In this issue:

AN INTRODUCTIONFROM THE SIG’S NEW
PUBLICITY OFFICER

THREE FEATURE
ARTICLESCUE CAREERS

CUE CIRCULARISSUE 10SEPTEMBER

2020

News and articles from the JALT College and University Educators Special Interest Group

Kanda University of International Studies

Photo by Crystal Rose-Wainstock

Off campus, online
Welcome to the significantly-delayed tenth issue of CUE Circular, coming out after themost unusual semester of teaching that any of us is likely to have ever done.
I expect that in future issues we’ll have articles all about online teaching but for now I
feel some mixture of pride, sentimentality, and comfort in presenting three articles thatlargely stay focused on what we’ve suddenly come to think back to as “normal”, or “theold normal”; that is, face-to-face teaching in classrooms with students. Let’s all hopethat the old normal becomes our “back-to-normal” before too long.
CUE SIG’s own Glen Hill writes about his experience in gathering useful data across asemester with writing classes. Jamie Taylor gives us an introduction to an app she usedsuccessfully as part of an optional class project. James Porcaro powerfully defends ourvery profession against the criticism that the classroom and the ‘real world’ are at odds.

CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

Whilst the gears and cogs of the CUE Circular came to something of a halt as the
COVID-19 crisis hit, I’m pleased to have things back on the rails now with this issue. We
plan to have another one later in the year, and submissions are always open. Please checkour website for an explanation of what we’re all about, or, indeed, read and enjoy this andour previous issues for an idea of what we like to publish.

Steve Paton, Editor
JALT CUE SIG Publicity Update
Hello! I have been doing the JALT CUE Publicity work since November 2019, and I
wanted to give members a quick update on the kinds of events and communications thatare happening within the JALT CUE SIG community.
Each month, I’ve put together a CUE newsletter for members that includes CUE SIG
news, resources, and events that may be relevant for CUE members. The content for the
newsletters mostly comes from other
CUE SIG board members and the
JALT Publicity communication
channels. I’ve also beenmonitoring the CUE SIG Facebook
page, Facebook group, and Twitter
account. Please find us online to3
Sneaking data in through the backconnect with CUE colleagues!
door
Finally, I’ve been working on
Glen Hill
updating the JALT CUE website as
events and opportunities for
6
Using HelloTalk to increase
publishing come together
accuracy and willingness tothroughout the year.
participate

Feature articles

Jamie Taylor
Dimensions of the real world of theclassroom
James Porcaro

8

CUE Careers column
Research grants and careerdevelopment
Michael Parrish and Richard Miller

JALT CUE SIG

12

One way I would love to open thelines of communication among
members is to invite submissions
for newsletter and social media. If
you have any news or information
about events that might berelevant to CUE members, pleasefeel free to send me an email(publicityjaltcue@gmail.com).

Crystal Rose-Wainstock,
CUE SIG publicity officer
2

CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

Feature articles
Sneaking data inthrough the back door
Glen Hill, Obihiro University ofAgriculture and Veterinary
Medicine
Glen Hill has been teaching
English in Japan since 1998. Hecurrently teaches ER andtechnical writing. He is theeditor of the OnCUE Journal.
glenahill@gmail.com

Collecting data from class populations canbe an ongoing or endpoint proposition.
That is, we can survey students
intermittently throughout the semester orsample them at the beginning and end,
respectively. Such data can provide
insight into students’ feelings, changes invarious abilities (like reading speed),
expectations, reflections, and more. When
we solicit facts or opinions from ourstudents, the most direct and obvious
method is to ask them to fill out aquestionnaire. This article suggests analternative method.
In my first-year reading skills course,
students begin each lesson with 15-20
minutes of sustained silent reading (SSR)of graded readers (GRs). Since extensive
reading (ER) is new to these students, I
want to be sure they are conscious of what
they read as they read it. Therefore,
immediately following SSR, I give thestudents 3-4 minutes to record some
information on the back of their nameplates, which are folded A4-size paper.
JALT CUE SIG

The first piece of data is how many pages
they read during SSR. Next, they havemodified Likert rankings for how easy ordifficult the book was and how great or
bad they felt it was. Instead of the
traditional five-point scale, I ask them tochoose on a scale of one to six so that
there is no wishy-washy middle ground.
Then, they write the title and level of thebook and a few comments about it. The
heading for the comment section showssome questions I want them to address sothat they tell me how the book was on thatday.
• Why is it interesting, funny, scary,boring, strange, difficult, etc.?
• Why did you choose the book?
• Would you recommend it to a friend?
Why or why not?
They can answer any of these, and they
are not required to answer all, becausesome would find it hard to do so in
English within the short time limit I givethem. I allow dictionaries, of course, but
the point is to get something on paper assoon as possible after they read the GR,
and then we can proceed to a group
discussion of the books.
I go over each entry to make sure they
have correctly ranked books. For example,
sometimes they will describe the bookpositively, yet give it a low ranking well
below “great”. I also look over thecomments and patch any spelling andgrammar errors. Sometimes it isnecessary to leave a note asking them to3

CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

answer the questions in the header;otherwise, a few students just want todescribe the events in the GR itself, which
is not what I want. I may also point out afew pages that they read that day, or
praise a good comment, or leave apersonal remark of my own (“I really likethat author!”).
In the fall semester, I have the samecohort of students, but since they are
already used to one style of reporting, Ichange the format to force them to think
about something else. The back page ofthat name plate contains three columns.
The first asks them to list the number ofminutes they spent since the previous
class reading the GRs. The second column
is for the number of minutes they spent
during that time reading anything else in
English, and what it was. I provide a list of
possible materials to help them recall. For
comparison’s sake, the third column asks
for the number of minutes they spentreading anything in Japanese, and what itwas. In the fall they are reading longer
books which give them more details, so I
want to shorten this writing section andallow the students more time to discuss
their books. The few data that they haveto write on the name plates in the fall,compared to the longer text they write inspring, provide that extra time fordiscussion after the silent reading.
The main point of the fall task is toencourage them to think about what they
are reading in both languages. If they
aren’t reading any English at all beyond
the GRs, perhaps constantly writing a zero
will make them feel guilty. I will
occasionally tell the class if I see a change
JALT CUE SIG

in numbers. For example, if many people
read GRs a shorter time than usual, I
might ponder aloud whether there weresome club activities, exams, or classreports that got in their way. It also shows
students I am paying attention and notjust collecting data.
Last year I began collecting data from mygraduate students as well. They begin
class with an online vocabulary quiz, and I
give them time after that to describe what
they did to improve their English since
the previous class and to explain how longit took them or how many pages it was. I
originally expected most students would
only record reading journal articles, but tomy surprise there were a variety of
responses. Some stated they read thevocabulary list, watched TED talks,
movies, or sports, or had conversations
with foreign students. Others reported
reading books, making Powerpoint slides,
and so forth.
As with the undergrads, I corrected
spelling and grammar and made a few
remarks on their papers. In class I would
sometimes break down how many
students were doing each category ofactivity.
By describing responses to students, I candemonstrate my interest in what they are
writing and also point out things they may
need to improve. This may include
examples such as making more time toread, choosing better study methods forEnglish outside of class, or merely paying
more attention to spelling. I am not sure
how bored they get with this activity; myintention is to provide a predictable
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structure to the class, which is what I
think they might expect from their days insecondary school. In the future, I will try
to get them to think even more about
their responses by employing what iscalled Critical Participatory Looping(Murphey & Falout, 2010, 2012; Falout etal., 2016). This technique takes survey
data and returns it to the participants fortheir further analysis, comment,
affirmation, or reflection.
Some of the data that is collected in thisway lends itself to being graphed ortabulated. In that way, it might help to
guide my future in-class instruction. And,of course, it always lays the groundworkfor future research papers, presentations,or posters!

References
Falout, J., Murphey, T., Fukuda, T., &Fukada, Y. (2016). Whole-class selfreferential feedback from university EFL
contexts to the world: Extending thesocial life of information by looping it
forward. The Asia-Pacific Education
Researcher, 25(1), 1-10.
Murphey, T., & Falout, J. (2010). Criticalparticipatory looping: Dialogic member
checking with whole classes. TESOL
Quarterly, 44(4), 811-821.
Murphey, T., & Falout, J. (2012). Criticalparticipatory looping: An agencing
process for mass customization inlanguage education. Linguistik Online,
54(4), 85-96.

Submit an article!
What’s happening in your teaching?
What obstacles have you overcome, and how?
What ideas or opinions do you have that others might be interested to read?
What have you read, heard, or seen recently that’s changed your approach toteaching, either in or out of the classroom?
CUE Circular aims to publish quality, interesting, practical articles about the day-today nature of teaching in our sector.

w w w .j a l t c u e .o rg /c u e c i rc u l a r

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Using HelloTalk toincrease accuracy andwillingness toparticipate
Jamie Taylor, Nanzan
University
Jamie Taylor currently
works at Nanzan University.
Her research interests
include bilingual
psycholinguistics.
taylorjamiec@gmail.com

My lowest-proficiency English major
students, while hesitant to participate anduse English in class, consistently reported
on written questionnaires that theywanted more correction of their L2
mistakes. Although my primary focus was
helping them feel comfortable andconfident using the English they alreadyknew, I also wanted to find a way to help
them improve their accuracy without
increasing their L2 anxiety.
I therefore introduced my students to
HelloTalk, a language exchange mobile
application(https://www.hellotalk.com/), as an optional classproject. After a brief in-class training
session, I interacted with each student foran hour outside of class, sending text
messages back and forth and using
HelloTalk’s unique sentence correction
feature to highlight their mistakes. The
project had several positive effects, themost surprising of which was increased
engagement in the classroom insubsequent lessons.
JALT CUE SIG

Text chat as a language learning
medium
Combining aspects of both speaking andwriting (Warschauer, 1995), text chat has
been cited as having a number of benefits
for language learners. Turns are short as
in a spoken conversation, but thepresence of the written record of the
discourse makes the language moresalient for participants (Lai & Zhao,
2006), and the pace is adjustable to thelevel of the learner in that they can take asmuch time as they need to formulate a
response. While students can sometimes
avoid interacting in the L2 in theclassroom by using body language,
speaking in the L1, or relying on a peer tocommunicate, learners must use language
to participate during text messaging. It isalso a lower-anxiety way to use the target
language, and reticent learners have beenfound to participate up to ten times more
often during text chat than face-to-face(Warschauer, 1995).
The text chat function in HelloTalk is
especially useful for language learning.
Unlike other messaging platforms such asLINE or WhatsApp, it includes a sentence
correction feature. Teachers or moreadvanced learners can cross out alearner’s mistake with a red strikethroughand mark the corrected grammaticalfeature in green, making the correct form
even more salient than a typical writtencorrection.
Conducting the project
I took a small part of one lesson to
introduce this project to my students.
With my guidance, fourteen interested
students downloaded the app onto their
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CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

smartphones and created accounts.
Training consisted of sending me an
English sentence with an error that I
corrected. Once they received thecorrection, the students responded byretyping the corrected sentence. I
instructed them to respond to all
corrections in this way, as a study by
Loewen (2005) showed that learners who
acknowledged feedback performed betteron post-tests than learners who did not
acknowledge corrections.
We then scheduled times for each of thestudents to spend one hour texting withme on the app for homework, usuallyduring my train commute home. At theprearranged time, I chatted with each
student, usually several chats occurring at
the same time, discussing their hobbies,
part-time jobs, or anything they wereinterested in. Although the chat content
did not center on form, I made a point tocorrect them each time they madegrammatical mistakes, reminding them ifthey forgot to retype the correction. I
spent a total of five hours of my train
commute texting for this project.
OutcomeLater, I interviewed and surveyed each of
the students about the experience. I also
gave them each a short, individualized
post-test that showed they retained mostof the corrections they received during
our chat on HelloTalk. Except for one
advanced student, who didn’t produce any
mistakes during the chat, all students
stated that they felt it was useful for
language learning. They reported enjoying
the app and feeling eager to use it tocommunicate with other English
JALT CUE SIG

SCREENSHOT: Notice the error correction
functionality.

speakers. A few minor technical issues
arose, but overall the students were easily
able to use the app on their smartphones.
I was pleased to hear that several students
had used HelloTalk to establish regular
language exchanges with English speakers
who were learning Japanese.
The biggest benefit to using this app for ahomework assignment was one that I did
not expect. After this project, theparticipants were much more likely toinitiate a conversation in person. They
asked more questions and volunteered
more answers, and they visited my officemore often when they needed extra help
7

CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

or just wanted to practice using English. I
also enjoyed this project because thestudents and I learned things about eachother that I wouldn’t have otherwise. One
student and I, for example, learned that
we both love the same little-known rockband.
Recommendations
Overall, HelloTalk is a useful supplement
to classes to help students begin to
improve their accuracy, build rapport
between students and their teacher, andincrease students’ willingness to initiate
conversation in person in the L2. One
caveat is that interacting with students on
the application takes time outside of classhours. Fortunately, I had a small numberof students in this class, and I was able tointeract with up to three learners at once.
For smaller classes or as an occasional
supplement to classroom lessons, this is avery useful tool.
ReferencesLai, C., & Zhao, Y. (2006). Noticing andtext-based chat. Language Learning &Technology, 10(3), 102-120.
Loewen, S. (2005). Incidental focus onform and second language learning.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
27, 361-386.
Warschauer, M. (1995). Comparing faceto-face and electronic discussion in thesecond language classroom. CALICO
Journal, 13(2-3), 7-26.

JALT CUE SIG

Dimensions of the realworld of the classroom
James W. Porcaro, Toyama
Kokusai Gakuen
James Porcaro started
teaching 52 years ago in
Uganda. He taught ESL in the
USA for many years and has
worked in Japan since 1985.
porcaro@pa.ctt.ne.jp

When the late, great actor Jack Lemmon
received the American Film Institute’s
Life Achievement Award in 1988, he saidin his acceptance speech with a fervent
appeal, “If once, twice in your life an actor
can get a part with some kind of depth, he
can go beyond entertaining and he cantouch people and he can move them; andhe can make them think and he canthereby enlighten them; and I think thatis one precious gift that is given to very,
very few mortals even once in theirlives.” (AFI, 2009) Though Mr. Lemmon
suggested it is an uncommon experience
for an actor to get such a part, when I
heard that remark in the live TV
broadcast more than three decades ago
my reaction was to notice: “I can do thatevery day that I step into my classroom!”That is still true to this day.
Yet, there is a repeated refrain both within
and outside the education field that theclassroom is a fabricated environmentthat is artificial and inauthentic, different
and apart from “the real world”. It is aview that would deny the efficacy of theteaching that I and others do which we
8CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

know in fact reaches the scale ofimportance that Mr. Lemmon set for an
actor’s role. It is a view that would also
deny the validity of the substantive
learning that we know students achieve inour classrooms. In this regard, I affirm
that the classroom is inherently a vitaland purposeful part of the real world, anauthentic and integral part of the social
environment wherein teachers andstudents have the precious opportunity
and responsibility to engage with one
another to learn and grow and findmeaning.
The classroom is a vital and meaningfulpart of the real world. It is as authentic anenvironment as any other venue insociety. In the English language learningclassroom in particular, the humanrelations and the communication thattakes place in that context are as genuine
as any outside its walls. Indeed, therelations between teacher and students
and among students themselves are often
more significant than those that many
people experience outside the classroom.
We must never demean the culture of theclassroom as something other than “thereal world”. It is not a stage for a dress
rehearsal for a later performance in a“real world” somewhere beyond. It is thereal world, with close and personal
interactions, relationships, commitments,
responsibilities, and purposes. It is a place
where students learn the critical value ofrespect, authority, discipline, morality,
responsibility, integrity, and characterand their existential application toward
others. It is a place where there are rules,consequences, challenges, expectations,
JALT CUE SIG

disappointments, and achievements.
When the content and the conduct of our
E n g l i s h l e s s o n s are re l e vant a nd
meaningful for students’ lives, as Betty
Azar (2007) remarks, communicative
language practice takes account of thereality that students are in a classroom
trying to learn English and it “means that
real people are communicating in realtime about real things in a real place for areal purpose.” (p.7)
When the purpose of our English
language instruction follows thehumanistic proposition expressed so wellby Jim Cummins (2003) in his essay“Language and the Human Spirit”, weteachers engage with students in the mostreal and personal pursuit of fulfilment inlife. “There is an inseparable linkage
between the conceptions of language andhuman identity that we infuse in ourclassroom instruction.” In the context of
the instructional choices we make, henotes that we must examine “the extent towhich the classroom interactions weorchestrate build on and affirm thecultural, linguistic, intellectual andpersonal identities that students bring toour classrooms.”
Task-based language teaching is one
means to achieve that purpose. An
indispensable element of this
instructional mode is pair or group work
which promotes responsible andautonomous practice on the part ofstudents who thereby can achieve theprincipal aims of cooperative learning(Johnson & Johnson, 1999). They canreadily perceive that they are positively
interdependent with their partner(s) for9CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

the accomplishment of assigned tasks. At
the same time, they recognize that theteacher holds each one individuallyaccountable for the performance of thetasks. The face-to-face interaction among
students in their cooperative effort
addresses the development of personal
relationships and social skills essential for
their mutual success in the completion of
the tasks.

It means willingly undertaking thesacrifices necessary to generate a
productive and meaningful reality.”“The real world” can be defined as “theworld as it exists, as opposed to one thatis theoretical or imaginary” (Collins
Dictionary Online); or, additionally, “theset of situations most humans have todeal with in their lives” (Cambridge
Dictionary Online). How can theexistential encounter among students andteachers in the learning environment of
the classroom be thought of as anythingother than “the real world”? Indeed, the“12 rules of life” developed by clinicalpsychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson (2018)
remarkably and intrinsically apply to thelives of both students and teachers in thereal world of the classroom. Following area few cogent examples.

Rule 2: Treat yourself like someone
you are responsible for helping.
Peterson offers the reasoned advice thatto improve and strengthen ourselves, as
we find the courage to move from thepotential that inheres in chaos, “all those
things and situations we neither know nor
understand” (p. 36), into unexploredterritory, with all its challenges and risks,
and toward order, where meaning is to befound, “you need to place one foot in what
you have mastered and understood andthe other in what you are currently
exploring and mastering” (p. 44).

Rule 1: Stand up straight with yourshoulders back.
Peterson (p. 27) explains that “to stand up
straight with your shoulders back is toaccept the terrible responsibility of life,
with eyes wide open. It means deciding tovoluntarily transform the chaos ofpotential into the realities of habitableorder. It means adopting the burden of
self-conscious vulnerability, andaccepting the end of the unconscious
paradise of childhood, where finitude andmortality are only dimly comprehended.
JALT CUE SIG

This powerful injunction should enjoin
students and teachers to recognize what is
at stake as they engage together in an
educational enterprise in their college anduniversity classrooms and pursue thefulfillment of this rule.

This approach is a reflection of Vygotsky’s(1978) “zone of proximal development”
and his views on the nature of humandevelopment and the interrelation
between learning and development, which
we teachers are wise to apply in the realworld of our classrooms.
Rule 9: Assume that the person you
are listening to might know
something you don’t.
Peterson states that genuine conversation,
whether it is talking to ourselves or withothers, is an exploration that is complex
and demanding. It is mostly paying
attention and listening, which takes
10CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

courage because it can be transformative.
He notes that if a conversation is boringfor someone, that person probably is notlistening. He concludes: “So, listen, to
yourself and to those with whom you are
speaking. Your wisdom then consists notof the knowledge you already have, but
the continual search for knowledge, whichis the highest form of wisdom” (pp.
255-256).
For both students and teachers, thissearch, indeed, goes to the heart of the
responsibility we bear, the effort we make,and the meaning we seek for our lives
within the very real world of ourclassrooms.
Jack Lemmon concluded his remarks at
the AFI ceremony saying that acting “is anoble profession and I am damn proud tobe part of it”. Well, after more than 50
years at the chalkface, I have accepted theprivileged gift to touch and move students
and make them think, though with adegree of success that always remains
uncertain for us teachers. And I, too, cansay that I am damn proud to be part of myprofession of teaching.
References
American Film Institute (AFI). (2009,
April 10). Jack Lemmon accepts the AFI
Life Achievement Award in 1988 [Videofile]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=6UMOX7YYdJM

www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/teslej/ej42/a1.html
Cummins, J. (2002). Language and thehuman spirit. TESOL Matters, 13(1).
Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (1999). Whatmakes cooperative learning work. In D.
Kluge, S. McGuire, D. Johnson, & R.
Johnson (Eds.), Cooperative Learning(pp. 23-26). Tokyo: The Japan
Association for Language Teaching.
Peterson, J. (2018). 12 Rules for life: An
antidote to chaos. Toronto: Random
House Canada.
The real world. (n.d.). In Cambridge
Dictionary Online, Retrieved fromhttps://dictionary.cambridge.org/
dictionary/english/real-world
The real world. (n.d.). In Collins
Dictionary Online, Retrieved fromhttps://www.collinsdictionary.com/
dictionary/english/the-real-world
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The
development of higher psychologicalprocesses. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.

Azar, B. (2007). Grammar-basedteaching: A practitioner's perspective.
TESL-EJ, 11(2). Retrieved from http://

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CUE Careers
Research grants andcareer development
A common stumbling block for university
teachers at all levels is the increasing
demand to research and publish in order
to secure employment or to earn a
promotion within their current
institutions. The most common
requirement is having a record ofacademic research and publication,
however, the catch-22 is that it can bedifficult for academics on the lower rungsof the ladder to find sufficient resources
for conducting research, writing it up, andpublishing it. Although this can bechallenging, especially for people juststarting out, persistence pays off. This
article will suggest ways to find both thetime and the money to start doing
research.
The first step is to develop the habit ofwriting regularly. Don’t wait until you“feel” like writing. Silvia (2008) suggeststhat writers or researchers who cannot
find the time to write should regularly
allocate specific blocks of time (daily or
weekly) solely for writing activities inorder to become a more prolific writer.
Within that scheduled time block, one canpursue various types of activities in
addition to actually writing a manuscript;
other activities might include writing
research grant proposals and abstracts,
editing and reviewing relevant research
literature, or even just brainstorming
possible topics for future research.
JALT CUE SIG

In this regular column, Michael Parrish andRichard Miller offer insights on theemployment market for college anduniversity language teachers in Japan, as
well as general career guidance, advice, andstrategies.
Contributions from readers with specificareas of expertise, or regarding specificissues or changes in the job market, areencouraged.
Michael Parrish and Richard
Miller are the current cocoordinators of the Job
Information Center at the
JALT National Conference,
and are former editors of the
Career Development column
in The Language Teacher.
email: cuecareers@gmail.com

Staunchly committing to this writing time
will foster a productive writing routine
and put you on the road to success.
The second hurdle for academic research
is funding. While research in some fields,
like literature, may require very little interms of financial inputs, other research
projects can be very costly. At the very
least, researchers need computers andprograms to write and do statisticalanalysis, and access to a good library. In
classroom action research or linguistic
research, one needs audio- or videorecording equipment. Survey researchrequires either copying or the costs of
online survey services. Sometimes
researchers are able to access institutional
resources where they work (though
excessive copying and printing for
personal research may be seen as abuse of
institutional resources). Some full-time12

CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

faculty are fortunate enough to receive
yearly fixed research budgets to coversupplies and conference travel expenses.
Unfortunately, many receive nothing or
just a nominal amount. So, how doresearchers access financial support tofund the projects that are essential totheir professional survival? They seek out
and apply for research grants. Thus,
grants and grant writing are a large partof academic discourse in westerncountries.
Grant seekers range from students whoare just starting their careers in academia
all the way through to Nobel Prizewinners who are at the pinnacle of theirprofessional field. Grants, therefore, haveas much range as those who seek them.
They may be quite small, perhaps as little
as 30,000 to 50,000 yen, or much larger,
running into the tens of millions of yen.
For career development, research grants
offer many benefits to academics. First,
they provide financial support to conduct
research that leads to publications
required for advancement in the field.
Second, they show a commitment toprofessional development. Finally, as the
grants are competitive and vetted, they
provide objective external validation andrecognition of the researcher’scontribution to the field throughindependent peer review by academic
committees.
Receiving a grant is a valuable highlighton the CVs of all academics. There areseveral reasons that grants are so
important to both hiring committees anduniversities. Successful research grants
JALT CUE SIG

can raise the profile (i.e., rank) of both theawardee and their institution. The profile
is raised because the institutions are
graded on the grants. Those universities
with more grant-receiving faculty on staff
are judged to have better researchfaculties and better potential for moreadvancement of knowledge andinnovation.
Research grants can increase the researchand publication output. Academics,
particularly in STEM fields, are expected
to self-fund projects and even their own
positions, thus research-project grants
can possibly become a profit centre forschools, both through reducing operating
expenses and monetizing any marketable
research developments or products. In
Japan, at least, even unsuccessful
applications for prestigious national-level
grants such as the kakenhi grants are
beneficial as they show that faculty
members are actively trying to undertake
research projects.
Nothing comes free, particularly research
grant funding. The application process
can be long, complex, and highly
competitive (a 10% to 25% acceptance
rate depending on the number ofapplications and the amount of funding
available). Therefore, particular attention
must be paid to writing a compelling
grant proposal. This is an essential
writing skill for aspiring academics. It
should be included as part of one’sscheduled writing time. Grant proposals
are really research prospectuses that you
need to put together in order to apply fora research grant. In writing yourprospectus, identify the area that you are13

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investigating, clearly indicating what is
unique, novel, or important about yourparticular study. Carefully follow the
instructions of the call for grant
submissions, as they are often quite
different. Always stick with the guidelinesthat have been laid out, including word
counts, citation style, and other relative
criteria. For more detailed tips, The
Chronicle of Higher Education often has
sections dedicated to grants, how to getthem and examples of previously
successful submissions.
Japan-based academics have several
options, the most widespread being
kakenhi grants sponsored by the Ministryof Education, Culture, Sports, Science,
and Technology (MEXT) under the
auspices of the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science. One requirement
for JSPS kakenhi is having a national
researcher number, usually issued by yourhome institution to full-time faculty. On asmaller scale, JALT CUE (and other SIGs)
offer several grants that assist academics,
or even students and part-timers, whohave little or no institutional researchfunding in having a chance to participate
more fully in the academic community byattending conferences, conducting
research, and ultimately presenting andpublishing research. Many institutions
offer internal grants for small projects,
particularly related to improving teachingpractice; they can be from 50,000 to
100,000 yen.
Remember that as a grant recipient you
are making a commitment to theorganization to follow through with what
you have agreed to do in your accepted
JALT CUE SIG

prospectus. The granting organization ismaking an “investment” in you and yourresearch. Organization committees
usually need to report back to otherstakeholders regarding how successful
past decisions and investments have been.
If the grant recipient does not follow
through, then it potentially makes things
more difficult for others later. In addition,
you risk earning a bad reputation—the
opposite effect of what you want.
We hope this article will encourage you totake a chance on winning the researchlottery by applying for a grant, large orsmall, and reaching your academic
potential.
References
Silvia, P. J. (2008). How to write a lot: A
practical guide to academic writing.
Washington, DC : APA Life Tools.
Useful Links for Grants for
Research in Japan
Database of Grants, Scholarships, andContests in Japan:
www.science-community.org/en/grant/
by-country/japan
Japan Association for Language Teaching(JALT):
jalt.org/main/research
JALT CUE SIG:
https://jaltcue.org/content/cue-grantsand-awards
The Japan Foundation Center:www.jfc.or.jp

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CUE CIRCULAR 9/2020

Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science, Grants in aid for scientificresearch (KAKENHI):
www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-grants/
index.html
Japan Student Services Organization:www.jasso.go.jp/en/index.html or
www.studyinjapan.go.jp
Mitsubishi Foundation:www.mitsubishi-zaidan.jp
Suntory Foundation:www.suntory.com/sfnd/research/

CUE Circular
Issue #10, September 2020
A publication of the JALT College andUniversity Educators Special Interest GroupISSN 2432-5570
All rights re se rve dw w w .j a l t c u e .o rg /c u e c i rc u l a r

EditorSteve Paton

Assistant Editors

Dion Clingwall
Mark Howarth

Proofreading

Mary Hillis
Ryan Richardson
Glen Hill

JALT CUE SIG

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