Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices

LD SIG Members' Voices
LD SIG Members' Voices offers spaces for SIG members to introduce themselves to other membersof the SIG in a variety of accessible and personalised text formats and lengths:• a short personal profile of yourself as a learner and teacher (100-200 words or so)• a short critical reflection on your history as a (language) learner at (a) particular stage(s) inyour life (around 200-500 words)• a story of your ongoing interest in, and engagement with, particular learner development (and/or learner autonomy) issues (around 500-800 words)• a short profile of your learner development research interests and how you hope to develop
your research (around 500-800 words)• a short profile of your working context and the focus on learner development that a particularinstitution where you work takes and/or is trying to develop (about 800-1200 words)• some other piece of writing that you would like to contribute and that is related to learnerdevelopment.
Many thanks to the following SIG members—all new members of the Learner Development
SIG from March 2014 to July 2014—for sharing their voices with readers of Learning Learning. We
hope other SIG members will also contribute their voice to the next issue of Learning Learning. If
you are interested in doing so, please contact the incoming Members' Voices coordinator, James
Underwood, at <jamesmichaelunderwood@gmail.com>.
“ＬＤＳＩＧメンバーの声”は、ＳＩＧ会員の皆様が他会員の皆さんに向けて多様な形式・文体・長さで、ご自身の考えや活動をご紹介していただくためのスペースです。例えば、以下のような様々な声を歓迎しています：• ご自身の学習者および教育者としてのプロフィールを短く紹介したもの。（約100-200語）• ご自身の（語学）学習者としての経験で、特定の場における逸話を批判的に考察したもの。（約200-500語）• ご自身が現在取り組まれている、もしくは関心を寄せていることで特に学習者ディベロプメント（または学習者の自律）に関する問題についてのもの。（約500-800語）• 学習者ディベロプメントに関するご自身の研究についての短い概要と、今後どのようにその研究を展開していきたいと考えているか紹介するもの。（約500-800語）• ご自身の勤務環境の短い概要と、勤務される特定機関で学習者ディベロプメントに関し注目している、または取り組もうとしていることについて。（約800-1200語）• その他、学習者ディベロプメントに関する内容のもの。
２０１4年度下半期に学習者ディベロプメント研究部会に新たに参加され、今号で 『学習の学習』の読者の皆様と様々な声を共有いただくSIG会員の皆様に、感謝申し上げます。

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices
Finding ways to SMILE as a learnerand teacher
Anita Aden
Mukogawa Women's
University
Nishinomiya, Hyogo<anitaa@mfwi.edu>
Have you ever heard
the expression that“the shortest
distance between two people is a smile?”
Sometimes I use pictures to depict this phrase
as a warm-up activity. Students guess thewords that match the pictures that I draw on
the board. Following the decoding of thepictures, I then ask students, “Does a smile
make you feel happy?” Quickly, students smileback at me and say “yes”.
As an EFL teacher for the last 14
years, I have enjoyed a lot of smiles. I
appreciate the moments that transcend
language and create a connection between
people that is meaningful. Meeting newstudents each semester is one reason I enjoy
being a teacher. The new season of learning
new names and information about students ispart of the cycle of this profession thatchallenges me to approach each term with asmile. My meaning of smile is more than justa physical facial feature of friendliness. It isan approach to life learning that I have used a
lot since I arrived in Japan in 2009.
Building a positive communication
bridge between people often begins with anonverbal gesture. Breaking through thecommunication barrier may depend on how
safe a student feels in class. It is difficult toshare opinions when the learner is hindered
by a lack of confidence in the language. I

know this firsthand, for I did not know many
Japanese words before I moved to the Kansaiarea. I needed a lot of SMILES to get me
through those first years.
That is why I have created anacronym that reminds me and my students to
SMILE when we meet each other.
The “S” stands for ‘Start with aquestion’, which can be as basic as ‘How areyou?’ or ‘What did you do last night?’. To
begin with a question creates an opportunity
to know someone.
The “M” means ‘Make mistakes’,
which reflects an attitude of not worrying
about grammatical errors or pronunciation
problems. When speaking, it is important torelax and not aspire to be 100% perfect. The
freedom to make mistakes usually leads tomore learning, not less.
The next letter of “I” is part of thefriendship factor of using language. “I” means
to ‘Increase your interest in people aroundyou’. It is not easy to meet new people,
especially for shy or reserved students, so thisstep is sometimes the hardest one. Increasing
an awareness of others and asking them toshare about themselves is a skill that many
students have not practiced outside of theirusual bubble of family and friends.
The next letter of “L” is a memory
recall skill that I learned years ago. “L” is to‘Listen and repeat’. When I hear a new nameor something that I want to confirm in theconversation, I will repeat it. To repeat aperson’s name in the conversation makes him
or her unconsciously feel special. The
personalized touch of rememberingsomeone’s name can really make a differencein building a positive learning environment ina classroom.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices
The final letter “E” is really the mostimportant of them all, for if you ‘Enjoy yourlife’, then smiling can occur naturally.
Students realize that they can smile and ask
questions that are natural and reflect theirpersonal interests. That creates anopportunity to build a new friendship.
Throughout the semester, I haveobserved that the reminder to ‘smile’ can beused to overcome shyness and perfectionism.
Students become relaxed as they create
questions for discussion and add follow-up
comments to further the conversation witheach other. It is my hope that my students
will enjoy a ‘smile’ with thousands of people
throughout their lives.
Every conversation begins with a SMILE:
S: Start with a question
M: Make mistakes
I: Increase your interest in people around you
L: Listen and repeat
E: Enjoy your life

Implementing Group Presentations toFoster Autonomy
Adrianne Verla, Tokyo<averla@gmail.com>

Motivating students totake control of theirown learning has always
been at the forefront of
my mind as a teacher.
Working for nine years
with junior and seniorhigh school students in Japan, I found one of
the most rewarding aspects of teaching to bewhen students would take control and
学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

responsibility for their own learning and findways to include English in their daily lives.
Some examples of English integrated into mystudents’ daily lives include listening to musicwith English lyrics as well as watching TED
videos and foreign English dramas. By doing
so, they generally became more motivated touse English, and their English skills usuallyended up expanding greatly.
In April, I left teaching at thesecondary level and began working part timeat two universities. In many ways I slid into
teaching at both universities with little
trouble, however I did face a few unexpectedchallenges at one. One challenge was therequired spring English course for first-year
non-English majors, made more difficult
because it was my first time to teach English
to students who were grouped together withnot only varying levels of spoken and written
English ability but also vastly different
attitudes towards English. My previous school
had placed a strong emphasis on English
education, especially regarding presentation,
discussion and writing skills. Even students
who didn’t necessarily like English were
motivated to study and learn in order to gethigh scores on university entrance
examinations. However, as the entrance
exams were a thing of the past to my firstyear university students, now I found myclassroom to be filled with a wide spectrumof students, many of whom outwardly
appeared to have little to no interest in
English. Varying interest levels was not the
only challenge I found myself facing;students’ levels also varied greatly. Whilemost students lacked the confidence to speak
English, their written English ability was also
spread across a wide spectrum of differing
11Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices
abilities. While some students could write asentence using conjunctions, I also had
students who didn’t understand what a
subject was or why every sentence needed averb.
As the semester progressed, I taught
the required textbook material and foundmyself becoming a more confident teacher
than before as far as explaining English
grammar was concerned. In my previous job,grammar was the responsibility of theJapanese English teachers. Now, I was thesole teacher responsible for explaining
grammar rules in a way that the students
could understand and apply in practice. In the
beginning what seemed like straightforwardand easy explanations to me often left certain
students more confused. I had wrongly
assumed that my students would understandthe basic parts of an English sentence.
However, despite my best efforts to help mystudents learn the required material, I foundthat due to the curriculum requirements andtime constraints, there was no time to help
them find a way to connect with English.
They were just learning the material theyneeded to pass the speaking and writing
exams, but they were not connecting withEnglish on a personal level. It was just a classthey had to sit through to get credit, they did
not see how what they were learning in theclassroom could be applied to interests they
have outside of the classroom. I doubt thatmany of the students even remembered what
we studied back in April. I couldn’t see howwhat they were learning was making any longterm impact on their lives.
While I found the experience to be
frustrating, it also provided me with a strong
desire to make a change. I began

brainstorming and bouncing ideas off fellow
colleagues at that university as well as otherinstitutions. I desired to find a way to help mystudents not only find English useful, but also
help them begin their own journeys as
autonomous learners. I strongly felt that thestudents needed to be provided with anopportunity to use English not for
examination purposes but as a means of selfexpression. If I could just come up with aproject that students could take ownership ofI felt that they would see that English is somuch more than just grammar patterns to bememorized and regurgitated onto a piece of
exam paper.
Towards the conclusion of the springsemester, I proposed a plan to other teachers
in the department to incorporate a semesterlong small-group project into the fall English
class. The plan is to have students in pairs or
small groups plan and create a presentation
for a specific audience relating to a day ofsightseeing in Tokyo. I had used a similar
project with my high-school students in thepast and found it to have worked successfully
then. With some changes to the focus anddelivery, I believe my university students will
enjoy the challenge of producing apresentation about their perfect day in Tokyo.
The project is still in the developing stages,
and I hope it will become an excellent
example of action research based on current
students’ needs. As this project will only be
carried out with my classes now, if provensuccessful, I believe it has the potential to be
implemented into the wider curriculum in the
future. I hope also that, by devoting small
increments of time in class towards the
project, even the lower level students will beable to give a presentation that they can be

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices
proud of by the end of the semester. Also, asmany students are living in the greater Tokyo
area, they should be able to incorporate theirown interests and beliefs into the project andnot see English as a useless subject only
needed to get credits towards graduation, but
as a tool in which they can express
themselves. Through doing this project, I
believe that the students will begin to feel
more connected to English and hopefully beable to use the project as a springboard to
become more interested and connected toEnglish.
Since switching not only institutions
but also academic levels, it has beeninteresting to see some of the differences
between secondary and tertiary education in
Japan. While I knew there would be
differences between student levels andmotivation, I didn’t expect that many of mystudents would feel so disconnected withEnglish. For me the greatest challenge has
truly been to try and help my students find aconnection with English. In doing so, I have
had to negotiate through my own beliefs as alanguage learner, researcher and teacher totry and create opportunities to let mystudents engage with English beyond the
textbook. Through the implementation andtrial of the Tokyo project, I hope to better
understand my students’ needs and interestsand use the project to help them connect
with English beyond the classroom. I would bevery interested in hearing from other Learner
Development SIG members about similar
projects they have done in the past or are
considering to implement in the future.

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

When in Rome, do as the Romans do?
Issues of identity and integration
living abroad
Mikio Iguchi (井口幹夫)
Maebashi Institute ofTechnology<iguchim@maebashiit.ac.jp>

I teach English classes such as CALL, TOEIC
and English presentation to engineering
students at my institution. In 2012 I received
a doctoral degree (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics
and English Language Teaching) from The
University of Warwick, for which I conducted
research on identity and L2 motivation under
Ema Ushioda and on interculturalcommunication under Helen Spencer-Oatey’s
supervision.
As I reflect on my interest in learnerdevelopment, I notice that it goes back to2007 when I began my doctoral research in
England. I often wondered why my comfort
zone expanded, contracted, and influenced
my English proficiency depending on thepeople I interacted with. I thought it might
have been influenced by my belief orperception of the culture or ethnicity of thetarget language (TL) speakers, or perhaps by
my own identity.
My primary research interest is
integrative motivation, which refers to “awillingness to be like valued members of thelanguage community” (Gardner & Lambert,
1959, p. 271, original italics). This concept
has become recently better known as‘integrativeness’, which is understood as “a13Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices
genuine interest in learning the second
language in order to come closer to the otherlanguage community” (Gardner, 2001, p.5).
Schumann (1986, p. 379) developed the‘acculturation model’ in which he claimed
that “the learner will acquire the second
language only to the degree that heacculturates”, based on the social andpsychological distance between learners and
TL speakers. Theories on integrativeness andthe acculturation model are congruent in thatthey both argue that our second language (L2)acquisition hinges on our social-psychologicalattitudes towards the TL community.
In my doctoral research I also
explored the issues of identity. I thought thatpeople’s identity might be influenced by theirinteraction with people from the TL
community or people from their own heritage
culture, which in turn might influence how
they view the L2. Thus, in the research that I
did, I set out to explore the meanings ofintegrativeness, acculturation, and identity
for Japanese people in the UK and look at
how such meanings changed over time. Whatmotivated me to do such research was mostly
attributable to my personal interest in these
topics because I have lived in five different
nations, and I have often questioned myidentity as a Japanese. This triggered me to
explore and pursue convincing academic
theories.
Regarding my research paradigm, I
was prompted to do quantitative research in
my first year of doctoral research, due to myinterest in cognitivist second language
acquisition (SLA) theories shaping the concept
of integrativeness. However, my encounter
with Ema Ushioda and her work, and theemerging and convincing theories that I cameacross on L2 motivation and identity from asocial constructivist perspective, graduallyshifted my paradigmatic orientation. I
planned to do a mixed methods researchhalfway through, but I completely changed toa pure qualitative research approach at theend of the first year!
I also became interested inintercultural communication from the initialstage of my research, but I was not aware ofany separation between interculturalcommunication and SLA, which for me was mysingle ‘target community’. It was not until
Helen Spencer-Oatey pointed out that myresearch has potential uniqueness in‘integrating’ the two separate fields that I
started to realise how separated they were,and also realised my ‘hybridised identity’ inbeing a part of and apart from them. To behonest, I have been surprised throughout theoverall process of doing my research thatthese two fields still continue to be largely
separate. As far as I am aware, only Yashima(2002, 2004) and Jackson (2008) have madecross-references from SLA to interculturalcommunication.
However, I became all the moreconvinced that findings from both camps havemutual benefit. For instance, both fields havebeen treating identity as the centre ofattention. Also, I believe that cognitivist
concepts such as integrativeness that derived
from SLA research need to be examinedwithin the framework of social integration
with host communities, in relation to which
numerous intercultural communication
studies have produced useful and practicalinsights. In the future, adopting a newresearch approach such as conversation
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices
studying the identities of people who are inintercultural settings.
I would like to end my selfintroduction by expressing my gratitude to
Ken Ikeda, whom I met at the Gunma JALT
Annual Workshop in Kusatsu last summer. It
was my first year in JALT, and I was rather
lost in what to do, but he kindly invited me to
the LD SIG 20th Anniversary Conference last
autumn. I was impressed by the quality of theevent, so I did not hesitate to join the LD SIG
this year. I hope to touch base with many ofyou in this promising group!
References
Dörnyei, Z., & Schmidt, R. (Eds.), Motivationand second language acquisition (pp.
1-20). Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press.
Gardner, R. C. (2001). Integrative motivationand second language acquisition. In
Gardner, R. C., & W. E. Lambert (1959).
Motivational variables insecond- language acquisition.
Canadian Journal of Psychology,
13(4), 266-272.
Jackson, J. (2008). Language, identity andstudy abroad: Sociocultural
perspectives. London: Equinox
Publishing.
Schumann, J. H. (1986). Research on theacculturation model for second
language acquisition. Journal ofMultilingual and Multicultural
Development, 7(5), 379-392.
Yashima, T. (2002). Willingness tocommunicate in a second language:
The Japanese EFL context. The
Modern Language Journal, 86(1),54-66.
Yashima, T. (2004). Gaikokugo
komyunikeeshon no jyoui to douki –kenkyuu to kyouiku no shiten[Motivation and affect in foreign
language communication: Research
学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

and education issues]. Suita: Kansai
University Press.

My Language Journey
Vick L. Ssali
Department Of
International Culture,
Aichi Gakuin University<ssalivick@yahoo.com>
My journey teaching
English in Japan beganalmost 17 years ago! I first taught in several“eikaiwa” situations before obtaining an MA
TESL/TEFL (from the University Birmingham)
and then moved on to teaching at university. I
am currently a “Foreign Instructor” in the
Department of International Culture at Aichi
Gakuin University.
I was born and raised in Uganda. A
few years ago I had an opportunity to reflect
on my own learner development when I coauthored a piece for the Autoethnography
Column in the SchoolHouse, the newsletter of
the Junior/Senior High School SIG (Ashurova &SSali, 2012). It was a unique, double
autoethnography representing my own
journey in ESL English learning and those of acolleague from and EFL background. In thatpiece I outlined my own beginnings as asecond language learner, and the realization
now that first-time learners of English face alanguage so rich and practical, but extremelycomplex at the same time. My reflections
made me realize that our learning
experiences have a big influence on how weparticularly look at the challenges English
learners in Japan face.
Even in the ESL environment that I
had been brought up in Uganda, where
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices
English had been adopted as the official
language of school and government at
independence in 1962, I had learned English
the hard way. It was the de facto language ofschool, and we could only use our own“vernaculars” at home, or outside school forthat matter. At home, everybody used the
local vernacular, Luganda. As a matter offact, my parents, both farmers, couldn’t
speak English. My elder siblings did, but
nobody expected them to speak it at home. Infact doing so was tantamount to bragging!
The English-only-at-school policy was strictly
enforced with punishments. Pupils caught by
any teacher speaking in the vernacular, insideor outside the classroom, would be smacked,
forced to kneel on the ground for some time,or even to do manual labour in the school
gardens. This may sound like a brutal way to
enforce a foreign language. I think, however,it was appropriate and necessary at that timein a nation where English is the official
language of school and government, and withan educational system where English is thelanguage of instruction with a cycle ofintegration between basic pedagogic
structures and integrated, practical usage. Allclasses and exams in the upper primary(primary 4 to 7) are conducted in English, andpupils need ‘reminders’ to stay in English
especially in the rural schools wherepractically everyone belongs to the same
tribe and speaks the same language.
The all-English rule would continue
through secondary to tertiary education, andits enforcement as the language of school waseven stronger than it had been at primaryschool. English, even up to date, hasremained deeply rooted in administration,
media and education, and access to economic

and political power is almost impossible foranyone who has not mastered that language.
English is used as the language ofcommunication in public places, in places ofwork and in audiences, especially wheregroups of people are from different parts ofthe country. In their homes and tribal areas
people use their local vernaculars, but English
is the only way members of various ethnic andmulti-lingual groups can communicate among
themselves and identify with the larger
community. The situation is obviously
different for Japanese learners of English.
They join the school system equipped with ahome language which is also the language ofeducation. In homogeneous Japan, you don’t
have to be able to speak English in order tobelong to society, and practically there is nosecondary society to strive to belong to. In
Japan learning English beyond the classroom
is thus mainly driven by intrinsic motivation.
A great many resources and enormous
amounts of time are therefore required tocreate conducive opportunities for learners;
for English, while not necessarily a requisite
for success in society, is a required part of thecurriculum. On the other hand, the ethnic
diversity in Uganda implies a deep-rooted
instrumental and extrinsic motivation to learn
the language beyond just its classroom
structure, for English is instrumentally a sinequa non for meeting educational
requirements, furthering careers andimproving social status.
Here is where the Learner
Development SIG comes in handy for me. I
must strive, as a teacher, to create anenvironment for my students to go beyond
what McKay (2002) has called “a superficial
familiarity with the language” (p. 19). I have

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): LD SIG Members’ Voices
to be aware always that class time isinsufficient, and “students do not have readymade contexts for communication beyond
their classrooms” (Brown 2001, p.116). I needto create environments that will enable mystudents to take “the all-important step frombeing language learners to languageusers” (Ashurova & SSali, 2013, p.46).
I am currently involved in setting up
an English Lounge at my university, and I lookforward to benefiting from the knowledge andadvice of fellow LD members. I suspect manyof them are involved in activities to extend
language learning beyond the classroom. I am
looking forward to sharing with them lots ofprofessional experiences and insights fromtheir current practices.
References
Ashurova, U. & SSali, V. (2013). Connecting
university classrooms to a language
interaction space. In M.Hobbs and K.
Dofs (Eds.), ILAC selections: The ILA
2012 New Zealand conference
proceedings (p.46). Rutherford
House, Victoria University of
Wellington, New Zealand.
Ashurova, U. & SSali, V. (Fall 2012). Joint
autoethnographies: Sharing ideas andexperiences. The SchoolHouse
Autoethnography Column. The School
House, 19(2), 17-25.
Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles:
An interactive approach to language
pedagogy. New York: Pearson.
McKay, S. L. (2002). Teaching English as aninternational language: Rethinking
goals and perspectives. New York:
Oxford University Press.

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

LD SIG Grants 2014
The LD SIG Grants Committee would like tocongratulate all of the 2014 grants
winners. We look forward to theircontributions to the LD SIG:

Winner of the LD SIG 2014 research grant:
Tomoko Imamura
Winner of the LD SIG Pan-SIG grant:
Caroline Ross
Winners of the 3 JALT 2014 National
Grants:Yoko Sakurai
Joel Laurier
Adrienne Verla
The 2015 grants will be announced in late
January or early February 2015.
For more information please go to:<http://ld-sig.org/grants2014/>
Or send a quick email to:<learnerdevelopmentsiggrants@gmail.com>

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