the learner’s point of view, this is an extremely challenging but enjoyable task that 16. Bald 20. Polar Bear 24. Dugong gives them opportunities to (i) practise research Eagle skills, (ii) develop all four language skills, (iii) raise awareness of global issues, and (iv) be crea- tive. As a teacher, I found my students’ essays to be much more interesting to read than what they Step 3: Ask the students to come back the next produce for most other writing tasks. week with their own A4-size presentation poster ready to give a three-minute presentation. Give References them the following guidelines: They must not use any extra notes, or write anything on the Tomei, J., Glick, C., & Holst, M. (1999). Project back of their posters. They should give Japanese work in the Japanese university classroom. The translations for any infrequent English words Language Teacher, 23(3). Retrieved from Procedure Making your own Step 1: Give a copy of the comic you made to the class. Ask them to read it and talk about the comic strip situation as a class. Sometimes, if students are up to it, it helps to discuss comic book language Scott Peters here (e.g., How do we show that the character is The Global Village thinking rather than speaking? How do we show 76 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » on the board for the students to ask each other From Vogue to GQ and answer: “How would you describe this fashion?”; “Do you like this fashion?”; “Why or to you why not?” Step 2: Come back together as a whole class and Dana Kampman ask the students to share what they talked about Al Yamamah University during the gallery walk. Facilitate a discussion Procedure Extension Step 1: As students enter the classroom, they The final product of this lesson can also be used are also entering the world of fashion. Instruct to initiate a cultural exchange between students students to find a partner and partake in a in different countries. Ask students to make their gallery walk. Ask the students to skim the texts articles digital by scanning them or digitally and look at the pictures. Have them describe the editing their photo. Have them email the article fashions displayed around the room and discuss along with three questions regarding fashion to their preferences. Write the following questions students in another class in a different country. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 77 TLT » Resources » MY SHARE: Kampman / Yamamoto This extension provides the students with an have just heard (Wajnryb, 1990). Instead of audience for their work and also creates an focusing on linguistic form, this lesson focuses opportunity for intercultural learning. on the process of reconstructing the original text. It can be beneficial in creating a learner-centered Conclusion class, as it helps learners work collaboratively in groups to reproduce the content of a short From the beginning of the lesson to the end, lecture, and requires both self-assessment and students are actively involved and compelled peer-assessment. Furthermore, it is an integrative to be creative with English. The students are learning process that utilizes all four language initially catapulted through the world of fashion skills (listening, reading, writing, and speaking). and then are taken into it as they themselves It also trains learners to develop their listening become fashion writers. The students start with strategies, such as listening for key words. GQ and Vogue, but finish with their own self- written magazine. Preparation Step 1: Find a short monologue listening text three to five minutes in length appropriate to the Adapting learners’ level. Step 2: Prepare warm-up activities such as hav- dictogloss for ing students share experiences on matters related to the topic. a collaborative Step 3: Make pre-listening vocabulary exercises (e.g., matching or cloze exercises) to introduce listening class students to any challenging vocabulary items from the texts. Being familiar with the topic and Yuka (Maruyama) Yamamoto the vocabulary will make it easier for them to Toyo Eiwa University comprehend what they hear. Step 4: Create eight to ten comprehension ques- 78 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » …with Robert Taferner To contact the editor: THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 79 TLT » Resources » BOOK REVIEWS: Greenberg World English is a multi-faceted four-skills EFL the discussions too open-ended (i.e., lacking suf- textbook series that engages students from the ficient lexical support and grammatical guidance). beginner to high-intermediate levels through its This prevented those particular students from international motif and real world content. Hav- carrying out the objectives. ing partnered with National Geographic, World The last section of each unit features a Video English makes good use of its extensive photo Journal, which includes exercises and activities inventory to enhance content and stimulate centered around short National Geographic students’ curiosity of other cultures. It also uses a videos, shot at different locations throughout the competency-based syllabus, which outlines specific world. The segments, which average about four knowledge and skill sets that students gradually minutes in length, are both eclectic and appeal- develop through the effective performance of ing—covering everything from Aboriginal rock particular activities and tasks (Richards, 2001, p. art in Australia, to Andean weavers, to a butler 159). school in England (as found in World English 3). Each World English While the segments are quite interesting, they textbook is divided do not necessarily tie into or reinforce any of the into twelve 12-page linguistic elements featured in the unit. I also units, with each unit found the cadence to be a bit fast for many of having a general my students, leading me to question their direct theme, such as Nature, pedagogical benefit. Lifestyles, and Com- I used video journals, exercises, and activities munication. Each unit from World English 3 to supplement the content is then sub-divided of the same university Listening & Speaking into five sections, with course. After twice soliciting written feedback four of these sections from students on the course content, I found focusing on specific their interest in the World English materials to be communicative goals comparable to others I had used in the course; and the fifth built around a Video Journal cover- however, they did not find them to be as useful. ing short video narratives on people, places, and The latter was somewhat expected, however, events. The thematic units serve to contextualize given that the other course components focused the various linguistic components contained largely on communication strategies and aca- within them, while the lexical, syntactic, and demic skills. discursive elements in each section help learners Using World English 1 with a second-year develop the language skills necessary to achieve university communication class has provided that section’s specific communicative goal. Al- mostly favorable results. While I find the major- though World English bills itself as a “four skills ity of exercises and activities—especially those general English series” (back cover), its greatest centered around grammar points—to be quite focus is on speaking and listening, with roughly standard fare, the international motif does add three quarters of its pages devoted to these skills. spice to the content, more thoroughly engag- With respect to writing, as with many four-skills ing those students with an interest in foreign textbook series, World English offers very little ex- cultures. plicit writing skills development. Instead, it uses Apart from the textbooks, the publisher of the writing models and examples to guide students World English series provides lots of support through specific tasks. What World English lacks in for both teachers and students. For the teacher, writing development, it makes up for in speaking special features include a lesson planner, exam activities, with no fewer than ten of these per unit. creator, and grading support; and for learners, The speaking tasks often encourage generative there are both regular and video workbooks as language based on pictorial prompts and task- well as a multifaceted CD-ROM, which includes specific scenarios. When using these communica- a variety of practice exercises in addition to tive tasks with a mixed-level advanced university audio and video shorts. Finally, there are free Listening & Speaking class, I found that most interactive resources and games available students embraced them, but three or four found 80 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » * English Explorer. Stephenson, H., & Bailey, J. Tokyo: Cengage, 2011. [4-level series w/ Recently international and communicative focus for secondary level and young adults incl. student Received book w/ picture dictionary, video worksheets, CLIL and culture sections, 4 review units, and ...with Greg Rouault multi-ROM w/ National Geographic video Q: Skills for Success. Multiple authors. Oxford: Cengage Learning Asia, 2010. [New edition, Oxford University Press, 2010. [6-level EAP 3-level activity-based series for young learn- course with paired skills in two strands Reading ers based on the Cambridge Young Learners & Writing and Listening & Speaking incl. student English Test incl. 10-unit student book, activ- book w/ online access, class audio CDs, and ity book, teacher’s book w/ photocopiable teacher’s book w/ Test Generator CD-ROM]. resources and practice tests, and CD pack]. ! Real Reading. Bonesteel, L., Wiese, D., & Sav- age, A. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Books for Teachers 2010. [4-level theme-based reading series with (reviewed in JALT Journal) authentic and adapted content from various Contact: Bill Perry genres incl. fluency practice units, MP3 CD- ROM, and online teacher’s manual and tests]. [email protected] The Tale That Wags. Murphey, T. Nagoya: Perceptia Press, 2010. [A novel introducing, critiquing, and * Being and Becoming a Speaker of Japanese: An offering solutions for university entrance exami- Autoethnographic Account. Simon-Maeda, A. nations and the Japanese education system]. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2011. * Young Learners English Course (Super Starters, * An Introduction to Irish English. Amador-More- Mighty Movers, Fantastic Flyers). Superfine, W., no, C. P. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing, West, J., Lambert, V., & Pelteret, C. Singapore: 2010. JALT FoJALTcus FOCUS JALT Calendar JALT News Listings of major upcoming events in the organisation. For more information, visit JALT’s website …with Malcolm Swanson To contact the editor: 82 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 83 TLT » JALT Focus » JALT Notices and refereed journals (in-house university- 84 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 85 TLT » Resources » Grassroots JALT FoGcurassrs oots n this edition, Jo Mynard reports on the Advising in language learning has been de- Advising for Language Learner Autonomy fined as a “system of interventions which aims at I conference; read on to discover why you supporting students’ methodology of language should add this event on November 12th to your learning by means of ‘conversations’ i.e. by using diary! Gregory Strong also reports on how New language in the framework of social interaction Orleans TESOL 2011 showcased both the city’s to help students reflect on their learning experi- resiliency and the argument that strength comes ence, identify inconsistencies and steer their own from diversity. path” (Esch 1996, p. 42). The field of advising in language learning emerged along with the early self-access centres Advising for in Europe in the 1980s as a way to facilitate learner responsibility in self-directed learning. language learner In 1999, a conference was held at the University of Hull in the UK. This resulted in a subsequent autonomy: publication (Mozzon-McPherson & Vismans, 2001), which helped to inform educators on An upcoming research and practice in the area. Since then, presentations about advising have been featured conference at events held by IATEFL (International Associa- tion of Teachers of English as a Foreign Lan- Jo Mynard, Kanda University of guage), ILA (Independent Learning Association), International Studies JASAL (Japan Association of Self Access Learn- Have you ever wondered what the best way ing), and, of course, JALT (Japan Association for is to advise students on the language learning Language Teaching). process? This upcoming conference will be of in- Advising may be part of a language teacher’s terest to educators working as learning advisors, repertoire, or could be a specific role performed those involved in promoting learner autonomy, by a learning advisor who usually works outside or teachers facilitating peer-advising. the classroom. Learning advisors are “trained • When: Saturday, 12 Nov 2011 (also tours of teachers who, instead of teaching in a traditional two self-access centres on 11 Nov) sense, guide learners and help them to analyse needs, set goals and implement a course of • Where: Kanda University of International action” (Mynard & Navarro, 2010). The team Studies (KUIS), Chiba, Japan of learning advisors at Kanda University of • More information at: …with Joyce Cunningham and Mariko Miyao To contact the editors: 86 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 87 TLT » JALT Focus » Grassroots ESL as a core academic subject, and separating New Orleans ELLs from local, district, and state accountability statistics to avoid stigmatizing certain areas of TESOL 2011: the country. The political issue of greater support for Channelling “The ELLs fit well with the conference theme of Examining the ‘E’ in TESOL. The theme explored Big Easy” the relationships between idealized dialects, Gregory Strong, English Department, global Englishes, and regional, social, and ethnic variations, such as those found in New Orleans Aoyama Gakuin University and the Mississippi River delta. Plenary speak- ers like Jennifer Jenkins from the University of TESOL 2011 from March 16-19 drew at least Southampton challenged the notion of standard some of its 5,800 participants from those curious English, at one point mocking Prince Charles to see New Orleans six years after Hurricane for championing it. Shondel Nero of New York Katrina. Back on August 29, 2005, the city’s University pointed out that as immigration protective levees were breached in 53 different takes languages all over the world, Creole places and storm waters flooded 80 percent of English speakers in American schools were New Orleans, causing 1,836 deaths. Then the being mislabelled as ESL students. In calling for Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig caught fire on greater acceptance of regional, social, and other April 20, 2010, triggering the Gulf oil spill. non-native varieties of English, Walt Wolfram of North Carolina State University argued, “If pre- For those of us arriving from Japan, days after sented to them in interesting ways, everybody is the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku, the vital- interested in dialect diversity.” ity of New Orleans proved inspiring. New York may be the Big Apple, but New Orleans remains With more than 1,000 sessions and events, the Big Easy, its motto, Let the good times roll. including presenters from some 100 TESOL affili- And roll they did during evenings of the 3-day ates, including JALT, the conference was a move- conference. First came a St. Patrick’s Day parade, able feast replete with serendipitous associations, then one on Saturday for St. Joseph. Both ambled chance encounters with colleagues, and ideas from through the fabled French Quarter, a short walk the best known contributors to the field. It might from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Centre. It have been Katherine Bailey on dialogue journals, hardly seemed believable that at the same center, indicating their uses in ethnographic research. It TV commentator Geraldo Rivera had appeared could have been Julian Edge’s stirring session on on camera during Hurricane Katrina, begging teacher reflection calling for “lived examples of the authorities to rescue the 10,000 evacuees how we develop ourselves.” Presentations even stranded there. came on integrating natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina into a curriculum, sessions with The opening address at TESOL 2011 by Thelma practical implications for those of us in Japan. Meléndez, Assistant Secretary for elementary and secondary education at the U.S. Department The Electronic Village and Technology Show- of Education, reminded participants of TESOL’s case not only provided sessions on CALL, but advocacy of second language teachers in the also Electronic Village Fairs. During these times, U.S. The No-Child-Left-Behind Act of 2001 made demonstrators took up places around the room schools more accountable for their students’ to show the use of interactive whiteboards, MP3 academic performance. However, it failed to players, and various handheld devices. Today, support the country’s growing English Language for $249, one can access many of the conference Learner (ELL) population, something that both slideshow presentations along with streaming Meléndez and TESOL claim should be a priority. audio commentary at 88 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » However, fewer teachers came to TESOL than annual convention moves around the United in 2010. Catherine Curtis, TESOL Coordinator States, connecting it to its members. of Conference and Exhibits Services and Job Hopefully, more teachers will attend the Marketplace attributed the smaller numbers to a TESOL 2012 convention, March 28-31, and even knock-on effect from the recession and the choice more will join this worthwhile organization. Ac- of New Orleans for the 45th annual convention. cording to an email from John Segota, Director of “Everyone who came thought it was a great Advocacy, Standards and Professional Relations, location,” said Curtis. “But we do much better on there are 12,000 TESOL members today. That’s a the eastern seaboard. So, we’re expecting more drop from a high of nearly 14,000. New Orleans next year in Philadelphia.” TESOL pointed out the value of this conference Furthermore, according to Curtis, there were and of the organization and the underlying only 26 employers on site at the Job Marketplace. message of both language education and global That’s compared to 40 last year when the confer- Englishes, that diversity remains a source of ence was held in Boston. To TESOL’s credit, the strength. JALT FocOus utreach G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau. Godfrey Bal- Island poetry, dacchino is the Canada Research Chair in Island Studies and an editor of the Island Studies Jour- manifestos, and nal. His undergraduate studies were in English and Social Studies and his graduate work was short stories in Labor and Development. He combined these two fields to write a doctoral thesis on labour Islands lend themselves to researchers because relations in Lilliput, the name of a township in of their manageable size. What goes to an the UK and a fictional island nation that appears island and what leaves an island can be readily in the first part of the 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels observed. What happens on islands can teach us by Jonathan Swift. about what occurs on continents. Consider the Baldacchino and his colleagues in the Master seminal work on finches by Charles Darwin on of Arts in Island Studies program at the Univer- the Galapagos Islands that led to the theory of sity of Prince Edward Island in Canada conduct evolution. Fieldwork with people in the Samoan fieldwork and teach classes in Kagoshima every Islands and Papua New Guinea led Margaret year. The inhabited islands in Kagoshima Prefec- Mead to find convincing evidence that gender ture attract these sociologists because each island roles are determined by education and society. has its own attractive identities: Tanegashima The confines of an island inspired stirring stories launches rockets for the Japan Aerospace Explo- such as Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) and H. ration Agency, Amami is home to island music, …with David McMurray To contact the editors: THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 89 TLT » JALT Focus » Outreach Yoron hides an underwater paradise for scuba Baldacchino explains that islands are some- divers, and Yakushima is a World Heritage Site. times conceived as inert, material objects—but, In 2011, Baldacchino conducted five experi- in the very act of conception they are also ments with graduate students at the Interna- imagined, desired, attributed with powers, tional University of Kagoshima. The university secrets, and mysteries. Islands are primarily draws its student body from nearby islands, metaphysical objects. They are like clay: malle- Okinawa, Kyushu, and internationally. His able to our whims, desires, and fantasies, often classes appeal not only to students of language, without us realizing this. Islands thus call us and linguistics, and literature, but also history, lure us to experiment with them. politics, and international relations. His first experiment was designed to encour- His sessions were task-based, where partici- age students to write creatively about islands in pants undertook a practical task either alone or the English language. He explains that stories in small groups. For example, they were asked to about islands typically involve protagonists write a poem, a short story, and a political mani- (usually male) on a journey which takes them festo relating to island projects. Murphey (2010) to the island as dreamers, castaways, rejects, has done similar work in encouraging first-year losers, or zealous missionaries. Once there, they university students in Japan to construct and either succumb to the bestiality and savagery of promote political manifestos as suggestions for nature or they commit the island inexorably to changing English education for future genera- the discipline of enterprise, capitalism, industry, tions. Murphey’s students developed manifestos modernity, and utopian ideals. for studying abroad and demanding that tuition Another experiment he conducted with fees not be levied by universities in Japan while students involved framing the island. Most students study at institutions overseas. In a cultures conceive of a special, perfect place like similar way, Baldacchino (2007) has developed the Shangri-La, Paradise, or the Garden of Eden. classroom activities and fieldwork that encour- He asked students to describe the characteris- age islanders and students to voice their own tics of this place and how it interacts with its concerns. Baldacchino (2007, p. 2) cautions his residents and its non-residents. He then tries to colleagues to avoid situations “where the subject get the students to connect this framed image of matter—the island, or the islander—becomes a a paradisal island with the powerful messages ‘looked at’ reference group.” In response to a call associated with the tourism industry, which for haiku about the bonds of friendship between are so much about experience, enrichment and Europe and Japan, he posted the following haiku transformation. at facebook.com/haikucontest: In a third session he asked students to try to It gives and takes away assimilate to life on the island. He introduced This mighty ocean proverbs from Barbados such as “Small town, big bell” and “Behind every bush there is a We are all islanders man.” Island life can be far from idyllic for it involves managing private information about oneself and others. He led a discussion by asking these three questions: What do you want others to know about you? What do others know about you that you may not know that they know? How does “knowing” someone make life easier? In an experiment about how to best govern an island, Baldacchino set up a role play in the classroom similar to classes that emulate the proceedings of the United Nations. The United Nations oversees a Small Island Developing States program and manages special agencies such as UNESCO’s Small Island Voice and the Godfrey Baldacchino inspects a model of an Amami Island garden 90 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » islands became the ‘loci’ of imagination, desire, hopes and fears” (p. 18). The western world is enraptured by deserts, mountains, forests, gardens, coasts, and islands. Part of the great success of stories/movies (like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Castaway) or TV serials (like Survivors and Lost) has to do with these locales or tropes that suggest metaphysical and mytho- logical qualities. Thanks to these deep, widely shared, and firmly anchored meanings, every year millions visit islands for vacations, seeking adventure, escape, pleasure, mystery, some kind Baldacchino (seated far right) with colleagues at the Kagoshima of refreshment and transformation. They swarm University Research Center for Pacific Islands to beaches, museums, clubs, restaurants, and 43-member Alliance of Small and Island States souvenir shops. There they perform various (AOSIS) who are active in the General Assembly rituals, such as sunbathing, eating, drinking, of the UN (Baldacchino, 2010). Ascribed social shopping, or just gazing at the landscape. How status and prestige, charisma and personal do these “Western” notions of an island contrast contact remain key qualities for leadership in with Japanese notions? Baldacchino discussed small island societies even in the modern age. and unpacked this “contrast of cultures”, while Who you are and who you know, remain critical reminding students that the idea of a holiday or assets in political life. According to Baldacchino, vacation is itself a recently invented ritual. networks and anti-networks are better explana- As an example of his writing style, while tions of political behavior than notions of one swimming in the Mediterranean near his home- big happy family. Collusion of bureaucratic, town on the island of Malta, Baldacchino penned political, and economic elites is commonplace. the following poem. The division of powers expected in a democracy is riddled by considerable and unavoidable role MEDItating MEDIum conflicts and overlaps. Welcome exercise to dispel tedium In his final experiment students discussed how islands can serve as “geographies of hope” and to cleanse myself with salt and freedom for humankind. Students were asked to think of ways to combine visions of economic health References and ecological wealth to development. He drew Baldacchino, G. (2007). A World of Islands. Char- upon lessons from nature reserves, such as the lottetown: Institute of Island Studies. World Heritage Site of Yakushima in Kagoshima Prefecture and privately owned islands that are Baldacchino, G. (2010). Island Enclaves. Montreal: carefully managed by their owners. McGill-Queen’s University Press. Research findings from the five experiments Murphey, T. (2010). Real voice: Suggestions for were brought together in a one-day symposium changing English education for future generations where graduate students made presentations from 1st year university students. Retrieved from and further debated issues raised during the www.eltnews.com/columns/mash/MasterEn- experiments in the classrooms, followed by gRepFresh2010Complete.pdf Baldacchino making a final address to contrast the cultures of people living on islands located in Japan with several islands around the world, JALT2011 Teaching • Learning • Growing such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tasmania, and Nov 18–21, 2011 National Olympics Memorial Center, Yoyogi, Tokyo Prince Edward Island. THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 91 TLT » Column » SIG News TLT CoSlumInG NEWS SIGs at a glance The Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Special Interest Group (SIG) actively Key: [ � = keywords ] [ & = publications ] [ = other activities ] [ = email list ] [ ^ = online supports and promotes the use of various tech- forum] Note: For SIG contacts & URLs, please see JALT’s nologies in language learning. In addition, we website [ � bilingualism, biculturality, international families, child- College and University Educators raising, identity ] [ & Bilingual Japan—3x year, Journal—1x year ] [ forums, panels ] [ ] [ � tertiary education, interdisciplinary collaboration, professional development, classroom research, innovative teaching ] [ & On Bilingualism will be hosting a panel discussion CUE —2x year, YouCUE e-newsletter ] [ Annual SIG at this year’s JALT National Conference in conference, regional events and workshops ] November. Issues and Opportunities for Secondary CUE SIG is accepting paper submissions for School Bilinguals will examine how bilingual and a special book project on foreign language bicultural students and their families deal with motivation in Japan. Abstracts due 1 Aug 2011; the challenges and expectations of English as it more information available at Business English The Critical Thinking SIG is looking for submis- sions for JALT’s newest newsletter, CT Scan. Those interested in writing about critical think- Computer Assisted Language Learning ing in language education should email …with James Essex To contact the editor: 92 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Extensive Reading Global Issues in Language Education [ � extensive reading, extensive listening ] [ & ERJ—3x [ � global issues, global education, content-based language year ] [ Annual ER Seminar ] teaching, international understanding, world citizenship ] [ & Global Issues in Language Education Newsletter—4x year The ER SIG exists to help teachers in Japan start ] [ Sponsor of Peace as a Global Language (PGL) confer- and improve Extensive Reading and Extensive ence ] [ ] [ ^ ] Listening programmes. Our newsletter, Extensive Are you interested in promoting global aware- Reading in Japan (ERJ), is full of ideas for those ness and international understanding through new to ER and experienced ER practitioners. It your teaching? Then join the Global Issues in keeps our members up-to-date on ER research Language Education SIG. We produce an excit- and new graded reader releases. Check out our ing quarterly newsletter packed with news, website at THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 93 TLT » Column » SIG News bers involved with junior or senior high school Materials Writers EFL are cordially invited to join us for dialogue and professional development opportunities. [ � materials development, textbook writing, publishers and publishing, self-publication, technology ] [ & Between the Learner Development Keys—3x year ] [ JALT national conference events ] [ ] [ ^ ] [ � autonomy, learning, reflections, collaboration, de- velopment ] [ & Learning Learning, 2x year; LD-Wired, The MW SIG shares information on ways to cre- quarterly electronic newsletter ] [ Forum at the JALT ate better language learning materials, covering national conference, annual mini-conference/retreat, an- a wide range of issues from practical advice on thology of Japan-based action research projects ] [ ] style to copyright law and publishing practices, Join our one-day conference to celebrate the including self-publication. On certain conditions publication of Realizing Autonomy: Practice and we also provide free ISBNs. Our newsletter Reflection in Language Education Contexts. Satur- Between the Keys is published three to four times day, 29 October, Nanzan University, Nagoya, a year and we have a discussion forum and mail- with plenaries by Richard Pemberton and Tim ing list 94 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » [ � action research, peer support, reflection and teacher [ � research, information, database on testing ] [ & development ] [ & Explorations in Teacher Education— Shiken—3x year ] [ Pan-SIG, JALT National conference] 4x year ] [ library, annual retreat or mini-conference, [ ] [ ^ ] Pan-SIG sponsorship, sponsorship of a speaker at the JALT national conference ] [ ] [ ^ ] The TEVAL SIG is concerned with language testing and assessment, and welcomes both The Teacher Education SIG is a network of for- experienced teachers and those who are new to eign language instructors dedicated to becoming this area and wish to learn more about it. Our better teachers and helping others teach more newsletter, published three times a year, contains effectively. Our members teach at universities, a variety of testing-related articles, including schools, and language centres, both in Japan discussions of the ethical implications of testing, and other countries. We share a wide variety of interviews with prominent authors and research- research interests, and support and organize a ers, book reviews, and reader-friendly explana- number of events throughout Japan every year. tions of some of the statistical techniques used in Contact …with Michi Saki To contact the editor: 96 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Okuchi City, Kagoshima Prefecture; Check tion as possible. Sun 10 Jul 10:30-17:30; Kansai U. of rakugo, a traditional form of Japanese storytell- of International Studies (KUIS), Nishinomiya; check ing, focusing on its relations with western stories 98 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » …with Tara McIlroy To contact the editor: THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 99 TLT » Column » Chapter Reports families (groups of students) and role-played student-centered tasks. Finally, we discussed their internment. Students naturally asked possible roadblocks to dogme in the Japanese questions of their captor such as “Is there food environment and how to deal with them. where we are going?” and “How will we get Reported by Dave Pite new clothes?”; questions which homeless people often must face. Using process dramas, Donnery KITAKYUSHU showed how she helps her students understand : April—How to get students to social issues through experiencing them. read without really trying by Thomas Robb. Robb started his reading program at Kyoto Reported by John Larson Sangyo University in 1988 with popular foreign English youth literature, having students write KAGOSHIMA: February—My share by Lee summaries of one notebook page per 40 pages Glenister. Glenister led a very relaxed seminar read. However, syntax, vocabulary, and slang in on Picture Dictionaries, which can be used for children’s books are often beyond the ability level a variety of activities. The speaker gave a quick of EFL readers, thus failing to stimulate interest review of the various types available and then in recreational English reading. Also summaries there was a discussion about how best to use may be more challenging and daunting than these books. There were some great contribu- quizzes. Next was accelerated readers, and in 2007 tions from the audience and everyone left feeling Version 1 of Moodle Reader was developed and like they had learned something new. implemented into the English department in 2008. Reported by Lee Glenister Students often have other priorities for their time, so reading quickly is good, with less down time for dictionary searches so they read more and get KAGOSHIMA : March—E-learning presenta- more exposure to lexis and syntax. Starting at a tion by Bo Causer. The presenter gave a very lower and more accessible level helps break the lively, interactive presentation on how we can translation habit while hopefully maintaining use various devices in our everyday teaching. interest. However, the bottom line is that if there For example, she showed how to use an iPod to is no way to check, many students will not do it. play video clips on TVs in the EFL classroom. The MoodleReader quiz program lets students Everyone who attended left with the impression complete quizzes, which teachers can check, that there is an enormous amount of learning online, free of charge. Each student has a personal potential in some of the items we use every day. page on the website that records their progress Reported by Lee Glenister in books and the number of words they have read. Robb finished off by walking us through the KITAKYUSHU: April 9—Dogme in ELT: A simple processes for implementing this excellent tool into a school curriculum. demonstration by Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto. In true dogme fashion, rather than telling us Reported by Dave Pite what the approach is about, Sakamoto had us co-construct a definition by sharing in groups KYOTO: March—My share by Various. Two what we already knew about it and formulating dozen Kansai members gathered on a chilly questions to ask her. The dogme style of teaching Saturday morning to hear presentations and was adapted for European language teaching share ideas for the new term’s classes. The event from a Danish film movement. We came to the started off with John Campbell-Larsen from conclusion that dogme teaching is conversation- Momoyama Gakuin University, speaking on the driven, materials-light, and focused on emergent Strategy and Discourse of Questioning. Point- language. We then did a typical group conversa- ing out how natural conversation is often more tion activity (answering three questions about about finding common interests than about com- our names) while also taking notes on useful municating specific information, the presenter vocabulary and patterns that emerged. In order shared three worksheets he uses with students to give students an opportunity to practice the to personalize conversations and teach the use language in a subsequent lesson, we designed of discourse markers. Mizuka Tsukamoto from 100 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » Osaka Jogakuin College introduced a series of Porter recommends using the site This was an audience concern, but all agreed that tion, and sleep to elevated brain function and MI Theory can make a difference in any class- memory formation capability. room. Tsuneyasu started by introducing the eight Reported by Eric Rambo intelligences proposed by Howard Gardner (1999) and pointed out that English classes that focused OMIYA on various intelligences are preferable to classes : April—Putting Truman on trial: An that only focus on certain intelligences (e.g., Lan- academic speaking workshop by Jason White guage and Logical-Mathematical). She argued that and Content-based classes for fun and profit MI theory helps to make classes student-centered by John Helwig. White’s workshop provided and helps teachers become aware of students’ teachers with the opportunity to get a firsthand individual differences. The presenter showed a look at how an eight-week long academic speak- sample lesson that included activities uniquely ing project gets a group of 21 students to step designed to activate other intelligences (e.g., beyond their normal ideas of English speaking Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, and challenge themselves to produce a collab- and Intrapersonal Intelligence). The lesson was orative final presentation. Putting World War for a reading class, but involved all four skills. The II President Harry Truman on trial for crimes participants found that her activities were engag- against humanity supplies the role-playing ing and addressed students’ various interests framework for students to learn and develop the or strengths. Additionally, Tsuneyasu had us essential academic speaking skills of inference, complete an MI inventory sheet that assessed the persuasion, and elaboration. The workshop distribution of eight intelligences, and presented put the audience in the roles of the students, her action research project in which she examined allowing them to discuss and participate in the the balance of MI across five classes. The speaker preliminary activities of the project that led to recommended that such data be collected at the the final presentation. In the second half of our beginning of the semester to arrange every day session, Helwig spoke on how content can be activities accordingly. The workshop was full of added to most skills-based classes. The presenter insights and practical hints. The audience became led the audience step-by-step in how to create further aware that MI Theory can be helpful in their own content-based class, visually provid- fostering healthy class dynamics and student ing examples from his own experience. Helwig motivation. also discussed the Photography 101 class he has created last year. He provided solid reasoning for Reported by Kazushige Cho using heavily content-based techniques. Reported by Ivan Botev OKAYAMA: April—Connecting the brain to teaching by Jason Lowes. Beginning with a OMIYA review of the different areas of the brain, as well : May—Practical activities using Mac as the mechanisms of synaptic connections and Keynote by Mary Nobuoka and Teaching long term potentiation, Lowes then turned to English -it’s YOUR business by Miguel Gervais. the question of how to facilitate learning and Nobuoka demonstrated practical ideas and class- memory formation for students. Through a series room activities utilizing Mac Keynote software, of short information presentations followed much of which is applicable to PowerPoint soft- by contests, games, and other activities, Lowes ware. The presentation included tips and cau- both taught the subject matter and illustrated tions on preparing and using technology in the some primary strategies for improving students’ classroom. Teachers were involved in integrating chances of learning. These strategies include fun, interactive, and engaging activities for focusing students’ attention on subject matter their digital-age students and gained practical through contests or learning games, helping ideas to bring back to their classrooms. Towards students develop an emotional relationship to the end of the presentation participants were the subject matter, and presenting subject matter encouraged to share their experiences and ideas in readily learnable packages. Finally, Lowes using Keynote or PowerPoint in the language connected lifestyle choices like exercise, nutri- classroom. In the second half, Gervais covered a somewhat novel topic—that of the business side 102 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 103 TLT » Column » Job Information Center TLTJob Colum Innformation with separate bold headings and listing the The basics of the most recent ones first. Following the completed achievements there could be a short list of work academic CV submitted and under review. Since there are no set rules for the academic CV, here is where In last issue’s column, I outlined the benefit of a you can, if space allows, create “abbreviated good balanced scorecard, which is an approach abstracts” for each of the presentations and that enables you to examine various aspects of publications. If you have a large number of them, your total teaching career including education, then perhaps just an APA-style listing will suffice publications and presentations, work experience, (since this is your document, you may want to and other extra-curricular professional and do both). As part of the total balanced scorecard volunteer activities. In this article we will discuss exercise, it would be a good idea to create a how to organize this information into a complete separate document containing a short summary academic CV. It is mainly a tool for self-reflection of all your presentations and publications. and for consolidating all the relevant informa- The third section is your Work Experience. tion—or may even become a document to be Here, only academic and teaching work should submitted to prospective employers. be listed. One way to organize it is to have the The historical background of the academic CV most recent courses taught, including class is that it is based on what tenure committees codes or titles and even class sizes. If it gets have traditionally asked of tenure track profes- complicated, or too long, abbreviations can be sors under review, thus, it differs in several utilized if they are listed at the top of the section ways from a resume. The resume can be thought of as a marketing tool that tries to sell the job seeker to a company (while using adjectives and …with Richard Miller lists of superlative achievements). In contrast, the academic CV sticks with the facts, listing (ODU=Osaka Dental University, as an example). employers require, so it might be used as an While it may seem like a lot to add, remember adjunct to a regular one-page resume. In closing, that the idea is to document the scope and depth an academic CV should be thought of as a living of your teaching experience; not just a list of document, something that is constantly expand- places you worked, but what you actually did ing and regularly updated. there. The final section, Other, might include any of JOB LISTINGS: the other kinds of non-teaching, professionally- Here is a small sample of jobs that are currently related activities you may be involved in. These online. For a complete list, please refer to the might include committee membership, profes- website. sional organizations (like JALT), serving as an officer in a professional organization, or some • Matsuyama University, Ehime. Full-time extra-curricular volunteer activities. Hobbies and English Language Instructor (non-tenured). interests are best left out. Deadline, 15 September, 2011. The academic CV should result in a long docu- • Kurume University Institute of Foreign ment—as long as 10-20 pages, if you are active. Language Education is seeking applicants This might seem like overkill, but it reflects for part-time English teaching positions from a degree of professionalism and gives a clear April, 2012. Deadline, 22 September, 2011. picture of your career. It may be more than some TLTCon Coluferemn nce Calendar Upcoming Conferences at Mānoa, USA. Contact: THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 105 TLT » Column » Conference Calendar U.), Diane Larsen-Freeman (U. of Michigan), (Kanda U. of Int’l Studies). Contact: 106 THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online » THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 35.4 • July / August 2011 107 JALT MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION The Japan Association for Language • Testing and evaluation Teaching (JALT) • Materials development • a professional organization formed in 1976 支部及び分野別研究部会による例会や研究会は日本 -1976年に設立された学術学会 各地で開催され、以下の分野での発表や研究報告が行 • working to improve language learning and われます。バイリンガリズム、CALL、大学外国語教育、 teaching, particularly in a Japanese context 共同学習、ジェンダーと語学学習、グローバル問題、日 -語学の学習と教育の向上を図ることを目的としてい 本語教育、自主的学習、語用論・発音・第二言語習得、 ます 児童語学教育、生涯語学教育研究部会、試験と評価、 • over 3,000 members in Japan and overseas 教材開発。 -国内外で約 3,000名の会員がいます JALT cooperates with domestic and interna- Annual international conference 年次国際大会 tional partners, including [JALTは以下の国内外の 学会と提携しています] • 1,500 to 2,000 participants : -毎年1,500名から2,000名が参加します • IATEFL—International Association of Teach- • hundreds of workshops and presentations ers of English as a Foreign Language -多数のワークショップや発表があります • JACET—the Japan Association of College • publishers’ exhibition English Teachers -出版社による教材展があります • PAC—the Pan Asian Conference consortium • Job Information Centre • TESOL—Teachers of English to Speakers of -就職情報センターが設けられます Other Languages Membership Categories 会員と会費 JALT publications include: • The Language Teacher—our bimonthly publi- All members receive annual subscriptions to cation - を隔月発行します The Language Teacher and JALT Journal, and • JALT Journal—biannual research journal member discounts for meetings and confer- 会員はThe Language TeacherやJALT Journal等 - を年2回発行します ences. の出版物を購読出来、又例会や大会にも割引価格で参 • Annual Conference Proceedings 加出来ます。 - 年次国際大会の研究発表記録集を発行します 一般会員: • SIG and chapter newsletters, anthologies, • Regular ¥10,000 and conference proceedings • Student rate (undergraduate/graduate in - 分野別研究部会や支部も会報、アンソロジー、研究 Japan) 学生会員（日本にある大学、大学院の学生）: 会発表記録集を発行します ¥6,000 • Joint—for two persons sharing a mailing ad- Meetings and conferences sponsored by lo- dress, one set of publications ジョイント会員（同 cal chapters and special interest groups (SIGs) じ住所で登録する個人2名を対象とし、JALT出版物 are held throughout Japan. Presentation and は2名に１部）: ¥17,000 research areas include: • Group (5 or more) ¥6,500/person—one set of • Bilingualism publications for each five members団体会員（ • CALL ５名以上を対象とし、JALT出版物は5名につき１部） • College and university education ：1名6,500円 • Cooperative learning For more information please consult our web- • Gender awareness in language education site Oxford continues to honour its mission and support education both globally and here with you in Japan. Our mission: Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Here in Japan, Oxford University Press continues to support your organization (the Japan Association of Language Teachers) as well as numerous other teaching organizations both at local grassroots and national levels. JALT 2011 International Conference Plenary Speaker Plenary Speaker Featured Speaker Ken Wilson Jack C. Richards Kathleen Kampa Sponsored by Oxford University Press Co-sponsored by Oxford University Press Sponsored by Oxford University Press Details: www.oupjapan .co.jp/events 8F Kearny Place Shiba, 4-5-10 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo TEL: 03-5444-5454 FAX: 03-5444-6644 E-mail: [email protected] www.oupjapan.co.jp