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The 2016 JALTCALL Conference:
A personal reflectionof the more memorable events from theconference.
Day 1: Saturday

Sean H. Toland
Ritsumeikan University (BKC)
stoland@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp /seanhtoland@gmail.com
If anyone … is teaching the same thing they were teaching five
years ago, either the field is dead, or they haven't been thinking.
– Noam Chomsky –In many ways, teaching English in Japan can be
an individualistic and isolating endeavor. A
large number of English as a foreign language(EFL) instructors have long commutes, busy
schedules, and are often segregated from one
another in their own classrooms. Cuban,
Kirkpatrick, and Peck (2001) argued that the“cellular organization” of the teaching profession
as well as various other constraints reduced the“cross-fertilization of ideas” and sharing oftechnical expertise amongst the educators they
researched (p. 827). Although there will always be
an element of seclusion in the EFL educational
arena, attending conferences and participating in a‘community of practice’ (Wenger, 1998) such as
the JALT Learner Development SIG can help toalleviate the isolation, frustration, and sense of‘burn-out’ teachers might experience working withlarge classes of reluctant English-language learners.
Added to that, they are fantastic forums that foster
the sharing of knowledge (i.e., technological tips)
and effective teaching strategies.
Keeping these ideas in mind, I decided toattend the 2016 JALT CALL conference. I felt it
was the ideal professional development
opportunity for me as I have been studying
technology enhanced learning for the last few years
through a distance education graduate studies
program. The JALT CALL 2016 conference,
which was cohosted by the JALT CALL and Mind,
Brain, and Education SIGs, took place from June
3rd to 5th at Tamagawa University in Tokyo.
Although it was a jam-packed hectic weekend, I
left Tokyo feeling inspired and reenergized. The
next section will highlight some	
  LEARNING LEARNING 学習の学習	  When I arrived at the venue early Saturday
morning, I was pleasantly surprised to learn thatthe conference timetable had a total of 114
presentations/workshops that covered a diverse
array of topics. Needless to say, it was difficult tocreate a personalized schedule of the sessions I
wanted to attend. I decided to sidestep the more
abstract or theoretically dense presentations, andinstead focus on practical ones that had thepotential to help frontline educators improve theirstudents’ learning and communicativecompetencies.
The first order of business was to meet up withmy colleague and co-presenter, Daniel Mills, inorder to put the finishing touches on our slides
and have one final practice before our presentation.
Afterwards, I wandered around the poster sessions
and talked with Oliver Rose about PhraseBot, an
online mobile game app he developed that canhelp students learn words, phrases, and sentences.
This conversation was the first of many that I
would have over the weekend, which focused on
the value of mobile device vocabulary apps toenhance students’ learning. The online flashcard
program Quizlet appeared to be a popular choiceamong many EFL instructors, and it was featured
in ten different presentations. After lunch, Danieland I delivered the findings from our action
research project on the use of mobile-video
recordings to enhance Japanese university students’English language presentation skills.
Unfortunately, two of the sessions I reallywanted to attend, one on Pecha Kucha1
presentations and the other on student-generated
podcasts, were scheduled at the exact same time as
our talk. Thankfully, there were still a number ofstimulating presentations to see on my afternoon
agenda. I listened to Paul McKenna discuss how
he scrutinized 1,499 TED Talks using a genre
	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
   	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
   	
  
1

A Pecha Kucha is a visual presentation format whereby thepresenter shows 20 images and speaks for 20 seconds per image. The
total time of the presentation is under 6 minutes and 40 seconds. (20images X 20 seconds = 6:40)

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analysis. For me, the most interesting part of his
presentation emerged during the ‘Q & A’ period
when various audience members shared how theyutilized TED Talks in their lessons. Immediately
after the session, I had a brief conversation with
Darren Elliot regarding his blog ‘The lives ofteachers: Teaching and learning languages’. This
site is definitely worth checking out, especially theimpressive archive of interviews he has conducted
over the years with renowned researchers in thefield of English language learning.
My next stop was to see Robert Cochrane’s
enthusiastic presentation on his experiences using
Google Apps for Education in a collaborative
learning project with Japanese university students.
Cochrane noted that the participants in his study
were highly proficient at playing games andaccessing social networking sites on theirsmartphones. However, many learners still lacked
basic digital skills when it came time to using
technology in an educational context. This
presentation appeared to resonate with theaudience and one instructor commented: “ … they
are iPhone geniuses … but have a hard time using[Microsoft] word to format their essays.”
After this session, I decided to mix things
up a bit by attending a workshop. Rab Paterson’s‘Unleash your inner Tarantino with iMovie’ hadpiqued my interest with a catchy title as well as thedesire to improve my mediocre video editing skills.
In addition to being highly entertaining andinformative, Paterson provided the participants
with a blueprint on how to organize and conduct
an effective information and communication
technology (ICT) workshop. I filled my notebook
with numerous practical pointers and a variety ofwebsites where I could obtain high quality images
for my future video projects. The seventy minutes
flew by and then it was time for the keynote
address.
Mark Pegrum’s plenary speech ‘Beyond
traditional language and literacy: The rise of mobile
literacy’ was fascinating and provided theaudience with a tremendous amount of food forthought. Pegrum started his talk by highlighting
various types of digital literacies such as	
  LEARNING LEARNING 学習の学習	
  information, multimodal, network, and code, as
well as providing examples for each one. He thendefined ‘critical mobile literacy’ and emphasized its
significance in our technologically-charged world.
Without question, this notion reverberated themost with me because it underscores theimportance of incorporating critical thinking into
lessons that revolve around ICT tools. The
keynote address also tied in nicely with an article I
had recently read urging educators not to becometrapped in a technologically deterministic mindset.
Selywn (2012) argued that technologies areconstantly undergoing “… a series of complex
interactions and negotiations with the social,economic, political and cultural contexts into
which they emerge” (p. 84). Clearly, effectively
integrating ICTs into an EFL classroom issomething that requires a tremendous amount ofthought and careful consideration.
After Pegrum’s plenary address, the conference
attendees reconvened at a nearby building for a
networking reception. This event was notable on acouple of different fronts. First, everyone
appeared to thoroughly enjoy the great food, cold
drinks (especially the frothy ones), and friendly
service. Next, it was an excellent opportunity to
mingle with new people and reconnect with oldfriends. I had a number of interesting
conversations during the two-hour gathering,
including one with Stephen Ryan about theconnection of the mind and brain to language
learning.

Day 2: Sunday
The second day of the conference started out
significantly slower for me than the first one. I
decided to kick start my morning by grabbing acup of coffee before venturing off to any sessions.
In retrospect, this proved to be a wise choice as I
found myself immersed in a series of thoughtprovoking discussions with John Blake, Philip
Norton, and Gary Ross. Blake highlighted his
presentation ‘Ten hacks for academic writing’ andmade some helpful suggestions for my own
university writing classes. He also talked aboutliving, working, and studying martial arts in

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Thailand and Hong Kong. Likewise, Philip Norton
outlined his workshop ‘Creating animatedstoryboards with Web 2.0’ and provided some
practical pointers on using the online video editing
software WeVideo in an EFL setting. Norton also
shared an inspiring story of transforming himself
physically via kettle bell workouts and a healthy
lifestyle. Gary Ross’s technological acumen was
equally impressive. Ross talked about a computer
program he developed that allows students to havepractice conversations with their computers. The
most obvious benefit of this software is that EFL
educators can grade hundreds of assignments in ashort time.
However, Ross’s words also made me consider
the negative impact that ICTs can have on the
post-secondary EFL teaching sector in Japan.
More specifically, I started to wonder if voicerecognition programs, massive open online courses(MOOCs), the Skypefication of English lessons(i.e., online language tutors from the Philippines),
as well as the seemingly never-ending quest of
many university administrators to find ways to cut
costs (i.e., larger class sizes; using outsourcing
agencies) will eventually make many jobs
redundant. It is likely that my feeling of trepidationis rooted in an article I read a few years ago that
discussed the possibility of interactive robotic
avatars eliminating the need for EFL instructors.
In 2010, the South Korean government spent $45
million (USD) developing robotic English language
teaching assistants (Hsu, 2010). Undoubtedly,
many educators will find the idea of a robot taking
their jobs to be utterly ridiculous. However,
economist Kim Shin-Hwan predicted that thesemachines would eventually replace more than
30,000 native English teachers working in Korea,
especially those employed by private language
institutions (Kim, 2010). More recently, Sherman(2015) reported that new types of technology have
had a detrimental effect on a number of whitecollar occupations such as financial analysts andsports reporters. These professions had“previously seemed invulnerable” whereas now
there is a strong possibility that they will be
eradicated in the near future (par. 4).

	
  LEARNING LEARNING 学習の学習	  Having said all that, I was neverthelessintrigued to find out how voice recognition
software could enrich the language learning
process. Thus, I found myself attending the‘speaking with your computer’ ‘unconference’session. Before venturing on, it is probably a goodidea to pause for a moment to define this concept.
The ‘unconference’ presentation format is a unique“free-form, bottom-up” type of talk whereby theparticipants set their own topics (JALTCALL &the Brain, 2016). Added to that, it is perfectly
acceptable for a person to parachute into a
conversation and leave the room once she/he has
acquired enough information about a topic or lostinterest in the discussion. Needless to say, I was
curious to see how the unconference sessions
would actually unfold. In addition to theaforementioned voice recognition program,attendees could chat about the following topics:
physiology and wellness with technology, active
learning and neuroscience, and mobile device apps.
I was able to observe a hands-on demonstration ofGary Ross speaking with his PC as well as listen toother instructors discuss the trials and tribulationsof using speech recognition software in their EFL
classrooms. Initially, I had planned on attending
three unconference sessions. Unfortunately, theallocated time slot of thirty minutes evaporated
before I could wander into any other rooms. Even
though I really enjoyed the informal climate of theunconference presentation format, I felt that thetime should have been extended to an hour ormore to prevent the participants from feelingoverly rushed.
The final event on my agenda was the LD SIG
forum. On one hand, the session shared somesimilarities with many of the presentations andworkshops at the conference. For example, themajority of the presenters believed they could
foster a more interactive learning environment byweaving ICTs into their EFL lessons. However,the LD forum’s unique flavor could be found in
the fact that it also emphasized the students’ voices
in regard to the effectiveness of these technologicaltools. There were a total of five presenters on handto discuss the findings of three action research
projects. I decided to first stop at Robert Morel’s

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poster to learn how he deployed the learning
management system (LMS) Schoology in his
teaching context. A Venn diagram highlighted the‘online resources used at three levels of interaction’in his project. Thus, it was easy for the audience to
see the interconnectedness of information and filesharing, regular study, and messaging. I thoughtMorel’s presentation would have been especiallyvaluable for a teacher who works at several
institutions or someone not overly familiar withhow a LMS works.
My second pit stop at the LD forum was highly
useful and informative. As I noted previously,
discussions about the online flashcard program
Quizlet were prevalent at the conference. Although
I had a basic understanding of how it worked, I
was fortunate that Blair Barr could shed more lighton this educational software. Barr discussed thestudent feedback he received as well as thehighlights from his earlier presentation ‘Is Quizlet
an effective tool for learning how to use
vocabulary?’ Not only that, he patiently answered
my barrage of questions, including ‘What do you do if
a student has an antiquated cellphone?’ and ‘Do privacy
concerns ever prevent learners from participating in a task?’
Barr, like many good teachers, came up with avariety of innovative solutions that helped him
overcome unexpected technological barriers. This
conversation made me realize that Quizlet could
breathe new life into my reading class and add
some spice to painfully tedious TOEIC courses.
The third and final presentation that wasfeatured at the LD forum was titled ‘Students
voices: Evaluating an app for promoting selfdirected language learning’. My first observation
was the research triumvirate of Jo Mynard,
Elizabeth Lammons, and Kie Yamamoto produced
an amazing poster (see Figure 1) that was quite
self-explanatory. Fortunately, I was able to have aninteresting chat with Kie about the ‘Self-Access
Learning Centre’ (SALC) at Kanda University ofInternational Studies, and the benefits of themobile device app her team created. Without
question, this was another worthwhile session forme because my institution is currently in theprocess of introducing a new ‘Self-Access Learning
Support Area’ (SALSA).

	  LEARNING LEARNING 学習の学習	  Conclusion
The 2016 JALTCALL conference was a
resounding success thanks to the hard work of alarge group of dedicated volunteers and theorganizational efforts of the site coordinators.
Over the course of two hectic days, I learned atremendous amount and felt like I was hit by a joltof renewed inspiration that will hopefully help me
to improve my teaching performance. My positive
conference experience would not have beenpossible without the 2016 LD SIG JALTCALL
bursary. I would like to express my gratitude to the
LD team for not only the grant, but also theirwarm hospitality during my visit to the LD forum
session. Finally, I would like to say thanks to Yoko
Sakurai for her patience and assistance with thisarticle.

Figure 1. Poster from the LD SIG forum (Mynard,
Lammons, & Yamamoto, 2016)	  References
Cuban, L., Kirkpatrick, H., & Peck, C. (2001). High
access and low use of technologies in high schoolclassrooms: Explaining an apparent paradox.
American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 813-834.
doi: 10.3102/00028312038004813
Hsu, J. (2010, February 25). South Korean robot
English teachers are go. Popular Science. Retrieved
from
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/201002/south-korea-gives-go-robot-english-teachersclassrooms

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JALTCALL & The Brain. (2016). CALL and the Brain
unconference sessions. Retrieved fromhttp://conference2016.jaltcall.org
Kim, T-G. (2010, January 27). Robots to replace native
English teachers. The Korea Times. Retrieved fromhttp://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/
2010/01/123_59809.html
Mynard, J., Lammons, E., & Yamamoto, K. (2016, July).
Students’ voices: Evaluating an app for promoting selfdirected language learning. Poster session presented at
the JALTCALL 2016 conference, Tokyo, Japan.
Selwyn, N. (2012). Making sense of young people,
education and digital technology: The role ofsociological theory. Oxford Review of Education, 38(1),81-96. doi: 10.1080/03054985.2011.577949

Sherman, E. (2015, February 25). 5 white-collar jobs
robots already have taken. Fortune. Retrieved fromhttp://fortune.com/2015/02/25/5-jobs-thatrobots-already-are-taking/Solomon, D. (2003, November 2). The way we live
now: Questions for Noam Chomsky; The
professorial provocateur. The New York Times.
Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/02/magazine/
way-we-live-now-11-02-03-questions-for-noamchomsky-professorial-provocateur.html
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning,
meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

The	
  Learner	
  Development	
  (LD)	
  SIG	  is	
  offering	
  one	  ¥20,000	
  Project	
  Grant	
  to	
  LD	
  SIG	
  m embers	
  conducting	  or	
  leading	
  education-­‐related	
  projects	
  or	
  volunteer	
  activities	
  as	
  individuals	
  or	
  in	
  
groups	  who	  are	
  willing	
  to	
  write	  an	
  article	
  (approx.	
  1500	
  words	
  /	
  3000	
  Japanese	
  characters)	
  about	
  their	
  project	  for	
  Learning	
  Learning.	
  	
  Application	
  may	  include	
  but	  are	  not	
  limited	
  to	
  the	
  following	
  examples	
  (if	
  you	  are	
  unsure	
  whether	
  our	
  project	
  qualifies	
  or	
  not,	
  please	
  contact	
  the	  Grants	
  Team):	  •Teachers	
  and/or	
  students	
  engaging	
  with	  and/or	
  helping	
  communities	
  or	
  groups	
  of	
  people	  outside	
  of	
  their	
  educational	
  context,	
  at	
  either	  a	
  local,	
  national	
  or	
  international	
  level;	
  • Encouraging	
  student	
  development	
  through	  supporting	
  student	
  participation	
  in	
  conferences,	
  LD	
  SIG	
  forums,	
  LD	
  SIG	
  get	
  together,	
  etc.	
  	  Recipient/s	
  can	
  use	  the	
  grant	
  in	
  any	
  way	
  within	
  reason	
  that	  will	  support	
  their	
  project.	
  	
  Please	
  indicate	
  in	
  your	  application	
  how	  the	
  grant	
  will	  be	
  used	  to	
  support	
  the	  successful	  completion	
  of	
  the	
  project.	
  For	
  more	  information,	
  please	
  contact	
  the	  Grants	
  Team	  learnerdevelopmentsiggrants@gmail.com	
  	
  
	
  

	
  

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Volume 23 Issue 3 December 2016