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Taylor, C. (2014). The transformation of a foreignlanguage conversation lounge: An action research
project. Bulletin of Shotoku Gakuen University(Faculty of Foreign Languages), 53, 1–16. Retrieved
from http://www.shotoku.ac.jp/data/facilities/library/publication/gaigo53-1.pdf

Thornton, K. (2015). Sharing stories of practice in selfaccess facility design and management. Studies in
Self-Access Learning Journal, 6(2), 216-218. Retrieved
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archives/jun18/werner_vonjoo

Learners about Learning Student Conference
Ann Flanagan, Ritsumeikan Junior and Senior High School, Email: <ann@fkc.ritsumei.ac.jp>
Agnes Patko, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Email: <a_patko@kufs.ac.jp>
Katherine Thornton, Otemon Gakuin University, Email: <katherine-t@otemon.ac.jp>
In conjunction with the 8th Independent
Learning Association Conference, “WhoseAutonomy? Voices and Agency in Language
Learning held at Konan Women’s University inKobe, Japan, the Kansai Get Together group of theJALT Learner Development SIG, held the 3rd Annual
Student Conference entitled Learners about
Learning. In this short review, we describe andreflect on the event, share student feedback andoffer suggestions for those interested in holding
similar events simultaneously with teacher
conferences.
The JALT LD SIG Kansai Get Together Group has
previously held two student conferences called theKansai to the World Conference (K2W) (Aden et al.,2017). They were aimed more towards university
students focusing on global related issues facing
Japan.
This year’s conference, Learners aboutLearning, held at Konan Women’s University in
Kobe, Japan was organized by Agnes Patko, Ann
Flanagan and Katherine Thornton. It aimed atproviding an opportunity to local and international
senior high school and university students todiscuss issues of and share experiences and ideas
about their language learning. In preparation forthe poster conference, students were asked tothink about their language learning experience andwhat made it meaningful to them. They wereencouraged to include ways that helped them tostudy language like:•study resources (YouTube, movies, music, Apps,online resources, chats ...)•

language opportunities (English conversations,activities with international students, events at
school or your self-access center ...)•

study abroad experiences•

projects in class•any other activities or projects or ways ofstudying English.

Before the conference began, students hadlunch together which gave them the opportunity toget to know each other in an informal situation as
well as calm those presentation jitters. Afterlunch, Agnes Patko and Katherine Thornton lead
fun ice-breaking activities to get students to learn
more about each other since they were fromdifferent schools in Japan.
At the beginning of the conference, students
placed their posters on tables or hung them on thewall. They then did a 20-minute “Gallery Walk”
where students toured the room to read theposters and write questions on Post-It notes which
presenters could include when they gave theirpresentation. This was led by Ann Flanagan. Thiswas very effective because it gave weaker students
the time needed to engage with text and have theNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <http://ld-sig.org>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 25 (2): Looking Backchance to ask questions without feelingoverwhelmed. It also helped support the presenterswhen they were giving their presentations.

Gallery Walk

The conference was divided into three poster
sessions. The participants rotated every 6 minutes
to new posters, allowing them time to listen tomost of the presenters. At the end of eachrotation, participants were able to ask questions.
Next, students formed groups in a reflective
activity to discuss what they learned or what theyfound was the most helpful or most interesting.

After the poster session activity, students had achance to enjoy cake and relax before doing a oneminute Pecha Kucha about their poster in the Main
Auditorium in front of the participants at the ILA
Conference. Sharing the students’ voices with all
the attendees at the ILA conference gave everyone
the chance to listen and reflect on learners’
diverse perspectives on language learning.
To conclude the conference, student presenterswere given certificates of achievement and a group
photo was taken at the end. ILA participants wereinvited to look at the posters and have further
discussions with the students.Also, student
presenters were asked to write a 500 to 2500 word
paper for the ILA Conference Proceedings.

Participants engaged in the poster session

Presenters at the Learners about Learning Conference
September 2018

Student voices

Posters designed by students

After taking part, students filled out an online
questionnaire (see Appendix A). However, in thefuture, it would be better to do a paper-basedquestionnaire to ensure that we get everyone’s
response after the conference. The survey results
confirmed our sense at the time that theparticipants rated the conference as excellent and

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 25 (2): Looking Backvery good. In addition, they were extremely likely
to recommend a friend to participate in a future
conference held by the LD Kansai Get-together
Group.
Many students said that they were inspired byother participants. Many university students
commented how they enjoyed having the highschool students participate because they learned alot from them and they wished that they had had
the same chance when they were that age.
As always, students offered some good advice
for the next conference. They would like to havemore time to give the presentation. They would
also like to have more non-presenting students toparticipate in the event. Furthermore, they would
like to encourage more university students topresent about their projects and research. Overall,
the results were positive and gave the organizers
some food for thought when they plan the nextevent.

Reflections
The student conference organizers as well as
the ILA Conference organizers reflected on thesuccess of the student-centered event by email.
Everyone was impressed by the quality of work
presented and the level of engagement theparticipants had throughout the conference. Since
the students were able to share their personal
experience with language learning, the interaction
between students and teachers seemed morerelaxed and meaningful.
Some of the challenges of the conference werefinding participants. Since the conference was held
during the summer vacation, many university
students were not able to participate. In thefuture, we need to publicize the event better byusing Facebook or contacting the publicity chairs of
the Kansai Area JALT Chapters so that more
students can take part.

give a conference. The teachers involved would
give support with the facilitation of the event.

Our closing thoughts and looking to the future
The Learners about Learning Student
Conference was a great way for students tostrengthen presentation skills, build confidence
and form new friendships. They had an opportunity
to inspire and connect with other students as wellas get feedback about the work they presented.
It is the hope that we can hold the conference
again from next year and find other schools at boththe secondary and tertiary level to participate.
They would like to increase the number ofparticipants and get more teachers involved. It isclear that the conference offered a rich learning
experience for all participants. In addition, having
a joint conference was very beneficial to allparticipants.
Overall, this year’s conference could not have
happened without the tireless efforts of Steve
Brown, Ann Mayeda, Hisako Yamashita, Agnes
Patko, Katherine Thornton and Ann Flanagan andthe hard work of all the participants. We lookforward to using the feedback we received andapplying it to the next student-centeredconference in 2019.

Reference
Aden, A., Flanagan, A., Nakai, Y., Narita, S., Patko,A., Teeter, J., & Thornton, K. (2017). Kansai To
the World: Promoting learner engagement about
international issues through a student conference.
Learning Learning, 24(1), 34-38. Retrieved fromhttp://ld-sig.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/
Kansai_24.1.pdf

The Kansai Get-Together Group is also exploring
the possibility of having a student-led conference.
This would give students the occasion to plan andNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <http://ld-sig.org>

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 25 (2): Looking Back
Appendix A
Learners about Learning Student Conference at Konan
Women’s University Feedback Survey

6. Were the following activities helpful in encouraging
communication among participants?
extremelyvery

somew slightly
hat

not atalllunch

○

○

○

○

○

ice-breaking
activities

○

○

○

○

○

gallery walk

○

○

○

○

○

poster anddiscussion
session #1

○

○

○

○

○

poster anddiscussion
session #2

○

○

○

○

○

poster anddiscussion
session #3

○

○

○

○

○

pecha kucha○○○○○Dear Participants,

Thank you very much for participating in the Learners
about Learning Student Conference. We appreciate all
your hard work for making this a successful event. Your
feedback is very important to us. Please fill out theform below.

Circle:MaleFemale

Gender Neutral

High School 1st Year / 2nd Year 3rd Year / 4th Year
University 1st Year / 2nd Year / 3rd Year / 4th Year
Graduate Student

Exchange Student

How likely would you recommend this event to aclassmate?

7. Did the conference fulfill your reason for coming?
Yes, absolutely
Yes, but not to my full expectation

not all likely -----* -----* -----* ----- extremely likelyNo

2. Overall, how would you rate the quality of theconference?

8. Which topics would you be interested in learning
about or presenting about at a future conference(Learning Languages, Global Education, Global Issues,Local Issues, Human Rights Issues, and so on)?

Excellent / Very Good / Fairly Good / Mildly Good / Not
good at all

9. Which month(s) would be the best for you to join afuture Student Conference?

3. What did you like about the event?

4. What could be improved about the event?
5. How organized was the event?
Extremely organized / Very Organized /Somewhat
Organized / Slightly Organized/ Not at all Organized

10. Please write any additional comments or feedback
that you would like to give us:***********
Thank you very much for participating in the Learners
about Learning Student Conference.
We greatly appreciate your feedback. It will be very
helpful when we plan next year’s event.
The Learners about Learning Conference Organizers

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <http://ld-sig.org>

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