Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LOOKING FORWARD

Looking Forward 今後のイベント
The stories of our success: Narratives
in language development—LD SIG
forum at the JALT Pan-SIG 2015
conference in Kobe
Hello to all of you! For those of you attending
the Pan-SIG conference, you are warmly
invited to take part in our LD SIG forum thisyear. PanSIG 2015 will be held at the Kobe City
University of Foreign Studies in Hyogo-ken,from May 16-17, 2015.
This year's LD SIG forum for the PanSIG
conference will focus on the role that
personal narratives can play in making thelanguage-learning process more interestingand enjoyable. As we have always done, theforum will have simultaneous displays andpresentations, with plenty of opportunities foraudience and presenter interaction anddiscussion. This year we will have six great
presentations for your interest andstimulation.
The role of music in building narrative,
grasping metaphor, and achieving
expository reach in L2 writing
Lee Arnold (Seigakuin University) and Joseph
Tomei (Kumamoto Gakuen University)
The narrative is defined as an account ofconnected events, and this presentation willshow how music can be used to aid andinspire learners to create written narratives inthe L2 with cohesion, range, and depth. The
presenters will explore:
1) how instrumental music may aid learners’
construction of meaning and narrative;2) how the metaphoric characterof lyrics may broaden comprehension andproduction of long-form essays.

In conclusion, the presenters willshow, through learner writing samples andlesson materials, how instrumental and vocal
music may provide learners with a foundationand stimulus for both factual and creative
writing.
Use of narrative flags for learners tounderstand and make themselves
understood
Helen Hanae (Toyo University)
When learners process long narratives, telltale
clusters of lexical features flag their attention
to hotspots where they pause to data-mine forgist and high-priority details. Just like datamining bots, even L2 readers and listeners oflower proficiency can use these “flags” tomove efficiently through poorly understoodnarratives. The presenter will examine thetwo streamlined sets of “flag” features(selected through POS tagging and manualanalysis) her learners use for academic/
business reading and listening. She will also
demonstrate how “flagging” Story Dicenarratives and interviews to attract readers’and listeners’ attentions may function to takethem on more easily followed and interesting
narrative journeys.
Sharing my story: learning French throughstorytelling in a French drama school
Yoko Morimoto (Meiji University)
To understand what a language learner may go
through, and to also bring aspects of SLA,
autonomy, neuro-ELT, and positive psychology
into her own learning, the presenter will share
her learning experiences of French to theintermediate level over the last three and halfyears. She will describe the most salient
moments of her experience—joining a French
drama school in Paris, and discovering that her

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 22 (1): LOOKING FORWARD
personal pleasure of open novel reading in her
drama class proved lively and engaging toothers. Through the recounting of such
experiences as a learner, she will sharefurther observations and analysis of what has
most contributed to her progress and what
may be applicable in pedagogical terms toJapanese EFL university classroom settings.
Who’s holding the reins? Teachers talkabout approaches to ‘teaching’ aboutautonomy
Ann Mayeda (Konan Women’s University)
This presentation examines the threads fromthe narratives of four teachers involved in“teaching” autonomy through a three-year
tutoring course designed to scaffold learners
toward self-direction in setting and achieving
language-learning goals within a university
English department curriculum. These classes
are meant for learners to gain the tools andknowledge necessary in order to increaseautonomy and for the teachers to promoteand support it accordingly. This discussion will
center on two narrative threads—balancing
the processes of discovery towards the best fit
for teachers given their approaches toautonomous learning, and teaching with theincreased understanding of the best fit forlearners at each stage of their studies andlives. The threads seem to indicate a positive
relationship between teachers and learners
when there is a good match between what theteacher offers and what the learners arecomfortable with.
Language identity: from minority situation
to minority situation
Joel Laurier (Toyo University)
As Global English and English as a Lingua
Franca movements grow in their global
appeal, the native speaker model loses its
relevance for language teaching. Much lesstalked about is the teacher as second
language learner, unless it is in the teacher’s
homeland, despite the fact that the majorityof the world’s English speakers are themselves
not “native speakers.” This presentation is a
first-hand account of the presenter himself as
second language learner, in one of Kachru’s
inner-circle countries. It will show the path hetook toward identifying himself as an English
speaker, and how that path became even more
complex as he moved to Japan. His evolving
identity as a bilingual speaker in a minoritysituation to a minority situation in a foreigncountry will also be discussed.

A web of connections – learnerautonomy and Web 2.0 LD SIG forum
at JALT CALL 2015 in Fukuoka
Don’t forget our CALL LD SIG forum right on
the heels of the PanSIG! This year’s CALL 2015
conference will be held in Fukuoka at Kyushu
Sangyo University from June 5-7, 2015.
This year’s CALL LD forum will focus on therole that Web 2.0 technology plays forlanguage learners and teachers, withpresentations and discussion on research and/or practices using Web 2.0 over a range ofmotivational, social and political issues
involving learner autonomy. For this forum wehave three lively and interesting presentations
for you.
Transportable identities and social
networks: a reflection on the pros and consof out-of-class communication
Richard Pinner (Sophia University)
Accept or Decline? Some teachers encourage
their students to befriend them on social
networking sites (SNS), while others areunderstandably wary. SNS can form a very
effective way of connecting with students
outside the classroom, engaging their real
lives and identities. It can also create
opportunities for authentic and motivating
communication, not just between classmates
but also within a web of connections withother learners and speakers around the globe.
It could also be a social and ethical minefield.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 21 (1): LOOKING FORWARD
When people interact in different social
contexts, they may invoke different
Transportable Identities, which are either“latent or explicit” within the social contextof the discourse (Ushioda, 2011). The
presenter will draw on both publishedresearch and personal experience to reflect on
the use of these types of Web 2.0 technology
and the consequences they pose.
Affordances for intercultural learning
through a Facebook exchange
Alison Stewart (Gakushuin University)

exchange using PenPalSchools.com, a Learning
Management System (LMS) style tool for
managing classroom level exchanges. The
program recently expanded beyond thesecondary level to include use with university
students. Results of the study quantifying theeffects of the digital exchange on student's
intercultural sensitivity development revealed
increases in intercultural engagement andintercultural confidence after a six-weekdigital pen pal exchange. This study
contributes to a growing body of research into
the use of Web 2.0 to connect students inauthentic intercultural communication.

Computer-mediated exchanges offer plentiful
opportunities for language and culturallearning. Facebook is an ideal medium forsuch exchanges because, as the world’s
largest social networking service, it is familiar
to many young adult learners, as well as
because of the ease with which sources ofinformation, such as text, photographs, andlinks, can be incorporated into dialogue. TheTokyo-Kota Kinabalu Unilink is a Facebook
exchange between university students inJapan and Malaysia, in which cross-culturalpairs of students share information on given
cultural topics over a four-week period. Thepresenter shall identify affordances forlearning in one of the dialogues and consider
some implications for learner autonomy andlanguage pedagogy in university classes.
Developing intercultural sensitivity in ELF
through digital pen pal exchange
Simeon Flowers (Aoyama Gakuin University)
Development of English as a Lingua Franca(ELF) is parallel to development ofintercultural communicative competence. The
Internet in general and Web 2.0 in particularhave created greater opportunities for
gaining practical experience
towards developing such competence. In a
quasi-experimental study conducted at
Tamagawa University's Center for English as a
Lingua Franca (CELF), subjects were enlisted
to participate in a six-week online pen pal
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