Vol. 8

Q: What do you do to enhance
students' learning in yourclasses?
A:I focus on students' “learning” rather
than “teaching” when composing myclasses.

OHARA
Tetsushi
Subjects:

Q: Isn't it diﬃcult to evaluate
students' homework if it isuneven?

Pre-Advanced Japanese

3TIPs
the decision-making to the students to
1 Leaveincrease independent and active learning2

I am always thinking about how
students can learn well, not how I canteach them well, and how they can learn
independently and ac�vely. For example,
homework is usually given to students by
instructors, but since last year, we havecreated and implemented a system inwhich students can decide the content
and methods for the homework in

Reﬂect on the learning by linking language toother circumstances

students to think diﬀerently and to
3 Challenge
be willing to try new things

A: We have a self-evalua�on system as amechanism to evaluate the work in a waythat students can understand. Star�ng thissemester, we ask students to write down
the reason for the homework they cameup with, their evalua�on a�er prac�cing it(A+, B, etc.) and the reasoning for thatevalua�on. The teachers thencomprehensively evaluate the students'mo�va�on and eﬀorts by comparing theactual homework with the students'
self-evalua�ons. As speciﬁc evalua�onstandards cannot be uniﬁed, the reasonsintermediate to advanced classes. Of
course, we require a certain level of quality
and quan�ty, but we also ask students todecide what they want to study, think ofways to improve it, and submit the results
as homework. For example, students may
decide, "I'm weak in grammar in Lesson X,
so I'll prac�ce" or "I'm weak inconversa�on, so I'll talk with my Japanesefriends.” By sharing the authority to decide
the learning process and content with thestudents in this way, I hope that they willdevelop the ability to learn that will last alife�me a�er gradua�on.

for teachers' evalua�ons are also sharedwith the students.
Another way to enhance students'
learning is to encourage students to do a
lot of reﬂec�on. In general, there is ano�on that "prac�ce" and "reﬂec�on" areimportant for learning. At the end of eachlesson, students are asked to reﬂect on
their work and submit a report at the endof the semester. However, the importantpart of reﬂec�on is the no�on of“Signiﬁcant Learning.” Rather than simply
looking back and saying, "I got be�er atgrammar and kanji," this reﬂec�on should
cover how what students learn inJapanese class inﬂuences their otherto learn that content.

◂Reﬂection sheet
used in classspecialized classes, daily life, friendships,
learning methods, personal values andthoughts, and whether they were able
to relate to and extend their learning.
Throuh performing this self-evalua�on,
we believe that it is possible to establish"one's own learning" separate fromothers, and this establishment promotes
independent learning.

graduate school, so I think that by sharing
my story, I can get students interested andmo�vated in the class.

Q: What do you do to mo�vatestudents?
A: What I personally try to do is not only
teach the content of the textbook, butalso share with students why they needFor example, when the school
computer broke down during use, if
students only know the grammar, "I broke
the computer,” then there is a goodchance that the Oﬃce will tell them to pay
for it when they ask them. However, if
students know the expression, "Thecomputer is broken," then it is likely that
the Oﬃce will handle it by preparing a newcomputer. In this way, I explain thatknowing grammar and expressions will
give students the ability to handle any
situa�on. Rather than simply telling themto study, I think that adding the fact thatvocabulary and grammar will help them in▴The concept of "Signiﬁcant Learningʼʼ

I also provide students �me to enjoy
free conversa�on a�er allo�ng them to
Breakout Rooms so that they can get toknow each other. This method has actually
received a posi�ve response fromstudents, who say that it is a good way to
exchange informa�on and build
rela�onships in a �me when connec�ons
with other people are becoming scarce.
Since we have been doing a lot of pair andgroup work from the �me of in-personclasses, we also spend more than half theclass in Breakout Rooms even a�er

all kinds of situa�ons in the future will
increase their mo�va�on.

Q: What methods have youdevised now that classes areonline?
A: Since going online, I feel that there arefewer opportuni�es to get to know one
another as mutual communica�on
between "teacher and student" and"student and student" during class andbefore and a�er class has decreased. For
this reason, I try to talk more about myself
in my online classes than usual. I myself
have studied abroad during university andmoving online, and I change the roomsfrequently to encourage peer interac�on.

Q: What steps do you take toimprove your classes?
A: There are no speciﬁc steps, but I think
about and adjust class content to achieve
the underlying goals of intermediate toadvanced classes (not only language goals,
but also goals such as "Becoming anautonomous learner," "Extending one'sown learning," and "Thinking cri�cally.") In
the language faculty mee�ngs, wesome�mes propose content from actualresearch that we would like to try withAPU students and incorporate into ourclasses.
Star�ng this semester, we are planninga new ac�vity in which students will create
quizzes and give them to each other.
Speciﬁcally, students will come up withreading comprehension assignments,
mul�ple choice lists, ques�ons, solu�ons,
and evalua�on methods for quizzes toshare with one another. I thought thismethod would be interes�ng to try out as
students will not only further their reading
comprehension abili�es through reading
various materials in Japanese, but bycrea�ng their own quizzes, they will also
learn from classes, and then try to developlearning plans and implement classroomac�vi�es.
For example, by giving students �me tothink and seek opinions from otherstudents rather than immediately giving
them an answer to a ques�on, students
can acquire thinking abili�es and foster ana�tude of collabora�ve learning withclassmates, crea�ng learning together.
If a student asks, "Why is this answer
wrong?" even once when checking
answers to a quiz or test, I o�en start an
exchange of opinions with the class rather
than simply correc�ng them by saying, "It'swrong because..." Since language is always

advance their autonomous learning. If it
goes well, I would like to incorporate it into
future classes while considering ways toimprove it.

if it is turned into a discussion, but I think it's
worth more than a point on a test because
it inﬂuences memory reten�on andthinking skills.

Q: What is important to you in
the process of educa�on?

Q: What do you expect fromstudents who take your classes?

A: Ul�mately, an environment in which
everyone can create their own learning. At
the root of this concept is the philosophy
that "Teaching < Learning." Rather than
the instructor preparing various teachingmaterials and giving detailed instruc�ons, I
always thinking about what students can

A: I would like them to challenge a varietyof things, including the instructor.

changing, it is some�mes diﬃcult todetermine a deﬁnite right or wrong in atest ques�on. In a discussion that started
with a student who used the English word
"instant," a word not o�en used by
Japanese, to mean "quick," 70% of thestudents concluded that this use wascorrect, and the student actually got thatanswer right. However, I also shared thatthe term may not be understood byJapanese who do not know English well inthat situa�on, and I expanded this learningby telling students that they can interact
with others appropriately in a range ofsitua�ons if they know how to convey
something in various ways. 5 minutes ofanswering a ques�on can take 30 minutes

as teachers. In par�cular, I am s�ll trying
new challenges to think in diﬀerent ways
in everything I do. From the no�on "Whatwould happen if the teacher didn'tteach?” , I came up with the idea ofhaving one of my students play the role ofteacher instead. Rather than having theteacher take the lead in explaining theanswers to the grammar exercises, I haveone of the students take the role as theteacher and have the students collaborate
in answering the ques�ons. Through thistechnique, the reac�ons of the students inthe class are greater than having theinstructor take the lead in answering theques�ons, and a variety of ques�ons andopinions emerge. It seems thatFor the students, I think it is importantthat they do not take the passive stance ofsimply doing what they are told, but rather
that they take the ini�a�ve to incorporate
their own ideas and nature into theirlearning. When I actually a�ended auniversity in America, I had study with andfoster a change in the way I thought.
When I was assigned to write an essay on
three documents, I felt a great sense ofaccomplishment when I took on thechallenge of wri�ng an essay that could
logically convince the professor, whiledaring to approach the assignment from adiﬀerent angle rather than the one theprofessor intended. I think it is a very goodlearning experience to challenge teachers
willingly.
Sharing the leadership anddecision-making authority to control theclass with students is one of our challenges
independent and ac�ve "Learning" occurs
without the teacher doing the "Teaching,"
and the enjoyment added is also evident.
For this outcome, it is important to transfer
the leadership and decision-making powerin the class to the students.

Past episodes of make-up classes
The par�cipa�on rate of students in themake-up class was poor, but then the ideaof using ﬂash mobs in class came to mind.
What if about a third of the students whocame to the make-up class suddenly raised
their hands in the next class and said, "Iwant to explain in place of the teacher!”

The students who didn't a�end themake-up class would be surprised because
they wouldn't know what was going on(laughs). Theore�cally, there is a belief thatmo�va�on to learn increases whenemo�ons are involved. If students freely
engage with their own thoughts and ideas
while being playful, and they think, "This isinteres�ng!" or "I wonder what this is allabout?", then I think I have succeeded inmo�va�ng them to learn. As long as I canul�mately get the students to learn well, I
am not so par�cular about the “Teaching.”
Of course, it would be great if I could
connect the learning to the point where it
was not only enjoyable but also extended,
but there are �mes when it is not up to me

but the students themselves to reach thatpoint. My ﬁeld of exper�se is autonomous
learning, so I hope that students willul�mately be able to learn on their own. I
think it is the role of the teacher to support
that mission.

Interviewer Impressions
I see that Professor Ohara aims to provide classes which guide students
on how to learn and how to be motivated in the future. With the theory that,"Motivation for learning increases when emotions are involved," Professor
Ohara is always thinking on a case-by-case basis, not only at turning points
such as the end of the semester, and taking on challenging new approaches.
I felt that not only the students, but also the professor himself enjoys theseclasses. I also felt that the self-evaluation system was an important processthat allowed the students to reevaluate their own learning more deeply, as itprovided them with hints on what they should do next and what they should
improve on, unlike a typical lecture that ends after submitting theassignment. I would like to make use of this experience in my own studies in
the future.

What is [Q]?

Interview/Ar�cle wri�ng：KAWAMURA Anzu
Transla�on：MUROMBA Pascal Simbarashe

At APU there are many professors who put together wonderful classes,
and if we could get to know how these classes are planned, it wouldcontribute to the improvement of other professors’ classes. For thatpurpose, we have begun doing interviews in order to learn about classplanning. These articles have been entitled [Q], comprising a variety ofmeanings such as: increasing the [Q]uality of classes, answering[Q]uestions to increase quality, and forming a [Q]ueue, or line, of class
improvements. We would be very happy
if these articles could contribute to the[Q]uest of APU professors’ class qualityimprovement.