Conference Review
CUE 2011 Conference:
Foreign Language Motivation in Japan
Graham Taylor
Sugiyama Jogakuen University
Umida Ashurova
Sugiyama Jogakuen UniversityThe CUE 2011 Conference on Foreign Language Motivation in Japan took placeat Toyo Gakuen University in Tokyo on the weekend of July 2 and 3. Over twodays it attracted upwards of 200 participants, who were able to draw inspirationfrom the 80 presentations and workshops that represented varying aspects ofmotivation, from classroom strategies and learner autonomy to interculturalawareness and identity. The event also offered six invited guest speakerpresentations and two plenary speeches by Kimberley Noels and Ema Ushioda,
who are actively pushing the field of SLA forward by exploring the nature andinteraction of foreign language motivation, identity, and culture. We, the authorsof this review, met before the conference and divided up the presentation schedule
to ensure maximal coverage of presentations. We afterwards shared with eachother what we had learned from those presentations. Below, we will alternate in
expressing some of our opinions and experiences of the conference.
Plenary Speeches
The conference kicked off with a plenary by Professor Kimberly Noels from theUniversity of Alberta, Canada. It is important to note that Noels is a professorof social and cultural psychology, rather than a language instructor, so much95

Taylor & Ashurova

of her speech presented a different viewpoint than we were used to hearing.
Her discussion included an explanation of a motivational model called SelfDetermination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985), which plots motivation on acontinuum from extrinsic to intrinsic. She encouraged us as teachers to develop
an awareness of these forms of motivation when seeking to motivate our students.
Noels explained that Self-Determination Theory also describes how
motivation in language learners is related to their psychological needs forcompetence, relatedness, and autonomy. She presented a comparative study whichsuggested that even though Japanese are generally defined as a more collectivist
society, autonomy is still a key factor in predicting Japanese foreign language
learners’ motivation. Consequently, Noels postulated that Self-Determination
Theory, which was developed in the United States, is still applicable to all Asiancultures, including Japanese culture. Subsequently, she encouraged languageteachers and researchers in Japan to foster the relevance of autonomy among
learners and provide learners choices in order to promote independent language
learning.
Sunday’s plenary speaker, UK-based Professor Ema Ushioda from theUniversity of Warwick, summarized the current research field on language
learning motivation. She stated that with most of the research in this field being
conducted in the past ten years, it is relatively new, and nearly 80% of it to datehas been done in Japan. Foreign language motivation is a vibrant research fieldin which four books have been produced in little over six years (Dornyei andUshioda, 2009, 2011; Murray, Gao, and Lamb, 2011; Nakata, 2006). Referring to
the work of the conference featured speakers—Hiromori, Kikuchi, Nakata, andYashima—she pointed out that there are three areas of research inquiry in Japan:
analyzing de-motivation, investigating changes in motivation, and exploring
what learning English means for students. In her talk Ushioda also highlighted
that issues of foreign language motivation in different educational contexts—
including de-motivation from “problematic” Japanese educational contexts— inJapan, have had a major impact on second language (L2) motivation literature.
Ushioda emphasized that the research on learner motivation in Japan not only
contributes to reshaping L2 motivation theory, but also offers alternative concepts96

&8(&RQIHUHQFH2Q&8(-RXUQDO  SDJHV

of international orientation (Nakata, 1995) and international posture (Yashima,2002). It also focuses on teachers’ perceptions of student motivation (Cowie andSakui, 2011) and encourages students to participate actively in transforming
educational practice (Murphey et al., 2009). Basically this presentation made us
both feel that there were opportunities for novice researchers like us to catch up
with the past research and to pursue further findings in this field.
Individual Presentations
Next, we would like to share a number of noteworthy individual presentations
from the weekend. The presentation by Brian G. Rubrecht and Kayoko Ishikawa
entitled “Examining a bilingual double’s short-term return to the U.S.” was my(Graham’s) personal favorite. In twenty-five minutes Rubrecht systematicallytook audience members through a case study of his 13-year-old daughter,carefully covering her background, concisely explaining his study’s methodology,and drawing attention to appropriate references without overloading theaudience (all without the assistance of his co-presenter who was out with theflu). The conclusion was that for his daughter the trip abroad became a powerfulsource of motivation for language learning, because she recognized the gap
between her ideal L2 self and her actual L2 self and became determined to close
it. This presentation served as motivation for me to explore the opportunities ofbilingual case-study research, and coincidentally demonstrated methods that I
could use to do research with my own “double” children.
Kay Irie and Damon Brewster worked in tandem with their students forthe presentation “One curriculum, four learners, many stories”, a report on alongitudinal study of several first-year students enrolled in compulsory English
courses. Through this case study, they attempted to explore how contextualand experiential factors shape learners’ L2 selves. They underlined the fact thatL2 selves can both function and fail as motivational guides. In my (Umida’s)
opinion the presenters did a great job by sharing the stories of their learners
with the audience. The audience will perhaps forget most of the theoretical partof the presenters’ talk, but they will remember the learners’ stories for a longtime: similarities and differences between them and how they struggle towards
97

Taylor & Ashurova

imagined L2 selves.
My (Umida’s) favorite was Sandra Healy’s presentation on the use of visual
images to motivate EFL learners. The presenter illustrated how visual images
could motivate L2 learners through promoting the development of curiosity andthe lowering of students’ affective filters. According to Healy, images can be used
to present language points, to offer systematic practice, and even to stimulate
creative and imaginative spin-offs. She emphasized that bearing in mind that theJapanese are often regarded as visually orientated learners, and that computers
and the Internet have changed our views, visuals should be often used in ourclassrooms. The list of classroom activities she gave included student generated
kamishibai stories, presentations on social issues and discussions as a response
to artwork. In conclusion, she encouraged all teachers, even those who consider
themselves non-artistic, to add art and image-related activities to their classes.
Mary Hillis’ and Jason Stayanchi’s presentation “Emotive variables inmotivation” was concerned with the effects of emotion on L2 vocabulary
learning. They worked with one of their students and used several questionnaires
designed by Stayanachi as well as informal interviews conducted by Hillis fordata collection. According to the presenters, a heavy workload as a result ofpart-time jobs and homework from classes as well as sleep deprivation weremajor contributors towards the learner’s de-motivation. Although the feelingsof fatigue or ambivalence are not unique, we teachers often forget how these
emotive variables can affect learners’ behavior and learning. At the end of theirtalk, the presenters gave a very practical suggestion to the audience: space tests
evenly across the semester. Don’t keep all the tests for the end if you want yourstudents to be more successful, and thus be more motivated!
In Closing
In general, we felt that the plenary speeches were very motivating to both novice
and experienced teachers and researchers, and that most of the presenters cameto this conference prepared with presentation content that closely followed
the conference theme, motivation in foreign language learning, as well as clear
presentation tools, largely in the form of PowerPoint. Although a number of98

&8(&RQIHUHQFH2Q&8(-RXUQDO  SDJHV

presentations strayed from their abstracts and stretched the limits of what could
be considered motivation related, a majority of presenters accomplished the mostchallenging task of finishing their talk in the allotted twenty-five minutes. Somespeakers seemed determined to fit the empirical research of an entire PhD thesis
into their presentations, which is needless to say more than a little too much. The
savviest presenters left the last five minutes open for questions and discussions,which were often fruitful and allowed audience members to get more out of
their presentations. When compared with recent JALT national conferences,
we noticed presentations at this CUE conference were based more heavily on
theoretical or empirical research than on practical, ready-to-use classroom
activities. If you came expecting the latter, you might have been disappointed bythis trend and the difficulties in associating practical classroom applications tosome of the theories and numbers. We wonder if in the future it would be possible
to add an extra descriptive field to presentation abstracts where presenters state
whether their presentation was more practical or more theoretical in nature.
Of course, conferences like this are not just about making and attending
presentations, but also about expanding our networks. We met a lot of newpeople and got chances to put faces to names. One case of both of these for me(Graham) was with the current president of JALT, Kevin Cleary. Upon meeting
Kevin, in my great ignorance, I unwittingly asked him the capacity to which he
was involved in JALT. He very modestly explained his role, and we had a laughwhile I removed my foot from my mouth. Another person I met motivatedme to be more diligent in maintaining my blog, to transform it into a monthly
newsletter, and use it as a way to keep in touch with people in my home country.
This renewed dedication also allows me to keep myself sharp by looking out forthe subtle things in daily life differences that make Japan so unique.
The venue was in an excellent location, as it was only ten minutes on footfrom the nearest station and only one transfer away from Tokyo station. All ofthe presentation rooms were in pristine condition, with state-of-the-art audiovisual hookups and more than generous seating for each presentation. We havebut one criticism of the site: food and open drinks were restricted to student
lounges which were not large enough to accommodate the conference attendees,
99Taylor & Ashurova

and at lunchtime people were forced sit on the floor due to a lack of seating.
However, this small problem with space could not undermine our positive
experience at the CUE 2011 Conference on Foreign Language Motivation inJapan. We both gained valuable ideas for our classrooms, and as a result of thebroad interdisciplinary focus of the conference, gained a better understanding of
the field of language learning motivation and the different approaches to using
this new-found knowledge. However, it was the intangibles of networking andthe synergy-like effect of being in an environment surrounded by dedicated peersthat reaffirmed our deepest beliefs in EFL teaching. These intangibles provided
us with a sense of motivation to improve ourselves as teachers and researchers,
which in turn made the weekend worthwhile for both of us. We would like tothank all of the conference organizers for their hard work and dedication tomaking this event possible. We are looking forward to the opportunities that
future CUE conferences provide us with!

References
Cowie, N., & Sakui, K. (2011). Crucial but neglected: English as a foreign
language teachers’ perspectives on learner motivation. In G. Murray, X.
Gao, & T. Lamb (Eds.) Identity, motivation and autonomy in language
learning. pp. 212-228. Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self- determinationin human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum.
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2009). Motivation, language identity and theL2 self. Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2011). Teaching and researching motivation(2nd ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Murphey, T., Falout, J., Elwood, J., & Hood, M. (2009). Inviting student voice.
Asian EFL Journal, 36, 1-25.
Murray, G., Gao, X., & Lamb, T. (2011). Identity, motivation and autonomy inlanguage learning. Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.
100

&8(&RQIHUHQFH2Q&8(-RXUQDO  SDJHV

Nakata, Y. (1995). New goals for Japanese learners of English. The Language
Teacher, 19(5), 17-20.
Nakata, Y. (2006). Motivation and experience in foreign language learning.
Oxford, England: Peter Lang.
Yashima, T. (2002). Willingness to communicate in L2: The Japanese EFL
context. Modern Language Journal, 86, 54-66.

$XWKRUV·%LRV
Graham Taylor has taught EFL in Japan since 2002 and is currently a parttime instructor at a number of universities in the Nagoya area, including
Sugiyama Jogakuen University. His research interests include writing portfolios
for low-proficiency learners, extensive listening, and syllabus design with a focus onassessment authenticity. gtaylora@alumni.sfu.ca
Umida Ashurova is originally from Uzbekistan and currently teaches English at
Sugiyama Jogakuen University. Her research interests include the implementationof independent learning centers to foster learner development, as well as the theory
and practice of English as a lingua franca. uzfemida79@yahoo.com

Received: September 13, 2011
Accepted: September 13, 2012

101