RESEARCH PAPER
Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English
Learning Advisory Sessions
Ryo Moriya, Waseda University (graduate student)
Although advising in language learning (ALL) is an effective way to promote autonomy among learners of foreign
languages, most studies of ALL have been conducted in the students’ L1 (first language) to ensure constructive
dialogue between the advisor and advisee. The research reported in this article, however, featured a longitudinal focus on the L2 (second language: here, English) in the ALL sessions conducted for this study. Two Japanese
secondary school students participated in these sessions, and the social interactions between the advisor andadvisee that were co-constructed in English during the sessions were investigated. In the analysis of around 21
hours of audio recording from 19 advisory sessions, three types of teaching were identified. These differed markedly from the general practices that advisors follow. Further, using Activity Theory analysis, it became clear thatthe teaching types identified resulted from the multiple roles played by the advisor. The transcriptions showedthat the L2 advisory sessions enabled certain types of teaching opportunities in addition to the advising that took
place. The study sheds light on L2 advisory sessions and points the way for future studies on this subject. In the
final section of this paper, I discuss the possibilities for such interactive sessions in English and existing practicesof advising for secondary school students who may be struggling to keep up with their English classes.
言語学習アドバイジング（以下アドバイジング）
は外国語学習者の自律を促す有効な試みではあるが、多くの研究はアドバイザー・アドバイジ
ー間での建設的な対話を保つために第一言語で行われていた。しかし、本研究ではアドバイジングセッションを第二言語（英語）で縦断的に行い、そこでの特徴に焦点を当て報告した。日本人高校生2名がセッションに参加し、セッション中に英語で共構成されたアドバイザー・ア
ドバイジー間での社会的相互作用を調査した。全19回約21時間におよぶ録音データからセッションを分析したところ、アドバイジング本来の趣旨とは異なる3種類の教授活動が確認された。加えてそれらの教授活動はアドバイザー自身が持つ複数の役割から生じるものであるということが活動理論により明らかになった。本研究に於ける、第二言語によるセッションではアドバイジングと共にある種の教授機会が生じるという結果は、第二言語でのアドバイジングに光を当て、今後の研究への道筋を示している。また、英語の授業についていくのに困難を感じ得る中高生へインタラクティブな英語でのセッションや実際のアドバイジング実践といった可能性についても最終的には論じている。

Keywords
advising in language learning, L2 advising, longitudinal study, advisor—advisee interactions, case study

キーワード
言語学習アドバイジング、第二言語でのアドバイジング、縦断的研究、アドバイザー・アドバイジー間の相互作用、事例研究

For many second language (L2) learners who encounter difficulties, it is particularly important to gain autonomy, which is defined as the capacity of a learner to take responsibility for their learning and manage it themselves (e.g., Benson, 2007, 2011; Dörnyei &Ryan, 2015; Oxford, 2017) Advising in language learning (ALL) is a dialogic, dialectic processthat encourages L2 learners to resolve language-related challenges (Mynard & Carson, 2012;
Yamashita, 2015) Learners naturally tend to have particular preferences and styles for studying English; however, Japanese secondary schools’ English classes have as many as 40 students, exacerbating English teachers’ difficulty in following each student’s learning. Therefore, methods of supporting language learning among secondary school students tend to beignored even as student-centered teaching and active learning are attracting greater attention
in many educational settings in Japan. These new approaches to learning implicitly require acertain degree of autonomy for students

Student-centered activities and active learning have their roots in Sociocultural Theory (SCT), which built on the theoretical underpinnings of social constructivism (Jonassen& Rohrer-Murphy, 1999). SCT comprises two types of interactions: social interaction, orLearner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201841

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

interactions with interlocutors, and cultural interaction, or interactions with cultural artifacts From an SCT perspective L2 learners co-construct knowledge through both types ofinteractions because social constructivism itself does not subscribe to an objective external
world, claiming that everything that is known emerges from interactions (Given, 2008) SCT,
therefore, is in harmony with student-centered teaching and active learning because socialand cultural interactions are encouraged among students Further, SCT and ALL also exhibit
harmony because in one-to-one advisory sessions, both the advisor and advisee spend time
attempting to impart information and then gradually come to understand each other Therefore, in this article, SCT, as a theoretical epistemology, with ALL as its practical instantiation,
will be examined through an exploration of advisor–advisee interaction in advisory sessions
L2 advising would appear to be a reasonable approach to teaching and advising because,
according to SCT, social interactions in L2 facilitate L2 learning (Lantolf, Poehner, & Swain,2018). However, even though Kato and Mynard (2015) exemplified ALL in L2, using hypothetical examples as imaginable sessions, there are few empirical studies L2 advising might becriticized for overburdening learners although, theoretically, they could make use of copious
contextual cues and nonverbal information For instance, even if an advisee is not accustomed
to speaking English, they may try to convey a message through nonverbal communication
or incorrect English Here, the advisor can encourage the student to speak correct English
through modeling or supplying missing language or forms That is, the advisor can be the facilitator of a social interaction that provides mediation and works within the advisee’s zone ofproximal development (ZPD) (Lapkin, Swain, & Psyllakis, 2010). Language learning, however,
was not the primary focus of this study Rather, L2 advising was investigated as a means offostering participant autonomy
Furthermore, although there have been some objections that advising should not be anotherrole played by the teacher (Kato & Mynard, 2015; Mynard & Carson, 2012), the lines between
the advisor and the teacher in L2 advising are blurred The goals of advising and teaching differ in one important respect: the central goal of English teaching is the development of mastery of English by the student, while the goal of advising is to develop the student’s autonomy(Mynard & Carson, 2012). Social interactions can take place in L2 advising in second language
acquisition (SLA), including clarification, questioning, and negotiation for meaning (Gass &Mackey, 2006; Long, 1996), while cultural interactions can provide affordances for learning(van Lier, 2004) In negotiation for meaning, an advisee receives input and performs pushed
output in response (Swain, 2005) By analyzing advisory sessions, it is possible to ascertain
whether they include advising aspects alone or also incorporate teaching aspects Whether
advisors restrict themselves to their particular role when coping with the unpredictable occurrences of an advising situation remains to be determined
This examination has taken a cue from Derrida’s (1976) philosophy, a poststructuralist
approach, similar to social constructivism in which our knowledge and meaning-making
processes are generated within human relationships (Given, 2008) This research approach,guided by theory, is expected to produce results that are applicable to qualitative data analysis That is, if advisors to some extent take on a dual role in L2 advising, L2 advisory sessions
can, in addition to their advisory role, perform the role of regular class teaching (e g , providing knowledge to advisees and/or developing students’ English mastery) if it is shown thatthey contribute to L2 learning as well as learner autonomy It is hoped that this implication
will take root among secondary school English teachers because they are being encouraged
to increase the student centeredness of their classes and to conduct their lessons in English
to improve communication skills Although a student-centered class requires greater student
autonomy, advisory sessions could fill the need to help classes to be more active. Therefore,
ALL could be brought to more contexts in secondary schools to enrich student autonomy

42

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

Advising in Language Learning
Advising in Language Learning is a generic term (Mozzon-McPherson, 2001) that is divided into two types: one non-transformational (ALL) (Mynard & Carson, 2012) and the othertransformational (TALL) (Kato & Mynard, 2015). Transformation here draws on Mezirow’s(1991) Transformation Theory and is defined as changes of actions and feelings. As for the
relevance of his theory to TALL, it “goes beyond simply providing learning tips to learners but
also supports a learner’s transformation into a highly aware learnerthrough discourse”(Kato & Mynard, 2015, p. 9). A major difference between ALL and TALL is whether the advisory sessions are structured To avoid any confusion, hereafter, I will use the term language advising as a generic term and differentiate ALL and TALL as specific types. Moreover, as noted,
one of the most important differences between advising and teaching lies in the purposes
and the skills required (Mynard & Carson, 2012). That is, the central purpose of teaching is tohelp develop students’ mastery of English by providing knowledge and, accordingly, teachers
would acquire skills to manage their classes, for example On the other hand, the central purpose of advising is to develop students’ autonomy and, to achieve this, advisors would needsuch skills as being silent, giving positive feedback, and empathizing with their advisees (forfurther details, see Kato & Mynard, 2015). The purposes and skills required for teaching andadvising thus imply different roles for students.
In this study, TALL was examined, for two reasons First, TALL assumes that the role of theadvisor is transformational and that both advisors and advisees gradually co-construct theirknowledge in advisory sessions. Second, in ALL, advisors are necessarily qualified experts, inpracticing psychology, specializing in a specific area of psychology, or working in a profession
using knowledge of psychology Regardless of whether the discussion concerns ALL or TALL,
the common purpose of an advisory session is to develop the advisee’s autonomy throughdiscussion of their study of English, but the author takes the perspective of social constructivism and then follows TALL
The prevalence of language advising is growing in higher education in Japan. In addition
to the 45 schools listed on the Japan Language Learning Spaces Registry (n.d.), which haveprovided language advising for students, Waseda University also offers advisory support forlearners of Japanese as their L2 (Waseda Nihongo Support, n.d.). Partly because of the different purposes and skills required between teachers and advisors (Kato & Mynard, 2015; Mynard & Carson, 2012), secondary school teachers may have not yet recognized its significance.
Many universities with advisory support have advising centers, but secondary schools usually
do not. The difficulty in establishing support for language advising in secondary school contexts is perhaps due to the language issue Kato and Mynard (2015) included many examplesof advising sessions, using both imaginary and actual dialogues They noted that the sessions
were conducted in L2 and acknowledged some benefits. The drawbacks included the slow paceof conversation, with the advisees requiring more time than they did in the L1 advisory sessions; however, this did not prevent L2 advising Instead, the following was found:
Advising sessions in the target language can be very effective, but an advisor needs
to adjust the pace and language to suit the learner It can mean that everything takes
much longer, but that can often be very satisfying for the learners. (Kato & Mynard,
2015, p 78)
Of course, what is effective in such a context can be interpreted in several ways, including effective practice of English (c.f., languaging; Swain, 2006); more negotiation of meaning (Long, 1996); and increased time spent considering English study, which is cognitively
demanding but rewarding (e g , Lantolf, 2000) Furthermore, Kato and Mynard also refer toincreased opportunities for advisees to experience ‘aha’ moments as an advantage The merLearner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201843

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

its of L2 advising are entirely understandable, and they may also be conducive to L2 learningThis theoretical perspective on L2 advising will be further explored after reviewing SCT

Sociocultural Theory
In SCT, the development of human consciousness (from lower to higher forms) cannot occur
without mediation, explained as “the lower forms of consciousness
are transformed as weengage in activities with others and come to appropriate the meanings available to us in oursocial and cultural environment” (Lantolf et al , 2018, p 1) It regards interaction not as a facilitative force of learning but a crucial one, whether the interaction is social or cultural (e g ,Lantolf, 2000; Lantolf, Thorne, & Poehner, 2015; Swain, Kinnear, & Steinman, 2015) That is,both types of interaction contribute to L2 learning, leading many researchers to recognize orreconsider the influence of sociocultural contexts (Sugita McEown, Sawaki, & Harada, 2017;
Miyahara, 2015) To understand SCT, social constructivism must also be taken into account(Creswell & Poth, 2017; Jonassen & Rohrer-Murphy, 1999). Social constructivism is among
the poststructuralist approaches used in this article, in contrast to post-positivist approaches (Given, 2008; Kramsch, 2012; McNamara, 2012, 2015; Pavlenko, 2002) Post-positivism iscongenial to quantitative studies, but social constructivism is generally used in qualitative
studies (Ortega, 2012) Although variations of qualitative studies exist and not all necessarily adhere to one epistemological paradigm or another, qualitative studies as a whole broadly
assume that learning is complex and dynamic, in a way that aligns with SCT’s epistemology
This epistemological stand is similar to Derrida’s (1976) view of language, which presupposes that meaning is created or constituted through social discourses and practices Although
Derrida’s discussion is quite complex, this study restricts his concept to being one of the perspectives employed to interpret the data If poststructuralist approaches including Derrida’s
philosophy and the dual role of advisors in L2 advisory sessions are kept in mind, the interpretive and social constructivist perspectives make the teacher–advisor relationship ambiguous Following this train of thought, the following research questions have emerged:
1

How does teaching occur in the context of L2 advising?

2

What kind of teaching occurs in that context?

3

In advising, is the boundary between advising and teaching blurred? If so, how? And whatmight such blurring entail?

Is the expectation that social interaction in L2 will facilitate L2 learning applicable to advisory sessions? If so, could one anticipate teaching to occur in advising settings? If the answer is yes, the distinction between advising (what an advisor does to enrich an advisee’s
autonomy, encouraging him or her to think for him- or herself) and teaching (the provisionof knowledge to develop mastery) would become quite complex This dual role of advisors has
promising implications for language advising in the secondary school context The procedure
outlined below is used to investigate when and how teaching happens and its characteristics
Also given below is the research design and a description of the advisory sessions

Methodology
This section introduces the overall design of the study, which shares some similarities witha previous study I conducted in which the focus was on advisees’ emotions through one yearof advisory sessions (see Moriya, 2018) By contrast, this study takes advisory sessions as its
main focus

44

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

Researcher’s Background and Participants
Whilst undertaking a two-year master’s degree in 2016-2018, I worked as a part-time teacher
at a cram school in Tokyo. Generally, cram schools specifically train students to achieve goodmarks on tests while regular schools are not limited to this one aim Expected to work to satisfy the students’ needs, in this cram school the tutors had to adjust their teaching to match
their students’ levels and weak points, but were otherwise left to manage their classes as they
wished I arranged my classes to suit my students, using my experience of teaching of overten years Due to my experience and background in English education, I was trusted to completely manage my classes, and was thus able to conduct TALL sessions in L2
During the study period, I taught Ai and Yu (pseudonyms; both 16-year-old female Japanese learners of English and voluntary participants in the study) for a 1-year period in oneon-one 1-hour English instruction weekly sessions and conducted around 1-hour TALL sessions monthly Before beginning the TALL sessions, I informed the subjects of the nature of
TALL, the difference between general classes and TALL sessions, and the nature of voluntary
participation as required by ethical standards, after which Ai and Yu agreed to participate
Secondary school students were chosen because in previous studies on advising, the participants were mostly college students (e.g., Mynard & Carson, 2012; Tassinari, 2016; Thornton,
2016; Yamashita, 2015)
Superficially, Ai and Yu shared many commonalities: being in the same grade, interested in
English, and influenced by a sibling into pursuing English. Having known her for some time,
I noticed Ai beginning to concentrate more on English after entering high school becauseof her bad experience in the entrance examinations She struggled with English and othersubjects as reflected in her advisory sessions (see Appendix A). Yu, whom I had known for ashorter period of time, was more into art as a hobby but enjoyed English, seeing it as a key totraveling abroad, something she loved doing (see Appendix B)

Type of Study
This is a longitudinal study with multiple case studies (Creswell & Poth, 2017), and the datacollection lasted from August 2016 to August 2017 In a systematic review, Tojo and Takagi(2017) reported that only 31% (69) of the 226 qualitative studies on applied linguistics thatwere sampled lasted as much as a year or more This year-long qualitative study may haveproduced results that will be of value and significance to the field as well as to the further development of ALL and SCT and their relationship to learners’ longitudinal progress

Data Sources
The study incorporated multiple sources of data (including short questionnaires, wheel oflanguage learning forms, and student-constructed vision boards, to list a few; see Kato &Mynard, 2015) as ALL requires various tools to support advisees in different ways. However, one essential tool for use in advisory sessions is the learning log (e.g., Kato & Mynard,
2015; Yamashita, 2015; see Figures 1 and 2) in which an advisee keeps records of their English
study Every TALL session was audio recorded, and some of Ai’s sessions were also video recorded with her prior consent The audio data amounted to about 21 hours (1,263 minutes over
19 sessions) while the total amount of video data was about 9 hours (568 minutes over eight
sessions). Additionally, I took field notes during the TALL sessions and memos during theanalyses
Figures 1 and 2 show Ai’s and Yu’s learning logs, respectively (for other logs, see Appendix
A). These exhibited many contrasts, reflecting their characters.
Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201845

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

Figure 1. Sample of Ai’s learning logs
Although Ai mixed Japanese and English in her entries, she wrote relatively much more
and tried to use English as much as she could Further, to express what she did or thought in
her daily life (most of which was about her school life), sometimes she used words that weredifficult or previously unknown to her, such as “I learned auxiliary verbs,” “I couldn’t answer
teacher’s question asking the meaning of ‘particularly’ so I ashamed,” and “I want to know
how to study pronunciation and accent efficiently” (underlining by the author, indicating unfamiliar words found in the dictionary) For Ai, this learning log seemed to operate as a mediational tool (Douglas Fir Group, 2016)

Figure 2. Sample of Yu’s learning logs

46

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

Yu’s learning logs may seem simple but she exhibited many types of emotions experienced
in different contexts. Her mixed feelings of “irritated and satisfied” on September 20th, whichwere about her friends outside school, being a typical example These emotions may be related to experiences of musical and artistic activity both inside and outside school using her talent in these areas (see Appendix B) For Yu, therefore, her learning logs were used as memosor prompts to prepare to speak in the advisory sessions, allowing her to give the advisor detailed information about different topics as needed. The use of learning logs differed between
the two, but in both cases, it was found that the logs provided an affordance for learning (vanLier, 2004)

Study Procedure and TALL Session Procedure
First, the participants were asked to discuss their study of English on school days (see Appendix C) one week before the advisory sessions began The prompt was given in advance, andthe student told when to begin speaking Then, they were asked questions in English about
what they had described This task was chosen for two main reasons First, as an advisor, I
wished to gain an overview of their English study, and second, as a researcher, I wished togain a baseline picture of English study procedures and habits before the beginning of the
TALL sessions This task was not used for assessing the advisees’ linguistic skills but foreliciting their English learning experiences For this reason, the prompt was given a week inadvance, and the participants were told that there was no time limitation The week following the completion of this task, the TALL sessions began. The two participants had different
numbers of TALL sessions (Ai had 12 sessions, while Yu had 7 sessions), because TALL sessions were not obligatory, and both the students and I could only allot around 60 minutes
each week This availability was altered ad hoc: when the students needed to prepare for a
forthcoming exam or ask some questions about English, or when they were not able to cometo cram school because of illness or other reasons, advisory sessions could not be held The
frequency of the TALL sessions, however, was not a primary factor Rather, the goal was todetermine whether the participants would become more autonomous in their English study
Finally, a second interview was conducted in Japanese after the study period to ascertain theparticipants’ reaction to the sessions The procedure of this study and the TALL sessions issummarized simply in the upper part of Figure 3
Pre-task and 1st
interview

Small talkMultiple TALL
sessions

Learning log

Advising tools

2nd interview

Consolidation

Figure 3. The overall procedure for the whole study (above) and for each TALL session (below)
The lower part of Figure 3 shows how the advising sessions were broken down: within aperiod of 60 minutes or so, I began the session with small talk in English to break the ice
and change the atmosphere into one where speaking English was facilitated The learning
logs were checked at the beginning of every TALL session, and copies were made After 5 toLearner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201847

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

10 minutes of talking, I always checked the learning logs first, to understand how each advisee had spent her time since the previous session As this structure was maintained, theparticipants were able to prepare what they would say in each session, as was also noted in
the pilot study, where one participant used the learning logs as a memo to prepare for L2
TALL sessions, as Yu did (see Figure 2). I attempted to retain the flow of the sessions as muchas possible After the learning logs were checked, if time permitted, an advising tool, fromamong many created after Kato and Mynard (2015), was used, but if not, the tool was given
to the advisee as a task to complete before the following session These tools included a shortquestionnaire investigating the advisee’s confidence (see Kato & Mynard, 2015, pp. 36–37),
the wheel of language learning (e.g., Mynard & Carson, 2012), and vision board (see the actual
examples in Appendix B) to list a few (see Appendix D for a summary of these tools)

Data Analysis
To address the three research questions, multiple analytical methods were used. For the firstresearch question, Activity Theory analysis (e g , Engeström, 2001) was conducted. Activity
Theory allows researchers to (a) capture dynamic interactions between participants and theartifacts they use (Battista, 2015), (b) identify and explore gaps or contradictions emerging
from the activity (Gibbes & Carson, 2014), (c) understand the context (Battista, 2015), and (d)re-examine interactions in those contexts (Swain et al , 2015) Activity Theory is especiallyeffective for examination of interaction complexity. For investigation of the second researchquestion, thematic analyses were performed, with no predetermined framework, in an exploratory way, to determine patterns. The final research question was addressed with microgenetic analyses (e g , Gutiérrez, 2008), employing a social constructivist perspective Microgenetic analyses were used to identify, from a SCT perspective, where learning occurs

Findings and Discussion
This section has three parts that correspond to the research questions that were previously
provided. First of all, to examine L2 advising overall (RQ1), two figures that were created fromthe data are shown that visually summarize the overall context of the TALL sessions Further, to provide a more detailed picture of each session (RQ2), excerpts of actual dialogues areprovided Finally, the L2 TALL sessions and the role of the advisor there are discussed, with a
combination of findings (RQ3).

RQ1: How does teaching occur in the context of L2 advising?
Activity Theory analyses divide complex contexts into six sub-components: subject, mediating
artifacts, objects, rules, community, and division of labor In this study, the subjects were theparticipants (i.e., Ai and Yu) and I. Mediating artifacts, defined as the tools used to achieve agoal (Battista, 2015), included learning logs, advising tools, English and Japanese (the L1 andL2), and the gestures used in the TALL sessions Objects were elicited from tasks (AppendixC), as were other advising tools and dialogue (some objects can be examined in Appendix B)
Ai mentioned her objectives for English learning as attaining high scores in English tests,
including university entrance exams Yu was less forthright although she did speak of her
expectations of university life Before the beginning of the study, in the L2 TALL sessions, I
explained that I would speak only in English but the advisees were permitted to use Japanese
if they encountered difficulty. However, there is a gap between the rule and mediating artifacts because the rule led to Japanese being used in the L2 TALL sessions. Of course, the rule
was not strict, with its intention simply being not to force the advisees to be silent Howev-

48

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

er, interestingly, this loose rule had the effect of providing interesting insights. A sense ofcommunity was achieved from the dialogue, as Ai and Yu both mentioned their siblings manytimes, thus adding the family to the community Finally, a division of labor emerged by examining the two activity systems (Figures 4 and 5)
In this context, the concept of a high school student takes on two roles: first, the participants were students learning something from a teacher, responding to one of my roles asa teacher; second, the participants were young and had not yet graduated from high school(kouhai), responding to another role of mine as a graduate student (senpai), despite the differences in where they studied This dual role must be considered in any discussion Another interesting result that is closely relevant to the study is the multiplicity of roles for boththe participants and I in the TALL sessions Although I was working as an advisor, I was at
the same time playing four roles simultaneously at one workplace (i e , a graduate student,
a teacher, a researcher, and an advisor) The participants, for their part, had three roles (i e ,high school students, participants, and advisees) However, neither the advisor nor the students were forced to maintain one specific role, so dynamic changes of roles occurred even
within one context, leading unconsciously to the adjustment of the advisor’s role This point
is more fully discussed in relation to the excerpt that follows below

Figure 4. The activity system of Ai and Yu, as determined by Activity Theory analyses, obtained
from multiple data sources, including L2 TALL sessions

Figure 5. Author’s activity system, obtained from data from L2 TALL sessions

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201849

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

RQ2: What kind of teaching occurs in that context?
Inductive coding brought out three types of teaching: feedback, sudden realization, andmini-lectures Each of these is explained using typical, empirical examples

Feedback—Translation
Such feedback frequently occurred, especially where the advisee used a Japanese word. Excerpt 1 below, for instance, includes dialogue between Yu and I regarding her English study(following the task in Appendix C) The authentic interactions below occurred in August 2016
Excerpt 1 (R = Researcher/Advisor, Y = Yu/Advisee)
1. R: Second point, how have you been studying English since you entered the high2. school. So you started to learn Genius*.
3. Y: Yes.
4. R: Yeah and then, how to study English using Genius or other textbooks?
5. Y: I would I do preparation and hukusyu (“review”)
6. R: Ah, how to prepare the every English classes?
7. Y: Work and textbook’s skit and dialogue and sentence, long sentence.
8. R: Yes.
9. Y: Ah I write this in my note or all sentence.
10. R: All sentence.
11. Y: In my note I write and yakusu (“translate”).
12. R: Translate.
13. Y: Translate. I translate I translates this sentence.
14. R: Into Japanese.
15. Y: Like this. (gestures)
16. R: Yes.
17. Y: Left page, like this. (showing a rough sketch of the notebook’s organization)*: Genius is a textbook published by Taishukan and used in Yu’s high school In her juniorhigh school days, another textbook was used, so I confirmed whether her attitude toward English study had changed
While there were some clear grammatical mistakes, I did not intervene in all of Yu’s utterances because the primary purpose was advising, not teaching However, the advisor interrupted Yu’s one-word utterance yakusu (line 11), immediately supplying the English wordtranslate This kind of feedback frequently occurred for Yu because Yu spoke English without
hesitation, even though she did not know certain words. Yu used Japanese words as seen in
Excerpt 1 However, the advisor did not (more accurately, could not) respond to each oneword utterance in Japanese, leading to a lack of feedback for the use of the word hukusyu,
review, in line 5 I found it almost impossible to note and correct all mistakes made by theadvisees because he did not have much experience as an advisor in L2 TALL sessions The advisor did not intentionally teach vocabulary but rather unconsciously provided it as language
support Nevertheless, thanks to his feedback and some repetition by Yu, Yu used the wordtranslate in a later session (in the fifth session, she said “I translated into Japanese”). This
process from feedback to actual use shows the advisee learning in a way that harmonizes with

50

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

the perspective of SCT because this is precisely the pathway from externalization to internalization (Swain et al , 2015) Other examples of words that I translated into English for the
students are given in Table 1, and the examples below were confirmed by memos taken during
the analysis as well as by audio recordings
Table 1. Examples of Feedback—Translation
SessionJapanese word (English word)First session

gakki (instrument)

Second session

kuuki (atmosphere)

Fifth session

kageki (extreme)

Seventh session

tokuni (particularly), enshutu (performance), kojiin (orphanage), ka(mosquito)

Note: These are the Japanese words used by my advisees, and I responded to them in English. In a later
session, my advisees used the English words instead

Sudden Realization
In both Ai’s and Yu’s sessions, there were instances of sudden realization Similar to the understanding of negotiation for meaning (e.g., Gass & Mackey, 2006; Long, 1996), social interactions in L2 result in many opportunities where sudden realization comes into play (Gutiérrez, 2008) For instance, Excerpt 2, given below, is a transcription of a dialogue between Yu
and I during the first TALL session. Yu’s birthday had preceded the session by a few days, sothey spoke about it during the small talk part of the session (see the lower part of Figure 3)
This interaction occurred in September 2016
Excerpt 2 (R = Researcher/Advisor, Y = Yu/Advisee)
1. R: You became 16. Do you have some feeling when you became 16?
2. Y: I don’t feel something.
3. R: Usual.
4. Y: I became I became I became that can…
5. R: That can?
6. Y: Nani-nani dekiru-youni-natta (having become able to do something).
7. R: Ah, what can you do?
8. Y: I can get married.
9. R: Yeah, of course, because you are 16.
In line 4, I was not able to understand what Yu wanted to express because of the phrase“I became that can.” In response to his question “That can?” in line 5, she used Japanese toexpress her intention: “Naninani dekiru-youni-natta” (having become able to do something)in line 6 I immediately asked Yu to paraphrase her intended message in an easier way: “Ah,what can you do?” in line 7. She faced a difficulty in that she tended to formulate complex
thoughts in Japanese that were beyond her English proficiency. Thanks to the advisor’s response, she found a suitable word to express herself and simply said, “I can get married”
in line 8 This sudden realization appears similar to the feedback expressed in the previous
Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201851

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

section, but the most important differences were between teaching occurring as a one-sided
or two-sided phenomenon and whether the teaching was in response to a Japanese utterance.
That is, feedback occurs only on the part of the advisor toward the advisee, but sudden realization can occur on both sides This means that by sudden realization, an advisor can also
learn to activate their knowledge to provide language-focused feedback for their advisees inan L2 advisory session In Excerpt 2, the advisor expressed his observation with the interjection “Ah” in line 7, which was a result of a negotiation for meaning (Long, 1996) Increased
opportunities to learn occur in determining what advisees want to express or finding words
that the advisor was unaware of (which was especially relevant to the advisees’ interests) (asa similar case, see Lapkin et al , 2010) Furthermore, feedback occurs as a result of responding
to Japanese one-word utterances and noting that the usage of the word is not limited to thisparticular situation
Another example of sudden realization as a result of social interaction can be found in Ai’seighth session, in January 2017. In that session, there was a conversation about what goodlanguage learners Ai knew (see Appendix D) The purpose of this advising tool is to see how
other learners learn their L2 Ai asked her English teacher for examples of language-learning tools and received the response “by seeing foreign movies ” Ai informed me of other
responses by her teacher and then told me that sitting at a desk is not the only way to study
English, and studying English by watching foreign movies also may be effective. Her gradual,
co-constructed dialogue was an important way for her to reflect on her English study (Kato &Mynard, 2015) Following this, she reported that she began to watch foreign movies as muchas possible. This type of dialogue can therefore result in reflection on or internalization ofknowledge as well as smoothing social interactions

Mini-lectures.
Unlike feedback, the explicit instruction of mini-lectures occurred in Ai’s sessions, in particular This may have been because the advisor responded to her questions as he checked herlearning logs, as in Excerpt 3. Ai asked how to efficiently memorize words which have similarspellings and, immediately following the question, I answered with an extended turn which
I have called a “mini lecture”. The dialogue below occurred in the eleventh session, in July
2017
Excerpt 3
1. Researcher/Advisor: This one is “principle” while this word can be pronounced as “principal”(writing down the two words on a whiteboard and pointing at each of them). So principal is kocho(principal), but principle is genri (principle). . . . So you have to make use of…and you have to lookat different angles from for example spelling, pronunciation and meaning because this vocabulary
includes many information. It’s very important. It’s one of the way, and my example when I was ahigh school student was goro (a play on words). I used goro.
2. Ai/Advusee: Goro desu-ka? (asking for advisor’s elicitation)
3. Researcher/Advisor: Yeah, if two words are similar, I used goro.
This extract illustrates the advisor taking the role of teacher, but this type of mini-lectureoften lasted around five minutes and usually occurred only once in one TALL session. Ai’s logs
in particular included one or two requests or questions per session These included such topics as “how to learn pronunciation and accent,” “how to read English passages faster,” and“how to change short-term memory into long-term one ” She had had bad study experiences

52

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

when she was a junior high school student and so worked hard on her studies and paid close
attention to test-taking strategies in anticipation of the university entrance examination
These topics in her learning log reflect her frustration (for further details, see Moriya, 2018).

RQ3: In advising, is the boundary between advising and teaching blurred? If so,
how? And what might such blurring entail?
All the data in this study was integrated to respond to the third research question It should
be noted that the advisor dynamically changed his role during the L2 advisory sessions andeven within one TALL session Examination of the excerpts above reveals an iterative shift
between advisor-oriented and teacher-oriented roles In Excerpt 1, I adopt the role of anadvisor, and in Excerpt 3 I adopt the role of a teacher Excerpt 2 is the middle point between
the two, where my role resembles the role of senpai, or graduate student A detailed microgenetic analysis of the data sources shows a clear shift from implicit to explicit teaching along
the axis of time, but my role changes dynamically in response to interaction with the participants, whose roles vary in complicated ways even within one TALL session Viewing this fromthe social constructivism perspective leads to the conclusion that advisors experience difficulty in maintaining their original role in L2 advisory sessions This may be because, to ensure smooth communication, advisors need to adjust to a changing, complex situation, which
requires diverse roles This adjustment includes shifts into the role of teacher, regardless ofwhether this is a conscious phenomenon or an unconscious one
The opportunities presented in social interaction can be sources of learning (Lantolf et al ,2018) For example, feedback, as shown in Excerpt 1, provides the advisee with input; after this, she repeats what she had learned and internalizes the feedback she receives (Swain,
2006). It is difficult to identify sudden realization as it occurs, but many sources of data using
microgenetic analysis can triangulate the points where it occurs (Gutiérrez, 2008) This sudden realization bears on what SCT researchers call expanding ZPD (Lapkin et al , 2010), as,for example, in Excerpt 2, with the help of the advisor, Yu develops a simpler way to express
herself
The mini-lecture is the most explicit type of teaching in this context, but advisors do nothave to take all such opportunities, allowing the student to develop autonomy Advisors are
expected to gain familiarity with individual differences in motivation, learning strategies,
and learning style; however, advisees do not develop this knowledge, because they are notexperts in language learning Sometimes there is a call for an advisor to explicitly show advisees methods of studying English Ai and Yu both expressed the need for this Yu observed,“Zettai-ni yaranai” (“English classes don’t teach how to study English”) at the second interview Ai also noted the following about her English classes: “Minna chigau-noni, onaji benkyo-wo shite-iru” (“We students are different, but we all have to study in the same way”). Ai
clearly doubted the one-size-fits-all approach, but she had no sense of how to study by herself Advisors cannot ignore their advisees’ expectations: they are eager to learn how to study
English, which is not usually dealt with in secondary schools
A difficulty remains in balancing the roles of advisor and teacher in an L2 advisory session.
To avoid communication breakdowns, the advisors’ specific role may be blurred. The roles areeven partly inseparable: advisors are simultaneously also teachers In other words, althoughthese roles are apparently contradictory (i e , teaching emphasizes learners’ dependence onteachers as a source of language knowledge, while advising encourages learners to be independent of advisors), there is perhaps a third position of teacher/advisor that recognizes thatthese two roles are both important and that negotiates the middle way, allowing advisors to
perform both indispensable roles
Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201853

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

Conclusion
This study explored the dual role (i e , teaching and advising) of advisors in L2 advisory sessions After analyses of qualitative data from multiple sources, it was shown that L2 advisory
sessions provide various opportunities for learning and that advisors and advisees change
their roles dynamically as a result of encountering complex situations (RQ1) Further, advisors
themselves often play a dual role, even within one session, responding to their advisees’
needs, because the roles of teacher and advisor are intricately entangled (RQ2) As can be seenfrom an analysis of the data in this study, it could be impossible to state that “advisors should
be different from teachers” (c.f., Kato & Mynard, 2015; Mynard & Carson, 2012) because of the
difficulty in providing a clear, dichotomous definition (RQ3).
The significance of this study can be summarized in the following ways: (a) it was a longitudinal study with multiple data sources, (b) involving theoretical and empirical analysesof actual L2 advisory sessions, and (c) within a unique context, different from school andincluding a significant contribution from high school students. However, there were certain
limitations as well It was expected that a dual role would be found in the advisor’s role, but it
remains unclear whether there is a similar elasticity among other teachers whether within or
outside the unique context of a cram school Besides, this exploratory study focused on only
two female participants, who had the opportunity to attend cram schools, so different findings would possibly emerge from other L2 advisory sessions where advisees are male students
with little pre-established rapport, where advisors implement their sessions inside school,
and where most of the advisees have a limited L2 proficiency level. The findings in this study
may give us valuable insights, but other issues (e.g., gender, age, context, and proficiency)of L2 advisory sessions could also be investigated in future studies Further, I did not assess
the participants’ proficiency level or statistically check the teaching received because thesefactors were beyond the scope of this study Further research may indicate the emergence ofteacher-advisor collaboration within the classroom and its potential advantage, and this exploration may include close investigation of teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward advisory
sessions, examination of the development of autonomy among students, and observation of
their utterances
Finally, since poststructuralism acknowledges the emergence of diversified patterns in ourinteractions, its epistemological, ontological, and axiological stances shed different light on
the value of what was ignored in the past Hence, poststructuralist approaches allow us toencompass complex discussion of variable targets, simultaneously facilitating a deeper understanding of the given field: learner autonomy to support students both within and beyondclassrooms

References
Battista, A (2015) Activity theory and analyzing learning in simulations Simulation &Gaming, 46(2), 187–196
Benson, P (2007) Autonomy in language teaching and learning Language teaching, 40(1),21–40
Benson, P (2011) Teaching and researching: Autonomy in language learning (2nd ed ) Harlow,
England: Pearson Education
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches (4th ed ) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Derrida, J. (1976). Of grammatology. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited New York, NY:
Routledge

54

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

Douglas Fir Group (2016) A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world The
Modern Language Journal, 100 (Supplement 2016), 19-47
Engeström, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoreticalreconceptualization Journal of Education and Work, 14(1), 133–156
Gass, S. M., & Mackey, A. (2006). Input, interaction and output: An overview. AILA
Review, 19(1), 3–17
Gibbes, M., & Carson, L. (2014). Project-based language learning: An activity theory analysis.
Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 8(2), 171–189
Given, L M (Ed ) (2008) The Sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications
Gutiérrez, A G (2008) Microgenesis, method and object: A study of collaborative activity in a
Spanish as a foreign language classroom Applied Linguistics, 29(1), 120–148
Jonassen, D. H., & Rohrer-Murphy, L. (1999). Activity theory as a framework for designing
constructivist learning environments Educational Technology Research and Development,
47(I), 61–79
Kanda Gaigo Group (2015) Eigo gakushu techo 2015 [The English learning planner]. Retrieved
from http://www kandagaigo com/elp/support/download html
Kato, S., & Mynard, J. (2015). Reflective dialogue: Advising in language learning New York, NY:
Routledge
Kramsch, C (2012) Imposture: A late modern notion in poststructuralist SLA research Applied
Linguistics, 33(5), 483–502
Lantolf, J. P. (Ed.) (2000). Sociocultural theory and second language learning Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Lantolf, J., Poehner, M., & Swain, M. (Eds.) (2018). The Routledge handbook of sociocultural
theory and second language development New York, NY: Routledge
Lantolf, J., Thorne, S. L., & Poehner, M. (2015). Sociocultural theory and second language
development. In B. van Patten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition(pp 207–226) New York, NY: Routledge
Lapkin, S., Swain, M., & Psyllakis, P. (2010). The role of languaging in creating zones
of proximal development (ZPDs): A long-term care resident interacts with aresearcher Canadian Journal on Aging, 29(4), 477–490
Long, M H (1996) The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition In
W.C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of language acquisition, Vol 2, (pp 413–468)
New York, NY: Academic Press
McNamara, T (2012) Poststructuralism and its challenges for applied linguistics Applied
Linguistics, 33(5), 473–482
McNamara, T (2015) Applied linguistics: The challenge of theory Applied Linguistics, 36(4),466–477
Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Miyahara, M (2015) Emerging self-identities and emotion in foreign language learning: A
narrative-oriented approach Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters
Moriya, R (2018) A multiple qualitative investigation into the longitudinal trajectory of emotions
through transformational advising in language learning from sociocultural perspectives(Unpublished master’s thesis). Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
Mozzon-McPherson, M (2001) Language advising: Towards a new discursive world In M
Mozzon-McPherson & R. Vismans (Eds.), Beyond language teaching towards language advising(pp 7–22) London: CLIT

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201855

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

Mynard, J., & Carson, L. (2012). Advising in language learning: Dialogue, tools and context New
York, NY: Routledge
Ortega, L (2012) Epistemological diversity and moral ends of research in instructed SLA
Language Teaching Research, 16(2), 206–226
Oxford, R L (2017) Teaching and researching language learning strategies: Self-regulation incontext (2nd ed ) New York, NY: Routledge
Pavlenko, A (2002) Poststructuralist approaches to the study of social factors in L2 In V
Cook (Ed ), Portraits of the L2 User (pp 277–302) Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters
Sugita McEown, M., Sawaki, Y., & Harada, T. (2017). Foreign language learning motivationin the Japanese context: Social and political influences on self. The Modern Language
Journal, 101(3), 533–547
Swain, M (2005) The output hypothesis: Theory and research In E Hinkel (Ed ), Handbookof research in second language teaching and learning (pp 471–483). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum
Swain, M. (2006). Languaging, agency and collaboration in advanced language proficiency.
In H Byrnes (Ed ), Advanced language learning: The contribution of Halliday and Vygotsky (pp95–108) London: Continuum
Swain, M., Kinnear, P., & Steinman, L. (2015). Sociocultural theory in second language education:
An introduction through narratives Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters
Tassinari, M G (2016) Emotions and feelings in language advising discourse In C Gkonou,
D. Tatzl, & S. Mercer (Eds.), New directions in language learning psychology (pp 71–96)
Berlin: Springer
The Japan Language Learning Spaces Registry. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://jasalorg com/llsregistry/
Thornton, K (2016) Learning spaces and curricula: models for enhancing LLS usage andlearner autonomy development through integration Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal,
7(2), 193–196
Tojo, H., & Takagi, A. (2017). Trends in qualitative research in three major language teaching
and learning journals, 2006–2015 International Journal of English Language Teaching, 4(1),37–47
van Lier, L (2004) The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective New
York, NY: Springer
Vygotsky, L S (1978) Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Waseda Nihongo Support (n d ) Retrieved from https://www waseda jp/inst/cjl/en/students/
support/waseda/
Yamashita, H. (2015). Affect and the development of learner autonomy throughadvising Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 6(1), 62–85

Acknowledgments
My greatest thanks go to the wonderful advisees, Ai and Yu, who wholeheartedly participated in our advisory sessions I am also immensely grateful to the editors and others who havecontributed to this work, including the anonymous reviewers for this issue who have helped
me make the most of this valuable opportunity

56

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

Review ProcessThis paper was peer-reviewed by the following contributor to Issue 2, Christine O’Leary It
was also blind peer-reviewed by members of the Learner Development Journal Review Network

Author Bio
Ryo Moriya is a Ph D student at the Graduate School of Education, Waseda University and a
Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He holds an MA in Educationfrom Waseda University His main research interests lie in the sociocultural aspects of language learning, advising in language learning, and emotions, in particular perezhivanie (theunity of cognition and emotion) and emotional support for advisees Email: ryo-m 6@ruri
waseda jp

Appendix A
Additional Learning Logs

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201857

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

58

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

Note: The first two logs are Ai’s and the remaining two logs are Yu’s. It was inevitable that the logs
examined in this paper are the same ones used in Moriya (2018), as most logs included private information

Appendix B
Vision Board

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201859

Exploring the Dual Role of Advisors in English Learning Advisory Sessions

Note: The first board was made by Ai and the second was made by Yu. After their second TALL sessions, the advisor gave them each a blank sheet of paper with instructions and described the functionof a vision board, showing samples on a website (Kanda Gaigo Group, 2015) They were asked to makean original vision board before the next session During the third session, after the learning logs werechecked, they showed me their vision boards and explained their visions

Appendix C
Prompt Given to the Participants
Describe your English learning experiences so far, and future prospects<Discussion points>•

What was the most impressive lesson you took in junior high school?

•

How have you been studying English since you entered the high school?

•

How will you study English after graduation from the high school?

Appendix D
Summary of Advising Tools
Advising tools (Number of sessions)Purpose

A: Things I want to achieve in my life

To address many areas (e g , health, career, andlanguage learning) in the near future(Ai’s second session; Yu’s second session)
B: Vision board(Ai’s third session; Yu’s third session)
C: Wheel of language learning(Ai’s fourth and fifth sessions; Yu’s
fourth session)

60

To visualize their dreams and what they wanted
to achieve in the future
To self-rate for the factors (e g , goal-setting,learning materials, and time management) necessary for language learning

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 2018

Ryo Moriya

Advising tools (Number of sessions)Purpose

D: Good language learners I know

To find out how their friends and teachers learn
languages(Ai’s seventh and eighth sessions; Yu’s
fifth session)
E: My 2016 & 2017
(Ai’s ninth session; Yu’s seventh session)

To reflect on the previous year and to imagine
the near future

Note: For details on such tools as A, B, and D, see Kato and Mynard (2015) For C, see Mynard and Carson (2012) The author originally created tool E himself Details can be found in Moriya (2018)

Learner Development Journal • Volume 1: Issue 2 • December 201861