LEARNING LEARNING『学習の学習』
Greetings and News Updates 挨拶と近況報告

1~8
1
2

In This Issue 今号について
Learner Development SIG News Update LD SIG

近況報告

Getting Connected: Local Get-together Reports from Tokyo, Kansai and Hiroshima
つながりを求めて：東京 ・ 関西 ・広島

6~8

10~17

LD SIG Members' Voices メンバーの声
Finding ways to SMILE as a learner and teacher, Aden, Anita
Implementing Group Presentations to Foster Autonomy, Verla, Adrianne
When in Rome, do as the Romans do? Issues of identity and integration living abroad, Iguchi,
Mikio
My Language Journey, Ssali, Vick L.

18~23

Featured Article 特集
Self-access and Motivation, Mynard, Jo

24~31

Looking Back 報告
AILA World Congress 2014
Recently released books and articles on Learner Development

32~39

Looking Forward 今後のイベント
JALT National Conference Preview
Conference Calendar

39

SIG Matters インフォメーション
40
41

Call For Contributions『学習の学習』原稿募集
Financial Report 財務報告

ISSN 1882-1103
NEWSLETTER / FALL 2014 / LL 21 (2 )Learning Learning『学習の学習』 21 (2): In This Issue

In This Issue 今号について
Welcome to the Fall 2014 issue of Learning
Learning 『学習の学習』, the Learner
Development SIG’s (LD SIG) biannual online
newsletter! We hope you enjoy reading it, as
the leaves change colour and the year
marches steadily on to winter, and perhaps
one of the biggest events in our conference
calendarthe—JALT National conference—whichis happening in a couple of weeks.
Firstly, the SIG coordinators, Alison Stewart
and Fumiko Murase, report on the latest SIG
developments. As most of these have been
happening behind the scenes, this is a mustread. Next, we have reports from local gettogethers in Kansai, Hiroshima, and Tokyo.
In the “Members’ Voices” section, thefollowing new SIG members: Anita Aden,
Adrianne Verla, Mikio Iguchi and Vick L. Ssali;contribute their stories of learnerdevelopment and report on various activities
they have used to promote their learners’
development, while reflecting on thejourneys they took to becoming a member.
After these reports, one of our long standing
members, Jo Mynard, examines, in thefeature article, the various ways in which
institutions can promote foreign language
motivation outside of class. In this easily
accessible article she offers twelve ways topromote motivation, which are helpful not
only to those who are thinking about setting aself access centre, but also to those alreadyrunning one.
Which brings us to the Looking back section,
where Joe Falout and Alison Stewart, in a
lively discussion, report and reflect on theirexperience attending the Space, Place andAutonomy in Language Learning symposiumthat was convened by Terry Lamb and Garold
Murray at the AILA conference in August thisyear. As they report and reflect, they explore
the cutting edge research into the various
effects that Space and Place have on ourlearners’ lives, which has implications not
only for how we design the spaces that thelearner inhabits during their contact with us,
but also how we can use our knowledge ofthese concepts to promote their autonomy
both in and outside of these spaces.
Speaking of spaces, it is very fitting that the
Looking Forward section contains a preview of
the LDSIG’s exciting forum “Learner
Development Across Borders”, that will behappening from 1:35–3:05 on the Sunday of
the JALT National Conference, November 23,
in the Convention Hall 300. The forum isdefinitely a must see as 22 LDSIG members in
17 interactive presentations focus on learnerdevelopment taking place across various
physical, theoretical, and institutional
borders.
Many thanks to all the people behind thescenes that made this issue possible: Mathew
Porter and Chika Hayashi for helping to edit
it; Monika Szirmai for putting the issue
together; Andy Barfield for his outstanding
work as Members’ voices editor; FumikoMurase, for helping with the translation of
the LDSIG news at the last minute; andMayumi Abe and the rest of the treasury teamfor working tirelessly to compile the SIGs
financial report; not forgetting of course
Hugh Nicoll for the work of uploading thisissue to the LD SIG website.
Enjoy the issue!
James Underwood, Learning Learning
Coordinator

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): LD SIG NEWS

Learner Development SIG News Update
学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 近況報告
Alison Stewart & Fumiko Murase
アリソン・スチュアート ＆ 村瀬文子
April 2014 - October 2014

April - October 20142014年4月〜10月
Greetings LD SIG members

As we write this in the last week of October, it
may seem that the last few months since thelast issue of Learning Learning have been
relatively quiet. But like ducks swimmingalong a river, there’s been a lot of vigorous
paddling going on under the surface that istaking us to some very exciting destinations.
The JALT Conference is the major eventof the LD SIG year, as always, and we lookforward to seeing many SIG members at our
Annual General Meeting (Sunday, 23rd
November, 11.30am-12.15pm) when we’ll bewelcoming new committee members anddiscussing plans for the coming year. In
addition, following on from two very
successful LD SIG Forums at the PanSIG
conference in May and the JALTCALL
conference in June, we are anticipating

another invigorating Forum, (Sunday, 23rd
November, 1.35pm-3.05pm), which willfeature 17 interactive presentations and an
opportunity to discuss these and your own
practices and ideas. Another reason to cometo the LD SIG Forum is to applaud therecipients of the LD SIG’s JALT2014 grants.
Congratulations to Joel Laurier, Adrianne
Verla, and Yoko Sakurai. We hope that many
SIG members will have the chance to meetthem during the conference, and we lookforward to reading their reports on the JALT
conference in Learning Learning next year.
One other important note for your conference
diaries: a party (Saturday, 22nd November,from 8pm). The SIG is taking over an Italianrestaurant just a few minutes walk away fromthe conference venue. It’s a good chance torelax and let our hair down (if we have any).
Apart from the JALT conference, we are
anticipating some other great events, theculmination of months—in some cases years—of concerted effort and collaboration. One is a
new website for the bilingual publication of acollection of essays written by children from
Rikuzentakata, one of the towns destroyed in
the tsunami of 3.11. More than a hundred
people have been involved in this project astranslators and proofreaders and Sayuri

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): LD SIG NEWS
Hasegawa, Mathew Porter, and Caroline Ross
have done sterling work in bringing thisproject to fruition. For those of you who will
be at JALT on Monday 24th, you can find out
more at a Forum (9.15am-10.45am) in whichsome of the participants, including one of theoriginal junior high school authors, will betalking about their contributions to theproject.
Two more publications are also due tocome out in the next two months: one isLearner Development Working Papers:
Different Cases, Different Interests, edited byAndy Barfield and Aiko Minematsu, ananthology of papers that began life as LD SIG
Forum presentations at JALT2012. The papers
have developed through dialogue andcommentary from colleagues and friends
offering insider and outsider views on thesubject, resulting in a type of multivocal,
multiperspective writing that sets a precedent
for critical and inclusive academic
publication. A second publication is anotheranthology, this time originating in the Tokyo
get-together meetings, Collaborative Learningin Learner Development, edited by Tim
Ashwell, Masuko Miyahara, Steve Paydon, andAlison Stewart. This is a collection of action
research studies on different aspects ofcollaborative learning, and all stages in the
production of this book, from choosing thetitle to the development of the writing, haveaimed at being as collaborative as possible. LD
Working Papers will be published online on a
dedicated website and Collaborative Learningin LD will appear first as an e-book; bothbooks will also be published in limited editionsof paper copies for those who want to display
it on their bookshelves or give it to theircolleagues and friends.

The Tokyo get-together informal miniconference is the last big event that we wantto mention. Taking place at Otsuma Women’s
University on December 14th, this is a chance
for Tokyo get-together regulars and others topresent the ideas and practices that they havebeen working on this year. One of the mainfeatures of this event is the inclusion of
students: either presenting with their teachers
or with each other. Needless to say, this event
will also be followed by a party in a nearby
restaurant.
We want to say thank you to all thepeople who have worked so hard on all theseprojects. We also want to thank thecommittee members who have volunteered
their time and energy to making sure the SIG
runs smoothly, and especially the committee
members who are stepping down this year:
Ken Ikeda and Mike Nix (Web Development),
Stacey Vye and Martin Mullen (Grants), Sayuri
Hasegawa and Mayumi Takizawa (Publicity
translation and Outreach), and Gretchen Clark
and Matthew Coomber (Membership). Thismeans of course that we have many spaces tofill in the committee. If you’re interested,
don’t hesitate: Come and join us.
Alison Stewart & Fumiko Murase
LD SIG Co-coordinators 2014

私達がこれを執筆しているのは10月の最終週ですが、『学習の学習』前号の発行からこれまで
数ヶ月の間、比較的静かであったように思われるかもしれません。しかし、川を泳ぐカモ達のように、水面下では多くの精力的な活動がありました。

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): LD SIG NEWSが控えています。その一つ目は、3.11の津波被例年の通り、JALT全国大会は学習者ディベロプ

害に遭った地域の一つ、陸前高田市の子供たち

メント研究部会（LD SIG）にとって重要なイベによって書かれた作文集を日英バイリンガルでン ト で す。 1 1 月 2 3 日 （ 日 ） の 年 次 総 会

出版する新しいウェブサイトです。このプロ（11:30-12:15）では、新たな役員を迎え、来ジェクトには総勢100名以上の人々が翻訳者や年に向けての計画を話し合います。多くのSIG校正者として参加して下さいましたが、特に会員の皆様にお会いすることを楽しみにしておSayuri Hasegawa、Mathew Porter、Caroline

ります。さらに、同日には、LD SIGフォーラム

Rossの3名が素晴らしい仕事をして下さいまし（13:35-15:05）も開催されます。盛況であった。JALT全国大会では、11月24日（月）にLDた5月のPanSIG大会と6月のJALTCALL大会でのSIGのアウトリーチ活動についてのフォーラム

フォーラムに続き、今回も活気のあるフォーラ（9:15-10:45）も開催されますので是非ご参加

ムとなることを期待しています。17ものインタ下さい。作文を書いた（当時の）中学生の一人

ラクティブな発表に加え、皆様ご自身の実践やもお招きして、フォーラム参加者達がこの翻訳アイディアについて話し合う機会があります。

プロジェクトについて話す予定です。

また、このフォーラムは、LD SIGのJALT2014大さらに2点の論文集がこれから2ヶ月の間

会参加助成金の受賞者を称える場でもありまに出版される予定です。一つ目は、Learner

す。 今 年 の 受 賞 者 と な っ た J o e l L a u r i e r 、Adrianne Verla、Yoko Sakuraiの3名にはお祝い

Development Working Papers: Different
Cases, Different Interests（Andy Barfield &申し上げます。大会開催中に多くのSIG会員のAiko Minematsu編）で、これはJALT2012大会

皆様が彼ら3名と直接会う機会を得られますよ

でのLD SIGフォーラムから始まった論文集でう願うとともに、彼らによるJALT2014大会のす。これらの論文は、同僚や友人とのダイアロ

参加レポートを来年の『学習の学習』で拝見す

グと批評を通して執筆され、その結果、批判的ることを楽しみにしております。もう一つの重かつ包括的な学術的出版物の先例となるよう

要 な イベ ン ト は パー ティ ーで す。 1 1 月 2 2 日

な、多くの声や視点を反映したものとなってい（土）20:00より、学会会場から徒歩数分のとます。二つ目は、東京get-togetherの活動を通ころにあるイタリアンレストランにて開催いた

して生まれた論文集Collaborative Learning in

します。

Learner Development（Tim Ashwell, Masuko

JALT全国大会以外にも、これまで数ヶ月

Miyahara, Steve Paydon, & Alison Stewart編）

間−あるいは数年間−に及ぶ努力とコラボレーです。これは協働学習のさまざまな側面についションの積み重ねによる、素晴らしいイベントてのアクションリサーチを集めたもので、タイ学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

4

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): LD SIG NEWSトルの決定から論文の完成に至るまで、この本謝致します。今回の異動でいくつかの役職にはの制作に関わるすべての過程はできる限り協働

空きがあります。役員の仕事にご興味がおあり的に行うよう努めました。LD Working Papersの方は是非ご参加下さい。

は専用のウェブサイト上で出版される予定であり、Collaborative Learning in LDはまずe-bookとして出版される予定です。その後、どちらもアリソン・スチュワート＆村瀬文子
2014年 LD SIGコーディネーター

部数を限定して紙媒体で出版される予定です。
東京get-togetherでは、インフォーマルな
ミニ学会を開催します。12月14日に大妻女子大学で開催されるこの学会は、東京get-togetherに定期的に参加している会員の皆様にとっても、それ以外の皆様にとっても、今年取り組ん
できたアイディアや実践について発表する機会です。このイベントの大きな特徴の一つは学生

Would you like to Join the Learning Learning
Publications team?
Now that we produce Learning Learning as a team, weare always looking for new members to join.
Membership in the team is open to everyone
regardless of publication or teaching experience,teaching context, or nationality. The only stipulationis that you can agree to hold the position for atleast a year (meaning that you will help with next year's
Spring issue 22(1) and Fall issue 22(2)).
Currently, we are looking for people who areinterested in filling these positions:が参加するという点であり、教師との共同発表
または学生同士の発表という形での参加が予定
されています。言うまでもなく、このイベントも会場近くのレストランでのパーティーで締め
くくられます。
最後に、これらすべてのプロジェクトのために尽力して下さったすべての皆様にお礼を申し上げます。また、SIGを円滑に運営していくために時間とエネルギーを費やして下さっている役員の皆様、中でも、今年をもって現在の役職から退くことになった、Ken IkedaとMike
Nix（ウェブ管理チーム）、Stacey VyeとMartin
Mullen（助成金チーム）、Sayuri HasegawaとMayumi Takizawa（広報チームの翻訳担当およびアウトリーチ支援チーム）、Gretchen Clark• LD SIG Grant Awardees Essay coordinator: liaises
with the grant awardees to encourage and help themto publish their research essays in Learning Learning.
• Review coordinator: encourages potential
contributors to send in reviews (of books, journal
articles, materials or web resources relating to learnerdevelopment) and works with them to publish theirreviews in Learning Learning.
• Looking Back report coordinator: encourages
contributors to report on past events related to learnerdevelopment (which can take the form of conferences,forums, and workshops, both traditional and online)
and works with them to publish their reports
in Learning Learning.
If you are interested in any of these positions andwould like to know more about them, please send me
an email;James Underwood,
Learning Learning coordinator,
jamesmichaelunderwood@gmail.comとMatthew Coomber（会員管理チーム）に感
Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): local Get Together Reports

Getting Connected: Local Get Together Reports
from Kansai,Tokyo, and Hiroshima
つながりを求めて：関西・東京・広島
2014 Tokyo Get-together Report
Andy Barfield, Ken Ikeda and Stacey Vye
We’ve had six get-togethers in 2014 until now,with one more to come in December, which
will feature the Creating Community:
Learning Together informal conference (URL
http://ld-sig.org/blog/creating-communitylearning-together/ ), a relaxing Sunday
afternoon event with students and teachers
taking part and presenting. This provides a
new focus to the end of the year for Tokyo
get-togethers, and we’re all excited about
how things will go in December.
The 2014 get-togethers have beencollaboratively written up using Google Docseach time, where all the participants havebeen invited to contribute to the write-up in
the week immediately after a get-together.
For more details, please see <http://
tokyogettogethers.blogspot.jp/>
This year, we’ve had an average ofaround 15 people taking part each time
(January, February, April, May, June, &September), with September the largest
gathering yet:
* January: 13 participants (9 apologies)* February: 14 participants (7 apologies)* April: 14 participants (15 apologies)* May: 17 participants (9 apologies)* June: 15 participants (11 apologies)* September: 19 participants (6 apologies).

April get-together, Otsuma Women’s University

One point that has been really intriguing
about participation this year is that 38
different people took part in the get-togethersfrom January through to September. Of these,
just a little more than half have participatedin one or two get-togethers in 2014, and justunder half have taken part in three gettogethers or more so far:
* 1 person has taken part six times* 2 people have taken part five times* 3 people have taken part four times* 10 people have taken part three times* 9 people have taken part twice* 13 people have taken part once.
So, the get-togethers this year have hada shifting sense of identity from one month to
the next. This has led us to consider how tocreate better continuity and involvement fromone get-together to another, because without
this it’s difficult to explore issues in depth
together over time.
At the September get-together, we
reported back to the whole group on thepatterns of participation in the get-togethers
this year. We briefly talked about reducing thenumber of get-togethers for 2015 and trying to

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): local Get Together Reports
synchronize more with the rhythm of theschool year. That might mean, for example,
holding get-togethers in April, May, June,
September or October (depending on when
the JALT conference takes place), with aninformal afternoon conference in December
2015, to provide a space for teachers andstudents to share their work and research
publicly at the end of the calendar year.
These changes for 2015 are still just asuggestion at this point. To encourage morediscussion and get further feedback, we hopeto run these ideas past Tokyo area LD
members once the October 19 deadline for
proposals for Creating Community: Learning
Together has passed. We are looking forward
to hearing SIG members’ views and toreporting in further detail for the LD SIG AGM
at JALT2014.

LD Get-together Report: Kansai
Brandon Kramer

The Kansai Chapter needs your help! Heading
into 2015 we are looking for someone who canstep up and become the Kansai Get-Together
Coordinator, bringing everyone together forfriendship, networking, and festivities! It’s agreat way to meet new people and help othersbuild lasting connections in the Kansai
community.
2014 has been a bit of a transitional
period for the Kansai Chapter. Although we
expect good representation from our members
at the JALT2014 National Conference, theKansai chapter has not been able to meet
together this year, something which we hopeto turn around heading into 2015!
If you are interested in taking on the
Get-Together Coordinator position, or have
any ideas for events and activities, please
mail them our way. We are looking forward toseeing you in Tsukuba at the JALT2014
Conference!
Osaka Prefectural
Emblem
A cluster of gourds, or
sennari byotan, was thecrest used by Toyotomi
Hideyoshi (1537-1598),
the warrior who unified Japan and built Osaka Castle.
It has been stylized as Osaka's prefectural emblem,

Tokyo Sky Tree
(http://ameblo.jp/tokyoskytree777/)

the 'O' of Osaka linking with the three circles above itthat symbolize hope, prosperity and harmony. Thisemblem was officially adopted on the 100th
anniversary of Osaka Prefecture (June 21, 1968).
http://www.pref.osaka.lg.jp/en/introduction/
symbols.html

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): local Get Together Reports

Autumn in Miyajima

2014 Hiroshima Get-together Report
Jim Ronald
Hiroshima's LD Get-togethers in theory meet
every month, and typically there are half adozen of us.
In July there were just three and sincethen we haven't met up. Wondering how muchcontinuing interest there is in continuing the
get-togethers, I surveyed regular—and not so
regular—attendees. There was a very
encouraging response, both in numbers and inenthusiasm for the get-togethers, and we will
be starting up again after our long summerautumn break very soon. In fact, as you readthis, I hope we will already have met up andbe glad that our group is up and runningagain.
We still do need more than one person
basically running the get-together—not that I
don't enjoy it—I do, of course!—but whenthings get busy, I may forget to plan the next
get-together, or wouldn't have time to join it
myself. As for what we do, one participant's
description fits the reality of what we do:"brainstorming sessions of research/teachingideas. sharing resources, reading suggestions,etc.", while another reminds us that in someways our purpose is to supplement, orcomplement, what our wonderful Hiroshima
JALT chapter meetings do: "Unlike JALT
Hiroshima monthly meetings, the LD gettogether is a more friendly and relaxing small
society, so participants can express their
feelings, opinions, complaints about teaching
and learning more freely. From their casualconversation, I learn a lot of small things. The
accumulation of these small informations are
more valuable to me than formal academic
ones. I hope this get-together will create
mutual understanding between teachers andlearners." To be honest, I don't think we do a
lot of complaining, but as well as everythingelse it is, our get-togethers are a place to let
off steam and appreciate each other as acommunity of teachers and learners.

Winter illumination is coming to Hiroshima soon!

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

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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。

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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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
学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>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 andresponsibility 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

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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
学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>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.

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 “aNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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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 came
学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

across 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
analysis could also benefit both fields in14

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: Researchand 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
学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

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 have16

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.

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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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): Featured Article

Featured Article
特集
Self-access and Motivation
Jo Mynard
Kanda University of International Studies<jomynard@gmail.com>

Summary要約
本文は、自律学習施設の学習環境において、学習意欲を高める12の方法について説明しています。
うち１１の方法は、授業以外で語学学習に対する内なる(本質的)興味を育てることに着目しています。１１の方法として、(1)社会的交流の促進、(2)学習を更に促進するようなフィードバックの提供、(3)個々の学習者の好みや学習活動に応じた魅力的かつ快適な学習施設の提供、(4)学習者が目
標設定し目標達成の成功体験を得られるようにするための支援、(5)学習者が自分で学習意欲を維持できるようになるためのトレーニングの提供、(6)学習者が自分の学習を管理できるようになるための自律言語学習の促進、(7) 自律学習施設の運営への学習者の関与、(8)魅力的な学習教材やア
クティビティの提供、(9)スタッフと学生の良好な関係の構築、(10)学習言語とその言語圏の文化を
施設の装飾や教材、言語交換（Language Exchange）や人との交流により提供すること、そして、(11)コミュニティの発展を促進し、学習者の想像力を高めること、を挙げています。12番目の方法
は、外からの動機付けに関するものです。 外からの動機付けは多岐に渡りますが、多くは各種試
験や将来の仕事、勉学に関係しています。 しかし、もし学生に極めてやる気がなく、上記のどの方法も効果的でない場合は、良い学習習慣を形成させる為に必要最低限のSALC時間を組み入れる
ことを検討するのも良いでしょう。その他、ポイントカードや報賞のような動機付けは、注意して行われるべきです。なぜなら、学習者が既にやる気を持って行っている活動に対して報賞を付随させることは、それが廃止された際、学習者のやる気を阻害してしまう影響があると数十年に渡る研究が示しているからです(Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999)。
Self-access and Motivation
Jo Mynard
A number of authors have examined factors that contribute to an engaging language classroom
environment and ways in which teachers can develop learners' motivation in class. These papers
have drawn upon years of research in educational psychology and second language motivation.
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): Featured Article
However, few articles have focussed on how to develop motivation in an outside class self-accesscentre environment and in this short article I will examine, in general (i.e. not overly academic)
terms, ways in which institutions can promote foreign language motivation outside of class via aself-access centre. I define a self-access centre to be a place which provides outside support for
language learners and promotes learner autonomy and language development.
1. Social interaction
Language learning is a social process and a self-access centre should provide opportunities forlanguage learners to interact easily. Learners need to practice the languages they are learningand also discuss their learning with others (either in the target language or other languages).
Language learners frequently report that interacting with others in the target language is themost motivating aspect of language learning. One practical way to provide opportunities forsocial interaction is by providing a conversation lounge. To increase opportunities for interaction
further, the lounge could be staffed by teachers or students throughout the day.
2. Feedback and encouragement
In order to be able to sustain motivation to continue to work at a foreign language, learners
need feedback and encouragement. In class, this feedback and encouragement comes fromteachers and classmates. In a self-access learning environment, feedback and encouragement
are probably more important and can be provided by either learning advisors or teachers taking
on an advising role. Analysis of advising dialogue shows that in addition to facilitating reflection
and promoting learner autonomy, learning advisors regularly encourage learners. Follow up
research involving interviews with learners revealed that the encouraging comments wereparticularly valued by learners (Mynard, 2012). Students hired as peer mentors can be trained toprovide users with encouragement for their self-access work.
3. Inviting environment
A Self-Access Language Centre (SALC) needs to be inviting and non-threatening. An environmentthat makes a learner anxious or feel that he or she does not belong does not contribute to alearner's motivation for sustained language learning. When designing a centre, care must be
taken to include spaces that appeal to different kinds of learners and different kinds of learning
activities. For example, the arrangement of the furniture could suggest how the space could be
used: soft sofas for a conversation area; comfortable chairs for a reading lounge; and separated
desks for individual study areas. Even in the smallest of spaces, the use of colour and soft
furnishings can make a big difference. In addition, a centre must make it clear through its
branding and marketing that it welcomes all learners - not just those good at a language, or
those who need extra support. The institution must make a decision as to whether signage andmaterials using the students’ L1 should be included in a centre.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): Featured Article
4. Goal setting
Research shows that having a goal motivates learners to continue studying a language. Goal
setting can be a daunting and difficult process for some learners, particularly those who havenever had the opportunity to develop learner autonomy. One important role of a learning
advisor (or a teacher working with learners in this way) is to help learners to analyse their needs
and set achievable goals. The goals should be specific and guide the self-directed learning(Morrison & Navarro, 2014). Ideally, a learner can then create a learning plan and implement it
outside of class, drawing on the available facilities and resources - including other learners.
Learners should have the chance to discuss their goals and plans frequently with learning
advisors or teachers. Having a specific goal and achieving is very satisfying for learners andoften prompts further self-directed study.
5. Motivation strategy training
In order to be able to sustain motivation, learners should be able to draw upon a range ofstrategies themselves. Learners may already be aware of some of these strategies, but sharing
and explicit teaching of other strategies could be highly beneficial. The strategies might include
the following: goal-setting, rewards, making a task more fun, future L2 self visualization (seeHadfield & Dörnyei, 2013), and positive self-talk (Oxford, 2011). This kind of training can bedone in class, offered as stand-alone workshops in a self-access centre, or introduced indifferent ways, for example, through advising, via social networks, on posters, or as activity
sheets available in the self-access centre.
6. Learner autonomy
Although one of the main purposes of a self-access centre is to promote language learnerautonomy, this also has a positive effect on motivation. Being in charge of one's learning meansa high degree of investment and motivation on the part of the learner. Actively choosing to go toa self-access centre will empower a learner. The extent to which learners are able to direct
their own learning will vary significantly and this does not necessarily correlate with language
proficiency level. Learning advisors and teachers can work with learners in ways appropriate to
the amount of metacognitive awareness that they have. Helping learners to reflect and develop
an awareness of how to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate learning will help them todevelop a sense of awareness and control of the language learning process (Benson, 2011). Thiskind of awareness-raising is ideally done in a one-to-one situation, but some activities can beincorporated into class. One practical way to provide individualised attention is through awritten exchange between the learner and the teacher or learning advisor on written reflectionsof the learner’s self-directed work.
7. Learner involvement
Learners should be involved in running a self-access centre for several reasons. Firstly, this will
ensure that the services are meeting the needs of the student body. Secondly, it will ensure that

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): Featured Article
there are always learners in the centre which encourages others learners also to come in. Thisin turn will create a sense of community (see #11). Taking a leading role in managing an aspectof a self-access centre will also be an opportunity to exercise control - a real example ofautonomy in action. Finally, learners running a self-access centre are realistic role models forother learners (Yamaguchi, 2011). Learners might participate as administrative staff, peer
mentors, materials writers, conversation leaders, materials reviewers, events coordinators,presenters, authors, or take other roles (see Navarro, 2014).
8. Engaging activities
One motivational strategy that learners and teachers often draw upon is to make learning fun
and engaging. A self-access centre should include a range of enjoyable resources and activities
in the target languages (Cooker, 2010). Examples of resources are movies, dramas, music andgames. Activities could include parties, competitions and gamification.
9. Rapport with staff
Another motivating factor is for learners to feel a sense of rapport with staff working in a selfaccess centre, so staff training should ensure that casual, friendly interactions with visitors to
the centre are a normal part of the job. These short, but vital interactions have been referred toas micro-counselling (Shibata, 2012) and may also result in small shifts in thinking.
10. Connection with target language culture
It is important to connect learners with the target language community through resources,
activities, and (if possible) international people. This will help learners to see the broader
purposes of language learning which in turn contributes to their motivation. This connection
could be made through decor, posters, furnishings, language use and staffing. Activities could
include conversation circles, cultural performances, language exchanges and international
collaboration initiatives.
11. Communities and imagination
Being part of a community is one of the factors that ensures engagement and sustained
motivation for self-directed learning (Hughes, Vye, & Krug, 2012). Successful self-access centres
often look and feel very different from other learning environments and provide opportunities
for learners to engage with ‘imagined communities’. Such communities are people we connect
with through the power of imagination (Kanno & Norton, 2003; Murray, 2011). Imagination also
allows people to conceive of their ‘possible L2 selves’ such as an ‘ideal self’ and ‘ought to self’
and a ‘possible future self’ (Dörnyei, 2005; 2009) which can be powerful motivators. Imaginationneeds “freedom, energy, and time to expose ourselves to the exotic, move around, try new
identities, and explore new relations” (Wenger, 1998, p. 185). In practical terms, a self-accesscentre which provides opportunities and freedom for learners to try out resources related topopular culture through movies, television and magazines helps learners to expand their
imagination and identities (Murray, 2011).
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): Featured Article
12. Extrinsic motives
The previous 11 points mainly promote a sense of internal (or intrinsic) motivation. What about
learners who are just not that motivated to learn a language? Perhaps they are forced to take alanguage class but have no real interest? Some of the above points might help, but sometimes anexternal motive could be more effective. An example of external motives are learning in order topass an exam, or doing well on a job application. Self-access centre staff could find out whatsome of these external motives are and provide materials and support for them. Materials might
include exam practice tests, diagnostic activities, and job information. Support could take theform of advising services, workshops, and awareness-raising of techniques for rewarding one’s
own effort. An institution might consider building in minimal required SALC time in order to help
good study habits to form. Some self-access centres allow learners to collect points or stamps as
an incentive to visit. I would suggest that these kinds of incentives should be used with caution.
One compelling reason to avoid rewarding self-access attendance is that it might reduce existing
intrinsic motivation. Decades of research shows that rewarding an activity that is alreadymotivating has a negative impact on a person’s willingness to continue the activity once thereward is removed (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999).
To summarize, there are several factors that developers could consider in order to ensure that aself-access centre is a motivating space. Simply providing a room stocked with language support
materials is unlikely to motivate learners to engage in self-access learning. Using this shortarticle as a checklist may be a good place to start if you want to ensure that your centre attracts
and motivates learners.
About the author
Dr. Jo Mynard is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Self-Access Learning Centre at
Kanda University of International Studies. She has an M.Phil in Applied Linguistics from Trinity
College Dublin, Ireland and an Ed.D. in TEFL from the University of Exeter, UK. Her researchinterests are learner autonomy, self-access, motivation, affect, self-directed learning, andadvising. She is the founding editor of Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal and the co-editorof four recently published books on advising and learner autonomy.
References
Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and researching autonomy. Harlow, UK: Pearson.

Cooker, L. (2010). Some self-access principles. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 1(1), 5-9.
Retrieved from http://sisaljournal.org/archives/jun10/cooker/
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments
examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological
Bulletin, 125, 627-668.

Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self system. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda(Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9-42). Bristol, UK: Multilingual
Matters.
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (2): Featured Article
Hadfield, J., & Dörnyei, Z. (2013). Motivating learning. Harlow, UK: Longman.
Hughes, L. S., Krug, N. P., & Vye, S. L. (2012). Advising practices: A survey of self-access learnermotivations and preferences. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 3(2), 163-181.
Retrieved from http://sisaljournal.org/archives/jun12/hughes_krug_vye/
Kanno, Y., & Norton, B. (2003). Imagined communities and educational possibilities:
Introduction. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 2(4), 241-249
Morrison, B., & Navarro, D. (2014). The autonomy approach: Language learning in the classroom
and beyond. Peaslake, UK: Delta Publishing.
Navarro, D. (2014). Framing the picture: A preliminary investigation into experts’ beliefs about
the roles and purposes of self-access centres. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal,5(1), (8-28). Retrieved from http://sisaljournal.org/archives/mar14/navarro/
Murray, G. (2011). Metacognition and imagination in self-access language learning. In D. Gardner(Ed.), Fostering autonomy in language learning (pp. 5-16). Gaziantep, Turkey: Zirve
University. Retrieved from http://ilac2010.zirve.edu.tr
Mynard, J. (2012). An analysis of written advice on self-directed learning modules and the effecton learning. Studies in Linguistics and Language Teaching, 23, 125-150.
Oxford, R. L. (2011). Teaching and researching language learning strategies. Harlow, UK:
Pearson.
Shibata, S. (2012). The macro-and micro-language learning counseling: An autoethnographic
account. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 3(1), 108-121.
Retrieved from http://sisaljournal.org/archives/march12/shibata/Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Yamaguchi, A. (2011). Fostering learner autonomy as agency: An analysis of narratives of a
student staff
member working at a self-access learning centre. Studies in SelfAccess Learning Journal, 2(4), 268-280. Retrieved from http://sisaljournal.org/
archives/dec11/yamaguchi/

Library and Self-Access Learning Centre(SALC) at Kanda University ofInternational Studies
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Kanda_University_of_International
Studies#mediaviewer/
File:Kanda_University%27s_
SALC_and_Library,_Spring_2010.jpg

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Back

Looking Back 報告
Space, Place and Autonomy in Language Learning: Joe Falout and Alison Stewart
discuss the symposium at AILA 2014

去る8月にオーストラリアのブリスベンで行われたAILA学会で、Joe FaloutとAlison StewartがTerry LambとGarold Murray両氏の司会によるシンポジウム（The Space, Place and Autonomy in Language Learning）に参加しました。そしてそのシンポジウムでは、日本の大学の語学学習センターからロシアのEmirati大学の片隅や浴場など、様々なコンテクストでの語学学習者の経験に関する６つの発表が行われました。シンポジウム
では、空間と場所に関し、例えば空間と場所がどのように学習者に影響を与え学習者が解釈するか、またどのように空間を概念化し、政策とデザインに関する判断をする際に生かしていけるのか、さらに学習者オートノミーの理解にどのようなヒントを与えるかなど、様々な議論について光を当てていました。

At the AILA conference that took place in Brisbane, Australia this August,Joe Falout and Alison Stewart attended the Space, Place and Autonomy
in Language Learning symposium convened by Terry Lamb and Garold
Murray. The symposium consisted of six presentations by researchers on
the experiences of language learners in contexts ranging from Japanese
university language study centres to hidden corners in an Emirati
university building to a Russian bathhouse. The aim of the symposium
was to shed light on a series of questions on space and place: how it
affects learners and the uses they make of it, how we can conceptualize
space and how we can use our understanding of it to make decisions
regarding policy and design, what light this might shed on our understandings of (learner)
autonomy.
Alison: Joe, I remember that we were both bowled away by this symposium, and decided there
and then to continue and deepen our conversation about it in a written dialogue that we could
share with members of the Learner Development SIG. To recapture the excitement and inspiration

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Backof the event, shall we start by reviewing the presentations and recounting what it was that
attracted us to them?
Joe: Sure, I’ll start with the first presentation of the symposium: Cynthia White’s “Emotion in theconstruction of space, place and autonomous learning opportunities.” She drew on somefascinating case studies, including one of learners of Russian in a study abroad program in St.
Petersburg, and another of learners in New Zealand and Germany interacting together in atelecollaboration project. Cynthia investigated how specific settings can contribute to invoking
emotions in learners, and how the memories of those experiences add to the construction ofidentity. During encounters with others in which the L2 was used, these students reportedly
experienced a range of powerful emotions. Such emotions help shape important aspects ofpeople’s learning and identity formation, and thus merit more attention in language learning
research.
Although the focus of this symposium was on space, the themes of time and motion
struck me as something integral to all the presentations. These aspects were particularly
highlighted in Cynthia’s presentation. For example, one learner of Russian in St. Petersburg was
asked by a Russian woman for directions in the subway. While walking together, the learner tried
to start up a conversation. But the woman responded strangely, and they ended up walking
silently in the same direction, but now separated some distance from each other. Trying tounderstand what had gone wrong, the learner said she wanted to stop time, like pausing a scene
in a movie, and try to get inside the other person’s mind to figure out what went wrong with theconversation. She was wondering if she had made some cultural faux pas, or pragmatic error, or if
it was her accent that caused some misunderstanding. These kinds of emotions and confusion may
be happening in language classrooms, influencing how learners see themselves as users of the L2for better or worse, and I wonder how teachers might recognize such moments and address them.
Alison: Cynthia’s presentation resonated strongly with me too. At a personal level, her examples
brought back my own memories of learning languages. The memories of occasions and theemotions I felt at the time are still clear, almost visceral: for example, the confusion andfrustration I felt at my failure to explain to my Russian roommate that her boyfriend had called
round and then gone again, but subsequent delight when I realized that I finally understood how
verbs of motion work in that language. As a teacher of English and student of Japanese, I need to
be aware that the emotional impact of language in authentic contexts of use is more powerfulthan in attempts to describe those contexts.
Whilst Cynthia’s study highlighted the interconnectedness of context and emotion andtheir role in learning and identity formation, the other side of the coin is that learners can imbue
the meaning of spaces around them with their own identities, in other words, they canappropriate space for their own purposes and needs, not necessarily in the ways imagined by thedesigners of those spaces or by their teachers. Gergana Alzeer’s “Spatio-learning experiences of
Emirati female students in a single gender context” featured a series of stunning photographs ofNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Backblack-clad young women appropriating spaces in a hyper-modern university building, sitting on
floors, under the stairs, and in a tiny empty alcove intended for a water fountain. Alzeer’s
ethnographic study of the learners and the places they inhabit culminates in a complex map,
representing the ways in which these modern desert women engaged with the “hot” and “cold”
places in their environment.
Joe: A surprising thing about their sitting in odd places was that plenty of chairs and desks stood
empty nearby. Yet they choose the floor for what appeared to be serious individual studying. I
wondered whether the original space makers, the architects, would be angrily astonished or
gleefully delighted that the facilities were being appropriated and used for purposes not initiallyintended. My guess is that most architects, as artists of public space, would embrace the newuses that people make of such spaces, and allow this ambiguity and potential for multifarious uses
to inform their future design.
Alison: What struck me most about these images was the clash or mismatch of identities in thesesurroundings. It was startling to see the way these women chose to ignore the chairs and sit on
the floor, but it was also startling to see them carrying fashionable handbags while wearing theconservative burka. In a way, you could say these women are rebels—subverting expected
identities that are created or assumed in the context. In the classroom, it's assumed that theywould sit on chairs; wearing burka, it's assumed that they wouldn't be interested in western
designer accessories.
Joe: Yes, Alison, this is important because it shows that learners relate to the spaces they enterby conforming to or by resisting identities that are assumed of them in that space. Anotherpresentation concerned with how public spaces are used was “Social learning spaces and ‘theInvisible Fence” by Garold Murray, Naomi Fujishima, and Mariko Uzuka. They used the concept of“communities of practice” to investigate membership of and access to spaces in a Social Language
Learning Space (SLLS) at a large Japanese university. In particular, one concern of the SLLS was
about making newcomers feel invited and included, which can be difficult as spaces ofparticipation can be created via the exclusion of others. Various ways were used to help
newcomer students gain access, such as old-timers inviting passers-by inside the SLLS, decorating
the entryways with posters bearing information about the activities inside, and providing
newcomers with roles for participation.
This makes me realize that spaces can exist even where there are no actual walls or linesof demarcation. The example in this presentation was an open door to the SLLS: the spaces insideand outside the SLLS are open to each other, and merge to form a single space. Similarly, inside
the SLLS, subspaces may not actually have walls that keep people out, but when others are using
the area, some students may feel they are not allowed in. It’s another case of the mutuallyconstitutive influence of spaces on the behaviours and identities of the people who inhabit them.
This reminds me of another study in which office location became a determining factor for
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Backstudents taking doctoral exams. Those with offices more central in relation to the other offices on
campus were physically able to consult more with each other and, through sharing their beliefs
about ways of coping with the stress and studying for the exams, eventually fared better thanthose with offices on the periphery (Mechanic, 1978).
Alison: Interesting! So it's not only a matter of spaces having insides and outsides, but also ofcentres and peripheries! It’s very complicated, isn’t it? I think one of the most interesting aspectsof all in this presentation, as with all the presentations in this symposium, is the way it brought
out new dimensions of what constitutes context. Physical space is one dimension, but atmosphereis also part of context. Or is it? Is atmosphere created or at least influenced by the physicalproperties of a place, or is it something that arises from the interactions and relationships
between the people inhabiting it? These are some of the key questions that occurred to me fromlistening to Garold, Naomi and Mariko’s presentation, and also from another presentation ofresearch set in Japan by Katherine Thornton.
Joe: That’s right, Alison. Katherine’s presentation dealt with space and place in a self-accesscentre in Japan. Combining questionnaires with student and staff observations over threesemesters, she explored how students thought, felt, and behaved in various areas and rooms (i.e.,
subspaces) within a newly built self-access centre. The purpose of the study was to use thefindings to promote meaningful uses of the various subspaces in the center. One of the changes
made was the name of the overall space, the centre, from something sounding like a largeorganization to a friendly community café, E-CO (meaning English Café at Otemon). The main
finding was that students were inclined to use spaces that were most convenient for socialising,such as sitting in a cozy corner with small sofas or standing around the counter chatting. Students
spent less time in quiet study but they increased their social use of English over Japanese, andthe Japanese that they did use became more oriented toward learning socially rather than justsocializing (i.e., they were talking about learning). Spaces created collaboratively for learning
within a relaxed social environment increased students’ willingness to communicate in English.
Notably, the students’ own preferences for using space were included in the decision-making for
improving the design of the facility.
Alison: While the previous two studies looked at how students do or don’t appropriate
institutional space for their own learning purposes, the last two presentations dealt with thelearning that students do outside of the classroom. In Lindsay Miller and Christoph Hafner’s
presentation, “Creating spaces for autonomous learning in an EST course”, the locus of learning
was shifted to outside the institution, a Hong Kong university, as more traditional writing
assignments were replaced with corpus quizzes, a group project to make a scientific video
documentary, and an individual written report. A study of the students, using questionnaires andfocus groups, as well as project artifacts and out-of-class communication, pinpointed where andhow the students interacted about their video project. Whereas class time was devoted toNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Backpreparation and support in creating and filming the documentary, the students took ownership of
the project and spent a remarkable number of hours practicing and honing the quality of their
final video.
Joe: Lindsay and Christoph’s presentation also reminds me that out-of-class learning is wheremost learning actually occurs, as language learning requires a lot of time, more than what canusually be offered within the time constraints of a class and curriculum. Therefore, it’s important
for their own developing autonomy as life-long learners that students recognize this and maketime for learning English outside of the classroom and the class schedule.
Alison: I agree, Joe, and I would say that the huge increase in time spent on the project was
undoubtedly the key here. A similar point comes through in the final presentation “Publicpedagogy through mobile learning: Autonomy and acquisition” by Hayo Reinders. Hayo reported
on a refreshingly traditional experiment to test the effect of listening to audio books using mobile
phones on Korean students’ acquisition of the passive voice. The study divided a cohort ofstudents into three groups: over the course of one week, one group listened to audio books withpauses inserted, a second listening to audio books with the speed slowed down, and a control
group listened to the audio books played at normal speed. Predictably, the first group performed
slightly better than the second, which performed slightly better than the third, and all threegroup performed better in the post-test grammar check than in the pre-test check. Statistically,
however, the results were not significant. Nevertheless, the students enjoyed the activity, and itis this enjoyment that will make it more likely that they will continue the activity and get tospend the additional hours listening which should eventually enhance their learning. These final
two presentations weren’t so much about space and place in the way that the first four were;instead they focused on the learners, the spaces that they move in and out of, and theopportunities that they have or make for autonomous learning.
Joe: What I learned from these two last presentations was how much attention and interest canbe enhanced when learners have the freedom to choose the time and place for their learning. I
wonder if the Hong Kong students working on the video project were even aware of how muchtime they spent doing it. That state of becoming enraptured in the process itself, of losing oneself
to the activity, is a state of “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi,1990).
Alison: This is really interesting! When you are completely absorbed in something, time and place
seem to fall away—only the activity itself remains. Flow is complete freedom of action andthought; space, or the awareness of it, is actually a constraint on freedom. What do you think?
Joe: Yes, that’s right Alison! In this sense, space can be binding. I suppose that in other senses
space can bring liberation. For the group project from Hong Kong, some students enjoyed working
individually from within their own rooms, a private space, while collaborating together online, a
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Backpublic space. Alternatively, by sitting in the alcove of a public hallway, as seen in the Emirati
university, a student positions herself in a restricted space to attain privacy. So what we see hereis that people’s uses of space are important for how they see themselves, and how they wish tointeract with or avoid others.
Alison: I would agree with you: space can bring liberation, but how does that work? I think what I
want to say is that space usually is a constraint. As Lefebvre (2009) writes, “Space is political andideological” (p. 171). What I take this to mean is that space, whether in the physical sense of abuilding, a street, a park, or a forest, or in the symbolic sense of social space (e.g., Bourdieu,
1990), is created and appropriated by people with particular purposes in mind. The opposite ofspace would be the void or entropy, that is, space with no meaning and no purpose. So space isnecessary, because it gives things meaning. It also provides us with affordances (van Lier, 2001;
Menezes, 2011), that is, opportunities for learning, provided we have the autonomy to seize thoseopportunities. In its original sense, an affordance is something in our environment that pushes us
to change or adjust our behaviour (Gibson, 1992). I think this is the sense in which we can think ofspace and place in learner autonomy. When we are habituated to something, we forget about
space and place, but when we're new to something, such as a new language, space and placemaybe matter more.
Joe: That’s a good observation. We don’t usually notice much about the spaces and places withwhich we are most familiar. This was also the subject of a plenary at the AILA conference by Elena
Shohamy. Public spaces and their influence on human interaction can be constructed by the
linguistic landscape, particularly the texts, symbols, and pictures seen in outdoor or open
locations, such as on signs, mass-produced and replicated by industrial processes, such as thedesign of commodities, and in print, video, and internet media. Linguistic landscapes represent
and help create individual and cultural identities, power relationships, and transgressions(Shohamy & Gorter, 2009).
One of the exciting things suggested to me from this symposium was the notion thatlearners can actively participate in the creation of their private and public spaces for learning. At
any moment, students have choices and can create opportunities to collaborate with others,
distribute their knowledge, and situate themselves within physical, psychological, social, andtemporal spaces. Natural fluctuations and fluidity, and contextual co-constructing dynamics, canshape these spaces. For me, this means that teachers and students can choose to act
autonomously, that human autonomy articulates and becomes articulated by language use within
and beyond spaces and places, some of which we are very familiar with, and some we are noteven aware of.
Alison, what new understandings came to you from this symposium?
Alison: I’m not sure it’s a new understanding so much as a clarification that space is a vital anddynamic way of looking at power relations in social contexts. The “social turn” (Block, 2003) has
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Backbeen recognized as a major advance in applied linguistics for more than a decade. I would like tohope that a “spatial turn” (a term which, I realize, has been in force for well over two decades inother fields) will be our next new horizon. As I mentioned before, there are already pioneers in
our field, such as the late Leo van Lier and Vera Menezes, who have broken new ground in their
explorations of affordances. Gergana’s use of Lefebvre in her study was really fascinating as an
example of how postmodern spatial theories can underpin research into learner autonomy. But
the symposium as a whole, convened by Garold Murray and Terry Lamb, must be commended as ashowcase of cutting-edge research.
As a final word, I note that the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine has this year gone
to John O’Keefe, Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser for their research into “place cells”. Thesebrain cells not only help us map our way around the world, “but in humans at least they form partof the spatiotemporal scaffold in our brains that supports our autobiographical memory” (BBC,October 6th, 2014). What clearer indication can there be than this, of the importance of space andplace in human lives? What greater precedence can there be of the need to research it in our own
field of applied linguistics?
References
Block, D. (2003). The social turn in applied linguistics. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. (Trans. R. Nice). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper
Collins.
Gallagher, J. (2014). Nobel Prize for the brain’s GPS discovery. BBC, October 6th, 2014<http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29504761> Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach tovisual perception. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Lefebvre, H. (2009). State, space, world: Selected essays. (Ed. N. Brenner & S. Elden).
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Mechanic, D. (1978). Students under stress: A study in the social psychology of adaptation.
Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Menezes, V. (2011). Affordances for language learning beyond the classroom. In P. Benson & H.
Reinders (Eds.), Beyond the language classroom. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan
Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D. (Eds.) (2009). Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery. New York:
Routledge.
van Lier, L. (2000). From input to affordance: Social-interactive learning from an ecologicalperspective. In J. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language
learning. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Back
Recently released books andarticles on Learner Development
The following list is an extract of one that was compiled by one of cofounders of the LDSIG, Richard Smith,and reprinted here with his permission.
If you are interested in seeing the original list that goes back to 1977 please click here.
If you are interested in doing -- and, with mentoring, feel competent to do -- a PhD in the area of 'History of
the language learner autonomy movement' please get into contact with him at<R.C.Smith@warwick.ac.uk>.
Morrison, B.R. & Navarro, D. (2014). The Autonomy Approach: Language Learning in the Classroom and
Beyond. Peaslake: Delta Publishing. Further information.
Murray, G., ed. (2014). Social Dimensions of Autonomy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Further
information.
Barfield, A. and Delgado Alvarado, N., eds. (2013). Autonomy in Language Learning: Stories of Practices.
Canterbury, England: IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG. Further information.
Benson, P. and Cooker, L., eds. (2013). The Applied Linguistic Individual: Sociocultural Approaches to
Identity, Agency and Autonomy. Sheffield: Equinox.
Crabbe, D., Elgort, I. and Gu, P., eds. (2013). Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching (7/3). Special
issue: Autonomy in a Networked World. Table of contents.
Hobbs, M. and Dofs, K., eds. (2013). ILAC Selections: 5th Independent Learning Association Conference.
Christchurch, New Zealand: Independent Learning Association. Online: http://
www.independentlearning.org/uploads/100836/files/ILA_2012_Proceedings.pdf
Huang, J. and Benson, P., eds. (2013). Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics (36/1). Special issue for the
16th World Congress of Applied Linguistics: Autonomy in Foreign and Second Language Education. Tableof contents
Ludwig, C. and Mynard, J., eds. (2013). Autonomy in Language Learning: Advising in Action. Canberbury,
England: IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG. Further information.
Menegale, M., ed. (2013). Autonomy in Language Learning: Getting Learners Actively Involved.
Canterbury, England: IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG. Further information.
If you have read any of the above books and would like to submit a review, please send it on to<learninglearningjaltldsig@gmail.com>

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Forward

Looking Forward 今後のイベント
JALT National Conference Preview
At this year’s conference their are a number of events related to Learner Development, notforgetting of course the LD SIG party, LD SIG forum and the LD SIG AGM. Thus we have included
first a preview of the LD SIG forum and following that, a list of selected presentations at theconference that are related to Learner Development.
The Learner Development SIG Party at JALT2014
Join us for the Learner Development SIG Party at JALT2014 on Saturday, 22nd November(20:00-22:00). Dinner will include nomihodai and Italian dishes (starter, salad, roasted chicken,
pizzza, pasta, and dessert) for 5000yen at an Italian restaurant just a few minutes’ walk from theconference venue.
RSVP: please sign up on this Google Spreadsheet by Wednesday, November 12th.
*Vegetarian options can also be arranged. Please let us know if you have any dietary requirementsin the Notes when you sign up.
Learner Development Across Borders
Sunday, 23 November 2014, 1:35 PM - 3:05 PM (90 minutes)
Room: Convention Hall 300
This year the LD forum consists of 17 interactive presentations focusing on learner development
across various borders. Presentations will include: learner development practices in countries
outside Japan; theories both inside and outside of ELT that help us to understand learnerdevelopment; and learner development between and across different institutional contexts. By
popular request, the Forum will end with the recital of an original poem on learner development.
We warmly invite you to participate in the forum and share your thought and ideas with thepresenters.
Across the Border of a Classroom Wall
Mayumi Abe - Temple University, Satomi Yoshimuta - Seigakuin University, Huw Davies - The Open
University
As "good language learners" studies showed, learners need plentiful engagement in their target
language for successful L2 learning. Considering the limited amount of time in class, it isnecessary for learners to expand their learning from inside to outside class across the borders ofclassroom walls. Then, how can learners develop their skills after learning in class? How is in-classlearning linked to out-of-class learning from the learners' perspectives? What guidance promotes
learners' out-of-class autonomous learning? The presenters will explore how to gain optimal
outcomes by connecting in-class and out-of-class learning providing their own experiences asteachers and advisors.
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Forward
Utilizing a blog for stimulating interest, spurring motivation, and creating community
Lee Arnold - Seigakuin University
This presentation spotlights blog-publishing learner writing to create learner-teacher reader
communities in writing courses in two universities. The presenter will discuss the use of differing
pieces of instrumental music as stimulants to learner writing in one course, and photographs ofdiffering places in another. From there, selections of learner writing that were published on thepresenter’s two teaching and learning blogs will be shown. The presenter will finally discuss how
writing publication and blog support crossed the borders of the computer-assisted learning
medium and learner development in showcasing unique efforts of creative learner writing,and building learner independence.
Exploring Motivational Boundaries in the language learning classroom
Stephanie Corwin
This presentation will share the preliminary results of ongoing research into the nexus of teacher"quality", motivation, resilience and motivational drives, such as how teachers maintain or boost
motivation, how integrally teachers perceive the relationship between their own and theirstudents' motivations, and how consciously teachers attempt to manipulate student motivation
through their own motivation. This study seeks to better understand the link between student andteacher motivation and, if possible, either identify or eliminate causality—Does the teacher makethe class, or the class make the teacher? Come explore the boundaries of motivation in thelanguage learning classroom.
Pedagogy in Translation: Bringing Learner Development From Across Borders into Japan
Amanda Chin, Brandon Narasaki – Rikkyo University
This presentation will focus on relating the presenters' experiences of teaching in several
different ESL/EFL contexts, (e.g. Hawaii, Thailand and Japan) to the Japanese University EFL
context. Both presenters have taught in a variety of classrooms (Listening / Reading / Writing /Speaking / etc.) in which learner development pedagogy was implemented, one example being
the development of writing habits through free-writing journals in an academic writing course.
These experiences have been useful in informing ways to incorporate learner development into
university level EFL teaching in Japan.
Orienting Students to Learning
Hana Craig - Sojo University, Kumamoto, Jenny Morgan - Wayo Women’s University, Chiba
Language teachers often rush into content teaching at the beginning of a course without properly
inducting their freshmen students who are crossing from the Senior High School learning
environment to the University learning environment. As a result, these students can miss out on
opportunities to learn both inside and outside the classroom. This presentation will explain whytime spent on learner orientation is more important than any other classroom activity and explore
practical ways to successfully orient learners to learning at the beginning of any language course.
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Forward
We will cover ways of training students about learning methods, goal-setting, time and homework
management, and tools that support an all-English environment.
Integrating Journalism into the Language Classroom
Chris Fitzgerald - Kyoto University of Foreign Studies
This presentation will outline a project which took place in Kyoto University of Foreign Studies
that gave students an opportunity to become journalists by creating an English language student
newspaper. By analysing both new media and traditional media, students were exposed to thestructure and language of news before researching and developing their own articles. By following
the inverted pyramid approach to article structure, students were able to produce a publication
suitable for reading by university faculty and students. Students not only gained from taking on
different roles outside of their comfort zone, but benefited from practical use of classroom
acquired language.
How far is it necessary to adapt speaking activities for different levels?
Paul Garside, Paul Landicho – Rikkyo University
There is a common perception that classes of different abilities require very different lessons andmaterials. With a focus on micro-speaking classes, this presentation will show that, by adapting
learning strategies rather than materials, similar speaking activities can be conducted among alllevels of proficiency. This can apply to very high, even ‘returnee’ students, as well as to very low
level students. Key amongst these strategies is working collaboratively, with the aim that all
students can communicate successfully, independent of the teacher. Encouraging self and peerreflection can further help students to become autonomous learners.
When they don’t want to learn what you teach anymore
Bob Gettings - Hokusei Gakuen University
Many junior college students lose their enthusiasm for EFL study when their dreams of an English
language related future are crushed as they move from their first year to their second year atuniversity by the hard realities of their grades, the economy and the job market. This
presentation will report on a ten year long LD project that provides students with online study
materials and includes personal interviews between students and academic advisers three times asemester. The purpose is to develop a personalized EFL study program but students’ wider needs
may require leaving English behind temporarily in order to meet new, individual learning needs.
Crossing the line: Using Business and Media Ideas to Promote Learner Development
Ian Hurrell, Carey Finn – Rikkyo University
In this interactive presentation, two English Instructors from Rikkyo University will discuss how
ideas, theories and skills from disciplines often perceived as unrelated to EFL might be adopted
and adapted to promote Learner Development in micro discussion classes. One presenter will
focus on the application of business management and marketing techniques, such as self学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Forward
determination theory and the use of mantras, to encourage learner autonomy. At the same time,
the other speaker will explore the development of critical thinking skills through concepts andtechniques drawn from discourse analysis and media literacy, such as hegemony and stereotypes
Cross-Institutional Collaboration of Sotsurons Via Computer-Mediated Communication:
Unfolding Ventures
Ken Ikeda - Otsuma Women's University, Joseph Tomei - Kumamoto Gakuen University
Hugh Nicoll - Miyazaki National University, Patrick Kiernan - Meiji University
Kevin Mark - Meiji University, Anita Aden - Mukogawa Women's University
This is an exploratory project in which teachers and learners utilize computer-mediatedcommunication (CMC) to establish and develop sotsuron (undergraduate graduation theses)
between seminars in several universities throughout Japan. We will report on myriad dimensionsof sotsuron development in these cross-institutional settings amid technological and logisticalconcerns, along with students’ real-world concerns, e.g., job-hunting and graduation. We delve
into effects and ramifications using Skype, Line and other forms of CMC among learners andteachers. This project meets the contours of Border 3: learner development across contextual
borders, by which extent contextual factors influence the implementation of learner development
concepts.
Fostering Learner Autonomy in the Classroom: Working with Diverse Learners of Japanese as a
Second Language
Tomoko Ikeda, Nobuko Saito - Obirin University
At J. F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, we have offered JSL courses designed to foster learnerautonomy since 2003. These courses, in which learners set goals, make plans, put the plans into
practice, and evaluate their work, are offered for a diverse body of international students. This
diversity presents different types of challenge to the instructors working with the learners withvarious backgrounds, abilities, and motivations. Looking at the learning activities selected by thelearners and their perceptions of the process, we will examine various forms that learnerautonomy can take, with emphasis on the learners' differing proficiency levels.
Exploring autonomous learning in elementary schools and junior high schools
Tomoko Imamura - Yamanashi Gakuin Elementary School
This presentation will explore to what extent it is effective for elementary school students andjunior high school students to learn how to be autonomous learners. The following three issues
will also be discussed: when to start, how to facilitate, and of any gap that might exist between
the views of teachers who work for elementary schools and junior high schools over this issue. The
reason for targeting teachers from both levels of education is because of the need to strengthen
the bridge between both levels so that learner-centered education might be better fostered. This
poster presentation will summarize the results of a pre-conducted small scale research on thisissue.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Forward
Collaborative and reflective supervision for learner and teacher development: A CLIL-type
approach to senior high school EFL instruction
Hideo Kojima - Hirosaki University
My presentation focuses on examining to what extent collaborative and reflective supervision(CRS) promoted a graduate student and senior high school teacher’s autonomy and her students’autonomy through a CLIL-type approach to teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). In spite ofvarious constraints on learner development across borders, the students gradually showed positive
attitudes towards critically thinking about various social issues, enhanced communication skills
through collaborative group work, and developed metacognitive abilities for learner autonomy.
Moreover, through the reflective teaching cycles under my CRS, the teacher promoted her
professional consciousness-raising and autonomous development in the school context.
Positive Psychology in Learner Development
Debjani Ray - Tokyo University of Science
I would like to focus on how ideas outside the field of language education can be used tocomplement learner development and enhance learning in our language classrooms. In order to do
this, I will focus on the use of positive psychology in the language classroom and how theymight illuminate new directions for learner development. I will elaborate this by giving examplesof the activities that have been implemented in my classroom.
Crossing linguistic borders in teachers and learners minds: Languages
Maria Gabriela Schmidt - Tsukuba University, Foreign Language Center
Students and teachers have often more languages at their hands. But the focus is on error
analysis, not mixing up, making borders between the languages. Our brain is without borders,making continuously synergetic associations. Teaching German as a second foreign language,
English is part of my instruction. How can the third foreign languages like German, French,
Spanish, Chinese, Korean etc. be included in studying English, supporting each other, developing
linguistic awareness and synergetic abilities? How does the teacher's experience studying foreign
languages influence her teaching style? How can these potentials be used in teaching foreign
languages in Japan?
How to develop learner autonomy in a "lecture" class.
Kazuko Unosawa - Tokyo Woman's Christian University
In this poster session the presenter will focus on how to bridge the gap between
traditional lecture classes and classes that promote learner autonomy, based on her experienceteaching an English Studies course at a women's university. The course consisted of mini-lectures,weekly worksheets for learner centered tasks as well as poster sessions by the students.
Exploring learners' metacognitive beliefs and development of their active learning skills
Kie Yamamoto - Temple University Japan Campus
Academic success in an English-medium college is a great challenge for ESL students not only
because of language boundary, but high demand of learning strategies in university settings. In
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Forward
order to better equip ESL students in a college preparation program with active learning skills
that are applicable both to undergraduate studies and language learning, I intend to investigate
learners’ metacognitive beliefs and implement the active learning materials throughout the
project.
Poetry recital: Theories of Second Language Requisition
Caroline Ross - Nakamura Junior and Senior High School
While sometimes we can enjoy the benefits of students who are motivated to learn a foreign
language, many classrooms are filled with students who have no interest or desire to be there,
but are simply required to attend as part of their course or curriculum requirements. In this
poem, I will reflect upon this common reality encountered time and time again by language
teachers around the world.
Other Selected presentations related to Learner Development
SATURDAY

Room

Title

Presenters

11:35 AM
1:35 PM

1st Floor
AtriumMultiple Learning Conversations
for Course Design

Barfield, Andy - Chuo
University

12:45 PM 2:15 PM

Rm 101

Exploring Worlds Outside:
Students as Researchers

Boon, Andrew - Toyo Gakuen
University

4:30 PM - 6:30
PM

1st Floor
AtriumStudents' Awareness ofAutonomous Learning

Tsukamoto, Mizuka - Kwansei
Gakuin University

4:30 PM - 4:55
PM

Rm 102

Communities of Practice andLanguage Learners

Nagao, Akiko - Ritsumeikan
University

4:30 PM - 4:55
PM

Rm 201 A

Autonomy, Language Learningand the Brain

Benson, Philip - Macquarie
University

5:05 PM - 5:30
PM

Rm 102

Community Outreach andLearning From Within

Lee, Sarah - Asia University,
CELE

5:40 PM - 6:40
PM

Rm 302Developing SRL Practices in theForeign Language Classroom

Collett, Paul - Shimonoseki
City University; Sullivan,
Kristen - Shimonoseki City
University

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Forward
SUNDAY

Room

Title

Presenters

11:30 AM 12:15 PM

Rm 101

Learner Development SIG AGM

Stewart, Alison - Gakushuin
University; Murase, Fumiko Tokyo University ofAgriculture and Technology

12:25 PM 12:50 PM

Rm 102

Gratitude Project: Writing,Reading, and Reporting

Harada, Naoko - Kyorin
University

1:00 PM - 2:30
PM

Rm 402Finding What Motivates Adult
Learners

Dias, Joseph - Aoyama Gakuin
University; Bollinger, Deborah- Aoyama Gakuin University;
Yamane, Kathleen - Nara
University

4:30 PM - 5:30
PM

Rm 102

Exploring Worlds Inside:
Teachers as Researchers

Boon, Andrew - Toyo Gakuen
University

5:40 PM - 7:10
PM

Rm 202 B

Self-Access Conversations:
Beyond Classroom Borders

Thornton, Katherine Otemon Gakuin University;
Shibata, Satomi - Tokoha
University; Ssali, Vick - Aichi
Gakuin University; Mynard, Jo- Kanda University ofInternational Studies;
Watkins, Satoko - Kanda
University of International
StudiesMONDAY

Room

Title

9:15 AM 10:45 AM;

Convention
Hall 200

Collaborative Approaches to
Outreach

Stewart, Alison - Gakushuin
University; Barfield, Andy - Chuo
University; O'Neill, Ted - Tokyo
Medical & Dental University

11:35 AM 12:00 PM

Convention
Hall 300

Crossing Borders With
Appreciative Inquiry

Murphey, Tim - Kanda Universityof International Studies; Onoda,
Sakae - Kanda University ofInternational Studies

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Looking Forward
MONDAY

Room

Title

Presenter

11:35 AM 12:00 PM

Rm 102

Learner Autonomy and the
Negotiated Syllabus

Peppard, Jason - Yamagata
University

12:45 PM 1:10 PM

Convention
Hall 300

Autonomy and Borderless
Learning Strategies

Grafström, Ben - Akita University

1:20 PM 1:45 PM

Rm 201 A

Effective Reflection in The
Learning Process

Brown, Steve - Konan Women's
University

2:30 PM 2:55 PM

Convention
Hall 200

Learners' Lifelong Learning
Orientations

Deveci, Tanju - the Petroleum
Institute

Conference Calendar
December 6th ~ December 7th, 2014,“Conflict Management: Peace in the community”
Peace as a Global Language Conference 2014 <http://pgljapan.org/>
Join us for an exciting line-up of presentations, workshops and posters that focus on peace activism
and education. Please come to take part in the discussion, debate and contemplation, as we cometogether to realise our potential as co-inhabitants of a shrinking planet.
December 14 2014, Tokyo, "Creating Community: Learning Together"
One-day informal Learner Development Conference <http://ld-sig.org/blog/creatingcommunity-learning-together/>
Join us for an informal relaxing afternoon conference to learn together from teacher and student
presenters, about different experiences, questions and issues to do with learner development andcommunity building.
February, 28 - March 01 2015, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, “English: Building Skills for Regional
Cooperation and Mobility.”
2015 CamTESOL Conference.<http://www.camtesol.org/>
Join us in 2015 for the 11th Annual CAMTESOL conference on English Language and Teaching, theELT conference on the Mekong with more than 1,500 participants from over 30 countries.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Sig Matters

Call For Contributions
原稿募集
Learning Learning is your space for continuing
to make the connections that interest you.
You are warmly invited and encouraged tocontribute to the next issue of Learning
Learning in either English and/or Japanese.
We welcome writing in different formats anddifferent lengths about different issues
connected with learner and teacher
development, such as:『学習の学習』は会員に興味あるつながりを構築する空間です。次号『学習の学習』への和文(もしくは英文、及び二言語での)投稿を募集しています。形式や長さを問わず、学習者及び教員の発達に関連した以下のようなさまざま文章を歓迎しています:• articles (about 2,500 to 4,000 words)• reports (about 500 to 1,000 words)• learner histories (about 500 to 1,000 words)• stories of autonomy (about 500 to 1,000
words)• book reviews (about 500 to 1,000 words)• letters to the SIG (about 500 words)• personal profiles (100 words more or less)• critical reflections (100 words more or less)• research interests (100 words more or less)• photographs• poems... and much more...
We would like to encourage new writing andnew writers and are also very happy to workwith you in developing your writing. We would
be delighted to hear from you about yourideas, reflections, experiences, and interests
to do with learner development, learnerautonomy and teacher autonomy.

•

論文 (約4000字-10000字)•

報告書 (約2000字-4000字)•

学習者のヒストリー (約2000字-4000字)•

自律性に関する体験談 (約2000字-4000
字)•

書評 (約2000字-4000字) • SIGへの手紙(約2000字)•

個人プロフィール (約400字)•

クリティカル・リフレクション (約400
字)•研究興味 (約400字)•

写真 •詩 その他

これまでにない形式のもの、また新しい方々からのご投稿をお待ちしております。内容について もぜひご相談ください。みなさまのご意見やお考え、ご経験、そして学習者の発達、学習
者の自律性と教師の自律性に関することなど、
ぜひお聞かせください。

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (2): Sig Matters

Financial Report, 財務報告
SIG fund balance August 31, 2014 / SIG資金残高2014年8月31日
Balance in bank account 銀行口座の残高

242,777

Reserve liabilities JALT本部預け金

368,250

Cash at hand 現金

230
TOTAL

PLANNED EXPENSES September to December 2014

611,257

合計

2014年9月- 12月予定経費

Table rental at JALT 2014／JALT2014 全国大会テーブルレンタル代-17,000

Shipping LD materials to the conferences／SIGテーブル用マテリアル送料-30,000

LD SIG site cost／SIGウェブサイト経費-7,500Donation for best of JALT 2014／Best of JALTサポート-25,000

2 Research grants／研究助成金-50,000

3 National grants／全国大会参加助成金-120,000

2 Outreach grants used for Musashi participation JALT2014／アウトリーチ助成金より、-40,000

JALT2014むさしさん参加費
JALT2014 Musashi participation／JALT2014むさしさん参加費-60,000

December informal conference Creating Community: Learning Together ／インフォーマルSIG-30,000

学会「コミュニティの創造：共に学ぶ」
Other miscellaneous／他の雑費-20,000
SUB-TOTALPROJECTED REVENUE September to December 2014

小計

-399,500

2014年9月- 12月予定収入

Membership 100.5 members (201 members x 6 months/12)／会費半年分

150,750

December informal conference Creating Community: Learning Together／インフォーマルSIG

30,000学会「コミュニティの創造：共に学ぶ」
SUB-TOTAL

小計

180,750

Projected SIG fund balance December 31st, 2014 / 予定SIG資金残高2014年12月31日
Balance in bank account 銀行口座の残高

24,027

Reserve liabilities JALT本部預け金

368,250

Cash at hand 現金

230
TOTAL

Mayumi Abe 阿部

合計

392,507

真由美

LD SIG treasurer LDSIG財務
October 19, 2014 2014年10月19日

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