LEARNING LEARNING
学習の学習
1

Greetings and News Updates 挨拶と近況報告
In This Issue 今号について
Learner Development SIG News Update LD SIG 近況報告

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

8

LD SIG 2012 Research Grant Awardee: Interview on Research Interests
2012 年度 LD SIG 研究助成金受賞者：研究課題についてのインタビュー

11“‘Journey of Professionalization’: An Interview with Cory Koby, LD SIG 2012 Grant Awardee”, Alison Stewart

15

LD SIG Members' Voices メンバーの声
John Garrett; William Hassett; Gareth Humphreys; Brandon Kramer; Joël Laurier;
Rachelle R. Meilleur; Rose O’Loughlin; Ágnes Patkó; Robert J. Werner

31

Language Learning History 言語学習歴“From a learner of English at school to a learner as an English user and teacher” , Sumie Saito

Feature Article

フィチャード35

アーティクル“Promoting Student Autonomy with a Simple Online Learning Management System”, Peter Hourdequin

43Special Feature: LD SIG 20th Anniversary Conference
特集：LD SIG 創設 20 周年記念大会“Exploring teacher-learning: Interview with Richard Smith, Learner Development SIG co-founder”,
Andy Barfield and Richard Smith“Interview with Kensaku Yoshida”, Aiko Minematsu and Kensaku Yoshida“Interview with Phil Benson”, Mike Nix and Phil Benson

NGO Outreach61

NGO アウトリーチ

63

Looking Back 報告“The Japanese Association of College English Teachers (JACET) 52nd International Convention in Kyoto,
August 30 - September 1, 2013”, Jim Ronald“The PanSIG 2013 Collaborative Forum: The World, the Language Learner, and Relationships”, Jim Ronald“Reflections on the LD Forum at CALL 2013”, Hugh Nicoll

67

Looking Forward 今後のイベント“Transitions in the Lives of Learners and Teachers”, JALT 2013 LD SIG FORUM
JALT 2013 Conference Preview, compiled by Ian Hurrell

79

SIG Matters インフォメーション
Call For Contributions「学習の学習」原稿募集
Financial Report 財務報告

ISSN 1882-1103

NEWSLETTER / FALL 2013 / LL 20 (2)Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Greetings and News Updates

In This Issue 今号について
Fumiko Murase & Monika Szirmai
Welcome to the Fall issue of Learning Learning『学information about the conference. We look

習の学習』, the Learner Development SIG’s (LDforward to seeing many of you at this special

SIG) biannual online newsletter!

conference!

Firstly, the SIG coordinators, Andy Barfield

Having said that, not everyone can make it to

and Richard Silver, report on the latest news in

the conference -- unfortunately. So, we do have

the SIG. Next, we have reports from local get-a feature article too! Here, Peter Hourdequin

togethers in Kansai, Hiroshima, and Tokyo. In

reports on his action research on exploring thethe “Members’ Voices” section, a number ofeffectiveness of using an online tool, Edmodo,

new SIG members contribute their story offor increasing learning gains and promoting

learner development, which is followed by alearner autonomy of his students at a Japanese

language learning history by Sumie Saito.

university. His article certainly gives a useful
insight to those interested in using technology

The LD SIG offers a number of grants every

for promoting learner autonomy.

year. In this issue, Alison Stewart interviews
one of our 2012 grant awardees, Cory Koby,

In the “Looking Back” section, Jim Ronald

and asks about his research interests.

reports on the joint forum at the JALT PanSIG
conference while Hugh Nicoll reflects on the

From the NGO Outreach team, Colin Rundle

LD Forum at the JALT CALL conference. Jim

and Caroline Ross share their activities andalso shares his experiences at the JACET

experiences with the newly launched Student

annual convention.

Ambassador programme.
At the time of writing, JALT national
In the “Special Feature” section, we offer what

conference in Kobe (25-28 November) is justyou can look forward to at the LD SIG’s 20tharound the corner! In the “Looking Forward”

Anniversary Conference in November.

section, you can see a preview of the LD

Following the interview with Naoko Aoki in

Forum and the list of LD-theme presentations

the last issue, we feature interviews with twocompiled by Ian Hurrell.

of our invited speakers, Richard Smith andKensaku Yoshida, and the special guest

At the start of producing this issue, we had

speaker, Phil Benson. You’ll also find thediscussion on the future directions for theNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

1

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Greetings and News Updates
Learning Learning team and decided tous know. New members and new ideas are

introduce a more organized team, in which thealways welcome.

lead editor and co-editors work closely with ateam of coordinators taking responsibility for

Finally, we hope you will all enjoy reading thiseach section. We would like to thank the

bumper issue!

coordinators: Andy Barfield (Members’ Voices
coordinator), Caroline Ross and Colin Rundle

Best wishes,(NGO Outreach coordinator), and Christopher
Fitzgerald (Grant Awardee coordinator). We’d

From the Co-editors

also like to thank Aiko Minematsu, Andy
Barfield, and Mike Nix for arranging,conducting, and writing up the interviews
with Kensaku Yoshida, Richard Smith, andPhil Benson respectively. Thanks also to Alison
Stewart who conducted the interview with theGrant Awardee, Cory Koby, and also kindly
offered assistance with editing the featurearticle by Peter Hourdequin. Our thanks go to
the great team of translators: Satoko Ebara,
Sayuri Hasegawa, Tomoko Fujita Kawachi,

Fumiko Murase

Kayo Ozawa, and Mayumi Takizawa. Thanks&

also go to Hugh Nicoll for uploading this issue
to the LD SIG Website. Of course, our
gratitude also goes to the contributors: John
Garrett, William Hassett, Peter Hourdequin,
Gareth Humphreys, Brandon Kramer, JoëlLaurier, Rachelle R. Meilleur, Rose O’Loughlin,Ágnes Patkó, Sumie Saito, and Robert J. Werner.

Last but not least, we would like to thank ourlead editor, James Underwood, who has
overseen the whole production process andMonika Szirmai

supported us with great patience. Without his
help (and hard work!), it would not have beenpossible to publish this issue. If you would liketo be involved in Learning Learning, please let
学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

2

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG NEWS

Learner Development SIG News Update
LD SIG 近況報告
Andy Barfield & Richard Silver
アンディ・バーフィールド ＆ リチャード・シルバー
May 2013 - October 2013

With just a few weeks to go until the JALT2013

and Satomi Yoshimuta, who will jointly take overConference in Kobe in October, we are very happy

the treasury responsibility after the next audit. In

to announce that Caroline Ross (a teacher at a
private high school in Tokyo) and Aya Matsumoto

July Ann Flanagan joined Gretchen Clark,
Stephanie Corwin and Matthew Coomber in(a senior student at Meisei University) are thelooking after SIG membership matters. Our thanks

Learner Development SIG’s JALT2013 Grant

go to the membership team for continuing toAwardees and that Mike Sullivan (an ESP teacher innurture the SIG’s growth in membership from 2012

Kansai at Nippon Steel & Sumikin-Intercom) andTanja McCandie (Nanzan University, Nagoya) arethrough to 2013—and to Rob Moreau, Sayuri
Hasegawa and Mayumi Takizawa for looking after

this year’s Learner Development 20th Anniversary

the SIG's publicity needs and making sure that a

Conference Grant Awardees. For their awards

regular bilingual announcement appears in The

earlier this year, we would also like to congratulate

Language Teacher. On the publications front, inNatacha Piederriere (who teaches at a private highschool in Tokyo) as an LD SIG Subscription

July, James Underwood joined Masuko Miyahara as
publications co-chair, with a specific focus on

Awardee, Brandon Kramer (a teacher at a private

coordinating the production of Learning Learninghigh school in Kobe) and Adrian Wagner (Niigata)from one issue to the next. We are grateful to James

as LD SIG Membership Awardees, and Michi Sakiand Masuko for all the important work they have

(Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto) as the LD SIG 2013
Research Grant Recipient. On behalf of the SIG webeen quietly doing behind the publication scenes.
Our gratitude also goes to Mathew Porter andextend our warmest congratulations to Adrian, Aya,

Chris Fitzgerald for joining the editorial team, toBrandon, Caroline, Michi, Mike, Natacha and Tanja

Fumiko Murase and Monika Szirmai for jointly

and hope that many SIG members will have theediting this issue of Learning Learning. Masuko

chance to meet and talk with them over the coming
year.

herself is involved in co-editing, together with Tim
Ashwell, Steve Paydon, and Alison Stewart, the"

SIG’s anthology of action research papers on

The month of May saw the SIG pass theannual audit of its financial activities. We’d like toCollaborative Learning in Learner Development,

thank Kay Irie for overseeing the SIG’s financial

while Aiko Minemtasu and Andy have beenrecords over the last year, as well as for handlingtreasury matters for the 20th anniversary

tending to the Learner Development Working
Papers Project, Learner Development: Different

conference in November. Kay is being shadowed in

Cases, Different Interests. The plan is for both ofher treasurer’s role by Huw Davies, Mayumi Abe

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

3

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG NEWSthese books to be published later this year/early

about the work of a variety of NGOs from students

next year.

who have been studying about them. There will"
Over the past several months too a numberof SIG events have taken place. We’d like to express

also be a focus on recovery and rejuvenation in
Tohoku with guest speakers from theour thanks to Jim Ronald for organizing the SIG’s

Rikuzentakata community and Sendai. Our thanks

collaborative forum with the Global Issues SIG and

go to Caroline Ross and Colin Rundle for bringing

Pragmatics SIG at the 2013 PanSIG conference attogether many students and teachers for the focus

Nanzan University in May; to Hugh Nicoll for
setting up and running the SIG’s Forum at the 2013

on NGOs in the conference; to Mike Nix and James
Underwood for continuing to develop the

JALTCALL Conference in Matsumoto May 31-Juneconference website, as well as to Rob Moreau for2; and to Ian Hurrell for arranging the LD SIG

designing the eye-catching conference logo.

Forum (with 24 presenters!), Transitions in the

Remember that full-time students can attend theLives of Learners and Teachers, at JALT2013 inKobe. We'd also like to thank all the people taking

conference for free, and for paying attendees, wehave purposely kept the registration costs low topart in these forums. These three di#erent forums

enable as many people as possible to take part. Our

will have involved over 40 presenters in total, andthanks to our SIG sponsors, the Junior / Senior

we really appreciate all the time and effort that Jim,

High School SIG and Teachers Helping Teachers

Hugh and Ian have put in to making these events
such positive professional development experiences

SIG, and our JALT Chapter sponsors, Tokyo
Chapter and Yokohama Chapters, for helping us

for so many presenters and participants.

keep the costs so low. Not only that, but we hope"

you will also make it to the conference party on the

As we write this column in late August,preparations for the LD SIG's 20th Anniversary

Saturday evening!

Conference at Gakushuin University on November
23-4 are going well, and the most up to date"We know that many SIG members are
giving individual and group presentations at

information can be found at <http://

JALT2013, and we wish you every success if you

www.ldsigconference2013.org/>. The event

are. As the SIG moves towards JALT2013, members

promises to be a fantastic collaboration involvingof the committee are already making plans for 2014.

teachers, researchers, students and NGOs, and wehope you will be able to be a part of it. We are

We welcome your participation and continued
involvement in the coming year and hope you will

delighted to have Richard Smith (University of

be able to come along the SIG’s Annual General

Warwick), Naoko Aoki (Osaka University) andMeeting (AGM) in Room 301 at 13.20 on Sunday

Kensaku Yoshida (Sophia University) as invited

October 27 at JALT2013. This meeting is an

speakers, and Phil Benson (Hong Kong Institute of
Education) as a special guest speaker. We were also

opportunity for SIG members to discuss together
different SIG projects and plans, as well as to makethrilled by the response to the Call for Proposals

decisions about SIG activities for the coming year.

earlier in the year which resulted in over 70

We'd like to encourage teachers teaching languages

proposals from within Japan and around the world

other than English and/or from diverse teaching

covering a diverse range of topics and contexts. At
the conference there will be spaces for discussion

and learning contexts (elementary school, juniorhigh school, senior high school, distance learning,

and reflection, as well as opportunities to learn

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

4

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG NEWSlanguage school, and university settings) to come

10月に神戸で開催予定のJALT2013大会まで、あとalong and take part.

数週間となりました。2013年度学習ディベ ロプメ"
The AGM will mark two years since the twoof us became co-coordinators of the SIG. Over that

ント研究部会(LD SIG)のJALT全国大会参加助成金

period, it’s been a great pleasure for us to see the

受賞者はCaroline Ross (東京：私立高校勤務) とSIG go through different transitions and develop its
team approach, undertake a wide range of different
projects, and welcome a truly impressive number of
new members both to the SIG and to the committee.
The SIG is a wonderful network with many
welcoming learning communities, and we wish the

Aya Matsumoto (明星大学4年生)に決定しました。
また、Mike Sullivan (日鉄住金インターコムの関西
支部ESP教員) と Tanja McCandie (名古屋：南山大学)のお二人が20周年記念大会参加助成金の受賞者

incoming co-coordinators, Fumiko Murase andと決定しましたことを合わせてご報告いたします。

Alison Stewart—who have been shadowing us forseveral months now—every success in taking

また今年度の前半期におきまして、Natacha

things further with you all.

Piederriere (東京：私立高校勤務) がLD SIG体験入会・会費助成金（非JALT会員向け）受賞者に、Brandon Kramer (神戸：私立高校勤務) とAdrian
Wagner (新潟) がLD SIG体験入会・会費助成金（JALT会員向け）受賞者に、またMichi Saki (京都：立命館大学) が2013年度LD SIG研究助成金受賞者に決定しましたことをお知らせいたします。SIGを代表いたしまして、Adrian, Aya, Brandon,
Caroline, Michi, Mike, Natacha, そして Tanja の皆様に心よりお祝いを申し上げるとともに、SIG会員

Andy Barfield&

Richard Silverの多くの皆様が、来たる年度に向け、彼らと出会い、意見交換の機会を得られますよう、願っております。
"

5月はSIGにとって例年の会計監査月となっています。昨年の会計状況を監査および11月の20周年記念大会に係わる財務関係懸案調整の労をいただ
いたKay Irie に感謝いたします。Huw Davies,
Mayumi Abe , Satomi YoshimutaがKayの業務をシャドーイングしており、次回会計監査以降、財務管理をチームとして引き継ぐ予定です。7月にはLD SIG co-coordinators, 2011-2013

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

Ann Flanaganが Gretchen Clark, Stephanie Corwin,

5

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG NEWS
Matthew Coomber の担当するSIG会員管理チーム

す。Hugh Nicoll は2013年度 5月31日から6月2日まに加わりました。2012年度から2013年度における当で松本で開催されたJALTCALL 大会でSIGの会場設研究部会会員数の増加を促し、継続的に貢献してく

営および運営をご担当いただき、またIan Hurrell

ださっている会員管理チームに感謝の言葉を申し上はJALT2013年度神戸大会でLD SIG フォーラム

げます。またSIGの出版物に係わり、同時にThe
Language Teacher の出版における定期的な日英で「Transitions in the Lives of Learners andTeachers」（24名もの発表参加者があります！）のの告知文の確認作業をRob Moreau, Sayuri

計画・手配を担当いただきました。これらのフォー

Hasegawa, Mayumi Takizawa が担当して下さいま

ラムに参加して下さった皆様にも感謝の言葉を申しした。出版に関しては、7月にJames Underwood が上げたいと思います。Jim, Hugh そして Ian が多く

Masuko Miyaharaとともに 出版の共同責任者としの時間や苦労を費やして計画・運営した、これら3て、特にLearning Learning の継続的な出版調整につの異なるフォーラムは総計40名を超える発表者が関して協力をいただきました。JamesとMasuko にあり、内容も非常に前向きで専門的な成長を全てのは、出版の経緯に係わる重要な仕事に継続して寡黙発表者と参加者に提供するものとなりました。彼らに取り組んでいただき、感謝いたします。Mathewのご尽力に心よりの感謝の気持ちをお贈りいたしまPorter とChris Fitzgerald は編集チームに加わっていただいたことに感謝いたします。Fumiko MuraseとMonika Szirmai は共に今号のLearning Learningの編集を担当しました。MasukoはTim Ashwell,
Steve Paydon, そしてAlison Stewartと共に学習者
ディベロプメントにおける協働学習に関する事例研
究集の共同編集にも携わってくれています。そしてAiko MinemtasuとAndy は学習者ディベロプメン
トについての論文集プロジェクト「Learner
Development: Different Cases, Different Interests」に取り組んでいます。これらの書籍は、今年の後半
もしくは来年初旬に発刊される予定です。
"

過去数カ月に渡り、多くのイベントが開催す。
"

このコラムを書いている8月下旬現在、11月23日から24日にかけて開催されるLD SIGの創設20周年記念大会の準備が着々と進んでいます（最新の情報についてはhttp://
www.ldsigconference2013.org/をご参照ください）。この大会は教員、研究者、学生、そしてNGOが協働する素晴らしいものになること間違いなしですので皆様のご参加をお待ちしています。光
栄なことに招待講演ではRichard Smith氏（ウォーリック大学）、青木直子氏（大阪大学）、吉田研作
氏（上智大学）を、そして特別講演者としてPhil
Benson 氏（香港教育学院）をお迎えすることになっております。また、本大会における発表の募集

されてきました。Jim Ronaldは5月に南山大学で開に対しては国内外から幅広いテーマ、そして多様なかれた2013年度PanSIG年次大会でGlobal Issues

現場についての70以上の応募があったことを大変喜

SIGおよびPragmatics SIGとの共同フォーラムの企

ばしく思っております。本大会では議論や内省の場

画・運営を担当していただき、心より感謝いたしまに加え、様々なNGOの取組みについて、研究して学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

6

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG NEWS
きた学生たちから学ぶ機会があります。さらに、陸"前高田の地域社会および仙台からゲスト講演者を迎てから、今年の年次総会で2年を迎えます。そのえ、東北の復興・再生についても着目します。この場を借りて、本大会開催に際し、NGOに焦点を当てるために多くの学生・教員を結び付けてくれた
Caroline RossおよびColin Rundleや学会ホームペー
ジを継続的に作成・更新してくれているMike Nixお

私たちがこのSIGのコーディネーターになっ

間、SIGが様々な変化を経験し、チームアプローチを発展させ、幅広く様々なプロジェクトを手掛け、見事な数の新会員をSIGと委員会の両方に迎え入れるのを見届けることができ、大変喜ばしく思います。私たちのSIGは素晴らしいネットワークで、多よびJames Underwood、そして魅力的な会議のロ

くの温かな学びのコミュニティーがあります。数かゴをデザインしてくれたRob Moreauに謝意を表明

月間、私達をシャドーイングしてきた新しいコー

します。フルタイムの学生については無料で参加でディネーターとなるFumiko MuraseとAlison

きることをお忘れなく。また、それ以外の参加者についてもできるだけ多くの方々にご参加頂けるよう

Stewartが会員の皆さんと共に、更にSIGを発展させていけるよう成功を祈っております。

敢えて参加費を低く抑えています。この低参加費を実現するにあたってご協力頂いた本SIG、Junior /アンディ・バーフィールド＆リチャード・シルバー

Senior High School SIG、Teachers Helping

2011-2013年

LD SIG コーディネーター

Teachers SIG、東京・横浜JALT支部の各スポンサーにこの場を借りて御礼を申し上げます。また、土曜
日の夜に開催されるパーティーにもぜひいらして下さい！
"

JALT2013大会では多くのSIG会員が個人あPast issues of Learning Learning
Issues of Learning Learning going all the way
back to 1994 are now available in PDF format
here: <ld-sig.org/LL/archives.html>.

るいはグループで発表を予定していますが、心よりご成功をお祈りいたします。この秋の大会が近づく
につれ、委員たちはすでに2014 年度の準備に当たっております。来年度もSIGの活動への皆さんのご参加を歓迎いたしますと共に、10月27日（日）午後1時20分より301号室に開催されるLD SIG年次総会へのご参加もお待ちしております。この総会は、SIG会員がSIGの取り組んでいる様々なプロジェク
トや計画について話し合い、そして次年度の活動にMany thanks to founding co-coordinator Richard
Smith for scanning archival copies, many ofwhich were originally printed on an old
Risograph, collated by hand, and mailed in hard
copy.
Also, thanks to the hard work of Mike Nix, the
LD SIG's first anthology of writing exploring
learner and teacher autonomy within Japanesecontexts: Autonomy You Ask! is now available indigital format, and can be found here: <cfaculty.chuo-u.ac.jp/~mikenix1/ldsig/AYA.html>

ついての決定を行う機会です。英語以外の言語を教えてらっしゃる方、様々な教授法や教育現場で教えていらっしゃる方（小学校、中学校、高校、通信教
育、語学学校、大学等）、是非ご参加ください。

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

7

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Local Get Together Reports

Getting Connected: Local Get Together Reports
from Kansai, Hiroshima, and Tokyo
つながりを求めて：関西・広島・東京
LD Get-together Report: Kansai
Gretchen Clark
Our summer Get Together was held as part of the
Kansai University of International Studies’ Summer
Seminar on July 20, 2013. We had a small but
enthusiastic group of 7 including Gretchen Clark,
Michael Wilkins, Ellen Head, Ann Flanagan andShuji Narita. We welcomed two new faces, 2013
Grant Winner Brandon Kramer and Mayuko
Yamamura. Like the March session, this workshop
also focused on the theme of action research whereparticipants discussed their own LD-related
problems such as ‘how to encourage teachers toparticipate in professional development
workshops’ and ‘what to do when students havetrouble completing their homework’. These ideas
were discussed in small groups and then by thewhole with everyone brainstorming possible
solutions. It was a productive hour of idea
exchange!
"
As an off-shoot, later that day Gretchen
Clark presented on an action research project thatshe developed with Ellen Head at the March Get
Together. Entitled ‘On Learner
Development: Perhaps it is TEACHERS whoshould be taking risks’, her presentation explored
overcoming fears and taking risks in the classroom
as a teacher. For this project, instead of conducting
student-large group presentations, she asked her
students to present individually for small
groups. As it is an unconventional method ofhandling the student presentation, she wasapprehensive of negative feedback from colleagues
and/or students regarding the level of formality
and lack of central teacher role in the new process
but after experimenting with this small group style
enjoyed several positive results including: highstudent motivation, enjoyment and increased L2
interaction.

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>"
Our autumn Kansai Get Together was held
on September 28 as part of the Osaka Tech Day+Plus one-day conference at Otemae University in
Itami. The theme of Osaka JALT Tech Day was
Learner Autonomy, with keynote speaker Thomas
Robb’s plenary entitled: ‘Considerations for the
Effective Use of Technology for Language
Learning.' With all the apps, games, blogs, wikis
which have proliferated in the last few years, thepower of technology to entrance students is selfevident, and there are many ways of harnessingthat for autonomous language learning. LD SIG
members and friends met informally over lunch totalk shop about classes, their learner development
projects, and reflect on what they learned at theTech Day.
"
The Kansai Get Together team: Gretchen Clark,
Michael Wilkins, Ellen Head, and Ann Flanagan
Kansai Get-Together Facebook group http://
www.facebook.com/groups/ 126518854184011/
LD Get-together Report: Hiroshima
Jim Ronald
The Hiroshima Learner Development get-togethers
continue to happen. We meet most months of theyear, and there are typically between five and ten
people at any get-together. Altogether, over theyear, we have a total of 20 to 30 people joining us,with many get-together regulars also active in
JALT’s Hiroshima chapter.
"
Topics we’ve focused on over the past few
months have included the following: Moodle,
learner reflection, English camp, cross-culturalawareness, learner advising, autonomy-readiness,out-of-class events, and extensive reading. While I
continue to be the main manager of the Hiroshima
LD get-togethers, more and more of us are involvedin contributing to the get-togethers in some way:8

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Local Get Together Reports
finding pre-reading materials (thanks Mathew
Porter!), arranging a CALL room for one session(thanks Monika Szirmai!), bringing things to showor things to ask, and sparking ideas off each other.
"
One aim has been for the Hiroshima gettogethers to be a launch pad for new projects,
initiatives, or teams. In a way, hearing about what
has been happening in Tokyo, we may feel that wehaven’t achieved this (yet!). The get-togethers have,
however, provided sparks for new topics orperspectives to investigate, have served assounding boards for new research, materials or
activities, and have been receptive, fertile groundfor developing ideas or new projects.
"
The group aims to keep flexible, towelcome people with different schedules. However,
we are almost all university teachers and have notyet done much reaching out to elementary school orhigh school teachers, or teachers at language
schools. This is something we need to address.
"
As we meet at the get-togethers, we areoften reminded that we are all learners, and how
valuable this social, supportive gathering is for us
as we develop in our understanding and practices
in our striving to become more able to assist ourstudents’ development as language learners.
"
I’ll finish with comments from two
regulars at Hiroshima Learner Development gettogethers: one from Akiko Awa, our model, vocal,
lifelong language learner, and one from Naomi
Fujishima, whose reasons for joining the gettogethers may be echoed by us all.
"It is the best place to speak out my opinionsfrom the view point of students. I have learned English
mostly on my own. However, I needed a lot of help fromEnglish teachers from time to time. Sometimes I couldn't
agree with their teaching method or style, so LD gettogethers are also helpful to deal with my frustration.
Akiko Awa"
Attending the Learner Development gettogethers in Hiroshima gives me a chance to share ideas
with teachers from other universities. It's refreshing forme to hear what goes on in other schools, and I feel asense of camaraderie with my colleagues there. I've
known a few of the regular members for many years, so
it's another good reason to go!
Naomi Fujishima

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>LD Get-together Report: Tokyo (September)Andy Barfield
This was the fourth get-together of the new school
year, and the first since the summer, and 23 people
took part in get-together. We started off by taking
the first 15 minutes to mix and mingle and talk inpairs with someone we didn't know so well about
our working contexts and our learner development
interests. Huw, Mayumi (Abe) and Sami Yoshimuta
then led the next hour by taking us through a series
of workshop tasks and discussions around the 'The
Strategy Tree for Language Learners' that they havedeveloped together in their collaborative
practitioner research project. The tree is based on
Rebecca Oxford's model in 'Teaching andResearching Language Learning
Strategies' (Oxford, 2011), and features four mainareas of focus: (a) the four skills + grammar,
vocabulary & pronunciation, (b) affective strategies,(c) cognitive strategies, and (d) socioculturalinteractive strategies. Huw, Mayumi and Samipresented the model and then invited us to draw on
A3 paper our own trees as language learners. We
happily did this and informally talked through ourdifferent experiences as we drew, before moving
round and talking about our trees with different
participants at the get-together.
"In the second half of the workshop, Huw,

Mayumi and Sami asked the whole group for
feedback and comments around these threequestions: 1. How can this be used in a classroom?
2. How helpful was it for you as a learner? 3. How
can the model be improved? The discussion that
followed ranged over a number of areas, both forour ourselves as learners and for our learners too.
'The Strategy Tree for Language Learners' could be
used in parallel with Language Learning Histories
and as a tool for discussing specific areas ofdevelopment with learners. Learners could be

9Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Local Get Together Reports
asked to draw their 'current state' tree and their* Collaborative learning: Debjani Ray, Joel Laurier,'imagined ideal tree' to map possible pathways for

Stacey Vye, and Tim Ashwell

their own development, as the tree helps bothlearners and teachers to conceptualise and* Developing autonomy: Billy Hassett, Fumiko(Kurosawa), John Garrett, Mayumi (Takizawa) andrepresent language learner development in specific

Rob Morelterms. Metaphorically, the tree could help learners* Learning journals/diaries: Caroline Ross &shift from a metaphor of success/failure/struggle

Stephanie Corwin

in terms of test scores to a growth/(learner)
development/ecological understanding of their* Pedagogies for social justice: Alison Stewart, Andy
Barfield, Huw Davies, Ken Ikeda, and Sami

learning and language use. The tree might also

Yoshimuta

have applications for self- and peer- assessment.

* Reading review: Chris Fitzgerald, Fumiko"Murase, Ian Hurrell, James Underwood, andAs for improvements for the model, peoplesuggested:
1. It could include some kind of 'meta' focus (meta-

Natacha Piederriereaffective, meta-cognitive, meta-sociocultural/"interactive).

and then went through to 16.55 or so in small-

2. It could be developed with a self-ranking

group discussions. More detailed reports from eachsoftware tool to generate computer images of trees.
3. Different types of tree (including moregroup will be posted on the Tokyo LD blog – just go
to <http://tokyogettogethers.blogspot.jp>

abstracted versions) could be presented to learners"

so that they are encouraged to visualize theiron Sunday December 15 from 14.00 to 17.00 at

learning in different, alternative ways.

Otsuma Women's University, to be followed by an

4. The (represented) relationship between the four
skills and grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation

LD SIG 'bonenkai' in the Ichigaya area.

We took about 10 minutes to form groups

The next get-together in Tokyo takes place

could be re-worked in different ways.
This was a full-on, wide-ranging and stimulating
discussion which went through to 14.25, and wewere all grateful to Huw, Mayumi and Sami forleading such an interesting workshop.
"

Before the 10-minute break, Andy

mentioned that we would be dividing into learnerdevelopment groups in the second part of theafternoon. He also invited participants to make asmall donation of 500 yen to cover room rental costs
at Otsuma. (10,250 yen was donated in total: thiswill be paid into the SIG's bank account and thenused for paying the university.) After the break, we
re-started by checking which areas of focus people
would like to have in the second half of the gettogether. Five groups then formed:

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

10

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays

LD SIG 2012 Research Grant Awardee:
Interview on Research Interests
2012 年度 LD SIG 研究助成金受賞者：研究課題についてのインタビュー“Journey of Professionalization”: An Interview

about. I’ve also been looking into Multiple

With Cory Koby, LD SIG 2012 Grant AwardeeIntelligences and that’s something I’ve tried toby Alison Stewart, Gakushuin University

apply to my teaching, making sure that I include
different kinds of activities that apply to thedifferent learning styles. But as for “learnerdevelopment”, I’m not sure exactly how I would
define that.
Alison: In that case, let’s start by talking about
your teaching context. Where do you teach?
Cory: I teach at an all-girls integrated Junior andSenior High school in Sendai. It’s an old Catholic
mission school that’s considered pretty elite in the

Cory Koby and I met at the JALT Executive Board

area. I teach mostly high school classes though I
also do some eikaiwa classes at the junior highMeeting in Kyoto on June 29-30, where he waslevel. The high school has an intensive English

representing Sendai Chapter and I was anadditional nonvoting representative of the LD SIG.

programme, in which the students spend almost a

He started by apologizing profusely about his
delay in writing an essay in return for receiving theAustralia, New Zealand, or Canada. All students
are placed in a different school, so they are on theirresearch grant he was awarded back in 2012, so, in

own for the year.

order to expedite completion of a final article, I
agreed to interview him about his interest in

Alison: Wow, that’s quite a challenge for 16 year

learner development instead…
Cory: Well, you see, that’s the first problem: you
ask me what my research interest is, and what myinterest is in learner development. But I’m not surethat I can answer that. I’ve been teaching for the
past six years, and I feel confident now in myteaching, but I don’t feel I know enough about how
students actually learn. So second language
acquisition is something I want to learn much more

year in the second year in a school abroad, either inolds.
Cory: That’s right. Our job is to prepare them tosurvive independently, since they will have alimited support structure once they get out there.
Once they arrive they are either put into ESL
classes for from one to three months, or they gostraight into the mainstream. I’m the subhomeroom teacher for that programme, something
I’ve been doing now for five years. Unlike theNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

11

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
homeroom teachers who move up the grades in theyou have a lot of freedom in your work as ahigh school with their students, I stay in this first-

teacher.

year preparatory class. That’s become an importantrole for me. Apart from that, I teach the returnee
students communication classes, and I’ve started
teaching a unique content course for them—World
Topics—through the Social Studies department.
I’m really excited about it.

Cory: Autonomy, yes! I have a lot of freedom. With
the Social Studies course, because it was acompletely new thing for me and because it isSocial Studies, not English, even though it’s taught
in English, I had the option of working with a

Alison: Did you draw on high school materials

Japanese co-teacher and took it. I think theywanted me to have the support mechanism if I

from the American high-school curriculum or fromneeded it. But he hasn’t gotten involved at all.

British A-levels to teach this course?

Previously, the course was taught by a foreign

Cory: No, not at all. I had a completely free hand todesign the classes. So it was all new. This is what
has taken up a lot of my time recently. The course
is divided into some major themes that thestudents explore in depth. The first one we did was
Food, Nutrition, and Hunger. Now they’re looking
at Gender Issues. And we will explore Conflict andConflict Resolution, then Natural Resources toteacher, an outside teacher, who came in just forthis course. But that teacher had to leave, and theprincipal and the department head thought that I
would be well suited to fill the place because of mybackground. So that’s one of the courses I’ve beenteaching the third-year students. I also do debate.
So yes, I do have autonomy, the opportunity tobranch out into something new.

finish the year. These are issues that are real eye

Alison: What have you found to be the main

openers for them and, I hope, can be reallychallenges with this new course?

empowering.

Cory: Well, the first challenge is deciding what to

Alison: That sounds great. These have got to bevery advanced high school students. Where do

include. So far, I’ve settled on one topic per term,
which is covered using different media. I show

they tend to go to after they graduate?

them TED talks and documentaries to familiarize

Cory: They do intercultural studies, language
studies, things like that. Quite a few of them go to
Sophia University, because of the Catholic
connection. Some go to Akita International
University, we usually get one or two into Waseda
and Keio. They virtually always go on to private
universities, and don’t even apply to the public
universities. I always find that strange; I’m surethey would get into some good public universities,
but it seems that they feel that they “ought to”
continue in private education.
Alison: That is curious, isn’t it. To go back to what
you were saying about the course, it sounds like

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>them with the theme. I do some lectures and they
have discussions and debates, and they write
essays, which is the main way I have of assessing
them. Last term they also did group presentations,for which each of the groups chose a food aidorganization, like Christian Children’s Fund,World Food Program, other NPOs and religious
charity organisations. The students presented all in
English. The capstone of this process was debate.
Here the students formed teams, four on each side,plus umpires, and they had to vie for grants ofmoney for their organization. That was really
successful. And several of them have continued
with the extracurricular debate team. The school

12

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
has a sort of Debate Club—actually, it’s not a

was working on a one-year contract. That’s pretty

bukatsu, it has a special status, so that students cannormal—in fact, it’s more stable than some other

do debate and still join one other club—and it’s
had its most successful year to date. In the past few

jobs. They renewed my contract once, and then I
asked for a change in status. I asked them to makeyears, a handful of girls have been in the Debate

me permanent. At first, they were, like, but we’veTeam and have participated in the national

never done that before. But I said, well, why not

tournament. Because there aren’t many schools

start now? And they did.

doing debate in Tohoku, we don’t have prefectural
tournaments for qualifying but are given a freepass straight to the national. We haven’t done

Alison: So now you have this stable job at theschool, how do you see the job developing?

particularly brilliantly against the other schools soCory: Initially I thought I would leave after a few

far, but this year, 35 girls have signed up for theyears and go to work in universities. But recently,

team, and I think we have a good chance to domuch better. The debate team has some history

I’ve been thinking, why not stay where I am? It’s abehind it now—it’s an established thing.
Alison: So success breeds success. It sounds likeyou’re very committed to the school, with the newcourse and the work you’ve been doing with thedebate team.

good situation and I can help improve the course.
Things are changing at the school too. I noticed ashift a couple of years ago. When I first started
there, the foreign teachers were just part of thefurniture, or rather, just window dressing. Foreignteachers weren’t expected to do some of the things
that our Japanese colleagues do. But now I have a

Cory: Well, as they say, teaching for a high school

good relationship with people at the school. I’ve

is more like a lifestyle than a job.

established some kind of track record and people

Alison: So tell me, how did you find yourself inthis lifestyle, I mean, job?

trust me. I’d say I have some sway with theadministration. They seem to listen to me.

Cory: I wasn’t a teacher before I came to Japan. I

Alison: It sounds like an enviable position to be in.

have a BA in law, and I worked for 20 years inbusiness in Canada. Then, my business partner at

Why would you think of moving?

the time decided to pull out and it seemed to be agood opportunity to come to Japan and let my kids
come and experience their other culture. So wecame over and I started working as an English
teacher. My first job was for an eikaiwa company
in Ishinomaki. It wasn’t a great job. They sent me
all over the place to teach; some places I only
visited a couple of times. So it was impossible toestablish much of a relationship with the kids. But
it was through that job that I came to my present

Cory: You’re right. Where I am now, I can beclosely involved in decision-making at the school.
When I talk to people I know who work atuniversities, it sounds like many have no voice at
all where they work. But all the same, I havenothing to compare it with. I’ve only been in Japansix years.
Alison: But it seems that you have been moving
forward with your career in these years. You said
that you have now started a master’s degree?

school. During that first year, the foreign teacher

Cory: That’s right. I’ve completed the postgraduate

who was working at the girls’ school left, so thecertificate in language teaching, so I have just two

school offered me a full-time position. Initially, I

more taught modules and the dissertation to go.

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

13

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Grant Awardees’ Essays
I’m doing it at East London. I know, it’s not very
well known as a TESOL programme. It’s very small
compared with Birmingham or Aston. I’m the only
master’s student on the programme who’s in

LD SIG Grants 2013

Japan. Probably most other master’s programmes
have more of a support network.

The LD SIG Grants Committee would like tocongratulate all of the 2013 grants winners. We

Alison: So is that what draws you to JALT? The

look forward to their contributions to the LD

support network?

SIG:

Cory: Absolutely. It’s a journey ofprofessionalization. I can’t imagine where I’d be
without JALT. Before I joined, I knew very few

Subscription grant:
Natacha Piederriere

people who were doing language teaching longterm. I joined the Sendai Chapter just three years
ago, and was immediately drawn in. Not only have

Membership grants:

I been the Publicity Chair for the Chapter for the

Brandon Kramer

Adrian Wagner

entire time, I have now attended over 30 meetings
and two National Conferences, and really

Winner of the LD SIG 2013 research grant:appreciate the opportunities JALT provides. My
development both as a teacher and learner are still

Michi Sakivery much in progress. In fact, just as one of the
JALT slogans says, for me learning truly is a

Winners of the 2 JALT 2013 National Grants:
Caroline Ross

lifelong journey.

Aya Matsumoto

Alison: So, if learning is a lifelong journey, toreturn to the question I put to you at the beginning,

Winners of the 2 LD Conference grants:

how would you define learner development?
Cory: Well, that is the million-dollar question. As
learners, each of us travels down a unique path of
exploration and discovery, and these individualand very personal experiences shape ourdevelopment. As teachers, I see our role as guiding

Mike Sullivan
Tanja McCandie
The 2014 grants will be announced in late
January or early February 2014.

For more information please go to:<http://ld-sig.org/grants2013/>

our learners along their individual paths, helping
our students understand and make use of their

Or send a quick email to:experiences. These definitions are obviously still“under construction”, which I suppose is really<learnerdevelopmentsiggrants@gmail.com>

part of my ongoing development as both a teacher
and learner.

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

14

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices

LD SIG Members' Voices
LD SIG メンバーの声
My Learner Autonomy and Intercultural
Communication Research Interests

a stronger and more consistent approach toautonomy-promoting practices in the institution.
This took the form of an independent learningjournal. After a 5-week trial in several classes, there
was some indication of more autonomous learning
practices. In addition, the feedback from theGareth Humphreys

learners was positive overall with most feeling that

Sojo University, Kumamoto
Email: humphreysgarethit helped them transition from their traditional
learning practices to those required of them on the@hotmail.com

EAP programme and later on their specialist
degree courses. The journal is now in use acrossthe EAP programme.

My interest in learner autonomy started in 2009"
I left Vietnam in 2011 to work on an
education project with Newcastle University inwhen I took up a new teaching position in aboth Angola and the UK. During this time, as aVietnamese EAP context in Ho Chi Minh City. It
was clear early on there that passive learning

result of working with high-level learners of

behaviour was an issue. Among the expatriate
teachers, complaints such as ‘the students doan interest in intercultural communicativecompetence (ICC), an area that has experienced

nothing outside of class’ were commonplace.

rising interest over the last 10-15 years (Sinicrope,

Indeed, the perceived passive learning was often
used to explain poor results. And yet, while it was

Norris & Watanabe, 2007).

possible to sympathise with these frustrations, they
seemed a little unfair. The well-meaning intentions

interests in learner autonomy and ICC as I
undertake a research study as part of a PhD withof the teachers were clear, but I felt that many of

the University of Southampton, UK (due to start intheir frustrations stemmed from a lack ofunderstanding of the local context.

February 2014). I want to analyse how a learner"learn more about learner autonomy in order to findacquisition among Japanese EFL learners since thisis a relationship that is still to be studied in depth. I

more effective ways to promote the concept, and so

am especially interested in: (a) how can definitions

I completed an action research project to address
the cultural challenges that my colleagues and Iof learner autonomy and ICC be framed in awere facing. This was a collaborative process

autonomy and ICC encouraged in a Japanese EFL
context?; and (c) to what extent does learner

As a teacher on the programme, I wanted to

involving a number of teachers and students which

diverse nationalities and backgrounds, I developed"

I am now about to combine both of myautonomy approach may help develop ICC

Japanese EFL context?; (b) in what ways are learner

led to the development of an intervention to ensure

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

15

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
autonomy aid the development of ICC among

years, it is likely that the research methods will

Japanese learners in EAP?

adapt as I start to work more closely with my"I believe that this analysis of therelationship between learner autonomy and ICC issupervisor and with the Southampton researchgroup. Currently, I am working on the early stages

important as the acquisition of ICC can beof my literature review in which I am discussing

hindered by the classroom setting (Byram, 1997).

contrasting perceptions towards learner autonomy

Therefore, my aim is to understand the extent thatand ICC in Western individualist and Asian

ICC can develop among a group of EFL learners in
a Japanese university context within an organisedcollectivist cultures.
"
In terms of my personal motivation forframework outside of the classroom, where

doing this research, I hope it will provide

students may develop their own autonomous

assistance in meeting my long-term career goals oflearning approaches. I hope to find that ICC skills

continuing to work in tertiary institutions withcan be acquired as a result of learner experienceand learner reflection, when the focus shifts frominternational people. While my primary aim is toprovide learners with transferable skills throughteaching to learning (Zumbihl, 2012, p. 227). It is

student-centered, open-ended, problem andmy hope also that this study will further theinquiry-based learning, I also want to further myunderstanding and possibly reinforce the notion

development and prospects in educational researchand philosophy that learner autonomy and ICC area fundamental part of a learner’s journey.

in Asia.
"
I would be very glad to hear from any"

Learner Development SIG members who haveMy research will take place in a university

EFL context in Kumamoto, where I am now based.

similar interests or who may be able to offer some

Here there is an emphasis on the development of

PhD preparation advice.

learner autonomy through teacher support. I
intend to adopt a combined quantitative andReferences

qualitative approach, enabling comprehensive

Benson, P. (2006). Autonomy in language teachingaccounts with data from questionnaires designed

and learning. Language Teaching, 40, 21-40.

to reach a large number of learners, and more
open-ended responses from focus groups which
will be richer in detail (Lichtman, 2010, p. 84). The
focus groups should enable an analysis of learner

Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing
intercultural competence. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters.
Edley, N. & Litosseliti, L. (2010). Contemplating

autonomy and ICC skills and by providing

Interviews and Focus Groups. In L. Litosseliti

multiple views and experiences (Edley &(Ed.), Research methods in linguistics (pp.

Litosseliti, 2010, p. 165). This combined approach
can be beneficial in language research as it stands

155-179). London: Continuum.
Holliday, A. (2005). The struggle to teach English as

to reveal wider aspects (Lazaraton, 2005, p. 215)

an international language. Oxford: Oxford

which I hope will lead to a more complete

University Press.

understanding of learner autonomy in its

Lazaraton, A. (2005). Quantitative research

relationship with ICC acquisition.
"
However, given that I will not be carrying

methods. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of
research in second language teaching and learning.

out any actual research for at least a couple of

New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

16

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
Lichtman, M. (2010). Qualitative research inapplication I was accepted to do Japanese studies.

education: A user’s guide (2nded.). Singapore:

The two departments had completely different

Sage.
Oxford, R. L. (2003). Towards a systematic model

attitudes to teaching and learning. In my English
courses, I always felt that teachers consideredof L2 learner autonomy. In D. Palfreyman & R.

students’ progress to be important. They were also

C. Smith (Eds.), Learner autonomy acrossaccessible when students needed help, for example

cultures: Language education perspectives (pp.

recommended books for self-study and introduced

75-91). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sinicrope, C., Norris, J., & Watanabe, Y. (2007).

learning strategies. On the contrary, the Japanese
department positioned itself as an educator of theUnderstanding and assessing intercultural

new generation of researchers, therefore, little wascompetence: A summary of theory, research,done to meet or attend to students varying levels

and practice (Technical Report for the Foreignof Japanese proficiency, pace and learning

Language Program Evaluation Project). Second
Language Studies, 26(1), 1-58.

difficulties. The curriculum consisted of reading
academic texts and classical grammar from the

Zumbihl, H. (2012). Learner autonomy in acquiring

second year on and Chinese readings (‘kanbun’)intercultural communicative competence forfrom the third year, all of which required a firm

study abroad. Proceedings of Intercultural

language knowledge which most of the students

Competence Conference Volume 2 (pp. 227-37).
University of Arizona.

lacked. As a result, students soon realized that they
had two options: give up (which was chosen bymore than 70 per-cent of my classmates) or study

How Learning Experiences Affect My
Teaching

together and help each other. I selected the latter.
"

First of all, we needed to become able tolook up new words quickly. Senior students
introduced us to useful software programmes andwebsites and we also borrowed dictionaries andÁgnes Patkó
International Studies Centre

grammar books from the library for reference. At

Meisei University
Email: agnes.patko@meisei-classes to discuss our different translations andattempted to create the ‘best possible solution’ by

u.ac.jpputting the best part of each work together. As thethe beginning, our study group met only before theworkload and difficulty of the texts increased, we
started to divide the texts into smaller sections andI obtained my MA degrees in ELT and Japanesestudies at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE),

assign each section to a person in the group totranslate it. Before the classes, we simply copied

Hungary. When I started university, humanities

the missing parts from others. However, thisstudents had to choose two majors. As I had
always wanted to become an English teacher,method did not prove to be effective when the

majoring in ELT was obvious. However, I wanted
something rare as my other major and as Japanesemeaning of specific vocabulary or grammar items.
So, we decided to assign each passage of the texts

language proficiency was not required for theto at least two people who worked together. In

teacher asked for the reading of a kanji or theNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

17

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
addition, we increased the number of meetings"

both to discuss the texts, and translate the mostit is easy to form groups of two, three or four.

complicated parts together. During our meetings,
we not only improved our translation skills but

Activities include discussing topics, information
gap activities, filling in charts, making posters, andalso mastered various study techniques. The

preparing presentations. The length of group work

learning strategies and techniques we developed

varies according to the task, ranging from 2-3

were applicable to studying in general. As a result,minutes to 15-20 minutes. I often re-group students

by the end of the third year, we had become
autonomous learners and we now formed awithin one lesson so that they can get to know eachother and learn to work with different people. The

coherent and effective study group, whose

problems I face when doing group activities andmembers made decisions about their own learning

projects with them are disruptive behaviour andprocesses. These experiences proved the validity ofgoing off task. If one member of the group iscollaborative learning to me and made me realisethat collaborative learning goes hand in hand with,

unwilling to participate it breaks the balance, andas a result, it either makes other students go off

or leads one to, greater autonomy.

task also or imposes more work on them.

"

Therefore, as a teacher I emphasise the importance

Since April 2013, I have been teaching

I have 12 students in my first year class, so

English at Meisei University, Tokyo. Here, I amof taking responsibility for learning and maketrying to make use of my language studying
history to foster my students’ improvement in

students aware of their own learning processes. Ifthey learn to make decisions on their own learning,communicating in English. I have introduced

then they start getting closer to becoming

strategies and techniques that I found useful, forautonomous.

instance flashcards, recording my voice, making"

posters, and shared my learning experiences suchas collaborative learning and how I became able tooperation—with each member taking part equally—in order to be able to get closer to themake decisions about my learning and become

implementation of collaborative learning later. (Iautonomous.

would not call my first year class collaborative, as"

it implies students taking great responsibility overIn the first few weeks of the semester I

I consider it important to foster co-observed great differences between my first andsecond year students in terms of co-operation. The

how tasks are to be executed and roles to be
assigned (Hirade, 2011), for which they are notsecond-year students worked well together fromready yet. We are still approaching that stage.) You

the beginning and were ready to make decisions

will recall that as an undergraduate I was ‘forced’

about the roles and responsibilities within theto use collaboration as a tool but my students aregroup even at the start of the semester. On thecontrary, for my first-year students, group and pair

introduced to it step by step. I regularly apply
activities in which they have to make decisions orwork activities were rather new. In high school it

determine the role of each student. I attempt toseems that they hardly needed to co-operate withmake them think about how various tasks andone another in the language lessons; consequently,

problems could be resolved and ask them to reflect

initially, they felt uncomfortable solving various
tasks with other students who they had just met.

on the way they approached and solved the task,
which helps them realise how they can learn most

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
effectively. I believe that such activities help them

Reference

become more autonomous at the same time.

Hirade, Y. (2011). Five differences between"
At the time of writing this in July, theSpring semester is almost over and I have seen

collaborative learning and cooperative learning.
Learning Learning, 18(2), 18-25. Retrieved fromconsiderable changes in how my students are

http://ld-sig.org/LL/18two/2011b.pdf

becoming more and more responsible for their own
learning. In the final group project, which involved
writing and preparing an advertisement, they were
free to decide who they wanted to work with, their

Meet Joël Laurier, a Cooperative Learning
Facilitator!

topic and how to execute the task. Hardworking
students deliberately selected each other aspartners and the less engaged ones realised thatJoël Laurier

they had to work together, which they did not like.
However, they all knew the importance of the

Gunma Kokusai Academy

project in their final grades so instead of

Email:

pretending to be inept in order to do as little work

waldolaurier@gmail.com

as possible they attempted to put something
meaningful together. That was a significant point
for them: they decided not to fail the course andtake it more seriously. Although there was great

Hello, my name is Joël Laurier. I am a French

difference between the quality and language of theCanadian but was born and raised in English

final products the groups submitted, I consider all

Canada. I am bilingual and working on mastering
Japanese to a reasonable degree. I have been inof them successful in relation to the decisions they
had made and how they carried out the task. I feelJapan for 16 years and call Tatebayashi, Gunma mythat they made a big step towards autonomy.

hometown. I am currently teaching at Gunma"

Kokusai Academy where I have the great fortune

As a university student, I experienced how

collaboration can influence one’s attitude tolearning and the results of it. As a teacher I am
attempting to implement the strategies andof working with fantastic children who do havemotivation toward learning English. I have justfinished my MA in TESOL at Teachers College

approaches I used as a learner in my classroom:

Columbia University. It was there that I learned ofcollaboration was a key educational/ sociocultural

my new passion—cooperative learning. This

process for me which helped me becometeaching strategy has changed not only my way ofteaching but also the way I look at teaching inautonomous, and I believe that my students canbenefit from such an approach also. However, theygeneral. I joined the Learner Development SIG in

first have to see that they are the ones who need toorder to be able to share ideas on cooperative

make decisions on and take responsibility for, theirlearning with like-minded people in Japan who

own learning. They also need to recognise how

think their students deserve better than a
traditional style of teaching. I look forward tocollaboration can be used as a tool. If they do, thenthese practices might well be able to lead them tomeeting you all.

greater autonomy.

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

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
A Welcome and Necessary Change:
Introducing Autonomy in a Low Motivation
Environment

lessons and curriculum. In addition, in each class I
have a significant number of other obstacles suchas student absences (sometimes as many as 1/3 to
1/2 of the class are missing) and an inability toassign homework due to lack of student

Brandon Kramer
Temple University Japan (Osaka)
Email:
brandon.L.kramer@gmail.com

cooperation. The students in this environment
often act out in class, walk around freely, talkloudly, or sometimes openly refuse to do any workat all as instructed.
"

Working in this environment can be very

frustrating, but I understand the importance oftrying new ideas to encourage the students to learn
In my current situation introducing student
autonomy could have a great impact on myand, more importantly, to want to learn. The
current English educational system is not working

students' lives both inside and outside of thefor my students. Using my own quizzes and tests,

classroom. In this short article I will explore theestablished vocabulary size tests, and self-efficacy

concept of autonomy in language teaching andlearning within the context of my current

surveys, I have yet to find a significant difference

educational institution and outline a general action

in ability or confidence in English between the 1styear and 3rd year students, despite the two years ofplan for my own classes for the next two semesters.

instruction that separates them. If the current

With a careful implementation I believe that I cansystem is not working, I feel that I have an

help my students become more autonomous in
their language learning, a welcome and necessary

obligation as a teacher to search for a newchange if I wish to support their journey becoming

approach to English instruction. I personallybelieve that rather than continuing to remove

independent, successful language users.

student responsibility to make instruction easier, I
should give it back whenever possible and let the

The learning context
Among the many definitions of autonomy

students take more control of their own education.

published I prefer the simple and direct definition"
Previously attempted student-centeredlessons have generally led to confusion and failed

given by Benson (2011): “a capacity to control one's

plans. Discussions and classroom observations

own learning” (p. 58). Scharle and Szabo (2000)

with colleagues have lead me to realize thatelaborate that autonomy is not a trait that a student
either has or does not have, but is instead

students spend a majority of their time in otherpossessed “to varying degrees” in every individualclasses copying English phrases and sentences
word for word along with Japanese translations

in every context. Currently I am teaching at a

into their notebooks. To my surprise and seemingly

private high school in Japan with about 1,000 low

at odds with the literature denouncing grammar

proficiency, low motivation students. I see amajority of the students at school only once atranslation and such rote-learning activities, theweek, severely limiting time-on-task and often

students seem to be much more focused andmotivated during these tasks. Given simple andhindering my progress (and theirs) through themechanical tasks, almost all of the students seem to

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
focus on the activity and complete it as instructed.

can control rather than worrying about issues that I

Although I would like to label this situation as

have no influence over such as what happens inlacking student autonomy due to the heavy teacher
influence, the students often seem to prefer it,other classrooms. Over the next two semesters I
will work to enthusiastically provide the space andautonomously opting for a teacher to tell themmaterials for more motivated students who haveexactly what to do. This echoes the concerns

the desire to independently come to study andexpressed by Pennycook (1997) that our desire as

learn, focusing on the “ability” of students to study

teachers to impose autonomy could lead us todismiss such ‘opting out’ as a legitimate possibility.

autonomously.
"First I plan to simply offer open study times

I must therefore work within this context towhere students can come and interact withincrease the students’ motivation in class while

English, on a completely voluntary basis andslowly trying to increase their confidence in theinitially supervised by a teacher. This open study

efficacy of autonomous learning.
"
I believe there are two significant reasonssession will be located in the school’s Language
Laboratory every morning before school where thewhy I should encourage student autonomy. The

students can choose to attend and review material

first is my hope that nurturing the students’

covered in class, study for a large-scale test such as

autonomy will inspire change and help increase

TOEIC or EIKEN, or simply try to use English andstudent motivation, as “learners can only assume
responsibility for their learning if they have somecommunicate in a relaxed space. I feel that thisalone will be a large step towards autonomy whencontrol over the learning process” (Scharle &compared to their current classroom setting, asSzabo, 2000, p. 80). The second reason is to support

well as offer a much better environment to meetthe students who are interested in learning English

the students’ individual needs. In addition to

but are being limited by their less-motivated peers.
Fostering the desire and ability to take control andproviding the physical space to learn, I would also
like to equip the students with the tools they needlearn outside of the classroom could help theseto study on their own, including instruction in

students be successful in an otherwise difficult

using various study methods they can practiceenvironment.

outside of school such as using word cards and

The plan

extensive reading. I believe in the power ofextensive reading, in particular, and its potential to

As Benson (2012) explains, rather than having

encourage student autonomy. Fortunately, I was

direct control over student autonomy itself, as aable to arrange for the purchase of over 300 gradedteacher I can only influence any of the three

reader books in April this year, which act as thevariables which comprise it: ability, freedom, anddesire. I can only help to create an environment

start of a library the students can use to learn on
their own. Such forms of informal Englishthat fosters the growth of autonomy within myextracurricular learning have not previously

students, by aiming to “bring something out ofexisted at my school, but I believe they will be very

students, rather than put something 'in'" (Benson,

useful in encouraging the students to take control

2012, p. 7). Due to the limited time available andthe conditions of my workplace environment, Iof their own learning experience. Lastly, I would
like to include some form of self-reflective tasks inwant to make limited changes to variables that I

this process, reminding the students of their roles

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

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
and guiding them to consider their own learning. It

References

is imperative that the students come to view

Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and researching autonomy.

themselves as a crucial part of the whole learning
process (Scharle & Szabo, 2000) if they are to(2nd ed.). London: Pearson.
Benson, P. (2012). Autonomy in language learning:further develop their capacity to control their own

How to do it 'here'. Unpublished conference

learning.

paper.
Pennycook, A. (1997). Cultural alternatives andMy hopes
I consider autonomy an essential component ofautonomy. In P. Benson & P. Voller (Eds.),
Autonomy and independence in language learning

language learning, but it cannot be forced upon

(pp. 35-53). New York: Addison Wesleystudents who are not ready or willing to embrace

Longman.

it. With a slow, steady, and well-thought out

Scharle, A., & Szabo, A. (2000). Learner autonomy: A

introduction, however, it is my hope that theseideas will spread and I can help my students

guide to developing learner responsibility.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

become better learners throughout their lives.
While the plan outlined above is small in scale,even if only a few students benefit it will have been

Exploring Learner Development through ePortfolios

worth the effort. While I do not know how many
students will utilize the space and materials
offered, with any luck the students who come will
see the benefits and bring any knowledge andenthusiasm gained back into the classroom to thebenefit of others.
"
Finally, I would like to thank the Learner

Rachelle R. Meilleur
Sojo University, Kumamoto
Email: rrmeilleur@yahoo.ca

Development SIG for the opportunity to join thiscommunity and learn from those much wiser andmore experienced than I am. While I am eager totry the ideas outlined above and see if I can help
inspire positive changes in my students, the plan is

The Sojo International Learning Center (SILC) at

flexible and I am open to other suggestions. I

2010, and I was one of the original 10 teachers who

would love to hear from anyone who has had

were responsible for the set-up. Initially the main
issues that we faced involved trying to get asimilar experiences introducing student autonomy,

Sojo University in Kumamoto, opened in April

whether successful or unsuccessful, or anyone withany advice to give. I am still very new to the field

curriculum in place for over 700 students, figuringof learner development and I have a lot to learn,

dealing with shell-shocked non-English majors

one of the reasons why I was eager to join the LD

who had not one, but two classes of English
Communication a week. After a while, the next

SIG. I am looking forward to learning more fromnot only my own experiences and trials, but also
from the experiences of others.

out how we were going to assess them, andchallenge for us was to introduce the students to
the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC), which
occupies the entire second floor of the building. It

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
consists of a conversation lounge, a reading area

were quite specific, but over time they becamewith multi-level graded readers, listening stations,more generalized, and we tended to get more

speaking booths, a large English-only DVD
collection, with comfy sofas and large screen TVs

detailed responses from the students as a result.
Students did become better at reflecting as the year

to watch movies, and much more. Although somewore on, and they provided a lot of usefulstudents started using the SALC for their own

information as to what they found useful andpurposes, it appeared (to me) that the majority ofinteresting to do (not always the same thing.) We

students were using the SALC only to complete theactivities they were required to do in class.

were able to complete the first stage of this project,
but unfortunately not the latter stages, primarily"

due to time management issues in the second

As this seemed to me like a waste of a great

opportunity to use such a useful facility, I decided

semester.

to find a way to get the students more interested in"using it. I first came up with a project that had thestudents choosing their own homework that paired

my current project. After reading several articles
about the benefits of language learning portfolios

their own interests with English study (Meilleur,(Banfi, 2003; Cadd, 2012; Collins & Hunt, 2011;2013). For example, if they enjoyed watching

Davis, 2003; Lam & Lee, 2010; Nunes, 2004; Shimo,

movies, they could watch movies in English and2003), I decided to use the concept of student-

use movie books or other resources to learn fromthem as well. However, most students did justgenerated websites as e-portfolios as way of
encouraging students to keep a record of theirenough to meet the requirements and nothing

language learning progress, both in and out of themore, and almost none of them did their work inclassroom. Although we have some server issues,

the SALC (or used SALC resources). After that, I

our facility is CALL-friendly (English laptops andrealized that students would need more “training”
in how to be (hopefully motivated) autonomous

headsets in every classroom for every student,
digital projectors, etc.), and I knew I would be able

learners. Thus I began a new project with two ofto help my low-level students in class in building

my colleagues that focused on reflective writing.

their sites. I was unsure where to start, but a

The idea here was that students would become

colleague of mine introduced me to the Weebly

better equipped to make the language learning
choices they needed if they reflected more on whatplatform <http://www.weebly.com/>, which isvery user-friendly. After creating my own classworked and didn’t work for them, and why.

website with it, I realized that if I could use it

Afterwards, they would be introduced to various

myself, my students would be able to as well. It is

external activities (i.e., any language study done

mostly a question of dragging and dropping tooutside of the classroom, whether it was done in
the SALC or not) that they could later choose to

create what you need on the pages. Students canbuild as many pages as they like on the site,use either concurrently with their English classes,

upload audio and video files, embed documents

or in later years. Students were asked to reflect on aand YouTube videos, have their own personal blog,

variety of topics, ranging from their own English-

and more. This, of course, is with the Pro version of

language learning histories, to activities done inclass, as well as reflections concerning projects andthe site, which I currently pay for ($1 a student peryear), but the free version offers quite a lot ofpresentations. Initially the reflection questions

possibilities as well.

These two previous projects have led me toNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices"

The initial set-up for the e-portfolios washope to discover whether or not, over time, howvery teacher-specific. I wanted the portfolios tomany will continue to use and add to their e-have the same basic set-up that students would
personalize as they went along. Thus, every

portfolios through their own self-directed study
long after they’ve finished my class.

student’s website has the same title (i.e., Name’s"English Portfolio), and every website has the samewith this project include finding a way to evaluate

four basic pages: Home, Homework (with added

the work done on the websites and trying to be

subpages), My Blog, and My Links. The Home
page is a place where students describe

consistent in checking in on the students’ websites
on a regular basis. In addition to these practicalthemselves, and their English-learning, personal,

matters, there is also the challenge in having theand future goals. They can also add photos orstudents “own” their websites, where they takeother information here. The Homework pages

control of the content, and add to them as they see(which include reflections, a speaking journal,
video uploads of their speaking tests andfit. Hopefully, in doing so, students will become
more aware of their own learning development,

presentations, and more) are a repository of all theand will be able to become more motivated andwork that I have asked them to do in and out ofautonomous language learners.

class. The Blog page is just that, a personal blog"

where students can write what they like on topicsof their choice, although occasionally I ask them toa half years on developing autonomy withJapanese students and have found from mywrite about something related to what we haveprevious projects that there is a real need to foster

done in class. The Links page is a place where theyand develop learner reflection and modes of

can add links to useful sites at school—such as theautonomous learning with them (Lyddon, 2011;

Sojo Moodle and different Facebook pages—andalso to other language learning sites that theyMatsumoto, 1996; Skier & Vye, 2003); however,there is also a danger in having students become asenjoy.

dependent on the teacher for their autonomy as"

While there may be some argument as toSome of the current challenges I am facing

I have been working over the past two andwith other elements of their language learning.

how tech-savvy Japanese students are (outside of"using their mobile phones), I find that most of thestudents are engaged with their own websites to

Exploring Learner Development Conference inTokyo this November, but I am also interested invarying degrees. With the exception of a handful ofcollaborating with other LD members who may be

students, most know how to navigate their sites

interested in this project, or something similarly

and add the elements they need to their pages. As

related. Please feel free to contact me any time.

this is a new project, there have been a few minor
hiccups along the way, but I continue to have

References

students upload their work, reflect on it, andBanfi, C. (2003). Portfolios: integrating advanced

introduce them to various activities they can do

language, academic, and professional skills.

outside of class. In the second semester, the

ELT Journal, 57(1), 34-42.

teacher-directed focus will lessen as the students
will be required to come up with their own English

I will be presenting on e-portfolios at theCadd, M. (2012). The electronic portfolio asassessment tool and more: The Drakelearning plan, with teacher guidance of course. I

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
University model. The IALLT Journal, 42(1),in Japan 1: Autonomy you ask (pp. 27-40). Tokyo:

96-126.

Japan Association of Language Teaching.

Collett, P. (2011). Using goals to facilitate selfregulated learning. In A. Stewart (Ed.),
JALT2010 Conference Proceedings (pp. 725-734).
Tokyo: JALT.

The Reluctant Language Learner Turned
Language Teacher: A brief outline of mylanguage learning history

Collins, W. & J. Hunt (2011). Improved student
motivation and confidence through self-accesslistening, video forums and talking journals.

Rose O'Loughlin (MA ELT)The JALT CALL Journal, 7(3), 319-333.

Guest Lecturer
International Studies Centre
Meisei University

Davies, S. (2003). Learner portfolios: Who is at thecontrols? In A. Barfield and M. Nix (Eds.),

Email: rose.oloughlin@meisei-

Learner and teacher autonomy in Japan 1:
Autonomy you ask (pp. 233-256). Tokyo: Japanu.ac.jp

Association of Language Teaching.
Lam, R. & Lee, I. (2010). Balancing the dual
functions of portfolio assessment. ELT Journal,64(1), 54-64.
Lyddon, P. (2011). Training Japanese university

My language learning history has been tenuous at
best. Like the majority of Irish children, I had
absolutely no interest in learning my native
language, Irish (Gaeilge). It is generally viewed as

English learners for greater autonomy. In A.

a 'dead language' by the majority of the Irish youth

Stewart (Ed.), JALT2010 Conference Proceedings—a language with no 'real world' applications
outside of Ireland and only slightly more within.

(pp. 700-713). Tokyo: JALT.
Matsumoto, K. (1996). Helping L2 learners reflect
on classroom learning. ELT Journal, 50(2),143-149.
Meilleur, R. (2013). Becoming an autonomous
learner: Successes and failures. Sojo Journal, 38,
105-109.
Nunes, A. (2004). Portfolios in the EFL classroom:

By the end of secondary school, I could not evencreate a simple grammatically correct sentence in
Irish that I had not learned by heart. My repertoire
now consists of very basic vocabulary and usefulexpressions like “Can I go to the toilet?” and“Merry Christmas”, and this is after almost 16
years of language learning. I also spent six years

disclosing and informed practice. ELT Journal,

learning French, and my skill in this language was58(4), 327-335.

little better. Deciding to view myself as a ‘bad
language learner’ enabled me to rationalise thisShimo, E. (2003). Learners’ perceptions of portfolio
assessment and autonomous learning. In A.
Barfield and M. Nix (Eds.) Learner and teacher

ineptitude quite well. I had absolutely noautonomy in Japan 1: Autonomy you ask (pp.

either language and found myself attempting to re-

175-188). Tokyo: Japan Association of Language

learn the present simple during my final years insecondary school. This pursuit was quickly

Teaching.
Skier, E. & Vye, S. (2003). One reality of
autonomous learning in Japan. In A. Barfieldand M. Nix (Eds.) Learner and teacher autonomy

conception of the essential role of grammar inabandoned when I realised that all I needed to doin order to obtain a high grade in both languages
was to ‘learn the exam’. Although this tactic left me

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

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
incapable of speaking either language, it did result

language learning and that benefit them as a result.

in quite high grades in both exams, which suited

I also feel that I now have a greater understandingme perfectly at the time and continues to suit anincreasing number of native Irish learners.

of my English communication students’difficulties. Moreover, I find it easier to explain the"nuances of the English language by giving a few

Since moving to Japan almost four months

ago with just the words for “hello”, “goodbye” andexamples of what I know about the Japanese“thank you”, I already have a better knowledge oflanguage. Overall, I believe that my "non-language

Japanese grammar than I ever had after 16 years oflearning Irish and six years of learning French.

learning history" is on the way to actually
becoming a "language learning history" and I am

Teaching language learning has undoubtedly

looking forward to using this to my advantage forhelped in this process, but I am of the opinion thatthe rest of my teaching career.

lowering my affective barrier was and is the main
component of my progress. Instead of relying on
osmosis, I am actively studying the language andLearners’ Development of Autonomy
through a Speaking Task

making an effort to speak it as often as possible.
This does not mean that I am anywhere close to
having a conversation in Japanese, but I am slowly
building up a base of grammar and vocabulary
which I am hoping will all come together within
the year and enable me to have a semi-basic
conversation in Japanese.
"

Upon deciding to move to Japan, I was

informed that I would be teaching students of alower level than I was accustomed to. From the
beginning, I assumed that not having an evenpartially fluent second language would negatively
affect my teaching. I thought that I would not beable to relate to my future students as language
learners and that I would not be able to understandthe difficulties that they were facing. Surprisingly, I
feel that my ‘non-language learning history’ isgiving me good insight into the feelings of mycompulsory English students. I find myself
regularly thinking back on what I know about Irish
and French and trying to remember the reasons
why these language points managed to slip
through my affective barrier. I feel that this is
helping me to proactively combat disinterest andto frame lessons/teaching accordingly in ways that
accommodate the students’ feelings towards

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

Robert J. Werner
Kanda University ofInternational Studies
Email: wernerr@kanda.kuis.ac.jp
My name is Robert Werner, and I have recently
joined the Learner Development SIG. I am alecturer at Kanda University of International
Studies, as well as the Associate Editor of theStudies in Self-Access Learning Journal. My
experience includes eight years of ESL/EFL
teaching at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels in both the United States andJapan. I am new to the field of learnerdevelopment, having become interested in it
recently through an in-class assignment. This inturn led to a desire to assist my students inbecoming better learners.
"
Highly motivated students of mixed ability
levels in my university English communication
class completed a series of assignments where theyrecorded a conversation with a proficient user ofEnglish, listened to it, and reflected on theirperformance. The assignment was designed for26

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
students to improve their speaking over the course

learners develop their critical thinking skills. Thisof the semester, and part of the reflection entailed

unexpected discovery instilled in me the belief thatmaking a plan to improve for the next conversation(again with a proficient user of English), which was

I was moving in the right direction, and I could see
the potential for further student improvement

to take place about three weeks later. Students thenthrough becoming more active myself in the field

had time to implement their plan and prepare forof learner autonomy.

the next topic before repeating the process.

""As the instructor, I listened to theirrecordings, read their reflections, and gave as

my students’ development. In my never-ending
quest to use technology both in and outside themuch meaningful feedback as possible to supportclassroom, I have introduced students to Edmodo,

them by annotating their electronic submissions

an online social networking tool for educators thatwith comments on the conversations andhas an interface similar to that of Facebook. With

reflections. Through grading assignments andexamining students’ reflections over time, I noticed

so many students using Facebook, Edmodo
provides familiarity without a high learning curve.

an ability by some students to critically reflect onStudents have access to folders customized by thetheir speaking and make adjustments in order to

instructor, including links, documents, and audio/

improve in specific skill areas. For example, one

video files that can be accessed anywhere, thus

student initially wrote, I want to improve mygrammar and vocabulary. I couldn't speak rightproviding an online tool for autonomous learning.
These folders constitute an electronic library, whichgrammar and difficult vocabulary. If I improved

is exclusively available to the students in athem, I [would] be able to speak English fluently.

particular class or classes, as determined by the

An excerpt from a later reflection by the same

instructor. My class’s Edmodo library contains

student not only shows a detailed and thoughtful
response, but also that she was enjoying thefolders labeled dictionaries (including collocations
and synonyms/antonyms), pronunciation (videos

experience: I would like to improve vocabulary. I

of mouth movement and place/manner of

do songs worksheets. I will listen to the songs andarticulation), vocabulary (student-created "how-to"

fill in the gaps. I can learn vocabulary as I sing! So,

guides for strategies taught in class), andit's easy to learn words by heart. This strategy
improves my skill, not only word skill, but also

pragmatics (student-created videos on correct
pragmatic language use). By accessing theselistening skill. As a result of this and otherfolders, students can revisit various resources

students’ progress, I became determined tothroughout their development as learners (bothimprove my own teaching so as to facilitate thisduring the course and after it has ended).

type of development in more learners.
"
Around the same time, I had a conversation"
My current research investigates students’plans to improve in speaking over the course of awith one of the university’s learning advisors, andsemester (as described above). I am analyzing their

it became clear that we had been independently

goals (e.g., vocabulary, pronunciation, etc.), thebeen working toward the same goal with some ofmeans of achieving these goals, and examining thethe same students. He was trained in the field ofautonomy, whereas I was fueled by my priorrelationship between students’ perceptions of selfefficacy (and other factors) and their choices. In theexperiences in helping younger English language

future, I hope to look more deeply into different

I feel that CALL has also played a part inNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

27

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
ways of thinking with regard to improvement inI began teaching, I didn’t view it as my profession

speaking in order to better understand why

mainly because I knew nothing about it. Neither

individuals make certain choices. As I am
constantly pushing students to reach their

did I plan on staying in Japan for so long. So, what
happened?

individual potential, I am also striving to develop"

professionally myself. Through this process I wantand I had a promise of a new start at sunny

to help as many students as possible not only to

Melbourne University. To be honest, I was boredattain their goals in acquiring higher language
skills, but also to progress in their development as

and I wanted to go back to school to study History.
Luckily, I had a cousin who was a lecturer inautonomous learners. Through my present and‘Australia’s No.1 University’ and a good way in.

future research, I hope that I am able to make a

But my re-education plan needed funding. It’s apositive contribution to the field and help otherlong story, but basically I arrived in Japan andeducators to likewise assist learners in theirdevelopment.

started my teaching career at a lowly Eikawa in
downtown Utsunomiya, a factory town… and as it

I hail from foggy London via rainy Ireland

was the bubble years… ka-ching!

A Life Spent in Learning Development"

In those days, most visitor-teachers in

Utsunomiya, came from the U.S.A. or Canada. At
William Hassett
Dokkyo Medical University
Email:

teaching I found getting work easier using thatwhassett@dokkyomed.ac.jp‘difference’ to my advantage. We had a tight-knit

Hello there, my name is William

did what we did to get by. It took awhile, but then I
began seeing the job as more than a means ofHassett. I am currently a lecturer
at Dokkyo Medical University working for the
Department of Premedical Sciences in its language
division. The emphasis of the department isn’t
focused on English language. In fact, it is only
since 2012 that the native language teachers
working here even saw a contract. I was offered afull-time/yearly contract in April and I hope by
accepting the post I will find, at long last, somesecurity in this profession.
"

first, I found it difficult to find a job because I am/
was London-Irish, but when I got a start in

I’ve been in Japan for a very long time,

longer than most of my students. I’ve seen a lot ofchanges, my work, the hairdos, AKB48? But
something that hasn’t really changed so much, I
think, is teaching and… how little Japanese I
speak. Unfortunately, I didn’t major in education;
I’m not a natural teacher. I’m an engineer. So when

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

community back then; we helped each other andputting rice on the table. With the encouragementfrom the real teachers among us, I started to takethings more seriously, eventually returning to the
UK to get a TEFL Diploma.
"
When I returned to Japan, I was able tomove away from cram schools and I started
teaching for Time T.I. (a subsidiary of Time
Magazine). I began teaching, in factories, to young
engineers. Back then, many of the big companies
were sending their workers abroad, mostly to the
US and Europe. I prepared them by improving
their general communication skills, but I also
helped them to communicate their work
knowledge, in English, to foreign engineers when
they were posted. My engineering backgroundbecame a useful tool and I felt at home walking

28

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voicesaround the factory floor with my students

attend the 20th Anniversary Conference and hopeexplaining their jobs to me. For the first time I felt

to see many of you there.

the joy of teaching and it was so fulfilling. But thencame the depression and factories started cuttingback in education support resulting in my

Learner Development Issues in Language
Educationcompany folding. Fortunately, with the slimmingJohn Garrett

down of the JET program, I was able to find work

Email: garrett_john@hotmail.com

teaching at a Junior High School then at a HighSchool and now finally I have moved to the

Two concerns arise when I think of learner

dizzying heights of DMU, which I started in spring
2013.
"

Looking back, I realize that my whole life

development in the study of English. First, themotivations behind the pursuit to learn English
worldwide seem questionable. Second, it seems

has been one of Learner Development. In my case,my search for security in Japan has forced me tonewer ways to assist students in learning achange and adapt but more importantly to learn
and develop new skills. I’m still learning,

currently in the process of finishing an MA in
TESOL, and my study has focused on looking at

hopefully still developing, but I’ve a long way tothe influences that push students to learn ago before catching up with my peers and thethought of that gap scares me. A bigger scare islanguage along with how they might do it moreknowing that it’s only now that I’m beginning tounderstand what it’s really like to be a teacher…

"
Not long ago, I watched a TED talk which
detailed that over two billion people are studying

even after all this time, there is so much I don’t

English. The speaker in the TED talk seemed tounderstand and so much for me to learn.
"
Back to the beginning and my job at DMU.

think the situation was of benefit to the world. But,

There is so much that needs to be done here.
Persuading everyone that English is important isthese two billion people. I wonder what kinds ofsocial systems they are involved with. I wonder if

one thing but my biggest task at the moment is tothey might be in need of not only re-evaluating

motivate my students who are busy learning to be
doctors. In this regard, I’m trying to establish atheir motivations to study English, but theirself-learning/access center where all our students,
doctors and nurses can come, meet and make"A review of the literature seems to point tocorporate influences as a persuasive factor infriendships through English. But I need help. By

shaping students' perceived needs for English. Tsuijoining the Learning Development SIG I’m hoping
to find people there who can advise and help me

and Tollefson (2007) state that individual reactions

make my SAC real and successful. I need tounderstand more about Learner Development anddetermined, by the linguistic practices andpreferences of multinational corporations,

how to go about developing my students’ English

transnational organizations, and international aid

skills autonomously. The JALT Kobe Conference in
October will be a first. Further down the line, on

agencies” (p. 18). Language learners may perceive

November 23-24 I will make it my business togained some worthwhile help to ensure theirlanguage have yet to be significantly utilized. I'm

efficiently.

I wonder what the different motivations are behind

involvement within the societies that they exist.

to globalization have been “shaped, and eventhat by acquiring English as a skill, they will have

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

29

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LD SIG Member Voices
economic security. As to who can actually use

References

English to enhance their lives economically or

El Refaie, E. (2009). Multiliteracies: how readers

otherwise is in question. Some contend that theusefulness of the language is decreasing relative tointerpret political cartoons. Visual
Communication, 8(2), 181-205.

population and that this parallels the increasingly

Holborow, M. (1999). The politics of English.

polarized economic realities between the "haves"Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

and the "have-nots" (e.g., Holborow, 1999). In other

Jones, E. (2010). The use of comic book style

words, English is a language that provides
opportunities more for the established elite thanreading material in an EFL extensive reading
program: A look at the changes in attitude andfor the masses. In any case, this is a social

motivation to read in English in a Japanesedistortion that needs to be looked at and addressed

university. Language Education in Asia, 1(1),with students.

228-241. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/"
In second language acquisition, I havethought about how one might introduce new types

10.5746/LEiA/10/V1/A19/Jones
Krashen, S. D. (2004). The power of reading: Insights

of material that could both cognitively andfrom the research. Westport, CT: Libraries

motivationally assist students in achieving their

Unlimited.

learning objectives. Material that would appeal toLiu, J. (2004). Effects of comic strips on L2 learners'

students who either can't engage with existingmaterial or simply want variety. I've consideredreading comprehension. TESOL Quarterly,
38(2), 225-243.

two types of reading material that might help—

McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics.

comic book formatted reading material, andNorthampton, MA: William Morrow

motion comics. Evidence shows that language

Paperbacks.

learning material in a comic book format mightoffer substantial cognitive and motivational

Tsui, A., & Tollefson, J. (2007). Language policy,
culture, and identity in Asian contexts. Mahwah,

benefits over conventional material (El Refaie,

New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

2009; Jones, 2010; Krashen, 2004; Liu, 2004;

Wolk, D. (2008). Reading comics: How graphic novels

McCloud, 1994; Wolk, 2008).

work and what they mean. Cambridge, MA: Da"
I've studied these two areas for some time
now, though I have yet to write an article for a

Capo Press.

journal. The study of what motivates students tolearn English is disturbing, as it seems to indicate aworldwide failure in education in general. On theother hand, the more technical study in reading forsecond language acquisition seems somewhat
uplifting. Despite questions regarding student
motivation to study English, it seems a winner
either way if students can be helped to do it more

Pallas Athena, the goddessof wisdom, courage,
inspiration, civilization,
law and justice, justwarfare, mathematics,
strength, strategy, the arts,
crafts, and skill.

effectively.

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30

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Language Learning History

Language Learning History
言語学習歴
From a learner of English at school to a learner ascountries. Although I cannot remember exactly how

an English user and teacher

I learned English at that time, I can recall the scene

Sumie Saito

where my classmates and I read the textbook aloudin class. Reading aloud is a way of learning known

Saitama Prefectural Ageominami

as “ondoku.” I studied hard not only in class but

Senior High School

also at home, so I got a good score on the tests andEmail: ssaito2012@nifty.com

English became one of my favorite subjects. How

Until the point of mywas my listening ability then? I remember one
unforgettable episode in particular. One day after

compulsory retirement last spring, I had beenschool, I had a chance to listen to an English song.

teaching English at a public senior high school for

While listening, I noticed I could not sing alongmore than 30 years. Now I am still working using awith it though I was looking at its lyrics. A longre-employment system because I still have aninterest in teaching English to young learners and I

time after that, I understood the reason. I needed
more practice because English has its uniquewould like to help them improve their English

characters of sound. However, shock alone stuck to

proficiency and broaden their horizons andmy mind.

possibilities.

""
As a non-native speaker of English, I feel,as many other non-native speakers of English wholearning became more difficult, but I still liked it
and studied it hard. Through studying English, I

teach English in Japan probably do, that there are

could continue to know about people and culture

two important aspects to my connection withwhose backgrounds differed from mine. In

English. I am a learner as well as a teacher of

addition, studying English was crucial for me to

English, and learning is a lifetime work.
"
My initial contact with English was when I

pass the university entrance exam. I remember how
we students learned in two main types of class:

was at the age of 15. Like most young people in“Reader” and “Grammar and Composition.” In theJapan, English was the subject for me to learn atformer class, the teacher read us an English passage

junior high school for the first time. English

we were expected to study, explained someattracted me because it was quite different from mynative language, Japanese, and I found it interesting

grammatical matters, and asked us to put eachsentence into Japanese one by one. After theto study various things about the new language.

meanings of all the sentences were confirmed, my

Also, to me, English was like a window open toclassmates and I read them aloud after the teacher.

different worlds. One of my favorite books then

When I reflect on his way of teaching reading, it

was (and still is) “Anne of Green Gables.” Although
the book was written in Japanese, it inspired me towas very simple. After I became a teacher, I realizedthat such a “yakudoku” approach has been astudy English hard in order to travel to different

common approach in EFL classes in Japan for a

In senior high school, I felt that English

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31

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Language Learning History
long time. We were not taught other effective ways

but in order to get a license as an English teacher. I

of reading such as grasping the main ideas of a text.

was studying with students whose major wasThat teaching way may be what could not be
helped.

English. Almost all the classes I was allowed toattend were lectures through Japanese, but there"

In the “Composition and Grammar” class,

was a class which was quite different. There I was

I acquired fundamental knowledge about grammar.

taught by a native speaker of English for the first

The teacher was an attractive young woman whotime in my life. In those days, he was probably the

spoke English very fluently. The contents of the
textbook were arranged focusing on grammar

only native speaker of English at the university. I
remember the day when I first attended his class. I

items. We were expected to understand the

could not listen to him and say anything at all

explanations about them, memorize sample

except for some simple expressions. After the class,sentences including the target grammar items, andI trudged my way back to the dormitory as I had

work through different exercises. The main part ofeach exercise was to translate Japanese sentencescompletely lost confidence in my English
proficiency. My roommate in the same dormitory

into English ones. We did not practice writing any

advised me to develop my listening and speaking

essays. However, later I found this class was veryby listening to an English conversation program

helpful in my English learning history. The teacher

broadcast by NHK. I bought a radio-tape-recorderencouraged us to memorize five key sentences as
our homework and in the next class gave us a quiz.

and began listening to it. However, graduallylearning English was becoming very stressful to me

Even now I can recall some of the sentences that I

with tough studies in my major. In my senior year, I

learned. I spent a lot of time learning at home inrepeatedly wondered what job to choose, andorder to prepare and review classes and studied

eventually I became a police officer because

more by myself using materials made for students
who wanted to enter university. I was able tojuvenile delinquency was another interest of mine.
"
After graduating from university, I had aimprove my abilities high enough to enter aseven-year career as a police officer, which was anational university. My reflection on learning in myreally valuable experience. However, a few years

senior high school days let me notice that myafter I got the job, I recognized that because of alearning was unbalanced in developing four skillsof listening, speaking, reading and writing. My

personnel matter it would be impossible to work in
the field related to juvenile delinquency which I

classmates and I were rarely given a chance to use

wanted to get involved in. In addition, I recognized

English in situations as in the real world. However,that I was more interested in teaching. After some

my English learning at senior high school as well as

more years of consideration, I finally decided toat junior high school built the base of myknowledge about grammar. I really appreciate thatchange jobs and become an English teacher. This
was a turning point in my life. As I was not keeping

because since then I have often recognized thatin touch with English very much after I graduatedwhat I gained then remains firmly in my mind.

from university, I started to learn English again to"

be an English teacher. I had difficulty in recalling

After graduating from senior high school, I

entered a national university to become an English
teacher. However, soon I recognized my choice ofthe vocabulary I had learned in my school days, but
I persevered and I even studied by using textbooks

major was wrong. I had chosen to study education,for junior high school students. My knowledge of

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

32

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Language Learning History
the grammar I had learned long time before turned

various programs, I like Mr. Toyama’s program best

to be very helpful in learning English again.

because the contents of its textbooks have a rich"
I became a teacher in the early 1980s andsoon I recognized that situations around English

and attractive variety. Moreover, he is always
cheerful and encourages us to continue learning,teaching and learning were beginning to change—

saying “Keep listening, keep practicing and keep on

to greater emphasis on English as a tool ofsmiling!” He teaches us listeners the joy ofcommunication in English education. The trend has

language learning. He also teaches me as a teacher

continued, and all the time I have been making
efforts to be a better English teacher—attending

the importance of creating a relaxing atmosphere inlanguage-teaching classes. If learning is notseminars, watching TV or listening to the radio,

enjoyable, it will not last long, and we know thatreading books or magazines for English teachers

language learning requires a large amount of time

and/or learners, and so on. At the same time, I

in school days and in the following days.

myself have been learning English in various ways
trying to be a better English communicator with"
Information and knowledge from books
and magazines for English teachers and/or learners

well-balanced skills in listening, speaking, reading,are important resources as well. For example, one

and writing. Despite all my efforts, I sometimes feelday I learned about “shadowing”, which is one ofthat I am not spending enough time on developing

the techniques for people who want to be an

my English because of different challenges in myprofessional and personal life. That makes me feelinterpreter. Some high school teachers were alreadyusing it in their classes. I tried it at once and sincethat I need a stronger will to keep on learning.

then it has been one of my important ways of"In turn, my ways of learning English forEnglish learning. In my English classes, I

myself have a lot to do with my teaching in class.

sometimes encourage my students to try

English pronunciation is quite different fromJapanese pronunciation. It is important for teachers

shadowing too according to their proficiency.
Another piece of information I got fromto be able to show good pronunciation to their

publications is the effectiveness of extensive

students. I joined an English teachers’ group whose

reading. Until then, I had usually read texts

aim was to help teachers to gain English

intensively and rather slowly. However, I

pronunciation articulate enough to teach in class.
There, I started my learning by practicing

recognized the importance of reading easy,interesting texts at a rapid pace and reading a lot of

abdominal breathing, and my English sounds

them. This way of reading showed me another way

became good enough as a non-native speaker. Theof how to interact with English texts. I later

experience in this group has been very helpful tointroduced extensive reading into my classes

me as a teacher. As a non-native speaker, I
understand what difficulties Japanese learners havethough it was done at a small scale. My students
enjoyed choosing and reading easy texts. As forin making English sounds, and based on thiswriting, I learned mapping as one way of how toknowledge and the training I had, I have beenorganize ideas, then began using this technique inteaching English pronunciation to my students.

my English writing, and also introduced it into my"
Various English programs through media
such as NHK have also proved very useful toclasses.
"
These experiences are some examples ofimprove my listening and speaking skills. Among

how I have tried to improve different English skills,

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

33

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Language Learning History
mainly focusing on listening and speaking skills,

stage was rather unbalanced in terms of improving

for myself as an English user and teacher. What I

skills though it benefitted me in that it gave me thewill focus on next is not related to such skills, but
related to learners’ managing learning on theirbasis of grammatical knowledge. In the second
stage, taking the point of view as an English teacher

own. Once I attended a certain seminar for people

has been added to my language learning. I have

who wanted to get a higher TOEIC score. There,

introduced various ways which I used in mythere were some English teachers as well as many

learning and thought effective for my students’business people and some university students. The
seminar leader showed us how to train ourselves

learning into my EFL classes after adjusting such
ways for them.

and pointed out the importance of self-training. I"

was a little surprised because what he emphasized

have been learning English and I will keep learning

more was the idea of learners’ developing their

it in the future. As a teacher of English, I have threemotivation and learning autonomously. His
concern was adults’ learning, but it reminded me ofimportant reasons for doing so. One is that I would
like to be able to use English more accurately andreports about practices by some high school

appropriately in order to make my teaching better. I

teachers. They also insisted on the importance ofwill be able to help my students interact with me

their students’ self-studying. This made me begin

and the classmates more effectively, make moreto understand that the concept of self-training andself-studying is related to autonomy, which I

suitable materials, and so on. Another is that inclass I can show them a better model of an English

learned about later and now recognize much moreuser as a non-native speaker. I hope that they feelas significant.

that they will be able to become good users of"English in the future. In addition, by keeping on

Although I had been attending different

In the end, I would like to reflect on why I

seminars in order to improve my teaching, I felt thenecessity of studying current theories of language

learning I can show them a model of what it means
to be a life-long learner. It is apparent that it takes aand second language learning and teaching so that

lot of time for language learners in EFL contexts

I could think further about and reflect on mysuch as Japan to become good communicators.

practices considering such theories. Therefore, I

Therefore, teachers play an important role inentered Teachers College Columbia University
Japan Campus. At that time I was in my early 50s,

encouraging their students to learn not only at
school but also after graduating from school. As abut I thought I was never too old to learn. At TC, I

non-native English teacher in Japan, I believe that

attended various kinds of courses related to TESOL,

my attitude toward learning will have a positive

spending a lot of time in reading, writing, listening,

effect on my students. In the future even after

speaking, and thinking about things critically,
which resulted in improvement of my language

retiring from my teaching job completely, as just a
user of English, I will keep on learning in order toproficiency. Since I began studying at graduate

expand my possibilities and enjoy my life more. So

school, I have come to be able to see bothmy language learning in many different senses ispractically and theoretically how I have been

endless.

learning English.
"
When I look back at my language learning
history as a whole, learning as a student in the first

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34

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Feature Article

Feature Article
フィチャードアーティクル

Promoting Student Autonomy with a Simple Online Learning Management System
Peter Hourdequin, Tokoha University
Email: pfh@sz.tokoha-u.ac.jp
This paper explores the use of an online social learning platform to create affordances for Japanese university
students to discover and share language content for in-class discussions. Since this was my first attempt atusing an internet-based platform to supplement and support weekly face-to-face meetings with myuniversity English communication class students, I resolved to examine the experience in the form of anaction research study. In this paper, I first discuss my rationale for the decision to use computer-mediatedcommunication to support the development of oral communication skills. Next, I outline the action researchquestions I set out to answer along with the pedagogical aims of the online component of the course. Finally,
I explain my implementation of the project itself—the context and participants, student tasks, and datacollection procedures followed by the conclusions and further questions I came to through this research.
Rationale and Previous Research
According to Graham (2006), blended learning systems are defined simply as those that “combine face-toface instruction with computer-mediated instruction” (p.5). Having experienced blended learning in
graduate school as a means of interacting with teachers and classmates, I had a fairly strong sense that suchinteractions, though textual in nature, contributed significantly to my ability to speak more articulately about
the various issues discussed online when they came up in face-to-face meetings. Although my students’situation as undergraduate EFL learners obviously differed significantly from mine as a graduate student, I
wanted to see if the addition of a blended learning environment could help promote fluency and vocabularydevelopment the way it had for me as a first language learner of domain-specific language (that of TESOL
and applied linguistics).
"

The second factor that encouraged me to introduce blended learning into my English oral

communication class related to readings I had done in second language acquisition literature which showedthat the addition of online interaction has positive effects on students’ progress in the target language. Since
the mid-1990s, research has shown a variety of benefits to the use of learner management systems. Kern
(1995), for example, pointed to the simple but significant fact that when language learners interact usingsocial tools online, they increase the total volume of language they are exposed to, and also frequently“output” more language. Other research (e.g., Lamy & Goodfellow, 1999; Ortega, 1999; Warschauer 1998,
2007) has also highlighted some of the ways that online communities increase student access to native
speakers and promote peer learning—two factors clearly significant to language growth. Even more recently,
research by Thorne (2009) and Gee and Hayes (2011) has pointed to the positive affective connections toNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

35

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Feature Article
motivation that occur with the formation of what they term “Internet interest communities” and “passionate
affinity spaces,” respectively. These researchers highlight the unique affordances of online spaces for learners
to work collaboratively around common interests. Finally, Benson (2011) highlights three important ways thattechnology-based approaches can support student autonomy:(1) they place the learner (as controller of the technological device) in direct control of key aspects of thelearning process;(2) they allow wider access to authentic target language sources; and(3) they allow wider access to interactive use of the target language. (Benson, 2011, p.152)"
Of course, such technological affordances for student autonomy are difficult to realize if students areresistant to the use of technology for social interaction. In previous years I had been wary of introducing
technology into my classes because of a general lack of computer literacy that I perceived to exist among
students at my university. But in the case of this particular class, the students had expressed interest in, andfamiliarity with online communication, and, though they had varying levels of confidence in their own
technological literacy, they all spoke about involvement in online social networking sites (SNS) such as
Facebook, Twitter, Line, and Mixi. From my discussions with the students about their knowledge and use ofsuch technology, I felt sure that they had the potential to benefit from blended learning activities. This is thethird factor that prompted me to introduce blended learning activities into this class. As long as I could findan online social learning platform that was simple and user friendly, technological competence would not
likely present itself as the most significant barrier to successful online interaction.
Pedagogical Aims and Action Research Questions
With relative confidence in the suitability of online social interaction for language learning from my own
experience and readings in SLA literature, and with enthusiasm from students themselves, I decided to trial a
blended learning approach over the course of the second semester. I wanted to explore the usefulness of suchan approach to support the broad academic goals I’d set for the course: the improvement of students’ oral
communication fluency and accuracy with an emphasis on vocabulary development, strategy use, andspeech genre awareness. I also wanted to explore how the addition of an online component to the course
might:• draw upon students’ existing digital media knowledge as a way to promote peer-to-peer communication
about new content and language;• promote student autonomy in using online tools to explore topics that they themselves found relevant andinteresting; and• create new affordances for the improvement of students’ English skills.
"
I was particularly interested in how students more accustomed to interacting with teacher-selected
texts would react to the task of choosing and introducing their own texts. The action research questions
which I sought to answer were:
1) How would students react to the task of choosing their own texts for class discussions?
2) What learning gains would be apparent as a result of the online practice?

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36

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Feature Article
The Action Research StudyContext and Participants
The institutional context for this project was a medium-sized private four-year university in Shizuoka, Japan.
The project described here took place in a high intermediate-advanced level oral communication class open
to third-year students in the university’s Department of American and British Studies. In this department,
students are divided into leveled tracks using bi-annual TOEIC results. The students enrolled in this electiveclass came mostly from the English department’s highest-level track, with scores ranging from 585 – 855. As
an elective class, the students who enrolled can be said to have been highly motivated towards improving
their English oral communication skills. The class was small, with only six students enrolled, making for aclose-knit class atmosphere and a high degree of familiarity among the students at the time of this project inthe second semester of the 2012-2013 academic year.
Data Collection
To explore my action research questions, I kept an electronic journal and made weekly notes on my students’interactions online and in-class. At the end of the term students were also given a paper copy of a brief
survey in Japanese (Appendix 2) that asked open-ended questions about their experience in the blended
learning project. Participation in the final survey was optional, anonymous, and carried out with informed
consent. Students handed in completed surveys to a designated administrator in the university’s student
affairs office, who then returned them to me after the semester’s grading was complete. This survey served asa significant source of qualitative data used in my evaluation of the project’s effectiveness.
"

In the period between the time when the surveys were completed and the time they were returned tome (approximately two weeks), I wrote my own reflections about the project, making note of any problems orother issues that had come up, and trying to critically evaluate the project’s successes and failures from my
own perspective.
The Online Learning Platform
This project involved the students’ use of an online social learning platform called Edmodo to interact witheach other and with their teacher before and after weekly face-to-face class sessions. Edmodo is a platformthat provides a private online space where students and teachers can share text, images, audio, and video. I
chose Edmodo for its simplicity, usability, and broad compatibility with desktop and mobile computing
hardware/software.
"

Edmodo is accessible via web browser and/or smart phone application (iOS and Android) and its

user interface is simple and user-friendly—similar to that of social networking sites such as Facebook. Once
users sign in, they are presented with a wall of recent posts, and they have the ability to easily post theircomments, links, videos, or other files independently or in response to other community members’ posts.
"

Teachers form Edmodo communities for specific groups of students (usually classes). Once theteacher creates an Edmodo group, he or she receives a code to give to students, which they use to join thegroup. This registration method has two benefits: first, it simplifies the process of student sign-up. Students
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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Feature Article
choose their level of anonymity on the site. The registration process requires students to create a username
and password for themselves, but does not require an email address or even a real name. This helps alleviate
concerns that might otherwise arise about the sharing of personal information on the Internet. My students
registered with their given names and the first initial of their family names. Some of them chose to register
their email addresses too because this allowed them to receive notifications of site activity.
Implementation
I introduced Edmodo at the beginning of the semester in a workshop during class time. I explained how thesystem worked, helped students get signed up, and informed them of how they would be expected to use thesite later in the semester. During this workshop, all the students chose to download the free smartphone app
to their mobile devices, and by the end of the workshop session, they were all signed up and ready to go.
"

I gave the students five weeks in which to acclimate themselves to using Edmodo. During this initialperiod, I occasionally posted supplementary materials related to readings and in-class discussions. Students
were asked only to comment on articles or other posts if they felt so inclined (it was not required). Several
students did in fact post comments in response to articles I posted, and one student used the site to clarify
confusion she had about a reading assignment.
"

Toward the end of the initial five-week acclimation period, students were given written instructions

online (Appendix 1) and additional oral instructions in class about their assignment to choose a topic, sharematerials online, and lead a discussion in class. Each student was randomly assigned a forthcoming week inthe second half of the semester during which they would be responsible for posting articles, videos, or othermaterials relevant to their own interests, along with critical discussion questions for their classmates toconsider and discuss online and in class. There were no requirements about how much material students
were to post and comment upon, but each discussion leader was required to post his/her material by the
Friday before our Wednesday class meeting in order to allow everyone ample time to absorb the material andcomment upon it if they so chose.
Results and Discussion
Overall, the use of Edmodo as a tool to promote student-initiated discussions and learner autonomy fulfilled
my expectations. During the initial acclimation phase, I frequently shared links to articles and videos that
related to topics we were discussing in class. One advanced student told me that though many of these texts
were more difficult than those he had encountered previously, the online setting made it easier to quickly
look up words and research topics more deeply. Several students commented on my posts, and occasionallyasked questions for clarification. This indicated to me that the students were ready and willing to take over
the responsibility of finding topics by themselves.
"

In the student discussion leader phase, students found and posted articles and videos with relevant

discussion questions on a variety of topics: nuclear power (video), flashmobs (videos), vegetarianism(articles), employment discrimination (articles), Disneyland (article), and whether or not parents should lie totheir children about the non-existence of Santa Claus (articles). Students seemed to enjoy this freedom to
introduce new content to their classmates, and the broad variety of topics presented suggests that learners
were in fact using this opportunity to pursue their own interests in English.

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Feature Article"

The semester-end survey that I prepared (Appendix 2) contained a total of ten questions, addressing

two main areas: students’ assessment of Edmodo as a tool (including information about how they used it),and their feelings and thoughts about participating in a blended learning environment. The information
gathered from these surveys was very useful in helping me reflect upon the successes and failures of theblended learning initiative.
"

The semester-end survey confirmed what I suspected about students’ means of accessing Edmodo.

The survey indicated that the primary means of accessing the online platform was via smartphone: five of thestudents said they accessed the site via smartphone at least some of the time, whereas only one claimed he or
she used a computer exclusively as their means of accessing the site.
"

The student surveys also indicated that the participants were largely appreciative of theopportunities afforded to them by Edmodo. Here, I focus on responses to the survey questions that asked
how students felt about using the site and how useful they felt it was as an aid to stimulating in-classdiscussions.
"
Question 3 asked what students thought of the activity of finding English content (articles andvideos) and posting it to Edmodo for discussion. Student responses to this question were mostly positive. A
few students wrote that they found the process of posting materials technically challenging, but the majority(70%) wrote comments indicating satisfaction with this process. Some comments, translated from Japanese by
the author, are listed here:- When someone posted an article or video, everyone could see it.
- I was able to discover a variety of new (English) websites.
- It increased my opportunities to come in contact with English.
These comments indicate a growing sense of community supported by the sharing of content based on
student interests. They also suggest that students were aware of the value of these additional opportunities toread and interact in English.
"

Question 8 asked students how they felt about the oral communication class’s online component ingeneral terms. One student did not answer this question, and one responded that he or she felt that the online
component was “not really necessary”, but other responses indicated a high degree of satisfaction with thestudent-generated content approach enabled by the online learning environment. Two indicative responses
are listed here:- It was good to know my classmates’ thoughts online. I think if [the learning system] were used even more
actively it would help further improve our English language skills.
- It was a fresh way to give students a central role. I thought it was a good experience.
"
Based on these and the rest of the survey responses collected, I was reassured that most seemed tohave had positive educational experiences with the blended learning tasks they engaged in. For sure, a few
students found the transition to interaction in an asynchronous virtual environment challenging, but their
trepidation may have had more to do with the burden of leading discussions (online and in class) than it did
with the technology itself.
"
In my own reflective journaling, I noted surprise at the controversial nature of some of the topics
students chose to discuss (e.g., nuclear power, job discrimination), but was impressed at how students

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Feature Article
handled these and other topics critically and sensitively. For example, the student who posted a video about
nuclear power production in Japan asked a hypothetical question about choices classmates might actually bepresented with in the future such as, “If you could get a cheap apartment or house in an area around a
nuclear power plant, would you want to live there?” Another student, who presented on the lighter subject ofwhether parents should lie to their children about the existence of Santa Claus, provided both pro and con
articles for his classmates to consider before the discussion.
"

In reflecting on the results of the semester-end survey, I speculated that the (two) students who

seemed least satisfied with the project were those who were more comfortable with a more didactic
pedagogy. Though the surveys were anonymous, I suspect that two students who expressed somereservations about the use of Edmodo were those who in fact participated least and most reluctantly in online
discussions. These students seemed to find a shift to more autonomous, socially co-constructed learning
difficult. Further investigation would be needed in order to verify this claim. Were they, in fact, resisting moreautonomous learning, or were there perhaps other factors at work (e.g., time constraints, lower overallmotivation, anxiety related to lower proficiency)?
Conclusion
The project described here used an online learning management platform to give EFL students of oral
communication control over the selection of topics and content for online and face-to-face discussion. Survey
feedback confirmed my observations that, though the system was not appealing to all students, more
motivated learners recognized the benefits afforded by the additional interactions they had with each otherand with their instructor online. Edmodo proved to be a simple and effective technological tool for enabling
such interactions, and it allowed me to hand over control of discussion topics and materials to the students.
"
Returning to my initial action research questions about student autonomy and learning gains, I
conclude that most students in fact showed themselves to be quite autonomous and capable at discoveringand sharing their own English materials online. For a few students the tasks of finding and posting materials,
leading discussions, and contributing in class and online were a significant challenge. Still, all students
seemed to benefit from the creation of an online community which supplemented our in-class meetings. Even
the less motivated and less technically adept students seemed to enjoy sharing items they found, and the inclass discussions that related to student-initiated topics appeared to be engaging and educational for all who
participated.
"

I also conclude that giving students’ responsibility for generating and posing discussion questions to

the group on self-selected topics seemed to be an effective tool for encouraging critical thinking. To
encourage rich in-class discussions in the past, I had previously often (without much thought) formulated
such questions myself. But giving students the opportunity to formulate as well as answer such questions
seemed to be a very effective way to help students engage critically with a variety of issues that weremeaningful to them. By generating critical questions themselves and being exposed to a range of responses,
students can become agents of their own learning, and thus more likely to develop more autonomous andcritically reflective thinking habits.

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Feature Article
References
Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and researching autonomy. Harlow, England: Longman/Pearson.
Gee, J. P., & Hayes, E. (2011). Language and learning in the digital age. New York: Routledge.
Graham, C. R. (2006). Blended learning systems. In C.J. Bonk & C.R. Graham (Eds.), The handbook of!

blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Goodfellow, R., & Lamy, M.-N. (2009). Learning cultures in online education. London: Continuum.
Kern, R. G. (1995). Restructuring classroom interaction with networked computers: Effects on!

quantity and characteristics of language production. The Modern Language Journal, 79(4),!

457–476.

Lamy, M.-N., & Goodfellow, R. (1999). “Reflective conversation” in the virtual language classroom.
!

Language Learning & Technology, 2(2), 43-61.

Ortega, L. (1997). Processes and outcomes in networked classroom interaction: Defining the research!

agenda for L2 CACD. Language Learning & Technology, 1(1), 82-93.

Warschauer, M. (1998). Online learning in sociocultural context. Anthropology & Education Quarterly,!

29(1), 68–88.

Warschauer, M. (2007). The paradoxical future of digital learning. Learning Inquiry, 1(1), 41-49.
Appendix 1: Assignment Instructions (posted on Edmodo)
Since we have a good platform for interacting around digital content, let's use it: I would like you to takeresponsibility for finding some articles, videos, photo essays, or other digital media that interests you. It
could be the English version of an article about a news story that you are following. Or maybe you want toshow us a TED video you like. You will post some content to this site for all of us to see and discuss. You
should write a little introduction to everything you post, and also some questions for us to think about anddiscuss (here and in class). Due dates will vary because each of you will curate a different week.
Appendix 2: Student Survey
アンケート
このアンケートは自由参加です
参加するかしないかいずれも、成績に関係ない
名前を書かないでください
日本語で答えてください
遠慮なく率直に答えてください

1) Edmodoを使い始めた時にインターネットのSNSなどに関する能力はどうでしたか。When you started
using Edmodo how skilled were you in the use of internet social networking sites?

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Feature Article
他の授業のオンライン参加は経験したことがある？ あればその経験について説明してください。Have you
interacted online in the context of other university classes? If you have please explain about your experience.
2) Edmodoは殆どパソコンでアクセスしたか携帯でアクセスしたか。
Did you mostly access Edmodo through a computer, or through a mobile device?
"あ）パソコンa) computer い）携帯 b) mobile deviceう）両方c) both え）場合によるd) it

depended on the situation（説明してください）(please explain)
2.1) 使いやすいですか。使いにくいですか。Was Edmodo easy to use? Or was it difficult?
"

使いにくいと思った人は、その理由を述べてください。

"

If you answered that it was difficult, please explain how / why.

3) 自分で英語の記事やビデオを探して、Edmodoに投稿する作業についてどう思いますか。What did you
think of the activity of finding and posting your own articles and videos on Edmodo?
4) 教科書のみの授業はよかったですか。（この質問は私たちの使った教科書の評価ではなく、教科書のみの授業をした方がよかったかどうかということ。Would you have preferred a class that only used a textbook?
(This question is not asking for an evaluation of our textbook, rather it is asking whether or not you would
have preferred to use a textbook alone without the online component).
5) オンラインで先生とクラスメイトと質問したりすることは平気だった？ためらった? Did you feel
comfortable asking your teacher and classmates questions online?
6) Edmodoでの参加はほとんど自由だったが、オンライン上の参加は授業において必要であるべきだったと思いますか。 A good portion of your participation online (through Edmodo) was voluntary. Should moreparticipation online have been required?
7) 全体的に、Edmodoについてどう思いますか。Overall, what did you think of Edmodo?
8) 全体的に、このクラスでオンライン参加の部分があったのはどうでしたか。Overall, what did you thinkof the online participation portion of this class?
9) 他のOCの授業で（例えば来年のOC3で)Edmodoを使うべきですか。Would you recommend using
Edmodo with other oral communication classes (for example with next year’s OC3 class)?
10) 他にコメントがあれば述べてください。Please express any other comments you wish to share.

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special FeatureSpecial Feature: LD SIG 20th Anniversary
Conference
特集：LD SIG 創設 20周年記念大会
The JALT Learner Development SIG's 20th Anniversary Conference, Exploring Learner
Development: Practices, Pedagogies, Puzzles and Research, will be held at Gakushuin
University, Mejiro, Tokyo, November 23-24 2013.
Invited speakers include Naoko Aoki, Richard Smith, and Kensaku Yoshida. Phil Benson isa Special Guest Speaker, too. We are also honoured to have local guest speakers from
Rikuzentakata and Sendai presenting on post-3/11 community-building in Tohoku. And
not only teachers and researchers, but also students and educationally oriented NGOs will
be taking part to explore with you many different learner development issues.
This special two-day conference is jointly sponsored by the JALT Learner Development,
Junior Senior High School, and Teachers Helping Teachers SIGs, with support too from the
JALT Tokyo and Yokohama chapters as well as the Education Research Foundation andGakushuin University.
Please feel free to peruse the full action-packed programme at:<http://www.ldsigconference2013.org/conferenceprogramme/>
We hope to see you there!
Best wishes,
Aiko Minematsu, Alison Stewart, Andy Barfield, Fumiko Murase and Rich Silver,
conference co-chairs, on behalf of the conference organising committee

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
Exploring teacher-learning: Interview with Richard Smith, Learner Development SIG cofounder
Andy Barfield and Richard Smith
Richard founded the JALT Learner Development SIG in 1993 with Naoko Aoki when he was alecturer at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. He had been writing self-study materials forlearning Japanese (Japanese – Language and People, published by the BBC in 1992) andoriginally came to learner development and learner autonomy that way, via reflection on his own
learning of languages. In 2000 Richard moved back to the UK to start work at the University of
Warwick. He is currently the coordinator of IATEFL’s Research SIG and co-convenor with Alice
Chik and Naoko Aoki of the AILA Research Network on Learner Autonomy.
Andy: Richard—many thanks for doing this interview for Learning Learning. We're very muchlooking forward to seeing you in November at the conference. I’d like to start by asking you how you originally came to
be interested in 'learner development', and how the SIG started out.
Richard: Thanks, Andy. I’m really looking forward to coming back to Japan for the 20th birthday of LD SIG!
Looking back, I think it was mainly because of my own experience of learning languages autonomously—
especially Japanese—that I had the idea for the SIG in the first place. By 1993, when we founded the SIG, I’dbeen in Japan quite a long time—about seven or eight years—and I’d been getting more interested inJapanese language learning. That’s mainly because I’d been writing materials—one book that was neverpublished was going to be a communicative course book for classroom use and the other one, which was
published by the BBC, was for self-study. Because the BBC book was for self-study, my co-author—Trevor
Hughes Parry—and I decided to include some guidance (‘learner training content’, if you like). Well, by
talking to some friends who’d started using the book, we soon realized that this guidance wasn’t reallyadequate—and we decided to facilitate a workshop at the Omiya JALT conference in, I think, 1991 or 1992
where learners who were also English teachers could share their ideas and feelings. We titled this workshop‘Japanese for lazy people’ (making a bit of fun both of ourselves and of Japanese for Busy People, the title of avery popular JSL/JFL coursebook). The workshop was much better attended than we’d expected, and lots
and lots of interesting ideas came from participants for using the environment we were living in to learn thelanguage. Out of that we decided to gather people’s addresses and start up a newsletter for learners ofJapanese in Japan, which we called Learner to Learner (the title of the Omiya conference having been ‘Teacher
to Teacher’)! Well, two things that happened then were that some teachers of Japanese heard about the
newsletter and started to get interested; and, second, there started to be some talk of teaching in the
newsletter, and how one’s own language learning could affect that. In fact, I think it’s around this time that I
started to get my own students to discuss together what they were doing or could do outside class to learn
English—just as we’d done in the Omiya workshop for Japanese.
"So, out of this, I came up with the idea for a SIG—and developed the idea with Naoko and others. I

think right at the beginning we were quite consciously and in a way subversively bringing together twogroups in particular—learners and teachers of Japanese—to develop new ideas, especially about learning

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
outside formal environments. It was all a kind of interesting symbiosis, generating new insights for our
teaching, but primarily —at first at least—out of a genuine desire to improve our own learning experience as
well. And I’d extend that beyond language learning to mean teacher-learning within a teachers’ association
more broadly—Naoko and I, and you, and Hugh [Nicoll] and others, were all interested in bringing about
what Hugh later called a ‘velvet revolution’ in the way JALT operated—and we were, I think, innovative inthe ways we tried to do things bilingually in meetings, formed our committees, planned events, and so on.
Andy: ‘Learner autonomy’ has since become much more of a mainstream central concept than ‘learner development’.
So, how did ‘learner development’ get chosen as the name of the SIG? And how do you see now the difference between
learner development and learner autonomy? And … where might teacher autonomy fit in that picture for you?
Richard: Naoko and I—and Hugh—heard about and went to a conference on learner autonomy that was
being organized in Hong Kong [the 1994 ‘Taking Control’ conference] and I think that stimulated more talkof learner ‘autonomy’ in the SIG. We were already aware of some of the work going on around autonomy
before that (I’d been particularly interested by some of Henri Holec’s writings, for example, when I wasdoing my MA back in 1988-89), but we were aiming to be very eclectic and inclusive in the early years—
partly to build membership —and to include people interested in various things like strategy training,cooperative learning, and the Silent Way and other humanistic ‘methods’. That desire to be inclusive was
one reason for calling the group the ‘Learner Development SIG’ and not limiting ourselves to one strand of
influence.
"
Since then, as you mention, ‘autonomy’ has really become a central concept around which
everything else revolves, but I’m a bit regretful sometimes that people talk so much about autonomy as an
abstract thing, almost as a kind of religious virtue sometimes (like faith, hope and charity!), and not enoughabout ourselves, our contexts, our ways of communicating with others in teacher associations, or ourpractices related to learners as a basis for theory development. I know that people in the Learner
Development SIG had a debate a few years ago about changing the name of the SIG ...
Andy: Four years ago (already!) in 2009! That was when we did an online survey about future directions for the SIG.
About 60 people responded to the survey, and one of the questions was about the name of the SIG. A whole range ofother names got suggested—from Autonomous Learning (AL), Autonomy in Language Education (ALE), andAutonomy in Language Learning (ALL) to Learner Autonomy and Development (LAD), Learner and Teacher
Autonomy (LATA) and Learner and Teacher Autonomy & Development (LATAD), and one effect of the survey wasthat it helped us look beyond just learner autonomy in understanding the diverse interests of SIG members to do withlearners and development ... and another was that we decided not to change the name after all!
Richard: Whereas about 10 years ago the IATEFL Learner Independence SIG actually did change its nameto the Learner Autonomy SIG... Somehow, ‘autonomy’ as a buzz-word has come to dominate the field
globally, with its high priests and priestesses, exigeses and whatnot. But I sense that the phrase ‘learnerdevelopment’ just might stand the test of time in a way that ‘autonomy’ might not. When we coined thisphrase, ‘learner development’ sounded to us relatively practical and process-oriented—more so than‘learner independence’ or ‘learner autonomy’, which represent ideals but not processes, I think—and I havea hunch that, having become a mainstream academic concept and a ‘buzz-word’ in the profession,

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature‘autonomy’ might start to fall from favour soon as fashions change and/or other notions become moreacademically respectable (for example, ‘agency’ seems to be making quite a bid for power at the moment!).
"
As for the relationship between teacher and learner autonomy, I feel that’s an abstract, academic—
almost theological—question that has arisen because of autonomy becoming more of an academic field,with PhDs being written about it and so on—so I’d prefer not to go into it here if you don’t mind.
Andy: Things get quickly political—as they inevitably do—but let’s talk about that another time then ... Let’s keep thefocus on learner development and teacher development, which for me offered an important connection in the early
1990s within the reflective practitioner paradigm towards what I’d like to call the ‘reflective learner paradigm’ oflearner development. How do you see the connections there, Richard?
Richard: Yes, that's a useful way of thinking about it too. I should say in this respect that another reason for
calling the SIG ‘Learner Development’ in the first place certainly was related to the way people were making
a distinction between teacher development and teacher training at the time—‘training’ being something done‘to’ teachers and ‘development’ being something they’re more responsible for themselves.
Andy: That was quite an issue in the Teacher Education SIG too and I remember us talking at the time about different
connections between learner development and teacher development.
Richard: Yes, in LD's case, ‘learner development’ seemed better, less top-down, than ‘learner training’, forthe same kind of reason, especially as we were seeing ourselves as learners getting together freely to sharefeelings and ideas.
"
I think it’s probable that a lot of people have felt they’ve developed positively as reflective
practitioners, or as teacher-learners, by being part of the SIG—so I think there’s another connection there—
in other words, somehow through being involved in a SIG devoted to learner development there’s been a lotof teacher development going on. Certainly, that was the case for me—I learned a lot through theinteractions with other members, which we tried to make as ‘humanistic’ as we could at various events.
Then there was my own teaching—and I found that with a focus on learner development there I was
certainly developing a lot as a teacher. I think these things are all tied together—I can’t separate what I
learned through being in the SIG from what I learned from students—but I know that during the time I wascoordinating the SIG with Naoko (the mid- to late 1990s) I learned to focus on others much more than before(that’s a never-ending battle, though, and ego often gets in the way!). I was developing a lot at that time,
partly through new kinds of professional discussion within the SIG, partly through new ways of interactingwith my students—it’s difficult to separate the two experiences as they went together, but what I can say isthat teacher development definitely arose out of learner development in my experience, and probably viceversa!
Andy: You recently wrote in the Stories of Practices book (Barfield & Delgado, 2013) how you then moved into teacher
education at Warwick University and how your approach to that was informed by your work in Japan ...
Richard: Yes, in a nutshell I found that I was engaging in a kind of learner development (or ‘pedagogy forautonomy’, if you will) in my teacher education work. In fact, I don’t see language teaching, teacher

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
education, supervising research students or—something I’m doing more and more these days—facilitating
workshops for practising teachers as fundamentally different, in the sense that in all of them what’s
important for me is starting from where the participants are already and what their hopes, expectations andachievements are, encouraging them to make that explicit, and working with that, rather than coming inwith too much of a pre-set agenda and imposing what I think they ‘should’ be learning. Of course there areneeds for structure and advice, but the fundamental thing for me in all these activities is building from thebottom up—working with what participants bring to the table as it were.
Andy: So you haven’t moved away from learner development, just incorporated it more widely into different areas ofyour work? I’d like to ask you about the workshops and other activities you’re involved with these days which involve
teacher-research, and working with teachers in developing countries. It seems that the IATEFL Research SIG, which
you’re currently co-ordinating, is putting a very strong emphasis on promoting teacher-research. And you’ve recently
done some teacher education workshops in Nepal, Chile and Cameroon. Could you talk a little bit about your work
there?
Richard: Yes, I do think teacher-research is something worth promoting—it’s been part of my own practicesince the late 1990s to gather and analyse students’ perceptions and try to improve things on that basis—
then, when I started teaching pre-service MA in ELT students at Warwick University I built an action
research experience into one of the modules. I think it’s a good way to help student-teachers take more
control of their own learning. So what I’m doing now is broadening that experience out into in-service
initiatives. There are constraints on that to do with teachers’ lack of time and scepticism about research, forexample, but I’ve been quite encouraged that we’ve had some teachers getting enthusiastic recently andsubmitting reports to the Research SIG newsletter, ELT Research, which show quite clearly that they gained asense of empowerment through carrying out small-scale teacher-research. I also think the way teacherresearch is presented to teachers can be improved so it doesn’t seem so academic, but is rather taken as
something relevant to them. In these recent workshops I’ve been working with groups of teachers who facequite difficult circumstances (large classes, few non-human resources, including textbooks, and so on), so
it’s been important to consider seriously whether teacher-research really is for them, and, if so, what kind.
"

In January this year I was in Chile for 5-6 days. It was something that the British Council asked me togo and do, —to give a lecture on practitioner research, and more especially to lead a workshop for 80
Chilean secondary school teachers—a two-day workshop—and to set them off on action research, which
would take them through a year basically.
"

It was based on Tom Connelly’s vision, based on his quite long experience in Chile where he now

works for the British Council, and on what he felt was needed in terms of teacher development there forsecondary school teachers: rather than more of the same kind of 'one-off' teaching ideas workshops, thefocus should be on getting teachers involved in their own ongoing practitioner research in their own
contexts. Tom had already decided there was going to be a kind of mentoring scheme. He would get four
local mentors and also set up a Moodle space to support them through the process, so I thought it was quite
exciting that somebody was putting a lot of effort into the sustainability aspect of it. It was quite a challenge
too—and I felt it was good for me to try and do it.

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
Andy: And it involves secondary school teachers deciding to do an action research project for a year?
Richard: Yes—in advance of the school, the teachers were made aware that they’d be expected to commit toa process and not just to the one-off workshop. At the two-day workshop they discussed and identified
problems they have with their teaching and—in collaboration with one another and with four mentor tutors—started to develop research questions which could help them to investigate these problems. Some of themost common problems identified included:* poor student motivation to learn English* difficulty in getting students to speak English in class* classroom management issues as a result of having large classes (40+ students)* having to deal with different levels of ability within the same class ...
"From my side I was trying to present teacher-research so that it would be seen as doable, feasible,

realistic. I emphasized to the teachers that this must be something that is relevant to them, and not
something to judge in academic terms—teacher-research ‘by and for teachers themselves’, as I’ve been
putting it. I was quite happy that at the end of the two days we had come up—I say 'we' because it was
through discussion with the four mentors and teachers—with something that seemed doable and which,initially, was more about exploring than jumping directly into action.
Andy: And this is what you call ‘Exploratory Action Research’?
Richard: Yes, and of course I have to acknowledge a major debt to Dick Allwright there (e.g., Allwright &Hanks, 2009) I recommended to the teachers that they should engage first in exploration, rather than
immediately trying to ‘solve’ problems by taking a new action. An example would be a teacher thinking
along these lines: “I may believe that my students lack motivation, for instance, but how can I be sure? Also,
there may be some new ideas I’ve heard about that I’d like to try out, but these may not be appropriate, andhow will I know anyway if students’ motivation increases as a result? What I need to do first is find out
more about my students’ current motivation, exploring questions like ‘How do students feel about learning
English in class?’ (‘What do they find motivating?’, ‘What do they find demotivating?’); and ‘What dostudents think would motivate them to learn English in class?’)”.
Andy: How might the initial exploratory part be realized in this example?
Richard: Something like this: getting answers to these questions about motivation, before any action forchange is undertaken, might involve having students write about their current motivation (in Spanish or
English) so the teacher could look at their writing and try to identify common concerns. This would not only
help the teacher decide on changes that are appropriate for her students, but also provide her with a way tocompare the situations ‘before’ and ‘after’ any change she does try to introduce. If a teacher engages
students like this in a period of exploring a problem before making any deliberate attempt to try to ‘solve’ it,it’s possible that such exploratory research might even itself increase students’ motivation so that ‘action forchange’ becomes unnecessary ...
Andy: What have the teachers been doing with their projects since?

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Richard: There were some problems with teachers getting going after their summer break in February, andwe expected that to some extent—but we’re now about two thirds of the way through and I think we’re on
track with some interesting work emerging that’s seen as valuable by the teachers themselves. We’rekeeping in touch via Facebook and Skype sessions nowadays, and I’ll be reporting on the project at next
year’s IATEFL conference with Paula Rebolledo, one of the mentors.
Andy: And what have you been doing in Nepal and Cameroon?
Richard: That’s been work with teachers at national teacher association conferences—it’s not been explicitly
autonomy or teacher-research related, but what I’ve been talking about with teachers has been teaching indifficult circumstances and about what research within a particular network I’ve been coordinating can help
them with—the network is called ‘TELC’—‘Teaching English in Large Classes’—and it brings together
teachers and researchers from a wide range of developing country contexts. Actually, on reflection, thiswork is implicitly autonomy-oriented in that we’re building resources and insights from the bottom up,
including from teacher-research, and that’s the approach I’ve been advocating and trying to put into
practice at the workshops too.
Andy: It sounds all very interesting and I hope we have a chance to hear more about this from you at the 20th
anniversary conference in November -Richard: I’m very excited about the conference and about discussing learner and teacher development, andteacher-research, with the participants! I’m looking forward, too, to learning more about some of theimportant work that’s been going on in the SIG in recent years. See you in November!
References
Allwright, D., & Hanks, J. (2009). The developing language learner. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Barfield, A., & Delgado-Alvarado, N. (2013) (Eds.). Autonomy in language learning: Stories of practices [Kindleversion]. Canterbury, UK: IATEFL.

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
Interview with Professor Kensaku Yoshida!
Aiko Minematsu and Kensaku Yoshida

"

"

"

"
峰松愛子 : 吉田先生が英語教育の分野に足を踏み入れたきっかけは何だったのですか？
吉田研作教授: 高校時代に、後輩の中学生が英語弁論大会に出るのでスピーチ原稿を書く段階から指導をしていた。その後輩が当時の高松宮杯で全国２位に入賞したために全生徒の前で表彰されることになり、その時に先生が「よしけん（注：吉田先生のニックネーム）がいなかったらこの生徒は入賞できなかった」と僕の名前を出して褒めてくれて、それがとても嬉しかった。それがきっかけで英語の弁論だけでなく英語劇を自分も一緒にやりながら後輩や同輩を指導するようになり、教えるのは楽しい、英語の先生になりたい、と思うようになった。
"

そこで、英語の先生になるためには何が必要か、学校の外国人の先生に質問したところ「これから先生になる人は言語学の知識が必要」と言われたので言語学が勉強できると思った上智大学の英語学科に進学した。大学では言語学サークルを立ち上げて言語学の勉強をしたり、当時の国際学部（注：現国際教養学部）と「国際部セミナー」という、英語で環境や教育などの社会問題に関するシンポジウムを開催した
り、STP(注：Summer Teaching Programの略。大学生が夏休み中、様々な地域で中学生に英語を教えるプ
ログラム)を立ち上げたり、セツルメント活動を通して子供達に勉強を教えたりした。全ては英語の教師になるため、幅広い知識を身につけるためだった。
"

しかし教育実習に行ってみると、出身の中高が受験校だったのもあり、生徒はできる子ばかりで面白みがないと感じた。その後孤児院で働くことを考えたりもしたが、大学の先生達に「やることを決めていないのだったら大学院に行きなさい」と言われ、ぎりぎりで大学院の入試に出願した。それで修士を出る頃になって「現場で教えるのも良いことだけど、これから現場で教える若い先生を育てるのも大事なことだ」と言われた。その時に初めてteacher trainingという分野があることを知り、腑に落ちた感じがした。
"

大学院を修了してから上智大学で助手として教えるようになり、その後ミシガン大学で博士課程を修了した。その頃にはすでに教え子や後輩達で英語の教師になっている人達がいた。そのような現場にいる人達の要望があり、当時の学科長のニッセル先生の協力を借りてASTE（注：Association of Sophian
Teachers of Englishの略、上智大学英語教員研究会）を1981年に立ち上げた。ASTEに参加してくれる現場の英語の先生達の話を聞くことは僕にとってはとても大きなことで、そこで現場の話を聞いて自分のやりたいことや、やるべきことが段々と明確になっていった。それがきっかけで今まで色々と英語教育に携わって学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
きた。
峰松 : 英語の先生になりたい、というお気持ちが先生の原点にある訳ですね。学部時代から数多くの会をご自分で立ち上げて来られていますが、そういう新しいことを始めるのがお好きなのですか？
吉田教授: 好きというよりは、自分のやりたい事を実際にやる場がないから作ってきたという感じ。そうい
う点では今やっていることもあまり変わっていない。自分でやらないと気が済まない、というところが強いのかもしれない。
峰松: 先生はいつも教育現場から離れないで研究を続けていらっしゃる印象ですが、その点は意識されているのですか？
吉田教授: その点は意識している。僕にとっての原点はASTEの発表の後に参加者が皆でお茶を飲んで談笑するとき。そこからすごく学んでいる。現場で何が起きているのかが聞けるし、それがきっかけで授業を見に行ったり、模擬授業をしたり、という活動に繋がっている。僕も教育実習に行ったので現場経験がまった
くない訳ではないけれども、やはり現場の中学高校で現在何が起きているのかを知らない。だからいつも
ASTEで勉強させてもらっている。
峰松:３０年以上ASTEを続けてこられて、特に気づいたことや印象に残っていることはありますか？
吉田教授: 特に一つというのはないが、現場で起きていることと理論や教育法で研究している内容のギャッ
プは感じる。ASTEを始めた最初の頃は「こんなにも違うのか」と思った。当時から、自分が研究を通して学んだ新しい考えや理論と、現場で起きていることを絶えず照合しながら行き来をしてきた気がする。だか
ら僕が現場に提案するものは現実的なものが多いと思っている。
"

自分がASTEで発表するときもASTEの参加者に知ってもらいたいというのもあるが、同時に意見してもらえるので随分助かっている。例えばコミュニカティブ・アプローチの話をしても現場の様々な障害、
たとえば入試対策というものが現実問題としてあるという声を聞いて、それを解消するにはどんなことができるのか、ということを改めて考えることができる。
"

ASTEは、研究者と現場の教師がお互い支え合ってギブアンドテイクしている場。一方的にこちらから知識を与えるのではなく、現場の悩みや問題点を聞くことができて、こちらからも最新の理論やアプローチの話ができる。おそらくASTEで議論していることは日本の英語教育の議論の最先端を行っていると思うし、そのような議論が可能な場であるからこそ、これまでASTEが続いてきたのだと思う。
峰松: 先生にとって現場の声を聞くことに大きな意味があるのですね。そういった研究と実践のギャップのNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
狭間にいらして、とても面白いポジションにいらっしゃると感じます。先生にとって、より影響力があるのは研究と実践とどちらだと思いますか？

吉田教授: 研究の中には、僕が思い描いていたことを実証してくれるものもある。例えば、最近読んだ博士論文のためのある研究でnon-nativeとしての英語を使っている学生ほど英語力に自信があり、英語力が低い
学生ほどnativeのような英語をモデルとしているという結果を見た。このように思っていたことがデータになると「やった」と思うし、このデータを使えると感じる。これは研究の中でできること。逆に、現場には実証はないかもしれないが、事象がある。現場で起きている事象を見て、喚起されることや改めて考えさせられることがある。だから研究でも現場で起きていることも、両方合わさって意味があると思う。
峰松: それでは、これからの２０年で日本の英語教育はどうなっていくと思われますか？
吉田教授: ４技能を使うことを重視する英語教育、コミュニケーションとしての英語が必要となってくると思う。僕は今後２０年でこれに遅れをとったら日本は沈没すると思っている。コミュニケーションというとオーラルコミュニケーションをイメージしがちだけれども、それだけではなくて４技能を使うということが必要。そうでないとグローバル社会の中では日本人はやっていけない。だから２０２０年のオリンピック
が東京になったのは良かったし、コミュニケーションとしての外国語教育にとって良いきっかけとなると思う。これから２０年間というのは後ろを向くことは最早できないところまで来ているのだから、英語を使って国際的に活躍できる人材を育成することを目標として前進していく必要がある。
峰松: ４技能の重要性は随分長い間言われているのに、なかなか現場では形にならないように感じます。その要因は何だと思われますか？
吉田教授: やはり一番大きな要因の一つは、入試が４技能の力をテストしていないこと。入試のほとんどがリーディングで、それに加えて少しリスニングがあるくらいなら結局は読解をするために必要な文法や和訳重視の言語知識を教えることになってしまう。ただ大学の入試問題も、徐々に言語知識を問うものが減り言語活動を求める試験も増えてきてはいる。そういう意味でも４技能の評価が含まれているTEAP（注：Testof English for Academic Purposes。上智大学で次年度より一般入試の一部で採用する予定の英語能力判定試験）の波及効果には期待している。もう一つの要因は外国語を使う場が日本で少ないこと。ただこれも、東京オリンピックが決まったことなどからも今後増えていくのではないかと思う。
峰松: 教育現場にいると、入試だけでなく英語の先生達の意識もなかなか変わりづらいと感じるのですが？
吉田教授: 先生達の意識を変えるのは一番難しいと思う。だからこそ経験をすることは重要で、英語の先生

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
自身が英語を使ってコミュニケーションする経験をしなければならない。Non-nativeとして英語を使ってコミュニケーションするという経験がないと英語力に自信を持ちづらいし、コミュニケーションとしての英語は教えられない。
以前、ある高校の英語の先生から「どうしたら英語の発音が良くなるか」と聞かれたが、それに対"して答えたのが「英語で人とコミュニケーションするのが良い」ということだった。機械的に発音を練習す
るよりは、人と話していれば自然と通じる発音になる。先生達の意識は変えづらいからこそ、言語体験を通してコミュニケーションとしての英語の意識を高める必要がある。
あともう一つは、先生達に「なぜ英語の教師になったのか」と問いかけること。たとえ中学の時に"英語が嫌いだった人も、何かしら英語を学ぶのが楽しいと思った瞬間があるはずだから、その体験を思い起こすことで英語に対する意識に変化があるのでは。

峰松: 学習者も教師も、コミュニケーションツールとしての英語を体験する必要があるということですね。
本日はどうもありがとうございました。

Eds.
Many thanks to Aiko Minematsu for the interview with Professor Yoshida! As well as arranging the interview, shevery kindly took the time to translate it into English for us, see below.

Aiko: What prompted you to become involved in the field of English education?
Prof. Yoshida: As a high school student, I used to teach the younger students in my English Speaking
Society (ESS) and helped them write up and deliver speeches. One of the junior high school students I
helped came in second in the All Japan Junior High School English Speech Contest for the Prince Takamatsu
trophy. When he was awarded in the school assembly, one of the teachers referred to me, telling the whole
school that without my help, the student wouldn’t have won that prize. That made me very happy, andmotivated me to coach the members of the ESS club, helping with not only their speeches but performing
English plays with them as well. I became aware of the joys of teaching and this made me want to become
an English teacher.
"

When I asked one of the native-speaking English teachers what I needed to do to become an English

teacher, he told me that I should study linguistics. So I enrolled in the Department of English Language andArea Studies at Sophia University. In university, I was active in starting various groups and projects; I
founded a linguistics study group, organized a symposium in English focusing on social issues, started theSummer Training Program (STP), where university students travel to different areas of Japan to teachNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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English to junior high school students, and taught children as part of my student settlement volunteer
activity. The purpose for all of my activities was for my future goal: to become an English teacher. I wanted
to acquire the skills and knowledge I needed to become a good teacher.
"But when I finally went back to my high school as a pre-service teacher to complete my teachingpracticum, it seemed different from what I had imagined. The students in my high school were highachievers, and their aims were to pass the university entrance exams. After finishing my teaching practicum,
I thought about working for an orphanage, but my teachers advised me to go on to pursue a higher degree
in graduate school. So I enrolled in the MA program at Sophia. When I was about to complete the MA
program, one of my teachers said to me, “Teaching is a profound job but training future teachers is just as
important.” That was when I first came across the existence of an area devoted to teacher training, and it justclicked with me.
"

I started to teach as an assistant at Sophia, and went on to the doctorate program at the University ofMichigan. By that time, some of my former students and classmates at Sophia had already started teaching
English in secondary schools in Japan. Some of them asked me to start a study group for Sophia alumni
teachers, and with the help of Professor Nissel, who was the head of the department at Sophia then, I set up
the Association of Sophian Teachers of English (ASTE) in 1981, which is a study group for English teachers
from Sophia and still continues to be an active group for sharing teaching practices and research findings.
Listening to the stories shared by teachers who come to the ASTE meetings was, and still is, crucial for me.
The stories that I hear from these teachers have helped me conceptualize my goals and become aware of thepractical needs in the classroom. This is how I came to be active in the field of English education.
Aiko: Your research always seems to be practical. Is this something you have kept in mind especially?
Prof. Yoshida: Yes, that is something I have always been aware of. For me, the basis of my research comesfrom the conversations I have after the ASTE meetings, when all the participants get together and just chat. I
learn so much from the teachers there. I can learn about what is happening in schools and in classrooms
around the country, and some teachers ask me to come and observe their classes, or even give mock lessons
in their schools. I feel like I am always learning from the teachers at ASTE, because although I do haveteaching experience from my teaching practicum, I don’t know much about what is actually happening inschools.
Aiko: So you have continued the ASTE meetings for more than 30 years now, which is amazing. Is there anything thathas made a strong impression on you over the years?
Prof. Yoshida: I can’t put it down to one thing, but I do feel a gap between the latest research or theories in
the field and actual teaching practices. When I first started ASTE, I was surprised at how different researchand practice were. Since then, I think that I have always gone back and forth between the new theories thatcome up and what really goes on in the classrooms, trying to balance them out and analyzing them. So I feelthat the things I propose are pretty practical.
"

When I do a presentation at ASTE meetings, I do it not only because I want to share my ideas but

also because I want to hear what teachers have to say. For example, when I talked about the communicative

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Featureapproach, the teachers shared with me the various barriers that they face in their classrooms, especially the
preparation for entrance exams. From there, I was able to go back and think about how we can overcome
such barriers.
"
In the ASTE meetings, we all have something to give and take from each other, and it’s not a place
for transcending information. We listen to the confines and issues we face in the classroom, and share newconcepts in the field. I think that the discussions we have at ASTE is the most up-to-date in the English
language teaching field in Japan, and this organic atmosphere has made it possible for us to continue themeetings for such a long time.
Aiko: You’re in a very special position, with research on one hand and practices on the other. In your opinion, which do
you think affects you more, research findings or teaching practices?
Prof. Yoshida: There are findings in research that validates my thoughts and ideas. For example, a graduate
student conducted a study demonstrating how students who are exposed to nonnative Englishes on aregular basis are more confident with their English skills than those who see native speakers as models ofEnglish users. When I saw the data for this, I was happy because this was something I had been thinking
about. Such proof can only be found through research. Classrooms may not provide proof, but they provide
specific cases. There are things that can be found through studying these cases. So I think that research andpractice go hand in hand, and are meaningful when both are considered together.
Aiko: What kind of path do you think the English education in Japan will take in the next 20 years?
Prof. Yoshida: The idea of English as a communication tool, and a stronger emphasis on using the four skills
is going to be a necessity. In my opinion, if this is not realized in the next 20 years, Japan will sink. When we
think of English as a communication tool, we tend to think in terms of oral communication, but it’s
important to think of communication in terms of using all four skills; otherwise, the Japanese will not beable to survive in the global society. So I think it is good that Tokyo is hosting the Olympics in 2020, because
this may work as a good chance to encourage and promote international understanding in education. We
cannot go back in time and must move forward to foster students that can be successful internationally.
Aiko: It seems that the importance of the four skills has been discussed for a while now, but not so much seems to havebeen put into practice in reality in actual classrooms and schools. What may be the factors that prevent change?
Prof. Yoshida: The major factor is that entrance exams do not test the four skills. Most entrance exams focus
on reading, with a little bit of listening included. But with the primary focus on reading, the result is thatteachers focus on translation and grammar in their teaching. Of course, the entrance exams are changing
gradually, and there are more exams that require students to perform in the language rather than test their
linguistic knowledge. I am hopeful of the washback effect that new four-skills entrance examination at
Sophia University, the Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP), which will be implemented in 2015)
may have. Another factor is that there aren’t many opportunities for students to use English in Japan, but I
think this situation may gradually change. With the Olympic games being held in Tokyo in 2020, we will

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Featureprobably have more chances and needs for using the language.
Aiko: I agree that the entrance exams have major influences on teachers’ beliefs, and from my experience teaching inhigh schools, I feel that teachers’ beliefs do not change so easily. What are your thoughts on Japanese teachers ofEnglish?
Prof. Yoshida: Teachers’ beliefs are the most difficult to change. That’s why I believe that Japanese teachers
should experience using English as a communication tool. It is so important to actually experience this. Ifteachers do not have the experience to communicate in English as a nonnative speaker, it is difficult forthem to have confidence in their English competency, and moreover, they won’t be able to teach English as acommunication tool.
"

Recently, a high school English teacher asked me how he could improve his English pronunciation.

So I told him that he should speak to people in English. If you speak to people, you will naturally come tounderstand what works and what doesn’t. I believe this is a better learning strategy than mechanicalpractice or drilling. In order for teachers to believe in teaching communicatively, they need to get hands-on
experience in using English for communication.
"

Another thing is to ask teachers why they became English teachers in the first place. They must have

had some kind of positive experience with English in the past, which they may have forgotten over theyears. Being reminded of such experiences may affect their beliefs as well.
Aiko: Thank you so much for your input, Professor Yoshida.

Interview with Phil Benson
Mike Nix and Phil Benson

Phil Benson is a Professor in Linguistics and Director of the Centre for Popular
Culture in the Humanities at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. His main
research interest is in autonomy and informal language learning. Recently he has beendeveloping this interest in the area of second language users engagement with new
media, and he is currently studying YouTube as a globalized space for translingual andtranscultural learning. Phil has been a friend of the JALT LD-SIG since the early
1990s and is keen to explore opportunities for collaborative work on autonomy andinformal learning across Asia.
Mike: You've been involved with the Learner Development SIG since its early days, Phil, so
it's great that you can join us for the 20th Anniversary Conference as a Special Guest Speaker. You've talked several
times at previous JALT conferences about learner autonomy, which is obviously what people know you best for. Thistime, though, you want to think about translanguaging and learning using digital media, especially You Tube. To start
with, could you tell us a bit about what has sparked your interest in these newer areas of research?
Phil: I think we have to keep up with the times! A lot of the theoretical research that we rely on in work in

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Featurelearner autonomy was done 20 or 30 years ago. Henri Holec and David Little are still good sources and I
think it is fair to say that not a great deal has been added to what they have to say on the theoretical side. I
am not saying that there is nothing that can be added, more that the more important work may well be in
the area of applications - what is often called 'autonomous learning' as opposed to learner autonomy. As ateacher in the classroom I have kept up with the work on classroom autonomy, but I have always looked atautonomy more from the perspective of language learning beyond the classroom. This is where the interest
in digital media comes in.
"

I am really interested in how the globalization of social media may be changing the face of language

learning beyond the classroom. Only a few years ago teachers in Hong Kong were complaining that theirstudents had few opportunities to use English outside the classroom. Nowadays, if you take a look at the
average Hong Kong student's Facebook, you see that they have friends all over the world and they arecommunicating both in Chinese and English on a daily basis. They are also spending a lot of time on
YouTube, watching videos in English and Chinese. No doubt they are using English to do other things
online as well, but at the moment I see Facebook and YouTube as the sites where most is going on. The
problem is - it's a research problem really - that after years of saying that students have to use a foreign
languages outside the classroom to learn it properly, now people are questioning whether they are learning
anything when they use it in social media.
"

So my interest is specifically in trying to establish how we might show evidence that learning is

actually taking place. There are a few ways you could approach that, but the one I am focusing on right now
is to look at the comments people leave on YouTube videos that involve translanguaging and to use
discourse analysis techniques to dig out evidence of language and intercultural learning.
Mike: Thinking about how we might develop the theoretical bases of learner autonomy that were set out 20 or 30 years
ago is a great project for the LD SIG at its 20th anniversary conference, and raises lots of interesting questions we canreturn to. For now, though, could you explain what you mean by translanguaging and what looking at it can tell us
about language learning and use through YouTube?
Phil: People are generally using translanguaging to talk about situations where more than one language isbeing used and these languages are brought into some kind of relationship with each other. Code-switchingis the example that will be most familiar from sociolinguistics, but translanguaging is something bigger thanthat. It could include, for example, subtitling a video in another language, speaking in a foreign language
when people expect you to speak your first language (or vice versa), or even just using one language to talkabout another language. The point about translanguaging, I think, is that it represents a more informal andmore fluid way of looking at foreign language learning and use as involving both the foreign language anda first language, and perhaps other languages as well. In online interaction, translanguaging also seems tobe the characteristic context for language learning. If the context involves translanguaging (on YouTube that
could mean, for example, a fansubbed video), then you start to get comments or discussions about language
and that is where the learning may begin.

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
Mike: Could you explain a bit more about what fansubbing is?
Phil: Yes, fansubbing is an interesting area of informal foreign language use/learning. Basically, it involves'unofficial' subtitling of dramas, animations, or music videos in another language. The most popular at the
moment seem to be English subtitled versions of Korean and Japanese drama series. The people who do thiswork in teams and try to get their versions out within a few days of them being broadcast in Korea andJapan. They are not professionals, just Korean and Japanese speakers who want to use their English
language skills (or vice versa). In fact, these kinds of fansubs are not usually circulated on YouTube (if you
want to know where, search for 'fansub' on the Internet). Fansubbed music videos are quite common on
YouTube, though, and one that I have published some research on is 'Beijing Welcomes You', which was theofficial song for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. One version of this was subtitled by a Chinese schoolgirl andit attracted a lot of comments on language issues.
Mike: I'm wondering what kind of insights and challenges a focus on translanguaging raises for thinking theoretically
about autonomy in language learning, and if these should apply to classroom-based learning as well as learning outside
the classroom. For me, it's interesting that work by people like Canagarajah and Pennycook suggests that the kind of
fluid, informal use of multiple languages, which you refer to, has always been characteristic of actual language use inmany societies and contexts, and is also becoming more and more important even in societies, like Japan, that haveoften been regarded as essentially 'monolingual', as a result of migration, globalisation and the growth of digital media.
And yet approaches to autonomous language learning, especially in the classroom, are usually based very much on
developing monolingual, not translingual, competence. This is reflected for example in David Little's emphasis on
appropriate target language use as a principle of successful language learner/user autonomy. Use of other languages is
accepted, if at all, only insofar as it enables learning of the 'target language'. Is there a danger of a disconnect between
a monoglossic school knowledge about language use and the more heteroglossic action knowledge that people
increasingly draw on to participate effectively in inter - and intra - national communication?
Phil: Well, I have never really been in favour of 'target language only' teaching. I also think that, to someextent, it is a rationalisation of the value that the EFL industry puts on 'native speaker' teachers (who often
don't speak the students' first languages). Of course, it is important that learners get chance to use the target
language, but classrooms are not always the best place for that. I would also agree that the idea oftranslanguaging breaks down the idea of separate or self-contained language competences. I think that inpractical terms, the ability to switch and negotiate differences among the languages you speak is a very
important one, that is often suppressed rather than encouraged in language teaching. I think that we alsoneed to look more closely at the value that learners place on knowing a little bit of several languages
nowadays. This is all very much concerned with how we need to think about the development of autonomy
in theoretical terms, because it is very much a matter of attending to what learners want learn of languages.
Mike: What are some other key areas in which you feel we need to build on, or perhaps reconstruct, the theories ofautonomy we have had been working with for 20 or 30 years now? The book you co-edited with Lucy Cooker recently

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Featureon The Applied Linguistic Individual1 suggests, for example, that there is a lot of useful work being done now todevelop a more dialectical understanding of individual-social and agency-structure relations in autonomous language
learning and use, but also still lots of puzzles to explore there.
Phil: That book actually has origins in the ILA conference that was held at Kanda University several years
ago. Lucy and I were interested in several papers that were presented that involve discussion ofsociocultural theory and issues of agency and identity. I am interested that we have consistently emphasizedthat autonomy involves social interaction and interdependence (David Little and Ema Ushioda have led theway there), while at the same time we are criticized for 'individualism' by social theorists who talk a lot
about agency and identity and often rely on individual case studies in their research. The dichotomy thatsocial theorists are drawing between autonomy and agency is false one, for me, but I also believe there is a
lot more that we could do to incorporate the notion of identity into our thinking. To me, this is a matter oftaking a wider view of language learning and its roles in people's lives. How does learning a foreign
language change you as a person in the world, and how do we factor that into the idea of controlling yourlearning? When we think about language learning as a process of identity development, I think that we also
have to think of it as both a social and an individual process. The theoretical problem is how to get those
two sides of the process to work together, rather than to insist on the social or individual side alone.
Mike: Maybe another aspect of this wider view is the possibility for people to change, not just themselves, but also theworld around them as part of their learning and use of languages. This might be in terms of linguistic agency with, forexample, people choosing to speak lingua franca Englishes that challenge the authority of native speaker varieties, orcreating new hybrid forms of online communication through the kind of translanguaging you have discussed. Anotherapproach, which the 20th anniversary conference will explore, is around social activism, such as NGO and volunteer
work by language students and teachers, and connections between autonomy and global issues and critical pedagogies.
What do you make of developing autonomy into a more overtly critical or activist engagement with the world in thisway?
Phil: Certainly, I think that autonomy is about having some degree of control over what you learn of alanguage and the purposes that you put it to. Possibly that is the most important aspect, because if you
don’t have that, other kinds of choices may be false. There is some connection here with world Englishes or
lingua franca Englishes, but also with issues of language diversity and language rights. I am looking
forward to learn more about how people in Japan are linking language learning with activist engagement. I
am a little bit hesitant to go in that direction myself. In the past, I was very interested in links between
autonomy and critical pedagogies, but in the end, I felt that critical pedagogies too easily becomes a matterof pushing students in the direction of certain ideologies or ways of thinking. I recall one recent article by
Stephen Brookfield, who used to write about critical self-directed learning. He had finally decided that selfdirected learning was not a good idea, because learners would come up with the wrong ways of thinking.
He was talking about racist ways of thinking, for example, and we would probably all agree with him on
that. But at the same time, I have the feeling that autonomy, from a teacher’s perspective, must be largely

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Special Feature
about trusting students. If they are given genuine choices, they will make good choices. So I would like to
see a version of critical pedagogy that incorporates that kind of trust.
Mike: Are there any other areas of thinking about autonomy you feel we need to renew or develop, or connections weshould be making beyond the field of autonomy itself, at this point 20 years after the founding of the LD SIG and after
three decades or so of work on learner autonomy?
Phil: Well, we have covered a lot already! I would just sum that up by saying that autonomy is aninteresting concept in that it can give us quite a stable point from which to view the kinds of changes thatare taking place in the world of language learning. I don’t feel that the concept itself needs redefining, in theway that people are redefining learning strategies or motivation, for example. What we do need to do isthink about how ideas of choice, decision-making and control over language and learning are relevant to
new situations.
Mike: Finally, I wanted to end by situating the discussion much more specifically and asking you what a key challenge
or issue, connected to the development of autonomy, is for you in your own teaching. For me, a big puzzle is how tocreate space within the English classroom for students to translanguage between English and Japanese in ways they
feel are useful for researching and thinking critically about issues of concern to them, at the same time as they takemore control over how to develop their English. What is a question or issue in your own practice that interests or preoccupies you at the moment?
Phil: The situations I usually teach in often present quite substantial challenges to autonomy: content
required by a course outline that has to go through a committee to be changed; pre-determined assessment
tasks, large classes, prescribed outcomes, large lecture-format classes, and so on. In addition, if you go too
far in the direction of student control, the students themselves would feel that they are missing out onsomething. So in my own teaching, I still face a lot of the basic challenges. How much can I get away with?
How can I keep the students on my side? Generally speaking, the students I teach appreciate more freedom,
but at the same time they worry about assessments and covering everything on the schedule. These are very
basic challenges that don’t really go away, because you have to deal with them every time you see new faces
in the classroom!
1 Benson, P., & Cooker, L. (Eds.), (2013). The applied linguistic individual: Sociocultural approaches to

identity, agency and autonomy. Sheffield: Equinox

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Review

NGO Outreach
NGO アウトリーチ
One year after the NGO Outreach team waspeople from other countries”. Cathy (FTCJ) is

formed, with the 20th Anniversary Conference

interested in pursuing a career with an NGO; “thelurking just around the corner, now is the perfecttime to update you on our activities andgoal that I wanted to achieve was to have a job experiencein an NGO.”

experiences so far, as well as the experiences of"some of our student volunteers who volunteered

student volunteers, the work students havefor our newly launched Student Ambassador

completed varies widely. Miu (Japan Tent)

programme, which sought to recruit students
willing to work with an NGO during the summer

explained that she “supported foreign students toknow Japanese culture, for example sado, wagashi

vacation.

making, kimono wearing and so on”. After Minako"

joined the programme, her work was invaluable

Through this programme eight university

With three very different NGOs accepting

students successfully found volunteering

helping to recruit and coordinate two more

opportunities and will be representing thefollowing NGOs at the conference:

students to work with her at SVA. Minako, Natsumi
and Misaki were responsible for creating a display-

Japan Tent, <http://www.japantent.com/
index.html>-

Free the Children Japan,(FTCJ), <http://
www.ftcj.com/>to introduce SVA at the conference, deciding on thecontent of the exhibition and translating whenrequired, including producing an original
catchphrase. At FTCJ, Fuka, Yuko and Cathy havebeen doing a whole range of work, including“collecting information for FTCJ’s website, making-

Shanti Volunteer Association, (SVA),

presentations, reports, and translating.” Depending on<http://sva.or.jp/>

the kind of tasks students were required to do, theRecently I sent an email to these student volunteers,
asking some open-ended questions to gain a better
understanding of their motivation for joining theStudent Ambassador programme and theirvolunteering experiences over summer.
"

Students decided to join the NGO Outreachprogramme for diverse reasons. While somestudents’ priority was to use and improve theirEnglish skills, others were more interested in thevaluable work experience that volunteering orcompleting an internship provides. Manami (Japan
Tent) is interested in medical training abroad, andstated “I think it’s important to communicate withtime that they spent with their NGO also differedsignificantly, from two or three days of intensive
work, to regular weekly volunteering spanning a
few weeks to a month or more. One encouraging
outcome is that some students have alreadyexpressed an interest in continuing an internshipposition after the conference.
One of our original goals was to engage students inreal world situations which necessitate the use of aforeign language. A number of students describedencountering language difficulties during theirvolunteering activities, which suggests that thisgoal is indeed being met. Of course, the conference

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Ngo Outreachin November will provide further opportunities tomissions and activities by speaking with ouruse English and Japanese. Students have expressed

student volunteers or NGO representatives infeeling nervous, worried and uneasy about theapproaching conference. However, these same

Japanese or English. We hope that this relaxed
forum will lead to further and wider collaboration

students also said they feel excited and are looking

between learners, teachers, NGOs, and anyone else

forward to taking part!

interested in facilitating the creation of sustainable"links beyond our classrooms. We also hope that

With the NGO Outreach team still in its

infancy, we have also encountered our own set ofchallenges. One significant issue is simply finding

members of the LD SIG and other conference
participants will come to join us in what promises

students willing to volunteer. Membership in ato be a unique and innovative forum. The Learneruniversity club entails an enormous commitment ofDevelopment SIG’s 20th Anniversary Conferencetime and energy and many students also have a

has always been a major focus point for thepart time job. With all of this on top of a full-timestudent’s study load, such demands leave little toevolving NGO Outreach team and we are very
excited to see how it pulls together, and what

no time for volunteering. We tried to be as open

comes out of it! We look forward to seeing you all

and flexible as possible with students’ availabilities,

there!

but NGOs also have their own policies regarding aminimum time commitment for volunteers orinterns. In addition, students had to prepare a CV
and cover letter; for many, this was a first. Thisrevealed that often, students had never been taught
about CV writing norms and expectations, while
potentially increasing the workload involved infinding students a placement.
"

As previously mentioned in last issue’s

column, a wide variety of NGOs will be involved in
the Learner Development SIG’s 20th Anniversary
Conference on Saturday November 23 and Sunday
November 24 2013, and along with the NGO’s
mentioned above, there will also be the following
NGOs participating in the conference:-

Shine On <http://www.sokids.org/>-Social Enterprise English Language School,(SEELS), <http://seels.jp/>

While the NGO Outreach Forum itself will betaking place on Saturday afternoon from 16:00 –Colin Rundle and Caroline Ross
ldngooutreach@gmail.com
DEFINITION OF NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is any
non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which isorganized on a local, national or international
level. Task-oriented and driven by people with acommon interest, NGOs perform a variety ofservice and humanitarian functions, bring citizen
concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor
policies and encourage political participation
through provision of information. Some areorganized around specific issues, such as humanrights, environment or health. They provide
analysis and expertise, serve as early warning
mechanisms and help monitor and implement
international agreements. Their relationship with
offices and agencies of the United Nations systemdiffers depending on their goals, their venue andthe mandate of a particular institution.
Source: http://www.ngo.org/ngoinfo/
define.html

17:25, in room 206. Here, you will be able to learn
more about these NGOs, and their histories,

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING BACK

Looking Back 報告
The Japanese Association of College English
Teachers (JACET) 52nd International Convention
in Kyoto, August 30 – September 1, 2013
Jim Ronald, Hiroshima Shudo University
I decided to attend this year’s JACET annual
convention, held in Kyoto at the end of August,simply because a friend on the organizing
committee asked me to. I registered with a fairnumber of preconceptions that might otherwise
have kept me from going: expectations of not many
presentations in English, of a lot of presentations
too bound up in theory and experimental data to be
applicable to the actual experience of language
learning in or beyond the classroom, and of notmuch of a showing for learner development. On all
three counts, the JACET International Convention
blew these preconceptions away. Over the threedays of the convention, there were 27 presentations
listed in the Learner Development content area, andmore listed under other headings, making it thepresentations.
"

I’ve heard that in some ways this year’s

conference was different from in previous years:
deliberately more international, with a large
number of presentations given in English, by both
Japanese and non-Japanese presenters, and with abroad range of language-education associations
involved. Further, not only was there a large
number of presentations, there was also a record
number of 1,200 participants. Let’s hope that this is
not a one-off, but a sign of the direction in which
JACET is moving. Certainly, if this year is any
indication, as many LD SIG members already seemto know, the JACET International Convention has
become an important event in the learnerdevelopment calendar in Japan.
The PanSIG 2013 Collaborative Forum:
The World, the Language Learner, andRelationships
Saturday, May 18, 2013

largest content area of the conference. The vast
majority of the over 200 presentations at theconference were given in English. And many of the

by Jim Ronald (facilitator)“Why make your life more
complicated?” This slogan, forpresentations I attended were excellent, reporting
research and relating to classroom practice.
"a cosmetics brand in Britain

There are too many LD-related

two or three decades ago, waspresentations to list here, but two excellent reportsof research related to study abroad were given by

not part of the vision for thisyear’s PanSIG forum! It was acollaborative, interactive

Kay Irie with Stephen Ryan and by Chihiro Tajima,
while Mike Stockwell’s gave an inspiring accountof project work resulting in authentic output:
products with real world uses. I only stayed for the
first two days of the conference, which meant that I
missed the symposium led by Hideo Kojima, Yuka
Kusanagi and Masuko Miyahara on support forlearner autonomy, as well as quite a few otherforum, shared by three SIGs:
Learner Development, Global Issues in Language
Education, and Pragmatics. The forum comprised
ten presentations, many spanning two or three of
the SIGs’ concerns, given by thirteen presentersfrom the three SIGs, in 4½ corners of the same

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING BACK
room. It was far from simple and took a lot of
preparation!

Lori Zenuk-Nishide,
Donna Tatsuki"
The collaborative make-up of the forum, inline with the overall conference theme: From Many,

The Benefits of Model
United Nations
Simulations

Andy Barfield

Exploring contradictions
between learnerautonomy and criticalpedagogy for social
justiceLouise Haynes

Raising the topic of the
Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power disaster

Jane Joritz-Nakagawa

Poetry, global issues,critical thinking andpersonal growth

Marybeth Kamibeppu,
Eleanor Kelly

Connecting drama andglobal/social issues inlanguage learning

Erina Ogawa

Helpful educational
manga textbook
activities

Kevin Mark

Integrating learnerdevelopment, global
education and languge
awareness

Ian Hurrell

Introducing pragmatics:
hearts and minds

Jim Ronald

Peer feedback: fromhurtful to helpful

Seth Cervantes,
Robert Olson

The pragmatics checklist:
building awareness ofinteractional practices

One: Collaboration,
Cooperation andCommunity, aimed tocounteract the “Twenty
ghettoes under one
roof” feel that may
result from the “one
SIG, one room” waythat the PanSIG
conference is usually organized. The title we settled
on for the forum was an inclusive The World, theLanguage Learner, and Relationships. We evenmade sure that each corner of the room contained amix of SIG concerns: after all, we didn’t want tofind we had “Three ghettoes in one room”!
"

Deciding on the forum title and identifying

themes took a lot of discussion between SIG
representatives, as did planning the timing andmanagement of the forum. Our communication
with presenters was not always all it could havebeen, which meant that although we,
representatives, knew how the forum would be,some presenters felt unsure about important details
such as timing or corner-sharing. However, once wegot started, everything fell into place, and thecorners were well attended, with a good chance forall presenters to join at least one other presentation,
to discuss the issues raised in their corner, and"Finally, to return to the question that did
cross at least one of our minds during the lengthy

finally to hear from each of the other corners. In thisway, the various goals of the forum were largely

exchanges of emails as we prepared for the forum,met.

Looking back, and thinking of what we learned,"

A combined introduction to each of thepresentations of the forum is being prepared for the
conference proceedings but here, for now, is a list ofpresenters and topics:“Why make your life more complicated?”…
and of the relationships that were developed
through all the preparations and through the forum
itself, maybe we can answer that question with,“Well, this time it was worth it!”

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING BACK
Reflections on the LD Forum at CALL2013
Or “Can discourses of best practices in CALL
leave room for autonomous learning?"
Hugh Nicoll, Miyazaki Municipal University
Forum Title: Digital literacies for autonomous learning
Presenters: Joe Tomei, Kevin Ryan, Robert Cochrane,
Paul Beaufait, & Hugh Nicoll
CALL 2013, Shinshu University, Matsumoto-shi,
Nagano 1 June 2013<http://conference2013.jaltcall.org/>
Presenters and participants in the LD Forum at
this year’s JALTCALL conference considered ways
in which teachers may (or may not) be in a position
to implement effective practices to support digital
literacies for autonomous learning. When I began
putting together our presenter team, I was
primarily concerned with how to frame the notionof “best practices” in CALL – the conference theme
this year – in relation to the goal of fostering
autonomous learning in our classrooms. In
reflecting on the forum three months down theroad, it was clear that we were wrestling yet again
with outcomes vs. process approaches to learningand teaching, and that as soon as we tried to pinthese contrasts down, paradoxes and contradictions
would pop right back up again.
Joe Tomei began our session by discussing
what he described as mismatches between CALL
and LD. He noted that whereas both LD and CALL
researchers often use the same language and same
vocabulary, they end up with different conclusions
on how to foster autonomous learning. Both talkabout autonomy and autonomous learning, about
the importance of learning outside the classroom,and encourage teachers to re-evaluate their roles.
Joe characterised these differences as centrifugal(LD) vs. centripetal (CALL), noting the tendency ofLD oriented teachers to emphasise group work,whereas CALL-resourced language practiceactivities tend to bring individual learners together.
Acknowledging that these characterisations arestereotypes, Tomei noted the primary importancethat metaphors of space, time, and the pace oftechnological change play in both discourses.

LD, according to Tomei, has a number of things
to tell (or remind) CALL folk: (1) The fundamental
importance of interaction in courses; (2) The rolemodeling plays in learners' development of new
skills and practices; and, finally (3) The potential
usefulness of narrative academic writing styles(common in LD) for CALL researchers seeking tobetter understand their learners' struggles to learn
and work with new tool sets, both in and outside
the language classroom. Addressing the things that
LD practitioners might learn from CALL advocates,
Joe suggested that LD practitioners should
relinquish authority for a reason, not as a matter ofprinciple, and embrace the ways in which CALL
protocols for organizing classroom practice andoptimizing data collection will enhance teachers'
abilities to collect data and work more
appropriately with students on an individual basis.
Kevin Ryan then offered a brief description of
MOOCS, Massive Open Online Courses. MOOCs
started up in Canada, with groups of about 1,000.
Recently, new platforms such as Coursera havecome to dominate this emerging model for
providing education to the masses. One widely
discussed problem with MOOCs is that the course
completion rate is low, averaging 10% or less.
Nonetheless, Kevin feels that MOOCs offer aninteresting example of hybridity between learnerautonomy and CALL approaches to teaching andlearning. He also noted that while the ‘C’ stands for“courses,” MOOCS really function as communitiesof learners, learning together online, with students
typically organising themselves into study groups.
In a fascinating aside, Kevin commented that
"open" in English fails to convey the sense of
openness, the metaphorical sense that the door isopen and that anyone can come in, a sense, heclaimed, better expressed in French (ouvert) or in
Spanish (abierto).
The final three presentations addressed the useof CALL tools and resources for extending the work
we do in our classrooms. Robert Cochrane
discussed CALL-sourced and supported learning
activities with low-level learners; Paul Beaufait
described a pilot study using English Central; andfinally, I discussed in-class and outside-of-classactivities designed to encourage interactivity in a
lecture course setting.

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING BACK
Robert's question was how to scaffold from thegrammar-translation, examination-centered school
experiences of what he described as low level,
unsuccessful learners to the creation ofenvironments and practice activities which
encourage increased language awareness anddevelopment of the concept of strategy use.
Cochrane's solution to his teaching context's
constraints has been to introduce task-basedlearning homework assignments using Keller's
ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, andsatisfaction) approach to courseware andhomework design. His goal was to create
achievable challenges for his learners to choose
from, by integrating internet resources into theirout-of-class learning practice through a course blog,
and encouraging the use of smartphones for selfregulation and self-monitoring by learners. He
reported some successes, via student feedback
responses to post-course surveys, with learners selfreporting some satisfaction in goal setting andachievement.
Paul Beaufait described a pilot project using
EnglishCentral, and asked "What happens when
you let students go?" He divided students into twogroups, one with explicit learning targets and one
without. Learners then engaged in various online
learning activities: video-viewing, vocabulary
study, and speaking practice. Paul's mostinteresting finding was that the group without
explicit goals studied only 60% of the words (wordfamilies) that the group with explicit goals did,
however, their learning performance was, in fact,
better. During his presentation and the follow-up
discussions, the importance of task design,
motivation, and practice outcomes were explored.
In my presentation, I discussed the use of
online resources, made available to students
enrolled in my Introduction to American Studies
lecture course though the course Moodle site.
Students were also required to participate in group
work: for in-class discussions of lecture materials;
the completion of three group research projects
consisting of reports and slide-shows uploaded to
the Moodle site; and, follow-up forums on theirproject work and course reading assignments. At
the time of the presentation, we were only sevenweeks into the semester, and even now, though theterm has been completed, it will take some time forme to evaluate the students' work and their
responses to the post-course survey. The more
motivated students used the hypertext versions ofreading assignments, participated in forum
discussions, contributed to glossaries, and ingeneral, were more active in in-class discussions
and contributed longer, more articulate exploratory
feedback writings. How successful my attempts toencourage the development of digital literacies,
interactivity and learner autonomy were remains
an open question, which I will be exploring atgreater length in a future article, as well as in therevision of course protocols for the coming
academic year.
My tentative conclusion regarding the forum isthat while we did not manage to resolve any
mysteries, the cracks, flaws, and tensions in ourpresentations did facilitate a useful discussion withparticipants. A common question running throughthose discussions was the efficacy and value of the
CALL resources we feel we have spent so muchtime learning and creating. Trying to grapple withthat and other related questions sent me back to‘the parrot book’ (Barfield & Brown, 2007). Rereading David Little and Kelleen Toohey’scontributions to that volume I was reminded thatthe core relationships between learner and teacher
development, classroom practice(s), and self-accessmaterials and systems (both analog and digital) areat the heart of any “successful” implementation oflearner autonomy. During the follow-up
discussions, Darren Elliott noted that as teachers wecannot create communities (of practice, of
autonomous learners, . . . ), communities create
themselves. This stands now in memory as a usefulreminder to beware the inevitable temptation forteacher-researchers to over-simplify on-going
events in our quest for understanding.
Note: The conference website is available forbrowsing, and the conference handbook is alsoavailable for downloading in PDF format.
Reference:
Barfield, A., & Brown, S. H. (2007).
Reconstructing autonomy in language education:
Inquiry and innovation. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan.

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD

Looking Forward 今後のイベント
Transitions in the Lives of Learners and Teachers

learner, teacher, and participant observer. (Warning:

JALT 2013 LD SIG FORUM

this poetic presentation may contain humour andrhyme.)

Hideo Kojima - Hirosaki University
In-service EFL teachers’ transitions from being

Robert Taferner - Hiroshima University

dependent to becoming more autonomous

The Role of Correct Feedback in L2 Writing andteacher-learners

Grammar Development

As a teacher educator, I have helped pre- and inservice EFL teachers to promote their autonomous

In this session, the presenter will summarize themain features of written corrective feedback (CF) on

learning to teach. In the forum, I focus on two cases

second language (L2) writing theory and practice.

of in-service EFL teachers’ autonomous

While there is ample support for the use of CF on

development under collaborative and reflective

improving comprehension, cohesion, and thesupervision. Teacher A, a high school EFL teacher,
implemented strategy-based instruction in his

mechanical features of learners’ writing, there islittle support for its use for long-term grammar

portfolio program to develop learner autonomy,

acquisition. In this study of university level

while Teacher B, an elementary school EFL teacher

Japanese EFL students, the presenter will

and her peers with no certificate in teaching English

demonstrate the ability of written CF to affect thecollaboratively implemented strategy-based
instruction in Foreign Language Activities touse of tense and aspect in learners’ compositions inpretests, and immediate and delayed post-tests

promote pupils’ learning to learn. Both cases haveover a period of one school term.

some implications for innovation in EFL educationin Japan.

Aya Matsumoto & Yuki Ide - Meisei University

Caroline Ross - Nakamura Junior and Senior High

From Langauge Learner to Langauge User
This presentation will describe some of the

School for Girls

experiences of two students of International Studies

The Elementary Structures of Teaching in Japan.

at Meisei University. The presenters, a senior

An anthropological account of (one) learner’s

student and a junior student will highlight how

development within the EFL world
I will discuss how joining the Learner Development

these experiences have helped them to make thetransition from English learners to English users.

SIG has taught me invaluable lessons, not only

Experiences including participating as a teacher inabout my teaching practices, but also about

a summer school project, as a teacher's assistant in ateaching English in Japan. From feeling very much

University programme, volunteering at the JALT

an isolated and unsupported teacher, I now feel I
am part of a network that I can support, and benational conference and studying abroad havehelped the presenters develop as language learners

supported by. I will draw upon my background as

and language users. Finally, the presenters will

an anthropologist to examine my role as a reflective

attempt to express how these events have shaped

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>67

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
their personal goals.

encourage learner autonomy in the globalclassroom.

Andy Barfield - Chuo University
Transitions in students' understandings of

Debjani Ray - Tokyo University of Science

becoming global

Transitions in my classroom

In content-based courses where students do self-

I would like to share my story of how and why I

directed research projects and engage with complex

initially tried to change my teaching style and insocial, legal, political and global issues, how dodifferent individuals see themselves as 'becoming

what way it gave me some positive result. To suitthe needs of the class how I gradually changed

global'? What transitions do they go through inmyself from being a controlling teacher or adeveloping over time their understandings ofteacher-centred educator to a more relaxed learner-'becoming global'? In this presentation I would likecentered educator and how that resulted in theto explore such questions around students'changing constructions of their global imaginaries.

learners' transitions from not-so-happy passive
learners to happy active learners.

Samuel Bruce - Yokohama Chapter

Huw Davies - The Open University (UK)Two-way street: an approach to peer observations

Mayumi Abe - Temple University Japan Campus

This presentation will discuss the supportive peer
observation approach used in the World Language

Satomi Yoshimuta - Temple University Japan Campus /Seigakuin University

Centre at Soka University in Tokyo. The approach is

The strategy tree for language learners

very much about mutual benefit for both observer

Meeting to discuss learning strategies, theand observee, with those observing often finding aspresenters talked about experiences with learners

much if not more benefit from the process. After
describing the peer observation system, thewho struggle in the university English classroom;
about being a distance learner with limited

presentation will look at some responses from

opportunities for interaction, and about providing

participants in the process and consider the benefits

counselling advice to students that go beyond theand possible shortcomings of the process.

four skills. Influenced by Oxford (2011) and her S²R

Saki Michi - Ritsumeikan University

model, the presenters created the strategy tree, avisual aid depicting the three dimensions ofLearner autonomy and the global classroom

language learning: cognitive, affective and

The purpose of my presentation is to discuss ways

sociocultural. The strategy tree is intended as a toolin how learning together with international

for counselling or use in the classroom to promotestudents in the communication classroom canenhance learner autonomy in the Japanese EFL

autonomous, self-regulated learning.

classroom. The presenter will examine issues

Joseph Tomei - Kumamoto Gakuen University,

regarding learner autonomy and analyse student

Ken Ikeda - Otsuma Women's University

survey results on autonomous learning andUsing cross-institutional student collaboration to

students' intercultural communication experienceson and off the university campus. The presenterestablish seminar paper topics and thesis
development: a progress reportwill conclude by giving suggestions on how to

We report on the collaborative learning efforts of

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

68

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
students between our universities which started in

how such experiences and communities canApril with generating initial topics, followed withtransform our learning, teaching, and other areas ofstudents interacting with each other through theresearch process and preparing their seminar

professional practice, from volunteering andorganising conferences to reviewing, editing, andpapers in the write-up stage. We report on the

publishing.

effects of such student collaboration with our own
guidance of the students’ papers. We hope to see

Stacey Vye - Saitama University

the degree of this kind of interaction, involving
shared understanding, authority over content, andNarrative learning transformations in a university
learner autonomy seminar after the course is overcontrol over activity, help students establish

It is not often that university students and theirownership of their topics, and in turn, help us, as

learner/teacher in a volunteer collaborative

supervisors, develop ways to further assist them.

autonomy seminar from the previous year can have

Trevor Coombes & Aiko Minematsu - Shoei Girls Juniora venue for sharing critical transformational
narratives. Many teachers wonder what has becomeand Senior High Schoolof their efforts to support their learners’ language

An online teacher's lounge: Blogs as platforms forand lifelong developments, because the teacher

collaboration and reflection

often does not know the outcomes of their learners’

Creating a culture of sharing among fellow teachers
in the same institution can be demanding at times.

personal development after the courses are overwith too many students and not enough time. In

Based upon our experiences at Teacher's College

this session, visitors can learn about coolColumbia University, we began a closed reflective

transitional narrative stories from the learners andblog for teachers in a private junior and senior highthe learner/teacher beyond the bounds of language

school in Tokyo, with the purpose for English
teachers to exchange ideas and reflect upon thelearning and the seminar.

ongoing process of their teaching practices. In thisJennifer Capouilliez, Jianwn Chen, Ian Hurrell, Paul

presentation, we will share the process of setting up

Landicho & Tim Opitz – Rikkyo University

the blog, the discussions which generated from it,

What do you think? – Rikkyo University EDC

and teacher responses. Our own reflections will also
be shared.

Showcase
This presentation will showcase the course
provided by the English Discussion Center (EDC)

Philip Brown - Konan Women’s University

to all freshmen at Rikkyo University. This unified

Expanding horizons and pursuing ongoingcourse employs a learner-centered methodology

professional development through collaboration
An ongoing commitment to learning is not only awhich has the students work together in small
groups to develop the communication skills andhallmark of professionalism but also fundamental

fluency to hold extended discussions in English.

to personal growth as a lifelong learner and a

Instructors from the EDC will present the learner-

teacher. Whilst collaboration may not always

centered teaching techniques used in the course

appeal to all, it is hoped that by sharing stories ofcollaboration from within and outside the Learnerand visitors will also have the opportunity toexperience these techniques for themselves throughDevelopment SIG, we might reflect and explore

interactive activities. In addition, teacher researchNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>69

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
seeking to foster this learner-centered environment

Long papers

will also be on display.
JALT2013 Conference Preview

Sun, Oct 27, 1:20 PM - 2:20 PM; room: Kitano
The learning body-embodied learning

JALT2013大会のご案内

Thornbury, Scott - The New School

compiled by Ian Hurrell

The separation between mind and body, afundamental truth in modern Western thought, issuccumbing to a view that thinking, and hence
learning, is embodied, i.e. the mind extends beyond
the grey matter of the brain, and is realised, at leastin part, through gesture, movement, andphysicality. What might this mean for (second)
Here are somelanguage learning? This talk will review
developments in this exciting new field, and (verypresentation listingsfrom the conference

tentatively) suggest some applications.

schedule that have

Short Papers

indicated a relationshipto learner development. Some of the presentations

Sat, Oct 26, 11:00 AM - 11:25 AM; room: 502

are from LD SIG members while others may be ofrelated interest to our membership. With a bumper

Investigating learning goals via learned attention

crop of 37 LD related sessions, including:

Department; Rouse, Andrew - University of

1 Long paper;

Hawaii at Manoa, SLS Department
The presenters will introduce the concept of

22 short papers;
3 forums;

Learned Attention and discuss related research

1 workshop;

and an application of the concept to explicate the

9 poster presentations and
1 Meeting,issue of limited attainment of adult second
language acquisition (Ellis & Sagarra, 2010, 2011).

there is a lot to whet your appetite this year!

Then, using specific examples, the presenters will

Peters, Ryan - University of Hawaii at Manoa, SLS

including mathematical models (Kruschke, 2006)

explain how goals interact with learning
Please note to double check the listings on the day

experiences through the lens of Learned Attentionof the conference for any room changes. You are
more than welcomed to submit a presentationand highlight potential benefits that metacognitiveawareness of this process offers learners.

review, report and/or reflection to the Learning
Learning journal: <http://ld-sig.org/LL/

Sat, Oct 26, 1:20 PM - 1:45 PM; room: 404

index.html>

Personal Learning Projects: A stepping-stone tolearner autonomy?
Sykes, Joe - Akita International University
This presentation describes an approach to

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
integrating self-access learning with an English
language speaking/listening curriculum as aSat, Oct 26, 5:25 PM - 5:50 PM; room: 303

scaffold to greater learner autonomy via'PLPs' (Personal Learning Projects). Findings are

Movie-making activities in English remedial class
Nakanishi, Noriko - Kobe Gakuin University

presented from an analysis of audio learner diaries,

The presenter will introduce a series of activities

with examples of first-hand insights from learners,

involved in the making of the Fall of Freddie theinto the process of taking personal responsibility for

Leaf movie. Based on the picture book story, thetheir learning, in many cases, for the first time.

students prepared Japanese subtitles, suitable
photos, and the English narration to make theirSat, Oct 26, 1:20 PM - 1:45 PM; room: 407

own original movies. Though most of the students

Exploiting memories to inspire language learning

were very reluctant learners at first, they graduallyCollett, Paul - Shimonoseki City University;

became interested in reading the story and aware of

Sullivan, Kristen - Shimonoseki City University
The presenters will discuss how learners' memories

the importance of English grammar andpronunciation.

can serve as catalysts for the beliefs that motivateand sustain learning. By helping unlock these

Sat, Oct 26, 6:35 PM - 7:00 PM; room: 407

memories, we can encourage learners to see theEnhancing metacognition through guided reflection

connection between important past events and theirbeliefs. We will introduce several activities to

Kanzaka, Izumi - Soka University
This paper reports on action research conducted toencourage students to link past experiences withfacilitate active participation in the Japanesecurrent and future learning endeavors, and discuss

university EFL context. The students were guided

the efficacy of such activities, along with otherthrough two ways: reflective questionnaires

approaches to help learners inspire their own
learning.

designed to help them reflect on their attitude inclass, identify the reasons they did not volunteer,
and think how they could participate more actively;Sat, Oct 26, 4:15 PM - 4:40 PM; room: Sumireand language-learning advisory sessions to discuss

Learner autonomy and intercultural

students' willingness to communicate. This paper

communication
Saki, Michi - Ritsumeikan University

will discuss how metacognitive awareness can beenhanced through guided reflection.

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss ways
in which learning with international students in theSat, Oct 26, 6:35 PM - 7:00 PM; room: Tsutsuji

communication classroom can enhance

Developing a support system for tandem learning

autonomous learning of Japanese EFL students. The
presenter will examine issues regarding learner

Wakisaka, Masako - Doshisha University; Ou,
Lixian - Osaka University; Aoki, Naoko - Osaka

autonomy and explain student survey results on

University

autonomous learning and students' intercultural

こ の発表は、日本の大学キャンパスで留学生と日

communication experiences on and off the

本人学生のカリキュラム外の活動として行っている

university campus. The presenter will conclude bygiving suggestions on how to encourage learner

タンデム学習プロジェクトにおいて、参加者がどの

autonomy in the classroom.

ようなこと に困難を感じ、それを解決するために

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>71

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
主催者側がどのようなサポート・システムをデザイ

Beyond chat: A testing-based speaking center

ンしたか、その効果はどうだったかを報告する。

Sasaki, Daniel - Soka University; Chirnside, Alex

Sun, Oct 27, 9:00 AM - 9:25 AM; room: Reception- Soka University
Many EFL self-access center programs play anHall A
Fostering learner autonomy in higher education
Miyahara, Masuko - International Christian
University; Fukao, Akiko - International Christian
University; Watanabe, Atsuko - International
Christian University; Tsuda, Atsuko International Christian University; WatanabeKim, Izumi - International Christian University
This presentation reports the preliminary findings
on a two-year longitudinal study that explores how
autonomy can be fostered among university
learners studying English at higher education in
Japan. By investigating the interplay of curriculumbased, classroom-based, and resource-based
approaches, the presenters share both students' andinstructors' voices which help to shed light into theprocess of autonomy development in the context offormal language learning.
Sun, Oct 27, 9:35 AM - 10:00 AM; room: 305
A longitudinal CA study of L2 learner identity

important role in supporting the development of
linguistic skills. However, beyond generalconversation and discussion skills are specificspeaking skills, which are required for students tobe successful on the TOEFL iBT. With a need arising
to meet various student goals, a TOEFL iBT
speaking center was established. The paper will
describe how the center was setup, the difficulties
that occurred, and the solutions that weredeveloped.
Sun, Oct 27, 12:45 PM - 1:10 PM; room: 503
Peer interaction in a high school EFL classroom
Minematsu, Kazuko - Tsuda College
An increasing number of second language (L2)learning studies have begun to investigate peerinteraction, focusing more on the social nature oflearning. The purpose of this sequential mixed
methods study was to investigate whether peerinteraction is meaningful in a high school EFL
classroom, where 80% of the students perceived

Siegel, Aki - Rikkyo University

themselves as poor at English. The presenter will

Utilizing the methodological framework ofConversation Analysis to analyse the management

through the peer interaction process.

of rights to knowledge, this study investigates thedevelopment of language learner identity from alongitudinal perspective. Conversational data werecollected from the interactions of two L2 users ofEnglish, over the course of two years. Throughanalyses of word search sequences located within
this data set, participants' identities were found to
be co-constructed in interaction, as well as changing
across time.
Sun, Oct 27, 9:35 AM - 10:00 AM; room: Reception
Hall A

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>show what the students learnt and how they felt

Sun, Oct 27, 1:55 PM - 2:20 PM; room: 402
Emergence of group autonomy through SAC
activities
Kimura, Harumi - Miyagi Gakuin Women's
University
The idea of setting up self-access centers (SACs)
started in view of supporting individualized
language learning, but in reality they function fordivergent purposes. One is fostering group
autonomy as a prerequisite of learner autonomy
and personal autonomy. SAC users reported that72

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
working with others at SAC helps them takelearner awareness can be raised to start the process,responsibility of their own learning. Their reflection

and how necessary skills are enabled throughindicated that learners' capacity for self-regulation
can develop through experiencing group autonomy.

teaching methodologies such as Problem-based
Learning (PBL). The presenter will share his current
research on how PBL develops LLL skills andSun, Oct 27, 3:50 PM - 4:15 PM; room: 407

challenges teachers to explore the questions of why

Effects of explicit inputs on speaking fluency

and how PBL does this, in relation to developing

Lee, Nancy Shzh-chen - Kyoto University
This study examines the influence of explicit inputs

students LLL skills.

on the speaking fluency of Japanese university

Sun, Oct 27, 5:00 PM - 5:25 PM; room: 302

students (N = 240). Once a week for eight weeks,

Teachers and students: At L1 odds in EFL classsubjects narrated the Eiken Pre-Level-1 four-picture

Carson, Eleanor - Hiroshima City University

speaking test. Subjects were exposed to: 1) selfreview, 2) teacher modeling, and 3) explicit teachingThis study examines if English learners' L2experience, education and proficiency relate to their

inputs. It was found that all subjects have improved

preferences for L1 use by teachers in the EFL class,their speaking fluency but those exposed to teacher

and whether teachers' nationality, education,modeling and explicit teaching demonstrated thetraining, and L2 proficiency influences theirgreatest gains.

tendency to use learners' L1 in class. Survey results
support positive answers to both questions.

Sun, Oct 27, 4:25 PM - 4:50 PM; room: 405

Students preferred L1 use for emotional situations,

CLIL lectures, autonomy, and portfolios as a bridge

while teachers preferred L1 for classroom

Adamson, John - University of Niigata Prefecture;

management, indicating mismatching preferences.

Coulson, David - University of Niigata Prefecture
The presenters will illustrate how students develop

Theoretical and pedagogical implications will be
discussed.

academic competencies on a 1st year English
lecture preparation course at a Japanese university.

Sun, Oct 27, 5:00 PM - 5:25 PM; room: 504

It is argued that the use of students' course

Young lingua franca users in a transborder space

portfolios, encouraged by a Content and Language
Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach, lead to

Tanaka, Hiromasa - Meisei University; Ogane,
Ethel - Tamagawa University; Sugiyama, Aya -stronger autonomous study skills. Findings show

Hoya Second Elementary School; Okuyama,

how students become more competent

Kurumi - Meisei Elementary School; Kawamata,academically and independent through a network

Takanori - Meisei Universityof resources and brokers available to them.

The presenters will describe learner identity
development in a transborder space, in whichSun, Oct 27, 4:25 PM - 4:50 PM; room: 407

Taiwanese and Japanese children interact using

Teaching lifelong learning skills: PBL in action

English as a lingua franca (ELF). Data include

O'Dowd, Gregory - Hamamatsu University Schoolinterviews, video recordings, and narratives by theof Medicine
This presentation provides insights into theJapanese and Taiwanese students. Analysis of thedata was generated through dialogue among thecharacteristics of life-long learning (LLL), howresearchers and appears to point toward the critical

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
role of the development of a lingua franca user

tertiary institutions have to conduct their studies in

identity in enhancing sustained language learning.

English, often their second or third language ofSun, Oct 27, 5:35 PM - 6:00 PM; room: 403

preference. Tests are administered to ascertain
students' level of linguistic competence andTeachers' learning strategies and their teachingpossible academic achievement and programmes

Hokamura, Michiyo - Temple Univsity; Tsumatori,

are offered to support students in overcoming thisChizuko - Temple University

language barrier. A comprehensive, compulsory

The presenters will report on what kind of
language-learning strategies teachers use. The

program (including language skills) is suggested toassist students in attaining their full academicpresenters conducted Oxford's questionnaire,potential.

Strategies Inventory for Language Learning (SILL),
as well as interviews. The participants wereSun, Oct 27, 6:45 PM - 7:10 PM; room: 501

teachers are from high school, university, andEnglish conversation school. The presenters also

Learning autonomously for language proficiency
Vye, Stacey - Saitama University

look at the relationship between participants'

Autonomy research advocates that learners gain

strategies and their instructions, and between theircontrol over their learning, but what about

strategies and their proficiency, and changes in

proficiency gains? Considering the reliability of theteachers' strategies over time.

IELTS exam, the results from the pre- and post-testsof 20 university students were compared with theirSun, Oct 27, 5:35 PM - 6:00 PM; room: 404

autonomous language-learning practices for 23

Researching out-of-class activities for group work

weeks. This research suggests that language study

Yasuda, Raymond - Soka University

plans designed by the learners and their self-

With the spread of programs either simulating
western education or preparing students for study

reported amount of time spent on the desiredlearning focus contributed to greater language

abroad, L2 group work has increased within Japan.

proficiency.

The increase of such assignments has created aneed to investigate L2 project work in the JapaneseMon, Oct 28, 11:20 AM - 11:45 AM; room: 402

context. A qualitative investigation into out-of-classgroup work in an English medium EAP class was

The benefits of a conference internship program
Ashrova, Umida - Nanzan University

conducted to identify the challenges students faced,

This presentation will explore how participation in

the autonomous strategies used to overcome thosean internship program at a large conference

challenges, and the additional support deemed

benefited a group of university students. Using annecessary.

expectancy and value framework for motivation,
the interns' initial motivation for engagement in theSun, Oct 27, 6:45 PM - 7:10 PM; room: 403

program and how their motivation evolved was

Language (dis)ability of university students

studied. This internship experience might also be

Elston, Wilma - University of Johannesburg Southuseful in sustaining motivation to study a foreign

AfricaIn South Africa, the problem exists that

language as it provided what Brophy (1999) refers
to as a life application.

approximately 65% of students that register at

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74

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
Forums

Opitz, Timothy - Rikkyo University;
Ray, Debjani - Tokyo University of Science;

Sat, Oct 26, 12:45 PM - 2:15 PM; room: 301
CALL Forum: Technology and best practices inDavies, Huw - The Open University (UK);Abe, Mayumi - Temple University Japan Campus;

language learning

Yoshimuta, Satomi - Temple University Japan

Gorham, Tom - JALT CALL SIG;

Campus/Seigakuin University;

Robb, Tom - ER SIG;

Ross, Caroline - Nakamura Junior and Senior

Elliott, Darren - LD SIG;
Cihi, Guy - Lexxica;

High School for Girls; I
keda, Ken - Otsuma Women's University;

Riley, Paul - Oxford University Press;

Tomei, Joseph - Kumamoto Gakuen University;

Martyn, Billy - Language Cloud;

Minematsu, Aiko - Shoei Girls Junior and Senior

Martyn, John - Language CloudHigh School;

This year's CALL SIG forum will be an extension of
the theme of our annual conference. We will be

Coombes, Trevor - Shoei Girls Junior and SeniorHigh School

exploring how technology has affected the bestpractices of different areas of language teaching andThis forum consists of interactive presentations thatlearning. We are bringing together speakers fromlook into how Learner Development is a process ofdifferent SIGs and different areas of language
education to talk about how technology haschange and the ways this manifests itself in
different educational contexts. Themes will include:

influenced the best practices in their particular

Learner transitions from being passive to becoming

areas. This includes extensive reading, vocabulary,

active, autonomous learners; the presenters'

learner development, learning managementtransitions from being teacher-centered educators

systems, and learning materials.

to becoming learner-centered educators; and SIG
members' transitions from working individually toSun, Oct 27, 11:35 AM - 1:05 PM; room: 301

working collaboratively with teachers and learners

LD Forum: Transitions in the lives of learners andin various LD SIG activities.

teachers
Hurrell, Ian - Rikkyo University;
Barfield, Andy - Chuo University;

Sun, Oct 27, 5:35 PM - 7:05 PM; room: 301
Self-access and the lifelong voyage of learning

Kojima, Hideo - Hirosaki University;

MacKenzie, Dirk - Konan Women's University;

Taferner, Robert - Hiroshima University;

Thornton, Katherine - Otemon Gakuin

Matsumoto, Aya - Meisei University;

University;

Ide, Yuki - Meisei University;
Bruce, Samuel - Yokohama Chapter;Yamashita, Hisako - Kanda Institute of Foreign
Languages;

Saki, Michi - Ritsumeikan University;

Porter, Mathew - Hiroshima Bunkyo Women's

Brown, Philip - Konan Women's University;

University;

Vye, Stacey - Saitama University;

Taylor, Clair - Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University;

Capouilliez, Jennifer - Rikkyo University;
Chen, Jianwen - Rikkyo University;

Baierschmidt, Junko - Kanda University ofInternational Studies;

Landicho, Paul - Rikkyo University;

Sykes, Joe - Akita International University;

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>75

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
Birchley, Sarah Louisa - Toyo Gakuen University;

Hirata, Yoko - Hokkai-Gakuen University; Hirata,

Omura, Keiko - Toyo Gakuen University;

Yoshihiro - Hokkai-Gakuen University

Beck, Daniel - Toyo Gakuen University;
Ishikawa, Yukiko - Soka Women's College;

The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy
of corpus-based tasks in combination with online

Matsumoto, Kaori - Soka University;

language-learning tools implemented in a Japanese

Shibata, Satomi - Tokoha University

university. Specifically, the attitudes of different

On the lifelong voyage of learning, the self-accessstudents towards tasks in a blended language-

centre is a port where learners can refuel with ideas,
restock with learning materials, share stories oflearning course were analyzed. The findings
suggest that student perception of corpus-based

their adventures, and chart out new directions fortasks differs significantly according to several major

the future. In four presentations and a poster

factors.

session, contributors will discuss a variety ofcurrent issues in self-access related to learnercognition, advising, assessment, space design andSat, Oct 26, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM; room: Exhibition
Hall #3

curriculum integration. Organized by the Japan

Teaching methodologies for lifelong learning

Association of Self-Access Learning.

O'Dowd, Gregory - Hamamatsu University Schoolof Medicine

Workshops

This poster presentation provides a description of
the characteristics of life-long learning (LLL) andSun, Oct 27, 1:20 PM - 2:20 PM; room: 307

paths to needed skills through teachingStudent attitude to translation in SLA

methodologies such as Problem-based Learning

Sonda, Nozomu - Yamaguchi University/One(PBL) and Team-based Learning (TBL). The

World Intl
Recently, L1 use and bilingualism have begun to bepresenter will share findings from his current
research on how PBL is developing LLL skills andrecognized in SLA and the place of translation

challenge teachers to explore the questions of why

seems to have been found (Cook, 2010; Vermes,

and how in relation to developing students LLL

2010), which has deep implications to Japaneseskills.

college English education. Since there seems to bemuch less research in terms of student attitude, thisSat, Oct 26, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM; room: Exhibition

study proposes to examine Japanese college

Hall #3

students' attitude towards translation for both

A project-based workshop for active learning

speaking and writing purposes. The study method

Kawamura, Akemi - Tokyo International

will employ both quantitative and qualitative
approaches.

University; Matsubayashi, Yoshiko - Tokyo
International University; Maeda, Joyce - Tokyo
International University

Posters

Japanese learners of English are often characterized
as passive participants in a traditional classroom. In

Sat, Oct 26, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM; room: Exhibition
Hall #3

an effort to remedy this situation, a project- basedclass was designed as one of the cornerstones of the

Evaluation of a student-created corpus

English curriculum at the presenters' university.

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>76

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
This presentation will outline the project adopted,

Sat, Oct 26, 4:15 PM - 6:15 PM; room: Exhibition

its contribution to language acquisition, and theHall #3

problems encountered by both learners andteachers. Suggestions will be made for how to

Becoming a good language learnerBartelen, Herman - Kanda Institute of Foreign

implement a similar project in other locations.

Languages; DiGiulio, Anthony - Kanda Instituteof Foreign Languages

Sat, Oct 26, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM; room: Exhibition

Educational research suggests that students who

Hall #3
Engagement through creative homework design

exhibit more control over material choice andlearning strategies, are more likely to be motivatedCochrane, Robert - Kyushu Sangyo Universityand driven towards greater language gains. This

English language learning can be a challenge forposter presentation will include a pamphlet,

non-English majors, but limited class time can be

Becoming a Good Language Learner , which was

supported with effective homework design. This
poster presents an action research project

distributed to first-year students at a two-year
English vocational college. The pamphlet addresses

investigating the effects of how creative homework

the issues of setting goals, planning, reflection,

design, combined with task-based learning andmotivation, language-learning strategies, time

language-learning strategy instruction, can increase

management and the choice of materials andstudent engagement and self-regulation. Surveys,
class evaluations, peer collaboration and teacher

technologies.

observation will be presented and discussed along

Sun, Oct 27, 3:50 PM - 5:50 PM; room: Exhibition

with suggestions for improving effective homework

Hall #3

activities.

Video recording as a learner assessment toolSat, Oct 26, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM; room: Exhibition

Okada, Yasuko - Seisen University
Video technology has been widely implemented inHall #3

language classrooms. This study investigates the

Learner autonomy for science-major EFL students

effect on self-evaluation of Japanese EFL learners'

Murase, Fumiko - Tokyo University of Agriculture

presentation skills in the classroom. The results

and Technology
What should we know when we intend to help

suggest that self-evaluation using video recording
can help language students reduce the burden ofscience-major university students develop their

being an evaluator. The benefits of using a video

autonomy, as well as their English proficiency?

camera for assessment purposes in the classroom

Following the overview of a project on developing

will also be discussed.

a program for promoting science-major students'
autonomy and improving their English proficiency,

Sun, Oct 27, 3:50 PM - 5:50 PM; room: Exhibition

the presenter will report on the survey studies

Hall #3

investigating their needs in English learning andWhat comprised their self-regulated language

their characteristics in terms of learner autonomy

learning?

and discuss how these findings could beincorporated into the program design.

Ebara, Satoko - International Pacific University
The aim of this study is to explore the factors fordiscouraging or facilitating self-regulatory

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

77

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): LOOKING FORWARD
language learning among Japanese university

languages other than English and/or from diverse

students. While some quantitative studies haveteaching and learning contexts (elementary school,

investigated learners' tendency of their original
perception and the change, this study laid emphasis

junior high school, senior high school, distancelearning, language school, and university settings)

more on the retrospective interviews to learners'

to come along and take part

realities. It elucidates the individual learner's

Spread the word with this flyer!

reaction to each life history and environment oflearning.
Sun, Oct 27, 3:50 PM - 5:50 PM; room: Exhibition
Hall #3
Effect of time gap on English learning of students

Forum: Transitions in the lives ofLearners and Teachers

Tseng, Yen-Cheng - Chang Jung Christian
University; Guo, How-Ran - National Cheng

13 interactive presentations focusing on:

Kung University• Learners’ transitions from passive to active learners

To evaluate the effects of the time gap on the results• Teachers’ transitions from teacher to learner centered educatorsof English learning in Taiwanese college students,
we investigated the relationship between scores of
the General Scholastic Test taken prior to entering• Development of learner-centered practices

college and TOEIC after a 10-week English course.
Of the 136 participants, the highest correlation wasobserved in freshmen, while the lowest was inseniors. The results indicated that the time gap hasa remarkable impact on the results of English
learning.

featuring an LD Poetry Recital and snacks

Sunday 11:35 ~ 13:05
Room 301

Meetings
Sun, Oct 27, 1:20 PM - 2:20 PM; room: 301
Learner Development SIG AGM
Barfield, Andrew - Chuo University,
Silver, Rich - Ritsumeikan University,
Stewart, Alison - Gakushuin University,
Murase, Fumiko - Tokyo University of Agriculture
and Technology
This meeting is an opportunity for SIG members to
discuss together different SIG projects and plans, aswell as to make decisions about SIG activities forthe coming year. We welcome your participation in

Kobe Convention Center - waiting for YOU!

the AGM and encourage teachers teaching

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>78

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Sig Matters
Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Sig Matters

Call For Contributions
Call For Contributions
原稿募集
原稿募集
Learning Learning is your space for continuing to make

「学習の学習」は会員に興味あるつながりを構築する空theLearning
connections
Learning
thatisinterest
your space
you.forYoucontinuing
are warmly
to invitedmakeandencouraged thatto contributeto thenextof invitedthe connections
interest you.
You
areissuewarmly「学習の学習」は会員に興味あるつながりを構築する空間です。次号「学習の学習」への和文(もしくは英文、

Learning
and encouraged
Learning
to incontribute
either English
to the and/or
next issue
Japanese.
ofWe及び二言語での)投稿を募集しています。形式や長さを問
わず、学習者及び教員の発達に関連した以下のようなさ

welcomeLearning writing
Learning
inin
different
either English
formatsand/or
and different
Japanese. We
lengths
about
different
issues formats
connected
learner andwelcomewritingin different
andwithdifferentteacherlengths development,
about differentsuch
issuesas: connected with learner andteacher development, such as:• articles (about 2,500 to 4,000 words)
articles (about(about 500
2,500
toto
1,000
4,000
words)
words)•• reports
learner
histories(about500
to1,000 words)•• reports (about 500 to 1,000 words)
learnerof
histories
autonomy(about(about500 500
to 1,000
to 1,000words)
words)•• stories
reviews(about (about
500 to 1,000•
storiesof autonomy
500 towords)
1,000 words)• bookbook reviews
to the SIG(about(about500500to 1,000words)
words)•• lettersletters to profiles
the SIG (100(aboutwords
500 words)
more or less)•• personalreflections(100words
wordsmore
moreororless)less)•personal
profiles (100• criticalcritical reflections
interests (100(100words
wordsmore
moreororless)less)•• research•research interests (100 words more or less)• photographs
photographs
and much more...
•• poems...
• poems... and much more...
We would like to encourage new writing and new

間です。次号「学習の学習」への和文 (もしくは英文、及び二言語での)投稿を募集しています。形式や長さを問
わず、学習者及び教 員の発達に関連した以下のようなさ
まざま文章を歓迎しています:
まざま文章を歓迎しています:•
論文 (約4000字-10000字)••

論文 (約4000字-10000字)
報告書(約2000字-4000字)••

報告書 (約2000字-4000字)
学習者のヒストリー(約2000字-4000字)••

学習者のヒストリー (約2000字-4000字)
自律性に関する体験談(約2000字-4000字)••

自律性に関する体験談
書評(約2000字-4000字) (約2000字-4000字)• SIGへの手紙 (約2000•

書評 (約2000字-4000字) • SIGへの手紙 (約2000
字)

•

字)
個人プロフィール
(約400字)••

個人プロフィール (約400字)
クリティカル・リフレクション(約400字)••クリティカル・リフレクション(約400字)研究興味(約400字)••研究興味(約400字)
写真•詩 その他•
写真 •詩 その他
これまでにない形式のもの、また新しい方々からのご投
これまでにない形式のもの、また新しい方々からのご投稿をお待ちしております。内容についてもぜひご相談く

writers
We would
andlikeare toalso
encourage
very happy
newtowriting
work withand younewindeveloping
writing.
We would
be delighted
writers and yourare also
very happy
to workwith youtoinhear

稿をお待ちしております。内容について もぜひご相談く
ださい。みなさまのご意見やお考え、ご経験、そして学

fromdeveloping
you about
youryourwriting.
ideas,
We
reflections,would be experiences,delighted to andhear

習者の発達、学習者の自律性と教師の自律性に関することなど、ぜひお聞かせください。

interests
from youtoabout
do withyourlearnerideas,development,
reflections, experiences,learner andautonomyteacherautonomy.
interests toanddo withlearnerdevelopment,

ださい。みなさまのご意見やお考え、ご経験、そして学習者の発達、学習者の自律性と教師の自律性に関することなど、ぜひお聞かせください。

learner autonomy and teacher autonomy.

James Underwood
James
Underwoodjamesmichaelunderwood@gmail.com
jamesmichaelunderwood@gmail.com
Learning Learning coordinator
Learning Learning coordinator

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

79
79

Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Sig Matters

Financial Report, 財務報告
SIG fund balance August 31, 2013 / SIG資金残高2013年8月31日
Balance in bank account 銀行口座の残高

908,913

Reserve liabilities JALT本部預け金

200,000
TOTAL

PLANNED EXPENSES September to December 2013

合計

1,108,913

2013年9月- １２月予定経費Table rental at JALT 2013／JALT2013 全国大会テーブルレンタル代(27,000)

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

LD SIG site cost

／SIGウェブサイト経費(7,500)Donation for best of JALT 2013／Best of JALTサポート(10,000)

Pan SIG grant／Pan SIG 参加助成金(25,000)

Research grant／研究助成金(25,000)

2 JALT National grants／全国大会参加助成金(80,000)

Projected expenses 20th anniversary LD conference／２０周年記念大会参加助成金(470,000)

Other miscellaneous / 他の雑費

(20,000)(694,500)

SUB-TOTALPROJECTED REVENUE September to December 2013小計

2013年9月- 12月予定収入

Realizing Autonomy Proceedings sales (50 copies)／紀要売り上げ

50,000Membership x 1500 6 months/12／SIG 会員費（１５００円／６ヶ月）

150,000

November conference registration projection／２０周年学会参加費
SUB-TOTAL

小計

200,000
400,000

Projected SIG fund balance March 31st, 2013 / 予定SIG資金残高2013年１２月31日
Balance in bank account 銀行口座の残高

614,413200,000

Reserve liabilities JALT本部預け金

TOTAL

合計

814,413

Kay Irie 入江恵 , LD SIG treasurer, LDSIG財務, September 3, 2013 2013年9月3日

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>80