JALT Event

Dr. Melodie Cook: "Ten Recommendations for Helping Make Classes Barrier-Free"

In this presentation, Dr. Melodie Cook will offer teachers of all levels ten simple ways to engage their neurodiverse students. In this presentation, she will introduce practical hints for teachers, such as how to organize their classes, which fonts they should use for materials, how students should be grouped, how to offer assignment choices, and much more. The suggestions are based on a summary of research done for the book Barrier-Free Instruction in Japan: Recommendations for Teachers at all Levels of Schooling, published by Candlin & Mynard. Melodie’s hope is that teachers will come away with ideas that will help make their classes more accessible to all students.

Dr. Melodie Cook is a professor at the University of Niigata Prefecture. She recently published a co-edited a book on barrier-free education in Japan with Alex Burke and Dr. Davey Young entitled Barrier-Free Instruction in Japan: Recommendations for Teachers at all Levels of Schooling, published by Candlin & Mynard. Her research interests include large-scale testing, gender in education, teacher education, multicultural family experiences in Japan, and most recently, helping teachers understand how to better engage their neurodiverse students.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

This highly anticipated event is hosted by Yokohama JALT. We would like to thank Jo Mynard and her team at Candlin & Mynard ePublishing for her support.

Link for discount of the ebook featured in the presentation: Click HERE

A big thank you goes out to the GALE SIG and the Ibaraki JALT chapter. Without their help, this event would not be possible.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Date: January 26, 2025 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Place: Keio University Hiyoshi Campus, Raiosha Building 2F (Directions)

Melodie Cook's slides

Matching Exercise 

Kyoto JALT welcomes Dr. Julie Kimura (Mukogawa Women’s University and Gregory Scholdt (Kobe University) as well as a panel of speakers to discuss goals, requirements, and schedule of the grants offered by JALT SIGs, Chapters, and the 2025 JALT Research Grants. Application tips and procedures for writing a strong proposal will be addressed.

JSPS Kaken Grants Panel Discussion

For the second part of the event we welcome three panelists:

Amanda Gillis-Furutaka (Kyoto Sangyo University), Daniel Roy Pearce (Shitennoji University), and Yukiko Saito (Osaka University) to speak on a variety of topics concerning the JSPS Kaken grant, including: choosing a topic, application tips, and executing the project. The panel will be convened by Thomas Amundrud (Nara University of Education).

Schedule

• Date: 19 January 2025
• Time: 9:00 – 12:00
• Online option: YouTube LIVE (register for this event to get the link)
• Location: Kyoto Prefectural University, Shimogamo Campus, Building 8 (Inamori Memorial Hall), Room 206 (Access information at KPU’s website HERE)
• Language: English
• Participation fee: Free for JALT members (non-members ¥1,000 for one-day membership)

Abstract

In this presentation, participants will learn about annual research grant opportunities offered through JALT to promote research on language teaching in Japan. The first presenter will introduce the JALT Research Grants program which offers up to three grants each year for a maximum of 100,000 yen each for JALT members with no outside sources of research funding. The goal of the grants is to support language teachers in their professional development and to encourage teachers to engage in classroom-based research. After hearing about the goals, requirements, and schedule of the JALT Research Grants, the second presenter will provide an overview of different grants offered by JALT SIGs and chapters and discuss the differences among the different grants. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about the grants and application procedures, share and discuss potential research project ideas, and receive guidance from the presenters.

Apply to attend this event either in person or online HERE! (Google Form)

Dear Lifelong Learning SIG Members and Colleagues,

Join Us for Festive Connection: My Share Celebration! 🎄✨

We are planning an event that will be for members of JALT’s Lifelong Language Learning Special Interest Group as well as for teachers in the Integrated English Program at Aoyama Gakuin University’s English Department, and for all other interested parties. This will be a good opportunity to rub elbows with teachers from a wider community than the ones you interact with on a day to day basis. The event is free to LLL-SIG Members and Non-members alike.

We hope this message finds you well and that you’re feeling the joy and festive cheer as 2024 draws to a close. This special time of year reminds us to reflect on our blessings and to share teaching ideas—such as activities, approaches, strategies, techniques, lesson plans, and innovative methodologies—along with successes and even challenges that have shaped our journeys. 

🎄 We also warmly welcome you to bring and share some food and drinks (alcoholic beverages are not allowed on campus) at this event.

In this spirit of connection and learning, we warmly invite you to our Christmas My Share event:

Date: December 20th (Friday)

Place: Aoyama Gakuin University (Shibuya Campus), Room 15-306 (3rd floor of Building 15—Goucher Hall) & on Zoom

Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM (One presenter has up to 15 minutes—which might be expanded into a mini workshop of 25-30 minutes if few presenters come forward)

If you’d like to join us as a presenter (not a requirement for participants), please let Chiyuki Yanase know chiyanase@gmail.com by December 15th. We apologize for the short notice but hope you can join us to celebrate the season and share a meaningful evening together!

Let Chiyuki know the following:

1. Name of presenter
2. Affiliation (school or company)
3. Prefecture
4. Contact email address
5. Presentation title (max 70 characters, including spaces)
6. A brief description of what you intend to present (max 50 words)
7. Presenter bio (max 30 words)
8. Optional: If there is something that you would like to have printed out for your presentation, send us a PDF of the document by December 15, with printing instruction (if any).

A computer will be available for presentations, but it is not at all necessary for your talk to be supported by a PPT. If you would like to use a PPT, please bring it on a USB drive.

This will be a hybrid event. You may participate in the event either in person or through Zoom…even as a presenter!

Request the Zoom link from Joseph Dias by writing to him at: giuseppedias@gmail.com .

We’re so excited to gather with you and create a time of love, sharing, and inspiration. Your presence and contributions will make this event truly special.

Wishing you warmth and joy this holiday season!

Chiyuki Yanase (JALT Lifelong Language Learning SIG Program Chair)

Joseph Dias (LLL-SIG President & AGU IE Program Coordinator)

JALT Tochigi is hosting a hybrid round-table discussion of the results of our reader survey from our first issue of the JALT Tochigi Newsletter.  Additionally, we’ll be soliciting feedback from members or soon-to-be members regarding the direction and goals of the chapter for 2025.

Participation is free and open to all.

Date: 2/1 (16:00-18:00)
Location: Utsunomiya University
EPUU Commons
Building 4, 2nd floor

Those unable to attend in person are welcome to join us by Zoom: 

https://list-waseda-jp.zoom.us/j/98176387514?pwd=CBQ75wYZE06LYLO4vBkwpzLTb5yGo0.1

• Everyone is invited to share their teaching activities, lessons, or philosophies with us all at our December meeting. As opposed to one speaker at a time presenting at the front of the room, we will have several concurrent mini-presentations (similar to a poster presentation session). Bring handouts (or links to handouts) if you like, to help spread your ideas like memes in the wind!
• Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to sign up here or with the QR code below, or to contact Jason Lowes or Tim Cleminson so your name can be added to the list of presenters. If you formally apply, you can get credit as being a presenter at a conference!
• How do you teach reported speech? How do you organize a lesson? How do you motivate a class of students? Come and share your thoughts on what makes your classes work!

December 15, 2024 (SUN)
Time: 14:00–15:00

Venue: Akita International University (RM: D103)
Title:
GRAD STUDENT POSTER SESSION: CLASSROOM-BASED DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Bio: This poster session will feature ten original classroom-based discourse analyses
conducted by graduate students in the English Language Teaching Practices (ELT)
program at Akita International University (AIU). In their final project for Introduction to
Foreign Language Acquisition class, students were required to collect authentic
classroom discourse data, transcribe it using conversation analysis (CA) methodology,
and provide an analysis of the discourse using what they have learned in the course.
Finally, they were asked to provide a reflection about what they discovered in the
process, and how their teaching will change as a result. This project is based on a
framework designed by the course instructor in which student teachers learn the value
of integrating action research with reflective practices (see Hale, Nanni & Hooper,
2018). Participants will be able to move freely between concurrent poster
sessions.
______________________________________________________
#1 Student Interactions in a Japanese High School Setting
Sakura HANAOKA
Abstract: Using conversation analysis (CA), this research analyzes the data from a
Japanese high school 1st-year class. Focusing on the students’ reactions to teacher
prompts, this research examines students’ talking in the specific environment of the
classroom.

#2 The Analysis of Student and Teacher Interaction During Teacher Talk in an
EFL Class in the Context of a Japanese High School
Saya TAKAHASHI
Abstract: This study analyzes the interaction between students and the EFL teacher in a
high school class, focusing especially on teacher talk. Specifically, the study uses
conversation analysis to explore the extent to which teacher talk affects students’
utterances.

#3 Error Correction Methods and the L1 Thinking Process
Daniel PODBOROCHYNSKI
Abstract: This study analyzes data from a one-on-one English conversation lesson with
an adult student who often thinks out loud in their L1 (Japanese). The research looks at
error correction (recall and invocation) as well as the use of the students’ L1 as both an
invitation for correction and as a method for self-correction.
#4 Instructional Patterns of Advanced Learners in EAP Settings: An
Observational Study
Jier Xi
Abstract: Through collecting and analyzing EAP classroom interactional data, this study
examines advanced learners' responses to different instructional approaches. The
research focuses on how these learners engage with various teaching strategies in
academic settings. The findings reveal distinctive patterns in participant behavior during
different classroom activities.
#5 How Teacher Agency was Usurped and Reestablished in an EAP Course
Chia-An TSAI
Abstract: The research uses conversation analysis (CA) to investigate the teacher-
student interactions in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) class. It focuses
specifically on analyzing how a student question impacted teacher agency and how the
teacher reestablished it to direct the classroom discourse.
#6 Adapting EFL Teaching Strategies for Less Proficient Learners: A Case Study
of a Japanese High School EFL Class
Zhiwen GAN
Abstract: Japan's lowest English proficiency among advanced economies reflects
cultural and educational challenges that hinder students' willingness and ability to
communicate in English. This study uses conversation analysis to explore how ESL
teachers in Japanese high schools support less proficient learners through multimodal
strategies like code-switching, gestures, and optional answers. While these methods
foster inclusivity and engagement, they may also impede the development of
autonomous English-speaking skills. The findings highlight the need to balance
accessibility with effective language acquisition.

Reference:
​​Hale, C. C., Nanni, A. & Hooper, D. (2018). Conversation analysis in language teacher
education: An approach for reflection through action research. Hacettepe University
Journal of Education, 33(Special Issue), 54-71. DOI: 10.16986/HUJE.2018038796

The ER SIG's 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM), which will take place on Sunday, 10 December from 7pm JST.

At the AGM, we share highlights of the past year's activities, welcome new officers (Please click here to cast your online vote), and discuss ways that members (like you!) can get involved in the SIG going forward (there is room for Webmaster, Members-at-large, etc., and co-chairs). 

This year's AGM will also feature talks by Jane Cadwallader (ELi), Sarah Gudgeon (ELi), and other Languaage Learner Literature Award winners from Helbling, StandFor, and Penguin Readers. 

Jane Cadwallader Bio:

Jane is the author of many Primary EFL coursebooks, having written for Oxford, Macmillan and Richmond over a long career. She is also a teacher trainer, and a teacher convinced of the importance of extensive reading. She began writing readers in earnest in 2008 and has written over 40 titles for Eli Publishing. Her stories have been mentioned in the ERF LLL awards many times and have come first in their category 6 times. At the same time, she has increasingly combined her writing with work on children's rights, particularly the right to social development and the right to education. She now spends about half the year in Uganda teaching, writing and working with the local government to improve the lives of children in a rural District in Western Uganda.

Sarah Gudgeon Bio:

Sarah Gudgeon is from Manchester in the north of England but has been living and working in Italy since 2002. After a degree in journalism, Sarah went on to train as a TEFL teacher and has managed to successfully combine her two passions: helping people to feel more confident in English and writing! In the world of EFL since 2000, Sarah has taught at all levels and is the author of numerous titles for the Italian state school market as well as a couple of readers for the international teen market. She is a member of the Extensive Reading Association currently being set up in Italy.
 

CLIL, the CDF construct, and the Speech of Intercultural Studies

English medium education (EME) and content and language integrated pedagogies (CLIL) continue to expand into the tertiary undergraduate education sector in Japan, with their delivery frequently the responsibility of the language teacher. However, there is little scholarly work in this context describing the functional structuring of discourse and its

implications for academic literacy. This presentation is divided into three foci. The first focuses on CLIL pedagogy, theory, and practice, and introduces the Cognitive Discourse Function construct (CDF), a framework commonly used to conceptualise the integration aspect of CLIL. The second focus presents a long-term research project that employs the CDF to analyse the discourse of the most commonly occurring CLIL subject in the undergraduate language teaching context in Japan, intercultural studies. The project consists of analysis of over 1500 minutes of speech, the largest corpus using this methodology to date. The final focus identifies the most commonly occurring cognitive discourse functions within the corpus, discusses realiser roles in discourse construction, and illustrates the influence of genre on discourse. This focus also demonstrates how mono-functional discourse moves combine in complex, patterned manners in dialogic speech. This presentation will be of interest to teachers who deliver content-based lessons in the language classroom, as well as to those interested in cognitive-linguistic studies in general.

Stephen McNamara’s research focuses on the integration of cognition, discourse, and function, in undergraduate intercultural content and language integrated (CLIL) syllabi. His research findings have been presented across Japan, as well as in Europe and Asia. Stephen has worked in language-learning in Japan for around twenty years and is currently an instructor of English as a Foreign Language at the Kwansei Gakuin University. Stephen is a member of the University of Vienna Doktoratsschule für Philologisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche, is a reviewer for the Asian Journal of Content and Language Integrated Learning (Asian CLIL) and the Japan Association of Language Teachers (JALT) PanSIG, and is a member of CLIL study groups in Vienna, Spain, and Japan.

Selected works:

McNamara, S. (2023). Pilot: cognitive discourse functions in intercultural studies lessons. Kwansei Gakuin University Humanities Review. (28) Nishinomiya, Japan

McNamara, S. & Griffiths, M.  (2022) A tale of two syllabi: towards theory driven CLIL. PanSIG Journal. Pp. 35-46

McNamara, S. (2021). Locating content, language, and cognition in a CLIL art history biography activity. The Journal of the Institute of Language and Culture, Konan University, (25).

McNamara, S. (2018). Developing cognitive assessment objectives in language syllabus design. 6th International Conference on Modern Approach in the Humanities. The Sorbonne University of Paris. Paris, France. Pp.69-81

As the seemingly inexorable global and national pressures that face Japanese society and its higher education system continue to mount, Japanese universities have increasingly warmed up to the idea of internationalizing. However, with so many stakeholders and perspectives to consider at the macro, meso, and micro levels, realizing this ideal is a much more complex process than it initially appears to be. Ultimately, the extent to which any university is motivated and able to internationalize, as well as the form of internationalization that might take shape, is all highly dependent on context-specific local realities and the actions of social actors that operate within them.

​This event, which is entitled “The Challenges of Higher Education Internationalization in the Japanese Context”, will explore the aforementioned complexities with a focus on the unique local realities that can pose a barrier to such university efforts in Japan. Drawing on examples from my own twenty-plus years of professional experience while deeply involved in internationalization efforts at two different universities in Japan, I will offer insights through comparative analysis and encourage audience members to contemplate the implications for their own educational institutions. Attendees of this event can expect to gain more detailed knowledge of the intricacies of higher education internationalization in Japan and engage in lively discussion about potential solutions and opportunities for developing more sustainable forms moving forward.

Thatcher A. Spero (M.Ed., Ph.D.) is a researcher, teacher, and teacher trainer with expertise in the fields of education, global studies, the sociology of education, and English language education, particularly focusing on multiculturalism, multilingualism, and critical studies in education. Currently an associate professor in Tokyo, Japan, at Musashino University’s Faculty of Global Studies, he has previously held teaching, teacher training, and research roles at Waseda University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Spero’s work examines the intersections between identity, language, and globalization, often within the context of higher education internationalization. This includes a special focus on higher education internationalization in non-Anglophone settings, particularly Japan, and the challenges of teaching and learning in English-medium instruction education. He is actively involved in initiatives to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in educational settings, such as his role with the Society of Transnational Academic Researchers (STAR) network, where he serves as a Country Director for Japan. His recent projects also include workshops on using AI tools, like ChatGPT, to support students’ academic writing skills in responsible and pedagogically effective ways.

There is a short drink/snack/rest break midway through the event. Drinks are available from the vending machines located in the main lobby. Gunma JALT will bring snacks for the break time. There is a Seven-Eleven nearby.

This year, we are delighted to welcome Professor Francisca Maria Ivone, Ph.D. from Universitas Negeri Malang in Indonesia to Oita for our annual featured speaker presentation. Please see below for details on this presentation, discussing applications of AI tools in the language classroom - something that I’m sure we have all been grappling with in our classes! As usual, the event is free for JALT Oita members, and only 500 yen for non members. We look forward to seeing you there!
 

Abstract:
English language education (ELT) is currently undergoing a transformation because of generative artificial intelligence (AI), especially chatbots, which may function as tools, tutors, partners, and tutees all at once. This presentation delves into the multifaceted applications of generative AI, highlighting its crucial role in customising learning experiences and fostering interactive environments for language learners. Through an in-depth exploration, we will uncover how researchers and practitioners integrate generative AI into language exercises to match individual proficiency levels, simulate authentic conversational scenarios, and provide timely, contextually relevant feedback, improving the overall learning experience.

Moreover, this talk will explore the lesser-known roles of generative AI as a learning mate and a tutee. We will examine how generative AI can facilitate immersive and lifelike dialogues, fostering collaborative and engaging learning experiences. Additionally, we will discuss its remarkable ability to evolve and adapt through user interactions, much like a tutee learning from human input, continuously improving its effectiveness and relevance.

Drawing on contemporary research and practical uses of generative AI in ELT, this talk highlights its innovative potential in language instruction. As we explored the benefits and limitations of its integration into ELT, we paved the way for future strategies to maximise the integration of generative AI in language learning curricula. By broadening the scope of generative AI's use as an adaptable and beneficial component of English language instruction, we may overcome obstacles and appreciate the promises of this revolutionary technology.