the language teacher the language teacher 10

the
language
teacher
ISSN 0289-7938
¥950
3
9
13
The Role of Translation in Japanese
Young Learner Classrooms
Rebecca Klevberg
Learner Intervention in the
Language Classroom
V. Michael Cribb
Ten Years of Kokusaika:
Has progress been made?
Judy Yoneoka
10
October, 2000
Volume 24, Number 10
全国語学教育学会
The Japan Association for Language Teaching
The summer break is behind us, classes are in full swing, and
our annual conference is just around the corner! A busy time
for us all, so we’ve carefully selected three articles easily digested over an office lunch! First up, Rebecca Klevberg tackles that thorny dilemma we’ve all faced: how much Japanese
should we use in our classes? Following that, Michael Cribb
describes how teachers can assist learners to develop intervention strategies in the language learning process. Finally,
Judy Yoneoka brings us the second in her series of articles
on Kokusaika, discussing why students who are being led to
“international waters” are not drinking as expected!
Also, further back in this issue we’re delighted to introduce
a new column, Off the Presses, in which our publishing
colleagues will be telling us about some of the exciting developments taking place in their companies. In this
inaugural issue, James Hursthouse of ELT News takes us on a
tour of eigoTown.com
Looking ahead to our November issue, the TLT team is hard
at work to get it to you all before you head for this year’s
conference in Shizuoka. Look out for us at the publications
desk in the Granship Centre. See you there!
Malcolm Swanson
ERRATA
In the July issue of The Language Teacher we inadvertently stated
that JALT2000 featured speaker, Dr Frank Otto, was chairman of
the ELT Software Store. In fact, Dr Otto is founder and chairman of
CALI Inc., the publishers of the ELLIS language-learning courseware.
We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
夏期休暇も終わり、クラスは活気にあふれ、そして年次大会も目前に迫って
います。私たち全員が多忙を極めるこの時期だからこそ、今月は、オフィス・
ランチの消化にいい三つの記事を厳選いたしました。
はじめに、Rebecca Klevbergの記事では、私たち全てが直面する、どれぐら
い日本語を教室で使うべきかという議論の多い問題に取り組んでいます。それ
に続くMichael Cribbの記事では、いかに学習者自身の言語学習プロセスにおけ
る学習プロセスへの介入ストラテジーの向上を教師が助けられるかについて述
べています。最後に、J u d y Y o n e o k aの国際化に関するシリーズの二回目で
は、なぜ期待されているように「国際化」に至らないのかについて議論をして
います。
また、新しいコラム「Off the Presses」は、私たちと同じように編集に関
わっている人々が、彼らの会社の刺激的な展開について語ってくれるもので
す。第一回目として、ELT NewsのJames Hursthouse氏が、eigoTown.com
への旅へと私たちを誘ってくれます。
1 1 月号が発行されるころは、静岡での年次大会が控えています。静岡ではぜ
ひpublications deskにお立ち寄りください。
（抄訳 衣川隆生)
October 2000
contents
1
Foreword
features
3 The Role of Translation in
Japanese Young Learner
Classrooms
9 Learner Intervention in the
Language Classroom
13 Ten Years of Kokusaika:
Has progress been made?
a chapter in your life
20 Kitakyushu
my share
21 Who Wants to Be a (Grammar)
Millionaire?
22 An E-commerce Webpage Project
off the presses
25 eigoTown.com and ELT News
departments
26 Book Reviews
37 JALT News
37 JALT2000 Conference News
39 SIG Focus
43 SIG News
47 Chapter Reports
49 Chapter Meeting Special
51 Chapter Meetings
55 TLT Job Information Center
61 Bulletin Board
62 Submissions
63 Staff List
64 About JALT
47 Advertiser Index
JALT2000
November 2-5
Granship Shizuoka
1
2
The Language Teacher 24:10
Rebecca Klevberg
R
ecently, more attention has been given to
the use of translation in communicative English Language Teaching (ELT), which emphasizes meaningful use of the target language.
However, the basis of the communicative movement as the actual “use” of the target language (L2)
has been interpreted by some as a reason to shun
the mother tongue (L1) completely in the ELT classroom. This is the case with most private Japanese
children’s language schools, which firmly maintain
an official policy of “No Japanese” in their classrooms. However, this policy is currently the subject
of much debate between corporate offices and
teachers in the field because company policy does
not acknowledge the pragmatic value of L1 use in
children’s classrooms.
This paper explores the debate
by examining current corporate
opinions on the subject, and
compares them to what is actually occurring in some English as
a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms at one major children’s
school, as reported by both foreign and Japanese teachers. Finally, some practical, yet
theoretically sound applications
of L1 use and translation in
children’s ELT, and an experimental approach to translation
use will be offered. Here the term
“translation” will refer to the
transference of information from
the L1 to the L2 and from the L2
to the L1.
The Role of
Translation in
Japanese
Young Learner
Classrooms
日本のコミュニカティブ言語教育（C L T ）
の教室では、「日本語を使用しないで教え
る」ことが主流になっている。しかし、多
数の教師と学校の経営者との間では日本語
使用に対する意見が大きく異なっている。
年少者（2歳∼15歳）の教室での母語(L1)使
用に関する調査を通して、筆者は、語学学
校３校の意見と、日本人教師と外国人教師
の教室で実際に行われていることを比較し
た。その結果、教師が普段L 1 を使用してい
ることが報告され、年少者へ文法、語彙、
コミュニケーションストラテジー・学習ス
トラテジー、対照分析を教えるときには、
日本語を使用するという「常識的な判断」
アプローチが提案された。コミュニケー
ションを容易にするために年少者がL 1 とL 2
を混ぜることを奨励する教授法が提唱され
ている。
October 2000
Corporate Views
There is currently a huge market
for private English lessons for young children in
Japan, and many students begin preparing for
higher education by studying in the private sector
from the ages of three and four. Students usually
participate in one or two, one-hour classes per week,
with an average of 8-12 other students, often alternating between a foreign and Japanese instructor.
To research current views on the topic, interviews were held with representatives from three of
the largest children’s private language schools in
Japan. All schools require no Japanese language
ability when hiring foreign teachers, and the use of
Japanese is strictly forbidden by foreign instructors
at all companies. Japanese instructors at one corporation are allowed to use Japanese in limited
amounts for emergency situations and with very
young students (ages 2-6). Translation is also used
in the Japanese teachers’ junior high school (JH)
textbooks at the same school for high school entrance exam preparation.
3
Feature: Klevberg
When asked the rationale behind the “No Japanese” policy, one educational director replied:
“… for 6 days and 23 hours of the week, our
students live in a Japanese world.
For only one hour a week, they should have an
English intensive lesson. It may be their only
opportunity to hear a native English speaker, so
why should that native English speaker use
Japanese when they could be hearing perfect
English?”
Another director also expressed concern that if
translation were allowed it would most often snowball from a few words to entire conversations in the
native tongue. The same individual further commented that once Japanese has been used in the
classroom, a line has been crossed, and it becomes
more difficult to maintain an ‘English Only’ environment. He also noted:
If we are preparing students for a trip abroad or
a home stay, how many people that they come
in contact with in the US, Canada, or wherever,
will be able to ‘help’ them in Japanese when
they don’t understand? Therefore, I don’t think
we should ‘help’ them with Japanese in the
classroom.
Despite the strict policy however, most executives
are also aware of the difficulties involved with the
“No Japanese” rule and the fact that it is not always
enforced at the instructor level. One executive admitted that, although translation would be of help
when explaining difficult vocabulary and grammar,
most foreign teachers speak no Japanese so it is not
an option. She also noted that “Japanese teachers
are instructed not to use Japanese in the classroom.
However, I know this doesn’t always happen . . . I
sometimes hear them speaking Japanese.”
Despite these facts, the policy remains in effect
since most companies believe parents wish to have
their children exposed to an ‘English Only’ environment. One manager explained “Upper management
feels the customer is paying a lot of money, so parents do not want to hear Japanese being spoken to
their child.” The reasoning behind the “No Japanese” rule appears to be primarily in relation to
functional limitations (i.e. low Japanese ability of
foreign teachers, or lack of L1 support in “real life”
situations), and marketing or parental influences. At
no point in the discussion did a theoretical or methodological basis for this rule arise.
In the Classrooms
To get an idea of the amount and type of Japanese
actually being used in classrooms, I conducted a
survey of 20 Japanese teachers and seven foreign
teachers at one corporation with over 400 schools
nation-wide. Teachers were asked to estimate the
4
amount of time they spent speaking Japanese according to age group (very young learners aged 2-6
or young learners aged 7-15), and in what area they
used it most (pedagogical – vocabulary/grammar
instruction, or social - discipline, social conversation, games). The survey results are reported in
Tables 1 and 2 below:
Table 1: Japanese Teacher Results
Estimated Time spent Speaking Japanese
Group A – (Ages 2-6)
Group B – (Ages 7-15)
46%
45.75%
Purpose of Japanese Use
Group A (Ages 2-6)
Group B (Ages 7-15)
#1 - Discipline
#1 - Social Conversation
#2 - Social Conversation
#2 - Grammar
#3 - Vocabulary
#3 - Discipline
#4 - Game Explanation
#5 - Grammar
#4 - Vocabulary
#5 - Game Explanation
Note: In leader priority order of response
Table 2: Foreign Teacher Results
Estimated Time Spent Speaking Japanese
Group A – (Ages 2-6)
18%
Group B – (Ages 7-15)
27%
Purpose of Japanese Use
Group A (Ages 2-6)
Group B (Ages 7-15)
#1 - Discipline
#1 - Social Conversation
#2 - Social Conversation
#2 - Discipline
#3 - Game Explanation
#3 - Game Explanation
#4 - Vocabulary
#4 - Vocabulary
#5 - Grammar
#5 - Grammar
Note: In leader priority order of response
The results above indicate that, despite the “No
Japanese” policy, a significant amount of Japanese
is being used in the classroom. All teachers reported using Japanese some of the time (answers
ranging from 20% to 90% with Japanese teachers
and 10% to 55% with foreign teachers) with an
overall average of 45.9% of the time for Japanese
instructors and 22.5% of the time for foreign instructors. Survey results indicate that many Japanese teachers often use the L1 as a pedagogical tool
for vocabulary and grammar instruction, especially
The Language Teacher 24:10
Feature: Klevberg
with older students, as well as for disciplinary and
social purposes. Japanese teachers’ general comments included:
[The amount of Japanese used] depends on
how long they have been learning. In [higher
levels] I hardly have to speak in Japanese, but
in [lower levels] I sometimes have to yell in
Japanese.
I mainly use Japanese as a ‘prompter’. If I ask
‘When’s your birthday?’ and they look confused, I’ll say ‘tanjobi’ – ‘When’s your birthday?’
as support for the development of new methods
and techniques that work to incorporate translation and L1 use in ELT classrooms to create a more
effective and efficient environment rather than an
attitude of shame concerning its use. What I propose as a solution to this situation is a ‘common
sense’ philosophy concerning L1 use, one in which
selective, carefully controlled use of translation
and the L1 is allowed to support learning in ELT.
A Common Sense Approach
With a “common sense” approach, sound practical
sense and self-control on the part of the teacher are
applied while using the L1 to facilitate language
The foreign teachers, possibly be due to linguistic
learning. Even as the field of ELT was largely in an
limitations when explaining grammar and vocabuanti-translation mode in the 1950s, Chapman
lary points in Japanese, appeared to view it more as a
stated: “plain common sense should indicate that
way to socialise and to effectively discipline all age
the mother tongue has its place among [all] methgroups. One foreign teacher commented:
ods” (p.34) (cited in Cole, 1998, p.1).
The kids learn more, they’re more at ease with
Translation use has again become a topic of disme. I have a much better time in class with
cussion in ELT classrooms with more textbooks
them and we have more fun. If I knew more
and methods utilising translations and compariJapanese, I’d use it more often!
sons between languages (Auerbach 1993, Weschler
The attitudes of the teachers surveyed here re1997, Cole 1998). Some educators now realise that,
flected not only the practicality of L1 use in the
due to time limitations in EFL classrooms, translaclassroom, but indicated its value in relaxing stution should be used as a tool or “necessary scafdents and provided a
folding”, gradually
more positive learning
removed over time
environment. Al(Weschler, 1997).
though such limited
ESL research also
“. . . why should that native English
data may not be
shows that the use of
speaker use Japanese when they
generalised, it does
translation with beginindicate that an “Enning young learners
could be hearing perfect English?”
glish only” classroom
critically affected later
may be implausible in
linguistic success and
a learning situation
the use of both the L1
where students are exposed to the language an avand L2 eased the transition to English (Aurbach,
erage only one hour, once or twice a week. With
1993). Such opinions and research support the use
such limited exposure, communication in the tarof translation as a bridge between languages to
get language exclusively may be impossible, and
provide a more efficient, comprehensible and comattempts to do so a frustrating experience for both
fortable learning environment. There are, in fact, a
student and teacher.
number of theoretically sound applications for
Finally, when questioned about L1 use in the
translation in ELT classrooms including grammar
classroom, many teachers expressed an attitude of
and vocabulary instruction, teaching communicashame, offering excuses and rationalisations for
tion and learning strategies and the use of contrastheir use of L1. One Japanese teacher replied; “I
tive analysis.
know I’m not supposed to, but sometimes I slip.”
Similar attitudes were reported by Auerbach (1993)
Grammar and Vocabulary Instruction
in a larger scale study of English as a Second LanThe most common bond found in most literature
guage (ESL) instructors in America. She reports:
supporting the use of translation in ELT classrooms is its efficiency and effectiveness with low
. . . despite the fact that 80% of the teachers
level students. In the current methodology preallowed the use of the L1 at times, the English
scribed in most private English schools in Japan,
only axiom is so strong that they didn’t trust
one would teach a vocabulary point through demtheir own practice. They assigned a negative
onstration and action; techniques similar to the
value to ‘lapses’ into the L1, seeing them as
Direct Method of the 1950s and 1960s strictly forfailures or aberrations, a cause for guilt (p.5).
bade the use of translation. The method eventually
The data and opinions above may be considered
lost popularity partly due to its inefficiency, with
October 2000
5
Feature: Klevberg
critics noting:
. . . strict adherence to the Direct Method principles was often counterproductive since teachers were required to go to great lengths to avoid
using the native tongue, when sometimes a
simple brief explanation in the
student’s native tongue would
have been a more efficient
route to comprehension
(Richards and Rogers, 1986, p.
11).
Direct translation to clarify
meaning when a pupil does not
comprehend a vocabulary word or
grammar point is one technique
that may be utilised in ELT. By
using translation to ensure student comprehension, a solid,
meaningful cognitive base upon
which to develop communicative
use of the language is created.
Stern (1992) also supports translation use, noting
that translation from L2 to L1 serves an important
role in creating a mental link between the new and
difficult and that which is familiar. The selective
translation of vocabulary and grammar points in
ELT classrooms may provide the links necessary for
long-term recall of material.
Teaching Communication and Learning Strategies
“Communication strategies” refer to “potentially
conscious plans for solving what to an individual
presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular
communicative goal” (Faerch and Kasper cited in
Brown, 1994, p. 118) and are now considered to be
crucial in language acquisition, as well as for effective communication (Riley, 1991). Such strategies
include appeals for clarification and language
switches. On the subject of communication strategy use in children’s EFL, Brewster (1991) explains:
It is important that teachers of young learners
ensure that their pupils . . . begin to learn a
range of strategies required to negotiate meaning in English, for providing feedback to show
that they have understood something, asking
questions to clarify misunderstandings or
checking details . . . it might be possible to ask
the children afterwards what they needed to
say in English but only knew in their mother
tongue (128).
The strategy of providing eacher translations of
clarification phrases and allowing comprehension
checks in either language may serve an important
role in helping students to understand material
and to express themselves clearly.
6
Williams (1991, p. 204) stresses the importance
of engaging students in strategy use noting; “. . . by
guiding and encouraging learning strategies,
learner-active processes, rather than relying on
feeding in structures for children to practice, we
may be providing them with a
far more valuable tool for selflearning.” “Learning strategies”
refer to unconscious or conscious activities on the part of
the learner that enhance the
learning process (Larson-Freeman & Long, 1991). One of the
more established areas often
used in ELT is mnemonicsthe
utilization of formal organizational techniques to enhance
memory (Brown, 1994). Mnemonic devices such as the “keyword technique,” a two part
mnemonic device visually associating an L1 word with one in
L2, are considered to result in greater recall than
traditional means (Gray, 1997). Although considered by some to be obsolete, Gray (1997) notes,
“The use of mnemonics may be of special advantage with North-East Asian students due to its’
strong visual approach. Their sensory learning style
appears to be quite visually orientated (Lee, 1976;
Brown, 1994; Reid, 1995) mainly because of the
pictorial nature of their written language” (p.4).
The Use of Contrastive Analysis
Contrastive Analysis (CA) refers to the concept that
by contrasting the L1 and L2, one can predict or
explain learner errors and difficulties (negative
transfer), as well as successes (positive transfer).
The extreme view of CA has often been discredited
due to its initial applications in error prediction
and its association with the behavioristic and structural approaches (Larson-Freeman, & Long, 1991).
However, there has been a recent resurgence in ELT
defending CA’s moderated use in teaching linguistic awareness since a teacher’s knowledge of L1
may aid in identifying and examining beginning
student errors (Larson-Freeman & Long 1991,
Brown, 1994). Shortall (1996) examines CA
through the perspective of Universal Grammar (the
belief that all languages have basic similarities in
certain areas). He notes: “there does seem to be a
reasonably strong case for once again trying to examine the effects of L1 on L2 (arguably through a
universalist prism). Most language learners make
L1 v. L2 comparisons. It may be time teachers and
applied linguists started doing so again” (p. 8).
Translation and contrastive analysis may therefore be used to make students aware of proper contextual use of spoken phrases and words.
The Language Teacher 24:10
Feature: Klevberg
Translating overly-formal grammar use into a Japanese informal conversation illustrates to students
the cold “bookish” feeling and better emphasises
the fact that English, like Japanese, is not a set
number of formal utterances, but a changing, animated language which has different contextual and
situational choices. Finally, translated explanations
of structural variations between Japanese and English may serve to create student awareness of potential areas for error, such as English plural form
and article/determiner use, both common difficulties for Japanese learners (Yamamoto-Wilson, 1997,
Shortall, 1996).
concerning language learning in a mixed-lingual
environment have provided more resources supporting the use of mixed interlanguages. Auerbach
(1993) gives an account of the ESL approach used
at the Invergarry Learning Center:
Students start by writing about their lives in
their L1 or a mixture of their L1 and English;
this text is then translated into English with
the help of bilingual tutors or learners and, as
such, provides a natural bridge for overcoming
problems of vocabulary, sentence structure and
language confidence (p. 72). This process, results in a learner willing to experiment and take
risks with English due to the security and validation of allowing L1 use (Shamish, 1990 cited
in Aurbach, p.8)
The Use of a ‘Mixed’ Interlanguage—An Experimental Method
This final section offers an experimental use of the
L1 in children’s EFL classrooms in the form of a
By lowering anxiety and concentrating on mean“mixed” interlanguage. Interlanguage refers to “a
ing rather than form, one provides a more positive
[language] system that has a structurally intermedi- psychological environment for learning, considate status between the native and target languages” ered by many to facilitate language acquisition
(Brown, 1994, p. 203). In this method, mixed
(Richards & Rogers, 1986).
interlanguage refers to the integration of L2 into
Although research concerning spontaneous inthe L1 base language during “free conversation”
formal L2 use is limited, observations have been
and warm-up periods. It is not designed to replace
made indicating that children’s first target lan‘English only’ instruction, but to supplement it and guage use among themselves often occurs in stock
aid in the development of a communicative use of
phrases or expressions embedded mother tongue
the language with beginning students. In these peconversation (Bloor, 1984). In a discussion with
riods, Japanese is the main language, however
several foreigners teaching children in Japan, all
when any previously studied words are encounreported occurrences of students mixing the two
tered, as in the example “Watashi no okaasan wa
languages in the classroom, often in an effort to
san ju ni sai desu.”, the conversation is stopped
facilitate comprehension on the part of the forwith the teacher feigning ignorance and asking the
eigner while engaging in natural conversation. Exstudents “What’s ‘Okaasan’?” or “I don’t underamples given included “watashi no dress wa cute
stand - what’s ‘san ju ni sai’?’” At this point, the
desune?” or “Waa . . . sensei no eyes wa blue!” The
student or classimportance of the
mates are forced to
internal, social motranslate, which
tivation behind
“Corporate policy . . . is presently ignoring such conversations
often leads to a mixing of the two lanhas often been inthe potential of this tool in deference to
guages, (i.e. Watashi
dicated as necessary
objections often based, not on theory, but for successful lanno Mother wa..”)
on marketing potential . . .”
The next time
guage learning
“What’s ‘watashi’?”
(Brown, 1994).
or “What’s ‘san ju
There are several
ni’?” is asked, leading the child to further translaareas that require further examination in regards to
tion/recall of studied material – “My mother
this approach including the long-term effectiveness
wa…thirty-two desu.” Careful use and constant,
of concurrent translation with children. It is ofstrict modification to prevent fossilisation are of
fered in brief here as an innovative area of translautmost importance. However, controlled incorpotion use with potential for exploitation in
ration of such an interlanguage in the EFL classchildren’s EFL for facilitating comprehension, reroom may be developed into a more natural use of
ducing young learner stress, and motivating comEnglish than the rote phrases often taught. It
municative use of English.
teaches children how to use vocabulary and
In conclusion, translation use may serve to faciliphrases to express themselves, not that
tate EFL learning in a number of ways; increasing
“I’mfinethankyou” is the single response to the
cognition and recall of vocabulary and grammar,
greeting phrase “Howareyou?”
empowering students through its use in teaching
Papers and research in the field of ESL education
communication and learning strategies, and offerOctober 2000
7
Feature: Klevberg
ing points of comparison and contrast when teaching English use in context.
Corporate policy in Japanese children’s language
schools is presently ignoring the potential of this
tool in deference to objections often based, not on
theory, but on marketing potential and functional
limitations. Contrary to this policy, the findings
reported here indicate that teachers in the actual
classrooms often find translation necessary, both
pedagogically and socially. Therefore, a common
sense application of techniques such as those discussed above is highly recommended as a possible
solution to this conflict.
Rebecca Klevberg has taught
children and young adults in
the Gifu, Japan area for over six
years. She is now completing
her MA in Teaching English as
a Second/Foreign Language at
the University of Birmingham,
England. She is also currently
developing a textbook series
which encourages young learners and teachers to use their L1
resources to facilitate English
language learning in a task-based environment. Any
comments or questions may be sent to
<[email protected]>.
References
Auerbach, E. R. 1993. Reexamining English only in the ESL
classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 27 (1), Spring 1993.
8
Bloor, M. 1991. The role of informal interaction in teaching English to young learners. In C. Brumfit et al. (eds)
Teaching English to Children. London: Longman, 127-141.
Brown, H. D. 1994. Principles of language learning and teaching (3rd Edition). Prentice Hall.
Brewster, J. 1991. What is good primary practice? In C.
Brumfit et al. (Eds.) Teaching English to children. London:
Longman, 115-126.
Cole, S. 1998. The use of L1 in communicative English
classrooms. The Language Teacher, 22 (12), December,
1998.
Gray, R. 1997. Mnemonics in the ESL/EFL classroom. The
Language Teacher, 21 (4), April, 1997.
Larson-Freeman, D. & Long, M.H. 1991. An introduction
to second language acquisition research. Longman.
Richards, J.C. and T.S. Rodgers. 1986. Approaches and
methods in language teaching. Cambridge University
Press.
Riley, P. 1991. Whats your background? The culture and
identity of the bilingual child. In C. Brumfit et al. (Eds.)
Teaching English to children. London: Longman, 271288.
Shortall, T. 1996. Language knowledge in language acquisition: Universal grammar and second language teaching.
In Willis J. and J. D. Willis (Eds.) Challenge and change
in language teaching. Heinemann.
Stern, H. H. 1992. Issues and options in language teaching.
Oxford University Press.
Weschler, R. 1997. Uses of Japanese (L1) in the English
Classroom: Introducing the Functional-Translation
Method. The Internet TESL Journal, [On-line] 3 (2).
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Williams, M. 1991. A framework for teaching English to
young learners. In C. Brumfit et al. (Eds.) Teaching English to Children. London: Longman, 203-212.
Yamamoto-Wilson, J.R. 1997. Can a knowledge of Japanese help our EFL teaching? In The Language Teacher,
21 (1), January, 1997.
The Language Teacher 24:10
V. Michael Cribb
Kansai Gaidai University
T
he notion of learner intervention in the language classroom has received little attention
in second language acquisition literature in
comparison to its counterpart, teacher intervention,
over the years. In this article, I’d like to redress the
balance somewhat and argue that learner intervention is a notion that is potentially equal in importance to, if not more important than, teacher
intervention. This is especially true when we consider
that most theories which call for some focus on form
in the classroom today eschew rigid presentation and
drilling of form in favor of “consciousness raising”
and “noticing” techniques. Since these theories lay
emphasis on cognitive processing, it seems logical
that learners should not merely react to form-focused
events, but need to actively create
and shape them.
In the first part of the paper, I
will lay out some of the theoretical background to the issue and
extract from this a working pedagogical hypothesis that assumes
that some attention to form in
the classroom is necessary. Then,
I will briefly discuss teacher intervention before showing how
learner intervention can be
brought into play in a variety of
guises to optimize this attention.
Learner
Intervention
in the
Language
Classroom
教室での言語形式の焦点化(focus on form)
を求める第二言語習得理論は、学習者が言
語形式を意識化することの必要性を強調し
ている。この結果、広く知られている教師
主導の概念より学習者自身の学習プロセス
への介入の概念が重要であると思われる。
本論文では、学習者が単にメタ認知的スト
ラテジーに反応するのでははなく、自らの
学習プロセスに介入し、積極的に言語形式
重視の状況を作り出すことができるよう
に、教師が学習者のメタ認知的ストラテ
ジーをいかに促進できるかを論述する。
October 2000
A Working Pedagogical Hypothesis
Rather than simply furnishing
conditions in the classroom that
provide the learner with comprehensible input (Krashen, 1982),
most teachers now accept that
some focus on form is necessary
to optimize the second language acquisition process. For many teachers, though, there will be some
doubt as to how they arrived at such a conclusion.
Indeed, the debate as to whether consciously focusing on form does lead to L2 acquisition still rages in
the literature from time to time (e.g. Sheen, 1994;
Long, 1994), and our profession has yet to answer
this fundamental question.
Most teachers who are looking to introduce some
degree of focus on form into their classrooms are
reluctant to go back to the “old days” of rigidly
drilling students with teacher-supplied grammatical
forms and vocabulary items introduced at the chalkface. Thus theories such as Schmidt’s (Schmidt &
Frota, 1986, Schmidt, 1990) “notice-the-gap” principle and Rutherford & Sharwood-Smith’s (1985)
“consciousness raising” have found favor with modern, form-focused protagonists. Both of these theories allow the teacher a wide degree of freedom in
how such form-focused instruction may be brought
9
Feature: Cribb
into the classroom, yet both stress the need for
“conscious” awareness of form as a pre-requisite for
L2 acquisition, particularly if fossilization and backsliding are to be prevented.
Schmidt’s (Schmidt & Frota, 1986, Schmidt, 1990)
notice-the-gap principle claims that learners will
begin to acquire a target-like form if it is present in
the input and noticed. Noticing here means becoming consciously aware of a form that, for a learner,
will generally occur during some language learning
activity. Robinson (1995) has recently expanded on
this and recast noticing as a process of detection
and rehearsal. Rutherford and Sharwood-Smith
(1985) offer consciousness raising (CR) as an alternative to explicitly teaching grammar in the traditional way. In CR, the teacher provides instruction
on grammar with varying degrees of elaboration
and explicitness to allow students to discover the
target structure by themselves.
Whilst there is still a fair amount of debate over
these theories, I’d like to include them in a working
pedagogical hypothesis for the purposes of this article. That is, I will assume that a certain degree of
focus on form in the classroom does lead to second
language acquisition at a rate over and above that of
simply supplying comprehensible input. This
clearly states, then, that it is not enough for learners
to simply immerse themselves in the target language and hope that L2 acquisition takes place. Instead, there must be some active intervention in the
process, either by the teacher or the learner, which
engages cognitive learning processes to allow learners’ awareness of form to be raised. It is the aim of
this article to articulate such intervention, in particular, that which needs to be supplied by the
learner. In order to understand learner intervention
fully, though, it is best to look at the notion of
teacher intervention first.
Teacher Intervention
Teachers’ intervention in the language acquisition
process can be applied most notably through selection and sequencing of syllabus, and implementation (i.e. methodology) of activities. Further
intervention that is more closely related to the hypothesis takes place in the classroom. To illustrate
this, I will consider a task where students are involved in goal-orientated, meaning-focused activities (Skehan, 1996). A typical task consists of preand post-task components (often referred to as inbriefs and de-briefs), which are teacher-centered,
and a midtask component, which is student-centered, where students work in pairs or small groups.
During the pre-task components, the teacher attempts to bring certain forms to the attention of the
learners through the presentation of instances of
lexis, formulaic units, and syntactic rules, with various degrees of elaboration and explicitness. The
10
purpose here is for the teacher to make particular
aspects of the language that are relevant to the task
more salient to increase the opportunity of noticing
(Schmidt, 1990) and restructuring (McLaughlin,
1990) during task performance.
For the post-task component, the teacher has at
his or her disposal a whole range of activities. Having just completed the exercise, the students can
attend to the form of the language more easily since
the cognitive load of the task has been lifted. The
teacher thus seeks to engage the students in a
teacher-centered dialogue by questioning them on
the task outcome, modeling performance, challenging their solutions and providing additional information related to the content of the task. All the
time, the teacher expands, paraphrases, and corrects
the students’ language, thus drawing attention to
language forms that are judged to have been the
most salient during task execution, and providing a
model of native-like performance.
The teacher has less opportunity to intervene during the midtask component, since by nature this part
is student-centered. The concern then is that, in the
absence of any teacher moderation, fluency will be
prioritized at the expense of accuracy (and thus form)
because pressures to accomplish the task completely
consume cognitive resources. The teacher can in part
reduce his or her presence to that of a peer and then
act to monitor form—surreptitiously providing corrections and bridging gaps in linguistic knowledge as
the group works towards a solution—but this can be
done only in a limited way. Critics of task-based
teaching point to this as the major stumbling block
of the method, and so it is here that learner intervention becomes paramount if we are to overcome this. I
will consider this notion next.
Learner Intervention
If we accept as our working pedagogical hypothesis
that noticing and form-focused attention do have a
facilitative role in L2 acquisition, whether peripheral
or central, there is no reason why we cannot bring
learners into play and give them the means to take
advantage of this. Many commentators have lamented on exasperated teachers who attempt to force
their students to notice particular language features,
who interrupt smooth-flowing tasks to explain an
item of grammar, or who keep their own finger on the
tape recorder pause button during a listening exercise. But if conscious awareness of language forms is
such a subjective state of mind, then it seems logical
that it is only learners who can judge when and what
they have noticed, and only learners who can control
the degree of rehearsal (Robinson, 1995) for it.
This subjectivity extends not just to the students
as a group, but also to each and every student. Even
in a well-streamlined class, which is very rare, students will vary in what language features prove to
The Language Teacher 24:10
Feature: Cribb
be important to them at any particular point in
quickly solve this—the teacher steps in, confirms that
time. Each student will have his or her own list of
the form is correct, or provides the correct form, and
grammatical and lexical items that he or she has
the group moves on quickly with the task. Again, a
been practicing, and will vary in the depth and nabalance is important, and it’s a balance that needs to
ture of understanding of these items.
be taught and practiced. If students don’t realize the
Learner intervention means, then, that we have to
need for one then, during a task, in the absence of
make students aware
the teacher, there
of the need to be
will be a tendency
form sensitive at cer“The days of the “heroic” teacher who feels he to structure comtain times and give
munication and
or she can provide all the necessary form . . . comprehension
them the means for
handling instances of
strategies rather
seem to be numbered”
noticing and the like.
than engaging in
That is, we need to
language that is
give them the metacognitive learning strategies so
“required to constantly stretch interlanguage and lead
that features made available through teacher correcto change” (Skehan, 1996, p.40).
tion, consciousness raising and, in particular, inOf course, it will take students time to find the
stances of negotiation of form become optimally
right balance between form and meaning, and it is
salient. This will allow for detection and rehearsal
certainly not a skill that can be taught or learnt
when student attention is stretched to the maximum. within the first few days of a course. But students
Giving students such means is not an easy task, since
are really the only ones who can reliably introspect
teachers are normally fully occupied in trying to get
on their own learning process, and practice and exstudents to use their English in the classroom and
perience will show them what works best: when to
have little time to spare to explain notions about secfocus on form, when to push for fluency, how to
ond language acquisition. But it is important early in
handle teacher corrections during task processing
a course to find the right balance between teacher
and the degree of rehearsal required, what to do
and learner intervention in order to take the load off
when they notice something, and the value of negothe teacher later on, especially with more advanced
tiating their communication. Just as importantly,
groups.
students need to know the amount of (off-task)
Consequently, one thing I do early in my course
planning and extra-curricula “housekeeping”1 they
is to give all of my students a small book that fits in
need to support and augment their task-based learntheir shirt pocket. Every time they “notice” someing. Without this degree of commitment to and
thing in the form of the language in the classroom,
awareness of learner intervention in the acquisition
they are required to take out the book and write it
process, I don’t believe language courses can be sucdown. If I see it coming out too often, then I go
cessful. Learner intervention, in a way, is really a
over the concept of noticing again and tell them
reversal of the traditional teaching sequence. Rather
that only forms that they become consciously aware than the teacher supplying students with a form,
of and seem important to them at that particular
asking them to learn it and then giving them opportime should be noted. It is impossible to completely tunities to use it in class, the students are involved
define the rules for this, but for an intensive course
in classroom interaction and, from this, they decide
where students are in class all day, then a 10 to 20
what items are important and then learn them.
item-per-day rule is a practical solution.
Such sequence reversal and intervention are not
Having made students responsible in part for their
just limited to task-based courses though. In most
own intervention, then it is important that we raise
teaching environments, students who have been
their “awareness about the pedagogical coherence of
suitably prepared for and made aware of the need
the course” and explain “the rationale underlying the for intervention can make a real difference. For exselection of tasks and the way they are used” (Bygate,
ample, students are often called on to submit writ1994, p. 243-4). Some tasks may be cognitively light,
ing assignments which the teacher then corrects
such as a picture description exercise, and thus may
and returns with the expectation that students will
allow students to focus more on form than tasks that
incorporate the form(s) into their interlanguage.
are cognitively heavy, such as a debate. Students need Several studies (e.g., Zamel, 1985, p.81; Ferris, 1995)
to understand this and be told at the beginning of
have questioned the effectiveness of such procethe task what level to expect.
dures though, and teachers are often disappointed
During midtask performance, there will be a great
and frustrated by the amount of uptake from the
degree of peer-to-peer talk. It is important that stustudents. Perhaps part of this is due to the fact that
dents balance form with meaning, and in particular,
what seems to be important for the teacher is not
inquire into the language they are using and hearing. necessarily what the students feel is important for
A right to a brief consultation with the teacher can
them, even though the students recognize the error.
October 2000
11
Feature: Cribb
Further, form and its correction that appear to be
appropriately timed from the teacher’s point of view
are not necessarily appropriately timed from the
point of view of the students’ interlanguage development and thus fail to become uptake.
I regularly try to reverse the traditional procedure
somewhat in writing assignments by asking students
to underline three or four items in their compositions
that they have a question about or they feel to be
important. This may be a vocabulary item, a phrase,
or the use of an idiom or a whole sentence. At first,
they feel awkward doing this and wonder why they
need a teacher if I’m not prepared to immediately tell
them where their errors are. However, if I follow this
up and give them real feedback (including further
follow-ups on the item) on what they have shown to
me to be important for them, then they come to realize that they can intervene in the learning process on
their own behalf and should not just merely react to
form-focused events.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that teachers should
completely ignore errors that students make until
the students inquire about them, but it does seem
that for a long time the traffic has been all one way,
with teachers telling students what is wrong with
their interlanguage, followed by students reacting to
this. Such uni-directional concern for form can
hardly be optimal when we consider that modern
form-focused theories demand the engagement of
students’ cognitive learning processes.
Another method that encourages learner intervention can be employed during a tape listening
exercise (or video). Here, one student is chosen to
come to the front of the class and be the tape player
“controller” while the teacher moves to the back of
the class. The students listen to the tape, and the
controller presses the pause button whenever he or
she cannot understand, or has a question. (The
other students will often cue the controller to pause
when they cannot understand.) The teacher then
steps forward to explain and provide the necessary
elaboration before moving back to allow the students to continue. After a few listening exercises like
this, students will begin to intervene on their own
behalf even with teacher-fronted listening exercises.
A Lifetime Commitment
The days of the “heroic” teacher who feels he or she
can provide all the necessary form just at the right
time for the students with the right amount of
elaboration seem to be numbered. If you are a
teacher who believes that students need plenty of
meaning-focused activities in the classroom but feel
that a certain degree of focus on form is appropriate
(even if you don’t know how you have come to this
conclusion), then you will be concerned with finding the right balance between the two in your daily
teaching; one that satisfies both you and the stu12
dents. Real leverage, I believe, comes by getting students in on the act: making them understand how
language learning takes place, getting them to balance form with meaning, explaining the rationale
behind the course, and asking them to intervene in
the language learning process by actively creating
and shaping form-focused events for themselves.
If, however, you still believe learners have no need
to intervene in the process, then consider this final
comment: Learning a language is a lifetime commitment. Your students’ contact with you is merely a
transitory phase in this undertaking. Your course will
end soon, and the students will move on. If you don’t
give them the means and motivation to intervene in
their learning process, then who will?
Note
1. Housekeeping is the term I use to refer to out-of-class
recording and manipulation of form by students. For
example, the upkeep of a small book with learnt vocabulary items.
V. Michael Cribb currently lectures in
linguistics and ESL at Kansai Gaidai
University. He spent eight years teaching
in South Korea before coming to Japan
last year. He can be contacted at
<[email protected]>.
References
Bygate, M. (1994). Adjusting the focus: Teacher roles in
task-based learning of grammar. In M. Bygate, A.
Tonkyn, & E. Williams (Eds.), Grammar and The Language
Teacher, (pp. 236-245). London: Prentice Hall.
Ferris, D.R. (1995). Student reaction to teacher response
in multiple-draft composition classrooms. TESOL Quarterly, 29(1), 33-53.
Long, M. H. (1994). On the advocacy of the task-based
syllabus. TESOL Quarterly, 28(4), 782-789.
McLaughlin, B. (1990). “Conscious” versus “unconscious”
learning. TESOL Quarterly, 24(4), 617-634.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practices in second language
acquisition. New York: Pergamon Press.
Robinson, P. (1995). Attention, memory, and the “noticing” hypothesis. Language Learning, 45(2), 283-331.
Rutherford., W.E., & Sharwood-Smith, M. (1985). Consciousness raising and universal grammar. Applied Linguistics, 6(3), 274-282.
Schmidt, R.W. (1990). The role of consciousness in second
language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 129-158.
Schmidt, R.W., & Frota, S.N. (1986). Developing basic conversational ability in a second language: a case study of
an adult learner of Portuguese. In R.R. Day (Ed), Talking
to learn: Conversations in second language acquisition (pp.
237-322). Mass.: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Sheen, R. (1994). A critical analysis of the advocacy of the
task-based syllabus. TESOL Quarterly, 28(1), 127-151.
Skehan, P. (1996). A framework for the implementation of
task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics, 17(1), 38-62.
Zamel, V. (1985). Responding to student writing. TESOL
Quarterly, 19(1), 79-101.
The Language Teacher 24:10
Judy Yoneoka
Kumamoto Gakuen University
This is the second in a two part series of articles. The
first article, “What is a Kokusaijin?: A 10-year study,”
appeared in the September TLT.
K
okusaijin (lit. international person) is a Japa
nese term with a relatively recent history that
conjures up images of a well-traveled Englishspeaking socialite in the minds of most Japanese.
Yoneoka (2000a) found that Japanese students’ images of kokusaijin differed greatly from those of US
and Indian students’ images of an internationallyminded person and German students’ images of a
weltoffener Mensch. Specifically, cognitive factors
such as knowledge of a foreign language (especially
English) and experiential factors
such as living abroad and having
foreign friends were stressed over
more affective factors such as lack
of prejudice, fear towards foreigners, or interest in world issues,
peace, and the environment
(Table 1).
Table 1 shows 4 different sets of
data for Japanese students. The
1989 and 1999 +E groups were
majoring in international economics and English, respectively,
whereas both -E groups studied
economics. Comparing these
groups, two major trends can be
seen. First, there is a marked longitudinal shift in the 1999 data
away from experiential attributes
(such as foreign friends and studying abroad) and towards cognitive attributes, especially foreign language knowledge. Second, the Japanese students with more interest in international
matters (the two +E groups) show a higher level of
affective attributes, such as lack of prejudice and interest in world peace, than did their less-interested
peers, although the figures are still much lower than
in any of the other three countries surveyed.
Ten Years of
Kokusaika:
Has progress
been made?
TLT9月号のYoneokaの論文では、日本の若
者の外国や外国人との接触は過去1 0 年間に
飛躍的に増加しているが、日本人の「国際
人」のイメージは偏見のなさや寛容さなど
の性格よりも語学力、日本や世界情勢に対
する知識、実際の体験などを重視し続けて
いるということを示した。海外渡航経験
後、二度と海外へ行きたくないと思ってい
る学生の割合が比較的高いという調査結果
と日本の国際化カリキュラムでは偏見のな
さや寛容さなどの性格育成を重視していな
いということが結びつけられ、「喉の乾い
ていない馬」シンドローム、つまり学生は
国際化の泉に連れてこられても、期待どお
りには水を飲まないということが説明され
ている。日本の教育におけるグローバル問
題に対する興味と、多文化に対するセンシ
ティビティを養成するための改善策が提案
されている。
October 2000
The heart-shift hypothesis
In 1989, comparison of the actual international experience of students from the four countries (measured in terms of international travel,
communication and friendship) showed that Germany led the other countries by far (Yoneoka 1993).
Indeed, with respect to the four countries surveyed,
a mutual correlation was found to exist between
actual experience and the prevalence of affective
attributes of a kokusaijin. Thus, the following hypothesis was proposed:
The Heart-Shift Hypothesis: An increase in actual
international experience leads to a shift towards
a more affective heart-based interpretation of
the attributes of a kokusaijin.
13
Feature: Yoneoka
Table 1: Interpretation of Kokusaijin in terms of cognitive, experiential and affective attributes
(from Yoneoka 2000a, Table 2)
**Jpn89-E
(N=105)
Cognitive
(knowledge)
Experience
Affective (Heart)
53.7
23.2
23.1
Note. *data from Yoneoka, 1993.
**Jpn89+E
(N=19)
37.8
31.1
31.1
Jpn99-E
(N=78)
62.4
15.0
22.6
Jpn99+E
(N=76)
57.8
12.4
29.8
*Germany
(N=32)
*India
(N=92)
*USA
(N=95)
1.2
3.6
95.2
21
2
77
25
7
68
**data from Yoneoka, 1991.
In other words, having international experience
may lead to the realization that such experience is
neither a sufficient nor even a necessary criterion
for a kokusaijin. Preliminary support for this heartshift hypothesis was found in the 1989 +E group, a
small sample of Japanese 4th year students who had
all participated in a seminar trip to China (Yoneoka,
1989). These students indeed showed a relatively
higher percentage of affective responses than the
general Japanese student population sampled.
To test this hypothesis, the 1989 questionnaire
(with minor changes, see Yoneoka, 2000a for sample
questionnaire and details on its administration) was
given in April 1999 to an equivalent population of
Japanese students in two groups. The first part of this
questionnaire dealt with the question of how students define kokusaijin, and was discussed in detail in
Yoneoka, (2000a). The second portion of the questionnaire is designed to provide the background necessary in order to test the heart-shift hypothesis above.
Specifically, the following research questions are
discussed:
data from the 1989 survey of students from four
countries are presented in this section.
The results of these research questions pose several
implications for the progress of kokusaika for Japanese
society as a whole and especially for the educational
system; these are addressed in the discussion.
The international experience score
To determine the relationship of images of kokusaijin
with (a) actual international experience and (b) general attitudes towards internationalization, an “international experience score” and “international
consciousness score” (%/100) were determined for
each group on the basis of various conditions. The
conditions and figures for each score are shown in
Tables 2 and 3 respectively.
The “international experience score” was derived by
multiplying the percentage of students who had (a)
traveled abroad by 2 (100 x 2=200) and adding to this
the percentage of students who (b) had spoken with
foreigners; (c) telephoned, written or otherwise communicated abroad; and (d) had international friends
(100 x 3=300). The sum was then multiplied by 2 (500
x 2=1000) and divided by 10 to get a score out of 100.
For the four Japanese groups, the most striking
result was the dramatic rise in personal international
experience of the -E students in ten years, from a
mere 8.2% in 1989 to 36.8% in 1999. Most of this
rise might be attributed to the educational efforts—
the overwhelming rise in JET program participant
numbers, increased numbers of school trips taken
abroad, and more foreign students on Japanese campuses. Although this score is still relatively low compared with those of other countries, it is rapidly
approaching that of India. Also, comparing the two
+E groups, the 1999 group had higher percentages
for all criteria except experience abroad (remember
here that the 1989 +E group had all been abroad on
a seminar trip to China). This too shows the positive
influence of educational reforms of the past decade.
Results
Besides providing information on students’ perceptions of what and who a kokusaijin is, and of how
the students saw themselves in terms of kokusaika,
the questionnaire requested details on various facets
of students’ actual international-oriented experience. Cross-comparisons of these data with similar
The International Consciousness Score
The “international consciousness score” was obtained by multiplying (a) the average self-evaluation
of students with respect to their own level of
kokusaika by 2 (100 x 2 =200) and adding to this (b)
the percentage of students who desired to travel
abroad, (c) felt the need to become more interna-
1. As compared to their counterparts of 1989, how
much actual international experience do a group
of equivalent Japanese students have in 1999, in
terms of travel and study abroad, interaction and
communication with foreigners?
2. If this actual experience has increased, does this
result in a shift towards a more affective interpretation of kokusaijin and kokusaika, as defined
in Yoneoka, 2000a?
14
The Language Teacher 24:10
Feature: Yoneoka
Table 2: “International experience score” by country and group
**Jpn89-E
(N=105)
(a) Traveled
abroad (x2)
(b) Spoken
with foreigner
(c) Int’l
communication
(d) International
friends
Total
(2a+b+c+d) x 2/10
**Jpn89+E
(N=19)
Jpn99-E
(N=78)
Jpn99+E
(N=76)
*Germany
(N=32)
*India
(N=92)
*USA
(N=95)
0.6
20.0
4.6
12.2
20.0
7.6
12.8
2.0
9.0
8.1
9.7
10.0
7.6
9.9
0.8
5.0
3.6
7.4
6.1
7.2
6.0
0.7
3.7
2.1
4.3
6.8
4.0
8.5
8.2
75.4
36.8
67.2
85.8
52.8
74.4
Note. *data from Yoneoka, 1993.
**data from Yoneoka, 1991.
tional rather or very strongly, and (d) listed their
own personal influence on their international
awareness as one of the three top choices out of six
possible (100 x 3=300). The sum was then multiplied by 2 (500 x 2=1000) and divided by 10 to get
a score out of 100.
In contrast to the dramatic rise in the actual experience scores of the Japanese students over 10
years, the international consciousness scores have
increased only slightly, from 36.0 to 41.4 for –E
students and from 51.0 to 57.6 for +E students. The
fact that this rise occurred in both –E and +E students indicated that the educational milieu may be
responsible, rather than the simple heightened interest and experience abroad which differentiates
the two groups.
The lack of a strong rise in the “international
consciousness score” was due mainly to the persistently and dismally low Japanese subjective selfevaluations. Although self-evaluation has increased
slightly in ten years for both groups, Japanese students continue to rate themselves (and their poor
fathers) much lower than any famous politician or
personality, including dictatorial world leaders,
who were rated between 1-3 by students of the
other countries but averaged over 5 for Japanese
students. These ratings are also much lower than
the self-evaluations of students in other countries.
This trend towards low esteem in terms of personal internationalization may partially be attributed to Japanese kenson (humbleness), but it also
shows a clear continuing correlation with the ex-
Table 3: “International consciousness score” by country and group
**Jpn89-E
(N=105)
(a) Subjective
self-evaluation
(x2)
(b) Desire to travel
(c) Need to
internationalize
(d) Personal
influence on
internationalization
Total
(2a+b+c+d)x2/10
Jpn99-E
(N=78)
Jpn99+E
(N=76)
*Germany
(N=32)
*India
(N=92)
*USA
(N=95)
3.4
8.7
3.8
9.3
4.2
8.7
5.8
9.9
15.0
10.0
9.0
9.4
11.6
9.7
3.9
8.4
4.4
8.7
7.1
7.0
7.0
2.0
4.0
3.4
4.4
7.2
7.6
6.2
36.0
51.0
41.4
57.6
78.6
66.0
69.0
Note. *data from Yoneoka, 1993.
October 2000
**Jpn89+E
(N=19)
**data from Yoneoka, 1991.
15
Feature: Yoneoka
pectations of cognitive and experiential over affective factors when we look at the data of the other
three countries. In other words, for each country,
the higher the emphasis placed on knowledge and
experience, the lower the student average self-evaluations become. On the other hand, the slight rise in
self-evaluation over 10 years in both Japanese
groups may be due to the possibility that increased
actual experience with foreigners and international
travel, to some extent at least, has been of some
benefit in developing increased confidence with
respect to self-internationalization.
Discussion: The “thirstless horse” syndrome
The lack of confidence shown in the international
consciousness scores (particularly in self-evaluation)
can be at least partially attributed to the high emphasis placed on the nuance of kokusaijin in terms
of cognitive factors, i.e. knowledge. Students may
assume that they cannot be responsible for such a
demanding task as internationalizing oneself in
terms of knowledge and experience, especially
when the passive aspect of the kokusaika process is
taken into account (Yoneoka, 2000a, Note 2). This
assumption then leads to a feeling of self-helplessness with respect to active attitudes and participation in the kokusaika process. In other words, this
could be understood as a “thirstless horse” syndrome: Students have been led to the international
waters, but they are not drinking as they should.
More evidence for this “thirstless horse” syndrome
is seen in the percentages of students who are not
interested in going abroad, shown below. We saw in
Table 3 that, encouragingly, over 87% of students
everywhere want to travel abroad. However, the lowest figures are still among the Japanese –E students.
Turning the question around, Table 4 shows the percentages of students who replied that they were not
interested in going abroad (again), and reveals that
nothing has changed in ten years. For both –E
groups, over one student in ten would prefer to stay
at home than to travel to a foreign country.
Even more revealing, and perturbing, is that fully
22% of the 1999 -E students—more than one in
five—who had already been abroad responded that
they were not interested in going abroad again. Personal communication with students who have had
experience abroad prior to university reveals that in
most cases, this experience was in the form of a
school trip. Thus, again, these figures intimate that
school-based efforts at internationalization may be
backfiring, and that at least some of the horses are
not drinking.
Making the horses drink: training in kokusai ishiki
The little-known Japanese term kokusai ishiki (lit.
international consciousness, Ishii et al, p. 237) is
defined as “consciousness of one’s thoughts, feelings and actions with respect to values, opinions
and attitudes towards the international society as a
whole and towards any of its manifestations.” This
kokusai ishiki is also recognized as forming at least
part of what kokusai rikai kyoiku (education in international understanding) should be (ibid. p. 153).
However, we have seen from the data that kokusai
ishiki is still not regarded as an integral aspect of a
kokusaijin by the majority of Japanese students surveyed, even with the significant rise in actual international-oriented experience. Rather, the role of this
experience itself has been downplayed, implying
that the young Japanese in this study did not see
their own experience as making them much more
internationalized. Thus, the image of a kokusaijin
shifted more towards cognitive attributes (knowledge and language ability) rather than affective attributes. This implies that international education
may do better to prepare students emotionally to
take a more active interest in international matters
rather than simply throwing them into international situations and hoping they sink or swim.
Many Japanese may still cling to myths of uniqueness, inferiority/superiority and insularity, and these
present major stumbling blocks in the minds of
would-be kokusaijin.
There are at least three possible ways to proceed
with development of kokusai ishiki. One of these is
Table 4: Percentage of students who don’t want to go abroad
Country/condition **Jpn89-E
(N=105)
Desire to travel
Don’t want to
go abroad
(% who had
been abroad)
87
Jpn99-E
(N=78)
Jpn99+E
(N=76)
*Germany
(N=32)
93
87
99
100
*India
(N=92)
*USA
(N=95)
97
97
13.3
***5.6
12.8
0
0
6.7
4.2
0
***5.6
22
0
0
0
0
Note. *data from Yoneoka, 1993.
16
**Jpn89+E
(N=19)
**data from Yoneoka, 1991.
***N=1/19 students.
The Language Teacher 24:10
Feature: Yoneoka
direct cross-cultural training with an emphasis on
that the important thing is not necessarily lanrespect and value for human rights and the ability to
guage ability, I now give myself a 6.”
“be in another’s shoes.” The elementary school crossAt the very least, it is clear that some of the educultural education curriculum due to be implemented cational programs meant to cultivate kokusaika
in 2002 may provide an excellent opportunity for
should undergo a review or quality control process.
such training. The first point on such a curriculum,
Especially, we need to address the problem raised
however, should be to break down any notions that
by the fact that 22% of the students in Jpn99-E
Japanese society and people are inherently unique
who had gone abroad were not interested in going
and different from other peoples, or else any such
again. Suggestions for improving this figure would
training may end up reinforcing the very prejudices
include encouraging more independence and freeand stereotypes it is meant to avoid. It should also
dom of choice with respect to school trips, not
endeavor to instill a healthy pride in one’s own peronly with respect to the destination, but also with
sonal identity and culture that does not necessarily
where to stay, what to do, and how to forge longrequire knowledge of
lasting friendships and
minute details of specific
ties. In addition, parents
items of Japanese cultural
could be encouraged to
heritage, such as tea certake a more active role
“Students have been led to the
emony or sumo wrestling.
in the international eduinternational waters, but they are cation of their children
It should also emphasize
not drinking as they should”
that language knowledge,
by actually taking them
especially of English,
abroad themselves, and
while extremely helpful
allowing and encouragin international communication, (a) is not a necesing them to travel abroad alone or with friends, if
sary condition for development of kokusai ishiki and
they so desire.
(b) does not by any means guarantee the development of an individual as a kokusaijin.1 The same is
Conclusion
true of actual experience with foreign countries and
In the past decade, thanks to the JET program, inpeople. Finally, an interest in other countries, culternational school trips, efforts of parents and Entures and customs extending far beyond a simple dos- glish teachers, and advanced communications, the
age of US pop culture must be instilled along with the rate of actual international experience of students
motivation to continue developing international
has more than doubled. Indeed, there has been a
bonds, ties and friendships.
marked shift away from experience as a characterA second method might be to “give the horses
istic of a kokusaijin, which can be attributed to the
what they think they need,” by providing a strict and increasing international experience of the students
thorough education in language (especially in comthemselves. However, the answers as to whether
municative competence) and world affairs in addition this increased actual international experience has
to the experience-oriented education they are now
resulted in a more affective interpretation of
receiving. This would perform the role of a placebo in kokusaijin and improved self-evaluations towards
the sense that students who have extensive experikokusaika unfortunately must be no on both acence and language ability would perhaps come to
counts. For kokusaijin, the shift away from experirealize that something more is needed to actually be a
ence has resulted more in an increase of emphasis
true kokusaijin. Instruction in world affairs should
on cognitive factors rather than affective atinclude exposure to issues and problems such as povtributes. Thus, for students who feel they are lackerty, overpopulation and environment from a world
ing in such knowledge (i.e. most students), this
point of view rather than a national one.
puts the goal of becoming a kokusaijin in an even
A third method, and perhaps the most simple and more unattainable position than it was before. Perdirect, is to reteach the meaning of kokusaijin itself.
haps because of this, desire to travel abroad reSimple presentation of the data from this series of
mains unchanged, even decreasing among -E
surveys should be enough to make some students
students who have already been abroad.
realize that they have been downplaying affective
These results provide little support for the heartfactors. When students come to their own reassessshift hypothesis discussed in section 1.1. A slight
ments of these terms, they should tend to develop
shift towards affective responses was indeed found
an increased self-confidence in their own internato occur in students with more international expetional worth, which may lead to increased interest
rience, but there was also a corresponding shift
and motivation to gain more knowledge and a bettowards emphasis on language ability. In addition,
ter understanding of the world situation. As one
as higher figures for affective attributes are seen in
student put it, “I had originally rated myself as a 3
both the 1989 and 1999 +E students, this phenomin terms of my kokusaika level, but after realizing
enon must be interpreted as coming not from inOctober 2000
17
Feature: Yoneoka
creased exposure but rather from an inherent interest in internationalization itself on the part of
these students.
Of course, as measurement of language ability
did not play a role in this paper (although we assume that the +E students, being foreign language
majors, in general have more language ability than
the –E students), we can still argue a modified form
of the hypothesis: that increased confidence in
both language and world knowledge in addition to
increased experience may push students closer to
affective responses. Repeating this questionnaire
with a group of highly advanced language students
with extensive experience abroad would serve to
address this argument.
Finally, the problem of school-based cross-cultural training backfiring and producing antikokusaika sentiment is a real one, shown by the fact
that over 1 in 5 –E students who had been abroad
were not inspired enough by that experience to
want to do it again. Thus, it may be that a more
fundamentally humanistic approach to cultivating
kokusaika is needed. It is hoped that the cross-cultural education due to be introduced in 2002 into
elementary schools may provide this approach,
although care must be taken that stereotypical
walls are broken down rather than built up.
Judy Yoneoka has been
teaching English language,
linguistics, and cross-cultural
education in Japan for almost
20 years. Her research interests
include computers and the
Internet in language education,
World Englishes, and corpus
linguistics. She currently resides in Kumamoto, Japan.
<[email protected]>
18
References
Ishii, T. et al (1996). Ibunka kommyunike-shon handobukku
: kisochishiki kara oyo, jissen made (Intercultural communication handbook, in Japanese). Tokyo:
Yukaikakusensho.
Yoneoka, J. (2000a). (in press). What is a Kokusaijin?: A
10-year study. The Language Teacher, 24 (9).
Yoneoka, J. (1999). Towards the 21st century: goals and
obstacles in English education in Japan. Kumamoto
Gakuen University Ronshu Sogo Kagaku 5-2 (p. 53-73).
Yoneoka, J. (1993). Kokusaika no ime-ji;: nihon, doitsu,
indo, amerika no daigakusei no hikaku. (Images of internationalization: comparison of survey responses
from Japan, Germany, India and the United States, in
Japanese). Kumamoto Shoka Daigaku Kaigai Kenshuron
20-2 (p. 81-95).
Yoneoka, J. (1991). Nihon to doitsu no wakamono no
kokusaika ni taisuru ishiki ya taido ni tsuite. (Student
attitudes towards internationalism in Japan and Germany, in Japanese). Kumamoto Shoka Daigaku Kaigai
Kenshuron 19-1 (pp. 1-10).
Note
1 As English is to form part of the 2002 curriculum, a
potential pitfall to be carefully avoided is reinforcing
the equation internationalization = westernization =
English (Yoneoka, 1999). If English must be taught in
conjunction with cross-cultural education, it must be
done so as an international language, i.e. one that can be
used among Asian, African and other peoples of the
world, rather than simply a language to be used with
North Americans, British, Australians and New
Zealanders.
The Language Teacher 24:10
A Chapter in Your Life
edited by joyce cunningham & miyao mariko
This month, you will read about successful formats used in Kitakyushu's chapter meetings. The coeditors of this column
invite readers to submit 800-850 word reports about your chapter or SIG in Japanese, English, or a combination of both.
In Search of Ever-Better Programs
by Margaret Orleans
We in the Kitakyushu Chapter have been blessed
with members willing to share the fruits of their experience and research at our monthly meetings. Likewise, those who have seen a good speaker elsewhere
are quick to pass on their recommendations. However, at the rate of twelve to fifteen meetings per year,
even these generous sources at times threaten to dry
up, and so, we are always on the lookout for inventive formats for our meetings and ways in which to
encourage new speakers to step forth.
Some of the successful alternatives to the staple
lecture or workshop format have included My
Share, Ask the Experts, and Polishing Presentation
Skills. While there are those who appreciate a
theory- or research-based lecture, most of our members are looking for practical tips they can put to
immediate use, and they are likely to find these at a
My Share meeting. In fact, My Share meetings have
proved so popular (perhaps because each of the presenters brings his/her own cheering section?) that
we include at least one in each year's schedule. At
such a meeting, four to six speakers each spend ten
to twenty minutes on a stated theme. Themes we
have tried include Christmas activities, first-day activities, creative evaluation options, games, handson trial of one's favorite educational software, and
the best thing one learned at a conference that year.
Coming later this year is a meeting on favorite
teacher resources. Because the individual presentations are so short, this format provides a good
chance for a novice to get his/her feet wet before
trying a full-length solo presentation.
Our two-part Ask the Experts program was the result of observations that the Japanese and non-Japanese teachers of English knew little about what
occurred in the others' classrooms. A panel of four
teachers, representing as wide a spectrum of teaching
situations as possible, responded to questions submitted beforehand and from the floor at two successive
monthly meetings. Actually, the meeting was entitled
Ask a Native, and in the first month "native" was defined as a native of Japan. Questions ranged from
actual classroom procedures and class sizes to how
the teachers themselves continued to improve their
language skills. The second month's natives were native speakers of English, and again they dealt with farranging questions. At both meetings, attendance was
above average and discussion even more lively than
usual. We feel that our goal of making the chapter
more cohesive was achieved.
20
Another recent success consisted of a two-part format, Polishing Your Presentation. Feeling the responsibility to nourish more potential speakers among our
membership, two members who are veteran presenters set up an afternoon workshop to teach
PowerPoint and speaking skills. Those attending were
expected to bring along a planned presentation, including some sort of visual material. They received
individual help and a chance to rehearse before the
regular meeting that evening, where they presented a
twenty-minute excerpt of what they had prepared.
These mini-presentations were so well received that
by popular demand two of them have been scheduled for a full-length meeting next year.
As yet untested is our planned Overseas Study Fair,
in which we hope to bring together embassy/consulate staff, experienced teachers, and potential students for a mixture of booths and lectures to answer
students' questions about study opportunities abroad.
Not every innovative format has been so successful. One seemingly good idea (a session at which
teachers wishing to make audio or video tapes could
draw on a body of native and non native speaking
talent and produce the recordings in a language lab)
attracted only a dozen participants, but the smallness of the audience may also have been attributable to the weather or the location.
One approach to programming, which has had
overall good results, is to work in collaboration with
the larger community to share speakers, audiences,
publicity, and facilities. In particular, we try each year
to provide an interesting half-day program as part of
our city's International Week. For the past few years
we have used the ongoing theme of Multicultural
Families and engaged the support of an organization
of volunteer interpreters to bring individual speakers
and panel presentations before a wider audience than
normally attend JALT meetings.
Of course one can always invite in big-name
speakers from afar. For our chapter this has been
possible through the cost sharing that takes place in
Kyushu Tours. These island-wide tours have brought
us speakers like Charles LeBeau, Laura MacGregor,
and Jill Robbins. With or without underwriting
from corporate sponsors, these speakers sweep
through Kyushu, making presentations at four or
five chapters within a week to ten days.
For further information, please contact: Margaret
Orleans; <[email protected]>; t/f: 093-8717706.
The Language Teacher 24:10
My Share
edited by scott gardner
My Share—Live! at JALT2000 in Shizuoka
This year’s My Share—Live! will take place Saturday, November 4 from 12:15 to 1 p.m. To participate, make 50
copies of a favorite lesson or activity you have created, and bring them to the Material Writers SIG desk before the
swap meet. Just sign a copyright release and you will receive an admission ticket to enter the swap meet and take
lessons other teachers have contributed. Share a little fun at JALT2000!
Who Wants to Be a (Grammar) Millionaire?
Shaun Gates
Shiga Women’s Junior College
2. Illustrate the point of the
game by referring to the blackboard, and explaining the
rules thus: “You and your
partner have ¥1,000. If you
choose the correct answer to Question 1 your
money doubles to ¥2,000. You do the same thing
from Questions 2 to 10 so if you get all the answers right you will win ¥1,000,000. If you
choose the wrong answer you lose half your
money but you can carry on playing. (This is
done to encourage “losers” to keep playing.) You
can withdraw from the game at any time by raising your hands. The winners are the pair with
the most money at the end of the game.”
This is a language game based on the television
game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” It can
be used with any type of multiple-choice exercise so
it is particularly useful if your class is preparing for
the TOEFL, TOEIC, or STEP. If you have not seen the
game, here is a summary. The television show is
based on the notion of “double or quits.” The contestant starts with £1,000. She is asked a question
and given four answers, one of which is correct—a
situation similar to the student trying to answer a
multiple-choice item. If she chooses the right answer, the prize money doubles and the contestant
moves on to the next question. As the game moves
Figure 1
towards the £1,000,000 prize the questions get
harder, and at some stage the contestant faces a
1. ¥2,000
6. ¥64,000
question she cannot answer with confidence. At this
2. ¥4,000
7. ¥125,000
point she can fall back on three lifelines: she can ask
3. ¥8,000
8. ¥250,000
the audience, she can call a friend, or she can ask for
4. ¥16,000
9. ¥500,000
two wrong answers to be removed giving her a 50/
5. ¥32,000
10. ¥1,000,000
50 chance of choosing the correct answer. Each lifeline can be used once only. The contestant can withThree lifelines:
draw at any stage in the game and keep the money
1) Ask someone in the class.
she has won.
2) Use a textbook or reference book.
This game can be easily modified for class work.
3) Remove two wrong answers.
The chief difference is that on the television
programme only one contestant can play at a time,
If your answer is right your money doubles.
but in the classroom version, the whole class plays
If your answer is wrong your money halves.
in pairs.
Preparation
Before class make a list with ten multiple-choice test
items. As far as possible, arrange the items in order
of increasing difficulty. You can choose grammar
structures covered during course work or, if you prefer, structures your students have problems with.
Photocopy the list.
In Class
1. Hand out one copy to each pair and give them
five minutes to think about the answers. Students
can discuss answers with their partner only.
While they are working prepare Figure 1 on the
blackboard.
October 2000
3. Read out Question 1 and then the four answers.
For example, if the question is:
I _______ my leg.
a. have been breaking
b. had breaking my leg
c. have broken
d. was broken
you read, “a—I have been breaking my leg, b—I
had breaking my leg, c—I have broken my leg,
d—I was broken my leg.”
4. Ask the students to choose an answer. Before you
give the correct answer, draw their attention to
21
My Share
the blackboard again and tell them about the
three lifelines: “When you do not know an answer you can use a lifeline. You have three lifelines. You can ask other pairs for advice. Or you
can look at your class book/reference book for
one minute. Or you can come to my desk and I
will point out two answers that are wrong. You
can use each lifeline only once.” After all the students have made their decisions, give the correct
answer and move on to the next question.
5. Don’t play the game too fast. Give your students
time to think and argue about answers. They can
sharpen their understanding of a grammar structure even if they choose the wrong answer. Remind them about the lifelines and withdrawing,
and ask them to update their total every time
you give an answer. If the game finishes with
more than one winning pair you can ask some
supplementary questions.
Some Final Points
You can adapt this game to any multiple-choice exercise, e.g. a vocabulary test, a reading comprehension
exercise, etc. If your students can cope with a large
number of test items, play the game like the television show. Invite a student to sit opposite you at the
front of the class and answer questions like a contestant. When this game finishes, start again with a new
contestant and new questions. A Japanese version of
this game show is on television so your students may
already be familiar with the rules.
Quick Guide
Key Words: Test Preparation, Revision, Games, Pairwork
Learner English Level: All
Learner Maturity Level: High School and up
Preparation Time: Very short if using exercises from textbook or test booklet
Activity Time: About 30 minutes
An E-commerce Webpage Project
point, identify what services or
products were on offer, and discover how people accessing the
pages could also contact the providers of the service or obtain the advertised product. I spent some time revising the students’ understanding of basic webpage design techniques. Most
of the class had created a webpage earlier, but due
to the constant intake of students at the IEP, a basic
overview of the software (HotDog Express) had to
be made for newcomers.
Towards the end of the first session, I gave the
class members their primary assignment: By Week 5
they had to advertise a local business with a website
comprising three linked webpages and featuring
some of the characteristics found in the pages they
examined earlier. In groups of four, students
brainstormed and compiled a list of relevant interview questions for business proprietors in the community close to the IEP centre. These questions
needed to gather enough information to provide
some background of the business and its services
and/or products. The responses would, in turn, be
classified and finally included on their website. For
the following week, I asked the students to find a
compliant business in the local area and collect basic information about this commercial enterprise.
By Week 2, most students had identified a business
and obtained some data. They had also arranged a
time to meet proprietors to interview them about
their respective businesses. During this second class,
we narrowed, refined and built on the questions generated in Week 1. I made it clear that the questions
Anthony P. Crooks, Sendai Board of Education
Introduction
When teachers conduct webpage construction exercises for ESL/EFL students, the resulting sites usually
concentrate on class members’ personal details and
interests. However, for ESP Business students, preparing rudimentary e-commerce websites can be an engaging and valuable alternative to the more common
“My Webpage” product. This article outlines a successful project in which students created commercial
websites for businesses in their neighbourhood. Even
though the students involved were studying in a
Business English course at an Intensive English Program (IEP) in Melbourne, Australia, this project could
be adapted to Japanese ESP contexts.
Students and Class
The class comprised 15 Asian students who were preparing to enter business programs at Australian universities. They were in their final ten weeks of study
in the IEP, and had upper-intermediate level English
skills. They had prior experience with the Windows
operating system and had also prepared a webpage in
an earlier class at the same IEP. The class met once a
week for two hours over a five-week period.
Procedure
In the first session, I directed the students to examine and analyse a number of commercial Internet
sites: look at webpages from a commercial view22
The Language Teacher 24:10
My Share
they posed had to be relevant to the business and not
intrusive. This session also offered some further time
to revise basic webpage design skills.
Between the second and third classes, students
were expected to meet with the businesses and
gather information. Most students borrowed a disposable camera to take photos of the business, products, and proprietor. I later printed these photos
then scanned and saved them to disk.
With the majority of students having collected
information from the businesses, Weeks 3 and 4
allowed for the compiling of websites. In terms of
design, some students imitated pages we had examined in Week 1 as templates for their projects. Others simply arranged the information into short,
detailed paragraphs, and with these individuals I
provided design tips to move them away from the
mundane appearance of some of their creations.
In our final session, Week 5, the students were
given an hour to tweak their pages before they were
critiqued by other class members. In the critiquing
process, the students had to assess the pages based
on a set of criteria that I had established. As was
expected, the students were relatively fair with their
assessment of their work, but some individuals offered some insightful critiques for the others. In
feedback I received, the students were satisfied with
their exercises in basic e-commerce websites, and
even though the sites were not uploaded to a host,
the project itself was a success.
Conducting this project in Japan would reduce
the demand on the students to speak English, especially in communication with business proprietors.
Therefore, for the benefit of language practice, a
greater emphasis would need to be placed on the
students’ interaction in English in class, on the preliminary tasks and discussions (e.g. webpage examination) and the presentation of the final page in
English. To a lesser extent, students could seek out
foreign businesses based in Japan and request their
assistance in this assignment.
I would also make a few other practical suggestions concerning the course. Firstly, students would
be better served working in pairs rather than groups
of four. This would allow far more intensive and
economical computer usage in class. Secondly, assessing the students’ technical proficiency is crucial.
The individuals involved in my project were already
confident computer users, but less technically adept
students should be given a longer course (perhaps
ten weeks of classes, two hours a week) to be introduced to the Internet, to be shown commercial
webpages and critique them, to have enough time
to locate willing businesses for website profiles, and
to develop familiarity with a basic webpage designer. Finally, I would recommend utilizing
freeware webpage designers such as CoffeeCup Free
HTML or Arachnophilia (available at
<www.tucows.com>) rather than investing in a
commercial package.
Discussion
The exercise worked well in that the students were
engaged in a wide range of language acts—students
had to read (webpages, business brochures), speak
and listen (to each other, to business proprietors),
and write (their own webpages). They worked
collaboratively in English towards products of
which they were genuinely proud.
Quick Guide
Key Words: Internet, Writing, Webpage Design,
E-commerce
Learner English Level: Lower Intermediate to Advanced
Learner Maturity Level: Adults, College and up
Preparation Time: Varies according to teacher’s and students’ familiarity with webpage design
Activity Time: Ten hours (five two-hour classes), plus
student research/interviews outside of class
My Share—Live! at JALT2000 in Shizuoka
This year’s My Share—Live! will take place Saturday,
November 4 from 12:15 to 1 p.m. To participate, make
50 copies of a favorite lesson/activity you have created,
and bring them to the Material Writers SIG desk before
the swap meet. Just sign a copyright release and you
will receive an admission ticket to enter the swap meet
and take lessons other teachers have contributed. Share
a little fun at JALT2000!
October 2000
23
24
The Language Teacher 24:10
edited by malcolm swanson
Off the Presses
Teaching and the materials we use have always been closely intertwined. Each needs the other, but so often in
academic publications, commercial interests are relegated to positions of paid advertising only, leaving companies with little opportunity to let us know about news, events, or material releases in print. This month we
begin a new column, Off the Presses, which offers our publishing colleagues a chance to tell us some of the
exciting developments taking place in their companies. We start with an article by James Hursthouse of
eigoTown.com and ELT News. For further inquiries about this column, please contact <[email protected]>.
eigoTown.com and ELT News
“Off the Presses”—an appropriate name indeed for
this new TLT column, given the fact that the first
company to be featured publishes almost exclusively without going anywhere near a press. “Off the
Presses and onto the Internet!“
Still, publishing is publishing, and I’m very happy
to take up TLT’s offer of an opportunity to let you
know about developments at ELT News and its parent company, eigoTown.com. Our company’s overall goal is to provide a wide range of solutions,
combining the Internet and multimedia technology
with English education, to meet both learners’ and
teachers’ needs. I’d like to explain a little bit about
how we’re going about this.
Many of you will already be familiar with ELT
News (www.eltnews.com). The site is visited by
thousands of ELT professionals weekly, and we have
over 10,000 subscribers to our free email newsletter.
A “one stop” information source for those interested
in building or enhancing an ELT career in Japan,
ELT News includes teaching ideas, interviews with
luminaries in the ELT world, message boards, a jobs
board, and of course, regularly updated news from
the ELT world.
eigoTown.com—Japan’s premier Website for anyone
interested in English
What you may not be aware of is that ELT News is
part of a larger environment called eigoTown.com,
an Internet-based community designed to be the
nexus of everything related to English in Japan.
Launched in March of this year, the site has quickly
established itself as the place that Japanese people
can turn to for a wealth of information about such
things as studying English, teaching English, and
traveling to English-speaking countries to work or to
study or simply to have fun.
Let’s imagine that one of your final year English
majors is planning a trip to the US to study for three
months after she graduates. How can she make use
of eigoTown.com?
She can practice English in eigoCollege. Interactive daily quizzes, including one relating specifically to travel English, provide a convenient way to
test English ability. She can also visit our hosted
Chat Rooms to practice with expert speakers in
“real time.”
She can read high interest articles about life in the
October 2000
US (and other English-speaking countries), including the experiences of other Japanese people in Culture Cafe. High-profile interviewees have included
Hollywood actress Kudo Yuki and Apple Japan President Harada Eikoh talking about the difference that
English skills have made to their lives and work.
She can find a language school in Japan for a
little extra English practice before she goes. Our
“Studying in Japan” Database lists over 9000
schools, which are all searchable by location and
type of program.
She can find practical guidance to help her prepare for traveling overseas in Ryugaku Plaza, which
includes information about visa requirements and
financial matters. Sample application letters to
schools and home stay families help make sure the
trip gets off to a good start. If she can’t find the information she needs, she can “Ask the Expert” for
the USA, who will provide the answer that she
needs by email.
She can use our lively Message Boards to ask others who have been to the States, perhaps even to the
same school, for advice. She can find an American
e-Pal, and exchange emails.
She can buy a book or video about the US, along
with a couple of English novels for the flight over,
from eigoStore.
When she gets back to Japan, she can find a job
that requires her newly improved English skills in
our Jobs Section. There is also advice on application
procedures and issues related to working in international environments.
Language school owners—register your school for
free in the Database
I’d like to invite any TLT readers who run language schools to register their services in our Database. It’s free to register and it makes sense to have
your school appear when an eigoTown.com visitor
searches for courses in your area. Also, don’t forget
that an ad on the ELT News jobs boards is a proven,
cost-effective way to recruit native speaker teachers.
Contact me at <[email protected]> or come to
the ELT News stand at JALT2000 in Shizuoka for
more details about either the eigoTown.com Database or the ELT News Jobs page.
Another reason to come and visit us at the conference is to enter our draw to win a stylish new Power
25
Off the Presses
Mac G4 Cube—the computer that proves that good
things really do come in small packages.
The ELT Software Store
The third company in the eigoTown.com “triumvirate” is the ELT Software Store, currently representing
over one hundred language-learning products. Our
flagship product, ELLIS (English Language Learning
and Instruction System), is a comprehensive interactive language-learning solution for learners at all levels. It combines graphics, full-motion video, digitized
sound, voice recording, and animation in a userfriendly environment. For more details, contact
Kenny Hong on free phone 0120-050-815.
ELLIS at JALT2000
Dr. Frank Otto, Founder and Chairman of the Board
ofs CALI Inc. (the publishers of ELLIS), is one of this
year’s featured speakers for the JALT2000 Conference. Dr. Otto has over 33 years of experience in the
application of technology in language learning.
Come to his featured speaker workshop on the afternoon of 2nd November to find out how technology
and language training have come together to create
opportunities for both teachers and learners.
James Hursthouse
Departments
Book Reviews
edited by katherine isbell and oda masaki
A Window on Literature. Gillian Lazar. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1999. pp. viii + 88.
¥1920. ISBN: 0-521-56770-X.
Many EFL teachers are discouraged from using literary texts in their classrooms because the word literature is often equated with boredom and consists
of an interpretation of the text by an authority or a
line-by-line translation activity. It may also be
overwhelming to introduce the difficult language
of literary texts to the learner who is still grappling
with basic vocabulary and grammar. On the other
hand, I frequently find beginner-level students are
not motivated by some textbooks that aim for
communicative competence because of the simplicity of the content as well as language. Lazar’s collection of authentic literary texts solves both
problems. The selections are linguistically simple,
yet they deal with mature and up-to-date topics
such as charity and hypocrisy, the difficulty for
people to communicate with each other, and the
treatment of the elderly.
The book is comprised of twelve units, and each
unit has a language focus as well as a thematic focus. Most of the language work is focused on grammar with the exception being Unit 7. Here the
language focus is sociolinguistic, and the unit examines how language is used to gain power in conversation. One strength of the textbook is that
grammar work is not isolated as it often is in other
textbooks. Lazar claims, “by exposing students to
the rich language of the text, we can expand their
language awareness, their overall knowledge of
26
how words and grammar can be used” (pp. vi-viii).
Elsewhere, she reminds us that the themes of literary texts are closely tied to how they are written,
and there is an excellent table of contents at the
beginning of the book showing the relationship
between the two.
Two units deal explicitly with literary language; but
in the other units, the literary focus is more implicit.
According to the author this is because “students at
the early to mid-intermediate level need to feel free to
experience and enjoy the creative language of literature, without being overloaded by literary
metalanguage” (p. vii), and I think she accomplishes
such a goal. The texts are read in a variety of accents
appropriate to the feelings of the characters on the
cassette, which accompanies the text.
Altogether, there are ten poems, four play extracts, two short story extracts, and one complete
short story. The complete text by Janet Frame, “The
Birds Began to Sing” is especially powerful. I have
one regret about the textbook, and that is because
of the brevity of the extracts, it may be difficult to
get students to interpret some stories. For example,
in Unit 5, using an extract from Harold Pinter’s “A
Slight Ache,” the students are asked to infer what
will happen next in the play, and although the
Notes section at the end of the unit includes information about the author that may help, the task
seems very challenging for a nonnative speaker.
This is partly because the full context of the play
cannot be grasped, but then again, perhaps it is the
selection of the playwright that is the problem. On
the whole though, I highly recommend A Window
on Literature as a textbook. It is well balanced with
writers from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds.
Reviewed by Kayo Ozawa
International Christian University High School
The Language Teacher 24:10
Book Reviews
Using Newspapers in the Classroom. Paul
Sanderson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1999. pp. xxii + 275. ¥4720. ISBN: 0-521-64526-3.
This book contains 131 different teaching activities
for using newspapers in the ESL classroom. The
chapters are divided according to the sections that
make up a newspaper. For example if you want to
work on headlines, a glance at the contents page
will tell you that the first chapter has 16 ideas for
using headlines. I found these divisions clearer and
more helpful than those which start from a pedagogical base, such as Building Confidence and Familiarity, or Project Work, two of the chapters in a
similar resource book by Grundy (1993). The author
suggests what level each activity is designed for,
how teachers should prepare, and how to guide students through the activity. Some of the activities
seemed to require a lot of time-consuming cutting
and pasting that would be tedious for a class of 20
or more. Many, however, are immediately userfriendly and adaptable. One to challenge the more
advanced students is to ask them to select a story
from a Japanese language paper and then rewrite it
as a brief news story for English news media—as a
foreign correspondent might. Another, for lower
levels, is to use the list of world temperatures from
the weather section to practice understanding numbers.
Sanderson’s book is part of the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers series, which has a
focus on the practical, but is grounded in theory. In
the introduction, therefore, the author argues the
case for using newspapers in language teaching.
Even those teachers who are already convinced of
the benefits of this will find the guidelines on pages
12-14 helpful. Here the author explains why newspapers should be used with pre-intermediate students—not only advanced—and how newspapers
can be made more accessible for these learners,
quoting the well-known language teaching maxim,
“Grade the task—not the material” (p. 15). One
thing he advocates in general is using lots of short
news items rather than a few long articles. By following this advice, I have found students are able to
experience the many different parts of a newspaper,
choose items that interest them, and build their
confidence in using newspapers before embarking
on longer, perhaps more difficult, reading tasks.
The academic background of the book also means
it contains interesting quotations from and references to other books about newspapers and journalism English in the main body of the text where the
activities are described. This strength, however, can
be a drawback to teachers who might want to use
the book purely as a fast resource. I found the information rather densely presented. In addition, compared to the Grundy book, it lacks many
October 2000
photocopiable texts, and at the same time, it is
also appreciably more expensive than Grundy.
The ideas, nonetheless, range from language to
cultural aspects, and many can be used in general
English classes. The bibliography and appendices
are undoubtedly beneficial. They contain clear summaries of the stylistic and structural features of
newspaper English as well as an almost up-to-date
list of websites for some of the major newspapers in
Britain, Ireland, and America. Unless you already
have Grundy’s book and do not want to buy a similar one, I would certainly recommend Using Newspapers in the Classroom.
Reviewed by Tim Knight
Ferris University
Reference
Grundy, P. (1993). Newspapers. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Street Talk: Essential American Slang & Idioms.
David Burke and David Harrington. Studio City:
Caslon Books, 1998. Student book: pp. vii + 136.
¥1980. ISBN: 1-891888-09-9.
The title of this vocabulary textbook is perhaps
misleading. Street Talk does not replicate nor explicate the English used on the streets of most American cities (at least not the streets of the New Jersey
city where I grew up). Also, Japanese college students eager to understand rap lyrics or movies like
“Pulp Fiction” are bound to be disappointed. Nevertheless, Street Talk does offer an entertaining introduction to common, if not essential, American
slang and idioms.
Street Talk consists of ten lessons, each of which
focuses on a set of slang words and idiomatic expressions related to a common theme, for example,
on vacation or at a restaurant. Each lesson opens
with a getting started activity, which introduces the
expressions by means of humorous illustrations and
a paraphrasing exercise. Next, a dialogue demonstrates how the expressions are used in conversation. The following section, Real Speak, gives
pronunciation tips such as the slurring of going to
into the colloquial gonna. Practice the Vocabulary
consists of a listening activity that requires the Street
Talk cassette tape (ISBN 1-891888-11-0) which I did
not have so I cannot comment. A speaking activity
in the form of pairwork or a group game follows,
and finally, the expressions are reviewed in the final
section.
The illustrations in this text are perhaps its strongest feature. The expression tie the knot is depicted
by a bride and groom with their arms tied in a neat
bow. A bedridden basset hound with a thermometer
sticking out of his mouth shows us what it’s like to
be sick as a dog. These illustrations, though not al27
28
The Language Teacher 24:10
Book Reviews
ways etymologically accurate, provide vivid and
humorous images of the expressions, and this
makes the expressions memorable.
One shortcoming of Street Talk’s style of presentation is that it implies that all of the vocabulary in
each set are of the same register or have the same
level of appropriateness. For example, I might tell a
woman sitting next to me on an airplane that I am
a frequent flyer, that I had been bumped from a previous flight, or that I had jet lag. However, if she
looked ill, I might hesitate to offer her a barf bag.
Although I was able to incorporate a lesson from
Street Talk into my university English Conversation
class with reasonable success, I find less need for a
vocabulary text containing dialogues, listening activities, and pairwork and more need for a general
conversation text which includes a generous portion of slang and idiomatic expressions. However,
for those learners who have a special interest in colloquial English, Street Talk can be a helpful guide.
Reviewed by Gregory Bornmann
Kibi International University
bridge: Cambridge University Press and Edition Helbing,
1998.
Course Books
!Innovations: an intermediate/upper intermediate
course (student’s, teacher’s, workbook, cassettes). Dellar,
H., & Hocking, D. Hove: Language Teaching Publications, 2000.
Language in Use ( student’s, teacher’s, cassette, self-study
workbook, self-study cassette). Doff, C., & Jones, C. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Business English
!Management Matters 2 (CD-ROM). Tomalin, B., &
Aspinall, T. Essex: IBI multimedia, 2000.
Readers
Mystery and Murder in Australia: Australian Reader
Collection. Harris, C. Sydney: NCELTR, 2000.
Supplementary Materials
!Idioms Organizer: Organized by Metaphor, Topic and
Keyword. Wright, J. Hove: Language Teaching Publications, 1999.
Recently Received
compiled by angela ota
The following items are available for review. Overseas reviewers are welcome. Reviewers of all classroom related books must test the materials in the
classroom. An asterisk indicates first notice. An exclamation mark indicates third and final notice. All
final notice items will be discarded after the 31st of
October. Please contact Publishers’ Reviews Copies
Liaison. Materials will be held for two weeks before
being sent to reviewers and when requested by more
than one reviewer will go to the reviewer with the
most expertise in the field. Please make reference to
qualifications when requesting materials. Publishers
should send all materials for review, both for students (text and all peripherals) and for teachers, to
Publishers’ Reviews Copies Liaison.
For Students
Children
Join In Starter (student’s, teacher’s, cassette). Gerngross,
G., & Puchta, H. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
and ELI, 2000.
Join In 1 (student’s, teacher’s, cassette). Gerngross, G., &
Puchta, H. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and
ELI, 2000.
Join In 2 (student’s, teacher’s, cassette). Gerngross, G., &
Puchta, H. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and
ELI, 2000.
Playway to English 1 (student’s, teacher’s, cassette, activity book, cassette). Gerngross, G., & Puchta, H. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press and Edition Helbing,
1998.
Playway to English 2 (student’s, teacher’s, cassette, activity book, cassette). Gerngross, G., & Puchta, H. CamOctober 2000
29
JALT News
JALT News
edited by amy e. hawley
This month’s JALT News Column contains four items. The
first, a reprint from last month’s column, is a call for three
JALT Journal positions. The next is the letter that was sent by
Thom Simmons, JALT National President, to the Sapporo
High Court in regards to Gwen Gallagher’s unfortunate dismissal from her university position. It is followed by a financial report from our Director of the Treasury, David
McMurray. The column concludes with further good news
about support from the FBC.
Three Position Announcements
for JALT Journal
1. Associate Editor
The successful applicant will begin reviewing, accepting and editing manuscripts submitted to the
Perspectives section of JALT Journal from January 1,
2001, taking over officially from June 1, 2001. The
Associate Editor will become JALT Journal Editor
after three years as Associate Editor.
Interested applicants must: (a) be a JALT member
in good standing, (b) be resident in Japan, (c) have
experience in second/foreign language teaching, (d)
have an academic background in second/foreign
language acquisition and pedagogy, (e) have published in the JALT Journal, The Language Teacher or
in other scholarly journals, (f) have a computer that
can read and write MS Word files, and (g) be able to
make a commitment of three years.
2. Japanese-language Editor
The successful applicant will begin reviewing, accepting and editing Japanese-language manuscripts
for JALT Journal from January 1, 2001, taking over
officially from June 1, 2001. The editor will translate English-language abstracts into Japanese and
check Japanese-language abstracts, and will also
proofread the Japanese content of the page proofs
for each issue.
Interested applicants must: (a) be a native speaker
of Japanese or have native speaker level proficiency,
(b) be a JALT member in good standing, (c) be resident in Japan, (d) have experience in second/foreign
language teaching, (e) have an academic background in second/foreign language acquisition and
pedagogy, (f) have published in either the JALT Journal, The Language Teacher or in other scholarly journals, (g) have a computer that can read and write
MS Word files, and (h) be able to make a commitment of three years.
3. JALT Journal Webmaster
The successful applicant will be responsible for
maintaining the JALT Journal website, updating it
after each issue, and answering/re-directing ques30
tions about the journal submitted online. The
position will begin in May 2001, after publication of the May issue of the journal, and the applicant will work closely with current Webmaster
and Incoming Editor Nick Jungheim to facilitate
the transition.
Interested applicants must: (a) be a JALT member
in good standing, (b) be resident in Japan, (c) have a
computer that can read and write MS Word files, (d)
be able to design and upload webpages, and (h) be
able to make a commitment of three years.
Those interested in any of these positions should
submit a curriculum vitae and cover letter to the
current editor, who will also answer questions about
the positions: Sandra Fotos, EdD, Editor, JALT Journal; School of Economics, Senshu University, 2-1-1
Higashi Mita, Tama-ku Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa-ken
214-0033, Japan; <[email protected]>
Letter to the Sapporo High Court
Dr. Thomas L. Simmons
2-28-10-303 Morigaoka, Isogo-ku
Yokohama, 235-0024
July 11, 2000
Affidavit
To Sapporo High Court (Sapporo Koutou
Saibansho), Professor Gwen Gallagher, and her supporters and to others whom it may concern
My name is Thomas L. Simmons. I have been a
resident of Japan since 1987. I am currently sennin
koushi (atsukai) at Nihon Daigaku in Mishima, Japan in the School of International Affairs.
I am the president of the NPO Japan Association
for Language Teaching. JALT is a registered Not-forProfit corporation in Tokyo Japan [Tokutei Hieiri
Katsudou Houjin, Nihon Zenkoku Gokaku Kyouiku
Gakkai].
Professor Gwen Gallagher has served on the JALT
conference presentations jury for seven years and has
been the chair for the last four years. Her responsibilities place her in the forefront of any international
academic association. Academic juries are employed
to prevent bias and award quality in allotting presentation time for academic papers. Hers is a very difficult job which requires expertise in her field in
applied linguistics and communication skills with her
colleagues from many different countries. She works
in a fully international organisation and has shown
exemplary competence in her role as our conference
jury committee chair.
On a personal level, I have known Gwen for
nearly four years. In that time, it has been readily
apparent that her social and communicative skills
are excellent. Her knowledge of teaching and living
in Japan make her a superb counselor and advisor
in these matters.
The Language Teacher 24:10
32
The Language Teacher 24:10
34
The Language Teacher 24:10
JALT News
We wish to present a perspective based on what
we know about Professor Gallagher that also seems
to be reflected in the court’s decision although the
conclusion does not seem to have taken the following into consideration. That opinion is this, Gwen
has mastered not only communication with her
compatriots, but she has also become skilled in
communication in the international community
which by definition includes Japan.
I would like to ask if the Court would consider
why I make this statement about Professor
Gallagher’s qualifications. We know that Professor
Gallagher has learned how to function in a Japanese society as a good citizen and a competent
teacher. Reason dictates that if she has learned to
communicate and live in Japan she is in fact capable of learning how others see themselves and
their culture and adjusting her behaviour accordingly. Consider also that we have observed that she
has developed a highly astute ability to compare
her culture of origin with her adopted culture. How
does this effect her ability as a teacher? By seeing
the same culture from different perspectives, we
can learn more than if we never learned to compare our environment with other cultures. Learning about how to live in Japan has in fact made her
more competent to teach about the culture she
comes from.
How do we know this is true? Professor Gallagher
has evinced her skills in communicating with the
diverse international community that is JALT and
the Asahikawa Court decision has confirmed that
she has learned to communicate in Japan with Japanese. Having mastered communication in two disparate societies, that of her native community and
that of her adopted community, reason dictates that
she is what she purports to be, a professional language educator and an expert in communication.
Professor Gallagher has proven she is wonderfully
suited to provide comparative insights to her students a “fureshu gaijin” would be unable to do. This
can only be reasonably construed to mean she is
truly qualified to teach young students about her
own native language and culture.
Furthermore, in my experience, all professional
education organisations work to advance the improvement of a teacher’s communication skills and
ability to deal with the student’s culture. This is
done in the belief that these are necessary to provide the highest quality of education. This improvement can only come with time and
experience. It is only natural that this would be
exemplified by one who has adapted to life in their
community. From this we must conclude that Professor Gallagher is in fact qualified to fulfil the mission goals of any professional educational
organisation.
It is the nature of any professional to improve
October 2000
with practise. After years of practise and increased
knowledge of the students’ environment, a competent professional will in fact become far more valuable to any tertiary education institution than
when they first started teaching. We feel justified
in saying that her status at any professional education institution should reflect her qualifications,
experience and her prestige among her peers. On
my bookshelves here in my apartment are books
on learning the Japanese language written by respected Japanese teachers in the USA. They are valued for their linguistic competence in Japanese and
their ability to communicate in the USA. And so, as
is true in any truly professional institution, rather
than being dismissed for becoming too
“Americanised,” they are valued members of their
academic communities.
Encouraging foreign nationals in Japan to participate and become constructive members of society
can only enrich Japan. For a teacher, it means that
their work and their efforts are valued. And as valued members of society, their work as teachers will
continue to improve and contribute to the quality
of education in Japan.
I urge the Court of Appeals to consider very carefully Professor Gallagher’s appeal.
Sincerely,
Dr. Thomas L. Simmons
President (2000-2001)
NPO Japan Association for Language Teaching
Good Financial News
In a non-profit language teacher organization like
JALT most members usually prefer to stay as far
away from numbers and income statements as they
can. But this year is different, because after six
straight years of financial losses due to difficult
economic times, JALT finally earned a small profit.
TESOL Inc. (Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages) based in the US with over 14,000 members worldwide for example recently reported a net
loss of $150,000 (¥15,750,000) for the year ended
March 31, 2000.
Our approximately 3,000 teacher-members of
JALT and the many supporters in the school, university and book publishing industry must now be
wondering, “Just how did JALT manage to break
even during the 1999/2000 year?”
JALT took several major steps last year to ensure
it met the financial goals its members wanted,
namely to stop spending more than it earned. Postponing one of its academic journals was a difficult
decision that was made to keep expenditures under
control (which was mitigated by adding extra articles to its May 2000 Journal), but one of the most
successful measures JALT took was to boost its sales
and fundraising initiatives. Over twenty new do35
36
The Language Teacher 24:10
JALT News/JALT2000
nors pledged to help the 25-year-old association,
including embassies, testing organizations, foundations, and small book publishers, and by the end of
the year they contributed nearly 4.5 million yen
toward JALT’s many fine programs.
JALT’s full-time Financial Manager Motonobu
Takubo reported a ¥2,114,492 profit for the year
ended March 31, 2000. Revenues totalled
¥81,121,294 and expenditures were ¥79,006,802.
JALT’s elected Director of Treasury David
McMurray notes these figures will be audited by
the firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu but says confidently, “the fact that JALT was able to turn a profit
to March 31, 2000, however small, constitutes a
new and welcome development to the association.”
A full report will be made to the annual general
meeting of members at the next conference to be
held in Shizuoka from November 2-5, 2000.
Congratulations to JALT on a very special financial year.
The NPO JALT Director of Treasury is David
McMurray who may be contacted for more information about finance at <[email protected]>.
FBC Helps with Fundraising
Have you heard of the Foreign Buyers' Club?
Through it you can order over 40,000 items from 30
different countries: anything from after shave and
air fresheners to yams, yeast, and zucchini--at affordable prices and delivered right to your door.
The best news is that through the efforts of members Jerry Halvorsen and David Neill, JALT and FBC
have been able to craft a means to raise funds for our
foreign scholars' program (which has helped teachers
from many countries come to JALT conferences.)
Over the years LIOJ has given a lot of help with
logistics and visas. Now we will be able to expand our
community support even more with the help of FBC.
How? Here are the details:
During the two-week FUNdraising period from October 29 through November 11, FBC will donate (to
the JALT Asian Scholar program) 5% of the total
amount of JALT members' purchases. If JALT members join, renew, or extend their FBC membership
during this period, half their membership fees will be
donated. Only orders placed or memberships applied
for during the two-week FUNdraiser period will be
counted. All order forms must include "JALT" as the
group name in the school/group special orders box.
JALT members will also get a coupon, valid only during the FUNraiser, worth 1000 yen off their orders.
Just call FBC at 078-857-9001 for a free catalog or
order online at their website <www.fbcusa.com>.
The people from FBC will also staff a table at
JALT2000 in Shizuoka where they will take memberships and orders.
October 2000
Conference
News
edited by l. dennis
woolbright
Are you looking for a iob?
Are you looking to make a career move? Are you
curious about what kinds of teaching jobs are
available? Would you like to live and work in another area of Japan? Or, are you an employer looking for the right person to fill a teaching position
at your school or company? Come and visit the
JALT Job Information Center and we’ll do our best
to help!
The Job Information Center (JIC) is an information exchange center and meeting place for potential employers and teachers. The JIC posts job
listings for teaching positions in a wide variety of
schools in all areas of Japan. The JIC staff is happy
to provide information, collect resumes, and coordinate interviews at the JALT conference. There is
no charge for any of the services at the JIC.
At JALT99 the JIC posted 140 job openings.
Twelve employers held on site interviews and 77
resumes were collected for employers. (Most jobs
require the applicant to send their resume directly
to the employer.)
How can you get the most out of the JIC as a job
seeker? First, be sure to bring copies of your resume
and/or rirekisho. Next, you can learn more about
the ins and outs of job hunting in Japan by attending the JIC career development workshop on Friday from 10:15 to 12:00. Then, be sure to check
the jobs posted in the JIC. Remember that some
employers will hand carry their ads to the conference, so new jobs may appear on Saturday. If you
apply for a position with an employer interviewing onsite at the conference, be sure to check the
interview board in the JIC frequently.
If your school or company would like to advertise or interview at this year’s conference, please
contact Adele Yamada at <[email protected]> or
Bettina Begole at <[email protected]> for an advertising form. Forms can be sent in by mail, fax, or
email up to one week before the conference, or
submitted at the conference. The JIC can help arrange interview times and rooms, and we can collect and forward resumes if requested.
The JALT Job Information Center is staffed by volunteers. If you
have a couple of hours free during
the conference and would like to
help, please contact Adele Yamada
for more information.
37
38
The Language Teacher 24:10
SIG Focus
SIG Focus
edited by aleda
krause
The SIG
Focus
column
offers a
chance for
a closer look
at one of
JALT’s Special
Interest Groups.
Each month we
publish an introduction to a SIG and
some samples from
its publications.
Readers please
note that the
sample articles
come directly
from the SIG’s
publications
and reflect the
concerns of its
members, not
necessarily those of
The Language
Teacher.
The Teacher Education SIG
When do you find yourself motivated about teaching, learning, and the learning of teaching? How
does “feeling motivated” feel? It could be a physical
sensation like adrenaline pumping when you imagine trying out something new, or a sudden lightness
when something suddenly clicks and you have a
new way of making sense. It could involve a vision
of where you want to go, what you want to discover. It might be a sense of satisfaction that a class
went well, your research taught you something new,
or that you learned something new about your students—or yourself. Chances are this feeling stems
from an action—talking to colleagues, reading an
inspiring interview, attending a workshop, reflecting after class. And this motivation itself often leads
to other positive or useful actions which are again
motivating. The spiral of teacher development is in
motion.
The Teacher Education SIG is a group of teachers
and teacher educators/trainers who desire to maintain and enhance their motivation for teaching
and the learning of teaching. The SIG is dedicated
to the ongoing development of all teachers
through active collaboration with other teachers,
participation in workshops, action research, and
reflective practice. We publish 3-4 newsletters a
year with a variety of interviews, articles, reviews
and reports on issues related to teaching and
teacher development. Some of our favorite articles
can be found on the SIG website. For our annual
weekend retreat this year, Andy Curtis came from
October 2000
Hong Kong to lead a workshop on Action Research. We’ve also collaborated with IATFL’s
Teacher Development SIG for past retreats. At
JALT2000 the SIG will sponsor two presentations:
one by member Tim Knowles on Action Research
and the other a workshop by Jack Millet, The
School for Int’l Training, on Reflective Practice.
The Teacher Education SIG website is
<www.jalt.org/teach/>. For an inspection copy of
the newsletter, or for further information about the
SIG, stop by the desk at JALT2000, or contact Lois
Scott-Conley; Tokyo Jogakkan Women’s College,
Tsuruma 1105, Machida-shi, Tokyo 194-0004;
<[email protected]>.
In this column we’d like to share excerpts of two
articles from past newsletters that discuss teacher
development. The first is from the initial SIG publication in 1993 (Teacher Talking to Teacher: Newsletter of the Teacher Education Special Interest Group of
JALT, 1(1), 3-6). It is written by the founder of the
SIG, Jan Visscher. He discusses teacher motivation
and development and the need for real communication between teachers as a force for both. The
next excerpt is from an interview in 1996 with
Donald Freeman, US teacher educator and former
president of TESOL (Teacher Talking to Teacher, 4(2),
12-17). In the interview he states the necessity of
transforming teaching, not by working on behavior
but rather by accounting for sense making, and he
shares ideas of how teachers learn to teach through
articulation, explanation, and “communities of
explanation.” (Complete versions of these articles
can be found on the Teacher Education SIG
homepage.)
Motivating Teachers
Jan Visscher
The ambiguity of the title reflects the ambiguity
permeating the whole area of motivation. Tiny concepts have been developed—“intrinsic” and “extrinsic” are probably the most pervasive—that have
helped to create deeper understanding and more
meaningful discussions of motivation. However,
most of the attention continues to be focused on
only one of its two facets: teachers who motivate
their students. The question I want to ask here, to
paraphrase Philip Riley in Discourse and Learning
(1985) seems simple, obvious even: What do teachers get out of teaching in order to motivate themselves? Almost all the literature addresses the
question “What do teachers put in to motivate their
students?” (pp. 133-134). . .
Not a word about motivation of the teacher. Finally, about 20 years ago, Mary Finocchario and
Michael Bonomo, in their book The Foreign Language
Learner: A Guide for Teachers (1973), advise[d] that
“[The teacher] should keep the motivation of his
39
SIG Focus
students at a high level, not only by varying his
method of presentation or his instructional materials but also by giving his students a sense of security, success and achievement” (p. 23).
The implied “planning for motivation” by the
teacher seems to be a bit of a red herring in that
the factors that go into the creation of learner motivation—interest, energy level, relevance, rapport,
preoccupations, to name but a few—are highly personal and individualistic and therefore, by definition, will vary from class to class and even from
moment to moment in the same class. If we “plan”
learner motivation, we must assume that the factors I’ve just mentioned are comparatively constant
and predictable, thus denying the learners their
individuality and idiosyncrasies. That gets us into
what I call the “bell curve syndrome,” where
achievement is measured numerically and standard
deviation is the norm. It’s a world where teachers
go into a new class with the rallying cry of the
Great Demoralization. “Well, here we go again,”
and the end of a class is marked with the words
equally indicative of desperation: “Ten down, three
to go.” Their practice exemplifies one definition of
insanity: doing the same thing over and over while
expecting different results.
And then there are teachers who walk into their
first class of the new term with adrenaline pumping,
and for whom the end of a class may bring euphoria
or deep reflection, but hardly ever a sigh of relief.
What accounts for the difference between these
two types of teachers? Motivation. Not motivation of
students but of teachers. If teachers themselves are
not motivated, no manner of methods, approaches or
techniques is going to create motivation among their
students on a continuing basis. We are all familiar
with the very successful and seemingly motivating
“one-off,” whether it is a substitution or demonstration lesson. But the nagging question always remains,
“What would the twenty-third lesson be like?” This
question does not arise with the motivated teacher;
we know that student involvement and energy levels
will remain high, that success does not depend on a
particular technique or activity, but on the investment by the teachers in their students.
How do we as teachers know whether we are motivated? By verbalizing the questions that go through
our minds as we prepare for teaching. When we can
honestly say that such thoughts as, “I can’t wait to
find out what the students are going to do with this
activity,” “What am I going to learn from and about
my students?” “Will there be some unexpected developments that can lift the lesson far beyond what I
have planned?” and “Am I going to be challenged to
critically examine some ideas I have taken for granted
too long?” recur regularly during lesson planning and
before we enter the classroom, we can take it as a
solid indication of being motivated. On the other
40
hand, “Are they going to mess up my lesson plan?”
“Will I be able to keep order?” and “Wouldn’t it be
nice if nobody showed up?” are questions that should
put us on our guard if they become habitual. (I doubt
if there’s any full-time teacher who never harbors
thoughts like these!)
And how can we made [sic] sure these indicators
of our motivation continue to manifest themselves
in our conscious minds? The only answer suggesting
itself with any degree of regularity and universality
is, “By interacting with other teachers.” Participants
in the teacher-training course I am involved with
almost without exception identify interaction with
the other participants and with the course tutors the
most motivating aspect. To mention a few examples: “It energized me,” “The interaction motivated me to try out radically different approaches,”
[and] “Without a chance to discuss in depth my
teaching and new ideas, the course would have been
no different from my college classes.”
The important difference between this type of
interaction and “Let’s talk about our classes and the
problems we have” is that the former is focused and
structured by peer observation and by specific observation topics, such as “teacher talk,” “correction,”
“affective factors” and “materials.” Another crucial
difference is the purpose of the interaction: not to
get some neat ideas for your next class, but to get
recharged as a teacher, to change from “What shall I
do for my next class?” to “What adventure awaits
me in my next class…and the one after that, and
the one after that!” It’s the interaction that creates
the motivation, not the other way around. As Paulo
Freire (1987) puts it: “Motivation takes part in the
action. It is a moment of the very action itself. That
is, you become motivated to the extent that you are
acting, and not before acting” (pp. 4-5).
This is what I hope to be one of the main foci for
the Teacher Education N-SIG: an action forum for
the focused and meaningfully structured exchange
of ideas on teaching and learning to help us develop
as teachers. Once the process has started, we will
become motivated to enhance our teaching and
thus to…develop further—which will reinforce our
motivation and so on, hopefully ad infinitum, or at
least until an end is put to our teaching. Whether
we consider that end merciful or regrettable will
depend on how much we have been motivated as a
teacher—a motivation that is directly related to our
active participation in our own development.
References
Riley, P. (1985). Discourse and Learning. London and New
York: Longman.
Finocchario, M. & Bonomo, M. (1973). The Foreign Language Learner: A Guide for Teachers. New York: Regents.
Shore, I. & Freire, P. (1987). Pedagogy for Liberation. New
York: Bergin & Carvey.
The Language Teacher 24:10
SIG Focus
Donald Freeman: An E mail Interview
with Andy Barfield
AB: Dr. Freeman, thank you for agreeing to do this
interview….One theme that underlies our SIG’s efforts is “cooperation” and another is “reflective
practice.” I’m wondering what themes you find
prominent in your work at the moment.
DF: I am working on three notions right now that
come from my experience as a teacher educator as
well as the research I have been doing into how
people learn to teach. The three ideas are “articulation,” “explanation,” and “community of explanation/practice.” They may sound abstract, but they
are really quite simple and concrete. Articulation
refers to the process of putting ideas into language
(either oral or written), explanation to what we
put into language to make sense of what we do. In
other words explanations are the phrases or ideas
which we use to describe what we do or happens
in the classroom.
So if you tell me, “Those students are shy because
they’re only freshman,” that is your explanation for
why they may not talk a lot in your class. The act of
telling me is articulation. Now I may or may not
share your perception of shyness or of what those
students are capable of, so your explanation will—or
won’t—convince me.
AB: . . . and if we don’t share the same explanation, then what?
often differ from the dominant or prevailing explanations in their work settings. In other words,
reflective teaching involves coming to talk differently about your teaching so you make new sense
to a new group of people. This process of becoming articulate in these new, what I would call
counter-settings is directly tied to fostering change
in teaching practice. Put another way, you need
someone to talk to about your work. . .and in that
process, you explain your work so that it will make
sense to him/her. But this changes the work itself:
By putting words on to (or into) it, you are making
it different. So if you say, “The students are shy,”
that casts the work in one way. If you say, “The
material’s too hard for them,” that casts it in a
different way. In this case, one way points your
thinking towards the students while the other
points towards lesson planning and the choice of
material. And you might find that the first is fatalistic—“That’s just the way they are. . .” leaves you
with little to do about it. While the second is more
instrumental—“You could try a different technique,” leads you to explore options.
My point is that explanation shapes practice; the
way you define it shapes what you do about the
issue. And likewise new ways of making sense breed
new forms of teaching.
AB: I’m wondering what new forms of sense-making
you might have in mind here, and how they might
be sustained . . .
DF: That is where the third concept—community
of explanation/practice—comes in. The community of practice describes the group of people that
does the same things; the community of explanation describes the group that shares the same explanations for things. So if you take the teachers’
room for example, the group there is a community
of practice since everyone teaches at the same institution. However it is not one single community
of explanation, since different people may share
different reasons for why things are the way they
are in teaching. So when you make the same statement, “Those students are shy because they’re only
freshman” in this group, perhaps the old-timers
will agree with you—and thus they share in your
community of explanation—while the newcomers
may not. They may have another explanation, like
“that material was too hard for those kids,” or
whatever.
This is a rather quick synopsis of some of the key
ideas in my work . . . .
DF: My work and interest have been in formulating
a descriptive theory of teacher learning, so I am not
advocating any particular new form of teaching or
new way of explaining things. In my mind, that
form would, in fact, depend on the community of
explanation into which the teacher seeks to enter.
So for a beginning teacher, the new form of sensemaking would probably be the socialization of the
host school environment. . .for an experienced
teacher, it might be the community of a new form
of practice that s/he runs into in a workshop. You
see, sustaining new forms of explanation is primarily a matter of belonging. It depends on walking
the walk and talking the talk of that community of
explanation. You remain connected to that group
because you are sustained by its explanations. . .and
vice versa. The group makes the explanations work
for you.
AB: Does this relate then to how teachers talk to
each other about reflective teaching for example?
DF: Well, that’s just it. We all are connected to
many communities of explanation simultaneously,
so the strength of this belonging (or allegiance, as I
call it) varies. In teaching, we have explanations
that come from our tacit experiences as students,
DF: Yes, it does. In reflective teaching, when teachers interact, they are creating new communities of
explanation (in my lingo). These communities
October 2000
AB: So are you talking about belonging to one
group—or community of explanation—or many of
them . . .
41
SIG Focus/SIG News
from our formal training, from our workplace,
from our professional peers, and so forth. And
many times, these various explanations will conflict.
You see, I am working on the notion of explanation as the “unit” of teacher education (whether it is
teacher self-education, as in reflective practice, or formal training). For me, “explanation” connotes two
things: 1) something that needs explaining and 2)
someone(s) to explain (or make sense of) it
to . . . which I am calling the community of explanation. So in a sense your identity as a teacher depends
on your explanations making sense to your students,
your peers/colleagues, and the work setting in which
you practice. Likewise, teacher education programs—
whether they are formal MA programs, a RSA Certificate or a reflective self-development group—all
depend on explanation. This links the individual to
the group and vice versa. It is the social fabric of the
group that sustains the explanations.
AB: Presumably this has lead you to examine closely
how teachers construct and develop what they
know, believe or do as teachers. What has struck
you as particularly important here?
DF: Three things . . . First that the conventional
dichotomy between thinking and doing, on which
much of teacher education operates is probably not
useful, and second that the unit of teacher education and change is probably not the individual but
the group. And third that, if our aim is to transform teaching, we cannot do so via working on
behavior; we need to account for sensemaking…for how people situate themselves in—or
belong to—their contexts. I could elaborate any or
all of these ideas . . . what suits you?
AB: The second point is clear—the first more or less
so, but it still merits some clarification . . . .
DF: Well, the dichotomy between thinking and
ge
ngua
A La her
c
Tea
doing in teacher education is really at the base of
how we operate. It is the Cartesian premise that we
can “give” people ideas and then they will act on
them . . . you know, “theory informs practice,”
“research should shape teaching,” “textbooks
drive the curriculum” and so on.
This transmission notion of education is largely
shaped by the context of higher education. It has
lead to the whole notion that there is theory and
there is practice and that they are separate, or that
teachers’ words and their actions are separate. And
I’m not convinced that this is true or even useful to
pursue since, for example, talking is a form of action, and when you talk to someone that shapes
what you say. I think it may be more productive to
take both thought and action as forms on a continuum of social definition so that what you say
and what you do as a teacher need to fit in (or as I
have said, make sense) for a particular group and
setting . . . .
Special Interest Groups
News
edited by robert long
Interested in learning more about your SIG? Please feel free to
contact the coordinators listed after this column.
CALL: The CALL SIG has many events planned for
JALT2000. Stop at our table to get more information. Now we are looking for CALL users to
present at our forum in Shizuoka on November 4,
10:15-12:00. The forum will run on a software fair
and poster session model with people showing
and/or explaining their favorite software or
Make sure The Language Teacher moves with you.
Send the following information to the JALT Central Office, Urban
Edge Building, 5th Floor, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016
tel: 03-3837-1630; fax: 03-3837-1631; [email protected]
Name: ___________________________________________________________
Moving?
New Address: _____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Tel. ___________________________
Email __________________
42
Fax ___________________________
New Employer _________________________
The Language Teacher 24:10
SIG News
projects. Presenters will need to bring their own
laptops to show software. For more information
visit <http://jaltcall.org/conferences/jalt2000> or
email <[email protected]>. The deadline for presenters is October 5.
Pragmatics: The Pragmatics forming SIG is interested in what people are doing with words. More
specifically, the SIG provides a forum for research
and teaching of cross-cultural pragmatics and
interlanguage pragmatics as well as cross-cultural
communication. The SIG will sponsor a forum on
“Pragmatics and Media” and be a cosponsor for
Dr. Gabriele Kasper’s plenary speech at JALT2000.
Also, the latest issue of the newsletter Pragmatic
Matters will be ready for distribution during the conference
in Shizuoka. We are looking
for new members. Contact
Sayoko Yamashita, coordinator, for more information or
come to the SIG’s general
meeting at JALT2000.
Other Language Educators:
OLE has issued its NL 16, containing besides the usual statement of purpose in
four languages, reports from the January 2000
Exbo and the Gallagher case, whose verdict could
be crucially important for teachers of OFLs. This
is followed by extensive information on OLE’s
activities on the regional level as well as on OLErelated submissions to JALT2000. There is also a
contribution by Professor Chi on teaching Korean
as well as information by various publishers for
the new term. Order copies from the coordinator
Rudolf Reinelt.
Crossing Cultures: JALT members interested in
intercultural communication are invited to participate in our forming SIG’s first forum at the
upcoming JALT2000 Conference on Friday, Nov.
3, 10:15-12:00 in Room 903.This meeting inaugurates the conference collaboration of JALT CC-SIG
and SIETAR Japan, which have jointly planned
the program. Yashiro Kyoko will lead the session
on the intercultural dimensions of the EFL classroom. Following the forum is the Annual General
Meeting to which everyone is warmly welcomed.
Your participation is vital to the growth of this
group.
SIG Contacts
edited by robert long
Bilingualism—Peter Gray, t/f: 011-897-9891(h);
<[email protected]>; website
<www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/jaltbsig/>
Computer-Assisted Language Learning—Elin
Melchior; t: 0568-75-0136(h), 0568-76-0905(w);
<[email protected]>; website <www.jaltcall.org/>
October 2000
College and University Educators—Alan
Mackenzie; t/f: 03-3757-7008(h);
<[email protected]>; website <www.wild-e.org/
cue/>
Global Issues in Language Education—Kip A.
Cates; t/f: 0857-31-5650(w);
<[email protected]>; website <www.jalt.org/
global/>
Japanese as a Second Language—Stacey Tarvin
Isomura; <[email protected]>
Junior and Senior High School—Barry Mateer; t:
044-933-8588(h); <[email protected]>; website
<www.esl.sakuragaoka.ac.jp/tsh/>
Learner Development—Hugh Nicoll; t: 0985-204788(w); f: 0985-20-4807(w);
<[email protected]>; website
<www.miyazaki-mu.ac.jp/
~hnicoll/learnerdev/LLE/
indexE.html>
Material Writers—James
Swan; t/f: 0742-41-9576(w);
<[email protected]>; website
<www.jalt.org/mwsig/>
Professionalism, Administration, and Leadership
in Education—Edward Haig; f: 052-805-3875(w);
<[email protected]>; website
<www.voicenet.co.jp/~davald/PALEJournals.html>
Teacher Education—Lois Scott-Conley; <[email protected]>; website <www.jalt.org/teach/>
Teaching Children—Aleda Krause; t: 048-776-0392;
f: 048-776-7952; <[email protected]>
Testing and Evaluation—Leo Yoffe; t/f: 027-2338696(h); <[email protected]>; website
<www.jalt.org/test/>
Video—Daniel Walsh; t: 0722-99-5127(h);
<[email protected]>; website <www.jalt.org/
video/>
Affiliate SIGs
Foreign Language Literacy—Charles Jannuzi; t/f:
0776-27-7102(h); <[email protected]>;
website <www.aasa.ac.jp/~dcdycus/>
Other Language Educators—Rudolf Reinelt; t/f:
089-927-6293(h); <[email protected]>
Gender Awareness in Language Education—
Cheiron McMahill; t: 0270-65-8511(w); f: 0270-659538(w); <[email protected]>; website
<www2.gol.com/users/ath/gale/>
Forming SIGs
Pragmatics—Yamashita Sayoko; t/f: 03-58035908(w); <[email protected]>
Applied Linguistics—Thom Simmons; t/f: 045-8458242; <[email protected]>
Cross Culture—David Brooks; t: 042-778-8052(w); f:
042-778-9233; <[email protected]>
43
44
The Language Teacher 24:10
Chapter Reports
Chapter Reports
edited by diane pelyk
Gifu: June—Creative Activities for Teaching Writing by Sean Gaffney. Gaffney demonstrated a multitude of activities that teachers can use in the EFL
classroom to teach communicative writing. His
emphasis throughout the presentation was on
demonstrating activities that can be used to encourage students to write creatively and freely,
without worrying about spelling and grammar
mistakes. Gaffney maintained that students usually receive so much correction from other teachers that he usually refrains from correcting student
writing. Instead, he uses it as a medium for
teacher-student communication and encouragement. Among some of the ideas presented to
stimulate creativity and idea generation from the
students were the use of videos, journals, readers,
pictures, and storytelling.
Reported by Paul Doyon
Gunma: June—Pair Discussion: Contextualizing
Communication by Barry Mateer. Both adolescents and adults are intellectually capable of using
complex linguistic structures. However, what is
the benefit to students of teaching phrases such as
“Walk straight for two blocks and turn left,” when
students are not yet able to make simple requests
for clarification such as “Did you say . . . ?” or “Do
you mean . . . ?” Challenging his teaching with
these sorts of questions, Mateer has created an
effective way to aid students in developing clarification, confirmation, and discussion skills that he
calls “pair discussions.”
Mateer consciously finds communication opportunities in the classroom using real
occurrences, and requires students to use
confirmatory and clarification questions and
phrases to communicate what is happening
or being talked about.
For discussions, Mateer
provides topics that
pertain to students’
lives such as “things I
am proud of” or
“things my parents
don’t care about.” Using student-generated ideas,
he prepares handouts for the students to use as a
base for their short discussions. Students tick off
ideas that apply to them and add three of their
own. Although Japanese is not allowed, students
are free to write Japanese words in the context of
October 2000
English phrases during the discussion. This material provides the basis for lessons after the discussions. For older students, written reports can also
be added to balance oral skills.
Reported by Renée Gauthier Sawazaki
Matsuyama: April—Varied Second Language
Teaching by Che Jong-Hi, Kamie Kenji, Maria Ines
Toriishi, and Danielle Kurihara. Jong-Hi gave a
detailed presentation on how to generate general
communication abilities in a Korean class for firstyear university students. One weakness of standard Korean textbooks was their reliance on
katakana to help with reading new Korean words.
The lecturer also stressed that her job was not just
to provide conversational play for her students but
also to teach the fundamentals of grammar, reading, and the language in general.
Kamie presented a lecture on his pioneering efforts using computer technology to allow students
to teach themselves German. These days, student
motivation is often lacking, and traditional texts
lack the power to inspire students. His answer is to
combine new technology with the interests of students to increase participation and learning. The
students create html pages in German on a wide
range of topics and present their work to the class
in groups. In addition, the students create individualized pages introducing themselves and other
interests in German. Completing the pages with
graphics, the students take a lot of pride in creating their own work.
Toriishi gave an introductory class in Spanish.
The aims of her first class are to cover the five
following areas: (a) pronunciation and spelling,
(b) masculine and feminine genders, plus plural
and singular forms in nouns and adjectives, (c)
learning how to establish first contact with
others, (d) the present
indicative of the irregular verb ser (to be), and
(e) reducing student
fears. A video highlighting basic Spanish by
native speakers in real
world situations
grabbed the attention of
the students. It is certainly worthwhile to use
video material to
supplement more staid
textbooks. When students are relaxed and entertained, they will want to learn.
Kurihara presented a lecture on her pioneering
efforts in teaching French to first year university
students. Although they may be serious, defiant,
or giggly, all the students are basically afraid of
45
46
The Language Teacher 24:10
Chapter Reports
speaking, especially in front of others. By laying
down strong rules and being able to explain instructions in Japanese, Kurihara creates an atmosphere in which students clearly know what is
expected of them. For the first half of a typical
lesson, she teaches grammar and expressions.
Then for the remainder of the class, the students
must practice a dialogue. Before students can
leave, they must practice the dialogue to the required standard. By being forced to cooperate
with a partner and act out a dialogue for the instructor, students realize they can speak.
Reported by Paul Dalley
Nagasaki: June—Culture and Education in Japan
by Ushijima Youichirou. Ushijima brought his
many talents and experiences to this interesting
workshop. He is the director of the Chikyukan
International Center in Nagasaki, as well as the
coordinator of the International Association,
former math teacher, and current part-time college instructor. He began by organizing us into an
identity and values clarification activity. Participants had to mark off sections of a card and consider places they wanted to go, expectations they
had of their students, why they became teachers,
and a favorite word or proverb. Then we were
seated in concentric circles in the middle of the
room and did pairwork with a succession of partners.
Then we worked in larger groups and shared
ideas about the development of our students. We
were asked to summarize each of our colleagues’
ideas. Finally, we were assigned bilingual topic
sentence cards about Japanese culture in general
and asked to agree or disagree with the opinion.
We then formed a group consensus and compared notes with rival groups. Topics included
student motivation, human rights, body language
and emotion, volunteerism, and school rules.
Reported by Tim Allan
Nagoya: July—Creative Note-Taking Skills and
English Teaching in Taiwan by Tim Newfields.
Effective note taking is an active process involving thought and creativity. Newfields maintained
that part of this process involves guessing and
predicting content before the lecture takes place.
This predicting stage has several advantages. It
lightens the memory load and helps note takers
determine the relative importance of various subject matter during the lecture. By having some
idea of the key concepts, note takers can be encouraged to develop their own abbreviations for
recurring items.
Newfields also gave out a questionnaire to help
participants reflect on their own note-taking
practices. Good practice was seen to include reOctober 2000
viewing notes within 24 hours, knowing how to
separate main ideas from supporting details, and
reviewing notes by reciting them aloud.
Newfields further suggested various timesaving
devices including the elimination of vowels and
creation of personal abbreviation systems. He
noted that there was no optimum approach to
note taking but that students should be encouraged to find their own styles, the most important
point being that the notes should make sense to
the person taking them.
In the second half of the presentation,
Newfields compared his experience of teaching
English in Japan to teaching in Taiwan. There are
obvious similarities. Both Taiwan and Japan place
a great emphasis on students achieving good
grades in order to enter good universities. Teaching tends to be exam oriented and, consequently,
students spend a great deal of time at cram
schools. However, unlike Japan, the prevalence of
cable TV and English language radio programs
gives the Taiwanese students more exposure to
English. Therefore, they tend to be at a much
higher level of competence. In addition, university textbooks for science, economics, and other
subject areas are usually written in English, since
many Taiwanese academics in various disciplines
have completed their academic training in English-speaking countries.
Reported by Bob Jones
Advertiser Index
IFC = inside front cover, IBC = inside back cover
OBC = outside back cover
Cambridge University Press ..................................2
Council ................................................................ 58
Eigotown .............................................................24
EFL Press ................................................19, 36, 44
Macmillan ............................................................48
Nellie’s .......................................................... 38, 50
Oxford University Press ..................... IFC, IBC, 46
Pearson .............................................. 31, 32, 33, 34
School Book Service ...........................................18
Seido .............................................................. 28, 60
TEL Bookfair ................................................. OBC
Thomson .............................................................. 54
47
48
The Language Teacher 24:10
Chapter Meetings
Chapter Meeting Special
The Four Corners Tour 2000
Each year, prior to the JALT National Conference,
the main speakers of the conference, who have
generously agreed to sharing their precious time
to participate in The Four Corners Tour, travel
across the nation to visit various JALT chapters. This tour enables local chapter members,
some of whom are not able to attend the
National Conference, to get a share of
JALT2000. Since the speakers will take part
in local events, those who attend will be
fortunate enough to get in closer contact
with the speakers in a more intimate
setting. It also gives the invited
speakers a better opportunity
to gain an understanding of the teaching
situation in
Japan.
The Four Corners
Tour
Coordinators,
Robin
Nagano, Tim Allan,
and Joy
Jarman-Walsh, have
been working
very hard to plan and
schedule this year’s
tour. The result is the ex- citing schedule outlined
below. Two of the main speakers, Dr. Ann Burns
and Dr. In Lee, will be visiting chapters courtesy of
Tuttle Publishing, Inc., sponsor of this year’s tour.
We hope many of you can come and take part!
Dr. Anne Burns
(NCELTR, Macquarie University)
Niigata—Teaching Speaking: Renewing Our
Perspectives Through Discourse Tuesday,
October 24, 19:00-20:30; Niigata Women’s
College (Kenritsu Niigata Joshi Tanki Daigaku);
one-day members ¥1,000, students ¥500
Hiroshima—Teaching Speaking: Renewing Our
Perspectives Through Discourse
Wednesday, October 25, 17:00-19:00; International Center, Crystal Plaza 6F; one-day members
¥500
Kitakyushu—Beyond Intuition: Getting Started
in Action Research
Friday, October 27, 19:00-21:00; Kitakyushu
International Conference Center (near Kokura
Station), Room 31; one-day members ¥500
October 2000
Nagasaki—Teaching Speaking: Renewing Our
Perspectives Through Discourse
Saturday, October 28, 18:30-20:30; Nagasaki
Shimin Kaikan; one-day members ¥1,000
Kagoshima—Teaching Speaking:
Renewing Our Perspectives Through
Discourse Sunday, October 29,
19:00-21:00; IM Building Iris
Kyuden Plaza; one-day members ¥500
Miyazaki—Teaching Speaking: Renewing
Our Perspectives Through Discourse Tuesday, October 31, 18:00-20:00; Miyazaki
International College (MIC); one-day members ¥750
Summary for the Action Research topic:
She will discuss where action research came
from, and why it is becoming popular in the
TESOL field. Different approaches taken to
action research will also be considered. Her
argument will be that collaborative approaches are
most likely to bring about changes in practice.
Summary for the Speaking topic
Over the last ten years there has been a growing
interest in how speaking can be taught from a
discourse-based perspective. This approach uses
insights from discourse analysis, which examines
language beyond sentence level; and as it is used in
natural speaking context. This workshop considers
some of the implications of a discourse perspective
for English language teaching. There will be opportunities for participants to design activities for
learners at different levels based on a discourse
approach.
Dr. In Lee
(Chongju National University)
Nagoya—Tuesday, October 31, 18:30-20:30;
Nagoya International Center, lecture room # 2,
3F; one-day members ¥1000
Chiba—Sunday, October 29, 13:00-17:00; Overseas Vocational Training Area (Reception Hall,
Wa), Makuhari Hongo; one-day members ¥500
Dr. In Lee, winner of the JALT Asian Scholar Award,
will present on a topic that relates to new trends in
the teaching of English in South Korea. He will
focus on instruction at the pre-university level in
public education. The presentation will be in both
English and Japanese.
49
50
The Language Teacher 24:10
Chapter Meetings
Chapter Meetings
edited by tom merner
Akita—We will have a monthly meeting in October. The final and detailed information will be
provided later.
Gifu—(1) Split Storytelling by Tim Murphey and
Brad Deacon, Nanzan University, (2) Using Email
to Increase English Learner Motivation by
Suzuki Yuko, Nanzan University. The Split Story
technique involves breaking up stories and providing motivating tasks to take advantage of students’ natural curiosity to increase learning. In
this workshop, participants will experience live
Split Stories and video examples taken from the
presenters’ classes. In the latter presentation, a
key-pal project currently being conducted at a
junior high school in Nagoya will be introduced.
Sunday October 22, 14:00-17:00; Dream Theater,
Gifu City; one-day members 1000 yen.
Gunma—English As a Multicultural Language by
Honna Nobuyuki, Aoyama Gakuin University.
The speaker will discuss the various aspects of
present day English and how English reflects a
diversity of disparate cultures. Details can be
found at: <http://202.236.153.60/JALT/
default.htm>. Sunday October 15, 14:00-16:30;
Maebashi Kyoai Gakuen College (t: 027-266-7575);
one-day members 1000 yen, students 200 yen, newcomers free.
Hokkaido—Creative Ways of Using Music for
Language Learning by Shimabayashi Shoji,
Hokkaido Tokai University. This presentation will
demonstrate how music can be used in a variety
of ways to enhance English language learning for
all ages. The presentation will give teachers readyto-use lessons that can easily be used in the classroom. Sunday October 29, 13:00-16:00; Hokkaido
International School (5-minute walk from the
Sumikawa Station); one-day members 1000 yen.
Ibaraki—Student Generated Small Group Video
Projects by Jim Batten, Ibaraki Christian University, and Joyce Cunningham, Ibaraki University.
The presenters will outline a content-based
project they have collaborated on with a view to
increasing students’ awareness of their own culture. To this end, Batten and Cunningham have
set up student-generated, group-produced videos
to encourage and motivate their learners to explore different aspects of Japanese culture. Sunday
October 15, 13:30-17:00; Ibaraki Christian College,
Hitachi Omika; one-day members 500 yen.
Iwate—Costello-A Virtual World for Language
Learning on the Internet by Adrian Cohen, JALT
Iwate Chapter Program Chair. The speaker will
present a computer program for language learning on the Internet. Sunday October 15th; Iwate
October 2000
Prefectural University (contact Mary Burkitt to confirm the time and place).
Kanazawa—Motivating Japanese Students To Be
Active Communicators by David Paul, David English House. The presenter will suggest two main
reasons why we are failing with these students.
The first is that we cling to traditional methods
which only work for a small percentage of learners. The second is that we use imported ideas
which were developed for completely different
learning situations. Implications of these observations for the classroom will be examined and
teaching options explored. Sunday October 15;
Shakai Kyoiku Center (3-2-15 Honda-machi,
Kanazawa).
Nagasaki—Reading With Pause, Prompt and
Praise: A New Way to Help Students With Reading by Steven Donald and Mario McKenna,
Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University, with
Alison Kane, OUP. Pause, Prompt and Praise
(P.P.P.) was developed in New Zealand in the late
1970s to help students who were experiencing
reading problems to catch up and to become independent readers. Studies show children make
reading gains in comprehension, accuracy, and
fluency as well as in improved behavioral skills.
This presentation will introduce the technique,
explain the history and discuss current related
projects. Sunday October 1, 13:30-16:30; Nagasaki
Shimin Kaikan; one-day members 1000 yen.
Nagoya—Boo, Turkey! Halloween and Thanksgiving by Linda Donan. You’ve probably heard her
well-received presentation on how to teach for
Christmas. Now come and hear her speak on Hal-
“Well I’d love to write some
thing but I just don’t have the
confidence or experience!”
「書くのは好きだけど、自信もないし、
経験もないし」
TLT’s Peer Support Group offers beginning writers a warm, secure environment in which to
develop material for possible publication. If you
would benefit from collaborative help in developing your writing, please contact: Andy Barfield,
PSG Coordinator <[email protected]>
T L T のピア・サポート・グループは投稿を希望する経験の浅
い方々にも、暖かく安心できる環境を提供いたします。論文
作成に力を貸してほしいと感じている方は、Andy Barfield
<[email protected]>までご連絡ください。
51
Chapter Meetings
loween and Thanksgiving. All age students enjoy
learning about the cultural holidays of their foreign teachers and are motivated to read, write,
listen and speak on holiday customs, songs, and
cuisine. Sunday October 29, 13:30-16:00; Nagoya
International Center 3F meeting room 1; one-day
members 1000 yen.
Nara—Reaching an Agreement by Parrill Stribling.
This three-hour workshop focuses on assisting
students and teachers to reach a mutual understanding concerning course goals, accountability,
and grading standards. Participants will be given
practical experience in setting and reaching
agreement on writing, speaking, listening, and
reading goals. This presentation’s objective is to
nurture a mutual appreciation of course goals and
evaluation standards. Saturday October 21, 14:0017:00; Tezukayama University, Gakuenmae Campus
(Kintetsu Gakuenmae Station).
Niigata—Fun, Communicative Grammar for Kids!
Greg Cossu, co-author of SuperKids, and Sugiyama
Keiko. Can children learn to speak natural English? Can they answer as well as ask questions?
This presentation will focus on the value of
teaching grammar in a fun, communicative way
through grammar activities, pairwork, and grammar songs. Let’s help our students communicate
in a way in which they can be understood. Sunday October 15, 10:30-13:30; Niigata International
Friendship Center; one-day members 1,000 yen. Look
for information about the Four Corners Tour
coming to Niigata in the next newsletter!
Okayama—Engaging Teachers in Professional Development and Cross-Cultural Discussions by
Ian Nakamura, Hiroshima Kokusai Gakuin University and Okayama University. Guided teacher
discussions offer us new ideas. Two types of discussions and related issues will be introduced.
The first example will examine the process of becoming a reflective teacher. The second example
will explore cross-cultural observations and interpretations by comparing two films, Tampopo and
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. Venue is yet to be announced.
Omiya—Motivating Adults and Teenagers to
Communicate by David Paul, David English
House, author of many texts for children and
adults. Why is it that so many Japanese students
fail to learn to communicate in English, even after studying for many years? What have we been
doing wrong? The presenter will try to answer
these questions. He will suggest that the only successful methods are those which specifically address the particular psychological and emotional
needs of Japanese learners, and he will propose
many techniques which aim to achieve this. Sunday October 22, 14:00-17:00; Omiya Jack, 6th floor
(near west exit, Omiya station).
52
Tokyo—Correction Techniques: Just What are We
Doing and Why? by Jim Smiley, The ELEC Institute. A talk and workshop on correction techniques. The speaker will present various methods
of correction for discussion about their effectiveness, theoretic basis, how the correction method
chosen highlights the teaching goals, and how to
express this to the student to ensure a better
learning environment. Saturday October 21, 14:0017:00; Sophia University (Yotsuya Stn), the Kioi
Building (opposite the New Otani Hotel), Room 108;
one-day members 1000 yen.
Toyohashi—Achieving Authentic Communication
in the Language Classroom by Jean Simionian,
Martha Robertson and Kristi Joba. Use of video in
the classroom, peer response groups for composition classes, and video exchange programs will be
discussed as ways that go beyond games and activities to achieve authentic communication. The
approaches presented will be applicable to all
ages and proficiency levels. Sunday October 15,
13:30-16:00; Aichi University, Toyohashi Campus,
Building No. 5.
West Tokyo—Intercultural Communication Experiential Learning Seminar. All JALT members are
invited to participate in the SIETAR JAPAN Mini
Seminar on Experiential Learning. The focus will
be on sharing practical teaching know-how about
instructional activities for intercultural communication training, including how to conduct a
simulation game and how to debrief it. On-site
contact: 070-5369-1894. Saturday & Sunday October 7-8, 10:00-17:00; Obirin University (Machida, 5minute bus ride from north exit of Fuchinobe Station
on JR Yokohama Line); 3000 yen per session. On
Saturday at 18:00-20:00, there will be a joint
JALT-SIETAR meal at a Machida restaurant.
Yamagata—London in Terms of History, Culture,
Education, Language, etc. by Paula Stapley,
GEOS Language System. The presenter, who is a
Londoner, will give a presentation on London,
focusing on foreign language acquisition and instruction. Sunday October 22, 13:30-16:00; Kajo
Kominkan (t: 0236-43-2687); one-day members
1000 yen.
Yokohama—Basic Strategies for Using Textbooks
by Tim Cupp, Oxford University Press. Sunday
October 8, 14:00-16:30; Gino Bunka Kaikan, 6F, in
Kannai.
The Language Teacher 24:10
Chapter Meetings
Chapter Contacts
edited by tom merner
People wishing to get in touch with chapters for information
can use the following list of contacts. Chapters wishing to
make alterations to their listed contact person should send all
information to the editor: Tom Merner; t/f: 045-822-6623;
<[email protected]>.
Akita—Suzuki Takeshi; t: 0184-22-1562;
<[email protected]>
Chiba—Yukiko Watanabe;
<[email protected]>
Fukui—Watanabe Takako;
t/f: 0776-34-8334;
<[email protected]>
Fukuoka—J. Lake;
<[email protected]>;
website
<www.kyushu.com/jalt/
events.html>
Gifu (Affiliate Chapter)—
Paul Doyon; t: 058-329-1328, f: 058-326-2607;
<[email protected]>
Gunma—Wayne Pennington; t/f: 027-283-8984;
<[email protected]>; website
<202.236.153.60/JALT/>
Hamamatsu—Brendan Lyons; t/f: 053-454-4649;
<[email protected]>
Himeji—William Balsamo; t: 0792-54-5711;
<[email protected]>
Hiroshima—Joy Jarman-Walsh; t: 082-878-9931;
<[email protected]>; website <http://
litcal.yasuda-u.ac.jp/student/jalthiroshima.html>
Hokkaido—Dave Hyre; t: 011-387-7344;
<[email protected]>; website
<www2.crosswinds.net/~hyrejalthokkaido/
JALTPage/>
Ibaraki—Martin Pauly; t: 0298-58-9523; f: 0298-589529; <[email protected]>; website
<www.kasei.ac.jp/JALT/Ibaraki.html>
Iwate—Mary Burkitt; t/f: 019-647-7185;
<[email protected]>
Kagawa—David Juteau; t:0883-53-8844; <[email protected]>
Kagoshima—Nick Walters; t: 0996-21-2062;
<[email protected]>; Mori Reiko; 099285-7447; <[email protected]>; website
<www.kyushu.com/jalt/kagoshima.html>
Kanazawa—Bill Holden; t: 076-229-6140(w), 2295608(h); <[email protected]>; website
<www.jaist.ac.jp/~mark/jalt.html>
Kitakyushu—Chris Carman; t: 093-603-1611(w);
592-2883(h); <[email protected]>;
website <www.seafolk.ne.jp/kqjalt/>
Kobe—Brent Jones; t/f: 0797-31-2068;
<[email protected]>
Kumamoto—Andrew Shaffer; t: 096-339-1952;
October 2000
<[email protected]>; website
<www.kyushu.com/jalt/kumamoto.html>
Matsuyama— Linda Kadota; t: 089-931-6211; f:
089-934-9055; <[email protected]>
Miyazaki—Sylvan Payne; t: 0985-85-5931; f: 098584-3396; <[email protected]>; website
<www.miyazaki-mic.ac.jp/faculty/klane/
html_JALT/mzkj/mzkjpub.html>
Nagasaki—Tim Allan; t/f: 095-824-6580;
<[email protected]>; Shiina Katsunobu; t/f: 095861-5356; <[email protected]>; website
<www.kyushu.com/jalt/
nagasaki.html>
Nagoya—Claire Gelder; t:
052-781-0165; f: 052-7814334;
<[email protected]>
Nara—Shiki Osato; t/f:
0745-77-1961;
<[email protected]>
Niigata—Robin Nagano; t/
f: 0258-47-9810;
<[email protected]>
Okayama—Peter Burden; t/f: 086 293 3545; <[email protected]>
Okinawa—Caroline Latham; t/f: 0980-54-0787;
<[email protected]>
Omiya—Okada Chikahiko; t/f: 047-377-4695;
<[email protected]>; Aleda Krause; t:
048-776-0392; <[email protected]>; website
<www2.gol.com/users/ljc/omiya.html>
Osaka—Nakamura Kimiko; t/f: 06-376-3741;
<[email protected]>; website <www.suninet.or.jp/~kimiko/josaka.html>
Sendai—John Wiltshier; t: 0225-88-3832;
<[email protected]>; website
<www.geocities.com/jaltsendai>
Shizuoka—Amy Hawley; t/f: 054-248-5090;
<[email protected]>; website
<www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/1952/>
Shinshu—Mary Aruga; t: 0266-27-3894;
<[email protected]>
Tochigi—Jim Chambers; t/f: 028-627-1858;
<[email protected]>
Tokushima—Meg Ishida; <[email protected]>
Tokyo—Allan Murphy; <[email protected]>;
Suzuki Takako; t/f: 0424-61-1460
Toyohashi—Laura Kusaka; t: 0532-88-2658;
<[email protected]>
West Tokyo—Kobayashi Etsuo; t: 042-366-2947;
<[email protected]>; website <jalt.org/chapters/wtokyo/>
Yamagata—Sugawara Fumio; t/f: 0238-85-2468
Yamaguchi—Shima Yukiko; t: 0836-88-5421;
<[email protected]>
Yokohama—Ron Thornton; t/f: 0467-31-2797;
<[email protected]>
53
54
The Language Teacher 24:10
JIC
Job Information Center
edited by bettina begole
Don’t forget to visit the Job Information Center next month at
the conference. For more information, please check your conference supplement, or look at the JALT News column in this issue
of TLT.
The Job Information Center has a new email address,
<[email protected]>, which should be much easier to remember.
Please use this address to place ads, or to request the job list.
You can now also find the JIC jobs listed at <www.jalt.org/
jalt_e/main/careers/careers.html>.
To list a position in The Language Teacher, please email
Bettina Begole, Job Information Center, at <[email protected]> or
fax your ad to 0857-87-0858. Please email rather than fax, if
possible. The notice should be received before the 15th of the
month, two months before publication, and contain the following information: city and prefecture, name of institution, title of
position, whether full- or part-time, qualifications, duties, salary and benefits, application materials, deadline, and contact
information. A special form is not necessary.
Aichi-ken—Kinjo Gakuin University in Nagoya is
looking for part-time English teachers for the
2001-2002 academic year. Qualifications: MA in
TEFL/TESL, English, or related fields; Japanese university teaching experience preferred; publications. Application Materials: signed and dated
resume including visa status. Deadline: October
20, 2000. Contact: Department of English; Kinjo
Gakuin University, 2-1723 Omori, Moriyama-ku,
Nagoya 463-8521.
Aichi-ken—The Department of British and American Studies of Nanzan University in Nagoya is
seeking a full-time associate instructor in the English language to begin April 1, 2001. Qualifications: MA in English teaching or a related field;
native-speaker competency in English; teaching
experience at the university level; publications
preferred. Duties: teach nine 90-minute classes per
week; may be required to coordinate departmental
programs; expected to participate in departmental
activities and committees; duties regarding the
university entrance exams. Salary & Benefits:
two-year contract with one two-year renewal possible; salary based on experience and qualifications and determined according to university
regulations. Application Materials: resume with
addresses and phone numbers of two references;
copy of graduate degree transcript; 500-word essay
that outlines teaching philosophy. Deadline: ongoing until filled. Contact: Professor Sasaki
Tsuyoshi, Chairperson; Eibei Gakka, Nanzan University, 18 Yamazato-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 4668673.
Chiba-ken—Keiai University is seeking a part-time
English instructor to begin April 2001. Qualifications: MA in TEFL/TESL or related field and university teaching experience. Duties: teach three
October 2000
90-minute koma of English conversation. Salary
and Benefits: 26,500-31,500 yen per koma, depending on experience and education. Application Materials: current CV including passport-size
photo and a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Deadline: October 31, 2000. Contact: J. W. Casey;
Keiai University, 1-9 Sanno, Sakura-shi, Chiba-ken
285-0807; <[email protected]>.
Hokkaido—The School of International Cultural
Relations at Hokkaido Tokai University in Sapporo
is seeking full-time lecturers or associate professors
of English. Qualifications: MA or higher degree in
applied linguistics, communication theories, or
English language studies. Duties: teach classes in
communication, theories of language communication, seminars; graduation theses, English and
other subjects that may be requested by the university. Salary & Benefits: based on scale of Tokai
University educational system. Application Materials: CV with attached photo and including date
of birth; copies of official transcripts of university
work; list of publications with the contents briefly
described; written statement for future plans while
in the position described above (1000 words or
less); brief statement on the role of university education. Send by registered mail and indicate in red
on the envelope “Application for faculty position.” Documents submitted will not be returned.
Deadline: October 10, 2000. Contact: Professor
Endo Takashi, Chair; School of International Cultural Relations, Hokkaido Tokai University, 5-1-1-1
Minamisawa, Minami-ku, Sapporo 005-8601; f:
011-571-7879; <[email protected]>.
Ishikawa-ken—Hokuriku Gakuin Junior College, a
Christian college in Kanazawa, is seeking candidates for a full-time EFL teaching position to begin
April 2001. Qualifications: native-speaker competency in North American English; MA in TESL/
TEFL, applied linguistics, or related field; two years
experience in TESL/TEFL at the college level in
Japan; ability to adapt to cross-cultural environment; intermediate Japanese conversation ability;
international or Japanese driver’s license; current
resident of Japan. Basic computer skills and musical ability are also desirable. Duties: teach fifteen
to eighteen 45-minute classes per week. In addition to teaching courses such as conversation and
composition, teachers help with department
events, serve on committees, and perform assigned
administrative duties. Teachers are also occasionally expected to help teach classes at related institutions (kindergartens, etc.). Working hours are
typically 8:15 to 4:35. Salary & Benefits: one-year
contract, renewable subject to performance and
budget; salary is based on Japanese faculty scale.
Housing, return airfare to home country upon
completion of contract, subsidized health/dental
insurance, paid holidays, completion bonus, travel
55
JIC
allowance, paid vacation, relocation allowance,
and research allowance are provided. Application
Materials: CV/resume; letter of introduction including information about what the Christian
faith means to the applicant and why they want
to work at a Christian college; photo; and three
letters of recommendation. Contact: Marie
Clapsaddle; Hokuriku Gakuin Junior College, 11
Mitsukoji-machi, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken 9201396; <[email protected]>. Other information: Only applicants considered suitable
for the position will be contacted.
Kanagawa-ken—Keio Shonan-Fujisawa Junior and
Senior High School in Fujisawa-shi, the newest
secondary school associated with Keio University,
is seeking applicants for two full-time teaching
positions in the English department to begin April
1, 2001. Qualifications: native-speaker competency in English; MA in TESOL or related field;
junior/senior high school experience, particularly
in Japan, an advantage; conversational Japanese
an advantage. Duties: teach 18 hours per week;
share typical homeroom responsibilities with a
Japanese partner; assess students in accordance
with school guidelines; participate in all school
events and supervise students during school trips,
etc.; play an active role in departmental functions
such as curriculum development, test writing, coordination of exchange programs, etc. Full-time
staff work five days a week, with Sunday and one
other day off. Salary & Benefits: based on age/
qualifications, and year of graduation; commuting
allowance, annual book allowance; optional
health insurance plan; furnished apartments close
to school available for rent with no key money.
Annual contract renewable for up to three years.
Application Materials: cover letter; CV; transcripts from all post-secondary schools attended;
details of publications and presentations, if any; at
least one letter of recommendation from a recent
employer and/or professor in TESOL. Deadline:
application materials to arrive by post by October
20, 2000. Contact: Mr. Tanabe Takumi; English
Department, Keio Shonan-Fujisawa Junior & Senior High School, 5466 Endo, Fujisawa-shi,
Kanagawa-ken 252-0816; t: 0466-47-5111; f: 046647-5078; <[email protected]>. Other information: Graduates of SFC Junior and Senior High
School go on to Keio University, and more than
two-fifths of the student body have lived abroad
for extended periods. Many students already speak
English or other languages. The school provides
training in computing, language, and intercultural
communication in an effort to equip the students
for active roles in the global community.
Niigata-ken—The International University of Japan
(IUJ), a fully English-medium graduate institution,
is looking for temporary English-language instruc56
tors to teach in its intensive English Program in
Yamato-machi in 2001. The program is nine
weeks long: eight days of orientation and debriefing, and eight weeks teaching. The program
dates have yet to be finalized, but will probably
run mid-July to mid-September. Qualifications:
MA or equivalent in TESL/TEFL or related field;
experience with EAP, intermediate students and
intensive programs highly desirable; experience
with programs in international relations, international management, or cross-cultural communication helpful; familiarity with Windows
computers required. Duties: teach intermediatelevel graduate students up to 16 hours per week;
assist in testing and materials preparation; attend meetings; write short student reports; participate in extra-curricular activities. Salary &
Benefits: 850,000 yen gross salary; free apartment-style accommodation provided on or near
campus; transportation costs refunded soon after
arrival; no health insurance provided. Application Materials: CV and cover letter; no email
applications will be accepted. Deadline: October
27, 2000. Successful applicants will be invited to
interview at the JALT 2000 conference in
Shizuoka or in Tokyo in February 2001. Contact:
Nakajima Mitsuko, IEP Administrative Coordinator; IUJ, Yamato-machi, Minami Uonumagun, Niigata-ken 949-7277.
Tokyo-to—The Faculty of Socio-information and
Communicative Studies at Seijo University is seeking a full-time lecturer, associate professor, or professor of English education to begin April 1, 2002.
Qualifications: PhD/DPhil or an MA with more
than six years research experience; teaching experience, preferably at university level; Japanese ability sufficient for participation in faculty meetings
and committees. Duties: teach English according
to the department curriculum; administrative duties. Salary & Benefits: salary dependent on formal education, years of teaching experience, and
age according to Seijo Gakuen wage scale; health
insurance and pension plans available through the
Mutual Association of Private Schools. Application Materials: CV with a current personal photo;
certified copy of highest degree; list of research
publications; copies of the three most significant
publications (If the publication is a large book,
send copies of the title page, table of contents, and
about 20 pages. If you are a co-author, follow
these instructions and send the pages you contributed.); two references, with at least one in Japan,
and preferably a Japanese person; report of teaching experience during the last three years, limited
to three pages, and including the names of subjects taught, teaching method, main texts and
teaching materials used, and description of class
management or goals; trial syllabus for a freshman
The Language Teacher 24:10
JIC
course, limited to five pages, based on the following description: fifteen weeks in a semester, 200
students for each academic year divided into
classes of approximately 20 students, 45-minute
unit with two units taught in a 90-minute class
with a five-minute break between units, units to
be repeated three times a week and taught in conjunction with one or two other teachers. Please
limit all documents to A4 paper, printed on one
side only. Documents will not be returned. Deadline: October 31, 2000. Contact: Faculty of Socioinformation and Communication Studies; Seijo
University, 6-1-20 Seijo, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 1578511; t: 03-3482-2101;
<[email protected]>,<[email protected]>.
Tokyo-to—The Faculty of Economics at Daito
Bunka University is seeking two English-speaking
contract lecturers to begin in April 2001. Qualifications: MA in TEFL, TESL, economics, or related
area. Duties: five-day attendance in office (mainly
on Higashimatsuyama campus in Saitama) per
week; teach eight 90-minute English lessons per
week; assist with testing and curriculum planning;
advise on exchange programs; other engagements
related to English teaching. Salary & Benefits:
gross annual salary between 3,500,000-4,400,000
yen, depending on experience and education,
with annual salary increase scheduled; Japanese
health insurance; two-year contract with two oneyear extensions possible. Application Materials:
resume, publications, reference(s), photo, cover
letter. Please write “Application for the post in the
Faculty of Economics” on the envelope. Deadline:
October 31, 2000. Contact: Norio Yoshida, Dean;
Faculty of Economics, Daito Bunka University, 19-1 Takashimadaira, Itabashi, Tokyo 175-8571; t:
03-5399-7326; f: 03-5399-7342.
Tokyo-to—The English Department at Aoyama
Gakuin University is seeking part-time teachers to
teach conversation and writing courses at their
Atsugi campus. The campus is about 90 minutes
from Shinjuku station on the Odakyu Line, and
classes are on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
Qualifications: resident in Japan, with an MA in
TEFL/TESOL, English literature, applied linguistics,
or communications; one-year university English
teaching experience. Duties: classroom activities
include teaching small group discussion, journal
writing, and book reports; collaboration with others in curriculum revision project. Publications,
experience with presentations, and familiarity
with email are assets. Salary & Benefits: comparable to other universities in the Tokyo area. Application Materials: apply in writing, with a
self-addressed envelope, for an application form
and information about the program. Deadline:
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COMING SOON!
Teacher Belief,Teacher Action:
Connecting Research and the Classroom
The Proceedings of the 1999 JALT International Conference on Language
Teaching/Learning on CD-ROM.
Wanted to attend the 1999 JALT International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning?
Couldn’t make it for some reason? Here’s your chance to find out what happened—the JALT99
Proceedings on CD-ROM. Keyword searchable, and fully indexed. Features over 60 articles focused
on the practical and professional needs of teachers, written by teachers. Available only on CD-ROM!
Compatible with Windows or Macintosh OS; requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.01 or later.
Priced at only ¥3,000; advance orders are now being accepted. To order in Japan, simply fill out the
postal transfer form (yuubin furikae) at the back of any issue of The Language Teacher; write your order
in the “Other” line, and deposit the correct amount at your nearest post office. Purchasers outside
Japan can use VISA or MASTERCARD. Orders from outside Japan require an additional ¥500
shipping and handling fee.
For more information, please contact JALT at:
JALT Central Office, Urban Edge Bldg 5f, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-1106
Tel: 03-3837-1630; Fax: 03-3837-1630; [email protected]
October 2000
57
58
The Language Teacher 24:10
JIC/Bulletin Board
ongoing. Contact: PART-TIMERS; English and
American Literature Department, Aoyama Gakuin
University, 4-4-25 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
150-8366. Short-listed candidates will be contacted
for interviews.
Web Corner
You can receive the updated JIC job listings on the
20th of each month by email at <[email protected]>
and view them online on JALT’s homepage (address
below).
Here are a variety of sites with information relevant to teaching in Japan:
1. EFL, ESL and Other Teaching Jobs in Japan at
<www.jobsinjapan.com/want-ads.htm>
2. Information for those seeking university positions
(not a job list) at <www.voicenet.co.jp/~davald/
univquestions.html>
3. ELT News at <www.eltnews.com/
jobsinjapan.shtml>
4. JALT Jobs and Career Enhancement links at
<www.jalt.org/jalt_e/main/careers.html>
5. Teaching English in Japan: A Guide to Getting a
Job at <www.wizweb.com/~susan/mainpage.html>
6. ESL Café’s Job Center at <www.pacificnet.net/
~sperling/jobcenter.html>
7. Ohayo Sensei at <www.wco.com/~ohayo/>
8. NACSIS (National Center for Science Information
Systems’ Japanese site) career information at
<nacwww.nacsis.ac.jp/>
9. The Digital Education Information Network Job
Centre at <www.go-ed.com/jobs/iatefl>
10. EFL in Asia at <www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/
7947/eflasia.htm>
11. Jobs in Japan at <www.englishresource.com/
classifieds/jobs.shtml>
12. Job information at <www.ESLworldwide.com>
差別に関する
The Language Teacher Job Information Center の方針
私たちは、日本国の法規、国際法、一般的良識に従い、差別
用語と雇用差別に反対します。JIC/Positions コラムの求人広
告は、原則として、性別、年令、人種、宗教、出身国による
条件は掲載しません。（例えば、イギリス人、アメリカ人と
いうよりは、ネイティブ並の語学力という表現をお使いくだ
さい。) これらの条件が法的に要求されているなど、やむをえ
ない理由のある場合は、下記の用紙の「その他の条件」の欄
に、その理由とともにお書きください。編集者は、この方針
にそぐわない求人広告を編集したり、書き直しをお願いした
りする権利を留保します。
October 2000
Bulletin Board
edited by brian cullen
Contributors to the Bulletin Board are requested by the
column editor to submit announcements of up to 150
words written in a paragraph format and not in abbreviated or outline form. Submissions should be made by
the 20th of the month. To repeat an announcement,
please contact the editor.
Calls for Papers (in order of deadlines)
CUE 2001: The Second Annual CUE Conference—
The CUE 2001 conference will be held on May 1213, 2001 at Miho Kenshukan of Tokai University
in Shimizu City, Shizuoka. The conference theme
is “Autonomy: a two-day exploration into how
learner and teacher autonomy is developing and
how we can help it to develop.” Examples of questions to be explored are: Is autonomy a natural
development of human thinking, a human right,
a culturally loaded question, an overblown ideology? What techniques, methods, materials and
ideas can we use to enable ourselves and our students develop their own sense of autonomy? Onehour papers, demonstrations, workshops and
roundtable discussions from both theoretical and
practical perspectives are sought as well as proposals for a limited number of two-hour sessions. The
deadline for proposals is January 25, 2001. Information: <www.wilde.org/cue/conferences/
autonomy.html> or <http://www.wild-e.org/cue/
conferences/content.html>. Contact: Alan
Mackenzie <[email protected]> or Eamon
McCafferty <[email protected]>. Those wishing to
submit a proposal specifically aimed at Japanese
teachers of English, please refer inquiries in Japanese or English to Goshi Masahiko <[email protected]>.
The Pan Asia Consortium (PAC) Journal is seeking
four to five articles focused on Action Research as it
is conducted and applied in the Japanese EFL
teaching context. Papers should include: (1) A
statement of the problem including the context
and the participants. Why was this a problem?
The problem should not be too broad and should
be located in teaching. (2) A brief review of the
literature—all the recent movers and shakers in
the area should be included that address the problem only! (3) A method to solve the problem—
outlined in detail—what method, why this
method, where did it come from, etc. (4) Result—
what was the outcome—details. (5) Action—this
last cycle is sometimes left out of AR projects but
should be included: A comparison of #1 and #4
above—what will the teacher do now and in the
59
60
The Language Teacher 24:10
Bulletin Board
future? Will he/she incorporate the new result (#4)
or will he/she stick with the original method (or
whatever)? Submission deadline: November 30,
2000. Information: <www.jalt.org>.
TLT Japan’s Meritocratic Education Special Issue—A special issue of The Language Teacher is
scheduled for publication in November 2001. This
special issue will analyse whether Japan’s education system, being historically based on merit (i.e.,
that entrance into universities has traditionally
been decided exclusively by students’ entrance
examination scores), is in need of qualitative reform. The editor encourages papers which examine this method of selection and other issues of
social responsibility stemming from it (e.g., ranking schools, juku, ijime), thereby providing useful
insight into the education system teachers are
working in, which might in turn promote more
socially aware classrooms. Submissions, in either
English or Japanese (if possible, please include an
abstract in English), of feature, opinion and perspective articles investigating these or related issues are especially invited. Please submit your
manuscripts by February 1, 2001. Send submissions and enquiries to: Kent Hill; Hikone-so 202,
Tokiwa-cho 3461-1, Machida-shi, Tokyo 194-0213;
t/f: 042-798-1599; <[email protected]>.
Papers and New Members: JALA—The Japan Anthropological Linguistic Association (JALA),
formed last year, invites new members and announces a call for papers to its first journal publication (to be published in May of 2001). JALA is a
professional association for the study of the interrelationship of people, language and culture. JALA
welcomes as members any person interested in
discussing these topics from an anthropological
point of view. Information:
<www.fsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jp/~iaoi/jala.html> (Japanese) or <kyushu.com/jala> (English).
Essay Collection—What is it like for native speakers to profess English in Japan? A proposed collection of essays aims to gather a wide number of
individual examples across many different organizational and institutional sites. Some issues that
might be addressed include reasons for teaching in
Japan and their relationship to teaching, the assumptions held prior to arrival and the approaches
to the realities subsequently encountered, and the
nature of English in Japan. Contributions should
be twenty to thirty pages, double-spaced, clear,
and follow the conventions of the personal essay.
The purpose of the collection will not be practical,
but instead personal, as well as theoretical. For
more information, contact: Eva Bueno;
<[email protected]> or Terry Caesar;
<[email protected]>; English Department, Mukogawa Women’s University, 6-46
Ikebiraki-cho, Nishinomiya 663-8558.
October 2000
Other Announcements
CUE Conference Proceedings & Publications
Swap—The Proceedings of the CUE (College &
University Educators) Conference 2000 on Content and Language Education will be released at
JALT 2000. The ¥2500 purchase price is waived
for CUE members and for those who attended the
CUE conference. Please pick up your copy in person or by proxy at the CUE desk. Otherwise,
please send a S.A.E. to Eamon McCafferty
(<[email protected]> for details). JALT non-CUE
members will receive a ¥500 discount at
JALT2000. Publication Swap: CUE members are
encouraged to share offprints of in-house articles,
etc. with other members at JALT2000. Either drop
off your copies at the CUE desk or post in advance to Eamon McCafferty, Rupinasu 201,
Utouzaka 439-52, Shimizu, Shizuoka 424-0873.
TESOL Online Career Center—Debuting in the fall
of 2000 and featuring job listings from around
the globe, career resources, and much more, it
will be the career site devoted to TESOL professionals. We are very excited about this project
and the opportunity to better serve our members.
Stay posted at <www.tesol.edu>.
Staff Recruitment—The Language Teacher needs
English language proofreaders immediately.
Qualified applicants will be JALT members with
language teaching experience, Japanese residency,
a fax, email, and a computer that can process
Macintosh files. The position will require several
hours of concentrated work every month, listserv
subscription, and occasional online and face-toface meetings. If more qualified candidates apply
than we can accept, we will consider them in order as further vacancies appear. The supervised
apprentice program of The Language Teacher trains
proofreadPRO
ROU ROU ROU
ers in TLT
COM
FINA
OF
GH GH GH
P
L
style, format, and
operations.
Apprentices begin by shadowing experienced
proofreaders, rotating from section to section of
the magazine until they become familiar with
TLT’s operations as a whole. They then assume
proofreading tasks themselves. Consequently,
when annual or occasional staff vacancies arise,
the best qualified candidates tend to come from
current staff, and the result is often a succession
of vacancies filled and created in turn. As a rule,
TLT recruits publicly for proofreaders and translators only, giving senior proofreaders and translators first priority as other staff positions become
vacant. Please submit curriculum vitae and cover
letter to the Publications Board Chair;
<[email protected]>.
61
Submissions
The editors welcome submissions of materials
concerned with all aspects of language education, particularly with relevance to Japan.
Materials in English should be sent in Rich
Text Format by either email or post. Postal
submissions must include a clearly labeled
diskette and one printed copy. Manuscripts
should follow the American Psychological Association (APA) style as it appears in The Language Teacher. The editors reserve the right to
edit all copy for length, style, and clarity,
without prior notification to authors. Deadlines indicated below.
editor by the 15th of the month, 3 months
prior to publication, to allow time to request
a response to appear in the same issue, if
appropriate. TLT will not publish anonymous correspondence unless there is a compelling reason to do so, and then only if the
correspondent is known to the editor.
日本語記事の投稿要領：編集者は、外国語教育に関
する、あらゆる話題の記事の投稿を歓迎します。原
稿は、なるべくA 4 版用紙を使用してください。ワー
プロ、原稿用紙への手書きに関わりなく、頁数を打
ち、段落の最初は必ず１文字空け、１行2 7 字、横書
きでお願いいたします。１頁の行数は、特に指定し
ませんが、行間はなるべく広めにおとりください。
The Language Teacher は、American Psychological Association (APA) のスタイルに従っています。
日本語記事の注・参考文献・引用などの書き方もこれ
に準じた形式でお願いします。ご不明の点は、T h e
Language Teacherのバックナンバーの日本語記事をご
参照くださるか、日本語編集者にお問い合わせくださ
い。スペース等の都合でご希望に沿い兼ねる場合もあ
りますので、ご了承ください。編集者は、編集の都合
上、ご投稿いただいた記事の一部を、著者に無断で変
更したり、削除したりすることがあります。
Conference Reports. If you will be attending
an international or regional conference and
are able to write a report of up to 1,500 words,
please contact the editor.
Feature Articles
English. Well written, well-documented articles of up to 3,000 words. Pages should be
numbered, new paragraphs indented (not
tabbed), word count noted, and sub-headings
(bold-faced or italic) used throughout for the
convenience of readers. The author’s name,
affiliation, and contact details should appear
on the top of the first page. An abstract of up
to 150 words, biographical information of up
to 100 words, and any photographs, tables, or
drawings should be sent in separate files.
Send all material to Robert Long.
日本語論文です。400字詰原稿用紙20枚以内。左寄
せで題名を記し、その下に右寄せで著者名、改行し
て右寄せで所属機関を明記してください。章、節に
分け、太字または斜体字でそれぞれ見出しをつけて
ください。図表・写真は、本文の中には入れず、別
紙にし、本文の挿入箇所に印を付けてください。フ
ロッピーをお送りいただく場合は、別文書でお願い
いたします。英語のタイトル、著者・所属機関の
ローマ字表記、150ワード以内の英文要旨、100ワー
ド以内の著者の和文略歴を別紙にお書きください。
原本と原本のコピー２部、計３部を日本語編集者に
お送りください。査読の後、採否を決定します。
Opinion & Perspectives. Pieces of up to
1,500 words must be informed and of current concern to professionals in the language teaching field. Send submissions to
the editor.
原稿用紙10∼15枚以内。現在話題となっている事
柄への意見、問題提起などを掲載するコラムです。
別紙に、英語のタイトル、著者・所属機関のローマ
字表記、英文要旨を記入し、日本語編集者にお送り
ください。締切は、掲載をご希望になる号の発行月
の２カ月前の15日必着です。
Interviews. If you are interested in interviewing a well-known professional in the field,
please consult the editor first.
「有名人」へのインタビュー記事です。インタ
ビューをされる前に日本語編集者にご相談ください。
Readers’ Views. Responses to articles or
other items in TLT are invited. Submissions
of up to 500 words should be sent to the
62
The Language Teacher に掲載された記事などへの
意見をお寄せください。長さは1 , 0 0 0 字以内、締切
は、掲載をご希望になる号の発行月の3カ月前の15日
に日本語編集者必着です。編集者が必要と判断した
場合は、関係者に、それに対する反論の執筆を依頼
し、同じ号に両方の意見を掲載します。
言語教育に関連する学会の国際大会等に参加する予
定の方で、その報告を執筆したい方は、日本語編集
者にご相談ください。長さは原稿用紙8枚程度です。
Departments
My Share. We invite up to 1,000 words on a
successful teaching technique or lesson plan
you have used. Readers should be able to
replicate your technique or lesson plan. Send
submissions to the My Share editor.
学習活動に関する実践的なアイディアの報告を載せ
るコラムです。教育現場で幅広く利用できるもの、
進歩的な言語教育の原理を反映したものを優先的に
採用します。絵なども入れることができますが、白
黒で、著作権のないもの、または文書による掲載許
可があるものをお願いします。別紙に、英語のタイ
トル、著者・所属機関のローマ字表記、200ワード程
度の英文要旨を記入し、My Share 編集者にお送りく
ださい。締切は、掲載をご希望になる号の発行月の
２カ月前の15日必着です。
Book Reviews. We invite reviews of books
and other educational materials. We do not
publish unsolicited reviews. Contact the Publishers’ Review Copies Liaison for submission
guidelines and the Book Reviews editor for
permission to review unlisted materials.
書評です。原則として、その本の書かれている言
語で書くことになっています。書評を書かれる場合
は、Publishers Review Copies Liaison にご相談
ください。また、重複を避け、T h e L a n g u a g e
Teacher に掲載するにふさわしい本であるかどうか
を確認するため、事前に Book Review 編集者にお
問い合わせください。
JALT News. All news pertaining to official
JALT organizational activities should be sent
to the JALT News editors. Deadline: 15th of the
month, 2 months prior to publication.
J A L T による催し物などのお知らせを掲載したい方
は、JALT News 編集者にご相談ください。締切は、
掲載をご希望になる号の発行月の2 カ月前の1 5 日に
JALT News 編集者必着です。
Special Interest Group News. JALT-recognised
Special Interest Groups may submit a monthly
report to the Special Interest Group News
editor. Deadline: 15th of the month, 2 months
prior to publication.
JALT公認の Special Interest Group で、毎月の
お知らせを掲載したい方は、SIGS 編集者にご相談く
ださい。締切は、掲載をご希望になる号の発行月の2
カ月前の15日に SIGS 編集者必着です。
Chapter Reports. Each Chapter may submit
a monthly report of up to 400 words which
should (a) identify the chapter, (b) have a
title—usually the presentation title, (c) have
a by-line with the presenter’s name, (d) include the month in which the presentation
was given, (e) conclude with the reporter’s
name. For specific guidelines contact the
Chapter Reports editor. Deadline: 15th of the
month, 2 months prior to publication.
地方支部会の会合での発表の報告です。長さは原稿
用紙2枚から４枚。原稿の冒頭に (a) 支部会名、(b) 発
表の題名、(c) 発表者名を明記し、(d) 発表がいつ行わ
れたかが分かる表現を含めてください。また、(e) 文
末に報告執筆者名をお書きください。締切は、掲載
をご希望になる号の発行月の2 カ月前の1 5 日に
Chapter Reports 編集者必着です。日本語の報告は
Chapter Reports日本語編集者にお送りください。
Chapter Meetings. Chapters must follow
the precise format used in every issue of TLT
(i.e., topic, speaker, date, time, place, fee,
and other information in order, followed by
a brief, objective description of the event).
Maps of new locations can be printed upon
consultation with the column editor. Meetings that are scheduled for the first week of
the month should be published in the previous month’s issue. Announcements or requests for guidelines should be sent to the
Chapter Meetings editor. Deadline: 15th of
the month, 2 months prior to publication.
支部の会合のお知らせです。原稿の始めに支部名
を明記し、発表の題名、発表者名、日時、場所、参
加費、問い合わせ先の担当者名と電話番号・ファク
ス番号を箇条書きしてください。最後に、簡単な発
表の内容、発表者の 介を付け加えても結構です。
地図を掲載したい方は、Chapter Announcements
編集者にご相談ください。第1 週に会合を予定する
場合は、前月号に掲載することになりますので、ご
注意ください。締切は、掲載をご希望になる号の発
行月の2カ月前の15日にChapter Announcements
編集者必着です。
Bulletin Board. Calls for papers, participation in/announcements of conferences, colloquia, seminars, or research projects may be
posted in this column. Email or fax your
announcements of up to 150 words to the
Bulletin Board editor. Deadline: 15th of the
month, 2 months prior to publication.
J A L T 以外の団体による催し物などのお知らせ、
J A L T 、あるいはそれ以外の団体による発表者、論文
の募集を無料で掲載します。J A L T 以外の団体による
催し物のお知らせには、参加費に関する情報を含め
ることはできません。The Language Teacher 及び
J A L T は、この欄の広告の内容を保証することはでき
ません。お知らせの掲載は、一つの催しにつき一
回、3 0 0 字以内とさせていただきます。締切は、掲
載をご希望になる号の発行月の2 カ月前の1 5 日に
Bulletin Board 編集者必着です。その後、Conference Calendar 欄に、毎月、短いお知らせを載せる
ことはできます。ご希望の際は、Conference Calendar 編集者にお申し出ください。
JIC/Positions. TLT encourages all prospective
employers to use this free service to locate the
most qualified language teachers in Japan.
Contact the Job Information Center editor
for an announcement form. Deadline for
submitting forms: 15th of the month two
months prior to publication. Publication does
not indicate endorsement of the institution
by JALT. It is the position of the JALT Executive
Board that no positions-wanted announcements will be printed.
求人欄です。掲載したい方は、Job Information
Center/Positions 編集者にAnnouncement Form
を請求してください。締切は、掲載をご希望になる
号の発行月の2カ月前の15日に Job Information
Center/Positions 編集者必着です。 The Language
Teacher 及び JALTは、この欄の広告の内容を保証す
ることはできません。なお、求職広告不掲載が JALT
Executive Board の方針です。 The Language Teacher 24:10
Staff List
JALT Publications Board Chair — Gene van Troyer
t/f: 0582-79-4050; [email protected]
Immediate Past Editor — Bill Lee
Faculty of Regional Studies, Gifu University,
1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193; f: 058-293-3118;
[email protected]
Editor — Malcolm Swanson
c/o Kyushu Junior College of Kinki University, 1-5-30
Komoda-higashi, Iizuka 820-8513; t: 0948-22-5727 ext 57;
f: 0948-24-8591; [email protected]
Associate Editor — Robert Long
3-26 Sensui-cho, Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu 804
t: 093-883-5022, f: 093-884-3400 (w); [email protected]
Japanese-Language Editor — 衣川隆生(Kinugawa Takao)
t/f: 0298-53-7477 (w); [email protected]
Japanese-Language Associate Editor — 小野正樹 (Ono
Masaki) t/f: 0298-53-7372 (w); [email protected]
Assistant Editor — Paul Lewis
t/f: 052-709-1307 (h); [email protected]
TLT Online Editor — Bob Gettings
Hokusei Gakuen Women’s Junior College,
t: 011-613-2488 (h); t: 011-561-7156
(w); f: 011-513-7505 (w); [email protected]
COLUMN EDITORS
A Chapter in Your Life — Joyce Cunningham
& Miyao Mariko
Joyce Cunningham: Faculty of Humanities, Ibaraki
University, 2-1-1 Bunkyo, Mito 310-0056
t: 029-228-8455; f: 029-228-8499
English: [email protected];
日本語: [email protected]
My Share — Scott Gardner
t/f: 086-281-9105; [email protected]
Book Reviews — Katharine Isbell
Miyazaki International College, 1405 Kano, Kiyotake-cho,
Miyazaki-gun 889-1605;
t: 0985-85-5931 (w); f: 0985-84-3396 (w); [email protected]
Publishers’ Review Copies Liaison — Angela Ota
West Park Communication Services, Funakoshi 957-6,
Gosen-shi, Niigata 959-1805; t: 0250-41-1104; f: 0250-411226; [email protected]
Letters — Malcolm Swanson (See Editor) & Koarai Mikiya
t/f: 011-614-5753 (h); [email protected]
Bulletin Board — Brian Cullen & Saito Makiko
Brian Cullen: Shoken 2-1-15-10001, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya
464-0082
English: [email protected]; 日本語: [email protected]
SIG Focus — Aleda Krause
t: 048-776-0392; f: 048-776-7952; [email protected]
SIG Reports — Robert Long
t: 093-883-5022; f: 093-884-3400 (w); [email protected]
Chapter Reports — Diane Pelyk & Nagano Yoshiko
Renace Beppu 102, 6 Kumi, Ogura, Beppu, Oita
t/f: 0977-6690
English: [email protected]
日本語: [email protected]
Chapter Meetings — Tom Merner
1-55-17 Higiriyama, Konan-ku, Yokohama 233-0015;
t/f: 045-822-6623 (w); [email protected]
JALT News — Amy Hawley & Sugino Toshiko
Amy Hawley: 205 Summer House, 91-2 Zenzamachi,
Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka-ken 420-0842
t/f: 054-248-5090; [email protected]
Sugino Toshiko: [email protected]
JALT2000 News — L. Dennis Woolbright
t/f: 093-583-5526; [email protected]
Conference Calendar — Lynne Roecklein
Faculty of Regional Studies, Gifu
University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1193;
t: 058-293-3096 (w); f: 058-293-3118 (w); [email protected]
Job Information Center/Positions — Bettina Begole
436 Kuwabara, Aoya-cho, Ketaka-gun,
Tottori 689-0529; [email protected]
OCCASIONAL COLUMN EDITORS
Educational Innovations/Creative Course Design — Daniel
J. McIntyre, Bonheur Higashi Azabu #402, 3-3-3 Higashi
Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044; [email protected]
Net Nuggets — Larry Davies, Future University, Hakodate;
[email protected]
Working Papers — Joseph Tomei, Kumamoto Gakuen University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Oe 2-chome 5-1,
Kumamoto 862-8680; t: 096-364-5161 (ext. 1410) (w); f:
096-372-0702 (w); [email protected]
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Torkil Christensen (Hokusei Women’s Junior College);
Steve Cornwell (Osaka Jogakuin Junior College);
Michael Furmanovsky (Ryukoku University);
Ron Grove (Mejiro University); John C. Herbert (Kwansei
Gakuin University); Wayne Johnson (Ryukoku University); Steve McGuire (Nagoya University of Arts);
Laura MacGregor (Sophia University);
Daniel J. McIntyre (Tokyo University);
Tonia McKay (Osaka Jogakuin Junior College);
Miyanaga Chieko (Kyoto Tachibana Women’s University); Tim Murphey (Nanzan University); Jill Robbins
(EnglishDotCom.org); Lynne Roecklein (Gifu University);
Sakui Keiko (Kwansei Gakuin University); Shiozawa
Mayumi (Ashiya Women’s Jr. College); Craig Sower
(Shujitsu Women’s University); Tamara Swenson (Osaka
Jogakuin Junior College); Takahashi Sachiko (Okayama
Notre Dame Seishin Women’s University);
Gene van Troyer (Gifu University of Education)
PEER SUPPORT GROUP
Coordinator — Andy Barfield
Foreign Language Center, Univ. of Tsukuba,
Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305-0006;
[email protected]
Members: Andy Barfield, Wayne K. Johnson, Wilma Luth,
Jill Robbins, Sandra Smith, Craig Sower
和文要旨作成協力者 — 阿部恵美佳
(Japanese abstracts — Abe Emika)
PRODUCTION
Proofreaders — Scott Gardner, Aleda Krause, Beverley Elsom
Lafaye, Robert Long, Amanda O’Brien, Steven Snyder,
Kinugawa Takao, Ono Masaki, Tsukahara Maki
Design & Layout — The Word Works
t: 045-314-9324; f: 045-316-4409; [email protected]
Printing — Koshinsha Co., Ltd., Osaka
JALT Central Office — Urban Edge Bldg. 5F, 1-37-9 Taito,
Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016; t: 03-3837-1630;
f: 03-3837-1631; [email protected]
TLT Online: www.jalt.org/tlt
For information on advertising in TLT, please contact the JALT Central Office:
October
2000 Edge Bldg. 5F, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016; t: 03-3837-1630; f: 03-3837-1631; [email protected]
Urban
63
Membership Information
JALT is a professional organization dedicated to the improvement of language learning and teaching in Japan, a vehicle for
the exchange of new ideas and techniques, and a means of keeping abreast of new developments in a rapidly changing field.
JALT, formed in 1976, has an international membership of over 3,500. There are currently 39 JALT chapters and 1 affiliate chapter
throughout Japan (listed below). It is the Japan affiliate of International TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages) and a branch of IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language).
Publications — JALT publishes The Language Teacher, a monthly magazine of articles and announcements on
professional concerns; the semi-annual JALT Journal; JALT Conference Proceedings (annual); and JALT Applied Materials
(a monograph series).
Meetings and Conferences — The JALT International Conference on Language Teaching/Learning attracts some 2,000
participants annually. The program consists of over 300 papers, workshops, colloquia, and poster sessions, a publishers’
exhibition of some 1,000m2, an employment center, and social events. Local chapter meetings are held on a monthly or
bi-monthly basis in each JALT chapter, and Special Interest Groups, SIGs, disseminate information on areas of special
interest. jalt also sponsors special events, such as conferences on testing and other themes.
Chapters — Akita, Chiba, Fukui, Fukuoka, Gunma, Hamamatsu, Himeji, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Iwate, Kagawa,
Kagoshima, Kanazawa, Kitakyushu, Kobe, Kumamoto, Kyoto, Matsuyama, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Nagoya, Nara, Niigata,
Okayama, Okinawa, Omiya, Osaka, Sendai, Shinshu, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Tokushima, Tokyo, Toyohashi, West Tokyo,
Yamagata, Yamaguchi, Yokohama, Gifu (affiliate).
SIGs — Bilingualism; College and University Educators; Computer-Assisted Language Learning; Global Issues in Language
Education; Japanese as a Second Language; Jr./Sr. High School; Learner Development; Material Writers; Professionalism,
Administration, and Leadership in Education; Teacher Education; Teaching Children; Testing and Evaluation; Video;
Other Language Educators (affiliate); Foreign Language Literacy (affiliate); Gender Awareness in Language Education
(affiliate). JALT members can join as many SIGs as they wish for a fee of ¥1,500 per SIG.
Awards for Research Grants and Development — Awarded annually. Applications must be made to the JALT Research
Grants Committee Chair by August 16. Awards are announced at the annual conference.
Membership — Regular Membership (¥10,000) includes membership in the nearest chapter. Student Memberships
(¥6,000) are available to full-time students with proper identification. Joint Memberships (¥17,000), available to two
individuals sharing the same mailing address, receive only one copy of each JALT publication. Group Memberships
(¥6,500/person) are available to five or more people employed by the same institution. One copy of each publication is
provided for every five members or fraction thereof. Applications may be made at any JALT meeting, by using the postal
money transfer form (yubin furikae) found in every issue of The Language Teacher, or by sending an International Postal
Money Order (no check surcharge), a check or money order in yen (on a Japanese bank), in dollars (on a U.S. bank), or in
pounds (on a U.K. bank) to the Central Office. Joint and Group Members must apply, renew, and pay membership fees
together with the other members of their group.
Central Office
Urban Edge Building, 5th Floor, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016
tel: 03-3837-1630; fax: 03-3837-1631; [email protected]
JALT（全国語学教育学会）について
JALTは最新の言語理論に基づくよりよい教授法を提供し、日本における語学学習の向上と発展を図ることを目的とする学術団体です。1976年に設立さ
れたJALTは、海外も含めて3,500名以上の会員を擁しています。現在日本全国に39の支部（下記参照）を持ち、TESOL（英語教師協会）の加盟団体、お
よびIATEFL（国際英語教育学会）の日本支部でもあります。
出版物：JALTは、語学教育の専門分野に関する記事、お知らせを掲載した月刊誌The Language Teacher、年２回発行のJALT Journal、JALT Applied Materials（モノグラフシリーズ)、およびJALT年次大会会報を発行しています。
例会と大会：JALTの語学教育･語学学習に関する国際年次大会には、毎年2,000人が集まります。年次大会のプログラムは300の論文、ワークショップ、
コロキアム、ポスターセッション、出版社による展示、就職情報センター、そして懇親会で構成されています。支部例会は、各JALTの支部で毎月もしく
は隔月に１回行われています。分野別研究部会、N-SIGは、分野別の情報の普及活動を行っています。JALTはまた、テスティングや他のテーマについて
の研究会などの特別な行事を支援しています。
支部：現在、全国に38の支部と1つの準支部があります。（秋田、千葉、福井、福岡、群馬、浜松、姫路、広島、北海道、茨城、岩手、香川、鹿児島、金
沢、北九州、神戸、熊本、京都、松山、宮崎、長崎、名古屋、奈良、新潟、岡山、沖縄、大宮、大阪、仙台、信州、静岡、栃木、徳島、東京、豊橋、西東
京、山形、山口、横浜、岐阜［準支部］）
分野別研究部会：バイリンガリズム、大学外国語教育、コンピュータ利用語学学習、グローバル問題、日本語教育、中学・高校外国語教育、ビデオ、学習
者ディベロプメント、教材開発、外国語教育政策とプロフェッショナリズム、教師教育、児童教育、試験と評価。
JALT の会員は一つにつき1,500円の会費で、複数の分野別研究会に参加することができます。
研究助成金：研究助成金についての応募は、8月16日までに、JALT語学教育学習研究助成金委員長まで申し出てください。研究助成金については、年次
大会で発表をします。
会員及び会費：個人会員（¥10,000): 最寄りの支部の会費も含まれています。学生会員（¥6,000): 学生証を持つ全日制の学生（大学院生を含む）が対象
です。共同会員（¥17,000): 住居を共にする個人2名が対象です。但し、JALT出版物は1部だけ送付されます。団体会員(1名¥6,500): 勤務先が同一の個
人が５名以上集まった場合に限られます。JALT出版物は、5名ごとに1部送付されます。入会の申し込みは、The Language Teacher のとじ込みの郵便
振り替え用紙をご利用いただくか、国際郵便為替（不足金がないようにしてください）、小切手、為替を円立て(日本の銀行を利用してください)、ドル立
て(アメリカの銀行を利用してください)、あるいはポンド立て（イギリスの銀行を利用してください)で、本部宛にお送りください。また、例会での申し込
みも随時受け付けています。
JALT事務局: 〒110-0016 東京都台東区台東 1-37-9 アーバンエッジビル５F
Tel. 03-3837-1630; fax. 03-3837-1631; [email protected]
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The Language Teacher 24:10