2016 April

Volume 2.2
ISSN 2189-0463

ELF

The Center for English
as a Lingua Franca
JournalLearner Attitudes of L2-engaged Exentensive Watchingversus Extensive Reading
Promoting English as a Lingua Franca:
ELF Awareness in a University World Englishes Course
A Proactive ELF-aware Approach
to Listening Comprehension
Podcasting: A Learning Tool for Students ofEnglish as a Lingua Franca
Business Cards for the Communicative Classroom

CONTENTS

玉 川大学

The Center for ELF Journal
Issue Editors: Travis Cote and Brett Milliner
Translation: Mitsuko Imai
Reviewers:
Glenn TohCharlie Robertson
Jesse Hsu
Ethel Ogane
Paul McBride
Yuri Jody Yujobo
Andrew Leichsenring
Blagoja Dimoski
Takanori Sato
Tricia Okada
Mitsuko Imai
Ayako Suzuki

The Center for ELF Journal: Call for Articles
The Center for ELF Journal is a refereed journal that seeks to promote criticalreﬂection among English language teaching professionals from a wide range ofprofessional contexts. Manuscripts are subject to blind reviews by two or morereviewers after initial screening by the editorial committee.

Aims of Journal:▪ To encourage critical awareness among language teaching professionals▪ To encourage reﬂexive thinking among language teaching professionals▪ To encourage a praxis of action and reﬂection among language teaching▪
▪
▪

professionals
To encourage language teaching professionals to empower themselves andin so doing empower their students
To encourage sharing of teaching techniques among ELF teachers
To serve and support the professional development needs of ELF teachers

Types of Articles:

Research article (1000 ~ 3000 words)
Teaching article (1000 ~ 3000 words)
Forum article (1000 words)
Book reviews (1000 words)
ELF classroom practices (1000 words)
Article contributions may include, but are not limited to, one or more of thefollowing areas:▪ English as a Lingua Franca▪ Curriculum design and development▪ Teaching methods, materials and techniques▪ Classroom centered research▪ Testing and evaluation▪ Teacher training and professional development▪ Language learning and acquisition▪ Culture, identity and power in language education▪ Application of technology in the language classroom
Research articles: Research articles should come with a description of theresearch context and research questions, issues pertaining to the research context,
relevant theories, qualitative or quantitative research data, detailed descriptions ofresearch method including clear demonstration of attention to research ethics andcommentary.

Teaching articles: Teaching articles should provide a description of the teachingcontext, relevant issues related to the teaching context, teaching theories andapproaches appropriate to the context as well as comments reﬂecting pedagogicalpraxis.

Forum articles: From time to time, the editor may call for forum articles focusing

on a particular theme or issue. Readers are also welcome to propose themes or
issues for the forum in consultation with the editor. Contributors will be given theopportunity to engage with current issues from a given standpoint as well as witheach otherʼs opinions on the issue.

Book reviews: Writers of book (textbook or other) reviews should ﬁrst contact theeditors with suggested titles before proceeding with the book review.

ELF classroom practices: Articles should be brief “take-away” descriptions of

any activity, project, strategy or useful tool employed with varying degrees ofsuccess in the ELF classroom (i.e.,“teacherʼs toolbox”).

How to submit your manuscript:

Please email your submissions to the editors with the title, “The Center for ELF
Journal Submission”.
email: celfjournal@gmail.com

Issue 2.2 Foreword:
Managed by the Center for English as a Lingua Franca (CELF), the English as a
Lingua Franca (ELF) Program at Tamagawa University is a campus-wide English
program designed to enable students to effectively communicate with people all over
the world using English as a lingua franca. In 2015, approximately 2,500 students
were taught by 40 instructors with different language and cultural backgrounds.
CELF is about giving due recognition to the diverse contexts and situations inwhich English is now used as a lingua franca. The ELF paradigm is versatileand reﬂexive and captures the reality in which English is used for the creationand negotiation of a plurality of fresh meanings. The collection of articles in thisjournal represents the research and work from a handful of those ELF teachers. It
is the teachers, their personal beliefs and principles, who determine the success ofany language program. If teachers are going to hone their teaching skills, deepen
their knowledge and develop professionally, they must receive proper support. To
that end, the editors of this current issue were involved in creating the Center for
English as a Lingua Franca Journal. All teachers in the ELF Program were invited
to submit an academic article or research paper for consideration of publication inthis Journal. For teachers, publication in this Journal represents a chance to add totheir professional resume, but more importantly this is a platform for ELF teachers
to share ideas and add value to our new Center for English as a Lingua Franca.
In this issue, Thomas Saunders and Kensaku Ishimaki explore student perceptionsof extensive watching of ﬁlms with English subtitles. Corazon Kato reports on her
experiences promoting ELF awareness in her university World Englishes class.
Blagoja Dimoski introduces an ELF-aware approach to listening comprehension
tasks. And lastly, two excellent ELF teachers introduce some practical activities for
the ELF classroom. Arup Pandey introduces Podcasts and Michel Seko describes
some communicative applications for student business cards. In closing, I would liketo thank Tamagawa University for their continued ﬁnancial support, the authors fortheir valuable contributions, the reviewers who dedicated their time and knowledge
to the blind review process, and the editors for their direction and management.
March 2016
Masaki Oda, Ph.D.
Director, CELF

Contents

Learner Attitudes of L2-engaged Extensive Watchingversus Extensive Reading

01

Thomas Saunders and Kensaku Ishimaki

Promoting English as a Lingua Franca: ELF Awareness ina University World Englishes Course

15

Corazon Kato

A Proactive ELF-aware Approach to Listening
Comprehension

24

Blagoja Dimoski

Podcasting: A Learning Tool for Students of English as a
Lingua Franca

39

Arup Pandey

Business Cards for the Communicative Classroom
Michael Seko

43

Learner Attitudes of L2-Engaged Extensive
Watching Versus Extensive Reading
L2字幕を使用した多視聴と多読の学習者の動機付け比較評価
Thomas C. Saunders, サンダース・トーマス（宮松知雄）
Tamagawa University, Center for English as Lingua Franca, Japantcsaunders@lab.tamagawa.ac.jp

Kensaku Ishimaki, 石巻賢作
Tamagawa University, Center for English as Lingua Franca, Japank-ishimaki@lab.tamagawa.ac.jp
ABSTRACTThe digital revolution is presenting both instructors and learners with a growing
number of study choices aimed at improving L2 skills and abilities. Many of thesetechnological advancements represent a novel means to incorporate modern media
in educational approaches. This paper maintains that video watching in particular,
lends itself to heightened student engagement.
There is signiﬁcant evidence to support this claim and this paper contends
that there is a need to develop and establish a teaching methodology, similar
to Extensive Reading (ER) that incorporates the diverse functionality of digital
video media. Speciﬁcally, we propose a relatively novel practice espoused from
ER techniques, called Extensive Watching (EW), where students engage in ﬁlm
watching, with both L2 audio and captions enabled. Our contention is that, byengaging in EW activities with English Captions (EC) enabled, students canactively and simultaneously exercise both their listening and reading faculty, whiledeveloping an enjoyable and technologically relevant use of modern media. We
hope to examine learner perceptions of EW, utilising established ER practices as
a comparative yardstick to discern any signiﬁcant effect on learner engagement,
motivation, and autonomy.
Additionally, we hope that this research will add more insight to therelatively new ﬁeld of EW practices and contribute an increased understanding ofwhat beneﬁts this methodology may possess.
KEYWORDS: Extensive Watching, Closed Captioning, Learner Motivation, Learner
Autonomy, Extensive Reading11. INTRODUCTION
1.1 A Brief Background

Over the last quarter century or more, the world has seen an immeasurable increasein digital media and Information Technology (IT). This phenomenon has affectedvirtually all areas of life-educational practices and ways of learning have by nomeans been excluded from these ubiquitous alterations.
One such digital advancement is the widespread proliferation of DigitalVideo Discs (DVDs) and other digitised video material with controllable subtitlingcapabilities. Although the use of captioned video in the EFL classroom is nothing
new (Kikuchi, 1996; Uematsu, 2004), the versatility of control (especially in regards
to caption choice and diversity of media) is somewhat novel. This heightened user
autonomy can have (and in many ways already is having), profound effects on therealm of foreign language study and pedagogical practices. Digital video material
represents a modern media advancement that provides learners with several
education-speciﬁc advantages, as well as innovative and controllable viewing
options – which used strategically, can be immensely constructive. As such, thepractice of Extensive Watching (EW) – watching a high volume of material, with
L2 captions engaged- can greatly improve the skills of learners, who engage in
the activity. Although EW is a relatively new and somewhat undeﬁned concept
in English language teaching (ELT), it derives many of its tenets from the wellestablished practices of Extensive Reading (ER).
The ER philosophy contends that reading large volumes of L2 material(particularly material that the learner chooses to read) works to foster higher levelsof motivation and learner-autonomy, thus greatly improving skills and abilities inthe target language. This is a widely recognized and proven study-method and ourcontention is not to discern a superiority of EW over ER. Rather, we would like toshow how EW is deeply rooted in the practices of ER, and therefore demonstrates
many of the same constructive attributes. Speciﬁcally however, we will look toinvestigate, which of these two methods demonstrates a distinct (if any) preference
and/or inﬂuence over learner-autonomy and motivation.
As we have previously displayed, EW is deeply couched in the practices
and standards of ER (Ishimaki & Saunders, 2015), but differs in its adaptation anduse of ﬁlm and video viewing as its key medium for target language exposure. The
practicality and effectiveness of the ER methodology has been well documented(Bell, 2001; Day & Bamford, 1998), and this paper aims to distinguish a competentand practical means of implementing EW techniques, in keeping with thoseprinciples. Additionally, since viewing DVDs and other visual media with L2
captions engaged, represents a more profound language experience – learners are not
only reading, but also listening and gaining exposure to nuanced and contextualised
language – we contest that this creates a more well-rounded immersion in the target
language.
2

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Video & DVD use in ELT
2.1.1 The Use of Videos (History)

There have been a number of papers published on the efﬁcacy of using ﬁlms,
TV shows, and other (digital) video material as tools in the pursuit of language(Garza, 1991; Hirano & Matsumoto, 2011; Ishimaki & Saunders, 2015; Ismaili,
2013; Iwasaki, 2011; Kikuchi, 1996; Obari, 1996; Kobayashi, 1999; Lin, 2002;
Nakamura, 2007; Osuka, 2007; Ryu, 2011; Takai, 1993; Taura & Taura, 2001).
mechanisms, the ﬁndings and conclusions available can be quite wide-ranging andnuanced with regard to the depth of their effectiveness. Generally speaking, themain areas of contention lie in the arenas of comparative value of one method overanother, or itʼs overall worth and utility in terms of efﬁciency. Without making
normative statements in favour of a particular procedure over another, a brief
review of these ﬁndings is useful here.
Nakamura (2007) has conveniently listed the various advantages of video use
in ELT as providing: (a) exposure to genuine and realistic language (demonstrating
natural speed and pronunciation); (b) understandings of different cultural features
or practices; (c) clear contexts for students and learners to understand situationspeciﬁc English usage; (d) enjoyable settings to lower studentsʼ affective ﬁlters;(e) identiﬁcation of common spoken language through subtitles and/or scripts; (f)encouragement of independent and autonomous study outside the classroom; and(g) longer concentration periods with lower levels of study fatigue. There is little
research to dispute these claims, however the depth of corollary outcomes in actual
language improvement is somewhat contested. That said, most academics concurthat student motivation and engagement are positively inﬂuenced, when video
watching activities are undertaken.
On a brief note about the relevance of this research and EWʼs utility (aswell as video tools in the larger context) in the realm of English as a Lingua
Franca (ELF) application, Nakamuraʼs points (a), (b), and (c) above, speak to theunderstanding that ELF tends to view language and culture more dynamically thanEnglish as a foreign language (EFL) practices do. Simply put, exposure to diverse
and nuanced differences of English from different regions of the world, via EW andvideo watching, can assist students in gaining a more profound conceptualisationof how varied English language can be in real terms. Although not all ﬁlms andvideos will necessarily satisfy this criteria, educators in the area of ELF could electto focus exclusively on titles and works that do demonstrate the different ways inwhich language is negotiated and articulated in different cultural or social settings.
However, this project did not endeavour to do this explicitly, yet the opportunity
for other ELF researchers and practitioners to do so, is certainly available to them.

32.1.2 The Use of Captions (L1 and L2)

With a specific focus on subtitles on the other hand, there is some degreeof dispute. Many scholars have made assertions on both sides of the debate,
and a large reason for this discrepancy can be attributed to differences in the
study groups, methodologies and (in many cases) the rather myopic focus of
measurable marginal benefits (such as improvements in a single skill-area, forinstance, listening – Hirano & Matsumoto, 2011). By example, some reports
look at using video as supplemental to scripts, captions and other readingmaterial or vice versa (Ismaili, 2013; Iwasaki, 2011); or the comparison of
focusing on one video extensively, over many short clips from several sources(Osuka, 2007). Although interesting, most of these studies did not aim toinvestigate the benefits of watching L2 language videos with L2 captions
engaged, especially not in the spirit of an extensive exercise, where highvolumes of consumption are deliberately encouraged.
For our purposes, it is more useful to highlight a few studies thathave attempted to discern how and why, which combination of L1 and/or
L2 audio and caption use, worked best in their implementation. Taura andTaura (2001) found that the benefits of using different combinations of L1 andL2 audio and captions varied, depending upon the base-level proficiencies ofthe learners involved. Obari (1996) did in-class activities, and showed thatwith L2 audio, using both English and Japanese subtitles resulted in the bestcomprehension on the part of students; using only one subtitle (either L1 orL2), resulted in a similar degree of comprehension; and without subtitles
resulted in the least comprehension. In addition, Ryu (2011) and Lin (2002)
argued that closed caption use (either L1 or L2) lowers the difficulty level ofthe original material and increases overall comprehension. Also, Garza (1991)
explained that watching caption-engaged video, gives students a graphic
representation of a spoken language. They are therefore more empowered
to begin assigning meaning to previously difficult language and can beginbuilding up their listening comprehension, while improving reading fluency.
Although not specifically related to caption use, Takai (1993) demonstrated
that video materials worked better than audio materials alone (in this case,audio cassettes) to improve the listening skills of university students. Perhaps
most importantly, Uematsu (2004) demonstrated that when students watchedvideo content with English Captions (ECs) engaged, they were able to improvein multiple skill areas (both listening and reading), and thus demonstrated theadvantages of this approach.
With these benefits in mind, DVDs and digital video represents a means
for students to have increased access to controllable media, where the user can
decide language and caption choice. Additionally, since these media can be
stopped, paused, and rewound by the user, there is an undisputed gain in learnerautonomy for how they choose to control their individual study experiences.
4

The DVD format is not the only means of this increased control (some videostreaming websites, such as www.TED.com, have toggles for multi-lingual
closed captioning capabilities; although still somewhat inaccurate, YouTube
has recently added this functionality to many videos; and pay services, suchas Hulu and Netflix have a similar widget for most of their available titles),yet for the logistical purposes of this study (there is a greater familiarity with
DVD use over the formats mentioned above; DVDs have a deeper and longer
standing market penetration; and they represent less of a technological and/or
conceptual barrier to overcome), we have elected to focus on this particular
digital medium. That said, students were also allowed to use other digital media(such as Hulu and Netflix), so long as they could engage English captions. Also
since a key tenet of an “extensive” study philosophy is that students choose thestudy material, we felt that focusing on films and TV shows would provide
pupils with more preference-appropriate selections. This element of choice
and learner-agency is an important factor when considering extensive study
exercises and their merits for student incentive and action. This consideration
was a key-motivating factor, when devising this study and the authors aimed
at creating a high level of choice for the students to decide from.
2.2 Principles of Extensive Reading

Although Extensive Watching is a somewhat novel concept, its development orconception is heavily couched in the philosophy, practice, and literature of ER(Holden, 2000; Lin, 2002). Of particular signiﬁcance, is the “Self-Determination
Theory” (Deci & Ryan, 1985), which argues that learners are fundamentally more
motivated, when they have more self-control over study methods and materials.
Explicitly, the theory maintains that the more autonomous control a person has;the more s/he is motivated to perform certain actions that lead to deeper and morecommitted study. Day and Bamfordʼs (2002) Top Ten-Principles of Teaching
Extensive Reading, distinguish several tenets (among others) as being central tothe effectiveness of ER activities: (a) students and learners should choose what
they want to read; and (b) the purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure,
information acquisition and general understanding. Both of these claims are
consistent with the theory of self-determination and, when applied to the utilisationof ﬁlms and/or TV shows, should provide a virtuous cycle of reinforcement in theﬁelds of learner-autonomy and motivation.
However, before focusing directly on engagement and motivation levels, itwill also be useful to highlight the fact that Day and Bamford also recognise twoother aspects of effective ER study, which relate to our purposes here: (a) the material
should be easy; and (b) a focus is placed on students reading as much as possible.
With regard to the former, the levelling of written texts is considerably easier thanchoosing levels for ﬁlms and videos. To date, there are several resources available
to students and teachers, wishing to implement an effective ER programme, such5

as Graded Readers. Grading ﬁlms according to English difﬁculty or content on theother hand, is a fairly underdeveloped area of scholarship, and this proved to be aminor stumbling block when designing this survey.
On volume of material consumed, this paper maintains that exposure to
English (in any form) is tantamount to any effective learning in L2 study. In keepingwith that philosophy, EW activities adapted from ER principles (particularly with
ECs engaged), espouse a compounded level of consumption of the target language –combining exposure to both its written and spoken forms. In a highly homogeneousand relatively insular society such as Japan (where access to natural, authentic, andcontextualised English is at a rare premium), the value of this language exposure
cannot be overstated.
2.3 Enhanced Learner Autonomy & Motivation

To expand on understandings of learner autonomy and motivation, Yoshino (2008)
has shown that using Graded Readers in ER, had a constructive effect in thisarea and students demonstrated a positive attitude toward English study. She
effectively determined that students were more intrinsically motivated to study
on their own time and their own terms, when given a high level of choice in study
materials.
Additionally, it has been argued that video use also increases learner(Hirano & Matsumoto, 2011; Ishimaki & Saunders, 2015; Ismaili, 2013; Lin, 2002;
Nakamura, 2007). when these two practices are combined through EW, pupils
should accordingly demonstrate a heightened level of commitment and autonomy
in their educational endeavours.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Hypotheses & Overall Project Implementation

The primary focus of this paper is to outline the effect of EW on learner motivation
and autonomy, in comparison to ER, with a secondary priority of proposing,developing, and establishing an effective way to incorporate EW into a tangible
teaching practice. With the former goal in mind, we attempted to design a schemethat could effectively measure student sentiment towards the two activities, overa 12-week period, in the 2015/16 Fall-Winter Semester at a private Japanese
university in Tokyo. During this time several surveys were conducted throughout
the exercise, which consisted of a (a) Pre-Assignment Survey, at the outset of theactivity; (b) a Post-Hoc Survey, implemented at the end of term; and (c) several
Extensive Watching Film/Video Reports, which students were instructed to answer
after each video they watched. All of these questionnaires were facilitated via theonline survey and data-generating website, Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.
com). Although the Pre-Assignment Survey and the Post-Hoc Survey were fairly
similar in content and were designed with the expressed goal of gauging student
6

sentiments before and after the activity, the video watching reports were slightly
different. Not only were they ﬁlled-out at more regular intervals throughout the
project, they also served the three-fold purposes of: (1) demonstrating evidence oftask completion and ﬁlm viewing during the activity; (2) providing an element ofinteractivity to help students digest the ﬁlms they were watching, by delivering taskbased activities and questions pertaining to each title watched; and (3) generating
data for analysis of the projectʼs efﬁcacy and development of autonomous study
practices. On a ﬁnal note about the surveys themselves, it is important to mention
that the Pre-Assignment Survey and Extensive Watching Film/Video Reports wereused more as tools to assist in verifying answers and to facilitate the data-analysis
process.
Finally, at the same time as trying to discover a distinguishable preferenceof study, the researchers also attempted to investigate how much learner autonomy
and marginal beneﬁt (perceived or otherwise) the subjects felt they gained, byengaging in the EW exercise. That said, in order to expedite the Post-Hoc Survey
in a relatively short amount of time, the majority of questions were limited tosentiments of skill-based beneﬁt and in what ways they felt the activity helped
them ameliorate their English.
3.2 Profile of the Subjects

This activity was assigned as homework to a total of 67 students in four separate
200-level English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) classes. The classes ranged in size
from 15-20 students, where all the subjects were 1st year students (usually aged 1820 years old), and Japanese nationals. The subjects were registered in Liberal Arts,
Humanities, College of Arts, or Agriculture. It should be noted that mandatory
enrolment in these classes and the overall number of semesters spent in the ELF
programme, differs by college and is major-speciﬁc throughout their university
careers. That said, since all the subjects were 1st year students, their baseline English
abilities (vis-à-vis experience in university level English courses) was understood
to be relatively similar.
3.3 Implementation of Extensive Watching (EW)The completion of the EW project was mandatory and students were told that it
would count toward their ﬁnal grades, however in keeping with the voluntary spiritof an “extensive” study method, subjects were given a large list of ﬁlms and TV
shows to choose from (which included 150 titles) and asked to watch a minimum
amount of material over the given time period (6 ﬁlms or 12 TV shows and/or
a combination thereof). Anything beyond that minimum was done on their own
accord, yet they were regularly encouraged to undertake more viewing, if theywanted to.
When devising the list, the researchers brainstormed several titles that were
thought to be interesting or relevant to the students themselves. During this process,7

considerations were made to include a wide variety of titles and genres that would
give the subjects as much choice as possible. As the authors also actively instructthese classes, a well-founded relationship with the learnersʼ abilities also existed,thus the list was developed with this in mind. Additionally, since the focus groupmembers are enrolled in an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) programme, there
was a concerted effort made to include several titles, which featured a variety ofworld “Englishes” and accents that can be found outside of the so-called “inner
circle” countries (Kachru, 1985) However, there was no effort made to inﬂuence
the studentsʼ selections toward these titles and they were given complete autonomy,
when selecting what to watch.
3.4 Implementation of Extensive Reading (ER)There is already an extant ER programme in place at the university and all students
in the ELF programme are required to engage in some degree of this activity for
their grade. That said, there is a fair amount of autonomy and variance with regards
to how each class and instructor chooses to implement and undertake the logisticsof the ER enterprise. In the instance of the classes under review here, the researchers
decided to gauge student-progress and involvement via the well-established andwidely available M-Reader online platform (see www.mreader.org).
For each class, word count targets (either 30,000 or 50,000 words for thesemester, depending on the class) were set by the instructors and students were
given a wide-range of choice regarding titles they could read and/or select. Uponcompletion of each work, students were asked to ﬁll-out online quizzes that,commensurate with the M-Reader software, test reader comprehension and theveracity of task-completion. To further incentivise student engagement in thisactivity beyond the minimum word counts, students were told that those who readmore than the minimum targets would receive higher marks in their ﬁnal grades.
4. FINDINGS & RESULTS
4.1 Comparisons of EW & ER
4.1.1 Preference of Study Method

By examining the results of the Post-Hoc Survey, we can quickly surmise that the
subjects had an overwhelmingly positive feeling toward the EW method in general.
There are several questions that indicate the subjects had a broadly positive attitude
toward the EW activity and this is in keeping with information gleaned from aprevious study about the highly motivational beneﬁts of EW (Ishimaki & Saunders,2015).
When running comparisons of preference between EW and ER, it is obviousthat the students generally favoured the EW project to the ER activity. Speciﬁcally,
Q16 and Q22 (Tables 1 & 2) demonstrate a strong correlation indicating thispreference with over 67% and 73% of respondents respectively, stating they either8

“preferred” or “strongly preferred” the EW method to ER and found it “(much) moreenjoyable and/or interesting”. Furthermore, of the respondents who were able todiscern a greater amount of time spent on one activity or the other, Q23 (Table3) shows that 34.33% of them spent more time on EW, compared with 23.88%
working longer on ER. Presumably, this may indicate a preference for the previous
activity, as the students would be more motivated to undertake this activity andelect to spend more time on it. Regretfully, the researchers failed to anticipate thisoutcome and didnʼt include a follow-up question to ascertain the reason for thegreater time spent on EW. An alternate reason could certainly be due to difﬁcultyof one method over the other and therefore the subjects had to spend more energy
on it. Arguably, if a study method is thought to be too difﬁcult, this will invariably
have a negative effect on their sentiments toward it and work against promoting
learner motivation. Yet, the data in Table 4, which shows respondentsʼ perceptionsof improvement by skill area, should sufﬁce to counter this possibility and evidence
an overall learner-preference for EW-based study.

Table 1

Table 29

Table 3

Table 44.1.2 Comparison of Perceived EffectivenessTurning our attention toward a comparison of perceived effectiveness between
the two activities, nearly 63% of the subjects expressed a sense that EW was
more effective than ER as an overall means for improving their English skills(Q17, Table 5). Yet here again, when one takes a more myopic view to focus
specifically on the four skill areas of listening, reading, speaking, and writing thereplies to Q18 through Q21 (Table 6), demonstrate a more nuanced perception ineach activity’s educational merit.
Table 510

Table 6

When considering the more aurally based areas of listening and speaking(Q18 and Q20, Table 6), we can see a strong sentiment that EW is more effective
than the ER approach. This is especially true for listening (Q18, Table 6), and justunder 78% of the students felt that EW was either “more effective” or “much more
effective” than ER. None of the subjects felt that ER was “much more effective”
than EW - it should be noted that only 1 of the 67 admissible answers indicatedthat ER could serve as a “more effective” means to improve listening skills. The
assumed improvement of speaking skills (Q20, Table 6) also has an overall leaning
toward EW as the more effective method (almost 55%), but itʼs important to notethat there is a signiﬁcant number of responses that make no distinction between the
two activities. This large number of neutral answers can also be seen in question 21(Table 6), which measures impressions of effectiveness in the area of writing. Thisis likely due to the fact that neither EW nor ER are distinctively designed to focus
on these two skill areas.
Despite this fact, there were still 28% that felt EW was preferable to ER for
ameliorating writing skills (Q21, Table 6), compared to almost 33% who thought
the opposite. That said, the difference is rather nominal in this ﬁeld and the overall
attitudes still correspond with the feeling that EW is more effective in general. Thisis also true of the comparative sentiments in the arena of reading skills. Question
19 (Table 6) shows that there is a greater number of students (34%), who believethat ER is more effective for this competence, as opposed to slightly less than 33%
that think the other way. This tremendously narrow margin is very interesting and it
would have been illuminating to ask follow-up questions, in order to discover what
speciﬁc advantages they distinguished individually. However, this is not within thepurview of this essayʼs research, yet could provide an area for further study in the
future.
What is signiﬁcant however, is the fact that, even when asked about eachindividual skill area, the students did not deviate from their opinions about theoverall efﬁcacy of EW over ER. These sentiments, coupled with the information
about preference above, should sufﬁce to argue that as a study method, EW has astrong and positive effect on learner-motivation.
4.2 Summary of Results

Compared with ER, EW was proven to be more enjoyable to the subjects overall.
11

Further, the majority of the students felt that this method did help them improvetheir second language skills. There is, of course, an immeasurable beneﬁt to
engagement and motivation, when pupils believe they are advancing and/or
enjoying themselves while studying. More research is necessary to look into
how this increased preference for EW over ER can affect real and/or tangible
improvement in English skills.
5. LIMITATIONS & CONSTRAINTS

As evidenced in some of the student responses to encountered difﬁculties, there
were many time constraints, which proved burdensome. Question 15 in the
Post-Hoc Survey attempted to ﬁnd areas that students had difﬁculty with andnot surprisingly, there were many students, who claimed that they experienced
comprehension issues. This was to be expected, since there were a large numberof students, who claimed they had difﬁculty with English comprehension in ﬁlms,
on the Pre-Assignment Survey; and very few said they had ever attempted to dosomething like this before. Of perhaps more utility however, is the fact that manyof the difﬁculties had to do with time constraints and some of them were upset withthe cost of the activity (having to hire and/or purchase DVDs on their own). Of
course, these are structural issues that are more acute for time and cash strapped
university students, and they may have had more positive feedback, had they beenable to borrow the ﬁlms and TV shows for free from the library (as they were able
to do with the Graded Readers for the ER assignment).
As mentioned in the Methodology section, there is a great difﬁculty in
distinguishing the levels of ﬁlms and videos available for an EW project of thisnature. ER programmes and activities beneﬁt from having a large base of material
that is levelled and graded according to skills and abilities of the readers. If there
were a better means of ﬁnding and categorising ﬁlms, the experiment could havebeneﬁted immensely, as the students would be able to choose titles and videos
that match their general language levels. We will speak more on this in the Future
Considerations section below.
6. FUTURE CONSIDERATIONSExtensive Watching is an area of relatively limited scholarship and further researchis certainly needed. Considering the effect on learner autonomy discovered herein,
the authors feel conﬁdent that the EW scheme is certainly worth pursuing andperhaps further development, via a platform such as M-reader, could be beneﬁcial.
Without as many of the limitations and constraints listed above, a future study
might be able to effectively discover the skill-speciﬁc and quantiﬁable beneﬁts of
EW practice.
Categorically, any future scholarship in the EW realm would greatly beneﬁt
12

from having a database of leveled and graded ﬁlm material, from which students
could select titles. This speaks directly to research put forth by Krashen (1982),
which argues that in order to maximise any form of language study, “comprehensible
input” is immensely important. In his research, he argues that students can only
learn things that they understand. This seems like an odd statement but Krashen
utilises the “i + one” formula to better explain this concept, where (i) represents
the level that the learner is currently at, and the (+ one) indicates a small stepup from that baseline. Therefore, choosing level-appropriate material and devising
an effective means of testing (which simultaneously challenges and rewards the
subject) is extremely important.
Lastly, Takase (2007) argues that the time consuming business of checking
ER task-completion results in reducing the reading time of learners. Since extensive
study methods put a premium on language exposure, this works against its coretenets. So facilitating the checking and responses of the learners engaged in the
programme is highly important. In order to maximise the effect of any extensive
study programme a standardised classiﬁcation of difﬁculty levels is immeasurably
valuable. This augmented efﬁciency would also enhance the facilitation andadministration of any future scholarship in the ﬁeld.
REFERENCES

Bell, T. (2001). Extensive reading: Speed and comprehension. The Reading
Matrix, 1(1). Retrieved from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/bell/Day, R. R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive reading in the second language
classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Day, R., & Bamford, J. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading.
Reading in a Foreign Language, 14(2), 136-141.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self−determinationin human behavior. New York: Plenum.
Garza, T. J. (1991). Evaluating the use of captioned video materials in advanced
foreign language learning. Foreign Language Annals, 24(3), 239-258.
Holden, Making the most of movies: Keeping ﬁlm response journals.
Classroom ideas.
Ismaili, M. (2013). The effectiveness of using movies in the EFL classroom–A
study conducted at South East European University. Academic Journal ofInterdisciplinary Studies, 2(4), 121-132.
Ishimaki, K., & Saunders, T. (2015). Devising an effective methodology formeasuring the beneﬁt of L2 subtitled extensive watching on learnermotivation, autonomy and skill development. The Center for ELF Journal,
1, 61-82.
Iwasaki, H. (2011). Lexical inference with movies and their scripts. 映画英語教育
研究：紀要, (16), 79-90.
13Kachru, B. B. (1985). Standards, codiﬁcation and sociolinguistic realism: theEnglish language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk and H.G. Widdowson(Eds.), English in the world: Teaching and learning the language andliteratures (pp. 11-30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language
acquisition (Vol. 2). Oxford: Pergamon.
Lin, L. Y. (2002). The effects of feature ﬁlms upon learnersʼ motivation, listening
comprehension performance and speaking skills: The learner-centeredapproach. Taipei: Crane Publishing Co., Ltd.
Nakamura, K. (2007). Teaching learning strategies to EFL college students
through DVD movies. 北海道工業大学研究紀要, 35, 125-132.
Osuka, N. (2007). The comparison of a class using one movie and a classusing several movies. 映画英語教育研究：紀要, (12), 3-12.
Ryu, D. H. (2011). The effects of ﬁlm subtitles on studentsʼ language
awareness. 映画英語教育研究：紀要, (16), 17-31.
SurveyMonkey, (2015). Retrieved from https://www.surveymonkey.net/
TED Ideas worth spreading, (2015). Retrieved from http://www.ted.com
The Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb), (2015). Retrieved from http://
www.imsdb.com
Xhemaili, M. (2013). The advantages of using ﬁlms to enhance studentʼsreading skills in the EFL classroom. Journal of Education and Practice,4(13), 62-66.
植松茂男. (2004). DVD 映画教材利用時の英語字幕が英語学習に与える影響について.
メディア教育研究, 1(1), 107-114.
菊地俊一. (1996). 英語教育における英語字幕付き映画の可能性. 沼津工業高等専門学校
研究報告, 30, 169-182.
小張敬之. (1996). 日本語字幕・英語字幕付きビデオ教材とビデオ教材の聴取理解に及ぼす効果の比較研究. 映画英語教育研究：紀要, (2), 11-22.
小林敏彦. (1999). クローズド・キャプション・システム対応の洋画ビデオソフトを活用した英語授業. Language Studies：言語センター広報, 7, 21-40.
田浦秀幸, & 田浦アマンダ. (2001). < 原著> DVD 映画提示形態 (モダリティー) によるL2 リスニング力への影響. 福井医科大学研究雑誌, 2(1), 65-70.
高井収. (1993). Are movies really effective for Japanese students to improvetheir listening comprehension ability?：A pilot study. 小樽商科大学人文研
究, 86, 117-137.
高瀬敦子. (2007). 大学生の効果的多読指導法：易しい多読用教材と授業内読書の効果.
関西大学外国語教育フォーラム, 6, 1-13.
平野順也, & 松本知子. (2011). 映画を利用したリスニング指導：総合的な英語力を目指して.
映画英語教育研究: 紀要, (16), 91-103.
吉野康子. (2008). 外国語としての英語学習の動機づけ：自己決定理論の視点から.
実践女子大学 FLC ジャーナル, 3, 63-81.
14

Promoting English as a Lingua Franca:
ELF Awareness in a University World
Englishes Course
リンガフランカとしての英語へ：World Englishes Courseを通してELFを学ぶ
Corazon Talam Kato, コラゾン ・タラム カトウ
Rikkyo University, English Language Program, Tokyo, Japan
corajp@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT

Substantial evidence has shown that Japanese English learners continue tohave high admiration for the Inner Circle English varieties (Kubota, 2004;
Fukuda, 2010). Many university students demonstrate this belief in the quest fora ʻhigh price tagʼ goal, set as a yardstick, in learning English: to sound like First
Language (L1) English speakers. According to Cook (2002; cited in Kirkpatrick,2013), only a few can achieve it. The failure to attain such an objective has misledmany English learners to disliking English, not only as a subject but also as a toolfor communication with people from the same or different cultures. Also, the very
high regard for L1 English varieties has resulted in the marginalization of many
English users and experts from Outer, and even more so, the Expanding Circle; it
has stereotyped their use of English as substandard. Studies revealed that throughthe concept of “World Englishes” (WEs), English learners could lessen their
negative feeling toward their own English (Horie & Long, 2007). This report will
discuss how a university course focusing on World Englishes (WEs) and English asa Lingua Franca (ELF), has led EFL learners to re-evaluate their views of English.
KEYWORDS: World Englishes, Higher Education, English as a Lingua Franca,
Language Awareness

1. INTRODUCTION

Why bring the issues of WEs and ELF into the Japanese classroom? The mostrecent English education reform programs for globalization by MEXT (2014) haveobligated schools to respond to the call for globalization. As a consequence, thishas brought about changes in the English programs at many schools. The fact is that15

when globalization is mentioned, English is associated with it (Jenkins, 2014b),
and as such, educators are destined to play a vital role in helping the students
understand some of the linguistic implications of globalization. Suzuki (2015)
mentioned that teachers have to be “global educators” to respond to the current
changes in English status. Teachers are the “key factors” to raise awareness and toeducate English learners on how WEs and ELF are shaping the future of English itself
and inﬂuencing its users. Considering that more English users are coming from theOuter and Expanding Circles than the Inner Circle, ELF will undoubtedly dominate
the global communication. Likewise, with the different cultural backgrounds of its
users, English, like other languages, will be reshaped by English speakers to ﬁt theirsituations. Therefore, we can agree with Graddol (1997) that it is the users outside
the Inner Circle countries that will eventually determine the future of English.
2. REVIEW OF LITERATUREAs globalization and English are interconnected, so are WEs and ELF. Kirkpatrick,(2013, p. 5) deﬁnes ʻWorld Englishesʼ̶“those indigenous, nativized varieties [ofEnglish] that have developed around the world and that reﬂect the cultural andpragmatic norms of their speakers.” Many linguistics scholars consider KachruʼsModel (1992, p. 356) with inner, outer and expanding circles as the most “inﬂuential
illustrations” to describe the spread of World Englishes. Kachruʼs model identiﬁes
English as a Native Language (ENL) speakers in the Inner Circle, the ESL speakers
or ʻNewʼ Englishes in the Outer Circle, and the EFL speakers in the Expanding Circle(Jenkins, 2009). The ʻNewʼ Englishes include the countries of India, Philippines,
Nigeria, Singapore, Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Tanzania and Zambia (Kachru, 1992). However, the role of English has
been increasing in the Expanding Circle, and ʻNewʼ Englishes are developing,
resulting in the new nativized varieties, i.e., in the case of China, Chinese-English(Kirkpatrick, 2013).
The births of ʻNewʼ Englishes have signiﬁcantly inﬂuenced the rise of
ELF. Seidlhofer (2011, p. 7) deﬁnes ELF as “any use of English among speakers
of different ﬁrst language for whom English is the communicative medium of
choice, and often the only option.” Prominent ELF proponent, Jenkins, (2014a, p.
40) advocates that “ELF is the primary lingua franca of globalization.” And “theglobalization of English has highlighted the extensive role of ELF in interculturalcommunications” (Wang, 2013; in Jenkins, 2014b, p. 230).
Crystal (2003, p. 22) pointed out that for ELF users to be successful, there is“the need for mutual intelligibility and identity.” Identity according to Joseph (2004,
p. 224) ʻis at the heart of what language is about, how it operates, why and how itcame into existence and evolved as it did, how it is learned, and it is used, everyday,by every user, every time it is used.ʼ In Japan, the pursuit of [English] language isa means to express oneʼs identity (Seargeant, 2009, p. 131), and pronouncing like anative is associated with high status (Horie & Long, 2012). With the global spread16

of English language, the identities of English users are becoming more complex as
they make a choice to use their own local variety or shift to follow the ENL norms.
How English speakers view their identity and how they regard themselves whencommunicating with others is important in international communication (Jenkins,2007).
Kirkpatrick (2010, p. 80) stated that “a lingua franca needs to be intelligible
across linguistic and cultural boundaries.” Due to the distinct phonologicalfeatures of English varieties spoken in ELF situations, intelligibility should
be addressed to avoid miscommunications (Kirkpatrick, 2010). Smith (1992:
see also Smith & Nelson, 1985 in Kachru & Nelson, 2006, p. 67) analyzed
intelligibility, comprehensibility and interpretability. Smith and Raﬁqzad (1979,in Kirkpatrick, 2010, p. 80) deﬁnes intelligibility as the “ability to recognize words
and utterances; comprehensibility is the ability to understand the meaning ofutterances; and interpretability is an ability to understand the pragmatic meaningof an utterance”. In their study of intelligibility, Smith and Raﬁqzad (1979, citedin both Kirkpatrick, 2010, p. 80-81 and Kachru & Nelson 2006, p. 70-71) foundthat “the native speaker was always the least intelligible speakers [sic]”. Jenkins,(2007, p. 237-238) also echoed that a NS is not the most internationally intelligible.
In another investigation on intelligibility it was reported in the studies
on the conversations of Singaporean English speakers (Kirkpatrick & Saunders,2005 in Kirkpatrick 2010, p. 81) and Hong Kong English speakers (Kirkpatrick,
Deterding & Wong, 2008, in Kirkpatrick, 2010, p. 81) with a native speaker, that
the Singaporean and Hong Kongers were comprehensible and interpretable. Thus,
generally intelligible. In Japan, Matsuura, Chiba and Fujieda (1999, in Kachru& Nelson, 2006, p. 72-73) investigated the intelligibility and comprehensibilityof American and Irish English speakers. The results revealed that “there is alikelihood of mismatch between what speakers think they are understanding,their ʻperceived comprehensibilityʼ and their actual measurable intelligibility andcomprehensibility.” Factors such as “clarity, intonations, familiarity and exposure”
can assist “achieve successful communication.” The study also urged the Japaneseinstitutions to hire non-Japanese teachers from places other than North America
to expose students to more varieties of accents.
As the English language continues to play a part in globalization, it has
become the language of others so that whoever speaks it, owns it. Widdowson(2003, p. 35) remarked that English is “seeded”, and so as Crystal (2003, p.172)
points out, its owners who adapt it “add to it, modify it, play with it, and create
in it.” Considering the innovations of English, educational institutions should
put into practice the consciousness of WEs and ELF concepts in the learning
environment, so that students will understand the transformations of English, its
history and movement. Thus, learners will be enlightened of their perceptions ofEnglish and their own English as well. Students should be informed that aiming
for the native-like model “is both unattainable and inappropriate” (Kirkpatrick,17

2013, p. 189). At present, it is no longer practical to be conﬁned to ENL norms, as
ELF users would creatively exploit the English language to make use of it in theirown situations (Seidlhofer, 2011). Hence, by not exposing the English learners to
the reality that there exist many varieties of English, they will continue to upholdthe L1 varieties as the only point of reference.
In Japan, there are at least a few institutions that enthusiastically promote
the practices of WEs and ELF. A couple of examples include The Department ofWorld Englishes at Chukyo University (Yoshikawa, 2005 in Kirkpatrick, 2013),
and the Center for English as a Lingua Franca of Tamagawa University in 2013
(CELF Journal, 2015). Many institutions are also supporting WEs and ELF in theirrespective teaching environment. However, the schools mentioned have made thesigniﬁcant moves to step out from the traditional ELT practices of not advocating
the Inner Circle English varieties only, but rather recognizing the experience andexpertise of the teachers no matter what their nationalities are.
3. BACKGROUND AND METHODS

The subject “World Englishes” was introduced in an elective course at a university
in Tokyo with the adoption of the course textbook “World Englishes–A Resource
Book for Students, Second Edition” by Jennifer Jenkins (2009). The course wastaught once a week for ninety minutes in the spring semester of 2015 to a class ofeighteen university students: sixteen Japanese, a Korean, and a Chinese.
During the course, studentsʼ responses on the advanced tasks in the textbook
were gathered through group discussions, narrative inquiries, and in-class interviews.
One alternative for gathering data in classroom research is a narrative inquiry. In
this study, there was an overlapping use of “narrative analysis” and “analysis ofnarratives.” In the narrative analysis, the students told their stories. Meanwhile,in the analysis of narratives, studentsʼ written reports were used as data and wereanalyzed (Polkinghorne 1995; in Barkhuizen, Benson & Chik, 2014).
In class discussions, students shared their learning experiences and discussed
their arguments and tasks. Information relevant to the issues being studied wascollected (narrative analysis). Studentsʼ written tasks were used for the analysis
of narratives. Questions were raised to the class in order to follow up on studentsʼ
responses.
Issues: The following questions were selected for this report.
1. What are the studentsʼ perceptions of English before and after taking up thecourse?
2. How do students view intelligibility and identity?
3. What do students say about English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)?
4. Does the knowledge of the subject, ʻWorld Englishes,ʼ inﬂuence the studentsʼ
views of learning English?
18

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Perceptions of English before and after taking the course

A summary of my general understanding of studentsʼ perceptions of English before
the course: British and American varieties are more highly favored than otherL1 varieties. These types are also seen as prestigious among other Inner Circle
varieties. English is viewed positively as strong, powerful, inﬂuential, useful, andperfect̶an international language, the worldʼs standard language̶and it has
the highest authority in the world. Simultaneously, students found it a difﬁcult
language and even believed that there is only a single variety. Moreover, students
recognize the importance of English as an essential language for society. It is a toolfor communication and an instrument by which one can enjoy life (reading books,
watching movies, traveling, using the Internet-SNS) and being able to use it is askill that is necessary for ﬁnding a job in the future.
A summary of my general understanding of studentsʼ perceptions of English
after the course: After taking up the course, students view English as a dynamic,
a changing, an unﬁxed, a complex, and a diverse language. Due to its global
status, it can be freely spoken by anyone. Students pointed out that it is also a“troublemaker,” resulting in too many mother tongues becoming endangered. The
many varieties are perceived as widely varying in status, such as ESL, EFL, EIL,
ELF, make it hierarchic. Students have recognized the existence of indigenous and“New Englishes” such as Singlish and Singapore English, Chinglish and ChineseEnglish, Taglish and Filipino English, and Indian English, among others. Students
have discovered the answers to their unanswered questions. One student reported,“Now I found the unknown reasons why English is strange and challenging.” Anotherstudent envisioned the possibilities that countries will have closer relationships
due to one language (English). Most students admitted that it is less important
to communicate in English with Native English Speakers (NES) only, and more
important to communicate with people worldwide. Furthermore, students becameaware that English is not the only language of the future. Despite all the changes andadditions to studentsʼ views, it remains that students uphold British and American
varieties among other varieties.
A summary of my general understanding of studentsʼ proposed action plan:
Students have proposed that it would be better to learn another language along withEnglish (e.g., Chinese or Spanish). They agreed that they should not ﬁx their goals
to communicate using only the Inner Circle varieties, but should also communicate
in English with Outer and Expanding Circle speakers; they should not be afraid
to communicate in English with Inner Circle speakers; they should develop theirconﬁdence to speak English in their own L1 accent by communicating in English
with fellow Japanese individuals. They approved the respect of foreign cultures andlanguages to avoid misunderstandings and acknowledge the importance of learning
the educated or standard English to be intelligible to both non-native speakers
19

(NNS) and native speakers (NS) of English.
4.2 Views on Intelligibility and Identity

The students discussed and responded to the suggested task from the textbook.
Have you ever given thought to retaining your L1 identity in
English? Is it important to you to retain your L1 identity in
English? Are you more concerned with being intelligible to NS
or NNS of English, or do you not distinguish between the twogroups of listeners? Do you believe it is appropriate to retain yourL1 accent in your English or that you should attempt to sound likea native speaker? Do you believe it is possible to retain your L1
accent in English and still be intelligible to NS/NNS? (Prodromou,
1997, as cited in Jenkins, 2009, p. 43)
The results showed that 75% of the students have given thought to retaining
their L1 identity in English, while 25% said they had not. There were 62.5% who
claimed that it is not important to retain oneʼs identity in English, in contrast
with 37.5% who said it is important. There were 12.5% of the students who weremainly concerned with being intelligible to NS, 50% with NNS, and 37.5% who
do not try to distinguish between the two groups of listeners. There were 12.5%
that believed that it was appropriate to retain oneʼs L1 accent, and 87.5% agreed
that they should attempt to sound ʻnative-like.ʼ Lastly, 75% of the class agreed
that it is possible to retain an L1 accent in English and still be intelligible to NS
and NNS while 12.5% replied that it is not feasible, and 12.5% answered that they
do not know.
The results reveal that 75% of the students have given thought to whether
or not to retain their L1 identity. However, it is not important for 62.5% of them.
That is why 87.5% of them attempt to sound ʻnative-likeʼ. The students have also
seen the importance of intelligibility, in communicating with fellow NNS, as the
speakers have different L1 backgrounds.
4.3 Views on ELF

20

Question: If ELF does become accepted and widespread in interculturalcommunication, do you predict any problems for NS of English? (Jenkins 2009,p. 150). The studentsʼ responded that NES will have difﬁculty in understanding
ELF users; received pronunciation (RP) English and culture will slowly disappear;
NES identity will fade, and grammar and pronunciation will be confusing.
Students held the view that NES should recognize that English is diverse andtherefore should accommodate ELF users.
The result shows that students acknowledged the importance of accommodation
strategies to become intelligible English speakers in an international communication
setting. Studentsʼ observations support previous research ﬁndings that NES being

the least intelligible in an international communication setting will have difﬁculty inunderstanding ELF users, and therefore, have to assess their identity in ELF setting.
4.4 Views on ‘World Englishes.’

Question: Does your knowledge of the subject of World Englishes change yourviews about learning English? Does it change your preference of which model toadopt or adapt? It was found that sixteen students agreed that gaining knowledge ofWEs has increased their conﬁdence in the use of an L1 accent. One student, Mayu
(pseudonym), iterated that “I am not going to aim for ʻnative-like.ʼ I want to haveconﬁdence in my own English.” At least two students, Ai and Waka, (pseudonyms)
did not change their views. Ai said, “I have prior knowledge of English, its history,
and distribution…I know it is not a completed language…I want to researchmore.” Waka pointed out that her brother worked in a particular country and that
he would come back on his trips and tell them about communication problems in
English in that country. Therefore, she had decided to go to America or Britain tolearn English further.
It appeared that students keep their preferences for British and American
varieties. They argued that “English is a subject in Japan. Therefore, it is practicalto aim for the educated English.” One student, in particular, mentioned that “Irecognize other varieties, but I have to be aware of correct pronunciation andgrammar.” During the discussion, it was revealed that studentsʼ prior contacts with
British and American English teachers in elementary schools, cram schools (Juku),
high schools, family trips, and study/travel abroad programs have also contributed
to their decisions. Similarly, students who were taught by local teachers in earlier
years preferred to learn only British and American varieties.
5. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

One result of research into World Englishes is that students may now be more awareof how English is used in the world. The studentsʼ lack of knowledge of how English
has phenomenally spread has caused them to believe that the English language islimited to the Inner Circle varieties only. Thus, the course has resulted in studentsʼ
deliberately reevaluating their experiences of learning the English language. On
the other hand, despite the fact that students claimed the WEs subject has brought
more awareness of ELF, they still note the practical beneﬁts of knowing standard
English and becoming intelligible to all speakers of English when preparing fortheir future.
As mentioned earlier, educators have vital roles to play in raising awareness of
the ideologies of WEs and ELF. Hence, they should respond adequately to thechanging global status of English. Although many institutions are still adhering to
NES with their hiring policy, some schools are responding to the global linguistic
environments by employing teachers from the Outer and Expanding Circles.
However, as what Kirkpatrick (2013) mentioned, it is through the efforts of local
21

educators, that the concepts of WEs and ELF can thrive because [only] the locals
can legitimize their own variety or model. Also, the hiring of local teachers canincrease studentsʼ conﬁdence and self-esteem as they see their teachers as rolemodels. Taking into account that most universities conduct study-abroad programs,
students should have opportunities to engage with English speakers from the Outerand Expanding Circle countries to help them to realize that ELF is the global lingua
franca.
Even though a change in attitude is not the focus of this investigation, it has
surfaced in the study that the awareness brought by the subject WEs has provided
an opportunity for the students to reconsider their attitudes toward English learning.
However, according to Widdowson (2015), awareness does not guarantee a change
in a learnerʼs attitude. Nonetheless, changes in studentsʼ attitude toward English
will help determine if this awareness has inﬂuenced their beliefs. Since this study
is limited to the teacherʼs experience in the classroom for only one semester, further
study is recommended to verify the current results. A further investigation into
whether a learnerʼs awareness of WEs and ELF leads to a change of attitude inlearning English is also recommended.
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2015 ELF Forum, The Centre for English as a Lingua Franca, Tamagawa
University, Tokyo.
The Center for ELF (2015). Foreword, The Center for ELF Journal, 1(1), 5.
The Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology in JapanMEXT, (ND). English Education. Reform Plan Corresponding to
Globalization. Retrieved September 12, 2015, from http://www.mext.go.jp/
english/topics/1343591.htm
Widdowson, H.G. (2003). Deﬁning Issues in English Language Teaching.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. (2015). ELF and teaching: Principles and practice. Paper
presented at The Eighth English as a Lingua Franca Conference. BeijingInternational Convention Center, Beijing, China.

23

A proactive ELF-aware approach to listening
comprehension
ELFアプローチによるプロアクティブリスニングの活用法
Blagoja Dimoski, ディモスキ・ブラゴヤ
Tamagawa University, Center for English as a lingua franca (CELF), Japanbdimoski@lit.tamagawa.ac.jp
ABSTRACT

Listening comprehension (LC) is an integral part of language learning. Althoughcourse textbooks contain a diverse range of listening tasks for classroom learning,they also tend to share some common, albeit potentially problematic, features worth
considering more deeply; namely, 1) listening is presented as an isolated skill(i.e. detached from speaking), 2) visually-based supplementary material is often
underutilized, and 3) learners play a predominantly passive role in the process. The
current paper will argue that such traditional approaches to LC are not reﬂective of
real-world conditions our learners are likely to encounter, and to some extent, mayeven run counter to our teaching aims. With this in mind, the paper will present
an alternative approach to LC, developed by the author, which can be used either
as an adjunct activity to existing listening segments in course textbooks or as a
substitute for them. In this approach, the source of auditory output is not technology,
but rather, it is the learners who engage in reading transcripts of listening texts
aloud to each other in pairs. This participatory process places ownership of thelanguage in the hands of the learners and opens, rather than closes, the door tolearner inquiry and the negotiation of meaning during the listening task itself,
providing greater authenticity and compatibility with ELF-oriented principles than
traditional approaches.
KEYWORDS: Listening Comprehension, Communication Strategies, Language
Ownership, Non-verbal Communication
1. INTRODUCTION

The American author and humorist, Mark Twain once stated, “If we were supposed
to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.” From ourdaily experience, it is clearly evident that successful human communication
depends greatly on oneʼs ability to listen effectively. It follows then that listening
comprehension (LC) has been a staple of language learning since the inception of24

formal language education.
Over the course of many decades, language teaching has steadily evolved
and made major strides along the way. Beginning with behaviorist native-speakercentric approaches such as the Audio-lingual Method, a gradual shift in attitudes andperceptions brought about the introduction of more communicative approaches tolanguage learning. In more modern times, the term English as a Foreign Language(EFL) came to be viewed by some as an overly narrow (i.e. a one-size-ﬁts-all)description of language learning. This paradigm shift in turn led to the emergenceof the new and evolving ﬁeld of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) which, due toglobalization and the rapid growth of and increasing accessibility to technology,
recognizes the unique nature and growing number of interactions between nonnative speakers (NNSs) who use English as a common language of choice. Whatis more, the realization that, during such interactions, speakers may not conformto native English speaker norms suggests that a native-speaker-centric model oflanguage proﬁciency may not be adequate for meeting the communication needs ofan ever-expanding circle of NNSs.
And yet, despite such advancements, I will argue that standard approaches
to LC – particularly lengthy listening tasks as they appear in contemporary course
textbooks and standardized English tests (such as TOEIC and TOEFL) – are, in somerespects at least, reﬂective of bygone behaviorist approaches to language learningwhich assume (ﬁguratively speaking) the learner has three ears and no tongue,
and which, given my present-day ELF objectives, may warrant reconsideration.
Thus, to address the preceding claims, the current paper will ﬁrst highlight certain
dissimilarities between ELF and EFL to clearly distinguish the two. The author
will then provide a description of Pro-Active Listening (PAL), an ELF-aware LC
approach that can be used to complement (or as a substitute to) existing traditional
LC activities, followed by a rationale for PAL and ways to implement it.
2. STRATEGIC COMPETENCE IN EFL AND ELF CONTEXTSBased on a native-speaker-centric model of learning, EFL pedagogy applies nativelike standards on the learner. It also aims to integrate the learner into the L1 target
community through a process of imitation and adoption of pre-existing nativespeaker linguacultural norms (Seidlhofer, 2011).
Regarding the development of communicative competence, EFL theory
proposes that strategic competence, or the “ability to adapt oneʼs communicative
strategies to a variety of changing and often unexpected interpersonal conditions” inorder to “compensate for imperfect knowledge of rules – or limiting factors in theirapplication”, although an ever-present component in the communicative competence
framework, plays an especially crucial role in the early stages of a language
learnerʼs development (Savignon, 1997, pp. 45-47). The term ʻcommunicative
strategiesʼ (CSs), as mentioned above, refers (but is not limited) to strategies such as25

“rephrasing, repetition, emphasis, seeking clariﬁcation, circumlocution, avoidance,[...] and even message modiﬁcation” (p. 47).

The development of and relationship between strategic competence andother competencies, which collectively make up communicative competence, issummed up by Savignon (1997) visually in the form of an inverted pyramid (seeFigure 1) which she describes as follows:
Beginning with the inverted tip of the pyramid and moving upward,
grammatical, sociolinguistic, and discourse competence increase along witha corresponding overall increase in communicative competence. Strategiccompetence is present at all levels of proﬁciency although its importance inrelation to the other components diminishes as knowledge of grammatical,
sociolinguistic, and discourse rules increases. (p. 49)

In other words, as a learner becomes more ʻnative-likeʼ, the signiﬁcance of (e.g.
their reliance on) CSs decreases over time.

Figure 1. Communicative Competence in an EFL context.

Note: *The illustration is a representation of Savignon’s (1997) ‘inverted pyramid’ and contains
modifications made by the author for the purpose of clarity.

I believe, however, that a model which sees the signiﬁcance of strategiccompetence, i.e. CSs, steadily declining over time as the learner becomes more
native-like is not characteristic of typical ELF interactions, and thus, is not asuitable model on which to base pedagogical goals in ELF-based instruction. To
illustrate, because ELF refers to the use of English as “the common language ofchoice, among speakers who come from different linguacultural backgrounds”(Jenkins, 2009, p. 200), interlocutors may vary widely in language proﬁciency
26

and may not, albeit may not wish to, conform to native speaker norms. Hence,
unpredictability and unfamiliarity are inherent traits of ELF interactions and thus
ELF-based pedagogical aims are a reﬂection of this. As Seidlhofer (2011) states,
ELF interactions prioritize mutual intelligibility over conformity to native-speakerlinguacultural norms to achieve communicative goals. Thus, rather than oneʼs
ability to adhere and conform to native-speaker norms being the benchmark ofeffective communication, ELF-informed principles suggest it is oneʼs ability tomake full use of oneʼs resources (linguistic or otherwise) which affects outcomesin ELF interactions.
In light of the above, I would argue that CSs play a signiﬁcantly more crucialrole in ELF interactions than in EFL contexts. By this, I mean that the extent to whichan ELF user is likely to encounter nonunderstanding depends not only on oneʼs
individual level of communicative competence, but also on the competence andlinguacultural norms of oneʼs interlocutor. To illustrate, in an EFL context, attaining
greater proﬁciency equates to one becoming more native-like, and with greater
native-like proﬁciency comes greater certainty, meaning fewer nonunderstandings
are likely to occur. In this sense, ELF interactions, in which oneʼs interlocutor isa NNS whose proﬁciency and linguacultural norms may be far from native-like,become less predictable and more uncertain. In this respect, I believe that viewing
Savignonʼs inverted pyramid through the lens of ELF (see Figure 2) would revealthat strategic competence, rather than diminishing over time, retains its importance,
making CSs an indispensable tool in ELF usersʼ communicative repertoire; always
at-the-ready to cope with the demands of a potentially unfamiliar and constantly
changing linguacultural landscape.

27

Figure 2. Communicative Competence in an ELF context.

Note: *The illustration is an adaptation of Savignon’s (1997) ‘inverted pyramid’ created by theauthor to visually describe communicative competence in an ELF context.

Thus, what the model presented above means for ELF-aware pedagogy
is a greater need to create opportunities in the classroom for learners to practiceaccommodation and adaptation and employ a variety of communication/pragmatic
strategies since they are “very crucial to overcome […] non-understanding and topromote […] effectiveness and clarity” (Lee, 2013, p. 198). It is for these reasons,
therefore, that ELF-informed teaching should include activities which, “if realistic
and meaningful can motivate learners to actively participate in the interaction,
employing various pragmatic strategies to achieve shared understanding” (Kaur,
2014, p. 167). It is my contention that PAL-based activities can provide suchopportunities.
3. PRO-ACTIVE LISTENING (PAL)

Looking back in human history, before the advent of communication technologies,
we ﬁnd that the act of listening was an interactive process. By this I mean thehearer had direct access to the person they were listening to and could (if he or
she wished) interact with him or her if nonunderstanding occurred. In our modern
world, on the other hand, our sources of listening are more varied, including radio
and TV broadcasts, movies, public announcements made over loudspeakers, etc.
Even though technology has had an effect on the way we listen, I would argue that,even in the case of indirect sources of listening (i.e. technology), we still maintainsome level of control, for instance, we can repair nonunderstanding by enquiring
through a third party or simply by rewinding a DVD. This sense of control, orownership, over the process is as much an inherent part of human communication28

as it is our right to query. Yet, during typical LC activities in the classroom, we do
not allow learners to exercise this basic freedom.
Hence, PAL is a form of LC that tries to address this imbalance by making
classroom listening practice interactive, and in doing so, more in tune with realworld processes. To do this, the PAL approach does not rely on traditional meansof auditory input, such as a CD player. Instead, it is the learners themselves who
provide the input by reading aloud transcripts to each other, thereby allowing thelistener to interact with the source. In terms of the learner, therefore, LC may nolonger be a passive one-way process outside of their control, but rather an active
two-way process that offers them control through the application of CSs.
The following section provides a rationale for PAL based on two classroomrelated factors that, in my view, make the task of developing learnersʼ strategiccompetence particularly challenging. It is hoped that the arguments made will, atthe very least, demonstrate a need to rethink the role of traditional approaches to
LC and possibly may recognize PAL as a viable alternative.
4. RATIONALE: CHALLENGES WE FACE IN THE CLASSROOM

4.1 Real-world Speaking vs. Classroom Speaking

Could it be that well-intentioned measures we implement for the purpose of
maximizing classroom learning may also be hampering our efforts to do so?
Creating situations in the classroom which generate authentic opportunities
for learners to develop their strategic competence requires elements of uncertainty.
Although uncertainty occurs commonly and naturally in real-world settings,
recreating such conditions in the classroom can be a challenge due, in part, to thestructured and sometimes predictable nature of formal learning environments. Thisis signiﬁcant since it is unfamiliarity and unpredictability that is likely to trigger
nonunderstanding and activate strategic competence, not certainty.
In the real-world, a NNS may be required to engage in unfamiliar topics
that are beyond their linguistic ability and with interlocutors of wide ranging ages,
accents, linguacultural backgrounds, and varying levels of English proﬁciency,with whom they are unfamiliar. In formal educational contexts, on the other hand,interactions are more likely to occur in a culturally and linguistically homogeneous
setting between dyads of a similar age group, level of language proﬁciency, andgenerally speaking, who share common interests and life experiences.
This climate of familiarity extends to course textbooks. To begin with, thecontent is level-appropriate and distributed among the class in the same form, hence,learners own and use material that is identical. Learners also, for the most part,
have an opportunity to prepare and rehearse before they engage in communication
activities contained within. Interestingly, though, an activity that appears
commonly in English communication textbooks that in itself is not interactive (i.e.
communicative) but does generate, I would argue untapped, uncertainty is LC. This29

is because learners are required to hear the listening text before they can examine
it. Thus, rather than expecting learners to actively enquire when nonunderstaning
occurs during the activity, they are instructed to merely listen. In a sense then, thetraditional approach to LC is, in my view, analogous to an information gap activity
without the usual (and potentially valuable) interactive component.
In light of the above, I believe PAL is an effective means to access an untappedsource of uncertainty (in terms of interactive communication) and provide morereal-world opportunities for learners to develop their strategic competence.
4.2 Real-world Listening vs. Classroom Listening

During real-world listening, we often have access to visual (i.e. non-vocal) cues
such as a speakerʼs gestures, facial expressions, and so on. Classroom listening
tasks, however, are predominantly audio-based (i.e. not visual-based). This has
implications since “effective listening is more than a cognitive process; to ʻhearʼ
the listener must not only understand what is being said verbally, but also thenon-verbal communication that informs what is said” (Caspersz & Stasinska,
2015, p. 1). In the absence of such paralinguistic features, standard LC becomes
not only a less natural act, but in the case of protracted listening tasks, perhaps
overly challenging, if not unnecessarily burdening for learners. A simple thought
experiment may serve to underscore the signiﬁcance of non-vocal phenomena. If,
for example, I were to play a foreign movie in a language unfamiliar to me withthe screen covered, I could assume that, apart from any non-lexical information
encoded in the actorsʼ words through their tone of voice, sentence stress, etc.,
I would comprehend little else (if anything at all). If, on the other hand, I were
to watch a movie with the volume turned down, I suspect my understanding of
the storyline, despite my complete lack of lexical knowledge, would be vastly
improved. Naturally, combining the audio with the visual would aid me evenmore. All too often, however, LC fails to fully utilize this potentially valuable andcore aspect of human communication.
One other feature that distinguishes real-world listening from classroom
listening is that the former is seldom a passive process whereas the latter is.
Among other things, during the act of listening in the real world a listener tends
to backchannel and, when nonunderstanding occurs, he or she (quite naturally)
will ask questions. In classroom settings, however, listening is disconnected fromspeaking, and learners are instructed to simply sit and listen.
In view of the above dissimilarities, Vogelyʼs (1999) contention that LC
can provoke debilitating anxiety in language learners, may come as no surprise.
Indeed, recent studies have found evidence to support this claim. Elkhafaiﬁ (2005),
for example, concluded that “there is […] support for the existence of listening
anxiety as a phenomenon related to, but distinguishable from, general learning
anxiety” (p. 214). More revealing evidence comes from Kimʼs (2002) study
which found that “language learners do indeed experience anxiety in response to30

listening comprehension” (p. 3). Of the 253 Korean university students studying
English that Kim surveyed, a signiﬁcant number “suffered from low conﬁdence”(p. 16) and “tension and worry over English listening” (p. 27). Contributing
factors included a) fear and frustration regarding missed key words, b) not having
enough processing time, and c) insufﬁcient prior knowledge. Speciﬁcally, subjects
believed that “If I let my mind drift even a little bit while listening to English, I
worry I will miss important ideas” (78%), “I am nervous when I am listening toEnglish if I am not familiar with the topic” (74%), “When a person speaks English
very fast, I worry that I might not understand all of it” (73%), and “When listening
to English, I often understand the words but still canʼt quite understand what the
speaker means” (54%) (pp. 12-13). Additionally, more than half of the subjects
expressed their frustration over not being able to listen at their own pace andinsufﬁcient time to process information.
On a ﬁnal note, I believe the current discussion leads us to some deeper
issues underlying standard approaches to LC. For instance, if classroom practices
deny learners some degree of ownership over the listening process, might sucha situation stem from ideological perspectives privileging native speakers (NSs)and denying language rights to NNSs? Do our actions also imply that, in the realworld, learners will be expected to understand everything they hear, and thus,
should refrain from interrupting NS when nonunderstanding occurs – i.e. simply
allow NSs to hold the ﬂoor? These are pertinent issues the author would liketo explore in future research. For the time being, however, it is hoped that theforegoing discussion has been sufﬁcient in, at the very least, highlighting someof the limitations of standard approaches to LC, and opening the door to allow foralternative approaches, such as PAL.
5. PAL IN ACTION
5.1 A Resource for ELF-aware Teaching Using PAL

7 Billion Others (see Figure 3) is a not-for-proﬁt Internet site that is ideallysuited for the purposes of PAL and, I believe, ELF-informed teaching. The
website is free to use and contains podcasts of 6,000 interviews (consisting of 50
languages) with people from 84 countries and from many walks of life, grouped
into 26 themes (e.g. identity, family, happiness, love, anger, discrimination,
fear, marriage, money, childhood dreams, dreams now, joy, memory, nature,etc.). Interviews recorded in English feature both NSs and NNSs and all (6,000)
contain English subtitles. This is important for two reasons. First, teachers cancreate a full transcript of any interview for PAL practice by simply copying andpasting the subtitles. Second, even though the majority of the 6,000 interviews
are spoken in languages other than English, it does not mean they are irrelevant– as would otherwise be the case with traditional LC approaches. This is because
PAL does not rely on audio/audio-visual equipment to deliver the listening
31

content, but rather the learners themselves. Thus, regardless of the language
spoken in an interview, simply creating a transcript of it using the English
subtitles is sufﬁcient for PAL. Hence, using PAL over traditional approaches to
LC provides teachers with access to all 6,000 interviews in 7 Billion Others forpotential classroom use.

Figure 3. 7 Billion Others (http://www.7billionothers.org)
5.2 Applying PAL in the Classroom

Unlike much traditional LC, during which the whole class listens to the same
listening task, in the case of PAL, the learners must ﬁrst be divided into two equalgroups; i.e. group A and group B. Hence, the teacher must prepare two (or more)listening tasks; one for group A and one other for group B (see Appendices A &B). After the two groups have received their transcripts, the process of PAL canbegin.
There are two stages in PAL: 1) a preparation stage and 2) a practicestage. In the ﬁrst stage, provide learners with sufﬁcient time to read throughtheir transcripts and process the information. Typically, I instruct learners towork together within their groups and to ensure that each member is ready by thedesignated time. Thus, by the end of the ﬁrst stage, it is important that learners feelthey are able (or at the least be willing to try) to clarify, paraphrase, or reformulate
the language in any other way, including use of paralinguistic features, to respondeffectively to any nonunderstandings by their partner – should they occur – during
the following stage.
In the second (main) stage, learners from the two groups come together
to form pairs; i.e. student A and student B. Before beginning PAL, however, I
explain that they will be taking on the role of the person whose transcript they areabout to read – student A ʻbecomesʼ Cecilla and student B ʻbecomesʼ Maria – andto imagine they are sitting together in a coffee shop, about to have a chat.
Student A begins reading their transcript and student B ʻlistensʼ and32

ʻwatchesʼ. Student B can stop student A at any time (multiple times) to conﬁrm

meaning, request repetition, ask for clariﬁcation, and so on. Accordingly, student
A must respond to student Bʼs requests and the process of negotiation of meaning
begins. At the end of the reading, student A checks understanding by asking
student B a set of comprehension questions. Then it becomes student Bʼs turn toread his or her transcript to student A and the above process is repeated. At theend of the activity, learners return to their original group (i.e. A or B) and, as a
ﬁnal comprehension check, I play the two videos to the whole class before ﬁnallyeliciting responses to the comprehension questions from the two groups.
5.3 Extension Activities for PAL

In addition to providing opportunities for learners to enquire and develop theirstrategic competence, PAL can be used as a stepping stone to pursue other ELFrelated objectives with a variety of follow-up activities.
Wen (2012) states that it is important for ELF users to “comprehend
non-native syntactic structures” (p. 374). With this aim in mind, the transcripts
used in PAL can be applied to raise learnersʼ language awareness post-PAL by
drawing learnersʼ attention to certain non-native linguistic features and asking
them, “How might a NS say this?” To illustrate, samples from Cecillaʼs transcript
such as 1) “Said but youʼre a female” and 2) “Was in the oil industry” reveal
that, even though Cecilla – who in my mind is an effective ELF communicator– omits the subject pronouns They and It, such differences do not necessarily
interfere with meaning.
Helping ELF learners to “understand English with non-native accents”(Wen, 2012, p. 374) is yet another important objective. Interestingly, many of
the interviews presented in 7 Billion Others, regardless of the theme, begin
with a self-introduction (Identity) by the speaker (see Appendix C). The
introductions are generally brief (approximately half a minute on average) andrelate to familiar topics (e.g. the speakerʼs name, place of birth, occupation,family, etc.), which I believe makes them potentially low-anxiety-provoking
for learners. Hence, I use the self-introductions for raising learnersʼ awarenessof different varieties of non-native accents using a traditional LC approach (i.e.
not PAL). This involves playing the video to the whole class and having learners
identify individual linguistic items using gap-ﬁll exercises (see Appendix C).
Finally, Wen (2012) proposes that teachers expose ELF learners to threevarieties of culture: 1) target language cultures, 2) NNS cultures, and 3) the
learnersʼ own culture. Accordingly, because 7 Billion Others is rich in cultural
diversity, the material used during PAL can later be used to stimulate andfacilitate cross-cultural awareness through guided classroom discussion.

33

6. CONCLUSION

Considering that one of my primary goals as an ELF-aware teacher is to provide
authentic opportunities that will promote and develop learnersʼ strategic competence
through adaptation and accommodation, I believe PAL can serve as a viable andpromising pathway toward trying to meet those objectives. When engaged in PAL,
ownership (and responsibility) is in the hands of the learner, and rather than playing
the role of passive agents in the listening process, learners work actively together
to negotiate meaning and overcome nonunderstanding. All in all, these are valuablepedagogical and learning opportunities that traditional approaches to LC are notable to provide.
It may be interesting to note that the ﬁrst time I used PAL with learners,
I experienced a moment of apprehension and began to think, “Isnʼt this just likecheating?”, “After all, weʼre supposed to be doing LC, and Iʼm allowing my learners
to ask for repetition and clariﬁcation.” – something akin to giving them a reading
test and the answer key along with it. After more than twenty years of doing LC
the traditional way, perhaps such hesitation was to be expected. However, after
reﬂecting on my ELF objectives, I was reassured that what my learners were doing
was indeed a natural process and that, far from being handed the answers on theproverbial silver platter (i.e. cheating), they were more engaged in PAL than during
traditional LC and earning their right to ownership over the process.
Finally, it is important to clarify that I am not suggesting we need to replace
standard approaches to LC with alternatives like PAL. That would require longand intensive research backed up by strong empirical evidence from many sourcesindicating a need to do so. Clearly, that is beyond the scope of the current paper.
What I do believe, however, is that PAL can offer teachers, if they choose to use it, aunique alternative to standard LC that is more humanistic, places ownership of thelanguage in the hands of the learner, and provides a more authentic listening context
to enhance mutual intelligibility and help learners develop strategic competence.
Therefore, rather than using traditional forms of LC as a default – a one size ﬁts
all – approach to every listening context, PAL allows us to be more selective. By
considering a variety of factors, we can determine whether PAL, a traditional
approach, or a combination of the two would best meet the needs of our learners.
By rethinking the role of traditional LC and incorporating PAL into ourcollective ELF teaching repertoire as a viable alternative, I believe we stand tolose nothing; instead, we stand to gain. Simply put, PAL is one way to facilitate
more authentic listening conditions in the classroom, and with them, the real-world
demands that come with them so our learners may develop the skills they require tocommunicate effectively beyond the classroom.

34

REFERENCES

Caspersz, D., & Stasinska, A. (2015). Can we teach effective listening? An
exploratory study. Journal of University Teaching & Learning
Practice, 12(4),1-13.
Elkhafaiﬁ, H. (2005). Listening comprehension and anxiety in the Arabic
language classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 89(2), 206-220.
Jenkins, J. (2009). English as a lingua franca: Interpretations and attitude. World
Englishes, 28(2), 200-207.
Kaur, J. (2014). Teaching the effective use of ELF: Insights from research into
ELF pragmatics. Waseda Working Papers in ELF, 3, 158-168.
Kim, J. (2002). Anxiety and foreign language listening. English Teaching, 57(2),3-34.
Lee, K. (2013). Accommodation in ELF communication among East Asian
speakers of English. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southampton).
Savignon, S. J. (1997). Communicative competence: Theory and classroom
practice: Texts and contexts in second language learning (2nd ed.). New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English as a lingua franca. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Vogely, A. (1999). Addressing listening comprehension anxiety. Affect in foreign
language and second language learning: A practical guide to creating a
low-anxiety classroom atmosphere. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wen, Q. (2012). English as a lingua franca: A pedagogical perspective. Journal of
English as a Lingua Franca, 1(2), 371 -376.

35

Appendix A

36

Appendix B

37

Appendix C38

Podcasting: A Learning Tool for Students
of English as a Lingua Franca
Podcasting:リンガフランカとしての英語に適した学習ツール
Arup Pandey, パンディ・ エイロップ
Tamagawa University, Center for English as a Lingua Franca (CELF), Japan
aruppandey@gmail.com
ABSTRACTThe purpose of the article is to demonstrate podcasting as an English learning
tool for ELF students. Podcasts (listening) and podcasting (speaking) provide acontemporary and appealing medium of language learning for the digital native
students of today. This classroom-practice article will explain how to create an
academic podcast in the context of Tamagawa University and demonstrate examples
of how podcasting can provide new and meaningful learning practice experiencesfor ELF students in and outside the language classroom.
KEYWORDS: Podcast, Podcasting, Student Talk-time, Motivation, Task-based
Approach
1. INTRODUCTION

As a language teacher at Tamagawa University, one of my personal goals is tomaximize meaningful student talk time (STT), whereby students have more
opportunities to experiment with and personalize the language and content taught
in ELF class, as well as steer conversations towards their individual interests. In
order to integrate more STT, I decided to use podcast technology in my classroom
and for homework.
According to Wikipedia, Podcast is a portmanteau of “(i)Pod”, a media player
developed by Apple, and the term “broadcast” (Podcast, para. 1). The Merriam
Webster Dictionary states that podcast is “a program (as of music or talk) madeavailable in digital format for automatic download over the Internet” (Podcast, def.
1). Podcasting is to create such ﬁles and make them available for downloading. I
believe podcasting stimulates and motivates the digital native students to actively
participate in speaking activities inside and outside the classroom.

39

2. PODCASTING IN MY ELF CLASSOne of the two designated textbooks in the ELF classes I teach is designed todevelop academic reading skills and features the Academic Academic Word List
(AWL).
I use podcasting technology regularly and frequently in my classes topractice and reinforce general and academic vocabulary, syntax, and reading skills
that students learn in each unit of the academic reading textbook. The subject ofthe podcasts that students listen to and the podcasts they make are based on thethematic contexts of each unit, which includes AWLs and reading passages ofindividual units of the academic reading textbook.
2.1. Practicing and Reinforcing Lessons Through Podcasts

For each unit of the academic reading textbook, students produce two podcasts.
The ﬁrst podcast (textbook content) is based on the lesson which allows meaningful
speaking practice and longer STT. Students then listen to authentic podcasts to model
their second podcast on. The second podcast (original content) is an extension of
the lesson in which students are able to personalize the topic and produce originalcontent.
2.1.1. Offline Podcasting with Textbook Content

Before students create their ﬁrst podcast, they review AWL target vocabulary words
from the unit. Students then watch a short pre-unit video to engage them in the topic
and activate prior knowledge. Students discuss three “before-you-read” questions tofurther activate their knowledge and prepare them for the reading passage.
After completing the reading task, students review the three “before-youread” questions. During this revision, students are expected to use a speciﬁc
communication structure in their conversion (See Table 1). Students are also
required to record and save this speaking task using a voice recorder application,for example, Voice Memos in iPhone, for the purpose of self-assessment (talk time
and target vocabulary). During this task students are conscious of their surroundings
and the task goal which motivates and inﬂuences their speaking task directly. The
minimum talk time, four minutes, challenges and encourages them to provide longer
and detailed answers during this speaking task. However, students often overuse
the target vocabulary, due to which conversations produced are often unnatural andredundant.

40

Table 1
Conversation structure for “Before You Read” questions
Strategy
Student A:

Student B:

Student A:

Student B:

Example Conversation

Get Attention

Let me tell you what happened to me the other day.

Orientation 1

I bought some milk and flour to bake a cake for my mother. The
next day when I was all ready to bake, I realised my mistake--I
forgot to put it in the fridge. I had to throw the milk away.

Question 1

Have you ever forgotten to put milk in the refrigerator? What
happened?

Answer 1

Yes, once I forgot to put milk in the refrigerator and my pet cat
drank it all up!

Orientation 2

We really must be thankful for the refrigerators that keep our food
fresh.

Answer 2.1

Also other technologies like pickling and canning.

Question 2

What are some different ways that grocery stores keep foods
fresh?

Answer 2.2

I go to a small grocery store. They only have a small cool box. But
I see them sprinkle cold water on fruits and vegetables every now
and then. They also keep some fruits in air-tight containers. May
be, that helps in preserving food for a longer time.

Orientation 3

I don’t know much about preserving food or growing food.

Answer 3.1

I’ve also never visited a farm.

Question 3

Have you ever visited a farm? What was growing there?

Answer 3.2

Yes, I have. Actually, my father is a farmer. We grow rice, potatoes,
radishes. We also grow lotus roots. It’s a lot of hard work.

End conversation Hey, do you want to visit my farm during summer break?
Note: The conversation questions are from the designated textbook

2.1.2. Listening to Authentic Podcast Content

In order to expose students to natural and authentic language, one or two model
podcasts, based on the theme of the lesson, are provided to them for listening.
Podcasts whose contents are well organized, short (less than 10 minutes), easy tofollow, and are produced by educational institutions or academic in content are
selected. Preference is given to podcasts with additional online content, such asworksheets and transcripts, which can be downloaded for free.
2.1.3. Podcasting Original Content

In this task students role-play a talk show involving an interviewer and aninterviewee. The interviewer selects eight to ten main questions adapted from the41

textbook unit they are on. Interviewers discuss the questions with the interviewees
and plan further follow-up questions. During the planning process students may
write a script of their talk but may not read from it during the actual task. Students
then record (audio only) their talk show. Finally, students upload the interview
transcript and audio ﬁle on the class course management system for assessmentand for fellow students to listen/comment. As an added challenge, students may be
asked to, for example, make worksheets based on the conversation and/or annotate
the transcript. In this task students are able to personalize the content of the lesson
and become familiar with new material. The task also increases STT and reinforces
the target vocabulary and syntax they have learned in that particular unit or previous
units.
3. CHALLENGES OF PODCASTING ONLINE

Podcasting is a new and rapidly developing technology. However, its full potential
in the classroom may be limited by privacy issues, resources available in the class,and teacherʼs workload. To deal with these issues the podcasts in my classes areeither ofﬂine or on class course management systems.
As for the possibility of online podcasting in my future classes, I intend to
ask students to podcast their best contents online--one online podcast per semester.
I hope this will motivate them to bring forth their individual interest and create
better podcast contents. As online podcasts can be viewed by others outside theclass, I believe students will be challenged to do their best. I will create video
tutorials for students in simple English so that they will learn to release their best
podcasts online.
4. CONCLUSION

In my observations, podcasting created and signiﬁcantly enhanced STT in my ELF
classes. As students got accustomed to the mechanics of podcasting, they paid
more attention to meaningful communication. As a result, conversations/roleplays
became longer and the interview questions became more diversiﬁed. Through theabove independent speaking tasks (in class and outside class) I was able to motivate
and consolidate their learning, and assess their progress.
REFERENCES

Podcast. (n.d.) In Wikipedia. Retrieved November 8, 2015 fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast
Podcast [Def. 1]. (n.d.) In Merriam Webster Online. Retrieved November 8, 2015
from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/podcast
42

Business Cards for the Communicative
Classroom
コミュニケーションスキルのための名刺使用
Michael Seko, マイケル・瀬古
Tamagawa University, Center for English as a Lingua Franca (CELF), Japanmikeseko6@gmail.com
ABSTRACT

Studentsʼ names are often foreign and unfamiliar to teachers in second language
classrooms, and the importance of remembering and correctly pronouncing them isvital to establishing an effective discourse. This paper will introduce a cooperative
learning structure (Kagan, 1989) to be used in an initial lesson that allows thestudents and the teacher to efﬁciently learn the names, biographical details andpersonal interests of each individual in the class. In addition, it provides the teacher
with a useful classroom management tool to be used throughout the duration of thecourse.
KEYWORDS: Cooperative Learning, Classroom Management

1. INTRODUCTION

In an earlier issue of this journal, Dimoski (2015) presented a detailed report onways in which student nameplates can be used for effective classroom learningand management. This is a less ambitious attempt to collect and store some of thesame information through the use of smaller and more easily manageable student“business cards”.
First impressions are important and can last at least as long as a ﬁfteenweek university course. Business cards are a real world tool that can be used inlanguage classrooms to make lasting and positive impressions. This paper will
detail how they can be used in both the ﬁrst and in every meeting of a university
level communication course.

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2. APPLICATIONS
2.1 Exchanging Identities

This is an icebreaking activity which can be done in the ﬁrst minutes of the ﬁrst
meeting of a 15-week course. Each student receives a 55mm x 91mm blank cardand is instructed to print both given and family names in English on one side (witha hole punch on the left). The reverse side of the card can be used for students
to list their likes, dislikes, interests, or objectives. The teacher prepares a card as
well. After every student has prepared a card, the teacher gestures for one student
to stand in order to demonstrate the activity. The teacher and student introduce
themselves to one another by giving their names and one or two details (from theback of the card). The two then exchange cards. The teacher then invites a second
student to stand. This introduction proceeds as the ﬁrst with the teacher adopting thename and interests of the ﬁrst student. The teacher then invites all students to taketheir cards, stand, and practice “exchanging identities”. Students are encouraged to
introduce themselves to as many people as possible in ﬁve minutes. The teacher
collects all cards at the end of ﬁve minutes and may quiz the class on details they
remember about their classmates. The activity has proven to be an enjoyable andeffective building block for a friendly, interactive classroom environment.
2.2 Attendance

The teacher keeps all cards for one class between clear plastic covers of the same
size on a metal ring. An additional “cover card” with the course title, meeting time,and classroom location is recommended if the system is used in different classes(and at different institutions). This cover allows the teacher to easily identify
the correct cards for each class. The cards can be removed from the ring at the
beginning of a lesson and the teacher may take attendance by calling out names
and making eye contact with each student present. Students will enthusiastically
help the teacher with any pronunciation problems and will often offer explanations
for any classmates who are late or absent. The cards of those students not in classon a particular day can be separated from those present and can be used to markattendance on an ofﬁcial attendance sheet at any point during or following thelesson. The cards of any students who may arrive late can be added to the stack ofthose present.
2.3 Grouping

The cards can be used to quickly group students for small group or pair work. The
teacher can shufﬂe and divide the cards into the number of small groups desired.
If groups are to work together beyond one lesson, they can be asked to name theirgroup and this name can be added to the back of the individual cards. This will help
the teacher to later arrange new groups that will allow students to work with thedifferent classmates than they have worked with previously. The group names on44

the back of the cards will help the teacher to manage this task.
Cards can also be used as “place settings” that the teacher puts on desks ortables prior to the beginning of a lesson. This can help the teacher to manage theindividual strengths and weaknesses and to further encourage cooperation amongst
classmates. Strong speakers can be matched with careful listeners to achievea desired balance, or outspoken and soft-spoken small groups can be created toencourage the former to listen to one another and the latter to speak out more.
2.4 Participation

Teachers can shufﬂe the cards during a lesson and use them to call on students
randomly. Sliding the top card to the bottom of the pile insures that the teacher pays
equal attention to all students and encourages students to stay involved and activein the lesson knowing that they may be called on at any time. It also gives teachers
additional practice at name and face recognition.
3. CHALLENGES

The quality and clarity of student (and teacher) handwriting and printing varies
widely and can cause confusion or attract attention. Without receiving any instructionor asking any permission, a few creative students in each class will invariably add
calligraphy or sketches to their cards to personalize them. The cards can also stick
together or be mislaid which can lead to a disparity in turn taking. Students will
most often, but not always, call this to a teacherʼs attention. Additionally, a teacherʼsfailure to bring an entire ring of cards to a lesson can lead to a disruption of reliable
and familiar routines. One teacher has likened this to forgetting to bring a textbook
to class. A lesson can continue, but without the help of a reliable aid. It is advisedthat teachers keep rings of cards together with institution identiﬁcation badges andother vital materials to avoid this problem. The teacher has not had opportunity to
use these cards in classes larger than twenty-ﬁve students, but would be curious tosee what the results would be.
4. CONCLUSION

The use of these cards has proven to be a fun and effective method of class andsmall group management for one teacher at three different universities in Japanfor the past ﬁve years. In classes at the Center for English as a Lingua Franca at
Tamagawa University where ﬁrst year students meet twice a week for one hundred
minute sessions, the teacher reported being able to learn studentsʼ names and faces
within the ﬁrst month of instruction. The same teacher had opportunity to use thecards with elementary and junior high school students at three-day intensive courses
this past summer. In addition to the above uses, the teacher was able to returnthe cards to students with individual feedback added to them on the last day of45

the course. The students were observed receiving their cards with care, comparing
cards and comments with one another, and showing their cards to other teachers in
the program.
REFERENCES

Dimoski, B. (2015). Student nameplates for classroom management and beyond.
The Center for ELF Journal, 1(1), 83–96.
Kagan, L., Kagan, M., & Kagan, S. (1997). Cooperative learning structures forteambuilding. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Cooperative Learning.

46