The 2014 PanSIG Proceedings
Sustainability: Making Teachingand Learning Last

The 13th Annual JALT PanSIG Conference
May 16-17, 2014 Kobe, Japan

Edited & Published by JALT PanSIG
Proceedings Editor-in-Chief
Gavin Brooks
Doshisha University

Editors
Myles Grogan (Kansai University)
Mathew Porter (Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s University)

Layout and Design by
Gavin Brooks & Mathew Porter

Message from the editors:
The 13th Annual PanSIG Conference was held at Miyazaki Municipal University on May
10th and 11th, 2014. The theme of the conference was, “Sustainability: Making Teaching and
Learning Last”. This was a collaborative effort from 26 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) within
the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT). The conference was highly successful
and participants were able to attend presentations on a variety of topics from a wide spectrum
in the fields of language teaching and learning.

The 2014 PanSIG Proceedings is a representative effort from the conference in Miyazaki. 33
papers were accepted for publication in this year’s volume. These papers cover a diverse rangeof topics including CALL, bilingualism, learning Japanese, student exchanges, and servicelearning in Iwate. The quantity and quality of presentations and published papers from theconference show the professional determination of the talented individuals who have shared
their thoughts and insights on teaching and learning in these proceedings. We are honoured
and proud to have been a part of this process and we would like to thank all of the contributors
for submitting their papers for this publication.

We are also very grateful for the great group of volunteers who helped us to get through thepeer review and editing process. We could not have put these proceedings together without
the help of the many people who took the time to read through these papers and offer theirprofessional insight to the authors. The success of these proceedings is a cumulative effort
from a large number of individuals. We hope that you will enjoy reading the papers in theseproceedings and that you can gain some insight for your own professional development.

Gavin Brooks
Mathew Porter
Myles Grogan
May 2nd, 2015

ii

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Message from the conference chair:
Through the fantastic work of editors Gavin Brooks and Myles Grogan, we finally ‘wrap up’
PanSIG 2014 with the publication of these proceedings. A job like this is a huge undertaking
and as this is going to press, only a few days have passed since the conclusion of PanSIG 2015
in Kobe. We can now look forward to PanSIG 2016 in Okinawa, which we’re sure will bring
together the ideas, energy, and people that have always characterized the PanSIG conferences.

There are a number of other people, far to numerous to mention, to thank, and if we try
to thank them, we will certain miss some. So we would like to underline our hope that someof the ideas that led us to set up the PanSIG in Miyazaki may continue to circulate through
JALT, as is appropriate with a conference built around the theme of sustainability. By bringing
the PanSIG to a location a bit off the beaten track, we hoped to create a model and an impetus
to have a more open conference outside of the Osaka-Tokyo crescent. We have heard thatPanSIG 2016 in Okinawa will also adopt the all poster presentation format and we are also
encouraged by the fact that George MacLean, the president of the Okinawa chapter, will betaking on the role of main conference organizer. We hope that PanSIG 2016 will be as muchof a boost to their chapter as it has been to the Nankyu chapter and we look forward to that.

However, as Dick Allwright and Rosa Lenzuen noted in a presentation at TESOL 97 (20years ago!) that laid out the initial ideas of Exploratory Practice, the importance is not thesustainability of practices and procedures, but the sustainability of ideas, of which practices andprocedures are only “a potential means to a much more important end”. Keeping that in mind,
we would like to encourage not only a creation of ‘narratives’ that may unfortunately stick towell-worn paths, but practices and procedures that move JALT towards a true sustainabilityof ideas.

Hugh Nicoll & Joe Tomei
Conference Chair, PanSIG2014
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedingsiii

The 2014 PanSIG Proceedings
Editorial Advisory Board

Baikuntha Bhatta
Kanagawa University

Douglas Jarrell
Nagoya Women’s University

Bill Pellowe
Kinki University (Fukuoka)

Mark Brierley
Shinshu University

Oliver Kinghorn
Kansai University

Jean-Pierre J. Richard
Tokyo Woman’s Christian
University

Jeffrie Butterfield
Kanagawa University

Aleda Krause
Seigakuin University

Carol Rinnert
Hiroshima City University

Matthew Coomber
Ritsumeikan University

Harmony Martin
Kandai Jr and Sr High school

Caroline Ross
Nakamura Jr. and Sr. HighSchool for Girls

Hana Craig
Sojo University

Tanya McCarthy
Kyushu University

Jonathan Rowberry
Sojo University

Craig Daly
University of Glasgow

Steve McGuire
Nagoya University of Arts

Jim Smiley
Tohok Bunka Gakuen University

Cheryl DiCelloSugiyama Jogakuen University

Hugh Nicoll
Miyazaki Municipal University

Mike Stockwell
Sugiyama Jogakuen University

Loran Edwards
Kansai Gaidai University

Mike Nix
Chuo University

Raymond Stubbe
Kyushu Sangyo University

Tetsuya Fukuda
International Christian University

David Ockert
Toyo University

Joseph Tomei
Kumamoto Gakuen University

Mayumi Fujioka
Osaka Prefecture University

George O’Neal
Niigata University

Brenden Van Deusen
Nagasaki International University

Aaron Hahn
Fukuoka University

John Owatari-Dorgan
Nagasaki International University

Brent Alden Wright
Kanazawa Institute of Technology

Anna Husson Isozaki
Gunma Prefectural Women’s
Universityiv

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

ISBN 978-4-901352-42-0
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings
Sustainability: Making Teaching and Learning Last
Miyazaki, Japan
JALT Central OfficeUrban Edge Bldg 5F, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016, Japan
http://jalt.org/
http://www.pansig.org/
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedingsv

Table of Contents
The Management of the Rights to Knowledge during Interaction in a University Language
LoungeBaikuntha Bhatta

9

Other-Initiated Other-Repair in Second Language Conversations
Jeffrie Butterfield

16

Kyoto Studies: Local to Global Education
Paul Christopher Carty

23

Two Resources for Extensive Reading in Japanese
Matthew Coomber

28

An Investigation into Teachers’ Self-reflections and Beliefs on Implementing the New Courseof Study
Nicole Gallagher

36

Comparing TOEIC® and Vocabulary Test Scores

52

Masaya Kanzaki
Using Process Drama in EFL Discussion Classes
Aya Kawakami

59

Coastal Collaboration: Service-Learning in Iwate
Gregory A. King, David R. Laurence, & Patrick J. Maher

64

What Students Like Writing About
Kenichiro Kobayashi & Cheryl DiCello70

Comparing Different Teaching Positions in JapanJon Eric Leachtenauer

84

Diary Writing Methodologies: Encouraging Independent Learning
Mohammad Naeim Maleki & Brent Wright89

Student Feedback Used to Improve Pre-Departure Preparation for a Study Abroad Program
John Frederick Maune

95

Real-Life Tasks in the Classroom as a Potential for Transfer
Tanya M. McCarthy

103

Vocatives as Mitigators and Upgraders in Speech Acts
Michael Mondejar

116

The Japanese Elementary School Foreign Language Program From an ALT’s Perspective
Samuel Edward Muller

122

Developing a Student-Planned Study Abroad Program
Mike Nix, Hisako Kodama, Ryo Ito, Yumi So, & Nozomu Kawashima

134

Bilingualism in Children: Facts and Fictions
Josh Norman

141

vi

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

The Repair of Unintelligible Pronunciation to Intelligible Pronunciation between English as a
Lingua Franca Speakers in Japan
George Christopher O’Neal

147

Japanese EFL Learners’ Expressions of Thanks and Disagreement
Masashi Otani & Yuuki Ogawa

155

Revisiting Dictation: An Investigation of Gains in Students’ Aural Decoding Skills
Ryan Pain & Jon Rowberry

165

Encouraging Active Participation With Response Cards
William R. Pellowe, Stephen M. Paton, & Paul Shimizu

172

Why Don’t Our Students Study Abroad? Seeking Data-Driven Changes to Administrative
Challenges
Mathew Porter

178

How Families can Collaborate on English Education
Christie Provenzano

190

What are They Doing Now? Student Voices on Sustainable Learning
Debjani Ray

196

Expand Your Handouts With QR Codes
Cameron Romney

203

Meeting Teacher Goals Through Collaborative Lesson Study: Improvements in Classroom
English Usage
Michael James Rupp

210

Student Preference in Teacher Nationality
Yoshie Shimai & Aaron Hahn

217

Designing Authentic Audience in Project Based Learning
Michael A. Stockwell223

Test Re-Dos for Supporting Learner Reflection and Development
Kristen Sullivan

228

Online Translation Sites: Problems and Possibilities
Joseph Tomei & Judy Yoneoka

235

The Influence of Japanese Learners’ Cultural Worldviews on Learning English Syntax
Nobuko Trent

240

Building a Sustainable Curriculum with Can-do Statements
Brendan Van Deusen & John Patrick Owatari-Dorgan

252

Supplementary Online Materials: Selection and Implementation
Andrew Zitzmann

258

All materials in this publication are copyright © (2015) by JALT and their respective authors.
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedingsvii

viii The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

The Management of the Rights to Knowledge during
Interaction in a University Language Lounge

Baikuntha Bhatta
Kanagawa University
trishuliriver@yahoo.com
In recent years many Japanese universities have established language lounges with the objectiveof improving students’ communicative competence in English. The setting of language lounges inuniversities is different from language classrooms where the students gather and the teacher goesin and delivers a lesson. In language lounges, students interested in learning more and improving
their English communicative competence go in and interact with the teachers available. This paper
looks at a few instances of interaction in a university language lounge and analyzes the various
strategies the participants use in the management of knowledge. It also highlights the typical aspects
of university language lounges where the students also display rights to knowledge, which does not
usually happen in language classrooms.
近年、多くの日本の大学では、学生の英語コミュニケーションスキルの向上を目的とした言語ラウンジを設置している。大学における言語ラウンジは、学生が集まり、教師が来て、授業を行う、
といった一般の教室とは異なる。言語ラウンジでは、英語コミュニケーション能力の学習と向上に関心を持つ学生が来て、空いている教師と対話をする。本論文ではある大学の言語ラウンジにおける対話の例をいくつか概観し、参与者が知識を駆使する際に用いる多様なストラテジーを分析する。本論文のもう一つの焦点は、言語の教室では通常生じない、学生が知識への権利を示す、という大学の言語ラウンジにおける典型的な側面である。

The present paper analyzes university language lounge
data and observes the position the participants holdregarding the status of knowledge. A detailed analysis
will bring out how the participants manage theirrights to knowledge. In naturally occurring talk, theparticipants demonstrate different positions related totheir knowledge of the topic from less knowledgeable(K-) to more knowledgeable (K+) or maybe fromshallow to deep (Heritage, 2010). Based on the subject
Bhatta, B. (2015). The management of the rights toknowledge during interaction in a university language
lounge. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
9-15). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

the participants talk about, the epistemic status of
the participants is always challengeable. However, inclassroom interaction, it has been reported that theteacher generally holds the rights to knowledge andabundantly takes the position of higher knowledge andthe students hardly challenge their teacher’s position in
the upper epistemic status (Heritage, 1984).

Methodology
The data for this study come from about 50 minutesof video recording of a university language lounge
conversation from a Japanese university in the Tokyo
metropolitan area. In the language lounge, thestudents come and practice so that they can improvetheir English. The participants include three Japanese
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings9

Bhattauniversity students and a native English speaker who
also teaches general English classes at the university.
The video was observed repeatedly without imposing
the prior information about the participants
and transcribed using the conversation analytictranscription conventions developed by Jefferson(1984). The detailed transcription convention ispresented in the Appendix. The observation ofrecorded video was based on an emic perspective(Goodwin, 1984; Markee & Kasper, 2004; Pike,
1954) that conversation analysts usually employ.
The following analysis is made from the participants’perspective rather than the observer’s impressions andtheories.

Analysis
In the present analysis of the language lounge data oneof the facts observed is that language lounges, whichusually involve teacher-student interaction, often
contain the feature of mundane conversation. The
features of mundane conversation are grounded in
the fact that the teacher and the students repeatedly
attempt to challenge their recipient’s epistemic status
and attempt to hold the higher epistemic status. On
the other hand, the language lounge at times also
exhibits features of language classrooms through thefact that the teacher occasionally initiates repair on the
problematic parts in language forms the students use.
Moreover, during the course of assisting students with
their problematic utterances, the teacher positions
himself in the upper epistemic status.
Extracts 1 and 2 from the data corpus show theshift in the epistemic status between the teacher
and the students. Prior to this excerpt, the teacher
concludes the previous discussion and selects Shu as
a new speaker to initiate a new topic. Shu then starts
introducing himself.
Prompted by the teacher’s turn allocation andrequest for introduction, Shu starts introducing
himself in line 02. Since Shu is introducing himself,
he has more rights to the knowledge about himself.
But during the introduction he experiences some
sort of problem in the production of his utterance
in line 07 and 08 where he says ‘I’m belonging- I’mbelonging’. He orients to the utterance as a repairable
utterance but appears to have reached the conclusionthat ‘I’m belonging to’ is a solution to his problem as
evidenced by his continuation of the turn in line 09.
But at this moment, the teacher goes back to pinpoint
Shu’s problematic utterance and corrects with thecorrect form of verb ‘I belong to’ which the student
subsequently accepts by repeating it. Looking at theExtract 1: (1) Intro [8:30]
01

Tea:

so Shu, please introduce yourself to these fine gentlemen

02

Tea:

uh:: my name is Shu and uh: I belong to:: uh:: I belong uh-

03

I major in economics. uh:::(.) i::::: I’m freshman04

and I enter entered this uh: last April. uh::05

so I (.) I play basketball too.

06

Tak:

uhm::

07

Shu:

ah: so: um I’m belonging-08

I’m belonging?

09

I’m belonging to (.) ah:::

(0.6)

10

Tea:

ah <I belong (.) to.>

11

Shu:

I belong to (.) uh:: (0.6) sea(.)gulls, in (.) in Kamakura

12

Tea:

(.)Kamakura’s club10

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Management of the Rights to Knowledge, pages 9-15
Extract 2: (2) Seagull
11

Shu:

12

I belong to (.) uh:: (0.6)sea(.)gulls, in(.)in Kamakura (.)
Kamakura’s club

13

Tea:

seagull?

14

Shu:

seagulls.

15

Tea:

seagull like a bird? ((makes bird sound))16
17((laughter))
Tea:

18

sea su- seagull?
what’s thuh seagull

19

Mak:

[huh huh huh

20

Tak:

[huh huh huh

21

Shu:

°I don’t know.° club- CLUB name

22

Tea:

AH::::::: it- it’s a bird ((flying gesture))

23

Tak:

(

24

Tea:

okay. (0.8) so: what does this club do_

25

Shu:

(0.8)

26

Shu:

ah:: um=)interaction here, we can claim that it is Shu’s epistemic
ground to talk about himself. He certainly holds
the higher knowledge position (K+) in introducing
himself, but the teacher also displays his K+ position
by correcting Shu’s language.
This instance shows that the teacher orients to
Shu’s higher epistemic status in content by correcting
only the language form, and at the same time Shu also
accepts the teacher’s higher knowledge in the formal
aspect of the language under use by repeating andaccepting the correction. The teacher repetition of
the student utterance is one of the strategies teachers
deploy to validate the appropriateness of the answer
since the repetition of repair shows acceptance of therepair (Hosoda, 2000).
In the continuation of the introduction, Extract 2
demonstrates the teacher’s orientation to the students’
K+ position by genuinely asking questions about thecontent of the student’s talk. In his introduction Shu
tells the group the name of the club that he belongs to,which raises an understanding problem on the part of

the teacher.
While the student continues introducing himself,
he produces his club name in line 11 and says “Ibelong to (.) uh:: (0.6) sea(.)gulls, in (.) Kamakura(.) Kamakura’s club.” When the student produces‘seagulls’ in his utterance, the teacher first repeats inthe singular form of the word with rising intonation asa request for confirmation which the student confirms
by repeating his original plural form. In line 15, theteacher displays his candidate understanding of theword. On saying ‘seagull like a bird’ and making a bird
sound, the teacher explains the real meaning of theword seagull and also subjecting the word “seagull” torepair in the context. In lines 17-18, the teacher again
initiates repair in the part of the student’s talk. The
repair in line 18 ‘what’s thuh seagull’ reveals that theteacher has a problem in understanding the word in
the context, rather than a hearing problem. In line 21,
the student initially says he does not know the meaning
which exhibits the students’ claim of insufficientknowledge (Sert & Walsh, 2012) but he then provides
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings11

Bhattathe meaning in the context in which he used it. He
explains that the word “seagull” is a name of a club.
After obtaining the contextual meaning the teacher
displays his understanding in line 22 with a “changeof state token” (Heritage, 1984). This interaction
demonstrates that the teacher is in the lower knowledge
position (K-), thus he orients to the student’s higher
epistemic status. However, after acknowledging thestudent’s explanation of the word used as a club name,the teacher adds more information saying “it’s a bird”.
By doing this, the teacher displays his higher epistemic
status with regard to linguistic capabilities in that hereveals his knowledge of the actual meaning of theword the student has used with contextual meaning.
In the continuation of the discussion, theparticipants initiate a new topic and start talking about
the statue of Buddha. They start discussing about thestatues of Buddha in Kyoto and Kamakura. While theother participants, Makoto (Mak) and Takeshi (Tak)are manipulating Buddha in both places with similarlevel of meaning, Shu challenges his co-participants’knowledge by drawing a difference between the twoplaces as shown in Extract 3.
In this extract, Shu challenges the other participants’knowledge about the Buddha in Kyoto and the Buddha
in Kamakura. When the other participants reveal theirunderstanding that Buddha in both places are the same
type of Buddha prior to this segment, Shu challenges
their understanding by pointing out the difference
between the Buddha in Kyoto and Kamakura. By
producing “Kyoto Buddha is more famous than
°Kamakura (Buddha)°” in a declarative form, Shu
demonstrates his higher knowledge about the topic.
When the participants move on to the discussion
about Buddha, the teacher also assimilates with the
topic and produces talk related to Buddha and says
“but there is a Buddha nearby Ofuna station.” With
this part of his utterance, the teacher tries to exhibit his
knowledge related to the topic. When the teacher saysthat there is a Buddha near Ofuna station, Shu rejects
the information saying that it is not Buddha in line 17.
When Shu says the one at Ofuna station is “not Buddha,
it’s (.) Kannon Buddha,” he again demonstrates his K+
status by discarding the information provided by the

Extract 3: (3) Buddha (3:56~)
12

Shu:

13
14

Kyoto Buddha is(.) more (.) famous than °Kamakura (Buddha)°
Tea:

15
16

than Kamakura Buddha
but there is a Buddha um by Ofuna Station

Shu:

17
18

Kamakura Buddha (.)

ah:: Ofuna? (0.6) I bunot Buddha, it’s uh (.) Kannon Buddha

Tea:

19

uh: what’s the difference?
((Laughter))

20

Shu:

it’s uh lady? lady.

21

Tea:

(0.4) oh. but it’s not it’s not the Buddha?

22

Shu:

not man not Buddha

23

Tea:

OH::::

24

Shu:

it’s a lady lady god

25

(

)

26

Tea:

OH:: okay.

12

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Management of the Rights to Knowledge, pages 9-15
teacher. As Shu rejects the information provided, theteacher inquires to clarify the difference in line 18. By
asking this question, the teacher is allowing Shu to takeon a higher knowledge stance by positioning himself inthe K- position. With this genuine question asked by
the teacher, Shu continues to demonstrate his higher
epistemic status and continues clarifying the difference
between the real Buddha (Kyoto, Kamakura) andthe Kannon Buddha (Ofuna). Once the differenceis clarified, the teacher says “OH::::” which displays
his understanding. With this “change of state token”(Heritage, 1984), he displays his transformation ofknowledge from not having knowledge to having
knowledge about the topic under discussion.
In asking genuine questions, the teacher treats thestudents as “knowing” participants. Thus by asking
genuine questions, the teacher displays his identity as
a “not knowing” participant since the managementof the knowledge determines the identity of theparticipants (Raymond & Heritage, 2006). Extract 4
gives one more example where the teacher asks genuine
questions to the students. The participants have beentalking about the war movies related to the Second
World War. Prompted by this topic the teacher asks
when they study history in Japanese schools.
In Extract 4, the teacher relates his upcoming
question to the previous discussion (line 01). He
asks about the time Japanese students study Japanese
history in their schools. Asking this question, hepositions the students as knowing participants and at
the same time displays his identity as someone who has
not studied at Japanese junior high and high schools.
In this interaction, the participants are talking about
learning Japanese history in schools. Since the learningof Japanese history is a fact experienced by the Japanese

students, they supposedly know the information they
have experienced (Heritage, 2010; Sacks, 1984).
So, on asking the genuine question in lines 3-4, theteacher positions himself in the unknowing status andthe Japanese students in the higher epistemic status.
The teacher’s production of a genuine question in
the pursuit of knowledge is one of the clear signs of
the changing epistemic state of the participants andit demonstrates that the participants’ identities aremanaged by their knowledge.

Conclusion
With the examples presented above, I illustrated how
the participants manage the rights to knowledge
during interactions in the university language lounge.
The participants in the language lounge interaction
demonstrated their knowledge shift from one toanother during the course of talk. On asking genuine
questions and positioning himself in the lower
epistemic status, the teacher did not always orient
to being a ‘teacher’. The fact that he did ask genuine
questions is evidenced by his use of the “change ofstate tokens” (Heritage, 1984) that demonstrates histransformation from a not knowing participant toa knowing participant. The domain of knowledgeof the participants changes frequently based on the
topic they choose in the interaction. Thus, in thissetting the students are frequently found to be in the
more knowledgeable position, which may be rarein classroom talk. Since the teacher does not havecomplete control over the knowledge, the students
will be more encouraged to participate in the language
lounge interaction which is considered to help learning
in a more natural way.

Extract 4: (3) History 07:25~
01

Tea:

so since we’re on the topic of war (0.3)

02

like I’m just kind of curious like I mean03

you all studied Japanese history (1.0)

04

i:n high school? junior high school

05

Shu:

uh both.

both (of them) (0.8)

06

Tea:

(well). what did you learn about (.) world war two?

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

13

Bhatta

References
Goodwin, C. (1984). Notes on story structure and theorganization of participation. In. . M. Atkinson& J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action:
Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 225-246).
Cambridge. England: Cambridge University
Press.
Heritage, J. (1984). Garfinkel and ethnomethodology.
Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
Heritage, J. (2010). Questioning in medicine. In A. F.
Freed & S. Ehrlich (Eds.), “Why do you ask?”: Thefunction of questions in institutional discourse (pp.
42-68). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Hosoda, (2000). Other repair in Japaneseconversation between non-native and native
speakers. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 11, 39-63.
Jefferson, G. (1984). Transcript notation. In J. M.
Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social
action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. ix-xvi).
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University

Press.
Labov, W., & Fanshel, D. (1977). Therapeutic
discourse: Psychotherapy as conversation. New
York, NY: Academic Press.
Markee, N., & Kasper, G. (2004). Classroom talks:
An introduction. Modern Language Journal, 88,
491-500.
Pike, K. L. (1954). Language in relation to a unified
theory of the structure of human behaviour.
Glendale, CA: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Pomerantz, A. (1980). Telling my side: “Limitedaccess” as a “fishing” device. Sociological Inquiry,
50, 186-198.
Raymond, G., & Heritage, J. (2006). The epistemics
of social relations: Owning grandchildren.
Language in Society, 35, 677-705.
Sacks, H. (1984). Notes on methodology. In J. M.
Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social
action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 2127). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press.

Author’s Biography:
Baikuntha Bhatta is a graduate school student in the foreign language department of Kanagawa
University. His research interest includes conversation analysis, teacher education, second language
education, and related fields. He has been doing different research works using conversation
analysis in the field of language education. He interest is centered on observing and analyzing
data from different cultural settings.

14

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Management of the Rights to Knowledge, pages 9-15

Appendix
Transcription conventions
Convention

MeaningUse[text]

square brackets

start and end of overlap=

equal sign

continuation of single utterance(0.5)

timed pause

indicates pause in seconds(.)

period in parenthesisshows a micro pause (less than 1
second)(hh)

audible laughter within a talkhhh

audible exhalation.hhh

audible inhalation

okay

underline

stressokay?

question markrising intonation

okay,

comma

low-rising intonation

okay.

periodfalling intonation

OKAY

capitalized text

increased loudness

˚okay˚degree symbol

decreased volume>okay<

greater than symbols

faster than the surrounding speech<okay>

less than symbols

slower than the surrounding speech

oka::ycolon(s)lengthening of the preceding sound(the more colons show the morelengthening)oka((comment))

hyphencut-off of the ongoing talknon-verbal behavior / transcriber’scomment(okay)

uncertain transcription

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

15

Other-Initiated Other-Repair in Second
Language Conversations

Jeffrie Butterfield
Kanagawa University
jeffriebutterfield@gmail.com
Previous research on repair in mundane conversations between native speakers has shown that otherinitiated repair is not as common as self-initiated repair and that there is a preference for self-repair
over other-repair. Research on native classroom interaction has suggested that other-repair occurs
more frequently in the classroom than in mundane conversation. This research also revealed that
other-initiated other-repair does occur in the classroom, but it is not as prevalent as cases of otherinitiated self-repair. This paper focuses on other-initiated other-repair and illustrates how and whereother-initiated other-repair is performed in native-non-native conversations in a university language
lounge and examines how and why the findings from this research are similar or different to thefindings of previous research on repair.
これまでの母語話者間の会話で行われる修復に関する研究では、他者開始の修復(other-

initiated repair)より自己開始の修復（self-initiated repair）がよく見られ、他者修復（otherrepair）
より自己修復(self-repair)は優先性が高いということが分かった。母語話者の教室の相互行為の研究では他者修復は日常会話に比べ教室ではより頻繁に見られるということが明らかになった。
また、その研究では、他者開始の修復は教室では見られるが、自己開始の修復ほど頻繁ではないことが示された。本稿では他者開始－他者修復(other-

initiated other-repair)に焦点を当て、母語話者と非母語話者の会話の中で、どこで、どのよ
うに他者開始－他者修復が行われるのか、
また、本研究の結果はこれまでの修復に関しての研究の結果といかなる相違点があるのかを検討する。

Conversation analysis is a field and approach which
describes and analyzes talk in social interaction. In thefield of conversation analysis, repair refers to “practices
for dealing with problems or troubles in speaking,hearing, and understanding the talk in conversation”(Schegloff, 2000, p. 207) and there are four types of

Butterfield, J. (2015). Other-initiated other-repair
in second language conversations. In G. Brooks,
M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 16-22). Miyazaki, Japan:
JALT.

16

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

repair: self-initiated self-repair, self-initiated otherrepair, other-initiated self-repair, and other-initiatedother-repair. Here, self refers to the speaker of thetrouble source and other refers to the recipient of
the talk. In their seminal paper on repair, Schegloff,
Jefferson, and Sacks (1977) point out that self-initiatedrepair is more common than other-initiated repair innative conversations and that when other-initiations ofrepair do occur, in most cases they are repaired by the
speaker of the trouble source.
In this paper I analyze conversations between
native and non-native speakers in a university language
lounge, which is a place where university students canOther-Initiated Other-Repair, pages 16-22
go to practice speaking English with a native English
speaker. Although it is a called a language lounge, itis essentially a language classroom in the sense thatteachers decide the discussion topics and activities,
repair students’ mistakes, and decide who speaks when.
In this paper I focus on other-initiated other-repair,which appears to be more common in conversations
between native and non-native speakers.
There are two types of conversations: mundane
conversations, which are conversations between friends,
family, and strangers, and institutional conversations,which are conversations found in companies, hospitals,
classrooms, news interviews, etcetera. Regarding
institutional conversations, Heritage and Clayman(2010) remark that “communicative conduct inmore specialized social institutions embodies task- orrole-oriented specializations that generally involvea narrowing of the conduct that is generally foundin ordinary conversation” (p.12) and through theparticipants actions and inactions we are able to see
how participants orient to their roles.
In conversation analysis the analyst does not
ascribe identities to the participants a priori. Rather,
participants’ identity categories and the characteristics
associated with them are only mentioned in the analysis
when the participants orient to them and when they
are visible in the interaction (Antaki & Widdicombe,
1998). Because both the students and teachers in thelanguage lounge orient to their identities as teacher
and students, I will refer to them as so. Interaction inlanguage lounges is still an under-researched area and a
lot can be gained from understanding various aspects
of interaction in a language lounge. As a starting pointof the investigation of language lounge interaction, I
focus on repair in this paper.
In this paper I examine repair in conversations ina university language lounge between one teacher andthree students from a conversation analytic perspective
and my objective is to answer the following questions.
How and where in the interaction is other-initiatedother-repair performed in a language lounge?
How are the findings in this research similar ordifferent from the findings of other research on repair?

Methods
The data analyzed in this paper come fromapproximately 50 minutes of audio/video recorded
data of interaction in a university language lounge.
There are four participants: three Japanese students
who are non-native English speakers, whose names
are Makoto (Mak), Takeshi (Tak), and Shu (Shu), andone teacher (Tea), who is a native English speaker. The
actual names of the participants have been changed in
the transcripts to protect their identities. Occasionally
students decide a topic or bring something to classsuch as a movie that they want to discuss, and on the
day that this conversation was recorded, Shu brought
in a movie he wanted to talk about. Throughout theinteraction a significant amount of the participants’
responses were minimal, but because Shu prepared a
topic to discuss, his talk time was longer than that of
the other students. The data were transcribed according
to the transcription conventions developed by Gail
Jefferson (Atkinson & Heritage, 1984).

Analysis
Hutchby and Wooffitt (2008) point out that otherinitiated other-repair is generally understood ascorrection and that correction in which other speakercorrects current speaker involves the suspension ofturns or sequences in order to attend to a trouble
source. Some of the repair that occurs in the following
examples does involve a suspension of a turn, but
in one of the examples (Extract 3) the turn could
possibly be heard as syntactically complete, so it does
not necessarily involve a suspension of a turn. There issometimes a pause after the problematic turn, which
could possibly occur because the teacher is giving thestudent an opportunity to repair their own mistake.
I discuss this in more detail later. In this paper I use
the word “repair” instead of “correction” as the word
repair is a more encompassing term. Correction is
generally understood as meaning replacing an error
or mistake with the correct word, but repair is a moregeneral term that also involves fixing utterances thatare not necessarily “mistakes” or “errors” (Schegloff etal., 1977).
Schegloff et al. (1977) state that, “Repair initiations
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

17Butterfieldby any other party occupy one main position: the turnjust subsequent to the trouble source turn” (p. 367).
In all of the following excerpts the repair-initiationand other-repair occur in the turn immediately after
the trouble source. Other-initiated other-repair
sometimes involves the other speaker interrupting thecurrent speaker (Hutchby & Wooffitt, 2008). In someof the examples presented in this paper the otherrepair could be seen as a type of interruption. Otherinitiated repair often involves the recipient of the talkinitiating the repair and leaving it to the speaker torepair the trouble source (Schegloff, 2000), but in allof the examples in this paper repair is initiated by theteacher and performed by the teacher. McHoul (1990)
states that, “other-correction—consisting almost
entirely of teachers correcting students’ talk—occurs
more readily in the classroom than it does, according
to Schegloff et al., in everyday conversation where it isquite a rare occurrence” (p. 351). The findings in thispaper support his observation.
Schegloff (2007) states that it is not common tofind instances of “other-initiated repair leading toother-repair” (p. 101). It is possible that other-initiatedother-repair is more common in language classroom
conversations between native and non-native speakers
as compared to mundane talk between native speakers.
This data suggests that this could be the case, but this is
not a large enough data sample to make that assertion.
McHoul (1990) mentions that in his L1 geographyclassroom data in which repair was initiated by theteacher, other-initiated self-repair outnumbered casesof other-initiated other-repair, but instances of otherinitiated other-repair were observed.
In Extract 1, which showcases an example of otherinitiated other-repair, the student demonstrates his
uncertainty of the upcoming utterance by saying “it’s(.) uh: (1.3)” and then produces the problem source“it’s more better than=.”Tea repairs Shu’s mistake in the turn following
the trouble source (line 06) by interrupting Shu
and saying “=mm ah they’ve been getting better?”Interruption is the next speaker’s starting up of a turn

Extract 1:
01

Tea:

five years ago they were terrible=

02

Shu:

=eh

03

Tea:

=once Michael Jordan [left

04

→Shu:

05

→

it’s more better than=

06

→Tea:

=mm ah they’ve been getting better?

07

→Shu:

((nods))08Tea:ah ahahah

09

Tak:

Ben Wallace come (.) the team

10

Tea:

oh Ben Wa-=

11

Tak:

=Ben Wallace

12

Tea:

a::h ah ahahah ((to Shu)) do you know Ben Wallace?

13

Shu:

((shakes head)) (1.0)

14

Tea:

he came from the Pistons (.) right?

15

Tak:

(2.0) two: years ago (1.1) so he (1.0) take (1.5) Bulls

16

Tea:

oh: ah ahahah

18

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings[re- recently recently it’s (.) uh: (1.3)

ﾟ getting better ﾟOther-Initiated Other-Repair, pages 16-22
before the current speaker’s turn is completed. I meanthat the next speaker begins their turn before thecurrent speaker completes theirs. Shu acknowledges
the repair by repeating the words “getting better.”
Regarding her data on L2-L1 and L1-L1 conversations
Hosoda (2006) states that, “L2 speakers in the L1-L2
conversations usually accept the repair by repetition,
which is uncommon in the L1 conversations in the
corpus” (p. 43). Schegloff, et al. (1977) mention thattrouble source turns are rarely interrupted by otherinitiated repair and that when trouble source turns areinterrupted, it is usually by the speaker of the trouble
source. Schegloff (2000) states that later researchon other-initiated repair revealed that 16 out of 350
cases of other-initiated repair involved interruption.
In this example the teacher does not give the student a
chance to self-correct as he interrupts him and corrects
him immediately after the problematic utterance isproduced.
As mentioned above, Schegloff et al. (1977) notethat repair initiations are commonly done in the turnfollowing the turn that contains the trouble source,
and this is true for the example above.
Extract 2 is another example of other-initiatedother-repair performed by Tea. Shu pauses a few times
in line 07, the turn which contains the trouble source.
After the problematic utterance, “many people is dead(0.9) in the war” is produced, there is a 0.9 second
silence in line 08. This could be either because Shu has
finished his turn and is waiting for the teacher to speakor because the teacher is giving Shu a chance to selfrepair or continue his turn. Interlocutors sometimes
withhold repair initiations ( Jefferson, 1972), and it
is possible that Tea is withholding repair until thetrouble-source turn is finished. This repair space canbe understood as a repair-initiation opportunity space

Extract 2:
01

Shu:

this picture is::bi- big meaning uh: of America(1.0)uh

02

because:(1.3) because America America is: America: want to::03

finish (0.9) want to finish the war .hhuh because of a lack of

04

money

05

(1.1)

06

Tea:

un hn

07

→Shu:

hn: and: (0.8) many people is dead (0.9) in the war

08

(0.9)

09

→Tea:

10

→Shu:

11

ah died [in the war[died in the war in the war
(1.8)

12

Shu:

so:: (1.9) in (.) in newspaper is is (.) newspaper’s picture

13

Tea:

un hn

14

Shu:

used this picture

15

(0.7)

16

Tea:

unhn

17

Shu:

uh this one uh: do uh uh many American is proud proud of: (1.0)

18uh::American soldiers

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

19Butterfield(Schegloff et al., 1977).
There is also a 0.9 second pause after the word
“dead,” which is the trouble source. This could signifythat Shu is waiting for repair or confirmation fromthe teacher. After Shu fails to self-initiate repair, Tea
initiates and carries out the repair in the turn following
the trouble source turn by saying “ah died in the war.”Shu demonstrates his understanding of the correct
expression by repeating “died in the war in the war”.
Because this utterance is produced in overlap with theteacher’s repair Shu repeats “in the war” one more time.
Other-initiated other-repair can also be seenin Extract 3. Schegloff (2007) states that, “speakers
do make ‘errors’ of grammar, word meaning,pronunciation, etc.” (p. 100). As we can see in thefollowing excerpt, Shu makes a grammatical error
when he says, “so so::: so soldiers soldiers eh:: (2.0)
hm:: had to: had to:: death in order to gain” in lines
10 and 11, and then there is a 1.0 second silence. It is
possible that Tea is withholding repair and giving Shu
a chance to self-repair. Schegloff et al. (1977) state that“other-initiations regularly are withheld a bit past thepossible completion of trouble-source turn” (p. 374)
in order to provide an opportunity for the speaker of
the trouble source to initiate repair. The phenomenonof withholding repair supports findings that there is apreference for self-initiated repair over other initiatedrepair.
When Shu fails to self-repair, Tea repairs thetrouble source in line 13 by saying, “had to die.” with anemphasis on die which demonstrates to Shu what the
repairable is. Shu acknowledges that he understands bysaying “die. to die.” The first “die” seems to function asa receipt of the repair and “to die,” seems to place thephrase in context and allows him to continue. Otherrepair can sometimes be downgraded through the useof uncertainty markers such as rising intonation after
the repair or expressions such as “I think” (Schegloff
et al., 1977). As we can see in this extract, the repair
does not contain any uncertainty markers. This could
be because it is clear to Tea what Shu is trying tosay. Because Tea is a native English speaker, English
language is in his epistemic domain (Heritage, 2013)and he can repair English language-related mistakes

Extract 3:
01

Shu:

u::m (1.4) Japanese:: Japanese side is u::h is: (1.3) u::h (3.1)

02uh proud of (.) proud of dead eh in order to in order to (0.8)

03

fight in order to win? uh the (very big war)(1.4) so:: it’s a04

beautiful thing, (0.8) a beautiful thing is death. (0.6) ah they05

think they thought. (1.0) they thought eh: ancient eh an

06

Japanese (1.7) Japanese government.

07

Tea:

08

Shu:

09

you mean like the samurai and [stuff like that?
[hm yes. (.) samurai
(1.1)

10

→Shu:

so so::: so soldiers soldiers eh:: (2.0) hm:: had to: had to::11→

death in order to gain

12

(1.0)

13

→Tea:

had to die.

14

→Shu:

die. to die (2.3) so: but Kuribayashi is: is a not true. (1.2)

15

20

he was thinks (0.8) eh its uh not true.(1.1) uh:: so:: (1.7)

The 2014 PanSIG Conference ProceedingsOther-Initiated Other-Repair, pages 16-22
with confidence. We can see how he asserts the repair
with the falling prosody on “die” in “had to die.”.

Discussion
The data presented in this study demonstrated how
other-initiated other-repair is performed in a language
lounge. In all of the examples the repair was initiatedand performed by the teacher, who, by being a native
English speaker in an English language lounge,
sometimes has the knowledge to repair students’language-related errors when necessary.
The repair-initiation was always performedin the turn just subsequent to the trouble source.
Other-initiated other-repair suggests a preference for
maximum adjacency between the trouble source andrepair. Two of the three examples above contain repair
withholds. Withholds provide expanded transition
space to allow the speaker of the trouble source toself-initiate repair (Schegloff, 2000). In addition, as
Schegloff et al. (1977) argue, there is a preference forself-correction, and withholding repair is one waythat the recipient of the trouble gives the speaker of
the trouble source a chance to self-initiate. However,even though there was a pause after the trouble sourcein two of the three conversations presented in thispaper, because the speaker of the trouble source failed
to self-initiate, repair was initiated and performed by
the teacher.
The examples of other-initiated other-repair
presented in this paper all share the same repair
sequence. It is as follows:
Turn 1: trouble source turn (student)
Turn 2: other-initiated other-repair (teacher)Turn 3: partial or full repeat of repaired phrase(student)
In Extract 1, the teacher corrects the student bysaying, “they’ve been getting better?” and the student
partially repeats that by saying, “getting better.”
In Extract 2, the student fully repeats the repaired
utterance by saying, “died in the war.” In Extract 3,
the teacher repairs the trouble source by saying “hadto die,” and the student partially repeats this by saying“die. to die.” The repetition of the repaired utterancefunctions as an acknowledgement of the repair to therepairer of the trouble source.

Language teachers could benefit from anunderstanding of what interactional devices students
deploy when they need help finding a correct wordor phrase, and how students demonstrate theirunderstanding that certain parts of their speech havebeen repaired. As this study as well as previous studies(e.g., Hosoda, 2006) illustrated, students commonly
demonstrate their understanding of the repair byrepeating the repaired items.
In mundane conversation other-initiated otherrepair is quite rare. The data presented in this paper
suggests that other-initiated other-repair may be morecommon in language lounges, but further researchanalyzing a larger data sample of language lounge
conversations between more teachers and students
could reveal whether the other-initiated other-repair
mentioned in this paper is indeed a feature specificto language lounges or if they are particular to theparticipants in the conversations analyzed in this paper.

References
Antaki, C. & Widdicombe, S. (1998). Identity as
an achievement and as a tool. In C. Antaki & S.
Widdicombe (Eds.), Identities in talk (pp. 1-14).
London, England: Sage Publications.
Atkinson, J. M., & Heritage, J. (Eds.) (1984).
Structures of social action: Studies in conversation
analysis. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
Heritage, J. (2013). Epistemics in conversation. In
J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook ofconversation analysis (pp. 370-394). Chichester,
England: Wiley-Blackwell.
Heritage, J., & Clayman, S. (2010). Talk in action:
Interaction, identities, and institutions. West
Sussex, England: Wiley-Blackwell.
Hosoda, Y. (2006). Repair and relevance ofdifferential language expertise in second language
conversations. Applied Linguistics, 27(1), 25-50.
Hutchby, I., & Wooffitt, R. (2008). Conversation
analysis. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
Jefferson, G. (1972). Side sequences. In D. N. Sudnow(Ed.), Studies in social interaction (pp. 294-338).
New York, NY: Free Press.
McHoul, A.W. (1990). The organization of repair in
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

21Butterfieldclassroom talk. Language in Society, 19, 349-377.
Schegloff, E. A. (2000). When ‘others’ initiate repair.
Applied Linguistics. 21(2), 205-243.
Schegloff, E.A. (2007). Sequence organization ininteraction. Cambridge, England: Cambridge

University Press.
Schegloff, E. A., Jefferson, G., & Sacks H. (1977). The
preference for self-correction in the organizationof repair in conversation. Language, 53(2), 361382.

Author’s Biography:
Jeffrie Butterfield is a doctoral student at Kanagawa University. His research interests include
conversation analysis, second language acquisition, and language teaching.

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The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Kyoto Studies: Local to Global Education

Paul Christopher Carty
Ryukoku University
paulcarty@gmail.com
As Japanese universities internationalize, instructors must redesign content courses to meet new
curricular requirements and to suit students with a variety of language backgrounds. This paper
examines these issues through a case study of the evolution of “Kyoto Studies.” Starting as an EFL
content course for Japanese students, it was redesigned for a Japanese studies program, and thenrevised to become a regular course in an English-medium-instruction department in a “Global
30” Project university. The paper focuses on conditions imposed from outside by “globalized”
administrative requirements and from inside by the dynamics of multicultural, multilingual students.
日本の大学が国際化するに従って，講師達はコース内容を新しい科目要件に見合うよう、
そして多様な言語背景を持つ生徒に沿うよう変えなければならない。
この論文は、
これらの課題を「京都研究」という科目が進化していくケーススタディーを通して検証する。
それは日
本人生徒のためのEFLを含むコースとして始まり、
日本研究プログラムとして再構築され、「グローバル30」
プロジェクト大学の中の中級英語講座の通常講座になるよう改訂された。
この論文では、「グローバル化」
した管理要件によって外部から課された条件と、多文化で多言語の生徒たちの多様性によって内部から課された条件について論ずる。

This paper will discuss the evolution of a course inthree different teaching environments. The course on
Kyoto’s society and culture was originally created for
an EFL class where the students were all native speakers
of Japanese. Several years later the same subject wasused for a course in which half of the students were
native speakers of Japanese and half native English
speakers. Finally, it was further developed for a classof international students. The paper discusses thechallenges presented and the changes made to thecourse by institutional goals (top-down), and thedemands and interests of the students (bottom-up).
In the first section, I describe how the course,

Carty, P. C. (2015). Kyoto studies: Local to global
education. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
23-27). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

Kyoto Studies and Tourism, developed at Doshisha
Women’s College (DWC). The next section will
outline the changes that this course underwent when it
was taught at the same institution but in a new setting,
DWC’s Japanese Studies Program, with a very different
make-up of students. In the third section, I review how
the course changed again when it was taught at theInstitute for the Liberal Arts at Doshisha University
for a group of international students. The teacher had
to reinvent the course each time to balance the wishesof the institution and the students. In the final section
I give an analysis of this experience and explain how
with each version of the course, the materials changed
but the fundamental style of teaching did not.

Kyoto Culture and History at
Doshisha Women’s College
This two-semester course is taught for third-year
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

23

Cartystudents as an advanced class in the CASE program(Career and Academic Studies in English), which is athree-year English as Foreign Language (EFL) programin the Department of Social System Studies at DWC
to allow students to study their major in English. This
allows students to “deepen their understanding of
their courses and offer a different perspective on them”(Fujiwara, 2008, p. 31). One of the majors in the Social
Systems Studies Department is Kyoto Studies andTourism (Doshisha Women’s College, 2011a).
The main institutional goal for my course was tohelp students understand the relationship between
tourism and Kyoto and to study how Kyoto’s unique
attractions make it one of the premiere tourist
destinations in the world. In addition, by studying thecity in English, students could both reinforce theirknowledge from and gain a new understanding of theother classes they were taking in Kyoto Studies andTourism.
The students were all native speakers of Japanesewith upper intermediate skills in English. Their writing
and reading skills were stronger than their speaking
and listening skills. The challenges I faced were to teachcontent while making it engaging, and while practicing
and improving their English skills. One advantage tothis course was the year-long time frame with one theme
that allowed the teacher to incrementally develop thestudents’ understanding of difficult concepts overmany classes. Understanding the demands of theinstitution and recognizing my students’ abilities, I
had to create a syllabus and materials for each class.
The guiding principle to consider what information ismost necessary to explain Kyoto to a visitor and whatquestions tourists would most likely ask. Since there
was no appropriate textbook, I had to create my own
materials.
I will give one example of what students were/arerequired to do for homework and classwork. Tourists
often ask, “Why did Kyoto become the capital?” To
answer that question we explored in detail Emperor
Kammu’s move from Nara to Kyoto. For homework
all students were given a reading of approximately 800
words. Students were also given 10 to 16 questions
each week about the reading. The students are divided
into two groups, A and B. “A” students had to answer

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the even questions and “Bs” had to answer the odd
questions. In addition, students were given a list of
famous characters from the Heian Period. They had
to choose and write a short essay about one of thosecharacters.
Class began with a short introduction on the
topic for that day. All “A” students gathered together
and checked their homework, as did all “B” students.
Once they were sure of their answers, then each “A”
student partnered with a “B” student and they asked
each other questions. After students had filled in theirquestion sheet, they met in groups of four and shared
information about the Heian Period character they
had researched. While one student was speaking,the others listened and took notes. In the next step,
students found a new partner and reviewed the original
homework questions. They had to answer withoutlooking at their paper and competed to see who could
answer more questions correctly. Finally, we had a fullclass discussion and a short PowerPoint presentationof the key points from that lesson. By doing these
exercises, students were actively practicing all the
language skills. At the same time they were learning
about Kyoto. The key point is that the students areengaged. In the official course evaluation and in-classevaluation, students have rated this class above averagein most categories.
To test the students I have two oral quizzes eachterm. Students are given ten essay questions forhomework. In the next class, I interview one student
at a time for five minutes and ask each student threequestions. The results of the oral quiz show that thevast majority of students are able to produce clear andwell-organized answers.
This course can be most accurately characterized
as Content Based Instruction (CBI) (Brinton, Snow,& Wesche, 2003). In addition a Sustained Content
Teaching (SCT) approach is used. This is when
language teachers research a subject and teach itthemselves. They offer the learner their experience andunderstanding of learning languages; in other words,
they can teach the content but also recognize andmanage the language difficulties students might have
(Pally, 2000). These two labels best describe how thiscourse responded to both institutional demands (CBI)Kyoto Studies, pages 23-27
and student needs (SCT).

Japan Studies C: Kyoto Culture andHistory in the Japanese Studies
Program at Doshisha Women’sCollege
After teaching the above course for several years, I was
asked to teach a Kyoto Studies course for exchange
students mostly from the US; DWC students could
also enroll. DWC has several affiliated colleges
overseas at which its students can study abroad. The
JSP program was initiated in 1992 to offer a chancefor students from those affiliated colleges to spend thefall semester studying Japanese language and culture at
DWC. In addition, it allows for students at Doshisha
Women’s College who have achieved a high levelof English to take classes with the visiting students(Doshisha Women’s College, 2011 b).
This is an important program for the college.
The institutional message was to make the classacademically challenging and engaging for the visiting
students and make sure the “classmates,” the term used
for the Japanese students who attended the class, wereable to participate. My first consideration was to findthe right materials. The materials I had previously
created for the CASE program were content based
but with language practice in mind. The content in theoriginal materials was not extensive enough for an L1
student. Fortunately, John Dougill’s Kyoto: A Culturaland Literary History (2006) covers the history andculture of Kyoto very well. The one problem wasthat for a majority of the Japanese students in class,the book was very difficult and reading one chapter
required hours of work. If the material was too hard for
the Japanese students, they may not have participatedactively in discussions, and might have been hesitant to
ask questions.
My challenge was how to assist the Japanese
students to manage the difficult textbook. In the firstfew weeks, I matched a Japanese native speaker with avisiting L1 student. There were a few reasons for this.

First, they had to do a museum poster presentation
project together. They were required to visit themuseum together; therefore, they had to exchange
emails and often be in contact with each other. This
poster presentation took place in the 6th class, but they
had to plan the trip to the museum right from the firstclass. They were required to interview one staff member
at the museum and speak to one visitor. The visiting
student needed the Japanese speaker to help conduct
the interview, and they both used their language skillsin translating the interview into English. This was anefficient way to combine the students’ strengths, tomake the pair realize that working together is truly
beneficial, and to make a classroom that has a lot of
connections among the students.
The second reason to match a visiting student(L1) with a native Japanese speaker (L2) was to havethem assist each other with the text. Before class each
week, I required the partners to contact each otherand ask questions about the chapter we had to readfor the following week. This helped both L1 and L2
students to understand the chapter more deeply. The
L1 students sometimes had questions about Japanesesociety or history that the L2 student was often able
to answer; meanwhile, the L2 English learner had
many vocabulary questions. Even though the students
were very busy, a class survey showed that roughly
80% were able to contact their partner. Making thesepartnerships was a good strategy to encourage theformation of strong bonds among the students eventhough there were distinct fluency differences
Compared to the first course described above, thisclass did not focus nearly as much on language practice.
We had no exercises for repeating sentences. We had
no cloze exercises to help with listening skills. This
course raised the academic level while taking steps tobond the two different groups in the class and help theJapanese students overcome difficulties with the text.
The poster presentation project is an example of a taskbased learning activity used to create an atmospherethat allows the L1 students to contact the L2 students
outside of class and makes it natural for the students torely on each other for assistance.

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CartyKyoto Society and Business at
Doshisha University’s Institute forthe Liberal ArtsThe Institute for the Liberal Arts at Doshisha
University offers a B.A. conducted entirely inEnglish. It “combines a private American liberalarts college atmosphere and educational approachwith an emphasis on building partnerships between
students and professors in small classes conducted in
English,” (Doshisha University, 2014). This instituteis a response to the “Global 30” program initiated by
the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology (MEXT). By increasing the numberof Japanese students studying abroad and the numberof visiting students in Japan, MEXT hopes to create“an academic environment where international andJapanese students can learn from one another andbuild lasting international bonds…” (MEXT, 20092014). In keeping with these principles, I was asked tooffer a class that was academically rigorous with a focus
on critical thinking and writing skills. The students inthis class were from all over the world.
Faced with the clear directions from the institution
and a very diverse student composition, I had to findmaterials that challenged the students academicallywhile making the best use of their diverse backgrounds.
The question of materials was complicated by the factthat there is no textbook in English that covers society
and business in pre-modern and modern Kyoto. The
Sustained Content Teaching approach seemed mostpractical for this course (Pally, 2000). First, topics werechosen that would be most relevant and engaging toa broad range of students: education, art, technology
etc. After establishing the topics an extensive search
was undertaken through academic journals, books,
newspapers, and the Internet to find appropriatematerials that would provide a deeper understandingof those topics. The questions for the readings were
formulated so that the discussions would allow
students to share their various cultural backgrounds.
The English language level of this class was thehighest among the three classes, with a very highpercentage of fluent or nearly fluent students. The
percentage of time devoted to lecturing increased in

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this class. However, the largest percentage of time wasstill devoted to discussion by students. With a classof 38, I broke the students into groups of five or six
each time. Those groups were carefully constructed tomake sure that a variety of ethnic backgrounds wererepresented in each group. Each class had a topic, suchas education, textiles, or movies in Kyoto. For each
topic the readings followed a pattern: explanationof the historical background and description of acontemporary company or institution practicing that
trade. The discussion questions reviewed the reading
and also asked the students to share knowledge fromtheir own country.
One example is a class on textiles. We had areading that described the transformation of kimono
into artwork in the Meiji Period, which led to thedevelopment of the department store. A second
reading explained the collapse of the textile industry
in the 1980s and 1990s. Another article explored one
traditional kimono maker now using their textile skills
to produce high-end automobile seat-covers whilestill making kimono. After discussing the content of
the readings, students were given more open-ended
questions such as: Do you have a traditional garment inyour country? Do you think it is important to protect
traditional clothing? The goal of such questions is
to establish an environment in which international
students and Japanese students can learn from eachother.
The other main issue with this class is the questionof English ability. I do not focus on teaching English
language skills. For the final paper, I give guidance on
the style and basic outline of the paper. During class,however, I do not go into the group discussions andcorrect English. I tell the students it is important that if
you do not understand something said by a classmate,
you can politely ask them to repeat or rephrase it. In
whole-class discussion, I try to model this when I do
not understand clearly what a student has said. This
class can be best described as English as a Lingua
Franca in an Academic Setting (ELFA). English as a
Lingua Franca (ELF) has been defined by Jenkins as“English when it is used as a contact language between
people from different first languages (including native
English speakers)” (2014, p. 24).

Kyoto Studies, pages 23-27

Conclusion
As the institutions where we teach become increasing
global, we need to carefully weigh the goals of theinstitutions with the aspirations and abilities of a morediverse student population. The popularity of content
courses that visiting students and L1 Japanese speaking
students both attend will require language teachers
to develop certain skills. Those skills will include anability to find materials to create new courses. The
most helpful guide in creating new material has been
the concept of a student-centered communicativeclassroom. Students need to make discoveries bydiscussing the material and expressing their own
opinions. One essential lesson that has been learned
for a successful international class is the creation of
exercises and projects that help L1 students and L2
students work together and avoid any chances thatthese students will not interact in a meaningful way.
In addition, the materials should be crafted so thatstudents will be able to share their experiences andbackgrounds with each other. This is fundamental for a
successful international educational experience, whichhelps students attain a global perspective. It is equallyimportant to use the diversity of the classroom as apositive resource. The final lesson for a class composedof a great variety of international students was tolearn the importance of the concept of ELF. The full
ramifications of ELF for global education is beyond
the scope of this paper, but in short, it has become ahelpful guide in assisting students to understand thatthe most important point in their discussions is that
other members understand the ideas they are trying
to express. Students must learn to negotiate meaning

among themselves in a world in which the majority of
their English interactions will be with L2 speakers ofEnglish.

References
Brinton, D., Snow, M., and Wesche, M. (2003).
Content-Based Second Language Instruction.
(Michigan Classics Edition). Ann Arbor, MI: The
University of Michigan Press.
Doshisha Women’s College (2011a). Department ofSocial Systems, Retrieved from http://www.dwc.
doshisha.ac.jp/english/faculty_dep_info/social/system/index.html
Doshisha Women’s College (2011b). About JSP page.
Retrieved July 2014. https://www.dwc.doshisha.
ac.jp/english/international_exchange/
Doshisha University (2014). About ILA. Retrieved
July 2014 from http://ila.doshisha.ac.jp/en/
overview/introduction.html
Dougill, J. (2006). Kyoto: A Cultural and Literary
History. Oxford, England: Signal Books.
Fujiwara, B., Pallos, L., & Garofalo, R. (2008). CASE:
a content-based English program (part 1). Journalof Contemporary Social Studies, 4, 30-49.
Jenkins, J. (2014). English as a Lingua Franca in
the International University. New York, NY:
Routledge.
MEXT. (2014). About Global 30. Retrieved fromhttp://www.uni.international.Amext.go.jp/
global30/
Pally, M. (Ed.). (2000). Sustained content teachingin academic ESL/EFL: A practical approach.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Author’s Biography:
Paul Carty is a lecturer at Ryukoku University and teaches in the Faculty of Humanities.
paulcarty@gmail.com

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Two Resources for Extensive Reading in Japanese

Matthew Coomber
Ritsumeikan University
mcoomber@hotmail.com
A key benefit of extensive reading is that it can be undertaken independently by learners outside theclassroom, and is thus particularly effective as a sustainable long term learning strategy. However,while learners of English have the luxury of hundreds of graded readers to choose from, locating
suitable extensive reading materials can be more problematic for learners of other languages. This
paper introduces two Japanese language magazines, News ga Wakaru and Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo,
compares various features of their design and content, and explores the author’s own experiences ofextensive reading in Japanese.
多読の主要な利点は、教室の外で学習者が単独で取り組むことができ、長期的な学習戦
略として特に有効であることだ。
しかしながら、英語の学習者は贅沢にも等級分けされた何百冊もの本の中から読むものを選ぶことができるものの、他の言語の学習者にとっては、多読に適した読み物を見つけることが大きな問題となる。本稿では、２つの日本語の雑誌、『Newsが分かる』と『中上級の日本語』
を紹介し、これらのデザインと内容の様々な点を比較し、著者自身の日本語の多読経験を検討する。

While there are many complex factors involved inachieving a high level of proficiency in any given field,
it is hard to deny the central importance of time ontask (Ericsson, Prietula, & Cokely, 2007). Clearly, forsecond language learners too, spending sufficient timein contact with the target language is one of the keys
to proficiency. However, for many learners, especiallythose whose years of formal education are behind them,
practical constraints preclude achieving this contact
time through formal instruction alone. Over and above
taking lessons, learners need to find their own ways toimprove or sustain their language proficiency.
Extensive reading (ER) is one means by which
language learners can spend time in contact with the

Coomber, M. (2015). Two resources for extensive
reading in Japanese. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M.
Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings(pp. 28-35). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

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target language, with studies such as Robb and Kano
(2013) showing unambiguously the benefits which
can accrue to language acquisition through a wellplanned and implemented ER program. But whilethese students had access to a university library wellstocked with graded readers, not all language learners
can count themselves so fortunate. In particular,
while huge global demand ensures that those studying
English have no shortage of material for ER, learners ofother languages are not as well provided for.
As both a learner of Japanese and an advocate of ER
in my own EFL classroom, I naturally have been highly
motivated to practice what I preach. Unfortunately,
however, graded readers in Japanese are few and far
between. While the excellent Level Betsu Nihongo
Tadoku Library (レベル別日本語多読ライブラリー)
series produced by Ask Publishing kept me occupied
for a few months, I soon ran out of suitable books,
as the highest level in this series is appropriate forlearners between the N3 and N2 levels of the JapaneseTwo Resources for Extensive Reading in Japanese, pages 28-35
Language Proficiency Test, and is comprised of only
ten volumes. For a learner at this level of proficiency tothen graduate to authentic materials seems a huge leap,and certainly one that was beyond my own capabilities.
At this point, thanks to my Japanese teacher, I was
introduced to the two magazines which form the focusof this article: News ga Wakaru (News がわかる) andChuujoukyuu no Nihongo (中上級のにほんご).

Background Information
Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo
Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo is a monthly magazine
published by Sousaku Shuudan Nihongo (創作集団にほんご). It is 40 pages long, B5 size, and costs 600
yen per issue. It is available for purchase in a number ofbookshops that stock foreign books, and subscriptions
are offered for either three, six or twelve months. The
magazine is written specifically for learners of Japanese
at intermediate to advanced level.

News ga Wakaru
News ga Wakaru is also published monthly, and is partof the Mainichi Newspapers Company Ltd, one ofJapan’s most prominent media organisations. It is an
A4-sized publication, consisting of approximately 60
pages, and is priced at 330 yen. It can be purchased froma wide range of bookshops or by annual subscription,and is produced for a primary target readership ofJapanese junior high school students.

Content
Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo
The content of Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo follows aregular format, and consists of the same nine sections
each month. These sections are described briefly below.
News. Each edition begins with four short news
articles, usually around fifteen lines long, on current
topics.
Quiz. The quiz focuses on Japanese language,
culture and life. To give one example, the quiz from the
February 2014 issue asks readers to match five Japanesesportsmen and women with their sports, and thenprovides a one-paragraph biography of each athlete.
Manga. The same manga series appears every

month, depicting the lives of a multi-generational
Japanese family and their American foreign exchange
student. The story is used as a theme around which
to introduce a set of related vocabulary items, andexplanations and definitions of the featured words andphrases follow on the next page.
Topics from daily life. This section provides
information on aspects of life in Japan, and usually
includes and explains lots of related vocabulary. Recent
topics have included reading Japanese recipes, filling indelivery forms, and understanding an apartment floor
plan.
Studying Japanese from newspapers. This featurebegan in January 2013, and each month has provided
information for learners on how Japanese newspapers
are laid out and tips on how best to approach different
parts of them.
Business etiquette. Aimed at foreign professionals
working in a Japanese office environment, the formatof this section varies month to month, sometimes
including a quiz, sometimes a dialogue, but always
focusing on a particular aspect of Japanese businessculture.
Idioms. The idioms section is the one which offers
least from an ER perspective, consisting simply ofdefinitions and examples of several idioms, grouped
according to a common kanji.
This month’s topic. These are four-page articles
on topics of current interest, usually looking at a social
trend or issue.
Jikkuri yomou. Despite the title, loosely translated
as ‘Let’s read carefully’, it is this final section that bears
most resemblance to typical extensive reading materials.
The readings are usually fiction, and generally adaptedfrom Japanese works of literature or folk tales. At
eight pages, this is the longest section of the magazine;
moreover, stories are sometimes continued over two or
more issues.
Overall, the most salient feature of the content
of Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo is that it has clearly beencreated specifically for learners of Japanese as a foreign
language. Firstly, while the language is aimed at fairly
advanced level learners, it is nevertheless graded: thenews articles, for example, are both considerably
shorter and in simpler language than would be found in
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Coombera publication written for native speakers. Moreover, themajority of sections include glossaries with definitions
or explanations of key words, and five of those sections
adopt a specifically pedagogical standpoint, whether
the purpose be to explicate Japanese language (Studying
Japanese from newspapers, Idioms), culture (Topics
from daily life, Business etiquette), or both (Manga).
One potential criticism here would be that many of
the cultural points are likely to already be known tolearners who have attained a sufficient level of Japanese
to be reading this magazine, and may thus not be ofgreat interest. On the other hand, when reading in aforeign language, prior familiarity with the topic canbe beneficial for learners (Kanda, 2009), increasing
both comprehension and motivation, and enhancing
the reader’s ability to guess new words from context,
rather than relying on glossaries or a dictionary.
The inclusion of vocabulary explanations, as wellas comprehension questions (in the News section) also
raises the point of whether Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo
can in fact really be viewed as a resource for extensive
reading, given that many of the passages appear better
suited for use in classroom-based intensive reading
exercises. Of course, the magazine is not specificallydesigned for ER, but as a more general language
learning tool; nevertheless, how it is used is up to theindividual reader. For example, although the manga
strip has a specific lexical focus, this is something I
rarely pay attention to, preferring to read and enjoy it
simply as a story, glossing over the majority of unknown
words. Conversely, when reading the news section
I find the explanations of key vocabulary essential tounderstanding both the gist and detail of the articles.

News ga Wakaru
A glance at the contents page of News ga Wakaru(Appendix A) shows that the magazine is divided into
three broad sections: the first 25-40 pages are devoted
to feature articles, with the remainder divided between
pieces classified in the contents page as either 学ぶ(manabu: study) or 楽しむ (tanoshimu: fun).
Feature articles. These range from two to eightpages in length, and cover a wider range of topics than
the feature articles in Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo. The
March 2012 issue is fairly representative, including30

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articles on the following topics: increasing lifeexpectancy of pets, the search for the Higgs boson, Iraq
and Iran, baseball, and the construction of the Yanba
Dam.
‘Study’ section. The contents of this section varyslightly from month to month, but generally include
the following four items: four to six ‘News file’ pages,
which feature summaries of the main national andinternational news stories from the preceding month;a Q and A section looking in greater depth at a social
or scientific issue; one page of puzzles and brainteasers;a multiple choice quiz on news and current affairs,with answers provided on a later page. In addition
to these regulars, other features, such as a column on
economics, appear sporadically.
‘Fun’ section. This part of the magazine usually
includes between seven and nine separate features. As
with the ‘study’ section, some of these are included ineach issue, while others appear only occasionally. In
the former category are two four-page manga strips, a
travel journal, an interview, a photography column, arecipe page and a crossword puzzle.
News ga Wakaru is aimed at roughly ten to fifteen
year-olds and thus caters for a fairly wide range ofabilities, something which is reflected in both the
topics and the language found in the magazine.
Interestingly, in my own experience, it has not always
been the case that features aimed at younger readers
have been easier for me. For example, one of the manga
strips, Shoujo Kisha Mai-chan (少女記者マイちゃん), is
set in a junior high school. Despite the abundant visualclues, it is often the case that my lack of familiarity
with teenagers’ language has left me floundering whenreading this strip. Conversely, articles on politics or theenvironment, for example, often complement the kindof topics and vocabulary which regularly appear in JSL
textbooks, and in terms of both language and content
are more familiar to me.
Overall, the content has a more internationalflavour than that of Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo, in which
both the news and feature articles are generally Japancentric. Another notable point about News ga Wakaru
is the diversity of topics covered. The feature articles
and ‘study’ section are categorised into sixteen fields,
and articles on at least ten of these areas usually appear

Two Resources for Extensive Reading in Japanese, pages 28-35
in each edition, ensuring the magazine caters for a rangeof tastes. Inevitably, articles aimed at young teenagers
often present information which is hardly surprising tosomeone in their forties, yet on many other occasions
News ga Wakaru has not only provided me withJapanese practice but also expanded or refreshed myknowledge. Indeed, it has at times been immensely
satisfying to read articles in Japanese on subjects that I
studied thirty years ago and find long-since forgotten
knowledge flooding back.
Unsurprisingly, given its target readership of native
Japanese speakers, News ga Wakaru contains a lot lessexplicit language support than does Chuujoukyuu no
Nihongo. Occasionally, feature articles include a ‘key
word’ box, explaining a term crucial to understanding
the article, but these are usually only fairly technicalterms, for example katsudansou (活断層: active fault)
in an article on earthquakes.

DesignChuujoukyuu no Nihongo
Like many JSL textbooks, Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo
is simply designed, produced in black and white, andvery text-heavy; with the exception of the manga strip,
few illustrations accompany the articles, and thosethat do are simple line drawings. No use is made ofphotographs, and graphs, tables and maps are few andfar between. Nevertheless, there are other features ofthe magazine’s design which aid the reader.
Appendix B shows one of the news articles fromthe February 2014 issue of Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo
The first point worthy of note is that no furigana arepresent in the main text. Instead, the readings of all
kanji are given in a box on the opposite page. In my
own experience of reading in Japanese, I have always
found the ideal amount of furigana to be included
in texts a somewhat thorny issue. With furigana
present I find it physically impossible to read the kanji
without reference to the furigana. This is frustrating
as it deprives the reader of the chance to recall kanji
readings unaided. Conversely, a text including too
many unglossed kanji can be frustrating for different
reasons: having to frequently check a dictionary
is clearly not conducive to a pleasurable reading

experience, and looking up kanji readings is, of course,
more time-consuming than looking up words written
in a simpler script. In its news articles, Chuujoukyuu
no Nihongo thus provides a neat solution. By readingwith the magazine folded in half I can reinforce myknowledge of familiar kanji and challenge myself toread those which I have encountered but not yet fullyinternalised, something not possible when furigana
are placed directly above the kanji. But when I either
fail to recall the correct reading of such kanji or comeacross entirely unfamiliar characters, the furigana box
on the opposite page provides a quick and simple
reference, the use of which barely interrupts thereading experience, especially as the lines in the article
are numbered and referenced in this box.
Taken as a whole, Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo offers
different options with regard to furigana. While thenews articles and This month’s topic follow the systemdescribed above, other sections, such as Businessetiquette, only gloss kanji on their first appearance,
while others yet (for example, the reading section)
gloss all kanji, however simple or however often they
appear. Finally, in the manga strip furigana are provided
only for highlighted vocabulary items, and only in
the glossary, not within the illustrations themselves.
Over and above the style and content of the articles,
the design of the magazine thus also contributes toproviding a variety of reading experiences.

News ga Wakaru
Along with the contents page, Appendix A shows thefirst page of one of the feature articles from the March2012 edition of News ga Wakaru, and illustrates threepoints of significance with respect to the design of themagazine.
Firstly, in contrast to Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo,
News ga Wakaru is a full-colour publication.
Furthermore, the use of colour is not limited toillustrations or graphics, which of course benefit
greatly from being in colour, but also extends to thetext itself; this page includes text in black, purple, andwhite, and this is common throughout the magazine,
with most pages using at least two or three colours.
Also, the news and feature articles are colour-coded
according to topic; thus, the headings and subheadings
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Coomberin Appendix A are in purple, as this is the colour
representing ikimono (生きもの: living things).
News ga Wakaru also makes extensive use ofphotographs, illustrations, graphs, tables and maps.
Although only one page is included here, the article
in Appendix A runs to seven pages in total, and thesepages include 16 photographs, four illustrations, threegraphs and one table. Most photographs are wellchosen, clearly relate to the text, and usually come withan accompanying caption. While some illustrations are
simply decoration, others are used to explain in graphic
form something related to the topic, especially in thosearticles focusing on scientific themes.
Lastly, a key feature of the design is the layout of
the text itself. Rather than long pages of uninterrupted
text, which can be intimidating for the L2 reader,
all articles are broken down with sub-headings into
manageable chunks, and features such as text boxes,
thought bubbles and mini-dialogues are used to
expand on particular points outside the main text.
While these three aspects of design certainly
combine to create a visually appealing product, theirimportance goes beyond the aesthetic. The Japaneseorthographic system is immensely complex, andploughing through pages of uninterrupted black
text on white background can be an intimidating
and unappealing task for a language learner, however
stimulating the content. Rather than simply starting at
the beginning and proceeding to the end of an article
in a linear fashion, the reader is offered a variety ofways in which to engage with the text. To take thearticle in Appendix A as an example, the first page
offers several entry points to the text: by looking at thephotographs, and then reading the title (which is bothin colour and a large font), the highlighted question
next to the illustration, and the text in the circle in
the top right corner, the reader has a good idea of thelikely content of the article before embarking on themain text. This has two benefits: firstly, it is a great help
in deciding which articles to read; secondly, having amental schema already in place enhances the ability
to infer meaning from context and facilitates greater32

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comprehension.

Conclusion
Day and Bamford’s (1998) second principle ofextensive reading states that “A variety of readingmaterial on a wide range of topics must be available”(p. 8). For learners of English, graded readers provide
this variety, in terms of both topic and level; learnersof Japanese, however, have far less appropriate readingmaterial available. It is to be hoped that in the future
the range of graded readers available in Japanese will
be expanded; in the meantime, however, although
not specifically designed for extensive reading, both
Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo and News ga Wakaru can gosome way towards plugging this gap.

References
Chuujoukyuu no Nihongo [Intermediate andAdvanced Japanese]. (2014, February). Kawasaki,
Japan: Sousaku Shuudan Nihongo.
Day, R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive readingin the second language classroom. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Ericsson, K. A., Prietula, M., & Cokely, E. (2007).
The making of an expert. Harvard Business
Review, 85, 114-121.
Japanese Tadoku Research Group. (various dates).
Level betsu nihongo tadoku library nihongo
yomuyomu bunko. [Graded Japanese extensive
reading library]. Tokyo, Japan: Ask Publishing.
Kanda, M. (2009). The pleasures and pains ofextensive reading. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.),
JALT2008 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo, Japan:
JALT.
News ga Wakaru [Understanding the News]. (2012,
March). Tokyo, Japan: Mainichi Newspapers
Company Ltd .
Robb, T., & Kano, M. (2013). Effective extensive
reading outside the classroom: A large-scale
experiment. Reading in a Foreign Language,25(2), 234-247.

Two Resources for Extensive Reading in Japanese, pages 28-35

Author’s Biography:
Matthew Coomber has been teaching in Japan since 2001 and is currently an Associate Professor
at Ritsumeikan University. He holds an MLitt from the University of St Andrews and an MAfrom the University of Leicester. His research interests include intercultural communication andfeedback in academic writing. mcoomber@hotmail.com.

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CoomberAppendix A

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Two Resources for Extensive Reading in Japanese, pages 28-35

Appendix B

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings35

An Investigation Into Teachers’ Self-reflections andBeliefs on Implementing the New Course of Study

Nicole Gallagher
Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education
nicolemariegallagher@gmail.com
In April 2013, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology(MEXT) enacted a new Course of Study (2009) for senior high school English education whichattempts to improve student’s communicative abilities. Most notably, MEXT is urging teachers toteach English primarily in English, and employ language activities as a central teaching practice intheir classes. This paper describes a survey study of the implementation process of the new Courseof Study (2009) in all prefectural and city senior high schools in Kumamoto Prefecture. This survey
investigates about teachers’ beliefs and practices in regards to their use of language activities andEnglish in the classroom. The findings provide insight into the extent to which the reforms of the
Course of Study are being implemented in Kumamoto Prefecture, and identify what the teachers feelare limitations or prerequisites for real educational reform to take place.

2013年4月文部科学省は、高校生の英語によるコミュニケーション能力を高めるために、
新学習指導要領（２００９）を実施した。最も重要な点は、文部科学省は英語の授業を原則的に英語で行うことと、授業の主要部分を言語活動とすることを促しているという点である。本稿は、熊本市立及び熊本県立高等学校においての、英語の新学習指導要領実施についての調査研究である。
この調査の目的は、英語の授業を英語で行うことと、言語活動
に対する英語教師の考えや意見、
そして、
それをいかに実践しているかについて調査したものである。
この調査の結果、熊本県において、新学習要領を実施したことによって、いかに授業における英語環境が変化したか、そして実際にはどういった問題点や改善が必要であるかが判明した。

While the classroom is considered the primary context
for applied linguistic research, the national context
can have a strong influence on the teacher and theclassroom. In Japan, approximately every ten years,
the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology (MEXT) revises the Course of Study
Gallagher, N. (2015). An investigation into teachers’
self-reflections and beliefs on implementing the newcourse of study. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
36-51). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

36

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for English, the main policy document that outlines
educational objectives and content for senior highschool English classes in Japan (Tahira, 2012). This
paper will present a survey study of the teachers who
were involved with the implementation of the new
Course of Study (MEXT, 2009) in all the prefecturaland city senior high schools of Kumamoto Prefecture
in its first year. By investigating teachers’ teaching
beliefs and practices in regards to the new Course of
Study, the study aims to provide insight into the effects
the policy reform is having in the local context, andto point out what might be limitations on the change

Teachers’ Beliefs on a New Course of Study, pages 36-51
process.
Kumamoto represents an excellent case study
because it was identified in Schoppa’s 2002 work on
education reform in Japan as a prefecture that often
looked to the Ministry of Education for guidanceand directives. According to Schoppa’s research, likeother rural prefectures, Kumamoto followed theMinistry advice quite closely (Schoppa, 2002), making
Kumamoto Prefecture an ideal place to research
the efficacy of Ministry-driven curriculum reforms.
This paper will first review two key reforms of the
new Course of Study, and introduce a cost-benefit
analysis that can be used to predict the likelihood ofan educational policy’s implementation. Then, the data
and results of the teacher survey will be presented anddiscussed.

A General Outline of the New Courseof Study
Two key reforms characterize the 2009 Course of
Study: conducting classes in English, and language
activities becoming central to classroom instruction.
For the first time in its 50 year history, MEXT
proclaimed that all English courses at the senior highschool (SHS) level should be conducted primarily inEnglish, “transforming classes into real communication
scenes” (MEXT, 2009, p. 3). This is not intended as aprohibition of the use of Japanese in class. If English
is maintained as the central language of instruction,
the MEXT guideline to the Course of Study (2010)
states that Japanese can be used by the teacher to clarify
instructions, language, or to further the objectives of a
Teaching English Through English—or TETE—class(MEXT, 2010).
While this policy still permits some use ofJapanese, the extent to which it promotes the useof English depicts a scene of teaching practices andgoals much different from the current scene of SHS
English teaching. In a survey conducted in December
2007, MEXT ask teachers whether they instructed
their classes primarily in English. Around 21% - 27%of teachers reported that they mostly instructed in
English in the OC (Oral Communication) course,
while only 1-1.5% of teachers mostly used English in

the courses, English I and II (Yamada & Hristokova,
2011). If such a gap between the reality of classroom
practices and the new standards exists, a considerable
amount of change in classroom practices, as wellas teacher and student behaviour, will be required.
Furthermore, the new Course of Study (2009) does
not provide specific instructional guidelines for how toteach English in English effectively in class, making it
unclear how the policy’s implementation will proceed
locally nationwide.
Second, MEXT has declared that language activities
should be the central mode of classroom instruction
in all of the English courses, while integrating theteaching of the four language skills (MEXT, 2009).
By having students engage in productive language
activities, MEXT expects the courses to focus on
productive language use and performance, as opposedto acquiring formal knowledge about English throughteacher-fronted lectures. By declaring the kinds ofteaching practices that should be employed in English
courses, the new Course of Study has provided more
direction than previous versions, which have been
criticized for failing to provide instructional guidelines(Gorsuch, 2000; Nishino 2008). Gorsuch’s research(2000) on the 1989 Course of Study argued that theomission of any kind of instructional guidance in the
Course of Study set the policy implementation up for
failure, as it could not give clear direction to teachers
on the instructional practices necessary to reform theexisting practices. Despite this change in policy, the
new Course of Study gives only general guidelines,
lacking a description of actual classroom proceduresand practices, which would explicitly demonstrate toteachers how language activities might be connected tothe course contents.

Educational Change Research
Public educational reform in Japan is decided
nationally under the provision of MEXT, and enacted
centrally through the Course of Study (See, forexample, Gorsuch, 2000). MEXT, as the adopter ofthe change, is the process participant which holds theauthority, making the decisions and giving directives
from the top (Kelly, 1980). The Japanese SHS English
teachers, on the other hand, are the implementers, theThe 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

37

Gallagher
participants who will actually institute the change inthe practical setting (Kelly, 1980). Kelly claims that inany change process, the implementers will undergo acost-benefit analysis of whether the implementationof the policy is worthwhile. The factors considered
under the cost-benefit analysis can be analysed under
three general criteria: acceptability, feasibility, andrelevance (1980). Acceptability refers to whether
the implementers believe that the change process
is desirable and beneficial; in short, do teachers see
the benefits of the policy. Feasibility describes thelogistical considerations of the context being affectedby change. The relevance criteria assesses if the change
is appropriate for the particular classroom context. If
the teachers as implementers perceive the policies of
the new Course of Study as having high feasibility,
acceptability, and relevance, then there is a higher
likelihood the policy will be implemented as intended.
Kelly’s three criteria will be used as a tool of analysis
within the present study.

Research Question
Have teachers changed their way of teaching in responseto the new Course of Study, and what do teachers’
beliefs suggest about the constraints to implementing
the new Course of Study?

MethodDesignA survey questionnaire was chosen to investigate
the changes in classroom practices within an entire
prefecture in the first year of implementation of
the new Course of Study, and to collect data aboutteachers’ beliefs on English language use and employing
language activities in their own classrooms. Utilizing
a quantitative tool like a questionnaire is essential tocapture the general state of implementation of the new
Course of Study. The questionnaire includes 11 closed
questions as well as one open-ended written responsetype question (Appendices A & B). The survey
was administered in Japanese with the intention of
maximizing the number of respondents.

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Participants
Since the new Course of Study only applied to firstyear SHS English classes in the first year of enactment,
questionnaires were sent by mail in January 2014 to all
the prefectural (54) and city (2) senior high schools
in Kumamoto Prefecture where there were teachers
instructing first year classes. Each respondent returned
the independent questionnaire voluntarily by mail;names of respondents or schools of employment were
not collected.

Results and Discussion
A total of 70 teachers from the initial 174 teachers
returned surveys (a respondent rate of 40%). Although
no incentive was provided, my personal acquaintancewith many English teachers from my over threeyear experience working as an ALT for Kumamoto
Prefecture may have contributed to the higher than
expected respondent rate.

An Increase in the Use of Language
Activities
The data suggests that there has been a general trend
in increasing the amount of language activities usedin classes after April 2013. Prior to April 2013, themajority of teachers (57%) reported rarely using
language activities in their classes (only in 5-25% of
their classes). After April 2013, however, the numberof teachers “rarely” using language activities decreased
to 31%, with 46% of teachers reporting use of language
activities sometimes in their classes (or 26-50% of thetime—see Figure 1). Assessing their own teachingpractices, the majority (61%) of teachers reported asmall increase in the amount of language activities theyuse in class, while 23% of teachers reporting a large
increase in the amount of language activities they use.
It seems that the majority of teachers have responded
to the policy but have not made major changes in how
they use language activities in the class. Furthermore,
only 11% of teachers claimed to be meeting the
expectations of the new Course of Study. The findings
suggest that teachers are making small adjustments
to their teaching practices rather than attempting
to match the standards set out in the new Course ofTeachers’ Beliefs on a New Course of Study, pages 36-51
Study.

An Increase in the Ratio of English
Instruction
The majority of respondents have reported increasing
the amount of English they speak in class since April
2013. Around 87% have reported using more English
in class: 20% by a lot, 41% by quite a bit, and 26% by
a little. Despite this increase, 75% of teachers havereported using a considerable amount of spoken
Japanese in class, with 44% of teachers reporting use ofJapanese for around half of the time in class (36-60% of
the time), while 31% claimed to be using it a lot in class(between 60-80% of the time—see Figure 2). Thesefindings show that while teachers have made efforts toincrease the amount of English they use, the majorityof teachers depend on Japanese for a considerable
portion of their classes. This suggests that the majorityof teachers have not undergone much re-organizationof their teaching practices. It appears that the extent
of English being used in Kumamoto is still well below
MEXT’s policy expectation (MEXT, 2009).

Teacher Beliefs on Utilizing Language
Activities
The survey findings show that teachers judge using
language activities as acceptable. The results identified
six advantages for utilizing language activities thatmost respondents strongly or mostly agreed with
(Table 1). First, over 95% of teachers strongly or mostly
agreed that using language activities could increase thechances of English use in class. Second, 90% of teachers
strongly or mostly agreed that language activities canbe used to improve students’ speaking and listening
skills. Third, 70% of teachers strongly or mostly agreed
that students enjoy doing language activities. Fourth,Figure 1. Teachers’ use of language activities before and after the enactment of the new Course of Study

Figure 2. The amount of spoken Japanese teachers report to use in class while teaching

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Gallagher
Table 1
Teachers’ Beliefs on Language Activities (N=70)

Strongly
agree

Mostlyagree

Neither

Mostly Strongly
disagree disagreea) Language activities can improve students’ speaking andlistening skills.

26
37(37.1%) (52.9%)

6(8.6%)

1(1.4%)-b) Students enjoy doing language activities.

841
17(11.4%) (58.6%) (24.3%)

4(5.7%)-c) Through language activities, students can improve theirmotivation for studying English.

1235(17.1%) (50.0%)

19(27.1%)

4(5.7%)-d) Language activities are not limited to improving
speaking and listening skills. They can also be used to
improve reading and writing skills.

14
33
19
(20.0%) (47.1%) (27.1%)

4(5.7%)-e) It is difficult to use language activities in every classbecause preparing them takes time.
f ) Language activities are not necessary for the
preparation of university entrance examinations.
g) It is not possible to teach all the course contents withlanguage activities.
h) Language activities increase the chances to use English
in class.

4(5.7%)

26
25
12(37.1%) (35.7%) (17.1%)

1(1.4%)

4(5.7%)

8

31

19
32
14
(27.1%) (45.7%) (20.0%)
16

11(11.4%) (44.3%) (22.9%) (17.1%)
32

35(45.7%) (50.0%)3(4.3%)-i)

There is no time in class for language activities because
I have to ensure that the essential items have beeneffectively covered.

1(1.4%)

j)

The students get a chance to actually use what theylearn in language activities.

14
29
12
15
(20.0%) (41.4%) (17.1%) (21.4%)

around 67% of teachers strongly or mostly agreed thatstudents can improve their motivation for studying
English with them. Fifth, 67% of teachers strongly or
mostly agreed that language activities can be used to
improve all four skills, including reading and writing.
Finally, 60% of teachers strongly or mostly agreed
that language activities give students a chance to use
what they learn. These findings suggest that many SHSEnglish teachers can identify some of the benefits ofusing language activities for the purpose of improving
students’ communicative abilities. This conclusion
is similar to Nishino’s findings in her 2008 study on

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The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

3(4.3%)

1231
24(17.1%) (44.3%) (34.2%)

4(5.7%)-

2(2.9%)-

teachers’ beliefs of CLT practices, where she found thatJapanese SHS English teachers perceive communicative
approaches to English as valuable (Nishino, 2008).
However, it seems that some teachers did notagree that using language activities as a centralclassroom practice was feasible. First, around 56% of
the respondents strongly or mostly agreed that it is
not possible to teach the entire course contents withlanguage activities. Teachers may question how toteach the textbook material or material for university
entrance examinations under the new Course of Study
policy, suggesting some teachers may prefer otherTeachers’ Beliefs on a New Course of Study, pages 36-51
teaching practices. Second, 43% of teachers strongly
or mostly agreed that the preparation of language
activities is time consuming and consequently difficult
to incorporate into daily lesson planning, while 37%
neither agreed nor disagreed with this point. As time
constraints on the Japanese teacher have been widely
acknowledged (Okano & Tsuchiya, 1999), any
teaching approach that required a lot of extra dailyplanning time would pose a feasibility issue for manyteachers. While this study has shown that teachers in
Kumamoto perceive language activities as beneficial
to student learning, the minimal increase in language
activity use may be a result of teachers’ beliefs that thepolicy is not feasible in their current teaching situation.

Teacher Beliefs on TETE
The findings suggest that teachers accept that the TETE
policy have some advantages. Only 11% of respondents
strongly or mostly agreed that they did not know
the advantage of conducting classes in English, while
71% of teachers strongly or mostly disagreed with thestatement that, “I do not really know the advantage
of conducting English classes in English” (Table 2).
Despite this, it seems many teachers may doubt therelevance of speaking mostly English to their students.
Only 20% of teachers strongly or mostly agreed thatstudent motivation increases when teachers speak in
English, while 51% strongly or mostly disagreed and
29% neither agreed nor disagreed. If the teachers
are concerned that TETE will be poorly received by

Table 2Teachers’ Beliefs on TETE (N=70)

Strongly
agree

Mostlyagree

Neither

Mostly Strongly
disagree disagree

As I use English in class more, students’ comprehension
becomes insufficient.

7
18
31
11
(10.0%) (25.7%) (44.3%) (15.7%)

3(4.3%)

When classes are conducted in English, the pace is slowed
down, and not all necessary teaching points can be covered.

3(4.3%)

23
22
19(32.9%) (31.4%) (27.1%)

3(4.3%)I am not confident in my English ability when conducting
English classes in English.

3(4.3%)

2522
12
8(35.7%) (31.4%) (17.1%) (11.4%)

It is necessary to increase the amount of teacher training for
20
33
12
teaching English through English.
(28.6%) (47.1%) (17.1%)

3(4.3%)

2(2.9%)
6(8.6%)

I can’t make time to prepare for classes in English because ofother school responsibilities.

4(5.7%)

24
20
16(34.3%) (28.6%) (22.9%)

I do not really know the advantage to conducting English
classes in English.

2(2.9%)

6(8.6%)

Student motivation increases when using English.

1(1.4%)

1320
19
17(18.6%) (28.6%) (27.1%) (24.3%)

When the class is conducted in English, students stop
paying attention, and maintaining class control becomesdifficult.

2(2.9%)

723
27
11(10.0%) (32.9%) (38.6%) (15.7%)

When I conduct class in English, I feel alienated from myregular self, and become unable to develop rapport withmy students.

0(0.0%)

816
28
18(17.1%) (45.7%) (40.0%) (25.7%)

12
20
30
(17.1%) (28.6%) (42.9%)

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Gallagher
students, they may be reluctant to adopt TETE in theirclass, regarding it as having little relevance to theirclassroom.
The findings suggest that some teachers believe
implementing TETE may not be feasible under thecurrent teaching conditions. First, a large majority ofteachers agreed that the required in-service training
and development to implement TETE is not enough.
Seventy-six percent of respondents strongly or mostly
agreed that it is necessary to increase the amount ofteacher training for TETE. This finding indicates aclear feasibility issue for teachers: They believe theyneed more training on procedures and practices for
implementing TETE. In addition, only a minority ofteachers are confident in their language abilities for
conducting a TETE class—about 30% of teachers
strongly or mostly agreed they are confident in theirlanguage ability, 31% neither agreed nor disagreed,
while 40% of teachers strongly or mostly disagreed
that they are confident in their language ability. With
only few teachers confident in their language ability,
this presents a large barrier to the implementation of
the policy of TETE, and may discourage some teachers
from adopting the TETE policy. Finally, teachers arealso concerned about how the TETE policy willaffect students and their learning. Some teachersreported concerns about student comprehension
when using TETE in class; 44% of the teachers neither
agreed nor disagreed that student comprehension
will be risked as the teacher speaks English morein class, while 36% strongly or mostly agreed, and
20% strongly or somewhat disagreed. Such a large
ambiguity about whether TETE would negatively
affect comprehension, seems to suggest that teachers
regard TETE as a complex dynamic, making it difficult
to discern how it would affect students learning andlanguage intake with little prior experience of using
it. While many teachers can identify the educational
benefits to teaching English primarily in English, they
may feel it is irrelevant and not feasible under current
conditions, suggesting limitations to TETE’s nearfuture implementation.

Conclusion
This paper investigated teachers’ beliefs and practices

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The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedingsof the new Course of Study in order to provide insight
to its implementation by January 2014, and identify
limitations or prerequisites for real educationalchange to occur. From the findings of the present
study, some efforts towards reform were identified
for both TETE and the use of language activities, yet
it seems the teachers’ practices are falling well below
the expectations of the new Course of Study. SHS
teachers in Kumamoto Prefecture seemed to accept
advantages to both policy revisions; however, teachers
are not convinced that the implementation of TETE
and the primary use of language activities is possible
in their current teaching context. This survey study
has revealed data on the practices and beliefs in one
prefecture. In order to deepen understanding about
English education reform in Japanese senior highschools, the scope of future research on teachers’
beliefs and practices in regards to new Course of Study
should be widened to include other prefectures, aswell as qualitative research such as interviews and classobservations.

Notes
Parts of this paper have been submitted to the
University of Birmingham as part of an MA
dissertation. I have benefited from the reviews andadvice of my dissertation supervisor, Takashi Miura.

References
Gorsuch, G. (2000). EFL educational policies andeducational cultures: Influences on teacher’s
approval of communicative activities. TESOL
Quarterly. 34(4), 675-710
Kelly, P. (1980). From innovation to adaptability: Thechanging perspective of curriculum development.
In M. Galton (Ed.), Curriculum change (pp.6580). Leicester, England: Leicester University
Press.
MEXT (2009). Kouko Gakushuu Shidouyouryou
Kaikokugo (Eigo) [Course of study for seniorhigh schools foreign languages (English)].
Retrieved from http://ten.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/
material/48124.htm
MEXT (2010). Koutougakkou Kakushuu

Teachers’ Beliefs on a New Course of Study, pages 36-51
Shidouyouryou Kaisetsu [The course of study
for senior high schools guidelines explanation:
Foreign languages]. Retrieved from http://
www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/
education/micro_detail/__icsFiles/
afieldfile/2010/01/29/1282000_9.pdf
Nishino (2008). Japanese secondary school teachers’
beliefs and practices regarding communicative
language teaching: An exploratory survey. JALT
Journal, 30(1), 27-50.
Okano, K., & Tsuchiya, M. (1999). Education incontemporary Japan. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Schoppa, L. (2002). Education reform in Japan. New
York, NY: Routledge.
Tahira, M. (2012). Behind MEXT’s new course of
study guidelines. The Language Teacher, 36(3),3-8.
Yamada, H., & Hristoskova, G. (2011). Teaching andlearning English in Japanese senior high schools– teachers’ & students’ perceptions. Journal of
Fukui-ken Eigo Kenkyu-kai, 69, 3-33.

Author’s Biography:
Nicole Gallagher became interested in the impact the new Course of Study (2013) was having on
English teaching in the classrooms after teaching English at two senior high schools in Kumamoto
City, Japan. Her interests include teacher beliefs, teacher development and educational reform.

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Gallagher

Appendix A
Questionnaire (original)
高等学校の新学習指導要領の実施についてのアンケート

言語活動
1. 2013年４月以前の１年生の授業についてお尋ねします。
あなたが１年生の授業をした時、言語活動の使用頻度はどの程度でしたか。
（言語活動とは、2人組でのワーク、
コミュニケーション活動など）。
□ 全く使わない		□ あまり使わない (授業の5-25%)□ 時々(授業の26-50%)□ だいたい (授業の51-75%) □ いつも(授業の76-100%) 		
□ 1年生は教えたことがない
2. 新学習指導要領によって、あなたのクラスでの言語活動の回数は増えましたか？
□ はい、
とても増えました□ はい、少しですが増えました. □ いいえ、前と変わりません。
□ いいえ、前と比べて減りました。
3. 2013年４月以後の１年生の授業についてお尋ねします。
あなたが１年生の授業をする時、言語活動の使用頻度はどの程度ですか。
（言語活動とは、2人組でのワーク、
コミュニケーション活動など）。
□ 全く使わない		□ あまり使わない (授業の5-25%)□ 時々(授業の26-50%)□ だいたい (授業の51-75%) □ いつも(授業の76-100%)
4. あなたの授業において、現在の言語活動の使用量は十分だと考えますか？
□ いいえ、全く不十分。 □ やや不十分。 □ ほぼ十分である。 □ はい、十分である。
5. 現在のあなたの１年生授業において、言語活動の内容と頻度は新学習指導要領の要求に、適合していると思いますか。
□ 全く適合していない。		
□ クラスによっては、たまに適合している。
□ ほとんどの場合適合している。
□ 完全に適合している。		
□ 分からない。
6. 下の表は、言語活動の重視に対して言われている利点・問題点を挙げたものです。合っていると思う箇所にチェック（ ）をお願いします。
どちらと あまりそ
全くそ
ほぼそ も言え うと言えの通り の通り
ないない
全く違う
1. 言語活動は、生徒たちのスピーキングとリスニング力を向上させる。

2. 生徒は言語活動を楽しむことができる。

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Teachers’ Beliefs on a New Course of Study, pages 36-51
3.

生徒は言語活動を通して、英語学習への意欲が向上する。

4.

言語活動はスピーキング力やリスニング力にとどまらず、ライティング力やリーディング力も向上させている。

5.

言語活動は準備に時間がかかるので、毎回のクラスで使うのは難しい。

6.

言語活動は、大学入試のための学習に必要がない。

7.

言語活動は学習内容の全部のトピックで可能な訳で
はない。

8.

言語活動はクラスで英語を使う機会を増やす。

9.

必要事項を効果的に教える必要があるので、言語活動をする時間がない。

10. 言語活動で生徒たちは学んだことを実際に使う機会を得る。

英語で行う英語の授業について
7. 現在の１年生の授業で、あなたは日本語をどれくらい使っていますか？
□ 全く使わない (0% 英語のみ)□ ほとんど使わない (5-15%) □ 少し使う(16-35%)□ 半分ぐらい使う(36-60%)		
□ たくさん使う (60-80%)□ ほとんど使う(81-100%)
8. あなたは１年生の授業で英語をどの程度使っていますか？下記の表のそれぞれの場面について、パーセントを記入してください。
また、配当する平均的な時間を、わかる範囲でお答えください。
場面

英語を使う％

それに配当する平均的な時間(分）

1. 前時の復習
2. 本時教材の導入
3. 教材内容の理解活動や説明・復習活動
4. 新出文法頃や語法の解説
5. 生徒とのsmall talk (日常的会話)
6. その他、授業運営上の指示・助言・質疑野やりとり
7. 以上、授業全体を総合して、英語で話す割合
9. 2013年４月以後、クラス内であなたが英語を使う量は増えましたか？
□ はい、大変増えました。
□ はい、ある程度増えました。		
□ はい、少し増えました。
□ いいえ、変わりません。
□ いいえ、減りました。

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Gallagher
10. 新学習指導要領において、「生徒が英語に触れる機会をより充実させるために、授業は英語で行うことを基本とする。」とありますが、あなたの英語授業はこの指導要領におおむね合っていると思いますか。
□ 合っていると思いません。				
□ 努力していますが、まだ合っていません。
□ クラスによっては合っていたり、合っていなかったりします。
□ 大部分が合っていますが完全ではありません。
□ 合っています。
□ 分かりません。
11. 下記のリストは、「英語の授業は英語で行う」方針に対して予想される意見です。現在のあなたの授業について合っているものにチェックをお願いします。

全くその
通り

ほぼそ

の通り

どちらと あまりそも言え うと言え
ない

ない

全く違う

1. 私が英語を話せば話すほど、生徒たちの理解が十分でなくなる。

2.

英語で英語の授業を行うことで、授業の進度が遅くな
り、必須事項を全部終了できない。

3.

英語で英語の授業を行うほど英語力に自信がない。

4.

英語で英語の授業を行う方法の訓練・研修がもっと必要である。

5.

他の校務があるため、英語による授業の準備時間が
作れない。

6.

英語で授業を行うことの利点がよく分からない。

7.

英語を使うと生徒の意欲がそがれる。

8.

英語を使うことで生徒が集中せずクラス運営が困難
になる。

9.

英語で授業をすると、いつもの教師としての自分と違ってしまい、生徒との交流が困難になる。

12. 新学習指導要領(英語)について何かご意見がありましたら下記に記入ください。
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
13. 最後に、先生のバックグラウンドや勤務校について教えてください。
(1)

最終卒業校の専攻は何でしたか？

学士□ 英語教育

□ 言語学

□ 英文学

□ 英米語学

□ 教育

□ その他

修士

□ 英語教育

□ 言語学

□ 英文学

□ 英米語学

□ 教育

□ その他

46

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Teachers’ Beliefs on a New Course of Study, pages 36-51(2) 教職について、何年になられますか？
□ ５年以内□ ５年から１０年以内□ １０年から２０年以内□ ２０年以上□ １０年から２０年以内□ ２０年以上(3) 高等学校で英語を何年間教えておられますか？
□ ５年以内□ ５年から１０年以内(4) 現在勤務されておられる学校にはどのような学科やコースがありますか？
□ 全日制：普通科のみ(理数科を含む)□ 全日制：普通科と国際関係の学科□ 全日制：普通科と国際関係の学科と職業系の学科□ 全日制：普通科と職業系の学科□ 全日制：職業系の学科のみ□ 定時制・通信制：普通科、職業系の学科

貴重なご意見をどうもありがとうございました。

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Gallagher

Appendix B
Questionnaire (English translation)
A Questionnaire About the Implementation of the New Course of Study at Senior High Schools

Language Activities
1. This question is about first year classes prior to April 2013. When you taught first year classes, howoften would you use language activities in your classes? (A language activity refers to pair work,communication activity, etc.).
□ Never 			□ Rarely (5-25% of classes)□ Sometimes (26-50% of classes)□ Usually (51-75% of classes) □ Always (76-100% of classes)□ No experience with first year classes
2.

Have you increased the number of language activities that you use in your classes in response to the new
Course of Study?
□ Yes, by a lot			□ Yes, by a little		□ No, there hasn’t been a change□ No, it has decreased from before.

3.

This question is about first year classes since April 2013. When you teach first year classes, how often
do you use language activities in your classes? (A language activity refers to pair work, communication
activity, etc.).
□ Never 			□ Rarely (5-25% of classes)□ Sometimes (26-50% of classes)□ Usually (51-75% of classes) □ Always (76-100% of classes)		

4.

Do you think that you are using enough language activities in your own classes?
□ no, definitely not enough □ no, not quite enough □ almost enough □ yes, I am using enough5.

Do you think that your first year classes, in regards to the content and amount of language activities
you are using, meet the expectations of the new Course of Study?
□ They definitely do not meet the expectations□ Depending on the class, sometimes they meet the expectations□ In most cases, they meet the expectations□ They completely meet the expectations□ I don’t know.

6.

Below is a list of possible advantages and limitations of using language activities in the classroom.
Please tick the box according to your own opinion.

48

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Teachers’ Beliefs on a New Course of Study, pages 36-51

Strongly
agree

Mostlyagree

Neither
agree nordisagree

AlmostdisagreeStrongly
disagreea) Language activities can improve students’
speaking and listening skills.
b) Students enjoy doing language activities.
c) Through language activities, students canimprove their motivation for studying English.
d) Language activities are not limited to improving
speaking and listening skills. They can also be
used to improve reading and writing skills.
e) It is difficult to use language activities in everyclass because preparing them takes time.
f ) Language activities are not necessary for the
preparation of university entrance examinations.
g) It is not possible to teach all the course contents
with language activities.
h) Language activities increase the chances to use
English in class.
i)

There is no time in class for language activities
because I have to ensure that the essential items
have been effectively covered.

j)

The students get a chance to actually use what
they learn in language activities.

Teaching English in English
7. How much Japanese are you using in your current first year English class?
□ None (0% only English)		
□ Rarely (5-15%)		
□ A little (16-35%)□ Around half the time (36-60%)□ A lot (60-80%)		
□ Usually (81-100%)
8.

In your first year classes, how much (%) English do you use? Please write down your answers for eachcategory listed below. Please also give the average amount of time you spend on each activity, if possible.
The amount ofEnglish used (%)

Language Situation

The average amount ofclass time spent

1. Review of the previous lesson
2.

Introduction of new material

3.

Text comprehension activities, including explanation andpractices.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

49

Gallagher
4.

Explanation of new grammatical and lexical items.

5.

Small talk with students

6.

Other classroom management such as directions, advice,
and classroom management

7.

Total percentage of teacher talk given in English.

9.

Since April 2013, has the amount of English you are using in class increased?
□ Yes, it has increased a lot 		□ Yes, it has increased to some extent □ Yes, it has increased a little□ No, there hasn’t been a change□ No, it has decreased

10. According to the new Course of Study, “classes, in principle, should be conducted in English in orderto enhance the opportunities for students to be exposed to English” (MEXT, 2009). Do your English
classes meet this expectation of the new Course of Study?
□ No, I don’t think they do.			
□ I am trying but not yet.
□ I am meeting the expectations in some classes, but not in others.
□ My classes mostly meet the expectations, but not completely. □ Yes, they do. □ I don’t know.
11. Below is a list of possible opinions about the “Teaching English through English” policy. Please checkthe answer which is appropriate for your current class.
Strongly
Agreea) As I use English in class more, students’comprehension becomes insufficient.
b) When classes are conducted in English, the paceis slowed down, and not all necessary teaching
points can be covered.
c) I am not confident in my English ability when
conducting English classes in English.
d) It is necessary to increase the amount of teacher
training for teaching English through English.
e) I can’t make time to prepare for classes in English
because of other school responsibilities.
f ) I do not really know the advantage to conducting
English classes in English.
g) Student motivation increases when using English.
h) When the class is conducted in English, students
stop paying attention, and maintaining classcontrol becomes difficult.
i)50

When I conduct class in English, I feel alienatedfrom my regular self, and become unable todevelop rapport with my students.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Mostlyagree

Neither
Agree NorDisagree

AlmostDisagreeStrongly
DisagreeTeachers’ Beliefs on a New Course of Study, pages 36-51
12. If you have an opinion about the new Course of Study for English, please write it below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
13. Finally, please fill out the questions about your current school, years of teaching experience andeducational background.
(1) What post-secondary degrees and majors have you completed?
BA □ English education□ Linguistics □ English literature□Education		□ Other
MA (if applicable)		
□ English education□ Linguistics				□ English culture and language□ English culture and language□ English literature□ Education□ Other(2) How many years have you worked as a school teacher?
□ less than 5 years □ between 5 and 10 years □ between 10 and 20 years□ over 20 years(3) How many years have you worked as a high school English teacher?
□ less than 5 years □ between 5 and 10 years □ between 10 and 20 years□ over 20 years(4) What kind of courses and programs are offered at the school you currently work at?
□ Full-time program: regular course (including a science or math stream)□ Full-time program: regular course and international related course□ Full-time program: regular course, international related course, employment skills related course.
□ Full-time program: regular course, and employment skills related course		
□ Full-time program: Employment skills related course		
□ Part-time program/ Correspondence program: regular course and/or employment skills related course

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

51Comparing TOEIC® and Vocabulary Test Scores

Masaya Kanzaki
Kanda University ofInternational Studies
kanzaki-m@kanda.kuis.ac.jp
This study compares the results of listening, reading, and speaking tests of the Test of English forInternational Communication™ (TOEIC®), the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) and the Vocabulary
Size Test (VST) to determine the degree to which the test scores correlate. The five tests weretaken by 82 university students and the scores were then examined for correlations. Among thethree TOEIC tests, the correlation between the listening and reading tests was stronger than thosebetween the reading and speaking tests and between the listening and speaking tests. The scoresof the two vocabulary tests correlated moderately with each other. All three TOEIC tests showedstronger correlations with the VLT than with the VST. Of the three TOEIC tests, the reading test
most strongly correlated with the vocabulary tests.
本研究ではTOEICのリスニング、リーディング、
スピーキングテスト、Vocabulary Levels
Test (VLT)とVocabulary Size Test (VST)の結果を比較し、それぞれのテストの得点の間にどの程度の相関があるか調べる。5種類のテストを82人の大学生が受け、各テストの得点の相関を調べた。3種類のTOEICテストの間では、リスニングテストとリーディングテス
トの間の相関がリスニング・スピーキング間やリーディング・スピーキング間の相関より強かった。2つの語彙テスト間の相関は中程度であった。3種類のTOEICテストは全てVSTより
VLTとの間でより強い相関を示した。3種類のTOEICテストの中では、
リーディングテストが両方の語彙テストとの間で最も強い相関を示した。

This study compares the scores of the listening,reading, and speaking tests of the Test of English
for International Communication™ (TOEIC®), theVocabulary Levels Test (VLT), and the Vocabulary
Size Test (VST). The TOEIC usually refers to a
multiple-choice, paper-and-pencil test composed oflistening and reading questions; however, a computer-created by Nation (1983) and has been revised several
times (Nation, 1990; Beglar & Hunt, 1999; Schmitt,Schmitt, & Clapham, 2001). The VST is newer thanthe VLT, appearing in Nation and Beglar (2007).
According to Nation and Beglar (2007) and Schmitt(2010), the two tests have different purposes; while
the VLT is a diagnostic test for determining how muchbased speaking test was created in 2006 as well as awriting test. The writing test was not used in this study
because of budget constraints. The VLT was originallyvocabulary learners know at various frequency levels,
the VST is designed to estimate a learner’s overall
vocabulary size. However, both measure a learner’s
written receptive vocabulary knowledge.
The three TOEIC and two vocabulary tests wereadministered to 82 university students. First, thecorrelations between the scores of the three TOEIC
tests were examined. Second, the correlations between

Kanzaki, M. (2015). Comparing TOEIC® andvocabulary test scores. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan,& M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 52-58). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

52

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Comparing TOEIC® and Vocabulary Test Scores, pages 52-58
the scores of the two vocabulary tests were investigated.
Third, this study explored how well the scores of thethree TOEIC tests correlate with the scores of thetwo vocabulary tests. A close relationship between
a learner’s vocabulary knowledge and performanceon an English proficiency exam has previously been
acknowledged (e.g., Nation & Meara, 2002) and there
have been several studies on this topic (e.g., Qian,
1999; Beglar & Hunt, 1999; Kanzaki, 2010).
To sum up, the study was conducted to answer thefollowing research questions.
1. How closely do the scores of the three types of
the TOEIC correlate with each other?
2. How closely do the scores of the VLT and VST
correlate with each other?
3. How closely do the scores of the three TOEIC
tests correlate with the scores of the two
vocabulary tests?

MethodThe listening, reading, and speaking tests (hereafter
TCL, TCR, and TCS) of the TOEIC and two typesof vocabulary tests (VLT and VST) were taken by
82 participants, and the scores of the five tests werecomputed for correlations.

Participants
The study participants were 82 students who wereattending a private university specializing in foreign
languages in the Kanto area. They were recruitedfrom among more than 300 students who were taking

TOEIC (listening and reading) courses during the2013 spring semester. They agreed to participate in the
study in exchange for exemption from the 3,700-yen
exam fee for the TOEIC scheduled to take place on
campus on July 28, 2013.
Among the 82 participants, 64 were in their second
academic year, 14 in their third, and 4 in their fourth;
10 were male and 72 were female. In terms of fieldsof study, there were 48 international communication
majors, 20 English language majors, 12 international
business majors and 2 Chinese language majors. All
the participants were native Japanese speakers except
for 3 native Chinese speakers.

Materials
Three types of tests from the TOEIC (TCL, TCR,
and TCS) and two types of vocabulary tests (VLT and
VST) were used in this study. The TCL and TCR are
always administered together, and therefore they areusually treated as two sections of one test. The TCS,
on the other hand, can be taken independently when
it is administered as the Institutional Program (IP), in
which each institution sets the time, date, and placeof the exam. The three TOEIC tests used in the study
were administered as IP tests.
Listening test of the TOEIC (TCL). The TCL
consists of 100 multiple-choice questions, and raw
scores of between 0 and 100 are converted to scaled
scores of between 5 and 495. The TCL has four parts,
the details of which are shown in Table 1.
Reading test of the TOEIC (TCR). The TCR
consists of 100 multiple-choice questions, and raw

Table 1
Four Parts of the TCL

Part

Task

# of Qs

1

For each question with a photo, listen to four sentences and choose the one that best describes
the image.

10

2

Listen to a question or statement followed by three responses and choose the most appropriate
response.

30

3

Listen to a conversation and answer comprehension questions.

30

4

Listen to a short talk and answer comprehension questions.

30

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53

Kanzakiscores of between 0 and 100 are converted to scaled
scores of between 5 and 495. The TCR has three parts,
the details of which are shown in Table 2.
Note. The TCR starts with Part 5 because it
immediately follows the TCL, which ends with Part 4,
and the two tests are always taken as a set.
Speaking test of the TOEIC (TCS). The TCS is acomputer-based test requiring test-takers to sit in frontof a computer wearing a headset with a microphone.
Instructions are provided on the computer screen
and through the headset. Test-takers speak into themicrophone and their speeches are recorded and sentto certified raters for evaluation. There are 11 questionsin the TCS and scores are given in the range of 0 to200. Table 3 shows the details of the TCS.
Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT). The version of the
VLT used in this study was Schmitt (2000), which was
included in Paul Nation’s (2005) Vocabulary Resource
Booklet available on his website. The VLT consistsof five levels, namely the 2000, 3000, 5000, 10000,

and academic word levels. The levels are based on
frequency counts, except for the academic word level,
which is based on Coxhead’s (2000) New Academic
Word List. In this study, the 10000 level was excluded
because it was deemed too difficult for the participants.
Each level of the test has 10 clusters of 6 words with
3 definitions, or a total of 30 questions per level. An
example of a cluster is shown below.
1. business2. clock _____ part of a house
3. horse _____ animal with four legs
4. pencil _____ something used for writing
5. shoe
6. wall
Test-takers match the words on the left with thedefinitions on the right. The 2000, 3000, 5000, andacademic word levels of the VLT, with 120 questions
in total, were used in the study.

Table 2Three Parts of the TCR

Part

Task

# of Qs

5

Choose a word or phrase to fill in a blank in a sentence.

40

6

Choose words or phrases to fill in three blanks in a passage.

12

7

Read a passage or a set of two passages and answer comprehension questions.

48.
Table 3
Details of the TCR

Question #

54

Task

1–2

Read aloud the text that appears on the screen.

3

Describe the picture on the screen.

4–6

Answer three questions about a single topic as though you are participating in a telephoneinterview.

7–9

Read the information on the screen and answer three questions about it as though you areresponding to a telephone inquiry.

10

Listen to a recorded message about a problem and propose a solution for it.

11

Express an opinion about a specific topic.

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Comparing TOEIC® and Vocabulary Test Scores, pages 52-58
Vocabulary Size Test (VST). Versions A and
B of the VST, which are available on Paul Nation’s
website, were used in the study. Each version has 100
questions to measure up to the 20,000-word level.
They are different from the original 14,000 version of
the VST, which consisted of 140 questions to test up to
the 14,000-word level. On the original 14,000 version,
10 questions represent one 1,000-word level whereas 5questions represent one 1,000-word level on the new
20,000 versions. The first 40 questions from each of thetwo 20,000 versions—a total of 80 questions to cover
up to the 8000-word level—were used in the study
because the higher levels were deemed too difficult forthe participants. The VST has a simple multiple-choice
format, as shown below.
1. see: They <saw it>.
a) closed it tightlyb) waited for itc) looked at itd) started it up

is closest in meaning to the target word or phrase inbrackets.

Procedures
The participants took the TCL and TCR on July 28,
2013 and the TCS, VLT and VST on July 29, 2013.
They spent about 2 hours on the TCL and TCR,
about 90 minutes on the two vocabulary tests and aquestionnaire, and about 20 minutes on the TCS. The
results of the three TOEIC tests were provided by theInstitute for International Business Communication,
the administrator of the TOEIC in Japan. Seven
students were hired to mark the two vocabulary tests
and input the data into a Microsoft Excel file. Boththe marking of the tests and the data inputs weredouble-checked by the author. The scores of the fivetests were compiled and descriptive statistics as well as
Pearson product moment correlation coefficients werecomputed.

Results

Test-takers choose one of the four choices that

All the statistical analyses were conducted using IBM
SPSS Statistics for Windows (IBM Corp., 2013).

Table 4
Descriptive Statistics for 5 Tests (N = 82)

Mean

SD

Minimum

Maximum

TCL

370.98

57.79

205

495

TCR

267.87

66.05

115

400

TCS

114.27

25.23

40

160

VLT2000

26.18

2.74

17

30

VLT3000

20.65

5.01

5

28

VLT5000

18.30

4.2

6

28

VLT AW

21.11

5.29

3

29

VLT All

86.24

14.9

45

114

VST A

22.35

3.7

14

30

VST B

21.50

3.49

14

29

VST A+B

43.85

6.16

31

56

Note. VLT AW = Academic word level of VLT; VLT All = Four levels of VLT combined.

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Kanzaki
Table 5
Reliability of VLT and VST (Cronbach’s Alpha)

VLT2000 VLT3000 VLT5000 VLT AW

VLT All

VST A

VST B

VST A+B# of Qs

30

30

30

30

120

40

40

80

α

.62

.80

.71

.85

.92

.52

.44

.65

Note. VLT AW = Academic word level of VLT; VLT All = Four levels of VLT combined.

Descriptive Statistics
Table 4 shows the descriptive statistics for the scoresof the five tests as well as different sections of the VLTand VST. The average listening score of the TOEIC is103.11 points higher than the average reading score.
Among the four levels of the VLT, the average score of
the 2000 level is the highest, followed by the academic
word level, the 3000 level and the 5000 level. The order
is in agreement with the results reported by Schmitt,Schmitt, and Clapham (2001). The average scoresof the two versions of the VST are very close, with adifference of .85 points out of 40 between them.

Reliability
The reliability indices (Cronbach’s alpha) for thefour levels of the VLT, all 120 questions of the VLT
combined, the two versions of the VST, and all 80questions of the VST combined are shown in Table
5. Compared to the reliability indices for the VLTreported by Schmitt et al. (2001), which are all above.90, the figures in this study are low. However, theorder of reliability among the four levels in this study isthe same as in Schmitt et al. (2001), with the academic
word level being the highest, followed by the 3000 level,5000 level and 2000 level. When all 120 questions of
the VLT are combined, the reliability index reaches.92, which is considered satisfactory. The figures for
the VST, on the other hand, are not satisfactory. Even
when the two versions are combined, the reliability
index is .65.

TCL vs. TCR vs. TCS. Table 6 shows thecorrelations between the scores of the three TOEIC
tests. Among the three combinations, the highest
correlation is between the listening and reading scoresand the lowest is between the reading and speaking
scores. This order is in agreement with the correlations
reported by Liao, Qu, and Morgan (2010), although
the figures themselves are lower in this study.
VLT vs. VST. Table 7 shows the correlations
between the VLT and VST. The 5000 level of the VLT
correlates strongly with Version B of the VST at .61.
However, the correlation between the 5000 level andVersion A is low at .33. Overall, the VLT correlates
more strongly with Version B than with Version A.
TOEIC vs. VLT and VST. Table 8 shows thecorrelations between the scores of the three TOEIC
tests and the scores of the VLT and VST. Amongthe three TOEIC tests, the TCR shows the highest
correlations with both vocabulary tests. The VLT
correlates more strongly with the TCS than with the
TCL, except for the 2000 level. However, the VST
correlates more strongly with the TCL than with the
TCS. All three TOEIC tests correlate more strongly
with the VLT than with the VST.
Table 6
Correlations Between 3 TOEIC Tests (N = 82)

TCL

Correlations

TCR

Three sets of correlations between the scores of thefive tests and the sections of the VLT and VST werecomputed.

TCS

56

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings* = p < .001.

TCL

TCR

TCS

1

.69*

.50*

1

.47*
1

Comparing TOEIC® and Vocabulary Test Scores, pages 52-58
Table 7
Correlations Between VLT and VST (N = 82)

VLT2000

VLT3000

VTL5000

VLT AW

VLT All

VST A

.41*

.42*

.33

.34

.43*

VST B

.52*

.58*

.61*

.54*

.65*

VST A+B

.54*

.58*

.54*

.51*

.63*

Note. VLT AW = Academic word level of VLT; VLT All = Four levels of VLT combined.
* = p < .001.
Table 8Correlations Between 3 TOEIC Tests and VLT/VST (N = 82)

VLT2000 VLT3000 VLT5000 VLT AW

VLT All

VST A

VST B

VST A+B

TCL

.42*

.46*

.38*

.44*

.49*

.33

.34

.39*

TCR

.50*

.63*

.58*

.62*

.69*

.51*

.54*

.61*

TCS

.40*

.52*

.49*

.55*

.58*

.28

.28

.33

Note. VLT AW = Academic word level of VLT; VLT All = Four levels of VLT combined.
* = p < .001.

Discussion
The results show that the scores of the listening andreading tests of the TOEIC correlate at .69, which
is higher than the correlation between the listening
and speaking scores, which is .50, and the correlation
between the reading and speaking scores, which is .47.
This is because listening and reading are both receptive
skills and therefore they are more closely related toeach other than with speaking, a productive skill.
The scores of the VLT and VST correlatemoderately at .63. The VLT correlates more strongly
with Version B of the VST than with Version A,
although the reliability index for Version B is lower.
The scores of the VLT and VST correlate morestrongly with the reading scores than with the scoresof the other two TOEIC tests. This is because both
vocabulary tests measure written receptive vocabularyknowledge and the TCR measures written receptive
skills. Spoken receptive knowledge of vocabulary isneeded for listening and spoken productive knowledgeof vocabulary is needed for speaking. Neither type ofvocabulary knowledge can be measured fully with awritten receptive vocabulary test.
For all three TOEIC tests, the correlations arehigher with the VLT than with the VST, whichsuggests that the VLT would be the better test to
predict a learner’s TOEIC score. This is partly because
the VLT used in this study has more questions than the
VST, with the numbers of questions being 120 and 80
respectively. Another point to consider is the difficultylevels of the two tests; the VLT used in the study covers
up to the 5000-word level whereas the VST in the study
covers up to the 8000-word level. The VST might havebeen too difficult for the participants considering thatthey missed nearly half of the questions in the VST. In
terms of difficulty levels, the VLT is more suitable forthe participants, whose average TOEIC (listening andreading) score is 639.

Acknowledgements
The author appreciates the help of Dr. Yuki Shibuya of
Kanda University of International Studies in performing
statistical analyses. This study was supported by JSPS
KAKENHI Grant Number 25370727.
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Kanzaki

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Press.
Schmitt, N. (2010). Researching vocabulary: A
vocabulary research manual. Basingstoke,
England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schmitt, N., Schmitt, D., & Clapham, C. (2001).
Developing and exploring the behaviour of
two new versions of the vocabulary levels test.
Language Testing, 18(1), 55–88.

Author’s Biography:
Masaya Kanzaki teaches at Kanda University of International Studies. His research interests
include vocabulary acquisition, language testing and corpus linguistics.

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Using Process Drama in EFL Discussion Classes

Aya Kawakami
Nanzan University
ayakawakami17@hotmail.com
Among the fundamental skills that students in discussion classes need are effective communication
skills, debate strategies, and critical thinking. This paper first examines process drama and its
connection to the development of such skills. After a brief rationale behind the use of process drama,
this paper focuses on aiding readers to implement this tool in their classroom by first discussing
the components to consider and sharing practical personal experience of implementing this tool inuniversity discussion classes.
ディスカッションクラスの学生が基礎スキルの中で特に必要なスキルは、効果的なコミュニ
ケーションスキル、
ディベート戦略、論理的思考力、である。
この論文はまず、プロセスドラマとそれらのスキルの開発との関連性を考察する。
プロセスドラマを利用する背景の端的な説明のあと、
その構成要素に触れ、大学のディスカッションクラスにおいてこのツールを利用した実用的な個人の経験を考察、共有し、このツールを実際にクラスで使用する場合に焦点をあて説明する。

Dorothy Heathcote, a pioneer in drama andeducation, describes drama in the following way, “Youput yourself in other people’s shoes and by using yourpersonal experience to help you understand theirpoint of view you may discover more than you knew
when you started” (cited in Wilhelm & Edmiston,1998). Actors must try to understand the character,even if they do not agree with what that person stands
for. When connecting to the different perspectives
through a character (a person) that they must play,a natural motivation is nurtured to explore ideas
different from their own. In my own experience,
students often reject outright ideas that are foreign tothem, and have difficulty going beyond a superficial
level of examination. If a character they are playing
has a particular viewpoint, students may be motivated

to explore it further. At the same time, because thedifferent viewpoints are not that of the student butof a character they are playing, students can detachthemselves enough to more comfortably examine a
position from an objective and critical point of view
while still feeling “safe”. The balance of connection andsafe distance from being “in role” is what makes drama
a starting point for critical thinking development. It
is important to mention here that, while this works
well in shorter drama activities such as role plays or
improvisational activities, process drama reaps greater
benefits due to its long term nature. Essentially,
students spend more time with one character or several
characters within the same story, allowing them to geta more in depth picture of the issues being examinedthan a once off activity.

Kawakami, A. (2015). Using process drama in
EFL discussion classes. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan,& M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 59-63). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

Drama and Communication
In discussion, students must be able to respond in aspontaneous fashion. They also may need to defend
their position or critique another student’s viewpoint.
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Kawakami
Duff and Maley (2001) suggest “adaptability (i.e.
the ability to match one’s speech to the person one
is talking to), speed of reaction, sensitivity to tone,
insight, anticipation; in short, appropriateness . . . ”(p. 7) are what students need to develop in language
to be an effective communicator, and further suggestthat spontaneous activities such as role plays andimprovisation can help develop these skills. Exposure
to different types of scenarios, power relationships,
and emotions (Gaudart, 1990) is key, and drama helps
students to create imaginary situations with a wide
range of characters. It allows students to experience
different relationships, tensions, and conflicts fromthe safe buffer zone of being in character. Describedas “affective space”, drama can create a safe andsupporting atmosphere that encourages risk taking
and exploration (Piazolli, 2011). This safe atmosphereis further developed through the collaborative natureof drama activities (Gaudart, 1990; Duff & Maley,2001). Drama activities are heavily group-work based.
Students, in teams, build a rapport through working
on long-term story lines over several weeks. Teachers
also work together with students in and out of roleto create the situation or achieve a goal, allowing
opportunity for connection with the teacher. The
communication that takes place out of role is also
a wonderful opportunity for students to develop
negotiating and discussion skills, making drama
activities doubly beneficial.

What is Process Drama?
Drama activities in education are defined as any
activity that “asks the student to portray himself in
an imaginary situation; or to portray another person
in an imaginary situation” (Gaudart, 1990, p. 230).
Process drama is essentially an extended version of
this. Teacher and students work together to create
an imaginary world and work within that world to
explore a particular problem, situation, theme, or seriesof related themes (Bowell & Heap, 2013; O’Neil,
1995). In process drama, the key is that students andteacher alike work in and out of role (Bowell & Heap,
2013; O’Neil, 1995). The story created by the teacher
and students are progressed through scenes and otherdrama activities but are not performed for an outside60

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

audience. It is similar to what children do on theplayground when playing pirates or alien invasion; athemed make believe story, but one based on “grownup” issues. Process drama can be a short one or twoclass activity or can expand to an entire semester, inclasses ranging from writing to history and literature
courses ( Jackson & Schneider, 2000; Wilhelm &Edmiston, 1998).
For discussion classes, process drama allows
students to play different characters that often embody
differing perspectives, allowing students to gain agreater connection to these perspectives while still
maintaining a safe distance from themselves. The
extended amount of time with a theme, the story
surrounding the theme, and the various characters
involved help to promote a deeper learning experience.
In essence, it is creating experiential learning. The
students study an issue by doing and experiencing theissue.

Components of Process Drama
In helping those new to process drama, Bowell andHeap (2013) have broken down the components ofprocess drama as follows (in summary form):
Theme/Learning Area- issues or ideas you wish
to explore
Context- the fictional circumstances where theideas will be explored
Roles- teacher and students in role (Teacherrole should be decided based on how the teacher
wishes to facilitate the drama)
Frame- the dilemma that stimulates the activity
Sign- the props, the sound effects, the language
Strategies- how to maximize how much thestudents get out of it and to assure that thelearning is in line with the theme
Beginning with the goal of the activity, strategy
becomes the most important aspect of the process.
One key component in strategy is the choice of rolethat the teacher will play. The character must be
carefully chosen as to allow the teacher to maximize
their ability to help move the students along as aneffective guide (Bowell & Heap, 2013). The power
position of the character may be subordinate to theUsing Process Drama in EFL Discussion Classes, pages 59-63
student characters, but they must be a key character sothat the teacher can maintain some control over the
direction of the story.

A Practical Example
This was developed as the first drama story in auniversity discussion class for first year and second
year students. It is important to note that the class was
entirely female and thus students had the additional
component of gender switching in role. Cultural
sensitivity, stereotypes, and the dangers of taking
cultural norms as a given were the cluster of issues tobe explored. For the context, I chose the idea of local
Japanese schools welcoming new assistant language
teachers (ALT) to their schools. The idea was thatthe prefectural board of education, in addition to theincorporation of English classes into their elementary
schools, wanted to bring people from a wider rangeof cultures to aid students in learning to understanda wider range of Englishes, essentially develop
understanding of world Englishes. The frame, thetension, was created by the fact that these ALTs camefrom cultures unfamiliar to the majority of Japanesepeople and that the schools they would be attending
would be in rural areas of the prefecture where theteachers and students had little exposure to othercultures.
As stated above, the teacher’s role is one of themost important strategic decisions to be made whenplanning a process drama (Bowell & Heap, 2013). For
this story, I chose to be a high ranking representativeof the prefectural board of education. I chose this roleas it would allow me to guide other characters in-role.
Each student in the class played three roles:
coordinator, Japanese teacher, and ALT. First, they
were asked to work in teams to be coordinators fromthe board of educators, helping to teach the local
Japanese teachers about the new ALTs’ cultures. When
not being a coordinator, class members were asked
to play the role of Japanese teachers at rural schools
in the prefecture. While the groups of coordinatorspresented or did workshops, the other students
would participate as Japanese teachers, tasked to ask
questions during the workshops from their character’s
perspective. Finally, all the students were asked to be

ALTs from the countries they had researched. Signs
were kept simple for the purpose of this process drama.
Name tags, self-introduction forms, small cultural
artifacts, and official documents introducing the newpolicy were some of the items to help bring the story
to life. The classroom needed little changing as theworkshops and various other meetings through which
the story unfolded were held at schools. The location
was Japan and so the Japanese school system, Japaneseteachers, and Japanese English classes were all things
the students were familiar with.

Implementation
In the initial set-up phase, in role, I passed out the newpolicy changes for English language education in theprefecture. Introducing myself as the coordinator fromthe board of education for this new policy, and together
we explored the possible issues that could occur inthe schools should this new policy be implemented.
The main concern was conflict that could arise from
cultural misunderstandings. Students were asked towork in groups to come up with preemptive solutions
to prevent such issues. Eventually, it was decided thatthe coordinators would gather key members of theschools to introduce the different cultures, focusing
in particular on culturally sensitive issues, which werealso brainstormed in groups. In character, students
discussed how best to gather and present the material.
Homework was to continue to gather information forthe presentation. Out of role, we discussed the issues
presented in the drama, and I gave them some possible
factors to consider, such as religious practices and diet.
The next group activity was a discussion, out ofrole, of what the culturally sensitive points of eachchosen culture were. Here, a great deal of guidance wasneeded as this was the first time the students had hadto think about this. I eventually altered the activity to
first have students think about what they would tellthe ALTs about the culturally sensitive points of Japan.
I asked them to think about what kind of behavior
might cause the Japanese teachers to become offended
or upset and the cultural reasoning behind this. The
reverse then became easier. Each group prepared theirworkshop or presentation based on the ideas that they
developed.
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Kawakami
The second part of the story began out of role.
Students were asked to develop a Japanese teacher
character. Where did they work? How old were
they? Were they male or female? What was theirposition in the school? Had they had any international
experiences? Once they were prepared, students wereasked, in role, to introduce themselves to others andtalk briefly about their background. Prior to this, they
were instructed that in the next sequence, they would
be asked to play two roles. When presenting theirmaterial on target cultures, they would be coordinatorsof the prefectural board of education. When they
were listening to the presentations, they were tolisten as their Japanese teacher character. After eachpresentation, listeners were invited to ask questions
and express concerns in their role as teachers. Initially,
students struggled with asking questions in character.
With some side coaching, they eventually grasped theconcept of asking from the perspective of someone
who would have to work closely and deal with thecultural issues of the ALTs.
For homework, the students were instructed,
out of role, to create a character profile for an ALT.
They were asked to choose the country that they had
researched and presented on and to create a character
profile based on a worksheet. The worksheet contained
a series of questions designed to have the students
think not only about the character’s background, but
their motivations for coming to Japan and their viewsof Japan prior to visiting.
In the third part of the process drama, students
participated in a hot seating activity in groups. Hot
seating is a drama technique whereby an actor isinterviewed in -role about themselves. The questions
act as a stimulus to help actors develop a deeper andricher understanding of their character. I modeled
this activity, playing an ALT whom the students
interviewed. At the end of the class, students were
instructed to spend the week observing their life,
from their commute home, the food they ate, tointeractions with people of their community withthe eyes of their character and to keep a journal of theweek’s observation.
The final part of the ALT process drama wasa meeting, coordinated by my character, the head62

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coordinator from the prefectural board of education.
The meeting was designed to be a meet-and-greet of
all the ALTs and for it to be an opportunity to shareboth the good and bad experiences of living in Japan.
At the end of this activity, the students were assigned
a reflective assignment, out of role, to reflect on what
they had learned about cultural sensitivity and how
they felt life would be like as a foreign person living
in Japan.

Observations and Student Feedback
It is difficult to comment on the results of thisprocess drama without being subjective. What I
observed is a more lively and passionate classroom
environment when compared to my experience ofteaching discussion in more traditional ways. Students
were more willing to question, to make negative or
opposing comments. In their final reflections, students
were more willing to be critical of Japan and Japaneseculture. They thought about how to better take care ofand help people of other cultures. Students were more
willing to ask me questions after class. Attendance
improved. As Wilhelm and Edmiston (1998)
observed in their experiences utilizing process drama,
the ideas being explored seemed to come alive andbecome more personal to the students.
I asked my students to anonymously volunteer
to answer two questions about the class: “Is this
discussion class different or similar to your discussion
class last year? If it is different, how is it different?”
and “What, if anything, do you feel you have learned
through this class?”. In response to the first question, a
student wrote, “In this year, it is more active than lastyear. Topics of discussion are also more difficult thanlast year, but we will develop an ability to consider.”Another student reported that, “Last year’s discussion
class was just a debate to decide agree or disagree. But,
this discussion can share a variety of sense of values.”
One student commented on the group work, “去年と比べて，今年のディスカッションクラスはグループで作業をすることが多く，英語の力と共に協調性も培うことができると思います (Compared to last year, this year’s

discussion class is mainly group work and we are able
to build our English ability together)”.
In regards to the second question, a student stated:

Using Process Drama in EFL Discussion Classes, pages 59-63
異文化圏出身の人々の立場になって，その国の宗教等を知り，
その人達が日本へ来て体験するあらゆる問題点について学ぶことができました。
そのため，
今後は学んだことを生かして外国人と接することができると思います。(We could learn from theperspective of those from other countries, learn
about their religion and such, and see living inJapan through their eyes. As a result, I would liketo take what I have learned and apply it to when I
am interacting with those of other cultures.
Another student commented,
Through this class, I was able to have an
opportunity to think about diversity, differenceof culture and peace. Thanks to them, I could
gain new way of thinking. In addition, I learned
that we can come up with some good ideas tothink together. This is the my learning.
In general the comments fell under the ideaof group work being a comfortable and beneficial
component and that the students felt they could
experience different perspectives in a meaningful
way. Whilst more development and research into thetrue effectiveness of the course is needed, initially thestudents are observed to have been more engaged andmotivated as a result of the implementation of process
drama.

Conclusion
Process drama is not a performance (Bowell & Heap,
2013). The focus is on creating a meaningful world forthe students to explore issues in a safe environment.
The dual benefit of playing characters causing students
to invest in them and the safety of expressing ideas incharacter, and thus not as themselves, seems optimum

for students to develop the ability to think and express
themselves in a deep and meaningful way. By putting
themselves in the shoes of different people, theirability to think from multiple perspectives naturally
develops. The communication is varied and thepossibilities are only limited by the imagination of theteacher. Process drama is a useful and powerful tool
for the development of essential discussion and criticalthinking skills.

References:
Bowell, P., Heap, B. S. (2013). Planning process drama.
Abingdon, England: Routledge.
Duff, A., & Maley, A. (2001). Drama techniquesin language learning: A resource book ofcommunication activities for language teachers.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press.
Gaudart, H. (1990). Using drama techniques inlanguage teaching. Anivan Sarinee (Ed.),
Language teaching methodology for the nineties(pp. 230-249). Retrieved from ERIC database(ED366197).
Jackson, S. A. W., & Schneider, J. J. (2000). Process
drama: A special space and place for writing. The
Reading Teacher, 54(1), 38-51.
O’Neil, C. (1995). Drama worlds: A framework forprocess drama. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Piazzoli, E. (2011). Process drama: the use of affective
space to reduce language anxiety in the additional
language learning classroom. RiDE: The Journalof Applied Theater and Performance, 16(4), 557573
Wilhelm, J. D., & Edmiston, B. (1998). Imagining
to learn: Inquiry, ethics, and integration throughdrama. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.

Author’s Biography:
Aya Kawakami is currently an Associate Instructor at Nanzan University where she utilized
process drama and other drama based tools in many of her classes. She is one of the founding
members of the Speech, Drama, and Debate SIG. In her other life, she is an actor for Kan劇
Theater, a professional bilingual theater company based in Nagoya.
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63

Coastal Collaboration: Service-Learning in Iwate

Gregory A. KingDavid R. Laurence

Patrick J. Maher

Chubu University
gregking@isc.chubu.ac.jp

Chubu University
laurence@isc.chubu.ac.jp

Chubu University
patmaher33@lc.chubu.ac.jp

Service-learning is experiential education that combines meaningful community service with
instruction and reflection, which benefits both students and service recipients equally. This paper
outlines an ongoing collaborative effort between two universities, one in the United States andone in Japan, to incorporate service-learning into the study abroad experience. For the past three
years, students from both countries have spent several days in Iwate Prefecture performing volunteer
activities, including delivering water to those affected by the disaster and assisting with cleanup andreconstruction efforts. Students also learned about the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake
through lectures and visits with local residents, and received course credit after completing a written
reflective report. This paper details the inception and design of the service-learning program, andshows how the program has changed in the three years since it was created, and how it will continue
to change in the future.
サービスラーニングとは、
ボランティアとその指導と省察とを有機的に組み合わせた体験型学習法であり、参加学生とサービス受益者との双方に恩恵がもたらされることを目的としている。本発表では、2つの大学間 (日米各1大学) で進行中の留学プログラムの一部にサービスラーニングを導入した共同研究について概説する。過去3年間、日米両国の学生が岩手県においてボランティ ア活動に従事してきた。
これには被災者に水を届ける、震災の後片付けや再建の手助けをするといった活動が含まれている。
また、学生は講義や地元住民への訪問を通して、東日本大震災後の各種状況について学び、省察レポートをまとめることで単位を取得することができる。本発表では、
このサービスラーニング計画が実施されるに至った経緯と、その意図を詳述するとともに、開始から3年を経る間に計画がどのような変化の道筋をたどって来たか、
また将来的にどのように変化し続けて行くかになどに関して報告する。

The devastation wrought by the March 2011 Great
East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami
led to a surge in local, national, and international
volunteer efforts focused on aiding the affected
citizens of the Tohoku Region of Japan (specificallyKing, G. A., Laurence, D. R., & Maher, P. J. (2015).
Coastal collaboration: Service-learning in Iwate.
In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The
2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 64-69).
Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

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Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate Prefectures). Amongthese initiatives, a 5-year collaborative relief effort
between Ohio University (OHIO) in Athens, Ohio,and Iwate Prefectural University (IPU) in Takizawa,
Iwate Prefecture was established, with volunteer
work beginning in September 2011 in remote areas
along Iwate’s coast. The relief effort was designed sothat annual volunteer trips to Iwate would coincidewith the beginning of OHIO students’ study abroad
experience at Chubu University in Aichi Prefectureand Musashi University in Tokyo. What began as

Coastal Collaboration, pages 64-69
an international team of university students, faculty,
and alumni assisting with environmental cleanup andvisiting affected schools has, year by year, changed
in a number of ways. However, while the number ofindividual participants and participating institutions
have increased, and volunteer activities have grownin variety, certain long-term goals of the OHIO-IPU
relief program remain unchanged.
Building long-lasting relationships between
citizens in affected communities in Iwate and therelief program’s participants is an ultimate goal. The
continuation of meaningful volunteer efforts beyond
this initial program’s 5-year agreement depends onmutual trust and cooperation. Furthermore, one
often-voiced yet unfortunately ignored wish ofresidents in such affected communities is the desire
for a long-term committed relationship with volunteer
groups where efforts are focused on fulfilling the needsof the community as determined by the community,
as opposed to “one-and-done” volunteer visits withpre-determined ideas of how to help out (Thompson,2012).
Given the importance of taking into accountthe wishes of local communities when discussing
the participants, locales, and activities of each year’s
efforts, and with the hope of attracting enthusiastic,
invested volunteers interested in both sustaining
established relationships and building new ones,
program coordinators must stay active in the
program’s evolution. One particular change from theprogram’s inception in this area, which aims to meetboth of the aforementioned priorities, has been thesteady shift from a strictly volunteer experience for
OHIO students as part of their study abroad program
to a service-learning-based experience for both OHIO
students and specially selected Chubu University
students. This transformation has proved a dynamic
process dependent on flexibility, open, two-sided
communication, and clearly defined goals for bothcommunity residents and volunteers alike. However,with 2014 marking year four of the five-year program,the transition towards service-learning has not only
been surprisingly smooth, but has also been met
favorably by all parties involved.

From Volunteerism to ServiceLearning
Service-learning is a form of civic engagement similar
to other forms of civic engagement such as community
service, field education, internships, and volunteerism;
however, these are not synonymous concepts (Furco,
1996). While the focus of volunteerism lies primarily
in providing a benefit to a recipient, service-learning
looks for reciprocal benefits to both service providers
and recipients. As defined by Jacoby (1996), servicelearning is “a form of experiential education in which
students engage in activities that address humanand community needs together with structured
opportunities intentionally designed to promotestudent learning and development” (p. 5). Ash and
Clayton (2009) further elaborate on the students’ rolein service-learning as involving three key parts: prevolunteer classroom learning, community engagement
via volunteering, and post-volunteer reflection.
This is not to say that service-learning is somehow“better” than traditional volunteerism—far fromit. This paper does not seek to argue that replacing
volunteer programs, whether in the context ofstudy abroad or otherwise, should be an ultimate
goal. Rather, as is the case with the OHIO-IPU
relief program, and as may be the case for similar
programs looking to establish committed, long-term
relationships, service-learning proves an attractive
option for enriching student experiences, as well as
for expanding opportunities for community memberson the receiving end of volunteer efforts to have their
voices heard.
For students, sandwiching volunteering in
between relevant preparation and meaningfulreflection not only allows for greater understanding of
the community they are engaging with, but students
also conclude their volunteer experience with a moresophisticated understanding of the difference they
have made, as well as what remains to be done in
the future. Service-learning as part of a study abroad
program or foreign language curriculum brings
additional potential benefits, allowing students tobetter understand their community involvement inglobal terms, thus fostering a larger sense of global
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65King, Laurence, & Maher
citizenship (Dalton, 2013). For local communities,
the reciprocity demanded in service-learning
allows residents opportunities to individually orcollectively offer student volunteers a more in-depth
understanding of the local environment, history,
struggles, charms, and needs. Through collaborative
activities as simple as leading community tours,
attending seasonal events, offering home visits, sharing
stories, and more, local residents are given the option
to reciprocate, educate, and participate in what
potentially can be a wonderful venue for establishing
personal, mutually beneficial relationships. Onceagain, when done in a multi-lingual environment, thefurther bonus of international exchange cannot be
overlooked.
During the initial OHIO-IPU volunteer group’s
visit to Iwate in September 2011, only six months
removed from the disaster of March 11, it is not
surprising that the primary focus of the group’s efforts
was in providing tangible benefits to affected areas.
Nonetheless, volunteer activities, such as cleaning
polluted rivers of debris and visiting students of anaffected kindergarten, were often prefaced, combined,or concluded with lectures, anecdotes, tours,presentations, or speeches. While this in itself does notconstitute service-learning, there are two important
points to note. First, citing negative experienceswith other relief volunteers prior to the group’s visit,
the decision of what activities would be done andto what degree local residents would be a part of
the relief effort was determined by the community,
which demonstrates local residents’ “strong desire
to be active in the planning and implementationof their own recovery efforts” (Thompson, 2012,
Final Thoughts section, para. 1). Second, while thevolunteer experience by itself was surely a moving
and memorable experience for both the OHIO andIPU students involved, post-volunteer talks withstudents showed that hearing directly from those
involved about the tsunami evacuation, the resulting
devastation, the timeline for reconstruction, and soon helped students better understand and appreciate
their participation as volunteers in the program, as
well as to further contemplate the bigger picture of
relief efforts in the Tohoku Region as a whole.

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These two reflections helped shape the ongoing
evolution of what began as a purely volunteer-focusedprogram into a service-learning-based experience. In
addition to attempting to better scaffold students’experiential learning with pre-volunteer preparationand post-volunteer reflection, the aim of allowing
multiple opportunities for education and reflection
mid-volunteering has become a staple of each year’s
Iwate visit. Typically this involves local residents
leading or in some way participating in enriching bothforeign and Japanese students’ knowledge, experience,and understanding of the issues residents face.

Participant Diversity andOpportunities for Service-Learning
The second OHIO-IPU relief program Iwate trip took
place in 2012 over a three-day period from September
21st to September 23rd. Participant numbers for thesecond trip rose from 37 to 51 individuals, with the
majority of participants students and faculty fromOHIO and IPU. However, this year’s trip also included
the addition of one student volunteer from Chubu
University (CU), which would help set a precedentfor greater CU involvement in future efforts. It should
be noted, however, that given that the schedulingof relief trips to Iwate was intentionally designed tocoincide with OHIO study abroad students beginningtheir time abroad at CU, OHIO alumni employedat CU have played a role in the relief program’s
implementation and activities from the initial year.
That being said, year two of the program marked the
beginning of CU student participation via a single
volunteer, which would help foster service-learning
opportunities for CU students in the following year.
The third OHIO-IPU relief program Iwate
trip look place in 2013 over a four-day period from
September 26 to September 29. Participant numbers
for the third trip more than doubled from 51 to 105
individuals, with participants from OHIO, IPU, CU,
Musashi University, Toyo Gakuen University, andmore. Of interest for the purposes of service-learning,
five CU students majoring in English were speciallyselected to join the program through enrollment
in a credit-bearing course titled, “English for Social

Coastal Collaboration, pages 64-69
Change.” All five CU students had previously studied
abroad at OHIO, and thus, were familiar with the
OHIO students who had participated in the relief
program the prior year. These CU students’ prevolunteer preparation involved reading and discussionof several English-language articles pertaining to the
OHIO-IPU relief project and similar efforts in Iwate,
which not only readied them for volunteering, but
prepared them with necessary contextual awarenessand English vocabulary to act as interpreters between
OHIO students with low-level Japanese and local
residents in Iwate. The CU students’ post-volunteer
reflection culminated in written reflections of 2,000
words or more in English, which will serve as prevolunteer preparation materials for future volunteers.
The incorporation of CU students into theprogram, specifically CU students who had previously
studied abroad at OHIO, has served as inspiration tofaculty members at both institutions to work towards
building some sort of credit-bearing service-learningcomponent into the CU study abroad program in
Ohio as well. With ideal volunteers being students
from either of the two universities with prior study
abroad experience at the other, the potential forreciprocal give-and-take between program volunteers
is extremely valuable. Fostering such relationships
between volunteer communities, rather than simply
between volunteers and the recipient communities.
This gives students the chance to prepare for, act on,
and reflect on their roles as cultural ambassadorsand linguistic assistants, thus better facilitating
harmonious, cooperative volunteer bodies. These
measures have the potential to take the spirit ofservice-learning to a level even more beneficial tovolunteers and communities alike.

Activities and Opportunities forService-Learning
Volunteer activities from year two into the present
have been broadly similar to initial year activities,
primarily assisting in environmental cleanup anddirect interaction with local communities. However,years two and three saw the program’s long-term
vision of finding a niche for meaningfully engaging insustainable, community-desired activities come into
clearer focus. Furthermore, progress was also madein identifying exactly which community populations
would benefit most from the type of once-a-year, longterm assistance the OHIO-IPU relief program could
offer. Finally, local residents continue to play primary,important, recurring roles in the implementation andfacilitation of activities.
With the need for labor-intensive cleanup ofdebris less of an issue after year one, environmental
cleanup efforts took the shape of group participationin the Nanohana Project, which involved the weeding
and clearing of fields to allow for the planting of canola
seeds. This project, led by former truck driver and wellknown local resident Bunzo Kanayama, would become
one of the program’s staple activities and a centralcomponent of future volunteer trips. Mr. Kanayama
took an active role in explaining not only how cleanup
would be carried out, but also importantly, why
he and other residents desired volunteer assistancewith the preparation and cultivation of canola fields.
Additionally, Mr. Kanayama enriched the experience
with stories of his experience during the disaster, as
well as with stories of loved ones whom he had lost to
the tsunami.
Annual participation in a project such as the
Nanohana Project serves as an excellent example of avolunteer activity that can become a core componentof student service-learning. Pre-volunteer classroom
preparation focuses on a number of aspects related
to this project. For example, learning beforehand
about local residents such as the man at the centerof this project, Mr. Kanayama, helps students better
understand the mindset of community leaders,which strengthens student awareness of the shortand long-term benefits of their volunteerism,
which allows for time to contemplate and (in L2
situations) linguistically prepare for more meaningfulconversation with the man in question, which benefits
community-volunteer exchange during volunteering.
This allows for deeper post-volunteer reflection about
how participation in the project might be improved,
which can then in turn be passed on via writing
or recorded interviews to the next year’s group of
volunteers, giving a stronger springboard into preThe 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

67King, Laurence, & Maher
volunteer preparation. Furthermore, the disseminationof volunteer reflections to Mr. Kanayama and otherlocal residents offers them potentially valuableviewpoints on how they might expand or transformtheir respective relief initiatives.
Mizu-Bora (from “Water Volunteering”) has
become another mainstay of the OHIO-IPU
relief program. Focused on enhancing meaningfulinteraction between student volunteers and elderly
residents still living mostly in temporary housing,the Mizu-Bora Project was begun by Keiko Chiba, aprofessor in the Department of Living Science at IPU.
This activity involves delivering bottles of water toresidents living in affected areas. Although the initialneed local residents had for access to clean water has
since been resolved, the Mizu-Bora Project continues
to thrive, presently for the purpose of emotional
support. The delivering of water to temporary housing
serves as a means for volunteers to engage with local
residents, which opens the door to communication,
relationship building, and emotional support. For
many unfortunate residents, life in temporary housing
has become anything but temporary, and a desire fora return to normalcy stands at the pinnacle of theirhierarchy of needs (Thompson, 2012). Thus, repeated,timely visits from volunteers who are well aware of the
project’s objectives can serve as one step on the return
to a sense of normalcy. The role of service-learning
here is to assure that student volunteers are well awareof the objectives of Mizu-Bora; in other words, thewater is not the point, but rather, it is communicationand interaction. Pre-volunteer studying of the project’s
history and the current state of affairs of residents
living in temporary housing, coupled with postvolunteer reflection and/or follow-up communication
goes a long way in making student participation in thisproject a greater success for everyone involved.
Finally, guided tours of affected areas led by local
residents, as well as lectures given by local residents
on topics such as disaster relief and government
rebuilding projects, have become another recurringfeature of the OHIO-IPU relief program. Whileperhaps not technically a volunteer activity, paving
the way for the community to play a reciprocal rolein enhancing the education and awareness of student

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volunteers, as discussed earlier, is a valuable aspect ofservice-learning. Such community-led presentations
allow students to learn more about the area where theirvolunteer work is being done, but scaffolding of thesemid-volunteer opportunities for reflection can also
become focal points in a service-learning curriculum.
Experience has shown that one particularly difficult
aspect of conducting volunteer activities with study
abroad students is the ever-present need for adequate
interpretation (Ogawa, Kumamoto, & Thompson,2012). One such venue where adequate interpretation
is especially necessary is in conveying the experiencesand voices of community residents to volunteers.
However, jargon-heavy presentations and unfamiliar
dialects not only make the job of interpretationdifficult, but the myriad tasks of program coordinators
demand volunteers with substantial bilingual abilities
available exclusively to serve as interpreters whennecessary. Thus, one future criterion in the selection of
CU student volunteers has become their pre-volunteer
enrollment in an English interpretation class offeredto juniors and seniors at CU. Together with postvolunteer reflection via written reflections, as well as
the creation of helpful lists of important vocabulary
related to disaster relief and community dialectal
features for future volunteer interpreters, these student
volunteers stand to gain substantial benefits fromhaving their volunteer experience shifted to a servicelearning-based model.

Looking Towards the Future
Years after the events of March 2011, local residents
in coastal areas of Iwate remain the focus of the 5-year
OHIO-IPU relief program. While continuing toevolve, the ultimate goal of this program remains
the same: long-term relationship building to ensurecommitted, meaningful, beneficial volunteer efforts inaffected regions of Iwate Prefecture. Furthermore, theprogram aims to design its efforts in accordance withthe wishes of members of the communities it serves.
Shifting program designs from simply volunteerism
to service-learning not only helps achieve these goals,
but it allows for the extension and enhancement ofbenefits for both the communities receiving volunteer
service, as well as the students involved in providing

Coastal Collaboration, pages 64-69
the volunteer efforts.
The OHIO-IPU relief program will surely
continue to evolve over the next several years, anddiscussions are currently underway about extending
the program’s efforts into the future in some formor another. With the step-by-step changes alreadytaken towards a more service-learning-based modelof civic engagement, as well as the many potentialchanges for greater service-learning possibilities inthe years to come, this program’s evolution serves
as a model of how offering students a chance toserve society as part of a study abroad program canprovide the students involved with valuable benefits
as well. Indeed, several challenges to initiating andsustaining volunteer programs exist, be they financial,bureaucratic, cultural, etc. However, even a large-scale
program such as this can offer one takeaway lesson tosmaller, local, pioneer volunteer efforts. If the project
goal is long-term, committed cooperation, make theparticipation of those involved more meaningful (andthus potentially sustainable) via academic preparation
beforehand, well-crafted periods of education andpersonal interaction during, and reflection that leaves
behind something tangible afterwards, allowing thecycle of service-learning to better itself with eachsubsequent rotation.

References
Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2009). Generating,deepening, and documenting learning: The
power of critical reflection for applied learning.
Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education,
1, (25-48).
Dalton, S. (2013). JALT Focus Showcase: Stephen
Dalton. The Language Teacher, 37(6) (47-48).
Furco, A. (1996). Service-learning: A balanced
approach to experiential education. In J. Raybuck
and B. Taylor (Eds.), Expanding boundaries:
Serving and learning (pp. 2-6). Washington, DC:
Corporation for National Service.
Jacoby, B. (1996). Service-learning in higher education:
Concepts and practices. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass.
Ogawa, H., Kumamoto, S., & Thompson, C. (2013).
Report of collaborative volunteer trip between
Iwate Prefectural University and Ohio University.
Bulletin of Morioka Junior College Iwate
Prefectural University, 15, 77-81.
Thompson, C. (2012). Local perspectives on thetsunami disaster: Untold stories from the Sanriku
Coast. The Asia-Pacific Journal, 10(10-5).
Retrieved from http://www.japanfocus.org/Christopher-Thompson/3706

Authors’ Biographies:
Gregory A. King works in the Department of English Language and Culture at Chubu
University. His research interests include study abroad and service-learning. He is the onsite
director for Ohio University’s study abroad program at Chubu University and the coordinatorfor his department’s study abroad program at Ohio University.
David R. Laurence has been teaching English in Japan since 1996, and at the Department ofEnglish Language and Culture at Chubu University since 2013. His research interests are focusedaround the pressures on the Japanese higher education system as access to university-level study
becomes more and more ubiquitous.
Patrick J. Maher works for OPELT (The Ohio Program of English Language Teaching)at Chubu University. He teaches English, interpretation, and translation classes within the
Department of English Language and Culture at Chubu University as well. His research interests
include service-learning, interpretation & translation, and sociolinguistics.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings69What Students Like Writing About

Kenichiro Kobayashi

Cheryl DiCello

Aichi Shukutoku University
ken5884@asu.aasa.ac.jp

Sugiyama Jogakuen University
cdicello@sugiyama-u.ac.jp

This research looks at what topics students prefer writing about. The reason for this inquiry is thatthe researchers noticed that there was a noticeable difference in their students’ writing dependingon the topic they were asked to write about. It was speculated that students would do better, andbe more motivated to continue writing, if they were presented with interesting topics. This article
reports on the responses from 135 university freshmen rating 65 topics they had the optionof writing about over the course of a semester. The survey’s purpose was to answer the following
three research questions: 1) Which topics did students prefer to write about? 2) Which topics did
students not want to write about? 3) What new topics would students recommend?
この研究の目的は大学でのライティング・クラスにおいて、学習者がスピードライティングを行う際に、選択されるトピックによって学習意欲に変動があるかを調査することである。調査結果から、学習者が興味深いと感じたトピックの方が意欲的にライティングに取り込むであろうと推測される。本研究では一年生135名に対し，が65のトピックについて書きやすいか
どうかを評価してもらった。学生たちは毎週授業時間内（スピードライティング）と宿題（ジャ
ーナル）
で65のトピックからひとつを選んで一定時間内に英語で文章を書くアクティビティを行っていた。
アンケート調査では以下の三つの課題を調べることに着目した。①どのようなトピック好ましかったか、②どのようなトピック好ましくなかったか、③新たにどのようなトピックについて書きたいと思うか。

Writing is a complex set of skills and can be difficult tolearn and to teach. Teachers need to set up the correct
conditions in the classroom to have students be able
to write well. According to Hudson, Lane and Mercer(2005), “Facilitating the writing process should be
the goal of writing instruction” (p. 477). One part ofthis process is coming up with a good set of topics forstudents to write about. This study looks at how toenrolled in a private university in Japan about what
topics they enjoyed writing about and what topics
they did not want to write about. Students were asked
to rate the topics they had been given to write about intheir course and to make new topic suggestions. The
overall aim was to determine which topics should be
cut and which topics should be kept in the future. It
was thought that if students enjoyed the topic that

improve an EFL writing course by surveying students
on which topics they enjoyed writing about.
For this study we surveyed 135 university freshman

they were writing about they would enjoy the writing
process more and would want to continue writing.

Literature Review
Kobayashi, K. & DiCello, C. (2015). What students
like writing about. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, &M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 70-83). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

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Writing Topics
Whether topics should be prescribed, selected from a
set of options, or completely open so writers can choose
to write about whatever they want to is much debatedWhat Students Like Writing About, pages 70-83
in the field of writing instruction. Unfortunately
specific research on what topics students want towrite about and what writing prompts work well islimited (Hudson, Lane, & Mercer, 2005). On theother hand, studies that try to understand how topics
are thought out, reviewed, and what effect this process
has on student writing production and motivation
are plentiful. (For examples see Graham, Harris, &Mason, 2005; Blaz, 1999; Silva, 1997; Hudson, Lane,& Mercer, 2005; Polio & Glew, 1996).
Some researchers encouraged teachers to set
an unusual prompt for their students. For example,
Blaz, (1999) mentions having the most language
production success in foreign language writing whenassigning students unusual writing prompts such as,“Write the drinks that athletes should probably neverdrink” (p. 106). On the other hand, Silva (1997)
recommended giving ESL students the freedom tochoose their own topics. He justified this position
by stating: “It seems to me most reasonable andmotivating to have students (individually or in agroup) choose their own topics, those in which they
have a sincere interest and some intellectual andemotional investment” (p. 361-362). Hudson, Lane
and Mercer (2005) also believed that students shouldbe free to choose their own topics because topics “areused to facilitate written expression… (and) begin the(mental) processing needed for the compositionaltask” (p. 477-478). However, there is no one right orwrong answer to this question and it is necessary toconsider one’s own teaching context when deciding
on how much freedom to give students with their
topic choice. In our case, every week students were
given the option to choose their own topic or selectone from a list of topics given to them by the teacher.
While students would sometimes opt to choose theirown topic they would usually choose to write on a
topic from the list provided to them by the teacher.
From our observations in our own particular context
we felt that, even if students ere given the option tochoose their own topic, it was also beneficial to have aselection of topics that they could choose from if theywanted to.

Having Students Choose Topics
When teachers are preparing a list of topics for theirstudents to choose from it is important for them tochoose topics that will encourage their students towrite. Bello (1997) advised, “teachers need to provide
learners opportunities to write about topics thatare relevant to their lives, to participate in various
writing activities, and to feel that writing has value”(p. 5). Hedge (2005) recommended teachers reflect
on several factors when planning a writing activity
including, “Does the material involve students,
allowing them to exploit personal knowledge andexperience?” (p. 16) and “How does the content of
the activity motivate, for example, through relating toother curriculum subjects, widening cultural horizons,
using topics of universal interest, topicality, etc.?”(p. 16). Way, Joiner, and Seaman (2000) researched
the facility of different types of prompts, descriptive,
narrative, and expository, with 300, L2, beginning
French high school students in the U.S. They foundthat narrative tasks were the easiest to undertake,descriptive were second easiest and expository tasks
were the most difficult. This matched the findings ofprevious studies done on L1 writing tasks.

Reasoning for Offering a Choice of Topics
in Timed-Writing
Research on the writing section of language proficiency
exams points to the necessity of allowing students tochoose a topic when practicing timed-writing. Polioand Glew (1997) observed the amount of time used
to select topics during a timed-writing section of an
exam. Afterwards, they interviewed students, asking
advice about whether test takers should have a topic
choice and how many choices they should have on a
timed-writing exam. Polio and Glew’s study reported
that students felt that having the ability to choose
from a variety of writing prompts was importantbecause it helped them to “display their best writing
ability and that they would have been hindered had
they been forced to choose a different writing prompt”(p. 45). In order to give our students the opportunity
to write on a topic that allowed them to display theirbest writing abilities we offered the participants inthis study the option of either selecting from a list of
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Kobayashi & DiCellotopics or writing on a topic that they came up with bythemselves.

MethodParticipantsThis survey-based study took place at a private
women’s university in Japan. The participants were
135 university freshman enrolled in nine different
sections of the same EFL writing course. These classes
were taught by four different instructors. Students inthese classes were expected to write two, 10-minutespeed-writing assignments per week and one weekly
un-timed journal assignment over the course of the 15week semester.

Procedure
On the final day of class, participants were given theoption to rate the topics they had used for their speedwriting and journal assignments during the semester.
They were informed that filling out or not filling out
the survey would have no impact on their grades. The
surveys were anonymous and distributed to students
by their course instructors. Of the 180 students
enrolled, 135 completed and submitted the survey.
Course instructors collected the completed surveys
and returned them to the researchers.
The survey (Appendix A) was comprised of alist of the 65 optional topics students had been giveto choose from for their speed-writing and journal
assignments. Students were asked to rate the topics
on a five-point Likert scale (1 = delete this topic, 2 =I didn’t like this topic/it was difficult to relate to this
topic, 3 = this topic is so so, 4 = I like this topic, 5 =I like this topic and it was easy to write about) even if
they had not chosen to write on that topic. They werealso asked to choose at least two topics to delete and tosuggest at least two new topics.

Results
The results of the five-point Likert scale survey meanscores were calculated using Excel and then sorted
from highest to lowest in order to locate which topics
were most and least preferred. All the data has been
made available in Appendix B.

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Which Topics Did Students Prefer Writing
About?
The ten highest-rated topics in order from the highest
rated topic were: A Place I have Visited in Japan(4.30), The Best Event of My Summer Vacation (4.
28), What Were the Highlights of Your Summer
Vacation (4.25), Reflect and think about your firstyear at this university (4.13), What do you usually do
during the New Year’s holiday (4.12), An Old Friend(4.11), The Future (4.10), What did you do on theweekend (4.09), What do you want to do in the future(4.09), and What do you really like to do (4.07).

Which Topics Did Students Prefer Not toWrite About?
The ten lowest-rated topics in order from the lowest
rated topic were: To what company would you write aletter of complaint or thanks to? (2.40), What would
you do if everyone forgot your birthday? (2.53), Haveyou ever succeeded when you thought you would fail?
(2.72), What would life be like if you couldn’t read?
(2.75), Transportation-How do you get around?
(2.75), If I had to lose a sense (sight, touch, hearing,
taste, smell), which would it be and why (2.80), Was
there a toy you wanted as a child but never got? (2.81),
When do you like to compete with people (2.82),
How much do you know about your family’s history?
(2.87), and A special occasion (2.88).

What New Topics Did Students
Recommend?
Participants’ responses to being asked to recommend
three or more new topics each on the questionnaire
resulted in 319 topic recommendations of which 128
were copied from the topics on the survey or fromthe topic list they were given in the first semester ofthis course. Of the remaining 191 topics that weren’t
copied, we received 101 unique topic suggestions
with the other 91 duplicating other topic suggestions.
We then separated these recommended topics into
the following eight categories listed in the order ofthe most to the least suggested categories: Likes/
Favorites (28 and 20 duplicates), Miscellaneous
Personal (29 and 10 duplicates), Abstract Thinking

What Students Like Writing About, pages 70-83(27 and 2 duplicates), School (18 and 9 duplicates),
Vacation/Holidays (7 and 1 duplicate), Work (6and 7 duplicates), Countries (6), English (5 and 4
duplicates), and Japan (2 and 1 duplicate). Appendix
C gives the full details of the students’ suggestions
separated by category.

Discussion
Preference of Topics
Upon investigating the ten highest and lowest rated
topics, we noticed students preferred to write aboutpast experiences. Most were reflecting on somethingthat they would have had firsthand knowledge of.
This follows the literature with regards to what topics
motivate students (Hedge, 2005). These were also the
topics that would have been most familiar topics tothe students, which is a similar to what Polio and Glew
(1996) uncovered when they interviewed students
about why they chose a certain prompt. According
to Polio and Glew, students selected topics “based on
how familiar they were on the topic or how much they
had to say about it” (p. 42).
Although two of the ten most popular topics
asked students to write about future events, it canbe supposed that they already have strongly formed
ideas about these topics. Writing about the future
is a common topic in many English classes at publicschools in Japan. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume
that this type of topic would be familiar to thestudents.
Students in this study also showed a preference
for writing about “safe” topics. This may be due tonumerous factors including their L2 ability, or theirconfidence in that ability, or their cultural traits.
Students may not have felt comfortable writing aboutsomething they felt may upset their reader. There arealso ethical issues connected to asking students to write
about controversial topics that could require them tooffer personal opinions on themes, such as political or
religious views Silva (1997). When choosing topics
it is important to remember that it is not the job of
the instructor to shock students into writing but toprovide an environment that is conducive to writing.
Another differentiating factor between the bottom

and top ten topics was the positive or negative natureof the topics. Eight of the bottom ten topics wereones that could be said to prompt a negative response.
Topics with words that could have elicited negative
images or topics that may have been connected toundesirable experiences in the writers’ own personal
backgrounds were avoided. For example, six of theten least popular topics used words like “lose”, “fail”,“forgot”, “complaint”, “couldn’t”, “never”, “compete”,“wait” in the topic. One reason for this is that writing
about negative experiences may invoke bad feelings
thus making writing a less than enjoyable task.
Topics that were too personal in nature were also
avoided. For example, while the topic “How muchdo you know about your family history?” may haveseemed like a positive topic most students did notwant to write about this topic. This may have been
because they felt it asked them to write about what
could be an extremely private matter. The low rating of
this topic may reflect that students feel embarrassment
when writing about their family or sharing a private
matter. This may also have been complicated by theever-changing values of what is considered to be a‘normal’ family.
As students know that they are expected to write
more than a certain number of words, topics that may
have been difficult for students to write enough about
also ranked lower on the survey. “Transportation: How
do you get around?” and “Do you read newspapers?”
ranked forth and ninth lowest. “A special occasion”
and “What current musicians do you think will be
popular 5 years from now?” also had a low ranking.
All of these topics are similar in that, while they werepositive or neutral in nature, the parameters of a speedwriting activity may not have been conducive to thecreativity needed to write about these topics in detail.
The lowest rated topic “To what company would
you write a letter of complaint or thanks to?” is botha hypothetical situation and a possible negative topic.
The complexity of writing a business letter may havealso discouraged students from choosing this topic.

New Topics From Students
Most of the new topics suggested by the students wereslightly different versions of previous topics. The fact
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Kobayashi & DiCellothat almost half of the suggested topics were copiedfrom previous topics may have been due to students
being too tired to finish the questionnaire, because
they did not comprehend the question, or be simply
because they really liked the topic that they copied.
Most of the suggested topics were personaland creative in nature and would require abstract
thinking. Others such as “Which do you like, the sea
or mountains”, and “global warming” were probably
taken from the students’ memories of entrance exampractice questions or topics from their junior highschool textbooks. Most of the suggested topics were
not serious. However, there were some outliers anda few students suggested topics that revolved arounddisease or death. The suggested topics seemed toreflect student experiences or interests and lettingthese students write about those topics could givethem more motivation when they are writing.

Limitations of the Study
There are a number of limitations to this study
including the fact that the participants were all
female, thus their opinions may not be representativeof those from coed or all male classes. Furthermore,
the participant pool was a sample of convenience andtherefore may not represent the views of a random
sample of EFL language learners. Another limitationis that the survey was given at the end of the semester.
It may have been more reliable to have participants
rate a topic immediately after writing about it eachweek as they may have forgotten about what theywrote about by the end of the semester. Also, as theresearchers taught some of the students. This may have
had an effect on how they rated the topics. The Likert
scale could have been difficult for the participants to
use since what makes a topic good or bad can be open
to interpretation. For example, some students might
have given a topic that they found easy to write about
but boring a high score while other students may havegiven it a low score.

Implications for Future Research
As mentioned in the literature review, to get to thereasoning behind why students prefer certain topics to74

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others, qualitative measures such as interviews or more
longitudinal studies are necessary (Polio & Glew,
1997). These could help to determine which topics
teachers should suggest during writing activities. In
addition, recording the words per minute of timedwritings and comparing these across different topics
could help to correlate the topics that were rated
positively and negatively by students with how these
topics affected the students’ writing. While there aremany things that still need to be done to determine
which topics have the best effect on Japanese university
students’ writing, we hope that the current study
opens the door to discussion and further research into
the connection between topic selection and writing
motivation and production.

References
Bello, T. (1997). Improving ESL learners’ writing
skills. ERIC Digest. Retrieved from http://eric.
ed.gov/?id=ED409746
Blaz, D. (1999). Foreign language teacher’s guide toactive learning. Larchmont, N.Y: Routledge.
Graham, S., Harris, K. R., & Mason, L. (2005).
Improving the writing performance, knowledge,
and self-efficacy of struggling young writers: The
effects of self-regulated strategy development.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 30(2),207–241. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2004.08.001
Hedge, T. (2005). RBT: Writing (3 ed.). Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press.
Hudson, R. F., Lane, H. B., & Mercer, C. D. (2005).
Writing prompts: The role of various priming
conditions on the compositional fluency ofdeveloping writers. Reading and Writing, 18(6),473–495. doi:10.1007/s11145-004-7042-2
Kikuchi, K. (2009). Listening to our learners’ voices:
what demotivates Japanese high school students?
Language Teaching Research, 13(4), 453–471.
doi:10.1177/1362168809341520
Polio, C., & Glew, M. (1996). ESL writing assessment
prompts: How students choose. Journal of Second
Language Writing, 5(1), 35–49.
Silva, T. (1997). On the ethical treatment of ESL
writers. TESOL Quarterly, 31(2), 359–363.
doi:10.2307/3588052

What Students Like Writing About, pages 70-83
Way, D. P., Joiner, E. G., & Seaman, M. A. (2000).
Writing in the secondary foreign language
classroom: The effects of prompts and tasks on

novice learners of French. The Modern Language
Journal, 84(2), 171–184.

Authors’ Biographies:
Kenichiro Kobayashi is a skilled English Language teacher and researcher with over 12 years
experience at the tertiary level. Born and raised in Australia to Japanese parents he decided to
trace his heritage and study communication and languages in Japan. He has a special interest in
ICT and regularly uses teleconferencing in his classes so that university students can exchange
opinions directly and form friendships with people around the world. Based in Nagoya, Japan heis determined to one-day work as an English Teacher trainer so he can guide future teachers to be
the best educators that they can be. <ken5884@asu.aasa.ac.jp>
Cheryl DiCello currently teaches at Sugiyama Jogakuen University’s School of Cross-Cultural
Studies in the Department of Foreign Language Studies. She is also a Publicity Officer for the
JALT Extensive Reading SIG. She has previously taught EFL in Thailand at the university level
and in Mie as an ALT. She has also taught ESL to adults in Hawaii. Her recent research interests
include reading, writing, curriculum evaluation and development through focus groups, andservice learning’s effect on language acquisition. <cellodicello@gmail.com>

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Kobayashi & DiCelloAppendix A
SurveyPlease help us improve the speed-writing and journal topics for next year by rating the following topics. Even if
you did not choose a topic, please rate it.
In addition:
Choose at least 2 topics that we should delete
Suggest at least 2 topics that we can add.

Rating System
1 = delete this topic
2 = I didn’t like this topic/it was difficult to relate to this topic
3 = this topic is so so
4 = I like this topic
5 = I like this topic and it was easy to write about

RatingTopic
What were the highlights of your summer vacation? (SW1)
My favorite restaurant (SW2)A Childhood memory of summer holidays ( J1 option)
The Best event of my summer vacation ( J1 option)
What did you do on the weekend? (SW3)What do you want to do in the future? (SW4)
A Special Occasion ( J2 option)
My best or worst birthday memory ( J2 option)
What would you do if everyone forgot your birthday? ( J2 option)
To what company would you write a letter of complaint or thanks to? (SW5 option)
What I like to talk about with my friends (SW5 option)
Write about the people in your family (SW6 option)
Write about what you like to talk about with each family member (SW6 option)
If I had to lose a sense (sight, touch, hearing, taste, smell) which would it be and why? ( J3 option)
Who do you think has an easier life, men or women? Why? ( J3 option)
Japanese food (SW7)
If you won the lottery, how would you spend the money? ( J4 option)
Are you in a hurry to grow up? ( J4 option)
Children (SW9 option)
Movies I loved as a child (SW9 option)
Why are fast food restaurants so popular? (SW10)
Things people are afraid of ( J5 option)
Working as a team - Is it fun or stressful? ( J5 option)
Describing Japanese food ( J5 option)
How do you study? What works best for you? (SW11)
What current musicians do you think will be popular 5 years from now? (SW12 option)
When do you like to compete with people? (SW12 option)

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What Students Like Writing About, pages 70-83
A place I have visited in Japan ( J6 option)
The English Drama Festival - How are your preparations? ( J6 option)
A dream holiday (SW13)
What were you doing this time last year? (SW14
Transportation - How do you get around? ( J7 option)
My favorite fast food restaurant ( J7 option)
Have you ever succeeded when you thought you would fail? ( J7 option)
What would you like to learn about? (SW15)
How much do you know about your family’s history? (SW16)
Can money buy you happiness? ( J8 option)
What are some memorable meals that you have had? ( J8 option)
What do you really like to do? (SW17)
A family outing or vacation (SW18)
The future ( J9 option)
What would your dream home be like? ( J9 option)
As a child, what did you really like to do? (SW19)
What would you wait in a long line for? (SW20)
Compare customs in Japan and another country ( J10 option)
How did you start doing something you love? ( J10 option)
Do you read newspapers? Why or why not? (SW21 option)
Do you read manga? Why or why not? (SW21 option)
What would life be like if you couldn’t read? (SW22)
My favorite books ( J11 option)
What is your favorite restaurant ( J11 option)
What do you usually do during the New Year’s holiday? (SW23)
Becoming an adult ( J12 option)
Goals for next year ( J12 option)
What are your high school friends doing now? (SW25)
What are you doing to prepare for final exams? (SW26)
Japanese cooking ( J13 option)
Reflections on the English theatre festival ( J14 option)
An old friend (SW27)
Was there a toy you wanted as a child but never got? (SW28 option)
What was your favorite toy as a child? (SW28 option)
What did you do over the holidays? ( J14 option)
Study plans for this year ( J14 option)
Reflect and think about your first year at this university (SW29 option)
What advice would you give to a new student joining this program? (SW29 option)

2 or more topics that I suggest
1
2
3
4
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Kobayashi & DiCelloAppendix B
Table A1
Average Rating of Each Topic
Topic

RatingA place I have visited in Japan ( J6 option)

4.30

The Best event of my summer vacation ( J1 option)

4.28

What were the highlights of your summer vacation? (SW1)

4.25

Reflect and think about your first year at this university (SW29)

4.13

What do you usually do during the New Year’s holiday? (SW23)

4.12

An old friend (SW27)

4.11

The future ( J9 option)

4.10

What did you do on the weekend? (SW3)

4.09

What do you want to do in the future? (SW4)

4.09

What do you really like to do? (SW17)

4.07

A dream holiday (SW13)

3.98

Write about the people in your family (SW6 option)

3.98

What did you do over the holidays? ( J14 option)

3.90

The English Drama Festival - How are your preparations? ( J6 option)

3.87

Japanese food (SW7)

3.87

Goals for next year ( J12 option)

3.84

A family outing or vacation (SW18)

3.76

If you won the lottery, how would you spend the money? ( J4 option)

3.74

What were you doing this time last year? (SW14

3.73

What are your high school friends doing now? (SW25)

3.72

What I like to talk about with my friends (SW5 option)

3.70

Reflections on the English theatre festival ( J14 option)

3.63

Study plans for this year ( J14 option)

3.63

What would you like to learn about? (SW15)

3.62

What is your favorite restaurant ( J11 option)

3.62

My favorite books ( J11 option)

3.56

Write about what you like to talk about with each family member (SW6 option)

3.53

What would your dream home be like? ( J9 option)

3.50

Can money buy you happiness? ( J8 option)

3.47

A Childhood memory of summer holidays ( J1 option)

3.47

As a child, what did you really like to do? (SW19)

3.46

What advice would you give to a new student joining this program? (SW29 option)

3.44

Do you read manga? Why or why not? (SW21 option)

3.43

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Japanese EFL Learners’ Expressionspages 70-83
My favorite restaurant (SW2)

3.43

Becoming an adult ( J12 option)

3.41

Japanese cooking ( J13 option)

3.40

Compare customs in Japan and another country ( J10 option)

3.39

How do you study? What works best for you? (SW11)

3.39

Describing Japanese food ( J5 option)

3.36

Why are fast food restaurants so popular? (SW10)

3.34

Movies I loved as a child (SW9 option)

3.33

My favorite fast food restaurant ( J7 option)

3.29

My best or worst birthday memory ( J2 option)

3.29

How did you start doing something you love? ( J10 option)

3.21

What are you doing to prepare for final exams? (SW26)

3.18

Children (SW9 option)

3.16

Who do you think has an easier life, men or women? Why? ( J3 option)

3.15

What was your favorite toy as a child? (SW28 option)

3.15

Things people are afraid of ( J5 option)

3.10

Working as a team - Is it fun or stressful? ( J5 option)

3.02

Are you in a hurry to grow up? ( J4 option)

2.97

What are some memorable meals that you have had? ( J8 option)

2.94

What current musicians do you think will be popular 5 years from now? (SW12 option)

2.91

What would you wait in a long line for? (SW20)

2.91

Do you read newspapers? Why or why not? (SW21 option)

2.89

A Special Occasion ( J2 option)

2.88

How much do you know about your family’s history? (SW16)

2.87

When do you like to compete with people? (SW12 option)

2.82

Was there a toy you wanted as a child but never got? (SW28 option)

2.81

If I had to lose a sense (sight, touch, hearing, taste, smell) which would it be and why? ( J3 option)

2.80

Transportation - How do you get around? ( J7 option)

2.75

What would life be like if you couldn’t read? (SW22)

2.75

Have you ever succeeded when you thought you would fail? ( J7 option)

2.72

What would you do if everyone forgot your birthday? ( J2 option)

2.53

To what company would you write a letter of complaint or thanks to? (SW5 option)

2.40

Note. Ordered from highest to lowest rating.
Note. Rating averaged to nearest second decimal point.

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Kobayashi & DiCelloAppendix C
Table A2

Student Recommended Topics by Category With Number of Times Suggested# of Times

Likes/Favorites
Favorite Season

6

Favorite Hobbies

4

What is your favorite TV drama?

3

Favorite Country

3

Favorite Clothes

2What was the best memory this year?

2

Which do you like, dog or cat?

2Your favorite character2

Favorite sport

2

Favorite actor

2

What are your favorite fashion brands?

2

What is your treasure?

1

My favorite drink

1

How to make my favorite food1

Have you ever been to your favorite artist’s concert

1Your most like attraction

1

My favorite place in Aichi

1

My favorite things this year (I bought)

1

My favorite lifestyle1

Your favorite cafeteria

1What is your favorite café in this city?

1

What is your favorite color?

1

Do you like to go out alone?

1

Do you like human?

1

Who is your ideal woman?

1

Which do you like, glasses or contact lens?

1

Which do you like, sea or mountain?

1

Which do you like, hot or cold?

1

Miscellaneous Personal2

Do you have a boyfriend?

2

What is your ideal image that you want to be?

2

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Japanese EFL Learners’ Expressionspages 70-83
Tell me about your love2

A timetable of one day2

Last night’s dream2

I want thing now

2

How many languages do you want to learn?

2

Are you interested in fashion?

2

My hometown2

Who is your respect person?

2

How do you spend your remaining years comfortably?

1

What do you want to do after retirement?

1

When you go to a theme park, how order do you ride attractions?

1

Do you shop near the university?

1

Do you want to be a princess?

1

When do you want to die?

1Your strong point and your weak point

1

How feel happy?

1

How do you think about Disneyland?

1

Tsutaya or Geo, which do you go often?

1

Have you ever played an instrument?

1

Please introduce

1What will you try to do?

1

What do you use, your phone’s cover?

1

How do you choose your stationary?

1

If you live yourself how do you save money?

1

My good memories

1

What would you want to be when you were a kid?

1

What’s your surprised thing in 2013?

1

What do you think about real important things

1

Abstract Thinking
What do you want to do if you can use magic?

3

Whom do you become if you become anyone?

1

What would you do if you meet someone who you wanted to by chance?

1

If you were president, what would you do?

1

Describe about global warming

1

Things that changed from old time

1

What ability do you want?

1

Write about animals under the sea!

1

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Kobayashi & DiCello
Good points and bad points of society

1Time is important, isn’t it?

1

Why is Disneyland called land of dreams?

1

Write a story

1

What do you think about cosmetic surgery?

1

The most interesting imagination you have ever thought

1Coming world over1

Which do you choose, friend or boyfriend?

1

Is dieting good for us?

1

If you become a princess, what will you do?

1

Love is over1

What do you choose, man, faith, or money?

1

If you stay only one in the world, what do you do?

1

If you have cancer, what do you think?

1

If your partner died in future, you would find a new husband, why?

1

Do you believe in fortune-teller? Why or why not?

1

If you can go to universe, what do you want to do?

1

If a disease find in your body, would you treat in hospital? Why or why not?

1

SchoolWhy did you decide to enter this university?

4

What do you think about this department?

3

Why did you choose this department?

3

Do you like this university?

2

What is your favorite class in this university?

2

What club are you a member of ?

2

What did you join club activity? If you didn’t, what did you want to join?

1

Memory of club activity

1

Do you like to go to club?

1

How about your school festival?

1

Please tell me about your high school life

1

When you were a high school student, what is the best memory?

1

What do you want to do in university?

1

Why do you have to do homeworks, do you think?

1

How do you think about the self access center?

1

My friends in university

1

High school and junior high school friends

1High school friends and local friends

1

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Japanese EFL Learners’ Expressionspages 70-83
Teachers

1

About school

1

Vacation/Holidays
Travel plans for this year2

How about your Christmas?

1

A plan of spring vacance1

Happy Halloween

1

What do you do in the winter?

1

Where sightseeing would you recommend?

1

Where do you want to visit to honeymoon?

1

Work
What is your part time job?

7

How to choose your part time job

1

Do you wanna work in foreign country or not?

1

Where do you want to live in the future? Why?

1

What is the thing you can get from at a part time job?

1

My dream job

1

Countries
What do you think about foreign countries?

1

Do you want to go to a foreign country? Why?

1

Have you ever eaten foreign country food? How?

1

America1

Which country do you want to live?

1

How many countries have you been?

1

EnglishWhy are you studying English?

5

My goals for English

1

What do you think of English homework?

1

Do you think you wanna use English in your future, or not?

1

Learning English

1

Japan
Do you like Japanese culture?

1

Do you think about Japanese rules?

1

Note. Language was left the way participants wrote it except if they stated the university’s name, inwhich case it was replaced with “this university”

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

83Comparing Different Teaching Positions in JapanJon Eric Leachtenauer
Doshisha University, Kwansei
Gakuin University
jonleachtenauer@hotmail.com
In Japan, English teachers, especially those new to the field, can often become overwhelmed andconfused by the various types of schools, from Eikawa schools to universities, and the large variety ofteaching positions available. The author has been teaching in Japan for more than 20 years at several
types of schools. In this paper, he uses his experiences to compare different teaching positions fromEnglish conversation schools to high schools to universities. The paper discusses the duties for eachposition and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
日本では、英語教師達は、特にこのフィールドに新しいと、
しばしば英会話スクールから大学までさまざまなタイプの学校があるので圧倒されたり、混乱することになります。
そして多種多様な指導の立場も可能なのです。 著者は日本でいくつかのタイプの学校で、20年以上にわたり教えています。本論文では、彼は大学から高校、英会話スクールと、異なる教職を比較するために彼の経験を使っています。論文は、各教職とそれぞれの長所と短所の役目を説明します。

When I started teaching in Japan many years ago at an
English conversation school, I had friends who wereteaching at a university. When I heard them talking
about their jobs, I knew that I eventually wanted
to teach at the university level. Now, 25 years later,
and after spending the past twelve years teaching atuniversities, I have come to the realization that while
teaching at the university level has many advantages,
there are also many positive aspects to the otherteaching positions in Japan.
In this paper I will introduce four different kindsof teaching positions: language schools, private highschools, contract university positions and part-time
university positions. I will talk about these positions
because I have direct experience with each job. I will
Leachtenauer, J. (2015). Comparing different teachingpositions in Japan. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M.
Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings(pp. 84-88). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

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discuss my own experiences and share the experiencesof several other teachers that I interviewed. Between
myself and the other teachers, we have more than one
hundred years experience teaching at these different
levels in Japan. In order to gather information, I had
participants respond to a four-question interview
form:•• How long have you taught in Japan?
•• What types of positions did you hold?
•• What were the duties of each position?
•• What were the positive and negative aspects of eachposition?
I then used this information to summarize theduties as well as the advantages and disadvantages foreach job in order to give readers a comprehensive lookat each type of position.

Types of Positions
English Conversation Schools
English conversation schools, known as Eikaiwa

Comparing Teaching Positions, pages 84-88
schools, exist in abundance in almost every city inJapan. It is a multi-billion yen per year business that
employs nearly 15,000 non-Japanese. (Nagatomo,2013). The most well-known schools are ECC, Berlitz
and Aeon. Eikaiwa schools cater to all age groups ofstudents from toddlers to senior citizens. The mostcommon students are high school/university students
who are looking to get some real speaking practice andhousewives and businessmen who study for a hobby orfor career development.
Duties. Duties at an Eikaiwa school center aroundteaching. The average Eikaiwa teacher will teachbetween 20-25 hours a week. The classes are usuallysmall with anywhere from three to ten students. The
style of teaching varies dramatically depending on theschool. Some schools have a very set curriculum where
everything the teacher does is closely scripted. In otherschools, you are free to design your own lessons andpotentially participate in curriculum development.
When not teaching, the teacher will spend their nonteaching hours, preparing lessons, attending meetingsand possibly handing out advertisements for the school.
Often, teachers will be asked to participate in English
camps and other extra-curricular activities (S. Hatfield,
personal communication, February 12, 2014).
I spent my first three years in Japan teaching at
the Sendai YMCA Language School. This school was
a combination language and hotel school, (senmon
gakkou). The native English-speaking teachers usuallytaught around 20 hours a week with a two-hourclass in the morning and another two-hour class inthe evening. We also participated in language camps
during the summer and worked together to develop
curriculum.
Advantages. An English conversation school canbe a great place to develop your teaching skills. Since
you will be teaching all levels of students and teachinga relatively large number of classes per week, you willneed to develop a personal approach that works for
all levels. You will also be exposed to many textbooks
and materials. At the Sendai YMCA, there was a lot ofsharing of ideas among teachers and most of my initialideas about how to teach came from my co-workers.
Another great advantage is that you get to interact
with a wide spectrum of Japanese. One of the main

reasons I came to Japan was because I wanted to meet
people from Japan and experience Japanese culture.
In my classes, I was able to have conversations withhousewives, businessmen and doctors. Teachers at our
school were often invited to students’ houses for meals,
so it was a great way to experience Japanese culture andsee how people in Japan really live. I also had many
students who were medical doctors. Many of themwould feel much more relaxed speaking English after
drinking, so they would often take me to great Japaneserestaurants that I would never have been able to afford
myself, to practice English.
Another plus of language schools is there is a bit lesspressure at an English conversation school in contrast
to the other teaching situations. P. Aaloe observed,
there are rarely grades or tests and the emphasis is
more on having an enjoyable time with students thancreating a rigorous academic environment (personalcommunication, October 28th, 2014).
Disadvantages. One of the biggest disadvantagesof teaching at language schools is scheduling. At the
Sendai YMCA, we taught from 10-12 in the morningand then from 6:30-8:30 at night. We had a break in
between, but were basically tied to the school all day.
If you have a family, the prime family time, evenings
and weekends, are also the prime teaching times(Nagatomo, 2013). Another disadvantage is thenumber of teaching hours per week. According toZoller, “Most schools will have you work around 25
teaching hours a week. . . . Those hours are usuallycounted in minutes, and when most classes range from40 to 50 minutes and start on the hour, that meansthat a lot of that extra time ends up being sandwiched
between classes” (2013). During that time, you areoften expected to interact with students and parents,
so it could be that you work 35 hours a week and still
be within 25 teaching hours. You might also be asked
to perform non-teaching related duties. Most Eikaiwa
schools require attendance at certain weekend or afterhours events. These include holiday parties and field
trips (Zoller, 2013).

Private Junior High/ High School
There are two kinds of junior/senior high schools inJapan: private and public. Japanese law requires all
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

85

Leachtenauer
public school teachers to have a Japanese teachingcertificate. Because of this, it is difficult for nonJapanese teachers to work at public schools. Some local
governments will hire non-Japanese teachers directly
to work as Assistant English teachers. However, mostforeigners working in public schools are hired throughthe government’s JET program, (Teaching English,n.d.) or through a company that out-sources teachers
to public schools (Sekeres III, 2010). As a JET you areresponsible for team teaching classes with a Japaneseteacher.
Teaching at a private school is very different
from teaching at a public school. You are usually
hired directly through the individual school and are
responsible for teaching your own classes, writing
and administering tests and making grades. In general
you are considered a regular member of the teaching
staff (S. Hatfield, personal communication, February
12, 2014). According to (M. Bartsch, personalcommunication June 15th, 2014) recently there has
been a push by some schools to help “foreign teachers”
get their Japanese teachers’ license. If a native teacher
has their teachers’ license they are considered to havethe same benefits and position as a Japanese teacher.
I taught for six years at Shirayuri junior high andhigh school an all-girls Catholic school. I was teaching
part-time at this school while I was at the YMCA andwhen my contract finished at the YMCA, Shirayruri
asked me to join their teaching staff.
Duties. In looking at the responses frominterviewees and my own experience, at a typicalprivate school, teachers are expected to take full
responsibility for teaching 15-20, 45-50 minuteclasses a week. That includes all aspects of teaching aclass including record keeping, testing and counselingstudents. Outside of classroom time, there are manyother responsibilities. Every week, there are several
hours of meetings, including: all staff meetings,
English department meetings, school year meetingsand your assigned department meetings. Teachers
are also required to participate in all school activities,
festivals and everything else that Japanese teachers are
involved in. You are usually assigned to advise a club
(M. Bartsch, personal communication, June 15th,2014). Lastly, depending on the school, you may be

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very involved in curriculum development (S. Hatfield,
personal communication, February 12, 2014). I was
the coordinator of the English conversation program
and responsible for managing the foreign staff aswell as developing curriculum. Along with teachingapproximately 20 hours per week, I was also required
to attend several hours of meetings a week, participate
in field trips and advise the English club.
Advantages. Of all the jobs discussed in this paper,
this is the position that I feel has the most impact
on the students’ lives. For junior/senior high school
students, their teachers are still a giant part of their life.
Many teachers go into the teaching field with the goalof doing something valuable with their careers. As ahigh school teacher, this is a possibility. For many of
the students, you will be the first and most important
non-Japanese person they have contact with. You havea great opportunity to have a positive influence on
them.
Another advantage is that in teaching at a highschool you will be truly immersed in Japanese society.
The education system is a reflection of society as awhole, so you will be exposed to the inner workingsof Japanese society. By participating in meetings, youwill see how decisions are made and get an up-closeview of human relationships within a Japanese staff
environment. Also, since all the meetings and day-today logistics of the school are in Japanese, it will be agreat opportunity to improve your language ability.
At a high school, everything except for possibly the
English department meetings, will be run in Japanese.
You will be expected to at least generally participate
in those meetings. The last advantage and maybe thebiggest advantage is the possibility of career stability.
Most high schools do not have a contract limit so there
is a greater possibility of getting tenure and eliminating
the stress of always having to be looking for the nextjob (S. Hatfield, personal communication, February
12, 2014; M. Bartsch, personal communication, June
15th, 2014).
Disadvantages. While an advantage is that you
will be immersed in Japanese society, this can be adisadvantage as well. You will be one of the few nonJapanese in a large teacher’s room and you will be
expected to fit in and comply with the rules of that

Comparing Teaching Positions, pages 84-88
society. (M. Bartsch, personal communication, June
15th, 2014). This can be difficult at times and thepressure of fitting in to the teacher’s room culture canbe challenging at times. While the work hours at myschool were officially 8:15 – 4:30 it was considered badform to leave anywhere near 4:30.
It was politically smarter to stay at least until the
department head went home. One semester, I stayedlate almost every day to study Japanese. Though it was
clear that I wasn’t doing “school work,” I was often
praised for working so hard.

job. (personal communication, April 16, 2014).
Disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage toa contract position is the temporary nature of theposition. When you commit to this position you
know you will have to go through the job-hunting
process again in another three to five years. This is anunattractive option because each time you go throughthe process it potentially becomes more difficult
because, as the older you get, the fewer opportunities
there are.

Part-Time University Jobs
University Contract Positions
In the university teaching field there are many kindsof positions, but one of the most common is contract
positions. Also, due to a recent change in the law, thistype of position is actually increasing. In my current
job search process I have observed that a vast majorityof the jobs advertised on JREC-IN are limited
term contracts. These contracts are usually one-year
renewable contracts ranging from three years to five
years maximum. I taught two five-year contracts at
Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka.
Duties. In a contract position, your main duties
center around teaching, on the average ten 90-minuteclasses a week. Along with your ten classes, you areresponsible for a few office hours each week in which
students can visit your office to practice English or ask
questions about class. You are also required to attend
staff meetings and school ceremonies (S. Armstrong,
personal communication, October 20th, 2014).
Advantages. Teaching at a university can be agreat job. The teaching load is usually less than otherpositions in Japan, so you have a lot of time to reallydevelop your teaching skills. You have time to put a
lot of energy into your teaching plans and to work on
professional development, for example publishing andpresenting at conferences. According to L. Edwards,
the Coordinator for the JALT Writers’ Peer Support
Group, which is a volunteer group that helps teachers
prepare papers for publication, this kind of position
can be a good starter position because teachers haveopportunities to publish in their in-house kiyou
publications. These types of publications can help
build resumes and are needed to get a more permanent

Every university staff is made up of part-time teachers
whose role is to teach classes that aren’t covered by fulltime teachers. I have taught part-time for the past year
at Kwansei Gakuin University in Nishinomiya andDoshisha University in Kyoto.
As a part-time teacher you can teach as many classes
as you can schedule and are offered as long as you havethe proper visa and enough energy. You are also free toteach at a number of different schools at the same time.
Teachers who are teaching a full load of classes parttime, often teach 15-20 classes a week at two to three
universities (K. Bradshaw, personal communication,
June 15th, 2014).
Duties. As a part-time teacher you are only
responsible for your classes. This includes creating
syllabi, testing and making grades. But as soon as you
finish a class each day, you are free to move on to yournext obligation.
Advantages. The biggest advantage of teaching
part-time is you can choose what days and what hours
you work. If you have other interests you want topursue, or if you want to work just a few days a week,
this position can work out very well. It is also a good
way to get exposure to different universities and geta taste of what university teaching is about (P. Aaloe,
personal communication, October 28th, 2014). It also
can be more of a permanent position than a contract
position because there isn’t a predetermined length tocontracts. While many contract positions are 3-5 years,
part-time positions are often renewed indefinitely.
Disadvantages. The greatest difficulty in teaching
part-time is finding enough hours to make a decent
living. Especially in the first year of teaching part-time
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87Leachtenauer
it can be difficult to make the connections that help
you find new positions. Also you will need to teachapproximately twice as many classes per week as acontract teacher to make the same amount of money
and it can be difficult to find that many classes. The last
disadvantage is visa sponsorship. If you are teaching ata university part-time it can be more difficult to findsomeone to sponsor you.

Conclusion
When I was new to teaching, I thought that a university
position was the ultimate professional goal. But after
having taught for twenty five years in a wide range of
positions, I can see that all of them have good and bad
points and whether or not the position is the right one
for you, really depends on what your priorities, needs
and values are. If you want to meet and interact withthe “average” Japanese person, language schools might
be the best choice. If you really want to have an impact
on your students’ lives, teaching at a high school would
be best. Lastly, if you are drawn more to higher level
academics, teaching at a university would be the best
choice. Personally, I feel the best teaching situation
is a combination of more than one type of position.
There are many ways to do this. One way would be toteach at a university full-time and teach a few English
conversation classes at night. The most important stepis to decide what your values are and then find theteaching situation that matches those values.

References
Nagatomo, D. H. (2013). The advantages anddisadvantages faced by housewife English
teachers in the cottage industry Eikaiwa business.
The Language Teacher, 37(1), 3-7.
Perry, E. (2012). 5 challenges of working for a major
English conversation school. Gaijinpot. Retrieved
from http://injapan.gaijinpot.com/work/
teaching-in-japan/2012/10/19/the-5-challengesof-working-for-a-major-conversation-school/
Sekeres III, A. (2010). Dispatching a lower qualityof education. The Language Teacher, 34(2).
Retrieved from http://jalt-publications.org/
tlt/departments/job-info-centre/articles/404dispatching-lower-quality-education
Teaching English in Japan. (n.d.). Retrieved fromhttp://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/jicc/pdf/
Teaching%20English%20in%20Japan.pdf
Zoller, L. (2013, May 15). Working at an Eikaiwa[Part 2]. [blog article] What can I do with a
B.A. in Japanese studies? Retrieved from http://
shinpaideshou.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/
working-at-an-eikaiwa-part-2/

Author’s Biography:
Jon Eric Leachtenauer is currently teaching at two universities in the Kansai area. He has beenteaching for over 20 years in Japan in a variety of settings. jonleachtenauer@hotmail.com

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Diary Writing Methodologies: Encouraging
Independent Learning

Mohammad Naeim Maleki

Brent Wright

Kanazawa Institute of Technology
malekinaeim@gmail.com

Kanazawa Institute of Technology
brentwright.kit@gmail.com

Diary writing is a promising technique to English language learning in Japan that has been used invarious ways to encourage independent learning. This paper will summarize how 10 EFL teachers ofstudy-abroad candidates used diary writing to prepare their students for an extended study-abroad
experience in the United States, and as a result whether this encouraged independent learning or not.
The researchers had the unique opportunity to examine the diary writing of Japanese non-English
major university students preparing to study abroad and to see what approaches teachers used with
their students. Data were collected through interviews with teachers and students. Results revealed
that the methods teachers used were consistent with process writing methodology. Furthermore,
results revealed several specific instances of students’ independent learning. Finally, this study will
provide the readers with teachers’ suggestions for using diary writing more effectively in learning andteaching English.
日本にいる英語学習者にとって、英語で日記を書くことは、効果的な学習方法であると言え、自主学習を促す有効な方法でもある。本稿では、外国人英語教師１０名が長期留学希望の日本人学生に対し、日記を書く課題を与え、英語の自主学習を促したかどうかを検証した。著者らは、専攻が英語ではない学生の留学候補生としての研修の一環として日記を英語で書く課題の指導を担い、各教師がどのような指導を実施したかを検証した。分析は、教師、学生へのそれぞれのインタビュー結果を用いた。
その結果、以下の２点が明らかになった。一つ目は、多くの教員がプロセスライティングという英作文教育法を使用していたことである。
もう一つは、
この課題が学生の自主学習を促した。
これらの結果より、日記の課題
は英語学習と英語教育に効果的であったといえ、有効的な活用方法を提示する。

Using diary entries as a reflection tool to examine
learning and teaching processes is not a new practicein the language field. In fact, it traces back to the 1970s(Brock, Yu, & Wong 1992). Many researchers haveapproaches (Brock et. al., 1992); others have used it
for reflecting on their own development as researchers(e.g., Borg, 2001).
Diary writing is a promising technique to English

used diary entries to investigate their own teaching

language learning in Japan that can be used in various
capacities to encourage independent learning.
Autonomy occurs when learners take control (Benson,2013) or take charge (Holec, 1981 cited in Benson,2013) of their own learning. We chose to focus on diarywriting because of its potential to encourage students
to become aware of their own learning process (Rubin,

Maleki, N. M., Wright, B. (2015). Diary writing
methodologies: Encouraging independent learning.
In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The
2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 89-94).
Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

89Maleki & Wright2003) and to be more independent in their learning.
Autonomy is one of the main principles that the schoolin which this study took place considers to be one ofits core values. We believe that a key component ofautonomy is independent learning. Being aware of
the process of learning is one of the characteristics
of successful learners (Rubin, 2003). We believe thatprocess writing methodology, where the focus is on
the writing process and the writer rather than on thefinished product (Matsuda, 2003; Shannon, 1994),
can help students become more aware of the learning
process.
This paper summarizes how 10 EFL teachers useddiary writing to prepare students for an extended studyabroad experience in the United States, and in turn,whether this encouraged independent learning or not.
Teachers were given the freedom to use the diaries andweekly tutoring sessions in any way he or she thought
would benefit the students in their preparation forstudying abroad.

Research Questions
The following questions guided this research.
1. What methods did the teachers use in theirtutoring process involving diaries?
2. Did this encourage independent learning? If so,in what ways?

MethodOur main objective was to catalogue and analyze theapproaches teachers implemented and to determine
if these were effective in promoting independent
learning.

Subjects
Data were collected from 10 EFL teachers (henceforth
tutors) at a four-year institute of technology in Japan.
All of these tutors possess M.A. degrees in language
related fields and have ample experience teaching in an
EFL context. Data were also collected from 10 studyabroad candidates, which included undergraduate
and graduate students. In general, the students were
motivated, intermediate level non-English major

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learners.

Setting
The tutors met with the study-abroad candidates
once a week for eight weeks. This included face toface and electronic communication. Tutors were notgiven specific guidelines for how to tutor the students.
Therefore, they were responsible for clarifying the
purpose and goals of the diary writing activity, andensuring that the students understood what thesewere. Tutors sought to utilize the sessions andcommunications in a way that was appropriate for the
students’ levels and needs.

Procedure and Methodology
Each year at this university, students can apply to study
in the United States for one semester. These study
abroad candidates are required to complete a threemonth preparation course which involves a weeklyclass covering various English language and culture
topics and a weekly tutoring session with an EFL tutor
at the university. Students are instructed to keep adaily diary and submit the entries to the tutors. The
tutors are then free to use the diary in any way they
see appropriate. At the end of the course, students
give a refereed presentation about their prospective
school in English. Students then receive a pass / failgrade based on their completion of the course work,
recommendation from the tutor, and result of thepresentation.

Data Collection Instruments
We created a set of ten questions (see the Appendix)
based on our research questions to guide our interviews
with the teachers. We also came up with a similar set ofquestions for gathering data from students. However,
we only used a portion of the student responses whichwere relevant to this research.
Some of the interview questions were developed
based on Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick’s (2006)
suggestion of seven principles of good feedback
practice which they defined “as anything that mightstrengthen the students’ capacity to self-regulate theirown performance” (p. 205). The rest of the questions

Diary Writing Methodologies, pages 89-94
were created to find out more about tutors’ methods Table 1
Tutors’ Perceptions About Having Students Write Diary Entries
and students’ outcome.

Interviews
Phase 1 of the study consisted of an interview witheach of the tutors. They were contacted in person prior
to the interview to ask whether they were willing toparticipate in this study or not. All the tutors accepted
the request and the researchers set up a time forinterviews with each individual tutor. The interview
was conducted in English by one of the researchers.
The other researcher was also taking notes to make surethey did not miss any of the responses.
Phase 2 of this study consisted of an interview
with the students. The students were primed with anemail containing the information about the study andtold that they would be contacted in person by the
researchers. The researchers set up a time with each
student and they interviewed students individually.
In order to elicit candid responses from students, theirinterviews were conducted in Japanese by one of theresearchers who is a near native Japanese speaker.

Data Analysis
We read over the tutors and students’ interview
responses in order to synthesize and categorize theresults according to the research questions. We grouped
their responses into two categories corresponding to
the research questions.
Teachers’ Methods
Students’ Outcome

Results and Discussion
Tutors’ Methods
In the interview, tutors were asked what they saw as the
purpose of having students write the diary. The results
show that although teachers’ perceptions regarding
the goals of this activity were similar, each tutor had
his or her own idea for what the goals should be. The
results in Table 1 show that the majority of tutors(70%) stated that they used diary entries to improvestudents’ English writing skills according to students’needs. Some teachers (40%) said that the purpose was

The purpose and goal of having
diary

Percentages

Improve English writing skills

70%

Assess student writing

40%

Authentic reason to express self30%

Get over shyness talking about self

10%

Prepare potential topics ofconversation

10%

Assess if students could complete the
work

10%

to assess the students’ writing.
In the interview tutors were asked about the typesof feedback they provided and the way they used thediary entries during the tutoring sessions. Responses
indicate that since tutors were free to implement thediaries however they wanted to, different approaches
were used.
All the tutors said that they had the students
choose their own topics for the diaries. The majority ofthe tutors (80%) had the students initially submit thediary entries via email. One of the teachers asked forhard copies and another required students to submit
the entries using Google Docs prior to conferencing in
the tutoring sessions.
The results also show that all tutors gave feedback
comments by either writing comments on a hard copy
and discussing them with students during the tutoring
sessions; printing a hard copy and discussing comments
only orally with the student during the tutoring
sessions; or making comments in the margins of theWord document and emailing it back to the student
before the tutoring sessions.
The focus and type of feedback tutors provided
for students on their diary covered mechanics such as:
grammar, punctuation, spelling, and word choice. The
results revealed that many teachers (60%) asked thestudents for further clarification of intended meaningof confusing sentences or phrases. In addition, theThe 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings91Maleki & Wrightkind of feedback some tutors provided about content
was praising and suggesting different topics to write
about. Error coding was a type of feedback that threeof the tutors used to draw students’ attention totheir mistakes. Two of the tutors made writing stylesuggestions to students on how to more effectively
express their ideas. Although only one tutor required
his student to submit a second draft, all tutors made it
optional or recommended for the students to submit
multiple drafts. Having students submit subsequent
drafts, we believe, enables students to become moreaware of their writing (content, style and mechanics),
in order to produce a more coherent and cohesive text.
After the students submitted their daily diaries,
they met with the tutors in the tutors’ office for one
hour every week. According to tutors’ responses, thestrategies they used during the weekly conferencing
were: discussing the content or grammar of thediary entries, using the diary as a starting point for
conversation practice, and providing reference material
or mini-lessons dealing with specific grammar points.

Students’ Outcomes
Although the results from tutors’ responses did notshow any direct attempt to make diary writing an
independent learning activity, several specific instancesof independent learning were exhibited by students.
The following are students’ outcomes that fit Pintrich’s(2000) model of independent learning:•• Planning, monitoring: before submitting, students(50%) reread own writing and made corrections
based on tutors’ previous feedback on mechanics.
•• Controlling: Students (20%) indicated they would
continue keeping a diary even after completing thecourse.
•• Evaluating: Students (20%) compared early entries
to later ones to observe own progress.
•• Planning, monitoring: Students (10%) checked
diary entries with Ginger Grammar Checker(www.gingersoftware.com) before submitting.
After receiving feedback, they checked it with VIM
text editor (www.vim.org).
•• Planning, evaluating: Students (10%) purchaseda diary writing “how to” book and a presentation

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skills book.

Conclusion
Results revealed that the methods teachers used wereconsistent with the process oriented approach towriting. Teachers focused their efforts on the learning
process and learners. This is evident from the methods
they used and the types of feedback tutors gave tostudents which included topic choice, mechanics andcontent.
We believe the methods tutors used and the types of
feedback they gave to students contributed to students’
independent learning. Furthermore, examining
student outcomes in light of Pintrich’s (2000) modelof independent learning, we identified many specificexamples of students planning, monitoring, controlling,and evaluating their own learning.
We found that overall, tutors’ use of the diary led
to students being more independent in their learning.
This is an essential component of studying abroad for
all kinds of students, and it is especially important for
graduate students who will need to self-regulate theirlearning in the context of graduate school, where themajority of learning takes place independently.

Further Suggestions
The following is a list of suggestions tutors gave:•• Great for small class size so conferencing can occur.
•• Use diaries as a supplemental activity to a traditionalclass.
•• Offer additional support based on student level:mechanics for lower level learners and topic
suggestions for higher level learners.
•• Provide consistent method of feedback (e.g., error
coding).
•• Give students examples of good writing to read.
•• Make diary entries weekly rather than daily.

Limitations
The following are some limitations that should beconsidered in this study:•• Both of the researchers were tutoring two of thestudent participants for this study. In order toDiary Writing Methodologies, pages 89-94
minimize any effect that this might have had on
the interviewees’ responses, these students wereinterviewed by a different teacher.
•• Since the interviews with the students wereconducted before the final results of the program,students might have given responses they thought
would give them an advantage in being accepted
to the program. In order to minimize this effect,
the researchers made it clear in a written consent
form to the students that their responses would notaffect their consideration for being accepted to thisprogram.

References
Benson, P. (2013). Teaching and researching:
Autonomy in language learning (2nd ed.). New
York, NY: Routledge.
Borg, S. (2001). The research journal: A tool for
promoting and understanding researcher
development. Language Teaching Research, 5(2),156-177.
Brock, M. N., Yu, B., & Wong, M. (1992).

Collaborative diary keeping: A tool for teacher
development. TESL Report, 25(1), 19-25.
Matsuda, P. K. (2003). Process and post-process: A
discursive history. Journal of Second Language
Writing, 12(1), 65-83.
Nicol, D. J., & Macfarlane‐Dick, D. (2006). Formative
assessment and self‐regulated learning: A modeland seven principles of good feedback practice.
Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 199-218.
Pintrich, P. R. (2000). The role of goal orientationin self-regulated learning. In M. Boekaerts, P.
R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of
self-regulation. (pp. 451-502). San Diego, CA:
Academic Press.
Rubin, J. (2003). Diary writing as a process: Simple,
useful, powerful. Guidelines, 25(2), 10-14.
Retrieved from http://www.workingnet.com/
joanrubin/pdfs/Singaporepaper2003.pdf
Shannon, J. (1994). TESOL’s process versus productdebate. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State
University. Retrieved from ERIC database. ERIC
Document 375626.

Authors’ Biographies:
Mohammad Naeim Maleki is an Essential English Center instructor at Kanazawa Institute ofTechnology. He has taught English language in Afghanistan, the USA and Japan. His researcharea has been focused on English writing methodologies. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarshipand completed an M.A. degree in TESOL from Saint Michael’s College, USA.
Brent Wright is an Essential English Center instructor at Kanazawa Institute of Technology. He
has taught Japanese in the USA for 10 years and English in Japan for three years. He received his
M.A. in Japanese Language and Pedagogy from the University of Oregon.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

93Maleki & WrightAppendix
Interview Questions for Teachers
Teacher: ____________________		

Date: _____________

1. What was the purpose of having students write the diary?
2. What kind of improvement (if any) did you observe in your student?
3. Do you think the student will continue keeping a diary?
4. What kind of feedback did you provide for the student’s diary? And how?
5. Was the student required to write multiple drafts?
6. What steps did the student go through in submitting the final draft?
7. Did you use any specific reference material in tutoring this student?
8. In general, how do you feel about teaching English through diary writing?
9. If you do the tutoring next year, how will you change it?
10. How can diary writing be used as an activity?

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Student Feedback Used to Improve Pre-Departure
Preparation for a Study Abroad Program

John Frederick Maune
Hokusei Gakuen University
jfmaune@gmail.com
At Hokusei University, junior college study abroad students take English as a second language(ESL) courses at an overseas university of their choice for four months during the second semester of
their first year after completing a preparatory semester. Questionnaires and interviews of returning
students were performed to identify what activities prior to departure were useful, and not, forpreparing study abroad students for their overseas experiences, and also to identify issues for future
consideration. Results obtained indicate that interactions with former study abroad students werevery useful while gathering information about their study abroad schools was deemed unnecessary.
Other results will also be discussed.
北星学園大学短期大学部では、海外留学に行く学生は、前期を完全に終えた後、1年生の後期4ヶ月間、自分の選んだ海外の大学で、ESLコースを履修する。留学出発前、海外留学準備の為に、どのような活動が役立つか、
あるいは、役立たないかということ、そして、将来、考えるべき事の問題点を明らかにするため、留学を終えて戻って来た学生に対して、調査とインタビューを行った。
この調査の結果、先に留学した学生との交流はとても有益だ
が、留学先の学校について情報を集めることは役立たないということがわかった。他のいく
つかの結果についても、議論を行った。

Study abroad (SA) programs are thought to benefit
students in many ways. First and foremost is second
language acquisition (SLA), where the target language(TL) is present in all aspects of life, not just in theclassroom (Isabelli & Nishida, 2005, Pellegrino,
1998, and Shively, 2013). On the other hand, it
is also possible for students to stick to their own
language group and not take advantage of all the TL
opportunities (Dewey, 2013), and the benefits of SA

Nishida, 2005). It is generally accepted that longer
SA experiences lead to more improvement in SLA
than do shorter stays (Sasaki, 2011 and Shively,2013). Recently, study abroad has been linked to anincrease in creative thinking (Lee, 2012, and Maddux& Galinsky, 2009). Another benefit is increased
intercultural sensitivity (Amuzie & Winke, 2009, andJackson, 2006). Motivation can also be influenced
positively by studying abroad (Isabelli, 2006) as wellfor SLA is a somewhat contentious issue (Isabelli &as language learning beliefs (Amuzie & Winke, 2009),
and self efficacy (Cubillos & Ilvento, 2012). However,students vary greatly in how their SA experiences
influence them; some see very great improvements,
while some see little (Isabelli, 2006, and Shively,2013).
Economic conditions have lead to decreases in

Maune, J. F. (2015). Student feedback used to
improve pre-departure preparation for a study abroad
program. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
95-102). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

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95

MauneJapanese SA student numbers since 2004, but theeducation ministry hopes to reverse that trend bypromoting various study abroad programs with thegoal being to double the number of SA students by2020 (MEXT, 2011, and “Number of ”, 2014). A
similar plan to double SA students in the USA by 2020
also is underway (Institute, 2014). Both initiatives cite
globalization and other catch phrases as reasons toincrease SA participation. Almost all academics feelthat SA is worthwhile even though what the exact
benefits are is less than clear (Long, 2012) and often
overstated (Salisbury, 2012).

One Semester Study Abroad Program
The one semester SA program has been a part of the
Hokusei Junior College English Department for morethan 25 years. First year students take standard firstsemester classes along with the SA preparatory course.
During their second semester they take EFL classes
at an overseas university of their choice for aboutfour months. There are currently eight universityaffiliated EFL programs in five countries from which
the students can choose from. Each school has a limit
of five to seven students, so not all students can study
at their first-choice school. The program has never had
any English proficiency or other requirements thatstudents need in order to participate, except, of course,
financial considerations; students pay tuition at their
SA institution and also at Hokusei. They receive credit
for their required second semester classes following
completion of their SA EFL classes. This allows themto graduate within the normal two years, as opposed tohaving to stay an extra semester. The program is quite
popular; this year 31 out of 126 first year students will
participate in the program.

Preparation Prior to SA
The first semester preparatory course consists of fillingout school, housing, and for some, visa applications,obtaining air tickets and health insurance, deciding
finances, preparing for home stays, and practicing
emails to the teacher. In a separate required course,
all first year students listen to lectures from a wide
range of professionals who use English in their96

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working environments -- most have studied abroad.
They also have to participate at least once a week in
English Lunch where they can talk with a teacher oran international tutor (Maune, 2008). SA students canalso talk with former SA students.
Students who will attend the same SA institution
travel together as students are required to purchasetheir tickets through the on-campus co-op. This
insures that there are no student-derived mistakes andkeeping track of each group’s itinerary is easy. There
has never been any significant preparation devoted
to airport procedures, but there have never been any
major problems at airports that would merit usingclass time.

While Abroad
Students are required to email the SA teacher oncea week. This forces students to maintain someconnection with the teacher so that if problems doarise they have a support channel open. Even with such
weekly emails, there have been many student problems(mainly home-stay) that the students did not reportto the teacher until after returning to Japan from theirSA. Emails can be as short as, “I am OK.” However,many students write about recent events which,though not a face-to-face meeting, can help them tomake sense of their new, cultural setting (Otlowski,2014).
In one case a returning student in her report
expressed that she was very unhappy with her homestay, but she had sent out an email every week for fourmonths stating that she was OK and related many
exciting experiences. She also extended her stay withthe “problem” home stay for five weeks. The weekly
emails can also be used as evidence in case any claims
are made by dissatisfied students. The weekly emails
are supplemented by a few questionnaires (really justa few simple questions) sent out to all the students;
again to try to uncover any unreported, student
problems. The SA teacher will occasionally visit the
SA institutions, but SA students interact with their
SA school’s international office for the majority of
their academic needs while abroad. The teacher assists
students if so requested, but only via email or Skype.
Skype, Line, and Facebook, to name just a few,

Student Feedback Improves Study Abroad Program, pages 95-102
allow students to easily stay in touch with friends
and family while abroad. Not that long ago it wasprohibitively costly to make international phone
calls which can now be made on Skype or Line forfree. Facebook can be useful for EFL and culturallearning (Mitchell, 2012). Such social media is a boon
to homesick students as well as a bane. Students canspend their whole study abroad time surroundedelectronically by their home country friends, negating
any immersion effects (Shively, 2013). All students
stated that they often were in contact daily withfriends and family making this an issue that has to beaddressed.

Returning to Japan
Students return to Japan and write a report intended
to provide useful information for future SA students.
Students also fill out questionnaires to help determine
what activities worked well or not, and other issues.
They then meet with the teacher for short semistructured interviews. These short interviews provide
knowledge about the SA environment that the teacher
would almost never be able to glean from infrequentguided visits to the SA schools, and allow for thefollowing up of issues raised by the questionnaire.
Results for this study are based on the 2013 SA
course that consisted of 24 SA students of which all
were interviewed and 20 completed the voluntaryquestionnaire after their SA experience (see the
Appendix for questions pertinent to this study).

Successful SA Activities
Student responses to questionnaires overwhelmingly(80%, or 16 of the 20 respondents) rated directly
communicating with previous SA students and reading
reports as the most useful for preparing them for their
SA experience. Unfortunately, more than half of thestudents said during their interviews that they were
hesitant to contact the former SA students as they
were strangers. Contacting a former SA student was
one required assignment, but many students did not
engage in very meaningful dialogue and were happy
to ask one question and consider their obligation
fulfilled. The more courageous students did meet withthe former SA students, sometimes at English Lunch.
Class time was used for sharing information gotten
from the experienced SA students. Many students
relied on such reported second-hand information.
Following the finding that the reports andmeetings with the former SA students were so highly
rated, more class time was used for reading SA reports
and previous SA students spent one whole SA classdiscussing their experiences and answering questions.
Many of the former students prepared presentations(i.e., a power point slide show done using A4 sheetsof paper) even though they were not asked to do so.
Their participation was completely on a volunteer
basis, but those whose schedules allowed gladly came.
They were quite eager to help the new students andtook their presentations and role of experienced
mentor seriously; many of the presentations were very
well planned.
English Lunch takes place in a room where ateacher and an international conversation tutor meetand eat with students during lunch time, Monday
through Friday, for most of the school year. Theinternational conversation tutors (Maune, 2008) arefrom many parts of the world and are less authoritative
than a teacher. Talking with a tutor offers the students
a chance to experience the TL in an unscripted
situation outside the classroom which can help
prepare them for their SA experiences. SA students
were required to attend at least one English Lunch per
week. Students were obviously uneasy at first, but thatchanged quickly for all but a few. It is noteworthy thaton most days there were former SA students who cameon their own to share their knowledge, sometimes
even forcefully, with the new SA students. English
Lunch was rated well in the questionnaire so thatmandatory attendance will continue. The average score
was only a 4.55 on a 7-point Likert scale that ranges
from 7 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree), but
based on interview responses the score was negatively
affected by the required weekly written English Lunchsummaries.

Some Failures
Students complained strongly during the interviews
about having to submit weekly summaries of what
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Maunethey talked about in English Lunch, so the writtensummary requirement was dropped, though they
thought that English Lunch itself should continue.
Hokusei has a weekly English Chapel during lunch
on Fridays. Last year’s SA students had to attend one
English Chapel time a month and write a paragraphabout the lecture or sermon, depending on the
speaker. The interviews revealed that English Chapel
was vehemently despised by the students and very
poorly rated in the questionnaire receiving a 3.15 on a
7-point Likert scale. Though many SA countries havelarge Christian populations, the students were notculturally interested at all. Mandatory attendance atEnglish Chapel was stopped.
Another interesting finding, a failure of sorts, isthat many of the students did not value time spentlearning about their chosen school. Students were
given some class time in order to look into the various
schools, but many admitted on the anonymousquestionnaires and during the interviews that theyused the allotted class time for other pursuits. The
common refrain was that they got enough informationfrom the reports and talking with former SA students,and later at their initial orientation when they arrived
at their SA school. Therefore, this year no class time
was spent learning about the SA schools.

Discussion
Although SA student numbers have been decreasingin Japan (“Number of ”, 2014), our department has
consistently had close to half of its first year students
participate in either the one or four month (onesemester) SA program. The one semester program isa challenge to run, but its ever increasing popularity
makes maintaining its vitality imperative.
As done for all courses, small changes and attempts
at improvement are constantly undertaken with somesucceeding and some not. For many years students
had written reports for the teacher describing their
SA experience. Simply asking students to write reports
useful for future SA students opened up a relevant
untapped resource. This lead to making former
students themselves available for discussion, andnow this year, to having them come and share theirknowledge in SA class. Having the former students

98

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in class allowed for easy interaction as it was face-toface, in the classroom, as opposed to previous years inwhich SA students had to email the former students.
The questionnaire this year will ask students to rate thein-class discussions with the former students, though
based on the level of all-around involvement during
the class, it would be surprising if it is not very highly
rated.
Performing simple questionnaires about what SAclassroom activities students found useful or not forhaving successful SA experiences seems exceedingly
obvious, but the SA course was never evaluated by
students, as almost all university courses are, because it
was not a normal course. Teaching the course does feellike being an administrator, more than a teacher, as lotsof class time is spent on mundane tasks such as paying
tuition and preparing various documents, so having
the former SA students input is useful for everyone.
This year’s SA students spent extensive timereading reports written over the past five years.
What constitutes useful information varies with each
student, so reports from the same SA school canhave completely different advice ranging from local
attractions, what school clubs to join, effective study
habits, cultural differences, to problems to prepare for.
One thing that does not vary is the desire of former
SA students to aid the new batch of SA students. The
SA experienced students know how rewarding andchallenging living abroad can be, and that their input
can positively influence a program that was responsible
for their own significant personal growth.
Students strongly agreed that input from former
SA students helped prepare them for their own SA
experiences. Here is where one interesting aspect of SA
comes into play; there are many possible definitions ofwhat the goals are for SA or what exactly constitutes
a successful SA (Long, 2012). It is important toknow that the students are satisfied with their SA
experiences, but the next step will be to determine
more concretely what satisfied them.
During the interviews some students did
relate what, for them, were the high points of their
SA experiences, and not one had anything to dowith their English lessons or SLA. One student
joined a badminton club which made her wholeStudent Feedback Improves Study Abroad Program, pages 95-102
experience greatly rewarding, while another drew her
satisfaction from clubbing -- an interesting avenue toethnorelativism (Bennett, 2004). Last year more thanhalf of the students extended their stays for an averageof about two weeks. As happens every year, almost allof the students did not want to come back to Japan.
This implies the program is successful, or rather SA
just fulfills a general wanderlust or need for novel
stimulation felt by all humans.

References
Amuzie, G., & Winke, P. (2009). Changes in language
learning beliefs as a result of study abroad. System,
37(3), 366-379.
Bennett, M. J. (2004). Becoming interculturallycompetent. In J. Wurzel (Ed.) Toward
multiculturalism: a reader in multicultural
education (2nd ed., pp. 62-77). Newton, MA:Intercultural Resource Corporation.
Cubillos, J. H., & Ilvento, T. (2012). The impact
of study abroad on students’ self-efficacy
perceptions. Foreign Language Annals, 45(4),494–511.
Dewey, D. P., Belnap, R. K., & Hillstrom, R. (2013).
Social network development, language use, andlanguage acquisition during study abroad: Arabic
language learners’ perspectives Frontiers: The
Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 22,
84-110.
Institute of International Education. (2014, March 3).
Institute of International Education leads coalition
to double number of students who study abroad by
end of decade. Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/
Who-We-Are/News-and-Events/Press-Center/
Press-Releases/2014/2014-03-03-GenerationStudy-Abroad
Isabelli, C. (2006). Study abroad social networks,
motivation and attitudes: Implications for second
language acquisition. In E. Churchill & M.
DuFon (Eds.), Language learners in study abroad
contexts (pp. 231-258). Clevedon, England:
Multilingual Matters.
Isabelli, C. A. & Nishida, C. (2005). Developmentof the Spanish subjunctive in a nine-monthstudy-abroad setting. In D. Eddington (Ed.)

Selected Proceedings of the 6th Conference on the
Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First andSecond Languages (pp. 78-91). Somerville, MA:
Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Jackson, J. (2006). Ethnographic preparation for
short-term study and residence in the target
culture. International Journal of Intercultural
Relations, 30(1), 77-98.
Lee, C. S., Therriault, D. J., & Linderholm, T. (2012).
On the cognitive benefits of cultural experience:
Exploring the relationship between studying
abroad and creative thinking. Applied Cognitive
Psychology, doi: 10.1002/acp.2857
Long, T. (2012). From study abroad to global studies:
Reconstructing international education for a
globalized world. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary
Journal of Study Abroad, 22, 25-36.
Maddux, W. M., & Galinsky, A. D. (2009). Culturalborders and mental barriers: The relationshipbetween living abroad and creativity. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5), 10471061.
Maune, J. F. (2008). Developing an internationaltutor program for conversation classes. In K.
Bradford Watts, T. Muller, & M. Swanson (Eds.),
JALT2007 Conference Proceedings (pp. 451-455).
Tokyo, Japan: JALT.
MEXT. (2011). Five proposals and specific measures fordeveloping proficiency in English for international
communication. Retrieved from http://www.
mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/
afieldfile/2012/07/09/1319707_1.pdf.
Mitchell, K. (2012). A social tool: Why and how
ESOL students use Facebook. CALICO Journal,
29, 471-493.
Number of Japanese studying abroad down seventhstraight year (2014, March 25). The Japan Times.
Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
news/2014/03/25/national/number-of-japanesestudying-abroad-down-seventh-straight-year/
Otlowski, M. (2014). Enriching short-term study
abroad programs. In R. Chartrand, G. Brooks, M.
Porter, & M. Grogan (Eds.), The 2013 PanSIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 124-129). Nagoya,Japan: JALT.
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MaunePellegrino, V. (1998). Student perspectives on
language learning in a study abroad context.
Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study
Abroad, 4, 91-120.
Salisbury, M. (2012, July 30). We’re muddying themessage on study abroad. The Chronicle of Higher
Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.
com/article/Were-Muddying-the-Messageon/133211/
Sasaki, M. (2011). Effects of varying lengths of study-

abroad experiences on Japanese EFL students’L2 writing ability and motivation: a longitudinal
study. TESOL, 45(1), 81-105.
Shively, R. L. (2013). Language learning: Emerging
trends in the study abroad context. Invited
presentation at the Forum on Education Abroad
Standards Institute “Curriculum, Teaching, and
Education Abroad”. Retrieved from https://www.
forumea.org/documents/Presentation_Forum_
Shively.pdf

Author’s Biography:
John Maune came to English teaching via research in biochemistry. He is now a professor in
the Junior College English department of Hokusei University, Sapporo, teaching Life Sciencein English as well as running the SA program by himself. His interests include Shakespeare,
evolutionary psychology, and pedagogy. <jfmaune@gmail.com>

100 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Student Feedback Improves Study Abroad Program, pages 95-102

Appendix
SA survey sample questions
Did you research about the different schools before you decided where you wanted to study?

どの

学校に学びに行くのかを決める前に、他の違う学校についても調べてみましたか？
yes, all schools

はい、色々な学校について調べました

yes, at least five schools

はい、少なくとも５つの学校について調べました

yes, at least three schools

はい、少なくとも３つの学校について調べました

yes, two schools

はい、２つの学校について調べました

yes, one school

はい、１つの学校について調べました

no, I didn't

いいえ、調べませんでした

After you chose your study abroad school, did you research about that school?

留学先の学校を選んだ後、その学校について調べてみましたか？
yes, a lot

はい、たくさん調べました

yes, a little

はい、少し調べましたno

いいえ、調べませんでした

Do you think that English lunch was useful for preparing you for your study abroad experience? 7 isstrongly agree, while 4 is don't know, and 1 is strongly disagree

イングリッシュ・ランチは、

あなたの留学準備に役立ったと思いますか？７:強くそう思う、４:わからない、１:強くそう思わない。
7 strongly agree 強くそう思う
6 agree そう思う
5 somewhat agree 少しそう思う
4 don't know わからない
3 somewhat disagree あまりそう思わない
2 disagree そう思わない
1 strongly disagree 強くそう思わない

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MauneDo you think that English Chapel was useful for preparing you for your study abroad experience? 7
is strongly agree, while 4 is don't know, and 1 is strongly disagree

イングリッシュ・チャペル

は、あなたの留学準備に役立ったと思いますか？７:強くそう思う、４:わからない、１:強くそう思わない。
7 strongly agree 強くそう思う
6 agree そう思う
5 somewhat agree 少しそう思う
4 don't know わからない
3 somewhat disagree あまりそう思わない
2 disagree そう思わない
1 strongly disagree 強くそう思わない

What did you find most useful in study abroad class?

海外留学のクラスの中で、もっとも役立った事は何でしたか？
conversations with previous study abroad students
conversations with the study abroad teacher
my own research using the internet

海外留学担当の先生との会話

インターネットを利用した自分自身の調査

reports from previous study abroad students
none of the above

以前に海外留学に行った学生との会話

以前に海外留学に行った学生のレポート

上記の中には無い

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Real-Life Tasks in the Classroom
as a Potential for Transfer

Tanya M. McCarthy
Kyushu University
mccarthy@flc.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Learning-by-doing is said to be one of the most effective ways of learning. By combining learning
tasks with real-life goals, students can receive a more authentic and long-lasting learning experience.
This paper describes a course designed for undergraduate students at a Japanese tertiary institution
in mainly science and technology departments. Students were expected by the end of the course togive a presentation and practice answering questions in English about their research. Throughout thecourse, real-life activities were introduced at intervals to help students understand skills needed forparticipating in conferences, feel more confident when interacting with others through networking,and to encourage higher order thinking through reflection-on-learning.
実践的な学習は、最も効果的な学習法であると言われています。実践的な学習を、実生活での目標と結合することによって、学生はより実用的に、かつ長期にわたり学習経験を受けることができます。本紙は日本第三機関の、主に科学部と工学部の学部生のためのコースを記載しております。学生は、コースの終わりまでにポスター発表をし、研究について英語での質問応答をします。
コース期間中、実生活での活動において学生が学会に参加する際に必要な技術を養い、ネットワークを通した他者とのコミュニケーションにも自信がつき、英語の上達にむけてより熟思する力が身に付きます。

One of the major challenges facing teachers in EFL(English as a Foreign Language) contexts is the lackof transferability of skills acquired in the classroom
to new situations beyond the classroom environment(McKeough, 1995). That is, in order to enhancelearning experiences for students in an EFL context
and help them to understand how to apply new
knowledge to new situations, it is important to makestrong connections between curricula and the lives

Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) has seen
several changes implemented in Japanese universities
to meet the demands of the new globalized world. In
this environment of changing educational paradigms,
many teachers are seeking new methods which focus
less on receptive skills found in most textbooks andmore on a balanced curriculum in which students
produce language based on real-world needs.
Learning-by-doing is said to be one of the mostof the learner. Over the last two decades, curriculum
reform in Japan by the Ministry of Education, Culture,effective ways of learning (see Schank, Berman &Macperson, 1999). By combining language learning
tasks based on real-life experiences, it was thoughtthat students could receive a more authentic andlong-lasting learning experience. This paper describes
a course designed for undergraduate students at aJapanese tertiary institution in mainly Science andMcCarthy, T. (2015). Real-life tasks in the classroom
as a potential for transfer. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan,& M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 103-115). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

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McCarthy
Technology departments. The questions around which
the new curriculum was built were:•• How to raise awareness of the English needs
required for specific fields?
•• How to sustain motivation throughout a course
focused on research English?
•• How to design a real-world classroom setting
which met specific English and real-world needs ofstudents in different departments?

research in domestic or international conferences). It
was explained that the skills employed in presentations
were not so much focused on language, but rather on
presentation skills, using specific strategies. As such,
students were asked to create an academic poster of
their research, which would be presented at the endof the semester. All classes would join together forthese presentations to create the full realistic effect ofa conference setting.

The immediate solution was to develop a balanced
curriculum in which students were provided with amix of form-focused (pedagogical tasks) and meaningfocused (target tasks) instruction. The end goal was tocomplete an authentic, real-world activity, using thelanguage and skills acquired throughout the course.
The aim ultimately, was that students could increase
confidence in language skills through engaging in amore familiar, structured approach to lessons in which
the teacher focused on specific language skills (seeAppendix A). Students were then expected to engage
in higher order thinking through awareness-raisingreflection of how the language could be transferred toan authentic context (see Appendix B). Throughout
the course, real-life activities were introduced atintervals to help students understand skills needed
specifically for giving an academic presentation andnetworking. These tasks were based on suggestions
from department heads in the different faculties.

Theoretical Perspectives

Research participants
Approximately 60 students participated in this course.
Students’ language proficiency levels varied from basic
A2 to intermediate B2 on the CEFR descriptor scale(Little, 2006). Students were currently in their fourthyear of undergraduate study, and had completed two
years of mandatory English courses in their first andsecond years as undergraduate students. This meantthat many entered the course having experienced a gap
in English learning for almost two years. Althoughcoming from different departments, the common
thread running through the departments was thatstudents had to participate in academic presentations(either by watching their professors in seminar classes
or by doing their own academic presentation of their

104 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Constructivist views about the learning processessentially emphasize the context as being the centralcomponent in the construction of meaningful learning(Prenzel & Mandl, 1993; Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson &Coulson, 1991). That is, acquisition and applicationof knowledge takes place in a context that has a clear
meaning and the extent of transferability depends on
how the context is presented. It was thus hypothesizedthat the more realistic the learning environment,
the better the transfer of knowledge. A task-based
approach leading to a big project was the pedagogicalapproach used to implement these constructivist ideas.
Dewey (1933) was one of the first advocates of
the use of authentic tasks to bridge the gap between
school life and the real world. Similar to constructivist
views, Dewey believed that people learn best throughmeaningful activity. His central idea was thatauthentic tasks were ideal for developing useful realworld knowledge and skills. As students constructedtasks, through cognitive engagement, they would
deepen subject matter knowledge, develop greater
understanding, and enhance self-regulation skills. This
engagement depended not only on the tasks at hand,but more importantly, the context in which they weresituated. This idea of situated cognition emphasized
the creation of a framework in which students engage
cognitively with new materials within an authentic
context, build on prior knowledge to connect newideas and then consider ways of transferring the newideas to a new situation (Brown, Collins & Duguid,1989). As with all theoretical perspectives, the ideas
are ideal; however, integration and implementationof theory in the classroom while making learning
personally meaningful to students is more challenging.

Real-Life Tasks in the Classroom, pages 103-115

Course design and development:
Real-life tasks in the classroom
There were seven underlying principles in thedevelopment of the course (See Figure 1).
1. Authenticity
This involved creating personally meaningfullearning opportunities which were relevant tothe specific research discipline or domain. It wasessential that the student was provided with sufficient
opportunities to connect with real-life situations
within each task.
2. Situatedness
This involved creating a real connection to theworld in which students lived and providing a context
in the classroom that reflected this world.
3. Multiple contexts
This involved introducing a variety of smaller tasks
from multiple perspectives, which led to a final project.
4. Social context
This involved acknowledging that the student
was part of an expert culture and as such needed to
be exposed to specialized knowledge of the context.

Being aware of the social context included being awareof the students’ cultural background and prior learning
experiences in order to make the tasks more relevant.
5. Reflexivity
This involved raising students’ awareness ofcurrent knowledge of subject matter, and helping
them to understand the purpose of each task and how
it personally connected to a very practical world after
graduation.
6. Transferability
This involved activating current knowledge schemaand having students think critically about the various
pedagogical tasks and how the knowledge could beapplied to the wider real-world context.
7. Motivation for teacher and students
This involved carefully considering the various
subject disciplines and consistently trying to ensurethat connections were being made to see how each task
fit into the whole, so that both teacher and student
remained mindful of the overall aims of the course.
The course framework developed for a 15-weeksemester was designed as a step-by-step structure ofvarious pedagogical and target tasks, starting from

Figure 1. Seven underlying principles of the course

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McCarthy
basic and advancing to higher level skills, then finallyarriving at the final task of presenting a poster at aconference (Table 1). Pedagogical tasks referred to
specifically designed classroom tasks that required
the use of specific interactional strategies or specificlanguage skills (Breen, 1987; Shavelson & Stern,1981). This kind of task, which focused on accuracy
and made language accessible to students, would notnecessarily be encountered in the real world; however,
the interactional processes it required provided useful
input to language development (see Appendix A). The
target tasks reflected real-world usage of language,
which was considered as a rehearsal for real-world
tasks (Long, 1985; Nunan, 2004). The focus was moreon communicating meaning than form (see Appendix
B). Individual feedback and self-reflection on smallertasks were done throughout the course. No assessment
was done for the final task in order to help students feelless anxious about their performance, as well as keep it
connected more closely to a real-life situation in which
any evaluation is usually carried out by the individual
in reflecting on performance rather than being teacherassessed. As such, for the final task, students were asked
to complete a self-reflection after the poster sessions on
perceived strengths and weaknesses in both language
and presentation skills.

Figure 2. Students’ perception of improvement in English skills

106 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Impact on learning and motivation
Student reflections on the course (see Appendix C)
were collected at the end of the semester to establish
its effectiveness and to identify whether students had
engaged in meaningful learning with regard to their
future endeavours. The following are the salient points
that emerged from the data (see Figures 2, 3 and 4):

Feedback on the course•• Students were able to better understand the aimof the course in its attempt to apply acquired
knowledge and skills to the wider context of aninternational conference setting.
•• Students made significant improvements in talking
about their research in English as well as improving
basic conversation skills.
Figure 2 illustrates students’ perception of
improvement in these three areas at an average value of
2.41 out of 3. This meant that the course met its aims ofimproving students’ ability to talk about research andhelping students to become more aware of the skills
required to participate in an international conference.
After having experienced a simulated poster
conference, students advancing to graduate study werealso more aware of the various skills they would beReal-Life Tasks in the Classroom, pages 103-115
Table 1
Breakdown of Pedagogical and Target Tasks
Task

Skill

Pedagogical task

Target task

PurposeDaily
conversation

Speaking
Listening
Vocabulary

Conversation skills: AskAnswer-Add

Conversation skills on“safe” topics

Build confidence

Networking

Speaking
Listening
Vocabulary

Modal usage; turntaking

Building on safe topics
to expanding onconversation

Understand pragmatics;
connect classroom skills
to a real-life context

Writing email

Writing
Vocabulary

Casual vs. polite
language

Send teacher a polite
email with an attacheddocument

Understand pragmatics
in a written context

Writing
abstract

Writing
Vocabulary
GrammarAcademic writing
structure: Introductionbackground-methodresults-conclusion

Summarize researchideas into a paragraph of
5-10 sentences

Increase awarenessof structure andorganization of research
papers; connectclassroom skills to a reallife context

Research
discussion

Speaking
Listening
Vocabulary

Language used for
different audiences

Building on general
networking conversation
to discussing research

Learn how to change
dialogue to suit the
specific audience

Researchingconferences

Reading
Vocabulary

Scanning for specificinformation

Communicate withresearchers in specificresearch domain about
different types ofconferences

Increase exposure
to real-life researchcontext; establish
rapport with professors
and seniors; connectclassroom skills to a reallife context

Registering
for aconference
and sharing
new
information

Writing
Vocabulary

Recognizing specificvocabulary for filling out
a formFind a conference
connected to student’s
specific field; learn how
to submit a proposal
and fill out a form forthe conference. Shareinformation with otherstudents in same fieldBecome accustomed todoing online research
in English; connectclassroom skills to a reallife context

Posterpresentation

Speaking
Listening
Reading
Vocabulary

Advanced question
formation

Combination of
conversation skills,
networking and research
discussion

Transfer skills to a “realworld” setting; connectclassroom skills to areal-life context.

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McCarthy
required to improve in order to participate effectively
in an academic setting. In particular, students reported
that they needed to increase specific terminology
connected to their field of study, improve basic
grammar and listening skills to understand and respondto questions, practice more conversation in order tolearn how to express themselves better, and practicepresentation skills before doing the final presentation
so they could be better at “adlibbing.”

Feedback on performanceWith regard to their performance, areas of
improvement were as follows:•• Students had an increased awareness of theirstrengths in specific language and presentation
skills in an academic English context.
Figure 3 shows how students ranked their overall
performance at the end of the course. The areas which
saw greatest improvement were students being able tospeak in a clear voice (2.53), excuse themselves politely
from a conversation during networking (2.44), andhave a conversation in English (2.35). Students had
been somewhat uncomfortable during networking
classes as interrupting and excusing themselves froma conversation went against what they considered to
be deep-rooted Japanese cultural values of politeness.
Thus, this was a significant step forward for many ofthem.
Students also pinpointed specific areas they
considered they did well as areas in which they would
need improvement. The following are select commentsfrom students:
I talk about future research
I used the gesture. I was particular about the poster.
I could say my idea in detail in English to use myposter.
In addition, some students’ motivation for learning
increased, as they were able to overcome fears anddoubts about language ability and complete the tasks
successfully:
I think I can speak in English. I haven’t spoken in
Japanese during my poster presentation. I could
good communication with the person who I don’t
know.
Students also showed good self-assessment skills inrecognizing areas for improvement in both language

Figure 3. Students’ perception of overall English performance after completing the course.

108 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Real-Life Tasks in the Classroom, pages 103-115

Limitations and solutions

and presentation skills:
I need more vocabulary
I need that I can speak with a clear voice in English
I should use simple and powerful pictures to reduce
sentences
I need to speak adlib. I need to speak currently.
I have to speak in English fluency. I have to explaineasy to understand. I thought I should use morepictures
I want to use more technical terms for next
presentation. And I would like to reply to questions.
What was most evident though, was that students
realized that in order to communicate in a real-life
setting, they could not depend on set phrases, butneeded to learn how to quickly adapt to flowing
conversations. Overall, students were satisfied with
their performance (see Figure 4) with 41.2% of
students reporting that they were satisfied and 17.6%
reporting that they were very satisfied.

There are many limitations and challenges tointroducing an authentic, task-based style of teaching
into the classroom. First of all, tasks can be viewed
by students as a “one-off ” experience with no further
meaning. As such, it is essential that a connection bemade to a future, meaningful purpose. There is also a
certain complexity to designing and sequencing tasks
for real-world situations as well as creating specific roles
for the student and teacher. Logistically, introducing
a new methodology within an existing curriculum,
teacher workload and schedules can be challenging
unless the teacher is given the opportunity to create an
original curriculum and has the freedom to control theworkload. In most educational settings, teachers areusually provided with a pre-set curriculum, guidelines
to administer within their classes, specific workloads
and resources. This limitation requires a delicate
balance with and some negotiation between theteacher’s goals and administrative goals. In this course,
a balance was established by collaboration between
professors of the various departments (some more
successful than others). Collaboration was essential,
so that students could feel that the tasks were relevantto their field of study. This was the most challenging
aspect of this course, as most students entered thecourse without a clear picture of how English would be

Figure 4. Students’ satisfaction level with their poster presentation

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McCarthy
used in their future.

Conclusion
The benefits of a task-based curriculum in which
students are exposed to tasks that connect to real-life
contexts are undisputable; however, it may requirea major shift in the roles of all the stakeholders – theadministration, teachers and students – as well as the
structure of classes. Added to this is the difficultyin establishing contact with different departments
to ensure that students receive appropriate subject
content to complete tasks in a meaningful way. Thoughdaunting, implementing the necessary curriculum
changes to improve student learning can result in atransformation of classrooms to a context in which
students can prepare better for graduate study and/orlife beyond the classroom. By engaging in personally
meaningful tasks that connect to real-life situations,
it is possible to increase student motivation andconfidence; help them to become aware of strengths
and weaknesses; and create a situation in which
students can understand how to transfer practicalsituations experienced in the classroom to a newcontext. The following excerpts extracted from student
reflection sheets reveal an example of how students
benefitted from the course:
I think I can speak in English. I haven’t spoken in
Japanese during my poster presentation. I could
good communication with the person I don’t know.
It was the time of the very pleasant presentation! So
the meaning which participated was large.
Although there were some negative experiences
due to perceived weaknesses in language skills, it was
clear from the course feedback that most students
found it beneficial in boosting their confidence whentalking about their scientific research.
As students may not have a clear idea of their
future, it is important that they are provided with
opportunities in the classroom to develop realworld abilities. This can be done especially throughcollaboration with their professors in their respective
fields of study as a way of helping them to understand

110 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

what may be expected of them in their future academicor professional careers. Ultimately, exposing students tocontrived dialogues in textbooks without a connection
to a wider goal has little meaning or interest to students
and teachers. Thus, creating authentic real-world tasks
while maintaining a focus on form is one solution thatcan create a meaningful experience for students while
being a realistic goal for teachers.

References
Breen, M. (1987). Learner contributions to task
design. In C. Candlin & D. Murphy (Eds.),
Language learning tasks (pp. 23-46). Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Brown, J. S., Collins, A. & Duguid, P. (1989).
Situated cognition and the culture of learning.
Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–42.
Dewey, J. (1933). How we think (2nd ed.). Boston,
MA: D. C. Heath.
Little, D. (2006). The common European framework
for languages: Content, purpose, origin,reception and impact. Language Teaching 39(03),167-190.
Long, M. H. (1985). A role for instruction in second
language acquisition: Task-based language
teaching. In K. Hyltenstam & M. Pienemann(Eds.), Modelling and assessing second language
acquisition (pp. 77-99). Clevedon, England:
Multilingual Matters.
McKeough, A. (1995). Teaching for transfer:
Fostering generalization in learning. Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Nunan, D. (2004). Task-Based Language Teaching.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press.
Prenzel. M., & Mandl. H. (1993). Transfer of learningfrom a constructivist perspective. In T. M. Duffy,
J. Lowyck, & D. H. Jonassen (Eds.), Designing
environments for constructive learning (pp. 315329). Berlin, Germany: Springer.
Schank, R. C., Berman, T. R. & Macperson, K. A.
(1999). Learning by doing. In C. M. Reigeluth(Ed.), Instructional Design Theories and Models:
A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory (Vol. II)(pp. 161-181). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Real-Life Tasks in the Classroom, pages 103-115
Associates.
Shavelson, R. J., & Stern, P. (1981). Research onteachers’ pedagogical thoughts, judgments andbehavior. Review of Educational Research, 51(4),455-498.
Spiro, R. J., Feltovich. P. J., Jacobson, M. J., &Coulson, R. L. (1991). Cognitive flexibility,
constructivism and hypertext: Random accessinstruction for advanced knowledge acquisitionin ill-structured domains. Educational Technology,
31, 24-33.

Author’s Biography:
Tanya McCarthy is an Associate Professor at Kyushu University. Her research interests include
learner autonomy, project-based learning, action research and self-directed professional
development. Her contact information is mccarthy@flc.kyushu-u.ac.jp.

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111

McCarthy

Appendix A
Pedagogical task: Improving conversation skills by asking and answering questions, andadding extra information

112 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Real-Life Tasks in the Classroom, pages 103-115

Appendix B
Target task: Using learned knowledge in a simulated real-life context

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113

McCarthy

Appendix C
End-of-course survey about course and performance
PART 1
4 = Yes, very well

3 = It’s okay

2 = Only a little

1 = Not very well
4

3

2

1

I can introduce myself in English
I can introduce my research topic in English
I can state the purpose of my research in English
I can talk about the background of my research in English
I can talk about future research ideas in English
My PosterPresentation

I can say who my research will help in the future in English
I can thank the audience for listening in English
I can ask for questions in English
I can answer questions about my research in English
I can make good eye contact
I can speak with a clear voice in English
I can use gestures to explain my research

Net-work

I can have a conversation with others in English
I can excuse myself politely from a conversation

PART 2a. How satisfied are you with your performance for your poster presentation? Circle the number closest to
your feeling
1 = Not satisfied at all ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 = Very satisfied
		
①
②
③
④
⑤

b. What do you think you did well during your poster presentation?

114 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Real-Life Tasks in the Classroom, pages 103-115
c. What do you think you need to improve for your next presentation?

PART 3a. How much do you think you have improved in your English this semester?
3 = I have improved a lot

2 = I have improved just a little 1 = I have not improved much
3

1.

I can have a conversation for 5 minutes

2.

I can ask my conversation partner follow-up questions

3.

My conversation partners and I participate equally in the conversation

4.

I can talk around unknown words

5.

I can add extra information when I am talking about a topic

6.

I can use polite language in English

7.

I feel confident about speaking English

8.

I understand my strengths and weaknesses in English

9.

I have the vocabulary to express myself in English

2

1

10. I can speak with correct grammar in English
11. I can understand when my teacher is speaking
12. I can understand when I listen to other students speaking
13. I can talk about my research in English
14. I understand more about international conferencesb. Which of the skills that you have learned throughout the course do you think you will use in your future?

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

115Vocatives as Mitigators and Upgraders in Speech Acts

Michael MondejarInternational University of Japan
mjm2229@iuj.ac.jp
Vocatives, or forms of address, are often used in greetings or similar speech acts which involve
requesting attention or identifying the addressee. However, their use in establishing or maintaining
the relationship between interlocutors, particularly in the context of other types of speech acts, still
remains to be examined. This exploratory study attempts to address this issue by examining the use ofaddress forms in various types of speech acts, particularly face threatening ones such as disagreements
and requests. The results indicate that address forms can be used to mitigate face threatening acts
and upgrade other ones. A limited cross-cultural comparison of vocative use in speech acts among
different nationalities was also carried out; there is evidence that participants’ use of address forms incertain speech acts stems from pragmatic transfer.
呼格または呼びかけの形は、挨拶、
あるいは注目要求や呼び掛け対象の確認といった発話行為で使用される。
しかし、話者間の関係確立または関係維持における使用、特に発話行為の他のタイプの文脈での使用についてはまだ明らかにされていない。本予備的研究
は、様々な種類の発話行為における呼びかけ、特に不同意と依頼のようなフェイスを脅かす発話行為での呼びかけを検証することによって明らかにしようとしたものである。
その結果、呼び掛けはフェイスを脅かす行為を軽減し、他の発話行為を高めるために使用され得ることが示された。
また、異国籍間での発話行為における呼格使用について、限られた範囲
ではあるが、異文化間比較を行い、特定の発話行為での発話参加者の呼び掛けの使用は語用論的転移から生じていることを示した。

Vocatives, or forms of address, are indicative of therelationships between interlocutors in terms of factors
such as age, gender, intimacy, politeness, and solidarity,
as well as the values of a particular culture. Navigatinginteractions in that culture requires their appropriateuse (Leech, 1999). Vocatives thus play an importantrole not only in the study of linguistics, but also inthat of social structures and changes (Clyne, Norrby,& Warren, 2009; Joseph, 1989). However, littlecomparative and empirical research has been done on
Mondejar, M. (2015). Vocatives as mitigators andupgraders in speech acts. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan,& M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 116-121). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

116 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

the use of address forms (Clyne et al., 2009; Leech,1999).
The researcher of this exploratory study attempts
to address this gap by examining vocative use inconjunction with various speech acts, or “actions
performed via utterances” (Yule, 1996, p. 47) suchas apologies, compliments, refusals, and requests.
Leech (1999) states that English vocatives are utilizedin conversation for three distinct purposes: (a) tosummon attention, (b) to identify the addressee,and (c) to “establish or maintain a social relationshipbetween the speaker (or writer) and the addressee”(p. 108). In the case of the first two functions, address
forms are commonly used in speech acts which involve
starting a dialogue, such as greetings. However, theirVocatives in Speech Acts, pages 116-121
use in a broader set of speech acts in fulfillment of
purpose (c) above is the focus of this study.
Of particular interest is the potential role vocatives
may play in “modifying” speech acts. For example,
face threatening speech acts, or those which represent
a threat to the hearer’s expectations of their selfimage (e.g., refusals) may be modified by ‘mitigators’.
Mitigators are linguistic devices which soften theimpact of the speaker’s imposition on the hearer’s
self-image (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984; Ishihara& Cohen, 2010; Yule, 1996). Another example of aspeech act modification is an ‘upgrader’, a device which
increases the “compelling force” or strength of an act(Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984; Ishihara & Cohen,2010). Such devices are common in face saving acts,
which provide the speaker with the opportunity to
reduce the level of perceived threat to the hearer’s selfimage, such as apologies (Yule, 1996).
This research thus aims to investigate the roleaddress forms may play as speech act modifications,particularly as mitigators or upgraders. Data wascollected at the researcher’s teaching context, aninternational graduate school in rural Niigata, Japan
with a culturally diverse student population. As aresult, this study also aims to examine possible culturaldifferences in speech act usage between different
ethnicities, e.g., different distributions of speech act
usage or use of address forms as modifications. English
as a Lingua Franca is the communication mediumof choice between different ethnicities within theuniversity community, given its significant cultural
diversity. Thus, this study will examine the participants
use of vocatives in their collective L2, English.
The researcher first became interested in this
topic when he noticed that the students from selectnationalities in his particular teaching context would
insist on addressing him by his formal title, even after
he requested that all students refer to him by his first
name. Such use of first names between university
faculty and their students is commonplace in native
English-speaking contexts (Clyne et al., 2009). As
more universities in Japan seek to diversify theirstudent bodies through internationalization (Agawa,
2011; Shimomura, 2013; Yonezawa, 2011; Yonezawa,
Akiba, & Hirouchi, 2009), more of the faculty and staffof these institutes will come into contact with learners
from different parts of the world. It is hoped that thisresearch will provide these educators with greaterawareness and tolerance of the different linguistic andcultural practices that greater diversity brings to theircollege campuses.

Methods
The data for this research were collected from oneon-one tutorial sessions that the researcher conductedwith each individual participant as an integral partof his or her academic writing courses. Non-scripted
conversations were used in order to ensure that thedata was as authentic and spontaneous as possible(Ishihara & Cohen, 2010). Tutorial sessions with six
international students were recorded and transcribed.
The students came from four different Asian countries;
three came from Afghanistan, one from Kyrgyzstan,
one from Laos, and one from Myanmar. The tutorials
ranged from around 23 minutes to 63 minutes inlength, and a total of 4.4 hours of conversation wasrecorded and transcribed. The transcriptions werethen analyzed, and turns where students used a formof address aimed at the researcher (in all six cases,
the formal title “professor” was used) were marked
and categorized in terms of which speech acts they
represented. The following types of speech acts were
found to have been used by the participants: acceptance,
apologies, disagreements, excuses, focusing, requests,
statements, and thanking. Brief descriptions ofthese speech acts are provided below, along with anillustrative example taken from the research data set.
Pseudonyms for participants’ names were used in theexamples to protect their identities.

AcceptanceIn this type of speech act, one of the interlocutors
accepts the opinion, suggestion, or advice of anotherinterlocutor. An example of this speech act appears
below involving the researcher and the participantfrom Myanmar:John:

Yeah, you absolutely need to cite those sources.
You’re gonna have to do that later on. And

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Mondejar

Thiri:

then also, I recommend using more cohesion
here.
Yes, professor.

Apology
In an apology, the speaker has recognized that he or she
has violated a social norm and thereby caused the hearer
to lose face. As a result, the speaker attempts to placate
the hearer (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984). Here is an
example of an apology involving the participant from
Laos:

John:

essentials, for example, the grammar andsomething. And now in speaking, I am ok.
In case of writing, it’s really, I don’t know…
you are just writing something that you are
speaking.
That I can completely understand. That is very
true, and I can see that a lot of the students
in our classes…they’re very good at speaking.
Reading, writing are areas they need to workon.

Focusing
Lari:

Sorry, professor. This one, I don’t have. I don’tknow what it is.

Disagreement

In this type of speech act, the speaker draws theattention of the hearer to a particular point which thetwo interlocutors are discussing. This example involves
the researcher and the participant from Myanmar:

According to Sifianou (2012), disagreement is“the expression of a view that differs from that

Thiri:

expressed by another speaker [and] is mostly seen
as confrontational” (p. 1554). Disagreement isthus a strong face threatening act. An example of adisagreement involving one of the Afghan participants
appears as follows:
John:

So…your main idea should summarize all
three points. Ok?
Babrak: Yes, professor, as you say that this indicates
three points, I think these three points areincluded in my summary.

ExcuseInterlocutors engage in this speech act when they
provide listeners with reasons in order to save faceafter violating a social norm. Here is an example
where another participant from Afghanistan makes anexcuse:
John:

Zaid:

Ok, I think that’s one thing you can do toimprove your writing here, Zaid, is just add
these transitions in order to connect ideas thatare slightly different from each other.
You know, Professor, my problem is just…
before coming to this university, just we
studied English, just speaking; not the

118 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

John:

Professor, here…uh, this sentence I took fromlecture notes. From here to here.
Ok.

RequestRequests involve the speaker infringing upon therecipient’s freedom from imposition, and often involvethe speaker exposing a need of theirs or potentiallycausing the recipient to lose face (Blum-Kulka, House,& Kasper, 1989). Two types of requests were foundin the data set. The first type of request involved the
speaker seeking information possessed by the recipient,as can be seen in this example involving the participantfrom Myanmar.
John:
Thiri:John:

Ok, “was obtained from statistics bureau”…
Professor, “is obtained” or “was obtained”?
“Was obtained”.

The second type of request involved the speakerasking the hearer to perform some action on behalf ofthe speaker. In the following example, the participantfrom Kyrgyzstan makes such a request at the expenseof the listener:John:

Ok, again this sentence is missing a subject –“Will soon be expanded database and otherapplications to use it to cash transfers.” So…

Vocatives in Speech Acts, pages 116-121
Rustam: Yes. “Will soon be expanded database andother…to use it to cash transfers.” What do
you think, Professor? I don’t know. Please
help me.

Statement
Participants were found to occasionally use formal
address forms when stating facts to the researcher. An
example provided by the participant from Myanmar
appears as follows:
Thiri:

Professor, some sentence and some idea I
took from lecture notes.

Thanking
The final speech act category to appear in this data set
was thanking, where the speaker expresses appreciation
for something the hearer has said or done on his or her
behalf. Here is an example involving the third and final
participant from Afghanistan:
John: Actually, you had one of the better summaries.
Aasif: Thank you, professor.

Results
The results of the analysis are summarized in Table
1. According to the results, participants utilized theformal address form ‘professor’ in a total of 98 speechacts. In the data set, vocatives were frequently used byparticipants in potentially face-threatening acts suchas requests for information (29 tokens), requests foraction (12), and disagreements (8). These results may
lend credence to the notion that vocatives, particularly
formal ones such as titles, are often used as mitigators(Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984; Ishihara & Cohen,
2010; Yule, 1996), or linguistic devices to soften theimpact of the speaker’s imposition on the hearer’s face.
This is in line with their primary function to maintainthe relationship between two interlocutors, as notedby Leech (1999).
Address forms also seemed to be common in
speech acts that indicate deference to the listener,
namely thanking (14), acceptance (8), and apologies(6). Thus, formal address forms may also be used as
upgraders (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984; Ishihara& Cohen, 2010), in this case indicating a high level ofrespect for the hearer. Such upgraders could increase
the positive potential impact of the speech act on thelistener.
Finally, address forms also appeared to be frequent
in statements (11) and focusing (6) speech acts.
Their use here seems to be more indicative of theirtraditionally-noted use as a device for summoning
attention, or “alerting somebody to the fact that he or
she is being addressed” (Leech, 1999, p. 108).
Looking at the distribution of vocative use
among the nationalities examined, the three Afghanparticipants had cumulatively used vocatives in 28

Table 1
Vocative Distribution by Nationality and Speech Act
Request Request
Acceptance Apology Disagreement Excuse Focusing (info) (action) Statement Thanking Total

Name

Country

Aasif

Afghanistan

BabrakAfghanistan

Zaid

Afghanistan

RustamKyrgyzstan

2

Lari

Laos

1

Thiri

Myanmar

4

Total

3
1

2
2

8

4

6

6

1

8

1
2

2

1
2

1

2

3

3

12

2

7

2

9

1

8

1

1

6

5

3

3

27

1

4

14

2

7

3

35

4

6

29

12

11

14

98

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119Mondejar
speech acts, the Kyrgyz participant 8 times, the Laoparticipant 27 times, and the Myanmar participant 35
times. Among the Afghan participants, the frequent
use of address forms in potentially-contentious
disagreements could be notable; seven out of the eightoccurrences of disagreements with vocatives were
performed by the Afghans. In follow-up interviews,
one Afghan (Babrak) indicated that this phenomenon
could be at least partially attributed to pragmatictransfer (Beebe, Takahashi, & Uliss-Weltz, 1990) fromAfghan culture:
Whenever we are showing respect, especially for
professors, never we call the name…or if he has
PhD, ‘doctor’, something like that.
We have argument a lot between each other…
our discussion mostly is based on argument. We
do not accept directly. If they disagree, until the
person show the proof, [the other] will not accept
it. So they needs more clarification in everything,so that’s why they always have argument.
Thus, the Afghan cultural practices of showing
respect to higher authorities through the persistent useof titles and engaging in argumentative conversation are
possibly transferred from their first language practices
to their use of English. This transfer may explain theseparticipants’ frequent use of formal address forms in
potentially face threatening acts such as disagreements.
The two Southeast Asian participants (from Laosand Myanmar, respectively) also indicated that respect
for people in positions of higher authorities is often
shown through the use of titles or honorifics. For
example, according to an interviewed student from
Myanmar:In our culture we have to accept this…we nevercall [teachers by] name directly; we just put oo or
tou and we give a respect to him or her. That’s why
we hesitate to call you [by your first name]. Yougive a permission to call you [by your first name]but we hesitate to call you [by your first name].
Thus, the Lao and Myanmar participants’ useof titles may also be the result of pragmatic transfer(Beebe et al., 1990). This, combined with the Lao

120 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

participant’s use of titles in both types of requests (11)and apologies (6), and the Myanmar participant’s inrequests (16), could provide support for the notionthat vocatives, particularly formal ones such as titles,
can be used as mitigating devices in face-threatening
acts.

Conclusion
This exploratory study examined the use of address
forms, particularly formal ones such as titles, as
modifications to speech acts. The results indicatethat address forms may be used as mitigators in facethreatening acts such as disagreements or requests,
and as upgraders in speech acts such as acceptance,
apologies, and thanking. A comparison of speech
act use among different nationalities was performed;
while all six participants in the study seemed touniversally favor utilizing address forms as mitigators
in requests, the Afghans in particular also appeared
to use address forms to mitigate disagreements ininteractions. The usage of address forms in mitigating
and upgrading speech acts seems to be at least partiallybased on transfer from the user’s cultural and linguistic
background.
The study has some limitations, in particular thesmall number of participants (6). With such a small
number of participants, it would be hard to eliminate
individual preferences in speaking patterns. Thus, it may
be difficult to generalize the results to the larger culturalgroups which the participants represent. Examining
the patterns of vocative use among a larger number ofparticipants from each of the aforementioned culturalgroups could provide more generalizable results, which
is a potential topic for future research.

References
Agawa, N. (2011). The internationalization of Japan’shigher education: Challenges and evolution.
Repères Campus France, 10. Retrieved fromhttp://ressources.campusfrance.org/publi_
institu/agence_cf/reperes/en/reperes_10_en.pdf
Beebe, L. M., Takahashi, T., & Uliss-Weltz, R. (1990).
Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals. In R. C.
Scarcella, E. Anderson, & S. D. Krashen (Eds.),

Vocatives in Speech Acts, pages 116-121
Developing communicative competence in a second
language (pp. 55-73). New York, NY: Newbury
House.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989).
Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and apologies.
Norwood, NJ: Alblex Publishing Corporation.
Blum-Kulka, S., & Olshtain, E. (1984). Requests
and apologies: A cross-cultural study of speech
act realization patterns (CCSARP). Applied
Linguistics, 5(3), 196-213.
Clyne, M., Norrby, C., & Warren, J. (2009).
Language and human relations: Styles of addressin contemporary language. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching andlearning pragmatics. London, England: Pearson
Education.
Joseph, J. E. (1989). [Review of the book Terms ofaddress: Problems of patterns and usage in various
languages and cultures, by Friederike Braun].
Language, 65(4), 852-857.
Leech, G. (1999). The Distribution and Functionof Vocatives in American and British English
Conversation. In H. Hasselggard & S. Oksefjell(Eds.), Out of corpora: Studies in honour of Stig
Johansson (pp. 107-118). Atlanta, GA: Rodophi.
Shimomura, H. (2013, September 2). Global 30
universities. The Japan Times, pp. B1-B6.
Sifianou, M. (2012). Disagreements, face andpoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics, 44(12), 15541564.
Yonezawa, A. (2011). The internationalization ofJapanese higher education: Policy debates andrealities. In S. Marginson, S. Kaur, & E. Sawir(Eds.), Higher education in the Asia-Pacific:
Strategic responses to Globalization (pp. 329-342).
Dordecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Yonezawa, A., Akiba, H., & Hirouchi, D. (2009).
Japanese university leaders’ perceptions ofinternationalization: The role of government
in review and support. Journal of Studies inInternational Education, 13(2), 125-142.
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.

Author’s Biography:
Michael Mondejar is an Assistant Professor at the International University of Japan, Niigata.
His research interests include academic writing instruction and cross-cultural pragmatics. He hasreceived his MA in TESOL at Teachers College, Columbia University.

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121

The Japanese Elementary School Foreign Language
Program From an ALT’s Perspective

Samuel Edward Muller
Yatsushiro Board of Education
B_diplomat@yahoo.com.au
Japanese elementary school English teaching has been designed to provide external motivation to
study a language other than Japanese in secondary school. Students in 5th/6th grade study English
once a week with assistant language teachers (ALT) based on a textbook. This article will give an
idea of what classes are like from the ALT’s perspective. It will focus on good and bad points of the
program and possible future directions.
日本の小学校で英語を教えることは小学校で言葉を学習するためによりやるきを持たせる
ように計画されりました。五年生と六年生は一週に一回に外国語指導助手（ALT）と教科
書で英語を勉強をします。
これからこのエッセイはALTの考えをもとに書きます。私は英語の授業の良い物と悪い物と将来を書きます。

The Ministry of Education, Sports and Technology(MEXT) introduced the compulsory foreign
language program (FLP) for Japanese elementary
schools in 2012. Students in grades five and six study
about foreign languages and culture once a week. The
class can be taught by a lone homeroom teacher or ahomeroom teacher working with an assistant language
teacher (ALT). The textbook Hi Friends! was designed
by MEXT to be used in the classroom. It is notmandatory. In Kumamoto prefecture it is the favoured
textbook. The subject is not graded and could be any
language but is usually English. MEXT’s (2011) goals
for the subject are fourfold:
1. Serve as a foundation for communication
abilities through foreign languages
2. Help students develop an understanding
Muller, S. E. (2015). The Japanese elementary school
foreign language program from an ALT’s perspective.
In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The
2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 122-133).
Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

122 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedingsof languages and cultures through various
experiences
3. Fosterapositive
attitudetowardcommunication
4. Familiarize pupils with the sounds and basic
expressions of foreign languages.
The subject as it is now is very different to what
it was five years ago and will change again in 2020 tofocus on proficiency rather than motivation. While
three of the four seem to focus on proficiency the third
goal is emphasised above all others in the schoolingsystem.
This article will look at the FLP in Japaneseelementary schools from the perspective of the ALTs,
discussing merits of the programme as well as potential
issues those involved in the programme face. As an
ALT myself teaching in multiple Japanese elementary
schools, I can articulate how the programme as
proscribed by MEXT is working on the ground level.
At the time of the survey I was unaware of anyplans to change the program. However, since thenI have found that MEXT is planning to change theJapanese Elementary School Foreign Language Program, pages 122-133
program to focus on communication proficiency by
2020.

checking for discrepancies.

Results and Discussion

Participants and Method

The Curriculum

A 4-part electronic survey (see Appendix A) about
the FLP was created using Microsoft Excel andshared via email link with the nearly 200 ALTs in
Kumamoto Prefecture on the Japanese Exchange andTeaching ( JET) programme in January 2014. The
JET programme gathers native English speakers fromall around the world and places them with Boards ofEducation all over Japan. There they become ALTs
assigned to elementary schools, middle schools
and high schools. Seven ALTs responded and theirbiographical data is in Table 1. The respondents’
educational background is typical of ALTs throughout
Kumamoto. Typically an ALT will either stay for two
years or do the full five years allowed them by theircontracting organisation.
The survey investigated the following areas:
purpose of the course, textbook, homeroom teacher,and future of the program. Participants were asked
to respond to statements using a 5-point Likert scale
where 5 indicated significant agreement, 4 agreement,
3 neither agree nor disagree, 2 disagreement, and1 significant disagreement. Participants were also
requested to write a comment about each of thestatements on the survey. Once compiled I examinedthe data for points of consensus to build a general
picture of their combined opinions while also

With one fifty minute lesson a week and no expectation
to give homework the curriculum is fairly basic,
covering a reasonably limited range of vocabulary andphrases. Over a two year span, students study sixteen
phrases and around one hundred vocabulary items(see Appendix B and C for the Hi Friends! table ofcontents). The goal of fostering a positive attitude isaddressed in the curriculum through activities andresources aimed at students enjoying themselves andbecoming comfortable with foreign language lessons.
The goals of increasing the students’ grammar andvocabulary are addressed in the curriculum by having
targeted phrases, vocabulary and chants.
The survey results regarding the purpose of thecourse can be seen in Table 2. Almost all of thosesurveyed strongly agreed that students had a positive
view of Gaikokugo. Although, as one of the ALTs
qualified: “It really depends on the student and theteacher. Some kids seem to love English class. Very few
seem to hate it. But the kind of atmosphere created by
the homeroom teacher and ALT is critical.”As mentioned in the introduction, the goals thatis emphasised as the most important in the FLP is forthe students to have a positive attitude towards foreign
language learning. When asked if this was being
achieved almost all of those surveyed agreed that theTable 1
Participant Bio-Data

ALTAssignment

GenderYear as an ALT

Educational BackgroundA

Municipal

Male

5Bachelor of Education

B

Municipal

Male

4

Bachelor of International Studies

C

Municipal

Female2

Bachelor of Arts

D

Rural

Male

3

Bachelor of International Studies

E

Rural

Male

4

Bachelor of International Business

F

Rural

Male

4

Bachelor of Graphic Design

G

Rural

Female2

Bachelor of International Studies

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

123MullerTable 2
Purpose of the Course

Item

SD

D

Elementary school students have a positive view of foreign language
study.

NA

2

5

Elementary school students enjoy Gaikokugo.

611

Elementary School students have a positive view of foreign cultures.

1

3

2

Elementary school students are able to have basic conversation after
the course.

5

1

1

students had positive feelings towards the FLP. Thosethat indicated neutrality on the subject commented
that, while the goal was being achieved, the positivity
is directed towards Western countries and students
may not feel the same way towards other foreigncountries. As one of the respondents explained,
That depends on a lot of things. One being theirparents, or significant influential figures. I often
get the question, “What country do you hate?”
And when I answer “I love them all; whichcountry do you hate?” Students sometimes
answer North Korea or China. Not at all becauseof their own opinions or experiences with saidcountry; but based on bad news spread by theirparents or others.
This casts doubt on one of the goals of the FLP.
Little is done in the programme to foster positivity
towards nations other than English speaking ones,
unless the ALT’s do so on their own initiative.

The Hi Friends! Textbook
The Hi Friends! textbook (Mext 2012a, 2012b) is thecore of the curriculum in Kumamoto prefecture. Eachchapter consists of new vocabulary, target question
and answer sentences, one or two listening activities, achant and a main activity. The main activity is usually
an interview activity where students have to ask a large
number of other students the target question. The
textbook focuses solely on the macro skills speaking
and listening. Included with the textbook is a DVDROM. This resource is designed to be used with theassumption that there is no ALT present. It includes a

124 The 2014 PanSIG Conference ProceedingsSAwide range of sound bites for students to repeat afterand videos for students to learn more about foreigncultures. A teacher with no English ability could use
this DVD-ROM to teach English pronunciation andphrases. However, within Kumamoto prefecture, there
is limited homeroom teacher training regarding the
textbook or the use of the DVD-ROM. Thus, while
it is a good resource it often goes unused when thehomeroom teacher is the main teacher.
The results of the survey in regards to the textbook
can be seen in Table 3. Two points become clear
from these results and the comments made about
the textbook. The first was that while the textbook
itself was generally considered to be easy to use, allof those surveyed supplemented the materials with
their own activities. Secondly, although respondents
had different opinions with regards to the statement“I enjoy using the textbook” the majority of thosesurveyed disagreed with the statement “I would preferto teach without the textbook.”
In regards to the first point, one ALT summed
up the feeling saying, “The things printed in the Hi
Friends text alone are by no means supposed to cover
the whole class period. A typical class that follows
the lesson plans recommended by MEXT is about
65% non-textbook activity.” Those surveyed gave two
reasons why the materials needed to be supplemented:
pacing and interest. While a chapter can be done in
one lesson it is not enough time for the students tointernalise the content. For the students to reach thatpoint the chapter needs to be broken down into atleast three lessons: a new vocabulary lesson, a target
sentence lesson, and the main activity lesson. It is tooJapanese Elementary School Foreign Language Program, pages 122-133
Table 3Hi Friends! Textbook.

Item

SD

D

N

A

The textbook is easy to use.

1

1

1

4

4

3

1

4

The textbook contains useful English expressions.
The textbook is interesting.

1

1

I need to add activities to the textbook.
I enjoy using the textbook.

1
3

The textbook is grammatically correct
I regularly use the multimedia features.

2

I would prefer to teach without the textbook.

4

difficult for the students to acquire all the knowledge
and skills necessary to complete the final activity in lessthan three lessons. While it is clear where teachers candivide each lesson, there is not enough content to fill
three full lessons. Thus there is a need to supplement
the materials.
The second reason given for supplementing
the textbook with their own materials was that the
textbook by itself is not that interesting. The tasks inthe textbook are based around interviews, listening,and chanting. In my own experience as an ALT,
students do enjoy these activities, however, only
if there are done with a variety of other activities.
Something worth pointing out from the data is thatthose surveyed who disagreed with the statements“I enjoy using the textbook” and “The textbook isinteresting” also indicated that they didn’t use the
DVD-ROM attached to the textbook. Suggesting thatusing the textbook alone, without the media attached
to it, is difficult for the ALT.
The second point that becomes clear is that while
there was a clear divide between those that found the
textbook enjoyable to use and those that didn’t the
textbook is better than the alternative. The alternative
being not have a textbook and for the ALTs to haveto create the curriculum themselves, from the ground
up. While some ALTs would be confident in such asituation due to a background in education, others

1

3

4

3
3

2

SA

6

2
1

indicated that they would find the task daunting.
Given the divide amongst the respondents in regard
to the popularity of the current textbook it is possiblethat those who disagreed with the statement “I would
prefer not to use the textbook” chose so because
they did not want to teach without any resources. A
textbook offers stability. Given that many of the ALTs
are untrained teachers the textbook is also a life-raft.
One ALT mentioned that he had never taught before
becoming an ALT and he was shocked when he wastold that he had to be the main teacher of the class. Of
the ALTs surveyed only one of them was a qualified
teacher. Before he came to Japan he was an English andSpanish teacher in the USA. Ohtani (2010) explains
the situation in her article:
The ALT requires only a bachelor’s degree in any
field, and requires neither a degree in education,
nor a degree in English. Teaching qualifications
are treated as optional. Consequently, most
ALT teachers do not have sufficient educational
experience or content background to becometeachers. (p. 39)
This is a problem that may need to be remedied in
the future. This could be done by either hiring trainedteachers as ALTs or offering intensive training before
teachers enter the classroom here in Japan.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

125Muller

The Homeroom Teacher and Team
Teaching
Those surveyed made many comments regarding theimpact the homeroom teacher has on the success or
failure of a foreign language class. A good homeroom
teacher is a major presence in the classroom. Similarly
a bad homeroom teacher’s presence is absent or worsecounter-productive. Classes that are consistently
well behaved and engaged in the class materials areusually classes where there is good communicationand teamwork between the homeroom teacher andthe ALT. Similarly poor communication between the
ALT and the homeroom teacher may lead to a classthat consistently misbehaves and is unmotivated. The
problems that can be caused by bad communication
between ALTs and homeroom teachers can be divided
into two categories: discipline and participation.
Discipline. ALTs are specifically told that disciplineis the homeroom teacher’s responsibility. This is
fortunate since many ALTs are untrained teachers andwould not know how to maintain good classroom
management. Almost all of those surveyed indicatedthat order and discipline in their classroom was being
maintained by the homeroom teacher. However, oneof the major reasons given by the respondents for low
motivation or lack of attention by students in theclassroom was the inability of the homeroom teacher
to control the class. An ALT’s authority stems in partfrom the homeroom teacher. If a class does not respect
the homeroom teacher it is that much harder for the
ALT to teach effectively. Fortunately, these are rarecases and most of those surveyed indicated that orderand discipline was maintained by their homeroom

teacher. Another aspect of discipline which can havea negative effect on the classroom is when homeroom
teachers give students more freedom than usual andignore behaviour they would ordinarily discipline
because the students are meant to have fun in the FLP.
While not as bad as the first scenario, this situation caneventually lead to a similar situation in which students
are unmotivated and uninterested.
Participation. A major part of classroom
management is lesson facilitation. The best homeroom
teachers I have worked with also helped facilitate thelesson. While ALTs may have great lesson plans, they
may not know how to implement them effectively.
In my experience a good homeroom teacher will step
forward and say something when they see a better way
to do something, or see that the ALT missed giving
an instruction. Facilitation also comes in the form ofparticipation. The homeroom teacher is the language
learner role model for the students. Therefore, it isimportant for the homeroom teacher to be activein the class. As one respondent commented, “If thestudents see the teacher repeating with them it gives
them confidence.” While there are homeroom teachers
who have a high level of English ability, it is morecommon for ALTs to be partnered with teachers who
can only speak a little bit of English. The students
know their teacher’s English speaking proficiency, but
if they see the teacher trying in the lesson they will
also be more willing to participate themselves. On theother hand, when students hear their teacher saying
they cannot do something in English or saying English
is hard it saps their motivation.
All of those surveyed all made some mention

Table 4
Team Teaching

Item

SD%

D%

N%

I plan and implement lessons.
The homeroom teacher team teaches with me

1

My homeroom teacher maintains order in my classes.
My homeroom teacher teaches Gaikokugo when I’m not there.
I would appreciate ALT homeroom Teacher training outside of school.

126 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

1
1

2

2

A%

SA%

3

4

3
4

4
1

2
1

4

2

Japanese Elementary School Foreign Language Program, pages 122-133
of how important it is for the homeroom teacherand ALT to team teach. How well the class goesoften depends on the homeroom teacher and ALT’s
relationship. Therefore, having a comfortable working
relationship is an essential part of the success or failureof the program.

The Future of the Program
The findings of the survey seem to indicate that theforeign language program does at least an adequate
job of building interest and promoting positivity
towards learning foreign languages as well as laying
a foundation for continued language education.
The final section of the survey focused on how the
respondents felt the program needed to improve inorder to better develop students’ actual ability tocommunicate in a foreign language. The results can beseen in Table 5. As part of the Japanese government’s
globalisation by 2020 plan this goal will be added to
the FLP programme (Mext, 2014).
The most telling result here is that all thosesurveyed said the course would have to be changed
to meet this new goal. From this we can see that thecurrent program is considered inadequate by ALTs forbuilding students’ ability in the English language. Two
reasons were given: time and content. There simply
aren’t enough classes a week for students to improvetheir English. If improving students’ communicative
abilities was added as a goal, more classes would need
to be added. The second reason given was a problem
with the content of the classes. Almost all thosesurveyed mentioned the need for more phrases andgrammar. The one ALT who disagreed with the needto increase the amount of grammar being taught
mentioned that he only disagreed because the word
grammar has a negative connotation.
One of the aspects of the foreign language
program that the ALTs universally agree is a goodthing is its communicative approach. There is a fearthat any change to the program will shift it towards
something more like the Japanese middle school modelof English education which has little to no focus on
speaking and listening or communication activities.
Yuka Amaki (2008) used online surveys distributed
to current and former ALTs across Japan to investigate
their perspectives on middle and high school English
education in Japan and found that 47% of the 282
respondents felt that a weakness of the middle school
system was the lack of focus on oral communication.
Another telling point is the response to thestatement “Homeroom teachers and ALTs would needto have additional training.” In Kumamoto prefecture
there is only one day a year devoted to professional
development in English as a foreign language for

Table 5
Shifting From Motivation to Ability

Item

SD

D

N

S

SA

The course would need more grammar focus

1

2

4

The course should maintain its communicative approach

1

3

3

The course would need more variety of phrases

2

5

The course wouldn’t need to be changed

3

4

The course would need more lesson time1

Homeroom teachers and ALTs would need to have additional
training

2

4

3

3

They would need more ALTs

1

2

4

They would need to hire Japanese teachers of English for Elementary
School1

3

1

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

2127Mullerhomeroom teachers, ALTs, and Japanese English
teachers. While this may be sufficient for the JapaneseEnglish teachers who have studied how to teachEnglish as a foreign language, it is the opinion of thosesurveyed that it is inadequate to prepare elementary
school homeroom teachers to teach English as aforeign language. With some exceptions, neither
the homeroom teacher nor the ALTs are trained
English teachers. This will have to change when the
programme shifts to focus on communicative ability.

Conclusion
The conclusion of the survey was that the ALTs who
participated felt that the foreign language program
had more merits than difficulties. Generally speaking
they felt that it was an enjoyable experience for the
students and that their students come to look forward
to their English language classes. Most felt that, while
the program will not make the students proficient inEnglish, it does build students’ confidence in theircommunication abilities. Also, students do come outof the program knowing a few English phrases andbeing able to recognise the alphabet. Thus the programis meeting the goals set by the government that were
outlined earlier in this article. However, all of thosesurveyed also agreed that the program also has someproblems. These include lack of teacher training andthe possibility of a communication breakdown in theclassroom between the ALT and homeroom teacher
means which could result in some of the programs
goals not being met in that classroom.
With regards to the future of the FLP, I was
pleased to see in the 2020 document that there areplans to increase the number of classes and makeEnglish language an official subject in Elementary
School. That said there are concerns with these futureplans. If the plan is to have ALTs attending every classthere will either need to be a significant increase in
ALTs otherwise. Alternatively there will need to be
more homeroom teacher training.

References
Amaki, Y. (2008). Perspectives on English educationin the Japanese public school system: The viewsof foreign assistant language teachers (ALTs).
Educational Studies in Japan: International
Yearbook, 3, 53-63.
MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science, and Technology). (2011). Shougakkou
gakushuushidouyouryou [gaikokugo katsudou]
eiyaku han (kayaku) [Elementary school
government course guidelines (foreign language
activities) English translation version (tentativetranslation)]. Retrieved from http://www.mext.
go.jp/component/ english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/
2011/03/17/1303755_011.pdf
MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology). (2012a) Hi Friends 1.
Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo Shoseki.
MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology). (2012b) Hi Friends 2.
Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo Shoseki.
MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science, and Technology). (2014) English
Education Reform Plan corresponding to
Globalisation. Retrieved from http://www.
mext.go.jp/english/topics/__icsFiles/
afieldfile/2014/01/23/1343591_1.pdf
Ohtani, C. (2010). Problems in the assistantlanguage teacher system and English activity inJapanese public elementary schools. Educational
Perspectives, 43, 38-45.

Author’s Biography:
Sam Muller is an ALT in Yatsushiro city in Kumamoto prefecture. He has a diploma in middle
years education; a Masters in Linguistics and TESOL; and a CELTA. He has been teaching atfour elementary schools and one middle school for the past three years. Before teaching in Japanhe taught adults from countries around the world English in Australia.

128 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Japanese Elementary School Foreign Language Program, pages 122-133

Appendix A
Japanese Elementary School Gaikokugo Program Survey
Mark either strongly disagree, disagree, neither, agree or strongly agree and make a comment where necessary.

Purpose of the Course

SD

Disagree Neither

Agree

SA

SD

Disagree Neither

Agree

SA

Elementary school students have a positive view of foreign
language study.
Comments:

Elementary school students enjoy Gaikokugo.
Comments:

Elementary School students have a positive view offoreign cultures.
Comments:

Elementary school students are able to have basic
conversation after the course.
Comments:

Hi Friends Textbook
The textbook is easy to use.
Comments:

The textbook contains useful English expressions.
Comments:

The textbook is interesting.
Comments:

I need to add activities to the textbook.
Comments:

I enjoy using the textbook.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

129Muller
Comments:

The textbook is grammatically correct
Comments:

I regularly use the multimedia features.
Comments:

I would prefer to teach without the textbook.
Comments:

Working with Homeroom Teachers
I plan and implement lessons.
Comments:

The homeroom teacher team teaches with me
Comments:

My homeroom teacher maintains order in my classes.
Comments:

My homeroom teacher teaches Gaikokugo when I’m notthere.
Comments:

I would appreciate ALT HOMEROOM TEACHER
training outside of school.
Comments:

130 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

SD

Disagree Neither

Agree

SA

Japanese Elementary School Foreign Language Program, pages 122-133

Future of the Course
If the goal of the course was to shift from motivation to ability in English:
SD

Disagree Neither

Agree

SA

The course would need more grammar focus
Comments:

The course should maintain its communicative approach
Comments:

The course would need more variety of phrases
Comments:

The course wouldn’t need to be changed
Comments:

The course would need more lesson time
Comments:

Homeroom teachers and ALTs would need to haveadditional training
Comments:

They would need more ALTs
Comments:

They would need to hire Japanese teachers of English for
Elementary School

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings131Muller

Appendix B

132 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Japanese Elementary School Foreign Language Program, pages 122-133

Appendix C

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings133

Developing a Student-Planned Study Abroad Program

Mike Nix

Hisako Kodama

Ryo ItoChuo University
mikenix1@tamacc.chuo-u.ac.jp

Chuo University
amaranth86745741@gmail.com

Chuo University
a12.4cx4@g.chuo-u.ac.jp

Yumi So

Nozomu Kawashima

Chuo University
ctw_ee_vcdl@yahoo.co.jp

Chuo University
gnd0715@yahoo.co.jp

This paper reports on a new study abroad program, “Investigating Diversity, Human Rights, andCivil Society in Japan and Australia”, that is being developed by the Chuo University Faculty of Law
in collaboration with the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) at Sydney University.
In the first section of the paper, a program coordinator at Chuo explains the principles of agency,
engagement and dialogue informing the design of the program and then discusses some issues raised
in a pilot program by this attempt to develop a student-directed, research-focused and fieldworkbased approach to study abroad. The four student participants in the pilot then discuss what
they learned from their own individual research projects, as well as the process of arranging andconducting their own fieldwork in Sydney, on: the repatriation of Ainu and Aboriginal ancestral
remains; health issues for asylum seekers; refugee resettlement; and LGBT activism and media
coverage.
この論文は、中央大学と、シドニー大学平和紛争研究センター（CPACS）
が共同で開発した新しいプログラム「日本とオーストラリアにおける、多文化主義・人権・市民社会の調査」
について報告する。本稿の第一部では、中央大学のプログラムコーディネーターが、プログ
ラムの企画について述べ、機関、取り組み、
そして対話という論点について説明する。
その後、学生主体、研究中心、フィールドワークを基礎とした留学へのアプローチという今回の試みによって、パイロットプログラムの中で提起された、いくつかの論点を検討する。次に、パイロットプログラムに参加した4人の学生が、各自のリサーチプロジェクトから学んだことを、シドニーのフィールドワークを手配し実施することから学んだことと併せて、考察する。
リサーチプロジェクト：アイヌとアボリジニの先祖の遺骨帰還、庇護希望者の健康問題、難民の再定住、LGBT活動とメディア報道

This paper reports on a new study abroad program,“Investigating Diversity, Human Rights, and Civil
Nix, M., Kodama, H., Ito, R., So, Y, & Kawashima, N.
(2015). Developing a student-planned study abroad
program. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
134-140). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

134 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Society in Japan and Australia”, being developed by
the Chuo University Faculty of Law and the Centre
for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) at Sydney
University. Reflecting on the pilot program in
2013/14, one of the coordinators at Chuo first outlines
some issues raised by this attempt to create a studentdirected, research-focused and fieldwork-based
study abroad program. The four student participants

Developing a Student-planned Study Abroad Program, pages 134-140
then discuss what they learned from their individual
research projects, and from arranging and conducting
their own fieldwork in Sydney, on: repatriation of
Ainu and Aboriginal ancestral remains; health issues
for asylum seekers; refugee resettlement; and LGBT
activism and media coverage. As well as indicating
the challenges faced by students in doing fieldwork in
English, these contributions show the importance forthe students of developing comparative knowledgeof their issues in Japan and Australia and focusing
their research questions before going to Sydney, how
their fieldwork interviews and meetings built on theInternet-based research they had done in Japan, andhow they could also learn in a less structured way fromjust ‘being there’ in Sydney.

Mike Nix — Issues in Student-centred,
Fieldwork-based Study Abroad
The “Investigating Diversity, Human Rights and Civil
Society in Japan and Australia” program is designed
to break with, “top-down, classroom-based templates
for study abroad…explor[ing instead] a praxis forlearning about and building peace with justice basedon the principles of agency, engagement and dialogue”(Nix, M. & Blanchard L., with Ito, R., Kawashima, N.,
Kodama, S. and So, Y, 2014, p. 21). The pilot program
consisted firstly of a semester of self-directed, mostlyinternet-based research, by the student participants
at Chuo University on their research issues in both
Japan and Australia. This was followed by a week offieldwork research in Sydney, including interviews andvisits to NGOs, human rights activists and academics,
arranged and conducted by the students themselves.
The pilot raised a number of important issues about
the implementation of the principles of agency,
engagement and dialogue in future programs that I will
now overview briefly.
One important insight is that agency in fieldwork
also requires substantial reflection if it is to produce
significant development and transformation ofknowledge through research. Students had up to
five individual interviews, as well as group fieldwork
activities, during the week and as a result not enoughtime to adequately review, discuss or make senseof their learning. We also found that preparing forfieldwork in Sydney in a way that enables students
to really engage with their interviewees requires theintegrated development of i) knowledge about theirissue, the organizations they visit, and Australiansociety, ii) relationships with partners at CPACS
and the organizations and activists we visit infieldwork, and iii) language and literacy for doing
fieldwork effectively in English (an under-emphasizedcomponent in the pilot). One other crucial realizationis that developing dialogue with these various
partners requires the Chuo students to develop expert
knowledge about their issues in the Japanese context
so that they can engage in an exchange of knowledge
during fieldwork. Another lesson from the pilot is theextremely valuable role that graduate student mentors
at CPACS can play in supporting the Chuo students,
not just by providing local knowledge and help with
conducting interviews, but also as near peer rolemodels of becoming-expert researchers and as criticalbut non-judgmental discussants of the Chuo students’research, roles that teachers cannot play so well. These
principles and issues are illustrated in the accounts
that follow by the four student participants of theirown research projects and learning on the program.

Hisako Kodama — Repatriation ofAncestral Remains for Aboriginal
and Ainu People
In this section, I look at some key differences thatmy research on the return of ancestral remains toindigenous people in Japan and Australia highlighted,
relating to the overall awareness of indigenous
people in society, to the contribution of museums
and universities in repatriation, and to the role ofindigenous people themselves in decision-making
about repatriation. At the start of my research, I wasinterested in the legal aspects of the repatriation ofancestral remains, because in Japan, more than 1,600
Ainu remains are kept by universities, and, in one
case, several Ainu people have taken legal action for
the return of their ancestral remains from Hokkaido
University (Scott, 2013). In Australia, by contrast,
more than 7,200 indigenous remains are being or have
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

135Nix et al.
been repatriated. I wanted to know why Aboriginal
people have been able to negotiate with museums anduniversities without taking legal action and to learn
from the Australian situation how Ainu people canalso have their remains returned. During my fieldwork
in Sydney, I met Philip Gordon, Aboriginal Heritage
Project Officer at the Australian Museum, Denise
Donlon, Curator of the J.L. Shellshear Museum andMatt Poll, Curator of the Indigenous Heritage andRepatriation Project, the latter two both located at
the University of Sydney. I also visited La Perouse
Aboriginal community in Botany Bay, where someancestral remains have been repatriated with support
from the Australian Museum and the Shellshear
Museum.
The biggest contrast I found is the degree ofrecognition of differences between indigenous people
and other people in Japan and Australia, which I
had no idea about until I went to Sydney. In Japan,
Ainu people seem distant and vague for most otherpeople, or are thought to have already disappeared.
But in Australia, Aboriginal people are a much closer,
current issue. Visiting a Blue Mountains preschool,
where children learn about indigenous issues, I
understood how greater awareness of Aboriginalissues has developed in Australia. Philip Gordon said
that most people in Sydney know about indigenous
issues and have their own views on indigenous people
and policy, whether for or against. However, mostJapanese people, who have less opportunity to learn
about Ainu people and other minorities who livein Japan, have not taken this step, which I think is anecessary preparation phase for repatriation based onnegotiation.
I also learned in Sydney about the active role ofmuseums and universities in the repatriation process.
In the repatriation of remains to La Perouse, theAustralian Museum helped locate keeping places in
the community, and the Shellshear Museum helped
identify whether the remains came from the La
Perouse area. In Japan, direct cooperation between
Ainu people and universities is difficult because,
although the Ministry of Education has investigated
the situation of Ainu remains at universities, policy
decisions on Ainu issues, including repatriation, are

136 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

made by a government council on Ainu issues.
A related point is the participation of indigenous
people, like Philip Gordon and Matt Poll, who workin repatriation processes and organisations at different
levels of society in Australia. The members of theAdvisory Committee for Indigenous Repatriation inAustralia are all Aboriginal or Torres Straits Islander
people but the Government Council for Ainu Policy
Promotion in Japan has few Ainu members, and until
recently had none. The involvement in repatriation
processes of indigenous people themselves isimportant in Japan too for finding a suitable approach
for all interested parties.
Arranging interviews was challenging for me but
I could exchange information with three repatriation
experts about the Aboriginal and Ainu situations, andlearn many points about repatriation in Australia,
which I couldn’t find from secondary research. I also
learned a lot from conversations with Juliet Bennett,
a PhD student at Sydney University, who supported
me in all of my interviews. Fieldwork enabled me tolearn in unexpected places as well, such as throughan impromptu conversation with a group of young
Aboriginal men on a bus.

Ryo Ito — Health Issues of Asylum
Seekers in Japan and Australia
In this project, I researched the health situation of
asylum seekers and the roles of government, NPOs
and NGOs on this issue. I report here on differences
and similarities in the situation in Japan and Australia,
particularly the work of NGOs on this issue and media
coverage of it, and on the impact that meeting refugees
themselves had on my knowledge about asylum
seekers and my sense of connection with them. From
research in Japan, I learned that the biggest healthissues for asylum seekers are mental health problems,caused mainly by persecution and torture in theirhome country, worries about family and the future,and detention in the destination country. Throughmy research, I became interested in how detention
centres worsen health problems, especially in thearea of mental health, because of the lack of freedom(detention is like prison), exercise and privacy, as well

Developing a Student-planned Study Abroad Program, pages 134-140
as poor medical care from centre staff, and the stress ofindefinite detention (Ito, 2004).
My fieldwork in Sydney included meetings with
Pam Blacker, a nurse at the Asylum Seekers Centre,
Safdar Ahmed of the Refugee Art Project andLesley Carnus of the Refugee Language Program.
One expected similarity with Japan is that manyasylum seekers in Australia suffer serious mental
health problems which detention makes worse. One
difference is that Japan only detains men but Australia
detains women and children as well. Another contrast
is that there is no financial support from the Australian
government for asylum seekers’ medical care in thecommunity, until they receive some kind of protection
visa, whereas there is some support in Japan although
it is insufficient. As a result, perhaps, medical support
from NPOs, like the Asylum Seekers Centre, is more
important and widespread in Australia.
The Refugee Art Project provides art classes
for detainees at the Villawood Detention Centre
near Sydney, holds exhibitions of refugees’ art, andpublishes art “zines” by refugees. Its organizer, Safdar
Ahmed, said that art is useful as therapy but cannot
cure the problems of asylum seekers in detention,
because the basic problem is detention itself. However,art can give asylum seekers a voice and raise publicawareness of their stories, which are not generally
reported in the media.
I also talked to asylum seekers themselves at theLanguage Program and Blue Mountains Refugee
Support Group. Before this, I had seen refugees
just as people in the news fleeing from poverty who
had no connection to me. I had no knowledge of
their individual histories so they seemed to live in adifferent world. I realized from talking with them thatthey are ordinary people not so different from me,
and that many refugees are well-educated, somethingthat I had not known because of the negative media
coverage. Many people only know about refugees
through hostile or inaccurate media coverage, and do
not hear the actual voices and experiences of asylum
seekers. So I have learned from my fieldwork thatchances to actually talk to asylum seekers, and projects
like Refugee Art Project that help them have a voice,are very important for changing the understanding of

refugees and their situation.
Meeting refugees was more positive for me thandoing formal fieldwork interviews with NPO staff.
Interviews were very difficult to conduct in English
because I lacked knowledge of technical terms, suchas names of diseases, and basic knowledge about theorganizations. I could learn from this experience,
though, because I felt like an outsider in Australia andcould sympathize with refugees who had language
problems.

Yumi So — Resettlement Programsfor Refugees in Australia and JapanThe launch of the Japanese refugee resettlement
program in 2010 is significant both because Japan
accepts so few other refugees and because it is thefirst Asian country to create a program of this kind
(Simone, 2012). Australia, by contrast, has a refugee
resettlement program with a long history, that accepts
a large number of refugees, and is well-developed(as opposed to its harsh treatment of asylum seekers
arriving without refugee status). The aim of myresearch was to find out what Japan can learn from
Australia’s resettlement system, particularly in termsof collaboration between government and civil society
organizations, and language support, two aspectsof the Japanese program that have been criticized.
Following up on comparative research in Japan about
the Australian and Japanese programs, my fieldwork
in Sydney included visits to two resettlement
organizations, Settlement Services International andAuburn Diversity Services, as well as the Asylum
Seekers Centre, Refugee Art Project, Refugee
Language Program and Blue Mountains Refugee
Support Group. In this section, I focus on what I
learned about the relationship between government
and NGOs and the role of “former refugees” inrefugee resettlement work, and on language support
for refugees.
The most important insight from my fieldwork is
the much stronger collaboration between governmentand civil society in Australia, and the much greaterrole given to NGOs in the resettlement process.
The Japanese government has been criticized for
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings137

Nix et al.
trying to provide all resettlement support througha semi-governmental organization, the Refugee
Headquarters, and for not providing sufficient
support for refugees. As a result, Japanese civil society
organizations have to support refugees without
receiving government funding (Simone, 2012). The
Australian government, however, funds and works
closely with organizations such as Settlement Services
International and Auburn Diversity Services. Staff
at Settlement Services International explained, forexample, that the government contacts them before
refugees arrive in Australia, which allows them toarrange for somebody who can speak the refugees’
mother tongue to meet them at the airport. I realizedthat this approach effectively combines government
financial support with the skills of workers in civilsociety organizations.
In terms of language support, it is very importantfor newly arrived refugees to have assistance in theirfirst language until they can learn the language ofthe country they settle in. From this perspective,
employing so-called “former refugees” who are fluent
in the language of their country of origin or ethnicity
at refugee support organizations seems effective. In
Australia, unlike Japan, many “former refugees” areemployed to assist refugees. Even though this is hardto achieve in Japan, where the number of migrants andrefugees accepted is much lower, I think that Japan
could also aim at this. To learn English, refugees inAustralia can join the Adult Migrant English Program,which provides up to 510 hours of free English training(Australian Government, Department of Immigration
and Border Protection, 2014). The Japanese language
training provided by the settlement program inJapan is less than this, even though refugees generally
arrive knowing no Japanese, and there is no national
language support program for migrants in Japan thatrefugees can benefit from.
It was daunting for me to interview people whoare professionals in the field of helping refugees, but itturned out they were very interested in the situation of
refugees in Japan. Thus, as well as gaining important
information about Australia, I was able to share myknowledge about refugee resettlement in Japan, andI felt I could have interesting discussions with my138 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

interviewees, not just ask them questions about theirwork. Meeting people actually working in settlement
support groups enabled me to learn about the details of
their relationship with the government, and also mademe see for the first time the role “former refugees” playin assisting more recent refugees.

Nozomu Kawashima — LGBT
Activism and Media Coverage inJapan and Australia
In this section, I discuss the role of LGBT (lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender) parades, new formsof Internet-based media, and NGO activism in the
promotion of LGBT rights, especially marriage
equality. From my research before visiting Sydney, I
learned that the situation for LGBT people in Japan isdifficult. Japan does not allow gay marriage and there
is little LGBT activism on this or other issues. The
Tokyo Rainbow Pride LGBT parade is small, and not
well known by people outside the LGBT community.
In 2013, 2100 people participated and 12,000 people
watched the parade ( Japan Times, 2013), which wascovered by web-based media, but not by NHK or themain Japanese newspapers.
In contrast, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi
Gras Parade is supported by the government of New
South Wales, which tries to attract many tourists
to Sydney from all over the world. In 2013, 10,000
people participated in the parade, hundreds ofthousands of people watched it, and it was covered live
by mainstream Australian television.
These differences raised questions for me about
how Mardi Gras in Australia became a national event,and if it contributes to the advancement of gay rights.
I plan to become a journalist so I was particularlyinterested in how the media contributed to thegrowth of Mardi Gras, and whether it had changed
Mardi Gras from politics into entertainment, as somepeople have argued (Copland, n.d.). In my fieldwork
in Sydney, I investigated Mardi Gras’s influence on themarriage equality debate in Australia, and how new
media coverage can support LGBT rights. As well as
attending the Mardi Gras parade, I also interviewed
two LGBT web-based media journalists, Andrew

Developing a Student-planned Study Abroad Program, pages 134-140
Potts and Matt Akersten, the director of the NGO
Australia Marriage Equality, Rodney Croome, and
CPACS Director, Jake Lynch who specializes in Peace
Journalism.
One interesting discovery is that Mardi Grasis still a political protest. In the parade, I saw many“marriage equality” placards or banners, and I could
feel the passion for equality from many people there.
According to Andrew Potts of Gay Star News, many
school kids participate in the parade, which helps
sweep away their stereotypes of LGBT people.
I also learned that the political situation for
marriage equality in Australia is still difficult. Even
though Australia is said to be a “gay friendly country”,
the law does not allow gay people to marry yet.
According to Rodney Croome of Australian Marriage
Equality, “understanding” gay people and “taking
action” for them are different phenomena. Although
60% of Australians support marriage equality, it does
not directly affect the majority of people (who arestraight), so they focus on other problems. That is why
Prime Minister Tony Abbott can avoid dialogue on
marriage equality. However, journalists I interviewed
said that we have to wait longer to see whether Abbott
is going to take action on this issue.
My third finding is that web-based media caninvolve LGBT people in collective action for theirrights. According to Matt Akersten from the Same
Same website, the big advantage of this type of media
is that people can comment easily online so journalists
can get feedback and suggestions from many people.
Ease of Internet access means more LGBT people, andsupporters, can have a voice, learn about LGBT news
around the world, connect among themselves, andkeep advocating for equality in society.
The combination of book-based research in Japanand practical learning via fieldwork in Australia wasreally fruitful. The research in Japan is important, but
experiencing the situation in Australia for myself was
more important because I could make the interesting
discoveries above. Thus, fieldwork research helped
me understand the issues from diverse perspectives.
Participating in the 2014 PanSIG conference wasalso valuable, and helped me arrange my ideas anddiscoveries. Explaining my research was a great

opportunity to spread knowledge and get people
thinking about these issues.

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Australia-Japan Foundation
for their financial support, which made the pilot program
possible.

Notes
The other co-ordinator of the pilot program at Chuo
was Saeko Nagashima. The co-ordinator at CPACS
was Lynda Blanchard and the student mentors at
CPACS were Juliet Bennett, Tim Bryar and Punam
Yadav. Thanks to all of you for making the pilot
program a success.

References
Australian Government, Department of Immigration
and Border Protection. (2014, January 17). Adult
Migrant English Program (AMEP). Retrieved
from http://www.immi.gov.au/living-inaustralia/help-with-english/amep/
Copland, S. (n. d.). The Political History of Mardi
Gras. Fuse Magazine. Retrieved from http://
www.fusemagazine.com.au/index.php/regulars/fuse-features/1094-political-history-of-mardigras
Ito, M. (2004, November 16). Doctor hits
immigration center health care. The Japan Times.
Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
Japan Times. (2013, April 29). Gay pride march kicks
off first ‘Tokyo Rainbow Week’. Retrieved fromhttp://www.japantimes.co.jp/
Nix, M. & Blanchard L., with Ito, R., Kawashima, N.,
Kodama, S. and So, Y. (2014). Innovating Peace
Education Practice. Peace Writes Newsletter, 1,
21-25.
Scott, S. (2013, August 13). Ainu fight for return ofplundered ancestral remains. The Japan Times.
Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.co.jp
Simone, G. (2012, July 17). Refugee groups slam
Japan’s struggling resettlement plan. The Japan
Times. Retrieved from http://www.japantimes.
co.jp
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

139Nix et al.

Authors’ Biographies:
Mike Nix teaches English and Cultural Studies in the Law Faculty at Chuo University and helps
to co-ordinate and develop the Faculty’s “Investigating Diversity, Human Rights, and Civil
Society in Japan and Australia” study abroad programme.
Hisako Kodama graduated from the Division of International Law and Business in the Law
Faculty at Chuo University in March 2015. Her academic interests include comparative culture
among different groups and she is considering doing a Masters Degree outside of Japan in the
future.
Ryo Ito is a fourth-year International Business and Law student in the Law Faculty at Chuo
University. He is interested in international affairs, international law and sustainable development
and he visited NGOs in Indonesia in 2014 as part of the Law Faculty International Internshipprogram.
Yumi So graduated from the Chuo Law Faculty’s Division of International Business and Law
in 2014. She has participated in refugee-related volunteer and internship activities, studied
for a year at Aix-Marseille University, and is currently completing a Masters Degree in Public
International Law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
Nozomu Kawashima is a fourth-year Politics student in the Law Faculty at Chuo University. As
well as the Sydney program, he has completed internships in India and Jamaica, and is currently
studying EU politics and development co-operation at KU Leuven (the University of Leuven), in
Belgium for one year.

140 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Bilingualism in Children: Facts and Fictions

Josh Norman
Shokei University
jnorman1998@yahoo.com
The idea of raising bilingual children is both appealing and possible for more and more families
these days (Rosenberg, 2006). Based on the author’s experience, this paper explores attitudes
toward each language, as expressed by both children and their parents. These attitudes are discussed
in terms of the development of one or both of the languages. After briefly explaining two typesof childhood bilingualism and Taeschner’s bilingual development model, several myths regarding
bilingual acquisition are discussed and opposing viewpoints are given. These include possible
confusion from learning multiple languages at once, code-switching, the best time to start learning
multiple languages, and the one parent-one language policy. This is followed by the author sharing
the real-life hurdles he has encountered thus far while raising his 3-year-old son to become bilingual
in Japanese and English, as well as some helpful ways to encourage bilingualism in young children.
子供をバイリンガルに育てるという考え方は、今日、
ますます多くの家族にとって魅力的で現実的なものとなっている。確かに、バイリンガルに育つことは、今日のグローバル・ビレッ
ジでは有利である。
しかしながら、本人や周囲の人たちが取る取得中の言語への態度は、
その両方または片方の言語の発達に大きな影響を与える可能性がある。本論では、幼児の二カ国語使用の二つのタイプとTaeschnerのバイリンガル開発モデルを概観した後、バイ
リンガル能力の習得にまつわる根拠のない社会通念を取り上げ、その誤りを指摘する。取り上げるのは、同時に多言語を学ぶことによる混乱の可能性、
コードスイッチングの問題、多言語学習を始める時期の問題、及びone-parent-one language (OPOL)の取り組み方である。最後に筆者が3歳の息子を日本語と英語のバイリンガルに育てる中で直面した実生活での問題と、小さな子供のやる気を引き出しバイリンガルにするための有効な方法についても紹介する。

In the United States, according to the U.S. Departmentof Education’s National Center for Education
Statistics (2009), 20% of school-age children between
ages 5-17 spoke a language other than English athome as of 2007. In addition, there are as manybilingual children as there are monolingual children
worldwide (Paradis, Genessee, & Crago, 2011).
Norman, J. (2015). Bilingualism in children: Factsand fictions. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
141-146). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

However, attitudes toward each language expressedby the parents, other family members, the school, thecommunity and especially the children themselves cangreatly affect the development of one or both of thelanguages being learned (Rosenberg, 1996). With thisin mind, it is important to be able to call into questioncommon concerns and deflate outright myths aboutbilingualism that are commonly expressed by thosearound children in bilingual environments when
parents are considering whether or not to raise theirchildren to become bilinguals. After briefly explaining
two types of childhood bilingualism (sequential and
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings141Normanconcurrent) and Taeschner’s bilingual development
model, several myths regarding bilingual acquisition
are addressed. This is then followed by the author
sharing the real-life hurdles he has encountered thus
far while raising his 3-year-old son to become bilingual
in Japanese and English, as well as some helpful ways
to encourage bilingualism in young children.

Two Types of Childhood Bilingualism
Although human beings are able to learn a second
language at any time in their lives, it is generally
accepted that children tend to develop more nativelike pronunciation when learning a second language
before the period of adolescence. This learning of asecond language can be done either simultaneouslywith the first language, or sequentially with thesecond language being learnt after the first language
has already been established (McLaughlin, 1984).
Rosenberg suggests that many researchers use theage of three to separate simultaneous and sequential
language learning (Rosenberg, 1996). De Houwer,
however, looks at other researchers, asserting thatsimultaneous bilingualism takes place in children who
are addressed in two spoken languages before the ageof two and who continue to be regularly addressed inthose languages up until the final stages of learning(De Houwer, 1996).
Sequential bilingualism usually involves learning asecond language formally through school or language
classes. This type of bilingualism occurs not just inyoung children, but is the quintessential way young
adults and older people become proficient in a second
language. However, achieving linguistic competencecomparable to a native speaker is more difficult when
the language is learned after the “critical period”( Johnson & Newport, 1989).
With simultaneous bilingualism, there are fourmain influential factors. The first is the parents’ ability
in one or more of the languages their child is trying
to learn. Sometimes one or both of the parents canonly speak the language of the home and not of thecommunity, which can cause difficulties if the childtries to use the school/community language inside thehome with that particular parent. The second factor iswhat language the parents actually use with the child.

142 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Even if one or both of the parents can speak both ofthe languages that their child is trying to learn, eachparent decides which language to speak with theirchild and in what situations. Another importantfactor is the language(s) that other family members,
especially siblings and grandparents, speak with thechild. Even if one particular language has been decided
as the “home” language by the parents, siblings canoften be found conversing in the school/community
language because that is what they are used to speaking
and hearing most of the day. The final factor is thelanguage(s) that the child uses in the community.
This is not necessarily the same language as that usedin either the home or at school. Children who wantto build bonds with other local community members,
especially children their own age, have special
motivation to make sure they know the language ofthat community in order to feel like they fit in.

Taeschner’s Bilingual Development
Model
Many researchers have attempted to develop amodel to explain the processes involved during
the simultaneous acquisition of two languages
during childhood. However, the most influential isconsidered to be the model proposed by Taeschner(summarized succinctly in Ford, 2001). Taeschner’s
model consists of three phases, with each phaseincluding certain characteristics and varying ages ofchildren. Some children may stay in one phase longer
than other children, and some characteristics mightoverlap between phases.
In the first phase, the child has one lexical system
which represents both languages. In other words, even
if the child knows the same word for something in
two different languages, the child has not made thedistinction at that point in his learning. For instance, achild might use the English word “bread” for the breadhe or she eats at breakfast, but the Japanese word pan(bread) for the rolls eaten during lunch time at nurseryschool. Also, in this phase, a child may blend words
from two (or more) languages by saying such things
as “bread, kudasai” or “pan, please” (both meaning“bread, please”).

Bilingualism in Children: Facts and Fictions, pages 141-146
During the second phase, the child slowly begins
to separate his vocabularies and use the appropriate
language in the appropriate situation. For example, if
each parent speaks their own native language to thechild, usually a child in phase two will respond backusing the same language as the interlocutor. However,the child’s language still often reflects one grammar
system, so several grammatical mistakes can often be
heard, such as “There is book, mine” instead of “Thereis my book.”
In the final phase of language development, thechild has achieved almost complete separation of thetwo languages and will usually speak to others (not justthe parents) in the appropriate language. The child isalso able to more effectively differentiate between thegrammar systems of the two languages he speaks andis more cognizant of the fact they have two distinct
languages at their disposal. This process can sometimes
take several years, depending on the child.

Facts and Fictions
When deciding whether to raise one’s child tobecome a bilingual, there are of course many factors
to consider. Although the advantages of bilingualism(knowing two cultures, better thinking skills, being
able to converse with a wider variety of people, job
opportunities, etc.) have been widely documented(see, for example, Harding-Esch & Riley, 2003)
and seem to easily outweigh the negatives (possible
language confusion, time/cost commitment, etc.),
there are many outright myths that are being clung toeven in today’s information age.
Many parents worry that bilingualism may havea negative effect on their children’s development andquestions about the “side effects” of bilingualism areoften raised (Arnberg, 1987, and Cunningham, 2011).
Some parents assert that their child will get confusedlearning more than one language or that a child will get
the languages mixed up, so it’s better to wait until one
language is firmly established before learning another.
While it’s true that code mixing often occurs in young
children being raised bilingually, research suggests
it can be a natural, harmless, and often temporary
phenomenon. For example, children may use code
mixing as a temporary relief strategy, especially withrespect to the borrowing of lexical items known in
only one of the languages (Gawlitzek-Maiwald &Tracy, 1996).
Some of those who are raising their childbilingually will insist that the one parent-one language
method (OPOL) is best. Despite the fact that it
is a very common method, used with children infamilies with parents of different nationalities, there
is nothing wrong with parents speaking to theirchildren in another language. Being natural should
always come first and there is never just one right way
to communicate with a child. Similarly, some would
contend that if a person wants to raise their child tospeak the majority language, then they should stop
speaking the home language with their child. However,that should not be necessary because children who
have a strong foundation in their home language canstill easily learn a second or third language outside thehome.
Many parents fret that bilingualism causes
language delay or that the possibility of subtractive
bilingualism (i.e., when learning a second language
interferes with the learning of the first language; see
Lambert, 1975) outweigh that of additive bilingualism(i.e., addition of L2 at no cost to L1 proficiency).
While language delay is a distinct possibility
with children who are being raised in a bilingual
environment, it is nearly impossible to know if thedelay is due to confusion with the two languages or if
there is an underlying developmental issue that would
have manifested with the child, even in a monolingual
environment. Although there is always a possibilityof interference from the L2 when learning the L1,
the long-term benefits of becoming bilingual often
outweigh any short-term risks.
Finally, another often-heard misconception isthat an individual must learn a second language as ayoung child in order to become bilingual. It is truethat children need a lot of exposure to a language to
become actively bilingual, so it makes sense that theearlier you can expose your child to a language, thebetter. However, although obtaining fluency in alanguage is much easier during one’s early years (critical
period theory), it can still be done at any point in one’s
life. Famous figures such as Penelope Cruz or Arnold
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings143Norman
Schwarzenegger, for example, are claimed to be adultlearners of English. Some may contend that a person
is not truly bilingual unless the person is equally
proficient in both languages. However, according to
Paradis (2010), it seems to be rare to find a person who
is equally proficient in both of their spoken languages
because most bilinguals have a dominant language,
which is often influenced by the majority language ofthe society where the individual lives.

Real-life Hurdles Raising Bilingual
Children
The most commonly touted benefits to being bilingual
were mentioned in the previous section. There are,however, many real-life challenges to raising bilingual
children that need to be carefully considered before
anyone should make the final decision to embark
on the path of raising their child bilingually. I haveencountered four big hurdles thus far in raising my
3-year-old son to become simultaneously bilingual in
English and Japanese.
First, both my parents and my wife’s parents
seem to be quite concerned with my son’s acquisitionof each respective native language. Since my family
currently lives in Japan, my parents back in the U.S.
seem especially worried that my son will not be able
to “fit in” with American society if he ever decides
to live in the U.S. in the future. Although I myself,
as a researcher of bilingualism, have tried to assuage
concerns on both sides, non-bilinguals often havetrouble realizing that a child can easily learn two
languages at the same time as long as there is sufficient
exposure to both languages.
Second, although my wife and I made the decision
to put our son into an international school for his preschool/kindergarten years, we live in an area where
there are very few foreigners and thus the numberof children whose parents are both Japanese is quite
overwhelming. This results in many of the children
speaking in Japanese at the international school
although the curriculum is English-based.
Third, it has been tough at times being able to giveenough input in the minority language (English in myson’s case, since my family lives in Japan). I often find

144 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedingsthat I have a lack of energy when it comes to readingbooks and doing other language-orientated activities
before bedtime. I am usually able to overcome thisproblem by continually reminding myself that I am
one of the only sources of real English input for myson. From my perspective, my son’s future English
ability will likely rely heavily on my own daily efforts
to interact with him.
Finally, although I always speak to myson (and he to me) in English, my wife often codemixes in the middle of utterances. We have different
opinions about the pros and cons of code-mixing.
My wife’s ability in English is limited and because ofthis, she often uses her limited English vocabulary to
try to communicate with my son by mixing English
words with Japanese grammar. One such exampleof this is: “Get up suru no?” (“Are you going to
get up?). As mentioned previously, code-mixing
often occurs in children who are in the process of
simultaneous bilingualism as a natural, harmless, andtemporary thing. However, when adults code-switch
with children, neither language is being modeledwell, which may have consequences for linguistic
development. The consensus of experts seems tobe that while children being raised bilingually arelearning both languages, it’s better if they’re exposed
to each of them in a monolingual setting (Grosjean,2010). Put more simply, children learn by example, so
the less mixing you do, the less mixing your child will
do until they become proficient in both languages.

Helpful Ways to Encourage
Bilingualism in Young Children
Human beings learn languages in a variety of ways.
Monolingual children can easily pick up their first
language through the input of their parents and by
playing and learning with other children. However,
it is a much bigger challenge for young children
to become bilingual because there is the matter of
how much quality input the child is getting in eachlanguage. Having a native speaker of one or both of thelanguages in their immediate environment is certainly
helpful, but not necessary to grow up bilingually.
There are many things parents (or relatives, friends,

Bilingualism in Children: Facts and Fictions, pages 141-146etc.) can do to help raise a child bilingually.
First of all, kids learn best when doing things
naturally, and playing with other kids in either
language is fun and a great way to learn the artof communication. Organizing fun play dates isbeneficial for all parties involved. Doing such things
as singing and dancing during these get-togethers isrewarding because kids often do not feel inhibited theway many adults do and can learn good intonation andrhythm through songs. My own family strives to do atleast one play date a month.
Utilizing the power of family living abroad is also
very important. This is crucial not only for building
relationships with other family members, but also
for learning the culture behind the language. I makeit a point to take my son back home to visit his
relatives in the U.S. for three or four weeks during
my summer vacation every year. If trips abroad seemcost-prohibitive, keeping connected by calling family
overseas often works just as well. Using free methods
such as Skype (which also has video capability) has
made keeping in contact with friends and family easierthan ever.
Reading books is also essential because there is
probably no better way to pick up new vocabulary andexpressions than with books. By making use of theirchild’s interests, parents can try to find books thatincorporate new language (especially the minorityone) and at the same time hold their child’s interest.
Additionally, reading stories to young children andthen having them play pretend (role-play) is also agreat way to get language input. The stories used don’tnecessarily have to be ones written in books. Making
up stories together, whether it is through writing
them down or just saying them out loud, can be justas beneficial.
Although some parents might not be keen on
taking advantage of technology such as video, TV
shows, and games when raising their child, it cannot
be denied that they are all great methods to obtainauthentic language input. Quality one-on-one timeshould not be ignored, but all kids want their “alone”
time once in a while. Educational shows such as
Sesame Street are especially desirable. Since each parent
likely has a different view on the use of technology forlearning, it is essential to talk about it together, setrealistic limits, and then stick to them. For example,
my family’s policy is to allow my son to watch TV orvideos only during play time after school or while inthe car.
Finally, enthusiasm does matter. Try to be
encouraging and fight the urge to correct mistakes.
Although the amount of language input is important,it’s also just as important to have fun to keep the childinterested and motivated to keep learning in bothlanguages.

Concluding Remarks
This paper has attempted to address several common
myths that detractors of bilingualism often cite during
discussions on whether bilingualism is beneficial
or not for young children. In my experience, these
detractors often include close family members, butthey can also be such people as counselors, medical
professionals, or even educators. It can be difficult forparents raising their children bilingually to have others
call into question what they are trying to accomplish(and parents may even have questions of their own),
especially when there are already a plethora of otherissues they are facing as parents.
Although the road to bilingualism can often seemto be a long and arduous one, full of obstacles thatmust be overcome, the resulting benefits to the childcan often make such struggles seem trivial in the end.
I myself am still early on in the journey of helping myson to become bilingual, which was an opportunity I
was never afforded as a child. By staying positive andtrue to my mission, I believe my son will be able toaccomplish things in his future both personally andprofessionally that I myself can only dream of.

References
Arnberg, L. (1987). Raising children bilingually: The
pre-school years. Clevedon, England: Multilingual
Matters.
Cunningham U. (2011). Growing up with two
languages: A practical guide for the bilingual
family. New York, NY: Routledge.
De Houwer, A. (1996). Bilingual language
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

145Normanacquisition. In P. Fletcher & B. MacWhinney(Eds.), The Handbook of Child Language (pp.
219-250). Oxford, England: Blackwell.
Ford, S. (2001). Language mixing among bilingual
children. Webb-Ed Press. Available online:
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~sford/research/mixing.htm
Gawlitzek-Maiwald, I. & Tracy, R. (1996). Bilingual
bootstrapping. Linguistics, 34, 901-926.
Grosjean, F. (2010). Bilingual: Life and reality.
Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press.
Harding-Esch, E. & Riley, P. (2003). The bilingual
family: A handbook for parents. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical
period effects in second language learning: The
influence of maturational state on the acquisitionof English as a second language. Cognitive
Psychology, 21(1), 60-99.
Lambert, W.E. (1975). Culture and language asfactors in learning and education. In A. Wolfgang(Ed.), Education of Immigrant Students (pp.
55-83). Toronto, Canada: Ontario Institute forStudies in Education.
McLaughlin, B. (1984). Second-language acquisition inchildhood: Volume 1. Preschool children. Hillsdale,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Paradis, J. (2010). The interface between bilingual
development and specific language impairment.
Applied Psycholinguistics, 31, 227-252.
Paradis, J., Genessee, F. & Crago, M. (2011). Duallanguage development and disorders: A handbook
on bilingualism & second language learning.
Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
Rosenberg, M. (1996). Raising bilingual children. The
Internet TESL Journal, 2(6) Available online:
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Rosenberg-Bilingual.
html
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics. (2009). Available online:
http://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/commissioner/
remarks2009/5_28_2009.asp31-34.

Author’s Biography:
Josh Norman graduated from Kumamoto University in 2006 with a PhD in Public and Social
Policy. He has been teaching English and cross-cultural communication full-time at Shokei
University in Kumamoto since 2006. His research interests include L1/L2 learning, bilingualism,
and waseieigo (made-in-Japan English).

146 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

The Repair of Unintelligible Pronunciation toIntelligible Pronunciation between English
as a Lingua Franca Speakers in Japan

George Christopher O’Neal
Niigata University
cerebralabstraction@gmail.com
This is a qualitative study that examines the relationship between intelligibility and pronunciation
in English as a Lingua Franca interactions ( Jenkins, 2000; Matsumoto, 2011). This study claims
that speakers of English as a Lingua Franca manifest which aspects of pronunciation are intelligible
and unintelligible during interactions through the process by which they repair unintelligible
pronunciations into intelligible pronunciations. Examining a corpus of repair sequences in Skypeconversations between English as a Lingua Franca speakers in Japan, this study concludes that one
communication strategy that speakers of English as a Lingua Franca perform when confronted witha miscommunication is to adjust their pronunciation in order to make their pronunciation more
intelligible. This study concludes that vowel quality is the most common cause of unintelligible
pronunciation and that its adjustment is the most common means to change unintelligible
pronunciation into intelligible pronunciation.
この質的研究は国際通用語としての英語における明瞭性と発音の関係を検討する（Jenkins 2000; Matsumoto 2011）。本研究は、国際通用語としての英語の話者は不明瞭な発音を明瞭な発音に修復する過程で、発音のどの音素が不明瞭か、明瞭かということをを現すと主張する。
スカイプでの国際通用語としての英語のコーパスにおける発音による誤解を特定し、発音による誤解はいかに克服されたかということを分析した。
その結果、国際通用語としての英語の話者は発音による誤解に直面する際、不明瞭な発音を明瞭な発音に修復し、誤解を乗り越えることができることが分かった。発音による誤解を招く最も多い原因は母音の音質の間違いで、不明瞭な発音を明瞭な発音にするには、母音の音質の修復が必要だったと本研究は結論づける。

This qualitative study, based on conversation
analysis (CA), examines the relationship between

Franca (ELF). A study of intelligible pronunciation in
ELF is warranted because ELF is the most common

intelligibility and pronunciation in English as a Lingua

type of English in the world ( Jenkins, 2000, 2014;
Ostler, 2010). ELF is defined as an interaction
conducted in English among people from different
first language backgrounds for whom English is thecommunicative medium (Seidlhofer, 2011). Most
English communication today is conducted amongpeople from different first language backgrounds forwhom English is simply a communicative tool, not a

O’Neal, G. (2015). The repair of unintelligible
pronunciation to intelligible pronunciation between
English as a lingua franca speakers in Japan. In G.
Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 147-154).
Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings147

O’Neilnative language ( Jenkins, 2014).
The fact that most people who use English are ELF
speakers, not native speakers, has direct implications
for the pedagogy of English pronunciation in Japan.
Most Japanese will become ELF speakers and will
likely use English with other ELF speakers, notnative speakers. This fact problematizes the idea thatnative speaker standards of pronunciation are broadly
applicable or even the most pedagogically utilitarian.
This paper examines the repair of pronunciation among
ELF speakers in Japan, which will elucidate which
pronunciations students orient to as unintelligible,and how the students repaired pronunciations in orderto make them intelligible. This study will answer thefollowing research questions: 1) What is the mostcommon cause of unintelligible pronunciation in ELF
in Japan? 2) How do ELF speakers in Japan overcome
miscommunications caused by unintelligible
pronunciation?

Previous Studies
This section has two purposes. The first subsection
will introduce the concept of intelligibility. Then, inthe second subsection, how researchers have assessed
intelligibility will be introduced. Because previous
assessments are inadequate, a CA-based assessment ofintelligibility will be offered.

Intelligibility
Intelligibility refers to the comprehension of words
and utterances. If the interlocutor understands thepronunciation, then it was intelligible (Munro,
Derwing, & Morton, 2006; Nelson, 2011).
Intelligibility is not an index of how “pleasant”
pronunciation sounds. As such, intelligibility is anassessment of how effective the pronunciation is atconveying information, not of how approximate to a
standard of aural beauty it is. Intelligible speakers canbe understood, but could still use pronunciation thatis considered odd or strange.

Assessing Intelligibility
A common means to assess intelligibility is a dictation
task (Munro et al., 2006; Osimk, 2009). The idea
behind a dictation task assessment of intelligibility

148 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

is that the extent to which someone can dictate amessage equates to the extent of the intelligibility ofthe message. Unfortunately, dictation assessments do
not elucidate what ELF speakers do once they haveencountered a miscommunication; that is, they do
not reveal the pragmatics through which ELF speakers
resolve a miscommunication. Accordingly, dictationassessments will not be used in this study.
Fortunately, there is a method that both assesses
intelligibility and demonstrates how ELF speakers
overcome miscommunications. Matsumoto (2011)
argues convincingly that examining repair sequencesin which pronunciation is subject to repair reveals
which pronunciations are unintelligible andintelligible. The grounds for such claims are thereactions of the interlocutors: once a word has beenoriented to as unintelligible, one strategy with which
ELF speakers can overcome miscommunications is
to adjust the pronunciation. If the interlocutor thatoriented to the previous version of the pronunciationas unintelligible orients to the new version of thepronunciation as intelligible, then it is permissible toclaim that the former pronunciation was unintelligible
and that the latter pronunciation was intelligible.
Furthermore, a comparison of the phonemes in thetwo pronunciations can reveal which phonemes were
the trouble sources and which phonemes restored
intelligibility. This process is called segmental repair
analysis, or the analysis of the repair of pronunciation,and it will be used in this study.

Methods
This study adopts the transcription conventions ofCA (see the Appendix for transcription conventions).
However, because the focus is on segmental repair
analysis, this study amends the standard CA
transcription conventions in two ways: 1) words
that are subject to repair are transcribed into theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to allow
for phonetic analysis; 2) because IPA uses brackets
to indicate phonetic transcription, and because
CA also uses brackets but uses them to indicate
simultaneous speech, this study amends the CA
transcription symbols for simultaneous speech tobraces. Simultaneous speech in IPA will be marked

The Repair of Unintelligible Pronunciation, pages 147-154
with braces and brackets.
The corpus is a collection of repair sequences
gathered from Skype conversations between ELF
speakers who were either Japanese university students
or foreign exchange students at a large university
in Japan, all of whom were taking general English
communication classes. The Skype conversations
were homework assignments. Although the topics ofthe conversations were specified, the teacher was notpresent during the recordings, and many students
veered off topic during their interactions. As such,the data is replete with natural exchanges. The corpus
contains 134 conversations among ELF speakers for a
total of over forty-six hours of interaction.
All names used in the transcripts are pseudonyms.
All recordings are used with the permission of bothstudents. Although the nationality, gender, andacademic specialty of each participant is listed in the
introduction to each extract, this is not a tacit claimthat the participants oriented to nationality, gender,or academic major as a relevant parameter of theinteraction.

Results
In this section, we will examine three representative
instances of miscommunication between ELF
speakers. First, we will identify the words to which ELF
speakers orient as unintelligible and subject to repair.
Then, we will examine the progression of the repair
sequences to assess what phonetic modifications the
ELF speakers make in order to change unintelligible
pronunciations into intelligible pronunciations.
In the first example, Kei, a male Japanese university
student who majors in economics, is talking to Huang,a female Taiwanese exchange student whose majors
in Japanese. They were talking about the Taiwanese
winter, which in turn led to the exchange shown in
Extract 1.

Extract 1:
01

Kei:

02

Huang: hm::. (1.1) [tʃwʌntiː]. (0.2) {>something.<}

03

Kei:

04

Huang: around [tʃwʌnti].

05

Kei:

06

Huang: >[tʃwʌnti].< >[tʃwʌnti].<

07

Kei:

08

Huang: hm.

09

whate:. (0.3) in winter ↑what is thetemperature?

{[tʃwʌnti].

}[θɛɹti]?

[ˈpʌnti]?

(0.9)

10

Kei:

[pʌnti]. wha- what do you mean? [pʌnti]?

11

Huang: [pʌnti]?

12

Kei:

13

Huang: [ˈtʃwʌːntiː], (0.1) {ºdegreesº

14

Kei:

15

Huang: hm

16

Kei:

17

Huang:[ˈpʌnti]?
}{[↑tʃwɛ]- ah.} [↑tʃwɛ]- [tʃwɛnti]?

ah. [tʃwɛnti]. okay:. sorry:.==yeah.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

149

O’Neil
In lines one and two, Kei asks a question, and Huang
answers it, articulating “twenty” as [tʃwʌntiː]. But inline three Kei orients to [tʃwʌntiː] as unintelligible. Inline four, Huang subjects [tʃwʌntiː] to self-repair. In
line five, Kei subjects the previous utterance to otherrepair. In line six, Huang does not affirm the candidate
repair, and repeats [tʃwʌnti] twice. In line seven, Keiagain offers a candidate repair pronunciation, [ˈpʌnti],
which Huang affirms. Nominally, the repair sequence
has been completed because Huang confirmed Kei’s
candidate repair pronunciation. However, in lines
ten and twelve, Kei asks for explicit repair of [pʌnti]
in spite of Huang’s confirmation, and in line thirteen,
Huang proffers the candidate repair pronunciation[ˈtʃwʌːntiː]. In line fourteen, Kei proffers the candidate
repair pronunciation [tʃwɛnti]. In line fifteen, Huangagain affirms the candidate repair pronunciation,and then in line sixteen, Kei deploys the discourse
marker “ah,” which displays a claim of moving from astate of not-understanding to a state of understanding(Heritage 1984), and shows that intelligibility has

been reestablished.
This example demonstrates that ELF speakers
can orient to pronunciations as unintelligible: Keiorients to Huang’s pronunciation as unintelligible
in lines three, five, seven, ten, and twelve. This
example also shows that ELF speakers can adjust theirpronunciation to change unintelligible pronunciations
into intelligible pronunciations: Huang adjusts her
pronunciation in lines four and six; Kei adjusts his
pronunciation in lines seven and fourteen, and thecandidate repair pronunciation in line fourteen leads
to the restoration of intelligibility. Furthermore, thepronunciation oriented to as unintelligible, [tʃwʌnti],
can be compared with the pronunciation that wasoriented to as intelligible, [tʃwɛnti]. The difference
between the pronunciations can be described as oneof vowel quality; the difference between the vowel/ʌ/ and the vowel /ɛ/ is vowel quality. Accordingly,
it can be said that the cause of unintelligibility wasa vowel, and that the adjustment of a vowel restored
intelligibility.

Extract 2:
01 Mitsu: ºsoº. (0.2) and you?
02 Pan:hn. [bɑɹbikjʊ] hhh.

03

(0.2)

04 Mitsu: [pɑlpikjɯ]?
05 Pan:[bɑɹbiˈkjuː].

06 Mitsu: [pɑpikjɯ]?
07 Pan:

hm:.

08

(0.3)

09 Mitsu: ah [ˈbɑɹbikjuː]?
10 Pan:hm:.

11 Mitsu: eh? but hhh. last week? you:: do:.=
12 Pan:=↑no. (0.1) the question is this week.

13 Mitsu: ah this week.
14 Pan:hn:.

15 Mitsu: oh.
16 Pan:yes.

150 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

The Repair of Unintelligible Pronunciation, pages 147-154
Another example (Extract 2) will demonstrate
the effectiveness of co-constructing intelligible
pronunciation in ELF interactions. In this extract,
Mitsu, a male Japanese university student who majors
in pedagogy, and Pan, a Taiwanese exchange student
who majors in Japanese, were discussing what activity
each helped with at a party, which led to the following
exchange.
In lines one and two, Mitsu asks a question, andPan answers it, articulating “barbeque” as [bɑɹbikjʊ].
Next, in line four, Mitsu articulates [pɑlpikjɯ],which subjects Pan’s pronunciation to other-repair.
Pan self-repairs in line five, articulating [bɑɹbiˈkjuː].
In line six, Mitsu again subjects Pan’s pronunciation
to other-repair. Then, in line seven, Pan affirms what
she orients to as a candidate repair pronunciation. Inline nine, Mitsu deploys the discourse marker “ah,”which indicates that Mitsu has moved from a state of
not-knowing to a state of knowing (Heritage 1984),
and then proffers [ˈbɑɹbikjuː] as a candidate repair
pronunciation. In line ten, Pan again affirms thecandidate repair pronunciation, which demonstrates
that both Kei and Pan have accepted [ˈbɑɹbikjuː] as anintelligible pronunciation. In lines eleven to sixteen,
both Mitsu and Pan move to another sequence, which
exhibits that the repair sequence and the superordinate

question-answer sequence have been concluded.
The articulatory modifications made in thisexample accord with the changes made in theprevious example. Pan self-repairs her pronunciation
multiple times for Mitsu, and like the previous
example, Pan adjusts vowel quality in order to makeher pronunciation more intelligible. Pan also adjusts
vowel quantity, or the length of the vowel, as well.
Furthermore, Pan’s repair of the /p/ phonemes in
Mitsu’s articulations back to /b/ phonemes is alsosignificant. All of these changes contribute to thereestablishment of intelligibility.
The final example (Extract 3) further demonstrates
that ELF speakers can adjust pronunciations to makethem more intelligible. In the last example, Zhan,a male Chinese exchange student who majors inJapanese, and Isao, a male Japanese who majors inagriculture, were discussing Isao’s computer, which led
to the following exchange.
In line one, Zhan asks Isao what model his
computer is, articulating “model” as [mʊdˡl̩ ]. In line
two, however, Isao subjects [mʊdˡl̩ ] to repair, proffering[mɑdɛl] as a candidate repair pronunciation. Next, inline three, Zhan repeats [mʊdˡl̩ ] twice, but Isao does
not orient to the repetition of [mʊdˡl̩ ] as an indicationthat intelligibility has been restored. In fact, Isao again

Extract 3:
01

Zhan:

what’s your [mʊ]- [mʊ]- [mʊdˡl̩]?

02

Isao:

[mɑdɛl]? hn.

03

Zhan:

hn. [mʊdˡl̩]. {hai}. [mʊdˡl̩].=

04

Iaso:

{P:-}

05

Zhan:

06

Isao:

07

Zhan:

ohw::.

08

Isao:

yes. uh. vio. andu (0.3) cowain five.

09

Zhan:

hn.

10

Isao:

and windows. hhh.

11

Zhan:

hhh.

=PC [mɑdɛl]?

yes.
[mɑdɛl]. hm:. hhh. [mɑdɛl]. (1.4) I don’t know:. (.) well. interms of point.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings151

O’Neilproffers the candidate repair pronunciation [mɑdɛl],but articulates it as part of a compound noun: PC[mɑdɛl]. In line six, Zhan confirms the candidate
repair, and then in line seven Isao finally begins toprovide an answer to the question posed in line one.
This demonstrates that the segmental repair sequence
designed to clarify the meaning of [mʊdˡl̩ ], and thesuperordinate question-answer sequence, have beenbrought to a successful conclusion.
This example again demonstrates what ELF
speakers often change in order to make unintelligible
pronunciations more intelligible: the vowels. Isaoorients to [mʊdˡl̩ ] as unintelligible, but he also
proffers [mɑdɛl] as a candidate repair pronunciation,
which Zhan affirms. This shows that [mɑdɛl] wasan intelligible pronunciation. The main difference
between the two pronunciations is vocalic. To be sure,the /d/ phoneme is also different in terms of degreeof lateralization, but this is hardly surprising because
there is an intervening vowel between the /d/ and the/l/ in the intelligible pronunciation. Accordingly, it isfair to claim that the vowels were the most importantcomponent in the restoration of intelligibility.

Discussion
Although this study is qualitative, and therefore ofpotentially limited generalizability, the three examples
examined in this study are representative of a larger setof examples that manifest similar characteristics. Many
examples of repaired pronunciation in this corpus
involve a change of vowel quality. The corpus contains
twenty three examples in which either vowel quality
or quantity is adjusted to restore pronunciation
intelligibility, sixteen in which consonants are elided
or inserted in order to reestablish pronunciation
intelligibility, and seven in which vowels are removed
in order to repair pronunciation intelligibility.
Furthermore, there are a five cases in which a
combination of factors attenuated intelligibility andmore than one phonological feature is adjusted torestore intelligibility. There are numerous other casesthat are borderline, debatable cases. As one can see,most cases of repaired pronunciation involve a change
in vowel quality. There are examples of other aspects
of pronunciation that change in the course of co-

152 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

constructing intelligible pronunciation, but aspects ofvowel pronunciation are most common.
As with any research, this study has its weaknesses.
Segmental repair analysis will only find unintelligible
pronunciation if one of the interlocutors orients to it
as such. But, of course, not all interlocutors react tounintelligible pronunciation as unintelligible. Someinterlocutors could pretend to understand and hopethat later utterances will clarify the meaning of theunintelligible words. Segmental repair analysis will
not discover these unintelligible pronunciations. Thatbeing said, this study claims that segmental repair
analysis is a valid methodology to determine which
pronunciations are problematic enough to shut down
the progression of a conversation and catalyze a repair
sequence.
And this leads directly to an underemphasizedpart of pronunciation pedagogy. One aspect ofpronunciation education that is often overlookedis the ability to adjust pronunciation. Everypronunciation syllabus should devote some time tothe ability to adjust pronunciation rather than justinculcate the idea that citation form pronunciations
are always the most relevant and intelligible. After all,the best pronunciation is one that changes with theintelligibility requirements of the interlocutor, not
one that insists on a static pronunciation as applicablein all cases.

Acknowledgments
The author is indebted to Alan Simpson for a great
proofread of an earlier draft of this paper, Donna
Fujimoto for both editing help and suggesting topresent at PanSIG, and Yosuke Ogawa for help
with IPA transcription at CA gatherings. A further
special thanks to Carmen Hannah for numerous andthorough proof-readings over the years.

References
Heritage, J. (1984). A change-of-state token andaspect of its sequential placement. In J. Atkinson,& J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action(pp. 299-345). Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.

The Repair of Unintelligible Pronunciation, pages 147-154
Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an
International Language. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
Jenkins, J. (2014). English as a lingua franca in
the international university. New York, NY:
Routledge.
Matsumoto, Y. (2011). Successful ELF
communications and implications for ELT:
Sequential analysis of ELF pronunciation
negotiation strategies. The Modern Language
Journal, 95, 97-114.
Munro, M., Derwing, T. & Morton, S. (2006). The

mutual intelligibility of L2 speech. Studies inSecond Language Acquisition, 28, 111-131.
Nelson, C. (2011). Intelligibility in World Englishes.
New York , NY: Routledge.
Osimk, R. (2009). Decoding sounds: An
experimental approach to intelligibility in ELF.
View[z], 18(1), 64-91.
Ostler, N. (2010). The last lingua franca. New York,
NY: Penguin.
Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English asa lingua franca. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press.

Author’s Biography:
George O’Neal is an associate professor at Niigata University. His research interests include
English as a Lingua Franca in Japan, Conversation Analysis, and Intelligible Phonology. In
particular, he seeks to promote a pedagogy of English in Japan that does not equate correctness
to native speaker standards, but rather a communicative standard.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

153

O’Neil

Appendix
Transcription Symbols
SymbolRepresents{

overlapping speech[speech in the phonetic transcription of the International
Phonetic Alphabet{[

overlapping speech in the phonetic transcription of the IPA=

latched utterance (e.g., there is no salient pause between
the utterances)(.)

micro silence (e.g., less than one tenth of a second of silence)(1.5)

a timed silence (e.g., a one and a half seconds of silence)hhhhh.

laughter>speech<speech that is saliently faster than the surrounding speech<speech>speech that is saliently slower than the surrounding speech-sudden cut off of speech:elongated sound.

falling intonation↑strong up-step in volume and prosody,

slightly rising intonation

154 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Japanese EFL Learners’ Expressionsof Thanks and Disagreement

Masashi Otani

Yuuki Ogawa

Soka University
mootani@soka.ac.jp

Soka University
yogawa@soka.ac.jp

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a small-scale study on the pragmalinguisticknowledge of a group of elementary level university EFL students. The research focused on two
speech acts, thanking and disagreement. The study employed Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs).
The DCTs involved two situations to examine participants’ speech acts in terms of social distanceand intensity. Before the actual study, participants’ responses on pilot DCTs were discussed by agroup of EFL teachers to confirm validity.
本稿では、大学の初級英語学習者の言語内語用論的知識について研究した結果について述べたものである。
この研究は、「感謝」及び「不賛成」の発話行為に焦点をあてている。
本研究では、「談話完成タスク」
を用い、その中で、参加者の発話行為を「社会的距離」と「度合い」の観点から研究する。本研究で使用される談話完成タスクの妥当性を立証するた
めに、パイロット研究が行われ、そこで参加者の解答について検証を行った。

Successful communication in a foreign language
requires not only knowing the correct rules and formsof the target language but also understanding how
to use language in socially appropriate ways, whichconstitutes the pragmatic aspect of the target language(Bachman, 1990). For foreign language teachers,
one controversial issue is whether pragmatics can betaught in the language classroom to help students
develop their grammatical competence. Learners’
grammatical development does not guarantee acorresponding level of pragmatic development.
Therefore, in cross-cultural communicative situations,
it would be likely that learners who exhibit high levels

or miscommunication between interlocutors. While
linguistic competence is essential for developing
proficiency, language instructors should also provide
students with information, practice, and much of theexperience required to achieve their communicativeneeds in the second language.
In order for teachers who desire to incorporate
pragmatic aspects into their lessons to better
understand students’ needs, this presentation reports
the results of a small-scale research study on the
pragmalinguistic knowledge of a group of Japanese
EFL students focusing on two speech acts: thanking
and disagreement.

of grammatical competence face misunderstanding

Research Questions
Otani, M. & Ogawa, Y. (2015). Japanese EFL learners’
expressions of thanks and disagreement. In G. Brooks,
M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 155-164). Miyazaki, Japan:
JALT.

1. How do Japanese EFL learners express their
thanks or disagreement in relation to social
status?
2. How do Japanese EFL learners express their
thanks in relation to intensity?
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Otani & Ogawa
3. How do Japanese EFL learners express theirdisagreement in terms of directness?

Methods
Description of Participants
A total of 33 Japanese university students enrolled
in English-medium courses were asked to complete
the DCT for thanking, while 41 learners answered
the DCT for disagreement. These English-medium
courses called “English Communication Elementary(ECE)” aim at improving students’ communicativecompetence. The English proficiency levels of thestudents in the ECE courses were within the score
range from 285 to 420 of TOEIC-IP, which is theinstitutional program of TOEIC usually conducted
twice a year for numerous students in this university.

Measurement Instrument
For the purpose of a small-case study to serve as a
students’ needs assessment, a discourse completiontask (DCT) was implemented. Although it is ideal for
researchers to elicit naturally occurring data from fieldobservation or recording of natural conversation, DCT
has an advantage that the researcher can manipulatecontextual factors like social status, distance, andintensity across items and analyze how they affectlanguage use (Ishihara and Cohen, 2010). Since thepurpose of this study is to elicit information about
whether participants employ different expressions of
thanking and disagreement, DCT was regarded as an
appropriate instrument of the present study.

Apparatus and Procedure
Prior to the distribution of the DCT to the ECE
students, the DCT employed for the study had beenrevised five times to ensure it would effectively elicit the
information needed for the study. After several seriesof modification processes, the DCT was distributed to
the ECE students.

DCT
There are two different situations focusing on
expressions of gratitude. In order to measure whethersocial status between interlocutors might affect

156 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

participants’ responses or not, both a classmate andan English teacher are employed as interlocutors ineach situation. The design of these two situations
follows Searle’s definition that a “gratitude situation”
is a speech event in which a “speaker” responds
to a “hearer” performing an “object of gratitude”(1969). One indebted situation is that the hearer (aclassmate/English teacher) picked up the speaker’s (=participant’s) pen. The other is that the hearer foundthe speaker’s USB. In both situations, the hearer’s acts
cause speakers to express their gratitude. On the other
hand, DCT items regarding disagreement focus moreon social status (see Appendix B).

Results and Discussion
ThanksComparison in terms of social status. In thissection, students’ responses related to social status, an
extra-linguistic contextual factor, in the two situations
are compared and contrasted. More specifically, howsubjects expressed their gratitude differed dependingon whether the interlocutor was their classmate or the
English teacher in these two situations, as shown in
Table 1. The term “social status” refers to the relativesocial status of the speaker/writer and the listener/
reader (Ishihara & Cohen, 2010).
Comparing students’ responses in terms of thelevel of social status (the comparison between students’expressing gratitude toward their classmate and toward
their English teacher), there appear to be two significant
differences common to the two situations. First of all,the category ‘Thanking + intensifier’ indicates thatstudents added an intensifier such as “very much” or “somuch” to “Thank you” only when they thanked theirEnglish teacher in both situations. Given the fact thatthe textbook mentions expressions such as “Thank you
very/so much” are slightly more formal than “thankyou/thanks” (Tillitt & Bruder, 1985), this may showthat the greater the social status between interlocutors
is, the more politely a beneficiary, a person who feels
indebted, expresses their gratitude. Secondly, several
apology expressions are found only toward an English
teacher in both situations. These responses are “Yes,
I’m sorry. Thank you very much”; “Sorry, it’s mine.

Japanese EFL Learners’ Expressions, pages 155-164
Table 1Frequency of Responses by Category and Interlocutor
Category type/Interlocutor
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Thanking + alerters
Thanking as a single expression
Thanking + answeringThanking + stating reason
No thanking
First language (L1) transfer
Thanking + intensifier
Other thanking expression
Thanking + complimenting interlocutors
Unknown due to grammatical error
No response

Thank you”; and “Yes, sorry. Thank you.” in the “Pen”
situation. Comparable apology expressions in the“USB” situation are; “Sorry, it’s mine. Thank you”
and “I’m sorry. It’s mine. Thank you.” These resultscorrespond to findings by Long (2009) that apology
expressions are employed more towards superiors andnon-intimates. These apology expressions in English
might be translated from the Japanese expression“sumimasen” by respondents and could be regarded as
an example of first language (L1) pragmatic transfer.
Ellis (1997) defines L1 transfer as the influence of thelearner’s L1 on the acquisition of a second language(L2). When the learner’s L1 serves as a source of errorin L2, this is described as negative transfer, whereas it isregarded as positive transfer when the learner’s L1 canfacilitate L2 acquisition.
It is well documented that Japanese speakers haveparticular difficulty in English with those expressionsof gratitude that imply indebtedness (Wong, 2009).
In fact, when a Japanese person wants to express
sincere gratitude in English, she or he feels urged tosay, “I’m sorry,” which is actually better translated as“Thank you.” According to Ide (1998), an expressionof apology, sumimasen can function to encompass
the feelings of both thanks and apology because thecommon link between apologies and expressionsof gratitude is indebtedness. That is, expressionsof thanking deliver the speaker’s indebtedness as arecipient of a benefit, whereas apologies demonstrate
the speaker’s indebtedness to the interlocutor for

TeacherClassmate

11
5
8
15
4
5
25
2
0
1
1

16
11
28
11
4
0
7
1
2
1
1

performing an action detrimental to the hearer (ascited in Bardovi-Harlig, Rose & Nickels, 2008).
Comparison of Intensity across Situations. In thissection, students’ responses are analyzed in respect toIntensity, another extralinguistic contextual factor
influencing interlocutors’ language use. In otherwords, how subjects express their gratitude toward twohearers, their classmate and English teacher, in thissituation may be different based on the level of intensityof “Hearer-Motivated Physical Acts” (as cited in Long,
2009). Table 2 shows the number of occurrences of
responses by category in the two situations.
First, the category, ‘Thanking + stating reason’appears to indicate that regardless of who theinterlocutor is, students tend to employ “longer”
phrases to express their appreciation more in the
USB situation than in the Pen situation. Examples ofsubjects’ thanking expressions in the USB situation
categorized under ‘Thanking + stating reason’ include“Yes. I’m so happy. Thank you for looking for my USB”
and “Thank you. I look for this” said to their classmate.
In addition, they say to their English teacher, “Oh,I have been searched (it). Thank you for (your)kindness”, “Thank you for your helping. It’s mine.
That’s very important for me” or “Yes. I’m glad foryour help.” The reason why their thanking expressions
are longer in the USB situation than those in the Pensituation might come from the fact that the instructionin the DCT explicitly mentions “You (= respondents)
are in big trouble because of having lost your USB
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Otani & Ogawa
Table 2Frequency of Responses by Category and Situation
USB situation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Thanking + alerters
Thanking as a single expression
Thanking + answeringThanking + stating reason
No thanking
L1 transfer
Thanking + intensifierThanking + complimenting interlocutor
Other thanking expressions
Incomprehensible due to grammatical error
No response

Pen situation

Category type

10
14
25
7
4
3
12
0
1
0
0

17
2
11
19
4
2
20
2
2
2
2

which stores lots of notes for the class preparation
and assignments.” In other words, the higher thelevel of intensity is, the more a beneficiary “deeply”

Responses of the DCT conducted are categorizedbased on similar features (see Appendix C). When
those categories are analyzed, three major aspects ofor “sincerely” tends to express their gratitude toward
the benefactor by uttering longer phrases. They mightalso express thanking with extralinguistic behavior likefacial expressions, gesture, and posture, though thelatter factors cannot be explored by means of a written
questionnaire like the DCT.
Second, two responses categorized under ‘Thanking+ complimenting interlocutor’ are found only when
students thanked their classmate in the USB situation.
These answers are “Yes! Thank you very much! Youare great person!” and “Yes! It’s mine! You are myhelper!” This formula, ‘Thanking + complimenting
interlocutor’ is one of the thanking strategies which
native English-speaking subjects regularly employ
when they feel indebted (Eisenstein & Bodman,1986), although current researchers in the pragmatics

the ECE students’ responses are remarkable: limited
basic English proficiency, inadequate pragmalinguisticknowledge, and L1 pragmatic transfer from Japanese.
Fundamentally, average ECE students’ basic
English proficiency is limited in terms of learning
pragmatic aspects of English. To illustrate, several
responses to the DCT were left blank. If the DCT’slevel of vocabulary or grammatical complexity had
been more straightforward, those subjects who could
not respond with anything might have answered the
DCT. Therefore, the cause of the blank spaces canalso be a deficiency of the DCT. Another example ofthose informants’ lack of English proficiency is thatnumerous informants could not produce complete
sentences. The incomplete sentences indicate not only
the participants’ limited English proficiency but also afield might no longer tend to investigate the extent
to which ESL/EFL students are able to approximate
native English-speaking norms. In addition, the factthat students complimented only their classmate nottheir English teacher in relation to their physical act
of finding the respondent’s USB also seems to needextended exploration.

possibility that those participants know how to behavein certain situations only non-verbally. In other words,
if those ECE students more diligently learn basic
aspects of English language, the result of the responses
can be different. Thus, review of basic points of English
language learning should be conducted to encourage
those ECE students to achieve higher levels of English
learning.
Another remarkable aspect of the DCT responses
is the ECE students’ limited pragmalinguisticknowledge, which can especially cause face-threatening

Disagreement
In this section, ECE students’ needs for pragmalinguistic
instruction are analyzed based on the data elicited.

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Japanese EFL Learners’ Expressions, pages 155-164
acts (FTAs), such as inappropriately direct responses.
One of the ECE students wrote “Be careful!” in thesituation which a student disagrees with a professor’s
comment. Also, another ECE student’s response was“I am warned you”. Although the use of FTAs as aresult of limited pragmalinguistic knowledge could be
accepted, frequent use of impolite expressions is notsocially preferred or a safe strategy. Therefore, those
ECE students should at least be taught a few frequently
employed expressions related to disagreement.
Finally, the most common challenge for the ECE
students seems to be L1 pragmatic transfer fromJapanese. Numerous advanced level L2 learners havealso been found to experience the same challenge;
therefore, modifying or decreasing L1 transfer errors
is necessary for the ECE students. For example, those
ECE students have frequently employed “sorry”,“really”, and “hmm”. Although “sorry” and “hmm”
could be accepted, “really” could be identified as acorrection which could cause another FTA. In otherwords, if the listener is a professor and the speakeris a student, “really” will be perceived as extremely
impolite. Consequently, teaching expressions whichcause negative outcomes to the ECE students isessential to allow those students to express themselves
politely in any contexts.

Conclusion
Learning speech acts including thanks or disagreement
is one of the challenges for Japanese EFL learners.
Those challenges are caused by L1 pragmatic transferfrom Japanese language in many cases. When the social
status of two interlocutors is different, those speakers,
especially the interlocutor of lower status, tend to be
selective about wording. However, due to limited
pragmalinguistic knowledge, elementary level EFL
learners frequently fail to select appropriate phrases orovergeneralize their L1 norm by uttering “I’m sorry”
in thanking situations. When it comes to intensity, thedifferent levels of ECE students’ indebtedness toward
the interlocutor caused them to produce various
utterances such as ‘Thanking + stating reason” or“Thanking + complimenting interlocutor”. As for the
aspect of directness, ECE students’ attempts to selectappropriate words were identified. However, mostof those ECE students failed to select contextually
appropriate phrases to avoid damaging the hearer’s face.
Thus, pragmalinguistic tips need to be incorporated in
ECE courses.
Whereas this research elicited Japanese EFL
students’ pragmalinguistic knowledge of speech acts,
thanking and disagreement, the research instrument
should be reconsidered. That is, a DCT may allow
respondents to provide more thoughtful or sociallydesirable responses, rather than representing theiractual speech act behavior (Ishihara & Cohen, 2010).
Whereas the DCT has an advantage that the researcher
can manipulate contextual factors such as social status,
distance and intensity, further research by employing
oral role-play or introspective interview would benecessary to determine whether the responses elicitedfrom DCT are representative of the participants’natural utterances.

References
Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental Considerationsin Language Testing. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press.
Eisenstein, M., & Bodman, J. W. (1986). ‘I very
appreciate’: Expressions of gratitude by native andnon-native speakers of American English. Applied
Linguistics, 7(2), 167-185.
Ide, R. (1998). ‘Sorry for your kindness’: Japaneseinteractional ritual in public discourse. Journal of
Pragmatics, 29, 509-529.
Ishihara, N., & Chen, A. D. (2010). Teaching andlearning pragmatics: Where learning and culture
meet. Edinburgh Gate, England: Longman.
Lihui, Z., & Jianbin, H. (2010). A study ofChinese EFL learners’ pragmatic failure andthe implications for college. English Teaching.
Polyglossia, 18, 41-54.
Long, C. (2009). Apology in Japanese gratitudesituations: The negotiation of interlocutor rolerelations. Journal of Pragmatics, 42, 1060-1075.
Tillitt, B., & Bruder, N. M. (1985). Speaking naturally
communication skills in American English. New
York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Wong, M. L. Y. (2009). Expressions of gratitude byHong Kong speakers of English: Research fromThe 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

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Otani & Ogawa
the International Corpus of English in Hong
Kong (ICE-HK). Journal of Pragmatics, 42,1243-1257.

Authors’ Biographies:
Masashi Otani is an assistant lecturer at Soka University where he received a Master’s degreein TESOL. His research covers education policy, Communicative Language Teaching, teacher
training, cooperative learning, e-Learning and pragmatics. He can be contacted at mootani@soka.ac.jp.
Yuuki Ogawa received a Master’s degree in TESOL at Soka University, Japan. She currently works
as an English teacher as well as a Coordinator of the English Consultation Room. Her special
interests include international understanding through English language education, academic
advising, learner autonomy and critical thinking.

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Japanese EFL Learners’ Expressions, pages 155-164

Appendix A
DCT Items (Thanking)Instruction: Please complete the dialogues in the following situations. Your responses will be used only for
research purposes. Nothing here affects your grade. Thank you for your cooperation.
すべて英語で答えて会話を完成させて下さい。皆さんの回答は英語教育リサーチのために使用します。授業の成績には一切関係ありませんので安心してください。
1. You had an English class today. During the class, you dropped your pen. Your classmate picked it up andsaid, “Is this yours?” あなたの落としたペンをクラスメートが見つけて「これあなたの？」と聞きました。
あなたはなんと言いますか？
You would say, “__________________________________________________________________.”
2. You had an English class today. During working with your pairs in the class, you dropped your pen. Your
English teacher who was walking around picked it up and said, “Is this yours?” あなたの落としたペンを英語の教授が見つけて「これあなたの？」と聞きました。
あなたはなんと言いますか
You would say, “__________________________________________________________________.”
3. You have lost your USB which stores lots of notes you make for the class preparation & assignments sincelast week and you are in big trouble. In the beginning of the class, your friend speaks to you and says, “Is
this your USB? I found this the other day in this classroom.” That USB is yours . あなたは授業レポートなどを保存してある大切なUSBを失くしました。
クラスメートが見つけて「これあなたの？教室で見つけたんだけど」と聞きました。
それは間違いなく、
あなたのものでした。
あなたはなんと言いま
すか？）
You would say, “__________________________________________________________________.”
4. You have lost your USB which stores lots of notes you make for the class preparation & assignments sincelast week, and you are in big trouble. In the beginning of the English class, your English teacher speaks
to you and says, “Is this your USB flash drive? I found this the other day in this classroom. ” That USB isyours. あなたは授業レポートなどを保存してある大切なUSBを失くしました。英語の教授が見つけて「これあなたの？教室で見つけたんだけど」と聞きました。
それは間違いなく、
あなたのものでした。
あなたはなんと言いますか？
You would say, “__________________________________________________________________.”
Extra question: Have you ever felt just saying “Thank you” is not enough to express your gratitude in
English in the situation where you feel indebted?
あなたは、
これまでにあなた自身が英語で感謝を伝える場面において、ただ「ありがとう」と言うだけでは感謝を伝えきれないと感じたことがありますか？そのときの状況を詳しく書いてください（誰がどういう状況で何をしてくれたときなど、
またこう言いたかったが英語が思いつかなかった、という状況だった場合も記入してください
このセクションは日本語でも構いません
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Otani & Ogawa

Appendix B
DCT Items (Disagreement)
状況を想像して会話を英語で完成してください。回答内容は英語教育研究のために使用します。成績には一切関係ありません。
ご協力ありがとうございます。
25. You have just listened to a featured speech by a famous professor from a world top university at theauditorium with your friend. Your friend thought his speech was excellent. However, you thought that his
lecture was so boring. What would you say after your friend’s comment?
世界的に有名な大学の教授が来学し、講堂で特別講義がありました。
あなたと一緒にその講義を聞いた友人はとても素晴らしい講義だと思ったようですが、あなたはとてもつまらない講義だと思いました。
「素晴らしい講義だったね。」という相手にあなたは、自分の感想をどう伝えますか？
Your friend: “It was a wonderful lecture, wasn’t it? ”
You:
26. You have just listened to a featured speech by a famous professor from a world top university at theauditorium with your professor. Your professor says thought his speech was excellent. However, youthought that his lecture was so boring. What would you say after your professor’s comment?
世界的に有名な大学の教授が来学し、講堂で特別講義がありました。
あなたと一緒にその講義を聞いた教授はとても素晴らしい講義だと思ったようですが、あなたはとてもつまらない講義だと思いました。
「素晴らしい講義だったね。」という相手にあなたは、自分の感想をどう伝えますか？
Your professor: “It was a wonderful lecture, wasn’t it? ”
You:
27. One of your friends is a heavy smoker. However, you have a negative image about smoking because you
are usually annoyed by second hand smoking (breathing smoke from cigarette of other people). What doyou say after your friend’s comment?
あなたにはヘビースモーカーの友人がいて、「ストレス解消はこれに限るね」と言っています。
しかしながら、
あなたは日常的に受動喫煙に悩まされていて、喫煙者にはうんざりしています。
さて、友人の発言に対してどのように返答しますか。
Your friend: “This is the best way to reduce my stress.”
You:
28. Your professor is a heavy smoker. He usually says, “This is the best way to reduce my stress from work.”
However, you have a negative image about smoking because you are usually annoyed by second handsmoking (breathing smoke from cigarette of other people). What do you say after your professor’s
comment?
ヘビースモーカーの教授が「ストレス解消はこれに限るね」と言っています。
しかしながら、あな
たは日常的に受動喫煙に悩まされていて、喫煙者にはうんざりしています。
さて、教授の発言に対してどのように返答しますか。
Your professor: “This is the best way to reduce my stress.”
You:

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Appendix C
Sample DCT Responses
I No responses
II. No modification in expressions despite different relative social status
A. It was a wonderful lecture. But, I’m not interested in this lecture. (Q25)
B. It was a wonderful lecture. But, I’m not interested in this lecture. I’m interested in other topic. I want
to hear it. (Q26)
III. L1 ( Japanese) transfer
A. Sorry,...
B. I’m sorry…
C. Really? / Oh, really? (Q25/26)
IV. Basic grammar/vocabulary mistakes
A. Me too. I have a very experience. (Q25)
B. No, I don’t like area. (Q26)
C. But, it is by people. → “けれど、喫煙するしないは人それぞれです”と言いたかったです。(Q28)
D. The way isn’t good. I want you to important your health. (Q27)
E. Other good thing. (Q28)
F. I hope your health. (Q28)
V. Direct responses
A. Cigarette is bad for your health. Be careful! (Q28)
B. I’m a stress. You stop smoking. (Q27)
C. I imaged you are professor, so you don’t smoke in front of the student. (Q28)
D. Please don’t smoke when you are with me. I really don’t like smoking. (Q28)
E. However, it is the best way to increase my stress. (Q28)
F. Please don’t smoke. (Q28)
G. Should be. But I don’t like that lecture. (Q26)
H. I am warned you. (Q28)
VI. Possible correction/refusal/suggestion
A. Really?
B. I recommend… (Q28)
VII. Hesitation
A. Hmm,…
B. Um,…
C. Mmm,…
D. Aa,…
E. N,…
F. Oh, I see. (Q28)

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Otani & Ogawa
VIII. Unnatural responses
A. I don’t like eat. You stop smoking. (Q27)
B. I will so buying drink. (Q28)
C. Can I buy a juice? (Q28)
D. I’m honest. I don’t think so. (Q26)
E. Today, excellent! (Q26)
IX. Limited additional comments
A. I don’t think so.
B. Boring. (Q25)
C. I can’t understand the speech. (Q26)
X. Alerter
A. Professor,... (Q28)
XI. Possible ritual responses
A. Yes. It was great. (Q28)
B. I think so. (Q28)
C. I think so too. That was good experience for me. (Q26)
D. Yeah, that is very nice! (Q26)
E. No, it was a wonderful lecture! (Q26)
XII. Mitigators
A. He is a good person. But that speech is little boring for me. (Q26)
Sorry,…

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Revisiting Dictation: An Investigation of Gains inStudents’ Aural Decoding Skills

Ryan Pain

Jon Rowberry

Sojo University
rpain@ed.sojo-u.ac.jp

Sojo University
jrowberry@ed.sojo-u.ac.jp

Aural decoding skills are a vital component of listening proficiency that require conscious attention
and focused practice. This paper examines the efficacy of a 12-week dictation program, administered
online as part of a compulsory communicative English course at a Japanese university, on students’ability to decode spoken English. Two dictation tasks were constructed and administered to fourgroups of first-year students. Responses were analysed and mean scores calculated and comparedusing a correlated samples t-test to ascertain whether gains had occurred as a result of the dictation
program, and to help inform the development of future remedial listening practice tasks.
音声解読能力は、
リスニング能力の重要な要素であり、意識的な注意力と集中的な練習を必要とする。 本論文では、日本の大学において、必修科目である英語コミュニケーションコ
ースの一環として12週間に渡り実施したオンライン上のディクテーションプログラムの有効性と学生の口語英語を解読する能力を考察する。2種のディクテーション活動を開発し、1
年生4グループを対象に実施した。今後の矯正用リスニング実践活動の進展に貢献すべ
く、その反応を分析し、スキルの向上がプログラムの結果として生じたのかを確認するために、平均点を相関しているサンプルｔ‐検定を用いて集計、比較した。

A dictation program was introduced to the English
Communication curriculum in the Sojo International
Learning Center (SILC) of Sojo University at the startof the 2012-13 academic year to address an apparent
deficit in students’ listening comprehension skills(LaClare, Roger & Rowberry, 2014). Since English
instruction in the SILC is conducted primarily inEnglish by native-speaker teachers, listening skills
require conscious attention and focused practiceboth to expedite language acquisition, and to ensurethat students are able to access course materials andPain, R. & Rowberry, J. (2015). Revisiting dictation:
An investigation of gains in students’ aural decoding
skills. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.),
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
165-171). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

methodologies. The SILC dictation program was usedprimarily as homework, and consisted of 26 texts eachof approximately 40 words in length, covering various
topics, closely related to the classroom content. In thisstudy, two separate dictation tasks were developed andused pre- and post-program to investigate whether any
gains had occurred in learners’ aural decoding skills,
and also to provide a bank of common errors that
could be used to create remedial listening tasks aimed
at teaching listening rather than simply testing it.
Despite its long history, dictation has been
largely overlooked in more recent SLA research andhas become marginalised in many second language
curricula (Thorn, 2009). Although successful aural/oral communication requires equivalent competencies
in both speaking and listening, speaking skills are often
given far more explicit attention in the communicative
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Pain & Rowberry
English classroom while listening skills are undervalued(Field, 2008). Even when conscious attention isdedicated to listening, meaning-building processes,
focusing heavily on context, are often prioritized oversound recognition. However, as Field points out, it is“accurate and automatic decoding” that characterises
a skilled listener (2008 p.136). He recommends theregular use of transcription tasks in order to train
learners to decode aural input quickly and accurately,
thereby freeing up working memory for thinking about
the overall meaning of the text. Meanwhile, Nation
and Newton (2009) consider dictation to be a valuable
language-focused teaching and learning techniquewhich can “help language learning by making learners
focus on the language form of phrase and clause level
constructions, and by providing feedback on theaccuracy of their perception” (p. 59).
A number of studies have investigated the role ofdictation as a tool for enhancing a range of language
competencies. For example, Rahimi (2008) identified
improvements in grammar and reading in addition
to listening comprehension skills as a result ofstudents’ exposure to a dictation program. Meanwhile
the affective benefits of using partial dictation toprovide scaffolding for challenging audio texts were
demonstrated by Kuo (2010), and the value ofdictation as an assessment tool is highlighted by Buck
who describes it as the most widely used integrative
test of listening (2001).
The 12-week dictation program in the SILC wasdesigned as an instructional mechanism with theintention of improving students’ aural decoding skills.
The pre- and post-program tasks were designed tomeasure any gains that may have occurred as a result of
the program. The authors of the current study make noclaims in regard to improvements in students’ generallanguage proficiency or even overall listening ability.
Rather the focus is on whether the students show
improvement in their ability to accurately decodeaural input in the target language. This decodingrefers to the ability to recognise words and parse
the grammar of what is heard in real time (Rost &Wilson, 2013) and is an important, but by no means
only, process involved in second language listening.
While a balanced approach to listening instruction

166 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

would ideally target a wide range of listening subskills, incorporating both decoding and meaningbuilding processes (Field, 2008), instructional priority
was given to intensive listening, with a focus onphonology, syntax, and lexis. This was deemed to beof most benefit in the context of Sojo University giventhat SILC students are of generally low overall English
proficiency, ranging from pre-A1 to B1 as defined by
the Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages (2001), with particularly underdeveloped
listening skills as highlighted by the results from theOxford Online Placement Test (OOPT) which all
students take on entry to the program. Consequently,
two research questions were proposed:
1. Is there a measurable gain in learners’
performance in dictation-based listening tasks
over the course of a first semester of English
Communication classes in the SILC?
2. What errors occur frequently in learners’
responses, and how can these be analysed
to provide meaningful, remedial listening
instruction in the future?
By collating and comparing a large bank of
dictation transcripts, the researchers hoped to identify
common areas of difficulty and subsequently to design
a program of discrete listening tasks targeting theseareas in order to focus learners’ attention and provide
opportunities for remedial practice.

Methods
Participants
The participants in the study were 99 first year students
enrolled in four English Communication classes at
the SILC. Their levels ranged from CEFR pre-A1 to
A2, according to results generated from the OOPT.
Although the total number of participants was 99,
twelve were deleted due to technical issues or because
they did not take both the pre and post-tests, giving a
total sample of N = 87.

Test Instruments
The test instruments for the study were two comparable
scripted texts, each of approximately 80 words inlength. The texts were in the form of monologues andRevisiting Dictation, pages 165-171

Figure 1. Example of a coded response (Text A)

composed of relatively simple concepts and syntacticalstructures. They were recorded by native speakers andat a slightly slower than natural speech rate, with slightpauses between intonation groups.
Consideration was given to the vocabulary used in
the texts and their overall difficulty. For this purpose,
the Frequency Level Checker (Maeda, 1999) was used
to ensure that over 90% of the vocabulary used in bothtexts was from Levels 1 or 2 of the General Service List
(West, 1953). The texts were checked for readability
with an online tool using the ‘Gunning Fog Index’(Gunning, 1952), which reports values as an estimateof the number of years of formal education needed tounderstand the text on a first reading. One text (TextA) had a rating of 6.79, while the other text (Text B)
had a rating of 6.97, meaning both texts were broadly
comparable in terms of readability.

Procedure
For the data collection, approximately half (N = 46)of the learners were given Text A at the beginning of
the semester prior to the start of the dictation program(the pre-test), while the remaining learners (N = 41)
were given Text B. The uneven group size was due tothe decision to preserve existing teaching groups. The
tasks were administered online during regular classtime with students working on networked computers.
Learners were given eight minutes in which totranscribe as much of the text as possible. They wereallowed to pause the recording at any time, and listen
as many times as they wished within the time limit.
At the end of the eight minutes responses were locked
and submitted. The same process was repeated at theend of the semester after all students had completed
the dictation program (the post-test) but this time, thelearners were tested on alternate texts.

Data Coding
The student responses were coded using four categories
adapted from Kondo (2003) in which a correct word
is considered a test item and assigned one point.
However, while Kondo’s study focused on accuratetranscription, the present study is interested primarily
in participants’ ability to decode aural input and,
therefore, the ability to spell words accurately was
not seen as important. Consequently, words that wereinterpreted as being accurately decoded but had been
misspelled were noted as ‘garbles’ but were scored. In
summary, the categories employed were as follows:
1. Correct word - A word is given in the exact
spelling. Assigned one point.
2. Garble - A word is given in the incorrectspelling but in a form which appears to indicatethat it has been successfully decoded. Assigned
one point.
3. Wrong word - A word is given but is notrecognisable as the word in the recording.
Assigned no point.
4. Omission - No word given. Assigned no point.
A colour coding system was employed in order tomaintain a careful record of the coding process andto facilitate subsequent analysis of errors, as shown in
Figure 1.

Results and Discussion
The percentage of accurately decoded words wascalculated for test-takers in both the pre- and the posttest. Mean scores were generated for each group, as well
as for all participants combined. Individual scores werethen compared using a correlated samples t-test to
establish significance. The results are shown in Table 1.
There was a significant difference in the scoresfor the pre-test (M=36.55) and post-test (M=51.24)
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Pain & Rowberry
Table 1Comparison of Pre- and Post-Test Scores
N

Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Total

23
24
23
17
87

Pre-Test

Post-Test

Text

Mean % (SD)

Text

Mean % (SD)

A
B
A
B

34.01 (15.64)
46.71 (13.31)
36.05 (16.64)
26.32 (14.11)
36.55

B
A
B
A

55.09 (17.91)
62.24 (13.18)
53.55 (18.97)
27.40 (14.44)
51.24

conditions; t(86) = 8.5, p < .0001. Thus, in respect of thefirst research question, it is immediately apparent that
there was a very large increase in overall mean scores
between the pre- and post-test and the researchers canbe confident that this increase represents a real increasein aural decoding ability.
In the case of Groups 1 to 3, the increase in scores
was significant and very large with students scoring
between 33% and 61% better on the post-test. In
the case of the fourth group, however, the increase inscores did not turn out to be significant (p > .388).
The researchers posited two likely explanations forthis. Firstly, it appears both from the data and fromthe subjective experience of coding the responses, thattext A may be somewhat more difficult than text B.
Secondly, since the overall English proficiency level ofGroup 4 was considerably below that of the other threegroups, according to the results from the OOPT, it ispossible that these participants lacked the writing skills

Change

+61%
+33%
+48%
+4%
+40%

P < .0001
P < .0001
P < .0001
P < .3890
P < .0001

necessary to complete the task regardless of whether
they had understood the text or not. This is clearlya weakness in the research design and for any future
iterations of the study it would be very important
either to exclude participants below a certain level ofEnglish writing proficiency or to substantially revise
the task employed.
In order to address the second research question,
the researchers attempted to identify commonlyoccurring errors in the students’ responses. Some of
the most common kinds of error identified are listed inTable 2, with examples. Note that the categories used
are drawn from a taxonomy provided by Field (2008).
Of the errors listed in Table 2, the omission
or confusion of articles or prepositions is not of
immediate concern as it is unlikely that these errors
hindered comprehension. Cases of incorrect inference
are noteworthy insofar as guessing is an important
strategy for effective listening comprehension, not

Table 2
Taxonomy of Common Errors
Level

Type

ExamplesPhonemeMinimal pair recognition / incorrect
inference / Linked speech‘Bob’ frequently recorded as ‘Paul’ (Also,‘Pawl’, ‘Poul’, ‘Pole’, ‘Polu’, ‘Book’, ‘Go’)Now ereven (we live in an) old house…just town size (outside) London in
Engrand

SyntaxOmission / confusion of articles /prepositions
Omission of infinitives

I come from small twon
I move to Japan three years ago my family
I also find time do my hobbies

Meaning-building

Incorrect inferences / associations

I also fun (find) time to do my hobbies

168 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Revisiting Dictation, pages 165-171

Figure 2. Screenshot of task designed to provide remedial practice in minimal pair recognition.

only for language learners but for native speakers given
the inconsistency of the speech signal that listeners are
required to process (see, for example, Rost 2011, Field
2008). Consequently, we would not want to discourage
students from making informed guesses about content.
Nonetheless, as Field pointed out (2008), even a single
incorrect inference can rapidly lead listeners awayfrom the intended meaning as they continue to form
associations and make further inferences based on theinitial misunderstanding.
Perhaps the most pertinent and rectifiable type oferror identified from the study is in respect of linked
speech. Typically, like many Japanese EFL learners,
SILC students are more familiar with the written formof English than the spoken form. Thus, while most
students would immediately understand ‘we live in’when written down, many were unable to accurately
decode this phrase aurally. One might posit that an
overdependence on the written form has trained
students to listen for the artificial construct of words
rather than naturally occurring speech units. In orderto address this it might be useful to produce a seriesof listening tasks focusing specifically on commonlyoccurring speech units thereby training learners to
identify language as it actually occurs in speech rather
than as it is represented in writing.
In the case of phoneme level errors, the mostobvious intervention would be practice of minimal
pairs and indeed a series of tasks has now been createdin order to address this. These tasks are accessed
online through the centre’s Moodle site along with thedictation program itself and require learners to listen toa series of minimal pairs, identifying the correct soundat each step in order to arrive at the correct answer, as
shown in Figure 2.

Limitations
Despite the increase in learners’ scores between the
pre- and post-tests, it is important to acknowledge anumber of serious limitations in the study. Firstly,
though we can be reasonably confident that students’aural decoding skills did improve, we cannot directly
attribute this gain to the dictation program itself.
During the 12 week period of the programme, students
also received approximately 36 hours of classroombased instruction in the target language. In addition,
for homework students were encouraged to makeextensive use of a commercial online vocabularydevelopment service which, though focused on
vocabulary acquisition rather than listening skills
development, made extensive use of the aural channel
for introducing and reinforcing vocabulary learning.
Therefore, it would be entirely unreasonable to attribute
improvements in learners’ aural decoding skills during
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169

Pain & Rowberry
this period solely to the dictation program. All we cansay is that students improved and it is highly likely thatthe dictations contributed to this improvement. In theabsence of a control group, any attempt to quantify
how much of the gain was due to the dictation program
would, however, be pure speculation.
A second major limitation of the study relates tothe type of task used. Although we can claim withsome confidence that learners got better at the task,
the texts used were not representative of natural
spoken English samples so we cannot assume that thegain would be transferable to authentic target language
listening situations. Nonetheless, the ability to decodeaural input with a reasonable degree of automaticity isa necessary, if not sufficient, condition for success inreal-world listening situations. It would certainly beinteresting for future research to attempt to ascertain
whether there is any evidence that improvements instudents’ performance in the dictation task correlate togains beyond the classroom.
Finally, as we have noted above, students do not
rely solely on their ability to process aural input whencompleting a dictation task but also draw extensively
on their knowledge of syntax and lexis as well as on
their familiarity with orthographic conventions suchas those governing spelling. Therefore, while it is clearthat the subjects of the study were scoring higher in the
post-test (NOT TIME 2), it is less clear that they were
improving specifically in listening, let alone in theirability to decode aural input.

Conclusion
Despite these limitations, it seems highly unlikely thatgains of the magnitude recorded in the study could be
accounted for by these construct irrelevant variables
alone, and the curriculum developers have good reason
to be confident that the dictation program is a viable
component of the SILC’s English Communication
course. Moreover, the research findings are well
supported by data from the end-of-semester course
evaluation surveys in which 95% of students reported
that their English listening skills had improved as aresult of the dictation program.
However, acknowledging that the limitationsof the study have implications for the validity of the

170 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

research, it would be important to make refinements
to the research design for any future iterations of thestudy. For example a wider range of tasks, including
cloze dictation to target the lower level students, might
result in a higher degree of confidence that improved
scores did indeed correlate to improvements in aural
decoding skills. Meanwhile, the use of texts containing
more features of natural spoken language, as opposedto scripted texts read aloud, would allow us to makemore confident claims about the transferability ofgains to real world listening contexts.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Elton LaClare, theSILC Moodle administrator, who was responsible fordeveloping the dictation programme as well as theminimal pair practice tasks cited in the article.

References
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Council of Europe. (2001). Common european
framework of reference for languages: Learning,teaching, assessment. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press
Field, J. (2008). Listening in the language classroom.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press
Gunning, R. (1952). The technique of clear writing.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Kondo, Y. (2003) Factors of listening comprehension
evaluated by dictation. PAAL2003 Conference
Proceedings. Retrieved from: www.paaljapan.org/
resources/proceedings/2003/kondo.pdf
Kuo, Y. (2010). Using partial dictation of an English
Teaching radio program to enhance EFL learners’
listening comprehension. Asian EFL Journal,
Professional Teaching Articles, 47, 4-29.
LaClare, E., Roger, A., & Rowberry, J. (2014).
Developing a test of listening to support the
English communication curriculum at Sojo
University. Sojo Journal, 39,129-137.
Maeda, J., & Hobara, Y., (1999). Frequency level
checker. http://language.tiu.ac.jp/flc/index.html.

Revisiting Dictation, pages 165-171
Nation, I. S. P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York, NY:
Routledge.
Rahimi, M. (2008). Using dictation to improve
language proficiency. The Asian EFL Journal, 10,33-47.
Rost, M. (2011). Teaching and researching listening(2nd ed.). London, England: Pearson.
Rost, M., & Wilson, J. J. (2013). Active listening.
Harlow, England.: Pearson
T﻿horn, S. (2009). Mining listening texts. Modern
English Teacher, 18(2), 5-13.
West, M. (1953). A general service list of English words.
London, England: Longman, Green and Co..

Authors’ Biographies:
Ryan Pain teaches at the Sojo International Learning Center at Sojo University, Kumamoto,Japan. His research interests include how to effectively teach and assess listening, pragmatics, andreading fluency.
Jon Rowberry teaches at Sojo University, where he is Director of the Sojo International Learning
Center. He is interested in all aspects of instructional design, and particularly in the teaching andassessment of second language listening.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

171Encouraging Active Participation With Response Cards

William R. Pellowe

Stephen M. Paton

Paul Shimizu

Kinki University (Fukuoka)
pellowe@fuk.kindai.ac.jp

Kinki University (Fukuoka)
paton@stevepaton.com

paulshim@intercompress.com

Response cards are cards that all students hold up simultaneously in response to a teacher’s question.
Response cards improve student concentration, and encourage a more active engagement withthe material. Periodic and judicious use of response cards can help students to stay focused in theclassroom. These cards also allow the teacher to quickly gauge the students’ understanding of thematerial. In this paper, we outline some of the research done with response cards, and we provide
examples of a variety of classroom activities.
レスポンスカード（応答カード）は、生徒全員が教師の問いに応答して同時に掲げるカードである。
レスポンスカードは生徒の集中度を高め、より能動的な教材への関与を促す。
レス
ポンスカードを適宜使用することにより、生徒が教室で集中力を維持することを助けることができる。
これらのカードはまた、生徒が教材をどの程度理解できているかを、教師が短時間で推し測るのを可能にする。本稿はレスポンスカードを用いて行われた研究を概説し、さまざまなクラス活動の例を示す。

Too often, students’ motivation to listen closely
decreases after answering the teacher’s question,
confident of not being called on again soon. We
teachers assume that we are talking to the entire class,thus providing them all with some valuable input, but
input is only valuable to those who attend to it. One
way to maintain student engagement is with a simple
yet versatile tool for the classroom called response
cards. Response cards are “simultaneously held up
by all students in the class to display their responses
to questions or problems presented by the teacher”(Heward et al., 1996, p. 5). These cards could be as
simple as pieces of colored paper or “batsu maru” (“xand o”) paddles available in Japan at 100 yen shops.
At various points during the class, the teacher asks
Pellowe, W. R., Paton, S. M., & Shimizu, P. (2015).
Encouraging active participation with response cards.
In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The
2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 172-177).
Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

172 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

the students multiple-choice questions. The students
are all required to answer by holding up one of their
response cards.
A high-tech version of response cards are
educational audience response systems. Instead ofcolored paper, the students have electronic clicker
devices to send their answers electronically to theteacher’s computer system (Banks, 2006; Pellowe,
2010; Pellowe & Shimizu, 2010; Steinberg, 2010;
Wertheimer, 2009). In many cases, though, a simple,
low-tech response card system can be more flexible
than a high-tech one (Pellowe, 2011).
Woolf (1981) reported on using four-color
response cards at a medical university in large lectureclasses with hundreds of students. Woolf found that thecards helped hold students’ attention, while students
themselves reported that the response cards help themto stay awake. In an elementary mathematics class,Lambert, Cartledge, Heward, & Lo (2006) found that
response cards helped students to participate more,
and answer more questions correctly. They also foundEncouraging Active Participation with Response Cards, pages 172-177
a decrease in disruptive behavior (Lambert, Cartledge,
Heward & Lo, 2006). Response cards have been foundto increase test and quiz scores, increase participation,
increase learning, and decrease off-task behavior suchas chatting or sleeping (Randolph, 2007).
For the teacher, response cards provide a clear
picture of how well the class as a whole understands
particular concepts or details. In science course
lectures, for example, if nearly every student answers
correctly, the teacher knows that the students haveunderstood the lecture so far, and the teacher cancontinue with the lecture. However, if many students
answer incorrectly, the teacher knows that the students
have not understood the lecture very well, and at thatpoint, the teacher can try explaining that aspect of thelecture again.

Types of Activities
In our classes, we use a two-sided response card codeveloped by two of the authors (Pellowe & Shimizu,
2010; Shimizu & Pellowe, 2010). Each side has two
answer areas at either end (Figure 1). The answer area
has a color, a shape and a letter, making it easy to see
the students’ answers. While this article discusses
techniques and procedures used with this specificresponse card, similar cards or even electronic clickers

would works equally well. Response cards are notintended to be used for the entire lesson time; rather,
they are most effective when used periodically andjudiciously during the lesson.

Listening Activities
Response cards improve listening comprehension
activities. Before listening, students can be given somemultiple-choice questions to answer. The students
understand that they will all be asked to answer withthe response cards, so, in our experience, they seem to
pay much closer attention during the listening activity.
An example question:
What time will they meet?
A: 2:15
B: 2:30
C: 2:45
D: 3:15
A more challenging alternative is to simply provide thequestions:
Why did he have to walk to the gas station?
Afterwards, the teacher shows students the options,and they can choose the one that most closely resembles
the information they wrote down:
A: His car ran out of gas.
B: His car got a flat tire.
C: His car crashed.
D: He forgot where his car was parked.
With every student showing their answers at thesame time, teachers can see at a glance how easy ordifficult the activity was, and whether or not the audio
should be replayed. Also, the students know that they
are accountable; if they’re not holding up an answer,
the teacher will be able to see that immediately. In our
experience, the number of students who ignore or are
distracted during listening activities decreased when
response cards were introduced.
Some textbooks contain the following type oflistening comprehension question:

Figure 1. A two-sided response paddle

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Pellowe, Paton, & Shimizu
Listen. One of these statements is false. Three are true.
A: They are cousins.
B: They work at the same company.
C: One of them is very tall.
D: They’re eating lunch.
Checking this type of question can be tricky. The
teacher can ask the whole class each option in turn (e.g.,“Are they cousins?”). The vocal, outgoing students willprobably chime in to answer, while reticent students aswell as those simply not paying attention will remainsilent. Or the teacher could ask for a show of hands(e.g., “Raise your hands if you think the first one isfalse”), but the slow responders might be just following
what they see other people doing. These may not be
the best way to go, especially if the first sentence isactually the false one. Alternatively, teachers could
just ask the class, “Which one is false?” The outgoingstudents would all say what they thought the answer
was. If answers are varied, though, we may not actuallyknow who thought what. We will not know how many
students were “voting” for each option. A four-option
response card has an obvious advantage over any ofthese methods of eliciting students’ answers.

GrammarResponse cards are also good ways to check students’
understanding of grammatical points, either before
explanation (to determine whether any explanationis needed) or afterwards (to see how well the generalidea has been grasped). The teacher could put about
ten problems on the board or on paper distributed tothe students, such as:
The Mona Lisa [A: painted B: was painted by]
Leonardo da Vinci.
Textbooks and workbooks often contain grammar
problem sections. If these sections include choices, thenassigning A-D values for each choice is straightforward.
Otherwise, the teacher can assign letter values for thealternative answers.

Speaking Warm-Up
These response cards are also useful to elicit students’

174 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

own answers as a warm-up to a speaking activity. The
teacher writes a basic pattern on the board, and asks
students a variety of questions.
Have you ever _________?
A: Yes, many times.
B: Yes, a few times.
C: Yes, but only once.
D: No, never.
Of course, if the responses can vary between
students (such as in this example, or in an opinion
survey), there is a possibility that some students willanswer randomly, rather than actually considering
the questions. To ensure that this is not the case, someof the teacher’s questions should be easily verifiable.
All students would be expected to hold up “A” tothe question, “Have you ever eaten rice?” All would
respond with a “D” to the question, “Have you everflown to the moon?”

Class Applications
Presentation Software
As well as utilizing response cards with publishedtextbooks, spoken questions and prompts, and itemson the board, teachers can use presentation software
such as PowerPoint or Keynote to come up with theirown materials for checking comprehension of any
aspect of any part of a lesson. In fact, using presentation
software to display questions or prompts, with theanswers or responses from which to choose, allows
teachers to create engaging materials customized tothe comprehension level of each particular class, andto check precise aspects of lesson content at any stageof a lesson.
For example, as a lead-in to a unit on asking
information questions in the past simple tense, a seriesof slides featuring a base verb, and four options for its
past conjugation can be produced and run through as
a warm-up:eat
A: eat
B: eats
C: ateD: eight

Encouraging Active Participation with Response Cards, pages 172-177
These can be presented in any way the teacher prefers;
either outside of any context, as in the previous
example, or with accompanying graphics, or withinshort or long texts.
Given the ease of copy/pasting slide after slide andchanging only the textual content on each copy, rather
than needing to re-do formatting or layout on eachone, the teacher is able to produce as many “checking”
slides as he or she deems necessary, and has theflexibility in the classroom to use only as many slides
as are needed. A single slide, featuring a text box at the
top for a question or prompt, the four A, B, C, and D
options down the left side, and a text box for giving a
response for each one, is a perfect template that can be
duplicated and edited as necessary for use at any stageof any kind of lesson.
For example, as a follow-up to the past simple verbs
exercise above, the slide can be duplicated, the text
boxes edited to easily come up with a more advanced,
conceptual version of much the same thing:
What did he eat?
A: He ate an apple.
B: He is ate an apple.
C: He is eaten an apple.
D: He eats an apple.
Should all the students demonstrate an ability to selectthe correct answer, the lesson can progress.
A significant benefit of using presentation software
for such instruction is the ability on the part of teachers
to create professional-looking materials of their own,with engaging, interesting, or even amusing content.
An image search with Google, for example, reveals aplethora of exciting and funny pictures that the teacher
could select to use as the basis of otherwise potentiallytiresome grammar instruction. Imagine, if you will, aphotograph of Santa Claus riding a bicycle underwaterwith the aid of scuba gear, alongside a 15-foot shark,
used in class to elicit and concept-check the present
continuous, or prepositions of place, or indeed any
language point; such “silly” content has the potential
to engage the students a great deal better than, say, atextbook picture of a man eating an apple.
However, without any mechanism in place forstudents to engage actively, even the best and mostinteresting PowerPoint-based instruction cannot be
said to be student-centered, and engagement cannot
be guaranteed. Furthermore, teachers have no way ofknowing how well their points are being understood.
Response cards solve this problem, and go a long way
towards turning presentation-software based sectionsof lessons into memorable, engaging, student-centered,and even communicative activities, despite being
screen-based and teacher-controlled.

TOEIC Bridge Test Preparation
Preparation courses for the TOEIC test have long
been an object of study in Japanese universities, andmany Japanese universities now use the TOEIC
Bridge test for placement and assessment. Teachers
are therefore faced with the challenge of keeping large
classes engaged whilst preparing them for the test. The
combination of presentation software and response
cards can be easily and effectively utilized in TOEIC
preparation classes.
In a large class, with no practical means of checking
each student’s answers to, for example, a textbook’s
practice page of ten multiple-choice grammar questions(such as those found in part four of the TOEIC Bridgetest), a teacher is left with little option other than tosimply inform students of the answer to each item, andperhaps give a brief explanation of why it is the correct
answer, before going on to the next item; all the while
not knowing whether the explanation was necessary,or even understood. Calling upon individual students
to give their answer to an item has the potential tocause embarrassment, and might result in reticenceand a slackening of the pace of the class. Instead, by
asking all of the students to simultaneously indicate
their answers to each question using a response card,
the teacher can instantly see which items students
are getting wrong (and thus which items need to be
explained), and which items are understood by all (andthus can be skipped past without explanation). This isan enormous boost to pace and efficiency.
The thematic content of TOEIC tests is neither
engaging nor particularly fun, and most textbooks
do, unfortunately, reflect this accurately. This adds
to the difficulty of keeping students engaged. Usinga combination of response cards and presentation
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Pellowe, Paton, & Shimizu
software, teachers can produce TOEIC-format
materials of their own that are unique, engaging,comprehensible, and appropriate for the level of thestudents in the class.
In part one of the test, for example, in which
students see a picture, listen to four statements, andchoose the one that best describes the picture, rather
than using grainy black and white photographs ofuninteresting daily life, teachers can use presentation
software to create materials based around interesting,exciting, or funny pictures, to teach the mechanics
and strategies of the test without boring students.
Presentation software facilitates the production ofabundant practice material, and the response cards
keep students engaged throughout a lesson.
Part two of the test requires students to choose
one of three responses to a question or statement as
being appropriate. A common strategy for this section
is for the students to listen particularly closely tothe interrogative, if there is one, and to choose theiranswer based mainly on that. An effective exercise forpracticing this strategy that is made possible by the
combination of presentation software and response
cards is to prepare numerous slides that feature the text
of only an interrogative and three possible responses,
only one of which matches, as in the following example:
Where_____?
A: At 10 o’clock.
B: It belongs to John.
C: They’re in the kitchen.
Example after example can be easily made, student
responses can be checked using cards, and the lesson
can move on at an appropriate point.
The third listening section of the test has students
read questions in their test booklet, and listen to shortconversations or statements for the answers. Using
presentation software for practice of this section, either
including or alongside audio recordings, takes away
the necessity of printing materials, by having all text
displayed on screen, and allows the teacher to customize
question items to the level of comprehension of thestudents. Once again, response cards allow teachers
to rapidly gain an understanding of their students’comprehension question by question, and know when

176 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

to go into further explanation of an item or to moveon. Indeed, if response cards show the teacher that thestudents are consistently having trouble, then easierquestion items can be prepared for subsequent classes.

Conclusion
Response cards improve student concentration, andencourage a more active engagement with the material.
Periodic and judicious use of response cards can help
students to stay focused in the classroom. These cards
also allow the teacher to quickly gauge the students’
understanding of the material, allowing teachers toknow when review is necessary and when it is not.
Response cards are a simple and low-tech way to bringabout significant changes in one’s classes.

References
Banks, D. A. (2006). Audience response systems inhigher education: Applications and cases. Hershey,
PA: Information Science Publishing.
Heward, W. L., Gardner, R., III, Cavanaugh, R. A.,
Courson, F. H., Grossi, T. A., & Barbetta, P.M.
(1996). Everyone participates in this class: Using
response cards to increase active student response.
Teaching Exceptional Children, 28, 4-11.
Lambert, M. C., Cartledge, G., Heward, W. L., Lo,
Y. (2006). Effects of response cards on disruptive
behavior and academic responding during mathlessons by fourth-grade urban students. Journal of
Positive Behavior Interventions, 8(2), 88-99.
Pellowe, W. R. (2010) MOARS: Mobile Audience
Response System. Retrieved from: http://moars.
com
Pellowe, W. R. (2011, June). Student response
systems: What, why and how. Paper presented
at the meeting of the Asian Conference on
Technology, Osaka, Japan.
Pellowe, W. R., Holster, T., & Ryan, K. (2010,
November). Student response system for mobile
devices. Paper presented at the meeting of theJapan Association for Language Teaching, Nagoya,Japan.
Pellowe, W. R. & Shimizu, P. (2010, November).
Fully engaged: Increased participation,

Encouraging Active Participation with Response Cards, pages 172-177
involvement and motivation. Paper presented
at the meeting of English Teachers in Japan,
Fukuoka, Japan.
Randolph, J. J. (2007). Meta-analysis of theresearch on response cards: Effects on test
achievement, quiz achievement, participation,and off-task behavior. Journal of Positive Behavior
Interventions, 9(2), 113-128.
Shimizu, P., & Pellowe, W. R. (2010, November).
Student response systems — What, why, how.
Paper presented at the meeting of the Japan
Association for Language Teaching, Nagoya, Japan.
Steinberg, J. (2010, November 16). More professors

give out hand-held devices to monitor students
and engage them. New York Times. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/
education/16clickers.html
Wertheimer, L. K. (2009, April 2). Clicking withstudents; Devices that encourage class interaction
gain traction in schools across the state. The
Boston Globe. Retrieved from http://www.boston.
com/yourtown/waltham/articles/2009/04/02/
clicking_with_students
Woolf, C. R. (1981). Class participation: A simple,
inexpensive technique. Medical Teacher, 3(2),63-66.

Authors’ Biographies:
William R. Pellowe (MA (Distinction) TESOL) has been teaching English in Japan since 1990.
His primary research area is CALL. He runs ELT Calendar (www.eltcalendar.com).
Stephen M. Paton (M.Ed TESOL, Cambridge CELTA, Apple Distinguished Educator) has beenteaching English for ten years. His research interests include self-efficacy theory and strategiesbased instruction.
Paul Shimizu (Cert.Ed. University of London) has been teaching English in Japan for over three
decades. He is also an editor and project developer for Intercom Press (www.intercompress.com).

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings177

Why Don’t Our Students Study Abroad? Seeking DataDriven Changes to Administrative Challenges

Mathew Porter
Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s University
portermathew@hotmail.com
Market research was conducted to explore reasons why few students study abroad at a small
private women’s university in Japan. Using a large-scale survey (n=450) of first- and second-year
students, given in the students’ first language, current interest in studying abroad, awareness andinterest in university programs, interest in non-university programs, and study abroad preferenceswere examined. Based on an analysis of the results, 11 actionable items were suggested to improveinformation and program management in order to increase participation and improve the visibilityof study abroad on campus..
何故日本の小規模な私立女子大では、海外で勉強をする学生がほとんどいないのかという理由を求める為に市場調査が行われた。第一言語で行われた一年生、二年生の大規模調査（ｎ＝４５０）を使用し、海外で勉強する興味、大学のカリキュラムに対する認知度や興味、大学のカリキュラムにはない物に対する興味、海外での勉強に対する好みなどが調査された。結果分析に基づいて、参加者を増やし、キャンパスで海外学習の認知度を高める
為に、情報や、
プログラム管理を充実させる１１の実施可能な事項が提案された。

Teachers must, at times, fulfill other roles when they
become part of a large organization such as a university.
Many Japanese universities have yet to undergo
massive specialization in their administrative staffing,which means that many facets of university life arestill managed by a faculty committee. Of course, thismight not be the situation at every university in Japan,
but it is the case at mine, a small private women’s
university of a few thousand students, where I am on
the study abroad committee with three colleagues.
The committee’s purpose is the administration ofexisting study abroad programs, and it is reluctant toPorter, M. (2015). Why don’t our students study
abroad? Seeking data-driven changes to administrative
challenges. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
178-189). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

178 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

take on the development and management of new
programs because of existing responsibilities. It does
not have any authority to decide substantial changes
in the school’s approach towards study abroad (e.g.,
establishing an International Office), but it can submit
proposals and advise the head of student affairs, underwhose authority the committee operates.

Importance of Study Abroad
Study abroad is a key component in the Japaneseapproach to English language learning. In 2012, theOffice of the Prime Minister released a revitalization
plan for the country and announced Japan wasdetermined to double the number of university
students studying abroad from 60,000 students to
120,000 students by 2020 (Kantei, 2013). To reachthat goal, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, and Technology (MEXT) is asking universities

Why Don’t Our Students Study Abroad, pages 178-189
to clarify the purpose of study abroad programs,
provide higher quality programs, and establish results
by ensuring improvements in the communicative
abilities of the students who participate in these
programs, as a way of making them more attractive
to potential employers (MEXT, 2014). They are also
making money available to universities for investment
in study abroad, e-learning, and improved English
classes (Brown, 2014).
Having a robust offering of study abroad programs
can help to satisfy students and enrich their university
careers. Benesse, a Japan-based educational consulting
company, has developed an annual assessment ofstudent abilities and attitudes based on a survey of
90,000 first-year university students. In their 2012assessment (Benesse, 2012), study abroad ranked very
low on reasons why students chose their university.
Students were given 24 reasons for choosing their
university and were allowed to select three. Although
active international exchange was chosen by only 6.1%of the respondents, 40% of the survey participants
reported a desire to study abroad once in university.
This is an encouraging number, but of the 24 selections
it received the least responses. However this does notmean that improving study abroad programs should
not be a priority as it shows there is a large number ofstudents interested in studying abroad.
At the personal level, even short-term study
abroad programs present students with a wealth ofgrowth opportunities (Ludlum, Ice, & Nguyen, 2013).
There are, of course, gains in language proficiency thatstudents experience while studying overseas. It has
also been shown that students experience an increasein cultural awareness, knowledge, and understanding,through participating in study abroad programs(Braskamp, Braskamp, & Merrill, 2009). Studying
abroad has been shown to affect learner beliefs,
particularly self-efficacy and beliefs about learnerautonomy (Amuzie & Winke, 2009). Personality
traits can be affected as well, with studies such as that
by Dolby (2004) showing improvements in resiliency,
flexibility, openness, and autonomy. Study abroad
has also been linked to an increase in motivation andacademic performance (Holoviak, Verney, Winter, &Holoviak, 2011).

Our Study Abroad Programs
For our university, the existence of a Global
Communications Department suggests a strong focus
on international exchange and study abroad; however,this is not the case. The school currently maintains
three programs with two partner universities, Kent
State University (KSU) in the USA and Queensland
University of Technology (QUT) in Australia.
Students can choose to go to KSU for three weeks
during the summer or for about six months during
the summer and fall. They can also choose to study
for five weeks in the spring at QUT. A new, twoweek long internship program managed by JTB thattakes place in Melbourne, Australia has recently been
added. The number of students participating in these
programs numbers less than 25 each year, implyingthat study abroad may not be a priority or interest formost of our students. But is that really the case? An
investigation into student attitudes towards study
abroad in general and our programs in particular had
never been undertaken before, which means current
programs and practices are based more on intuition
and institutional tradition rather than actual student
data. The aim of this investigation is to explore reasons
why few students study abroad, and to use the data tosuggest strategies for improving our program offeringsand methods, so we can provide more support for
students who want to experience studying abroadwhile at Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s University(HBWU).

Methodology
This study was undertaken following basic principles
of market research. A market research framework waschosen as the best approach for this study because it
is concerned with “studying the market, segmenting it,targeting the groups you want to service, positioning
yourself in the market, and creating a service thatmeets needs out there” (Kotler, in Drucker, 1995, p.
56). The problem examined in this study is one ofunderstanding our market and evaluating whether
our services meet our customers’ needs. There arethree steps in market research: data collection using asystematic and objective approach, interpretation of
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

179

Porterand inferences based on the collected data, and finally,
actionable items recommended by the data (Hague,2012). A survey was designed to investigate fourareas: current interest in studying abroad, awarenessand interest in university programs, interest in nonuniversity programs, and study abroad preferences (seethe Appendix). It was administered in Japanese andused branch logic, which displays different questions
based on an individual’s response. It was carried out
during a two-week period at the end of the 2013-2014
school year ( January 14-30) and delivered via Survey
Monkey during required general English classes forfirst- and second-year students from all five of ouruniversity departments.

Participants
The survey was answered by 299 first- and 147 secondyear students. Respondents account for nearly 90% of
all first-year students and over 40% of all second-year
students. Table 1 presents a breakdown of respondents
by year and department.

Findings
Interest
The first question asked students if they wereinterested in studying abroad while at our university.
This allowed us to divide respondents into two groups
and ask them different questions. Less than half ofall students (194 students) responded affirmatively.
The results are in Table 2. The percentage of students

Table 1
Respondents by Year and Department

Department

First-year students

Second-year students

Early Childhood Education

114

56

Nutrition

72

36

Welfare46

23

Psychology

36

10

Global Communication

31

22

Total

299

147

First-year students

Second-year students

Early Childhood Education

43

28

Nutrition

21

12

Welfare14

6

Psychology

192

Global Communication

29

19

Total

126

67

N=446
Table 2Affirmative Respondents by Year and Department

Department

N=194

180 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Why Don’t Our Students Study Abroad, pages 178-189
interested in studying abroad was highest in the
Global Communication Department, but students
from the Early Childhood Education Department
made up the largest number of affirmative respondents
due to the large size of the department. The resulting
95% confidence interval for all first- and second-year
students interested in studying abroad is 43% +/-5%,
which shows consistency with the Benesse assessment
done in 2012.
The 253 students not interested in studying abroadwere asked to select a reason. Respondents were given
five choices: lack of information, anxiety about goingabroad, English ability, cost, and unrelated career path.
Multiple responses were allowed and write-in answers
were also accepted. Lack of English ability was chosen
by 175 students. Cost, selected by 121 students, andanxiety about going abroad, chosen by 120 students,
were also common responses.
The negative group was asked for write-in
responses about what would increase their interest in
studying abroad and comments were received from135 students. Those comments were categorized into
themes, with four themes being mentioned morethan others: more information, English skills, cost,and accompaniment. Respondents wanted more
information, including access to more program andcountry information, as well as wanting to heardirectly from students who have previously studied
abroad. They wanted more affordable program fees
and financial aid opportunities. They also wanted to

be able to go abroad as a class or with friends.

Preferences
The aim of this section is to identify preferences
for basic program attributes using responses fromthe 194 students in the affirmative group to look at
destination, length, timing, and cost. Responses fordestination showed little meaningful differentiation,
except in the case of the Philippines. These responses
are shown in Table 3.
Respondents were asked to choose from threeprogram lengths—3-5 weeks, 3-4 months, and 6-8months—that are typical of the programs usuallyfound at Japanese universities. Multiple responses werepossible. The most popular response was the shortterm program, but there was considerable variation
across departments. As a group, respondents fromthe Global Communication Department showed themost variation, with nearly equal numbers interested
in the different lengths, but Psychology and Early
Childhood Education students were least interested
in long-term programs. This variation can be seen in
Table 4.
Respondents were also asked when in their
university career they wanted to study abroad. The
most popular answer, selected by 142 students, was thesecond year. Multiple responses were permitted, andthird year was selected by 76 students. The first year
was only selected by four students, but considering
this study was carried out at the end of the first year, it

Table 3Preferred Destination
Destination

Not interested

Slightly Interested

Highly Interested

Total interested

USA

4

82

108

190

UK

10

63

121

184

Canada

10

71

113

184

New Zealand

20

90

84

174

Australia

3

72

119

191

The Philippines

104

68

22

90

N=194

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181

PorterTable 4Preferred Program Length
Department

3-5 weeks

3-4 months

6-8 months

Early Childhood
Education

48

23

5

Nutrition

20

8

7

Welfare11

82

Psychology

18

4

0

Global Communication

23

23

20

Total

120

66

34

N=194

is surprising that any selected that response.
It was difficult to measure expected cost. The
question did not ask students to identify program
length or mention whether the entered amountincluded airfare. As a result, a wide variety of responses
were received, ranging from free to three million yen.
However, the two most common amounts given were
300,000 and 500,000 yen, entered by 24 students and
32 students respectively.

Current Programs
Awareness
Students in the affirmative group were asked if theyknew what study programs were available. About
two-thirds of the respondents were familiar with theprograms being offered. These 121 students were asked
to report how they had heard about our programs, andslightly more than half indicated that they had learned
about the programs from their academic advisors. The
second most common response, given by 54 students,
was from the bulletin boards in front of the student
services office. Only nine students responded they had
seen information on the Internet and just one student
reported attending an information session.

Interest
Students in the affirmative group were also asked
to rate their interest in the four programs currently
offered by HBWU. The KSU Summer Program only

182 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

sees a handful of participants each year, while theSemester Program has not seen any participants sincethe 2011-2012 school year. The most popular programin the 2013-2014 school year was the Melbourneinternship program, outsourced to JTB. In theprevious year, the most popular program had been
the QUT Program, with 13 participants. However,there was a marked drop in participation in the 20132014 school year, perhaps due to the popularity of
the Melbourne Internship. The lack of participantsin the KSU Summer Program suggested that ourstudents were not interested in the program, but
students reported the most overall interest in the KSU
Summer Program, followed closely by the Melbourne
Internship. These results are shown in Table 5.

Outside Programs
Our university has a Self-Access Language Center(SALC) with three Learning Advisors, who meet withstudents seeking advice related to English language
learning. In recent years, there has been an increase in
students seeking advice about studying abroad using a
non-university program. The aim of this section is to
identify how large this interest is and possible reasonsfor it.
A little less than half of the students in theaffirmative group responded that they were interested
in non-university programs. This number includes
more than half of the respondents from the GlobalWhy Don’t Our Students Study Abroad, pages 178-189
Table 5Program Interest

Destination

Not interested

Slightly Interested

Highly Interested

Total interested

KSU Summer

16

107

71

178

KSU Semester

61

88

45

133

QUT

32

91

71

162

Melbourne

21

101

72

173

N=194

Communication department and a little less thanhalf of the respondents from the Early Childhood
Education Department. The 84 respondents interested
in non-university programs were asked to provide
reasons for their interest and four major themes wereidentified: destination, programming variety, cost,
and timing. Respondents desired more destination
options, mentioning the UK and South Korea by
name. They also expressed interest in internships andfieldwork.

Discussion
Cost is a significant barrier to study abroad. However,many of these costs are the result of fees outside thecontrol of the university, so little can be done tolower them. In contrast, confidence, anxiety, andprogramming can all be addressed by the committee.
Results of the survey revealed two main areas for
improvement, namely information management andprogram management, and actionable items have been
proposed for each area.

Information Management
The actionable items proposed in this section address
the lack of program information, student anxiety, andstudent lack of confidence.
1. Establish a single central location for information
about the programs and complement this with
online resources that can be accessed fromanywhere.
It should be in the form of an international officewith designated staff to advise about study abroad,create promotional materials, run orientation andstudy abroad related classes, oversee programs for
returning students, investigate the quality of ourprograms and satisfaction of students, and makechanges based on those investigations.
2. Improve information sessions
Differentiate between information sessions forstudents interested in study abroad and procedural
meetings for those already committed to participating.
Use multimedia promotional materials and visits
by past participants to introduce the destination,
experience, and significance of studying abroad.
3. Improve study abroad pamphlets
Create high quality brochures with vivid photos
and accounts from past participants. In addition toconveying program attributes, brochures should focus
on themes that would reduce anxiety and suggest thateven students with low English ability would benefit
from, and enjoy, the program.
4. Improve pre-departure orientations
Staff and past program participants should work
together to design a workshop to prepare students fortraveling, studying, and staying abroad.
5. Create multimedia study abroad promotional
materials
Manage digital materials, such as photos andaccounts from past participants, and use them in
multimedia materials for delivery over the Internet, via
iPad, and on the TV in the English Center.

Program Management
The actionable items in this section address student
preferences, our lack of flexibility, and creating more
opportunities to connect the study abroad experience
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

183

Porter
to future learning opportunities at our institution,
thereby raising awareness and interest in study abroad.
6. Expand programming
Partner with a company like ELS (Benesse),
giving students access to various programs at nearly
70 locations across the English-speaking world, rather
than identifying and entering into partnerships withindividual universities abroad.
7. Create a conversation class program for returning
students to leadDevelop a curriculum with returning students
and have them lead English conversation hours in the
SALC. Students would be paid.
8. Accept credit from non-HBWU programs
Give students credit for having satisfactorily
completed a certain number of contact hours at any
recognized English language-learning center.
9. Change the leave of absence system/Create a “gapyear”
Build a gap year into our programs allowing
students to participate in international (and national)
study and volunteer programs.
10. Offer an elective study abroad course open to allstudents
Offer a language and culture class to help students
build confidence and interest in studying abroad.
Students could receive support to design their own
study abroad program.
11. Review scholarship requirements
Change the scholarship system and allow more
students access to money for studying abroad.

Conclusion
Most information management suggestions can bequickly carried out within the current structure (except
for the creation of an international office). However,changes to program management cannot be madewithout approval from people outside the committee,
which, for organizational reasons, might prove to bevery difficult. Yet, the university must take action to
improve the visibility of our study abroad programs
and offerings in order to maintain competitiveness ina crowded market with limited customers. Expanding
our programming considerably could satisfy current
students and increase the total number of students

184 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

going abroad, helping to create more interest in
study abroad programs. However, student needs anddesires are not static. It would be impossible to create
attractive programs for all students and keep on top ofchanges in the educational landscape by sticking with
one partner. Our small, under-resourced university
cannot invest time and effort in developing new
programs as other universities do. Also, improving ourprogramming by following the old model will not set
us apart from our competition.
Is it possible for our university to offer more byworking with less? Following from our university’s
mission to foster autonomy and help empower
students so they can continue to meet their learningneeds after leaving university, we could work withstudents to create personalized programs without
relying on new partner universities. This would involve
helping students identify their goals, manage theirtime, budget their money, and find suitable programs
through international educational travel organizations
such as JTB and ELS. Not only would this approachbetter meet student needs but it would place a greater
emphasis on personalized programs, and the lifelong
learning that would result from this is something thatwould give us an edge in promoting our school.
The results of this research are, of course, limited tothe context in which the data was collected. However,
the approach to developing or revising university
programs using large-scale (in terms of percentage ofstudy body) market research and the survey designed
for this study can be put to use at other universities
and by teachers who are in a similar situation on theirfirst administrative committee assignment. Finally,
this study can be combined with other studies that use
the same tool to create a better picture of the kinds ofstudy abroad experiences Japanese university students
desire.

References
Amuzie, G. L. & Winke, P. (2009). Changes inlanguage learning beliefs as a result of study
abroad. System, 37(3), 366-379.
Benesse (2012). Daigakusei kiso ryoku chousa[Assessment of university students’ basic skills].
Unpublished raw data.

Why Don’t Our Students Study Abroad, pages 178-189
Braskamp, L. A., Braskamp, D. C., & Merrill, K. C.
(2009). Assessing progress in global learning anddevelopment of students with education abroad
experiences. Frontiers, 18, 101-118.
Brown, (2014). Contextual factors driving the growthof undergraduate English-medium instruction atuniversities in Japan. The Asian Journal of Applied
Linguistics, 1(1), 50-63.
Dolby, N. (2004). Encountering an American self:
Study abroad and national identity. Comparative
Education Review, 48(2), 150-173.
Drucker, P. (1995). Managing the non-profit
organization. London, England: Routledge.
Holoviak, J., Verney, T., Winter, A., & Holoviak, S.
(2011). Assessing academic performance throughstudy abroad: Benefits of the experience. Researchin Higher Education Journal, 11, 1-10.

Hague, P. (2012) A practical guide to market research.
Retrieved from http://www.b2binternational.
com/publications/practical-market-research/
Japan Ministry of Education, Cultural, Sports, andTechnology (2014) Gurōbaru jinzai ikusei
komyuniti no keisei ni mukete [Creating an
educational community for global talent].
Retrieved from http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/
shingi/chukyo/chukyo4/036/siryo/__icsFiles/
afieldfile/2014/03/10/1344760_2.pdf
Japan Office of the Prime Minister (2013). Nippon
saikou senryaku [ Japan Revitalization Strategy]
Japan is Back. Retrieved from http://www.kantei.
go.jp/jp/singi/keizaisaisei/pdf/saikou_jpn.pdf
Ludlum, M., Ice, R., & Sheetz-Nguyen, J. (2013)
Justifying study abroad in financially difficult
times. Administrative Issues Journal, 3(2), 24-29.

Author’s Biography:
Mathew Porter became Assistant Professor at Fukuoka Jo Gakuin Nursing College in 2015.
He completed this study in his final year as a Learning Advisor at Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s
University. He is interested in self-directed learning, study abroad, and educational technology.

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Porter

Appendix
Study Abroad Survey (Translated)
Permissions
The purpose of this survey is to collect student opinions about studying abroad and study abroad opportunities
at Bunkyo. Your input will help improve future planning and improvements to existing programs. Your responses
are unrelated to any classroom activities or grades. It will only take a few minutes to complete the survey. We
appreciate your time and input.
1. I give permission for my results to be used for research purposes. I understand that no identifiable
information about me will be used in research reports.
Yes (Question 2)
No (end)General Interest
Study Abroad
2. Are you interested in studying abroad while at Bunkyo?
Yes (question 3)
No (question 8)
Country, Length, Timing
3. Indicate your degree of interest in studying abroad in the following countries, checking the appropriate box:
(1) not interested, (2) slightly interested, or (3) very interested.
The United States of America
The United Kingdom
CanadaNew ZealandAustralia
The Philippines
Other (Please enter a response)
4. How long would you like to stay? Check the appropriate box.
3-5 weeks
3-4 months
8-10 months
Other (Please enter a response)

186 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Why Don’t Our Students Study Abroad, pages 178-189
5. In what year do you want to go abroad?
First year
Second year
Third year
Fourth year
6. Ideally, how much money would you expect to spend to join a study abroad program? Enter an amount in
the space below.
Program Detail Preferences
7. Please indicate how important each of the following factors are in choosing a study abroad program bychecking the appropriate box: (1) not important, (2) slightly important, or (3) very important.
Taking non-ESL classes
Taking ESL classes
InternshipTransferrable Credit
Number of Japanese participantsSocial and extracurricular activities
Staying with a host family
Staying in a dormitory
Your school year
Destination
TimingLengthCost
Scholarship
No interest
8. Why aren’t you interested in study abroad? Multiple selections possible.
Financial reasons
English ability
Meaningless
Worried about traveling abroad
Not enough information about study abroad
Other (please enter a response)
9. What (if anything) would increase your interest in studying abroad? Enter a response in the space below.
(Go to question 17.)

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Porter
Bunkyo Program Knowledge
10. Do you know what study abroad programs are offered at Bunkyo?
Yes (question 11)
No (question 12)
Sources of Information
11. Where do you get information about studying abroad? Multiple response possible.
Advisor
BECC instructor
SALC Learning Advisor
Student Affairs Office
Bulletin board
Other (please enter a response)
Current Bunkyo Programs
HBWU has the following study abroad programs.
(1) Kent State University (USA)A. Summer Program
3-week course in AugustGeneral English classes (reading, writing, listening, speaking)Social events, dormitory
B. Semester Program
August-March
General English classes (reading, writing, listening, speaking)Social events, dormitory(2) Queensland University of Technology (Australia)
5-week course from February until March
General English classes (reading, writing, listening, speaking)Homestay(3)Melbourne Internship (Australia)
3-week program in September
English study (grammar, reading, vocabulary, speaking)Work at a business or school, homestay
12. Please indicate which Bunkyo study abroad program are you interested in by checking the appropriate box:
(1) not interested		(2) slightly interested, or 		(3) very interested.

188 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Why Don’t Our Students Study Abroad, pages 178-189
Kent Summer Program
Kent Semester Program
QUT Program
Melbourne Internship
Other Study Abroad Possibilities
13. Have you considered going on a study abroad program not organised by Bunkyo?
Yes (Question 14)
No (Question 16)
Other Program Choices
14. What other kinds of study abroad programs are you interested in?
Study abroad programs offered by travel agents such as HIS or JTB
Study abroad programs arranged directly between you and a foreign school
Other (Please enter a response)
Other Program Reasons
15. What makes you interested in programs not offered by Bunkyo? Enter a response below.
Focus Group Participation
16. I would be willing to participate in an hour long focus group or interview related to Bunkyo’s study abroad
programs and am happy to be contacted regarding this matter.
Yes
No
Student Information
17. Please write your student ID number.
18. Select your major from the list below.
Global Communication
Early Childhood Education
Psychology
Nutrition
WelfareThank You
Thank you for participating in this survey. Your answers will help us improve Bunkyo’s study abroad programs.
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

189

How Families can Collaborate on English Education

Christie Provenzano
Kumamoto Gakuen University
christie@kumagaku.ac.jp
In Japan, families wishing to foster Japanese/English bilingualism and biliteracy may be stymied by
the lack of opportunities their children have to interact with English speakers besides their parents.
This paper outlines several ways bilingual families can work with each other to address this problem.
It first reviews literature indicating positive cognitive benefits of bilingualism as well as support
for peer group interaction in fostering and maintaining bilingualism. It then describes options forcollaboration among bilingual families, including parent-led playgroups and learning circles forbilingual children, participation in such groups through Skype, and pen or key pal exchanges. A
discussion group that uses web video chat technology to bring together bilingual teenagers from allover Japan for bimonthly discussions is also described.
日本では、日本語と英語のバイリンガル及びバイリテラシー（二言語識字）能力を子供に習得させたいと願う家族にとって、両親以外の英語話者と交流する機会が少ないことがその弊害となっている。本稿ではバイリンガル・ファミリーがお互いに助け合うことで、この問題を解決するその方法についていくつか提案する。
まず、バイリンガリズムの認知能力に及ぼす利点について、
またバイリンガリズムを育て維持するグループ活動へのサポートに関する先行研究を概観する。
そして、バイリンガルの子供たちのために親が主導する遊び場やラーニ
ング・サークル、
スカイプによるそのようなグループへの参加、ペンパルやメル友とのやりとりなど、
バイリンガル・ファミリーが相互に協力する方法をいくつか紹介する。
さらに、全国からバイリンガルの10代の子供たちが2週間に1度ウェブ上で集まり、ビデオチャットを利用してディスカッションするグループ活動について報告する。

As the number of families in Japan with at least one
native English-speaking parent grows, more and moreparents are looking for ways to foster Japanese/English
bilingualism and biliteracy in their children. Although
it is widely believed in Japan that children in bicultural
families will effortlessly acquire both of their parents’languages, this simply does not happen in a large
percentage of such families (Yamamoto, 2001). Heavy
exposure to Japanese both at home and at school,
Provenzano, C. (2015). How families can collaborate
on English education. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan,& M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 190-195). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

190 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedingssocial pressure to conform to majority language use,family language use patterns that favor Japanese, anda lack of an English-language peer group all work to
inhibit children’s acquisition of English (Baker, 2011;
Bingham, 2007; Noguchi, 2001; Yamamoto, 2001).
While parents can work to allay the effects of someof these problems, they are often stymied by the last,
because it can be difficult to find opportunities forchildren to interact with people who are proficient inEnglish besides their own parents.
This paper first reviews literature that suggests
children who become bilingual and biliterate canbenefit not only socially and linguistically, but also
cognitively. It then explores the important role ofFamilies Collaborate on English Education, pages 190-195
peer group interaction in English, which can help
both parents and children to maintain momentum
and enthusiasm for building the minority language
skills. Finally, the paper outlines several practical ways
bilingual families can connect and work together
to create a Japanese/English bilingual and biliteratecommunity for themselves and their children. Whileestablishing and maintaining these activities require nosmall amount of effort on the part of both parents andchildren, the payoff can be profound and long-lasting.

Bilingualism: A Blessing or a Curse?
In the past, bilingualism was seen by many researchers,
educators and policy makers as something detrimental
to both a child’s development–resulting in language
delay and confusion–and to social and politicalharmony, being an obstacle to national unity (MyersScotton, 2006). Many people believed (and still
mistakenly believe) that having a second language
interferes with a child’s acquisition of the majority
language. Code switching was considered a symptomof such confusion, because it was assumed that children
used code switching when they were deficient in one
or the other of their languages (Grosjean, 1984). Someparents feared that their children would suffer fromincomplete acquisition, leaving them with inadequate
proficiency in either of their languages (MyersScotton, 2006).
Having two languages is still viewed suspiciously
by some here in Japan. Yamamoto (2001) recounts
the reflections of a Japanese father of a bilingual childon a negative undercurrent he has noticed regarding
bilingualism: “I detect that people perceive being
bilingual as a profanity against the pure Japanese
atmosphere and hold strong feelings of both repulsion
and jealousy” (p. 74). This may be one reason why theoutdated notion that fostering bilingualism in children
will leave them confused lingers on here in Japan. Wellmeaning pediatricians, teachers, caregivers and evenfamily members often attribute difficulty at school ortypical childhood behaviors such as nail biting to the“stress” of living in a bi- or multi-lingual environment(see, for example, Yue, 2008).
Recent research is debunking these myths. Studies
have shown that being bilingual “can have a profoundeffect on [the] brain, improving cognitive skills not
related to language and even shielding against dementia
in old age” (Bhattacharjee, 2012, para. 1). Marian andShook’s (2012) review of research investigating the
cognitive effects of bilingualism on the human brain
highlights studies showing that bilinguals are very
often better than monolinguals at paying attention
in distracting environments, focusing on relevant
information while inhibiting unnecessary input, andquickly adjusting to changes in mental tasks. Theseenhanced cognitive skills may help bilinguals learn
not only language but all concepts faster and to retain
them more deeply (Marian & Shook, 2012). Theseadvantages can last a lifetime, with studies showing thatelderly bilinguals exhibit signs of dementia much later
than their monolingual counterparts (Bhattacharjee,
2012; Marian & Shook, 2012).
The continuing adherence to the idea thatchildhood bilingualism is confusing may well be rooted
in the pressure that exists in Japanese society for people
to conform to social norms, which currently do notinclude widespread bilingualism. Nevertheless, in thecurrent age of globalization that attitude may be finallybe changing. Parents who are fostering bilingualism
and biliteracy in their children should, therefore, be
encouraged by researchers such as Cummins (2001),
who notes that children who enter school with a wellestablished minority language also tend to develop a
more comprehensive view of the majority language
because of the interplay between their two languages,
and this wide view allows them to approach all of theirlearning in a more dynamic way. Indeed, such evidence
may motivate parents to work even harder to establish
strong minority language skills in their children.

Benefits of Peer Group Interaction
Although many parents in bicultural families hopethat their children will be both bilingual and biliterate,they often find the road to developing and maintaining
these skills to be a rocky one (Noguchi, 2001;
Yamamoto, 2001), especially if their children are in a
Japanese daycare, kindergarten, or school, with most of
their day spent speaking, listening to, and later reading
and writing Japanese. Even with concerted efforts todevelop and maintain English language skills at home–
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Provenzano
through, for example, approaches such as one parent,
one language (OPOL) (Barron-Hauwaert, 2004)–
many families fail to establish balanced bilingualism
and biliteracy in their children (Yamamoto, 2001).
Both Noguchi (2001) and Rankin (2011) note that
respondents to their Japan-based surveys often findthe lack of support for nurturing English proficiency
in their children to be insurmountable. For instance,
Rankin’s (2011) survey of native English speaking
parents raising children in the Japanese school systemfound that 25 percent of respondents had abandoned
efforts to develop English writing skills in theirchildren. Of these, the majority cited a lack of support
as the reason for abandoning writing instruction.
The research indicates that being part of a language
community that goes beyond the family is of great
importance in developing balanced bilingualism andbiliteracy. For example, Tse (2001) found that forchildren to avoid attrition in their heritage language,
it is important to actively use it at home, but also tohave opportunities to use and learn the languagewith peers. Respondents to the Japan-based surveys
mentioned above also emphasized the support
provided by minority language learning and literacy
circles (Noguchi, 2001; Rankin, 2011). Connectingwith other bilingual families can not only help to fill
the peer interaction gap, but also support all membersof the family in an inclusive community.

Collaboration
Collaboration between bilingual families can takevarious forms, limited only by the energy andimagination of the people who take part. For families
who live in close proximity to others, face-to-facemeetings are ideal, but even families living in far-flunglocations can work together meaningfully thanks tomodern technology.

Playgroups
For families with young children, forming a playgroupfor preschool aged children is an effective way to build
a long-term language community from the ground up
and can lead children to form long-term friendships
with English-speaking peers. Bilingual families can

192 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

find each other through work and social connections,by advertising locally in online newsgroups or
publications, or through social networking sites like
Facebook. Experienced playgroup and learning circle
leaders (Desrosiers, Provenzano, Rankin & Thompson,
2007; Rankin, 2011) recommend meeting withprospective member families to determine the shapeand structure of the group in a mutually agreeable way.
Such groups can become places for parents to sharechild raising ideas and advice, to pool and share costly
educational resources, and to provide valuable social
support for each family’s ongoing work at home tobuild strong minority language skills. For children,
they offer the opportunity to play and explorewith peers who share skills that their monolingual
Japanese counterparts lack. This is an influential partof normalizing and expanding the scope of English
language communication for these children, a point
underscored by Tse’s (2001) finding that being a partof this kind of language community greatly increases
the likelihood that children will keep their minority
language skills.

Learning Circles
Once children enter the Japanese school system, manyfamilies find that the balance of time their children
spend in each of their languages becomes heavily
weighted to Japanese. In many schools, even first andsecond grade elementary school students are given a
substantial amount of homework. Children are often
involved in a variety of extra-curricular activities as
well, leaving little time for English study in the evening
or on weekends. It is at this point that families need to
set priorities for fostering bilingualism and biliteracy intheir children. As Rankin (2011) cautions, “[t]eachingat home requires an extreme amount of discipline andeffort from both the parents and the child” (p. 783).
Parents need to take the seriousness of thiscommitment into account when making decisions
about how their children will spend their time outsideof school. It may be daunting; however, if children
develop strong ties to their learning circle friends, it willbe less difficult to convince them to apply themselvesto this extra-curricular study. One teenaged memberof a long-term playgroup/learning circle writes that

Families Collaborate on English Education, pages 190-195
studying English on Saturdays has been enjoyable forherbecause there were other kids doing it with me
and we got to play after the learning circle. That
was the reward for going and studying! […]Maybe if I had not studied English when I wasreally young and my parents suddenly wanted me
to start I would [be] reluctant. However, I havebeen studying English on Saturday every week for
as long as I can remember, so it is just somethingthat I do. (Provenzano & Provenzano, 2013, p.
42)
The same family notes that having learning circle
classmates is motivating for the children to do English
homework, not wishing to be the only person to cometo class with unfinished homework (Provenzano &Provenzano, 2013).
There are other benefits to this type of parentled collaborative group. First, for working parents,
planning lessons and teaching after school and on
weekends can become a heavy burden. Many learning
circles share teaching responsibilities among member
parents, allowing not only a lesser teaching burden foreach parent, but also the opportunity for children to be
exposed to a variety of teaching styles and approaches.
Second, when parents are making decisions about how
and what to teach, they have the freedom to fill inany gaps that they may have observed in the majoritylanguage education that their children are receivingin the school system. There is often a focus on criticalthinking skills, hands-on projects and cross-culturalexperiences in learning circle curriculums (Desrosiers,
et al., 2007), which effectively enriches the children’s
overall educational experience. The teenaged author in
Provenzano and Provenzano (2013) comments:
Not only am I learning about reading andwriting, I am also learning some computer skills
such as typing, how to use Microsoft Word, andhow to make a PowerPoint presentation. In myfirst year of junior high school, I didn’t have evenone computer class, so I am glad that I have thechance to learn about it outside of school. (p. 47)
Gathering a core group of like-minded families tocollaborate on minority language education clearly has
far-reaching effects.

Connecting on the Internet
After making the effort to form a learning circle andto establish a bond among the families, it can be
discouraging to find that a member family is moving
away. Many learning circles are very small arrangements,
so losing a member or two can make a big differencein the dynamic of a group. Fortunately, modern
technology can help to keep the group intact. Rankin
and O’Sullivan (2013) discussed their use of Skype
video conferencing to keep an established learning
circle’s members together even after O’Sullivan’s family
moved to another city. The remaining group members
continued to meet face-to-face, with the remotemember joining via Skype. This option is also usefulfor families living in rural areas or in an area with few
bilingual peers. In addition, it provides members with
an opportunity to further develop their computer andInternet skills.
In a similar vein, video conferencing can connect
members from a much wider area. The author’s family
is involved in a recently formed online discussion
group for bilingual teenagers based all over Japan.
Members were recruited through social media andmeet via Google Hangout video conferencing, which
permits multiple participants. The first teenaged
participants were based in Fukuoka, Kyoto, Kobe,
Wakayama, and Tokyo. Parents take turns moderating
the discussions, which take place approximately twice amonth. Participants prepare in advance for discussions
that have–so far–been based on current events or
entire books. This collaborative format allows families
access to a wider pool of potential members, and thetechnology involved makes it appealing to teens. Now,
several months since the group’s inception, members
have become more relaxed and open with each other,and they look forward to meeting with their English
Hangout friends every other week.

Pen / Key Pal
One more option for children without bilingual
peers nearby is written communication, either by postwith a pen pal or online with a key pal. Establishing
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Provenzanoties with a peer who is also developing literacy
skills in English gives children the opportunity to
use the minority language for real communication
rather than simply filling out pages in a workbook.
Rankin (2011) describes a version of this activity
that she calls a “Notebook Exchange”, where the penpals communicate with each other via a diary-likenotebook, with each child adding a page or two before
sending it back to her partner. Rankin notes that she
specifically wanted her daughter to communicate withanother bilingual child in Japan in a situation very
similar to her own (2011). Indeed, in Japan’s relatively
monocultural society, it can be affirming for children
to establish relationships with others who have similarbi- or multi-cultural backgrounds. Such relationships
can lead to deeper friendships and interactions via
video conferencing or, for enthusiastic families, faceto-face visits. These benefits are, of course, in addition
to the basic literacy skills that are developed by taking
part in such an exchange.

Conclusion
Even families who understand, value, and actively
pursue the benefits of bilingualism and biliteracy for
their children can find the path towards that goal
littered with obstacles. In particular, lack of a minority
language community can inhibit the full developmentof a child’s bilingualism, but collaboration among
bilingual families is an effective way to address thisproblem. The collaborative structures outlined inthis paper include parent-led playgroups and learning
circles, online video conference participation in thosegroups, and entirely web-based discussion groups.
Written communication between key or pen pals is
also suggested as a motivating way to develop literacy
skills in the minority language.
No matter the medium of communication, it isclear that working together with other families canhave a variety of positive effects. For children, theseinclude expanding the minority language community,
developing positive peer pressure to study and learn,
and establishing relationships with other bicultural
children. This last point can be a way to build
confidence and strength of identity in children who do
not otherwise have a chance to interact with children

194 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

like themselves. For parents, collaboration can be a
way to share planning and teaching responsibilities, topool teaching resources, and to find moral support forthe ongoing challenge of homeschooling in English.
Especially in the Japanese context, where support
for native-level Japanese/English bilingualism andbiliteracy is still widely lacking, the effort to establish
such connections is clearly worthwhile.

References
Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education
and bilingualism (5th ed.). Bristol, England:
Multilingual Matters.
Barron-Hauwaert, S. (2004). Language strategies
for bilingual families. Clevedon, England:
Multilingual Matters.
Bhattacharjee, Y. (2102, March 17). Why bilinguals
are smarter. The New York Times. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/
sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=0
Bingham, S. (2007). When daddy leaves home:
Minority L1 attrition in a primary bilingual
child. The Japan Journal of Multilingualism andMulticulturalism, 13(1), 26-43. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bsig.org/jjmm/pdfs/ 2007vol13/
bingham_2007.pdf#!2007/cyrz
Cummins, J. (2001). Bilingual children’s mothertongue: Why is it important for education?
Sprogforum, 7(19), 15-20. Retrieved from http://
www15.gencat.net/pres_casa_llengues/uploads/
articles/Bilingual%20Childrens%20Mother%20
Tongue.pdf
Desrosiers, M., Provenzano, C., Rankin, M., &Thompson, H. (2007, November). Starting a
Saturday school. In Murphy, R. (Moderator),
Bilingualism SIG Forum. Panel discussion
conducted at JALT 2007 – 33rd Annual
International Conference on Language Teaching,Tokyo, Japan.
Grosjean, F. (1984). Life with two languages.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Marian, V. & Shook, A. (2012). The cognitive benefitsof being bilingual. Cerebrum: The Dana Forumon Brain Science, 13. Retrieved from http://www.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583091/

Families Collaborate on English Education, pages 190-195
Myers-Scotton, C. (2006). Multiple voices: An
introduction to bilingualism. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishing.
Noguchi, M. G. (2001). Bilinguality and bicultural
children in Japan: A pilot survey of factors linked
to active English-Japanese bilingualism. In M.G.
Noguchi & S. Fotos (Eds.), Studies in Japanesebilingualism (234-271). Clevedon, England:
Multilingual Matters.
Provenzano, C. & Provenzano, S. (2013). A
different sort of normal: Family roles for a TCK
teenager. Third Culture Kids and Their Families:
Bilingualism Special Interest Group of the Japan
Association for Language Teaching Monograph, 16,
39-49.
Rankin, M. (2011). Writing in the minority language
at home in Japan. In A. Stewart (Ed.), JALT2010
Conference Proceedings, 781-792. Tokyo, Japan:

JALT.
Rankin, M. & O’Sullivan, M. (2012, October).
Parents using Skype to teach L2 literacy. Paper
presented at 39th Annual JALT International
Conference on Language Teaching and Learning,
Kobe, Japan. Abstract retrieved from http://
www.bsig.org/#!jalt2013/c1pr8
Tse, L. (2001). Resisting and reversing language shift:
Heritage-language resilience among US native
biliterates. Harvard Educational Review, 71(4),676-708.
Yamamoto, M. (2001). Language use in interlingual
families: A Japanese-English sociolinguistic study.
Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Yue, S. (2008). The challenges and hopes of raising atrilingual child in Japan. Bilingual Japan, 17(4),31-34.

Author’s Biography:
Christie Provenzano is a lecturer at Kumamoto Gakuen University in Kyushu, Japan. She has
been homeschooling her two daughters in English for over ten years in collaboration with otherbilingual families both in her city and across Japan. <christie@kumagaku.ac.jp>

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What are They Doing Now?
Student Voices on Sustainable Learning

Debjani Ray
Tokyo University of Science
ray@rs.kagu.tus.ac.jp
This paper investigates student-directed contact with English after the completion of compulsory
English classes at a Japanese university. In order to do so, the author obtained students’ views on thismatter through structured interviews of third-and fourth-year university students, who do not needto take English classes anymore. The interview results showed that the students tried to maintaintheir English ability after completing mandatory. Furthermore, the study reveals what the students
did to sustain their English ability.
この論文は、日本の大学で英語の必修科目を修了した学生たちの、自発的な英語との接し方について調査するものである。
そのために著者は、英語の授業をとる必要のない大学
３、４年生へのインタビューを通して、学生らの考えを得た。
インタビューの結果は、英語の必修科目を終えてからも、学生たちは英語とのふれあいを維持しようとしている、というものだった。調査ではさらに、学生たちが英語との関わりを保つために、どのように、何をしているのかについても明らかにした。

In an English language teaching context, teachers areoften at a loss when it comes to the outcome of theirteaching efforts as they do not usually have muchcontact with their former students after mandatory
L2 classes have ended. As an English teacher, I often
wondered what might have happened to the Englishthat the students have learned in my classes and towhat extent they managed to keep their English when
it is not a compulsory school subject anymore. In
other words, was their English learning sustainable?
According to Schwanke (2009), sustainable learning“generates knowledge that is not easily forgotten” and“is long term or even lifelong learning.”
Ray, D. (2015). What are they doing now? Student
voices on sustainable learning. In G. Brooks, M.
Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 196-202). Miyazaki,
Japan: JALT.

196 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

This paper used survey interviews to see what thestudents do with their English after the completionof compulsory English classes at the university. The
purpose of this study is to determine whether the
students did something to maintain their English
ability or not, if they do something, what and how
do they do it, and if the outcome shows that their L2
learning was sustainable.

Background
Sustainability in education is a relatively new concept;
therefore, there is no agreed definition of it. Basically,sustainability creates a process of change and isdependent upon local contexts, needs, and interests(UNESCO, 2010). The implication is that learningis never ending but always reinvented, adapted, andoptimized (Schwanke, 2009).
Learning in this paper refers to “learning withconsequences;” following Schwanke’s (2009)

Student Voices on Sustainable Learning, pages 196-202
definition of learning which says, that learning occurs
when students are able to apply the knowledge gained
from learning to a meaningful context Furthermore,
Schwanke believes that effective learning is not justmemorizing and storing information but making
connections and understanding consequences withgained new information. According to Wenger (2010)
learning is “a journey through landscapes of practices”
and “through engagement” (p. 184). Engagementin learning is extremely vital as it enforces student
motivation (Schilling & Schilling, 1999) and leads
to a “direct experience of regimes of competence”(Wenger, 2010, p. 183).
One of the most efficient student-centeredlearning approaches is active learning where students
are engaged in activities that help them learn and apply
what they learned before (Felder & Brent, 2008).
Active learning is also helpful in self-directed and lifelong learning (Prince, 2004). Even when a country
such as Japan lacks a prominent L2 community
to integrate with, active learning is still possible if
students are motivated as in Dornyei’s research in
Hungary (Dörnyei, Csizér, & Németh, 2006) and thethree different contexts, including Japan, explained in
Taguchi, Magid, and Papi (2009). Here the definitionof motivation has been taken from Gardner (1985)
where the four components of motivation are intensityof motivation, the effort to do something, the desire tolearn and the student’s attitude towards learning theL2.
Sustainable learning is also called Life-Long
Learning (LLL) (Schwanke, 2011). Pachen described
LLL as a “rubber” concept that could be stretched totake any necessary shape. Candy, Crebert, O’Leary,(1994); Wenger, (2010); Knapper & Cropely,(2000); Knapper, (2006) have similar vision on
the characteristics of an ideal life long learner. LLL
essentially requires an “inquiring mind, love oflearning, curiosity, critical spirit” (Candy, Crebert,& O’Leary, 1994, as cited in Knapper & Cropley
2000, p. 47) and “involves an attitude that comprises
learning as a kind of lifestyle.” (Schwanke, 2009, p. 1).
By definition, LLL is self-motivated and voluntary,
so it directly connects to willingness to learn andself-directed learning. Crebert and O’Leary (1994)

characterized LLL as the ability to learn and thewillingness to do it. Schwanke (2009) reinforces LLL
by saying that in the modern world where change isfast, people cannot stop learning when school finishes
or a career ends. Knapper (2006) adds a different
dimension to LLL as life-wide learning in which reallife problems are tackled. Schwanke (2009) adds thatthrough learning, people’s identity constantly changes
by organizing and reorganizing thoughts and actions
as people acquire new knowledge. This inventing
and reinventing of oneself, this “making of oneself ”
or autopoiesis, directly connects with the concept ofsustainability in learning.

MethodParticipants
I approached 45 former students of the Engineering
Department over a ten-week period in the beginningof the 2014-2015 academic year. These students
constituted a convenience sample. Of these students,
32 were third-year students, 6 were fourth-year
students, and 7 were recent graduates. These students
had finished and passed the first two years ofcompulsory English classes and were no longer taking
English as a school subject anymore. Their English
ability was of intermediate level.

ProcedureInterviews were conducted at different times and at
various locations on campus, including the student
cafeteria and in different classrooms. I attempted tovideotape or record the students, but most of them felt
embarrassed to be videotaped or recorded and someof them did not feel comfortable to be videotapedor taped without any scripts or without any priormemorizing or practicing. I took notes throughout theinterviews and afterwards I wrote down everything
neatly from the field notes. Only three students agreed
to be videotaped, which was done in the meetingroom adjacent to my office. Only two of the graduates
returned the questionnaire.

Instrument
The interview consisted of seven questions (see theThe 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

197

Ray
Appendix for a complete list of the questions). The
questions focused on what activities in the L2, if any,
students were pursuing to maintain their L2 skills.
The questions sought out what activities in the L2, ifany, students were pursuing to maintain their English
ability. The last question asked for advice for present
students on maintaining English skills after finishingcompulsory English classes. The questionnaire was apaper version of the interview questions.

Results
I used Constant Comparison (Grounded Theory) to
examine the data. I looked for indicators of categories
and went through naming and coding. Then I started
to document and compare codes for consistencies
and differences. Through the process of examinationof the collected data, patterns emerged. They seemed
to cluster around three main themes. They were notspecifically what I expected to find but they shed lightin areas important in themselves.

Exposure to English
Data collected from the interviews suggest thatstudents tried to maintain exposure to English. All
students said they were studying English; however,they did not differentiate between studying andexposing themselves to English. Popular activities
were listening to music, watching video clips, travelingabroad, emailing/texting and communicating in someform with exchange students at school, encountering
tourists and customers at their part-time jobs. These
results can be seen in Table 1.

Technology
Students’ responses suggested that technology played alarge role in the their self-study activities. The Internet
was the most common form of technology used by
students, and they used it for various activities, eg.
listening to music/speeches, watching movies/videoclips/news, emailing/texting, or reading. In addition
to the Internet, students used cell phones, smart
phones, and audio books to stay engaged with English.

Table 1
Activities for Maintaining Exposure to English
Activities

Student
Number

Percentage

Listening to music

28

73.7%

Watching movies

19

50.0%

Traveling abroad

13

34.2%

Emailing/texting

11

28.9%

Communicating with exchange students/tourists/ customers

9

23.7%

Talking with friends/relatives abroad via Skype

7

18.4%

Watching news (NHK, BBC etc.)

6

15.8%

Listening to speeches/lectures online

5

13.1%

Reading books/listening to audio-books

4

10.5%

Reading science papers/journals

4

10.5%

Attending international conference

3

7.9%

Taking standardized tests (TOEIC/TOEFL etc.)

2

5.3%

198 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Student Voices on Sustainable Learning, pages 196-202

Self-study
All of the students interviewed thought that students
need to study English on their own . All of them feltthat one skill needed emphasis, but the results differed
as to which skill should be emphasized. Overall,most students (34) thought listening was the mostimportant, out of that 29 suggested listening andspeaking and 5 suggested listening and reading. These
results can be seen in Table 2.

Discussion
Despite the fact that there are no compulsory English
classes for third- and fourth-year university students,
the students interviewed still actively try to maintainexposure to English somehow through different
activities focusing on various skills. Students in their
final two years of university have a higher level ofEnglish compared to their earlier years. According to
Wenger (2010), the higher the level of the student is,
the greater the repertoire of ways to learn English.
The answers to the interview questions show what
type of self-study or other activities were popularamong my former students. The results can beinterpreted in two different ways. One interpretationis that the senior students try to maintain their English
ability without the help of classes. Although they
maintain a connection to English in this way, it would
be difficult to define it as self-study. Again they did
not describe how they would use songs and movies tocontinue to study. Another interpretation is that thestudents are choosing these activities depending on
what they like to do in their free time. This poses aninteresting question that will lead to further research
to determine how the chosen activities might actually
be of some help to sustain their English ability.
The students often listen to music, so choosing
music for English listening practice is understandable.
The question here would be whether they listen to
the song and focus on the language or just listen to
it as a form of entertainment. Watching movies, athome or at the theatre, is another popular activity, butwhether the students watch the movies/video clips
with sub-titles, how many times they need to see it tounderstand it, and if they are patient (or motivated)

Table 2Skill Focus
SkillsStudent’s response
Number

Percentage

Listening

34

89.5%

Listening and Speaking

29

76.3%

Listening and Reading

5

13.2%

Grammar and Reading

2

5.3%

*Students were able to choose more than one skill.

to watch it over and over until they really understandit needs to be examined. The same can be said about
listening to or watching news and documentaries,
listening to audio books, and listening to lectures andspeeches.
Reading books and science journals might havepositive influence on students’ reading practice, as
Doyle and Parrish (2012) found when examining
students’ ways to learn English outside class. They
noted that outside exposure to English depends on
students’ “personal choice and enjoyment” which may“show that students have preferences for certain waysof learning” and to do so “they develop a repertoireof strategies and activities that work for them” (p.
201). Here the results show the influence and use oftechnology in learning out of the classroom as Mueller,
Wood, Pasquale, and Archer (2011) have also noted.
Students often send email or text-messages toforeign friends/key-pals in other countries anddepending on the frequency of the activity, some
practice might occur. Communicating with foreignbased relatives and friends via Skype is common now
and often real-life communication takes place this way.
These activities might suit the concept of practice of
the individual students which may or may not help in
retaining English. In other words, the students might
see these activities as a form of practice, and, these
obviously are practice, but it is hard to judge if thesepractices are actually effective. Technology supports
their learning endeavor and that was consistent withthe “self-regulated learner” model (Mueller, Wood,
Pasquale & Archer, 2011, p. 44).
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Ray
Students do have many opportunities for authentic,
face-to-face communication in English, throughchance encounters in their daily lives and travelingabroad. However, trying to give directions to foreign
tourists or taking orders from foreign customers mightjust consist of memorized set phrases. Using fragmentsof travel English dialogue that they might havelearnt before might make them feel proud of using
English, but could language use in these situations be
considered as studying English? Course requirements,
such as attending international conferences and extracurricular activities with foreign students also present
Japanese students with opportunities for authentic,
face-to-face communication in English. Often
Japanese students might stay with their Japanese peers,
but they still might get a lot of exposure to foreignculture and language. However, it would be difficult tocall this English study as well.
Interestingly enough, taking standardized tests(TOEIC/TOEFL etc.) was not a very common
activity reported by these students. Except for goingabroad to study, they rarely need to take the TOEFL
and taking the TOEIC might only be important whenlooking for employment. The third-year students, who
made up the majority of the sample here, often go on
to higher education in their home country, Japan, so
they do not need to take TOEFL and the TOEIC canbe taken after becoming employed.

Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to determine whether
the students actually do something to maintain theirEnglish. The results lead to the interpretation that thestudents do try to keep their English as they try various
activities in English that are interesting to them. The
list containing a variety of self-study activities show
some common trends among this particular groupof students. Further research can be conducted onwhether, as Wenger (2010) described, preferredways of learning English correlate with “experience,motivation, maturity, or aptitude” (p. 200).
The activities are basically ways to stay involved
with English and that might help maintain theircurrent English abilities. Whether these were effectivemeans of contributing to their learning or could be

200 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

called self-study is debatable. Nonetheless, this maylead to further research on how the activities mightor might not be helpful in sustaining English ability.
Again, another survey could be done to clarify how
students conceive ‘studying’ English outside of class. It
is obvious from the data from the interviews that theimportant factors for choosing an activity were basedon individual preferences (Doyle & Parrish, 2012).
Another important outcome was that students
depended heavily on modern technologies for thereported activities. In each of the replies there wassome kind of technology involved to help the students
maintain exposure to English. They were inquisitiveand enjoyed learning with technology. As the results
show, further large scale studies can be done at theuniversity level and at other educational institutions toinvestigate students’ cognitive behavior, their intrinsic/
extrinsic motivation, their criteria for choosing thestudy material, their method/s of practice/study, andtheir strategies for learning outside the classroom.
The outcome of the research might help understandtheir learning situations and could help support thestudents to become better autonomous learners who
can learn outside the classroom facilitating sustainable
learning.

References
Brent, R., & Felder, R.M. (2008). A professional
development program for graduate students at
North Carolina State University. 2008 ASEE
Annual Conference Proceedings. Washington, DC:ASEE.
Dörnyei, Z., Csizer, K., & Nemeth, N. (2006).
Motivation, language attitudes, and globalization:
A Hungarian perspective. Clevedon, England:
Multi-lingual matters.
Doyle, H. & Parrish, M. (2012). Investigating
students’ ways to learn English outside of class:
A researchers’ narrative. Studies in Self-Access
Learning Journal, 3(2). 196-203.
Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second
language learning: The role of attitudes andmotivation. London, England: Edward Arnold
Publishers.
Knapper, C. (2006, August). Lifelong learning means

Student Voices on Sustainable Learning, pages 196-202
effective and sustainable learning - Reasons, ideas,
concrete measures. Paper presented at the 25th
International Course on Vocational Training
and Education in Agriculture. Kingston, ON.
Retrieved from www.ciea.ch/documents/s06_
ref_knapper_e.pdf
Knapper, C. K., & Cropley, A. J. (2000). Lifelong
learning in higher education (3rd ed.). London,
England: Kogan Page.
Mueller, J., Wood, E., Pasquale, D. D., & Archer,K. (2011). Students learning with mobile
technologies in and out of the Classroom. In A.
Mendez-Vilas (Ed.), Education in a technologicalworld: communicating current and emerging
research and technological efforts (pp 414-420).
Badajoz, Spain: Formatex.
Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A
review of the research. Journal of Engineering
Education, 93(3), 223-231.
Schilling, K. M., & Schilling, K. L. (1999). Increasing
expectations for student effort. About Campus,
4(2). 4-10.

Schwanke, U. (2009, April). Sustainable learninghow storyline can support it. Paper presented at
the Nordic Storyline Conference. Gothenburg,
Sweden. Retrieved from http://storylinemethode.de/mediapool/43/436167/data/
Sustainable_learning_-_nachhaltiges_Lernen.pdf
Taguchi, T., Magid, M., & Papi, M. (2009). The L2
motivational system among Japanese, Chinese,and Iranian learners of English: A comparative
study. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds),
Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp.
66-97). Bristol, England: Multi-lingual Matters.
UNESCO, (2010). Teaching and learning for asustainable future. Retrieved from www.unesco.
org/education/tlsf/mods/...d/mod26.html
Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of practice andsocial learning systems: the career of a concept. In
C. Blackmore (Ed.). Social Learning Systems andcommunities of practice (pp. 179-198). London,
England: Springer London. doi:10.1007/978-184996-133-2_11

Author’s Biography:
Debjani Ray has been teaching in Japan for over 20 years. Currently her main work is at Tokyo
University of Science, Kagurazaka Campus. She teaches Communication Skills to the Engineering
students. Her primary interest is teaching Language and Communication. Her recent researchinterest is Sustainable Learning and Positive Psychology. <ray@rs.kagu.tus.ac.jp>

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Ray

Appendix
The Interview Questions:
1. Please give a short self-introduction (with name, university year, major etc.)
2. There are no compulsory English classes for you anymore, do you still study
English? If yes, please elaborate. (What, How, When, How often, How long)
3. Do you get to use English sometime? If yes, please tell when, where and how.
4. Do you think your environment encourages the use of your English?
5. Was learning English rewarding/frustrating for you?
6. Can you tell any anecdotes regarding learning English?
7. How do you think one can keep their English after finishing their compulsory
English classes?

202 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Expand Your Handouts With QR Codes

Cameron Romney
Kyoto Sangyo University
romney.cameron@gmail.com
Teachers who write handouts face a dilemma: how to maximize the information presented in thelimited space of a page or two. One possible solution is to encode extra information into a Quick
Response (QR) code, which has the additional benefit of adding multimedia to handouts. The
author has been creating handouts with QR codes for the last 10 years. This paper describes some ofthese materials and has examples of QR codes that reduce the amount of space needed for text andadd media to in-class worksheets, homework assignments, and administrative documents.
課題の印刷物を作成する教師は、「1ないし2ページという限られたスペースで最大限の情報を提供するにはどうすれば良いか」というジレンマに直面する。1つの解決策として、補足情報をQR(Quick Response) コードに変換するという方法がある。
こうすることにより、
マルチメディアを課題に追加できるという利点もある。著者は過去10年にわたりQRコード付の印刷物を作成してきた。本論文では、
これまでに作成した課題とQRコードの例をについて述べ、
QRコードがいかにテキストに必要なスペースを縮小し、どのように授業内で使用するワークシートや宿題、
および授業遂行に必要なその他の文書類にメディアを加えるかについて説明する。

Teachers who write handouts face a dilemma: how to
maximize the information presented in the limited
space of a page or two. Many teacher-writers resolve thisdilemma by decreasing the margins, the type size, or byusing a “space-economical font” (Dörnyei & Csizér,
2012, p. 78). However, these solutions often have anunintended consequence of making the document lessuser friendly, if not confusing for students (Romney,2011). One possible solution is to encode minor orunessential information into a Quick Response (QR)
code. QR codes also provide an additional benefitof allowing teacher-writers to incorporate referencedata, such as a Wikipedia entry, and/or multi-media
elements, such as MP3 sound files, into the learning

activity. While there has been an increasing number ofarticles and presentations on how to use QR codes forlanguage learning, many either offer generic solutions(for example see Dudenay, 2013) or focus on ways
to use them in activities as stand-alone materials, e.g.
codes posted around campus as scavenger hunt clues(Hogg, 2012). This paper will focus on integrating QR
codes into the types of handouts that teacher-writers
traditionally make for students.

Romney, C. (2015). Expand your handouts with
QR codes. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
203-209). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

(vCalendar), email, SMS, phone numbers, GEO
location coordinates, and WiFi network passwords(Gallizzi, 2011). These codes can be scanned with astandard cell phone, a smartphone, an iPad or tablet

Quick Response Code BackgroundA Quick Response (QR) code is a matrix barcodeof dots arranged in a square that can contain various
kinds of data. Specifically, these codes can contain text,
URLs, contact information (vCards), calendar events

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Romney
computer, an iPod touch, Nintendo DS, and even a
laptop or desktop computer with a webcam, as well as
a dedicated QR code scanning device.

Uses for QR Codes in Language
Learning Materials
Encoding Text
By far the simplest use of this technology is to put text
into a student’s device. In fact, I have been using text
based QR codes with my students since 2004, before
the advent of what we think of today as a smartphone.
According to Denso Wave, the originator of the
QR Code, the maximum number of alphanumericcharacters that can be encoded in a single code is4,296 (Denso Wave, n.d.a), but as the amount of data
increases, so does the number of internal modules andtherefore the physical size of the code (Denso Wave,
n.d.b). The minimum physical size of a version 40 code(the version containing the most amount of data) is
approximately 3 cm, but a code that small and dense
would require a high-definition printer and highquality scanning device, i.e. a smartphone with a highresolution camera, in order to decode the information.
Denso Wave recommends the code be printed aslarge as possible because larger codes are easier forthe scanner, e.g. a student’s smartphone, to read andless prone to errors (Denso Wave, n.d.c). In practice,again depending on how it will be printed and copied,teacher-writers should try to encode no more than
300-500 characters, and try to print the code at a sizeof at least 3-5 cm.
Answers for Homework. The first time that I everused a QR code was as a way to provide the students
with the answers to their homework assignments.
At the time, in 2004, I was required to give students
homework and not wanting to grade hundreds ofpapers per week, nor wanting to waste class time bywriting the answers on the board, I began to encode
the answers to the previous week’s homework andinclude it on the homework handout. As part of their
homework, students would scan the code and correct
their answers from the previous week. Figure 1 is an
example of encoded text that students can use to checktheir homework.

204 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Figure 1. An example of a QR code containing answers to a
homework assignment.

Information Gap. A mainstay learning activityof Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is
the information gap activity (Larsen-Freeman &Anderson, 2011). Basically the students have different
information and have to work together to complete
the activity. In a commercially available textbook,this typically works as student A turns to page X andstudent B turns to page Y. For handout writers thisusually entails writing multiple worksheets, one forstudent A another for student B, and handing them out
separately. Teacher-writers might also copy them on thefront and back of a single paper, or have the students
fold the handout so only one set of information
is visible. The multiple worksheet solution can beproblematic for teachers, because as students pair off
and move around the classroom, it can be difficult tokeep track of which students have which papers. With
the last two solutions, students are prone to flip the
paper over and see what their partners’ informationis, thus circumventing the information gap. A single
handout with the gap information encoded in a QR
code solves many of these issues. If the students arereading the information directly from their devices
when engaged in the activity, they will only be able tosee one set of information at a time, and not be ableto ‘cheat’ and see their partner’s information. That is
to say, if they were to scan the code for their partner
after scanning their own code, their information will
no longer appear on their screen.
In my experience, these types of activities work
better when the students scan the code and fill in
the handout first with their information, put theirdevice away, and then fill in the handout with theExpand Your Handouts, pages 203-209
information from their partner via the activity because
they are better able to see the gaps and how they relate
to their own information. When reading directlyfrom the screen it can be confusing to understand therelationship of all the information.
An additional benefit of using a text QR code for
information gap activities is that they no longer need
to be limited to pair work, but can be expanded tomulti partner group activities, such as ‘find someone
who’ activities. Figure 2 is an example of a multistudent information gap activity.

Encoding URIs
A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is a method
used by a computer or smartphone to identify a pointof content on the World Wide Web and to provide
instructions to the device on how to access it. URIs use
various different schemes; the most common scheme
is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), otherwise
known as a web address, which is a link to a web
resource on the Internet. URIs, including URLs, canbe easily encoded into a QR code. Most smartphones/

Figure 2. An example of an information gap activity using
QR codes.

tablets, and some feature phones, are capable ofaccessing most resources using the URL scheme via an
Internet browser. Additionally, most devices are able
to access other resources via different URI schemes
such as the ‘geo’ or ‘mailto’ schemes. Some devices
may even be able to also launch IM clients, e.g. Skype,or other apps, e.g. YouTube (Dawson, 2012). Exactly
how an individual device will react to any given URI
will depend first on the QR code reading software,i.e. the QR code app, the device’s operating system,
and additional applications on the individual device.
For example, scanning a code for a YouTube video
may show the video directly in the QR code app, or
it may launch the web browser, which may in turnlaunch a dedicated YouTube app on the device. While
it is impossible for teacher-writers to know exactly
how each individual student’s device will react to any
given QR code, teacher-writers can assume that all
QR code reader applications are generally capable ofaccessing resources on the World Wide Web via the
URL scheme.

Topic Introductions, Background
Information and/or Reference Materials,
e.g. Wikipedia
Another mainstay of CLT is an integrated skills
approach (Celce-Murcia, 2014), which has tasks
that require students to read/write and speak/listen.
In commercially available textbooks this often is
accomplished by having the students read a passage
before having a “topic-centered discussion” (Ur, 1981,
p. 5). Where a commercially available textbook may
be able to introduce the topic over several pages, forhandout teacher-writers a lengthy reading to provide
background information on the topic is usually
not feasible. For example, for a speaking activity
that requires the students to plan an itinerary forinternational visitors to Japan, it can be helpful forstudents to have access to a list of, and descriptions of,common tourist attractions. By creating a QR codewith a link to the Wikipedia entry of major tourist
destinations in Japan, students are able to view over
100 destinations and find out detailed information
about them as needed. Printing such information ona handout would take well over ten pages, and mostThe 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

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Romneyteacher-writers would most likely edit it down to one
page, but by accessing it on their device, students areable to have a fuller and more enriched discussion,
while at the same time being exposed to authentic
language.

Textbook Recordings
As a homework extension/review exercise, students
can listen to the textbook recordings again andcomplete a number of bottom-up listening tasks, as
opposed to the typical top-down listening tasks donein class. A textbook that I have been using recently,
World Link 2 (Stempleski, Douglas, & Morgan,2011), includes a CD of the listening materials in the
textbook. However, a number of my students havereported that they don’t own a CD player and can’t
access the recordings. Fortunately, the publisher has
made all of the textbook recordings available on theInternet as MP3 files. By making a QR code with alink to the MP3 files, students are able to scan the codeand listen to the MP3 file in their device’s browser
or download the file to their device. Figure 3 is an
example of a QR code that links to a MP3 file of atextbook recording on the Internet. Of course teachers
can make their own MP3 files and post them to theInternet, but care should be taken not to violate thecopyright laws of their respective countries.

videos can be an issue for students. For example,
if given the link to a video on a handout, which isusually just a string of seemingly random numbers andletters, students often make mistakes when typing the
URL into their device; furthermore, in my experience
many students report that the process of doing so istedious. Creating a QR code that the students can
scan circumvents this issue. This is especially valuablefor homework activities, where the teacher is notavailable to help students input the URL, but also has
the advantage of allowing the students to watch and/or listen to the video at their own pace for a classroom
activities including being able to stop, rewind, watch
and/or listen multiple times as needed. Figure 4 is an
example of a homework assignment using a QR codethat links to a YouTube video.

Online Quizzes, e.g. SurveyMonkey
Teacher-writers who use short quizzes for attendance
and or participation marks often have to deal witha large volume of small slips of paper, one for each
student. However, a QR code can be created thatlinks to an online survey program, e.g. SurveyMonkey,
which allows teachers to collect the attendance/

YouTube Videos
One of the largest databases of authentic video in theworld is YouTube. There are a number of ways to use
these videos for language learning (see Sherman, 2003,
for a lengthy list of possibilities), but accessing specificFigure 3. A QR code linking to textbook recordings on
the Internet.

206 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Figure 4. A homework handout using a YouTube video.

Expand Your Handouts, pages 203-209
application (O’Reilly, 2011) and students may have to
add it manually.

Email Links

Figure 5.A QR code used to access an online survey.

participation information without the paper. A QR
code linking to an online survey can also be used
as a feedback mechanism allowing the students toprovide the teacher with input about the course,
assignments, etc. Figure 5 is an example of a QR codethat links to an online survey used as a mid-semester
feedback questionnaire. The QR code can be printed
on handouts, posted on the wall, or displayed on thescreen as students enter the classroom.

Administrative uses
In addition to ELT materials, teachers give handouts tostudents for administrative purposes. These handouts
include things like the class syllabus, calendar,
attendance and/or grade information, etc. QR Codes
can also be use with these handouts to facilitatecommunication between the teacher and students.

Teacher Contact Information, e.g. vCards
vCards are a type of electronic business card that
contains names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. This
information can be encoded into a QR code andprinted on the class syllabus, etc. In my experience,
students often lose their syllabus or don’t always haveit handy when they need to contact me. By creating
a vCard QR code and having the students create acontact in their phone, which includes my email,office location, office hour, office phone number, etc.,
students are better able to get in touch with me ifthey need to. It should be noted, however, that whilealmost all QR code reader apps are capable of reading
a vCard, not all of them have the ability to add thecontact information directly to the device’s contacts

If a teacher requires students to regularly contact them
via email, for example for submitting homework,
informing the teacher of absences, etc., it may be
useful to create a QR code specifically for the task. QR
codes using the mailto URI scheme will input not only
the email address into the native email application on
the student’s device, but will also create a subject line
and text. For example, teachers could create an email
QR code with the subject line, “inquiry from a student
in class 333 (WED 2nd period)” and the first line of
the message, “my name is” so that they are better able
to track messages. Again, if teachers are requiring
students to email them regularly, the QR code could
be printed on a label that students could affix to thecover of their textbooks or another conspicuous placefor easy access.

Calendar Events
Again, as part of the administrative paperwork,
teachers could create QR codes containing vCalendar
events for important dates during the year. This could
include things like assignment deadlines, exam dates,
appointment times, etc. These could be printed on thesyllabus, class calendar, assignment sheets, etc. Please
note that individual appointment times would require
an individual QR code for each appointment.

Creating a QR CodeCreating a QR code is a relatively easy and free
process. Some reader applications also have a creation
function, but by far the easiest method is to use an
online generator, such as the one found at http://goqr.
me. Teacher-writers first select the type of QR codeneeded and then input the information. The QR code
will be generated in real time. The teacher-writer thendownloads the image (either a PNG or JPEG file)or selects the image and right clicks to copy it. The
teacher-writer then inserts the QR code image into
their word-processor, desktop publishing program, etc.
and can resize, move and adjust the image as needed.
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Romney

What to Do If a Student Doesn’t Havea QR Code Reading Device
Informal surveying of my students at the beginning of
the school year for the last several years has revealed
that nearly all of my students had at least a featurephone capable of reading a text QR code, and thenumber of students with a smartphone capable ofaccessing multimedia web resources has increased tonearly 100% (see Table 1 for more details). The morecommon problem faced with using QR codes in classis not that the students do not have a QR code enabled
device, but that either the students have forgotten tobring their device or that the battery has died.
Teacher-writers facing these problems have several
solutions. First, he or she can bring an extra device
with him or her to class that the students can use. I
personally have an old iPod touch and an old iPhone
3GS that I will bring to class on days when I know wewill be using materials with QR codes. Additionally, atthe beginning of class, teacher-writers can announce tothe students that they will be using their smartphones
in class later, so be sure to make sure they are charged.
For QR codes that contain text only, teacher-writers
can bring a hard copy of the text that students can use.
Finally, teacher-writers can ask students to share theirdevice with a friend.

Conclusion
By moving unnecessary text, e.g. exercise answers, toa QR code, teacher-writers can free up space on theirhandouts or reduce the amount of handouts altogether.
Additionally, teacher-writers can bring audio/video
or other multimedia resources into the classroom via
a student’s mobile device through a QR code, thus
Table 1
Percentage of Students With QR Code Enabled Devices

Year

No phone

Feature
Phone

2010
2011
2012
2013
2014

2%
1%
<1%
---

97%
82%
50%
14%
<1%

Smartphone
<1%
18%
49%
86%
99%

Note. All percentages are rounded off and approximate.

208 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

making QR codes one of the most adaptable, versatile,and open-ended resources available to teacher-writers
to expand their handouts beyond the confines of theprinted page.

References
Celce-Murcia, M. (2014). An overview of language
teaching methods and approaches. In M. CelceMurcia, D. M. Brinton, & M. A. Snow (Eds.)
Teaching English as a second or foreign language(pp. 2-14), Boston, MA: National Geographic
Learning.
Dawson, A. (2012, February 20). Getting the mostout of QR codes using URI schemes. Retrieved
from http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/
qr-codes-uri-schemes/
Denso Wave. (n.d.a). Information capacity andversions of the QR code. Retrieved from http://
www.QRcode.com/en/about/version.html
Denso Wave. (n.d.b). FAQ. Retrieved from http://
www.QRcode.com/en/faq.html
Denso Wave. (n.d.c). Point setting for the module
size. Retrieved from http://www.QRcode.com/
en/howto/cell.html
Dörnyei, Z. & Csizér, K. (2012). How to design andanalyze surveys in second language research. In A.
Mackey & S. M. Gass (Eds.) Research methods insecond language acquisition (pp. 74-94). Malden,
MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Dudenay, G. (2013). Technically speaking. The
English Connection, 17(4), 24.
Gallizzi, M. (2011, March 3). 9 QR code data types[web log post]. Retrieved from http://notixtech.
com/blog/9-qr-code-data-types
Hogg, K. (2012, April 12). QR code scavenger huntwith ESL students [web log post]. Retrieved fromhttp://blog.khogg.com/qr-code-scavenger-huntwith-esl-students/
Larsen-Freeman, D. & Anderson, M. (2011).
Techniques and principles in language teaching.
Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
O’Reilly, E. (2011, June 16). How to create QR codes
for business cards [web log post]. Retrieved fromhttp://qrworld.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/
how-to-create-qr-codes-for-business-cards/

Expand Your Handouts, pages 203-209
Romney, C. (2011, June). Visual design principles andL2 learners: What teachers need to know. Paper
presented at the Asian Conference for Language
Learning, Osaka, Japan.
Sherman, J. (2003). Using authentic video in thelanguage classroom. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Stempleski, S., Douglas, N., & Morgan, J. R. (2011).
World Link 2. Boston, MA: Heinle Cengage
Learning.

Author’s Biography:
Cameron Romney has taught EFL/ESL in both the United States and Japan for the last 16
years. He holds an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Colorado at Denver. In
the summer of 2014, he was employed as a Lecturer at Kyoto Sangyo University in Kyoto, Japan..

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Meeting Teacher Goals Through Collaborative Lesson
Study: Improvements in Classroom English Usage

Michael James Rupp
Kumamoto University
michael.rupp@gmail.com
Lesson Study (LS) is a cyclical teacher development model in which the LS team members
collaborate in the planning, execution, revision, and re-teaching of a lesson. In this paper I
will highlight one of the outcomes that emerged from the introduction of an LS cycle into thepreservice teacher-training program at a Japanese junior high school. The LS team included theauthor, a Japanese teacher of English, and two Japanese preservice teachers. The study focused on
the teaching of one of these teachers. LS was shown to have numerous benefits including increased
teacher awareness, membership in the community of practice of professional teachers, professional
knowledge transfer among teachers, and finally increases in ability to meet personal and professional
development goals.
授業研究 (LS) は，参加するメンバー（教師）が授業の計画・実施・修正，また再授業を協力して行う一連のサイクルであり，それにより参加者が教師としての成長を目指す営為である。本稿は，日本の中学校において，LS サイクルを基盤とする教員育成プログラムを導入したことにより得られた成果を報告する。本プロジェクトにおいて LS の対象としたのは，
２人の教育実習生（大学生）であった。LS により，二人の教師としての意識，
またプロの教師の一員であるという自覚は高まった。
さらに，
メンバー間の専門知識の共有が促進され，
プロの教師として伸長させるべき目標達成に関する能力が確実に向上した。

The impetus for this study came from discussions with
K-sensei, a Japanese teacher of English at the juniorhigh school attached to a national Japanese university.
K-sensei was a typically busy teacher responsible forgetting the graduating third year students into goodhigh schools, training the preservice teachers fromthe faculty of education at the university, teachinga heavy load of classes, managing club activities,
attending endless meetings, visiting students’ homes,
Rupp, M. J. (2015). Meeting teacher goals throughcollaborative lesson study: Improvements inclassroom English usage. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan,& M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 210-216). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

210 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

and generally dealing with the responsibilities offulfilling the role of being the de facto parent thatJapanese society expected her to be. Our discussions
revealed that she was not satisfied with the quality of
pedagogical guidance she had been able to provide to
the preservice teachers who visit the school for two
weeks of teaching practice several times throughout
each school year.
Based on my observations and interviews withthe teachers working at my school, I have found thatthe actual process of preservice training appears tolack a consistent formal structure, leaving much of
the implementation details to be decided by the inservice teachers. Perhaps overly specific guidancefrom the university was deemed unnecessary, with

Meeting Teacher Goals Through Lesson Study, pages 210-216
university professors preferring to defer such details tothe experienced junior high school teachers who work
daily on the front lines of secondary education.
I became aware of a potential remedy to
K-sensei’s dilemma in the form of collaborative
lesson study through consultations with a university
professor specializing in teacher development.
The professor informed me of this cyclical teacher
development model, similar to an action research
cycle, which leverages the wide variety of experienceand knowledge held by a group of professionals inorder to collaboratively tackle teacher training anddevelopment. After explaining the model and gaining
consent from the participants and permission fromthe school, I was able to conduct a collaborative lesson
study cycle at the school in an effort to investigate andimprove the quality of preservice teacher training. The
lesson study team focused on the lessons conducted by
one teacher, Y-san, who was tasked with teaching thirdyear students under the guidance of K-sensei. The
research questions posed for the study were:used in follow-up group revisions of the lesson. The
revised lesson is retaught to another class of students
by the same or another member of the lesson study
team and the lesson study cycle concludes with a final
reflection meeting, the results of which are reported
on for the benefit of other teachers.
Although there has been a surge of interestin lesson study outside of Japan, especially inmathematics education, it appears to be neglected in its
country of origin in secondary and tertiary education.
In place of collaboratively planned and executed lesson
study, what we see in junior high schools is more akinto mere demonstration lessons. These lack the crucial
element of collaborative planning and revision. Thismay be due to the fact that elementary school teachers
must teach a wide variety of subjects, making thebenefits of collaboration due to differences of expertise
more tangible, whereas at the junior high school level,
teachers are considered specialists in their fields.
Figure 1 shows the six stages of the lesson study
cycle used for this study.

1. What effects does the process of going througha collaborative lesson study have on pedagogicalenvironment and teacher learning in a Japanese
junior high school?
2. Could the secondary education curriculums
in Japan benefit from a more structured
implementation of collaborative lesson study?

Differences Between Lesson Studyand Action Research

What is Lesson Study?
Lesson study originated in Japan about 100 years ago
and became well known in the United States by 1999,
through the Third International Mathematics andScience Study (Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2009). The
term lesson study comes from a Japanese translationof the practice known as jugyō kenkyū (授業研究),
which is widely used as a teacher development process,mainly for Japanese elementary education. In lesson
study, a small team of teachers collaborates in thesetting of personal and professional development
goals (PPDs) as well as specific lesson goals, followedby collaborative planning of a research lesson. One
member of the group teaches this lesson while theother members observe and record observations to be

The main difference between lesson study and action
research is the focus (Lewis, Perry, & Friedkin, 2009).
They both share a cyclical nature involving observation,reflection, and revision, but lesson study focuses ona collaboratively constructed lesson, whereas action
research focuses on solving a problem. In lesson study,
the lesson is seen as underpinning all of the importantelements of teaching and as an implementation of
the methodologies applied by the teacher. Finally, inlesson study the entire group shares responsibility for
effort, taking some of the pressure off of the teacher
who happens to teach the lesson (Laskowski, 2009;
Laskowski, 2011; Prahbu, 1992). This contrasts withtraditional teacher development models, which follow
a top-down transmission model approach.

Contrasting Traditional Teacher
Development With Lesson Study
Lesson study, taking a bottom-up approach to teacher
learning, differs greatly from traditional models. Table
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Rupp

Figure 1. The six stages of the lesson study cycle used in this study, adapted from Lewis (2011).

1 summarizes the differences between traditionaltransmission model approaches and the lesson study
approach (Lewis, 2011). The bottom-up lesson study
approach provides a grounded, teacher-centered,autonomy-enhancing alternative.
Lewis (2008) points out that in lesson study,
instructional improvement does not come from theimprovement in lesson plans per se, but rather it is thecollaborative nature of the planning, peer observation,reflection, data collection, revisions, and group
discussions that leads to improvement. She points
out that teacher development benefits of lesson study

occur in the following areas (Lewis, 2008):•• increased knowledge of subject matter andinstruction,•• increased knowledge of students and student
thinking,•• stronger collegial networks,•• stronger connection of daily practice to long-termgoals,•• stronger motivation to learn and belief thatchanges make a difference, and•• improved materials.

Table 1
Summarizing Differences Between Traditional Teacher Development and the Lesson Study Approach (Lewis, 2011, p. 7)

Traditional teacher development

Lesson study

Begins with answers
Driven by outside “expert”
Communication: trainer --> teachers
Hierarchical relations between trainer and teachers
Research informs practice

Begins with questions
Driven by participantsCommunication: among teachers
Reciprocal relations among learners
Practice is research
Lesson study is process oriented

212 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Meeting Teacher Goals Through Lesson Study, pages 210-216

The Importance of Collaboration in
Teacher Development
Despite the fact that collaboration is shown to have
many benefits, including increased levels of trust,creative problem solving, positive attitudes towards
teaching, and improved efficacy, it is not emphasizedin university coursework and receives little support for
those who try to engage in it (Goddard, Goddard, &Tschannen-Moran, 2007; Tschannen-Moran, 2001).
The dialogic construction of knowledge as seen incollaborative lesson study allows a cross pollinationof ideas among members of the shared community ofpractice (CoP; see Wenger, 1998), which can allow
newcomers, such as young preservice teachers, to gofrom outsiders to full-fledged members through theirinteractions as peers with the expert in-service teachers(Wells, 1999). It is important also to point out thatthe interaction between newcomers and experts is nota one-way street. Newcomers and experts can interact
and learn from each other despite vast differences inknowledge and experience. While it is usually the casethat the experienced teacher will have more to offer the
newcomer, sometimes newcomers can come up withfresh ideas or think more creatively, unconstrained by
years of tradition and habit. Figure 2 illustrates how
members can collaboratively share knowledge andexperience in lesson study regardless of their age orexperience.

Methodology
This study took place at a local junior high school
attached to the university and was approached using aqualitative research paradigm with data gathered fromeach stage of the lesson study cycle through video andaudio recordings of all meetings and lessons, lesson
observation logs, meeting notes, reflections notes,
questionnaires, teacher learning plans, and interview
notes. The members included the author, a university
teacher development advisor, a Japanese teacher ofEnglish, and two preservice teachers (juniors in the
Faculty of Education at the university).

Figure 2. Sharing of knowledge among various members of a lesson study.

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Rupp
Table 2The Six Stages Used in This Lesson Study
Stage

1
2
3
4
5
6

Purpose of stage

Establish PPDs, collaboratively choose lesson, plan lesson collaboratively
Conduct a practice demonstration lesson in the group, refine teaching points
Teach lesson first time with lesson study members observing and gathering data
Reflect on and revise lesson with input from all members
Reteach the lesson to another group of students; may change teacher
Engage in final reflections and consolidation of learning; report on results of lesson study

Method of Data Analysis
Analysis of data was conducted by engaging in athorough cataloguing of the sources of data at eachof the stages of the lesson study cycle (as describedin Figure 2). The emergent categories were thenholistically analyzed using comparative analysis andtriangulated for validity using multiple data sources.
For this study, it was extremely helpful to have thevideo and transcripts and translations of the video, as
it allowed for deep analysis.

The Six Stages of this Lesson Study
The six stages of this lesson study are summarized inTable 2. Stage 1 began with questionnaires given to
the two preservice teachers in order to ascertain theirpersonal and professional development goals. The twopreservice teachers, Y-san and A-san, were to teach for
two weeks, sharing four classes (40 students per class)of third year junior high students. Thus, each lesson
would be taught twice by each teacher. We decided tofocus our lesson study on the teaching and re-teachingof a particular lesson of Y-san, which would be retaught on a following day, allowing enough time fora reflection session between teaching episodes. Oneof the constraints that arose during our lesson study
cycle was the difficulty of arranging the schedules of
the team members to be present at each stage. In thelesson study framework, it would have been as possible
to have A-san teach the revised lesson, but schedulingdemands on the group made this problematic.
The entire cycle took three days to complete,
as we needed ample time between stage 3, the first
actual teaching stage, and stage 5, the teaching of therevised lesson. This time was required for collaborative

214 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

reflection and revision of the lesson. We conductedstages 1 and 2 on the first day, stages 3 and 4 on thesecond day, and stages 5 and 6 on the third day.
In stage 1, the team determined the personal andprofessional goals of Y-san and A-san as including
having good time management, having a fun class,using a naturalistic and humanistic approach toteaching, understanding the students’ abilities andactual English levels, and finally being able to useclassroom English (CRE). The outcome of this study
in regards to the professional goal of CRE usage is thefocus of this paper.
•• CRE refers to incidental use of English inclassroom management and student-teacher
interactions as opposed to the target English of
the lesson. It is also used in “teacher talk” or casualteacher chatting in English to open a lesson.
Table 3 shows a summary of the categorization of
Y-san’s personal and professional development goals(PPDs).

Emergent Categories
Four major categories emerged after a thoroughanalysis of the data from multiple sources taken ateach of the six stages of the study, including a detailed
analysis of transcripts and translations of the meeting
notes, planning sessions, and lesson videos. The
categories were “Significant Personal and Professional
Goal Attainment”, “Professional Knowledge Transfer”,“Teacher Awareness Changes” and “Increased CoP
Membership Identification”.
From the category Significant Personal andMeeting Teacher Goals Through Lesson Study, pages 210-216
Table 3Categorizing Y-san’s Personal and Professional Development Goals (PPDs)
Category

PPD-1
PPD-2
PPD-3
PPD-4
PPD-5

Features

Timing: maintaining a natural flow of lesson transitions
Atmosphere: having a fun class, engagement, energetic pacing, body language
English: CRE usage, speaking lots of English, avoiding mistakes in CRE
Grammar: Lesson goal of past-participle grammar introduction and usage
Content: Lesson goal of teaching about discrimination against minorities

Professional (PPD) Goal Attainment, a major
subcategory labeled Classroom English Usage (CRE)
Gains emerged and is highlighted below.

Looking at PPD3 — Classroom English(CRE) Usage Gains
CRE usage gains emerged as a major subcategory andwas also frequently pointed out by the members of thestudy as being very important to their teaching. CRE
usage also has a cross influence on other goals suchas PPD-2 (Class Atmosphere) in that the natural useof English during the lesson promotes both implicit
learning and the creation of a fun atmosphere. The
ability to produce CRE can also be affected by thelevel of anxiety the teacher is experiencing. Preservice
teachers are typically very nervous when they firststart teaching, and this often impacts negatively on
their CRE production ability. I have observed cases
where failures to smoothly produce CRE has led toa downward spiral in confidence with the teacher
abandoning CRE altogether and switching to Japanese
only.
In stage 3, the first actual teaching of the lesson,
the team observed that Y-san’s CRE at the beginningof the lesson (some teacher talk about trips overseas)
had gone very smoothly, but her CRE usage severely
declined after a computer mishap occurred. The stressof having a major activity fail during the lesson seemed
to cause Y-san to falter in her CRE usage. This was
confirmed in the stage 4 postlesson discussion during
which Y-san admitted she was unable to produce evensimple CRE sentences such as, “I want you to say youranswer,” getting stuck at “I want…”
In stage 4, we worked on ways of phrasing English
questions to get desired responses from students, gave

advice on CRE usage mistakes, and provided andpracticed a number of alternative expressions.
In stage 5, the teaching of the revised lesson,
the team noticed that Y-san’s teacher talk and CRE
had become much better than in stage 3, and her
confidence level also appeared to be higher. In my
observation logs I had noted “using good teacher talkand CRE,” and in stage 6, the final reflections, K-sensei
remarked that she too was impressed with Y-san’s
increased use of CRE. Y-san confirmed that she hadtaken to heart the advice from stage 4.

Quantifying CRE Improvement
In order to get a more objective view of the perceived
changes in CRE, I decided to operationalize thevariables of quantity and quality. This was achieved
through the creation and analysis of raw transcriptsof the CRE usage from the two actual lesson teachingstages, stage 3 and stage 5. I decided to define
quantity as the number of tokens (the total runningword count) and quality as the number of word
types (unique instances of each word, or the sizeof the vocabulary used). For example, the sentence“Everyone, I want you to pass your papers forward
after you finish writing your reflections.” would have
15 tokens and 13 word types, as you and your are each
repeated.
The results of analysis confirmed the perceived
improvement, with about a 30% increase in both
metrics. Quantity (token count) increased from
604 to 787 words, and quality (number of uniqueword instances) increased from 176 to 231. It was
encouraging to see that not only the total amountof CRE had increased, but that the quality had also
increased.
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Rupp

Conclusion
In answer to research question 1, it appears that going
through a collaborative lesson study at a Japanese
junior high school can improve the pedagogicalenvironment and increase teacher learning, as
illustrated in this paper, by helping teachers meet theirpersonal and professional development goals.
For research question 2, the positive outcomesshown above indicate that the secondary education
curriculums in Japan should benefit from a structured
implementation of collaborative lesson study, which
is currently mostly occurring in elementary school.
The benefits of lesson study do come at a cost, and themost vexing limitation is time. Teachers who wish to
conduct collaborative lesson study cycles will have todeal with the scheduling hassles required to get a groupof busy members together for each of the stages of thecycle. I believe the case can be made that this sacrificewould be worthwhile, but these benefits will have to
be made clear to the stakeholders in education in order
to allow lesson study to become fully institutionalized.

References
Goddard, Y., Goddard, R., & Tschannen-Moran, M.
(2007). A theoretical and empirical investigationof teacher collaboration for school improvement
and student achievement in public elementary
schools. The Teachers College Record, 109(4), 877896.
Laskowski, T. (2009). Crossing borders in teacher
development: Jugyokenkyu (lesson study) fromthe East and action research from the West.
Kumamoto Daigaku Bunronsou [Kumamoto
University Journal of Culture and Humanities,
Faculty of Letters], 100, 117-134. Retrieved fromhttp://opsearch.lib.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/recordID/
handle/2298/19561?hit=-1&caller=xc-search
Laskowski, T. (2011). Jugyokenkyu (lesson study)in America. Kumamoto Daigaku Bunronsou[Kumamoto University Journal of Culture andHumanities, Faculty of Letters], 102, 59-77.
Retrieved from http://opsearch.lib.kumamoto-u.
ac.jp/recordID/handle/2298/11333?hit=1&caller=xc-search
Lewis, C. (2008). Lesson study: How can it build
system-wide improvement? [Powerpoint slides].
Retrieved from http://www.csus.edu/mase/calessonstudy/2008/docs/proceedings/
Catherine_Lewis.pdf
Lewis, C. C., & Hurd, J. (2011). Lesson study step bystep: How teacher learning communities improve
instruction. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Lewis, C., Perry, R., & Friedkin, S. (2009). Lesson
study as action research. In S. Noffke, &B. Somekh (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of
educational action research. (pp. 142-155).
London, England: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9780857021021.n14
Prabhu, N. S. (1992). The dynamics of the language
lesson. TESOL Quarterly, 26(2), 225-241.
Tschannen-Moran, M. (2001). Collaborationand the need for trust. Journal of Educational
Administration, 39, 308-331.
Wells, G. (1999). Dialogic inquiry in education:
Building on the legacy of Vygotsky. In C. D. Lee&P. Smagorinsky (Eds.), Vygotskian perspectives
on literacy research, (pp. 51-85). New York, NY:
Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning,
meaning, and identity. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.

Author’s Biography:
Michael Rupp, formerly worked as an ALT in Kumamoto, and now lectures at Kumamoto
Unviersity, Kumamoto Gakuen University and Tokai University. His research interests include
teacher development, learner autonomy, communities of practice, psychometrics, Chinese andJapanese linguistics and translation/interpretation.

216 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Student Preference in Teacher Nationality

Yoshie Shimai

Aaron Hahn

Kyushu University
yoshieshimai@gmail.com

Fukuoka University
aaronhahn@hotmail.com

University English departments in Japan usually differentiate between native English speaking
teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs, usually natives of Japan).
While this division is linguistically questionable, there is no doubt that it has significant personal
and political consequences for “both” types of teachers (Holliday, 2013). Beginning with theseminal study by Medgyes (1992), various projects have tried to measure what “value”, qualities, andeffects NEST and NNEST teachers bring to the ESL/EFL classroom. The present project seeks to
add to this discussion by examining whether or not students in Japanese universities hold different
opinions about their foreign and Japanese teachers. Through student surveys, it was found that the
subjects found some benefits to each type of teacher, though in many measurements they showed no
preference for either.
日本の大学英語教育部門は通常、外国人英語教師と日本人英語教師を区別している。言語学的な観点から見て、これらを厳密に線引きすることは困難であるし、その一方で、
これ
ら2種類の教師区分は重大な個人的、そして政治的な結果である（Holliday 2013）とする論もある。後に足跡を残すMedgyes (1992) の論考をはじめ、様々な研究が外国人英語教師と日本人英語教師がESL/EFLの教育現場にもたらした貢献、効果について論証を重ねてきた。本論では日本の大学生が、外国人英語教師と日本人英語教師について異なる見解を持つのか、を検証することにより、先行研究の論を発展させることを試みる。調査の結果、外国人英語教師と日本人英語教師に差が出なかった項目も多かったが、学生は両タイプの教師にそれぞれの利点を見出していることがわかった。

Over the last several decades, a significant amountof TESOL research has been conducted on the
differences between native English speaking teachers(NESTs) and non-native English speaking teachers(NNESTs). Medgyes’ 1992 article in ELT Journal isoften noted as one of the seminal papers in this genre.

than non-native teachers.
Since Medgyes’ publication the issue has beensignificantly complicated by subsequent research
as well as shifts in geopolitical forces to which theteaching and use of English are linked. On the one
hand, numerous studies have shown that there is

Medgyes set out to measure the relative “worth” of
NEST and NNEST, implicitly arguing against the“commonsense” idea that native teachers are “better”

no consistent objectively identifiable difference,
linguistically speaking, between native and non-native
speakers (Holliday, 2013). Nonetheless, Holliday
notes that not only is the division still used as agoverning principle in both “English-speaking” and“non-English speaking” countries, its very existence
is both a cause of and caused by ideological forces
seeking to preserve special status for vested interests.

Shimai, Y., & Hahn, A. (2015). Student preferencein teacher nationality. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan,& M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 217-222). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

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Shimai & Hahn
Holliday uses a postmodern framework to show how
the problem is not only a deliberate construction
designed to promote the economic interests of “inner
circle countries” as Phillipson (1992) argued, but that
it is also deeply embedded in the discourse of TESOL.
This division can be fought against, but doing so
requires a deliberate, conscious effort, what Holliday
calls a cultural belief in the value of all language users.
In the case of Japan, Hayes (2013) found thatwhile the NEST/NNEST division exists, it is often
articulated differently. Rather than teachers being
categorized based on their native language, there isoften an explicitly racialized/nationalized division
between foreign (gaikokujin) and Japanese (nihonjin)
teachers. While Hayes mainly focuses on how thesehiring practices “ghettoize foreign teachers into
nonstandard employment” (p. 132), she also points
out that foreign teachers can gain benefit fromtheir status, such as how some universities excuse
them from normally mandatory administrative
work due to a perceived or actual lack of Japanese
fluency. While we stand with Holliday and Hayes inbelieving that the division between NEST/NNEST
and foreign/Japanese teachers is harmful to teachersand students alike, like Hayes we have chosen to use
this terminology in our research, to investigate theconsequences of these administratively mandated
divisions and then hopefully find ways in which they
can be appropriated and/or undermined.
An extensive review of research on possible
differences in teaching between NEST and NNEST
can be found in Braine’s (2005) book chapter, “Ahistory of research on non-native speaker English
teachers.” Braine reports on studies done on language
program administrators, teachers (self perceptions),
and students. Results varied; some, such as Mahboob(2003, cited in Braine) found a definite preference
for NESTs—a finding that Mahboob clarified in alater work demonstrating this was a case of deliberate
discrimination (rather than a question of availability),
since even programs which offered TESOL training
to non-native speakers underemployed NNESTs(Mahboob et al., 2004). Other research, such as
Cheung (2002, cited in Braine) found that teachersand students in Hong Kong felt that there were

218 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

benefits to exposure to both types of teachers.
The present study sought to continue in this veinof analysis by examining how the foreign/Japanesedynamic plays out in the minds of students inuniversity English classrooms in Japan.

BackgroundA pilot study (Shimai, 2013) was conducted at a private
university in southern Japan (hereafter referred to as
University A). In that study, 78 students were surveyed
about their opinions of their foreign and Japaneseteachers. University A students take the TOEIC
Bridge as part of their coursework, and are leveled basedon their test results into “Beginner”, “Intermediate”, and“Advanced” courses. Also, at the time of the pilot study,
students always received one foreign and one Japaneseteacher for their compulsory English courses. Japaneseteachers were supposed to focus on grammar andthe reading portion of TOEIC Bridge, while foreignteachers were supposed to focus on daily conversationand the listening portion of the TOEIC Bridge. The
survey was given to students in two Beginner firstyear classes and two Advanced second-year classes. It
asked the students to evaluate how much their English
teachers from that year used their non-native language,rate how useful, enjoyable, and comfortable they felt theclasses were on a 5 point Likert scale, and allowed themto give free responses about good and bad experiences
they had, as well their opinion about why their classes
were or were not useful.
The results, containing data on six different
instructors, demonstrated several significant differencesin students’ perceptions of their native and nonnative teachers, consistently favoring the Japaneseteachers. Table 1 lists each of the measurements forwhich statistically significant differences were found.
In addition, the results showed that Beginner level
students were more likely to prefer Japanese to foreignteachers.
Given that the pilot study represented only a small
number of students and teachers at a single school, it
was not clear if the results would hold true for a wider
population. The present study sought to answer thisquestion by surveying more students and adding asecond university (University B).

Student Preference in Teacher Nationality, pages 217-222
Table 1Significant Results From Pilot Study
Measurement

Foreign teacher M (out of 5)

Japanese teacher M (out of 5)

No difficulty to answer questions

3.7

4.2

Fun in class

3.0

4.0

Able to ask questions to teacher

2.8

4.1

Able to consult teacher

2.5

3.8

Understandability of teacher

2.6

4.2

Note: All results significant to p<0.0001

Methods
Setting
University A and B are private four-year universities
located in southern Japan of approximately equal size.
University A is generally regarded as a very low level
university, while University B is usually regarded asa mid-level university. Both universities offer a wide
range of majors, and the students in the present study
included those from business-related fields, science,
sports, and other fields, though no English majors
were surveyed. Except for one class of third year
students at University B, all students surveyed were in
their second year, and were responding about teachers
from their first year.
In addition to the difference in levels, Universities
A and B also have a difference in the way they allocate
teachers to classes and students. As explained above,
each student had one foreign teacher and one Japaneseteacher at University A. At University B, however,classes are not strictly divided this way. Rather, theuniversity tends to assign foreigners to communicativeand oral skills courses, and Japanese to reading/writing and test preparation courses, though teachers
in either group can teach any course. While this leads
to teachers having a mix of courses, it is common forstudents to get one or more of each during their timeat the university. In the present survey, only one groupof students reported having only a Japanese teacher inthe prior year and none reported having only a foreignteacher.

Research Questions
The survey instrument was similar to the pilot survey
so that broad trends could be compared; however,additional elements were added to provide a better
picture of student perceptions. In looking to see if theresults were replicable, we were specifically concernedwith the following two questions:
Do students rate the enjoyableness and usefulnessof foreign and Japanese teachers differently?
Do students find classes with either foreign orJapanese teachers easier to manage, in terms of being
able to ask and answer questions?

SurveyThe survey consisted of two pages of identicalquestions (all in Japanese), one page for each type ofteacher. The survey contained seven 5-point Likert
scale questions and four free response questions. Of theLikert scale questions, one asked about enjoyablenessof the class, three about how difficult the courses were(ease of understanding the teacher, ease of answering
questions posed by the teacher, and ease of asking theteacher questions), and two about usefulness (generalusefulness and to what degree the class had helped
them become better at English). The open-ended
questions asked for a memorable experience from theclass, the reason the class was or was not useful, what
they liked about the teacher’s teaching style, and, forthose who said they got better at English, what aspectof English they improved at. The survey also contained
a set of questions about the frequency that theirinstructors had used various activities (e.g., speaking
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Shimai & Hahn
aloud, essay writing, translation) and how much they
enjoyed those activities, but that data was not analyzed
for this project or reported on in this paper.
A complete questionnaire (in Japanese) can befound at http://ahahnenglish.weebly.com/shimaihahn-2014-jalt-pansig-presentation.html.

Procedures
The surveys were conducted during the first andsecond weeks of the Spring, 2014 term. 248 students
completed the survey—106 from University A, and
142 from University B. However, not all students
completed all sections, and thus had their results
partially excluded—for example, students who did notprovide data about both foreign and Japanese teachers
could not be used for comparison measurements. Sinceboth a Shapiro-Wilk test and a visual inspection of thedata indicated that it was not normally distributed,
Mann-Whitney tests were used to measure whether
there were significant differences between students’
perceptions of their teachers. All Mann-Whitney
tests were calculated with the Social Science Statistics
website (Stangroom, 2014).

Results
For University A, there were no significant differences(p < 0.05) in student responses for Japanese andforeign teachers for any questions. That is, for every
quantitative question, students did not significantly
endorse one side over the other, a fundamentallydifferent result from the pilot study.
For University B, however, students did show
statistically significant differences for four of thesurvey questions, as summarized in Table 2. First, thestudents felt that Japanese teachers used more English
than foreign teachers used Japanese. Second, thestudents rated the classes with foreign teachers as moreenjoyable. Third, students rated the classes with foreignteachers as more useful than classes with Japaneseteachers. Finally, the students found it easier to answer
questions in Japanese teachers’ classes—note thatthe wording of the survey question implies all course
questions, including those in the textbook, from theteacher, on exams, etc. Since another question asking
about the difficulty of understanding their teacher
showed no statistically significant difference between
Japanese and foreign teachers, it seems likely that thisfourth statistical difference indicates that the students
found classes with foreign teachers to have an overall
higher level of difficulty.
When data from the two universities was
combined, two distinctions remained statisticallysignificant: students found foreign teachers’ classes
to be more enjoyable (foreign = 3.60, Japanese =3.12, p = 0.0001), and they found it easier to answer
questions in Japanese teachers’ classes (foreign = 3.46,
Japanese = 3.72, p = 0.0179).
With regards to the open-ended questions on classactivities, students strongly distinguished between
foreign and native teachers. Students who said thatthe class improved their English skills were asked whatskill they most improved at. Looking at the combined
results, for foreign teachers, the top four responses
were conversation skill, listening, vocabulary, andcommunication skill (9, 8, 6, and 5 responses,
respectively). With Japanese teachers, the top response
was grammar, receiving 15 responses, while the next

Table 2
Questions With Significant Differences Between Foreign and Japanese Teachers at University B
Question

Foreign teacher M (out of 5)

Japanese teacher M (out of 5)p

Non-native language use

1.70

1.99

0.041

Enjoyment of class

3.78

3.09

0.001

Usefulness of class

3.92

3.55

0.006

Difficulty in answering questions

3.40

3.71

0.043

220 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Student Preference in Teacher Nationality, pages 217-222
3 closest—vocabulary, pronunciation, and reading—received only 4 responses each. While the nature of
the results makes it difficult to determine how muchof this was related to what the students thought was
valuable and how much emphasis the teachers placedon the activities, there is a clear difference here.
Complete survey results for each question, alongwith examples of the original Japanese surveys can befound at http://ahahnenglish.weebly.com/shimaihahn-2014-jalt-pansig-presentation.html.

Discussion
The first notable point is that the present results did
not match those of the pilot study. While the total
amount of data acquired is still too low to say withcertainty whether or not University A students actually
have no preference with respect to their teachers’
nationality, anecdotal evidence suggests that the pilot
study may have suffered from some methodologicalproblems that make the present study more reliable.
First, in the pilot study, one foreign teacher and one
Japanese teacher accounted for more than half of theevaluations; thus student feelings about those specificteachers may have skewed the results. The present
study covered a much wider range of teachers, with noteacher accounting for more than 12% of the total ofnamed teachers. Second, in the pilot study, a numberof teachers that the students evaluated were the ones
administering the survey, and thus students may havefelt pressure to be sensitive in their responses. In thepresent study, however, there was almost no overlap
between survey administrators and teachers named in
the survey.
If we take the present survey as reliable, we haveto consider why University A showed no significant
differences in responses while University B had
several. While a more certain response would require
additional research, we theorize two possible factorsthat explain this difference. First, University A
requires all teachers to follow a fixed curriculum,
while University B teachers are given almost complete
freedom to choose their teaching methods, subjects,
and resources. Thus, it may be that University A
teachers have less ability to influence student attitudes
than University B teachers, so students at University

A may be responding more to the program than to theteachers themselves. Second, University A students arelower level, and may see less value in English overall.
Thus, they may simply be indifferent to all English
teachers/classes, regardless of nationality/native
language.
With respect to the research questions, whenlooking at the combined data, students found foreignteachers’ classes more enjoyable, but found Japaneseteachers’ classes easier to answer questions in. This
seems to imply that maintaining a curriculum in which
students are exposed to both is beneficial, at least as far
as student opinions are concerned. The study does not,of course, speak to the relative effectiveness of teachers
and/or methodologies, but does speak to students’beliefs and desires.
As for class activities, the same message applies.
Responses seemed to indicate that students strongly
felt that the most important thing that foreignteachers could offer was conversation/communication
practice, as well as exposure to native speech. Japaneseteachers, on the other hand, were overwhelmingly
valued for their grammatical knowledge. This, alongwith the finding that Japanese teachers’ questions
were easier to answer, verifies in part Medgyes’ (1992)
study which argued that while native speakers arehelpful as a model communicative resource, one of thespecific benefits of NNEST teachers was their better
understanding of the rules of English and the students’difficulties in learning English.
The next necessary step is to acquire qualitative
information from students and teachers about why
they hold the opinions they do via interviews andclassroom observations. Student interviews would
allow us the opportunity to get detailed feedback
from students on what specifically concerns them
about their teachers, along with what they want outof English courses. Teacher interviews would provide
a chance to get their responses to their students’preferences, and determine whether or not they had
been intending to provoke the reactions they received.
Direct classroom observation, especially correlatedwith interviews, would help find out what students arereacting to that leads to their judgments.
As to the more general question raised in earlier
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Shimai & Hahn
research as well as the daily lives of university teachersin Japan about the “value” of NEST vs. NNEST, thesurvey points tentatively to the idea that students
believe that the two categories each have value, butthat the value is not the same. This indicates that
we must not only be concerned with administrative
perceptions as we negotiate and seek to alter thiscategorization, but that we must also account for andpossibly seek to alter student perceptions.

References
Braine, G. (2005). A history of research on non-native
speaker English teachers. In E. Llurda (Ed.), Nonnative language teachers (pp. 13-23). New York,
NY: Springer US.
Hayes, B. (2013). Hiring criteria for Japanese
university English-teaching faculty. In S.
Houghton & D. Rivers (Eds.), Native-speakerism
in Japan (pp. 132-146). Bristol, England:
Multilingual Matters.
Holliday, A. (2013). ‘Native speaker’ teachers andcultural belief. In S. Houghton & D. Rivers (Eds.)

Native-speakerism in Japan (pp. 17-26). Bristol,England: Multilingual Matters.
Mahboob, A., Uhrig, K., Newman, K., & Hartford, B.
(2004). Children of a lesser English: Nonnative
English speakers as ESL teachers in English
language programs in the United States. In L. D.
Kamhi-Stein (Ed.), Learning and teaching fromexperience: Perspectives on nonnative Englishspeaking professionals (pp. 100-120). Ann Arbor,
MI: University of Michigan Press.
Medgyes, P. (1992). Native or non-native: who’s
worth more? ELT Journal 46(4), 340-349.
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press.
Shimai, Y. (2013, September). Students’ varied
reactions to teacher nationality. Paper presented
at 2013 Fukuoka JALT One-day Conference,
Fukuoka, Japan.
Stangroom, J. (2014). Mann-Whitney U-value
calculator. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://
www.socscistatistics.com/tests/mannwhitney/
Default2.aspx.

Authors’ Biographies:
Yoshie Shimai holds an M.Ed in TESOL from Temple University and currently teaches at
Kyushu Sangyo and Fukuoka Jo Gakuin University. She is also a doctoral student in English
Literature at Kyushu University.
Aaron Hahn is a full-time lecturer at Fukuoka University. He holds an M.A. in Rhetoric andWriting Studies—Teaching of Composition from San Diego State University. His researchinterests include the intersection of administrative policy and pedagogical practice and rhetoricalanalysis of TESOL research.

222 The 2014 PanSIG Conference ProceedingsDesigning Authentic Audience in
Project Based Learning

Michael A. Stockwell
Sugiyama Jogakuen University
michael.stockwell@gmail.com
This paper examines the rationale for designing projects with consideration given to authentic
output. Typically, in an attempt to make project work authentic, the focus has been to use
authentic sources of information as input. This paper argues that when possible, projects can be
more effectively designed with a focus on an authentic audience in an attempt to increase learners’
motivation to use the target language to complete the project. This is particularly useful when aproject group consists of members with the same first language. Three examples of projects thatwere designed with an authentic audience and a sense of permanence are highlighted.
本稿では正しいアウトプットを考慮し、考案されたプロジェクトの理論的根拠を吟味することを目的とする。 一般的に、プロジェクトが機能するには、正しい情報をつかうことに焦点が置かれてきた。
プロジェクトを完了するにあたり、可能な限り対象言語を学習する者の動機づけのために、聞き手側に焦点を置きつつ考案されればプロジェクトはより効果的になると本稿で主張する。
このメソッドは学習者のグループが同じ第一言語を話す場合は特に効果的である。正しい聞き手の存在と永続性を考慮された、３つのプロジェクトの例を取り上げる。

Project Based Learning (PBL) has been a widely usedpedagogical approach for language learning. Many
teachers intuitively know that students’ motivation
increases when they have their heads up, using
English with their peers compared to being facedown
drudgingly drilling through textbook activities. The
benefits of PBL are well established (Blumenfeld etal, 1991). On the other hand, there are those lingering
concerns that learners are not using the optimal levelof target language in the process of completing projectwork. The concerns are compounded when the project
Stockwell, M. A. (2015). Designing authentic
audience in project based learning. In G. Brooks,
M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 223-227). Miyazaki, Japan:
JALT.

class is made up of the same first language community,
which is the norm in most Japanese universities.
This paper will examine the rationale for focusing
attention on the ultimate audience of a project andhow this could potentially lead to an increase inmotivation to use English while collaborating on
project work. Discussion follows on how projectwork can be modified to provide students with more
opportunities for meaningful and authentic output
that will help promote the use of English throughout
the project cycle. Finally three projects designed with
an authentic audience and a sense of permanence will
be introduced.

Literature Review
In this paper, Project-Based Learning (PBL) is defined
as “an innovative approach to learning that teaches
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Stockwella multitude of strategies critical for success in thetwenty-ﬁrst century. Students drive their own learning
through inquiry, as well as work collaboratively
to research and create projects that reﬂect theirknowledge” (Bell, 2010, p. 39). With this approach,learners have voice and choice in both the process
and product aspect of the activity. Learners are also
exposed to real-life skills by engaging in PBL throughthe designed necessity to collaborate and cooperatewith their peers, audience, and instructor.
In general education literature, there are a plethoraof studies supporting the use of PBL in general
education. In language teaching literature, there
are numerous case studies explaining the successful
application of PBL in foreign language studies (Alan& Stoller, 2005). However, as Stoller (2006) points
out, there are few empirical studies to evaluate theeffects of project work for learning a foreign language.
In addition, in a number of studies there is little
distinction made between foreign language andsecond language contexts. In this paper, this differencein context is argued to be important and in need offurther study.
In the context of general education, the mediumof communication is in the first language; as a result,learners can concentrate on the content and the task.
However, when PBL is used with the dual goal oflearning content and a second language, the dynamics
change considerably. With students comprising manydifferent first languages, this might be satisfactory forthe successful application of PBL, as the target language
will be necessary for the group to communicate witheach other. However, in situations where the learners
are comprised of the same first language users, it might
not be enough to guarantee that the process is carriedout in the target language. There is a real concern thatthe focus might be to complete the task and to a lesser
degree learn the target language. The use of the target
language to complete the task might feel unauthentic
and not natural. When instructors direct the final
product towards an authentic audience, students will
likely need to think critically not only on the content
of the project, but more importantly on the form of
the language and their ability to communicate theirthoughts in the appropriate register.

224 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

In Stoller’s (2006) influential study, an analysis of
16 publications on different aspects of PBL reported
eight common benefits of project work. Stoller
emphasizes that the most commonly cited benefit of
PBL is the authenticity of experience and language.
However, it does not elaborate on what authentic
experience entails, and could be limited to only whatis described as authentic sources of input. Allen andStoller (2005), detailed key factors for successfulproject work which were: the need to focus on realworld issues, student collaboration, focus on form,
focus on process as well as product, and an emphasis
on integrated skills and end-of-project-reflection.
In this and the majority of other studies, there is no
direct discussion on the benefits of authentic audience.
In most cases, it appears that projects are designedwith the final product to be presented to an instructor
or to a simulated audience. Learners are required
to complete the task only to a level that satisfies therequirements of the teacher. With authentic audience,
students are tasked with creating a product that could
be used in a real-world context. It is argued that thiscan be motivating for students, as they need to thinkoutside of the confines of the classroom.

Discussion
What is regarded as authentic is often limited to theselection of project themes or real-world items thatform authentic input. The selected themes, which
are often generated by the language instructor, thus
act to frame the context of the project. Within PBL
literature, a considerable amount has been written
about authentic tasks that address real-world problems
such as finding an apartment, deciding a study-abroad
program, creating an advertisement to support a cause,or other tasks that may be of interest to learners.
Authentic tasks are defined as pedagogical activities
that allow learners to demonstrate their knowledge tosolve real-world problems. Authentic tasks “create abridge between what is learned in the classroom andwhy this knowledge is important to the world outsideof the classroom” (Kolk, n.d.).
This focus of context with real-world themes or
issues provides the authenticity that teachers strive
for, and learners often appreciate. The problem with

Authentic Audience in Project Based Learning, pages 223-227
this approach is that authenticity is often limited tothe initial stages of the project cycle as it is essentiallyderived from the input that provides the backgroundcontent that learners need to process to complete theproject. As Stoller (2006) writes, the vast majority of
project work exposes learners to the target language
through the use of authentic information sources.
However, it is questionable whether this is sufficient
to motivate learners to communicate in the target
language throughout the project-cycle.
As Dornyei (1994) states, providing learners withauthentic materials and tasks is believed to lead to anincrease in foreign language study. There is a need tohighlight that authentic tasks do not necessarily follow
with authentic output or audience. Authentic tasks
provide a simulation of real-world problems, but do
not guarantee that the final product will go beyond theteacher’s desk and the classroom. If the final productis going to be used by an authentic audience, students
might be more likely to use the second language incarrying out the tasks in homogeneous classrooms.
When learners submit work to their instructor, they
likely believe that the instructor will be able to fill in
the gaps in language and content. When they submit
project work to peers, they are likely to believe theirpeers will forgive them for gaps in their knowledge ofcontent or the target language. Learners are possibly
motivated to work harder when their work has a senseof permanence and an authentic audience.
In classes with the same first language, it is essentialthat authenticity moves beyond providing elements ofauthentic inputs and contexts and considers the needfor authentic output and audience. When applying
PBL in foreign language study, we need to consider thelevel of authenticity of the project’s target audience. Ifdeveloping an authentic project is our objective, weneed to go beyond realia and focus on the audience forthe project.
From the language learning literature, it is clearthat there are benefits for using PBL in the foreign
language classroom. However, what is missing in
the literature is research on the benefits of authentic
audience for projects in EFL contexts.
The best place to start when attempting to design
an authentic audience into a project is at the end or

where the product will be presented or evaluated. If
instructors design a project with an initial focus on
authentic sources of information, it is potentiallydifficult to grow the audience beyond the classroom.
Another factor, pointed out by Robb (1996), if
you have an authentic audience in mind, is that the
instructor might need to be more involved in theinitial selection of project themes to ensure a senseof unity for the audience. If an authentic audience isthe target, it may require more planning at the initialstages.
I propose the following criteria in determining theefficacy of an audience for an EFL project.
1. The target audience for the final product isapposite for the learners. Learners will judge if
the audience is in a position to benefit from thecontent of the project.
2. The target language will be the natural mode ofcommunication between the audience and thelearners.
3. Learners will have access to relevant
information and knowledge that the audience
will value.
4. The product will have a sense of permanence
and completeness.
5. The product for the audience will havesignificant content that will be useful for thelearner as well as the audience.
6. Learners will have input on the direction andoutcome of the project.
7. The audience for the project will likely provide
feedback in the target language.
While the objective is to design projects that meetthese criteria, clearly due to pedagogical constraints,
not all will always be satisfied. However, in the EFL
context, whenever possible, effort should be madeto include some of these criteria during the initialdesigning stages. The following expands on a few ofthese points.
An important consideration in designing a projectis to ensure the content will be useful for the learners.
This content should be meaningful for the learners’
present and future life and not just studied to obtain a
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Stockwellfavorable evaluation. When the learner interacts withthe target audience, they are exposed or encouraged
to learn new concepts and skills. Also, as reported
by Brophy (1999), learners are likely to be more
motivated when they view activities as having real life
applications.
A sense of permanence can also provide content
for other learners in a language program. According
to Murphey (1998), this can be a highly effective way
to increase student motivation. With Near Peer Role
Modeling, as Murphey refers to it, learners motivation
can be increased by providing role models who arefrom the same culture, similar ages and are successfullycommunicating in English. A sense of permanence, as
well as authenticity of audience may lead to an increasein learner motivation.
The following are examples of projects that havebeen designed with consideration given to authentic
output and audience. The first was carried out withthird-year students at a women’s university in Japan,
the majority of whom had participated as conference
interns at the JALT international conference heldin Nagoya. Students formed groups of four and fivemembers and were tasked with preparing a proposal
to host a conference at their university. The project
lasted for five weeks with a final written proposal
as well as a short presentation on why the university
and this team of interns should be selected to hostan English teaching conference. Learners were given
minimal information in regard to the organization
other than their website. Learners then worked
together to determine what kind of information wasneeded, the best method to present this informationand carried out a needs analysis for both the hostand the conference organization. The final producthighlighted the services and facilities the group could
offer to the conference organizers and comprised thebasis for the final product, which was a proposal tohost a conference for the English Teachers of Japan
association.
The benefits of this task were that the skills
required were all useful to learners after they graduateduniversity and, as Haines (as cited in Beckett, 2006)
stated, that it provided students with the opportunity
to “recycle known language and skills” in a natural

226 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

context. They included computer, photography,organizational, and management skills.
Another project consisted of building a Weebly
website for the JALTCALL conference at theuniversity. By following a simple drag and drop
approach, Weebly gives users a high degree of freedom
to design and add content without requiring HTMLcoding. Learners were given a wide variety of topics
to choose from. One group of four students decided
to build a website that would provide information
concerning facilities nearby the venue for conference
participants. After delegating responsibilities,
students gathered information on the shops andrestaurants nearby and provided access maps in avariety of mediums. Learners were also able to learn
how to use new web 2.0 services that have madeweb design accessible to anyone with an Internet
connection. This webpage can be accessed at http://sugiyamahoshigaoka.weebly.com/. Another benefit ofthis project is that it can be used and edited by futurelearners and help build a useful site for the program.
A third project also used Weebly to build pages
for the programs survival manual. Students worked
together to build a survival manual for new students
entering the program. These third-year students, in thelast year of the program, had a great deal of knowledge
about many different aspects of the program and study
abroad. The object of the project was to share thisknowledge and help build a permanent base for future
students. Students designed their homepage, which
was linked to the programs’ webpage.

Conclusion
To conclude, it will not always possible for pedagogicaland practical reasons to design authentic audience inall project work. Nevertheless, it does make intuitive
sense that there are potential benefits in making anattempt to add elements of authentic audience andpermanence when feasible. This is particularly true, inteaching contexts where the makeup of a project classis comprised mainly of learners with the same first
language. Further study is needed to see what impact
authentic audience has on learner motivation and useof the target language in homogeneous classes.

Authentic Audience in Project Based Learning, pages 223-227

References
Alan, B., & Stoller, F. L. (2005). Maximizing thebenefits of project work in a foreign language
classrooms. English Teaching Forum, 43(4), 1021.
Beckett, G. H. (2006). Project-based second andforeign language education: Theory, research,and practice. In G. H. Beckett & P. C. Miller(Eds.), Project-based second and foreign language
education: Past, present, and future (pp. 3-16).
Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
Bell, S. (2010). Project-based learning for the 21st
century: Skills for the future. The Clearing House,
83(2), 39-43.
Blumenfeld, P. C., Soloway, E., Marx, R. W., Krajcik,
J. S., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar, A.(1991).
Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining
the doing, supporting the learning. Educational
psychologist, 26(3-4), 369-398.
Brophy, J. (1999). Toward a model of the value
aspects of motivation in education: Developing
appreciation for particular learning domains andactivities. Educational Psychologist, 34(2), 75-85.

Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and motivating in
the foreign language classroom. The Modern
Language Journal, 78(3), 273-284.
Kolk, M. (n.d.) Writing a Great Authentic Task.
Retrieved from: http://creativeeducator.
tech4learning.com/Uploads/pdfs/v01/Writing_an_Authentic_Task.pdf
Larmer, J., & Mergendoller, J. R. (2010). Essentials for
project-based learning. Educational Leadership,
68(1), 34-37.
Murphey, T. (1998). Motivating with near peer rolemodels. On JALT97: Trends & Transitions, 201205.
Robb, T. N., (1996). Web projects for the ESL/EFL
class: Famous Japanese personages. CAELL
Journal, 6(4). Retrieved from http://www.
cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/projects.html
Stoller, F. L. (2006). Establishing a theoreticalfoundation for project-based learning in secondand foreign language contexts. In G. H. Beckett& P. C. Miller (Eds.), Project-based second andforeign language education: Past, present, andfuture (pp. 19-40). Greenwich, CT: Information
Age Publishing.

Author’s Biography:
Mike Stockwell teaches at Sugiyama Jogakuen University. His research interests include
motivation, authenticity in project design, and Project Based Learning.

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Test Re-Dos for Supporting Learner
Reflection and Development

Kristen Sullivan
Shimonoseki City University
kris@shimonoseki-cu.ac.jp
This paper introduces the notion of test re-dos and argues that they are a powerful tool to support
learner development. Test re-dos are theoretically based upon the disciplines of self-regulated
learning and learning-oriented assessment, and their primary aim is to provide an opportunity forlearners to reflect on their performance and to use both internal and external feedback to bridge
the gap between their current performance and their desired performance. In this way, the test
moves from being a device primarily used to measure student ability to a vehicle to help all students
develop as learners. This paper will discuss self-regulated learning and learning-oriented assessment
highlighting the interconnections between the two, and will introduce an example of the use of test
re-dos in a university TOEFL iBT preparation course.
本論文はテストのやり直しという新しい試験の概念を紹介しそれが学習者の学習能力の発達に役立てることを主張する。
テストのやり直しは自己調整学習および学習を重視する評価という二つの概念に基づいている。評価タスクにおける自らの実績に振り返り自らが出すフィードバックや教員および同級生からのフィードバックを活用して現在の能力を理想的な能力に近づけるための機会を学習者に与えることがテストのやり直しの主な目的である。試験をこのように利用すると、試験という評価方法が学習者の能力を測るものから学習
者の学習能力の向上に役立つツールに生まれ変わる。本論文はまず自己調整学習および学習を重視する評価と、この二つの概念の関連性を説明した上で、大学でのTOEFL試験の準備講座におけるテストのやり直しの例を紹介する。

Testing is a common element of foreign language
classes, but why do we do it? Tests are typically used
to measure a learner’s ability, to see how much he or
she has learned or understood from a course; but
is this the best use of tests from the perspective of
helping all students to learn, improve and develop?
In so many cases the results of tests are only used to
inform student grades; and even if test results are
Sullivan, K. (2015). Test re-dos for supporting learnerreflection and development. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan,& M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 228-234). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

228 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

made available to students, presuming that this isdone in a form that actually promotes feedback, there
is normally no official opportunity within the course
curriculum for the student to reflect or act on thisfeedback, to bridge the gap between their current
performance and their desired performance (Nicol &Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). Without this “closing of thegap” (Sadler, 1989) testing merely becomes anotherway of sorting the good students from the bad, insteadof acting as a powerful device to help all students
develop as learners.
Test re-dos, or allowing students to make anotherattempt at a test task after reflecting on their originalTest Re-Dos, pages 228-234
in-class performance, aim to transform tests froma simple measurement tool to a chance to support
learner development. The idea of test re-dos comesfrom two deeply intertwined disciplines: selfregulated learning (SRL) and learning-oriented
assessment (LOA). This paper will firstly explain SRL
and LOA, and the relation between the two. It willthen introduce the use of test re-dos in the author’s
TOEFL iBT preparation courses and explain how
test re-dos contribute to the development of SRL
strategies. Other examples of re-do opportunities thatthe author is implementing in her courses will also be
introduced, as well as alternative ideas for tweaking
typical assessment procedures to build a closer
connection between assessment and learning.

Theoretical Framework of Test Re-dos
Self-regulated Learning
Self-regulated learning is a concept which originatesfrom educational psychology, and is typically referred
to in school-based education as the strategies andskills students need to become lifelong learners. Selfregulation refers to the extent that learners are able
to “regulate aspects of their thinking, motivation andbehaviour during learning” (Nicol & MacfarlaneDick, 2006, p. 199). Inherent here is the idea that selfregulated learners are actively involved in the processesof their learning through constant monitoring andreflection, and that learning is targeted towards theachievement of the learner’s goals.
Self-regulated learners are said to move throughlearning cycles which involve three main stages: aplanning stage during which learners set learning
goals, a performance stage when learners monitor
their learning, and a final self-reflection stage. Whatis important here is that the results of learners’ selfreflection inform future learning. It is this ability
to monitor and reflect on learning which allows
learners to identify why their learning was successful
or not, and to adjust their strategies or approaches asnecessary, which helps self-regulated learners maintainmotivation.
For self-regulated learners moving through thesestages is an automatic process. However, self-regulated

learning strategies are said to be learnable skills andthe incorporation of learning tasks to facilitate thedevelopment of these strategies is a point of interest
for many foreign language teachers who believe that itis these fundamental learning skills that will help theirlearners be successful both in and out of the classroom,
and ultimately become autonomous language learners.

Learning-oriented Assessment
There are many terms in use to refer to the use of
assessment that prioritizes learning over the mere
measurement of ability or learning, such as formative
assessment, assessment for learning, and assessment
as learning (Clark, 2012). David Carless (2007)
suggests the term learning-oriented assessment
to avoid conflicting understandings of formative
assessment. Carless explains that “[t]he aim of LOA
is strengthening the learning aspects of assessment”
and he believes it “can be achieved through either
formative or summative assessments as long as a central
focus is on engineering appropriate student learning”(Carless, 2007, p. 59).
To achieve this aim LOA should consist of threeinterconnected strands or principles: assessment tasks
are designed as learning tasks; students are actively
involved in the assessment process; feedback is used
to “feedforward” into future learning (Carless, 2007,
p. 59). LOA and particularly the third principle of“feedforward” are crucial concepts for supporting
learner development, and helping learners to see
assessment not as the final stage of their learning, but
as the next step; as an opportunity to monitor andreflect on their performance, and set future learning
goals—i.e. it is the beginning of another learning cycle.
It is in this respect that LOA bears similarities to SRL,
and this is a specific point of interest for this paper.

Feedback in SRL and LOA
Feedback (both self-generated and external) is a
crucial element of both SRL and LOA as it spurs thelearner’s monitoring and reflection practices; it is atonce both a product of and a catalyst for monitoring
and reflection. Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick (2006)
argue that good feedback can facilitate self-regulation,and in their paper they outline seven principles of good
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings229

Sullivan
feedback practices which they define as “anything thatmight strengthen the students’ capacity to self-regulate
their own performance” (p. 205). Below I replicate thelist of seven principles from Nicol and MacfarlaneDick (2006, p. 205).
Good feedback practice:
1. helps clarify what good performance is (goals,
criteria, expected standards);
2. facilitates the development of self-assessment(reflection) in learning;
3. delivers high quality information to students
about their learning;
4. encourages teacher and peer dialogue aroundlearning;
5. encourages positive motivational beliefs andself-esteem;
6. provides opportunities to close the gap between
current and desired performance;
7. provides information to teachers that can beused to help shape teaching.
Here, I would particularly like to focus on
principle six, and on how this idea fits in with SRL and
LOA. In so many cases tests are used purely to measure
student ability and/or learning, and in the process
students are labeled as good or bad, able or not,without being provided the chance to understand why
they have been labeled in this way, or an opportunity
to bridge the gap between their current performanceand what has been delineated as desired performancein the course in question. In LOA the purpose of
assessment is to help all learners to get closer to therealization of course goals—not just the students who
get there first—and as such, the idea of giving learners
the opportunity to improve their performance, basedon self-generated and external feedback, is a natural
progression.
There are typically few, if no, chances for learners to
improve their performance on a particular assessment
item or task within higher education. However,
without the chance to “complete the feedback loop”(Sadler, 1989) we cannot confirm if feedback was
effective, i.e. if it led to learning or not (Boud, 2000).
Various types of “close the gap” opportunities have

230 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

been suggested, including resubmissions and two-stage
assignments (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). This
type of LOA is also expected to enhance motivationand self-esteem, and to encourage “incremental views”
of ability (the idea that ability is malleable) rather than“entity views” (the notion that ability is fixed), andthis falls under Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick’s (2006)
fifth principle of good feedback.
Although this discussion of feedback focuses
mainly on the role of external feedback (i.e. fromteachers or peers) I argue that the ideas outlined
above are intimately connected to SRL practices, andrepresent the incorporation of learning cycles into
formal assessment practices. In the next section I will
introduce the use of test re-dos in my TOEFL iBT
preparation courses, and explain how I try to support
learner reflection and development through thisexample of LOA in practice.

Test Re-dos in Practice
I have been using test re-dos in my TOEFL iBT
preparation courses since 2008, and continue to refine
procedures each semester. I started to experimentwith this form of assessment as I believe learners get
more out of the testing experience by thinking about
their performance and trying to improve based onreflection, compared to just taking the test, going
home, and forgetting all about it. Although the tests
in this course are graded and feedback is provided tolearners, I believe that having learners reflect upon
their performance, and act on this reflection, within arelatively short time frame after taking the original inclass test, generates a deeper level of engagement withlearning. This is especially important given the anxiety
inevitably present when taking a test. In the sections
to follow I will introduce the course, the assessment
items, and how I actually use test re-dos.

The Course
The 15 week long TOEFL iBT preparation courses aretaught at a university in regional Japan. The courses
are credit-bearing non-compulsory courses open
to students of all year levels, and they are taken by avariety of students for a variety of different purposes:

Test Re-Dos, pages 228-234
students who have returned from study abroad,students who will be participating in or who wantto participate in study abroad, students who want tocontinue with their English study beyond compulsory
courses or who want to study at an advanced level, andstudents who have failed other compulsory English
courses and are taking this course to meet graduation
requirements. The university in question is a singlefaculty university offering study in three departments
related to the fields of economics, commerce andpublic management. Thus, the students are all nonEnglish majors.
In total there are two courses: one that focuses on
the reading and writing sections of the TOEFL iBTin the first semester, and one concentrating on the
speaking and listening sections in the second semester.
Although there are slight differences in assessment
type and schedule between the two courses, theassessment procedures generally follow a similar
pattern:

Figure 1. The learning and assessment cycle for summary
test re-dos

the reading and writing sections of the TOEFL iBT,
in the first five weeks of the course students learn
how to read texts to find the main points and how toconstruct summaries. The majority of the work done

It is the in-class summary and in-class essay tests inwhich I carry out test re-dos. Students’ final scores forthis assessment task are based on their re-submitted
work (scored out of 15). In addition, students are
required to complete a guided reflection and selfevaluation sheet (scored out of 5).

in class is pair- or group-based, in order to provide
opportunities for peer scaffolding. At the end of eachclass students typically submit a summary that they
have written as a pair or a group, and this is checkedby the teacher and returned the following week withfeedback. After repeating this process for five weeks,
students take the in-class summary test, which uses a
new reading passage. After the test, students are givena chance to discuss their performance with a peer, andthen the re-do procedure is explained.
Students are required to firstly reflect on their inclass performance, and then re-write their summary
based on this reflection. They are also asked to answer
a series of self-reflection questions (in either English
or Japanese) and to complete a self-evaluation rubric.
Students are given one week within which to complete
both tasks. As stated above, while the original in-classsummary is also reviewed, only the resubmission isgraded.

Test Re-dos

Self-reflection

As illustrated in Figure 1, learning cycles (withgoal-setting, monitoring, and reflection stages) areincorporated into both class work and assessment
practices to support students’ learning anddevelopment throughout the course. For example, inthe case of the semester one course which focuses on

The self-reflection questions are specifically designed
to cover various elements of SRL:

1. Weekly TOEFL iBT reading or listening online
quizzes for homework (20%)
2. Two vocabulary tests or project work (10%)
3. In-class summary test held in Week 7 (20%)
4. In-class essay (or independent speaking) test
held in Week 13 (20%)
5. End of semester exam featuring a reading/listening comprehension task, a summary task,
and an essay/independent speaking task (30%).

1. How did you feel when writing your summary
in-class? How did you feel when re-writing
your summary at home? What was difficult?
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Sullivan

Figure 2. Self-evaluation rubric for the summary test re-do

What was easy?
2. What do you think is the strongest part of yoursummary?
3. What do you think is the weakest part of yoursummary?
4. What do you think you need to do to further
improve your summary writing skills?
5. Do you have any questions/comments about
this test/assignment or our class so far?
The first part of question 1 targets affective
issues in particular, to help students reflect on theiremotional state and how this influenced their behavior.
The second part of the question aims to get students tomonitor their progress (although post hoc). This thenties into questions 2 and 3 which attempt to plantseeds for the next learning cycle, and subsequently
question 4 which encourages goal setting for the next
learning cycle. Question 5 opens up opportunities
for student initiated student-teacher communication,
which is extremely important for helping learners totake charge of their learning.
Although care must be taken not to overwhelm
students with too many questions to answer, I am also
considering the inclusion of two additional questions
based on the following suggestions from Nicol and
Macfarlane-Dick (2006, p. 215):(i) having students request the feedback theywould like(ii) having students identify where they arehaving difficulties.

232 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

While the second point here perhaps overlaps
somewhat with question 3 above, I feel that having
students isolate a particular part of their summary or
essay that they would like teacher advice on would be
more beneficial when it comes to grading and formal
teacher feedback.
My experience with student reflections on thiscourse to date has made it very clear that when givena chance to reflect and talk about their performance,
students are quite savvy and tend to have a good ideaof what areas they need to work on to improve theirperformance. It is important to give students a chance
to identify their own issues in their language learning.
Not only does it contribute to the development of
their monitoring and self-evaluation skills—i.e. theirability to self-regulate their learning—but it is also
important from an equality perspective; teachers
should recognize that students are not completely
unaware of the issues they need to deal with in theirlearning.

Self-evaluation
The inclusion of the self-evaluation rubric (Figure2) and the self-evaluation step is also important as it
works to inform students of grading criteria, i.e. theirgoals for the task. This rubric is introduced to learners
at an early stage to help them realize what makes agood summary, but reintroducing it here again is
important for reinforcing these points.

Test Re-Dos, pages 228-234

Feeding-forward to the Next Learning/
Assessment Cycle
The week after the in-class summary test, students
continue with their reading practice but also begin
work on essay writing. As with the first-half of thecourse, over the next five to six weeks students analyze
model essays and learn how to write their own essay.
The process is slightly different given the differingskills involved in essay writing, but students experience
brainstorming, planning, writing, and editing essays,
again in pairs or small groups. There are two formal
chances for feedback before the test—after the pairs
and small groups write their first full essay in week 11
and after each student’s first attempt at writing theirown individual essay in week 12. Feedback on theseessays is provided at a class and individual level. Finally,
in week 13 students sit their in-class essay test, andthen re-write their essay and conduct their reflection
and self-evaluation by the next week of class.
As students are going through the same processes
as they experienced when working with summary
writing, they already know the points that they should
be monitoring and reflecting on. The hope is that thisallows for deeper reflection not just during the test
(and at home re-write) but also in the five to six weeks
of in-class instruction leading up to the essay test.
In light of the research on feedback and SRL,
and the importance of providing feedback before
resubmission (Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick, 2006), in
the current semester I have allocated class time after
the in-class tests for students to start work on theirre-write or reflection, or to discuss their work withpeers (in the past I started the next unit of work
immediately after the test). During this time I quickly
read each student’s summary or essay and give themoral feedback to support their re-write. I’ve found thisto be effective, and will continue with this additional
step in future courses.

several learning cycles where they are encouraged to
set goals, monitor, and reflect upon their performance.
The incorporation of ideas from LOA ensuresthat there are multiple, continuous learning cycles
connecting class work to assessment and assessment toclass work, ensuring that learners’ experiences duringassessment tasks “feedforward” into their futurelearning. It is hoped that through participating in thiskind of assessment task that students can aim to makethe most of all of their assessment opportunities, evenin those classes where the teacher does not incorporate
LOA.
I have incorporated ideas from SRL and LOA
into assessment practices in several of my courses. In
a second-year composition course I take the ideas of“feedforward” and timely feedback to a higher level byconducting individual essay planning conferences andrequiring that essays be re-written and re-submitted
based on teacher feedback. In this course as well I havefound that not only do students appreciate teacher
feedback, but they also appreciate the chance toresubmit their work, and the associated idea that thismeans the teacher believes that all students are capableof improving their English skills.
Of course re-dos may not be appropriate in allcontexts. Moreover, some teachers may have concerns
about cheating (although I have never encountered
this during my experience with re-dos). Even if re-dos
are not possible in all teaching/learning contexts, at thevery least the greater incorporation of reflections andself-evaluations and opportunities to try assessment
tasks multiple times (for example having two gradedpresentations a semester instead of just one at theend of the semester) should be something that allteachers aim to incorporate into their curriculums toensure good assessment practices and support learnerdevelopment.

References
Final Thoughts and Ideas for
Alternative Practices
Test re-dos incorporate concepts from both SRL and
LOA. They aim to develop learners’ ability to selfregulate their learning by having them move throughBoud, D. (2000). Sustainable assessment: rethinking
assessment for the learning society. Studies inContinuing Education, 22(2), 151-167.
Carless, D. (2007). Learning-oriented assessment:
Conceptual bases and practical implications.
Innovations in Education and Teaching
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Sullivan
International, 44(1), 57-66.
Clark, I. (2012). Formative assessment: Assessment isfor self-regulated learning. Educational Psychology
Review, 24, 205-249.
Nicol, D. J., & Macfarlane-Dick, D. (2006). Formative
assessment and self-regulated learning: A modeland seven principles of good feedback andpractice. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 199218.
Sadler, D. R. (1989). Formative assessment and thedesign of instructional systems. Instructional
Science, 18, 119-144.

Author’s Biography:
Kristen Sullivan is a lecturer at Shimonoseki City University and co-writer of Impact
Conversation 1 & 2. She is interested in the teaching, learning and assessment of speaking, as
well as interactions between language learner identity and language use.

234 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Online Translation Sites: Problems and Possibilities

Joseph Tomei

Judy Yoneoka

Kumamoto Gakuen University
jtomei@kumagaku.ac.jp

Kumamoto Gakuen University
judy@kumagaku.ac.jp

An experiment was conducted with three groups of university students (English majors, Chineseand Korean majors, and medicine majors) from two universities, as part of a project to develop
recommendations for effective use of online translation sites for multilingual signs. Following
instructions based on a PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle, students used Google Translate andsimilar sites as aids to render Japanese sentences into English and a second foreign language of theirchoice (German, French, etc.). This poster presentation discusses the data obtained as well as student
reactions to the task. Suggestions on effectively using online translation sites are also summarized.
実験は、多言語の兆候のためのオンライン翻訳サイトの効果的な使用のための勧告を開発するプロジェクトの一環として、2大学の大学生（英語専攻、中国語、韓国語専攻、医学専
攻）の3つのグループで行った。PDCA（計画 - 実行 - 点検·処置）のサイクルに基づく指示に従って、学生は、Googleが翻訳し、英語に日本語文をレンダリングする助剤として同様のサイトと自分の好きな二外国語（ドイツ語、
フランス語など）に使用される。
このポスター発表
では、得られたデータだけでなく、タスクに学生の反応を説明します。効果的にオンライン翻訳サイトを使用しての提案もまとめられている。

Our experience as teachers has shown us that if there
is a tool that students can use to help them with theirEnglish assignments, they will use it. Bearing that inmind, we initiated a project which, while primarily
designed for tourist businesses in destinations without
easy access to native speaking proofreading or assistance,
aims to develop recommendations for effective use of
online translation sites for multilingual signs. In orderto determine the efficacy of these recommendations,
we created a framework to use online translationsites and then conducted an experiment with threegroups of university students (English majors, Chineseand Korean majors, and medicine majors) from two
Tomei, J., & Yoneoka, J. (2015). Online translationsites: Problems and possibilities. In G. Brooks, M.
Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 235-239). Miyazaki, Japan:
JALT.

universities to see if this framework was useful.

MT and the Foreign Language
Classroom
Machine translation (MT), long the province of
science fiction, is fast becoming a reality that is easily
accessible. Beginning with the advent of computer
aided translation (CAT) on personal computers in theearly 1980s, it has blossomed with the proliferation of
the Internet. While little progress has been made increating rule-based systems for translation, so-called“example-based” systems (Somers, 1999) that utilize
massive amounts of computing power to access large
numbers of example sentences that are then linked tothe more traditional rule-based systems. These systems
have, in the past decade, been made available throughfree web-based systems and these systems include
Google Translate, Bing Translator, Babelfish, Excite,
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Tomei & Yoneoka
and several others. Niño (2009), in discussing the roleof MT in the foreign language classroom, has proposedfour different roles for MT: MT as a bad model, MT
as a good model, MT as a vocational training tool,and MT as a “CALL tool.” In this research, while we
imagine that our use is firmly in the camp of MT asa vocational training tool, we felt that it would be
useful to ask different groups of university students
to work through the workflow that we had devised todetermine the viability and potential problems withusing MT in this way. Niño (2008) earlier has taken
up the use of MT in post-editing, noting that it canenergize translation activities by providing multiple
sources of reference.
Williams (2008) notes the “pervasive concern”
of foreign language teachers about the use of
WBMT (Web-Based Machine Translation) andpresents pedagogical recommendations to makesuch technology useful in the classroom, noting thatsuch tools can increase students’ electronic literacy.
Despite, or perhaps because of this concern, a numberof teachers and researchers are experimenting withdifferent ways to harness WBMT in the classroom.
As Garcia and Pena (2011) write, “MT for language
learning is a theme that can no longer be ignored.” (p.
472)
In light of the above research, we developed a task
to help provide local businesses that may deal withforeigners on an irregular basis to use online translation
resources to quickly make understandable signage for
immediate purposes. As a preliminary study to that
end, we conducted an experiment with three groups ofuniversity students to determine the feasibility of ourrecommendations. While the ideal would have been towork with businesses initially, issues of access had us
choose this population. In addition, this provides anopportunity to support students in potential future
careers, a key issue for Japanese universities.
We will first give a general introduction to thetranslation websites we used, followed by a discussionof the recommendations that we developed and theresults of the experiment we conducted. We willconclude with some thoughts about both applying thisto foreign language classes as well as possibilities forfurther research.

236 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Untouched by Human Hands: The
Translation Websites
While it is likely that most readers have a nodding
acquaintance with translation websites, we’d like todiscuss some of their basic characteristics to explain
how the potential weak points in such sites inform ourrecommendations.
Our preliminary survey of translation site use
by students in July 2013 revealed that the following
sites were used most often: Google Translate, Excite,
Yahoo and Weblio in this order. Google, by virtue of its
ubiquity, sets the standard for these sorts of websites.
Incorporating the minimalist Google interface, theuser cuts and pastes the excerpt and after clicking on abutton, gets a translation and other sites have a similarinterface. However, underlying these sites are severaltranslation engines, so pasting the same phrase willproduce different results. The particular translationengine/software that a site uses is never made clear, butdifferent sites that use the same type of interface cangive radically different translations. These translations
will show greater variation if the sentence or passage islonger, and these differences can result in translations
that often completely miss the point or purpose. In
fact, our impetus for this project came about when we
noticed tourist locations often apparently relying onthese websites to quickly put up English signs for the
benefit of tourists.

Recommendations for Using MT: A
Starting Point
In working with students and these websites, we
identified several strategies for improving the qualityof translation. The first was to utilize several translationsites and compare the translations. Oftentimes, thissort of comparison could identify where the translation
algorithms had trouble.
A second recommendation was to back-translate
the phrase or phrases. Taking the translated phrase andputting it back into Japanese often reveals flaws in thetranslation algorithm as well. Based on the results, theuser then edits the Japanese, creating a sentence that
may not be completely grammatical, but can result ina better translation output. This is because some ofOnline Translation Sites, pages 235-239
the characteristics of Japanese, such as adverbial usage
and obligatory pronoun deletion, have to be filled in,otherwise resulting in awkward or incomprehensible
translations.
However, our most important recommendation
was to suggest that the user “cycle through” when doing
this translation, using a PDCA (plan-do-check-act)
cycle. While there are several other quality management
systems that emphasize various aspects of quality, thePDCA cycle was chosen because it has clear-cut steps
and is more amenable to the process of translation.
The cycle was popularized by Edward Deming who isoften considered to be the originator of the notion ofquality control. Deming, for his part, referred to it as
the “Shewhart cycle” after Walter Andrew Shewhart,
but introduced the cycle to Japan, where it is often
referred to as “the Deming cycle” (Walton, 1986). We
feel that this workflow offers a framework for checking
translation output as well as offering some engagementwith the task, permitting users with weaker language
skills to improve their output through repeated cycles.
As Justice Brandeis pointed out, “There is no great
writing, only great re-writing.”

Methods
Utilizing a Google form, we conducted an initial survey
in July 2013 to determine how and how often students
used online translation services. This survey discoveredthat the great majority of students, both English
majors and nonmajors, used services frequently forboth English and their other second languages. It wasalso revealed that students most often used translationsites for understanding the target language, but alsoquite often did so for producing it as well.
We then conducted pilot studies in September 2013
and January 2014 to determine which sites students go
to for a native language-foreign language translation
task utilizing web-based machine translation and whatsort of output they would be able to generate. For the
first pilot study, we asked 111 students to translate
three Japanese sentences into English or Chinese.
These students also study an additional foreign
language, and we asked them to translate the Japanese
sentences into their second foreign language as well.
The three sentences, chosen for the challenges theywould present for a computer translation, were:
1. マナーを守ってご利用ください。 (a sign
encouraging proper behavior in a computerroom )
2. ダンスフロア内での喫煙は他のお客様への迷惑（やけど等）となりますのでご遠慮ください。
(a sign asking people to not smoke ona dance floor)
3. 危険防止のため乗車中は必ず着席する
か、手すりにおつかまり下さい。降車の際は足元にご注意ください。(a sign on a theme
park ride asking passengers to hold on to thesafety rail and to be careful when leaving theride)
The form instructed students to translate to thebest of their ability, using any online resources theywanted and reporting what they had used afterwards.
After the students had completed the task, we asked
them for their reaction to the task.
After the data was collected, the student output
was analyzed by native speakers on a 5-point Likert
scale according to intelligibility (1 being intelligible
and 5 being incomprehensible) and then the responses
were coded according to error types that we identified
in order to group the responses, a process which wasdone by multiple raters for each language.
Based on this first pilot, the second study was run
with a similar number of students (82 English majors,
24 Korean and Chinese majors and 24 students
majoring in medicine). In this study, students were
instructed to translate the first two of the above
three sentences using specific PDCA cycle-based
instructions as follows:
PLAN – identify the location, purpose andaudience of the sign. Rewrite the original
Japanese clarifying subjects, objects andreference words, and simplifying difficult or
obscure vocabulary
DO – Use several translation sites (for English,
Google, Excite and Weblio) in addition tospellcheckers. Construct a correct translation
to the best of your ability.
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

237

Tomei & Yoneoka
CHECK – Check with spelling and grammar
checkers, and back translate
ACT – If the back translation is inappropriate, goback to DO and repeat.
This cycle offers the benefit of providing a seriesof steps to follow to deal with translations as well as
operationalizing several aspects of the process, allowing
us to provide more specific recommendations for using
WBMT.

Results
A number of interesting results were obtained. Firstof all, the most common errors were word choice,preposition or particle choice and verb form. We
noted that English produced a large number of word
choice errors that originated with the translationengine. For example, manner (in Japanese マナー)
was translated as manor and students failed to realizethat this homophone was incorrect. In addition,referential errors were a common mistake in the
English translations. While Chinese and English
translations recognized the problems with word orderand idiomatic expressions, only those doing English
translations, because of the presence of articles inthe English grammar system, faced the challenge ofappropriate article usage. Comparing the likert ratings
for the comprehensibility of the translations pre andpost PDCA cycle, we found that the introduction of
the PDCA cycle slightly improved the English output,
greatly improved the Chinese output and for phrase
1, worsened the Korean output, as judged by native
speakers of each language as measured by the averagechange in the ratings given by the native speaker judges.
Given that English and Chinese are quite different ingrammatical structures and Korean grammar is highly
similar to Japanese grammar, this may be attributed tothe possibility that Japanese students relying on their
L1 grammatical patterns have an impact in producing
better initial Korean translations.
We also found that the utilization of Google forms
made the process very smooth and we would highly
recommend their use to other researchers. For thoseinterested in developing their own protocol and would

238 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

like a copy of the Google form, please feel free tocontact us at our emails listed in the biography.
Analysis of student reactions to employing the
PDCA process showed roughly half with positive
reactions such as surprising, educational (19% each),accurate (14%) and useful (7%) while the other half
had negative reactions such as difficult (33%), hard inL2 (8%) and time consuming and tiring (7% each).

Conclusions and Future Research
In conclusion, based on the above results, the PCDA
process seems to have potential in guiding andmanaging translation by nonexperts but is still too
unwieldy for businesses to use. The positive reactions
led us to believe that we were on the right path, but
this translation process is not something that mostnonexperts will immediately take to. In addition,
because our primary goal is to employ this in businesssituations, we aim to develop supporting material thatcreates a procedure and scaffolding for such a task. With
respect to the negative student reactions in particular,
the process must be reviewed and simplified, leading
to the development of a clear and concise training
program. Of course, the second study was partially for
information gathering purposes as to how the steps
were being followed, thus information such as Japaneseexplanations and interim translation results that would
be included in future version were omitted. Moreover,the varied results according to language revealed thefact that further analysis is needed to tailor the PCDA
process to specific target languages.
Our next step is to further refine this process andtrial it with businesses in the local community. To dothis, the authors plan to create a website using therefined PDCA process, which will be made available
to local business participants over an extended period.
This will allow us to continue to gather data both on theprocess itself and on actual business needs, with respect
to translation content and target languages. Our final
goal is to offer the service in E-book/website form, inthe hopes that even the smallest business will be able toavail itself of a cost effective and rapid solution to someof the challenges that globalization can bring.

Online Translation Sites, pages 235-239

Acknowledgments

machine translation post-editing in theforeign language class. Computer Assisted
This research was initially supported by a grant-inLanguage Learning, 21(1). 29–49. doi:
aid from Kumamoto Gakuen University grant-in10.1080/09588220701865482
aid 2013-4 and is currently being conducted under aMonkasho grant-in-aid (Research Project Number: Niño, A. (2009). Machine translation in foreign
language learning: language learners’ and tutors’
26370521 under the title of「日本の言語景観改
perceptions of its advantages and disadvantages.
善―自動翻訳を活用する多言語表示作成マニュ
ReCALL, 21(02). 241–258. doi: 10.1017/
アルの開発―」. We would also like to acknowledge
S0958344009000172
our debt to the third researcher on our project, Chie
Saito of the International University of Health and Somers, H. (1999). Review Article: Example-based
machine translation. Machine Translation, 14(2).
Welfare, located in Tochigi, Japan.
113–157. doi: 10.1023/A:1008109312730
Walton, M. (1986). The Deming Management
References
Method. NY, New York: Putnam.
Garcia, I., & Pena, M. I. (2011). Machine translationWilliams, L. (2006). Web-based machine translation
assisted language learning: Writing for beginners.
as a tool for promoting electronic literacy andComputer Assisted Language Learning., 24(5),language awareness. Foreign Language Annals,
471-487. doi: 10.1080/09588221.2011.582687
39, 565–578. doi: 10.1111/j.1944-9720.2006.
Niño, A. (2008). Evaluating the use of
tb02276..

Authors’ Biographies:
Joseph Tomei is a professor in the Faculty of British and American Studies at Kumamoto Gakuen
University. He has taught EFL in France, Spain, and Japan at all levels. In addition to an interest incomputers and technology, he is also interested in figurative language for EFL writing pedagogy.
He can be contacted at jtomei@kumagaku.ac.jp
Judy Yoneoka is also a professor in the Faculty of British and American Studies at Kumamoto
Gakuen University. She is deeply interested in both World Englishes and the local history ofEnglish education and international relations in Kumamoto. She can be contacted at judy@
kumagaku.ac.jp.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

239

The Influence of Japanese Learners’ Cultural
Worldviews on Learning English Syntax

Nobuko Trent
Aoyama Gakuin University
nobukotrent@gmail.com
A previous study (Trent, 2013) claimed that introductory-level Japanese colleges learners negativelytransfer Japanese subject-free predicate-only sentence structures to English, resulting in common
forms of ungrammatical sentences. Exercises comparing Japanese folk tales and their English
translation were given to learners to raise awareness of structural differences between the languages.
Given the results, it was hypothesized that learning about the cultural backgrounds of English andJapanese should further help learners. Studies of linguistic anthropology claim that the Japanese
language is molded by its culture-specific worldview, which, unlike English, does not focus on“agents of actions,” but on the “shared understanding of speech situation” among the participants.
This study suggests that this unconscious worldview may hinder Japanese introductory-level learners’
English acquisition, further qualitatively analyzes learners’ self-reflection on their language culture,and discusses how their awareness encourages English acquisition.
大学の初心者レベルの英語学習者の英文は文主語（主格）が必要不可欠ではない日本
語文の文型に影響され、共通の間違った英文型が頻出している。日本語で書かれた昔話とその英文訳を比較し日本語の原文には出てこない英文訳の主語を確認する練習を続けることによってこの問題は幾分か改善された。加えて日本語と英語の世界観を文化人類学
的に比較する作業を共に行ったことにより学習者の英文の構造に対する理解が更に深まった。広く知られている文化人類言語学的な考察によると英語は客観性の高い言語で
「誰が
何をする」
を客観的に表現する傾向があるため文主語が不可欠である。一方日本語は「皆に既に知られている状況」
を主観的に表現する言語と分析され「誰が」に言及する必要性が低い言語文化である。
この学習者との文化人類言語学的セッションは学習者の英文構造理解を助ける可能性が一定の範囲ではあるが確認できた。

After over six years of formal instruction of English,
a large proportion of Japanese students enter college
without a clear understanding of English sentence

to face a variety of grammatical challenges, one of the
problems seems to be that they do not have a clear idea
about how to begin a sentence. An appropriate sentence

structures. Although introductory-level learners seem

subject is the most fundamental necessity in English
sentences, so this study focuses on the sentence subject
in particular. In English, the sentence subject controls
the rest of the sentence, so problems with learningsentence subjects may impact the entire learning
process. In order to see an overview of the reality,
sentence data were collected from 56 introductory-

Trent, N. (2015). The influence of Japanese learners’
cultural worldviews on learning English syntax.
In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The
2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 240-251).
Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

240 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Influence of Cultural Worldviews on Learner Syntax, pages 240-251
Looking at the frequency of inappropriate-subjects
sentences from the data, a majority of them (83.5
percent) used sentence topic as sentence subject as in“Beer is Kirin” (Bi-ru wa Kirin da ne.) (See Figure 1).
Although basic English sentence structures are
far different from Japanese structures, learners aresupposed to have learned them before college. Some
introductory-level learners in my teaching context
Figure 1. Frequency of different types of inappropriate may have missed the opportunity to acquire basic
subjects
English sentence structures, and so some remedial
level learners: They were asked to translate some methods may be needed for their college-level English
Japanese sentences without clear sentence subjects education.
(doer/actor), and sentences were also collected fromtheir essay writing, altogether providing approximately
Differences Between Japanese and
700 analyzable sentences. Out of these sentences, about
English Structures
11 percent of them contained inappropriate sentence Whether or not the Japanese language has an SOV
subjects, so the issue turned out to deserve educational structure has been a controversial issue for the lastattention. The data show that introductory-level college several decades. Some mainstream Japanese linguists
students commonly use several types of incorrect or under the influence of western linguistics argue that
inappropriate sentence subjects from the viewpoint of Japanese is an SOV language. They claim Japaneseinternationally acceptable English, as exemplified in sentences have a subject (S) in their deep structure
Table 1 (Trent, 2013).
even when there is no subject on the surface (e.g.,
Japanese equivalents for sentences (1) to (6) in Kuno 1973, 1983; Kuroda, 2005; Shibatani, 1990).
Table 1 are acceptable without clear sentence subjects. On the other hand, the school of Japanese linguists
It can be assumed that the introductory-level learners’ represented by Mikami contends that Japanese has
English sentences produced here were affected by been a predicate language since the beginning of
the Japanese subject-free or topic-oriented sentences. Japanese literature around the tenth century, in which
Table 1
Examples of Common Subject Errors Obtained From Classwork (Trent, 2013)
Types of subject error

Examples(1)“It” subject(ex.)“Where are you from?” “*It is Japan.”（日本です。nihon desu.）(2)“There” subject(ex.)*There is an experience of going to the U.S.（アメリカに行ったことがある。
amerika ni itta koto ga aru.)(3)

Topic subject(ex.)*Sunday is dating.（日曜日はデートだ。nichiyobi wa deeto da.）(4)

Fragmented subject (ex.)*The problem, money doesn’t exist.（問題はお金がない事だ。mondai wa
okane ga nai koto da.）(5)

No subject(ex.)*Can’t think about anything.（何も考えられない。nanimo kangae rare nai.）(6)

Mixed subject(ex.)*Oscar Wilde wants to say that if I do good things, we’ll be repaid.（オスカーワイルドはいいことをすればその報いがあると言いたいのだ。osukaa
wairudo wa nanika ii koto o sure-ba sono mukui ga aru to ii tai no da.）The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

241Trentshukaku (subjective-case, nominative) is “optional”
along with other cases including objective, dative,
locative, and instrumental cases (e.g., Mikami, 1960,
1975; Nakajima, 1987; Tsukimoto, 2009).
Kanaya (e.g., 2002, 2003, 2004) maintains thatthe basic structures of Japanese sentence are simple
predicate-only structures of “verb sentence”, “adjective
sentence”, or “noun sentence,” exemplified in Table 2.
Kanaya (2003) also claimed that the necessity ofa subject in formal English sentences is fundamentallydifferent from Japanese sentences:“English basic structures are all ‘verb sentences’and three of those are transitive verb sentences that
describe positive actions by ‘agents’ to other elements.
Without a sentence subject, the form of verb of thesentence cannot be determined; thus, sentence subject
and the main verb are essential elements of English
sentences” (p. 50).
English native speakers may also use predicate-onlyexpressions such as in “Coffee?” “Sure. Black please.”
However, these are not “sentences” but shortened
expressions which have deep syntactic structure with
S and V. This is different from Japanese. Following
the above view, in Japanese a predicate by itself canconstitute a sentence. According to Matsumoto(2006), predicate languages like Japanese are morecommon than languages with S + V structure like
English. A syntactical subject is necessary in a shortlist of languages of English, French, German, Swiss
Romance, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages
while sentence subject is not required in many otherlanguages such as Spanish, Italian, Croatian, Arabic,and Hebrew (Perimutter, 1971). For example, somesentences from Tamil show a fairly similar structurewith Japanese.
(1) எனக்கு மடே தெரிகிறது
Eṉakku maṭē terikiṟatu
mountainsee(I see the mountains.)(2) பர்ீ என்றால் அசஹிParī eṉṟāl acahi
beer
Asahi
(The best beer is Asahi.)
Another example from Tagalog is a topic-subject
sentence similar to what is found in Japanese.
(3) Masarap ang Jollibee
Yummy is Jollibee Restaurant
Tsukimoto (2009) argued that languages like
Japanese in which vowels are dominant tend to bepredicate languages. Other linguists support theidea of Japanese as a predicate language to different
degrees, but they agree that Japanese sentence subjects
have a weaker syntactical function, and thus are lessimportant. Japanese may be best analyzed not by syntax,
but by semantics and pragmatics (e.g., Nakajima, 1987;
Tsunoda, 1978).

Anthropological Backgrounds ofJapanese and English
Anthropological linguists say that language is a
product of culture. Some anthropological studies
claim that English speakers see the world objectively

Table 2
Examples of Japanese Predicate Only Sentences, Following Kanaya (2002, 2003, 2004)
Type of sentence

ExampleEnglish translation(1)

Verb sentence“waratta.”
laughed(I/You/We/He/Somebody laughed.)(2)

Adjective sentence“tanoshii.”
fun(I am enjoying myself.)(3)

Noun sentence“gakusei desu.”
student COP(I am a student.)

242 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Influence of Cultural Worldviews on Learner Syntax, pages 240-251
so that “who does what” should be clarified in eachsentence while in Japanese speakers’ worldview, thespeaker is a part of a shared speech situation. The main
issue is not “who does what” but “resulting situations
shared by participants.” As a result, the doer/actor
is not important in Japanese sentences. For example,
in the following sentences, Japanese speakers would
never use “I”; using “I” is awkward and can even soundpragmatically ungrammatical.
山が見える。

Yamagamieru.
mountain NOM see POT(I see the mountain.)This Japanese view causes frequent use of sentences
expressing “there is something (ある)”, “somebody
exists (いる)” or “something becomes something else (なる)” (See Kanaya 2003; Morita 1998). Some further
examples include:
子供がいます。

kodomo ga imasu.
child NOM exist(I have a child.)

夢があります。

yume
ga arimasu.
dream NOM exist(I have a dream.)

春になりました。

haru
ni narimashita.
spring DAT became(Spring has come.)

It is understandable that the learners who grew
up in this language culture write sentences such as“there is a dream” or “spring became”. Without a clear
understanding of how to build basic English sentences
starting with S and V, further grammar study musthave been increasingly confusing, as other structuresbuild on this basic pattern.Thus, the study focused onteaching students about S and V.

Hypothesis of the Study
For some introductory-level students who seemconfused about how to form English sentences,
problems may persist even after using grammar

exercises, teachers helping them writing essays, orcorrecting their sentences. After several years ofteaching experience, the author hypothesized thatsince some students seem to be so deeply wrapped intheir Japanese sentence structure, using comparative
analysis of Japanese and English structures would
be helpful for them to understand the differences
between the two languages. It was also proposed thatrecognizing the cultural background of two languages,
especially by seeing what the underlying culture of theirnative language is, would enable learners to see English
structure objectively in comparison with Japanese.

Teaching English Sentence Subjects
in Classroom
Exercises Using Literature
From April to July, 2013, in two reading classes, 56
introductory-level learners read several short Japanesefolk tales which were related with the topics of theirclass textbook stories. These Japanese stories often
contain subject-free sentences to a significant extent.
The learners read the English translation of the same
stories and were asked to fill in missing sentence
subjects and main verbs. Appendix A gives an example
of a Japanese and English translation exercise. Thisshows a sample exercise from the beginning part of thestory “Red Ogre and Blue Ogre”. The underlined partsin this activity are Japanese sentences without sentence
subjects.
The introductory learners had this “literature
exercise” every three or four weeks for five months
from April to October 2013. Each exercise lasted 30
to 40 minutes. Those stories included “The men who
became horses”, “Marriage of Kappa”, and “I am afraidof manju”, which are popular tales. The focus was on
deciding unseen agents/actors in Japanese sentences.
For example, the Japanese sentence “daietto cola wa
futoranai” (Diet cola TOP get fat NEG) does notmean “Diet cola does not get fat.” The real agent is“people who drink cola”, so learners need to interpretthe meaning of subject-free Japanese sentences before
translating into English.
At the beginning, the learners had some difficulties,
but as the semester progressed, it seemed they dealt
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings243Trentwith the exercises more smoothly and appropriately.
In addition, the students seemed to like the exercises
partly because of their interests in old Japanese stories
written in English.
Although it is difficult to see what educational
effects the exercises had, after six months, students
were asked to take a quiz translating some Japanese
subject-free sentences into English (Appendix B).
One hundred and ninety analyzable sentences werecollected from their writing, and a 34.2% improvement
was seen compared with the translation test before thesemester (Appendix C). This might suggest possible
benefits of the story-translation exercises.

Anthropological Approach on
Learners’ Understanding of English
Structure
Doing literature exercises, it was recognized thatstudents started becoming interested in the structuraldifferences. Coincidentally, some students happened tobe taking a Japanese sociology class and showed interestin the cultural elements of the Japanese language.
Thus it seemed worthwhile for the learners to see thebackground culture of the two languages, so they
could learn the target language better. In April 2014,20 basic, 84 basic-intermediate, and 59 intermediatelevel learners of English discussed Japanese language
and English cultural worldviews with sample sentences
quoting from anthropological studies (Appendix D:
Kanaya 2003; Morita 1998)
The discussion was focused on the following
points:[ Japanese “static worldview”] versus [English“dynamic worldview”][ Japanese “subjective viewpoint” that looks at
the world without showing agents] versus [English“objective viewpoint” that shows agents/doers clearly]
Discussing the background cultural worldviews
for the two languages seemed to help learners notice
different worldviews and how these differences affecttheir language use. A list of guiding questions can befound in Appendix E. Responding to the question of

244 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

why Japanese speakers say “yama ga mieru” (lit. “Themountains can be seen”) instead of “watashi wa yamao miteimasu” (lit. “I see the mountain”) , the learners’comments were largely unanimous.
1. In Japanese, people just speak about theimmediate situation around them. In English,
the “who, what, where, why, when, and how”
should be explained.
2. Japanese speakers may focus on “the mountains”
whereas English speakers focus on the fact that
“It is ‘I’ who sees the mountains.”
These observations indicate that learners
are aware that speech situations are more
important than the agents/doers of actions
when they speak in Japanese. Also the following
responses suggest that the Japanese speakers in
the researcher’s class were also aware of theirpragmatic practice of sharing their information
with their hearers.
3. Japanese speakers would like to involve othersin the situation they are facing, while English
speakers are more focused on the speakerthemselves.
4. In a Japanese worldview, speakers always invite
their listeners into the speakers’ world.
The learners also commented that they feel thatusing “I” is impolite because it may give impression thatthe speaker dominates information that is accessible toall speech participants. This may explain the absenceof agents when they speak or write in English. To thequestion of why Japanese speakers have no problem
with sentences without doers/agents, most of themanswered that in Japanese culture, people “sense” and“understand the hints” of other people’s intentions
from the situation. These learners’ observations
support the view of Japanese anthropologists andanthropological linguists (e.g., Ohno, 1989), andalso support the claim that the Japanese case particle“wa”, may introduce a “situation of speech” rather than
the topic of the sentence (Morita, 1998). It may havebeen beneficial for learners to have an opportunity torecognize how their culture influences the structure oflanguage as well as their language behaviors.

Influence of Cultural Worldviews on Learner Syntax, pages 240-251

Discussion and Limitation of the
Study
Japanese school grammar currently teaches thatJapanese has an SOV structure, but in reality, a fairly
large segment of Japanese sentences are subjectfree. Folk-tale exercises seem to help learners see
how they must communicate differently in English
and Japanese. Focusing on subject-free Japanese
sentences, then creating English sentences basedon the learners’ understanding of meanings ofJapanese sentences possibly helped learners recognize
structural differences. Second, a comparative analysis
of worldviews of Japanese and English speakers’
worldviews may have encouraged learners to realizethat their background culture has fostered theirnative language structure. Anthropological linguists
say that grammar reflects culture, value, mindset,
and worldview of the speakers of each language (e.g.,Morita, 1998; Kanaya, 2003; Ohno, 1989). Whenlearning a foreign language, learners may acquire thesecultural elements naturally along with the language
itself. However, conscious teaching and learning about
the background of language may be useful to help
introductory-level learners.
However, there are some limitations to thisstudy. Initially, the after-activity tests may have been
compromised by the short period of time between
the activity and the after-test since the material was
still fresh in the learners’ memory. With the folk-taleactivities, the “before” and “after” tests were six months
apart, but it is still short term considering the lengthof learners’ entire experience of learning L2 sincejunior high school. Furthermore, since the study took
place during the school year while the learners wereattending other English classes, it is hard to show anexact correlation between this study and learners’
final grades. In addition, since this is not a long-term
study, it is impossible to state that either method gavethe learners lasting benefits. At least during the sixmonth period of doing folk-tale exercises, practice atthis task seemed to show gradual, identifiable progress
towards the final exercises; exercises were carried out
more smoothly toward the final exercise. It is desirable
to investigate possible long-term effects, but this was

also difficult to carry out as learners do not stay withthe same class or same instructor longer than one year.
Another problematic issue with these methods isthat they use Japanese texts in an English classroom. It
is often believed that foreign language classes should
be taught solely in the target language. For example,
the Japanese government has described a future policy
in which English classes are to be conducted entirely
in English in high school, and partially in junior highschool (Hayakawa, 2014). However, we may be able
to utilize the Japanese language in certain classroom
situations for learners’ benefits. First, most EFL
learners have not had enough opportunities to thinkin English, and introductory-level learners in college
have not acquired the structure of language naturally
in their earlier education. Thus, it is likely that theywould benefit from help with their native language.
For example, O’Brien (2014) claimed that dependingon the real purpose of English class activity, it may
be good to use learners’ L1 as a means of helping theparticipants accomplish the purposes of teaching/learning. This might make the meaning of classroom
activities clearer for the students, thus helping themenjoy activities more. With regard to teaching English
writing, Kobayashi and Rinnert (1992) also claimed
that EFL writers are likely to benefit from translationof native language text because learners may havebetter skills relating to developing ideas, planning, andorganizing in their L1. For reasons such as this, many
learners in who participated in this study supported
the use of L1 in class. Responding to the final questionof the second activity (Appendix E), some learners
claimed that it is easier to understand the class content
when Japanese is used, that English-only classes
discourage learners, and that Japanese should be used
when necessary. Other learners answered that using
easy English slowly without Japanese helps students,that the two languages should be taught separately
because they are different, and that translating fromJapanese to English is not ideal.
This paper reports on two simple studies, and many
counterarguments can be anticipated for the methods
introduced here. Given the potential issues this paper
reviewed here, further classroom-based studies areneeded. A substantiation of these activities’ effects
The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

245

Trentwith Japanese learners, however, would require a longterm organized study.

References
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kyooiku [ Can Japan’s English education be thebest in Asia?]. NHK kaisetsu archives. NHK news
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Japan: Kodansha.
Kanaya, T. (2003). Nihongo bunpoo no nazo o toku
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Kanaya, T. (2004). Eigo nimo shugo wa nakatta[English did not have sentence subject]. Tokyo,
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Sanseido.

Mikami, A. (1960). Zoo wa hana ga nagai [As forelephants, their trunks are long]. Tokyo, Japan:
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Japan: Kuroshio Shuppan.
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2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceeding (pp. 187195). Hiroshima: JALT
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Author’s Biography:
Nobuko Trent holds degrees in English (BA), Japanese linguistics (MA), and applied linguistics
in foreign language education (Ph.D. from University of Texas at Austin). Her primary interests
include contrastive pragmatics, discourse analysis, discourse grammar, and politeness studies.

246 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Influence of Cultural Worldviews on Learner Syntax, pages 240-251

Appendix A
Sample Japanese story with accompanying gap-fill exercise.
(Sample of Japanese text)
泣いた赤鬼
昔、昔、山を越え、峠を越え、人里離れた山の奥に、赤鬼と青鬼が住んでいました。赤鬼は人間の子供が大好き
で、いつもどうやったら友達になれるか考えていました。
赤鬼「僕はやさしい赤鬼なのにどうしてみんな遊びに来ないのかな。
おいしいお菓子と飲み物を用意するのに。」
青鬼「ねえ、赤鬼君、
そんなに子供たちと友達になりたいのかい。」
赤鬼「うん、友達になりたいよ。」
青鬼「じゃあ、
いい考えがあるんだ。
ちょっと耳を貸してごらん。」

Source: 日本昔話 Old Stories of Japan http://nihongo-e-na.com/jpn/site/id464.html(English translation for exercises)
The Crying Troll
Long, long ago, beyond the woods, through the forests and the pass, in the deep mountains of Japan, there lived
an ‘Aka-Oni’, red Ogre and an ‘Ao-Oni’, blue Ogre. The red Ogre liked human children very much, and ()( )() about how he could make friends with them everyday.
Red ogre: I’m a very kind and gentle person. Why don’t they come to play with me at my house? If so, (() them nice sweets and tea or juice.
Blue ogre: Hey, Aka-Oni. Do ()()) to make any friends with human children so much?

R.O: Oh, yes. () want to make friends with them.

B.O: If so, well, ()() a good idea. Come here. (He whispers.)

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247

TrentAppendix B
The sentence translation tests(Before the “literature” exercise)(1)
クリスマスはケーキだ！
(2)
日本は住みやすい。
(3)
多くの本を読めば多くのことを学べる。
(4)
長生きすると色々な経験ができる。
(5)
象は鼻が長い。
(After the exercise)(1)
ビールはキリンだね!
(2)
日曜日が忙しいです。
(3)
今日はたくさん宿題があります。
(4)「あの女のひとをみて！」「きれいだね」(5)
野菜を沢山食べると健康になるよ。
(6)「私はお化けが怖い。」「私はこうもりだ。」

248 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Influence of Cultural Worldviews on Learner Syntax, pages 240-251

Appendix C
The sentence translation test results before and after “literature” exercises(April, 2013 and October 2013)

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249

TrentAppendix D
Japanese worldview vs. English worldview demonstrated in both languages

Japanese worldview

English sentence withJapanese worldview

「ある」
「いる」
「なる」
Static view

Worldview inEnglish sentences「する」Dynamic view

子供がいます。

*There are children.

I have children.

約束があります。

*There is an appointment.

I have an appointment.

アメリカへ行ったことがあります。

*There is an experience of going to the U.S.

I have been to the U.S.

春になりました。

*It became spring.

Spring has come.
Objective viewpoint.
Showing agents/doers
clearly.

Subjective viewpoint. Looking
at the world from only speaker’s
viewpoint. (Showing no agents)
京都が見たい。

*Kyoto wants to see.

I want to see Kyoto.

英語がわかります。

*English is understood.

I understand English.

もう少し時間がかかります。

*A little more time will take.

We need some more time.

新宿が好きです。

*Shinjuku likes

I like Shinjuku.

富士山が見えます。

*Mt. Fuji can be seen.

I see Mt. Fuji.

ここはどこ？

*Where is here?

Where am I?

こんにゃくは太らない。

*Konnyaku doesn’t get fat.

We won’t get fat if we eat
konnyaku.

桜なら京都だね。

*Sakura is Kyoto.

If you want to see the best
Sakura, you should go to
Kyoto.

今日はデートだ。

*Today is dating.

I have a date today.

Assuming the topic is shared andunderstood without mentioning it.

250 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Influence of Cultural Worldviews on Learner Syntax, pages 240-251

Appendix E
Questionnaire given to students(Q1)

What Japanese worldview do you see with the expression「山が見える」incomparison with “I can see the mountains”?

(Q2)

Do you think you have different worldviews when you are speaking in English andin Japanese?

(Q3)

It seems Japanese speakers have no problem even if sentence subjects (agent/actor)
are not clear. Why?

(Q4)

What do you think about using L1 in L2 classroom.

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251

Building a Sustainable Curriculum With Can-doStatements

Brendan Van Deusen

John Patrick Owatari-Dorgan

Nagasaki International University
bvd@niu.ac.jp

Nagasaki International University
jpdorgan@niu.ac.jp

This paper describes the process of reforming the first-year English curriculum at a Japanese
university. The project called for standardizing the learning objectives across the four departments:
International Tourism, Social Work, Health and Nutrition, and Pharmacy. The authors begin bysummarizing the problems with the previous curriculum that instigated this project. Next, they
discuss the learning objectives (can-do statements) that underlie the new curriculum and how theseobjectives can be interpreted to deliver suitable content to each department. Finally, challenges andfuture directions in the process will be discussed.
本稿では，日本の一大学における初年次の英語カリキュラム改善へのプロセスについて述べる。
その改善へのプロジェクトには，大学内の４学科（国際観光学科，社会福祉学科，健康栄養学科，薬学科）
にわたって学習目標を統一化することが必要とされた。
まず，
このプ
ロジェクトを行うきっかけとなった問題を要約する。次に，新しいカリキュラムの基礎となる学
習目標（何ができるようになるのかを記述したもの）を考察するとともに，これらの目標が各学科に適した内容へと適用される方法について考察する。最後に，
このプロセスにおける課題や今後の方向性について考察する。

This paper describes the process of standardizing thecurriculum of first-year English classes at a Japanese
university. The goal of the project was to create acurriculum guide that would be usable by all instructors
teaching introductory English classes at the university.
In doing so, we hoped to maintain pedagogical freedom
within a standardized curriculum. A curriculum
can be defined as a planned learning experiencethat connects instruction to learning objectives andlearner growth (Parkay, Hass, & Anctil, 2010). Thus,
we hoped to develop a curriculum that would be
Van Deusen, B. & Owatari-Dorgan, J. P. (2015).
Building a sustainable curriculum with can-dostatements. In G. Brooks, M. Grogan, & M. Porter(Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
252-257). Miyazaki, Japan: JALT.

252 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedingssustainable by satisfying the policy mandates of theuniversity, would be willingly adopted by instructors,
and would be relevant to students. Furthermore,from this process insights were gained about theimportance of communication between teachers,
students, administrative staff, and curriculum planners
as an important factor in promoting curriculum
implementation.

Context
It is common for a teacher of first-year English classes
at a Japanese university to be one of several who teachone section of the same course. In some cases, teachers
are given explicit instruction on what content to teachor what textbook to use, whereas in other situations,teachers are not given guidance by the university but
rather instructed to teach whatever and however they

Building a Sustainable Curriculum With Can-do Statements, pages 252-257
see fit. The latter was mainly the case at the authors’university until recently when a project to standardize
the curriculum was begun.
At the authors’ university, all students are required
to take four English courses in their first year: Eigo
Enshu 1A and 1B in the spring, and Eigo Enshu
2A and 2B in the fall. Each course is divided into
sections (in other words a class with an average of 30
students) based on the university’s four departments(International Tourism, Social Work, Health andNutrition, or Pharmacy) and the results of a placement
test (Table 1). Thus, one section of Eigo Enshu 1A isoffered for upper-level International Tourism students,
while another section is offered for basic-level
Pharmacy students.
The university’s system for grouping students
resulted in 11 sections of each Eigo Enshu course being
offered, or 44 sections in total across the four coursesof Eigo Enshu 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B. These sections were
taught by eight teachers (four full-time and four parttime). Teachers were not provided with guidelines
on how to plan classes, but rather asked to teach as
they saw fit. Teachers created the syllabi for theirsection independently of one another, often without
knowledge of what teachers in other sections or othercourses had planned.
One major problem arising from this arrangement
was the disparate learning objectives contained inthese syllabi. With no consistency among the sectionsof each course, students were subjected to different
requirements to gain credit. For example, some
sections of the same Eigo Enshu course were writingfocused while others were speaking-focused; some weregrammar-based while others were communicativebased. Thus students who studied different content
under different requirements received credit forthe same course. Another consequence was thatteachers could not be sure how their classes fit into
the curriculum as a whole. In one particular semester,
the same textbook was used in a third-year business
English course and Eigo Enshu 1B. In this instance,
students who studied the same content received credit
for different courses.
The academic affairs division of the university
decided that the curriculum needed to be standardized.
In other words, the university wanted students indifferent sections of the same course to accomplish
the same or similar learning objectives. Similarly,
each course should support the overall curriculum.
Two years prior, the English teaching faculty had, infact, created a standardized set of learning objectives.
These objectives were then printed onto the syllabus
templates. However, problems with implementing theobjectives arose. New part-time instructors, who had
not been involved in the initial planning, and somefull-time staff found the learning objectives were toovague to implement. From this feedback, a plan wasmade to revise the learning objectives and create a
supplementary curriculum guide to promote adoption
by all instructors.

Creating a Curriculum Guide
In order to create and maintain a sustainable curriculumthat was applicable to students and instructors, theauthors determined that a curriculum guide, consisting

Table 1
Breakdown of First-year English Courses

Department

International Tourism

Courses

Eigo Enshu 1A, 1B, 2A
and 2B

Sections for eachcourse by level

Upper
Standard
Basic 1
Basic 2Social Work

Standard
Basic

Health andNutrition

Standard
Basic

Pharmacy

Upper
Standard
Basic

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253

Van Deusen & Owatari-Dorganof learning objectives, sample activities, and sample
rubrics would be ideal. This was in accordance with
university policy, which mandates that all instructors
provide learning objectives in the form of can-dostatements. Furthermore, the university strongly
promoted the idea of using rubrics to promote active
evidence-based learning. In short, rubrics function as
evidence by describing the level of mastery a student
has achieved of a series of learning objectives via task
performance (Stevens & Levi, 2005).
One topic that initially arose was whether or
not to mandate the use of a single textbook or fully
pre-formatted syllabus. A conscious decision wasmade to avoid such a prescriptive system in the belief
that teachers should be allowed a greater amountof autonomy in the classroom. As described below,
flexibility and choice were built into the curriculum
guide to promote active adoption of the curriculum
changes and create the conditions to evaluate andrevise the guide in the future. On the other hand,teacher autonomy was balanced by a standardized setof learning objectives and sample activities rooted in
the curriculum. This was our vision of a sustainablecurriculum.
The second issue to address was the level of English
which students should be expected to achieve. For
the creation of the can-do statements (Table 2) to be
included on the syllabus templates, an initial decision
was made to set the level of the first and second
semesters to be equivalent to EIKEN levels Pre-2 and2 respectively. This decision was made with two factors
in mind. First, this level was seen as challenging yet
within reach of most students based on the resultsof the university’s English language placement test.
Currently, this is the CASEC test which provides an
EIKEN equivalency score for each student. Second,the university was, at the time, pursuing an exchange
program with another university for which EIKEN
Level 2 was a requirement.
With the level of the courses set to EIKEN levels

Table 2
Learning Objectives for First Year Courses

CourseLearning objectives

All courses• Students can communicate in English about topics that are relevant to their everyday lifeand future goals.

Eigo Enshu 1A

•
•
•
•

Student can read and write texts for everyday events.
Students can fill out forms and write personal information.
Students can read and write about personal experiences.
Students can write a text on the computer with correct formatting

Eigo Enshu 1B

•
•
•
•

Students can produce and respond to simple requests and offers.
Students can present a simple self-introduction.
Students can offer and follow simple instructions.
Students can discuss familiar topics such as people, places, and events

Eigo Enshu 2A

•
•
•
•

Students can read and write about familiar events in greater detail.
Students can express and evaluate opinions.
Students can read and write about personal experiences in greater detail.
Students can use the Internet to collect information.

Eigo Enshu 2B

•
•
•
•

Students can produce and respond to more complex requests and offers.
Students can present an extended self-introduction.
Students can offer and follow in-depth instructions.
Students can discuss in greater detail familiar topics such as people, places, and events

254 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

Building a Sustainable Curriculum With Can-do Statements, pages 252-257
Pre-2 and 2, the next task was to create the list of cando statements. We examined the EIKEN Foundationof Japan’s (2008) can-do statements for levels Pre-2 and2. From these, we attempted to find common elements
present in the different sections of the different levels.
This yielded a set of core can-do statements, but
unfortunately the statements remained too numerous
and specific to the tasks set forth by the EIKEN test.
For example, level 2 consists of 23 can-do statements
among the four skills of reading, writing, speaking,and listening. In order to make the can-do statements
more manageable, we compared them with similarstatements found in the CEFR-J (Tokyo University ofForeign Studies, 2012) materials. The comparison ofthese can-do statements yielded a more complete andgenerally applicable set of can-do statements. These
were included with the syllabus templates as well as thecurriculum guide that was provided to teachers.
As mentioned above, one issue, that arose twoyears prior, was that some teachers found the previous
learning objectives to be unclear. As White (1991)
points out, any innovation that is perceived as overly
complex will likely face resistance. The new iterationof the curriculum guide included sample activities
for achieving each of the learning objectives (Table3). This added level of communication was meant
to serve two purposes. First, by providing multiple
example activities teachers were encouraged to use
their strengths in planning their activities. Since notextbook was prescribed, teachers could apply, adapt,and supplement as necessary. It was hoped that thisflexibility could allow teachers to account for students’

different levels of proficiency and areas of study.
Hence, the learning objective of “students can offer andfollow instructions” could be achieved by International
Tourism students through an activity in which theygive directions to a destination; similarly, Health andNutrition students could achieve the same objective by
writing a recipe (see Table 3 for further details).
In order to assist teachers in meeting the rubric
requirement as well as account for the discrepancy
between the highest and lowest level students, a seriesof sample rubrics were included in the curriculum
guide. By using rubrics, teachers could focus on thecommon learning objectives but at an appropriate levelof difficulty for their students. Furthermore, teachers
were encouraged to make the criteria for successknown to the students prior to assessment. Marshall(2010) has argued that such criteria should not remain“locked up in each teacher’s brain, with top grades
going to students who are good mind readers” (p.284).
The sample rubrics included in the curriculum guidewere basic outlines of important elements connectedto the individual can-do’s listed for each section. In
the body of the curriculum guide, instructors wereencouraged to modify the rubrics to make them more
directly suitable for their individual classes.

Implementation
In the spring term of 2014, the curriculum guide
was provided for all introductory English classes.
The actual implementation of the materials within
the main curriculum guide was left primarily to thediscretion of the individual teachers in their classes.

Table 3Sample Activities for One Learning Objective

Learning objective
Students can offer and follow
instructions

Department

Activity

International Tourism

Getting from A to B, preparing for a trip

Social Work

Assisting someone with a disability, using
special equipment

Health and Nutrition

Preparing a dish, staying healthy

Pharmacy

Taking certain medicine, staying healthy

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255

Van Deusen & Owatari-Dorgan
While complete information on implementation isstill being collected, we were able to collect preliminary
feedback from some instructors through interviews.
One of the instructors indicated that he was pleased
that a curriculum guide exists. That being said, he also
stated that he did not really use the curriculum guidevery much in the planning of his classes. Instead, hesimply verified that the materials he usually teaches forthe introductory English classes matched with the cando statements found in the curriculum guide. In thiscase, the instructor had his own previously-prepared
activities and was well versed in the use of rubrics
therefore he did not need to reference the example
activities and rubrics. Furthermore, the instructor
said that he would consider using the guide more in
the future if he needed to develop new classes or classmaterials. On the other hand, another instructor
explained that he was unaware of the curriculum guide.
He stated that he used some of the can-do statements(not all) that were part of the default syllabus. Since he
was not provided with a curriculum guide, he did notuse any of the example activities or rubrics.
From teaching a full-time course load, the authors
had ample opportunity to interact with the curriculum.
In one particular introductory English class, thestructure of the curriculum guide was invaluable inpreparing both the syllabus and the curriculum. This
was a writing class in which no textbook was used.
Without a textbook, the curriculum guide provided
a framework on which to build the class. The cando statements provided a set of open educational
goals that became the milestones of the class. The
example activities, on the other hand, were valuable
primarily as jumping-off points. During the creationof the curriculum, the activities illustrated the types ofactivities that could be used to promote the learning
objectives. From there, other activities were added thatsuited the teacher’s teaching style. Since the authors
were already familiar with rubrics, they did not feela need to consult the curriculum guide for further
information.

Going Forward
Since this is the first iteration of the curriculum guide,
the process has only begun. In the next version a few key

256 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

elements need to be addressed to make the guide more
useful for the English instructors at our university. First,
further differentiation and clarification in the can-dostatements should be a priority. While the current cando statements are useful, they can still be somewhat
unclear. For example, in Eigo Enshu 2A the following
can-do statement is presented as a continuation from
Eigo Enshu 1A: “students can read and write aboutfamiliar events in greater detail”. Just what is meant byin greater detail is not clear. Removing the ambiguityof such statements should make them easier to use forteachers.
Second, it is paramount that the authors collect
more input from other instructors. As it stands, twonative English-speaking instructors developed thecurriculum guide. Initially, one was full-time and one
part-time (both are currently full-time). Due to staffingchanges and changing responsibilities within theuniversity, other instructors who provided input andapproved the final product were not able participate
fully in the planning stages. In particular, we seek more
input from our Japanese colleagues.
Third, the curriculum guide must become a more
prominent element in the syllabus creation process.
Although this element is not under the direct controlof the authors, the curriculum guide will only become
truly useful when it gains widespread acceptance by the
instructors teaching the introductory English classes.
This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point as wehope that teachers who are invested in the planning
process are more likely to implement the curriculum
changes. Moreover, since the authors of the curriculum
guide are not always in direct contact with new staff at
the beginning of their term, one solution would be forthe academic affairs division to provide the curriculum
guide together with the syllabus templates.
In the future, it is necessary to expand the guide toinclude elective English courses in second- and thirdyears. The curriculum guide currently addresses only
four required first-year English courses. The next stepis to continue to build on the learning objectives ofthese first-year courses. By doing so, we hope to realize
the potential of the guide as a curriculum guide, notmerely a syllabus guide.
Finally, students need to be involved in the process.

Building a Sustainable Curriculum With Can-do Statements, pages 252-257
We can begin by receiving their feedback on the
curriculum and whether they feel the learning goals
are appropriate. Another area to investigate is whether
they (and the instructors) believe that the learning
goals have been achieved.

References
EIKEN Foundation of Japan. (2008). The EIKEN
Can-Do List English Translation. Retrieved fromhttp://www.eiken.or.jp/eiken/exam/cando/pdf/
Eiken_CandoList_translation.pdf
Marshall, K. (2010). A Principal Looks Back:
Standards Matter. In Parkay, F.W., Hass, G., &Anctil, E.J. (Ed.), Curriculum leadership: readingsfor developing quality educational programs (9thed., pp. 278-289). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Parkay, F. W., Hass, G., & Anctil, E. J. (2010). Goals
and Values. In Parkay, F.W., Hass, G., & Anctil,
E.J. (Ed.), Curriculum leadership: readings fordeveloping quality educational programs (9th ed.).
(pp. 2-8). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Stevens, D. D., & Levi, A. J. (2005). Introduction to
Rubrics. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Kaken Kiban.
(2012). CEFR-J Version English. Retrieved
from http://cefr-j.org/english/download.
html#toiawase
White, R. V. (1991). Management in English language
teaching. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.

Authors’ Biographies:
Brendan Van Deusen is is interested in Task-Based Language Teaching and curriculum design.
He is assistant professor in the Department of International Tourism at Nagasaki International
University.
John Patrick Owatari-Dorgan is an assistant professor at Nagasaki International University
in Sasebo, Japan. He holds a masters degree in Education. His specialties include interculturalcommunication as well as language and cultural exchange.

The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings257

Supplementary Online Materials: Selection and
Implementation

Andrew Zitzmann
Seinan Jo Gakuin
foster@antazi.com
Online materials, such as self-study programs and workbooks, are increasingly being made available
for teachers who wish to adopt them as supplementary materials for their language programmes.
While such materials can be usefully integrated into the class, as in blended learning programmes, orused for self-study, there are a number of issues that need to be considered before their adoption into
a course of study. These issues will be examined, along with support from evidence of the benefits
and challenges of supplementary online material usage in a Japanese university setting. This paper
goes on to present practical suggestions on how to select the appropriate resources and successfully
implement supplementary online materials into a programme of study.
自習用プログラムやワークブックなどのオンライン教材は、言語プログラムの補助教材として取り入れたいと思っている教師たちによって、ますます利用されるようになっている。
そうい
った教材は、
ブレンド型学習プログラムのような授業にうまく取り入れたり、自習に使ったりすることができる一方で、学習過程に取り入れる前に、よく考えなければならない問題が多い。
このような諸問題は、日本の大学環境でオンライン教材を補助的に使用することについての利点と課題に関して裏付けを取りながら、今後詳しく調査されるだろう。
この論文は、適切な資料を選び、学習プログラムにオンライン補助教材を上手く取り入れる方法について、実用的な提案をするものである。

Technological advances have allowed for online
materials of increasingly high quality to be madeavailable to teachers. Compared to even just a few years
ago, we now have a much larger selection to choose
from to enhance our students’ learning outside of theclassroom. This variety poses challenges for teachersdeveloping programs of study for their students. Oncethey have stepped past the initial hurdle of deciding
to adopt technology into their course, it is necessary,
Zitzmann, A. (2015). Supplementary online materials:
Selection and implementation. In G. Brooks, M.
Grogan, & M. Porter (Eds.), The 2014 PanSIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 258-263). Miyazaki, Japan:
JALT.

258 The 2014 PanSIG Conference Proceedings

to aid in the selection process, to ask themselves somequestions: Which material should I select? Will thestudents benefit from it? Will they actually get thework done? These must all be carefully considered toensure a successful course. In this paper, I present some
supplementary online materials selection criteria tomake that decision a little easier, as well as providing
some guidelines for successfully implementing thematerial in the course.
The initial impetus for this work stemmed from adesire to enhance and broaden the learning experienceof the students in my classes. Using technology wasanother aim of providing an expanded learning
environment. This was initially taken into consideration
to make use of technology’s pervasiveness in the lives

Selecting and Implementing SOMs, pages 258-263
of the students. The advancement of technology hasreached a point where most everyone in the student
generation has experience with various technologicaltools in their daily lives. Also, there was the added
benefit of increasing interest in the material by using
its multimedia elements.
Research data reported in 2013 from the Yano
Research Institute in a Mynavi news article on thee-learning market in Japan shows a steady increasein this field (MyNavi News, 2013). From FY2010
to FY2011, the e-learning market (which includes
smartphones and tablets) grew 31.1% in combined
business to business and business to consumer sales.
The prospects for 2012 had the overall market growing
130%, and was predicted to increase another 57.8% in
2013. (Figure 1). This indicates that there is plenty ofroom for growth, and that the use of technology in the
educational field will continue to develop and grow forsome time yet, especially with the intention of making
learning available anywhere, at any time. As the level oftechnological integration into the educational system isstill quite low, there are many teachers who have not had
experience with such materials. For those who are juststarting out with online materials it can be a daunting
process, especially if unprepared. There are someteachers who have initially chosen to use technology
in their courses, but have reverted to more traditional
materials due to the numerous challenges they andtheir students faced in successfully adapting it to theirsituation. I believe that this kind of negative experiencecan be avoided with proper preparation, guidance,and support. This paper examines supplementary
online materials (SOMs) in order for teachers to makeinformed decisions on the kind of SOMs to adopt for
their program and to present procedures that allow for
more effective implementation.

Analysis
Advantages
The advantages of SOMs are numerous. For students
there is the increased exposure to the target language.
Increased exposure, or more specifically increased
comprehensible input, will result in acquisition(Krashen, 2013). There is also the fact that the pace atwhich they work through the material is not externallycontrolled, neither by the teacher nor the other students
in the class. The students can control the pace and also
the time and place at which they do the work. This
flexibility in doing the work allows them to optimise
their learning, as well as the purpose—for example,
when preparing for a test, or to review a lesson.
For the teacher, the SOMs are equally advantageous.
Administrative work regarding assignments, or
homework in particular, is reduced. Have the students
done the work? The teacher site can generate various
types of reports highlighting the amount of work done,
the time spent on it, and how well it was done. There isno need to collect papers or books. Most significantly
timesaving is the non-existence of physical marking.
All this allows the teacher to spend more time onother aspects of teaching, such as the development
and preparation of classes that rely less on teacher
administration.

Disadvantages
The disadvantages of SOMs are similar for both teachersand students. The biggest hurdle for most people is thetechnological aspect. Even if we are technologicallysavvy, there is still the initial learning stage that isneeded to familiarise ourselves with a new program.
The time this requires depends on the complexity ofthe programme and the level of technological ability of
the user. Therefore, this issue is something to take into
consideration when selecting the SOMs.
On another technological note there is the factthat problems will arise, whether they be with thecomputer one is working on, with the program, or withthe user. These sudden, inexplicable problems hinder
progress and add frustration to both the students andthe teachers. Being prepared for them and having aplan on how to deal with them can be helpful.
Another issue is that of time, which may seem
incongruous with the advantages presented earlier. For
the students finding time to do the actual assigned work
can be problematic when the SOMs are only available
on the computer network at school. The teacher canalso be disadvantaged as they must administer the
program and follow the students’ progress. Dependingon the system being used this may require the teacher
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to be at the computer for significant periods of time.
One final issue is financial. For students, this may
result in a more expensive textbook, or in paying for
the SOMs outright. Teachers themselves may not haveto pay for online materials, but the time and effort to
get the department or school to purchase it can takeits toll.
These issues stress the importance of a pedagogicallysound management system, so as not to jeopardise
the implementation process and possibly result in
resistance by teachers and students to e-learning(Govindasamy, 2002).

Types of SOMs

teachers looking for materials that are fully integrated,
in which actual face time and communicative activities
are of primary importance to the language teacher
during class time. The online material either provides
an introduction to the material in the text or leads
off of the text to reinforce the work accomplished inclass. iZone, published by Pearson Longman, is a good
example of a text that uses online materials for students
to both prepare for and review the material used in theclassroom. As their website touts, it “creates more time
for communicative practice in class” and “saves teachers
valuable preparation and administration time”.

CMS

Let us assume that the teacher has already made thedecision to adopt SOMs for their course, but finds
himself or herself overwhelmed by the wide range ofmaterials that are available on the market. It is not amature market, which means that the choices andquality continue to improve every year. The choices
have been separated into four types: blended learning
course books, online workbooks, self-study programs,
and teacher sourced materials. Each has its own
particular purpose which the teacher needs to consider
separately. The following is a brief description of each,
which will help the teacher narrow down the field tothe appropriate type of material for their particular
course.

Teacher sourced materials are without a doubt themost labour-intensive option for the individual
teacher. This requires the use of a content management
system (CMS), which also must be carefully chosen
to meet the needs and abilities of the teacher (if theeducational institution does not already have sucha system available). The materials themselves mustbe either collected or produced by the teacher, thenuploaded onto the CMS. In short, the teacher is
responsible for providing and maintaining the material
that is available online to the students through the
CMS. The widely popular Moodle is a CMS that was
initially designed by an educator as a method of online
teaching.

Blended Learning

Workbooks

First, let us look at blended learning which can broadly
be defined as a marriage of proven learning principles
with the influx of technology (Dunn, 2013). The
amount and level of technology used in a blended
learning programme can vary greatly, from the simple
use of a DVD in class to intensive use of a computerassisted language lab. For the purpose of selecting
and implementing SOMs, blended learning refers to
a programme of study that incorporates elements oftraditional face-to-face instruction with an online
e-learning framework that is independently accessedby students outside of the classroom (Singh, 2003;
Swanson & Zitzmann, 2011). Blended learning
coursebooks are a good entry point for language

The workbook is a staple product for additional
intensive study. The introduction of online workbooks
has also made the job of teachers much easier. These
online workbooks can provide immediate feedback
to the students and release the teacher from spending
hours correcting and marking student workbooks.
The added advantage of having online workbooks isthat they can include multimedia elements, such as
audio and video, to help students with their listening
skills. These materials are a great way of providing
content that is interesting to the students, increasing
their attention and thereby improving their language
acquisition. This increased interest is what Krashen(2013) refers to as “compelling input”, in reference
to literacy development, but which should be equally

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Selecting and Implementing SOMs, pages 258-263
applicable to audio visual input. He explains that “theinput is so interesting you forget that it is in anotherlanguage” (p. 15). It is suggested that compelling input
does away with the need for a conscious desire to
improve, as the student’s interest in the content drives
the student forward for more input, pushing theirlanguage acquisition forward. National Geographic
Learning follows Krashen’s idea in the developmentof their materials. As they state on their homepage,
they “believe that an engaged and motivated learner
will be a successful one” (About National Geographic
Learning, n.d., para. 1).

Self-study
The self-study program option is one that can beseparated further into two types. One type is a skill
specific program. The focus of these programs is on
one particular linguistic skill, such as vocabulary(an example being WordEngine), or grammar. The
programs offer intensive learning with claims of rapid
progress. One problem that the author’s students have
had with these kinds of programs was sustaining theirinterest in the program over the course of the semester,
let alone the year. The second type of self-study programis a fully integrated program (such as ALCnet), whichuses various “courses” such as grammar, listening, test
preparation, and so on, to improve the students’ overall
linguistic ability. This option would not be something
for a teacher to adopt for a single course, but would
be more appropriate for a department or school toconsider adopting.

interests must also be taken into consideration. The
increase in the variety of materials available now makes
this easier to do.
Technological aspects of the decision should also
be considered carefully. Incompatibility issues arealways a possibility, especially with the large varietyof platforms and software programs in use. Will
the school’s computers be able to deal with all thefeatures of the SOMs? How accessible do you want
the program to be? Should it just be accessible on
the school computers, or from any location on any
platform? The more accessible it is, the more flexible
and advantageous it is for students to do the workwhen they want.
Another technological aspect is the complexity ofthe program itself, which may affect accessibility. How
much technological prowess is necessary to use the
SOMs? If it is complex or difficult to understand how
to use, then there is a greater likelihood of students
having problems doing the work. SOMs that are
intuitive and easy to get accustomed to will make theexperience much better for all involved.
One last consideration in the selection process
should be the teacher page of the program. The resultsof the assignments, as well as various other data, should

Selection Process
Now that we have seen the advantages and disadvantagesof SOMs as well as the various types available to theteacher, it is time to make a decision. Let us now lookat the process as outlined in Figure 1.
Firstly, we must know the purpose of having
students work on SOMs. Is it to improve their skills
independently of the course, or should the SOMs be
integrated into classroom activities? In order to makea good decision about which SOMs to adopt, it is
not only necessary to choose the appropriate type forthe course and the teacher, but the students and their
Figure 1. The selection process

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Figure 2. T﻿he implementation process

all be made available to the teacher via the teacher
page. How intuitive is it? Does it provide you, theteacher, with the data that you require in a format thatis useful to you? A poorly designed teacher page adds a
lot of aggravation and discontent to the teacher, which
may be a contributing factor in the rejection of using
technology in their courses.

Implementation Process
Having taken into consideration the various advantages
and disadvantages of using SOMs and the numerous
types of materials, we have gone through the selection
process and made our decision on which SOMs touse. Let us now look at the actual implementation
process to ensure that the SOMs are a successful partof our course. Even after spending all that time andeffort to make the right choice in materials, if theimplementation is not done correctly the course willmore than likely result in a negative experience forboth the teacher and the students. So how should weproceed? Figure 2 presents the process graphically.
First, we need to familiarise ourselves with thematerial. Although we may have taken a cursory look
and attempted to do the material ourselves before
making the final selection, it is always a good idea togo through the registration process and a complete

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unit of material from the viewpoint of a student. This
will bring to our attention any potential problems that
may occur. Having gone through the process yourself
will also help you in preparing the next stage of theimplementation process—the training session.
For a smoother and less frustrating experienceon the side of both the teacher and the students, it ishighly recommended to put the time into a SOMs
training session. Even though there are guides andhelp pages available with the online materials, there
is no substitute for actually going through the process
together with the students and explaining what andhow things should be done. This training also helps tocut down on the number of problems you need to deal
with later in the course. It is also very useful for thosestudents who are not as computer literate as we would
expect.
As with any technology, there are problems that
happen. Students may forget or lose their log-in
password. There may be glitches in the program thatcause problems, or maybe just the fact that there ismaintenance going on at the time the student tries
to do the work. Incompatibility issues can still be a
problem even after taking them into considerationin the selection process. Although we should not be
expected to fix all these problems, we should make thestudents aware of the potential issues and the options
and workarounds available to them to get things
working again.
Finally, regular reminders are a simple and fairly
effective way of encouraging students to complete thework. Also, letting them know, directly or indirectly,that you are monitoring them does increase thelikelihood of them engaging with the SOMs (Millikan,
Shimai, & Howarth, 2011).

Conclusion
A question that teachers may ask themselves about
using SOMs is whether it is worth the time and effort
to include them as part of their programme. Student
feedback would suggest that the students realise thebenefits of SOMs and therefore, it is in the students’interest to include SOMs in a program. How effective isusing SOMs in improving the abilities of the students?
Although the question goes well beyond the scope ofSelecting and Implementing SOMs, pages 258-263
this paper, it would be an interesting and worthwhile
point to follow up on. In part, the effectiveness of the
SOMs would depend on the content that is being
presented. When the content is comprehensible to thestudent, and they are open to language acquisition,then SOMs will be effective for the students (Krashen,2013). If the students find the content interesting, anddo the SOMs willingly, rather than reluctantly, then,according to Krashen, effective language acquisition
will occur.
Trying something new is a lot of work. It canlead to a lot of frustration and headaches. We would
prefer to take the easy route, but the problems canbe overcome. With regards to the inclusion of SOMs
in a course of study, we can improve the learning
situation for the students and the work situation for
the teacher. This can be done by following a clear andwell-prepared selection process, and then taking thetime to implement it using the recommendations
discussed. This is not to say that the ideas presented
here are the definitive way to select and implement
SOMs into your courses. Each situation will have its
own particular needs. The materials being created arechanging with the advancements in technology. New
challenges will come up as these changes affect the way
we teach, learn, and interact with each other in thelearning environment we create. We need to be awareof what is happening, and be prepared to adapt.

References
Dunn, J. (2013, May 23). How (and why) teachers
should get started with blended learning. Retrieved
from http://www.edudemic.com/how-and-why-teachers-should-get-started-with-blendedlearning/
Govindasamy, T. (2002). Successful implementationof e-learning: Pedagogical considerations.
Internet and Higher Education, 4, 287-299.
Krashen, S. (2013). Second language acquisition:
theory, applications, and some conjectures.
Mexico City, Mexico: Cambridge University
Press.
Millikan, S., Shimai, Y., & Howarth, M. (2011).
Investigating student beliefs of ALC
NetAcademy. Kyushu Sangyo University
Language Education and Research Center Journal,
6, 37-46.
Moodle. Available at http://moodle.org
National Geographic Learning. (n.d.). About
National Geographic learning. Retrieved fromhttp://ngl.cengage.com/about/
Pearson Longman. My iZone lab. Available at http://
www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/myizonelab/eng/
index.html
Singh, H. (2003). Building effective blended learning
programs. Educational Technology, 43, 51-54.
Swanson, M., & Zitzmann, A. (2011). Blended
learning: A viable solution? Bulletin of Seinan Jo
Gakuin University, 15, 105-115.
Mynavi News. (2013, April 16). Kokunai erāningu
shijou juyou ga kappatsuka BtoB wa yokobai/
BtoC wa kouchou - yano keizai. [Domestic
e-learning market, increase in demand, B2B isstabilizing/B2C is favourable - Yano Economics]
Retrieved from http://news.mynavi.jp/
news/2013/04/16/042/

Author’s Biography:
Andrew Zitzmann is currently working at various universities in the Kitakyushu area. He works
hard at making his classes both interesting and enjoyable. He can be contacted at foster@antazi.
com.

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