LEARNING LEARNING!
『学習の学習』
1~8!
1!
4!

Greetings and News Updates 挨拶と近況報告!
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 Kansai, Tokyo and Hiroshima!
つながりを求めて：関西・東京 ・広島

9~12

LD SIG 2013 Research Grant Awardees!
2013 年度 LD SIG 研究助成金受賞者!

13~3
2!

LD SIG 20th Anniversary Conference: Opportunities for Career Development and Teacher Development, Tanja
McCandie!
Report on LDSIG Conference 2013, Michael T. Sullivan!
A student’s perspective on JALT 2013, Aya Matsumoto!
Different perspectives on JALT2013 national conference, Caroline Ross!
Autonomous learning and intercultural communication: discoveries and perspectives, Michi Saki

LD SIG Members' Voices メンバーの声!
Learning and Growing in the Young Learner Classroom, Kathleen Cahill!
Teacher development is an essential part of learner development, Jenny Morgan!
From learner to educator- start a new journey through learner development, Kie Yamamoto!
My English Learning History and Learner Development, Tomoko Imamura!
“Language is the most human”, Maria Gabriela Schmidt!
Immersion Please!, Paul Anthony Marshall!
My journey towards joining the Learner Development SIG, Ben Rowlett!
Viewing low motivation and competence through a learner-development framework, Stephen Paton!
Learning From My Own Children, Emiko Matsui

Special Feature 特集!
The March 2014 Tohoku Outreach Weekend: A Collaborative Report, Andy Barfield, Sayuri
Hasegawa, Rob Moreau, Ted O’Neill, and Mayumi Takizawa
NGO Outreach

Looking Forward 今後のイベント!
LD SIG FORUM at the PANSIG Conference in Miyazaki!
JALTCALL 2014 LD SIG FORUM

17!
20!
23!
25

33~4
8!
34!
35!
38!
39!
40!
40!
42!
43!
44!
47!

49~6
5

72~7
3!

SIG Matters インフォメーション !
Financial Report 財務報告

13!

66~6
8
69~7
1

NGO アウトリーチ

Call For Contributions『学習の学習』原稿募集!

!
!

ISSN 1882-1103
NEWSLETTER / SPRING 2014 / LL 21 (1 )

72!
73!

Learning Learning『学習の学習』 21 (1): Greetings and NewsUpdates

In This Issue 今号について
Jim Ronald & Monika Szirmai
Welcome to the Spring 2014 issue of Learning

Conference, Caroline Ross and Aya Matsumoto on

Learning 『学習の学習』, the Learner Development

the JALT National Conference. The final essay is a

SIG’s (LD SIG) biannual online newsletter. !

paper by Michi Saki on the various challenges and!

opportunities for autonomous learner

Since the last issue of our newsletter, theLearner Development SIG has come of age – or atdevelopment offered by a class of Japanese andleast had our birthday party, with the truly

international students.!

wonderful Learner Development 20th Anniversary!

Conference. Is the SIG’s coming of age evident in

but we hope that you will find a lot worth looking

this issue of Learning Learning? If maturity isback on through the grant awardees’ reflections. As

measured by the extent to which a newsletter hasfor “Looking Forward”, there is a brief account ofgrown up into something closer to an academic

the LD SIG Forum at the PanSIG conference: welljournal, then the answer from this issue would

worth reading as a window onto the forum even if

probably be no. But, then, the LD SIG is special! At

it is not actually looking forward by the time you

the heart of this issue of Learning Learning there isread it! There is also information about the forum

no academic feature article, but there is a lot ofat the upcoming JALT CALL conference. !

heart to the newsletter! Read on and see what we!

mean…!

teamwork, representing the work of many people,!

The newsletter begins with an update on

There is no actual “Looking Back” section:

Learning Learning is a product ofin addition to the various contributors named

the latest news from the LD SIG from our SIG

above. We would like to thank the coordinators

coordinators, Fumiko Murase and Alison Stewart.

who helped prepare a lot of the content of thisThis is followed by reports from local get-togethers

issue: Andy Barfield for Members’ Voices and thein Kansai, Tokyo and Hiroshima. Next, theTohoku Outreach report, and Christopher

Members’ Voices section introduces us to nine(!)

Fitzgerald for Grant Awardees’ essays. !

new SIG members. Please take time to meet them!

through these pages.!

of Learning Learning for this issue, and our thanks!

go first to Chika Hayashi, stepping in to coordinate

The Special Feature, the heart of this issue,

We tried to increase the Japanese content

is the quietly impressive report of the Tohoku

this so professionally, and to all who willingly

Outreach Weekend, put together by Andy Barfield,

helped with the translation: Akiko Awa, Midori

Sayuri Hasegawa, Rob Moreau, Ted O’Neill, andKanmei, Tadashi Kashiwara, Tomoko Kawachi,

Mayumi Takizawa. !

Aiko Minematsu, Kayo Ozawa, Yukari Rutson-!

Griffiths, Yoshiko Tatsuta, and Chika herself. Once

This is followed by essays from therecipients of grants from the LD SIG for 2013. Fouragain, thank you!!

of these were reflections on the conferences they!

attended: Tanja McCandie and Michael Sullivan on

Hiroshima get-together regulars – many thanks to

the Learner Development 20th Anniversary

Robert Taferner, Simon Capper, Naomi Fujishima

Proofreading was largely undertaken by

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!1

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (1): Greetings and News Updates
and Ariel Sorensen. And also to Alison Stewart for
helping out, too!!
!

Our thanks go to James Underwood, ourlead editor, especially for his help in getting us

まずはコーディネーターのFumiko MuraseとAlison StewartがLD SIGの近況を報告します。次に関西、東京、広島の各地域からの報告がありま

started and getting us finished! And finally, as his

す。続いて「メンバーの声」のコーナーでは、なんis the final stage in the whole process, we wouldと９人の新メンバー紹介があります。!

like to thank Hugh Nicoll for the work of
uploading this issue to the LD SIG website: not as
simple a task as these few words may imply! !
!

We are always looking for new members

to join our team, so if you would be interested in
becoming involved in some way in Learning
Learning, please get in touch with us. Among thejoys of editing has been the opportunity to take

特集記事はAndy Barfield, Sayuri Hasegawa,
Rob Moreau, Ted O’Neil, Mayumi Takizawaによる東北訪問記です。!
それから２０１３年LD SIG助成金受賞者によるレポートです。４人の学会報告はTanja McCardleと Michael SullivanがLD２０周年記念大会です、

time over carefully reading each contribution, andCaroline Ross とAya MatsumotoがJALT全国大会、

working together with such a great team of people.

Michael SullivanがLD２０周年記念大会です。そしJoin us!!

!

てMichi Sakiが、日本人と外国人学生の混合クラス
を通して自立学習が発達していく上での様々な課

Best wishes,!
!

題と機会についてレポートします。!
今回は「ふりかえり（内省）」のページはありませんが、助成金受賞者の感想、省察を活用ください。今後に向けては、Pan SIG大会のLD SIG
フォーラムについての短いお知らせがあります。
JALT CALL大会の情報もあります。!

!

Jim Ronald『学習の学習』は多くの皆さんが参加してくだ&

Monika Szirmai!

Co-editors, Spring 2014 issue.!

!

さったチームワークの産物です。最新号のコーディ
ネーターはAndy Barfieldが「メンバーの声」と東Learner Development SIGによる『学習の学習』!

２０１４年春号オンライン版へようこそ。

北訪問記、Christopher Fitzgeraldが助成金受賞者の報告です。!

前回号から、Learner Development SIGは２０周

今回号ではChika Hayashiがコーディネーターと年記念大会を開催することができ、めでたく成人なって日本語の内容を増やしました。翻訳協力者

式を迎えました！

今回号には成人らしさが表れているでしょうか？学術雑誌らしくなることを成人の成熟と呼ぶなら、今回号は少し違うかもしれませんがLD SIGは特別です。学術的ではないかもとしてご協力くださったAkiko Awa, Midori
Kanmei, Tadashi Kashiwara, Tomoko Kawachi,
Aiko Minematsu, Kayo Ozawa, Yukari RutsonGriffiths, Yoshiko Tatsuta, Chika Hayashiに感謝いしれませんが、情熱あふれる記事が満載です。!

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!2

Learning Learning『学習の学習』 21 (1): Greetings and NewsUpdates
たします。!
文章の校正の大部分を行ってくださった広島地
区のメンバー、Robert Taferner, Simon Capper,
Naomi Fujishim, Ariel Sorensenに加え、ご協力くださったAlison Stewartにも感謝いたします。チーフ編集者のJames Underwoodにはオンライン版のスタートから終わりまでお世話になりました。
Hugh Nicollは今回の最新号をLD SIGホームページに載せる大役を果たしていただき感謝いたします。!
『学習の学習』では関わっていただける新しいメンバーをいつでも歓迎しています。興味のある方
はぜひご連絡ください。それぞれの投稿記事を精読しながら編集したり、素晴らしいチームのメンバーと『学習の学習』を作り上げていくのは大きな喜びです。ぜひ仲間に加わってください。!
それではどうぞお楽しみください。
Would you like to Join the Learning Learning
Publications team?!
Previously, Learning Learning was the result of two coeditors working collaboratively with their shadows
but now we working in a team to co-produce thenewsletter and we are always open to people whowant to join the team.

!

If you are interested in any of the following positions
please let me know,!

!

James Underwood,!
Learning Learning coordinator,!
jamesmichaelunderwood@gmail.com!

All these positions are open to everyone regardlessof publication or teaching experience, teachingcontext, or nationality. The only stipulations arethat you can agree to hold the position for at least ayear (meaning that you will help with this year's Fallissue 21(2) and next year's Spring issue 22(1) and thatyou can recommend someone to shadow you.!
• Get-Together Report coordinator- liaises withthe get-together organizers (in Hiroshima, Kansai
and Tokyo), to collate a report that reflects the LD
SIG Get-Togethers as a whole. !
!
• LD SIG Grant Awardees Essay
coordinator: liaises with the grant awardees, toencourage and help them to publish their research
essays in Learning Learning.!
!
• Reviews 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 tolearner development (which can take the form ofconferences, forums, and workshops, both traditionaland online) and works with them to publish theirreports in Learning Learning.

!

• Looking Forward report
coordinator: encourages contributors to report on
future events related to learner development(which can take the form of conferences, forums, andworkshops, both traditional and online) and works
with them to publish their reports in Learning
Learning.!
!
• Translators: work together with the coordinators
to write a one-paragraph summary of thecontribution. This position is open to everyone
who has sufficient ability in both English andJapanese to perform such a task and is not as aresult limited to Japanese nationals.!

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!3

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (1): 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"
October 2013 - March 2014!

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 (LD SIG) の新し

神戸でのJALT2013大会以後、いくつかの人事異動

いコーディネーターを務めさせていただきます。新がありました。まず、Kay Irie は過去2年間にわた学期を迎え、このSIGでの様々な活動、そして様々り会計係として多大な貢献をされましたが、この5な場で繰り広げられる議論を心待ちにしておりま

月の会計監査後に退任し、新会計チームにはす。!

Mayumi Abe, Huw Davies, Satomi Yoshimutaの3名

その前にまず、このSIGをここまで導いてくだ
さった様々な方々に感謝の気持ちを述べると同時に、彼らの業績を振り返ってみたいと思います。特にこのSIGの過去の活動を整理し、持続可能なSIGとなるよう組織改革をいたしました前任者のAndy
BarfieldとRich Silverの先見、そして実行力には脱帽いたします。LD SIGは各役員の職に2〜3名のチーム体制で取り組み、それぞれの専門知識を共有していますが、このチーム体制についてはJALT役が着任いたします。また、Kay自身はRachelle
Meilleurと共にSIG Websiteの月間コラムを担当します。会員管理チームはGretchen Clark主導のもと
Ann FlanaganとMatthew Coomberが補佐、Stephanie CorwinとBrandon Kramerがシャドーイ
ング致します。プログラムチームはIan Hurrellが引き続き主導、Lee ArnoldとAiko Minematsuが加わります。この3名はPanSIG (Aiko), JALTCALL (Lee),

員の間でも重要なものとして認識されています。まJALT National (Ian) の3つの国際大会でそれぞれ1つた新会員は旧会員の補佐となり、活動を共にするこのフォーラムを担当します。出版チームはMasukoとにより、仕事を覚えてもらえるようにもなりましMiyaharaに代わりTim Ashwellが主導、Jamesた。具体的には現在、コーディネーター、会員管理

Underwoodが補佐します。広報チームは現在Robチーム、会計チーム、プログラムチーム、広報チー
ム、出版チームと6つのチームがございます。新たに出来た助成金チーム、ウェブ管理チーム、アウトリーチ支援チームの3チームも同制度で今後組織の活動を続けたいと思います。

!

Moreauが担当しておりますが、補佐もしくはシャドーイングをして下さる方を募集しております。助成金チームはMartin Mullenが継続して担当、Satomi YoshimutaとStacey Vyeが補佐します。ウェ
ブ管理係はHugh Nicoll, Mike Nix, James
Underwood, Ken Ikedaの4名です。NGOアウト

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 (1): LD SIG NEWS
リーチ支援チームはCaroline RossとColin Rundleで2つ目の主な取り組みは東北の中学生らが書いたす。最後にJALT2013の年次総会で東北プロジェク

作文を翻訳するプロジェクトで、JALT東京支部、トのための新しいアウトリーチ支援チームが認めら

西東京支部、横浜支部、大学外国語教育研究部会、れ、Andy Barfield とMayumi Takizawa が担当しま

中高外国語研究部会より一部賛助を得ています。

す。これまでご活躍いただいた役員そして現在、各2013年3月に続き今年3月にも、陸前高田市の学校や役職をご担当いただいている役員の皆様の多大な貢

コミュニティと築いてきたつながりを更に強めるこ献と熱意に感謝の意を表します。また会員の皆様がとを目的としてアウトリーチチームの5名が東北を役員としてもSIGの活動に携わってくださることを訪れました。そのつながりの一つの取り組みが本プ

切に願っております。皆様が積極的にSIGの活動に

ロジェクトであり、Sayuri Hasegawa, Mathew

かかわってくださることはSIG、そして時間とエネ

Porter, Caroline Rossを始めとする数名のSIG会員とルギーを費やして下さる個々の会員の方々にとってその生徒達の手で、陸前高田市の中学生らが書いたも有益なことであります。本SIGの会員数は増え、「震災後の1年を振り返って」という文集を英語に

いまや200名以上となりました。新会員の方を迎え翻訳しました。その詳細については今号に掲載して嬉しく思いますとともに、皆様がSIGの活動に参加

います。アウトリーチチームによる様々な活動は新してくださることを期待しています。!
我々がSIGのコーディネーターとなってからまだ間もないですが、この間にすでに2つの大きな取り組みがありました。まず、昨年11月に東京の学習院
大学で開催された20周年記念大会では2日間にわた

たな試みばかりですが、このような奉仕的活動は
SIGと会員の皆様にとって互いに有意義なものと思います。この東北プロジェクトへの協力も歓迎していますが、さらに皆様や皆様の生徒達が取り組んでいる他のプロジェクトも積極的にサポートしたいと考えています。このようなプロジェクトに対する助り計200名以上の参加があり、日本全国のみならず成金2万円を2枠用意しており、この助成金について

海外からの参加者もいらっしゃいました。この大会の詳細は後日担当者が発表致します。!

を刺激的で有意義な集まりにして下さった参加者の皆様のみならず、大会の企画と実行に携わって下さったすべての方々に御礼申し上げます。大会の紀要をインターネット上で公開する計画も着々と進ん

学会の論文集に加え、今年は以下の2点の論文集が完成予定です。Learner Development Working
Papers: Different Cases, Different Interests （Andyでいます。この紀要には、発表者の皆様が論文といBarfield and Aiko Minematsu編）、Collaborative

う形でご自分の研究の記録を残すだけではなく、大Learning in Learner Development (Tim Ashwell,会の資料や配布物、発表用のスライド、ご自分の発

Masuko Miyahara, Steve Paydon and Alison

表や他者の発表に関する感想も共有して頂きたいと

Stewart編)。新しい研究や革新的な実践については思います。この新たな試みはHugh Nicoll, James

年に2回発行されるこのニュースレター、Learning

Underwood, Masuko Miyahara, Glenn Mageeが担

Learning（『学習の学習』）でも発表されます。本

当しています。!

号の発行にあたっては編集者のJim Ronald、Monika Szirmai、Chika Hayashiに謝意を表明しま

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!5

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (1): LD SIG NEWSす。!
本号には昨年のLD SIG助成金の研究部門（Michi
Saki）及び学会部門（Caroline Ross, Aya!
!

Alison Stewart!

The new school year has started and, as new co-

Matsumoto, Tanja McCandie and Michaelcoordinators of the

Sullivan）の受賞者が執筆したエッセイも掲載され

Learner Development
SIG, we are lookingています。尚、今年のPanSIG 学会参加助成金の受

forward to all the

賞者がCaroline Ross（中村中学校・高等学校）に、研究助成金の受賞者がTomoko Imamura（山梨学院大学附属小学校）に決定したことをここにご報告致します。組織による財政支援を受けることのできない教育者の、研究・学習者ディベロプメント関連プロジェクトへの従事や学会参加を奨励・支援す
るのは本SIGの大きな目的のひとつです。もしご自身にもそのようなお心当たりがあるようでしたら11

activities anddiscussions, bothplanned and unplanned,

月に筑波で開催予定のJALT全国大会への参加を支that lie ahead of us.!

援する2種類の助成金のうちの1つは今からでも申請!

可能が間に合います。入会費・年会費の助成についても現在募集中で申請を待っている段階です。詳細First though, wewant to pause and look back to acknowledge andthank some of the people who have played such animportant role in the life of the SIG and leading usについては以下のウェブサイトをご参照ください

to where we are today. Andy Barfield and Rich

(ld-sig.org/grants2014/)。!

Silver, the previous co-coordinators, are to be

コーディネーターとして一年目の私たちはまだ
SIGについても、組織として私たちがどのようなこ

thanked for their vision and energy in creating aclearer and more sustainable structure for the SIG.
Currently regarded as a flagship within many partsとを一緒にやっていけるか、多くのことを学んでいof JALT, the LD SIG officer roles are now taken by

るところです。今年開催されるLDの行事で皆さん

teams of two or three or more acting officersにお目にかかり、SIGの未来についての皆さんの願

working together and sharing their expertise with

いや計画について話し合えるのを楽しみにしておりshadows, or new members. In this way, it is hopedthat the knowledge and skills required in the

ます。!

positions can be developed and shared, expanding

アリソン・スチュアート＆村瀬文子!

possibilities for involvement more widely within

2014年

the SIG. Our core officer positions – coordination,

LD SIGコーディネータ!

!
!
Fumiko Murase!
!
!

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

membership, treasury, programmes, publicity, andpublications – now work in this way, and three
additional teams – grants, web maintenance anddevelopment, and outreach – now operate on thesame principle.!

!6

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (1): LD SIG NEWS!

Since the JALT2013 conference in Kobe, we

membership and has now over 200 members, and ifhave seen some turnover in the roles: Kay Irie isyou are a new member, we hope that you feel

retiring as treasurer after completion of the 2013

welcome and ready to take part.!

audit in May this year and a new treasury team!

consisting of Mayumi Abe, Huw Davies and Satomi

events already during our short tenure as

Yoshimuta will divide up the roles that she hascoordinators. The LD20 Conference held atfilled so expertly over the past two years. Kay

Gakushuin University in Tokyo last November washerself will be moving to a new role writing aa two-day event, which was attended by nearly 200

monthly column with Rachelle Meilleur for the SIG

people in all, including participants from aroundwebsite. Stephanie Corwin and Brandon Kramer

Japan and from abroad. We wish to thank everyone

are now confirmed as shadows for the Membership

involved in organizing the event, as well as allteam headed by Gretchen Clark and assisted bythose who came and made it such an enjoyable and

Ann Flanagan and Matthew Coomber. The

stimulating event. Since then, plans are afoot for an

Programmes team continues to be headed by Ian

online Conference Proceedings. Participants are

Hurrell, who is now joined by Lee Arnold and Aikoinvited to share their conference materials,

Minematsu. The three of them are each putting

handouts, presentation slides, and reflections on

together a forum for the SIG at the three national

their own and other presentations they attended, asconferences, PanSIG (Aiko), JALTCALL (Lee) andwell as contribute short papers as more formal

JALT National (Ian). Masuko Miyahara has steppedrecords of their research and practice. This exciting

down to make way for Tim Ashwell, who joins

new venture is headed by Hugh Nicoll, James

James Underwood in the Publications team. Rob

Underwood, Masuko Miyahara, and Glenn Magee.!

Moreau is our acting officer for Publicity and is!

currently looking for volunteers to assist or shadow

funded by the Tokyo, West Tokyo and Yokohama

him in this role. The Grants team continues to be

JALT chapters, the College and University

headed by Martin Mullen, with the assistance of

Educators SIG, and the Junior/Senior High School

Satomi Yoshimuta and Stacey Vye, the Web

SIG, has been a Tohoku middle schoolers’ essay

Maintenance and Development team comprises

translation project, followed by a trip to Tohoku in

Hugh Nicoll, Mike Nix, James Underwood and Ken

March by five members of the Outreach group, as a

Ikeda, and the NGO Outreach team is headed byfollow-up to a visit to the Tohoku area in March

Caroline Ross and Colin Rundle. Finally, at the2013. This year the aim of the trip was to

Annual General Meeting at JALT2013, a newconsolidate ties established with schools andOutreach team for our Tohoku projects wascommunities in Rikuzentakata, including theapproved, headed by Andy Barfield and Mayumi

initiative headed by Sayuri Hasegawa, and Mathew

Takizawa. We would like to acknowledge the hard

Porter and Caroline Ross, and involving several SIG

work and enthusiasm of all our officers, past andmembers and their students, to translate essays

present. And we would like to urge all members to

written by middle school students on theconsider taking on an officer role. Active

anniversary of the disaster, details of which are

involvement in the SIG benefits both individual

described in the report in this issue. The Outreachmembers who volunteer their time and energy, as

projects are a new venture, but we think that thewell as the SIG. The SIG continues to grow inopportunity to be of service offers a mutually

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

There have been two major innovative

A second major undertaking, partly!7

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』21 (1): LD SIG NEWSbeneficial new direction for the SIG and its

offer and we are still waiting for applicants formembers. You are welcome to get involved in thethese types of grants. More details can be found on

Tohoku project, but we are also keen to support

the website at (ld-sig.org/grants2014/).!

other new outreach initiatives that involve you and!

your students. Two grants of 20,000 yen are still

still learning a lot about the SIG, and about what

available for such projects and the Grants team will

we can do together as an organization. We look

be sending out information about a new extended

forward to seeing you at the LD events coming up

deadline in due course. !

this year and to discussing your hopes and plans!

for the SIG’s future.!

In addition to Conference Proceedings, two

In our first year as coordinators, we areother collections of papers on Learner Development!

research and practices are due to be completed

Alison Stewart & Fumiko Murase!

during this coming year: Learner Development

LD SIG co-coordinators 2014!

Working Papers: Different Cases, Different Interests

Past issues of Learning Learning	

edited by Andy Barfield and Aiko Minematsu, andCollaborative Learning in Learner Development

Issues of Learning Learning going all the way
back to 1994 are now available in PDF format
here: <ld-sig.org/LL/archives.html>. 	

edited by Tim Ashwell, Masuko Miyahara, Steve
Paydon and Alison Stewart. New research andinnovative practices are also published in thisMany thanks to founding co-coordinator Richard
Smith for scanning archival copies, many ofwhich were originally printed on an old
Risograph, collated by hand, and mailed in hard
copy. 	

biannual newsletter, Learning Learning, and we are
grateful to Jim Ronald, Monika Szirmai and Chika
Hayashi for editing this issue.!
!

Among the papers in this issue are essays

written by those who were awarded grants by theAlso, thanks to the hard work of Mike Nix, the
LD SIG's first anthology of writing exploring
learner and teacher autonomy within Japanesecontexts: Autonomy You Ask! is now available indigital format, and can be found here: <cfaculty.chuo-u.ac.jp/~mikenix1/ldsig/AYA.html>

SIG last year for research (Michi Saki) andconferences (Caroline Ross, Aya Matsumoto, Tanja
McCandie and Michael Sullivan). We are delighted
to announce the awardee of this year’s PanSIG
Conference grant is Caroline Ross (a teacher at
Nakamura Junior and Senior High School) and theawardee of the Research Grant is Tomoko Imamura#(Yamanashi Gakuin University Elementary School).
A major aim of the SIG is to encourage and support
teachers who do not have access to institutional
funding to engage in research and learnerdevelopment-related projects and to travel toconferences. If this sounds like you, there is stilltime to apply for one of the two grants we areoffering to support participation in the JALT
National Conference in Tsukuba in November.
Grants for subscription and membership are also on

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!8

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): 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
LD Get-together Report: Kansai"
Ellen Head !
We had an informal social meeting at Ganko
restaurant in Umeda on January 31st. The occasion
for the meeting was at least partly that LD members

関西get-together"
去る1月31日に梅田の居酒屋がんこに於いて座談会を行いました。そのような会を設けることができたのは、東京と九州のLD会員が翌日のJALT EBMにfrom Tokyo and Kyushu were in town for the JALT

出席するために大阪に来ていたということもありま

EBM the following day. Talk ranged over various

す。話し合いの内容は、研究、授業、職場、日常生

subjects, from research to teaching, to workplaces,

活、そしてもちろん来年の我々の計画についても及daily life, and of course, our plans for the next year.

びました。出席者8名中、関西在住は4名のみでした

Since of the eight people who attended, only four of
us were local, it seems that we need to think about
ways of connecting with the other Kansai-based

ので、関西の他の地域に拠点を置く会員との繋がりについても今後考えていく必要があります。!

members. We brainstormed various ideas

以下、私たちの話し合いの内容をまとめたものでincluding:!

す。!

!

・地域の各支部とのミニ会議の開催。１月の神戸支•Having a mini-conference in conjunction

部との交渉はうまくいかなかったので、大阪、京with a local chapter. Overtures to Kobe did

都、奈良支部との交渉を検討する。!

not work out for last January so maybe weshould talk with Osaka, Kyoto and Nara
chapters.!

・関西の会員を対象に、開催可能なイベント及びイ
ベント開催の必要性について調査を実施。!
・スカイプを通した繋がりの築き。一例として、東•Doing a survey of members in Kansai to ask
what kind of events they would turn out for
and whether they feel a need for events.!

•

Having a connection by Skype, maybe with

京のLDイベントの一環として行う。!
・他の支部のイベントの一環として、ワークショップの開催。（例えば、7月19日の神戸支部の共同イ
ベント）!

the Tokyo Learner Development get-•together events, for part of the time that

関西LD支部では、私たちの活動をお手伝いして下they meet.!

さる方（1~2名）を募集しています。!

Having a workshop as part of another local
chapter event, for example Kobe Chapter’s
joint event on July 19th.!

LD Get-together Report: Plans for 2014, Tokyo
Andy Barfield, Ken Ikeda & Stacey Vye
Since the LD20 conference in Tokyo last November,

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!9

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Local Get Together Reports
we've had three get-togethers (December, January

来、私たちはget-togethersを3回（12月〜2月に各1

and February) as well as a bonenkai in December.

回ずつ）開催し、12月には忘年会も行いました。次Our next get-together took place on April 20 at

回は4月12日に大妻女子大学で、その後は5月25日、Otsuma Women's University, and in 2014 we plan
to have further gatherings in May (May 25), June
(June 22) Sunday, September (TBA), October(TBA), and December (December 14).

!

At the February get-together we agreed that it
would be good this year to:!
• work in pairs and small groups aroundpractitioner research into learner development
issues that interest us!
• support each other in writing about the learnerdevelopment research that we do!
• present about our research!
• involve our learners, too.!

6月22日、9月、10月、12月にそれぞれ実施予定でお
ります。!

!

また、2月のget-togetherでは本年の取り組みとして、以下の事項について同意しました。!

!

• ペアまたは少人数グループで、私たちの興味・関
心のあるLDに関する授業実践研究に取り組む。!
• LD研究に関する執筆作業をお互いに助け合う。!
• 学習者である児童・生徒・学生にも参加を促す。!

!

さらに、私たちの間で本年の共通目標を設定し、それに向けて取り組むことも必要であると考えました。!

We also thought it would be helpful if we have acommon end goal to work towards this year. !

!

!

そして、児童・生徒・学生も含めた小規模な大会（The Learner’s There: Stories of LearnerThis led us to discuss and agree on the idea for aDevelopment・仮題）の開催についても話し合い、

small one-day conference involving our students

参加者全員がそのようなミニ大会を年末最後のget-too, with the tentative title of something like The
Learner's There: Stories of Learner Development.
Everyone thought it would be good to hold such a
mini-conference as the final get-together of the year
- and the date we chose for this is Sunday

togetherとして行うことに賛成し、いま現在、12月14日（日）に開催を予定しております。!

!
!

東京get-togethersの詳細については、以下のURLを

December 14.!

!
!

ご参照ください。!
http://tokyogettogethers.blogspot.jp/!

For more details about Tokyo get-togethers, pleasesee http://tokyogettogethers.blogspot.jp/!

!
We hope you will be able to join us this year!
!

!
!

本年も皆様のご参加をお待ちしております。
Photos from the February get-together, Tokyo!!

東京get-together：2014年の計画"
Andy Barfield, Ken Ikeda & Stacey Vye!

!
!

去る11月に東京で行われたLD20周年記念大会以学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!10

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Local Get Together Reports
The usual meeting place (a 10-minute-walk from
Hiroshima Station)!

!

!!

Hiroshima’s Learner Development get-togethers
continue to attract a reasonable number of people,
and to serve various purposes, from among one
small segment of the English teaching community
in Hiroshima. We have a core of about fifteen
people who join the get-togethers when they can,which generally works out that there are about
eight of us at any one get-together. The majority arenative English speaker university teachers, but wealso have a couple of speakers of other languages,
one learning advisor, one “lifestyle advisor” for!
!

exchange students, and one life-long independent
language learner. We appreciate the variety wehave, and are looking forward to more variety, tolearning from beyond the comfort of our “teachers
like us” environment. Join us!!
!

Our get-togethers seem to have somethingof a triangle to them, with social, educational, andresearch-oriented sides. There is some tension
between these sides, with needs and preferences
varying from person to person, but they also feedeach other, and each has its place in our gettogethers. As a fourth side to this triangle(?!), many	!

of us have been working together on this issue of
Learning Learning: translating, proofreading,

LD Get-together Report: Hiroshima "editing and working on layout – certainly a

Jim Ronald!

learning experience for each one of us!!

!

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!11

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Local Get Together Reports
Until now, we have tended to have a topic

え方については個々人により違いがあるものの、こfor each month’s get-together, but there has been aの 3 つが効率的にサポートし合うことも事実であ!

lack of continuity from one get-together to the next.
A fairly recent addition to our gatherings, Robert
Taferner, has suggested a return to a more

り、それぞれの側面が私たちのget-togetherの中で重要な位置を占めています。!
このように3つの側面から成る私たちのグループ

structured focus, with prior reading of papers on aparticular in preparation for discussion when wemeet. For April and May, we have been looking at
self-regulated learning, which ties up neatly to theですが、実は4つ目もあります（？！）。私たちの多くは、この『学習の学習』』の翻訳、校正、編JALT Hiroshima Chapter meeting in May presented

集、レイアウトなどに関して共に携わっています。

by Paul Collett and Kristen Sullivan.!

そして、それが私達ひとり一人の学びの場にもなっ!
!

ています。!
これまで行われていたget-togetherでは、毎月ト

広島get-together"
Jim Ronald!

!

ピックを決めて行っていましたが、get-together間での継続性が保たれていませんでした。!

広島のLearner Development get-togetherでは、そごく最近行われた会合に参加された R o b e r t

れなりの数のメンバーを招き入れながら、広島の英Taferner氏より、参加者が事前に文献を読み、ディ

語教育コミュニティーの小さな組織として、さまざ

スカッションの準備をすることで、より構成された

まな目的を果たしております。!

ものにしてみてはどうかという提案がなされまし中心メンバーは約1 5名で、各自都合の良い時にた。!
4月と5月のget-togetherでは、「自主学習」をト

ミーティングに出席するという形をとっており、毎月の参加者は8名程度になります。!

ピックとして考えております。これは、 5 月に行わ

主なメンバーは英語のネイティブスピーカーであれるJALT 広島支部会合でのPaul ColletとKristen

る大学英語教員ですが、その他にも多言語を母語とSullivanの講演テーマと密接に関連しております。!

する方、学習アドバイザー、交換留学生の生活全般に関するアドバイザー、そして独学で英語学習を継!

続している方などもおります。!
このような多様性を持ち合わせていることは大変素晴らしいことですが、より多彩性を求め、これからも多くの方々に参加していただき、今後の英語教
育環境をより良い形で広げていけたらと考えています。皆様、ぜひご参加ください。!
私たちは「交流」、「教育」、「研究」の3つ側面のトライアングルを基盤に活動しています。!
これらの3つの側面に関しては、その必要性や捉学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!12

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays

LD SIG 2013 Research Grant Awardees
2013 年度 LD SIG 研究助成金受賞者

LD SIG 20th Anniversary Conference:First impressions of the SIG"

Opportunities for Career Development

As a new member to the LD SIG, the main thing

and Teacher Development"!
!
!

Tanja McCandie!
Nanzan University!
mccandie!
@hotmail.com!

!
!
!
!
!
!

that stands out in my mind when I think of this
SIG is emphasis placed on its members to become
better educators. I mistakenly thought that the LD
SIG was geared towards non-native Japanese
speakers learning Japanese. However, at the 2013
Pan SIG conference I realised that the LD SIG was
not about studying Japanese and focuses on both
native and non-native speakers wanting to become
better language facilitators, regardless of thelanguage being taught to. I attended presentations,networked and met some amazing teachers who
are doing fascinating things in and out of theirclassrooms. I was introduced to The Japan
Association of Self-Access Learning (JASAL) by a

As a recipient of one of the LD 20th Anniversary

SIG member and joined both the LD SIG and

Conference grants, I have been asked to write

JASAL the week after Pan SIG. I looked forward toabout my personal experiences at the conference

attending JALT National and seeing presentations

and how it connects with my learning andsponsored by this group. I was certainly not let

professional development. First and foremost, I

down. !

would like to express my gratitude to the LD SIG!

and its members for the opportunity to help me

related to the LD SIG have been about practicalattend the conference. Second, I would like to sayteacher development and training. I was able tothank you to the organizers, volunteers andtake something away from every plenary

presenters who make such events possible.

presentation, workshop or colloquium I attended

Without you, these conferences would not be

and use it in the classroom the following week. I

possible and I firmly believe that education inleft the weekend with handouts, memos andJapan would suffer without the development andsuggestions that I have been incorporating into

discussion these opportunities provide educators. !

lessons and I’ve been thinking about how to!
!

All of the presentations I have attended

improve my curriculum for next year based onwhat I learned over the course of the weekend. In

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!13

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
my opinion, being able to utilize the information

employers see as important. These are the kinds offrom other presenters is my main purpose for

qualifications and skills we need to demonstrate if

attending conferences, seminars and workshops. In

we want to be employed. In recent years, theless than a year, my perception of the LD SIG has“publish or perish” pressure seems to have becomegone from, mistakenly, being a SIG for Japanesea very strong motivating factor in attending events.

language learners, to a SIG that I have great respect

As a teacher on a limited term contract myself, I

for due to the focus on becoming better educators.!

have certainly felt the need to keep up with others!

in the field due to the job insecurity that comes

Career development and teacher development!

with part-time and contract positions. I often

Since the conference, I have been thinking about

question how conferences help me develop my

how conferences benefit students, educators andskills as a facilitator and the purpose of those also

educational institutions. This has led me toattending. Presentations and research are highly

question not only my reasons and purposes forvalued and indeed much needed but often I feelattending such events, but also the reasons thatthat personally, they don’t always necessarily help

fellow educators and students may have. As stated,me in terms of becoming better at addressing my

I attend conferences because I am hoping to findstudents’ needs. In my opinion, the pressure on

new methods and activities that I can use in the

career development doesn’t always lead toclassroom. I want to learn what others are doing tobecoming a better, more effective and efficient

help motivate their students, how they address

teacher. It does however make us look better on

their students’ needs and learn about any new or

paper and hopefully, will increase our chances ofdifferent activity ideas they may have. However, I

finding stable employment. Career development iswould be lying if I said these were the only reasons

all about “us”, not our students. !

I attend conferences. These days I feel an enormous!

amount of pressure to present and publish.

about our students; it is when we focus on

Conferences offer opportunities for both, with the

improving our capabilities as a teacher so we canadded incentive of networking. With this in mind,

be more effective for our students. Teacher

while thinking about how this conference helped

development is about attending conferences tomy learning and career development, I’d like tolearn to be a better teacher. Teacher training andseparate and address these as two separate topics. I

certification courses like CELTA, DELTA or an MA

think we all have our personal beliefs with regards

related to education are clearly teacher

to what career development and teacher

development. Reading books on learning styles,

development are. To some, they may be the sameclassroom management or ways to become a betterthing while to others, they maybe seen as two

communicator, having discussions with coworkers

different types of development that overlap at

about effective lessons and peer class observations

times. I fall into the latter category. !

are also other forms of teacher development. At!

times, I feel that because so many of us are

Career development, in my opinion, is

Teacher development on the other hand is

focusing on your career, your resume, and yourfocusing on career development, teacher

employability factor. It is about improving yourdevelopment tends to be forgotten. !

resume, increasing the number of research papers!

published, networking and doing things that manywith the workshops, discussion groups, student

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

The LD SIG’s 20th Anniversary Conference,!14

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
presentations, and focus on what we as teachers

relationships that we don’t usually question in ourcan do to help our students, was teacher

classes and institutions. !

development at its best, in my opinion. I’d like to!

focus on how my weekend was teacher

SAC Colloquium!

development centered and how I have taken many

Four different groups described and discussed thethings I learned over the weekend and used themroles, goals and challenges that their university

in my classes and my institution in the weeks

self-access center’s (SAC) students and staff face.

following the conference. !

As someone who never had the opportunity of!

working in a SAC until this year, it was a great

Learner Identity and Motivation!

chance to compare notes on what is happening in

Mitsuki Kato is currently a first year university

other SACs around the country. I learned about

student who discussed her English learning history

how the four presenting institutions run theirand allowed us, the teachers, to become thecenters, and they in turn gave audience members

students. It was the first student presentation I everan opportunity to discuss how we could all makeattended at a conference and it was the highlight ofimprovements to our own centers. !

my weekend. While I have had my students give!

numerous presentations over the years as part ofpresentation was the difference in student needs

their course work, I have never thought of asking

and the overall design and outlay among the fourmy students to attend a conference as participants.

SACs. The discussion made me reflect on some of

The 25-minute presentation was inspiring as

the things I personally could do to improve theMitsuki talked about her struggles and initialquality of the SAC that I am involved with. How I

dislike of English, and about how she came toutilize the available space in my institution’s SAC

realise that English plays a vital role in her future. I

could be better and it could become a much more

can’t imagine how nervous she was standing up in

positive environment, not only for the students but

front of a group of English teachers and talking

also for the teachers, if my institution could

about her struggles with learning English, inincorporate some of the suggestions and methods

English. I was greatly impressed with her maturity

other schools shared. Based on the suggestions andand her confidence. !

ideas presented, I was able to talk to my boss and!

we held a staff meeting to discuss ways we canWhat I took away from her presentation is

One of the major differences I noted in thisthat I need to create more opportunities for my

improve and help our students when they attend

students to do similar things. I need to raise their

our SAC. The colloquium ideas and suggestions

awareness about opportunities, such as presenting

will hopefully improve my institution’s ability toin English, to help develop their English skills andmeet student needs. !

hopefully help them see that English is a vital part!

of their future. Having students give presentations

Exploring Ethical Dimensions of Doing Research!

at conferences also gives teachers a chance to listenThis workshop was a good reminder that while weto students’ opinions that perhaps many of ouroften ask our students to participate in ourstudents haven’t had the opportunity to share withresearch, we have an ethical responsibility to look

us due to the student/teacher roles andafter their learning and not to inadvertently harm
them in the process of our research. In my opinion,

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!15

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
one of the most interesting discussions that camecovered on my survey which they would like toup during this session was the topic of discussing

address. Robert’s workshop helped me become a

our research with our students. Robert Croker

more thoughtful teacher when it comes to using

asked how many of us take data from our students

my students as research participants. By discussing

but don’t inform them of our research, our research

the results of their class survey, I was able to getprocess, or our findings. It made me realise that I

more feedback about my program and how I could

was being rather unfair to my students to ask themaddress some issues to develop and improve theto fill out surveys, but then not inform them of thequality of my self-access classes. !

results or what I am doing with the findings. !

!

!

Creating a Self-Access Classroom for First YearI have one particular class that has beenvery supportive of my self-access classroom

Non-Major Students!

research, from filling out surveys to wishing me

I was given the opportunity to give a workshop on

good luck when I have had to cancel classes todeveloping self-access classes for first year non-attend a conference. However, I hadn’t given much

English majors. During the workshop, I was able tothought to tell them about my findings and results

share my ideas, methods and concerns with theof their class survey. I honestly thought that theyaudience, as well as discuss student survey results

probably had very little interest in the topic andwith regards to their thoughts and opinions on thisthat they were often subjected to teacher surveys instyle of classroom approach. I received excellent

other classes without receiving any follow up. It

feedback and suggestions from participants andwas a rather unfair assumption. The week after thethe workshop gave me a chance to meet otherconference, I sat down with my class and informed

teachers who were interested in learner autonomy,

them about my findings based on their classself-access classes and self-access centers. Before

surveys. I was surprised at how interested they

the conference, I believed that presenting was

were in the results of the class survey. It seems that

purely professional development: I would present

many of them had been wondering about theand add it to my resume. However, after thinking

results and how their opinions compared to thoseabout the workshop, the participants and theof their classmates. They were also very interested

outcome, I now feel that I also developed as ain learning about the types of presentation I haveteacher because I was able to walk out of mygiven based on their self-access class. Thankfully I

workshop with constructive feedback on how I

had prepared handouts for them and gave each

could improve my classes and make my activitiesstudent a copy of the handouts I gave participants

more suitable for my students. !

at the JALT National Conference and the LD!

conference. !

Conclusion!

!

The LD SIG 20th Anniversary Grant gave me theGiving my class the results of their survey

and the handouts resulted in a discussion about

opportunity to attend the conference, meet many

how many of them feel towards English education

other likeminded and inspirational teachers andand their experiences studying English. It made me

present on a topic that I hope will help further

realise that while I wanted their opinions on self-

learner autonomy in Japan. Without the grant, I

access, I wasn’t giving them a platform to discuss

would simply not have had the opportunity toother things about my class that perhaps weren’t

attend. Non-tenure university teachers certainly

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!16

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
feel the “publish or perish” pressure when calls forshare/demonstrations, short papers/talks) –given

conference papers and presentations are posted.

at the 20th anniversary conference based on thisTeachers in such positions certainly have the desire

timeline, and then reflect on what these talks haveand need to attend and present but many do notmeant to me, my development as a teacher and/or

have the research budget or support that gives

my understanding of (learner/teacher) autonomy. !

them the chance to do so. To have grants available!

to educators like myself is fantastic grassroots

SIG over the last two decades was the main focus

support for the teaching community. Many in theof the first plenary talk, given by Richard Smith. As

past have benefitted from this grant in terms ofa founder of the SIG, Richard was able to offer

professional development and teacher

firsthand, valuable insights into its growth anddevelopment. I am very grateful to have had theimportance over the years. This was done byopportunity to be awarded with one this year andstating what learner development has meant tohope that the system of grants continues in thethose within the organization, and by charting thefuture. !

highlights of the SIG from its early beginnings. As!

Looking back at the development of the LD

for the former, Mr. Smith pointed out that it has

Report on LDSIG Conference 2013!

!

Michael T. Sullivan!
Instructor, Nippon Steel& Sumikin-Intercom,
Inc. !
mtsullivan@hotmail.com!
!
!

Twenty. To many, it isalways been hard to precisely define the term
learner development, but it has come to meansomething akin to a sharing of ideas among
teachers and empowerment of students to learn forthemselves. As for the latter, Richard took time togive an overview of the milestones from its origins
in the 1990s, remarking upon noteworthy
conferences/workshops that led to the publicationof the Learning Learning newsletter and an
appreciation of learner autonomy in the JALT
community, as well as major books on autonomy

not just a number: it signifies a major turningfrom the SIG that have since become landmark

point. For many Japanese, for example, thispublications in the field. What resulted from all

number represents the age –celebrated on Coming

these departments, he noted, was a group that hasof Age Day—from which they are recognized as

become more inclusive and focused on teacher

full-fledged adults. Similarly, in the case of the

exploration and learner empowerment. !

Learner Development SIG, or LD SIG, this number!

represents a milestone for the association. As ame was both a consistent, important message

result, it serves as the right time to look back at

within the SIG over the years and the sense of awhat the organization has achieved in the past,

continually growing and relevant organization. In

what it is doing now, and what the future of theterms of the message, Richard pointed out that

SIG will bring. In this article, I will summarize

learner development within the SIG organization

several sessions that I attended –the plenary talks

has always been seen as an indefinable but

as well as some of the non-plenary ones (e.g.

empowering process. In a way, this resonated withdiscussion/workshops, poster presentations, ourme. It did so because I have come to believe that by

In reflecting on Richard’s talk, what struck

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!17

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
giving students more responsibility in theirof experience as story” (Connelly & Clandinin,

learning and allowing them to tackle tasks through2006, p. 375), in professional development. At firsttrial and error, students will be more willing toglance, it may seem that when teachers are

improve their language skills and take more

recounting experiences to each other there may becontrol over their learning. In terms of theno links among them. Yet, the point of Naoko’s

organization, Richard made an effort to outline theexercise was to make us realize that while wegrowth and importance of the SIG by pointing out

teachers may feel there are difficult or unpleasantthe four anthologies of work by SIG members, andexperiences that no one else understands theby noting the SIG’s ideal of inclusiveness. This was

relating of our stories helps spark similar stories ingratifying to me, as it confirmed and legitimized

our listeners. But, upon deeper reflection, thethe relevance of learner autonomy in my own

question is as follows: Does such inquiry helpclasswork. It was further gratifying because itteacher development? I say yes, as it makes

meant that the group has been a forum in whichteachers question what they truly know and feel

instructors, both Japanese and native English, canabout things, as well as recognize how and whatshare ideas.!

they are teaching to students. Further, teachers can!

carefully evaluate not only their own teaching styleTurning to the present, the second plenary

speaker, Naoko Aoki, focused on teacher

but also the teaching beliefs of other teachers, as

autonomy and the concept of narrative inquiry. In

well. As a result, this inquiry encourages teachers

her talk, Naoko indicated that our teaching jobs arelike me to consider and develop alternative tasks

full of daily uncertainties, so we outwardly pretend

for learners. It may lead through trial and error toto be certain about things and sometimes make up

failure at times, but it can also foster the personal

cover stories for others to hear. As a result, theand professional growth of teachers. Therefore, I

genuine stories (referred to in this talk as “secretsee narrative inquiry as a useful tool for teacher

stories”) of teachers and their lives are untold.

empowerment, as it encourages teachers to justify

What Naoko did during the talk, therefore, was to

and/or rethink their working practices. !

get teachers in small groups to tell their real stories!

–in a “safe place”, as she put it –where secretthe state of English education in Japan was anstories are usually told. Each member of each

important aspect of the final plenary talk, given bygroup told a secret story, and then the other

Professor Kensaku Yoshida. Kensaku’s talk focused

members were asked to jot down the key points ofon the state of English education in Japan ateach story, from which a web or tree showing

present and looked ahead to the future. He beganpossible connections was made. By the end of theby explaining that over the past few years there hastalk, Naoko suggested that such stories are

been a dramatic decrease in student TOEFL scores

important in discovering one’s identity and in

and in both their attitudes to the usefulness ofhelping to spark insight into the contradictions

English and their willingness to study overseas.

between “official discourses” about work and theThis led to a discussion on the reexamination of thepractices that go on there and the way we reallydominance of the native-speaker model as the ideal

feel about them. !

for learners and the concept of plurilingualism. He!

promoted this concept (as well as a set of “can do

Reflecting on her talk made me think about

the importance of narrative inquiry, or “the study

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

Looking both at the present (and ahead) at

criteria”) because he felt it allowed Japanese!18

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
students, like those in Europe, to have a greater

to do and not on what they are supposed to do or

exposure to non-native varieties of English, toachieve. !

develop at their own pace, and to logically express!

ideas and persuade others. In moving students

sessions which I attended differed in content,

away from the goal of speaking exactly like aapproach and pedagogy, they could be classified

native speaker, Kensaku felt that students would

into the same three categories as the plenary

be more encouraged to continue their studies andspeeches: looking back, looking at the present andimprove their proficiency.

looking ahead. First, in terms of looking back, John!

Bankier’s session spent time examining how

Yet, is the concept of pluralingualism

Now, it could be argued that although the(plurilingualism?) a viable alternative to the goal ofwriting has been taught over the years to Juniornative English-like proficiency by JapaneseHigh School and High School students in order tolearners? Perhaps the answer may be found inbetter explain the current views of Japanese

what the concept means. Pluralingualistic

university students on academic writing and what

(Plurilingual?) competence “does not mean thatis perceived as a good writing style. As for the

students cannot produce standard language forpresent, a number of talks that I attended focusedformal production”. (Canagarajah, 2009, p. 20) It

on the use of current materials and technology. To

may mean, more broadly, that pluralinguistic

give several examples, one discussion/workshop(plurilingual?) students are able to deal with any

by Helen Hanae and Erina Ogawa dealt with thetask or situation in the moment. In switching fromuse of comics and graphic novels in the classroom;

language to language, these students strategicallyanother (poster) presentation by Ben Rowlett

employ a number of strategies that they haveconcentrated on recent films/film themes and thedeveloped within those languages in order touse of tablets for students to make and collaborate

negotiate meaning and the exchange between

on their own films; and finally, there was a talk by

speakers. (Coste, Moore & Zarate, 2009) In the end,Peter Voller which focused on a recently-createdthen, they get their point across immediately andonline booking system to allow for peer tutoring.

effectively. So, what can this mean for my own

Lastly, with regards to looking ahead, there were ateaching? It would mean that the lesson should

number of sessions which concerned language

perhaps focus less intently on target language andlearners and the future of language learning. For

more on open-ended discussion and conversation

instance, one session by Kevin Ryan talked about

strategies (e.g. changing topics, developing aan upcoming online magazine which aims tological/persuasive argument). By doing so,

explore various multimedia issues and tools tostudents would be steered away from the goal ofhelp learners improve their proficiency. !

native English-like proficiency, and instead!

encouraged to focus on acquiring strategies which

I saw, I was not only impressed by the abundance

give them the linguistic resources they need to dealof ideas presented but also by the way in which thewith a variety of social situations. If thisvarious different talks added depth to the concept

interpretation is correct, it seems to me Ken’sof learner autonomy. Indeed, the talks which I

approach is a viable alternative, as it directs

attended put the learners in an active role to put

learners to focus realistically on what they are able

forth new, creative ideas or ways so as toThinking back on the non-plenary talks thatreconstruct knowledge from others in order toNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!19

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
better understand the world around themflourish and promote autonomy in new and(Barfield, 2012). Let me explain my point withinteresting ways so that the group’s existence

several example sessions. One presentation

remains relevant. !

outlined how students were told to make a shortfilm but it was up to the learners/filmmakers
themselves to interpret through film how they
perceived or understood a particular theme,
language phrase, etc. In another presentation/
workshop, learners were given the chance to maketheir own comics to explain past and present
events, cultural situations/language, etc. To me,these talks focused on learner-directed tasks, which
force the learner to be more active and critical of
their learning process and content (Little, 2007). So,
what can I take away from this? Upon reflection, I
feel it is important not to impose my views or
expectations on how students come to know an
idea or language item. I would rather have thestudents reshape the language to suit them, not
me. Therefore, as long as learners understand themeaning and context of particular language items,
the tasks incorporating that language should be
open-ended to allow for individual interpretation. !
!

In conclusion, the LD-SIG anniversary

conference was a success because it represented
well, and reflected on, the important milestone ofthe organization. More importantly, it shed lightthrough various talks, workshops, demonstrations,etc. on the continuing relevance of autonomy (e.g.
in or out of the classroom, using technology-led
instruction or not), and on how autonomy-led
instruction has given learners more flexibility,
options and opportunities to direct their own
learning. Being a new member of this association
and a proponent of learner autonomy, I was happy
to learn more about the organization and attend somany interesting and autonomy-related talks, theactivities and ideas from which I have been eager
to share with my fellow instructors. It is, therefore,
my sincere hope that the organization continues to

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!

References!
Barfield, A. (2012). Exploring learners’ changing lexicallandscapes and learner autonomy. In K. Irie & A.
Stewart (Eds.), Proceedings of the JALT
Learner Development SIG Realizing
Autonomy Conference, (Special Issue)
Learning Learning 19(2), 18-30. Retrieved
from http://ld-sig.org/LL/19two/barfield.pdf$
Barnes, D. (2008). Exploratory talk for learning. In N.
Mercer & S. Hodgkinson (Eds.), Exploring talkin schools (pp. 1-15) London: Sage. $Coste, D., Moore, D., & Zarate, G. (2009). Plurilingualand Pluricultural Competence. Language Policy
Division. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. $Canagarajah, S. (2009). The pluralingual tradition andthe English language in South Asia. ILA
Review, 22(1), 5-22. $Connelly, F.M. and Clandinin, D.J. (2006). Narrativeinquiry. In Green, J., Camilli, G. and Elmore,
P. (Eds.), Handbook of complementary methods ineducation research, pp. 375- 385. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum.$
Little, D. (2007). Introduction: Reconstruction
learner and teacher autonomy in language
education. In A. Barfield and S.H. Brown(Eds.), Reconstructing autonomy in language
education: Inquiry and innovation (pp.1-12).
Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan.$

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays

A student’s perspective on JALT 2013!

very different. When being a volunteer, being
active to support the conference was what was

Aya Matsumoto!
Student at Meisei
University!
10h1104@stu.meiseiu.ac.jp!

!
!
!
!
!
!
!

Participating in the 2013 JALT national conference
was a very meaningful experience for me. I am
grateful to the LD SIG for giving me theopportunity to go to it. Awarding a grant to a
student like me provides someone with the means
to attend an event like this and the opportunity tomeet and interact with a number of people that I
couldn’t have otherwise. My initial purpose forattending the conference was to give a poster
presentation with my co-presenter, Yuki Ide, at the
LD forum; however, the experience was valuable tome in so many other ways. I would like to outline
my reflections on the experience and explain what
I believe a student can gain from, as well as
contribute to a conference like JALT.!
!

Currently, I am a senior student majoring inInternational Studies at Meisei University inTokyo. This was my second time for me to attend
the JALT national conference. The first time waswhen I went to the 2012 conference in Hamamatsu
as a student volunteer. This time I was there in
Kobe as a presenter. Together with Yuki Ide,
another Meisei student, I was to give a
presentation, titled “From Language Learner toLanguage User” at the LD SIG forum.
Transitioning from student volunteer to presenter
was interesting for me since those two roles are

required. I was able to meet and talk to students,
who like me, had a passion for learning English.
This year, however, I interacted more with otherparticipants. As a participant myself, I could freely
go and listen to presentations that I was interested
in, which was not possible as a volunteer because I
was restricted by my duties. Both experiences were
extremely valuable to me in different ways, and I
am very proud to have made the big step fromvolunteer to presenter.!
!

Prior to the conference, I was concentrating

mainly on making a successful presentation, but
upon reflection, I can see that one of the mostsignificant results of the experience for me waswhat I gained from interacting with otherpresenters and attendees. At JALT, there weremany situations where I could communicate withpeople, such as, for example, during question timeafter our presentation, when we went to listen toother presentations, and when we met participants
at lunch. !
!

I was pleased to see that the atmosphere at

the LD SIG forum was more relaxed than at someof the more formal presentations that I attended.
This created an environment that fostered free andopen discussion, which I feel is ideal for sharing
ideas. Around ten people came to listen to ourpresentation--all of them university teachers,
including some teachers from my own university.
As students, it was a daunting task to present to agroup of university teachers, in the language thatthey teach, but I felt very comfortable andwelcomed by them. As Yuki and I were the only
students at the forum, some people took an interest
in what we had to say. At university, teachers andstudents have a relationship of teaching andlearning. There may not be many chances forstudents to speak to teachers and express ourNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!21

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
thoughts and feelings. Therefore, making a

be an English teacher after he graduates. He and I

presentation in front of a number of teachers gave

went to see some presentations such as ‘How tothem an opportunity to hear students’Get Your Students to Like Your Class’ by Richard

perspectives, and put us in a position where the

Bailey. I learned a lot by watching other people’s

teachers listen to what we have to say, rather thanpresentations. In the past I have watched many

the other way around! I thought that the sharing ofpresentations by my fellow students, but I have notopinions between teachers and students was good

had a lot of opportunities to watch people giving

for both sides. The ideas which were exchanged

presentations outside of a university context. It was

will hopefully be applied at their and our own

interesting to see a number of presentations with

universities to positively influence other students

different styles of speech, design, format, and bodyand teachers.!

language. All of this made JALT fascinating, even!

for students. !

At the end of the forum, during a reflection

session, I got to talk to other participants. One of!

them was at our presentation. He told me that interms of learning English because it was an

the seminar he teaches at his university his

opportunity to practice the language outside

students usually have trouble deciding on a theme

university. It is no longer just learning it but using

for their thesis. He asked me for my advice, and I

it as well, which is exactly what our presentation

told him about the seminar that I belong to at mywas about. Though most students just learn

university and how we decided the topics. As

English in class, actually using English for amentioned above, exchanging opinions between

purpose lets us apply the language to realteachers and students is not likely to happen muchsituations. I personally believe that this is a reallyat university. Nor is there much opportunity for me

important aspect of learning. Also, many students

to talk with teachers from other universities. I hope

do not get a chance to present their ideas outsidethat our discussion meant something to him which

university. In our presentation, we highlighted

he can take back to his teaching context, and thatsome key experiences that we believe are turning

this in turn will help his students. I believe it is thispoints in terms of learning English. Suchcycle of student-teacher interaction that makes theexperiences allow us to learn something important

inclusion of students at such events so valuable.!

and even cause a shift in our identities as learners.

!

The JALT conference became one of these key

At JALT, Yuki and I went to see many

Going to JALT as a student was great inpresentations. After we finished listening to eachexperiences which I may also look back on as apresentation, we discussed what we heard andturning point. !

shared our opinions about them. Almost all of the!

presentations were intended for an audience ofhelp me a lot going forward. In fact, about one

teachers. Nevertheless, some presentations were ofmonth after I went to JALT in October, I gave ainterest to me, such as one about high frequency

presentation about my graduation research at

collocations that are useful for students to learn,another conference in Romania. Thanks to theand English as a Lingua Franca, which is the topic

experience in JALT, I felt confident enough to do itof my graduation thesis. On the other hand, mywell. I am sure that it will help me on otherpresentation partner, Yuki, was interested inoccasions also. Again, I am very thankful to the LD

presentations about teaching because he wants to

SIG for granting me such a great opportunity.!

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

I am certain that my experience at JALT will!22

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays

Different perspectives on JALT2013
national conference!

!
!
!

Caroline Ross!
Nakamura Junior & SeniorHigh School !
c.jkoross@gmail.com!

!
!
!

I was fortunate and honoured to be awarded one of
the Learner Development SIG’s grants of 40,000
yen to attend the national JALT2013 conference inKobe. First I’d like to take this opportunity to
express my deepest gratitude to the SIG for thiscrucial support. Including travel, accommodation,
food, and membership renewals, the conference
weekend cost me close to 60,000 yen. For those of
us with no institutional support, these grants reallyprovide much needed assistance to participate in
events that may otherwise lie financially out ofreach. As readers may know, JALT2013 was soon
followed by the Learner Development 20th
Anniversary conference, for which I was a memberof the organizing committee. The various positions
I adopted within these two very different
conferences led me to consider this question: whatmakes a successful conference? I would like to sharewith LD members some of these reflections fromthe perspective of conference goers, conference
organizers, and presenters. I hope that thesecontemplations may prove useful for both readersand my future self, when it comes to attending,organizing or presenting at conferences.!

!

Conference goers:!
To begin with is the element of chance, or the valueof random, which should not be underestimated.
Although I’d really planned on having a plan,
when the JALT2013 conference kicked off, the only

plan I’d succeeded with was having a two litre
bottle of water in my backpack. I didn’t know what
presentations to watch, or what strategy would
help me gain the most out of the conference;
perhaps this is a skill that comes with conference
experience, perhaps not. But from my experience,
chance plays a huge role. For example, I was much
more likely to watch a presentation in room 206 at
3:30, if I had just attended a presentation along thecorridor in room 203 at 3 o’clock. If a presentationis scheduled in the last time slot of the day, it’shighly likely the audience will be dwindling before
they even arrive. Consequently they may neverarrive at all. This is neither a reflection of theimportance of the presentation topic nor thequalities of the presenter, and if I ever deliver apresentation at such a time, I’ll be wise toremember that. Next is the chance of where you are.
You never know who you may find yourself sittingnear to, standing in line in front of, walking along
with, or listening to a poster presentation next to.
Chance knows no boundaries, and offers us theseopportunities to connect with a whole array ofpeople from all different backgrounds and from allwalks of life. One of my favourite moments in theconference was immediately after a plenary
speaker, when it was announced that the next
presentations were scheduled to start in an hour’stime – I breathed an enormous sigh of relief! Free
time is of absolute importance in conference
planning, as it allows us to visit people or groups
who are present at the conference, but do not havea designated time slot. Free time maximizes the
chance of chance, and who knows where that may
lead us?!
Conference organizers!
Now let’s change to the perspective of organizers
and the importance of having a lure. At any one
time in a conference, there is simply so much goingon that strategic use of carrots dangling on sticks

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!23

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
can really pay dividends. For all the talk of higherthat her slides would be made available online soorder thinking skills, we conference participants

there was no need to make notes, clarifying thatare ultimately governed by very primal instincts.

she was happy to have participants ask questions,

Therefore, the simplest, most effective, andand interrupting herself to invite those people

timeless lure of all is, of course, food. Unscientificstanding to come and find a seat. What simple andresearch (by myself) has proven that within the SIG

considerate gestures, yet such a rare occurrence

area of a JALT conference, SIGs who have theirthat I found them remarkable! Also, high-quality

table closer to the refreshments have up to eight

presentations use personal stories, which aretimes more visitors than those SIGs whose tables

frequently the best way of making a main point

are situated at the end furthest away from the food.

unforgettable. I can still clearly remember KeithIf you have any say in where your table or stand is

Folse’s story about the “Losing a ticket on thelocated, veer towards the food. Those left manningshinkansen” role-play, which he used to highlightthe table will be happy to be conveniently locatedthe importance of transference, and how theso close to the option of a cup of coffee and cake.

activities we do in class should be as close as

Lures can come in all shapes and sizes, aspossible to the activity students will actually havedemonstrated by Nellie’s Books, who offered theto accomplish. Furthermore, I know I am not alone

chance to win an iPad-mini. All you had to do wasin preferring presenters who make the audience do

to complete a slip of paper and give it to them –a little bit of work but not too much! Asking theingenious! The lure of the odd free book simply

audience to complete a simple task, or to discuss adoesn’t cut it at an event alongside numerous

particular question, or share stories is an excellent

publishers from all over Japan and around theway to - let’s be honest here - make sure they areworld, and I doubt I’d have visited the lovely

awake! That said, I believe it is important to strike

people at Nellie’s Books were it not for theira balance between audience participation andcunning technology temptation. I attended themaking the audience feel like they’re doing too

opening party on Friday based upon the rumour

much work. Ultimately, the audience is hoping tothat food and drink may be provided – they reallylearn something from the presenter, so I prefer

did ensnare me with a stick of carrot! Lures can bepresenters who make use of interaction and keep

used to great advantage.!

the audience active, but are also considerate and!

don’t require the audience to do all the problem-

Presenters!

solving on the presenter’s behalf. What’s more,

Moving onto presenters, and importantly, theconference participants are probably tired andquality of presenters which will clearly have a majorsuffering from information overload, with theirimpact on participant satisfaction of the conference

brain power reduced in direct correlation to theoverall. I was generally very satisfied with thepercentage of conference time elapsed. Therefore, aplenary speakers at JALT2013, in particular, Pennynormally simple task may well require the brain

Ur and Keith Folse. I tried to think of the reasons

power of three or four heads in any presentation

why I enjoyed their presentations and felt solate in the day or on a Sunday. Thoughtful

inspired by them. Penny Ur had a fantastic

presenters take care of their audience, andpresence, warmly strong and clearly in control. She

audiences that feel taken care of are more likely togenuinely empathized with her audience, telling us

have a fulfilling conference. !

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays!

laws of chance, influenced by basic instincts likeAll together!

hunger and fatigue, and are buoyed by the quality

Finally, the most important factor for a successfulof presenters. Most importantly, it is every single

conference is people. The value of a conference isperson and their individual contributions thatderived solely from all the people involved. From

together create a successful conference, and I am

organizers to student volunteers, first-time

extremely grateful that the Learner Developmentattendees to featured plenary speakers, theSIG provided me with the support to allow me toconference becomes greater than the sum of its

be part of JALT2013. !

opportunities to meet many fantastic people, so we!
!

shouldn’t hesitate to chat and share a business card

Autonomous learning and interculturalor three. Since effective presenters often ask thecommunication: discoveries andaudience to complete a task with those sitting

perspectives!

individual parts. There are numerous

nearby, the ice is already broken between people
who were strangers just a few moments ago. It’s
also really worth making time to speak to thevolunteers, who are always keen to speak withconference participants and are some of the!

Michi Saki!
Ritsumeikan University michimako3@gmail.com!

!
!

doing, and proceeded to offer me countless smiles

!
!
!
!

and positive words of encouragement. Also, as“I now realize that being apreviously discussed, people always congregate

successful and confident

near food. Like Omar Khayyam said, "A loaf oflanguage user means morebread, a jug of wine, and thou." Various parties

than being in the righttake place during the course of the conference. Not

environment. It means being

warmest and friendliest people around. One
volunteer saw me alone, rehearsing my poem in
my head like a mad lady. She asked me what I wasonly can we relax and find nourishment, we canwilling and able to try to construct a new identity andalso pretend to switch off and imagine that we are

to be able to look at target and native cultures withno longer a teacher-geek, while clearly continuing

different eyes.” (a student’s commentary fromto discuss geeky teacher matters in a more informal

Palfreyman, D. & Smith, R., Learning Autonomy

context. We can talk while walking, speak while

Across Cultures, 2003, p.36)!

sitting, and even converse while eating if deemed!

appropriate. Conferences and their accompanying

I often find myself feeling frustrated in my EFL

social events are unique in their capacity to bringclasses; coaxing Japanese students to try andtogether such a wide range of people and haveexpress their opinions, initiate discussion andthem share and create experiences together.

debate, and collaborate with fellow students. For

Ultimately it is each of us who make the conference

my students, I could imagine them feeling very

what it is.!

frustrated and discouraged to try to meet the high!

expectations of their native-English teacher, feeling

To conclude, conferences are subject to theNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!25

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
inadequate and insecure due to the lack of thethen conclude by giving suggestions on how to‘know-how’ and tools to help them accomplish theencourage learner autonomy through cross-tasks that are expected of them. As for me, an EFL

cultural interaction in the classroom. !

instructor, I need to remind myself regularly who in!

fact I am teaching in my classroom, and make sure

Definitions of autonomous learning!

I am striving to teach students the skills they need

Autonomy in learning has been defined andin order for them to be able to actually do the tasks

described in a variety of different ways (see Rivers,

I set out for them. In doing so, I must teach them

1975; Holec, 1981; Benson, 2006; Littlewood, 2009)

how to be learner autonomous, as for some

but have the same fundamental features: taking

students, they do not know how, nor even know

responsibility for one’s own learning; the capacity

why, it is important for them to be responsible forto communicate without the control and support oftheir own learning. Many instructors of EFL

a teacher; and a proactive action where learners

believe that teaching students 21st century skills

take charge of their own learning, determine theirwill help make students autonomous learners. I

objectives, select methods and techniques andagree with this; however, I think that is only half ofevaluate what has been acquired. As for mythe battle. Not only do our students need to learn

personal definition of autonomy in learning, both

21st century skills, they also need to havefor fundamental learning and language learning, it

opportunities to authentically use these importantis taking responsibility and control of one’s“soft skills” with people from different countries,

individual learning, and making use of one’s

cultures and backgrounds. ‘The ability to work

present abilities, skills, knowledge and motivation

effectively and creatively with team members andto improve one’s communicative competence.!

classmates regardless of differences in culture and!

style is an essential 21st century life skill.

Learner autonomy and Japanese students !

Understanding and accommodating cultural and

The majority of classrooms in Japan still adopt thesocial differences, and using these differences to

traditional “teacher-centered approach”, wherecome up with even more creative ideas andauthority belongs to the teacher, the one active

solutions to problems, will be increasingly

entity in the classroom. The role of the student inimportant throughout our century’ (Trilling &most cases is a passive one. It is perceived as

Fadel, 2009, p.80). !

normal for Japanese students to be “spoon-fed” in!

the learning process; not speak, but listen andI believe that it is important for students

to know how to be responsible for their own

therefore assume that this is their role as a learner.

learning, not only inside but outside of the

The majority of classrooms in Japanese universities

classroom, after the completion of their formal

may be criticized as places where most of theeducation and throughout the rest of their lives. In

students are a homogeneous, unified and collective

this article, I will briefly discuss issues regarding

cultural group; it is difficult to become an

Japanese students’ difficulty in acquiring learnerindividual instead of being part of the collective.

autonomy and introduce and briefly analyze some

The characteristics of the collectivist, passive,

results of my research, which I conducted onteacher-dependent Japanese learner (Littlewood,

students' learning experiences in learning together

1999) may strongly inhibit them from being able towith international students in the classroom. I willtake responsibility for their own individual

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
learning, or even learning why it is important to be

own individual opinions, questioning the opinions

an autonomous learner. Due to traditional methodsof other students and the teacher, disagreeing withand attitudes of classroom learning in Japan,

other students and the teacher on their opinions,students are taught that it is the “teacher” who isand taking initiative to speak out and express

solely responsible for their learning, and not theideas. Exposure to this type of student-centered,“student”. This attitude is also a result of socio-

proactive learning may engage Japanese students

cultural influences in the traditional learning

to take risks and try to become more active in theirenvironment in Japan. Many people believe that

language learning.!

autonomous learning is more of a ‘Western’!

approach to learning and not usually something

may make some Japanese students feel morepracticed in the East. !

comfortable and relaxed, and as a result, making!

them feel that they have somehow been given

Many Japanese students are not aware

Learning with international students

that being autonomous in one’s learning is a vital

permission by their peers to speak freely, disagree

21st century skill in itself. Students do not get

and debate in the classroom. The internationalenough practice in utilizing these skills in thestudent dynamic in the classroom can motivate

classroom such as problem-solving, criticaland encourage Japanese students to engage,

thinking, collaborative learning, self-initiateddiscuss and share their individual ideas andknowledge acquisition or decision making.

opinions with their classmates. Having non-Japanese students lack not only communicative

Japanese students in the classroom may change

competence (CC) but intercultural communicativeclassroom dynamics to promote a more positive,competence (ICC), due to lack of exposure tointeractive and communicative atmosphere in thecommunication opportunities; chances to interact,classroom. Moreover, learning with international

talk and learn with students from different

students can make Japanese students discover

countries and cultural backgrounds. Most Japanesemore about the world around them, as well asuniversity classroom environments are not set up

discover and better understand their own identity

to support autonomous learning, as mostand background. They can also come toclassroom dynamics do not encourage or invite aunderstand why being responsible for their own

venue for debate, argument, disagreement,

learning is so important in order to function

dispute, or difference. These things may be seen as

outside of a familiar, monocultural environment. !

“taboo” in the traditional classroom in Japan,!

especially if the student is the instigator of such

Student views on autonomy and interculturalacts.!

learning!

!

In order to find out what Japanese students think

Learning together with international students !

about autonomy in their learning and their

Learning together with international students canopinions and personal experiences in interculturalprovide Japanese students with the opportunity tolearning, I collected students’ views in two

observe how students from different countries anddifferent ways: 1) a student questionnaire 2) a shortcultures learn in the classroom. Students fromessay. The students from whom I collected my data

Western and other English-speaking countries are

were undergraduate students studying at a private

more accustomed to asking questions, giving their

university located in the Kansai region of Japan.

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Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
The students were enrolled in the Faculties ofBusiness Administration, Economics and“I don’t feel confident speaking English withinternational students”.!

Engineering. !

!

“I would feel uncomfortable learning together
with international students in the!

Student Survey!

classroom”.!

I conducted a survey on the topic of Japanese“I don’t have the opportunity to take classes

university students’ attitudes on learning together

with international students”. !

with international students in the classroom. A!

total of 90 undergraduate students answered thesuggesting that many Japanese students are notquestionnaire. It asked mainly multiple-choice

motivated to practice their English, are notquestions, offering at least four choices of answers

confident in communicating with foreign students,

per question. Some questions asked for further

and have little exposure and opportunity tocomments and details regarding the answer thatinteract and speak with non-Japanese students

they selected. Some responses in particular which I

both inside and outside the classroom. !

felt were significant to this study on Japanese!

students’ attitudes towards their learning will beinteresting responses was, “How does learning

briefly analyzed below. !

with international students in the classroom make!

you feel?” The responses were as follows:!

One question that was asked was, “Do

These comments may be interpreted as

Another question which resulted in someyou enjoy learning together with international

40% motivated; 20% happy; 25% excited; 4%

students”? Most students (73%) who answered thestressed and pressured; 2% nervous; 8% otherquestionnaire replied with “yes”. When asked why,(relaxed, self-conscious, depressed, irritated, don’t

students replied with different answers:!

know)!

“It is easier to say my opinion in class whenanother student else says theirs first”.!

!

As you can see from the above

percentages, the largest proportion of students“It makes the class more interesting and fun”.!

(40%) felt motivated when learning with

“It is more challenging and exciting wheninternational students in the classroom. With

international students are in the class”.!

approximately 70% of students feeling positive in!

some way when learning with international

These replies may suggest that Japanese

students enjoy having some sort of interaction withstudents in the classroom, this may suggest again

foreign students both in and out of the classroomthat students gain increased motivation andsetting. They become educationally stimulated andpositivity when given a chance to learn with aare engaged to try learning new and different

different dynamic, in a different environment.!

things. Japanese may be more open and prone to!

changing themselves and their learning habits if

to say your opinion in class?”, 63% of the students

they see it from an “outside” of their own culturalanswered “yes”, whereas 37 % who answered

community, where they do not feel threatened or“no”. When asked the reasons why they responded

negatively judged as the student who is enacting“no”, they replied:!

change or difference. As for the remaining students(27%) who replied with “no”, their answers are
below:!

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

When students were asked, “Do you try

I’m too shy; It’s too difficult; I don’t think that I’msmart enough; I don’t have!
anything interesting to say; I’m worried how other!28

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
students will think of me;!
I’m worried how the teacher will think of me; I’m
too scared to speak in front of!
others. !
!

These reasons may suggest that Japanesecurrent global issues. Topics such as culture andlanguage, nationality and identity, gender andmedia were discussed, and debated throughout thecourse. As the class in the particular year andsemester that I taught was comprised of

students lack self-confidence, and they worry too

approximately 50% Japanese domestic studentsmuch about what other students think or mightand 50% international students (comprised ofthink of them if they say their opinion. This also

students from France, Sweden, Russia, China andcomes back to the Japanese students’ traditional

the United States), I had to make sure that I

way of learning in being used to being passive andconducted the class both in Japanese and English,

not knowing how to be proactive. Many Japaneseas there was no set English proficiency prerequisite

students may not be given enough opportunities tofor taking the course. In the first class, the Japanesepractice expressing their opinions in the classroom.

students and international students were sitting on

They may have a fear of being seen as the “other”

opposite sides of the classroom. While theor “different” and will not take risks. Due to theinternational students were talking English

lack of practicing risk-taking skills in theamongst themselves, the Japanese students satclassroom, many Japanese students lack confidence

silent in their seats and waited for me to instruct

and are afraid to make mistakes. Since many

them. I began the class by introducing myself andJapanese students have a fear of being questioned

then asked each person to briefly introduce

or rejected by the teachers and their peers, in orderthemselves, giving them no real instructions as toto avoid this, they remain silent and find comfort

how go about this task. The international students

and safety in taking on the passive role in theirwere quick on their feet to stand up and introduce

learning.!

themselves both in English and Japanese with ease.

!

When students were asked if they agreed

After directing each Japanese student to do theirwith the following statement: “There should be

introduction, many students shyly asked me

more university courses offered to Japaneseexactly what they should say and in what order tostudents to learn together with internationalsay it before beginning to speak. After the firststudents”, a majority of students (87%) agreed, 8%class, three Japanese students withdrew from theof students disagreed, and another 8 % of students

course, possibly due to a number of reasons.

replied with “I don’t know”. As for the 84 %, thisPerhaps they felt their English proficiency was

may suggest that Japanese students are realizing

inferior and inadequate to other students, or that

why learning with international students isthey didn’t feel comfortable with the style ofimportant and as a result, want to continue 21stlearning in the course. Their lack of intercultural

century learning in the classroom, practicing skills

communication competence might also have beensuch as communicative competence, collaboration,a primary factor in dropping the class. This course

problem-solving and risk taking. !

was especially challenging for the Japanese

Course Completion Essay !

students for several reasons. Japanese students had

I taught an undergraduate elective course called

to get used to a student-centered style of learning“Culture and Comparison”, which was a course

where each class was focusing on groupthat focused on discussing different cultures anddiscussion, debate and presentations. They wereNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!29

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
constantly thinking and being asked their opinions

in the intercultural communication course together

by other students. They had to explain reasons forwith international students exhibited thetheir thinking. Students also had to prepare

following:!

questions and offer comments on other students’ll

opinions. The course demanded each student to bea proactive member in the class, having no time forpassivity. At the end of the course, I asked students

acquired intercultural communicativecompetence (ICC)!

l

to write a short essay about what things that they
had learned in this class. Below are some excerpts

improved communicative competence (CC) !

improved and increased cultural awarenessand sensitivity!

l

gained confidence not only linguistically, butfrom some of the Japanese students’ essays:!

built up their self-confidence,“I frequently hear that Japanese students are shy when

and were able to express their opinions todoing discussion, and I found this out when I firstother members of the group, whether theyattended this class. I wanted to take part in discussion,agreed with them or not !

and I thought about it over and over again, but I didn’tlknow what to say. That is why I am disappointed withmy attitude when doing discussion, not in my English

self-esteem,

became more aware of their own identity andbackground!

lbecame risk-takers in their learning !

ability.”!

!

“I learned about how to ‘really communicate’.”!

Encouraging learner autonomy in the classroom!

“I feel that I gained a lot more knowledge than my otherAs for some suggestions on how to encourage

university lectures, where we listen to the professor who

learner autonomy in the classroom, the teacher

sits down in a chair and talks the whole class. In thismust first choose culture and language learningclass, the teacher and international students encouraged

tasks where students must:!

me to join the class and study together actively.”!

- think of how to initiate and encourage“If I didn’t take this class, my thinking would not have

conversation with other classmates!

changed about English. English is not difficult. It is not- interact and communicate with other students

so important to speak perfect English fluently. English(intercultural communication activities as warm

is a communication tool. Don’t be afraid to makeups, group discussion, group presentations)!

mistakes”.!

- express individual and unique opinions, point“I had the chance to understand who I am as a Japaneseout differences in opinions and encourage debate

and how I behave as a student.”!

(do role play activities, mini-debate activities)!

“I learned that the most important thing in class to try- assign leadership roles for each group (best to

to communicate and express your opinion, not about

have no more than 3-4 students in one group). For

how well you speak English.”!

example, designate an international student as the“After I had the chance to be the leader of my group, I

group leader who can demonstrate a good example

realized that I had been very passive in doing groupof how to lead a group in discussion, with thework….however, I found that if I join the discussion

Japanese students learning from that student inmore positively as a leader, I can gain more meaningfulobserving how to lead the group in discussion, etc.

things in class. Since then, I try to speak first and raise a

Then the next time, get a Japanese student to tryquestion in group discussion.”!

leading the group. !

!

- create a classroom environment where students

The Japanese students who participated

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!30

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
feel comfortable to disagree, debate and express

their newly acquired 21st century skills in a unique

individuality without fear of exclusion or rejection

classroom environment. This kind of collaborativefrom the group. !

learning is essential to improve Japanese students’- create a learning environment where students feel

communicative competence, and develop the skills

comfortable making linguistic mistakes (inthat they require in order to function and succeed

speaking and writing) and reinforce that,

wherever they are in the world. !

communication and interaction is the goal, notaccuracy in speaking or writing.!
- promote and scaffold the interculturalcommunicative competence (ICC) learning process,with the teacher helping, encouraging discussion,moderating and assisting when needed.!
- encourage student-centered autonomous learning
approach. Get students to talk and be the center ofthe learning.!

!

Conclusion!
This article attempted to briefly discuss thedifferent perspectives of Japanese students’attitudes towards learning in an international class,and the author’s discoveries in encouraging
students to develop learner autonomy. Based on
the results of the student survey and course
feedback, it seems obvious that the majority ofJapanese students who had come from a teachercentered learning environment seem to prefer tolearn in an intercultural, student-centered!

References!
Benson, P. (2006) Autonomy in language learning,
retrieved on October 19, 2003 from http://
ec.hku.hk/autonomy/what.html and http://
ec.hku.hk/autonomy/#k.#
Holec, H. (1981) Autonomy in foreign language learning.
Oxford: Pergamon Press. Littlewood, W.
(1999) Defining and developing autonomy inEast Asian contexts, Applied Linguistics, 20 (1)71-94.#
Palfreyman D., & Smith, R. (Eds.) (2003). Learnerautonomy across cultures:Language education
perspectives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan#
Rivers, W. M. (1975). A practical guide to the teaching of
French. New York: Oxford University Press.#
Sercu, L. (2002). Autonomous learning and theacquisition of intercultural communicativecompetence: Some implications for course
development. Language, Culture andCurriculum, 15, (1), 61-72.#
Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills:
Learning for life in our times. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.#classroom. With an increased demand by bothteachers and students in Japan to change the styleof learning in the classroom and in order to prepare
the next generation of world leaders to be able tofunction as global citizens, educators in Japan mustencourage their institutions to develop curricula
where student-centered learning and learnerautonomy is strongly encouraged. One way toachieve this is to create more opportunities fordomestic and international students to learn
together in one classroom. Japanese students are
not only able to practice their English skills withinternational students, but have the chance to use

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!3 1

Learning Learning『学習の学習』21(1): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays

LD SIG Grants 2014 AWARDED!

LD SIG Grants 2014 YOU CAN STILLAPPLY FOR!

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

2 JALT 2014 National Grants !
JALT全国大会参加助成金!

SIG:!

(there might be enough funding for a 3rd grant!)!

!
Application deadline: June 20th, 2014!
!

Winner of the LD SIG 2014 research grant: !
Tomoko Imamura!

!

Outreach grant:!

Winner of the PAN-SIG Conference grant:!

Second application deadline: July 21st, 2014!

Caroline Ross!

!

!

For more information please go to:	<http://ld-sig.org/grants2014/>	

2, with a possible 3rd, JALT 2014 National!
Or send a quick email to:	!

Grants:!
Application deadline: June 20th, 2014!

<learnerdevelopmentsiggrants@gmail.com>	

!

!
!

Realizing Autonomy!

!

ISBN:
978-0-230-28264-3!

!
!

More Autonomy
You Ask!!

Companion
website available!

ISBN: 4-931424-29-5!
Autonomy You Ask!#ISBN:
4-931424-16-3!
Reconstructing
Autonomy in Language
Education !

!

!
Downloadable from: http://c-faculty.chuou.ac.jp/~mikenix1/ldsig/AYA.html

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

!

!
!32

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices

LD SIG Members' Voices
LD SIG メンバーの声
LD SIG Members' Voices offers spaces for SIG members to introduce themselves to other members of
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) in yourlife (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 yourresearch (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 July 2013 to February 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 Members' Voices coordinator, Andy Barfield, at<barfield.andy@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。!

!

２０１３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/>!33

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices

Learning and Growing in the Youngchange in some ways, and easily bored andLearner Classroom!

unpredictable in other ways at the same time. An!

!
!

Kathleen Cahill!
Email:<cahillks@yahoo.com>!

!
!
!
!
!

My name is Kathleen Cahill and I teach young
learners in Eikaiwa lessons in Gifu City, Gifu. I wasan artist in the States before I came to teach English
for a year, five years ago. Now I am studying to get
my MA in TEFL/TESL from Birmingham
University. !
!

While I have been teaching for five years, I

must admit that I taught my ‘first year’ for three
years, and it wasn't until a little less than two years
ago that I began to feel more inclined to develop
my teaching skills. Shortly thereafter, I joined JALTand my interest in professional and personal
development through teaching and volunteering
grew. It is through the connections I have madefrom being a member of JALT that my eyes havebeen opened to new ways of teaching and viewing
learning, and not simply language learning! !
!

As a teacher of young learners, autonomy issomething I struggle with at times. I havediscovered some useful activities that I believe
foster autonomy; however as a relatively newteacher, the concept still remains somewhat
illusive. This is perhaps because I have always
associated autonomy with adult learners, and canrelate to issues of autonomy through my own
experience of learning Japanese. Young learners,
especially Japanese young learners, are especiallytricky because they cannot be expected to behave
in ways you’d expect. They are shy and sensitive to

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

activity they once loved will randomly fall apartanother time and become unbearable without
explanation! As a teacher of young learners, I
therefore believe it is important to be flexible,
spontaneous, creative, and willing to compromisewith learners about what activities they enjoy. !
!

In some ways I feel that teaching is similar

to creating in the fact that both are very process
oriented. In creating, I enjoy discovering newtechniques for working a material. I try to work thematerial, usually glass or metal, in a way that
disguises it within itself, making the viewer
question what he or she is seeing. In many ways I
have to do the same thing with my students. I haveto disguise educational material in to a game oractivity for them to accept it, and they are a
brutally honest audience. If they don’t like or want
to do something, they will quickly vocalize theirdiscontent with little regard to how much effort it
took to come up with the idea or make thematerials. So sometimes you fail. But teaching, likecreating, is an organic process with good and badexperiences that one should never take personally.
A good teacher, like any good artist, learns fromboth kinds of experiences and takes back to theclassroom/studio a heightened awareness and new
perspectives of how to teach and create.!
!

I feel as though it is my responsibility tocreate an environment in which my students canfeel comfortable and have fun and be challenged. I
don’t want to put a lot of pressure on them toproduce perfect language, but instead try to create
situations where they have to use English in order
for a game or activity to work. Hopefully thosestrategies will be transferred to language use inother ‘real life’ situations. I want them to grow up
and remember English as something that was
enjoyable so that perhaps they will be inspired to3! 4

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
continue studying into adulthood and becometeacher, as it is about exploring ways to better

competent users of English. !

foster learning among my students. Teacher!

development in joining a positive community of

I’m looking forward to growing as a teacher

and learning from my peers. I’m always excited topractice, the LD SIG, where I have alreadytalk about activities and talk to other teachers

identified several near-peer role models, mentors,

about how they teach and what they do in theand teachers I want to learn from and share ideas

classroom. Being a member of JALT provides mewith regarding teacher and learner pathways andwith so many opportunities to engage in andidentities. The longer I teach, the more I see thatinteract with my local educational community.

'learner development is teacher development is learner

Hopefully in the future I will be able to inspiredevelopment', both being fluid, complementary

someone in the way that so many around me haveconcepts rather than independent processes; we areinspired and influenced me to further develop bothall 'co-learners in the classroom space' (thank you, Timpersonally and professionally. !

Murphey).

!!

!

Teacher development is an essential partof learner development!

!

which makes me reflective, looking back andlooking forwards. I am finishing five rich andvaried years at Meisei University’s International
Studies Department, and I will move to Wayo!

Jenny Morgan!
Wayo Women's University!
Email:

jennyromain@yahoo.com

!
!
!
!

Hello, I'm Jenny Morgan and have recently joined
the Learner Development SIG after hearing fromseveral colleagues about how pro-active, diverse
and relevant the LD SIG is.!
!

Currently, I am transitioning between jobs,

As a teacher, it goes without saying that a

primary focus of my work day, my lesson
planning, and my bigger-picture vision for ahealthy classroom learning environment would belearner development -- the development of(language) learning skills in my students. And,overlapping those activities is my own teacher
development. Joining LD SIG is as much about
understanding and improving my practices as a

Women's University in the spring. For the last two
years, I worked as a program coordinatorresponsible for the management and support of the
40-plus part-time foreign teachers of compulsory
English (Eigo classes). I spent this February, classes
over, cruisily working with, learning from, andtraining the ‘new guy’ (thanks Martin Mullen); avery satisfying time in handing over systems,
concepts and templates to someone who willundoubtedly consolidate and improve the present
systems. Now, I mull over the questions of what I’ll
take through to the next job at a smaller university,where I will be returning to full-time teaching
again, meeting new co-learners in new classroom
spaces...
!

Lately, I've been thinking about andquestioning the often dichotomous positioning ofpart-time and full-time teachers; compulsory Eigo
students/classes and English communication
major students/classes; supposedly motivated anddemotivated learners; so-called native speaker andNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!35

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
non-native speaker teachers (of English); and,without the professional luxuries I have of anlearner development and teacher development. !

office, a computer and printer, an academic budget!

for stationery, conferences, research trips andPart-time and full-time: After firstly teachingmembership subscriptions to different professional

English full-time to International Communication

organisations. Above all, many teachers working

major students for three years at Meisei, I was thenthis 'part-time' system teach without the benefit ofoffered an amazing opportunity to work in theactual colleagues, office mates, friendly teacher-

new two-year position at Meisei as a program

faces down the hall to shout ideas at, to offload

coordinator of the compulsory Eigo classes. This

about a dud class, to get support and feedback

was a new position in our university, with no job

from.

description or precedent, a lot of potential!

autonomy regarding textbook selection,privilege and pleasure to work with during thecurriculum and assessment design, and teacher

past two years at my university have by and large

development, but with constant gate-keeping bybeen every bit as professional, engaged andseveral local faculty members. After working in a

inspirational to their students as the full-time

non-Japanese bubble in the International Studies

teachers I also work with. On talking with the part-

Centre as a full-time, confident classroom teacher, I

timers, many however do not have any of thewas thrown into the General Educationteacher development opportunities I've had for a

Department and felt like a rank beginner-learnervariety of reasons - lack of time, money,

again.

opportunity or self- identification as non-!

I had to learn about the finer machinations

The part-time teachers that I have had theresearchers, etc. After consulting with variousof my university from the part-time teachers'

teacher-mentors (thanks Hana Craig), and with theperspective. I was forced to communicate morecooperation of the teacher supply companies

directly and cooperatively with General Affairs(hakken gaisha), I instigated classroom observations(kyoumuka) staff who coordinate the Eigo

and peer feedback sessions with the transparent

timetables and administration issues, and withgoals of teacher development and support. This aspect

Japanese English department faculty whoof teacher training and development was

ultimately head the compulsory Eigo program. My

consciously carried out using the same skill-set an

first year was a steep learning curve, with a bit ofeffective teacher uses in the classroom (thank you,treading on toes, and a few intercultural clashes

Paul Nation) e.g., scaffolding (methodology

with the department members, as I started to create

concepts) by providing heaps of models anda positive community of practice amongst the so-

graded language, eliciting rather than telling, and,called part-time English teachers. I say "so-called"

above all, heaps of positive feedback andbecause on talking to these teachers I saw what

encouragement to get the best out of teachers who

hardcore FULL-time teachers they all are...they

were struggling to get their students to participate

rush into Meisei, and to their other four or fivein English learning.!

universities throughout the week to teach several!

koma, and later they rush off to teach their evening

resources folders, and compiled a regular in-houseclasses, or to start their long commute back to

Professional Development (PD) newsletter to

Saitama and beyond. These teachers do all thisdocument and share best practices and successful

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

Additionally, I collated lesson-share3! 6

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
student-centred classroom activities amongst theand to participate very successfully, in theirpart-timers. These initiatives have been welcomed(English) learning."by the Eigo teachers who see these activities as key!

to supporting them to help their students better

Native speaker and non-native speaker teachers: I

learn English, to increase their job satisfaction, andhave been lucky to discover and participate

raise their academic status within Meisei. Part-time

regularly in teacher skill-sharing trips to Manila

teachers who previously felt their work was

and Vietnam with Teachers Helping Teachers

undervalued hopefully now feel recognised for(THT) SIG (see http://www.tht-japan.org/) andtheir contribution to the English program at Meisei;

Balsamo Outreach for Learning and Teachingfull-time teachers (some new to Japanese(BOLT) NGO - see http://balsamo-outreach.org/

classrooms) also benefited from these rounds ofaboutbolt.html. This has also helped me become

classroom observations, peer feedback and PD

more aware of the connections between learner

newsletters. Several part-time teachers submitted

development and teacher development.!

academic papers to the university’s research!

journal, or gave presentations at our in-house PD

sharing workshops to share with local English

forum late last year (this was a first). Finally, there

teachers in the Philippines and Vietnam has been

is growing mutual respect and professional

enriching and challenging. It has forced me tounderstanding among all of us who are involved inreally unpack what it is I do in my own classrooms.

the compulsory Eigo program.!

I have had to think about what can truly be useful!

Preparing very practical and relevant skill-for teachers in a different context, teaching

Motivated or not: Part-timers report that they feellanguage to large numbers of students, with fewer

empowered and better-equipped when there areresources, and in different socio-educational

consistent and repeated models and statements

classroom cultures. !

about best practices coming from within their own!

community of practice. In the absence of a set

trips are hungry for teacher development

curriculum at Meisei, we are trying to ‘push’ aopportunities in order to better foster learner

teacher’s basic skill-set that fosters learnerdevelopment. They understand that their students

motivation for English. Many teachers I meet in- like my students - are more likely to thrive if theyJapan complain about DE-motivated Eigo students;

are given lots of opportunities to recycle andthese teachers struggle with summoning their own

review language, to personalize their

enthusiasm for teaching such courses incommunicative practice, to reflect about andcomparison with the positive regard they have forestablish their own learning goals. Together, wetheir supposedly more highly motivated students

experience and ‘do’ various activities and language

in English major courses. Due to space limitations,tasks, and as colleagues we critically reflect on and

all I can say is what I continually repeat to the full

discuss what ideas/approaches would realisticallyand part-time teachers I work with: “When we takework given their teaching-learning constraints.

an asset view of what our learners can do in any

Interacting with these multi-lingual teachers of

our English classes (rather than a deficit view), we

English, discussions often turn to English as awill be pleasantly surprised that all/most learners

Lingua France (ELF), World Englishes, and thesein any class can be motivated to learn something,local teachers being the best language role models

The local teachers I talked with during THT

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!37

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
for their students. Again, the message is the same

From learner to educator- start a newfrom me to them to me – develop a basic, best

journey through learner development!

practice skill-set, a student-centred teachinglearning space, and bags of enthusiasm. !

!

!

	
  	
  

!

Concluding thoughts: In the very distant past, I

Kie Yamamoto!

was both a sempai and a kohai in dojo far, far away

Temple University Japan!

from Japan. I taught self-defence to children and

Email:kie.yamamoto1109

women for 10 years in schools, offices and police@gmail.com!

!
!
!

departments. Then, I learnt and taught about thepower of language to shape minds and bodies. I
became a carpenter’s apprentice learning to build
houses at 32 with bosses and skilful teachers 10

Hello, everyone! My name is Kie Yamamoto. It’s

years my junior. I have learnt half a dozen foreign

been two years since I started my Master’s degree

languages quite poorly, and enjoyed them all. Now,

in TESOL, and I am pleased to be a member ofas an English teacher and a sometimes researcher, I

JALT, as well as the Learner Development SIG. My

am extremely fortunate to have a community(s) ofinterest in English teaching was originally rooted

practice, Japanese and non-Japanese colleagues

in my experiences as a learner. I was born in a

who have pushed me to reflect on my teaching andsmall town in Shizuoka, went through typicalon my students, to continuously improve, adapt

grammar-translation style English education, andand diversify my classroom skills. Colleagues

somehow, I decided to study in England, which I

above and beside me have invited me to move

believe, is a milestone of my life as an English

beyond classroom teaching and lesson planning, tospeaker. Although it was only a one-year-study-

write papers, carry out research, and present at

abroad experience, I managed to reach the level

conferences. These are all things I wouldn't havethat enabled me to work at a charity shop,

had the confidence or skills to do by myself. !

surrounded by local Nottinghamians. It is not hard!

I see clearly that dichotomies are limiting

to imagine that an English-only environment wasand usually not the reality; fluid complementarycertainly one of the most influential factors in mypairings, or indeed multi-dimensional

English development, but at the same time, there isconceptualizations, are more useful to me. All

certainly an affective complex consisting ofthese experiences of learning-teaching-working are

motivation, anxiety, self-determination, or otherwhat I take forward to my new job to foster thoseunknown feelings that pushed me toward an

students' development as language and life-long“ideal L2 self”. Since I started learning about

learners. I very much look forward to meeting LD

various language teaching and learning theories in

SIG members, continuing these discussions, andgraduate school, I have encountered the field of

sharing more about the myriad learner-teacher

learner development, including motivation, learner

pathways that we can explore together.!

autonomy, and learner beliefs. These studies!
!
!

sparked memories of my learning experiences andencouraged me to become engaged in learnerdevelopment.!

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>3! 8

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices!

My current job role also enhances myinterest in learner development. I am an academic
advisor in the Undergraduate Program at Temple
University Japan. Academic advising, which may
not be widely used in Japanese universities, isdefined as “a developmental process which assists
students in the clarification of their life/careergoals and in the development of educational plans
for the realization of these goals” (Winston, Enders& Miller, 1983). Every advising session that I havewith students is a discovery of new perspectives on
their goals; by talking with them, I often find areas
that, with encouragement, students may possibly
get motivated to develop but which are normallydismissed by the students themselves. Hence, I
believe the role advisors play have a huge impact
in having students “realize their maximum
educational potential” (Crockett, 1987). In addition
to fostering students’ motivation, academic
advising also triggers students’ active involvement

References!
Angelo, T. (1993) “A teacher’s dozen”: Fourteen
general, research-based principles for improving
higher learning in our classrooms. American
Association for Higher Education (AAHE) Bulletin,
45(8), 3-7, 13. Available at http://www.csuchico.edu/~lsederberg/ceeoc/teachers_dozen.pdf$
Crockett, S.D. (Ed.) (1987). Advising skills, techniques
and resources: A compilation of materials related to theorganization and delivery of advising services. Iowa
City, Iowa: ACT Corporation.$
Reynolds, M.M. (2013). Learning-centered advising.
In J.K. Drake, P. Jordan, & A.M. Miller (Eds.),
Academic advising approaches: Strategies that teachstudents to make the most of college (pp. 33-43). San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.$
Winston Jr., R.B., Enders, S.C., & Miller, T.K. (Eds.)(1982, March). Academic advising as student
development. New Directions for Student Services,17, 3-18.	
  !

in their learning. Rather than giving them

My English Learning History and Learner

unilateral instructions, I proactively try to include

Development!

open-ended questions (e.g. “What would you like!

to do after graduation and what do you need to

Tomoko Imamura!

learn in order to accomplish your goal?”) so that

Yamanashi Gakuin University Elementary School!

students reflect on their own thoughts on their

Email: sunny.in.yamanashi@gmail.com!

future study plans. This active engagement!

certainly articulates “meaningful, long-lasting

My interest in learner development firstly andchanges” (Angelo, 1993) in their attitude toward

clearly started to take shape when I got to know

learning. These developmental aspects of advising

about language learning history as a researchshould also apply to English learning, and I am

method while I was doing an MA TESOL course inhoping to integrate my advising experiences into

England. I happened to come across Exploring

learner development in English education in the

Learning Volume 5 (Murphey, 2006), which explorednear future.!

his university students’ language learning histories!

as part of their course. This was intended to give

I look forward to gaining lively ideas fromyou and I hope that the knowledge in mythe students an opportunity to share their

specialized area will also help you in yourexperiences of learning and to find near peer role

educational context.!

models for their further language learning. I found!
!

out the importance of learning about learning
processes as part of language development, and I

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!39

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
also realized my further needs to research on thisthemselves as a learner and also developing "...

issue in my own teaching contexts. Since then, I

increasing willingness and ability to manage one’s

have been fascinated with this approach. Language

own learning" (Sheerin, 1997). From my own

learning histories enable us to be close to language

learning history, understanding and development,

learners that we research, and to their learners’

I have learned how these three components -development process in language learning overlearning awareness, willingness, and ability totime. !

manage my own learning - enhance language!

In my own case, when I recall my English

learning. This is why I would like to find out about

learning, it was a long combat-like quest withsome practical steps that assist and enhance

English grammar. My first English learninglearners in language learning. I am looking

experience was when I was in elementary school atforward to seeing all the SIG members at get-a so-called Eikaiwa school or English conversation

togethers and conferences and to sharing ideas andschool. I liked going there every week since theexperiences on any issues about learner

activities were just like fun games and I had many

development with you.!

friends close in age to me. At home, my parents
played English song-and-story tapes (there were
no CDs back then) every night as lullabies. I guess
this strategy of my parents worked on me in someways. So I somehow grew up to be a junior highstudent who believed ‘How are you?’ was a longsingle word. Later, I thought that my unbalanced
English competence development in listening andgrammar led to my feeling for a long time lessmotivated through my high school days. I justcould not enjoy some of my high school grammarclasses such as the teacher lecturing about 30
idioms in one lesson. Naturally I found myself tobe a real false beginner by the time my university
life started. Looking back on those days now, I kept
studying English little by little though probably I
was using unsuitable strategies for situations I
faced as I kept failing to remotivate myself. After
this, a number of great opportunities luckily
helped me in recovering my learning motivation.
Somehow I obtained teaching positions at English
schools and have taught English for about eight
years now. Exploring teaching and being withstudents is still full of enjoyment for me.!
!

When a language learner develops theirown learning, a learner is increasing awareness of

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!

References!
Murphey, T. (2006). Exploring Learning Volume 5.
Dokkyo: Kitakai Press.$
Sheerin, S., 1997. An exploration of the relationshipbetween self-access and independent learning. In
P. B e n s o n & P. Vo l l e r ( E d s . ) , Au t o n o m y a n d
independence in language learning (pp. 54-65). London:
Longman. $

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4! 0

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices“Language is the most human”!
!

!

Maria Gabriela Schmidt!
University of Tsukuba, Foreign
Language Center!
Email: schmidt.maria.gt@u.tsukuba.ac.jp!

!
!
!
!
!

at school!!
!

At university I did not follow our families’

tradition of becoming engineers; rather I chose
Philosophy for my Master’s, and Comparative
Linguistics for my Ph.D. Maybe around that time I
really started to love languages, and my beliefs
grew for that reason. Language is the most humanpart of us, language in a very broad sense. And
living now in East Asia (South Korea, Okinawa,
Kanto-Japan) for more than 20 years, I will add
that language is culture, and culture is language. !

I never wanted to become a language teacher at all,!

It took me quite some effort to study

especially not a teacher of German, my motherForeign Language Teaching and to teach German

tongue. I hated English because of the way myas a Foreign Language as I do now. Learning toEnglish teacher taught English. I cannot remember

teach is not done in a few days. My fields ofwords easily by heart. I hate vocab tests. Theyinterests in FLT are holistic, so-called alternative

really turned me off. I have to use expressions inteaching methods, learning with all senses, notorder to remember them, so with French it wasteaching but supporting the learning process, thedifferent. Living in a small town in southernteacher as a counselor, facilitator (in German

Germany, we had sister cities in Belgium and“Lernberatung”), setting up group interaction in

France, and with many exchange activities, thisclassroom, and often wondering why group-work

was fun. Learning by doing, meeting people – pure

does not have the benefits it could have in ainteraction: French was never a problem for me.

country which seems to be a group-related culture.

Reflecting on this with my linguistic knowledge

My more linguistic interests are to do with thefrom today, it might be obvious why I am trying

phonetic part, with pronunciation, prosodic

hard to continuously improve as a teacher, andpatterns, listening comprehension, as well as

searching for many different ways to teach, seeking

extensive listening, or how to visualize grammar,

to understand the anxiety and the challenge ofmaking written or spoken instructions fit different

studying a language. Teaching German is the bestlearning types. And recently I’ve been reflecting

way to learn it, even for me as a native speaker.

more on the cultural impact of language learning.

The questions I get from my students are fabulous,

On the one hand we have our individual style ofa challenge to find an adequate answer - and evenlearning as learners, and our own style of teaching

more challenging to include the answers in myas teachers. On the other hand, our individual styleteaching. And now I am using English tois embedded in our culture and we are constantly

communicate with my colleagues, exchange ideas,

exposed to styles of other cultures. Our students do

and write this article to reach out to the lovely,

not study only English. They study otheropen-minded people of JALT and the LD SIG.

languages too, like German, French, Chinese,

Something I would not have been able to imagine

among others. Can we work together? How can

40 years ago. In some way then I am grateful today

these efforts bring a synergetic effect for theirthat I had some instruction in English when I was

foreign languages and their own mother tongue? !

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!41

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices!

Last but not least, I am hooked on theup the localisation of expat roles. I’m sure my

Common European Framework of Reference

success in both of these languages is down to(CEFR), with classroom diaries, can do’s andspending a vast amount of time working andlearner autonomy, and questions to do with thesocialising with locals. It has been incrediblytransparency of teaching and learning. The reason

rewarding for me to be able to use both of these

why I joined the Learner Development SIG was thelanguages. It has given me the opportunity tomini-conference at Gakushuin-University inspeak to members of hill tribes, Communist

November 2013, LD20. This was an amazing set ofgovernment employees, soldiers, police, elderly

contributions, and it showed the wide range thatcountry folk, and all sorts of other characters aboutteaching really can have in reaching out totheir lives and experiences. One woman told me

students. I had a very good time there, and the LD

how terrified she’d been when she was confronted

SIG worked for me immediately. I am reallyby a tiger in the jungle when she was a little girl.

looking forward, developing through teaching andAnother told me of her experiences collecting frogs

developing my learning, by being part of this SIG

to eat while studying in the Ukraine and receivingwith you.!

strange looks from the locals on the bus home!

because her plastic bag was ‘croaking’.!
!

Immersion Please! !

have had with Thai and Lao, I studied French at!
Paul Anthony Marshall!
UK Plus English School,
Nagoya!
Email:
paulanthony.marshall@gmail.com!

!

My experiences of language learning are eclectic. I
am from the UK and have lived in six foreigncountries throughout my life, starting at the age ofnine. Altogether, I have learnt or attempted to learn
French, German, Greek, Spanish, Thai, Lao, andJapanese.!
!

In contrast to the success and enjoyment I

I am fluent in both Thai and Lao without

ever having studied them at all. I lived in Thailand
for five years from 2003 to 2008, mostly teachingfor the British Council in Chiang Mai. I lived andworked in Laos for four years from 2009 to 2013,teaching English to Laotian employees of anAustralian-run mining company in order to speed

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

school and university in the UK for nine years.
After all that time I still struggled to hold down abasic conversation in the boulangerie (= baker’s). I
always felt ill at ease when trying to pronouncewords with a French accent and I was lacking inmotivation, perhaps because France was just nextdoor and I wanted to go to more exotic places.
These days I have lost almost all of my French‘ability’, but at least it allows me to understandsome of what MC Solaar is rapping about.!
!

Luckily, I think knowing any language of

Latin origin helps towards learning a second
Romance language. I learnt Spanish in Caracas in
the classroom and by being immersed in theculture. After Thai, it seemed amazingly familiar; I
could understand a large amount of words before I
even began studying. I am far from fluent, but am
happy with my level considering the short amountof time I spent on it. I only lived and taught inVenezuela for one mind-blowing year of dirty,
dangerous cities contrasted by the most awesome
natural beauty I have ever seen in a country.

4! 2Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
Venezuela has two thousand miles of Caribbean!

coastline, the Andes range, Amazon-type tribes

Learner Development SIG. I hope to gain and also

living near tributaries of the Orinoco River, andcontribute practical ideas and techniques to help

tabletop mountains which give birth to some of thethe development of autonomous learning with mymost spectacular waterfalls in the world.!

students.!

!

Out of all of these languages, I found Greek

to be the most difficult to pick up. I worked for ten
months with Greek Cypriots (on a Royal Air Forcebase during the Iraq War in 2003 but that’s anotherstory) and despite my efforts to learn some basic
conversation, I came away knowing only about ten

Thank you for welcoming me into the!
!

My journey towards joining the Learner
Development SIG!

!

!

words. I think this was largely due to the fact that

Ben Rowlett !
Tokai University!
Email:
benedictrowlett@me.com

the Cypriots spoke English and liked the fact thatthey could communicate in a way that I was
unable to understand.!
!

One of the most notable conclusions that I!!
!
!

have drawn from my experiences (and somewhat
contrary to my career as an English teacher) is thatfor me personally, immersion is everything. I
wouldn’t want to attempt to learn a language

I have been working as a teacher in Japan forwithout being surrounded by it. The effect this has

almost 15 years in a variety of settings, from classes

on my teaching is that I attempt to make myin an English conversation school, teaching inlessons as communicative as possible andjunior and senior high school, and now in myencourage students to seek opportunities to get as

current position in the Foreign Language Center atmuch input and interaction practice as they can

Tokai University. Throughout my teaching career I

both inside and outside the classroom. My mosthave often felt frustration with many of thesuccessful learners are those whose aim is toinstitutional and curricular demands placed on mycommunicate meaning in English. For those who

students in their particular classroom-based

aim to produce perfect language every time, thelearning situations. These demands often seemed

topic of conversation often moves on, leaving themto negatively affect their motivation, attitudes andstill trying to decide what to say.!

beliefs as language learners. As a result, I began to!

feel strongly drawn to issues of autonomy and

I am currently studying Japanese. A cheeky

technique that I am utilising, and which was usefullearner development, in order to discover ways infor me in learning Spanish verb conjugations, is towhich I could help my students fulfill theirwrite out new vocabulary onto a sheet of A4 paper,

potential as language learners.!

and stick it on the wall in front of the toilet. This!

way, despite my busy schedule, I still look at the

exploration of these issues came when I joined thewords I am trying to memorise at least a couple ofAviation Department at J.F. Oberlin University as atimes a day. My students always giggle when I

teacher of academic English to pilot trainees on therecommend this method to them!!

Flight Operations Program. As a requirement of

Perhaps the turning point in myNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!43

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
beginning their flight training in New Zealand, allstudents have to attain a high score on the TOEFL
test. However, due to the significant pressures ofthis high stakes test, the teachers of the course

References!
Cookson, S., Marchand, T., & Rowlett, B. (2011).
English Language Training For Students On The
Flight Operations Programme. Obirin Today: 教育

began to realize that many students were not able
to effectively combine the skills needed to pass thetest with the more general skills that would benefit!

の現場から, 11, 189-205$

their development as language learners and users

Viewing low motivation and competenceof English. We perceived these skills as being ofthrough a learner-development

equal importance, so that our students would beframework!

able to work effectively in an overseas training!

!

environment. We therefore began to place much
more emphasis on developing study skills andStephen Paton!

personal learning preferences in collaboration with

Email:!

the students, resulting in a flexible curriculum thathome@stevepaton.com !

!
!

encompasses much more than a solitary focus on
test-taking instruction (Cookson, Marchand &Rowlett, 2011).!
!

Over the last couple of

I have since had the opportunity meet andyears I’ve become aware

discuss much about autonomy and learnerof just how necessary it is for us as teachers to be

development with experienced members of theable to help our students become better learners.

Learner Development SIG and I have started toThis is particularly true for teachers who, like me,

gain a clearer understanding of how other teachers

spend a lot of time with low-proficiency low-

approach these issues in their classes. Following on

motivation students. Becoming familiar with a few

from these discussions, I decided to join the SIG

important aspects of learner development over theand take part in the 20th anniversary conference inlast few years has given me a much-needed

November last year with a poster session aboutframework through which to understand mycollaborative learning in an English movie class.

students better, and, I think, to make classroom

Talking with like-minded people at the conferencetime more meaningful and valuable for theirreally made me feel that I had arrived at a placedevelopment as learners.!

where I could develop both professionally and!

personally. My only regret is that I didn’t join the

coming to Japan in 2008 I’d been teaching English

SIG sooner! Although I am planning to be away

to international students for several years already.

from the classroom for the next few years as I

My background had been in music, and in mypursue my PhD studies overseas, I hope to remain

mid-20s, after deciding I’d spent long enoughan active member of the SIG and look forward toteaching kids to whack drums, I set out, B.A. inmeeting, or possibly collaborating with, many

English and Cultural Studies in hand, to get amore members in the future.!

proper job. Straight out of my Cambridge CELTA!
!

I’m from Sydney, Australia, and before

course in 2004, I somehow managed to land myfirst teaching job at the University of Western

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

4! 4

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
Sydney, where I taught students from Thailand,

begun teaching English in Asia or Europe, and had

China, Japan, Korea, and South America who weretaken their skills back to Australia. I did it inpreparing for undergraduate courses in English. I

reverse, finding myself with skills, experience, andhad a real admiration for those students, who had

qualifications (by that time, including an almost-travelled so far and committed so strongly to acompleted M.Ed in TESOL) that were valuable

really high ambition. It’s no small deal to decide toaround the world. I decided, at 30, to pack up myundertake university study in a foreign country, letlife and head out into the unknown, and after somealone in a language in which you’re less thandeliberation, settled on Japan. Avoiding the bigger

proficient, so my students had clear goals thatcities, I came to Fukuoka, where I’ve lived now forrequired a real dedication. !

six years. !

!

!

After the university unfortunately

My experience and qualifications got me aamalgamated their two language centres onto apart-time position at a university within a year of

campus far from where I lived, my next job was inarriving. But wow - to call my first year of

an ELICOS (English Language Intensive Courses

university teaching in Japan a “shock to thefor Overseas Students) college, again teachingsystem” would be an enormous understatement.

highly motivated and committed international

After all, I’d been teaching Japanese university

students in complete English immersion forstudents back in Sydney for years! I knew what I

twenty-odd classroom hours a week. The students,

was doing! I headed off to the classroom withmostly in their early 20s, were from all over theloads of good communicative activities, ready toworld, and had come to Sydney to spend anything

meet the students, get to know them a little,

from a fortnight to a year studying the language,

answer all of their questions, and help themfor various reasons; some for a ‘gap year’ or

improve their fluency.!

working holiday, some for credit towards their!

studies in their home country, some to acquire

unwilling to participate? Why did they appear

English for their future careers, some even to begin

stunned and embarrassed when I asked them basic

the process of migration.!

conversational questions? Where was the six years!

of vocabulary that I was meant to be building on?

During those years, the challenge for me

So why were these students so utterly

as a teacher was meeting the students’ expectations

Why did their homework, if they turned any in,of rapid progress and the speedy development ofrepresent little more than an attempt to discoverreal-world abilities with the language. You would

how little effort they could get away with? Why

have had a hard time convincing me that “student

weren’t they retaining what we’d covered inmotivation” was something that was such aprevious weeks’ classes? And WHY, at the end ofproblem area for our profession - unmotivatedthe year, did they seem so blithely unconcerned

language learners just didn’t exist in my world!

that their English had barely improved despite theStudents were hungry for opportunities to usetime and effort of 30 classes? I urgently needed atheir language skills, and class time often spilled

practical understanding of my students, theirover into weekend parties and hangouts. It was abackgrounds and their actual motivations, if I was

great time for me, and many students from thoseto have a hope of bringing anything of value toyears remain friends today.!

them each week.!

!

!

Many of my colleagues in Sydney had

Over the years, the answers to these sorts

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!45

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voicesof questions have come, to a large extent, from2013. I’d produced a video demonstration ofreading up on a few key areas of the literature

myself using word cards to learn Japaneserelevant to learner development: firstly, self-

vocabulary, and I needed an understanding of why

efficacy theory, and secondly, language learning

it had had such a remarkably positive impact on

strategies/strategies-based instruction. Coming

my students’ confidence and enthusiasm, way

across these has been like turning on the lights in abeyond what I’d hoped. It turned out that I’ddark room, and has dramatically changed myunwittingly carried out some effective language

understanding of my students, made me morelearning strategy instruction, right in line with theempathetic to their challenges and needs, andbest recommendations in the literature going backgiven me an angle on how to make their time inseveral decades! In doing so, I’d stumbled across

my classes valuable and rewarding.!

yet another framework for understanding my!

students and how best to help them! Looking at

For example - a few years ago I noticed

that a lot of my students seemed convinced thatmy students’ behaviours in terms of language

they were irredeemably inept at learninglearning strategies, or frankly lack thereof,

vocabulary, and this low estimation of their own

immediately answered a lot of questions. Of course

abilities seemed to be exactly what was preventing

I knew that low-competence, low-motivation

them from putting effort into vocabulary study: astudents aren’t necessarily bad or inept students;

classic vicious cycle of ‘failure’ breeding failure. To

but reading about the strategies that are

see if the cycle could be broken, I carried out afundamental to language study, and noticing that

research project that first had them establish their

many of my students were hopelessly unversed inself-efficacy in the area, and then over the course ofthem, gave me another angle on understanding

a semester of learning, testing, and reflecting,and helping them. For example, many students

hopefully would lead to them adjusting that

arrive in my classroom with seemingly no

estimation upwards. The project was arguably

knowledge of how to create mnemonic linkages,

effective; confidence levels actually did rise, and it

how to review well, how to plan and set goals forreally got me interested in the theory and inlearning, or how compensate for knowledge gaps,

figuring out how I could apply it beyond

let alone note-taking, summarising, or highlighting

vocabulary learning. Reading about decades ofabilities. Whether or not it should after so muchother teachers’ and researchers’ successes, and theschool language study, it falls to me to help them inchanges in autonomy and learning outcomes thatthese areas if I want to have an impact. Low

can come about when self-efficacy and confidence

motivation, something that our field is almost

problems are properly addressed, gave meobsessively concerned about (probably rightly),

something to focus on in the classroom beyond

begins to make sense in light of an understanding

simply language-based content. Trying to teachthat our students have never been taught strategies

over the top of low self-efficacy is a recipe for stressfor learning effectively. Their disengagement can

and frustration, but developing self-efficacy withcome to be seen as a logical result of their lack ofawareness is an opportunity for potentially life-

strategy knowledge and success, something we canchanging teaching.!

get a handle on; and, potential solutions start to!

show up when we have an understanding of what

My second area of research interest waspiqued while reading for a project I carried out in

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

fundamental skills our students need to learn most.!

4! 6Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices!

!

I’ve actually become excited to think about

what might happen in future classes if I can!

effectively teach good strategies along with actual

Emiko Matsui!

language content. Seeing the vast literature and all

Email:

the research that’s been done in the area has set out

emi1214ato@gmail.com!

!
!
!
!

a game that I might actually be able to win, on aplaying field that I finally understand - and given
me a research focus that I’m enthusiastic about
following up. In the coming academic year, I’minterested to see how effectively I can include some!

useful strategy instruction in every lesson, and I

I just joined Learner Development SIG at the end of

won’t miss a chance to help students re-think any

last year. This is because both of my children

low self-efficacy estimations they might have.!

started going to elementary school and I thought!

that I could spend a little more time for myself.

Becoming aware of what’s going on inthese few areas of theory and research has really

Also since I finished obtaining my MA TESOL last

made me view my role differently, has helped me

year and started teaching again, I thought that I

understand how to help my students become

should learn more about teaching and learning

better learners, and given me a direction on how tothrough joining this SIG. Before becoming a

possibly overcome those problems that seemed somother I had been teaching at a private junior andinsurmountable when I first came across them asenior high school after I had worked at a trading

few years ago.!

company for a few years. After I had my first child,!

I decided to take the MA TESOL at Teachers

References!
Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-eﬃcacy in cognitive
development and functioning. Educational
Psychologist, 28, 117-148.$
Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What
Every Teacher Should Know. New York: Newbury
House.$
Paton, S. M. (2013). Enhancing self-eﬃcacy invocabulary learning and testing: A pilot study.
Kyushu Sangyo University Language Education andResearch Center Journal, 8, 26-34.$

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

College Columbia University. However since I had
another child, I wanted to focus on raising my own
children and therefore I finished my Master’s lastyear. Though it took about 10 years to finish it, I
experienced a lot from my children and also cameto think of my students from other perspectives.!
!

Here is one of my episodes I recently had

with my daughter. I think most of you haveexperienced this kind of situation in yourclassrooms. Teaching English also includes not
only teaching but also collecting notebooks orchecking vocabulary tests and other things. I am
rather strict about due dates for submissions. I
always tell my students “Don’t forget to submit
your notebooks by the due date.” In fact, a few
students don’t hand in by the due date. So, I tellthem “Be sure to bring it tomorrow.” One reason

Learning From My Own Children!

why I am a bit strict with my learners is that I also

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LD SIG Member Voices
want my students to manage their time when they
study. At the same time, as the proverb says,”Practice makes perfect”. Though being just a little
thing for the students, I believe each of theseprocesses leads to their being successful with theirgoals.!
!

One day, I was talking about this to mydaughter because I wanted her to know theimportance of being on time and also of managing
her own schedule. Now this is what my daughter
said to me. ”Mom, don’t be too strict with yourstudents about the due date. Maybe, though she
knew the schedule, she couldn’t do it because she
had to do other things that she really had to do. Or,
she was too sleepy and tired that day that she
didn’t have time to do it.” Her words made me
realize that I was considering too much about thelesson plans and the curriculum from my teacher’s
point of view and I had forgotten about being
generous to my students and about trying torespect students’ autonomous learning. Maybe, I
did not have the room for flexibility to think of thestudents’ different situations. Even though mydaughter is just a child, the ones really close to me
can take an objective view of the mother. I really
thank my children for being little teachers for me
and helping me to pursue my career as a teacher
and of course as a mother.

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

4! 8

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Special Feature Article

Special Feature: The March 2014 Tohoku Outreach
Weekend: A Collaborative Report
特集：2014年３月・週末東北訪問支援会
Andy Barfield, Sayuri Hasegawa, Rob Moreau, Ted O’Neil, and Mayumi Takizawa!

!

2014年3月の週末訪問支援は、7日から9日にかけて行われました。3月7日金曜日の午後、私たちは、気仙沼
市面瀬にある仮設住宅集会所を訪れた後、大島の小学校で先生方にお会いし、本の寄贈について話し合いました。また、大島では、地元で牡蠣漁師をされている親子と共に過ごし、さらに住民の方々に、彼ら自身や地域のお話を伺いながら、島を案内していただきました。翌日、私たちは陸前高田市に移動し、観光案内所の代表者にお会いした後、地元の観光案内の専門の方に、英語と日本語で陸前高田市の案内をしていただきました。また、陸前高田市の中学生に向けたLD SIGの翻訳プロジェクトについてもお話しました。最終日には、陸前高田市立図書館の代表者にお会いし、本の寄贈についてお話した後、地域の代表の方と中学生２人とともに、陸前高田と地元地域を案内していただきました。その後、私たちはこれらの体験を1つの地図にまとめ、今回の訪問を皆で振り返りました。このような数々の心揺さぶる出会いやエピソード、対話から、
3.11が地域と個人にもたらした影響を、深く、かつ詳細に学び、東北大震災と津波災害から3年経った今、人々が直面している困難な現状について知りました。この報告書では、今回の訪問支援について私たちそれぞれが感じたことを共有し、将来的にこのような訪問支援が向かう様々な方向性について紹介します!

!

INTRODUCTION!
The March 2014 Outreach weekend took place March 7-9 with five members of the Learner Development SIG (Andy
Barfield, Mayumi Takizawa, Rob Moreau, Sayuri Hasegawa, and Ted O’Neill) going to Tohoku to develop Learner
Development SIG Outreach projects and ideas that have come into focus over the last year. We travelled up from Tokyoon the Friday morning and in the afternoon of March 7 we visited a Temporary Housing Community Centre in Omose,
Kesennuma, to interview the director of the centre about her work, and an elementary school on Oshima island to meetteachers and explore a book donation. We also spent time with two local father-and-son oyster fishermen on Oshima, andwere guided around the island by local residents as they re-told their own stories and those of their community. The next
day we moved to Rikuzentakata and met representatives of the Tourist Information Office before we were guided around
Rikuzentakata in English and Japanese by a local professional tourist guide. Later, we also discussed the LD SIG'stranslation project for children at a local junior high school in Rikuzentakata. On the last day we met representatives of
Rikuzentakata City Library to discuss another book donation and then had a further guided tour of Rikuzentakata andlocal sights with a local community leader and two junior high school children. Later we mapped these experiences
together, and then travelled back down to Tokyo arriving Sunday evening. From these many different moving
encounters, episodes and conversations, we learnt in greater depth and finer detail the impact of 3/11 on communities

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Special Feature Article
and individuals, and got to know intractable challenges they face three years after the Great Tohoku Earthquake andTsunami Disaster. In this report we share with you our individual reflections on this Outreach Weekend and present
briefly the different directions that such Outreach is moving in for the future.!

!

Background (Andy)!
The March 2014 Outreach Weekend built on ideas and contacts developed over the course of the last year. Contacts werefirst established between the LD SIG and Tohoku communities in March 2013 when the first Tohoku Outreach visit by
LD SIG members took place. (See here for a full report on the 2013 visit.) These links were further strengthened at the
Learner Development 20th Anniversary Conference in November 2013 (details here), with the participation of invited
guest speakers from Tohoku. These deepening contacts and exchanges of ideas were followed up at a subsequent meetingof LD SIG members with a multi-university Tohoku Research Group at Hosei University in Tokyo in early December,and at a presentation forum in Tokyo in late December 2014 involving students from that research group, as well as LD
SIG members and Musashi-san, the local community leader in Rikuzentakata who came to LD20 with his daughter
Runa. (Click here for a summary of the December 2013 forum.) Since then, members of the LD SIG Outreach group(together with some of their students) have been working on translating into English about 90 Junior High School
children’s accounts of their 3/11 experiences that they wrote in March 2012 one year after the Great Tohoku Earthquake
and Tsunami Disaster (Runa Musashi is one of those JHS children). !

!
FRIDAY!
!

Oofunato-sen (Sayuri)!
We had taken a local train from Ichinoseki this year, giving us the opportunity to sit in a one-car train of the Oofunato
line with local people. We had about an hour and a half before reaching Kesennuma station. I happened to sit next to a
woman who I started talking to about half way through our train ride. She was from Rikuzentakata, but was living in
Chiba with her husband (from Chiba) and a fourth grade son. Her father was affected by the disaster, and now lived in a
temporary house, and her brother had lost family. I did not ask about her mother. She expressed gratitude when she
heard the purpose of our trip including the meeting to discuss an on-going translation project, and was even apologeticthat she was preoccupied with only her own family. In the course of our talk, which at times brought tears to her eyes,
she told me that just coming to the area would be appreciated and that listening to people would be enough. She learned
that at the temporary housing unit where her father’s neighbour had lost a grandchild about the age of her son. The man
would watch her son play when they made their visits, and one day had asked quietly, perhaps wondering more tohimself, if this was how his grandchild would’ve grown up to be like. Ever since, she said she made sure that she visitedthe man to just listen to what he needed to say.!

!

Community ties (Rob) !
After arriving in Kesennuma at midday, three of us (Mayumi, Rob and Andy) went first to the Omose Community
Centre at the Temporary Housing Project in the grounds of the local junior high school. We were greeted by the managerof the community center, Fujita-san, and had to do some initial decision making about where to have our chat as there

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Special Feature Article
was a previous booking for the large room. In the end we
decided to have our chat in the corner of this main room of
the community center as the group that had bookedpracticed their Hawaiian dance. The practice, taking placein the background, actually provided the right atmosphereto our discussion as it reminded us of what the center wasfor and the important place it holds as a central meeting
point for the housing project. We were not in a cold,
empty meeting room but in a vibrant, open space thatbrings a community of people together. It was this idea ofcommunity that became the focus of our conversation. !
!

Fujita-san's comments on how community

dynamics change, develop, and even break down through the process of families coming to and leaving the temporary
housing complex was very poignant and showed us a human side to an issue that in many cases we see as mere statistics
in a news article.!
!

In March of this year five families left the complex.

The new start that leaving can provide is encouraging
indeed, but it is not that easy. Fujita-san explained thesense of loss and uncertainty that those who are left behindfeel each time another unit becomes vacant. This ismatched by a sense of guilt generated amongst those who
do leave. In such situations a barrier can be formed andcommunity ties may be severed. People rarely, if ever, comeback to visit, Fujita-san told us.!
!

When asked what she wanted to achieve in thenext year at the center, Fujita-san commented that she
wanted to foster a sense of independence among the tenants. I hope that this can happen and that people can find thestrength to maintain the bonds created by the shared experience of supporting each other through hard times. Our
discussion at Omose was a powerful reminder of both the importance of people’s sense of belonging to a group that can
support them and the fragility of a person’s ties to their community in the face of disaster, loss and relocation.!

!

Temporary shopping/restaurant units: Minami Machi Ichiba & Kesennuma Yokocho (Sayuri)!
After parting with Andy, Mayumi, and Rob at Kesennuma station, Ted and I made our way to the restaurant area,
Kesennuma Yokocho, by foot. We first visited Murasaki Ichiba, a temporary unit of many stores including somerestaurants. As we walked through and out to make our way towards Kesennuma Yokocho, a couple greeted us. We
explained the purpose of our visit and they seemed happy to see us, as visitors they said had continued to drop even as
we approached the third anniversary of 3.11. In our short meeting, the man expressed his frustration for the height ofthe sea wall, a controversial issue that was repeatedly mentioned throughout our trip. After parting politely, we went off

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Special Feature Article
to the other temporary unit, Fukko Yatai Mura Kesennuma Yokocho. There,
we thought of revisiting Hamaran-ya for their hamaran-yaki, but the lady
owner who we met last year told us that the cooking machine had
unfortunately broken down. So we decided to enter Maguro-ya, a different
tuna fish and rice restaurant as a lady was beckoning us to come.
Coincidentally, we had entered a restaurant owned by Kameya-san, the tuna
ship owner who we visited last year. He hadn’t mentioned that he owned arestaurant, not even when he dropped us off at the same place last year, so it
was a huge but pleasant surprise. We were later given extra pieces of tuna,
toro at that, most probably because of the connection with Kameya-san.!
!

Oshima Island (Sayuri)!
We met up again by the ferry to make the 20-minute crossing to Oshima.
One of the staff at Kameyamasou Inn met us at Oshima port and drove us up
the hill to Oshima Elementary School , where Reiko Fuijta, a local lady who
LD SIG members had met last year, greeted us and introduced us to different
children as they left the school.!
!

The children had huge smiles on their faces, with some being more shy and others being more bold, but they all

looked happy. We were later told by Reiko-san that some were just about beginning to manage the dark, and others werestill feeling anxious when parents were out of sight, but children at Oshima Elementary were lucky, she told us, as they
were not witnesses to people being washed away. The screams for help still echoed in the ears of some children over in thesouthern part of Kesennuma, she has heard.!
!

At the entrance of the school building we were met by Ishimori-sensei, the deputy head of Oshima Elementary

School, and ushered into the headmaster’s room where Sato-sensei welcomed us. Kikuta-sensei, the headmaster LD
members met last year, had retired. After self-introductions with cards, Sato-sensei told us of his experience of 3.11 as
the head of another school over on mainland Kesennuma. He was in a position to make decisions for the survival of all
the children and teachers as the water continued to change their circumstances. Knowing that not all schools in Tohoku
managed to save their children, we were reminded again of the weight of a principal’s decisions, especially on that day.!

!

Pierre, ALT (Ted)!
Part of our visit to Oshima Elementary school was to show some samples of graded readers and children's books that the
SIG can gather and donate. We spread out a few titles and were joined by the school's ALT, Pierre. He was a very
enthusiastic and friendly teacher. We all enjoyed a bit of banter in French since he was from Quebec, but then got down
to the matter at hand. As a former JET in a rural town in the previous century, talking with Pierre really took me backand reminded me just how much fun elementary school can be. I was impressed by his excitement at teaching, but evenmore by his interaction with the headmaster. Pierre seemed very much part of the school and a trusted teacher.!

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Special Feature Article
As the Tohoku Outreach project continues, building
connections with teachers such as Pierre will be key. Not onlyis he in the elementary school on Oshima, but he also teaches at
the junior high school in Kesennuma. He's very aware of theadvantages this continuity offers as he moves along with his
sixth graders when they graduate. Visiting the school andproviding donations is a positive learning experience for us
and I hope a benefit to the school, but establishing supportive
connections with even one person can achieve a lot if they aresomeone like Pierre who can build and multiply that throughhis continuous work with students.!
!

As we left and headed to the ferry, I could only think

how difficult his position must be and had even more respect for his cheerful and energetic approach to the children andschools. He arrived in Oshima after the tsunami and after reconstruction had started. As a JET in a rural area, I know it
can sometimes be hard to become part of the community (but also how friendly people can be, too). But, I thought it
must be even harder coming in after such a life and community-changing event. Not sharing such a critical experience
with everyone else around you could be isolating. But, in this case, it seems the school has welcomed him and he
expressed a lot of commitment to the community there.!
!

Konno-sensei, a Year Five teacher had quietly joined to listen in on the exchanges made over the graded readers.

He seemed happy to agree with their enthusiastic ALT who already had ideas on how to use them with the children.
Mayumi introduced the idea of children introducing their hometown in English for a video-letter exchange with anotheroverseas school. Soon it was time for Sato-sensei’s next appointment, and we all stood up to say our thanks and madeour way out of the school.!

!

From the elementary school to Yamayo Suisan’s oyster-farm (Mayumi)!
Reiko-san came back to Oshima Elementary School to pick us up
and drove across the island to the workplace of Yamayo Suisan’soyster-farm (ヤマヨ水産). The business is run by the Komatsu
Family and we met the father, Masayuki-san and his son the
fourth generation of the family business, Takeshi-san. Since he isalso Reiko-san’s son’s martial arts teacher, their relationship madeit easy for us to be connected with the Komatsu Family, and we
thank her again. We were invited into the workplace and foundsome water tanks for growing oysters there. Takeshi-san began totalk about how he had decided to restart their oyster business after
they had lost almost everything, their house, workplace, andfishery on 3.11. It actually took him one year to make up his mind especially due to the huge debt--more than 100 million
yen. Also, he was honest and mentioned that he had been anxious about the damage of the Fukushima Daiichi in the
nearby sea in those days. However, it later turned out not to be serious in the area and furthermore, his missing fishingboat, which he had totally given up on after 3.11, was found on top of a seafood factory in Kesennuma City with almost

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Special Feature Article
no damage. When he talked about it, we were on the very boat at the pier. We could not imagine immediately what had
happened to the boat which was just before our eyes. He said that he had thought of the event as his destiny, and at last
he moved ahead. Recently, he has been promoting a customer system to ask for not only donation but also an investment.
The customers pay 10,000 yen a year for 20 oysters to be sent when Yamayo Suisan is able to provide them in the next
five years. Also, they keep sending the customers their reports on how their business and oysters have recovered. They
really appreciated a closer relationship with their customers. Masayuki-san very kindly treated us with some steamedoysters and Japanese sake. Needless to say, they were great in the coldest weather, or the greatest we had ever had before,
flavoured with their passion and endeavor. !

!

Reiko’s home (Sayuri)!
Later, Reiko drove us around the island taking us up to the top of the island as the light faded into dusk, then throughdifferent coastal areas explaining what had happened as we went. Reiko then invited us into her home. Her husband was
sitting silently at the corner by a working desk, while we all settled around the table in the centre of the room. We all
relaxed and chatted about how to pour English tea, a topic offered by Reiko-san whilst she prepared tea for us. It was awelcome warm break, removing us momentarily from the thoughts of 3.11. As the conversation drifted back to the eventsof 3.11 and thereafter, I began a conversation with Reiko-san’s husband.!
!

He told me that it was the sensoh-keikensha, those who had experienced the last war, who had supported him

through the serious days immediately following 3.11. Oshima was completely cut off from the mainland and theislanders sarcastically joked, apparently, that the city mayor had chosen 60,000 over 3,000, referring arbitrarily to the
population of mainland Kesennuma city as compared to that of the island. He, like others, had been stunned andimmobilized, but it was those old jiichan, baachan who’d rallied the ‘adults’ by providing practical advice on how tosurvive. One such advice was for rice, he told me. Apparently, the islanders buy unmilled rice in scores of kilos andmill them as need arises. Because they had lost electricity after 3.11, they were unable to have milled rice to eat. It
hadn’t occurred to him that they could use their mochi mortars to pound and hence mill the rice, but the wisdom had
been passed on from the wartime generation, and despite the experience being tedious and difficult, it had beensuccessful. He had been feeling low, but the older generation would come and scold him and lift him out of depression,
he said. He also told me that the spirit of inventiveness caught on, and got to a point where people would be boasting toeach other about their creativeness to get various things done.
Many were eating extremely well, too, he told me as he chuckled
and explained that the cut off islanders all began to defrost thebest catches of the year, stored in their huge freezers for very
special occasions, such as New Year’s.!
!

Reiko-san’s husband had impressed me as a quiet andreserved man, but he had openly and unreservedly shared apart--perhaps just the part that he could talk about withhumour--of his mesmerizing experience. I took them in as
another dimension to the 3.11 knowledge that was accumulating
within me.!
!

We said our goodbyes and then Reiko dropped us off at

Kameyamasou Inn. Although the LD SIG visited the same elementary school last year, it was the first time for all five

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members, and the headmaster had changed. Clearly it helped that we entered with Reiko-san, a parent of a childattending the school, but also someone who seemed to know almost everyone on the island. I think we had an extra
special time at the oyster farm, too, because of Reiko-san. At the same time, she mentioned names of people she had met
on our previous trip (Mike –sensei and Bill-sensei), and I became more conscious of the role we each had and will have ofbuilding on the impressions and connections made by previous LD SIG Tohoku Outreach members.!

!

Kameyamasou (Sayuri)!
We stayed at Kameyamasou on our last Tohoku Outreach visit, and it felt good to return to a familiar place with familiar
faces. The hallway was cold, just like last year, and other than construction workers, we were the only visitors. Bedrooms
and dining rooms, however, were heated up and the full traditional Japanese dinner presented carefully and beautifully
was, again, very impressive. As we were leaving the following morning, the owner of the inn told us that there werefewer visitors compared to last year, a worrying situation and such a shame, I thought, as I remembered how pleased theowner’s wife looked when she told me about the oysters on the dinner table being from their recovering oyster farm. !

!
SATURDAY!
!

A view from Oshima (Andy)!
It was still early when we left Kameyamasou, so the son of the owners drove us to the
top of Oshima where we could see Kesesennuma and the whole geography of theisland, landward and seaward. We stood looking out to sea as the son told us his storyof 3.11, reliving what had happened that day and in the days afterwards. As with theschool director the day before, there were words that were shared, but scenes that only
the storyteller could see, as they re-told and re-lived their story. We then drove down
to the ferry port, where Reiko and her son met us so that we could take some group
photos together. As we arrived in Kesennuma by ferry, it was already snowing. !

!

Sharing loss and building community (Andy)!
Staff at the Rikuzentakata Tourist Information Office had helped us make contact
with Konno-san, the English-speaking guide, back in December, as well as offeringother information for useful contacts, so on the Saturday morning we took the opportunity to visit them to say thankyou. The Tourist Information Office is at the top of a hill, just a few metres across a small car park from the re-locatedCity Hall. These new buildings are all made of prefab units, and the bus stop for Ichinoseki is just in front of the Tourist
Information Office.!
!

Asanuma-san welcomed us and quietly prepared small packets of local information for us, including maps of the

Rikuzentakata area and places to see. In a quiet voice, she showed us ‘before and after’ pairs of photos of what had
happened at Rikuzentakata on 3/11. A photograph of a beautiful small city in one photo, with the city washed away inthe next. There was one pair of photos that Asanuma-san was holding back, and that she seemed hesitant to show us.
These two photos showed the City Hall before and after. Asanuma-san explained how this was where she used to work,and how on 3/11 people had evacuated to the roof. How they had stood there and watched their city being washed away.
There was a long silence before she continued and pointed to a three-storey building in front of the old City Hall. This

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was where her son had worked. They had said goodbye that morning in the adjacent
car park, and she had last seen him helping people evacuate. He was 25 years old,and she never saw him alive again.!
!

The seconds went by, and the silence filled with deepening respect for how

she had shared her loss with us. Within ourselves, we each gathered our thoughts,
before we slowly started to talk quietly again. Asanuma-san, it turned out, had co-

written a book of reflections on 3/11 called ハナミズキのみち/黒井健絵; 浅沼ミキ子文 (Hanamizuki no michi), andshe talked for a few minutes with us about this, as Sayuri explained our interest in helping give children and otherpeople a voice about their experiences. By chance we had found a common interest between us - and a renewed sense ofhope for the future. !
!

A few days later, after we had returned to Tokyo, Asanuma-san spoke at the National Memorial Service at the

National Theatre on the third anniversary of 3/11. She was one of the three speakers for relatives in the local
communities. Remembering her son and cherishing his memory in her everyday life, Asanuma-san spoke on behalf of thepeople in Iwate.!

!
Local tour with Konno-san!
!
Bleak times (Andy)!
Our English-speaking guide, Konno-san, said he had neverbeen more depressed about the future than he was atpresent. His words hung in the air as the snow continued
to drift down from the thick grey clouds above. We werecoming to the end of a three-hour tour with him, and hehad been talking about how the authorities had not listened
to the concerns of local residents. All those meetings that
Konno-san had attended, all those discussions about how
Rikuzentakata might be re-established according tocitizen’s wishes, they had all come to nothing. The 30 metrehigh sea protection wall was going to be built, and whole areas of the city would be buried metres deep under earth androck brought down on a conveyor belt from a nearby mountain that was being leveled off. The conveyor belt dwarfed
everything in the sea front area, including the Ipponmatsu, which we would visit on the Sunday. We had met Konno-

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san late Saturday morning at the Rikuzentakata Tourist
Information Office, a small prefab unit at the top of a hillwhere a bulldozer was parked for the weekend. It had been
moving some soil on the other side of the road. Stationary,it stood like a construction industry guard on what
Rikuzentakata has become: a vast flattened area, withbuilding foundations here and there, and huge, neatly laidout piles of soil, gravel, and stone heralding the physicalreconstruction now gathering pace.!
!

Earlier that day, in the snow, we had driven along

the old roads of Rikuzentakata still crisscrossing the city
area, first to the remains of the train station, and then to
those of the Sports Centre and Citizens Hall, Kesen Junior High School, and back along the Kesen River to low-lying
communities that Konno-san had known all his life, and where his family had lived for generations. "You need tounderstand the geography before we go to other places", Konno-san explained as we got out at the train station. "Thegeography first - and the time." We walked through where the entrance area of the station had been, to stand on theplatform. Konno-san showed us photos of before. "2:46", he explained, going through timed shots of what had happenedin this area over 28, 29 and 30 minutes later. The Sports Centre and Citizens Hall were reinforced structures, at roughly
the same distance back from the coast as the train station, and local residents, as instructed, had evacuated to them
expecting a half-metre inundation at most. The buildings were at sea level. "3:15, and still no warning of the size of thetsunami that would be coming." At each stop on the tour, Konno-san kept re-connecting the dots on the empty landscape
we had been moving through, and with each new timing, the narrative of the impending disaster grew clearer in our
minds.!

!

A powerful connection (Rob)!
Our first stop with our English guide, Konno-san, was thesite of the former Japan Rail (JR) station at Rikuzentakata.
To someone living in Japan, there is probably no otherbuilding as central to a town’s life than a local train station.
It was a location that we could all relate to. We walked along
the remnants of the platform with its tattered yellow safety
line. We walked along the bare, foundation under the grey
sky and stopped at a point where, Konno-san informed us,
the tickets had been sold.!
!

These were simple yet powerful reminders that in

Rikuzentakata, like all over Japan, people were carrying onwith their normal lives when the earthquake occurred andthat such a devastating event could indeed happen to anyone of us. How many people were on a train when this disasterstruck? How many were working at this station or just walking by this ticket area?!
As we left I looked out from the parking lot past the red metal foundation that once held up the JR Rikuzentakata sign

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and gazed at the empty field beyond remembering the photograph of the vibrant town that Konno-san had showed us, atown that was now completely gone. !

!

Kesen Chugaku (Sayuri)!
Konno-san’s tour had taken us to the remains of Kesen Chugaku. Having
read the school’s children’s accounts reflecting on the year since 3.11, thedeserted windowless building took on added meaning. !

!

!

!
!
The geographical connection had been made between the ‘voices’ of the childrenthat spoke of the path, the escape route to higher grounds, and the area just acrossthe waters where the pine trees were being devoured. Some things in the children’s
accounts became clear to me then, but I also wondered about how much more I did
not know or understand about the !
background of those accounts.!

!

A view from high ground (Rob)!
In the latter half of our tour, Konno-san took us to a couple of areas on higher
ground where people had both escaped and had witnessed the destruction of their
town below. He used pictures of the area taken from the places showing the view
before, during and after the disaster giving us an idea of what the people who
where there might have seen. Even after visiting these sites in person and seeing
exactly where the water had risen up to, it was still difficult to picture the!

enormity of the tsunami that devastated this area.!

One of the most profound moments in the Outreach Weekend camewhen Konno-san took us to the small hilltop temple, located justbehind where his house had stood, and shared his own personal
experience of fleeing the destruction below. At the top of the hill
Konno-san set up a laptop on the very spot he was standing when thetsunami struck and played back the video footage he had taken at thattime. For a brief moment we were seeing what the people who had
escaped the tsunami had witnessed. Konno-san's moving stories ofthat first night of survival along with the images played in front of
the still-barren landscape of Rikuzentakata below was a very
powerful moment for all of us. He emphasized again how little time

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there was for decision making. People on the hill that night had
no food, no water, and only the clothes they were wearing.
Konno-san also reminded us of the fear they felt as powerfulaftershocks continued throughout the night and the survivors
wondered if even this location would be safe or not. We stoodaround Konno-san as he spoke, as light snowflakes fell aroundus from a cold grey sky. This, Konno-san had said, were the very
weather conditions the people had had on March 11th 2011.!
!

Later after we had returned to Tokyo, we found thisvideo on YouTube that Konno-san had made in March 2012:
Survivor of Rikuzentakata recalls 'nightmare' tsunami!

!

Discussing the Kesen Chugaku Translation Project with Musashi-san (Sayuri)!
Later that afternoon we got to the Ofune-ryokan and sat with Musashi-san to discuss the LD SIG’s project oftranslating the accounts of children at Kesen Chugaku, written a year after the 3.11 disaster. At the time of our meeting,Musashi-san was the PTA chair at the junior high school where his daughter, Runa was to graduate this spring. He had
asked us to translate the accounts whose original Japanese version had been put together as a bunshu collection to be
distributed to the families of the children, Rikuzentakata City Hall, and the local library. !
!

We explained that there were 57 translators involved in this project, both from the LD SIG Tohoku Outreachgroup and two externally linked groups--ESTEEM and Nagoya International School, and that we had varied in how we
worked on the translations--some working with their students, some working on their own, and some working together
on each other’s translations. We also showed him the confidentiality agreement that we used to ensure children’s
anonymity. Musashi-san expressed his deep gratitude for all involved and was also interested in looking at the list ofnames, and reacting to the names of people he knew on the list (“Ah, Alison-sensei! Mike-sensei!”).!
!

We also explained that we had gone through the first stage of translating and that we would now need to beginediting, which would involve attending to various details. He expressed an understanding for the work. We also showed
him samples of the translation, prepared by the Translation Editors, Mathew Porter and Caroline Ross, and discussed
the key issue of where and how the English translations would appear and whether a bilingual presentation would bepossible. Musashi-san spent a little time reading through the English translation. He also confirmed that the school had
already approved internet exposure of the English translations so they were expecting the translation to be uploaded on
the LD SIG Outreach website. However, the idea of having a bilingual version and possibly also in print was new, so heexpressed the need to discuss it with the school.!

!

Ofune-ryokan (Mayumi)!
There were a few photo books on the counter at the front desk, and the owner of Ofune-ryokan picked up one of them andopened it. Showing the inn itself in a panoramic view of the city center of Rikizentakata washed away by muddy watersof the tsunami on 3.11, he quietly began to talk about the day. The inn had been previously located five minutes’ walkfrom the Takada-no Matsubara along the beach before 3.11. He soon noticed the possible danger of a tsunami and led his
guests away to be evacuated, before also driving up to a town center with his family. Soon after, the tsunami hit the citywith a furious force beyond imagination, and the inn was swept away with other buildings and houses. Because of theirNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!59

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Special Feature Article
quick decision, it was a small consolation for the owner that no one in his family had died. This episode reminded me ofwhat Musashi-san had told us as a crucial lesson from the tsunami. Many of those who lived near the sea promptly
escaped before the tsunami came, whereas some of those who were at some distance back could not see the sea and failed
to escape in an unguarded moment. The latter never thought that the tsunami would get over the seawall and reachwhat seemed to be their distant area.!
!

Only three out of the seven inns and hotels remained in Rikuzentakata after 3.11. The owner of Ofune-ryokan

was afraid that the number of visitors to Rikuzentakata would drop more and more with such a limited capacity foraccommodation. Living in a temporary housing unit, he began to consider restarting his business, and in spite of being
in his seventies and suffering from a chronic illness, he decided to reconstruct a new inn. In August 2013, the new
Ofune-ryokan was reopened on a different higher area a few kilometres back along the coast road to Kesennuma. Since
the inn was very popular among participants in a bicycle road race that had been held for years in Rikuzentakata before
3.11, many messages of congratulation for their reopening can.be seen on the Internet, too. Speaking falteringly in an
Iwate dialect, the old owner had a calm dignity in overcoming hardships after 3.11. !

!
SUNDAY!
!

A symbol of hope (Rob)!
On the Sunday morning we left the Ofune Ryokan to get to our next appointment at the city library. As our taxi
rounded a coastal hill and Rikuzentakata began to drift into view, Mayumi turned to me and said, “Look there it is, theIppon Matsu”. Instantly recognizable, the Ippon Matsu, or, in English, Miracle
Pine, was a tree that somehow survived the Tsunami as the sea-side pine grove ofnearly 70,000 trees that stood around it was washed away. The city government haspreserved the tree as a symbol of hope for the town. !
!

There can, of course, be some controversy in spending money on preserving

such a tree. The tree did eventually die due to the excessive salt water it was
exposed to after the tsunami and now exists as a facsimile. However, looking at thebranding that the city has done with this image, and the fact that it is an easily
recognizable image of survival and hope can make it an essential image for people
outside of the area that work still needs to be done. Even the retelling of the story
can generate interest. Hopefully, when used properly to promote the town andremind people that Rikuzentakata is indeed working to recover from the effects of
the Tsunami, the symbol of the Ippon Matsu can be used to heighten awareness,garner support, and raise funds for the area.!

!
!
!
!
!
!
!

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Creating communities of readers (Andy)!
In our thank you letter to the people at Rikuzentakata City Library,
we made a point of mentioning how as teachers we valued the workof librarians in creating communities, especially communities ofreaders. Although we spent only a short time at the library (it’s thelog cabin building at the back in the group photo), we were all
impressed by the welcoming atmosphere inside the library, and thebeautiful way in which the library was organised. Over a year
before several Learner Development SIG members had donated a
few hundred story books and textbooks for Rikuzentakata
communities. We had given six boxes of textbooks to the SEELS
school in Sendai in March 2013, but had been unsure of who tomake the donation of the remaining 140 or so storybooks to, so the Sunday morning meeting with Kanno–san and
Hasegawa-san offered a welcome opportunity to see what would be appropriate.!
!

We sat down around a large reading table together and looked at different books that we had brought along -some small graded readers, and other larger storybooks. Musashi-san, Runa and Yui joined us a little later, and forseveral minutes, we were all just sitting there, leafing through, and talking in two’s and three’s, about books and reading
experiences. !
!

The next week, a few days after we returned to Tokyo, we heard that Rikuzentakata City Library would like tohave hard-backed books only as these would be robust enough for repeated lending, so we put a box of 12 books together
and sent them off. Kanno-san was particularly interested in bilingual storybooks, and we were able to include a story by
Kenji Miyazawa. Later we started wondering if a future LD Outreach project might involve creating bilingual
storybooks of local people’s experiences and lives.!

!
Local tour with Musashi-san and children !
!
Kesen Elementary School (Mayumi)!
From the library, we joined Musashi-san, Runa and Yui in aminibus to become familiar with other places in Rikuzentakata. We
first visited a reclaimed area where Kesen Elementary School andYui’s house had once stood. Yui had been in the 6th grade when theearthquake happened. The teachers had made a quick and prompt
decision for all the children to be evacuated to a mountain behindthe school. They had run up through a mountain path, not a regularroute on the seaside, and thanks to this decision, they all could
escape safely from the tsunami. Musashi-san mentioned that theymight have been carried away by the water if they had used themore regular route to get away from the school. The school and Yui’s house had been washed away. When Runa asked
Yui in a low voice if she had seen people being washed away at that time, she seemed to make a small nod. Runa didn’t
say anything about that… It was hard to imagine how tough such an experience had been for children. I felt guilty

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somehow for being there with them, but also wished that our time with them could be of some help in releasing their
negative feelings three years after the disaster. I realized that it was extremely important but equally difficult for us
adults or visitors from outside to consider deeply children’s feelings and their growth process when we directly
communicate with them about 3.11. !

!

The Musashi's house (Mayumi)!
Musashi-san drove up to a hill through a relatively narrow and long affected area from the sea. He and Runa pointed toan empty site and said that their house had once been there... Since he had newly built it three years before theearthquake, some parts of the original structure had survived the tsunami. However, the height of the land above sea
level was too low for a new building to be deemed disaster-proof and the remains had been completely torn down as aresult. Even though his new house is now being built on a higher area of ground, there has been a huge ongoingadministrative issue about relocating houses or facilities in Rikuzentakata as well as in other affected areas. The
regulations and restrictions seemed in some ways too complicated to promote reconstruction, let alone ‘living safely fromnatural disasters’.!
!

Osabe Elementary School (Mayumi)!
We drove further up the hill and parked the minibus near Osabe Elementary School, where Runa had been in the 6th
grade when the earthquake occurred. When a foreshock had happened (although nobody knew at the time that it was signof a greater earthquake to come) two days before the earthquake, the school announced to parents that they should cometo school to pick up their children in such an emergency. That's why, on 3.11, Runa’s grandmother went to the school
instead of her parents, who were working at different places, and they tried to get back home going ‘down’ the hill fromthe school. On their way right near their house they found the tsunami coming up towards them. Runa said that she had
screamed in a terrible panic and turned back with her grandmother. They escaped and were later evacuated to a town
center further away, without knowing where Musashi-san and his wife were. Three days later they at last met up with
Runa’s mother, and a week later with her father.Musashi-san pointed out that the children should have stayed at theschool ‘up on the hill’. A crucial lesson about tremendous earthquakes should be always
to provide and secure a safe evacuation route, as well as to escape immediately from thesea to higher ground. Three years on, the lesson may be obvious, but I couldn't help
wondering how many people would be able to prepare properly and actually act that way
the next time.!
!
Looking again at the Ipponmatsu (Mayumi)!
“The tree is artificial now”, Runa observed, “so it is totally different from the beautiful
pine trees in the Takada-no Matsubara”, which, apart from a few odd stumps here andthere, had been completely wiped away by the tsunami. We were standing by the tree, infront of the ruined youth hostel, the sun shining, with people coming and going around
us all the time, taking photos of the symbolic tree. There were pros and cons, Musashisan commented, to the tree’s preservation for local people in Rikuzentakata. Costs had
already come to more than 150 million yen. “The pine tree is already dead whilst we arestill alive,” he said. The replica itself appeared to be the only overwhelmingly memorial image in Rikuzentakata. It

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served to remind outsiders of the 70,000 lost pine trees that had previously lined the beautiful white sandy beach. Yet, atthe same time, I felt that the sea, the vast devastated area, and the monstrously large construction works offered a sadand stark contrast to this monument to what had been lost.!

!

Kesen Daiku Sakan Denshoukan 気仙大工左官伝承館 (Andy)!
From here we drove back inland and uphill to an area, where some temporary restaurants had been constructed. Many
people coming into the restaurant were dressed in mourning clothes, as third anniversary ceremonies were taking placethat Sunday. We had a rahmen lunch together, and then Musashi-san drove us up to the top of Hakone Mountain where
we visited a straw-thatched house that was being restored. !
!

The guide to the house, a woman by the name of Musashi-san, welcomed

us and explained the history of this impressive building. It had provided shelter
and warmth on 3.11 and in the days afterwards for those people living andworking on the mountain. We sat in a circle in one of tatami rooms, andMusashi-san explained to us in detail her own story. Again, we listened andnoticed how such sharing of stories was part of the recurrent community
building that we were witness to. At a later time we hope to come back toMusashi-san’s story and others that we recorded as part of LD’s continuing
Tohoku Outreach projects. !
!

Having said our thank yous and goodbyes, we drove back down to sea

level and then along through the valley behind Rikuzentakata to Musashi-san’s
temporary housing unit.!

!

Mapping (Ted)!
I sometimes find a blank page a bit daunting, but usually it's just A4. At the endof our visit, in the Sunday afternoon, we all sat around a gigantic sheet of paperin Musashi-san's house to begin creating a map--not just of the places we saw--but of experiences and memories. At,
first, I wasn't sure how this would work. Luckily, we had one person with some design experience with us. Rob sketchedin the basic outline of the harbor and river and gave us just enoughstructure to begin.!
!

Runa and her father were a great team. She did most of thedrawing and writing and bounced ideas off her Dad. He pitched in too
and Runa was careful to direct him to use the correct colors. Slowly,
the many places we visited started to fill the poster. !
!

And, as the map emerged, I realized I had more questions

about where we had been and where we hadn't. Where was theMusashi's home? How far above sea level? How far from the coast?
All of the details started to emerge and with them some understandingof how people live in Rikuzentaka. Detailed knowledge of thegeography and specifics of elevation and distance are just part of life.!

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Time was short, and we couldn't add everything we wanted. Comments and feelings take time to form and write

down. So, with the contributions from Runa and Musashi-san, we folded the paper and went to the bus station. Over the
next two weeks, we sent the poster around to each member of the group to add our own memories of the trip. Getting it
down in purple or brown colored pencil was very different from the black and white of word processing screen. The map
allowed us a little more freedom and less need to connect each feeling or memory as in writing. Spread all over the map,
each one different from the others, the reflections were each in perfect geographical context. !
!

Which, reminds me of one of the lessons from our guide Konno-san. He was always so careful to establish where

we were at each stop of our tour. Understanding the geography of the city was key to understanding the terrible past
events and the developing future of the community. Geography was destiny for so many in Rikuzentakata, dictating who
would survive. And, in the next stage the utterly changed geography of the city will dictate how people's lives change.!

!
CLOSING REFLECTIONS!
!

Impressions from a second visit (Sayuri)!
There was clearly a different impression this year for me, perhaps because it was a return visit, perhaps because it was
one year on, but much had to do with meeting many local people who had experienced the disaster directly. Last year, I
had met many NGO staff (Asobi-ba, Shanti, Community Centre) and a non-local school deputy principal (Omose
Chugaku), who all gave us an abundance of knowledge and objective views that only third parties could at the time
provide, and one survivor who gave us a distressing account of his experience. This time, almost all the people we met
were directly affected and the continuous awareness and sensitivity whilst being engaged with them was an emotionallystrenuous experience. It may have been three years on, but when they spoke about the day and the days that followed,
they were living in the present, and perhaps will continue to do so when referring to 3.11. To add to this, that thedecisions for reconstruction were a source of frustration for some and causing them anguish was hard to bear, and I wasjust the listener. However, the words of the lady I met on the local Oofunato line rang true, as I noticed how willing
people were to speak about their experiences. Perhaps I can think of myself, the listener, as part of a chain of memories
being transmitted that in the end spreads proof of the events and lives of people affected by 3.11.!
!

On a more tangible level, another aspect that contributed to a different experience was that we had begun a

specific project in support for a local school, the Kesen Chugaku translation project. Whereas last year we were visitors
there to “learn about how different individuals and organisations in Tohoku wish to develop their communities in the
future - and how Learner Development SIG members may be able to contribute over the longer term” (http://ld-sig.org/
Outreach/#tohoku), this year the project and the connections we nurtured over the year made it easier for the people wemet for the first time to understand the purpose of our visit and commitment.!

!

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Narratives of human recovery (Andy)!
Through the weekend, we struggled at times to comprehend what we wereseeing and hearing. We were confronted time and again with stories of thedisaster. We heard of multiple dislocations that have re-occurred in people’s lives
and in their shifting communities as they have moved from being homeless toliving in evacuation shelters, from shelters to temporary housing, and then from
temporary housing to new homes (... or not). As we came to grasp how
communities had been swept away and dispersed, we were struck how thereconstruction effort is in different places going to wall off the sea or bury under
metres of earth the land where people lived for generations so that the groundlevel can be raised to create safety for future communities. But how willcommunity itself be saved? Through listening and bearing witness, we started
to realise that the sharing of stories is, in some small way, a fragile but resilientpart of a much deeper and complex process of grieving, honouring memories,
making sense of the powerful disorientations of the present - and of creating
shared hope for the future. !

!

Acknowledgment !
The March 2014 Learner Development SIG Outreach Weekend and Projects were generously supported bydonations from the JALT Tokyo, West Tokyo and Yokohama Chapters and the JALT JHSH and CUE SIGs. We
would like to express our warm thanks for this wonderful support.!

NGO OUTREACH

ＮＧＯアウトリーチ!

NGO Outreach aims to facilitate collaboration among students, NGOs, and teachers. At the Learner Development
SIG's 20th Anniversary Conference the first year of the NGO Outreach programme culminated in an NGO Forum,
Learning through social engagement - Pathways to collaboration with NGOs, involving representatives and student
volunteers from the following NGOs: Shanti Volunteer Association, Free the Children Japan, Japan Tent, and Shine
On! Kids. Student volunteers from ACE NGO also took part in the NGO display at the conference. We hope to
expand the programme as more SIG members become involved, more contacts are made with NGOs, and our ideas
about NGO Outreach develop further.!

!
!

ＮＧＯアウトリーチの支援活動は、生徒、ＮＧＯ団体と教師たちのコラボレーション活動を促進することを目標とします。学習者ディベロプメント研究部会の創設２０周年記念大会では、ＮＧＯアウトリーチプログラムの一年目の成果として多くのＮＧＯ団体代表や学生ボランティアの参加のもと、ＮＧＯフォーラム「社会参加活動を通しての学
びーＮＧＯ団体とのコラボレーション活動への道筋」が発表されました。参加ＮＧＯ団体は、シャンティ国際ボラン
ティア会、フリー・ザ・チルドレン・ジャパン、ジャパン・テント、シャイン・オン！キッズでした。ＮＧＯのＡＣ
Ｅ（エース）からも学生ボランティアがＮＧＯディスプレイで参加しました。今後研究部会メンバーの参加が増え、ＮＧＯ団体とのつながりが深まり、私たちのＮＧＯアウトリーチ支援活動の考えが発展していくように、この活動プログラムを展開していきたいと思っています。

!
Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!65

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Ngo Outreach

NGO Outreach
NGO アウトリーチ
Cycling into the Student Ambassador
Program’s second year !

Indeed, while two out of the three NGOs provided
more English-using opportunities than we thought,
one student commented that a problem withSince early 2013, the LD SIG NGO Outreachvolunteering was too few opportunities to use

coordinators have been encouraging teachers toEnglish.!

extend their students’ experience of English
language beyond the classroom through theStudent Ambassador initiative. From April andthrough the summer vacation of 2013, nine students
from Soka, Toyama, and Tokai universities became‘student ambassadors’ and volunteered at three
non-government organizations (NGOs). Their earlyexperiences - illustrated in Figure 1 as recruiting,finding NGOs, liaising, and volunteering - havebeen reported previously in Learning Learning(http://ld-sig.org/LL/20one/ngoOutreach.pdf,!

http://ld-sig.org/LL/20two/ngoOutreach.pdf).

Figure 1. The Student Ambassador Program

Now students have completed the “ambassador”
component of the program by representing theirNGOs, and the first full cycle of this program is

Cycle!

!
To ensure that students use English, thealmost complete. So in this article, we would like toproject requires students to prepare posters andreport the latest developments, reflect on the wholepresentations for an NGO display and forum

process, and invite you, LD SIG members and your(Figure 1), which - for this cycle - was held as partcolleagues, to contribute to this evolving project.

of the LD SIG 20th Anniversary Conference in!

Tokyo on 23 and 24 November 2013. All nine

One of the early challenges we faced was toensure a clear English language objective in thestudents who volunteered at an NGO prepared

program. Since the Student Ambassador Program isposters about their NGO’s activities and their own

specifically aimed at students becoming involved inexperiences as volunteers. One group of students

the operations of NGOs in Japan, opportunities torepresenting Shanti Volunteer Association (SVA)

use English during the volunteering part of the

took the initiative to recruit three students who had

program cannot be guaranteed, as the daily

not been able to volunteer to help prepare posters,

language of most NGOs in Japan is Japanese. This

staff their information desk, and sell SVA’s fair

may even be the case in organizations whose

trade goods. !

activities are mainly abroad and whose staff arevery internationally minded and multi-lingual.

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

Other organizations which did not host any
students this time also joined in the forum to!66

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): NGO Outreachencourage collaboration with students and!

teachers. These included Shine On! Kids, which

forum, a Tokyo-based participant commented thatsent their own interns and a project officer, and awhen preparing her poster, “I enjoyed collecting

student group from Action against Child

photos to illustrate my experience and enjoyed also

Exploitation (ACE). The forum featured shorttalking about how this internship could affect mypresentations and open discussion among students,

future career”. She also noted that at the display

NGO representatives, and teachers about theand forum, it was good “hearing about other NGO

benefits of the Student Ambassador Program andvolunteers’ experience and what they werepossible future directions. !

working for”.!

As a venue for reflecting on their!

In a survey completed after the display andOne of the early objectives for the NGO

experiences and for using English, the display andOutreach team has been sustainability, both for ourforum seemed very successful. Two students

students, and the Student Ambassador Program

travelled all the way from Toyama University toitself. According to one definition, sustainability isreport on their volunteer experience with Japan“the extent to which the positive effects of theTent, where they acted as guides to Japanese culture

project will continue after external assistance hasfor international students visiting Ishikawa

been concluded” (FASID, 2000). In this case,

Prefecture. One wrote in her final report that:“external assistance” is the initiatives of the NGO!

Outreach team to facilitate connections and
My experience in Tokyo is the first for me

collaboration between teachers, students, andand I felt so fresh and interesting. It was not

NGOs. There are already signs that a good degreea serious atmosphere and I felt comfortable. Iof sustainability of this kind exists. !

!

think I could have a precious experience so I
want to say “Thanks.” Every foreign teacher!

was so kind and it was interesting for me.!

Her colleague chose to make a video report, andcommented that:!

After this [volunteering] experience I madeposters for my presentation. It was a little
bit difficult for me to make it in English
because my English skill is not so good, but
it wasn’t too hard because my English
teacher always helped me. … it was a really
good experience to speak English in thatplace, to talk to other university students,
and teachers. It was good experience. I’mreally happy to share my experience withother people, and I’m really appreciate that
I can be an NGO Outreach project member.!

!
Picture: Three Student Ambassadors and Sanae
Nakajima (Right), chairperson of Free the Children
Japan, stand in front of their display at the NGO
Outreach Display and Forum at the Learner
Development SIG 20th Anniversary Conference.!

!

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!67

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Ngo Outreach!

One student decided to transform her

could expect to undertake - including morevolunteer experience into a full six monthEnglish-related tasks during the volunteering stage. !

internship at Free the Children Japan (FTCJ).

!

Another commented about the importance of her

and reports from students when they think theexperience to her future career, and her plans to“event” is already over. Having completed one fullkeep in touch with and visit FTCJ. An example ofcycle, now we have a much clearer picture of what

an ongoing NGO and university relationship is that

we can offer to all parties involved - students,

FTCJ has agreed to participate in the Global Lectureteachers, and NGOs. We can now make an

Series at Soka University, where most of the student

Ambassador Program Calendar and use it in theambassadors study, as well as visit the campus withinitial recruiting phase, so that everyone knows thatstudent volunteers to talk about their activities. !

they will be expected to answer some simple!

questionnaires and complete a final report, in order

Regarding the sustainability of the Student

Finally, it is difficult to get survey responses

Ambassador Program itself, we have encouraged

to reflect upon their experience and continue thestudents to complete a final report on theirflow of the Program cycle. !

volunteering and ambassador experience - in either!

video or written form - for the explicit purpose ofcycle and are actively seeking an appropriate event

promoting volunteering among other interested

for Student Ambassadors to participate in after

students (Figure 1). This reliance on student totheir summer volunteering experience. Since thisstudent contact will hopefully maximize student

really sets the target for students’ use of English, it

initiative and NGO benefit, allowing the NGO

is important that the Japan-based event be one with

Outreach coordinators and teachers to step back aparticipants coming from a variety of countries. At

little and refocus their efforts on emerging issues.!

the time of writing we are still exploring options!

and warmly welcome your suggestions. We are also

Keeping sustainability in mind, several

We are now transitioning into the second

issues have emerged. Firstly, the cost of food andkeen to hear from teachers across Japan who may

commuting in both the volunteering and the

be interested in promoting this program to theirdisplay and forum stage can mount quite

students in the current school year. As one teacher

significantly, so it would be beneficial to seek

said in the NGO forum, “My feeling is that (thefunding to offset these costs away from the student.

students) did all the hard work and I mostly met

Secondly, some students only learnt about their

them to say go ahead and do what they wereNGOs activities, without really having anplanning to do anyway”. We are looking forward toopportunity to engage in them; this may be linked to

you and your students joining us as we move into

time spent volunteering. We are reflecting on the

our second year!

potential advantages and disadvantages of!

encouraging students to allocate a minimum

References:!

engagement of 20 hours with their respective

FASID, 2000. PCM (Project Cycle Management):

NGOs. On the one hand, this may discourage

Monitoring and Evaluation Based on thestudents - who are already very hard pressed for

PCM Method, 2000, FASID (Foundation fortime - from joining the program. On the other, it

Advanced Studies on International

may allow us to negotiate further with NGOs to

Development), Tokyo.

help draw out the kind of tasks student volunteers

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!

!68

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LOOKING FORWARD

Looking Forward 今後のイベント
Continuity in Learning and Learner
Development LD SIG Forum at the PANSIG
Conference in Miyazaki!

Introducing doctor-patient discourse analysis in
the classroom!

!

Theron Muller - University of Toyama!

For those of you attending the PANSIG Conference

discourse analysis of doctor-patient interaction

at Miyazaki Municipal University this year, you arefrom the literature is introduced to third year

warmly invited to take part in the LD SIG forum on

medical students in a medical English course,

Sunday, 11th May 2014 from 1:45pm - 3:15pm inblending content teaching with language work in

Room 101.!

!

the English classroom. Students’ written reflections

In this forum presenters will share their own stories

how they perceive this course's contents to beof continuity, showing specific ways to makedifferent from their past language learninglearning a continuous process of development for

737experience. Attention will be paid to how

students. The forum will have simultaneousmaterial from the literature has been adapted todisplays and presentation corners, withmake it more accessible to students and how

opportunities for audience interaction, discussion

students' reflections illustrate the relevance of theand plenary roundup. This year we have eight

course to their future imagined selves as medical

exciting presentations with something for everyone:!

!

professionals.!

What are they doing now?!

Know what works better for you, or what not!

This presentation will describe how medical

are used to explore their learning on the course and!

Debjani Ray - Tokyo University of Science!

Satoko Ito - Nanzan University!

This presentation will focus on language learning

Students use various cognitive strategies taught byprocess of some of my former students. Topics suchtheir teachers or through exercises in given

as; how they are using / not using the their L2

textbooks, but not many of them are aware whywhen they do not need to use it in a classroom; howthey are doing so. This lack of awareness is thought

their present environment encourages /to affect their learning efficiency considering that

discourages the use of their L2; and how they arepreceding research have repeatedly emphasized thedeveloping / losing their L2 skills; will be

importance of nurturing learners’ metacognitive

discussed. In order to do this, interviews with someability. Although teachers can supplement the lackof my former students, who are already graduatedand control their learning, once they leave schools,

or in their 3rd/4th year of university, will be usedthe control is resumed to the students themselves.

to exemplify their current situation with their L2

The focus of this presentation will be on how todevelopment.!

prepare students for the post-school phase by!
!

raising their awareness in the choice of learning
strategies.!

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!69

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LOOKING FORWARD
Promoting Sustainable Learning in a Requiredof evaluation in order to yield a blend ofCommunication Course!

quantitative and qualitative findings may

Ian Hurrell - Rikkyo University!

demotivate some novice presenters. This discussion

The instructors at the English Discussion Center

focuses on such novices and the presenter’s(EDC) at Rikkyo University teach a compulsory

experience with setting aside performance rubrics

course in discussion skills for all freshmen enteringin order to allow learners to prepare their displays

the university. The course is successful in helping

in their own terms to impart a sense of learner task

the vast majority of students make great strides inownership and future learner empowerment. The

developing their communicative ability. However,presenter shall discuss how latent learner presenteras a required course, there is a concern about

ability may be revealed, and how successful learner

whether the students are motivated to improve

ownership and empowerment may be enabled.!

their skills after course is completed. This!

interactive presentation will report on the methods

Video messages from the seniors to the freshmen!

used to promote sustainable learning at the EDC

Alison Stewart - Gakushuin University!

and will also discuss ideas for the future

What do good learners do to sustain and improve

improvements.!

their second language ability outside the!

classroom? This presentation describes an

Learning Trajectories: some cases of Japaneseautonomy-enhancing project in which seniorcollege students !

students act as role models for freshmen English

Satoko Ebara - International Pacific University!

majors. Short video messages in which the seniors

This presentation will report on retrospective

describe the out-of-class practices that they haveinterviews with three third-year Japanese

tried and found useful are shown to freshmen at theuniversity students. All of them aim to become

beginning of a semester-long generalschool teachers and took the same non-credit

communicative English class. The first-year

supplementary course in their first grade. In thisstudents discuss the messages in groups before

first year course, their original perceptions andwriting their own goals and plans for self-study.

behaviors of English learning were profiled. Two

Participants are invited to share their suggestions

years later, a semi-structured interview and self-and experiences of facilitating role modeling ofreport questionnaires were conducted with theautonomous learning.!

same students regarding any motivational and!

behavioral changes in their language learning.

Exploring principles and processes of learning in

Insights from these interviews and questionnaires

content-based learning course design

will be investigated.!

Andy Barfield - Chuo University!

!

Education for sustainable development identifies

Learner Ownership in Novice Student

specific approaches to learning (such as action

Presentation Success !

learning and problem-based learning) that students

Lee Arnold - Seigakuin University!

and teachers should engage with. This presentation

While much of the research literature on student

explores what principles and processes of learning

oral presentation assessment focuses oncame into focus for the presenter in the design of aperformance, the emphasis on precision in rubrics

content-based learning course on forced migration,

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>!70

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LOOKING FORWARD
and to what extent the designing of this course

gauging learner growth in a study abroad program,

embodies the concept of education for sustainable

and Michael Stout and Clair Taylor will jointly

development (or not).!

present on raising learner motivation and task!

performance in two different universities by way of

We look forward to seeing you there!!

learner sharing of their hometowns through the
VoiceThread application. Finally, Robert Wernerwill demonstrate the learner-centric benefits ofweekly discussions on current events with
Edmodo, a social networking platform.

!
!

JALTCALL 2014!

!
#!

Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Nagoya. !

Ian Hurrell!

June 6 – 8, 2014!

Learner Development SIG Programmes Chair!

!
!
JALT CALL 2014 LD SIG FORUM!
!

Don't miss out on our forum at JALT CALL! !
June 6-8 is CALL 2014 at Sugiyama Jogakuen
University, and the CALL organizers have granted
LD an exciting forum this year that brings together
issues in learner development with Web 2.0. For theforum, we will have five presentations from six
presenters - Lee Arnold, William Hassett, Kevin
Ottoson, Michael Stout, Clair Taylor, and RobertWerner. !

!

Lee Arnold will present on the enhancement oflearner effort and creation of teacher-learner peer
community from blog publishing learner writing,while William Hassett will provide an overview of
his institution's SALC (Self-Access Learning Center)and the web-based technologies chosen with theaim to enhance learner autonomy. Kevin Ottoson

!
!
!
!

Conference Theme!
New Horizons in CALL!

Keynote: Regine Hampel!
Professor of Open andDistance Language
Learning at The Open
University, UK!

!
!
!
!

Plenary: Glenn Stockwell!
Professor at Waseda
University, Tokyo, Japan!

!
!
!

will discuss the role of social networking sites insharing learner intercultural experiences andNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>!7 1

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Sig Matters

Call For Contributions
原稿募集
learninglearningjaltldsig@gmail.com

Learning Learning is your space for continuing to makethe connections that interest you. You are warmly invitedand encouraged to contribute to the next issue of
Learning Learning in either English and/or Japanese. We
welcome writing in different formats and different
lengths about different issues connected with learner andteacher 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• articles (about 2,500 to 4,000 words)!
• reports (about 500 to 1,000 words)!

まざま文章を歓迎しています:!

• learner histories (about 500 to 1,000 words)!
• stories of autonomy (about 500 to 1,000 words)!

•

論文 (約4000字-10000字)!

•

報告書 (約2000字-4000字)!

• book reviews (about 500 to 1,000 words)!
• letters to the SIG (about 500 words)!

•

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)!

• 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 and newwriters and are also very happy to work with you indeveloping your writing. We would be delighted to hear

!

!

•

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from you about your ideas, reflections, experiences, and稿をお待ちしております。内容について もぜひご相談くinterests to do with learner development, learner

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。!

autonomy and teacher autonomy.!

Jim Ronald
jmronald@gmail.com!
PLEASE SEND YOUR
MANUSCRIPT TO:!

!
!
!
!
!

Monika Szirmai
szirmaimonika@gmail.com!

SIG fund balance February 28, 2014 / SIG資金残高2014年2月28日
Balance in bank account 銀行口座の残高

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

239,017!72

Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): Sig Matters

Financial Report, 財務報告
Reserve liabilities JALT本部預け金

368,250

Cash at hand （現金）
TOTAL

230

合計

607,497

PLANNED EXPENSES March 2014 to December 20142014年3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
Shipping LD materials to the conferences／SIGテーブル用マテリアル送料
LD SIG site cost ／SIGウェブサイト経費
Donation for best of JALT 2014／Best of JALTサポート
2 Pan SIG grants／Pan SIG 参加助成金 (¥40,000 x 2)
2 Research grants／研究助成金 (¥25,000 x 2)
2 National grants／全国大会参加助成金 (¥40,000 x 2)
Outreach grants／アウトリーチ助成金(¥20,000 x 2)
Tokyo get-togethers venue／東京エリアミーティング会場費(17,000)(20,000)(7,500)(20,000)(80,000)(50,000)(80,000)(40,000)(25,000)

Other miscellaneous / 他の雑費
SUB-TOTALPROJECTED REVENUE March to December 2014

小計

(20,000)(359,500)

2014年3月- 12月予定収入

Membership ¥1500 6 months SIG 会員費（１５００円／６ヶ月）
SUB-TOTAL

200,000
小計

200,000

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

79,517

Reserve liabilities JALT本部預け金

368,250
230

Cash at hand （現金）
TOTAL

合計

Kay Irie

入江恵, LD SIG treasurer LDSIG財務

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

448,227!7 3