Abstract:
We (Yoshifumi Fukada, Tim Murphey, Joseph Falout, and Tetsuya Fukuda) as a research team have conducted studies on group dynamics (GD) and group-framing of motivation since 2008 (almost 15 years). Through conducting various studies on these topics, we have explored how we as EFL instructors can facilitate our students’ positive group dynamics and strengthening their English-learning motivation as well as their engagement in English-mediated socializing.
As outcomes of those studies, we were able to introduce some new GD-related concepts or pedagogies, one of which is Becoming Ideal Classmates (BIC). We introduced Ideal Classmates as a way to provide cognitive and emotional scaffolding that fosters students’ interactive learning and well-becoming. The pedagogy involves first asking students to describe the kinds of helpful behaviors for language learning that they would like to see in their classmates. Then by sharing these ideas, students start to co-construct images of their ideal classmates, and these images can become meta-cognitively understood, potentially creating a turn toward group-caring and altruism through self-transformation; an effect called reciprocal idealizing (i.e. the more I want others to do x for me, the more I myself seem to do x for others.)
We started working on the Ideal Classmates research in 2012 and kept working with it for approximately 10 years. In this presentation at Tokyo JALT, we would like to share some research work on Ideal Classmates, its outcomes, well-becomings, and its recommended continuation through PACE ACTS (a condensed form of many of their ideals).
Presenter Bios:
Yoshifumi Fukada (Ed.D., University of San Francisco; Ph.D. candidate, University of Tokyo) is a Professor at Toyo University in Tokyo, Japan. His research interests involve L2 learners’ situated learning, dynamic identities, and agency and motivation in language learning and TL-mediated socializing (both in and out of class). His recent publications include ‘An ethnographic case study of one Korean international student’s TL-mediated socializing in affinity space of the host country,’ (Internationalisation and Transnationalisation in Higher Education, Peter Lang, 2018), ‘Whole language approach.’ (The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, Wiley-Blackwell, 2018), and L2 learning during study abroad: The creation of affinity spaces (Springer, 2019).
Tim Murphey (PhD Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland,) TESOL’s Professional Development in Language Education series editor, co-author with Dörnyei of Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom (CUP/2003), author of Music and Song (OUP/1991), Teaching One to One (Longman/1992), Language Hungry!(Helbling/2006), a novel about Japan’s entrance exam system The Tale that Wags (Perceptia/2010), Teaching in Pursuit of Wow! (Abax/2012), co-editor with Arnold of Meaningful Action: Earl Stevick’s Influence on Language Teaching (CUP/2013), and author of Voicing Learning (2021 Candlin& Mynard). He is presently a semi-retired visiting professor at the Research Institute for Learner Autonomy Education (RILAE), Kanda University of International Studies.
Joseph Falout is associate professor at College of Science and Technology, Nihon University. Awarded five times by Japan Association for Language Teaching for publications and presentations, he edits for OnCUE Journal and EFL International Journal. Falout authored or co-authored 60-plus works on psychology in language learning and teaching. Notable contributions: (1) Past self-images with learning, particularly demotivation, affect remotivation, future self-images, and long-term motivation. (2) Classroom-based motivational interventions such as ideal classmates priming affect group dynamics and individual-level motivations, improving past and future self-images and prosocial engagement. (3) Critical participatory looping integrates teaching and researching, involving students themselves as collaborators.
Tetsuya Fukuda (Ph.D. from Temple University Japan) is currently Lecturer at English for Liberal Arts Program of International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan. He teaches reading and writing courses at the undergraduate level as well as academic writing courses at the graduate level. Tetsuya’s research interests are in psychological issues in language learning including L2 motivation, school belonging, school engagement, and group dynamics. Tetsuya is also actively involved in research about test scores and learning strategies. He has co-authored ten book chapters mainly on educational psychology, published four workbooks, and translated an OECD report into Japanese.
