Journal

2018

Edited by Debopriyo Roy& John BlakePanSIG is an annual conference
held in May, and organized bymany of the Special Interest
Groups (SIGs) of the Japan
Association for Language
Teaching (JALT).

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
The 17th Annual PanSIG conference was held at the Toyo Gakuen University (Hongo Campus)
Tokyo, Japan from May 19th to 20th, 2018. The conference was a big success attended by over 463
participants from all over Japan and abroad. The environmental initiative and theme of the conference
aiming to reduce our carbon footprints made it truly special and reflective of our times. Importantly, thiswas a collaborative effort from 26 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) within the Japan Association for
Language Teaching (JALT). The conference enabled participants to attend presentations on a variety of
topics from a wide spectrum in the fields of language teaching and learning.
This journal represents the fourth edition of the annual PanSIG Journal in its latest form–following 13
years of proceedings publications beginning with 2002-which includes a selection of articles from the2018 conference. With a comprehensive blind and detailed peer review process, including the new policyof allowing authors to take on the role of a reviewer, dedicated reviewing and editing committees, alongwith motivated and professional authors, and proper time management, the quality of the articles
submitted to the 2018 PanSIG Journal were consistently high. The articles finally selected for publicationin the 2018 PanSIG Journal demonstrated a comprehensive and robust representation of the work
presented at the PanSIG conference from a number of different SIGs on a diverse range of topics. More
importantly, the range of research ideas highlight the effort and creativity of the participants of theconference and the members of the SIGs, and clearly demonstrated that PanSIG as a language research,teaching and learning community is constantly evolving and seeking to find new patterns, designs andstructures in language pedagogy.
Heartiest thanks to John Blake, the associate editor of 2018 PanSIG journal for his immense help.
Congratulations to all previous editors for maintaining the quality of the journal, and allowing me to takeover smoothly. Special thanks to Jennie Roloff Rothman, James Dunn, Michael Hollenback, and Aleda
Krause for their continuous support, feedback, dedication and commitment in reviewing and advising.
This edition of the journal truly stands out due to the commitment shown by the volunteer reviewers,
authors who showed so much interest in reviewing papers from peers in the community, providing
scholarly feedback for improvement, and importantly, timely submission by both authors and reviewers
alike. I would also like to thank the authors for submitting their articles for this publication. The successof this collection is a cumulative effort from a number of hard-working volunteers who dedicated large
amounts of their precious time into putting together such a quality journal. We hope that you will enjoy
reading the articles, explore opportunities for research collaboration and gain insight for your professional
development. Congratulations to all the contributors to this edition of the PanSIG Journal.
February 4th, 2019
Debopriyo Roy
Editor-in-Chief, PanSIG Journal 2018
The PanSIG is an annual conference held in May, andorganized by many of the Special Interest Groups (SIGs)of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT).
The conference brings together leading scholars andpractitioners in language education from Japan, Asia, andthroughout the world. It is meant to be a smaller, more
intimate conference than the annual international JALT
conference (which is held each fall), and is a place where
SIG members can network with each other.

The PanSIG 2018 JournaliWebsite: http://pansig.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JALTpansig/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JALT_PanSIG (Twitter handle: @JALT_PanSIG)
Selected articles from the 2018 PanSIG Conference
Toyo Gakuen University (Hongo Campus) Tokyo, Japan
Artwork courtesy of Jim George and James Dunn

ISBN# 978-4-901352-58-1
PanSIG Journal 2018 Selected articles from the 2018 PanSIG Conference Tokyo, Japan
JALT Central Office Urban Edge Bldg. 5F, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku,
Tokyo 110-0016, Japan http://jalt.org/ http://www.pansig.org/
All materials in this publication are copyright © (2019) by JALT and their respective authors.

The PanSIG 2018 Journalii

PanSIG Journal 2018
PDF Version
PanSIG 2018 was held May 19-20 at Toyo Gakuen University (Hongo Campus) Tokyo, Japan. TGU wasa supporting institution (or cosponsor) of PanSIG 2018, and we are grateful for their support. Thank you
to everyone who helped make this conference a success!
Venue: Toyo Gakuen University (Hongo Campus) Tokyo, Japan Dates: May 19 - 20 (Saturday to
Sunday), 2018.
Website: http://pansig.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JALTpansig/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JALT_PanSIG (Twitter handle: @JALT_PanSIG)

Edited by Debopriyo Roy and John BlakePanSIG is the annual conference for Special Interest Groups of theJapan Association of Language Teachers

The PanSIG 2018 Journaliii

Thanks to our2018 Journal Reviewers & Editorial Advisory Board
Mehrasa Alizadeh
Osaka University

Justin Parker Pool
Osaka Kyoiku University

Aleda Krause
Seigakuin University

Donna Fujimoto
Osaka Jogakuin College

Douglas Forster
Japan Women's University

Keiko Nakamura
Sophia University

Aviva S. Ueno
Meiji Gakuin University

Takako Yasuta
The University of Aizu

Robert Taferner
Hiroshima University

Wendy M. Gough
Tokai University

Adam T. Smith
Toyo University

Kent Jones
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Cemeron Romney
Doshisha University

Allan Nicholas
The University of Aizu

Blake Turnbull
Kyoto University

Sandra Healy
Kyoto Institute of Technology

Colin Mitchell
Reitaku University

Lauren Landsberry
Nagoya College

Dawn Kobayashi
Onomichi City University

Michael J. Crawford
Dokkyo University

Claire Murray
Osaka City Board of Education

Ian Munby
Hokkai-Gakuen University

Daniel Velasco
Rikkyo University

Yuzuko Nagashima
Yokohama City University

John Campbell-Larsen
Kyoto Women's University

Craig A. Nevitt
Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s University

Erin Frazier
Kanda University of International Studies

Nami Takase
Nagoya University Graduate School

Amanda Gillis- Furutaka
Kyoto Sangyo University

Daniel Parsons
International University of JapanThe PanSIG 2018 Journal

iv

Patrick Conaway
Yamagata University

Amanda J. Yoshida
Kanda University of International Studies

Joseph Poulshock
Senshu University

Brian Cullen
Nagoya Institute of Technology
Micheal Brown
Kanda University of International Studies

Jean-Pierre J. Richard
The University of Nagano
Peter A. Gardener
Seiwa Gakuen
Luke Lawrence
Yokohama City University
Ben Backwell
Nagoya City University
Raymond Stubbe
Nagasaki University
Richard J. Walker
Reitaku University
John Blake
The University of Aizu
Stephen M. Paton
Fukuoka University
Tomoko Antle
Meiji University
Toshiko Oda
Tokyo Keizai University
Peter Brereton
Rikkyo University
James M. Underwood
Reitaku University
Yoshi J. Grote
Kyoto Sangyo University
Yoko Takano
Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
Mathew W. Turner
Toyo University

Jonathan Gorham
J.F. Oberlin University
Matt W. Courtney
Harvard University
Matthew Y. Schaefer
Rikkyo University
Jeremy Eades
Osaka Institute of Technology
Phoebe Lyon
Kanda University of International Languages
John M. Gayed
Himeji Dokkyo University
Colin Skeates
Keio University
Diego E. Dardon
Tohoku University
Tom Gorham
J.F. Oberlin University
Maria G. Schmidt
Nihon University
Eucharia Donnery
Shonan Institute of Technology
Akiko Murata
Hosei University
Samuel Taylor
Kyushu Sangyo University
Michael Ellis
International Christian University HighSchoolLarry Xethakis
Kumamoto Sojo University
The PanSIG 2018 Journalv

Table of Contents

1 Vocabulary Acquisition through Productive vs. Receptive Tasks

6

Tomoko Antle

6

2 Ancestor Lessons: Learning and Sharing Personal Histories in the Classroom

12

Ben Backwell

12

Brian Cullen

12

3 Towards a Graded Reader Database

21Mark Brierley

21

Amanda Gillis Furutaka

21

Masaaki Niimura

21

David Ruzicka

21

Mamoru “Bobby” Takahashi

21

Takayoshi Yoshioka

21

4 The Reality and Necessity of Teaching Singular ‘They’

28

Michael H. Brown

28

5 Now Ask Your Partner: Questions in Interaction

36

John Campbell-Larsen

36

6 Student Preferences for Online Discussion Forums

43

Patrick Conaway

43

7 Student Perceptions of Formative Assessment Tasks in Academic Listening Classes
Michael J. Crawford

55
55

8 Active Learning Through Poster Presentations

63

Brian Cullen

63

Ben Backwell

63

9 Working Memory in the EFL Classroom: An Overview and Preliminary Study70

Diego Dardon

70

10 Correlating EIKEN and Performance Assessments in Senior High School

77

Austin Gardiner78

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

2

11 Fake news? Tips to help English educators in Japan navigate a post-truth world
John Maurice Gayed

85
85

12 Virtual embodiment and project-based learning with Google Earth VR

91

Tom Gorham

91

Jon Gorham

91

Matt William Courtney91

13 Living in Liminality: LGBTQIA+ Identities in Japan

99

Yoshi Joanna Grote

99

14 Pragmatic Development and Grammar in a Study Abroad Context: The Case of Japanese Learners ofEnglishAkiko Inagaki

105
105

15 Using Screencasts to Teach Outside of Class

115

Kent Jones

115

16 SALC Rainbow Forum:Establishing a student community group to discuss LGBTQ+ themes
Lorraine Kipling

122
122

17 We Think We Have to Speak English Perfectly

130

Dawn Kobayashi

130

18 Getting Creative in Writing Classes

139

Lauren Landsberry

139

19 Preparing for Extensive Reading in an English Communication Course: An MReader Solution
Colin Mitchell

145
145

20 Examining Japanese High School Students’ Beliefs about Learning English

155

Claire Murray155

21 Reflective Practice through Duoethnography

167

Yuzuko Nagashima

167

Luke Lawrence

167

22 Changing Role of the English Course of Study

174

Keiko Nakamura

174

23 Study Abroad Destination: The Case of Beijing

181

Toshiko Oda

181

The 2018 PanSIG Journal3

24 Eliciting Student Answers: Finding What It Takes

189

Stephen M. Paton

189

25 Menus, Movie Clips, and Online Restaurant Review Websites: Exploring Authentic Materials via a
Restaurant Unit
Justin Pool

196
196

26 The purposes of images in ELT textbooks reexamined

203

Cameron Romney203

27 In-house Journals as a Form of Program Development

210

Matthew Y. Schaefer

210

Jamie Lesley

210

28 Developing Learner Autonomy through Proofreading: Do Students Perceive a Benefit?
Adam Taylor Smith

217
217

29 What Makes Language Learners Succeed Online?

226

Aviva Smith Ueno

226

30 Synform Pseudowords and Yes-No Vocabulary Tests

234

Raymond Stubbe

234

Kousuke Nakashima

234

31 Action Research on the Effect of Focus-on-Form Instruction: developing Junior High School Students’Communicative Competences
240
Yoko Takano

240

32 Developing Speaking Fluency through Tasks in Chat Rooms

250

Nami Takase

250

33 Smartphone Augmented Reality for EFL learners

258

Samuel Taylor

258

Adam Stone

258

34 Exploring the Roles that SIGs Play in Teacher Development: Three Interviews

264

Matthew W. Turner

264

Michael Ellis

264

Amanda J. Yoshida264
st

35 Teacher Efficiacy and Effective Language Teaching in the 21 Century

272

Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas

272

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

4

36 Flipping a Global Topics Classroom

283

Adrianne Verla Uchida283

37 Using TV Commercials to Promote Critical Thinking and Cultural Understanding
Daniel Velasco

290
290

38 Realisations through Conversation Analysis (CA): Increasing awareness of interactional dynamics in thediscussion classroom
298
Richard John Walker

298James Michael Underwood

298

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

5

Vocabulary Acquisition through Productive vs. Receptive Tasks
Tomoko Antle
Meiji University
This mixed-method study investigated the effectiveness of productive and receptive tasks for improving
productive and receptive ability. It is generally accepted that it is more difficult to acquire productive
knowledge than receptive, but little research has focused on the best way to improve learners’
productive abilities for targeted vocabulary words. The conclusions of this study were that productive
tasks are more effective than receptive tasks for developing overall vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore,
the learners felt learning vocabulary through pair-work activities, using only the L2 for vocabulary
exercises, having the teacher be a resource during these activities, and completing guessing fromcontext questions are effective for vocabulary acquisition.

この混合研究法では、受容能力と産出能力の促進について、受容学習と産出学習タスクが与える影響を検証する。産出知識の獲得が受容知識の獲得よりも困難であることは一般的に認められている。しかし、目標語彙のために、学習者の産出能力を促す最善の方法に焦点をあてた研究はほとんどない。この研究
結果は産出学習タスクが、受容能力及び産出能力の発達の両方に効果的であることを示している。さらに、学習者がペアワークを通した語彙学習を好み、語彙練習のアクティビティでは L2 のみを用い、教師には情報源の役割を望んでいることが明らかになった。

This investigation focused on vocabulary acquisition inThis study also investigated how teachers canEnglish language classes. The research goal of thisdesign classroom vocabulary activities and tasks, so thestudy was to gain a better understanding for how

language learners can use the new words productively inlanguage learners acquire new words. Vocabulary

conversation. If we give appropriate (i.e., authentic,

knowledge can be divided into two types: receptive andrelevant, comprehensible) texts to English language

productive.

learners, it is expected they will improve their language

While

there

are

severalwaysofdifferentiating receptive vocabulary knowledge, for theacquisitionof

productive

vocabulary.

I

measured

purposes of this study, receptive vocabulary knowledge

quantitatively the differential effect between learning withrefers to the ability to understand a word when it isproductive tasks and learning with receptive tasks.

encounter in a reading or listening text. Productive

Receptive knowledge and productive knowledge ofvocabulary knowledge refers to the ability to correctly

targeted vocabulary words was also be measured

use a word in a spoken utterance or written text.

qualitatively.

Receptive and productive vocabulary havebeen widely researched. However, it is an area of

Literature Review

second language acquisition that is in need of further

Language learners are continually being exposed to newinvestigation. Vocabulary is the foundation for all

vocabulary in the input they receive. With further practicelanguage production, and both teachers and students

and exposure, these words then are understood inwill benefit from a better understanding of how it isgreater depth, and the learner will, hopefully, eventuallyacquired.

be able to use them productively in the future (Webb,
2008). At any given time, a learner will have receptive

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

6

knowledge of words without being able to use themproductively (Webb, 2008). Zhou (2010) stated:

Teachers

can

also

approachvocabulary

instruction in a more effective way. Nation (2008)
endorsed the use of vocabulary activities with a

It is generally believed that words are known
receptively first and only after intentional orincidental

learning

becomeproductiveuse.

Therefore,

availableforvocabularyknowledge should be regarded as a continuum
on which a word grows from receptive to
productive status. … it is generally believedthat learners’ receptive vocabulary size is muchlarger than their productive vocabulary size
(p.14).

productive goal: “Learners may need help in bringing
some of their receptive vocabulary into productive use”
(p. 41). Explicit vocabulary instruction, such as world lists
and the exercises associated with them, may be aneffective way to improve productive ability. For academic
vocabulary, combining communicative exercises with
explicit instruction will help students use the targeted
words productively (Zhou, 2010). Zhou expands on thisidea by stating “By explicitly learning different aspects ofwords (such as their meanings, forms, and collocations)

It is believed that a learner can productively use 50 to80% of the words of which they have receptive
knowledge (Milton, 2009). Webb (2008) also stated thatthe size of a learner’s receptive vocabulary knowledge isan indication of the size of their productive vocabularyknowledge.

and being exposed to these words in other course work,
students will gradually be able to use them receptively
and productively” (p.17). The relationship between
receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge and themost effective methods for teaching vocabulary areareas worthy of researchers’ attention.

It is logical that a language learner would not

Methodology

be able to use a word productively if they could notunderstand it receptively. However, this disparity inknowledge could be minimized with an alternative
approachtovocabulary

instruction.

Webb

Research Questions
The present study has the following research questions:(2005)

endorsed the use of productive tasks for vocabulary

Are there any differences between the results of aacquisition though he cautioned that productive tasks

receptive test and a productive test for the targeted

generally require more time to complete. Aizawa, Ochiai,

vocabulary

and Osaki (2003) explained that in the early stages of

productively?

words

learnedreceptively

versuslanguage learning, students practice new vocabularyboth receptively and productively, but as these learners
reach higher levels, less time is spent on productive
exercises. The problem with this imbalance is that it
hurts the learners’ overall linguistic ability; they are notable to fully express themselves.
While it is not reasonable to expect all new
words to quickly move from receptive to productive, alearner can make a conscious effort to acquire this ability.
Zhou (2010) explained that after students are able torecognize a word’s form and meaning they can“gradually, with more practice of this word in reading,listening, writing, or some other activities, … increase
their knowledge of this word and learn to use the word
productively in writing or speaking” (p.16). However,Mondria and Wiersma (2004) cautioned that “productive
learning is substantially more difficult than receptive
learning” (p.79).

What are the student’s perceptions towards studying
vocabulary?

Participants and SettingThis study was carried out with 16 participants in total.
The

participants

were

2nd-year

students

intheeconomics department at a private university in Tokyo,
Japan. The first language of all participants’ wasJapanese, and each participant was at an elementary or
low-intermediate proficiency level of English. They weredivided into two classes based upon their proficiency
scores on the TOEFL test which was administered at the
beginning of the school year. The 16 participants who
took part in this study consisted of 13 male and 3 female
students. Their English education background had
mainly been focused on reading and listening. As aresult, they rarely had opportunities to speak and write inEnglish.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

7

Procedure

maybe next year I can. The instruction had the students

The investigation focused on receptive tasks andtry to match the word with the definition. For afford the

productive tasks. In this experiment, the tasks were

definition was You have enough money for something.

introduced in only English in the handout. The instructor

The students were not allowed to use a dictionary during

had students work in pairs on both the receptive andthis task, but they were encouraged to look at the

productive tasks, and they were encouraged to use only

example sentence to see how the word was used.

English for interacting with their partner and the teacher.
The results of the receptive and productive tests after 12

For Part 3 of the receptive exercises, thestudents heard afford in the listening text and thentreatments were compared.

answered comprehension questions. Each listening track
Materials

werecollected

for12

lessons,

was approximately two minutes long. The students

including listening tracks and 8 to 11 target vocabulary

usually listened to the entire track two times though

words from each listening track. Prior to the treatment

occasionally they asked to hear the track a third time.

lessons, the students took a Vocabulary Knowledge

For Part 3 of the productive exercises, the participants

Scale (VKS) for the 105 target words to assess theirwere given fill-in-the blank questions. The matching fill-knowledge of these words. The students’ average scorein-the-blank sentence for afford was: It will be difficult for

was 3.16 out of a possible 4.0. This score indicated they

me to _____tuition this semester. I need to save somehad varying levels of knowledge of these words;

money. The speaking question for afford and an

however, the VKS used was strictly a self-assessment,

example answer are shown in the following. The partner

and it is likely the students over estimated their ability

who asks the question from the handout is represented

based upon their performance in the lessons and theirby A, and B is their partner.

performance on both the receptive and productive
vocabulary tests described in the following sections.

A: What is something you want to buy but cannot
afford right now?

Both the receptive and productive exercises
included a warm-up question (Part 1) based-upon thelesson theme. The students would answer this question

B: I want to get a new iPhone but can’t afford one.
How about you?

in partners. In the following section (Part 2) of both the

A: I wish I could afford to buy a car. I don’t like

productive and receptive exercises, example sentences

coming to school by bus.

for the targeted vocabulary were given and the students
had to match the targeted vocabulary item with its
English definition. For the receptive exercise, thefollowing section (Part 3) included comprehension
questions after a listening track. All of the targeted
vocabulary words were included in the listening tracks.
For the productive exercises, the following section (Part3) included fill-in-the blank questions and speaking
questions. The fill-in-the blank questions had thestudents use the targeted vocabulary items to completea new set of sentences. For the speaking questions, thestudents

wereencouraged

to

use

the

targeted

vocabulary words, which were highlighted in bold, in their

The class time used for both the receptive
exercises and the productive exercise was the same:
approximately 22 minutes per exercise. In total, there
were two treatments used in this study: receptive
learning and productive learning. The students in bothclasses learned exactly the same 8 to 11 targeted
vocabulary words though receptive or productive tasks.
For example, Class B studied the first set of vocabulary
words by doing productive exercises while Class A
studied the same words but used receptive exercises.
The following lesson, the students studied a new set ofwords, but Class B which had used productive exercisesin the class now did receptive exercises. Class A also

answers.

changed from receptive to productive exercises. ThisTo illustrate, the following is an example of howlearning pattern continued over 12 lessons.

each vocabulary word was presented to the students.
For the targeted word afford the following sentence wasgiven in Part 2; I cannot afford a new car now, but

For the productive test, the participants wereasked to try to complete a cloze test which consisted of
24 targeted vocabulary words. The sentences were theThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

8

same example sentences as Part 2 of the activities. For“The teacher's responses to our questions about

each question, the first few letters of the targeted word

the vocabulary were especially effective in helping

were given so that there would be only one correct

us acquire the words.”

answer. This approach to testing productive vocabularyknowledge was used by Laufer and Nation (1999).
Twelve of the items on the productive test were taken“I would rather rely on a classmate as opposed toa dictionary when I have trouble remembering themeaning of the new vocabulary.”

from the sets of words which the students in Class B
studied through receptive exercises. For the students in“I always try asking my teacher whenever I wasClass A, this mean that they had encountered the same

struggling to remember the word during the pairwords but in the opposite way (receptive instead ofwork. Actually, asking my teacher and learning the

productive and productive instead of receptive) to theword is a very effective way to remember andstudents in Class B. For the receptive test, the students

establish the words.”

had to provide a Japanese translation for the targeted
vocabulary words. This approach to testing receptive“I really enjoy speaking exercises especially inpair-work. Even though, I do not have good

vocabulary knowledge was used by Stoeckel, Ishii, andEnglish and it is not easy to keep having a

Bennett (2018). The same 24 words as the productive

conversation in English. I think I really like when I

test were used.

can learn new words and phrases from my

The participants took part in a 20-minutepartner.”interview about their perceptions towards studying
vocabulary through receptive and productive tasks. The

Findings

interview was conducted with 11 of the participants who

The results of these interviews provided interesting

completed 12 treatment lessons. During the interview,comments and insights such as the following:

the participants’ voice was recorded with two recorders
with their permission. It was a one-to-one interview.

• Interaction with the teacher is particularly effective
when learning new words.

Data Analysis
The data from the audio-recordings were analyzed
qualitatively, and the productive and receptive test
results were analyzed quantitatively. The researchfindings are presented in the same order as the researchquestions. The findings which relate to Research
Question 1 are presented first. Table 1 shows the resultsof the productive vs. receptive test for productive andreceptive tasks. The highest possible score is 12 for the• Pair work also had a positive impact on vocabularyacquisition in the participants’ opinion.
• Even lower level students prefer not to use the L1for vocabulary activities.
• Guessing the meaning of unknown words from thecontext of the sentence is an efficient way toestablish the word in the mental lexicon.

productive and receptive tests. One of the students wasabsent for the receptive and productive tests.

Interviews
To address Research Question 2, I conducted interviews
to examine the learners’ perception toward studying
through receptive and productive tasks. The number ofparticipants in the interview was 11. They consisted of 9
males and 2 females. The 20-minute long interview wasrecorded with an audio recorder. The data from theaudio recording was analyzed qualitatively. Examples ofinterview responses about the participants’ perceptions
about vocabulary acquisition are shown below.

Result and Discussion
In regard to Research Question 1, analysis of the
productive

vs.

receptive

data

for

productive

andreceptive tasks suggest that productive exercises are
more effective for improving overall vocabulary ability(Table 1). However, the highest score was for receptive
ability for vocabulary words learnt through receptivetasks. The lowest was for productive ability forvocabulary words learnt through receptive tasks. Overall,
the productive tasks lead to relatively high scores in both
receptive and productive ability. These results suggest

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

9

that while receptive tasks are useful for improving acontext questions, is an effective way to acquire

student’s reading and listening ability, they are not as

vocabulary.

beneficial for the student’s speaking and writing.
Productive tasks, on the other hand, appear to help a

ReferencesN

𝑋! (max = 12)SD

Receptive Test Score for Receptive Task Words

15

6.67

1.68

Receptive Test Score for Productive Task Words

15

5.80

1.57

Productive Test Score for Receptive Task Words

15

3.40

2.26

Productive Test Score for Productive Task Words

15

6.07

2.69

Table 1Range
(min / max)
6
(3 / 9)6(2 / 8)6(1 / 7)10(1 / 11)

Receptive and Productive Test Scores for Words Learned through Receptive and Productive Tasks

learner’s speaking and writing ability

Aizawa, K., Ochiai, N., & Osaki, S. (2003). The effects ofteaching on vocabulary knowledge: receptive vs.

while also improving their reading and listening ability.
One conclusion which can be made based upon theseproductive. Japan Society of English Language
Education, 14, 151-160.

findings is that teachers should emphasize productive
tasks if the teaching goal is to develop the students’Laufer, B. & Nation, P. (1999). A vocabulary size test of

overall vocabulary ability. However, a possible limitation

controlled productive ability. Language Testing, 16(1),of this study was the relatively small number of

33-51.

participants; it is unclear if these findings would be thesame in a follow-up study with a larger number ofMilton,J.

(2009).

Measuring

SecondLanguage

Vocabulary Acquisition. Bristol, England: Multilingual

subjects.

Matters.
Research Question 2 focused on the students’
perceptions of studying vocabulary. The qualitative datacollected in this study suggest that teachers’ role is very
important for learners when they learn new vocabulary.
In the exercises, the students were encouraged to speak
only in English during the pair work even if they ask theirpartner or the teacher about the meaning of an unknown
word. During the interviews, 10 of 11 students stated thatthey preferred to be immersed in English during theMondria, J. & Wiersma, B. (2004). Receptive, productive,
and receptive + productive L2 vocabulary learning:
what difference does it make? In P. Bogaards & B.
Laufer (Eds.), Vocabulary in a Second Language (pp.
79-100). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins
Publishing.
Nation, I. S. P. (2008). Teaching Vocabulary; Strategies
and Techniques. Boston, MA: Heinle.

English class. They emphasized that they do not need
any Japanese instruction for both reading and listening

Stoeckel, T., Ishii, T., & Bennett, P. (2018). A Japanese-tasks. Additionally, a common comment was ‘As soon as

English bilingual version of the New General Service

I see any Japanese, my motivation is gone’. Creating an

List Test. JALT Journal, 40(1), 5-21.

English environment in which students study vocabulary
through interactions with the teacher and their partner isWebb, S. (2005). Receptive and Productive Vocabularyan effective way to approach vocabulary instruction.

Knowledge. The effects of reading and writing on

Furthermore, the guessing from context questions were

word knowledge. Studies in Second Language

both enjoyable and useful in the students’ opinion. To

Acquisition, 27(1), 33-52.

summarize, the students believed that creating an
English environment in which there was a great deal ofteacher and partner interaction, along with guessing from

Webb, S. (2008). Receptive and Productive Vocabulary
Sizes of L2 Learners. Studies in Second Language
Acquisition, 30(1), 79-95.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

10

Zhou, S. (2010). Comparing receptive and productive
academic vocabulary knowledge of Chinese EFL

learners.

AsianSocialScience,6(10),

14-19.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

11

https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v6n10p1

Ancestor Lessons: Learning and Sharing Personal Histories in theClassroom
Ben Backwell
Nagoya City University
Brian Cullen
Nagoya Institute of Technology
This paper introduces and explains two EFL lessons focused on the topic of ancestors. It explains therationale for the topic, what specifically to teach, how to teach the content while focusing on language
skills, and finally how to deal with any difficulties that may arise in these lessons. Student feedback
shows that the activity is a powerful classroom experience that generates intrinsic curiosity about theirfamily and ancestors, and a new perspective on the genesis of students’ own current life conditions. The
lessons described will help any teacher who asks the question: How can I teach so that my students areengaging deeply with the English language and I am building a more genuine and personal relationshipwith my students?

本稿では、祖先の話題に焦点を当てた 2 つの EFL レッスンについて紹介し、説明します。 トピックの根拠、具体的な内容、語学力を重視した内容の教授方法、最後にこれらのレッスンで起こりえる問題の解決方法について説明します。 生徒のフィードバックは、その活動が、家族や先祖に対し本質的な好奇心を生み出す強力な教室での経験であり、生徒自身の現在の生活条件の創造についての新しい視点であることを示しています。私の生徒が英語に深く関わるように教え、私の生徒ともっと本物の、そして個
人的な関係を築いていくように教えるにはどうすればいいですか。

The topic of family is a very common topic in English

which shows that students see the activity as a powerfullanguage textbooks. This is a familiar and useful topic

learning experience that generates curiosity about theirthat almost all learners can talk about at some level. This

family and ancestors, and offers a new perspective on

paper considers how teachers can use the topic of family

the genesis of their own current life conditions.

in a way that engages students’ interest and offers
deeperopportunitiesfor

languagelearning

andcommunity building in the classroom. We introduce and

The Topic of Family in Textbooks

explain two language-learning lessons focused on the

The topic of family is ubiquitous in EFL/ESL textbooks

topic of ancestors which allow students to explore andfor the obvious reason that almost everyone has a family

share their family history over multiple generations.

and much of our lives are centered around family life, so
there clearly is both content to share and an opportunity

The rationale for using the topic of ancestors isfor simple language practice.

explained and then this paper suggests how to teach thecontent while focusing on language skills. Talking about

Despite the potential richness that the topic offamily can raise certain specific difficulties, and we

family can bring to the language learning classroom,

suggest ways to deal with difficulties that may arise inmany textbooks deal with the topic in a rather superficial

these lessons. Finally, we introduce student feedback

way. For example, in the popular textbook, Interchange
Intro, Richards (2012, p. 37) shows a simple two

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

12

generation family tree representing parents and children

Introduce the Topic and Generate Interestand uses this to introduce vocabulary such as husband,
wife, father, mother, brother, and sister. This is followed

In order to engage the students in the activity from theby a simple practice for students to describe their own

beginning, the most important thing for the teacher to dofamilies using sentences like “My mother’s name isis raise curiosity and interest in the topic. You canAngela” and “My brothers’ names are David and Angelo.”

introduce the topic by share some interesting stories

This is expanded on slightly in the following grammar

about your ancestors or family members. Then explain

focus section with sentences such as “My family and I

that the topic of the lesson and next lesson to thelive in the suburbs. My wife and I work near here, so westudent will be “family and ancestors.”

walk to work. Our daughter Emily works downtown, so
she drives to work.”

It is useful to do a simple brainstorm at the
beginning of the lesson to get students involved and to

Similar examples from other textbooks tend toactivate vocabulary, knowledge, and ideas about thefocus on the children’s age and club activities, thetopic. On the blackboard, demonstrate a simple mind

parents’ employment, and maybe what activities themap activity centered around the word “Ancestors,” andfamily did last summer vacation. Students may learn

then have students write at least eight words connected

some

but

to the word “Ancestors,” such as history, tradition, family,

conversations often occur at a superficial level. This

life, and so on. Students can then discuss in pairs why

seems to be a missed opportunity for students to learn

they listed particular words or explain their favorite word

something meaningful or insightful about themselves,from their list.

new

Englishvocabularyorgrammar,their family, and their ancestors, which could in turnsupport students in making a deeper connection
between their own lives and the English language being
used in the classroom. The aim of this paper is to offer a
deeper and multi-dimensional set of activities for the
topic of family which can create a more profound andgenuine interest in the theme, a deeper curiosity into
one’s own family past, and a deeper connection to thelanguage used.

It is also important to have students begin toconnect emotionally with the topic. The topic of not only
immediate family but we wanted students to consider thelong chain of ancestors that eventually resulted in theirown lives. We have found that a poem is a good way tomake these emotional connections. A poem canevocatively capture the essence of a topic and usually
we use the poem, I’ve known Rivers by Langston
Hughes. This poem (shown in appendix Lesson 1, B)

Below, the ancestor activity is divided over twoconnects Hughes’ life to the lives of people thousands oflessons in consecutive weeks. Depending on youryears before by giving images of the people’s lives inteaching context and how the activity relates to the rest

different places. Also within this poem there are lines

of your course, it may be appropriate to spend more timethat suggest the value of learning about history and ouron it. This activity has worked well with Japanese

ancestors. The vocabulary of the poem may beuniversity students of mixed-ability with TOEIC scores

unfamiliar to your students, and you may need toranging from 450 up to 900. Complete lesson plans are

introduce difficult words such as ancient, dusky, soul,shown in the appendix at the end of this paper and thedawn, raise, muddy, veins, and lull. Allow students toreader may like to refer to this throughout.

review the vocabulary list with dictionaries.

Ancestors Lesson 1 – Generating Curiosity
and Setting up the Interviews
The first lesson on the topic of ancestors is designed togenerate student curiosity and then to do the required
preparation for them to interview their grandparents
about their family history. This is explained in more detailbelow.

As a follow-up, reinforcing activity use the Endless
Questions technique to teach and reinforce the new
vocabulary (Backwell, 2005). Endless Questions simply
means the teacher asks students questions about themeaning of new vocabulary. Whenever there is a vocab
list to review in class there is often at least one student in
the group who knows the meaning of each word. If this is
the case the teacher uses a series of questions toconnect the vocabulary to the world of the students. For

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

13

example, if one of the new words is raise, you can ask

activity notice quickly that there are large gaps in their

the students to raise their right hand. If the next word isknowledge about their own family, and this helps toancient, ask a student: “Are you ancient?” and then ask:

foster curiosity.

“Is Mt. Fuji ancient?”. For the word, dawn, ask the
Explain that the homework is to learn about

students: “What time was dawn this morning?” Movethrough the vocabulary in this way. One benefit of theEndless Questions technique is that it brings new
vocabulary to life, imbuing personal meaning into each
new word, and students can hear how the words areused inside authentic sentences.

ancestors (See Appendix Section Lesson 1, C2). The
students interview a grandparent and ask about theirlives including information about jobs, hobbies, andmajor life events. They should also find out about theirparents (the students’ great grandparents). Show yourown family tree and tell students that they should also

When students are familiar with the vocabulary,remind them again that the topic of the lesson isdraw a family tree with four generations that reaches
back to great grandparents.

Ancestors and do a dramatic reading of the poem, I’ve
To prepare students better for the interview

Known Rivers. Appendix Section Lesson 1, B offers
other suggestions to help students to understand andengage with the poem.

and to help them to focus their questions, have them fillin the KWL chart (Appendix Section Lesson 1, C4). KWL
is a useful learning format (Ogle, 1986) which stands for

You can help them to understand the topic by

What you Know, Want to know and What you Learned.

asking why rivers were so important to our ancestors

First, in the K column, students write everything theyand eliciting answers such as: Rivers are a source of

already know about their ancestors, for example

fresh drinking water, food, personal hygiene andgrandparents’ names, hometown, age, hobbies. Then inprovided travel and trade routes. Students can use

the W column, students generate a list of questions

Google maps to learn the location of the four rivers

about what they want to know such as great-(Euphrates, Congo, Nile, and Mississippi) and the

grandparents names, major life experiences, how theircountry which each river flows through. You can thenparents met, and what education their grandparents had.

explain the basic history of Langston’s ancestors, howStudents do not fill in the L column until after the Way ofLangston’s ancestors were free to roam by the first three

Council activity in lesson 2. Then they write and reflect inrivers mentioned in the poem, but how his ancestor’s

the final column on the new information they havevoyage to America and the Mississippi river was forced

learned.

by slave traders.

Ancestors Lesson 2 – Sharing Ancestor
In order to get students thinking more deeply about

Storiestheir own ancestors, emphasize the meaning of the lastsentence: “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”

In lesson 2, students share stories about their ancestors

When we learn about our ancestors our lives becomeand family members in an activity called the Way ofricher. Explain that the Ancestors activity is a possibility

Council. More details are shown in the lesson plan in theto gain knowledge and become wiser in learning andAppendix.

sharing stories about our ancestors, and that everyone
will share ancestor stories in the next lesson.

Preparation for Interviews

Review and Preparation
Have students review their family tree and think about
the questions shown in Appendix Section Lesson 2, D.

To begin preparing sharing their own ancestor stories,

These questions are designed to help them to review thehave students do the activities in Section C of Lesson 1

information they have learned and to practice sharing it.

of the Appendix. This requires them to start thinking andStudents then discuss the questions with a partner. Have

gathering information about their parents, grandparents,

students change partner a couple of times to allow for

and great grandparents including their names, place ofrepeated practice in talking about the topic. Repeatedbirth, job, and major life events. Most students doing thispartner practice will greatly help students prepare and

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14

build confidence for speaking in the Way of Council. The

refreshing for the teacher to sit with the group, listen, andteacher can circulate during partner discussions andlearn about the students’ ancestor stories. On a practical

help with any pronunciation or grammatical issues. Also

note if you have a large group (15 students or more) you

remind students that because they are talking about the

may like to explain the activity and then split the grouppast, the verbs they use should probably be in the past

into 2 circles so that the activity does not last more thantense and give examples from your stories highlighting

30 minutes. This will involve desk moving to clear theuse of the past tense.

floor and make way for a circle or 2 circles of chairs. In
total Way of Council should not last more than half an

The Way of Council

hour to keep concentration focused on each speaker.

Instructions for setting up the Way of Council are shown

The intimate nature of the Way of Council andin Appendix Section Lesson 2, E in the Appendix.

the personal meaningful topic creates conditions in

According to Fujioka (1998), the Way of Council and thewhich students are more likely to engage in genuine“talking stone” have been used for centuries by many

English communication. Of course, they can interview

Native American tribes as a means of fair and impartial

their parents or grandparents in their native language,

hearing, and as a democratic practice for community

but once that is done it is our consistent experience

matters such as an important topic or making a groupstudents are intrinsically motivated to share theirdecision. Traditionally the aim of this practice was that

discoveries with others through English in the EFL

the voice of each member of the council (or community)

classroom.

was heard and respected. We use it for the same reason
It may in fact surprise you what topics arise inin the EFL classroom i.e. so that the voice of each
student in the class is given the chance to be heard andrespected.

Way of Council. In the most recent class students sharedstories of ancestors who died fighting in China during
World War 2, a grandfather who made a lot of money

There are a couple of core rules underpinningduring the bubble and bought a mountain in Kyushu only

the Way of Council. First, the person who holds theto sell it when the bubble burst, a modern day mothertalking stone talks about the topic and those who are not

whoholding the stone listen. The stone represents thefathers who struggle to be the sole provider and an aunt

importance of the speaker. The stone is passed around

who couldn't have a baby so her sister gave her their

the circle, and each person speaks when she or he holds

second daughter. Some families described have 12

the stone. The passing of the stone ensures that all

children and other stories focus on couples who havemembers can speak and have their ideas heard. The

none. The variety of family structures and stories can begroup listens as much as possible without focusing on

staggering. In such a class students can keep their focus

what they personally want to say when their turn comes.

and attention even if the Way of Council lasts 20 or 30

Tell students that speaking from the heart and listening

minutes simply because the speaker is telling anfrom the heart are two important principles of the Way ofengrossing story.

sees ghosts, alcoholics, gamblers, single parent

Council.

Follow-up
If feasible, the classroom should be set up
differently to the typical classroom in which the teacher

You can enhance student language learning after the

stands at the front of the room and the students are lined

Way of Council by using oral mistakes which students

up in rows of desks all facing the front. Instead, make amade as mini lessons. However, it is important tocircle of chairs. This immediately gives the environment

remember that this topic can be emotionally charged anda more democratic feeling because no one person is in a

if you are correcting students, be careful not to appear

leadership position. In the Way of Council, students are

disrespectful of them or their ancestors as that could

encouraged to listen and learn from each other. This

negatively influence the student-teacher relationship. If

takes the focus away from the teacher as the only

you do this, never correct a student during the Way of

purveyor of knowledge in the room, and it can beCouncil (unless asked). Only after the council has

The 2018 PanSIG Journal15

finished should any correction take place.

teachers have built rapport and spent a more significant
amount of time together. Building rapport is not a skill

It is useful to finish the lesson with a written
reflection. Students can complete the KWL chart from
Lesson 1 (specifically the section entitled What I
Learned). Alternatively students can fill in a handout
based on the four feedback questions in Appendix
section Lesson 2, F. These two activities are two
examples of reflective work at the end of two personaland engaging lessons which the teacher can choose togather and mark or not.

Addressing Difficulties
A concern when teaching the ancestor activities is that
all families have positive, happy stories, and at the sametime all families have difficult or negative stories. With
this in mind it may be wise to tell your students to only
share what they feel comfortable sharing and that during
the Way of Council process what is said in the circle
should stay in the circle, i.e., don't share with others who
were not there unless specifically given permission by
the speaker. In times gone past, the Way of Council was
considered a sacred practice and it should be the samein our time as well.

that is focused on in this paper although it is crucial forteachers and leaders. If you would like more extensive
reading on the topic of classroom rapport building two
suggested readings are: Rapport building in language
instruction Nguyen, and Unmasking the Structure of
Rapport, Backwell et al) For the sake of simplicity we willassume you are a teacher who has been building rapport
building

throughout

thesemester

and

you

will

understand that the key point to building rapport in these
specific lessons is to share meaningful stories of yourancestors too. If you are not a teacher who feels
comfortable sharing at this level then perhaps theselessons are not suitable for you however for teachers
who want more self-disclosure and sharing of personal,
real life stories these lessons will help such a rapport
building process. Put simply, to a certain level you haveto disclose too. It is our experience of teaching theselessons for more than a decade that if you build rapport,
speak honestly and follow the lesson outlines these twoclasses will give you a powerful, bonding experience withyour students. Theses classes will strengthen the bondof trust between the teacher and group members moving
forwards.

Another difficulty as one student mentioned inStudent Feedback

the feedback section below, is that a student may only
get minimal or even no information about an ancestor.
There may be several reasons for this including that

Some typical student feedback is given below to show

particular person may be the “black sheep” of the family

students’ perspectives on the ancestors activity.

and has been intentionally forgotten about. Of course,
there may be other reasons such as that person never
having been mentioned to family members living today.

1. What new information did you learn about your family
and ancestors?

This should be accepted, and although each student

・My grandfather bought a cruise boat!

should be encouraged to make efforts to gather as much・My great grandfather (father’s grandfather) was

information as possible, teachers cannot realistically
expect every student to have a complete family tree.

adopted.
・I knew my grandparents were doctors but I didn’t

Most students will not live with their grandparents so weknow they worked during World War II and weresuggest a telephone call or perhaps e mail. Almost all

taught how to save injured soldiers. I was amazed.

students report these are acceptable ways to makecontact with their grandparents.
It is best remembered there are some students

・My great grandmother has ten children.

・My grandfather owns a mountain!!

・I learned my family knows nothing about my greatgrandparents.

who may not want to disclose private information. Iwata(2010) claims that Japanese have lower levels of self-

・My grandmother raised her children alone.

disclosure than North Americans especially when
speaking in the classroom. With this in mind we usually

2. What was difficult about this project?

teach this class later in the semester when students and

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

16

・Conclusion

I couldn’t collect some information about myancestors.

・・All my great grandparents are dead so I couldn’t

As the student feedback above indicates, the main

get information about

driving motivation in the ancestor activities is intrinsic

It was presenatting about the information tocuriosity about one’s own family and ancestors. This isclassmates.

not superficial interest but rather a genuine curiosity
about the unknown and a sense of delving into one’s

3. Why was this a useful/interesting project?

own past to learn more about family and ultimately thecreation of one’s own current life conditions. As one

・I learned a lot about my great-grandparents that I

student said in the feedback:didn’t know before.
・・・I could find a stronger relationship between me and“It was interesting because without this class I would

my ancestors.

never try to learn about my ancestors.” Another student

Now I want to tell my life story to my children andshared “We can know our roots and identity through thismy grandchildren someday.

project. I feel my ancestors are close to me.”

It was interesting because without this class I
would never try to learn about my ancestors.

・With this lesson we can say thank you to our family
and ancestors.

・・My ancestors passed away because of world war

As the students say in their own words, theancestor

lessonsexperience.

canPerhapsbetheapowerful

mostclassroom

pertinent

student

comment was:two so I realized war is a serious problem.

“Now I want to tell my life story to my children and my

Because we can know our roots and identity

grandchildren someday.”through this project. I feel my ancestors are close
to me.
・I enjoyed myself because I could know more about
my family and ancestors. At first I didn't know mygreat grand parents and I didn't tthink I want toknow them but now I want to talk with my grandWe, the authors, found this comment particularly
satisfying because what could be more meaningful thanto teach a lesson which is carried on by students beyond
the classroom and even beyond the teacher’s time on
this planet?

father more.
4. What more would you like to learn about yourReferencesfamily/ancestors?
・

What was my grandmother’s dream when she was
my age?

Backwell, B. (2006). Engaging students with textbook
activities. JALT Proceedings 2005.

・

Why was my great grandfather adopted?

Backwell, B., Deacon, B and Murphey, T. (2008).

・

How were my ancestors daily lives during World

Inspiring ideas: Traditional presentations revisited. JALTWar Two?

Proceedings 2007.

・

What were my ancestors experiences at school?

・I want to learn more about all my ancestors andmake bigger, longer family tree.

Backwell, B., Cullen, B,. Deacon, B and Mulvey, S.
(2013) Unmasking the Structure of Rapport. JALT
Proceedings.

・Why did my mother and father marry?

・

I learned they all had different jobs. I’ve not

Fujioka, K. The Talking Stick: An American Indian

decided my job yet that’s why I want to listen to

tradition in the ESL classroom. The Internet TESL

their job life and think about my future work.

Journal, Vol. IV, No. 9, September 1998.

・

While my great grandfather was a soldier whatthings happened?

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

17

Gardner, R. (2012). Conversation Analysis in the

4. Explain the meaning of the poem. Example:

Classroom. The Handbook of Conversation Analysis“Langston’s ancestors were free to travel on the Congo
Euphrates and the Nile. Later, they were captured andFrisby, B.N., and Myers, S.A. (2008). The relationships
among perceived instructor rapport, student participation
andstudent

learning

outcomes.

Texas

SpeechCommunication Journal, 33, 27-34
Iwata, Y. (2010) Pragmatic failure in topic choice, topic
development and self-disclosure by Japanese EFL
speakers. Intercultural Communication Studies, 19(2),145.
Nguyen, H. (2007). Rapport building in language

taken to America as slaves.

instruction: A micro-analysis of the multiple resources inteacher talk. Language and Education, 21 284-303.

5. Focus on the line: “My soul has grown deep like therivers” and explain how learning about our ancestors canOgle, D.M. (1986). K-W-L: A teaching model thatoffer us wisdom.

develops active reading of expository test. Reading
Teacher 39, 564-570.
Richards, J. (2012). Interchange Intro 4th Edition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

I’ve Known Rivers
by Langston Hughes
I’ve known rivers

Appendix – Lesson Plans
Lesson 1
Materials: Vocabulary list, poem, teacher’s family tree,

I’ve known rivers as ancient as the world and older
than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

bigger photos (optional)
I swam in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

A. Brainstorm
I built my hut near the Congo and the sound of the water
Write the word “Ancestors” on the board and havelulled me to sleep.

students give ideas or words connected to it, e.g.
“tradition”, “history”, “family.”B. Generate Interest in the Topic with a Poem
1. Introduce the vocabulary from the poem below. An

I looked at the Nile and raised the pyramids above it
I heard the singing of the Mississippi and saw this muddy
river turn golden in the sunset.

example is shown on the right.

I’ve known rivers

2. Read the poem aloud to students with feeling andAncient, dusky rivers

drama.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
3. Have students take turns reading lines from the poem.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

18

Share one or two of your own ancestor stories.

4. Written Preparation
Give students time to fill in the sheet below. Students
write what they already know about their ancestors e.g.
Grandparents names, hometown, age, hobbies. Then in
the second column students write what they would like toknow e.g. Great grandparents’ names, major life
experiences, how their parents met, what education their

grandparents had.

C. Preparation
1. What do you know about your ancestors?
Think about your parents, grandparents and great

Write details in the first two columns. Write in the lastcolumn after completing your research.

grandparents. What do you know about your ancestors?
Do you know their names? When they were born?
Where was their hometown? What was their religion?
What job did they have? What hobbies did they enjoy?
What major life events did they experience? – World War
2, the bubble economy, etc.

2. Explain Homework (Grandparent interview
and Family Tree)

5. Give Homework
Students interview parents and grandparents (and great

Homework this week is to learn about your ancestors.

grandparents if still alive)

First interview a grandparent and ask about their lives –Then using A4 paper, students draw a family tree of 4job, hobbies, major life events, their parents or any

generations (themselves, parents, grandparents andinteresting topic. Learn about your great grandparents.

great grandparents) with information of each family
member – name, birthday, hometown, job, religion,

Next, draw your family tree with four generations. Start

hobbies, if appropriate marriage date and death date,your family tree with you and your parents then include

major life events e.g. WW2 or bubble economy any othergrandparents and great grandparents.

interesting information.

Include the information below:
Name, birthday, hometown, job, religion, hobbies, life
events, any other interesting information.

Lesson 2
Materials: a stone for the Way of Council activity

3. Introduce your own family tree (Teacher)

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19

D. Preparation

4.

Teacher brings up the theme of ancestors.
The power of our history, the power of our

1. Review the family tree

ancestors to shape our lives today.
5.

Look at your family tree and think about your answers to

Teacher explains Way of Council and passes
the talking stone.

the questions below.
6.

2. Talk in pairs

Each student takes turn to talk about his or herancestors while holding the stone. They can
use the warm up questions as a focus of what

Have students ask and answer the questions below withto talk about. Go around the group until alla partner. Repeat 2 or 3 times to make students better instudents have spoken.

their explanations.

7.

Teacher finishes the Way of Council by reading

1.

Where are your ancestors from?

I’ve known Rivers again and thanking students

2.

What jobs did they have?

for sharing their stories.

3.

What major life events happened to yourancestors?

4.

Who is your most interesting ancestor? Why?

5.

What are you grateful for from your ancestors?

F. Follow-up Written Activity
Have students write the answers to the questions below.
1.

E. Way of Council
1.

family and ancestors?

Remove desks and set up classroom chairs ina big circle (Way of Council)

2.

Students sit in a circle (no pens, paper,
textbooks, etc.)

3.

What new information did you learn about your2.

What was difficult about this project?

3.

Why was this a useful/interesting project?

4.

What more would you like to learn about yourfamily/ancestors?

Teacher focuses on the poem’s line “My soulhas grown deep like the rivers”

Bio Data
Ben Backwell is a lecturer at Nagoya City University. His research interests include positive psychology, academicpresentations, critical thinking and learner autonomy. benbackw@gmail.com
Brian Cullen is an associate professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology. His research interests include positive
psychology, teacher education, L2 creativity, ESP, and music in the classroom. cullen.brian@gmail.com

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

20

Towards a Graded Reader Database
Mark Brierley
Shinshu University

David Ruzicka
Shinshu University

Amanda Gillis Furutaka
Kyoto Sangyo University

Mamoru “Bobby” Takahashi
Akita Prefectural University

Masaaki Niimura
Shinshu University

Takayoshi Yoshioka
National Institute of Technology,
Toyota College

This paper outlines a project (funded by the Japanese Ministry of Sport, Science and Education with a
Kakenhi JSPS Grant-in-aid for scientific research) which aims to set up a comprehensive graded-reader
database that will provide information on books deemed suitable for extensive reading programmes.
Ideally, the data should include information on the reading level of each book, the number of words, howmuch other readers have enjoyed reading it, and its availability. The database should be set up so that
automatic updates can be made where possible, and it should give editing rights to a large number ofstakeholders so new data can be added and updated. The authors explain both the need for such a
database and the challenges in creating it. The issues discussed include: finding a standardized way tomeasure the number of words in a book and measuring of the readability of a text.

本稿では、科学研究費補助金により助成されたプロジェクトについて概説する。このプロジェクトの目
的は、学校毎の多読プログラムや英語で多読をする個人が、多読に適した書籍のデータに自由にアクセスできるようにする包括的なグレーディドリーダー・データベースを構築することである。理想的には、データには、各書籍の読書レベル、語数、ジャンルなどの情報が含まれていなければならない。可能であれば自動更新ができるようにデータベースを設定し、多数のステークホルダーに対して編集権限を与え、新しいデータを追加して更新できるようにする必要がある。本稿の前半部分では、このような包括的なデータベースの必要性を概説し、後半部分では、これを実現するためのいくつかの克服すべき課題
について説明する。本の語数やテキストの読みやすさを測ることに関する議論のように、何かを測定す
る標準化された方法を見つけることについて取り上げる。

If Extensive Reading (ER) is going to be a successful

to benefit from such a resource, students also needpart of an English language course, the students will

accurate information on book content, readability, andneed access to books and the time to read them.

level. Reliable information on book length is also

Whether or not they find the time to read will depend on

important because many students and ER programmea vast number of factors, most of which are beyond theadministrators use the number of words read to measureteacher’s control. But without an adequate selection of

student achievement.

books, the project stands no chance at all of getting off
the ground. The fundamental requirement, then, isaccess to a library containing a stock of graded readers,and ideally other kinds of reading material, sufficient tocater to a wide range of interests and reading levels. But

Having identified the need for an online support
system for students and teachers, we began work on
building a graded reader database that will be called ER
Cloud. It will gather information and recommendations

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

21

from students, teachers, publishers, and other databases

takesuch as MReader, ER Central and Xreading in order tocomprehension, such as background knowledge of theprovide a support and feedback network for students,

content and reader interaction with a text (Carrell, 1987).

teachers,

administrators,

publishers

and

into

account

otheraspects

vital

toreaderotherstakeholders in the field of ER. This is the goal, but there
are numerous difficulties we will need to overcome
before this goal can be achieved. Our research question
at this initial stage of the project has been: What are thedifficulties that need to be addressed when setting up an
online ER database? Some of these difficulties will be

TheLexileFrameworkfor

Readingwasdeveloped in 1989 and is applied to L1 teachingmaterials in the US in order to match the reading level ofthe student with the reading difficulty of the text. A
student’s reading level is measured through reading
comprehension tests and the score is reported as anumber which is seen as a Lexile level. All kinds ofoutlined in this paper.

reading materials (websites, articles, text books, fiction
and non-fiction) have been analysed by software that

Difficulties in Determining Reading
Levelsmeasures features such as word frequency andsentence length and assigns a Lexile measure in theforform of a number. This is used as a guide for teachers

measuring reading level. The first comprehensive scaleand students to match the readers’ Lexile level to a text’s

within language-learner literature was the Edinburgh

Lexile measure.

There

are

currently

many

different

systems

Project on Extensive Reading (EPER) scale, developedby David Hill in the 1970s. The Yomiyasusa level (YL)
indicates how easy a book is to read and was created by
Akio Furukawa in 2003. It is now widely used in Japan.
Since 2016, Rob Waring has been developing andrefining the international 20-level Extensive Reading
Foundation (ERF) graded reader scale that corresponds
to the ERF Learner Literature Award categories. Other
ER-focused websites, such as Xreading and MReader,
use their own systems. Moreover, publishers of learner
literature each have their own system for determining
book levels, which are based on word lists, grammaticalcomplexity, or simply the intuition of an experienced
editor.

It has been proposed that EFL teachers
seeking maximum learning efficiency should require theirstudents to read books consisting of a vocabulary ofwhich exactly 98% is familiar. The remaining 2% of thewords, which will be unknown, are deemed to be ripe foracquisition (Nation, 2001). Many ER advocates, however,are less concerned with the efficiency of vocabularyacquisition and more focused on increasing student
motivation and fluency, which can be cruelly underminedby books that the learner cannot read with ease.
Krashen (1982) posited i+1 as the next linguistic item tobe acquired, where i is the most recently acquired itemof language on some nominal list. In contrast, Day(2015) has recommended that extensive reading should

The notion of reading difficulty has precedents

be carried out at the level of i-1, and Takase (2007) has

in native-language texts. All texts are edited with specificsuggested i-2, citing research showing that students

groups of readers at a certain level of proficiency in mind.

make greater gains by reading books well below their

Indeed, some books have even been written with acurrent language level.

single reader in mind, such as Alice in Wonderland.
Notable attempts to produce systematic methods fordetermining reading difficulty include the Gunning fog
index (1952) and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (1975),
which are based on sentence length, word length, andthe number of embedded clauses. However, there are
weaknesses in these systems, such as their inability to
distinguish between the clarity of a long, but clearly

Small differences in book level may seem trivial
at first sight, but for a student capable of reading nohigher than YL1.2, there will be a big difference between
YL1.2 and 1.4 because the YL1.4 book may be twice thelength of the YL1.2 book and include unfamiliar
vocabulary and grammatical structures that put the bookbeyond the comprehension level of the student.

constructed sentence with simple, general vocabulary,

The term ‘headwords’ is commonly used by

and a short sentence full of specialized vocabulary withpublishers in relation to reading level, however the

few reader-friendly signposts. They are also unable tomeaning of this term is ambiguous. One way to interpret

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

22

what publishers mean by ‘headwords’ is to see the termby readers, or by teachers in formative assessment.

as corresponding to the notion of ‘types’ employed in

However, many ER programmes struggle to create andcorpus linguistics to denote a unique word, such as

maintain records of word counts. The same book may“detective”. A tally of ‘types’ will only count the word

have different word counts depending on whether“detective” when it occurs for the first time in a text. So

individual words were counted, or whether the number ofthe number of headwords means the number of different

words was calculated using a formula based on theor unique words in the text. On the other hand, in corpus

number of pages and an estimate of the average number

linguistics, the total number of words in a text, whetherof words per page. There is also the question of whether

occurring only once or multiple times, is given as a countaccompanyingof the ‘tokens’ in the text. In graded readers, therefore,

introduction, should be included in the word count.

activities

andexercises,

or

the

the number of ‘headwords’ corresponds to the number of‘types’ and the ‘word count’ to the ‘tokens’. In otherwords, if we made an alphabetical list of each word

Data on Graded Readers

appearing in the book, along with the number of times it

The idea of compiling a database on graded readers is

appeared, the list would represent the number of

not new. In the 1970s, David Hill produced a directory ofheadwords. In fact, the number of headwords in a

graded readers, including their levels on the EPER scale,published graded reader usually refers to a list of words

and ratings for how good the books were. Since 2003,

that has been referred to when writing the book rather
than to an inventory of the words actually in the book.

Akio

Furukawa

hasmaintainedadatabaseof

Yomiyasusa book levels and word counts, which is

There is no universally agreed list of headwords andperiodically published in a printed form and is now in its

each publisher undoubtedly has a different list. Such lists

4th Edition (2013). The ERF maintains an online

are usually not published. Editors might allow authors todatabase of graded readers, which is currently grouped

use a limited number of words that are not in the list,by publisher. As well as the ERF scale, the ERF graded

depending on the topic of the book. To further

reader database includes YL and word count. MReader

complicate matters, it is possible that different members

also has data on books, using the Kyoto scale forof the same word family are counted separately; forreading level and student responses for how easy andexample, run and running could be counted as two

how enjoyable the book was. Paul Goldberg has

different headwords or as just one. Also, different forms

accumulated a wide range of data on graded readers forof the same word (e.g. verb and noun) are perhaps

the Xreading system, including not just word counts andbeing treated differently and counted separately as, forlevels, but also details on genre, character and plot.

example, in “I run every morning” and “This morning I

Barry Keith and colleagues have their own scale for thewent for a run”.

books in Gunma University, and many libraries levelbooks using their own systems. Publishers, of course,

None of the various grading systems is perfectusually allocate their graded readers to levels in theirin predicting how easy students will find the books, since

own systems, and also often give the number ofreading difficulty is affected by other factors such as

headwords.

culture, plot, and the use of figurative language (Gillis-

adopts different

Furutaka, 2015). Holster, Lake and Pellowe (2017) founddifferent series. For example, an Oxford Bookworms

that the best predictor of a student’s impression ofStage Three is not the same as an Oxford Classic Tales

reading difficulty was the length of the book, suggesting

Level Three.

Sometimes
methods

the
for

same

determining

publisher
level

for

that word counts should be regarded as an essential
The above databases are mainly designed withcomponent of graded reader data.

the goal of supporting teachers who are managing
an ER programme. In addition, Calil Corporation has a

Difficulties in Determining Word Counts

freely available online database of graded readers held

Since the fundamental goal of ER is generally seen as

in Japanese libraries. This resource approaches ER fromreading as much as possible, the number of words readthe book management perspective. However, under theis often used as a measure of progress and achievement

guidanceof

Takayoshi

Yoshioka,

Calil

has

also

The 2018 PanSIG Journal23

developed Tadokunavi, a web-based system written inassociated with the title, author and publisher, andthe open-source PHP language, which is now being

allows such information to be retrieved automaticallyreorganised for smartphones using Javascript and React

from ISBN searches. Although the ISBN functions as a

Native Program Library. This will provide learners invery useful means of identifying a book, there are cases

Japan with information on which books at which levels

where different ISBNs refer to the same book. This canare currently available for borrowing in the nearest

happen when the book has been published in two

libraries.

countries or regions necessitating a second ISBN tocomply with the rules of the second local library system.

Challenges Involved in Creating a
Graded-Reader Database

Another example is when titles are available in versions
with or without audio CDs, in e-book format or in
hardback. A third reason why the same book can have

As can be seen, there is a wide range of data for each

multiple ISBNs is that it has been published by different

book. The different systems for measuring reading levels

publishers or brought out in a new edition. Such versions

approach reading from different perspectives, but allof a book may still be identical in content and layout fromneed to be incorporated into the database if it is to be

beginning to end, even though the cover may havegenuinely comprehensive. Although lexical measureschanged along with the ISBN. If we use the ISBNs as

are usually objective and produce a single value, the YL

keys for our graded reader database, then we need to

is a subjective measure and different readers willfind ways of linking information where different ISBNsconsider the same book to be more or less difficult. The

refer to the same book.

SSS database, which is intended for learners, teachersand ER programme managers, gives an average YL as

The level must then be ascertained, which

well as a lower and a higher YL, and recommends that

could take some time. Graded readers will be publishedpractitioners

when

at a level, although this will usually be the publisher’s

recommending a book to a student. Clearly, though,level rather than on one of the scales mentioned above.

there is also a need for independent learners to be able

Initially, difficulty levels are typically assigned to a series

to access such vital information before borrowing or

rather than to individual books, but of course there may

buying a book to read. Building such a dual purpose

be some variation in level within a series, leading todatabase will require careful planning.

different levels, particularly on the more granular YL

considerthehigherYL

scale. The advantage of a universally accessibleThe

maintenance

of

such

an

ambitious

database in which learners offer an opinion about the

database presents particular challenges. There is alevel of a book they have read is that when more people

steady flow of graded readers being published andread the books, the general consensus on the level ofrepublished in new editions, or by different publishers

that book will become clearer. This takes us to thewho have acquired an established series. In addition, thechallenges of dealing with student data, which we will

data already within a system occasionally includes

address later.

mistakes, due to miscalculations, data entry errors or
simply the fact that the information has not been updated.

There is also a great deal of student data on

These errors would need to be identified and corrected.

graded readers already available, collected, for example,

Furthermore, whenever data is copied from one systemin the ERS database (Brierley et al., 2011), the MOARS

to another, or from one user to another, this creates a

audience response system (Pellowe, 2016), MReader

situation in which two or more versions of the same data

and Xreading. This includes level data that can help toneed to be updated.

build a more accurate and nuanced picture of bookdifficulty.

Each item in an ER database requires a key. In

Student

data

also

providesinformation

about how good each book is, which should make itother words, a unique name or number is needed topossible

identify each book. For several reasons, a book’s ISBN

recommended to students. Such information will enable(International Standard Book Number) would be an idealteachers to more confidently recommend books to

key. Each published book has an ISBN which is

specific learners on the basis of their reading diet andtodetermine

which

books

shouldThe 2018 PanSIG Journalbe24

also help independent learners decide what to read next.

ふれる子どもたちの世界を描いたマーク・トウェインのFor these reasons, student data should also include

代表作。",

book reviews.

"CoverImage":"https://cover.openbd.jp/97848968
40438.jpg",

Data Structure
Computer databases store data under a schema, giving
names to each data field. In addition, descriptions can be"Pages":180,"Words":[{"ERS":1000},{"ERF":1100},],"Headwords":[{"ERS":500},{"ERF":450},]

added to qualify a particular piece of data. In the case ofa graded reader, while a book may have a single ISBN,

Tags and Rule-Based Retrieval

there may, as we have seen, be different word counts.

The data may contain several different values for an item

Below is an example of the data that could be stored onsuch as a YL or word count. Rather than editing the dataa particular book using the standard technical terms,

to produce a “correct” level, rules can be used to choose

followed by an explanation of the terms used, and an

which value to use. For example, there may be different

example.

word counts for a particular book: one from the ERF

ISBN : varchar
YL_Upper : {varchar : float}
YL_Lower : {varchar : float}
YL_Ave : {varchar : float}
ERFLevel : float
Review : text
CoverImage : url
Pages : integer

graded reader list; one from SSS data; and one from
Shinshu University’s ERS data. If there is only one word
count in the data, then we should use that. If there are
two or three conflicting word counts, we need to decide
which one to use. The rule may tell us to use the SSS
word count, if available, or, if not, to use the ERF word
count, and if that is also not available, to use the ERS
word count.

Words : {varchar : integer}
Headwords : {varchar : integer}

Long-Term Storage of Data
Data need to be physically stored somewhere, and the“varchar” signifies that the data is a string of characters“float” signifies a real number“integer” signifies an integer“text” signifies a long passage of text“url” gives an address on the internet.

costs of storage need to be paid while the data are being
used. There are various options for storage including
servers located in universities, libraries, companies andfoundations. A research project, such as the authors’
Kakenhi JSPS Grant-in-aid for scientific research, could
fund storage; however, the grant has a time limit, andThis is an example of the data for a graded reader: “TomSawyer”.
"ISBN":"9784896840438",

there is no long-term support provided as these grants
are awarded for creating new projects rather thanmaintaining existing projects.

"YL_Upper":[{“SSS”:2.0},{”ERS”:1.5}]"YL_Lower":[{“SSS”:1.0},{”ERS”:1.0}]

University libraries would be a logical place to"YL_Ave":[{“SSS”:1.5}]

keep data on books; however, they already have their"ERFLevel":3,

own systems installed. Companies such as Calil, which"Review":"わんぱく少年トム・ソーヤーは、相棒

work on book data, would easily be able to store thisで宿なしっ子のハックルベリー・フィンらとともに、いadditional data; however, there is no guarantee they will

たずらと冒険に明け暮れる。いかだでの川下り、無人島
でのキャンプ、そして秘密の宝探し。しまいには夜の墓地で殺人事件を目撃してしまうトムとハック。ミシシッ
ピ川沿いの小さな町を舞台に、荒っぽいが自由で、夢あcontinue to maintain and update the data. Publishers
may be enthusiastic about lending their resources to themaintenance of data relating to their own titles, but may
be less keen to store data on books by other publishers.
One long-term solution may be to seek the support ofnon-profit foundations dedicated to Extensive Reading,

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

25

such as the Extensive Reading Foundation, or theJapanese NPO, Tadoku Supporters [Tadoku Tacho].

Gillis-Furutaka, A. (2015). Graded reader readability:
Some overlooked aspects. Journal of Extensive
Reading

Conclusion: An Ideal Graded-Reader
Database
Currently, there are many different databases that eachprovide a certain amount of information on graded
readers. This paper has outlined the need for acomprehensive graded reader database that would
combinetheinformation

available

andprovideadministrators and teachers with more information on thebooks they select for and recommend to their students,
and allow students to make better informed choices of

3(1),

1–19.

http://jaltpublications.org/content/index.php/jer/article/
view/7/1
Gunning, R. (1952). The Technique of Clear Writing.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Holster, T. A., Lake, J, and Pellowe, W. R. (2017).
Measuring and predicting graded reader difficulty.
Reading in a Foreign Language, 29(2), 218–244.
http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/October2017/articles/holster.pdf

what to read. The main focus has been to report on the

Kincaid, J.P., Fishburne, R.P., Rogers, R. L., & Chissom,

difficulties of setting up and maintaining such a database

B.S. (1975). Derivation of new readability formulasin the long term. The ideal database we are working(automated readability index, fog count, and fleschtowards would store comprehensive graded reader datareading ease formula) for Navy enlisted personnel.

centrally, allow free access to the data, include

Research Branch Report 8–75. Chief of Naval

automatic updates where possible, and give editing

Technical Training: Naval Air Station Memphis.

rights to a large number of stakeholders so new data canbe added and updated. It would also be securely stored

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second

for the long term so that learners, instructors, andLanguage Acquisition. London, England: Pergamon

publishers could continue to benefit from it for thePress, Inc.

foreseeable future.

MReader https://www.mreader.org/

References
Brierley, M., Kubota, Y., & Uchikawa, S. (2011). Using
online student data to assess graded readers:Preliminary results. In K. Bradford-Watts, E. M. Skier& M. Walsh (Eds), Pan-SIG 2010 Conference
Proceedings (pp. 12-30). Kyoto: JALT.
Carrell, P. L. (1987). Readability in ESL. Reading in a

Nation, I. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another
Language.

Cambridge,

England:Cambridge

University Press.
Pellowe, W. (2010). MOARS audience response system.
Accessed December 12, 2018
http://moars.com/moars-features.html
SSS database https://www.seg.co.jp/sss/ (in Japanese)

Foreign Language, 4(1), 21–40.
Takase, A. (2007). Japanese high school students’
http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/PastIssues/rfl41carrell.pdf
Day, R. R. (2015). Extending Extensive Reading.

motivation for extensive L2 reading. Reading in a
Foreign Language, 19(1), 1–18.

Reading in a Foreign Language, 27(2), 294–301.

Waring, R. (2016). The Extensive Reading Foundation

http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/October2015/discussions/da

Graded Reader Level Scale: Chart. Accessedy.pdf

December 12, 2018 from

ERCentral https://www.er-central.com/

http://www.robwaring.org/er/scale/ERF_levels.htm

Furukawa, A., Kanda, M. et al. (2013). Eigo tadoku

Xreading https://www.xreading.com/

kanzen book guide (The Complete Book Guide For
Extensive Reading). Tokyo: Cosmopier.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

26

Author biographies
Mark Brierley teaches in the School of General Education at Shinshu University. His interests include extensive
reading and low energy building.
Amanda Gillis-Furutaka is a professor in the Faculty of Foreign Studies at Kyoto Sangyo University and has beenteaching and researching ER together with Tom Robb and other colleagues since the pioneering days of Moodle
Reader and its successor MReader.
Masaaki Niimura is an Associate Professor at Shinshu University. He leads the Development and Operation Section of
the e-Learning Center and teaches information technology in the Faculty of Engineering.
David Ruzicka is an Associate Professor at Shinshu University and teaches English at the School of General Education.
Besides classes on communication skills and academic writing in English, he also teaches courses on interculturalcommunication and Shakespeare.
Mamoru “Bobby” Takahashi is teaching English at the Research and Education Center for Comprehensive Science,
Akita Prefectural University. His current areas of interest include extensive reading, creative writing, content-based
communicative instruction, and computer assisted language learning.
Takayoshi Yoshioka is a Professor of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the National Instituteof Technology, Toyota College. He researches methods of guidance for ER learners in the classroom, and thedevelopment of a recommendation algorithm to provide appropriate books for each ER learner

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

27

The Reality and Necessity of Teaching Singular ‘They’
Michael H. Brown
Kanda University of International Studies
Although the English pronoun they is a plural pronoun, it is also sometimes used with singular referents,
especially gender-indefinite human referents. However, some people believe singular they negatively
affects communicative effectiveness and meaning processing. This paper describes the history,
grammar, and usage of singular they. It also describes an exploratory study of singular they usage with anonhuman animal referent. In the study, participants read an article in which singular they is used with anonhuman animal referent. Through interviews with the participants, it was determined that such usage
did not cause meaning processing difficulties. The findings from the study, along with the history andestablished usage of singular they, confirm that singular they is a regular part of the English pronominal
system. Because it is a normal part of the English pronominal system, singular they should be regularly
included in the teaching of English pronouns.

英語の代名詞の they は複数の代名詞であるが、they は単数の先行詞としても使われることがある、特に人物の性別が不確かな場合である。しかし、一部の人々は単数の they が意味処理に悪影響を与えると考えている。本論文では単数の they の歴史、文法、使用法について述べている。また、人間以外の動物の先行詞として、単数の they が使われる場合の探索研究についても述べている。本研究において、研究者は参加者に、人間以外の動物の先行詞として、単数の they が使われる場合の記事を読むよう促した。そして、参加者達とのインタビューを通じて、その使用法が意味処理に悪影響を及ぼさない事が判明した。単数の they の使用法や歴史と共に、本研究の結果から、単数の they が正規の英語の代名詞であるということを確認している。以上のことから、普段の教育現場において、英語の代名詞として、単 のthey も含めるべきである。

Singular they (ST) is the use of the English pronoun they

2000; LaScotte, 2016; Newman, 1992; Paterson, 2011)

with a singular referent. A non-exhaustive list of

construction in English. This raises the question: Should

situations when ST might be applied includes when the

ST be included in materials and explicitly taught inreferent is indefinite, when the gender or sex of the

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts? Thisreferent

author believes it should be, a position which is exploredisunknownorirrelevant,

when

non-

sexist/gender-neutral alternatives to generic he arein this paper.

desired, and when the person being referred to has
previously indicated a preference for ST over otherpersonal third-person pronouns (Baron, 2018; Zimmer etal., 2016). Despite protestations over ST usage fromsome commentators (e.g. Heffer, 2014; Norris, 2015),
ST is a long-established (Balhorn, 2004; Bodine, 1975;
Curzan,2003),

fully

grammatical(Curzan,2009;

Eberhard et al., 2005; Huddleston & Pullum, 2002;
Sauerland et al., 2005), and frequently used (Gerner,

There are many specific situations that we canimagine in which EFL learners could benefit from having
knowledge of ST. For instance, one situation would be if
an EFL university student from Japan were to study
abroad in an English-speaking country. Such a student
might find that certain types of inclusive language,
including the use of ST, are commonplace in the speech
and academic community they join (Pauwels & Winter,

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

28

2006). Many colleges and universities in places whererepertoires, but by not “adjusting practice to linguistic

English is the primary language in use have guidelines

reality” (Sklar, 1988, p. 411), it represents a failure tothat affirm ST as useful and acceptable (e.g. Purdue

teach English as it actually exists and evolves.

Online Writing Lab, n.d.). It would be remiss for the EFL
Beyond ST’s history and frequency of use, theprogram at the home institution in Japan to not acquaintsense that it is a regular part of the English pronominal

students who wish to study abroad with ST.

system, and thus deserving of explicit teaching, can be
Another situation we can imagine is the case of

explored on psycholinguistic and processing grounds.

international companies which have economic incentives

Here, the processing of ST refers to how ST is

to promote inclusive, diverse workforces and to appeal tounderstood and resolved in the mind of a listener ordiverse clients and investors. In pursuit of these goals,

reader. For instance, do ST constructions produce toocompanies might embrace, among other measures, themuch ambiguity? How fast can the listener/reader

use or promotion of ST in company materials andresolve any ambiguity and link the pronoun to the correct

initiatives (e.g. Buxton, 2018). Thus, students who mightreferent? How fast is this resolution compared to when

join such companies upon graduation could benefit fromotherpronounsareknowinglisteners/readers,

or,

about

ST

beforehand.

These

scenarios

used?
on

the

Does

ST

distract

other

hand,

is

it

emphasize the idea that teaching ST helps students tounremarkable and goes mostly unnoticed? The generaldevelop their linguistic repertoires for navigation inquestion of the processing difficulty of ST animates thevarious cultural, academic, and professional contexts

study described in this paper. The results of this study(Metz, 2017).

suggest that ST, even in novel context, can go unnoticed
by listeners/readers, and this is interpreted as support for

While the scenarios above are primarily related
to ST’s relationship to non-sexist and non-binary
inclusive language, at a more general level ST should be
included in English Language Teaching (ELT) because it

the position that the construction is commonplace to thedegree that it should be considered a regular part of the
English pronominal system and should be regularly
included in ELT.

is a feature of everyday, real-world English use (Gerner,
2000; LaScotte, 2016; Meyers, 1990; Newman, 1992;
Paterson, 2011). Protests against using, and thus

The Processing Question

against teaching, ST usually center on the notion that it

Concerns over the processing of pronouns have been

is grammatically incorrect, or at least non-standard, andinvestigated by other researchers. Kerr and Underwood

thus should be avoided. However, this position fails to(1984) found that readers will fixate longer on pronouns

take the historicity and reality of ST usage into account.

that do not align with their expectations for gender-

The conventional proscription of ST is based onstereotyped referents. More specifically, they found that

mistaken 17th, 18th, and 19th century theories of English

readers are consistently slower when reading sentences

grammar (Bodine, 1975; Sklar, 1988), and despite thein which the gender of the pronoun and the genderproscription, ST, at least in some form, was in use before,

implied by the referent do not match.

during, and after that period (Balhorn, 2004). There has
been no time since the 14th century that ST has fallenout of common use, although some aspects of usage,
such as the non-sexist utilization of ST, may have

Drawing

on

that

work,

FoertschandGernsbacher (1997) posit that “if using singular they isconfusing and incurs additional cognitive processing,increased in salience (Blaubergs, 1980; Martyna, 1978;

readers would be slowed when reading a clause that

Miller & Swift, 1976), while forms such as ST for non-uses they to refer to a singular antecedent” (p. 106).

binary individuals may be genuinely recent innovations

They then ran experiments wherein they presented(Zimmer et al., 2016). Additionally, in some contexts ST

undergraduate

is more common than conventionally prescriptive genericpronouns (including ST) that referenced antecedents

he (Gerner, 2000; LaScotte, 2016; Newman, 1992;

often stereotyped as masculine (e.g. ‘truck driver’) or as

Paterson, 2011). Not teaching ST not only deprives

feminine (e.g. ‘nurse’), and antecedents which are

students of opportunities to develop their linguistic

gender-neutral

readers

(e.g.

with

‘runner’)sentencesorfeaturingindefinite(e.g.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal29

‘anybody’). Reading speeds were then measured and

Taken together, the aforementioned studies

compared. Based on their analysis of the reading speeds

suggest that people generally process and resolve ST,

for the various types of sentences, they conclude thator at least certain forms of ST, without great difficultywhen ST is used to refer to an indefinite or non-specificbecause of its frequency and their familiarity with it. This

(i.e. not a specified or presumably known individual)

author posits that when a construction is easy to process,referent it is a “cognitively efficient substitution for

we can expect it to ‘blend in’ with the linguistic context

generic he or generic she” (p. 109). They found that in aand not distract or draw overt attention. In turn, thefew cases, such as when the referent is a specified

degree of ‘blending in’ can signify the regularity of a

individual, ST resulted in slower reading times.

construction as part of the language. For instance, it has
been observed that many people who believe ST is

However, post-experiment survey data fromthe participants showed that a majority of the readers did
not find the usage that resulted in slower reading times
to be ungrammatical; the researchers posit that thereaders may be slower at processing those sentences
because they are reacting to what seems like an attempt

ungrammatical or wrong in fact use it (Freeman, 2015;
LaScotte, 2016; Pauwels & Winter, 2006), presumably
unwittingly. In other words, it simply ‘blends in’ and goes
unnoticed in their own productions. This ‘blending in’suggests that ST is a regular construction within the
English pronominal system.

to hide the gender of a person whose gender is known or
implied. Overall, the researchers propose that theirThis author posits that a corollary to such

experiments “demonstrate that the increased use ofunwitting usage is that ST goes mostly unnoticed insingular they is not problematic for the majority ofmany listening/reading contexts. In other words, thereaders” (p. 110) and furthermore that the instances ofdegree to which it is easily processed means that ST isreading delays for some sentences featuring ST “are due

usually an unremarkable part of any utterance andnot to the pronoun’s ungrammaticality or to uncertainty

simplyover the intended referent, but to the suspicious opacity

circumstances. If true, and if there is agreement thatof using a nongendered pronoun for an antecedent

English as it actually exists and is used should inform thewhose gender is presumably known” (p. 110).

kind(s) of English taught in ELT (Celce-Murcia, 1999),aregularpronominal

optionin

somethen this buttresses the argument that ST should be
Sanford and Filik (2007) ran a similar study

regularly included in ELT.

using eye-tracking. Eye-tracking equipment potentiallyallows for more subtle measurement than the methods
employed by Foertsch and Gernsbacher, and this study

Researchfound a slight yet clear processing delay associated with

The study described below supports the position that ST

ST. The researchers suggest this delay is caused by a

is a regular part of the English pronominal system, andmismatch between the pronoun number and the number

by extension that it should be taught in ELT, by showingof the referent that the reader is trying to retrieve.

that even in novel contexts ST can go mostly unnoticed.

However, they note that readers reliably
process, or make sense of, ST much faster than cases
where a singular pronoun such as he or she is used witha plural referent. In other words, in contrast to theapparently nonsensical use of singular pronouns withplural referents, ST usage “does not seem to cause
problems of felicity” (p. 176) in normal patterns ofcommunication. The researchers conclude that because
ST is in common use “it is rapidly accommodated as an
acceptable deviation” (p. 177) despite the number

While

it

is

commontoassessprocessing

via

experimental methods using invented linguistic items(sets of sentences) and measuring reading speeds (e.g.
Foertsch & Gernsbacher, 1997; Sanford & Filik, 2007),the study here uses real-world material of longer length(a news article) featuring natural occurrences of ST, anduses a semi-structured interview procedure to assess
whether readers of the material noticed and correctly
processed ST in a novel context. The novelty of thecontext is that ST in the reading material is used to referto a nonhuman animal.

mismatch causing delays for some readers.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

30

The use of ST with a nonhuman referent hassummarize it. They were not told to look for grammar

been observed (Brown, 2018; Fusari, 2018), but it is notirregularities or ST in particular, but to do their best tocommon or well-established. The high likelihood ofread the article as if they had encountered it naturally.

unfamiliarity with this ST usage among the study’s
participants forms the basis of an expectation that it
might cause processing problems which would be
revealed by the readers consciously noticing the usage,
or being distracted or confused by it. On the other hand,
if readers readily process ST (i.e. they do notconsciously notice it and it does not interfere with theirability to understand the material) even when thereferent is a nonhuman animal, it would lend strength tothe proposition that ST is simply a regular English
construction, which in turn would support its regular

After reading and summarizing the article, asemi-structured

interview

wasconducted.

Eachparticipant was asked whether there were any parts of
the article particularly difficult to understand or whether
they noticed any unusual grammar. They were also
asked about their familiarity with ST and if they had
noticed its usage in the article. If they had not noticed it,then the excerpt in the Materials section above wasshared and ST was explicitly pointed out. The interviews
concluded with a discussion on the acceptability of using
ST with a nonhuman animal referent. Each interview was

inclusion in ELT.

conducted separately, audio-recorded, and transcribed.

Participants

The sequence of interview questions and topics followed

Through opportunity sampling 19 English L1 speakers

a semi-fixed sequence according to a ‘decision-tree’

were recruited and consented to participate in this study.

which is available in Appendix A.

All participants are current or former teachers of English
in Japan. 14 participants are male, and five are female.
The age range at the time of the interviews is 27 to 51
years old, with a mean age of approximately 38 and amedian age of 36. Eight participants are from the UnitedStates, seven are from the United Kingdom, two are fromNew Zealand, one is from Canada, and one is from

Participant responses to items in the ‘decision
tree’ determined the paths of the interviews. For example,
one interview item asked “Did you notice ST in thearticle?”, and each participant’s reply provided a data
point (noticed VS not-noticed) and determined the next
semi-fixed item (confirming the participant realized ST
was used for a generic dog VS highlighting ST in an

Ireland.

excerpt from the article). In some ways, this format isMaterial

similar to an oral questionnaire with space made for

The material is an online article from The Metro

discussing certain responses in more detail or fornewspaper about dogs in hot cars (Nagesh, 2016). The

elaborating

article was chosen because the writer uses ST in a novel

responses.

upon

unexpectedorhighlynuancedcontext: Whereas the typical convention is to use thepronoun it to refer to generic nonhuman animals, thearticle’s author uses ST repeatedly with a generic dog as
thereferent.

(occurrences

For
of

ST

example,withone

passagenonhumanreads

referent

areunderlined):

Results
None of the participants noted problems reading or
understanding the article and all summarized the article
without difficulty. All participants stated that they werefamiliar with ST, and all stated that they find it at leastGet the dog out of the car and move them to asometimes acceptable. None of the participants said thatshaded, or cooler area. Then, douse the dog withthey noticed ST used in the article, thus all participantscool water and let them drink small amounts of it

were shown the excerpt highlighting the use of ST with a… If the dog is not displaying signs of heatstroke,

nonhuman referent. After re-reading this passage, 13

let them rest while you establish how long they
were in the car. (Nagesh, 2016)

Procedure
Participants were told that they would read an article

participants registered concerns about ST’s use in thearticle. One participant declared the way ST is used in
the article is wrong, stating, in regard to ST being used
to refer to a nonhuman animal, that:about dogs in hot cars, and that they would be asked to

The 2018 PanSIG Journal31

I don’t think you can, it’s there, but, I don’t think it

efficient replacement for generic he to some cases

can, it can, it shouldn’t be used like that. It should

where it is a replacement for it when the referent is abe ‘it’.

generic nonhuman animal. Second, even the participants

The other 12 who raised concerns said that it
seems too strange, too informal, that they would not use
it, or that it is inappropriate in edited writing. A response
typical of these concerns is:

who registered concerns about this usage of ST did not
notice it. That is, they processed the construction
multiple times without problems in the course of reading
the article despite believing, post-hoc, that this usage isproblematic. This observation matches those of others

I would probably not use it. I would probably say

who have found that even when someone claims ST is‘move it to a shaded area’ and, uh, or continue

problematic, it still tends to ‘blend in’ (Freeman, 2015;

using just ‘the dog’ or if you know its gender, ‘him

LaScotte, 2016; Pauwels & Winter; 2006).

or her’.

The novelty of the ST usage in the article
For greater context, and as an example of theraises an interesting question about why someone would‘decision tree’ in action, a transcription of the interview

produce ST, and not it or even generic he, for athat the preceding statement comes from is included in

nonhuman animal. One possibility is that the article’s

Appendix B.

author may have used ST intentionally to ‘personalize’ or

Six of the participants had no concerns about
ST referring to a generic dog. These participants
mentioned varying degrees of surprise when the usage
was highlighted, yet they found it acceptable. One
remarked that it seemed normal given the content of thearticle, stating:treat the dog as a ‘being’, not a ‘thing’, while avoiding thehuman complications that come from using masculine
generics. Alternatively, the author may have used ST
unwittingly, with no larger motive than that it simply felt
normal. ST does appear to be a regular part of the
English pronominal system, so the article’s author may
have simply reached for it as a natural option in this case.

It flows. I guess it, uh, fits. Maybe the, the writer is
sympathetic to the dog. Yeah, you know, I thought‘that’s weird’ when you, uh, first showed it, uhagain, to me. But it seems alright here.

These questions are beyond the scope of this study, but
might be an interesting future avenue of inquiry.
As for how this study relates to the ELTclassroom, the findings suggest indirect support for the
position that ST should be regularly included in ELT.

Discussion

Since it appears that the participants did not consciously

The main question investigated is whether readers would

notice ST, even in a novel context, this study joins others

consciously notice ST when it is used to refer to ain lending support to the position that ST ‘blends in’ andnonhuman animal (a generic dog in this case). Of course,

does not generally cause processing problems thatthe size and opportunistic nature of the sample size may

affect comprehension. This degree of ‘blending in’mean that the study is underpowered, yet it offers anindirectly supports the inclusion of ST in ELT because it

initial, tentative answer: The readers did not notice ST

supports the position that ST is a regular English

being used even in the novel context of it referring to a

construction.

nonhumananimal.

Thisfindingcolorstheotherinformation gleaned from the interviews.

Limitations
However, it is beyond the scope of this paper to suggest

This other information includes the findings that,how precisely ST should be included in ELT. For

first, not only did ST go unnoticed, but also each

instance, should ST be taught alongside other third

participant was able to summarize the article without

person singular pronouns or should it be introduced

difficulty. That is, there did not appear to be any clear

later? Another question is whether ST should be taught

negative effects in relation to comprehension of thein the most general of terms or should certain aspects ofarticle’s content. This potentially extends the finding ofit (e.g. non-sexist language or usage for people of non-Foertsch and Gernsbacher (1997) that ST can be an

binary genders) be emphasized? Still another question is

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

32

how to teach ST to different student populations. Somethe study offers tentative and indirect support for the

students may already use languages that have similar

position that ST, as a regular English construction,

gender-neutral or number-flexible pronouns, resulting inshould be regularly included in ELT.

little interference in acquisition of ST in English, whilestudents from other linguistic backgrounds might have

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Baron, D. (2018). A Brief History of Singular ‘they’. The

require different approaches for teaching ST.

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Celce-Murcia, M. (1999). Rules and reality: Prescriptive

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vs descriptive grammar. ESL Magazine, 2(4), 16-17.

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Eberhard, K. M., Cutting, J. C., & Bock, K. (2005).
Making Syntax of Sense: Number Agreement in

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Sentence Production. Psychological Review, 112(3),531-559.

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Foertsch, J., & Gernsbacher, M.A. (1997). In Search of

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Efficient Substitute for Generic He? Psychological
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Freeman, T. (2015). Everything you ever wanted to know

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Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge,

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Generic Masculine. Journal of Communication, 28(1),Sklar, E. (1988). The Tribunal of Use: Agreement in

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The 2018 PanSIG Journal

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Appendix A

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

35

Now Ask Your Partner: Questions in Interaction
John Campbell-Larsen
Kyoto Women’s University
Most ESL/ EFL students spend considerable time learning how to structure questions, focusing on word
order, auxiliaries, tags and so on. However, not all questions perform the same speech act. Canonically,transactional questions seek information. A second question type, typical of classroom interactions, isthe display question where a teacher asks a question to which the teacher already knows the answer. A
third type of question is the interactional question, which is only superficially concerned with getting ananswer. Rather, interactional questions are mainly pragmatic, maintaining progressivity of the interaction,suggesting possible topics for upcoming talk and so on. If transactional and display questions are thenorm in classroom interactions, then learners may be poorly equipped to identify and respond tointeractional questions, resulting in stilted minimalistic interactions and pragmatic failure. This paper will
suggest that students should be explicitly trained to identify, produce and respond to interactionalquestions.

英語会話の質問場面において、多くの英語学習者は質問そのものの文法構造や語順などの言語的側面に焦点を置き、それらに多くの時間を費やす。しかしながら、実際の言語使用場面では、全ての質問が同じ言語行為とは限らず、以下の３つに分類される。１つ目は文字通りに捉えた「情報要求としての質問」
である。２つ目は「標示としての質問」であり、教室内会話での教師からの質問のような既知情報の返答を促すものである。３つ目は表層的に回答を要求するだけの「相互行為としての質問」であり、主に語用論的に使用され会話の継続や維持、新たな話題の示唆などの機能を持つ。情報要求や標示としての質問のみが規範行為とされる学習環境では、学習者は「相互行為としての質問」を認識し、それに対して適切な返答をする能力が習得できず会話が成立しなくなる可能性もある。本稿では、その「相互行為としての質問」の生産力と対応力を習得することの必要性を論ずる。

The question/answer adjacency pair is a fundamental

display question where a teacher asks a student a

structure in spoken interaction and language learners

question to which he/ she (the teacher) already knows

must be able to produce comprehensible questions in

the answer. A third type of question is the interactional

the L2, and also to be able to understand questions thatquestion which is only superficially concerned withare addressed to them in the L2. Most students spend

getting an answer. Rather, interactional questions seek

considerable time learning how to structure questions into promote social bonds between speakers, maintainthe L2. In the case of English, this will mean attending toprogressivity in interaction, suggest possible topics forword order, using auxiliary verbs, learning about

upcoming talk and so on.

agreement in tag questions and the like. However, not allquestions perform the same speech act. At one end of
the scale there are simple transactional questions that
seek

information,

sometimes

termedreferential

questions. A second type of question, one that isparticularly associated with classroom interactions, is theUnderstanding the different intents of thesethree types of questions, and the different kinds of
responses that may be forthcoming if the question’s
intent is perceived in one way rather than another will
help both students and teachers to make better

The 2018 PanSIG Journal36

judgments about what kind of discourse they aremuch is the usual house price around here? is also an

involved in. As Cook (1989) states, “The language

interactionally incompetent question. The policeman may

learner, in order to be able to operate effectively as aknow the answer but it is not usually considered as

participant in discourse needs to be able to identify whatfalling within the bounds of a police officer’s duty totype of discourse he or she is involved in and to predict

answer such questions. That is, the officer may be able,

how it will typically be structured” (p. 49).

but is probably not willing, to answer such a question. As
we can see, asking a transactional question involves aThis paper suggests that, possibly due to the
preponderance of transactional and display questions in
the language classroom, students may be unable to

lot

of

assumptions

about

the

rights,

roles

and

responsibilities of the interactants, beyond just theexchange of information in response to a question.

identify the intent behind interactional questions, which
often leads to stilted, minimalistic responses andDisplay Questions

pragmatic failure in interaction. Habituating students to
identify, produce and respond to interactional questions

Questionsis vital if learners are ever to progress beyond the use of

instruction, both as a legitimate means of instruction andL2 purely for institutional purposes.

as a way of proceeding with classroom management.

are

an

importantfeatureoflanguage

Richards and Lockhart (1996, pp.185-186) give a variety

Transactional Questions
Although the grammar and vocabulary of questions
might be perceived as bothersome to learners of English,
with subject-auxiliary inversion, tag agreement, negative
question formation and so on, the underlying intent
would seem to be relatively straightforward. Speaker A
does not know something. He/she is in an epistemicminus situation (or K-). Speaker A asks a question to
Speaker B who, hopefully, provides the sought for
information, thus changing Speaker A’s epistemic statusfrom K- to K+, that is, from unknowing to knowing.
Examples of this kind of question would be in suchsituations as asking a shop clerk Do you have these insize seven? or asking a police officer for street directions
or asking a stranger in the street if they have the time.
However, these types of transactional questions are notas interactionally simple as they may seem at first glance.
Making sense of questions involves a lot ofwork on the part of the participants (see Schober, 1999).
On the part of the questioner, he/she must understandtheir K- status. They must assume that the addressee isin a K+ status and they must furthermore assume thatthe addressee is not only able, but also willing to provide
the sought for information. For example, asking a
policeman in the street, Where is the station? satisfies
these conditions. Asking the policemen, Where did I put
my glasses? is not an interactionally competent question,
as the policeman would almost certainly not know theanswer. Similarly, asking a policeman on the street, Howof different classroom question categories. One categoryis“procedural”

(E.g.

Did

everyone

bring

their

homework?) in which matters of classroom procedureand routines are dealt with. A second category is termed‘convergent’ in which “Language teachers often ask arapid sequence of convergent questions to help develop
aural skills and vocabulary and to encourage whole classparticipation before moving on to some other teaching
technique.” (p.186) Another category, which is relevantto the language classroom especially, is the display
question. As with transactional questions, there are anumber of interactional characteristics that pertain to thistype of question. The question is usually asked by theteacher either to a nominated student or to the wholeclass. In contrast to transactional questions, thequestioner is not assumed to be in an epistemic minus
state. That is, the teacher asks a question to which he or
she already knows the answer. Also in contrast totransactional questions, it is not automatically assumed
that the addressee knows the answer. That is, a student
may not have understood the textbook passage or audio
conversation that was the basis for the question. A
further complication is that the addressee may know theanswer but may not understand the question for somereason to do with grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,
speed of delivery or the like, and thus be unable toanswer the question, for reasons unconnected toepistemic status. Similarly, the student may know theanswer but not be able to formulate it in the L2. Anotherkey

difference

betweendisplayquestionsandtransactional questions is that the answer may be

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

37

subject to evaluation, not only for its propositional

evaluations in non-language classroom situations would

correctness, but also for its form. Thus, a teacher, after

most likely be perceived as face threatening. A final point

having played an audio recording of an L2 conversation

to be made here is that due to the power asymmetries

to the class may select a student to answer a questionthat (usually) exist between teacher and student, and theconcerning the contents of the recording, e.g. OK, Yuki,

institutionally mandated goals of the language classroom,

what time will the man meet his friends? The student

certain response options are not deemed appropriate. In

may respond with, The man will meet his friends at six

answer to the question What time will the man meet his

o’clock. This answer may be followed by an assessment

friends? the following responses would be deemedfrom the teacher such as, Yes, that’s right. Six o’clock.

inappropriate: a) I don’t know, I’ll get back to you later. b)

Well done. This kind of sequence is referred to as theI don’t know; why don’t you ask Maria? c) Charles

IRF sequence (Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975). Clearly,

already told you the answer a moment ago. d) It’s in thesuch an assessment is not appropriate in transactional

book on page ten. An answer given in the student’s L1,questions. The following sequence in a shop would beeven if it is comprehensible by the teacher and all otherconsidered odd or insulting.

students, would also be considered inappropriate.
Display questions provide strict constraints on answer

Customer: Excuse me, how much is this?
Clerk:

It’s twenty dollars.

types that may be pragmatically appropriate in othercontexts.
From the above, it can be seen that asking a

Customer: That’s right well done.

question is a complex interactional event, as is
Not only the content, but also the form of theansweringthequestion.

Researchonclassroom

answer to a display question is open to evaluation.

interaction and questioning (For example, Richards andReturning to the question above, in answer to the

Lockhart, 1985, Long and Sato, 1983, Nunan, 1989) has

question What time will the man meet his friends? The

identified the prominence of display questions in thestudent may answer Six o’clock. The teacher may thenlanguagerequest a fuller answer, requiring the student to produce

transactional (or referential) questions. These two types

a full sentence, even though the answer given was, inof question may contain many subtypes, but they arestrict terms, correct and sufficient. Or, a student may

assumed to be the main types of question that occur inmake a comprehensible and correct answer that is

institutional language learning contexts. Given the rights,

grammatically deviant and which may prompt theroles and responsibilities that inhere to these question

teacher to urge the student to use the correct form as ingenres and their prominence in classroom interactions, it

the following:

may be the case that students conceive of questions in

Teacher: What time will the man meet his friends?
Student: The man will meet his friends on six
o’clock.

classroom

andcontrasted

them

with

the target language as belonging to one or the other (ora blend) of these two genres and construct questions
and responses accordingly. A third type of question, aninteractional question, and its appropriate response, may
not feature in student’s repertoire of speech acts.

Teacher: On? On? On six o’clock?
Student: The man will meet his friends at
sixo’clock.
Teacher: That’s right. At six o’clock.

Interactional Questions
The central use of language in all societies is quotidian,mundane conversation. As with all other forms ofinteraction, conversation (and the related, partiallyIf the lesson target was prepositions of time,overlapping sub-genre, small talk), is conducted withthis prompted re-phrasing of the answer is appropriate.

certain rights, roles and responsibilities of participants.

Even if the lesson target was something else, such as

Cook, (1989, p.51) gives the following definition ofwill for future actions, the evaluation/correction prompt

conversation:

may also occur. Needless to say, such prompts and

The 2018 PanSIG Journal381) It is not primarily necessitated by a

expanded answer and move the conversation forward.
(See Thompson, Fox and Couper-Kuhlen, 2015).

practical task.

The following excerpt is taken from a YouTube

2) Any unequal power of participants isvideo of an unscripted interaction between speaker S
who is British and runs a cycle tour company in Japan

partially suspended.

and K and Z who are American tourists who have just3) The number of participants is small

taken a tour and are discussing their experiences inJapan.

4) Turns are quite short

Excerpt 15) Talk is primarily for the participants andTourists in Japan. Crofts (2014)

not for an outside source.

Theconceptofnaturalistic,“genuine”

communication is also outlined by Nunan (1987, p.137):
genuine communication is characterized by theuneven distribution of information, the negotiationof meaning (through, for example, clarification

01.

S:

So how about Japanese food02.

what do you particularly

03.

like what is your favorite?

04.

K:

I like the ramen with the

topic

05.

nomination and negotiation by more than one

06.

Z:

Yeah

07.

S:

Ramen with a sof. Oh sorequests

andconfirmation

checks),speaker, and the right of interlocutors to decide
whether to contribute to an interaction or not. In
other words, in genuine communication, decisions

08.

um soft boiled egg

it explodes an goes yellow

about who says what to whom and when are up
for grabs.

Despite the centrality of conversation in daily
life, in language learning it is often judged negatively.
Indeed, Schegloff (2007, p.xiii) explains his preference
for

using

the

term

talk-in-interaction

rather((Talk about food in Japan continues for another 60
lines))The question by S in lines 01-03 foregrounds

than‘food in Japan’ which was a subtopic of the immediately

conversation to “circumvent the connotation of triviality

previous talk. The form of the question is elaborate andthat has come often to be attached to the latter term”.

unfolds over three phases. Firstly, the speaker asks a

Far from being trivial and lacking in the kinds of

topicalizing question that would be difficult to answer

structures that are more commonly associated with more

without any further elaboration, i.e. So how about

prestigious kinds of speaking, such as presentations orJapanese food? This is immediately followed by two

formal debates, conversation is rule-bound and internallyfurther increments; What do you particularly like? andcoherent as a genre. One key feature of conversation as

What is your favorite? The recipients of this series ofa genre is the need for progressivity (See Stivers andtopicalizing and focusing questions treat the purpose of

Robinson, 2006). That is, the participants must orient to

the questions as interactional rather than purely

their rights and responsibilities and shoulder their fairtransactional. That is, they do not provide minimalized

share of the burden of keeping the conversation going.

answers such as My favorite Japanese food is Ramen

One way in which participants in sociallyoriented interactions can promote progressivity is byasking questions that are interactional in intent. That is,
the utterance takes the form of a question but isdesigned to be understood as an invitation to provide anwith boiled egg and then move onto other mattersprimed by further questions from S. Instead, the talkcontinues for quite some time on the topic of food with all
three participants contributing statements, opinions,repairs and the like. The recipients have interpreted S’squestion as an invitation to engage in extended

The 2018 PanSIG Journal39

interaction on an accessible topic rather than a narrow
requestfor

information

and

they

orienttothissocial/interactional schema.

In this sequence the two learners have been
instructed only to speak together in English. No topic
was given and no task was allocated and it was
explained to the learners that this section of the lesson

The orientation to a social/interactional schema,i.e. conversation, would seem to be a matter of common
sense and a practice that, because it obviously exists in

was designed to give maximum autonomy to learners to
speak following as closely as possible the outline of socalled “genuine” interaction described by Nunan, above.

the learner’s L1, would not be relevant to explicitly teachin the L2 classroom. However, the ability of learners to

The conversation that resulted is typical ofidentify that they are involved in conversation is not amany conversations in my data. It contains an extended

given, as illustrated in the following excerpt of classroom

sequence of question and answer adjacency pairs,

interaction between two students recorded by the author.

which is generally not the way in which spontaneous
social interaction unfolds. The questions are minimized

Excerpt 2

and stand-alone in contrast to the elaborate question

Part time job. AEI
01.

Y:

illustrated in excerpt 1. The answers are likewise
What (1.1) did you: (1.0)

minimized, providing the answer to the question asked
with no elaboration, evaluation, discourse marking or02.

do? (2.1) weekend this (0.9)

03.

last weekend? weekend

between question and answer roles during this sequence.

04.

(4.8)

Speaker Y asks all of the questions and speaker M
provides answers to those questions and nothing further.

other commentary. There is not even an alternation

05.

M:

>Part time job<

06.

Y:

Oh? eh what what what job?

07.

M:

Conbini (.) ence store

speakers/ proficient L2 speakers would probably find this

08.

Y:

Eh:: where? where?

kind

(1.9)

prolonged beyond a few turns.

09.

In only the narrowest sense can the questions be said tohave been asked and answered and most native Englishofinteractionalarchitectureburdensome

if

10.

M:

Near (.) my home.

11.

Y:

My home? (1.0) my near

phatic interactions held by native and proficient L2

12.

M:

Near.

speakers. The problem is primarily not one of lack of

13.

Y:

Near eh? Seven Eleven?

14.

M:

No circle K?

15.

Y:

Circle K? Circle K

grammar knowledge than demonstrated here. Neither isCircle K ah ah ah:::it a case of pronunciation rendering the interaction

16.
17.

M:

School18.

Y:

Ok ok oh eh::: (3.6)

The interaction here does not resemble normal

vocabulary and grammar knowledge by the speakers as
both speakers have passed rigorous university entrance
exams that require much higher levels of vocabulary andincomprehensible as both speakers seem to understandeach other’s utterances on a propositional level. Rather,it seems to be the case that the unnaturalness of this19.

oh eh what time. (.) uh::exchange

20.

(2.5)

competence. (See Hall, Hellermann, & Doehler 2011, fora discussion of L2 interactional competence.) In this

is

based

upon

issuesofinteractional

21.

M:

Four ah four hours

22.

Y:

Four hours?

23.

M:

Kana

24.

Y:

Morning? (4.5) Night?

answer sequences according to the genres of questions

25.

M:

(1.8) Lunch lunchthat they have most frequently encountered in language

particular case it might be argued that the speakers havefailed to understand the opportunities open to them as
autonomous interactants and are deploying question andclassrooms; transactional and display questions. A
stand-alone question is produced by one participant. An

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

40

answer to that question is given by the addressee of thatassessments and so on. 6) In extremis, I can reject thequestion. The original questioner then asks anothertopic proffer and turn over responsibility for further

question, with minimal or zero response or reaction toprogression to the questioner, but this strategy is to betheused sparingly.

answer

that

has

just

been

given

beyonddemonstrating some understanding of that answer, i.e.
by asking a follow-up question. Although follow-up
questions are a regular feature of classroom instructions,they may be viewed negatively in that they could indicatethat the answer given to the previous question was
somehow insufficient and failed to maintain or contribute

That is, the addressee can respond with anaccount of his/ her weekend activities (Well, I went tosee a movie…), or can switch topic (Oh, nothing special.
Actually, I’m going to Disneyland next month…) or return
speakership to the questioner. (Oh, not much. How
about you?) This last option is to be used sparingly as itto the progressivity of the interaction.

can convey an attitude of disinterest.

Interactional Questions: Purpose, Formand Position
If it is true that students are mostly exposed to display
and transactional questions in the language classroom,
and if it is further true that they subsequently perceive ofquestions in the target language as being one or theother of these genres, then it seems likely that continued
focus on the traditional stuff of language classes,
vocabulary,grammarandpronunciation

will

not

necessarily lead to increased interactional abilities.
Explicit awareness-raising of the purpose, form andApart from the placement of interactionalquestions, i.e. often following openings, the form may
also be something leaners can notice. The form ofinteractional questions is often complex and multicomponent. Excerpt 1 above opened with a complex
string of questions. Here are some further examples ofinteractionalquestions

taken

from

an

unscripted

YouTube interaction between native English speakers.
(To Fluency, 2017).

Excerpt 3. (32:24)
When you were teaching in Spain did you ever have tosequence placement of interactional questions will, it iswork on an American national holiday? Like the fourth ofsuggested, help learners move towards higher levels of

July? I guess you’re not even from the U.S. so you don’tinteractional competence.

have the attachment to those kinds of, or people didn’t

Firstly, at the opening of a conversation after
exchange of greetings and dealing with here-and-now
considerations such seating, drink ordering, removal ofoutdoor clothing etc. a question asked on a topic ofgeneral accessibility such as recent social activities orcelebrate it so you had to work on that day an’ it feels
kind of weird. But did you ever have to do that?

Excerpt 4. (33:01)
Do you feel emotionally connected to Thanksgiving? Coz
it’s an American thing.

upcoming plans is likely to be interactional in nature. A
question such as What did you do last weekend? can be

Excerpt 5. (34:24)

interpreted by the addressee as having the following

Do you know if it traditionally or historically stands forinteractional purposes: 1) The questioner wishes to havesomething? Or it like symbolizes…

a social interaction with me. 2) The questioner does nothave any particular topic at hand, or if he/she does, thenshe/he will defer talking about this for the time being. 3)
The questioner proffers the topic of last weekend’s
activities 4) The questioner will accept talk on this topic
but will also accept non-uptake of this topic by me,
providing that if I do not take up this topic I proffer afurther topic myself that is accessible and acceptable tothe questioner. 5) Whatever topic I do choose to talkThequestions

are

not

stand-aloneinterrogatives like the questions in excerpt 2 but are
structured as strings of questions, with commentary andexemplar answers. These patterns can be taught
explicitly to students to help them both produce thequestions in these forms and understand the intent when
hearing them. See Appendix 1 for a classroom
worksheet activity.

about, I am expected to discourse at some length on it,
providingfacts,

supportingstatements,

opinions,

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

41

Conclusion

Nunan, D. 1989 Understanding Language Classrooms.

Questions and their answers are a key language skill
and one that students must master. However, not allquestions perform the same function. Habituation todisplayandtransactionalquestionsmay

inhibitinteractional competence in learners. Overt teaching of

Hemel Hempstead, England: Prentice Hall.
Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective
teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.

the function, placement and form of interactional

Schegloff, E. A. (2007). Sequence organization inquestions, in combination with other interactionallyinteraction: Volume 1: A primer in conversation

oriented language such as discourse markers, helps toanalysis (Vol. 1). Cambridge, England: Cambridge

avoid the minimized Q&A format and gradually learn toUniversity Press.

engage in more naturalistic spoken interactions (seeappendix 2 for an example) A broad orientation tointeractional

considerations

prepareslearners

totranscend the institutional language that is often the only

Schober, M. F. (1999). Making sense of questions: Aninteractional

approach.

Cognitionandsurveyresearch, 77-93.

mode of speaking that they know.
Sinclair, J. M., & Coulthard, M. (1975). Towards ananalysis of discourse: The English used by teachers

References

and pupils. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Crofts, S. [ Sam Crofts] (2014, November 13). Podcast 3(Tourists in Japan) [Video file]. Retrieved fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXRW4PPZ8VI
Cook, G. (1989). Discourse. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press.

L2

progressivity in interaction. Language in society,35(3), 367-392.
Thompson, S. A., Fox, B. A., & Couper-Kuhlen, E.
(2015).

Hall, J. K., Hellermann, J., & Doehler, S. P. (Eds.).
(2011).

Stivers, T., & Robinson, J. D. (2006). A preference forinteractional

competence

anddevelopment. Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters.

Grammarin

everydaytalk:

Building

responsive action. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
To Fluency (2017, Jan 26) ADVANCED ENGLISH

Long, M. H., & Sato, C. J. (1983). Classroom foreigner

CONVERSATION!!! Jack and Vanessa Talk About

talk discourse: Forms and functions of teachers’

Books, Holidays, Living Abroad, & More! [Video File].

questions. In H.W. Seigler, & M.H. Long (Eds.),

Retrieved

Classroom oriented research in second language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_q-

acquisition, (pp. 268-285). Rowley, MA : Newbury

3KQJVQI&feature=youtu.be

fromHouse.
Nunan, D. (1987). ‘Communicative language teaching:making it work’ in ELT Journal 41/2: 136-45.

Author biography
John Campbell-Larsen is from the United Kingdom and teaches in the Department of English Studies at Kyoto
Women’s University, Japan. He received his M.A. in TESOL from Birmingham University and his research interests
include Conversation Analysis, pragmatics and teaching spoken English. joncamlar@hotmail.com

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

42

Student Preferences for Online Discussion Forums
Patrick Conaway
Yamagata University
In group English discussion activities, it is not uncommon for students to sit in silence or almost
exclusively use L1 to communicate with their peers. Although some teachers would attribute this to alack of motivation, another possibility is that students do not yet have enough fluency to decode andformulate messages in real time. Threaded discussion forums are one way that technology can be used
to allow students more time to understand their peers and create their own messages. This study follows
a mixed-methods approach, using interviews to supplement survey data. The quantitative data suggeststhat students who are less confident may prefer online communication. Student interviews highlight thepossibility that successful interaction has a different value to students in the two modes as well as
support the conclusion that students who are disinclined to interact with others tend to dislike discussion
activities regardless of mode.

英語のグループディスカッション活動では、学生が静かに座ったり、又は、L1 を使って同輩とコミュニケーションをとることは珍しいことではない。一部の教師はこれをモチベーションの欠如とみなすが、もう 1 つの可能性は、学生がリアルタイムでメッセージをデコードして作成するのに十分な流暢性を持っていないことである。ディスカッシ
ョンフォーラムは、時間制限を外しコミュニケーションを促す儀実の筆である。この調査は、アンケート調査を補完するための学生インタビューを使用した複合方法アプローチに従っている。定量的なデータは、自信がない学生
がオンラインコミュニケーションを好むことを示唆している。学生のインタビューでは、2 つのモードで成功した相互作用が学生にとって異なる価値を持つ可能性と、他人とやり取りを好まない学生がモードに関係なくディスカッション活動を嫌う傾向があるという結論を支持している。

During in-class EFL discussion activities some students

forums have been shown to make participation inreadily seek to interact with their peers. Some of thoseclassroom

students have high English proficiency, but others readily

university environments (Warschauer, 1996). This may

engage in activities despite lower proficiecy, albeit withalso be true for EFL learners who are nervous about

extensive use of the students’ L1. There are also somecommunicating face-to-face with their peers. Morestudents who do not participate as actively in speaking

recently, Yanguas and Flores (2014), examined theand discussion activities. Some students tend to avoid

impactparticipation in group speaking tasks or participate

communication on the quantity of communication byminimally.

students studying Spanish as a foreign language. Theirresults

Based on my own personal experiences ofusing social media for interaction with students, I added
an online discussion component to my EFL courses withthe hope of making it easier for my less outgoingstudents to participate in discussions. Support for this

discussions

of

more

democratic

synchronous

suggestthat

computerstudents

using

in

ESL

mediated

synchronous

computer mediated communication engage in morecommunication as measured by speaking turns. It also
found

that

Communicate

student

scoresquestionnaire

on

a

were

Willingness
less

to

strongly

correlated with the quantity of communication for online

can be found in the literature as well. Online discussion

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

43

voicecommunication

than

for

face-to-facecommunication.

these scales looked approached the construct as arather static personality trait that was used for predicting
tendencies to engage in spoken L1 communication.

While Yangua and Flores (2014) examined theamount of communication students undertake during

In their interpretation of WTC for L2 communication,synchronous online discussion using audio, this study

Macintyre, Donyei, Clement and Noels (1998) argued

aims to measure student preferences of in-class andthat it is not necessary to limit the construct to only aasynchonous written online discussions, and identify

static trait, and that some of its components may varygroups that have a significant preference for online

depending upon the situation. In their six-layer model,

format over face-to-face discussions. The current study’s

WTC is an antecedent of communication behavior, which

focus upon asynchronous rather than synhronous online

is in turn influenced by ten different factors ranging from

communication is because of the more relaxed timesituational factors such as Desire to Communicate with aconstraints that it can afford students. Skehan (1998),

Specific Person to more static traits such as Self-

suggestsonConfidence, which they broke down into the sub

communicative tasks can lead to gains in linguistic

components of self-evaluation of L2 skills and anxiety

complexity and accuracy. Asynchronous communication

when using the L2.

thatrelaxing

time

constraints

allows participants more time to both understand an
create messages than face to face communication which
requires messages be processed in realtime. Online
discussion forums are one type of asynchronous
communication. Users post and reply to messages in anelectronic forum at a time of their own choosing and cantake as much time as they want to read and create
messages. With these two benefits of asynchronous
communication in mind, the study aims to answer the

Learners who have greater self-confidence in their L2
are often more willing to use it for communication.
Similarly those with lower anxiety regarding L2 use are
generally more willing to communicate in their L2. These
two constructs may appear to be mirror images of eachother at first glance, but their relationship is in fact more
complicated. Some people may view their proficiency intheir L2 as being very low yet feel relatively comfortableusing their L2 despite experiencing difficulties. Likewise,

following research questions:some learners may feel nervous or uncomfortable using
1.

To what extent are the learner individual factors ofWillingness

To

Communicate,

Linguistic

their L2 even when they have skill using the language.

Self

Confidence, and Language Use Anxiety correlatedSomelearners

enjoycommunicative

speakingwith mode of discussion for EFL students at

activities in class, yet others can experience difficulty

Japanese university?

and distress in these situations. Students who are
relatively unwilling to communicate, do not have2.

Is there a significant difference in preferences formode of discussion for students with differing levelsof these individual factors?

towards

in-class

andusing the target language may experience more difficultyand enjoy these types of face to face communicative

A questionnaire was designed to measure student
opinions

confidence in their language ability, or feel nervous when

onlineformats

speaking activities less.

ofdiscussions as well as several background factors, andwas then administered to two intact classes of Japanese
university students. The questionnaire measures threemotivational variables of Willingness to Communicate,
Linguistic Self-Confidence, and Language Use Anxiety.

MethodThe methodology followed in this research is mixedmethod, including both quantitative and qualitative
methods. This aims to compensate for the weaknessesof one method with the strengths of the other. (Dornyei,

The construct of Willingness to Communicate has its

2007) The strategy used in the quantitative part of theroots in Burgoon’s Unwillingness to Communicate Scalestudy is a questionnaire, while the qualitative portion is(1976) which was further developed as Willingness toan interview. Questionnaires are able to gather data from

Communicate by McCloskey and Baer (1985). Both ofa large number of participants, however it is difficult toadapt questions to the individual participant, as well as

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

44

for participants to provide in-depth responses. Interviews

associated with the tasks. This study does not examine

can add depth, but due to their time-consuming nature it

the actual linguistic performance of students due to theis seldom feasible to interview more than a few

difficulty of collecting data. Although, online discussion

participants. Correlations and ANOVA calculated usingtranscripts are readily available, it was not possible tothe software SPSS were used for analysis in thecollect data from in-class speaking tasks due to the large

quantitative section of the study, with analysis of codedclass sizes.

interview transcripts used for that of the qualitative
The questionnaire was divided into two parts

section.

with a total of 31 items. Items in part one used Likert

Participants

scale questions and were scored from strongly agree to

The participants receiving the questionnaire were 64

strongly disagree in a six-level scale. Part two items

Japanese first-year university students at a national

wereuniversity in Japan. The respondents came from two

respondent chose the most appropriate response from

intact English communication classes that met for fifteen

two to six choices. After the questionnaire an invitation to

weekly 90-minute classes. As a part of the class,participate in a follow-up interview was also used, andstudents engaged in six online discussion assignments

other than those who opted to participate in the follow-up

in addition to speaking activities in small groups andinterview no names were recorded on the questionnaire

pairs. The sample was predominantly male, with 45

forms to maintain confidentiality. Before administering

respondents, 16 female, and three instances with nothe questionnaire, it was piloted once with one adultresponse. Nearly all the respondents were between thefemale Japanese English speaker with intermediateages of 18 and 20, with two respondents over 21 years

proficiency. When piloted, the Japanese respondentold. Both classes were listed as intermediate level

found the sequence of choices in the Likert scales to be

English classes, however one class was made entirely of

confusing and were reversed.

personal

informationquestions

where

the

students from the engineering faculty and tended to have
For the qualitative study, an interview protocol

lower proficiency than those from the other class.

was developed using a list of 12 questions to guide theTheinterviews

wereconducted

using

a

interviews. Questions focused primarily on participants’convenience sample of two questionnaire respondents

previous language learning experiences and their

who volunteered for a follow-up interview. Both of theperceptions of discussion activities in online and face tostudents were male, 19 years of age, and came from theface formats.

same English class composed of first year engineering

prepared interview questions).

(see appendix B for the list of pre-students.

Procedures
Instruments

Students were given notice of the questionnaire one

For the questionnaire, multi-item scales were created toweekmeasure students’ attitudes toward the two modes ofannouncement was followed by an email message

interaction activities (online and in-class discussions),

briefly

and

three

personality

traitsofWillingness

beforeadministering

describing

the

it.

goals

A

and

brief
content

in-class
of

the

to

questionnaire. It was administered in an in-person group

Communicate, Linguistic Self-confidence, and Language

format using 15 minutes of time at the beginning of the

Use Anxiety. These three scales drew from items in thenormal class time. The return rate was 100% for thequestionnaire used by Kormos and Dornyei (2004) instudents who attended class on the day of administering

their study on motivation in EFL group discussions,the questionnaire. However, several students werewhich in turn is based upon Clement, Dornyei and Noels

absent, resulting in a total return rate of 91% of students(1994) questionnaire supplemented with items for its

enrolled in the two classes.

WTC scale borrowed from McCloskey and Baer (1985).
The student interviews were conducted two

The two multi-item scales measuring attitudes toward
online and in-class discussion included items related toperceived effectiveness, ability to participate, and fatigue

weeks after the administration of the questionnaire. Afterseveralquestions

about

the

student's

generalbackground, open-ended questions (e.g. Tell me about

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

45

your image of studying foreign language.) were asked. In

To ensure that the individual items of theaddition to the prepared questions, several additional

scales measured the same construct, Cronbach’s alphaquestions were asked of each participant to clarify or

was calculated for each multi-item scale. Cronbachelaborate upon their responses. These two interviews

alpha values greater than 0.7 generally indicate that theeach lasted roughly 15 minutes and were conducted inindividual items of a scale vary in the same way andthe students' L1 of Japanese. The two interviews werelikelydigitally recorded, transcribed, and then translated into

Confidence and Language Use Anxiety approach or

English for data analysis. The interviews were conducted

exceed this threshold. However, that of Willingness toface to face in an unused classroom.

Communicate, with a Cronbach alpha of .459 is muchmeasurethesamething.

Linguistic

Self-lower than the threshold for reliability. This lack of

Variables in the study

precision may be due to some respondents interpreting

In this study, the independent variables are Willingness
toCommunicate,

Linguistic

Self-Confidence,andLanguage Use Anxiety. The independent variables areoperationalizedusing

multi-item

Likertscalesthe items as referring to communication in L1 whileothers assumed that the items were asking about L2
communication.

as

described in Table 1. Items for the scales of LinguisticThe

dependent

variablesaremeasured

Self-Confidence and Language Use Anxiety both drewvariables of Attitudes toward in-class discussion andtheir individual questionnaire items from Kormos andAttitudes toward online discussion, as well as the

Dornyei (2004). The individual items for the scalecomputed variable of Preference for online discussion.

Willingness to Communicate were informed by Kormos

Attitudes toward in-class discussion and Attitudes toward

and Dornyei’s questionnaire but were arranged to reflect

online discussion are both measured variables andcommunicative situations regularly observed by theoperationalized with mulit-item Likert scales (see table 1

author.

for individual items). Both of the measured dependent
variables showed acceptable reliability values.

Table 1: Motivational variables
Willingness to Communicate

Readiness to speak with people in different social situations; e.g. “talking
with friends at lunch time” (3 items, Cronbach a = .459, : q1, q10, q16)

Linguistic Self-Confidence

Learner’s positive feeling about their own language ability; e.g. “I amhappy with my English level” (4 items, Cronbach a = .699 : q4, q8, q12,
q24)

Language Use Anxiety

Learner’s feelings of anxiety felt when using L2; e.g. “I sometimes feel
nervous when I have to speak English” (3 items, Cronbach a = .713 : q6,
q17, q22)

Attitudes toward in-class discussion

Learner’s positive attitudes towards in-class discussion activities; e.g.
“Discussing in class makes me better at communicating in English” (3items, Cronbach a = .663 : q9, q13, q20)

Attitudes toward online discussion

Learner’s positive attitudes towards online discussion activities; e.g. “Ican easily share my ideas and opinions in online discussions” (4 items,
Cronbach a = .749 : q5, q15, q18, q23)

Preference for online discussion

This variable is computed as the Attitudes toward face to face discussion
subtracted from Attitudes toward online discussion.

Preference for online discussion is a computed variable
that subtracts the scores of Attittudes toward in-classdiscussion from those of Attitudes toward online
discussion. The rationale for computing this variable

The 2018 PanSIG Journal46

rather than measuring student preferences directly was

In the qualitative part of the study, translations

to avoid forcing respondents to consider two differentof the transcribed interview data which were coded inconstructs at the same time.

two rounds for analysis. In the first round, individual
utterances were annotated in isolation with the second
round looking for themes connecting different utterances.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics of motivational and background variables

Variable
WTC
Willingness to Communicate
LSC
Linguistic Self-Confidence
LUA
Language Use Anxiety
OnlineAttitudes toward online discussion
In-class
Attitudes toward in-class discussion
Online preference
Preference for online discussion
Age
SSTE
School speaking task experience
PCSE
Private conversation school experience
TOEIC
Valid N (listwise)N

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

Std. Deviation

64

1.00

6.00

4.11

.92

64

1.75

6.00

3.62

.89

64

1.00

6.00

4.32

1.13

64

1.50

6.00

3.84

.86

64

1.33

6.00

3.70

.96

64

-3.17

2.50

.14

.87

64

2

6

3.06

.69

63

1

6

3.06

1.39

63

1

6

2.37

2.00

64

1

6

2.94

1.04

62

Data analysis

Results of the quantitative study

For the analysis of the quantitative data, a correlational
designwasdependent

followed.
variables

CorrelationsofAttitudes

betweentowardtheonlinediscussion, Attitudes toward face to face discussion, andPreferenceforonlinediscussion

theindependent

background variables were computed and assessed. In
addition, ANOVA was performed to identify significant
differences between subgroups within the motivationalvariables. For both analyses the statistic significancelevel was set at p < .05, two tailed. This setting leaves a

Correlations
Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics for the
motivational variables and ordinal scale backgroundvariables in the sample. While nearly all the variables
show a wide range in responses, Language Use Anxiety,
Schoollabeled as significant. Two tails

means that when examining differences between groups
there is no assumed direction to the change. Since theidependent variables in this study may have resulted in
more or less favorable views of different discussion
formats, a two-tailed analysis was used.

task

experienceandPrivatevariation in their responses as described by theirstandard deviation.

5% chance of variations being due to random variation
despite being being

speaking

Conversation School Experience show relatively more

Table 4 shows Pearson correlations between
the dependent variables of attitudes towards online andin-class discussions with the independent motivationalvariablesandbackgroundvariables.

There

are

significant positive correlations between the independent
variables of Willingness to Communicate and Linguistic
Self-Confidence with the two dependent variables of

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

47

Attitudes toward online discussion and Attitudes toward

conversation school was attended may explain its

in-class discussion. This shows that students who areslightly lower correlation strength. There were also

confident in their language abilities and are willing tosignificant negative correlations between Language Use

speak with others tend to look at both online and in-class

Anxiety with both Attitudes toward online discussion anddiscussions favorably. Private Conversation School

Attitudes toward in-class discussion. As expected,

Experience also had a significant positive correlation

students who feel nervous about using L2 tended towith Attitudes toward in-class discussion. Since in-classhave less favorable views of both types of discussion

activities are similar in nature to many of those done inactivity.

private conversation schools, a positive correlation is

independent

unsurprising. Other factors such as at what age

Preference for online discussion. Students who feel

Linguistic

Self-Confidence

variablesignificantly

was

the

correlated

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

only
to

a

48

confident about their abilities in L2 may not feel a strong

view both types of discussions favorably and those withneed to take advantage of the loosened time constraints

lowafforded by online discussion and prefer the ease ofunfavorably. This is not surprising, Students with low

discussing verbally rather than in writing.

confidence may feel somewhat negatively about a wide

Linguistic

Self-Confidence

viewedthembothrange of activities that rely on them producing language.

ANOVA analysis

When scores for in-class discussions are subtracted

ANOVA was used to further explore the statisticallysignificant correlations between the dependent variablesof Attitudes toward online discussion, Attitudes toward
in-class discussion, Preference for online discussion andthe independent variables of Linguistic Self-confidence,from those of online discussions a slight difference inpreferences for low and high confidence groups. Thosein the high confidence group tended to prefer in-classdiscussions while those in the medium and low
confidence groups tended to prefer the online format.

and Language Use Anxiety (See Table 1). Scores for the
independent

variables

were

grouped

into

three

Language Use Anxiety. One-way analysis ofcategories of low (1.0-2.0), medium (2.01-4.0), and highvariance also indicated that there were significant(4.01-6.0) for the analysis and are summarized in Tables

differences amongst the three levels of Language Use5, and 6.

Anxiety with Attitudes toward online discussion and
Attitudes
Linguistic Self-confidence. One-way analysis

ofvariance

indicated

that

there

were

significant

differences amongst the three levels of Linguistic Selfconfidence for online and face to face discussion, as wellas the computed variable of preference for online over
face

to

face

discussion.

For

onlinediscussion,comparisons using the S-N-K post hoc test showed thattowardin-class

discussion.

For

onlinediscussion, S-N-K post hoc tests showed that meanscores for the low (M = 5.00, SD = 1.41) and high (M =3.63, SD = 0.83) levels of Language Use Anxiety were
statisticallysignificantly

different

from

each

other.

However, that of the medium group (M = 4.08, SD =0.76) was not statistically significantly different fromeither the low or high group.

mean scores for the low Linguistic Self-confidence group(M = 2.75, SD = 0.43) were significantly lower than the

In the case of in-class discussion, SNK postscores of the medium Linguistic Self-confidence group

hoc tests showed that members in the low Language(M = 3.82, SD = 0.75), and of the high Linguistic Self-

Use Anxiety group (M = 5.33, SD = 0.94) were

Confidence group (M = 4.09, SD = 1.07). However, thesignificantly different from both the medium Language

two groups with higher confidence (medium and high)Use Anxiety group (M = 4.07, SD = 0.96) and the highdid not differ significantly.

Language Use Anxiety group (M = 3.34, SD = 0.81).
However, for the same groups of anxiety level, noIn the case of in-class discussion, post hoccomparisons using the SNK test indicated that the meanscores for the low Linguistic Self-confidence group (M =statsistically significantly different groups were indicatedfor preference for online discussions over in-classdiscussions.

2.22, SD = 0.84), medium Linguistic Self-confidencegroup (M = 3.46, SD = 0.74), and high Linguistic Self-

This suggests that students who had low levels

confidence group (M = 4.63, SD = 0.80) were allof anxiety toward using English had a more positive

statistically significantly different from each other.

attitude not only toward in-class speaking activities, butalso to online discussion as well. While the results are

Lastly, in the case of preference for online
discussion over in-class discussion, SNK tests indicatedthat the group with high linguistic self-confidence (M = 0.53, SD = 0.95) was significantly different from those of
the low (M = 0.53, SD = 0.55) and medium (M = 0.35,

not statistically significant for Language Use Anxiety
scores, they do follow a similar pattern to those ofLinguistic Self-Confidence. Similar to the high confidencegroup, those in the low anxiety group tended to prefer inclass discussions.

SD = 0.73) confidence groups.
Taken together, the results suggest thatstudents with higher Linguistic Self-Confidence tended to

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

49

Results of the qualitative study

Tomoya's preference for ”real” English seems

Several themes emerged regarding factors affecting theto have extended into his preferences for mode of

students' perceptions of face to face and online

discussion as well. Regarding in-class pair discussions

interactions. Pseudonyms are given to the participants

he seemed to value being able to negotiate meaning onfor confidentiality purposes and ensure the privacy of thethe spot with his classmates. ”We would both kind of

students.

work together to have a conversation... maybe our
tempo was a little slow but we could develop little byUnwillingness to approach others

little.” When asked if his feeling of accomplishment after

The first interviewee, Kazuki, was neither comfortablesuccessfully communicating face to face and online wastalking with peers in class, nor online. While describing

similar, he clearly disagreed. ”When we were speaking

his university English class he said, “I don’t really likeface to face, first of all I felt it was an accomplishment totalking with other people. I would think ‘ah, we’re goingreact there on the spot. When I was online I had time

to talk again’ or ‘we’re going to do something withand I felt like I could complete a little writing in English

somebody again.’” In class fluency building activities

but the feeling of accomplishment was much higher for

appeared especially distressing for him because of many

face to face.”

partner changes. “I can do it with people who I talk withnormally but in this class especially the seating is shifted

It is possible that some aspects of the online

a lot and we’re speaking with people who are practicallycommunication made it more closely resemble the non-strangers I can’t talk at all. I can’t talk at all in Japanesecommunicative activities that Tomoya was familiar withso how am I supposed to talk in English.”in high school. The limitation of online discussions to text
only may have resulted in more formal register and a

The author originally assumed that the physicalfocus on correct form over communication of ideas.

distance afforded by online communication would makeinteraction less stressful for students like Kazuki, but it
appears to not be the case. When asked about his online

Discussion

discussions he replies ”There's that thing where we

Results of the questionnaire suggest that Japanesecomment to people on journals right? I've never actually

university

done that. I know I should, not because it's in English, it's

participating in online discussion forums if they have low

just simply I think suddenly sending something like that

self-confidence in their language abilities. The extra time

to someone you don't know is well...” It was clear that foravailable for communicating in online forums possibly

Kazuki, his communication online was just as real as thatmakes it easier for students to check their work before

in class, and equally difficult to approach classmates thatinteracting and help them to feel more confident that they

he was not well aquainted with.

are not making mistakes. Students can make use oftools

Preference for ”real” English
The other interviewee, Tomoya, commented several
times that he did not feel he was very proficient at
English, but he also made it clear that he did not feelbeing proficent was necessary to be successful. ”I think
it's best if you can have a conversation. If you canunderstand bits here and there, maybe you can do it.” A

studentssuchasstudying

dictionaries

Englishwhen

may

preferengaging

inasynchronous online discussion which are not as
accessible during face to face discussions. However,results from interviews highlight the possibility that theadded time available and text focused nature of thecommunication may cause some students to focus on
writing accuracy at the expense of communicating theirideas with their peers.

major distinction that Tomoya made was between ”real”
English and ”classroom” English. Study focused on

Preference for online discussion does notgrammar and entrance exam preparation did not seemappear to be significantly different for students who

useful for everyday life to him, while activities usingscore differently for Language Use Anxiety. However, it

realia such as movies and presidential speeches wereis more strongly negatively correlated with positive

rewarding even if difficult. ”I felt like I could listen a little if

attitudes toward in-class discussion than for online

I could just catch some of it.”discussion. There were only 2 students with low levels of

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

50

anxiety regarding using their L2, with widely differering

there are other forms which make use of audio and video

preferences for discussion type. It is possible that theinstead of text. The student preferences indicated in the

low number of students in the low anxiety grouppresent

obscured differences between the groups of low,

preferences

medium and high Language Use Anxiety.

communication. Although asynchronous communication

study

may

be

regardinginfluencedbystudents

spokenandwrittenof online discussions affords students time to encode
For students who have a low willingness tocommunicate online discussion does not appear to be ofgreat benefit. Although online tools may make it easier togain time for confirming meanings before interacting,they do nothing in themselves to create a desire tocommunicate. For these students, modifications inclassroom management may be helpful. For example,
maintaining the same speaking partners for several
weeks rather than changing repeatedly.

areclassroom

temperatureusing a written mode may make them more focusedupon using accuracy than communicating their own
ideas. Further research on preferences for online
discussion that incorporate multi-media such as using
audio and video recording may allow students to enjoy
some of the ”reality” of in-class discussions while taking
advantage of the increased planning time afforded byonline discussion

Two limitations of this study related to datacollection

and decode meanings that they want to communicate,duringthequestionnaire and differences in gender mixes between
the two classes. High temperature in the classroom
caused some students to become visibly drowsy and thismay have made it slightly more difficult for somestudents to fill out the questionnaire accurately. Balance
between males and females within the sample is anotherlimitation of the study. Females only accounted for 16 of
64 responses on the questionnaire. Also, neither of theparticipants interviewed were female. Since interview

This research is based soley on student
preferencesleaving

investigations

intolanguage

production of students for later studies. It is possible thatthe language behavior of students in in-class and online
discussion activities do not reflect student preferences
for one type over another. Several questions of interest
along these lines are whether the language behavior of
students differs in quantity or quality for in-class andonline discussion activities. Also, is students’ better
when they discussing in their preferred discussion
activity typestudies often involve few participants compared withquestionnaires, it is more difficult to generalize to a
population. This lack of generalizability is accentuated by

References

the lack of female participants in the interview sample.

Burgoon, J. (1976). The Unwillingness-to-communicate
scale: Development and Validation. CommunicationA

research

designlimitation

of

the

Monographs. 43. pp. 60-69.

questionnaire is that student attitudes toward technology
were not measured. It is possible that there are some

Clement, R, Dornyei, Z, and Noels, K. (1994). Motivation,

students whose attitude toward online discussion isself-confidence and group cohesion in the foreign

negative due to difficulties using technology rather thanlanguage classroom. Language Learning. 44. pp.

the form of communication. Another is that the construct417-48.

of Willingness to Communicate was not accurately
measuredbythequestionnaireasindicatedbyCronbach alpha reliability tests which may have
obscured

relationships

betweendiscussion

type

preferences and Willingness to Communicate scores.

Dornyei, Z. (2007). Research Methods in Applied
Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kormos, J. and Dornyei, Z. (2004). The interaction of
linguistic and motivational variables in second
language task performance. ZIF. 9(2). pp. 1-17.

Implications for future research
The online discussions employed in this study were text
based, with students typing their responses to eachother. While this form of online discussion is common,

MacIntyre, D, Dornyei, Z, Clement, R, and Noels, K.
(1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate
in a L2: A situational model of L2. Confidence and

The 2018 PanSIG Journal51

affiliation. The Modern Language Journal. 82(4). pp.
545-562.

Yanguas, I, and Flores, A. (2014). Learners’ willingness
tocommunicatecomputer-mediatedMcCroskey, J. and Baer, J. (1985). Willingness toinface-to-faceversusoralcommunication.

JALT

CALL

Journal. 10(2). pp. 83-1

Communicate: The Construct and Its Measurement.
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
Speech Communication Association (71st, Denver,
CO, November 7-10, 1985).
Skehan, P. (1998). A Cognitive approach to language
learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Warschauer, M. (1996). Comparing face-to-face andelectronic

discussion

in

the

secondlanguageclassroom. CALICO Journal. 13(2), pp. 7-26.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

52

Appendix A
Questionnaire on communication attitudes and discussion task mode preferences
1. I talk with my friends when we are waiting for something.

6 5 4 3 2 1

2. I check my phone or quietly read something before class starts.

6 5 4 3 2 1

3. I listen to my partners when I have in class discussions.

6 5 4 3 2 1

4. I am happy with my English ability.

6 5 4 3 2 1

5. I regularly join in online discussions.

6 5 4 3 2 1

6. I sometimes feel nervous when I have to speak English.

6 5 4 3 2 1

7. I mainly use English to communicate in online discussions.

6 5 4 3 2 1

8. Learning English often gives me a feeling of success.

6 5 4 3 2 1

9. I can easily share my ideas and opinions in class discussions.

6 5 4 3 2 1

10. I’m usually quiet when I’m waiting for something with friends.

6 5 4 3 2 1

11. I sometimes use Japanese to communicate in class discussions.

6 5 4 3 2 1

12. I don’t mind if I have to speak English with somebody.

6 5 4 3 2 1

13. Discussing in class makes me better at communicating in English.

6 5 4 3 2 1

14. When I have to speak English I often lose confidence.

6 5 4 3 2 1

15. I can easily share my ideas and opinions in online discussions.

6 5 4 3 2 1

16. I enjoy talking with my classmates at lunch time.

6 5 4 3 2 1

17. Unfortunately, I’m not very good at learning English.

6 5 4 3 2 1

18. Discussing online (Canvas) makes me better at using English.

6 5 4 3 2 1

19. I’m sure that I can become good at using English.

6 5 4 3 2 1

20. I feel tired when using English in class.

6 5 4 3 2 1

21. I like talking to new people I meet on the train or bus.

6 5 4 3 2 1

22. Sometimes I feel language learning is difficult for me.

6 5 4 3 2 1

23. Doing online (Canvas) discussions makes me feel tired.

6 5 4 3 2 1

24. I think I am good at learning languages.

6 5 4 3 2 1

25. I prefer studying other subjects than English, like Math or History.

6 5 4 3 2 1

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

53

Participant background information questions

Appendix B
Interview questions
1.

Please introduce yourself. Tell me a little be about you and your studies here at university.

2.

What were your English classes like in junior high school and high school?

3.

What types of activities did you do?

4.

What share of class time did reading, writing, speaking, and listening have in your classes?

5.

In your classes, were there some language activities that you liked or didn’t like?

6.

What type of situations made you feel especially good/bad during English classes?

7.

Are your university English classes similar or different to your university classes?

8.

How do you feel about those changes/similarities?

9.

Your university English class has many discussions in small groups and pairs. What have yourexperiences been like in those activties?

10. Your English class also has weekly online discussions. How are those experiences for you?
11. When discussing online, there is less time pressure for communication. How much does that helpyou?
12. Do you have any questions for me, or want to say anything else that you think I should know about
this topic?

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

54

Student Perceptions of Formative Assessment Tasks in Academic
Listening Classes
Michael J. Crawford
Dokkyo University
This paper presents the results of a questionnaire which queried learners about their perceptions of
three different types of tasks in a university-level academic listening course, namely selected response(multiple-choice and true / false), written summaries, and oral summaries. All tasks were used forformative assessment, and because the main goal of formative assessment is to promote learning, thestudents were asked to rate improvement in their listening skills, their skills completing the three tasks,
and their overall English skills over the course of one academic year. Additionally, they were asked toindicate to what extent they felt they could demonstrate their listening skills with the tasks, as well as toevaluate the level of difficulty of the tasks. The results were generally favorable for all three tasks,
suggesting that they all may have a useful role to play in academic listening courses.

本稿では、大学のアカデミック・リスニングの授業における 3 種類のタスク（多肢選択・True / False
問題、筆記サマリー、口頭サマリー）に対する学生の意見を問うアンケートの結果を報告する。すべてのタスクは形成的評価に用いられたものであり、その目的はあくまでも学習の促進であるため、アンケ
ートでは 1 年間の授業を通して聴解能力、タスク達成スキル及び全般的な英語力がどの程度向上したかを学生に問うた。それに加えて、各タスクでどの程度自分のリスニング・スキルを発揮できたかと、それぞれのタスクの難易度を評価させた。結果として、いずれのタスクも学生から概ね肯定的に評価されたため、アカデミック・リスニングの授業で役立つことを示唆している。

Listening has sometimes been called the “invisible skill”

been relatively little research on learners’ perceptions of

because it is difficult for teachers to determine theirthem. Learners’ perceptions of assessments have an

students’ level of understanding while they are on task.

impact on their performance (Scouller, 1998), so it is

In the case of reading, teachers can at least watch theirimportant to develop a better understanding of how

students’ eyes moving down the page, but with listening

learners perceive them. The purpose of this paper is to“we cannot be sure whether they are listening at all orreport on a preliminary investigation into this area. First,

whether their minds are elsewhere” (Field, 2008, p. 38).

a brief overview of some of the connections between

The invisibility of listening means that it is very important

formative assessment and comprehension questions,

for

check

written summaries, and oral summaries will be provided.

comprehension during class as part of formative

This will be followed by a report on the results of a study

assessment. Perhaps the most widely used task for thisthat queried two intact classes of Japanese university

is post-listening comprehension questions, primarily

students about their perceptions of the tasks. The paper

multiple- choice and true / false (Wagner, 2014). Anotherwill conclude with suggestions for further research.

teacherstofindeffective

ways

to

widely used task is summarizing. Teachers can havestudents listen to a passage and then have themsummarize it in their own words, either in writing or orally.
Although

tasks

such

as

Formative Assessment Tasks in
Listening Instruction

multiple-choice

The primary goal of formative assessment is to promotequestions and summaries are commonly used inlearning (Katz & Gottlieb, 2013). To some extent thisacademic listening classes in EFL, to date there hasnecessarily involves evaluating students’ progress and

The 2018 PanSIG Journal55

level of understanding. However, its main purpose is to

the three tasks in question. The main focus of thehelp learners develop their skills rather than provide aquestionnaire was on skill development, but alsomeasurement of their achievement, which is commonly

addressed were how well the tasks allowed students tocalled summative assessment. As part of helping

demonstrate their skills, as well as how difficult they

students develop their skills, formative assessment aims

wereto build leaners’ confidence and increase their motivation.

addressed in the study are as follows.

tocomplete.

The

four

researchquestions

It is an active process that involves teacher-student
interaction, as well as student-student interaction.

Research questions

It is important to note that what differentiates

RQ1. To what degree did learners perceive improvement

formative assessment from summative assessment isin their English listening skills, as well as the three tasks,

not the type of task the learners complete. Instead, it isand are there any differences between the tasks?

the purpose of the task and how it is used (Katz &written

RQ2. To what degree did learners feel that doing thesummaries, and oral summaries can all be used for bothtasks led to improvement in their overall English abilities,

Gottlieb,2013).

Multiple-choicequestions,formative and summative assessment. In the case offormative assessment, grades are generally not given,nor are points awarded. For summative assessment,
however, grades are very important. When used as partof either type of assessment, each task has its
advantages

anddisadvantages.

Multiple-choice

and are there any differences between the tasks?
RQ3. To what degree did learners perceive that they
could demonstrate their English listening skills using thethree tasks, and are there any differences between thetasks?

questions are versatile and efficient (Downing, 2006),

RQ4. To what degree did the learners feel that the three

and are also often cited as being objective (Shin, 2017).

tasks were difficult, and are there any differences

However, they are not particularly authentic (Wilson,

between the tasks?

2008), rely on reading skills (Wagner, 2014), and can be
answered correctly by simple random guessing (Buck,

Methods

2001). Written summaries, on the other hand, areauthentic because they are used in academia (Kim,
2001), and also cannot be completed by guessing.
Nevertheless, they depend on writing skills. Like writtensummaries, oral summaries are authentic (Augilar, 2016),
but they rely on speaking skills. Additionally, because of
their ephemeral nature, providing feedback can beproblematic unless they are recorded.

Participants
Two intact classes of first-year Japanese students at a
medium-sized university in the Kanto area participated in
the study. They were enrolled in a required academic
listening course taught by the author, and had 30
students each. However, due to absences there were atotal of 29 valid responses for Class 1, and 27 for ClassAs has been noted above, multiple-choice

2. The students in Class 1 were upper-intermediate, withquestions, written summaries, and oral summaries have

TOEIC® scores in the 600s. The students in Class 2

both advantages and disadvantages. Considering thatwere advanced, with TOEIC® scores ranging from theassessment benefits from a variety of different tasks

lower 700s to the upper 800s.

(Buck, 2001), it seems reasonable to suggest that all
three have a place in an EFL listening curriculum.

Materials

However, to date little research has been done on

Textbooklearners’ perceptions of different types of formative

In both classes a textbook entitled “Listening andassessment tasks, so it is unclear how well they do theirNotetaking Skills, Level 1” (Dunkel and Lim, 2014) was

intended job, at least from the perspective of theused. The book is designated by the publisher as being

students. In order to begin filling in this gap in thefor B1 level students in the CEFR proficiency scale,research, the current study queried students enrolled inwhich translates to approximately 550 to 785 on thean academic listening course about their perceptions of

TOEIC®. The book was slightly more challenging for the

The 2018 PanSIG Journal56

students in Class 1 than Class 2, but it was an

were spent on each unit of the book. This meant thatappropriate level for both classes.

three units were not covered. In the first class meetingfor a new unit, the students engaged in warm-up

As the title suggests, the textbook’s main aim is
to develop students’ listening and notetaking skills.
There are 15 units, each with a mini-lecture ranging fromabout four minutes to about ten minutes, and there are anumber of pre-listening and post-listening exercises. The
book was used over the course of one academic year inwhich there were 28 regular class meetings in total. Dueto lack of time, only 12 out of the 15 units in the bookwere completed.

discussion activities with their classmates. This wasfollowed by preview activities such as vocabulary andnotetaking exercises. In the second class students
listened to a lecture on CD and took notes as theylistened. After listening to the lecture once, they formed
pairs or small groups and talked about the content of thelecture while comparing their notes. They then listened
to the lecture again and after it was over had anotherchance to compare notes. Following this, they answered
comprehension questions in the textbook. Before going

Questionnaire
A 25-item questionnaire was created to query students
about the class, including 12 items focusing on theirperceptions of the three types of assessment. The
results from these 12 items will be provided here. The
items were in the form of statements which students
rated using a 5-point Likert scale (1. strongly disagree; 2.
disagree; 3. neither agree nor disagree; 4. somewhat
agree; 5. agree). The questionnaires were conducted on
the second to last day of class for the academic year.

over the answers, students were able to compare theiranswers. After completing the comprehension questions,the students did either an oral or a written summary of
the lecture. Early in the semester students were provided
with guidelines about how to complete the summary
tasks, and students were encouraged to ask the teacher
if they had any difficulties understanding what was
required. Feedback was provided orally for the oralsummaries, and in writing for the written summaries.

The reliability of the questionnaire was examined using
Cronbach’s α. For the 25-item questionnaire the value
was 0.90, and for the 12 items used for the current study,
it was 0.80.

Results
The results for RQ1 are provided in Table 1.

Procedures
The basic class procedure was as follows. Two weeks

The 2018 PanSIG Journal57

As the table shows, in both classes a majority ofLike RQ1, in all cases except one (comprehension

students responded that their English listening skills

questions for Class 2) a majority of students reported

improved. For Class 1 62% of students answered

improvement in overall English ability. Also, of the three“somewhat agree” or “agree,” and for Class 2 thetasks, the written summaries were considered to havepercentage was 55%. With regard to the assessment

contributed most to the development of overall English

tasks, in all but one case a majority of learners in bothability, with 90% of students in Class 1 responding withgroups perceived improvement, the exception being oral

“somewhat agree” or “agree,” and 78% of students insummaries in Class 1, with 48% answering either

Class 2 answering similarly. The task considered by“somewhat agree” or “agree.” The greatest perceived

students to least lead to overall improvement was

improvement for both classes among all three tasks wascomprehension questions, with only 34% of students inin summary writing skills. In Class 1 86% of students

Class 2 answering “somewhat agree” or “agree.” Foranswered that they felt improvement, while in Class 2

Class 1, although it was rated lower than the other tasks,

the corresponding percentage was 78%. The remaining

still 66% of students felt that the questions improved

two tasks had lower percentages for agreement, ranging

overall ability.

from 48% to 59%. To test to see if these differenceswere statistically significant, two one-way ANOVAs were
performed on this data, one for each class. In the case ofClass 1, the ANOVA revealed a statistically significant
difference between the three tasks (F=5.45, (2, 84)
p=0.006), and post-hoc Tukey HSD tests showed thatthe improvement in summary writing was perceived to begreater than the other two tasks (p<0.05). In the case ofClass 2, although differences between the tasks were
found as shown in the table above, they were not

The data for the differences between the three tasks was
submitted to a one-way ANOVA, which revealed astatistically significant differences in both Class 1 (F=4.07, 2(84), p < 0.02) and Class 2 (F = 10.16, 2(78), p <0.0001). Post-hoc Tukey HSD tests showed that forClass 1 only the difference between comprehension
questions and written summaries was statisticallysignificant (p < 0.05), with the summaries being
considered more helpful.

statistically significant (F=2.32 (2, 78) p=0.11). Table 2
presents the results of the ANOVAs. The results for RQ2
are presented in Table 3.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

58

With regard to how well the tasks allowed students to

For Class 2, both the written (p < 0.01) and the oral (p <demonstrate their listening skills, as the table shows, for0.05) summaries were seen as being more useful than

all three tasks a majority of students respondedthe“somewhat agree” or “agree,” but Class 2 showed

between the two types of summaries was not (Table 4).

comprehension

questions,

but

the

difference

stronger agreement than Class 1. The results for RQ3
are shown in Table 5.
With regard to how well the tasks allowed students todemonstrate their listening skills, as the table shows, forall three tasks a majority of students responded“somewhat agree” or “agree,” but Class 2 showedstronger agreement than Class 1. The results for RQ3
are shown in Table 5.

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59

With regard to how well the tasks allowed students toTable 7 presents the results for RQ4. In terms

demonstrate their listening skills, as the table shows, forof task difficulty, for Class 1 the oral summaries were theall three tasks a majority of students responded

most challenging, followed by written summaries and“somewhat agree” or “agree,” but Class 2 showed

comprehension questions, but none were seen as being

stronger agreement than Class 1. The results for RQ3

too easy or too difficult.

are shown in Table 5.
The results of a one-way ANOVA showed a
The percentage of learners agreeing with the statement

statistically significant difference between the three tasks

about comprehension questions was 75% for Class 2, in(F = 4.07, 2(84), p < 0.02), with a post-hoc Tukey HSD

contrast to 85% for Class 1. The corresponding

test pinpointing this difference to be found between thepercentages for written and oral summaries were 72%

oral summaries and the comprehension questions (p <and 78% (Class 1), and 52% and 70% (Class 2). In order0.05). In Class 2, the written summaries were considered

to determine if the differences in each class between theto be the most difficult, followed by oral summaries andthree tasks were statistically significant, two ANOVAs

comprehension questions. A one-way ANOVA indicatedwere employed. Although the percentages given above

a statistically significant difference between the tasks (Fpointed to potential differences, the results showed that= 12.13, 2(78), p < 0.0001), and post-hoc Tukey

for both Class 1 (F = 0.94, 2(84), p < 0.39) and Class 2

revealed that all of the differences were statistically(F = 1.43, 2(78), p < 0.25), they were not statisticallysignificant (p < 0.05). The results for the ANOVAs are

significant (Table 6).

shown in Table 8.

Discussion
RQ1 focused on perception of improvement in English
listening, as well as the three assessment tasks. A
majority of students in both classes reported that theyfelt improvement in their listening skills, and in all but one

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

60

case a majority of learners in both Class 1 and Class 2

see that a majority of students selected “somewhat

reported having felt improvement in all three tasks.

agree” or “agree” for all three tasks because as wasThese findings are favorable because as has been

noted above, building confidence is an important part of

explained above the main aim of formative assessment

formative assessment. It is interesting, however, that foris to promote language development. In terms ofallcomparisons between the three tasks, for both classes

agreement than Class 1. This result could be related tosummary writing was found to show the greatest

the levels of the classes. It may be that the more

improvement, although for Class 2 the difference wasadvanced students in Class 2 felt that they were able tonot statistically significant between it and the other two

perform better on the tasks. Nevertheless, as was noted

tasks. There are a number of possible reasons for theseabove, learners in Class 1 also agreed that they could

results, but the fact that few students, in particular thosedemonstrate their skills, so this is encouraging. Within Class1, had experience with summary writing prior toregard to comparisons between the three tasks, it was

taking the class may be why they felt the greatest

slightly surprising that the comprehension questions had

improvement with it. With regard to oral summaries,

the highest average responses for both classes.

although as was noted above only 48% felt improvement

However, as was noted in the Results section, thein Class 1, for Class 2 the percentage was 56%. This is

ANOVA performed on the data showed that this andencouraging because most students started the course

other differences were not statistically significant.

assessment

tasks

Class

2

showedstrongerwith relatively strong speaking skills. It is good to seethat even so a majority felt improvement with this task.
Finally, for comprehension questions, in both classes amajority of students felt improvement. Considering that
this is the task that they are most familiar with, this is apositive finding.
RQ2 queried students about improvement intheir overall English abilities. Although the three tasks inthe study have listening skills at their base (i.e., listening
to a lecture, comprehending it, and demonstrating thatcomprehension), other language skills are necessarily
involved due to the fact that, as was noted in the
introduction, listening is an invisible skill. Like RQ1, forall cases but one (comprehension questions for Class 2),
a majority of students reported improvement. In bothclasses, the task found to lead to the greatest perceived
improvement in overall English skills was written

The results for RQ4 showed that for bothclasses none of the tasks was seen as being too easy or
too difficult. This is encouraging. Of the three tasks, thecomprehension questions were considered to be theeasiest. Considering that this type is the one thatlearners most likely have the most experience with, thisis not particularly surprising. With regard to thesummaries, the individual rankings for difficulty were notnecessarily surprising, but comparisons between theclasses were unexpected. Specifically, although learners
in Class 2 had more advanced writing and speaking
skills than students in Class 1, they still rated the writtensummaries as being more difficult. 63% of students inClass 2 found the written summaries to be difficult, while
only 48% in Class 1 found them to be so. The reasonsfor this are unclear and warrant further investigation.

summaries. This result is likely to be closely related to
RQ1, i.e., that students’ relative lack of familiarity withthe task led to them feeling the greatest improvement.
Another possibility becomes evident when comparing theresults for written and oral summaries. In short, in a way

Conclusion
This paper has focused on learners’ perceptions of three
types of formative assessment tasks in an EFL listeningclass. As was noted in the introduction, a variety of tasks

it is harder to perceive improvement with oral summaries

is desirable, and fortunately the results did not suggest

because unlike written summaries, there is no concretethat one or more of the three investigated should be“record” of one’s output, and hence, less to actually see

abandoned. Rather, the results for all three tasks are

improvement with.

generally favorable, suggesting that they have a role toplay in academic listening instruction. Nevertheless, due

RQ3 addressed the extent to which learners

to the small scale of the study and the fact that only

perceived that the assessment tasks allowed them toquantitative questionnaire data were collected, it is too

demonstrate their listening abilities. It is encouraging toearly to make any firm conclusions about the use of the

The 2018 PanSIG Journal61

tasks examined. Larger studies with more participants
and the inclusion of qualitative data such as that fromField, J. (2008). Listening in the language classroom.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

interviews would help to develop a better understandingof the issues. Of particular interest would be studies thatexamine the interaction between learner levels andperceptions of tasks, as well as those that investigate

Katz, A., & Gottlieb, M. (2013). Assessment in theclassroom. In C.A. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopediaof applied linguistics (pp. 161-169). Chichester, UK:
Wiley-Blackwell.

additional types of tasks.

Kim, S. A. (2001). Characteristics of EFL readers'summary writing: A study with Korean university

References
Aguilar, M. (2016). Seminars. In K. Hyland & P. Shaw
(Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of English for
Academic

Purposes(pp.

335-347).

London:Routledge.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Downing, S.M. (2006). Twelve steps for effective testdevelopment. In S.M. Downing & T. M. Haladyna(Eds.) Handbook of test development (pp. 3-26).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Dunkel, P.A., & Lim, P.L. (2013). Listening andnotetaking skills 1. Cengage: New York.

students. Foreign Language Annals, 34(6), 569-581.
Scouller, K. (1998). The influence of assessment method
on students’ learning approaches: Multiple choicequestion examination versus assignment essay.
Higher Education, 35, 453-472.
Shin, D-i. (2017). Item writing and writers. In G. Fulcher& F. Davidson (Eds.) Routledge handbook of
language testing (pp. 237-248). London: Routledge.
Wagner, E. (2014). Assessing listening. In A.J. Kunnan(Ed.) The companion to language assessment (pp.
47-63). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Wilson, J.J. (2008). How to teach listening. New York:
Pearson.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

62

Active Learning Through Poster Presentations
Brian Cullen
Nagoya Institute of Technology

Ben Backwell
Nagoya City University
In recent years, the Japanese Ministry of Education has strongly promoted the idea of active learning in
the classroom (MEXT, 2012). This paper shares some of our experiences in promoting active learning
through the use of student poster presentations. It explains a) the rationale for why poster presentations
can be useful, b) what can or should be included in student posters, c) how we can have students create
posters and use them as the basis of learning activities including presentations, and d) how to address
any problems which arise in the poster presentation process.

近年、日本の文部省は、教室で「アクティブラーニング」の考え方を強く推進しています(文部科学省、
2012)。本稿では、学生のポスター発表を通じて、アクティブラーニングを促進するための経験をいく
つか紹介します。a) なぜポスター発表が役に立つのか、b) 学生ポスターに何を含めればいいのか、c)
どのように学生がポスターを作成し、プレゼンテーションを含む学習活動の基本として使用することができるか、d) ポスター発表の過程で生じる問題をどのように対処するかについて説明します。

In recent years, one of the buzzwords in EFL in Japandemonstrating this engagement through appropriate

has been ‘active learning.’ This is in contrast to the

output. In this paper, we would like to discuss how poster

traditional approach of Japanese schools which havepresentations can be another useful activity to support

usually featured a more passive transfer of knowledge

active learning in the EFL classroom.

from teacher to student. This has been suggested to bea long-term structure of Japanese education which
resulted from Japan’s Confucian roots with its focus onrespect for elders (Gray, 1999). While education systems
in many countries have encouraged active learning formany years, the recent focus on active learning in Japan
has been led by the Japanese Ministry of Education(MEXT) who published an influential paper in 2012 which
includes active learning as one important factor intraining general-purpose abilities including cognitive,
ethical,socialexperienceskills,(Riberusuta

education,knowledge,

Consulting,2012).

andWe begin the paper with an exploration of therationale for using poster presentations. Then we look at
different kinds of information that can be conveyed using
posters. Next, based on our own experiences, we offer a
step-by-step as to how teachers can have their students
create posters and effectively use them as visual props
in presentations. We also offer suggestions on how thelisteners can be more active during these presentations.
Finally, we suggest ways of dealing with the many
problems which can arise in poster presentations.

Some

examples of active learning suggested by the Ministry
include discovery learning, problem solving learning,
experience learning, survey learning, group discussion,
debate, and group work. In our view, a common featureof these examples of active learning is that students areengaging cognitively with the input of a lesson and

Why are Poster Presentations Useful?
A poster presentation is a common format used atacademic conferences. It combines text and graphics topresent information in a way that is visually interesting
and accessible, allowing a presenter to orally explain

The 2018 PanSIG Journal63

something to a group of people and to receive feedback.

share the information with other students. Assuming theThis section explores four perspectives on why posterclass is for students who all share the same major thenpresentations may be useful in the EFL classroom. Laterthe student audience too are likely to be intrinsicallyin the paper, the process of carrying out poster

motivated to listen because they will learn somethingpresentations is outlined.

new connected to their major. The feedback from otherstudents is also authentic since they are motivated by

Support for “Active Learning”

the topic and what their classmates are sharing.

MEXT contrasts traditional education with active learningin the following way (authors’ translation): “Unlike
unidirectional lecture-style education by teachers, active
learning is a generic name for a learning method thatincorporates

theactiveparticipationofstudents.”(Riberusuta Consulting, 2012, p. 4). This seems tosuggest at least two obvious features that constituteactive learning. First, it should not only be the teacher
who is speaking in the classroom. Second, the students
should be participating in an active manner rather thansimply responding passively to teacher prompts. Clearly,

Students are of course learning language, but they arealso learning authentic content, and as such poster
presentations can also be easily incorporated into a CLIL
context as has been done in some recent EFL textbooks(e.g. Smith & Ssali, 2018). Students can be assigned
research areas within the CLIL content area and can
incorporate explanatory images and ideas from that area
into their posters. For example, if the CLIL focus is on
culture of English-speaking countries, student posters
can show examples of famous buildings, festivals, andso on.

poster presentations facilitate active learning because
unless the student steps into an active role, the poster

Support Collaborative Learning

presentation

posterCollaborative learning or cooperative learning takespresentations can be useful across the curriculum, they

will

not

take

place.

While

place when students are working to learn more together

may be particularly suited to supporting active learning inrather than by competing with each other, and it has

the EFL classroom. Each image or keyword on the

been shown to have positive effects on both motivation

poster can provide both a focusing prompt for theand achievement (Nunan, 1992). By putting the students

presenter to support linguistic output and a visual aid forin the role of teacher and making the teacher simply athe listeners to support comprehension.

facilitator of the flow of presentations, the poster
presentations help to remove barriers of status in the

Foster Learner Autonomy

classroom and encourage students to collaborate more

Learner autonomy can be fostered by carrying out
learning

activities

which

take

place

withouttheimmediate intervention of the teacher, and this caneasily. In this way students build their own learning
community by empowering students to actually teach theclass and take resposibility for the group’s learning.

subsequently facilitate learners to become more efficientand effective when they study independently (Najeeb,2013). In the poster presentation activity explained in thisWhat kind of Posters are Useful?

paper, autonomy is fostered by having students choose

We have used poster presentations in a range of

their own topic, carry out the research, chooseteaching contexts.

appropriate visual aids, and act as a teacher for otheryear university students with a non-English major and an

students.

average TOEIC score of 520, but there is no reason that

Create Authentic Motivation and Feedback
The use of authentic materials and authentic learning
tasks has been shown to have a positive impact onlearner motivation and engagement in learning (Azri &Al-Rashdi, 2014). In this learning activity, the poster
presentation is based on an authentic topic connected totheir academic major that the student is alreadyinterested in, so he or she is intrinsically motivated to

Our students are first and second

the technique cannot be adapted for higher or lower
levels. Engineering and science majors can use theirposters to explain scientific theories or the working oftechnology. Students from the humanities can sharecontent from their major. Posters can also be used toshare culture, stories, personal information, and muchmore. The appendix at the end of this paper shows someexamples of actual student posters which students kindly
gave permission to share.

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64

Listening ____%

ImagesHaving at least three images on the poster makes theDoingposter visually appealing and can easily show threedifferent aspects of the topic. Hand-drawn images can____%Teaching to others ____%

be fine if the student is artistically inclined or at least able
to produce an effective image. Depending on the topic,

Elicit student guesses on the missing numbers. Then givedifferent kinds of images may be appropriate, forthem the numbers from the Pyramid of Learning

example graphs in a business poster or classification(Reading=10%, Listening=5%, Doing=75%, Teaching todiagrams in an engineering poster.

others=90%). Explain that this shows that passive
learning does not facilitate learning as much as active

Textlearning. Say to students: “Doing something actively andIn general, text should be restricted to keywords. The

teaching something to someone else are among the most

purpose of the poster is not to explain the whole topic,

effective ways to learn. So this is exactly what we are

but rather to provide visual and simple text cues as thepresenter explains the topic. Students should be strongly

going to do in this class. Everyone will make a poster
about a topic and teach the content to other students.”

encouraged from writing out full sentences as both theNote: The Pyramid of Learning (Sousa, 2000) is notpresenter and the listener are likely to become over-necessarily accurate or supported by research in every

focused on them.

situation, but provides a good reminder of the importanceof active learning.

How Can Teachers Ensure Good Poster
Presentations?
Frame the Activity Well
It is important to frame the poster presentations activity
appropriately so that students realize that they are
expected to become active learners and to take

3. Turn students into teachers.
Ask the question: “Who learns most in the classroom?”
Give students a minute to think about it and one student
usually comes up with the correct answer: “The teacher. I
am the only one who gets paid to be here and I learn themost.” Of course, this should be said humorously.

responsibility for their topic. Below, we offer some waysof doing this.

Say to students: “So we are going to flip the classroom.
You are going to learn the most by becoming the teacher.”

1. Ask the question: “How do we learn best?”
This question should already be in everyone’s mind
because they are at university to learn. Have students
think about things they have learned at school, at clubs,
or at home, and to remember how they learned in eachscenario. Elicit some ideas and write them on the board.
Encourage students to be specific: What exactly was itthat helped you learn in these situations? Was it theimmediate environment? a good teacher? your attitude? afinancial reward? or something else?

Explain the Activity
Tell students that they will be doing a poster presentationin the next lesson. To keep it intrinsically motivating, thestudents should choose a topic related to their major insome way. By doing this, they are also already an‘expert’ in the topic and it gives them an opportunity totake on the role of teacher and to share their knowledge
with other students. Show students some posters fromprevious years’ students if available. Give them a coupleof minutes to look at the posters. Then ask the students

2. Utilize the idea of the Pyramid of Learning to frame thewhich is your favorite poster and give three reasons why

poster presentation activity.

you like it. This question will help students think of theWrite the following on the blackboard:
After 2 weeks, students remember X%”

criteria for a good poster and in turn how they want tomake their own poster. If no posters are available, makeyour own examples or find some online. We have also
included

Reading ____%

shownstudent-createdexamplesintheappendix. You could also provide extrinsic motivation by
explaining that the presentation is part of their final grade.

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65

1.

Choose a topic that is interesting for you and that•

Think about the listener’s perspective. If you were

you think will be interesting for other students. You will belistening to this presentation, would you find it easy tothe expert on this topic and teach other students.

understand? Would you find it interesting? If not,make it better! To help you prepare, you should video

2.

Research your topic.

3.

Plan your poster by sketching out different

versions and thinking about each one.
4.

yourself,••

Use colour.

•

Include at least three pictures or diagrams.

•

Use only key words and phrases on your poster (noandshadow

yourspeech.

You need to talk about your poster for three minutes.
Use a timer to make sure that your presentation is thecorrect length.

visual prop for your explanation of your selected topic.
The paper size should be at least A3 size.

it

Shadowing is a great way to memorize your speech.

Create your poster that explains or acts as a

•

watch

•

You must not read a script when you are explaining
your poster! You should prepare and memorize yourpresentation.

•

Be sure to practice many times before next lesson, sothat you can be sure that you are confident.

long sentences).

•

After your presentation, other students will ask
questions. Imagine some questions that they might

Language and Research Support

ask you. How will you answer them?

While each poster is unique, there is a lot of languagethat can be pre-taught to help students to produce morenatural presentations. As is commonly done in academic
writing, the sequence of the poster can be introducedwith linking phrases such as “first… next… then… finally.”
Language to describe the location of the items on theposter is also helpful, for example, “at the top left of the

Immediately Before the Presentations
1. Check that all students have prepared their posters. If
there are students that have not prepared properly,
we suggest that you put off their presentation toanother lesson. Or have them do it anyway and thenperform an improved version for the following week.

page… on the right of the title…”. Depending on the

2. Decide on the order of presentation. In a small class,experience of your students, teachers may also need to

you can have every student presenting to the wholeprovide research hints in the form of useful websites,class. With a bigger class, it usually makes sense to

podcasts, books and so on. If time permits, it can bedivide the class into groups of 4-6 students.

helpful to do a short one-one session with each student
to motivate and assist them.

Have Students Practice at HomeOne of the key aspects of ensuring smooth poster

3. Give the students time to practice with a partner. You
can use a worksheet like the one below.
a) As you listen to your partner, write down three notes
about things that you heard.

presentations is to be certain to have students practiceat home before they come to class. This can make thedifference between an enjoyable day in which everyone
learns something and a painful day of silences andpoorly produced presentations. Below, we give some tips
for students.
•

Remember that your teacher and friends will bewatching you. Prepare a presentation that you can be

•

1
2
3

b) Say the things to your partner that you heard.
c) Give your partner any other feedback that will help
him/her to make a better presentation. For example:

proud of.

• You should make eye contact more often.

Put the poster on the wall of your room and imagine• If you speak more slowly, we can understandthat the audience is in front of you. Practice explaining

more easily.

your poster.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal66

• Your voice is too quiet.

9. Walk around and listen to some of the presentations.
Take note of any common mistakes.

d) Use your partner’s feedback to improve yourpresentation.

Follow-Up
1. Congratulate the students on their presentations ande) Practice with the same partner again and try to do atell them that they can do even better next time.

better presentation.
2. Elicit some comments on which presentations theyGroup Presentation Time

enjoyed.

1. Divide students into their groups.
3. Elicit some comments on why the presentations were
2. Pass out blue tac, pins, or magnets (many blackboards

enjoyable and make a list on the board (e.g. interesting

are magnetic) for putting the posters on the walls of thecontent, clear voice, funny gestures, and so on).

room.
4. Remind students that they are now experts on the topic
3. Give a handout similar to the one below. Explain thatand suggest that they make the poster presentation toeach presentation has 3 parts – the presentation, afriends or family members. This will extend learning

short time for the audience to write a question, andbeyond the classroom.

finally a time for questions and answers. This structure
is repeated to all presenters.
4. Decide who is the first presenter and then start.
Listen to the presenters in your group.

Dealing with Problems
Inevitably, problems will arise during the preparation of
the posters or in the presentations. We have listed somecommon problems below and how you can potentially

As you listen, write the name of each presenter anddeal with them.

the topic. Take notes on the content.

1.

A student cannot think of a topic.

After the presentation is finished, write a question
for the presenter.
NameFirst ask the student to try to get ideas from other

Topic andYour Question for the

Notes

Presenter

students. If this is not successful, ask about the student’s
major and what subjects he or she is taking this year.
Express interest in the subject and say that you would
love to learn more about it, thus helping the student torealize that they have something to share.

Presentation review questions

2.

A student has not prepared a poster or has

Which was the best presentation? Why?

clearly done it too quickly

What do you remember about it?

This can be avoided in most cases by making theassignment very clear in advance. You can also give

What was your presentation about?
Why did you choose this topic?

points based on the quality of the poster or require aphoto of the poster to be emailed to you before class or
uploaded to your school portal. If there is still a student

5.Have them decide the order of presenting in their group.
6. Remind them of the time limit. Appoint one member ofthe group as timekeeper.
7. Remind them to make a presentation that they can be

who has not prepared sufficiently, we suggest putting
their presentation off until a later date or the student
presents today and does another, better performancenext week – depending on your teaching principles andpractices.

proud of.

3.
8. Have the timekeepers start the first presentation.

Students are preparing their own presentation

instead of listening to the speaker.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

67

Tell students they should only have a pen and the“Presentation was more difficult than usual classes andpresentation handout that you gave them on their desk.

took preparation time for but I think it was useful for me

You can also tell students that you will be collecting theirand my future.”

papers with their notes on other presenters and that they
will be graded on these.

Conclusion
4.

Students speak too quietly or unclearly andcan’t be heard properly.
If you think this is likely to be a problem, have students
practice in groups in advance of the presentations. Put
the responsibility on the listeners to tell the speaker
whether it is loud and clear enough. Alternatively, theteacher can sit at the back of the class and simply cup

We have found poster presentations to be an excellent
tool in the creation of an active learning environment.
Students enjoy them and clearly become more confident,
especially when several presentations are carried out ina semester. The advice in this paper is all based on ourown experience, and we hope that other teachers willfind it practical in bringing poster presentations into theirown classes.

his/her ear. This gesture is quickly understood by thepresenter that s/he needs to speak louder.
5.

The English contains technical words that only

the presenter understands.
Students are so used to doing assignments only forteachers that they do not take into account that otherlearners may not understand the content. To avoid this,you can teach them useful phrases such as “in Japanese,
this means X”.
6.

Student level of English is very low.

If your students have a very low level of English, more
preparation will be required to ensure that theirpresentations are comprehensible. In some cases,
teachers may need to have students write out theirspeech in advance which can then be checked by theirpeers or by the teacher if possible. If the speech is
written out in full, it is important to emphasize that itshould not simply be read out during the presentation.

Student Feedback
Some brief representative student comments are given
below to illustrate the positive response to the activity.
Students found it enjoyable: “It was fun to listen to my

References
Azri, R. H. A., & Al-Rashdi, M. H. (2014). The Effect Of
Using Authentic Materials In Teaching, 3(10), 6.
Gray,

R.

(1999).

ConfucianConundrums:

Higher

Education And ESL Teaching In Korea And Japan. In
1998 Korea TESOL Conference (p. 59). Retrieved
fromhttps://koreatesol.org/sites/default/files/pdf_publications/KOTESOL-Proceeds1998web.pdf#page=64
Najeeb, S. S. (2013). Learner autonomy in language
learning. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,70, 1238–1242.
Nunan, D. (1992). Collaborative Language Learning andTeaching. Cambridge University Press.
Riberusuta

Consulting.

(2012).

Sendō-tekidaigakukaikaku suishin inin jigyō. MEXT. Retrieved fromhttp://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/koutou/itaku/__icsFile
s/afieldfile/2014/05/08/1347636_01.pdf
Smith, C., & Ssali, V. (2018). Culture Through English 1.
Nagoya, Japan: PAWS International.

friends’ presentations and I learned many things” anduseful for their English skills: “My presentation andSousa, D. A. (2000). How the Brain Learns: A Classroom

English skills are better now because I could practice

Teacher’s Guide by David A. (2nd edition). Thousand

many times.” It also seems clear that they did engage

Oaks, CA: Corwin.

more fully in active learning than a lecture-style course:

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

68

Author biographies
Dr. Brian Cullen is an associate professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology. His research interests include learnerautonomy, positive psychology, English for Specific Purposes, and the use of music in the classroom.
cullen.brian@gmail.com
Ben Backwell is a lecturer at Nagoya City University. His research interests include presentation skills, positive
psychology in an EFL context, and the use of coaching skills in the classroom. benbackw@gmail.com

Appendix

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

69

Working Memory in the EFL Classroom: An Overview and Preliminary
Study
Diego Dardon
Tohoku University
Working memory plays an important role in language learning but because working memory is limited incapacity and this capacity also varies individually, it can affect how much students learn. This has very
important implications for language teachers and how they approach language teaching. A teachingenvironment that does not consider the capacity of students’ working memory can be detrimental to thelearning process. Therefore, this article aims to explain working memory, its limitations and its relation tolanguage learning. In addition, a preliminary experimental study was done in order to assess whether
cognitive load impacts only low capacity working memory learners in learning English gerunds. The
study provides support that even a moderate cognitive load class setting negatively affects learning in
low-level capacity working memory learners.

ワーキングメモリは、言語学習において重要な役割を担っているが、その容量には限界があり、個人差もあるため、学習者がどのくらい学ぶことができるかに影響を与えうる。これは、どのようなアプロー
チで言語教育を行うかを考えるにあたり、言語教師にとって非常に重要な視点である。学習者のワーキ
ングメモリ容量を考慮しない教育環境は、学習過程に弊害をもたらす可能性がある。よって本稿は、ワーキングメモリとは何か、またその限界と言語学習との関係について説明することを目的とする。さらに、英語の動名詞の学習において、認知的負荷はワーキングメモリが低い学習者にのみ影響を与えるかどうかを明らかにするため、予備実験的調査を行なった。その結果、学習者にかかる認知的負荷がそれほど高くない授業であっても、ワーキングメモリが低い学習者の言語学習に悪影響を与えることを示した。

Many people differ in their ability in not only speaking a

it is and how it affects students in the classroom and thelanguage but also in learning one. A variety of factors

second is provide evidence via a preliminary study that

contribute to these individual differences such as apoor instructional design can negatively affect low

motivation, age, language aptitude and other socio-

working memory capacity students.

psychologicalfactors.

Recently,

however,workingmemory is now being considered an important factor
contributing to these individual differences (Wen, 2015).

What is Working Memory?
Imagine that you are in a new city searching for a

Since research examining the relationshiprestaurant you wanted to try. You ask someone for help

between working memory and language learning isand a stranger gives you directions. “The restaurant is

becoming clear, it is important for teachers to understandtwo blocks down. Take a right at the convenient store,

working memory, its relationship with language learning,

walk for about 7 minutes, you’ll see a small alley. Takeand how they can apply this knowledge to help lowthat road and the restaurant is on the right. The

working memory capacity students. Therefore, the goal

restaurant doesn’t have a name sign but it’s between twoof this paper is twofold: The first is to give a usefulshops, one a ramen shop.” She says. In order to find theoverview of working memory in order to understand what

restaurant, you must keep your goal (the restaurant is

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

70

between a ramen shop and another shop) in short-term

the control of attention, temporary activation of long-term

memory while continuously refreshing your mental list ofmemory, and shifting. The phonological loop handles the

directions.

phonological and verbal information while the visuospatial

This is a real-world example of working
memory.

Workingmemoryinteracts

withvariouscognitive functions such as long-term memory and isalso

importantinlanguagecomprehension

andproduction. Working memory is the mental processes
that temporarily store information and manipulate it overthe course of processing. It is important to note thatworkingmemoryinvolves

both

the

storageandscratchpad

processes

visualandspatialinformation (Juffs & Harrington, 2011). The episodic
buffer is committed to linking information across domains
and appears to function as a passive store rather thanan attention-dependent component of working memory(Baddeley,2015).

The

centralexecutive

andphonological short-term memory will be discussed in
more detail below as they are the most relevant tolanguage learning and instructional design.

processing of information as can be seen the above
example.

The central executive
The central executive is involved in many high-level
There are competing models of working

memory that set out to explain the various behavioral
and neurological data. The most influential model ofworking memory is Baddeley’s Multicomponent Model

functions. The following, based on Miyake, Friedman,
Emerson, Witzki, Howerter, and Wager (2000), are thethree most important functions important for teaching
and language learning: Inhibition, Updating, and Shifting(Gathercole, 2007). For this reason, I will focus solely on
Baddeley’s model in this paper. For those interested inalternativemodels,pleaserefer

toMiyakeandFriedmann (1999).

Inhibition is the ability to deliberately suppress
dominant, automatic responses to stimuli. In thelanguage classroom, this can be seen when students
respond to questions. Sometimes students respond

Before continuing, it is important to note thatthough there are alternative models, they are concernedwith the same data and agree on the fundamental
constructs of working memory. What differentiates theminitially with an incorrect form but quickly correct
themselves while others continue use incorrect forms
regardless automatically. Those who cannot correct
themselves have lower inhibition ability.

are their predictions on how these constructs and data
are implemented neurologically in the brain (Purves,

Updating is the ability to monitor and code task

Brannon, Cabeza, Huettel, LaBar, Platt, & Woldorff,

relevant incoming information and then update as2008). Choosing one model over another model has noneeded by replacing no longer relevant information withconsequences on the teaching strategies or conclusions

newer relevant information. Updating is often essential inin this paper.

spoken discourse and reading long texts. During thecourse of speaking or reading, one must not only keep

Baddeley’s multicomponent model
The concept of the multicomponent model of working
memory was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974).
As empirical data accumulated over the years, it hasformed into its current model. Originally, it was a threecomponent model but in additional fourth component

the oldest relevant information in mind while new
information is being constantly presented but also decide
what information to forget. This can be a daunting task in
a foreign language and students with weaker executive
working memory can have difficult following lectures,simple conversations and have trouble reading.

was added (Baddeley, 2000).
Shifting refers to the ability to switch back and
The current model consists of the central
executive, the main controller which connects to threeslave systems: the phonological loop, episodic buffer,and visuo-spatial scratchpad (Baddeley, 2000). The
central executive is the main component of the model

forth between tasks like multi-tasking. An example in theforeign language classroom would be having students
look up unknown words in the dictionary during a reading
comprehension task. The students are faced with twotasks: understanding and maintaining the informationand controls a wide range of high-level functions such as

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

71

from the text and then looking up a specific word for its

to

pick

up

phoneticallycomplexmeaning.

constructions such as the plural `s.

People with higher executive working memory spans

Working memory`s limits

morphosyntactic

produce more grammatically complex and fluent speech
and writing than those with lower spans (Bergsleithner,
2010; Guara-Tavares, 2008; Wen, 2015). Those higher
span

peoplealso

perform

higherincomplexcomprehension tasks in both listening and reading(Alptekin & Ercetin, 2011; Miki 2012). In addition, higher
span learners are also better at noticing new language
and benefit most from corrective feedback (Mackey,
2010;

Revesz,2012).

Executive

workingmemoryimpacts L2 learning in a major way, and it is easy to see
how those with lower executive working memory
capacity can easily fall behind and struggle in their

Working memory is vital to our getting around in society
and this world. Unfortunately, however, working memory
does have its limits which come in the form of
distractions, information overload, and demanding tasks.
Distractions come in many forms such as an interruption
from a co-worker. While seemingly harmless, these
distractions prevent rehearsal and the consolidation of
information into your long-term memory. Also, there is alimit to the amount of information that a person can holdin working memory. For example, try multiplying 3732
and 8745 mentally. It`s likely that you will not be able toget the right answer. The reason is because working

studies.

memory capacity has exceeded its limit. Exceeding thisThe phonological loop

limit can cause difficulty in successfully carrying out

In Baddeley’s model, the phonological loop consists oftasks. Miller suggested that working memory capacity

two

an

was limited to 7 items (1956). Recently, however, it isarticulatory rehearsal. The phonological store holds

believed that limit is about 4 chunks of information for the

acoustic and phonological information for a brief time

average person (Cowan, 2001). Demanding tasks, such

while the articulatory rehearsal is the ability to rehearse

as translating from your native tongue into a foreignnovel phonological information in order to prevent

language, also interfere with working memory because

forgetting (Baddeley, 2003). The phonological store isthey tax attentional resources.

components:aphonological

store

and

limited in the amount of information it can store and word
length also influences how much information can be held.
This storage capacity is also affected by articulatory
rehearsal in real time because rehearsal of information
limits new information from entering phonological store(Repovs & Baddeley, 2006). Long sentences or short
sentences containing long words tax the phonological

Working Memory and Instructional Design
Working memory capacity plays an important role in how
much we can learn and retain. This has important
implications for how we approach our lessons. Individual
differences in working memory capacity will be found inany classroom, some being high, average, or low.
Research has found that phonological memory was thestore making comprehension difficult.

only predictor of native-like abilities in immersion settingsOf

allaspectsofworkingmemory,theand higher executive working memory capacity students

phonological store is the most researched and well-are better at integrating complex information (Foroughi,

understood. It is involved in chunking language pieces

Barragán, & Boehm-Davis, 2016; Foster, Bolibaugh, andout of a stream of speech and then consolidating that

Agnieszka, 2014). But what about lower WM capacity

information into memory (Ellis, 1996; Ellis and Sinclair,students? Are there approaches to instructional design

1996; Martin & Ellis, 2012). It has also been shown thatthat affect only lower WM capacity students putting thema higher phonological memory predicts faster L2

at a disadvantage at no fault of their own? This

vocabulary acquisition in early learning (French, 2006;preliminary study set out to answer the question.

French & O`Brien, 2008) and is involved in theacquisitionofL2morphosyntactic

constructions(Williams, 2003). For those with lower phonologicalmemory capacity, it will be difficult for them to discernword boundaries in speech as well as affect their ability

The 2018 PanSIG Journal72

Methods

translate the sentences. The test was scored for thetarget grammar only and scored all or nothing. For

Hypothesis

example, the sentence 「私は英語を教えることが好き

The study reported used a correlational design andsought to address the following hypothesis:

です」would receive one point for being translated as I
likes teaching English and no points for being translated

In a moderate cognitive load class setting, lower

as I like teach English.

working memory capacity should correlate withparticipants were not penalized for lack of other

This was done so thatlower grammar scores

grammatical knowledge i.e. subject-verb agreement, etc.
Participants were allowed to use dictionaries, but they

The study was carried out on 2 separate
sessions. One session consisted of the experimental
lesson and, in the second session, participants’ working
memory was measured via a reading span task
administered by the author. For this experiment, thevariables were the reading span task, motivation scores,
and final test scores. Although motivation scores did not

were not allowed consult their classmates. If participants
were caught talking, their tests were scored a zero andthey were removed from the study. The scores of thestudents (M = .931, SD = .842, Max = 2.00, Min = 0.00)
indicated very little of knowledge of the target grammar.
The highest possible score was ten and the lowest was
zero.

differ significantly, lower working memory has been
associated with low motivation in school settings

Working memory assessment(Gathercole & Alloway, 2007). Motivation scores were

A complex reading span task (in Japanese)used as a variable in order to assess the relationshipwas administered to participants to assess their working

between working memory and motivation and theirmemory. The complex reading span task taps into both

effects on final test scores. Because there were no

the storage and processing functions of working memory.

significant differences, knowledge of the target grammar

It is a reliable indicator of short-term memory use,

and years of English studied were not included in theinformation processing and attentional control and has

statistical analysis.

been verified in cognitive psychology since its creation in1980 (Juffs & Harrington, 2011). The reading span task

Participants

was scored via the partial credit method as this is theParticipants were 29 Japanese first year high school
students (F = 18, mean age = 16.06). Two participants`
data was discarded because they were caught talking

most common method of scoring in psychometrics. For
in-depth discussion on scoring methods and motivations,see Conway et. al (2005).

during the posttest. Because participants were less than
18 years old, both participants and their parents were

Motivation assessment

informed via letter there would be a special class lesson

Students were asked about their motivation to learn

and that students would be taking a non-invasive

English on a scale from 1 to 10. The number selected

memory task. Both parents and students signed theacted as the scores for the independent variableconsent form. The consent form was written in Japanese.

motivation scores.

They were also allowed to drop out of the study at any
time during the lesson. Students had been studying
English for 5 years. No students reported studying
Englishoutsideofschool,holdinganyEnglishcertifications, or living abroad.

Target grammar
The target grammar was gerunds as explained in theclass textbook. There were two target structures for thegrammar test:1) V-ing + direct object + be-verb +adjective and 2) Someone + like(s) + V-ing + Direct

Knowledge of the target grammar test

Object.

A test was given to students in order to assess theirknowledge of the target grammar. The test consisted of
10 sentences students had to translate from Japanese to
English. They were not instructed on what forms to use.
They had to use their previous knowledge in order toLesson procedure
The 50-minute lesson was made to reflect a poorly
designed lesson that caused a moderate cognitive load
for students. Two simple factors to induce cognitive load

The 2018 PanSIG Journal73

were used: the target grammar structures and lecture

DO. The finaltranslation test was conducted and scoredstyle.

exactly as the knowledge of target grammar test.
The target grammar structures acted as factors

Results

since participants had no knowledge of the target
grammar.

The

reasonwasbecausegrammaticalIn this section, the results of the statistical analyses will

structures that include new information such as thebe presented. A correlation analysis was used to

Russian case system (or in this case, changing verbs

investigate any significant correlations between the three

into nouns while still including a verb) tax cognitive load

variables. The data were analyzed in terms of normality(Denhovska, Serratrice, & Payne, 2018). In addition, twoof distribution. All kurtosis and skewness values werestructures were presented that were slightly different in

between -2 and +2 indicating normal distribution. Alluse forcing participants to retain more information.

statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (version24.0).

The lecture and it`s delivery acted as the otherfactor. The reason was that the lecture included
elements that placed an extra burden on participants.

Table 1.1

Explanations (both in English and Japanese) were

Variables

n

min

max

mean

SD

somewhat long and sentence examples illustrating theReading

29

10.50

16.60

13.235

1.579

grammar point contained excessive information such as

Spanextra prepositional phrases, adverbs, adjectives as in the(WM)

example sentence My father enjoys playing golf with

Motivation

29

6.00

9.00

7.517

0.911

friends on Sunday. As a result, participants would need

Scoresto suppress (inhibition) needless information, update

Final Test

29

3.00

8.00

5.517

1.404

new information, and shift attention towards the actual

Scorestarget structures and ignore the irrelevant information.
Example sentences were used from the textbook andother example sentences were modelled on the textbook.
English and Japanese were used for all
explanations. The motivation for this was to control forparticipants` English knowledge. If the lesson was
English only, students with higher English ability would
have an advantage in understanding the explanations
thereby contaminating the results.

Table 1.2
Variables

12

3

1. Reading Span

1

-

-

2. Motivation Scores

-.343

1

-

3. Final Test Scores.718**

-.272

1

(WM)

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

The lesson was divided into three parts: a 15minute grammar explanation, a 15-minute reading andreview practice focusing on the target grammar from the
textbook, and a 20-minute final translation activity. The
final translation activity sheet consisted of 10 Japanese
sentences that students needed to translate to English.

Final grammar test

Table 1.1 shows the descriptive statistics forreading span scores, motivation scores, and test scores.
The scores on the reading span task ranged from 10.50
to 16.60 out of a possible 20. The scores indicate that
there were clear individual differences in working
memory capacity. As for motivation, the mean scores (MThe grammar test consisted of 10 sentences participants= 7.517, SD = 0.911) show that students were quite

had to translate from Japanese into English using the

motivated to learn English. There were not very big

target grammar. Five sentences consisted of thedifferences between the highest score (9.00) and thestructure V-ing + DO + be verb + adj and five sentences

lowest (6.00). Test scores, like the reading span scores,

consisted of the structure Someone + like(s) + V-ing +showed variability as well with the lowest score being
3.00 and the highest score an 8.00.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

74

Table 1.2 contains the correlations between thememory capacity was a large contributing factor. Thisreading span scores (indication of working memory

finding supports the idea that teachers need to be carefulcapacity), motivation scores and test scores. We can see

in what materials are presented (even if from textbooks),that reading span scores highly correlate with test scoresand how they are presented.

(r = .718, p<0.01). However, no correlation was foundlessons, instructions, and providing memory aides canbetween motivation and test scores (r = -.272, p = .153).

help low working memory capacity students succeed in

There was also no correlation between reading span

the classroom (Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S,

scores and motivation scores (r = -.343, p = .068).

2011).

Carefully designing

Discussion

CONCLUSIONS

A high positive correlation was found between working

The goal of this study was to examine if a moderatememory and test scores (r = .718, p<0.01) confirming the

cognitive load lesson would affect lower working memory

hypothesis. The lower one`s working memory, the lower

students`

the score on the grammar test indicating that the lesson

experimental lesson supports the idea that a moderate

was difficult for low WM capacity participants, and theycognitive

load

struggled to maintain and internalize the information

negatively

affectbeing taught. This is consistent with the researchsometimes difficult, it is important for teachers to takeshowing that lower WM capacity people have problems

great care in how and how much information is taught towith attention, maintaining important information, andstudents. Instructional design is an important tool for

discarding needless information (Gathercole & Alloway,

teachers

2007; Sweller, Ayres, & Kalyuga, 2011).

Unfortunately, due to school policies, a control and low

ability

to

to

learn

inducing

help

lower

Englishgerunds.

instructional
WM

combatdesignstudents.

lower

WM

This
can

Althoughcapacity.

cognitive load lesson group could not be secured. The
No correlation was found between motivation
scores and grammar scores (r = -.272, p = .153). In thecontext of this experimental lesson, motivation was notenough to overcome lower WM capacity in a moderatecognitive load setting. This conclusion, however, should
be taken with caution. Motivation usually bears its fruit

addition of these two groups would have given us clearer
conclusions. As a result, further studies should try to
replicate this study with three groups. In addition, studies
with participants with clearer indications of English
language abilities and language aptitude should becompared with working memory capacity.

over longer periods of time and because this lesson wasa one-time shot, it is unclear whether motivation will
eventually counter the effects of low working memory.

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K., Platt, M., & Woldorff, M. (2008). Principles of

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

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Cognitive

Neuroscience.

Massachusetts,

USA:

Sinauer Associates, Inc.
Repovs, G., & Baddeley, A.D. (2006). The multi-

Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive
Load Theory. New York, NY: Springer.
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andprocessing:The

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Revesz, A. (2012). Working memory and the observed

Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters.

effectiveness of recasts on different L2 outcome
measures. Language Learning, 62 (1), 93-132.

Williams, J.N., & Lovatt, P. (2003). Phonological memory
and rule learning. Language Learning, 53, 67-121.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal77

Correlating EIKEN and Performance Assessments in Senior High School
Austin Gardiner
Seiwa Gakuen
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT) suggests that students inJapan pass EIKEN Grade 3 (CEFR A1) at the end of junior high school, and Grade Pre-2 or Grade 2(CEFR A2 and B1) at the end of senior high school. In order to comply, schools need to take thewashback from EIKEN into account. In-house English assessments have to correlate well with EIKEN
results in order to ensure that students acquire the skills required by the EIKEN system. A student whoscores adequately on in-house tests should score adequately on a relevant EIKEN level as well. If not,then in-house methodology, including evaluations and materials, needs to be redesigned to improvecorrelation. This article discusses a mini test used as a diagnostic to calibrate in-house assessments to
be EIKEN compliant and to explore ways to assist students in achieving an adequate EIKEN result.

文部科学省は、日本の学生が中学校卒業までに EIKEN Grade 3（CEFR A1）を取得、高校卒業までに GradePre-2 または Grade 2（CEFR A2 と B1）を取得することが望ましいという方針を出しています。各学校は EIKEN の波及効果を考慮する必要があります。 EIKEN システムで必要とされるスキルを学生が確実に獲得するためには、学校内の英語の評価が EIKEN の結果とよく相関していなければなりません。 学校内試験で良い結果を得た学生は EIKEN レベルでも良い結果を得るはずです。 そうでない場合は、学校内の評価、教材、および方法論の相関を改善するために再設計する必要があります。 本稿は、EIKEN に準拠するための学校内評価を基準化し、適切な EIKEN 結果を達成するために、学生を支援する方法を探るための診断ミニテストについて述べます。

The Eiken Foundation of Japan, an incorporated public-

those designed by American companies like Educational

interest foundation, designs and implements the 実用英Testing Services (ETS) e.g. the Test of English for

語技能検定 or Basic Skills in English Test (EIKEN). This

International Communication (TOEIC), or the Common

article focuses on the first stage of the Grade 3 level test.

European Framework of Reference (CEFR); examinees

From Grade 3 to Grade 1, the test is administered in two

were not shown any scores, receiving only a pass or failstages. First, test takers must pass a listening-and-result with little information on how to improve; and thereading comprehension test as well as a short essay

system seemed to limit the number of examinees who

writing assessment in order to qualify for the second

passed each year by letting the passing grade fluctuatestage, which involves a reading aloud test and an oral

according to how well the examinees did on average.

face-to-face interview (Eiken Foundation, 2018).

MacGregor (1997) also conducted an analysis

The EIKEN system has been criticized on

on 182 first year junior college students and found thatmany accounts (MacGregor, 1997; Nielson, 2000; Piggin,

the Kuder-Richardson 20 (K-R20)—a statistic elaborated

2011; Benson, 2013). Until 2003, Item Response Theory

later in this article—was .82, whereas an acceptable K-(IRT)—an instrument for calibrating the difficulty of test

R20 ranges from .85 to .95. Woodford (1992) reported

items using a focus group—was employed to somethat the TOEIC K-R20 reached .92 in 1992.

extent, but the results were not publicly available.
MacGregor (1997) outlined the shortcomings in reliability
in those years as follows: IRT reports, unpublished, were
not available for comparison with other systems such as

Since then, many reliability improvements havebeen made. The research section of the EIKEN website
now lists numerous projects aimed at honing reliability(Brown, 2008), overall validity (Dunlea, 2010), construct

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

78

validity (Yanase, 2009), concurrent validity (Dunlea andwas 17 years, ranging between 16 years and 18 years.

Matsudaira, 2009), and face validity (Yanase andAt the start of this investigation, they were all asked

Matsudaira, 2008). Two major improvements worth

whether they had taken the EIKEN Grade 3 or higher

noting for the purposes of this study is the Can-do list ofprior to the study, and those who answered in thewhich the listening and writing Grade 3 level criteria are

affirmative were excluded from the datasets. The original

listed in Table 1, and the addition of the writing skill

sample included 85 participants, of which 5 were

essays to Grade 3 and upwards.

excluded.

The topics in the Grade 3 Can-do list are
applicable to high school students. This level should

Methods

therefore be compatible with the participants used in the

A set of twenty items were taken from the official No.2

investigation introduced in the next section.

Grade 3 EIKEN of 2017. They were the first twenty items

A considerable amount of research has gone
into making the EIKEN system more reliable. Teachers
can assist this research by conducting their own
investigations and by sharing their results. They can also
calibrate their in-house methods and assessments to befrom the listening section of the test. The first ten items
involved a short, incomplete, conversation to which
students listened and which they then had to completeby choosing the best response from a range of options(complete transcript available for free by accessing the
EIKEN downloads site:

more EIKEN compliant. This would assist their students
in preparing for a relevant level of EIKEN. To this end,

http://www.eiken.or.jp/eiken/en/downloads/ ).

the following research questions have been posed.
Since the first ten questions were dichotomous
i.e. they had only a right or wrong answer, the K-R20

Research Questions

statistic

could

be

applied

to

gauge

the

internal(1) First, the researcher aims to gauge the viability andconsistency and reliability of these first ten items (Brown,compatibility of a selection of twenty items from a 2017

1996):

Grade 3 EIKEN listening section using K-R20 reliability
and Item Facility (IF) statistics.
(2) Second, how the students perform on this mini test
will be compared to how they fared on in-house
performance assessments. If the two sets of scores
correlate well with an acceptable Pearson ProductMoment Correlation Coefficient (r), then a high-scoring
student in class has a good chance of being a high-where k = number of questions; Pj = number of correct
answers for each j; qj = number of incorrect answers foreach j; and σ2 = variance of all scores. As mentioned in
the introduction, an acceptable K-R20 ranges from .85
to .95.

scoring student on the relevant EIKEN level. If, however,there is a weak correlation, then in-house methods need
to be tweaked.

The Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)
was also computed using the following formula (Brown,
1996):(3) Finally, the researcher hopes to gain insight into
where problematic areas in the EIKEN mini test hindered
performance, and for what reasons.

Participants

where s = the standard deviation of all the scores; and r= the K-R20 statistic. This measure is useful for making

The participants were a group of 80 (N=80) senior highpredictions on how a student would score on the test if

school students, 31 students in the second grade and 49

they were given the test again at some point. The

students in the third grade in a private senior high school

descriptive statistics for the first set of ten questions are

in Sendai City, Japan. The average age of the students

outlined in Table 2.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

79

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

80

From Table 2 it can be inferred that the third
graders did better overall than the second graders, which

the most problems for two sample classes (19 second
graders and 20 third graders).

is reassuring because the students seem to bescaffolding skills as they progress each year. If there
were no differences, or worse, if the third graders werelower than the second graders, there would be cause foralarm. This set of questions were, however, not a good
fit for this group of second graders—the K-R20 = .65,

From Table 3 it can be seen that items 12, 13, 17, and19 were most problematic overall for this sample group.
The next step would be to analyze the vocabulary,syntax, and discourse in these dialogs and questions to
see why they posed such a challenge.

which is well below the .85 benchmark. The K-R20 = .89
result for the third graders was much better.
The second set of questions, 11 to 20, wasapproached differently. They also involved short dialogs,

Results
In answer to research question (1), the first ten multiple
choice items were not a good fit for the second graders

but instead of choosing a response from a range of(K-R20 = .65); however, they were a decent fit for the

options, students had to answer a question about eachthird graders (K-R20 = .89). Recall that the value

dialog in writing. In the official tests, subjects have to

MacGregor (1997) found with her college students

answer these questions on an answer sheet in a multiple

was .82, and that the TOEIC value overall around the

choice fashion, but the researcher wanted to gauge theability of the students to respond with an expression,
thus in this investigation, the ability to respond in writing
was added as a proficiency criterion. In the official
EIKEN Grade 3, there is an essay section at the end
which assesses writing, but due to time constraints, thesame time was .92 (Woodford, 1992).
As for research question (2), items 11 to 20, answered inwriting, had among them a set of problematic items
which need to be analyzed further to see why most
students struggled with these answers.

writing element was included in this second set of

Research question (3) asked how well performancequestions as a written response required for each

assessments corroborated the mini test scores, andquestion.

PEARSON r was calculated overall with results as in
Each written response was graded thus: one

point for a coherent answer in English (disregarding
spelling and grammar); one point in a separate column
for a coherent answer in Japanese (indicating that they

Table 4. From Table 4 it is clear that there was astronger correlation between the EIKEN mini test and thein-house assessments among the second graders (r =0.77) than among the third graders (r = 0.52).

did understand, but could not form an English response);

Problematic Items

and a zero for no response or an incorrect or incoherent
response in English or Japanese. Their English andThus far, the first ten items proved to be more

Japanese scores were then added up for an overall

compatible and a more reliable tool for assessing theindicator of amount of questions understood andlistening comprehension of the third graders; the second

responded to coherently overall. Since this approach isgraders were not reliably constant in their performancenot dichotomous, it was not possible to conduct a K-R20

on this first set. The second set, items 11 to 20, required

analysis on items 11 to 20. Instead, the Item Facility (IF)writing skill as well as listening comprehension, andof each question was calculated to see the rate ofthere were four items that were particularly problematic

acceptable answers for each item. The formula is as

for both groups. Let us take a quick look at the most

follows:

problematic items. Item 12 is a listening dialog scripted
as follows:

IF = N1 (number of correct answers) / N2 (number ofanswers)

A: The library is really crowded today, Mike.
B: Yeah. There are no free tables.

Calculating IF allows the researcher to see which items

A: Let’s study in the classroom.

were problematic. Table 3 shows which items caused

B: That’s a good idea.
Question: Why can’t they study in the library today?

The 2018 PanSIG Journal81

Since the content is perfectly matched to this

B: No, I don’t. Did you ask your brother?

sample of high schoolers, there have to be particular

A: Yes, but he doesn’t have it. I’ll go and ask Dad.

words and phrases that were difficult to comprehend.

B: Good idea.

Perhaps the word “crowded” and the concept ofQuestion: Who will the boy speak to next?

something being free (not free of charge or free to be
used at will) were the culprits. Item 13 involved thefollowing dialog and question:

Apart from the level of inference expected,
which is quite high, the content matches the typical

A: My dad is moving to Australia for his new job inMarch.
B: Really? What about you and your mom?
A: We’ll move in June.

milieu of the sample group. Perhaps the flow of dialog
was too fast, and the declaration “I’ll go and ask Dad”
may have been too sudden; the researcher has often
found that model dialogs in textbooks follow very

B: Maybe I can visit you in July.

predictable

Question: When will the girl and her mother move toAustralia?

declaration paired with the phrase “go and ask”, which

give-and-takepatterns.

This

suddenwhen spoken at normal pace can be difficult to parse,
may have been the hurdles.

The topic and theme are well suited to thisgroup of participants, but the names of months can be

Whatever thecauses, these

items

were

challenging for students, and the added cognitive load ofproblematic throughout, and the researcher recognizes

working out which is which when confronted with a set of

the need to include similar material in regular classes

three is particularly challenging in real time for students

and assessments to make sure students are better

who first convert English names to Japanese names that

prepared when they take the real EIKEN.

count months with numbers (三月, 六月, and 七月). It is
possible that this item caused confusion for students
who could not sort these names for the corresponding
months immediately. The next problematic item, no. 17
was scripted as follows:

Discussion
The mini test used twenty authentic EIKEN Grade 3
listening comprehension questions, and the first ten were
statistically not a reliable assessment for the second

A: Welcome to our company.

graders, but not a bad tool for assessing the third

B: Thanks. I’m looking forward to working here.

graders. Research question (1) therefore leads to an

A: Your desk is over there, next to the copy machine.

answer that is two-fold: the first ten items are not suitable

B: Great. Thanks.
Question: Where are they talking?

This topic is not exactly aimed at high school
students, but it is a general introductory situation, in linewith the Can-do list in Table1, and the vocabulary is
straightforward with “copy machine” even correlating wellphonetically with one of its Japanese counterparts, コピ

for this sample of second graders, but they are a goodtool for assessing the overall proficiency of the third
graders. Concerning research question (2), although themini test proved to be better suited to the third graders,
the second graders showed a better correlation between
in-house assessments and the mini test. This means that
their assessments in-house coincide with the MEXT
Grade 3 benchmark.

ー 機 or kopi-ki. Perhaps the students struggled with

The second graders would have been at theforming a general concept of where the people were

benchmark age around 18 months prior to thistalking. Those who attempted an answer generally got it

investigation; however, the third graders are alreadyright; there were no incorrect attempts, so the problem

nearing the next benchmark age for Grade Pre 2 andmay have been that students did not understand theGrade 2, and their weak correlation (r = 0.52) with thisquestion or the situation overall. Item 19 was scripted as

Grade 3 material indicates that review is necessary andfollows:

that classroom materials and assessments need to be
tweaked for better correlation in the future.

A: Do you have my bicycle key, Mom?

The 2018 PanSIG Journal82

Areas that seem to need immediate attention,
the point of interest for research question (3), aredevelopment. Language Assessment Quarterly, 5 (4),275-312.

vocabulary, e.g. “crowded” and the names of months,
phrases such as “go and ask,” and the natural flow of
spontaneous discourse that does not necessarily follow

Brown, J.D., Davis, J. McE., Takahashi, C., Nakamura, K.
(2010). Upper-level EIKEN examinations: linking,validating, and predicting TOEFL®iBT scores at

predictable textbook patterns of give and take.

advanced

proficiency

EIKEN

levels.

Eiken

Foundation of Japan.

Conclusion
The material in Grade 3 is expected to be easier than thematerial in Grade Pre 2 and Grade 2; therefore, muchneeds to be done to get the third graders ready for
acceptable scores on these more difficult levels. Their inhouse assessments have shown a weak correlation with
the Grade 3 mini test scores. The next step would be todesign the same mini test using Grade Pre 2 material togauge how well the third graders fare on authentic items
from

that

more

difficultlevel.

The

pedagogicalimplications of this study are that this kind of research,done in-house, is necessary to keep the material used inclassroom assessment in line with the material to bemastered in EIKEN. Such research assists both teachers

Dunlea, J. (2010). The EIKEN Can-do List: improving
feedback for an English proficiency test in Japan. In
L. Taylor & C. Weir (Eds.), Language Testing
Matters:

Investigating

the

wider

socialandeducational impact of assessment - Proceedings of
the ALTE Cambridge Conference, April 2008,
Studies in Language Testing, 31. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Dunlea, J., Matsudaira, T. (2009). Investigating therelationship between the EIKEN tests and the CEFR.
In N. Figueras & J. Noijons (Eds.), Linking to the
CEFR levels: Research perspectives. Arnhem: CITO
and EALTA.

and students by raising awareness, and if it is publishedand shared, the EIKEN Foundation is bound to take

Eiken Foundation of Japan. (2018) Eiken Foundation ofnotice as well, and to respond with more support forJapanteachers who need help with tweaking assessment

Accessed March, 2018.

Website:http://www.eiken.or.jp/eiken/

methods. Finally, it has to be conceded that the
researcher added a writing component to the second setof questions, which is not the way EIKEN designed thequestions to be answered. This inevitably affected theability of the students to answer some of the items; they
may have fared much better if those questions required
nothing more than choosing a correct answer. Therefore,
the problematic items mentioned in the previous section
may pose fewer problems when answered according tothe original EIKEN design.

MacGregor, L. (1997). The Eiken Test: An Investigation.
JALT Journal, 19, 1, 24-42.
Nielson, B. (2000). Determining Test Reliability andQuality of Eiken Test Items : A Statistical Analysis ofFirst Year Kosen Student Responses to Test Itemsof an Eiken Third Level Test. Research reports,
Kushiro Technical College, 34, 81-91.
Piggin, G. (2011). An evaluative commentary of theGrade 1 Eiken test. Language Testing in Asia, 1, 4,
144-167.

References

Taylor, L. (2004). Issues of test compatibility. Research
Benson, S. (2013). A Critical Analysis of the STEP Eiken

Notes 15, 2-5.

Test’s Validity and Reliability. The Journal of Kanda
University of International Studies, 25, 95-102.

Woodford, P. (1992). A historical overview of TOEIC andits mission. The 35th TOEIC Seminar, 10-15. Tokyo:

Brown, J. D. (1996). Testing in Language Programs. NJ:
Prentice Hall.
Brown,J.D.

The

InstituteforInternational

Business

Communication.
(2008).

Testing-context

analysis:

assessment is just another part of curriculum

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

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Yanase, K. (2009). 話題題材の「広がり」と「深み」－
自立型学習へ向けて [Breadth and depth in topics
and materials: developing independent learners].
Paper presented at the 158th meeting of the
Association of Sophian Teachers of English, Sophia
University, Tokyo.
Yanase, K., Matsudaira, T. (2007). 英検 Can-do 調査.
[The EIKEN Can-do Survey]. Paper presented at the10th Japan Language Testing Association Annual
Conference

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84

Fake news? Tips to help English educators in Japan navigate a posttruth world
John Maurice Gayed
Himeji Dokkyo University

English instructors in Japan often assign their students written assignments or class presentation
assignments that require their students to find information about a topic. Particularly, English for
Academic Purposes (EAP) and Content and Language Integrated Learning courses (CLIL) often havestudents conducting research in their respective fields to produce new original material as classwork or
material to be published in university or professional journals. This paper will try to define some of thedangers students will come across while using the Internet to search for information and how English
instructors can inform their students to become better users of the information they find online.

日本の英語講師は生徒に対して自分たちで選んだトピックに関する情報を収集し、それを基にレポートを書かせたり、クラスで発表をさせることがよくあります。特に、EAP（English for Academic Purposes＝アカデミック英語）やCLIL（Content and Language Integrated Learning courses＝内容言語統合型学習コース）は、それぞれの分野で研究を行い、大学や専門誌に掲載される課題や資料として独自の資料を作成することがあります。本誌ではン
ターネットを使用して情報を検索する際に生徒が遭遇し得る危険についてと、生徒に対してオンラインでうまく情報を集めるために英語講師がどのように指導できるかについて定義します。

“Everybody gets so much information all day long thatthe topic and give educators a practice-oriented resource

they lose their common sense” (Stein, 1946).

they can use in their classrooms.

The term “fake news” is defined by the Cambridge

This author’s university is a small (under 1,000

Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus as, “stories

students) private liberal-arts university located in thethat appear to be news, spread on the internet or using

southwest

other media, usually created to influence political views

university generally come from upper-middle classor as a joke” (2018). This phenomenon of “fake news”

families

has become a part of political discourse in the United

Consequently, due to their relative affluent social

States and many other parts of the world. While astanding, all of the students who participated in thisspectrum of political parties argues about what is real

paper’s surveys have access to digital devices such as

and what are alternative realities, this paper will not

smartphones or personal computers at home. As a side

focus on the socio-political issues at stake. Rather thenote to educators who are based outside of Japan, theauthor would like to shed some light on practical tips andJapanese school system is structured in a way thatconsiderations that English educators in Japan can use

private universities are usually ranked below public

totrustworthy

schools. According to a number of university-ranking

information when they work on English writing andsites such as “Times Higher Education Rankings”, all ofpresentation assignments. While the author believes thisthe top 10 schools in Japan are public universities (Besttopic deserves to be investigated with a research-based

Universities in Japan, March 2018). This is mentioned toquantitative report, this paper’s intent is only to introduce

clarify that although this author’s school is a private

help

their

studentsfindreliable,ofwhoJapan.
canThe
affordstudents

attendingprivate-schoolthetuition.

institution, its academic ranking is lower than might be

The 2018 PanSIG Journal85

expected.

The

top

Western

universities

areJapanese university students access the Internet via a

predominately private institutions (World universities

computer or smartphone when faced with an assignment

rankings, 2018). This socio-economic difference shouldthat requires research. Out of twenty-two participants in

be kept in mind when we think about the students’a class survey (Table 1) twenty (90%) responded thatbackground and possible influences on their ability tothey prefer to use Internet sources instead of libraryuse digital tools.

resources when looking for information. In addition, thevast majority of the participants indicated that they do not

According to a 2015 OECD’s broadband
statistics

report,

Japan

ranks

secondincheck the information they find for potential problems.

mobilebroadband subscriptions (OECD broadband statistics

To this researcher who spent the majority of his

update, 19 February 2016). Needless to say, access toschool life doing homework and looking for information in

the Internet is widespread among all age groups andlibraries, the survey results were disheartening. Primarily

demographics. While students have access to highdue to the fact that this author believes that most of his

speed Internet at home and on their smart devices, they

students have not developed sufficient information

are not allowed to use computers, smart phones orliteracy skills to determine the quality of the informationtablets during lectures at this author’s university. Japanthey are going to use. When asked to provide somestill relies on rote memorization techniques without thereasoning as to why they use the Internet to findaid of technology (Osumi, 2016). When the topic of

information most students who participated in the survey

digital tools in the classroom comes up with this author’s

responded with, “finding information on the Internet iscolleagues, some view using those tools as shortcuts

fast and easy” or “I do not want to go to the librarythat hinder the ability of students’ absorption of facts.

because it is troublesome and unnecessary”. This author
tries to impart on his students that, “right now, libraries

Despite this attitude towards using digital tools
in the classroom, this author believes that students willturn towards digital sources of information to complete
assignments, even if educators actively try to limit theiruse in the classroom. In that regard, to get a better
sense of how this author’s students find information, ashort survey was conducted with a questionnaire

have the rarest and most precious thing in the world: arespected and trusted brand” (Johnson, 2017). One of
the many advantages of using a library is students can
ask for the help of librarians to find information and they
can rest assured the library itself acts as filter andgateway that tries to keep false information andunreliable sources out of their pool of resources.

administered to second year students (N=22). The
students who participated in the survey are proficient

Changing student behavior to use more libraryenough in English to be able to understand the English

resources would certainly be one way to improve thequestions

quality of our students’ work. However, this author would

in

the

questionnaire

withoutneedforJapanese translation.

like to argue that instead of just focusing on changing
student behavior, educators can help their students in

As seen in Table 1, most of this author’s

the short term by teaching them what to watch for andTable 1The 2018 PanSIG Journal86how to be more critical users of the information they find

When asked about his students’ information

online. There are a multitude of pitfalls that await

literacy he was reluctant to admit that most of his

students along the way and educators need to give

students are not taught about how to research forstudents the tools and skills necessary to become better

something using Internet resources. He reported that

informed digital users.

most Japanese English teachers including JTE regard
themselves as the main gatekeepers of information for“Social media platforms such as Facebook
have a dramatically different structure than previous
media technologies. Content can be relayed amongusers with no significant third-party filtering, factchecking, or editorial judgment. An individual user withno track record or reputation can in some cases reach as
many readers as Fox News, CNN, or the New YorkTimes”. (Allcott, Hunt, Gentzkow, 2017).
The Oxford Dictionary 2016 word of the year
was “post-truth”. The adjective is defined as “relating toor denoting circumstances in which objective facts areless influential in shaping public opinion than appeals toemotion and personal belief”. (Oxford Dictionary, 2016).
This the environment students find themselves in when
they begin to look for information on the Internet. They
might start a search via a browser such as Apple’s Safari
or Google’s Chrome that leads them to blog sites orFacebook pages. The students might then use the data
they have found for their classroom assignments without
checking to see if the data they are using is based onreliable facts.

the students. The students are expected to use theinformation they are taught in class to complete any
assignments they might have. JTE reported that,“Students are very rarely expected to use outside
resources for school assignments because there might
be a lack of fair access for all students”. He did indicate,however, that he has been trying to engage his students’critical thinking skills by using library and Internet
resources. In that regard, he agreed with this author that,“students need a repertoire of evaluative strategies”(Callison, 2009) when they are searching for information
online. An example of his efforts includes having his
students make a presentation about Japanese history or
culture using PowerPoint, Google Slides or Apple’s
Keynote presentation software. For that project he asks
students to evaluate what information they will need tomake their presentations original and engaging toaudiences. JTE admitted that while he is personallytrying to improve his students’ information literacy, “theschool where I currently teach does not have any schoolwide policies to help students learn about the Internet”.
At the conclusion of our interview, JTE believed

Japanese English Instructor’s View
In order to get an inside perspective on what JapaneseEnglish instructors might have to say about students’
information literacy, the author conducted an interview
with one of his Japanese colleagues. The interview was
conducted in English, with the researcher taking notes
during the conversation. The subject, abbreviated as“JTE”, has been teaching for over fifteen years at thesecondary level in a private high school. He graduatedthat more awareness was needed in this area and theschool should hire an information science specialist who
can

help

facultyandstudents

improve

theirunderstanding of the issues and gain the practical skills
they need to become better users. This author believes
that further investigation and additional interviews at theuniversity level with Japanese teachers of English mightreveal additional insight into how schools approach the
topic of information literacy.

from a top-ranked Japanese university and also studied
in the United States for one year at California State
University – Los Angeles. He has passed the 1st level
EIKEN English proficiency exam and noted during theinterview that he is a proponent of using technology inthe classroom. Currently, he is the head of the English
department at the school and is trying to implement
school-wide changes that will better equip his students tobecome 21st century learners.

Instruction with Technology andResources
This author believes that educators need to realize
students these days are caught up in social media,
instant search results and non-curated information (acelebrity blog for example). While they might be able tofind something of perceived value quickly, educatorsneed to help their students understand the use of

The 2018 PanSIG Journal87

technology. “Do they use it for schoolwork, to playresearches often use citations to back up theirgames, to communicate with friends, to do research, or

claims. Does the article have any citations?

some of all of the above?” (Borawski, 2009). Students
might have difficulty drawing a clear line between those3.

verifies and checks the information? Check to see

activities. Furthermore, students are at risk to view the

who last edited the article. If no name is listed, thencontent on social networks as equal to curated content

it becomes more difficult to trust that the information

because they are accessing both types of data from thepresented is accurate.

same device and in a similar format.
TobetterunderstandAccuracy – Is there an editor or someone who

howstudents

areaccessing information, educators should also become
more knowledgeable of new technologies and trends.
They should learn what sources of information theirstudents are likely to use and how to teach their students
about the deficiencies and benefits of each of thosesources.

4.

Currency – Can you find when the information was
published or last updated? Published by dates areusually clearly written on reputable websites. If adate cannot be found on the page then theinformation might be outdated or no longer true.
When using consumer-oriented search sites such

as Google.com or Yahoo.co.jp, it is important to crossAs a guideline to help educators and students

judge information sources, the author recommends using
a rubric based on Susan Beck’s Evaluation Criteria(Beck, 1997).
educators

This checklist can help students andquickly

determinethequalityoftheinformation they want to use in their research. The
graphic in Figure 1 is explained in more detail with acheck the author, determine the type of server the
information is hosted on and make sure the data is being
produce by a reputable organization. This checklist canhelp students filter the websites they find online. If a
student has to vet many websites it is best to make aquick pass using the above four checkpoints.

After

deciding on one or two information sources, the student
should try to check the referenced material using thenumbered list.

Evaluation Checklist as a guide. By using the checklist,
Figure 1. Evaluation Checklist

students can be more confident they have better quality
information sources. In doing so, they will be able toproduce better content while also gaining the skill of

Authority.edu .gov .ac.jp

Objectivity

Opinion vs. Fact

Accuracy

Peer reviewed? Editor?

Currency

Published / Last edited date

being self-reflective and inquisitive learners.

Practical Applications in the Classroom
As stated earlier, students find themselves in anenvironment where there is an enormous amount of1.

Authority – Is the author associated with aninformation available. However, it is becoming more andeducation

reputable

more difficult to verify the veracity of that data. Students

organization? The URL of a website can often tellshould start with the Evaluation Checklist to quickly

us something about the organization. For example,

eliminate websites that might come up in the top of“...ac.jp” websites are reserved for schools that are

search results, but are actually heavily biased sites

registered under the School Education Law in

written by individuals are companies that do not base

Japan. This includes universities, technical schools

their findings on scientific fact. These sites usually haveand incorporated schools. Another example is,an agenda to push and more often than not, they also“…co.jp”, these websites are reserved for registered

have something to sell the reader. A process that thiscorporations that are physically located in Japan.

author would like to start having his students use is theinstitution

or

other

process of making an annotated bibliography.
2.

The

Objectivity – Is the writer’s name listed? Is theannotation allows the student to double check once

source a presentation of facts and not designed toagain the quality of the information source. In addition, it

sway opinion? When presenting facts, journalist or

is a very valuable addition for the instructor to be able to

The 2018 PanSIG Journal88read the annotations and understand the students’students to locate the data they needed and finish their

vetting process and why they chose that website to use

homework assignments.

in their paper.
In another example, students had to research gender
To become better leaders in education, it is important weinequality issues in Japan. For this assignment students

teach students the steps they need to take in order to bewere required to use at least one information source thatskilled users of information. Anyone can make a free

was not solely produced for Internet consumption. They

website and publish it on the Internet; this presents

had to find English newspapers, databases or otherstudents with a special challenge that students twenty

research databases that cannot be accessed by simply

years ago did not have to deal with.

typing a few keywords into Google. Forcing students to

information

outsideofaProcessing

professionallyvetteddo something outside of their comfort zones hopefully

environment will require educators and students to havetaught them the importance of some of the tenets ofbetter critical thinking skills.

The more students andinformation literacy. They live in world of fast and easy

educators know about how to check for quality the moredata. However, quality is something they should strive

effective they will be in producing their own originalfor if they hope to produce quality work of their own.

material and research.
The process of completing this article has also given theConclusion

author a better understanding of how students areThis author does not believe that the Japaneselooking for information. The author has tried to guide his

education system can continue to be competitive in thestudents to use online databases that are better suitedworld if it ignores the digitization of information that isfor research. For example, Google Scholar or ERIC

happening on the world stage. According to my interview

databases focus on published works from journals andwith JTE, teachers thus far have been somewhat

other scholarly articles.

Based on this author’s

successful in avoiding the problem altogether byexperience, currently most students use Wikipedia or the

discouraging the use of technology and digital sources.

first few links from a google.co.jp search. When students

That cannot continue to be the way forward. We must

can access higher quality databases, the hope is they

understand the reality of how our students accesswill try and produce higher quality English reports. Using

information and help and guide them to be intelligent,

the new information literacy skills they have gained,

ethicalstudents will be less motivated to copy and paste whole

information.

andresponsible

users

and

producersofsections of Wikipedia for their homework assignments.

References

Of course, banning using Wikipedia is not a good option
as it “doesn’t teach students the skills they need to know”(Jennings,2008).

It

just

makes

them

less

Allcott, Hunt, and Matthew Gentzkow. 2017. Social

knowledgeable about a technology that they will

media and fake news in the 2016 Election. Journal of

encounter every day in their lives.

Economic Perspectives, 31 (2): 211-36.

For a recent presentation project, the author had his

Beck, Susan. (1997). The good, the bad & the ugly: or,students look up and report on recent J-Pop musicians

why it’s a good idea to evaluate web sources.

and report where they were born, what they studied in

Modified 2009.

school, why they became a musician and what they will

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction_backup/evalcrit.html

do next. For that project, students were allowed to use
Wikipedia and look at the bottom for good references,Best universities in Japan. (2018). The World University

then go to official artist fan pages and finally try to findRankings.

information about the artist from the talent agency or

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-music label they currently work for. Introducing easy

universities/best-universities-japan

steps to the research method made it easy for the

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

89

Borawski, C. (2009). Beyond the book, literacy in theOsumi, Magdelena. (2016). Global education experts

digital age. Children and libraries, Winter 2009, pp.

urge Japan to look beyond rote learning. The Japan

54.

Times.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/14/nation

Callison, D. (2009). Instructional trends from AASL
journals: 1972-2007. School library media activities

al/global-education-experts-urge-japan-look-beyondrote-learning/#.W4YzO5MzZ3N

monthly, Vol. 25, Number 10, pp. 27.
Post-truth. (2016). “Word of the Year 2016 is...”. English
Fake news. (2018). Cambridge Advanced Learner's
Dictionary & Thesaurus.

Oxford Living Dictionaries.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fakeyear/word-of-the-year-2016-news
Stein, Gertrude. (1946). Reflection on the Atomic Bomb.
Jennings,

E.

Information(2008).
Literacy.

Using

Wikipedia

College

&

to

teach

Yale Poetry Review.

Undergraduate

Libraries, 15(4), 432-437.

World university rankings. (2018). The World University
Rankings.

OECD broadband statistics update, 19 February 2016

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-

http://www.oecd.org/sti/broadband/broadband-

university-rankings/2018/world-

statistics-update.htm

ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

90

Virtual embodiment and project-based learning with Google Earth VR
Tom Gorham
J.F. Oberlin University

Jon Gorham
J.F. Oberlin University

Matt William Courtney
Harvard Graduate School of Education
In this pilot study, Japanese junior high school students who are studying English as a foreign language(EFL) were divided into two groups. Both groups engaged in project-based learning (PBL) activities that
focused on tourism-related language. The control group used paper-based materials and the treatmentgroup used digital materials, including Google Earth VR on the Oculus Rift virtual reality system. The
results indicated that the treatment group outperformed the control group on pre- to post-test score gains
and on a graded speaking task.

この予備研究では、外国語として英語を学習する日本の中学生を 2 つのグループに分けた。どちらのグループも、観光関連の言語に焦点を当てた課題解決型学習を実施。対象群は紙の教材を使用し、実験群は Oculus Rift バーチャルリアリティシステム上の Google Earth VR を含むデジタル教材を使用した。
結果は、実験群が試験前または試験後の得点の増加および段階的なスピーキング課題で対照群より優れていることを示した

This paper will describe a pilot study which comparedbased on research that they conducted. The control

the efficacy of a treatment condition which included thegroup was given only paper-based materials for research,use of virtual reality (VR) technology to that of a morewhile the treatment group was also allowed to use digital

traditional paper-based control condition within thematerials, including brief individual immersion in thecontext of a project-based learning (PBL) unit designed

Google Earth VR application running on the Oculus Riftfor Japanese junior high school EFL students. Althoughvirtual reality (VR) system. The Google Earth VR

the sample size of the treatment group was small (n=14),

application allows users to have a fully immersive

statistical analysis suggests that the treatment was moreexperience of “floating” above a highly realistic three-effective than the control.

dimensional model of the earth which includes bothnatural and man-made features. The user can traverse

The upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
were used as the basis for designing a project-basedlearning (PBL) unit that was implemented with a group ofTokyo-based Japanese junior high school students(N=67). The students assumed the role of tour guides

the landscape and look at it from a bird’s eye view while
also being able to adjust his or her altitude. The VR
treatment was chosen in order to investigate the possible
effect of embodied cognition on foreign language
learning.

and they were tasked with designing a tour for a fictionalgroup of English-speaking tourists who would be visiting

At the end of the project, the students’Japan for the Olympics. For example, they identified aperformance of understanding was to give a short,particular Olympic event and then recommended lodging

spoken presentation that summarized the proposed tour

and restaurants near the vicinity of that event’s venue

for their fictional clients. The speeches were evaluated

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

91

usingarubricthat

includedelementssuchasdifferences is the educational framework, Universal

memorization, pronunciation, grammatical accuracy, andDesign for Learning (UDL). UDL implores teachers torhythm/fluency. In addition to the presentations, all of theprovide multiple means of presenting information andstudents were given a pre- and post-test that assessed

content to their students (Meyer, Rose, & Gordon, 2014).

their knowledge of relevant vocabulary and also theirBecause VR is categorically different from otherlistening and dictation skills. The relative gain scores

educational technology (e.g. books, photos, and videos),

were compared between the control and treatment

it should be considered as an alternative means ofgroupsrepresenting information and content. In the context of
MBE science, complex dynamic systems, superposition,neurodiversity, and UDL’s call for multiple means of

Background Literature Review

content presentation, we believe that VR technology

This section will first introduce the theoretical basis forpossesses affordances which have the potential tothis study, then it will give brief explanations of project-

positively affect learning and it warrants further study.

based learning and the concept of virtual embodiment.

Project-based Learning

Theoretical BasisMany

The present study is rooted in Mind, Brain, and
Education (MBE) science. MBE is a transdisciplinary
field

that

bridges

psychology,

neuroscience,

foreign/second

languageteachers

andresearchers believe that authenticity is a necessarycomponentofsuccessful

teaching

andlearning.

andMoskowitz’s (1978) humanistic approach to foreign

education (Fischer et al., 2007). There are two major

language learning emphasizes the need for using topics

ideas from MBE that guided our thinking while designingthat are both individually relevant and truthful. Similarly,

this study. The first is that human cognition is part of athe neurolinguistic approach stresses the need forcomplex dynamic system: an interlocking fractal pattern“authenticity of language and communication situationsof nested and interconnected systems, which range in(Netten, & Germain, 2012, p. 93).

scale from the microscopic interplay of cells in the brain
to the macroscopic churn of human social interaction

Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-(Schumann, 2006; Steenbeek & van Geert, 2015). An

centered, content-focused pedagogical approach thatinterestingisaddresses this call for authenticity in the foreign/second

superposition. This is a phenomenon in which there canlanguage classroom. With PBL, students are tasked withbeortaking an active role in developing solutions for real-

explanations regarding a particular system, when inworld problems. PBL fosters student collaboration andreality they may all be at least partially true (e.g. the false

usually requires a final project as a performance ofdichotomy of nature versus nurture). In light of this, as

understanding (Blumenfeld, et al., 1991; Poonpon, 2017).

researchers and pragmatic educators, we “eclectically

It can create richer and more hands-on real-world

and liberally borrow from several different educational

experiences for students and it can shift the educational

approaches

includingexperience from one of rote learning to one of active

behaviorism, cognitivism, and social-constructivism [andlearning, where students shift from being passive

we are only] limited by what [we] find to be effective in

consumers of knowledge to being active creators[our](Adamstrait

multipleofcomplexseemingly

andday-to-day

dynamic

contradictorylearning

interactions

systemstheories

theories,

with

[our]

students”(Gorham & Gorham, 2015, p. 183).

Becker,Cummins,

Davis,

Freeman,Hall

Giesinger, & Ananthanarayanan, 2017). A hallmark of
PBL is that students are involved in doing, creating, andThe second major conceptual influence for us

demonstrating their new skills.

is neurodiversity. One of the most widely accepted
principles of MBE science is that “human brains are as

For these reasons and because of the possible

unique as human faces. While the basic structure ofaffordance of virtual embodiment, we felt that a VR

most human brains is the same (similar parts in similar

application like Google Earth VR has the potential toregions), no two brains are identical” (Tokuhama-augment the effectiveness of PBL in language learning

Espinosa, 2018, p. 1). A successful approach to learner

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

92

Virtual Embodiment

Hypothesis

Most teachers instinctively understand that human

We hypothesized that the treatment group would showcognition is at the heart of the teaching and learning

greater gains in the post-test results as well as higher

experience, but they might not realize that cognition isscores on their presentations than the control group.

not a purely mental phenomenon; it also has anembodied element: “perceptual and motor systems
influencetheinferences,

way

and

we

use

constructlanguage”

concepts,(Repetto,

makeSerino,Macedonia, & Riva, 2016, para. 3). VR has the potential
ability to tap into this embodied cognition through anaffordance referred to as “virtual embodiment” and it has
been shown to improve language learning outcomes(Macedonia,

Müller,&Friederici,

2011;

Repetto,Participants
The participants (N=67) were Japanese junior highschool students based in Tokyo. All of the 67 students inthe study fell within the age range of 14 to 15 years old
and

took

part

in

the

study

during

their

“Oral

Communication” EFL class at the same school. The
control group consisted of 2 classes totaling 53 students(76.9%) and the remaining 14 students (23.1%), from athird class, served as the treatment group. The gender

Cipresso, & Riva, 2015).

distribution was 60% male and 40% female. All of theInterestingly, De Gelder, Katsyri, and de Borst

students were taking the same level of English classes(2018) argue that the power of a virtual reality

and they were taught by one of this study’s authors. We

experience does not necessarily stem from a hyper-

understand that the proportions of students in the trial

realistic depiction of its virtual environment, but rather

versus treatment group is not ideal. However, wefrom its ability to foster a suspension of disbelief in thedecided to proceed with the study even with a smalluser. This effect can be enhanced through the inclusion

treatment group. We considered it important to continueof various sensory modalities, such as surround-soundthis research with the plan of conducting future studies

audio, gesture tracking, and haptic feedback (Bailey,with larger groups.

Bailenson, & Casasanto, 2016).

Materials
virtualBoth the control and treatment groups were given a pre-embodiment, VR experiences can sometimes havetest before starting the unit. The pre-test assessed thepowerful and long-lasting real-world effects on users.

students’ listening and dictation skills as well as the

Research has shown that VR can be used to ameliorate

students’ ability to translate ten target vocabulary words

acute and procedural pain in medical treatment (Won etfrom English to Japanese. The dictation section of theal., 2017) and to change the way that perpetrators of

pre-test was adapted from a model of the speech thatdomestic violence perceive fearful female faces (Seinfeld

the students were later tasked with creating. The post-

et al., 2018). In light of this body of research, it istest that was administered at the end of the unit followed

possible that certain VR experiences may be able to add

thea very different type of authentic experience to language

administered by the same classroom teacher who is also

learning which employs a PBL approach.

a co-author of this study.

Becauseofthephenomenon

of

same

format.

Students

Methods

Both

were

tests

were

providedcreatedwithandscaffolding

support in the form of a printed flow chart describing thesteps required for completing the project and a model of

Research question

the final performance of understanding speech. They

Will the inclusion of a highly immersive VR experience inwere also given a paper-based handout that featured aa more traditional project-based learning unit taught tolist of the events in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Heritage

Japanese junior high school EFL students result in

Zone and the Tokyo Bay Zone. These two areas feature

higher learning gains on written pre- and post-tests as

32 of the 39 Olympic events.

well as higher scores on a performance of understanding
speechThe students conducted research for theirprojects using information from several websites: aJapan-focusedmasstransitschedulingsite

The 2018 PanSIG Journal93

(www.hyperdia.com),(www.hotels.com),

a
a

hotel

bookingsite

presentations

restaurant

reviewsite

administered.

werecompleted,thepost-testwas(www.yelp.com), and Google Maps. There is one
During the three class periods of research andimportant deviation from our original plan for providing
research materials for this study. We intended for boththe control group and the treatment group to spend twoclass periods in the computer lab to conduct web
searches. However, due to scheduling conflicts that we
encountered with the school’s computer lab, the control
group was unable to use the computer lab. Instead,students in the control group were provided with aprinted packet of several pages of search results frompreparation, the students decided on a fictitious travelcompany name, determined a venue in the Heritage
Zone or the Tokyo Bay Zone, and explained the sport orcompetition held at the particular venue. Next, using
information from the previously mentioned websites, thepairs determined a route to their chosen Olympic venue
from Narita International Airport, and decided whether aperson should walk from the train station, take a taxi, ora ride a bus to arrive at the Olympic venue. After that,the preceding list of websites.

they found the price of a quality hotel and identified a
Finally, every student in the treatment grouprestaurant located in the vicinity of the venue. The pairs

was given a 5-minute immersive VR experience whereused this information to make their speech, introducing

they could explore the Olympic Heritage Zone and Tokyo

their fictional travel company’s tour plan to hypothetical

Bay Zone with Google Earth VR running on the Oculus

foreign tourists. The speeches were evaluated using a

Rift and an Alienware 15 gaming laptop.

rubric designed by this study’s authors.

Procedures
For each of the classes, the study took place over the

Results

course of four 50-minute class periods spanning roughly

On an aggregate level (N=67), students’ average score

2 weeks. The pre-test was administered at the beginningon the pre-test was 4.79 with a range of 0 to 11 on a 15of the first period. In the first and second class periods,

point scale. We observed an increase in overall post-test

the students were first randomly put into pairs and thenscores at 7.34 with a range of 1 to 15. As alluded to by

they conducted research using information from thethese measures, there was greater variance on the post-

previously mentioned websites. In the third period, thetest which can be typical. Interestingly, the overall

students consolidated their research and wrote their final

presentation grades were similar to the post-test grades.

presentation speeches, which they then practiced andfinallypresented

inthefourthperiod.

After

We compared the means of the two groups

theTable 1: Comparisons of Treatment and Control Groups on Pre-test, Post-test and Presentation SpeechPretestTreatment

Control(n=14)(n=53)

t

p

6.7

4.3

2.92

.005

(2.6)

(2.8)

10.9

6.4

4.13

.001

(SD)

(2.6)

(3.9)

Mean

4.2

2.1

3.06

.003

(SD)

(1.5)

(2.4)

12.6

6.3

6.86

.001

(1.7)

(3.3)

Mean
(SD)

Posttest Mean

Gain scores

SpeechMean(SD)

The 2018 PanSIG Journal94

Figure 1. Box-and-whisker plot of average gain scores for the control group (0) and treatment groups (1)with an independent samples t-test. As shown in Table 1,2.11). Furthermore, the standard deviations were about

analysesof the pre- and post-tests revealed that the

1 point different, on a 15 point scale, indicating a bigger

students in the treatment group not only scored higher

spread of scores in the control group. When examining aon the post-test but also made larger gains and thesebox plot (Figure 1), we can see how drastic thisresults were found to be statistically significant (df = 65, t

difference is. To address this concern of unequal= 3.06, p<0.003). We took caution with this result

variances between our samples, we performed an F-test

because, as we can see, there is a significant difference

and found this measure not to be significant (p>0.05). In

between the treatment and control groups on the pre-test.

other words, this assumption of the t-test was met. The

Because of this we focus on the gain scores, or theotheramount of points the students gained on average fromindependence, were also met. Of particular interest withpre- to post-test.

the Figure below is that the lowest and highest gains

assumptions

of

the

t-test,normality

andwere in the control group, but the treatment group had
It was found that students in the treatment

larger average gain scores.

group, on average, had gain scores that nearly doubled
the gain scores of the control group (Mtre = 4.21, Mcon =When examining the presentation scores weFigure 2. Histogram displaying the Speech scores for the control group (0) and treatment group (1)The 2018 PanSIG Journal95

see a similar trend; however, the variances between thegroup tended to cluster around (B+/A-), compared to thegroups were vastly different with many students in thecontrol group which varied from (F-A), with an average oftreatment group clustering towards high scores and the(C). This difference could possibly be due to selection

control group having a much wider spread (Mtre = 12.57,

bias and due to the nature of educational research it canMcon = 6.28). To help alleviate this concern, we utilized

be difficult to achieve pure randomized controlled trials.

Satterthwaite’s adjustment in an independent samples t-

Because the treatment group had greater pre-test scores

test with unequal variances which confirmed significant

than the control group, we focused on how muchdifferences between the groups (df = 42, t = 9.805,

students improved throughout the study, i.e. the gain

p<0.001).

scores. This way we do not focus on where a student
started or ended, necessarily, but how much they

Looking at the group all together, we found amoderate positive correlation with gain and speechscores (r = 0.41, p<0.001). This indicates that, on
average, students who scored higher on their speechtended to also achieve higher gains on the written test.

improved. In looking at the gain scores it gives theimpression, and reinforces the notion, that effectively
utilizing technology including the Internet and VR
experiences can potentially greatly improve the students’performance in the classroom.

Said another way, students who had lower scores on
their speech tended to have smaller gains from pre- topost-test.

While it may be difficult to disentangle theeffects of the treatment group students’ interaction with
Google Earth VR from the effects of using web-based

When comparing the control group with thetreatment group here, we see a strong positive
correlation with being in the treatment group andperforming well on the speech (r = 0.64, p<0.001). We

resources (like Hyperdia, Google Maps, Hotels.com, andYelp), the results of informal surveys administered at theend of the study indicated a particularly strong interest in
the use of the VR technology.

see a similar trend as we did earlier with gain scores inthat students in the treatment group scored much higher

Another issue that must be considered in thisin this domain, on average, and there was a wider range

study is the small sample size of the treatment group.

in the control group as shown in Figure 2. We also see

Due to this size, we want to be careful with making

that students in the treatment group tended to haveinferences but nonetheless this initial study gives somehigher gains on the written test, though this is a relatively

promising insights for further research.

small correlation by comparison (r = 0.35, p<0.005).
Being cautious of sampling error we bear in mind thatthe control group and treatment groups were quite
different in sample size, so the sharp distinctions wefound may not be as prevalent in a larger treatmentgroup. In either case, the findings from our analysis point
to the potential educational benefits of VR.

Despitetheseissues,

it

may

be

worth

examining these findings through the lenses of universal
design for learning (UDL) and Mind, Brain, and
Education (MBE) science. As described earlier, teachers
should understand the fact of neurodiversity among theirstudents and the need for offering multiple modes ofpresenting educational content.

Discussion
Based on the results of this project-based learning
experiment, the intervention which included a brief
immersive VR experience was found to be more
effective than the control condition but this study, like
any, is not without its limitations. Interestingly, often
when one tries an intervention or new program in
educational settings there can be bigger variances in thetreatment group than the control group; and in this case,
we see the opposite. The students in the treatment

If we look at the range of results in the pre-test,
both the control and treatment groups had very similar
standard deviations on their pre-test scores, meaningthat the amount of variation in the range of scores weresimilar. However, when we look at the standard
deviations of the post-test scores, the gain scores, andthe speech scores, the control group exhibits greater
variability in all three. The traditional PBL unit used withthe control group resulted in less consistent test results.
It worked very well for some students, but it was muchless effective for others. Conversely, the VR treatment

The 2018 PanSIG Journal96

seemed to have had a much more consistent effect on

Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2017-nmc-

the students in the treatment group, resulting in smaller

horizon-report-he-EN.pdf

standard deviations. Even without comparing the control
group to the treatment group, we can see that thetraditional PBL unit was not effective for all the students.
This should alert educators to the possibility of UDLbased curricular improvements. In other words, it may bedesirable to seek other ways to present content when
doing PBL.

desirable pedagogical choice, it may be because thestudents react well to the authenticity. Perhaps the
addition of an immersive VR experience to PBL can, inthe spirit of UDL, offer an additional means of engaging
with the content and creating a sense of authenticity inmore students.

Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments,
25(3), 222-233.
Blumenfeld, P. C., Soloway, E., Marx, R. W., Krajcik, J.
learning:

Sustaining

thedoing,

supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist,
26(3-4), 369-398.
de Gelder, B., Katsyri, J., & de Borst, A. W. (2018).
Virtual reality and the new psychophysics. British
Journalof

Psychology,

109(3),

421-426.

Fischer, K. W., Daniel, D. B., Immordino‐Yang, M. H.,

In conclusion, through supplementing a project-basedlearning assignment with an immersive VR experience,
the treatment group showed greater gains in the postas

project-based

https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12308

Conclusion

results

When does virtual embodiment change our minds?

S., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating

If we look at what makes PBL an effective andtest

Bailey, J. O., Bailenson, J. N., & Casasanto, D. (2016).

well

as

higherscoreson

Stern, E., Battro, A., & Koizumi, H. (2007). Why mind,
brain, and education? Why now?. Mind, Brain, and
Education, 1(1), 1-2.

theirGorham, T., & Gorham, J. (2015). Exploring the affective

presentations than the control group. Overall, students inaffordances of video games in language learning. In

the treatment group were able to demonstrate their

S. Y. Tettegah & W. D. Huang (Eds.), Emotions,abilities of creating fictitious travel companies andtechnology,

convincing foreign visitors to attend specific events fortechnology: Communication of feelings for, with, andthe Tokyo 2020 Olympics better than the control group.

through digital media. San Diego, CA: Elsevier.

anddigitalgames.

EmotionsandAlthough this experiment showed promising results forthe use of VR in project-based learning, due to theMacedonia, M., Müller, K., & Friederici, A. D. (2011). The

study’s relatively small sample size of participants in theimpact of iconic gestures on foreign language word

treatment group, more studies replicating the same orlearning and its neural substrate. Human Brainsimilar methods are recommended.

Mapping,32(6),

982-998.

https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.21084
One reasonable concern is the high cost of VR
technology. However, there are new, lower-cost VR

Meyer, A., Rose, D. & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal

headsets that are being released, such as the Oculus Go,

design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield,

which may offer educators similar opportunities for virtual

MA: CAST.

embodiment for less money. These developments may
make future replications of this study easier to conduct

Moskowitz, G. (1978). Caring and sharing in the foreign
languageclass:

A

sourcebookonhumanistic

techniques. Boston: Heinle & Heinle..

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Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. (2018). Neuromyths: Debunking(2016). Virtual reality as an embodied tool tofalse ideas about the brain. New York, NY: Norton.

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Authors Biographies
Tom Gorham teaches at J.F. Oberlin University. He has an Ed.M. with a concentration in e-Learning from the
University of Illinois and recently earned a second Ed.M. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’sMind, Brain, and Education program, where he won the HGSE Impact Award. t1700268@obirin.ac.jp
Jon Gorham has a graduate degree in Educational Technology with a concentration in Digital Learning and Teaching
and currently teaches at J.F. Oberlin University. His interests include virtual and augmented reality classroom
applications as well as how machine learning algorithms can be used to improve education. gorham@obirin.ac.jp
Matt William Courtney holds a graduate degree in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard University and currently
works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Biomedical Innovation. He has been a Teaching Fellow
forstatistics

at

Harvardandhecontinues

toassistinaugmented

andvirtualrealityresearch.

mac6475@mail.harvard.edu

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

98

Living in Liminality: LGBTQIA+ Identities in Japan
Yoshi Joanna Grote
Kyoto Sangyo University
This paper discusses how certain cultural dimensions, combined with the importance of marriage andhaving children in order to have a place in society, have created a unique environment for the
LGBTQIA+ community in Japan. An on-going qualitative study of students at university has thus far
found that low visibility of LGBTQIA+ communities at university results in interviewees describing aliminal sense of belonging between majority and minority; existing simultaneously within and outside ofsociety. This paper introduces this emerging concept of the largely invisible LGBTQIA+ community on
Japanese university campuses and their sense of belonging to a limbo space.

本稿では、社会に自らの「居場所」を形成するために結婚し子供を持つことの重要性と相まって、文化的観念の相違が、日本特有の LGBTQIA+コミュニティーを取り巻く環境の形成にどのように影響してきたのかを考察する。現在進行中の定量的研究として、マジョリティーとマイノリティーのはざまに属し、社会の内外の境界に存在する学生らを対象に、リミナリティに関する意識調査を実施した。その調査結果から、日本の大学における LGBTQIA+コミュニティーへの認知度の低さがさらに浮き彫りとなった。
また、本稿では、日本の大学構内では未だ知られていない当該 LGBTQIA+コミュニティーの新しい概念
および不確かな空間に属する彼らの帰属意識に関する事例を紹介する。

Those living in Japan will be familiar with the saying, "出circles, the university at which I work thus far has no way

る 釘 は 打 た れ る " (the nail that sticks out must be

for LGBTQIA+ students to connect. Additionally, twohammered down) and with how it is often evoked inJapanese cultural factors further contribute to invisiblity

discussions about the difficulty in being different orin society as a whole.

deviant from the norm within the largely collectivist(Hofstede, 2003 & 2010; Triandis, 1995 & 2018)
Japanese society. One group that keenly feels thisdifficulty is the LGBTQIA+1 community living in Japan.
Although on the surface Japan is relatively progressivein accepting LGBTQIA+ identities (sexual acts between
consenting adults are not criminalized, transgenderindividuals are allowed to undergo gender reassignment
surgery, some wards are starting to recognize same-sex
partnerships and according to Amnesty International(2017) violence toward LGBTQIA+ people is rare) suchacceptance does not translate to open LGBTQIA+
visibility within society. Although Japanese universities
are increasingly starting to have LGBTQIA+ clubs or

The Importance of Family
The first cultural factor is the role of the family which wasenshrined by the 1890 Meiji Constitution as a central
organizing institution within society. Essentially, people
have a deep sense of who they are and where they
belong within the context of their role(s) within a family.
As gay marriage is not currently legal in Japan, and Act
111 of the “Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for
Persons with Gender Identity Disorder” law2 requires
transgender individuals to be sterilized before officiallychanging their sex, there is a limit to how deeply
LGBTQIA+

individuals

cancreate

a

space

for

1

This acronym stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning / Queer, Intersex, and Asexual(occasionally “Ally”). The “+” is added to include anyone who feels a sense of belonging to the term but not withany of the mentioned labels.
2

http://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/law/detail/?id=2542&vm=04&re=02

The 2018 PanSIG Journal99themselves in society within the kind of family they may

attributemeanings

want.

identities. (p. 12)

andsignificance

to

our

Thus, it stands to reason that the cultural factors of

Indirect Communicationcollectivism, the importance of family and the prevalence

The second cultural factor is the tendency toward anof indirect communication all combine to affect how

indirect, high context (Hall, 1989, 1990; Kittler et. al.,

LGBTQIA+2011) style of communication. The process of “coming

conceptualize their sense of belonging.

individuals

living

in

Japan

would

out” as different requires a certain element of directness.
Perhaps correspondingly, a 2013 Ipos international
online survey revealed that although 46% of participants
worldwide said they had an LGBT friend, relative orcolleague, only 5% of Japanese participants (2nd lowest
among the 16 countries) said the same. Additionally,
according to Tamagawa (2017), a 2005 health report on
5,731 gay and bisexual men in Japan (REACH Online
2005) reveals that over half had come out to fewer than
five people.

Data Collection and Method
As an openly gay teacher at a private university,
LGBTQIA+ students tend to find me. I teach high-level
elective English content courses related to gender andcultural topics and my students tend to be open andcurious. My research group, therefore, was not actively
sought out but a result of snowball sampling, comprisedof participants (often students or friends of my students)
who voluntarily came out to me and later expressed aninterest in joining the research project group.

How Do These Factors Affect Identity?
The answer to the question, “Who am I?” is held to be ofdeep significance to many individuals. People have aneed to conceptualize their own identity and feel a senseof ownership and belonging towards that identity. Equally,each individual likes this identity to project itself
effectively upon others in a way that it is understood. As
Bauman (1996) clarifies:

Interested participants were given documents
explaining the purpose of the research as well as an
explanation of the data collection procedure. If a student
agreed to participate, they signed a consent form
(available in both Japanese and English) and completed
a pre-interview survey. The pre-interview survey asked
for some demographic information followed by multiple
choice & short answer questions about the participant’s

One thinks of identity whenever one is not sure ofgender identity and sexual orientation and their level ofwhere one belongs; that is, one is not sure how to

openness / visibility.

place oneself among the evident variety of
behavioral styles and patterns, and how to makeSubsequently,

face-to-face

one-to-one

sure that people around would accept thisinterviews were held (thus far with 20 participants: 10

placement as right and proper, so that both sides

Japanese and 10 non-Japanese) in a small classroom

would know how to go on in each other’s

on campus. These interviews generally lasted between

presence. (p. 19)

90 and 120 minutes. The interviews were semistructured

Equally, it cannot be denied that cultural factors have asignificant impact on how we conceptualize our identities
and the extent to which we feel a sense of acceptancewithin the broader culture in which we live. Ting-Toomey(1999) states:
First, culture serves the identity meaning function.
Culture provides the frame of reference to answer

with

each

interviewee

being

asked

approximately 10-15 questions from a bank of 20(student answers to the pre-interview survey informed
which interview questions would be relevant to theinterviewee) with follow up questions if necessary.
Questions centred around the themes stories of personal
identity, opinions about visibility in Japan and (whenrelevant) in a home country, and sense of belonging to a

the most fundamental question of each humancommunity and/or society at large. Interviews werebeing: Who am I? Cultural beliefs, values andrecorded and later transcribed. Both the group ofnorms provide the anchoring points in which we

exchange students and the group of domestic students

The 2018 PanSIG Journal100

were completing their undergraduate degrees andStage 2: Marginalization

therefore roughly of the same ages.

This was described as a coming to terms with theiridentity and telling someone about it. Often this started

Although English was the native language for
only two of the interviewees, all interviews were held in
English as students had reached an appropriate level ofEnglish competence and fluency (Japanese students
had passed our in-house writing and oral tests to becertified at the intermediate or advanced level of ourelective program) and the presence of a translator wasdeemed inappropriate considering the sensitive nature of
the interview content. The transcripts of the interviews
were sent back to interviewees if any further clarification
was required and then analysed by placing keywords
into a theme table. In order to maintain anonymity, a list

with a close friend. At this stage, the interviewee began
to realize that although they may not be accepted bytraditional “society” (they usually considered society to
be made up of the mainstream, including institutions,
their parents etc.), they did belong to a minority group ofpeoplelike

them(LGBTQIA+

community)

andsympathizers (allies). This second step of embracing acommunity was often described as empowering and100% of the non-Japanese interviewees (including other
Asians) described reaching this step. One interviewee
described the experience of belonging to this community
in these words:of participants was created, in no particular order, andthe initials “AB” were given to the participant at the top of

I feel really welcomed around people. They help

the list, followed by “BC” for the second, “CD” for theme to become stronger and who I identify as. It

third and so on.

shows in my every day life in how I choose toexpress more of who I want to be and not be
insecure about these things. Really nice. It’s like a

Results
Initially, interviews with research participants simply
resulted in a fascinating anthology of stories andculturally affected experiences. However, upon startingto analyse the transcripts, an interesting pattern began toemerge. The ways the interviewees conceptualized theirsense of belonging was different, but the majority ofthem could be grouped into Japanese or non-Japanesein the broad way that they were different. Nine out of tenof the non-Japanese interviewees described theirprocess of conceptualizing their own LGBTQIA+ identity
in terms of greater belonging as following three stages

family. (AB)Stage 3: Integration
Interviewees who came from countries with greater
LGBTQIA+ visibility and rights (such as Europe and theUS) described reaching this stage. This was described
as a realization that their minority group was actually apart of society as a whole and that there were othersalient parts of their identity too. At this stage,
participants described accepting their identity andmoving towards being an “insider.” In the words of one
interviewee:that I have termed, “isolation,” “marginalization” andNow, I so much think myself just normal so be like

“integration.”

all the other heterosexual people. I make friends

Stage 1: Isolation
Interviewees described this as the moment they felt

with around me. I realize my LGBT part is one justone part and other friend with around me do too.
(IJ)

something different about themselves – something about
their identity that may be pushing them out of a

However, with the exception of one participant,comfortable imagined circle of society. One interviewee

all my Japanese interviewees described their identity indescribed this feeling in the following words:

different terms. They described feeling different to therest of society and therefore somewhat outside of it

I was like questioning about myself like from likeelementary school. Then I got older and went to
the junior high school and I still was questioning.
And I was like what am I and also like scared, likeI’m different from others. (OP)(isolation) and described being aware of an LGBTQIA+
minority group, but none of them described any real
sense of belonging toward it. They cited a variety ofreasons but a common one was connected to not being
able to tell many other people and / or another

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

101

LGBTQIA+ person about their identity and therefore notbisexual

being able to enter the minority community. Many did

genders but when I ask the some certain actor or

actually want to be able to access the community but felt

actress, I heard he or she is LGBT people orthey could not. One interviewee imagined what the

kissing with same gender people, all of them say,benefit might be in these words, “I feel like I would have

“I’m disappointed for them” so I feel I am not

an automatic sense of friendship. Connect with someone
without having to search for someone to connect to.”(ST)
AnotherJapaneseinterviewee

described

having access to such a community whilst living
overseas but not being able to gain membership of asimilar community in Japan once returning.

peopleespecially

could

love

both

allowed to say my identity to them. I really feel thediscrimination for the minority people so I’m afraid
to lose our friendship. (QR)

Equally, some described being able to “briefly
enter” or dabble in the minority group but usually throughonline anonymous forums. Many reported finding it tiring
to stay in either place for very long due to feelings of guilt
and societal duty (my family would not want me to be

I met many gay people in Canada. In Canada, it

LGBTQIA+) or self-betrayal (I’m pretending to be “normal”

was easy to come out, not only to friends, towhen I’m not).

teachers and host family too because somepeople have already come out. I could recognize

Discussionthat some LGBT are there and around that person,
many people accept them and I can feel like I canbe the one like him or her. When I came out to myprofessor, she gave me some information about

Liminality
This unique state of belonging between the mainstream

her friends and LGBT people and she tried toand the minority could be interpreted as a liminal sense

introduce me to them and tried to get some LGBTof belonging. Turner (As quoted by Greenholtz & Kim,

friends in Canada. In Japan we … Japanese

2009: 67) coined the term “liminality” to describe thethinking is that we are the same and we can’t be“state of existing in the gap between fixed realities; aoutsiders. So LGBTQ+ people are different fromstate of ambiguity and indeterminacy.” For this reason, I

us so they gonna feel like we can’t accept them.

use the term to define the state Japanese participants

So that society makes it is hard to come out. (CD)have described for me, of existing between isolation andWhen asked directly about their sense of
belonging, most described themselves as existing
somewhere between the somewhat invisible, abstract
LBGTQIA+ community that they were aware of but notreally a member within and “normal” mainstream society.
Most participants described being able to “re-enter”
regular society by hiding or denying the LGBTQIA+
aspect of their identities. Most mentioned not being able
to tell anyone in “regular society” about their identity. In
the words of one interviewee:

marginalization. Both Japanese and non-Japaneseparticipants voice some levels of acceptance with theiridentity. However, the difference between the Japaneseand non-Japanese experience is that while nonJapanese participants pass through (and sometimes
remain at) a marginalization stage where they feel asense of belonging to an LGBTQIA+ community, theJapanese participants did not describe this. Instead,Japanese participants discuss existing in a prolonged
state of neither here nor there. Their acceptance of their
LGBTQIA+ identity makes them feel periphery to

I still can’t say my identity to my friends… I

mainstream society and yet they do not embrace thecouldn’t say even though the best friend in highsupport of the LGBTQIA+ community. One of myschool and university. Um, I think uh, for my family,interviewees illustrated the difficulty in inhabiting thismy family expects me to get married with a man

space with these emotive words:

and have children and have an ordinary, happy,
Japanese family in the future and I thought I
couldn’t say I don’t know if I’ll have a husband, Imight have a wife or… Also friends are sometimes
said, they said LGBT is very good because

When I noticed I was gay ten years ago, I thought
I would kill myself… so I didn’t think I’d still beliving. I still think I might kill myself in the future,
like when I’m 30… I don’t want like fake marriage

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

102

like I try to pretend heterosexual and get marriedasking students about boyfriends and girlfriends or thewith a woman. Many people do that but I don’t like

ideal marriage as the expectation is, in the words of anit.” (CD)interviewee, “the ideal marriage should be man andwoman.” (CD)Conclusion

Finally, simple tokens of support such as ally

This research continues and perhaps, as more stories

stickers placed on laptops or office doors can increase

are collected, other salient patterns may emerge.

visibility and make LGBTQIA+ students feel more

Limitations placed on such research are great. It is hard

welcomed. Additionally, many teachers spend one or two

to source research participants in a cultural context

of their first classes of their course shaping andwhere being open about one’s sexual and / or gendercollectively creating the culture of their classroom. This is

identity is rare. Further, conducting these interviews inalso an excellent opportunity to mention support for

English further limited the sample group available to me

LGBTQIA+ students as well as respect of all kinds ofand perhaps limited interviewees’ abilities to fully

diversity present in the classroom.

express their experience of belonging. Nonetheless, thesnapshot gained from this collection of stories is valuable.
If this small sample of Japanese LGBTQIA+ students is

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a supportive community. Although several expressed a

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classroom. This is something that, as teachers, we are

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empowered to deliver. Teachers can choose to integrate

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gender and LGBTQIA+ topics into classroom content.
Although in many teaching contexts and programs, it
may not be possible to teach a complete course focusing
on gender studies or LGBTQIA+ issues, many teachers
still have quite a lot of control over the content they use

Hall, E. T. (1989). Beyond culture. New York: Anchor
Books.
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to teach speaking-focused courses such as “Debate” orcourses,

Hidaka, Y., Honma, T., & Ichikawa, S. (2007). Reachespecially those which use authentic film, music or

Online 2005 Kekka Hōkoku [Reach Online 2005

drama are excellent opportunities to choose content

report] Retrieved from http://www.gay-report.jp/2005/“Discussion.”

Further,

listeningoriented

which increases the visibility of such issues. Even whenteachers have very limited control over the content, there
are opportunities for such discussions. Highly genderedor gender normative interactions present in textbook
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(2001). Culture'sConsequences:

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Author biography
Yoshi Joanna Grote. Yoshi currently teaches gender and intercultural communication courses at Kyoto Sangyo
University. Her research interests include the marginal and liminal belonging in gender and cultural contexts.
grote.joanna@gmail.com

The 2018 PanSIG Journal104

Pragmatic Development and Grammar in a Study Abroad Context: The
Case of Japanese Learners of English
Akiko Inagaki
Tokyo City University
This paper investigates the relationship between grammatical competence and pragmatic developmentin the comprehension of conventional and nonconventional implicatures among Japanese secondlanguage learners who participated in a study abroad program in Australia. This study indicates that L2
learners with high grammatical proficiency do not necessarily develop comprehension of implicaturesduring their study abroad, although results of the Pragmatic Comprehension Test (PCT), which wasadministered both before and after the program, do indicate that participants with higher grammaticalcompetence had higher degrees of understanding of conversational implicatures after the program. The
results also indicated that among implicatures types, indirect refusals were the main types of
conventional implicatures with a stronger correlation with grammar rather than routines. The paper notesthat further study from a mixed-method approach could be useful in this respect.

本論文は、日本人英語学習者のオーストラリア留学環境下における慣習的・非慣習的な会話の含意の理解の発達について、語用論的能力を測る試験と一般的な英語能力を測る試験を行い、その関連を調査したものである。
結果として、彼らの留学前の文法能力と、会話の含意の理解の留学環境下での発達についての顕著な相関は見られなかったが、留学後の語用論的能力試験の結果については、留学前の文法能力との相関が見られた。会話の含意の種類においては、慣習的含意のうち「決まり文句」には文法能力との相関は見られず、「間接的断り」の理解に文法能力との高い相関が見られた。更に、文法能力は他の能力（リーディング、リスニング）に比べて、会話の含意の理解との相関が最も低かった。学習者の認知過程の更なる解明のため、今後の混合研究法の必要性についても提唱する。

In discussions about the relationship between thegrammatical proficiency is a critical factor in L2 learners’

pragmatic ability and grammar control of second-

pragmatic competence. Several studies regarding thelanguage learners, Ishihara and Cohen (2014) stated:

role

of

grammaticalproficiency

inL2

pragmaticcompetence explore the relationship between pragmatic
Learners who can understand and produce highly
accurate language forms from a grammatical pointof view are not necessarily able to use language
in a pragmatically appropriate manner. Even if
they have flawless control of grammar, they may
fail to understand the listener’s intended meaning.
Conversely, learners who demonstrate very little
grammatical accuracy may still be able to interpret
messages as intended and produce pragmaticallyappropriate utterances (p. 80).

It

is,

however,

second-language

production and grammar (e.g., Kobayashi & Rinnert
2003; Nguyen 2008; Trosborg 1987), and most of thesestudies insist that grammar has significant effects upon
the developmental patterns of production.
However, as Bardovi-Harlig and Bastos (2011)
pointed out, “studies of the role of proficiency in thedevelopment of comprehension and interpretation aremuch less common” (p. 351) than studies of production.
Focusing on pragmatic comprehension and grammar,(L2)

pragmatics researchers’ established generalization that

Bardovi-Harlig and Bastos compared the effect of
proficiency

upon

the

productionofconversational

The 2018 PanSIG Journal105

expressions, with its effect upon comprehension; they

Taguchi (2012) used her original listening test

revealed that language proficiency has a significant

because she had designed her research to investigate

effect on production but not on comprehension. Taguchi

the processing speed of learner comprehension during(2005, 2008) found that proficiency has a significant

ongoing conversations. However, the author’s previous

effect upon accuracy but not upon fluency, or the speed

research (Inagaki, in press) modified Taguchi’s listeningof processing, in L2 comprehension. Taguchi (2012)

test into a written multiple-choice test and adapted it to a

explored the relationship between the comprehension of

study abroad context in an attempt to focus on learnerseveral types of pragmatic implicatures and English

comprehension

proficiency through an original pragmatic listening test

aspects of L2 pragmatic development during researchoffered at an English-medium university in Japan.

into students enrolled in a 16-week study abroad

Conventional implicatures convey meanings with fixed

program. First, Japanese learners of English moderately

forms of language, while nonconventional implicatures

improve their pragmatic comprehension during 16 weeks

depend more on the context. Taguchi’s criteria andof study abroad. Second, the extent of the development

examples of implicatures are as follows:

varies depending on the implicature types: conventional

itself.

Inagakirevealed

two

major

implicatures improved, but this was not the case with
(1) Conventional Implicatures:(a)Indirect

Refusals:

nonconventional implicatures, both of which support

refusalresponses

toinvitations, requests, and suggestions with a reason(e.g., saying “I’m busy” when refusing someone’s
request for help).

Taguchi’s results. However, among conventional items,
only routines—not indirect refusals—improved, which is
the opposite result to that drawn by Taguchi. In order toexplore the relationship between grammar proficiency
and comprehension of implicatures in greater detail, this(b) Routines: fixed or semi-fixed expressions thatcurrent article addresses the following two researchcommonly occur under certain situational conditions

questions:and functions (e.g., “It comes to $2” in a service
encounter exchange and “That’s so sweet of you” inthanking someone).

1. Is there a correlation between learners’ pragmaticdevelopment during study abroad and their grammaticalcompetence? If so, is there any difference in the levels of(2)

Nonconventionalcomments

oropinions

Implicatures:
that

do

nonliteralnotinvolveconventional linguistic features or language-use
patterns (e.g., indicating a negative opinion of arestaurant dinner by saying “The food was late”;
Taguchi, 2012, p. 81).

correlation between implicature types?
2. How does the score for grammar skill on a generallanguage proficiency test correlate with the score on the
Pragmatic Comprehension Test compared to the scoresfor the other two skills: listening and reading? Is there
any difference in the levels of correlation between

Her findings indicated that not all types of

implicature types?

implicatures are correlated with scores on the listening
section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language(TOEFL); while there is a significant correlation between
TOEFL scores and accuracy scores of indirect refusal
items, such a correlation was absent between TOEFL
and nonconventional implicatures. In this study, Taguchi
accounted for why these results elicited the idea thatconventional implicatures are easily affected by alearner’s listening skill: their conventionality reduces thelearner’s processing effort. Nonconventional implicatures,on the contrary, are more difficult for learners because
they require more complex inference processes.

Methods
Description of Participants
The initial pool of participants consisted of 152
sophomores from a university in Tokyo. Their average
age was 19.4, and they had, on average, 7 years offormal English education in Japan. All participants took acompulsory one-semester university grammar coursethat preceded the study abroad program, in theirfreshman year. The study abroad program they wereenrolled in was for 16 weeks at a university in Australia.
Participants were divided into two groups: cycle A and

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

106

cycle B. The former group studied in Australia for a term

G-TELP (The General Tests of English Language

beginning in February in 2017, and the latter group

Proficiency). In order to measure participants’ language

studied for a term starting from August in 2017. These

proficiency, the G-TELP (level 3) was conducted. Thistwo cohorts had identical schedules of study; they took 9

test is administered by ITSC (International Testing

weeks of intensive ESL courses and then 7 weeks ofService Center) and consists of three sections: aregular university classes. Among 152 students, 16 werelistening

unable to take the General Tests of English Language

comprehension section, and a grammar comprehension

Proficiency (G-TELP); thus, the final data analysis in thissection. The questions in the grammar section of G-

research was based on data from 136 students.

TELP

comprehension

examinesection,participants’lexicalaandreading

syntactic

knowledge. The grammar section of G-TELP (level 3)

Materials

consists of 22 question items and lasts 20 minutes, theThe Pragmatic Comprehension Test. The PragmaticComprehension Test (PCT), which was used in thisstudy, is a modified written version of the Pragmatic
Listening Test1 originally developed by Taguchi (2012).
The Appendix provides partial test items and shows that

listening section consists of 24 items and lasts 20
minutes, and the reading section consists of 24 items
and lasts 35 minutes. In the score reports, the original
raw scores of these sections are converted so that thefull score for each section is 100.

the PCT is a multiple-choice test and that each item hasfour answer options. This test consists of a total of 40

This particular test was selected for the present

items: 16 conventional implicature items (8 indirect

research from among various tests for general English

refusal items and 8 routine items), 16 nonconventional

proficiency

implicature items, and 8 filler items. The data from thecomprehension section of G-TELP is independently

filler items were excluded from all the analyses. The

measured; other various tests typically measure reading

2

duration of the test was 40 minutes for the PCT .

and grammar skills together—for example, in TOEFL,

According to Taguchi ’ s criteria of implicatures ofwhich Taguchi used in her research (2012), the reading

measurement

becausethegrammar

Table 1: Data Collection Procedures
Schedules

Tasks

The second semester of the freshman year

Taking a grammar course

The end of the freshman year

G-TELP (75 minutes)

Before the study abroad program

Pre-program PCT (40 minutes)

During the sophomore year

Study abroad program (16 weeks)After the study abroad program

Post-program PCT (40 minutes)

conversations indicated in the previous section, this PCT

section contains questions for grammar skills. Since thisattempted to investigate the accuracy of learners’

study especially focuses on grammar skills, G-TELP wascomprehension of each type of implicature: conventional

considered the most appropriate.

implicatures (subitems are indirect refusals and routines)
and nonconventional implicatures.

Procedures

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

107

Table 2: The Descriptive Statistics of Pre-program and Post-program PCT Accuracy Scores (N =136)
M

SD

Min.

Max.

Conventional imp (k = 16)

8.21

3.30

2.00

15.00

Indirect refusals (k = 8)

4.65

1.84

1.00

8.00

Routines (k = 8)

3.55

1.98

0.00

8.00

Nonconventional imp (k = 16)

6.57

3.10

1.00

14.00

Total (k = 32)

14.77

5.89

3.00

27.00

Conventional imp (k = 16)

9.36

3.69

1.00

15.00

Indirect refusals (k = 8)

4.71

2.11

0.00

8.00

Routines (k = 8)

4.65

1.98

0.00

8.00

Nonconventional imp (k = 16)

7.05

2.99

1.00

16.00

Total (k = 32)

16.43

6.01

2.00

29.00

Pre-program PCT

Post-program PCT

Note. k = the number of items; Imp = implicatures.
The data-collection procedures are summarized in Table

conducted to reveal the relationship between the post-

1. The participants took a one-semester grammar classprogram PCT scores and the scores of the three G-

in

TELP sections (Grammar, Listening, and Reading).

theirfreshman

year,

and

the

G-TELPwasadministered at the end of that year in order toinvestigate their acquired grammatical competence (i.e.,their traits) before the study abroad program. The PCT

Results

was paper based and given both before and after the 16-

Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of the accuracy

weekscores for the pre-program and post-program PCT andstudy

abroadprogram.

Test

items

were

Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics of the G-TELP

randomized each time.

accuracy scores.
In order to address the first research question, aData Analysis
Quantitative data were imported into IBM

SPSS

Statistics version 25 for descriptive and statisticalanalysis. In order to answer the first research questionand discover the relationship between the gain scores of
the PCT and the grammar scores of G-TELP, acorrelation analysis was carried out and Pearson’s
correlation coefficients were calculated. For the second
research question, another correlation analysis wascorrelation analysis was performed. The results showedno major correlation between the PCT gain scores andthe G-TELP grammar scores: for indirect refusals, r =−.08; for nonconventional implicatures, r = −.10; and in
total, r = −.15 (see Table 4). However, for conventional
implicatures (r = −.18, p < .05) and for routines (r = −.23,
p < .01), small negative correlations with grammar wereobserved.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

108

Table 3: Descriptive Statistics of G-TELP Accuracy Scores (N = 136)
M

SD

Min.

Max.

Grammar (k = 22, full score = 100)

56.26

13.95

27.00

86.00

Listening (k = 24, full score = 100)

43.01

11.97

17.00

71.00

Reading (k = 24, full score = 100)

54.24

15.29

8.00

83.00

G-TELP

Note. k = the number of items.

Gain total

Nonconventional
gain

Routines
gain

Refusalgain

GrammarConventional
gain

Table 4: Correlations between PCT Gain Scores and G-TELP Grammar Accuracy Scores (N = 136)

-Grammar scoresGain scores ofConventional imp

−.18*

--

Gain scores ofIndirect refusals

−.08

.84**

--

Gain scores ofRoutines−.23**

.86**

.46**

--

Gain scores ofNonconventional
imp

−.10

.57**

.48**

.50**

--

−.15

.83**

.67**

.74**

.82**

--

Gain total
Note. **p < .01; *p < .05; Imp = implicatures.
Next, a supplemental analysis showed small correlations

question. As shown in Table 6, the G-TELP grammar

between the scores of the post-program PCT scores in

section has the smallest correlation coefficient among

most types of implicatures and the G-TELP grammar

the three sections. By contrast, the scores from the G-scores: for conventional implicatures, r = .23, p < .01; for

TELP listening section correlate the most among theindirect refusals, r = .28, p < .01; for nonconventional

three sections (r = .42, p < .01).

implicatures, r = .25, p < .01; and in total, r = .28, p < .01.
However, only routines (r = .13) have no correlations
with grammar scores (see Table 5).

Table 7 shows the differences between types of
implicatures. Investigating these correlations in detailshows that the correlation coefficient for indirect refusals

Another correlation analysis was conducted between theis the largest (r = .28, p < .01) of all implicature types andpost-program PCT scores and those of three G-TELP

there is no correlation between grammar scores andsections in order to address the second researchroutines. The opposite result is observed for listening

The 2018 PanSIG Journal109

Grammar scores--

Conventional imp (Post)

.23**

--

Indirect refusals (Post)

.28**

.91**

--

Routines (Post)

.13

.89**

.63**

--

.25**

.60**

.51**

.51**

--

.28**

.86**

.78**

.77**

.77**

Nonconventional

imp

Post total(Post)

Nonconventional(Post)

Routines(Post)

Refusal(Post)

GrammarConventional

Table 5: Correlations between Post-program PCT Scores and G-TELP Grammar Accuracy Scores (N = 136)

(Post)
Post total--

Note. **p < .01; Imp = implicatures.
Table 6: Correlations between Post-program PCT Accuracy Scores and G-TELP Accuracy Scores (N = 136)
PCT total

Grammar

Listening

Post-program PCT total accuracy--

Grammar.28**--

Listening

.42**

.27**

--

Reading

.33**

.40**

.34**

Reading--

Note. **p < .01.
Table 7: Correlations between G-TELP Scores and Each Implicature Type of Post-Program PCT (N = 136)
Grammar

Listening

Reading

Conventional imp

.23**

.36**

.30**

Indirect refusals

.28**

.28**

.25**

Routines

.13

.38**

.29**

Nonconventional imp

.25**

.30**

.22**

Total

.28**

.42**

.33**

Note. **p < .01; Imp = implicatures.

scores: the correlation coefficient for routines is thethe largest (r = .30, p < .01), routines come next (r = .29,

largest (r = .38, p < .01) and that for indirect refusals is

p < .01), followed by indirect refusals (r = .25, p < .01),

the smallest (r = .28, p < .01). For the reading scores,

while the nonconventional implicatures total (r = .22, p

the coefficient for the conventional implicatures total is< .01) has the smallest correlation with reading scores.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

110

Discussion
Regarding

the

first

research

before studying abroad, affecting their comprehension ofquestion,

no

major

implicatures more than the other two skills.

correlation was observed between the learners’ acquired
grammatical competence and the gains of pragmatic
comprehension. This indicates that learners with highgrammatical proficiency—with extensive lexical andsyntactic knowledge—do not necessarily develop theircomprehension of implicatures during their study abroad.
However, supplemental analysis showed that the postprogram PCT scores, which are the participants’achievement scores, of most types of implicature items
correlated with the participants’ grammar scores. That is,learners with acquired higher grammatical competence
were likely to have higher degrees of understanding of
conversational implicatures after spending 16 weeks inthe study abroad program. Taguchi and Roever (2017)

As for the difference between implicature types,
the correlation with grammar scores was absent forroutines, as indicated above, although the correlation
with listening was the highest of all types. Meanwhile,
grammar and listening have the same correlation
coefficients for refusals; thus, it could be assumed thatboth grammar proficiency and listening proficiency
appear to affect the process of understanding to thesame degree when learners try to understand indirect
refusals. In other words, the combination of grammar
and listening proficiency seems to be critical in theprocess of understanding them. Further research will beneeded to reveal these processes.

claimed that the nature of implicatures and their

One limitation of this study is the length of theprocessing could explain this. To process implicatures,study abroad program in which the participants werelearners are required to have higher proficiency because

enrolled. Sixteen weeks is too short a period in which tothey have to realize an implied meaning through aobserve

flouting of Grice’s conversational maxims (Grice, 1975),

comprehending implicatures. One of the reasons why

and lower proficiency learners would not be able toalmostunderstand even the literal meaning of the utterances.
With

respecttothedifference

between

implicature types, comparing indirect refusals androutines in conventional implicatures, indirect refusals
have a small correlation with grammar scores of the
post-program PCT, whereas routines have no correlation
withgrammar.

This

indicatesthatgrammaticalproficiency does not seem to affect the comprehensionof routines. According to Taguchi and Roever (2017), therecognition of routine formulae is less dependent on
proficiency because routine formulae are short and havelittle formal complexity; thus, even lower proficiency
learners could comprehend and produce them “since
they only need to recognize and reproduce a chunkwithout necessarily having to parse it semantically andgrammatically” (p. 141). On the contrary, comprehending
indirect refusals seems to require greater grammaticalabundantnoimprovements

correlation

was

with

regardobservedtobetweengrammatical competence and the gains of pragmatic
comprehension

may

be

that

the

gain,

that

is,

development during the 16-week study abroad period,
was too small. In Taguchi’s (2012) study, the participants’
English was of an advanced level, yet they took 8monthstoshow

significant

development

in

their

comprehension of implicatures. A longer observation
period might contribute toward helping us see moredevelopment regarding understanding implicatures, andthe results of the correlation analysis might be different
from those of the analysis in the present study. Anotherlimitation concerns the methodological issues. Since thispresent study is quantitative, the real process by which
the participants came to understand implicatures could
not be determined. A qualitative data analysis would be
effectivefor

exploringparticipants’thoughts

andcognitive processes.

proficiency.
Regarding the second research question, the
G-TELP grammar scores have the lowest correlation
with post-program PCT scores of the three skills. Amongtheseskills,listeningscoreshave

thegreatest

correlation with post-program PCT. This could beinterpreted as being a result of the learners’ listening skill

Conclusion
This quantitative study indicates that L2 learners withhigh grammatical proficiency do not necessarily develop
comprehension of implicatures during study abroad
programs, although results of the post-program PCT
indicated that participants with higher grammatical

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

111

competence
conversational

had

improved

implicatures

understanding
after

the

of

program.

listening

test

to

a

large

numberofsubjects

simultaneously.

Furthermore, the results showed that, among implicature
types, indirect refusals had the strongest correlation withgrammar. However, this research could not reveal L2
learners’ cognitive processes and thoughts and why
these differences between implicature types occurred.
As Taguchi’s latest articles (Taguchi, 2018; Taguchi &Roever, 2017) indicate, mixed-method research is one
methodological option among scholars of L2 pragmatics
for explaining why certain results occurred and forrevealing the thoughts and cognitive process of L2
learners. Combining the results from both qualitative andquantitative methods will contribute toward creating afuller and larger picture of this phenomenon. Further
studies should explore such processes by using
stimulated recalls, verbal reports, or interviews, among

2. In Taguchi’s research (2012), the total test sessiontime, comprising the Pragmatic Listening Test, thePragmatic Speaking Test, and the Language Contact
Profile Questionnaire, was approximately one hour.
However, the Pragmatic Listening Test itself did not
limit the participants’ response times. They wereallowed to take as much time as they wanted in orderto respond to each item. However, since the PCT in
this research was modified into a written version anddid not measure response times, the duration of thetest was supposed to be determined to some extent inorder to investigate the participants’ competence
under the same conditions. To determine the duration
time, a pilot PCT was administered to the students
from the same university. They were allowed to takeother sources of data.

as much time as they needed to answer the question
items, and the results showed that it took them

Acknowledgments

approximately 40 minutes on average to finish all theThis study was funded by a grant from the Japan Society

items. The test duration was thus decided based on

for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid for Scientificthis result.

Research) JP16K13270.

References

Notes
1. The author of this research decided to modify the

Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Bastos, M. T. (2011). Proficiency,

Pragmatic Listening Test originally developed bylength of stay, and intensity of interaction and the

Taguchi (2012) into a written test, for two major

acquisition

reasons. First, the purpose of this research is to focus

pragmatics. Intercultural Pragmatics, 8(3), 347-384.

ofconventional

expressions

inL2

on the learners’ competence to elicit the impliedmeaning of the conversation, and not their process of
input. A pilot test conducted among a small number ofstudents from the same university showed that they
had difficulties in listening to the conversations andgave up before reaching the process of inferring its
impliedmeaning.

However,

they

did

not

have

difficulties reading the conversations. Since theparticipants of this study were at the elementary level,around A2 level in CEFR (Council of Europe, 2001)

CouncilofEurope(2001).

CommonEuropeanframework of reference for languages: Learning,teaching,

assessment.

Cambridge,

England:Cambridge University Press.
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Coleand J.

Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics 3:

Speech acts (pp. 41-58). New York, NY: Academic
Press,

according to their average TOEIC score (472.32

Inagaki, A. (in press). Pragmatic development, the L2

ranging 210-845), the same results were assumed tomotivational self-system and other affective factors in

be drawn. Another reason is an administrative issue.

a study-abroad context: The case of JapaneseSince this was designed as a quantitative study, itlearners of English.

needed a large number of participants. However, theinstitution to which the participants belonged did not

Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2014). Teaching andhave adequate facilities to administer Taguchi’s

learning pragmatics: Where language and culture
meet. New York, NY: Routledge.

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Kobayashi, H., & Rinnert, C. (2003). Coping with highTaguchi, N. (2008). Cognition, language contact, and theimposition requests: High vs. low proficiency EFL

development of pragmatic comprehension in a study-

students in Japan. In A. Martínez Flor, E. Usó Juan,abroad context. Language Learning, 58(1), 33-71.

&

A.

Fernández

Guerra(Eds.), Pragmaticcompetence and foreign language teaching (pp. 161-

Taguchi, N. (2012). Context, individual differences, andpragmatic

184). Castelló de la Plana, Spain: Publications de la
Universitat Jaume I.
Nguyen, T. T. M. (2008). Criticizing in an L2: Pragmatic
strategies

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mixed methods research. System, 75, 23-32.

Taguchi, N. (2005). Comprehending implied meaning inasNew

Taguchi, N. (2018). Description and explanation ofIntercultural Pragmatics, 5(1), 41–66.

Englishcompetence.

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Taguchi, N., & Roever, C. (2017). Second Language
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Appendix
Sample Items from Pragmatic Comprehension Test(a modified written version of the Pragmatic Listening Test originally developed by Taguchi, 2012)

Conventional Implicature Item (Indirect Refusal)
A: Hey Steve, you’re still on the Internet. What are you doing?
B: I’m checking out some colleges to see which ones I should apply to.
A: How about this school called St. Joe’s college in Indiana? They sent us a lot of information. It
sounds like a neat school.
B: They don’t have many majors.

1. Steve wants to apply for St. Joe’s college.
2. Steve knows about many majors.
3. Steve lived in Indiana before.
4. Steve is not interested in St. Joe’s college. (CORRECT)

Conventional Implicature Item (Routine)
A: Hi how can I help you?
B: Ah, could I get a small regular coffee, with milk? And a slice of apple pie.
A: For here or to go?
B: To go please.
A: Here’s a large cup, we don’t have small because we ran out of the small ones.
B: OK, thank you.
1. The man ordered cake.
2. The man is taking the coffee out. (CORRECT)
3. The man is having coffee in the shop.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal113

4. The man ordered a large cup.

Nonconventional Implicature Item
A: Hey Mike, you’re home. Aren’t you supposed to be at work?
B: Hey Nancy. I quit that job yesterday. I just didn’t wanna work in the factory any longer.
A: What? Really? Do your parents know about this?
B: When they come back from their trip, they’ll be pretty shocked.
1. Mike’s parents think he’s still working. (CORRECT)
2. Mike’s parents know that he quit his job.
3. Mike’s parents just came back from their trip.
4. Mike’s parents work in a factory

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Using Screencasts to Teach Outside of Class
Kent Jones
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
This paper explains how to use screencasts (ie.digital recordings of screen output) to teach lecture
content outside of class. Such materials have the benefit of a) freeing up class time for interactive
activities b) allowing students to replay explanations multiple times c) giving the teacher a chance tomonitor students discussing the screencasts and confirm understanding d) letting the teacher pinpoint
the most problematic content. The results of teacher and student surveys about screencasts will bereported, showing that both feel they are useful, but need to be accompanied by worksheets to ensurethat students view them. Implications from this study are that motivation plays an important part in the
success of the use of screencasts to flip the writing classroom and students need to be held accountablefor viewing screencasts as homework.
この論文では、スクリーンキャスト（パソコンモニターの映像をキャプチャし配信）を生かした授業時
間外の教授法について言及したものである。このような教材をうまく活用することによる利点は、a)インタラクティブな活動に授業時間を割くことができるようになり、b)学習者が説明を繰り返し確認することができる他、c)教員はスクリーンキャストを元に学習者と議論しながら、学習到達度を確認できたり、または d)学習者が最もつまづきやすい学習項目を容易に見つけられるということだ。これは、スク
リーンキャストに関わる調査を教員と学習者を対象に実施した結果である。この結果から、両者ともに使用しやすいと感じている一方で、授業外に実施するため、学習者の閲覧を確認するワークシートを準備する必要があるということがわかる。

Screencasts, defined as “digital recordings of computer

introduce content in class. They also allow the teacher toscreen output, also known as a video screen capture,

flip the classroom by freeing up class time because theyoften containing audio narration” (Meyer, 2014, p. 39)

allow teachers to record PowerPoint presentations thathave great potential as an educational tool. They have awould normally be used to present content in a lecture

number of advantages in terms of being easy to createstyle during class to be given outside of class, allowing

and capable of saving and freeing up time, though theyclass time to be used for more interactive activities.

do have some disadvantages that are largely related toMoreover,the quality of the design of the screencasts and thestudents because they can replay the screencast againmaterials that accompany them.

and listen for content that they didn’t catch the first time.

screencasts

allow

greater

flexibilityfor

One of the main advantages of screencasts isthat they can be created with very little preparation.
Screencasts can be created using applications that are

The Flipped Classroom in Language
Teaching

easily downloadable from the Internet, many of which

As early as the 1990s, with the introduction of learning

are free and a computer equipped with a microphone.

management systems such as Blackboard, educators

Screen casting can also be done without downloading or

began providing students with access to lectures in video

installing. Moreover, it is not limited to computers either –and PowerPoint format and using class time for moreandroid phones also offer this capability. Screencasts

interactive

also take very little time to create and can often be

experiments, and interviews. This process was dubbed

recorded within the time it would normally take toby early researchers of this phenomenon as theactivities,

such

as

group

activities,

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

115

classroom flip or the inverted classroom (Baker, 2000;

carefully. Students were highly likely to lose interest inLage & Platt, 2000; Lage, Platt, & Treglia, 2000).

poorly designed screencast assignments, especially

Although this concept is by no means new, the bulk of

those that didn’t require students to actively engage withresearch regarding it has focused on subjects such as

the content.

science and mathematics and, until very recently, very
little has been done regarding the application of the

Research Questions

flipped classroom in language classes.

This paper aims to answer the following research
A number of studies have provided positive

questions:evidence that the flipped classroom is beneficial for
language learning. In an experimental study comparing

1.

writing tasks given in the form of screencasts?

the flipped classroom approach with the traditional
approach in preparing students for writing tasks 1 and 2of the IELTS test, Farah (2014) found a statistically2.

According to students, do screencasts help themunderstand writing tasks?

significant difference in the improvement of the writing
skills in students instructed using the flipped classroom

Can students understand the instructions of3.

method. In a similar comparative study focused on

Do students think that screencasts are easy to do
as homework?

grammar acquisition, Webb and Doman (2016) also
found that students in the experimental group performed

4.

assign as homework?

better. Han (2015) reported that the flipped classroom
approach led to significant gains in learner autonomy.
Sung (2015) observed that student attitudes toward theapproach were largely positive, though they needed to

Do teachers feel that screencasts are easy to

5.

Do teachers feel that screencasts free up classtime to do more interactive activities?

have some time to get used to the new learning style.
Despite these positive results, however, it should be

Methodology

noted that all of the above studies involved participants
who were highly motivated to learn and do not provide

Participants

much insight into how successful the approach would be

The total number of respondents was forty-four (N=44).

for students with lower levels of motivation.

Of those respondents, thirty eight were students (N=38)
and six were teachers (N=6). Students in these classes

Indeed, holding students accountable for work

were between A1+ and A2 level on the CEFR scale.

they are expected to do on their own is an especiallyStudents were invited to complete the surveys voluntarily.

challenging aspect of the flipped classroom approach.

In a program of one hundred and forty-two students, theEven some of the studies mentioned above reported

response rate was 27%. The teachers surveyed weresome difficulties in this regard. For example, Webb andteachers in the pre-Intermediate program. Out of eight

Doman

teachers, six completed the survey, making for a(2016)

observedadecreasein

student

motivation to complete out of class assignments towards

response rate of 75%.

the middle of a 13-week course. In another study, Kang
(2015) observed negative affect in students who had not

Programcompleted the out-of-class assignments during the inStudents received six 90-minute lessons per week in anclass components of a treatment comparing flipped andintegrated skills course. The writing component, which

traditional methods. This indicates that ensuring students

this study focused on, consisted of four writing

actually do the work is crucial to the success of theassignments,

flipped classroom approach. Both Correa (2015) andadvantage and disadvantage paragraphs each withFindlay-Thompson and Mombourquette (2014) observed

content based on interviews with classmates aboutthat course design, both in regards to the quality of the

topics such as hometowns, festivals, weather, andscreencast content and supplementary materials to be

dream jobs. Before each writing assignment, students

provided with the screencasts, needed to be consideredwere given homework exercises to be completed outside

twocomparison

essaysandThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

two

116

of class and around 30 minutes of class time was taken

to review the content in class.

Table 1: Summary of Screencasts
Writing
Task

Screen-cast topic

Homework tasks

In-class tasks

CompareHome

Home Town
Words

Students use the vocabulary fromthe screencast to write about theirhome town and make questions

Interviewaclassmateasking the questions andsharingtheinformation
about home towns

Topic Sentences

Identify topics, controlling ideas, as
well
as
words
that
signalsimilarities and differences fromworksheet

Review the answers to thequestionsReasons,
Examples, Names,
and Numbers

Watch video and take notes

Work with a classmate tofind missing information andlabel it a reason, example,
name, or number

Transitions

Fill in missing transitional phrases
in a paragraph on a worksheet

Review the answers to thequestions

How to Correct
Mechanics Errors

Look at example titles and correct
punctuation
andcapitalisation
errors

Review the answers to thequestions

Festival Key Words

Students use the vocabulary fromthe screencast to write about theirhome town festivals and makequestionsInterviewaclassmateasking the questions andsharingtheinformation
about home town festivals

Con-

Find andmechanics,
mistakes

vocabulary,
conjunction

Review the answers to thequestionsKey

Students use the vocabulary fromthe screencast to write about theweather of their home town andmake questions

Interviewaclassmateasking the questions andsharingtheinformation
about home town weather

Pros and Cons andCause and EffectStudents are prompted to pause
the video and consider thedifference between 3 sentencesthat use cause and effect language

Students work together toread a paragraph andchoose the correct cause
and effect phrase

Quotations

Students are prompted to pause
the video and rewrite quotations
they see on the screen in thecorrect format

Review the answers to thequestions

Job Key Words

Students use the vocabulary fromthe screencast to write about their
dream job and make questions

Interviewaclassmateasking the questions andsharingtheinformation
about dream jobs

Key

Towns

CompareHome Town
Festivals

junctions
Weather
Pros
and
Cons

Dream
Pros
Cons

Job
and

Weather
Words

correct
andThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

117

Materials Design

they made the writing activities easy to do as homework.

Using a flipped classroom approach, students viewed

Students responded to statements based on a four pointscreencasts that explained writing assignments andLikert scale: Strongly agree, Agree, Disagree, andgave instruction about writing in a pre-Intermediate

Strongly disagree. A four point scale was used to obviate

English class. This mode of presentation was chosen

to tendency for students to choose the neutral opinion.

over others, such as embedding audio into a PowerPoint,

The teacher’s version elicited the extent to which

because the screencasts could be uploaded to YouTube

teachers felt that students understood the screencast

and shared with students as a link.

activities, whether they felt the screencasts freed upclass time, if the screencasts were easy to assign asThematerials

themselves

consistedofscreencasts of PowerPoint presentations in which theauthor and a colleague gave short lectures explaining
important class content for each of the four writings. The
videos were accompanied by tasks in which students
were required to either complete fill-in-the-blank or shortanswer activities, or produce interview questions ornotes based on the screencast content. Table 1 outlines

homework, and if they allowed time in class for moreinteractive activities. Teachers were asked to give
responses on a five point Likert scale with 1 meaning
Strongly Agree and 5 meaning Strongly Disagree. A 5point Likert scale was chosen for teachers because they
are less likely to choose the neutral choice. Teachers
were also invited two write a brief comment about thescreencasts to which two teachers would respond.

the main details of each screencast, such as theassignment they relate to, the related skill, the homework

Survey Results

tasks to be completed while watching the screencast andthe follow up tasks to be carried out in class.

Student Responses
At the end of the semester, students andAs can be seen from Figure 1, the vast majority ofteachers in the Pre-Intermediate level were invited to

students believed that the instructions of the activities

complete a survey about the screencast materials. The

were clear, though there was one student who did notstudent version of the survey was bilingual, English andthink so at all. Also, a very high number of students felt

Japanese, and inquired about the clarity of the activities,

that the workshops helped them understand the writing

the extent to which the screencasts helped themtasks. The point upon which there was less agreement

understand the writing tasks, and the extent to which

was whether they felt the screencasts made the writing

Figure 1: Student Responses

The 2018 PanSIG Journal118

Figure 2: Teacher Responses
workshop activities easy to do as homework. Though ascreencasts was the difficulty. Perhaps if theclear majority of students felt that this was the case,associated worksheets/activities forced them tothere were significantly fewer students in agreement withwatch intently and more frequently fill in athis than with the previous questions.

gap/answer a question, this problem could be
alleviated. I think cutting down the writing to one

Teacher Responses

paragraph per quarter will mean that you can

In regards to teachers’ responses, Figure 2 shows thatspace out the assignment of the individual

teachers

screencasts and spend a little more time focusing

wereslightly

lesspositive

about

the

on particular components of the paragraph.

screencasts than the students. They were largely neutral
about the extent to which the screencasts were easy forstudents to understand, but largely in agreement thatscreencasts freed up class time. In regards to whether
the screencasts were easy to assign as homework, halfof the teachers felt that they were, while the other half
had a neutral opinion. The question that showed themost divided opinion was the question of whether or not
the screencasts allowed for more interactive activities inclass. Though two teachers agreed that they achieved
this, none did so strongly and one teacher strongly
believed that they did not, while two others also felt that

This teacher believed, although the screencasts weregenerally helpful, the extent to which students made fulluse of them depended largely on their own motivation.
There

was

a

suggestion

that

the

accompanying

worksheets and activities to be completed alongside thescreencasts were insufficient. There was also a general
feeling that there were too many writing assignments inthe course and cutting down on them could help
students focus more.
Another teacher made the following comment:

they did not.
Pleaserememberthat

mystudents

were

In addition to the Likert scale questions, two teachers

repeaters and motivation took extra effort. I am

also volunteered to give a brief comment about the

however confident in this approach and would

screencasts. One teacher stated:have likely responded more positively to thesurvey questions in a class with more willing

The screencasts are a great resource and if thestudents. I felt the videos offered a good deal of

students conscientiously worked through themextra support students could rely on if they had

they were really helpful. Getting them to watch thequestions and wanted to view them again.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

119

It should be noted here that the term “repeater” is a term

activities in class. It may be true that the follow-up

used in the institution where this project took place toclasses had the potential to be interactive, but therefer to students who have failed the course at leastmaterials themselves did not allow for that and theonce and are taking it again. As it is implied by thismethod of reviewing the materials was left to thecomment, these students were generally believed toteacher’s discretion. It may be that the teachers who

have lower motivation than other students. It is also

reacted positively to the question did so because they

implied that, due to his this factor, this particular teacher

felt that they had come up with good interactive ways toresponded to the survey questions less favorably thanreview the materials despite the absence of direction.

he or she otherwise would have.

Indeed, only the vocabulary activities at the beginning ofeach writing task correspond with a clearly interactive
interview activity. All of the other activities could be

Discussion

completed individually or in a dry teacher-led exposition

Overall, it can be seen that the outcome of this projectof the answers. This gives a clear indication thatagrees well with past research and indicates that,screencasts need to have well-designed accompanying

although the general idea of using screencasts to teachmaterials and tasks to ensure the realization of the main

writing in an English as a foreign language class isobjection of the flipped classroom: increased time forsound, there are a few flaws in the current materials andinteractive engagement with content and language

in-class practices that need reworking or elaboration. As

learning.

observed in the literature review, the studies thatreported a high degree of success in applying the flipped
motivated (Farah, 2014; Han, 2015; Sung, 2015; Webb

Limitations and Implications for Further
Research& Doman, 2016). A corollary of this, very strongly implied

Although screencasts are a great way to presentby the teachers’ responses, is that screencasts are notinformation to students outside of clas, this technology is

as successful when presented to students with lower

not without its drawbacks. Some screencast software

degrees of motivation, as they are much less likely to do

can be of poor quality if you use the free version. For

their homework. As the screencasts are largely the basis

example, the free version of Screencastify is fairly lowof the lessons, this can lead to a number of problems

resolution and has a time limit of 10 minutes for eachwhen doing in-class activities that are designed with thescreencast. These problems, however, can be easily

expectation that students have done their homework.

overcome either by investing in better software orThis also suggests that the materials which students

breaking content down into shorter presentations. The

must complete for homework and the in-class activities

biggest problem that was uncovered in this project wasthat follow them, do not hold students accountablethat students need to be held accountable for watchingenough for their learning.

the screencasts. As a result, there are a number ofclassroom approach, also had subjects that were highly

These deficiencies become quite clear when looking at
Table

1:

Summaryof

Screencasts.

There

are

accompanying activities to each of the screencasts inwhich students need to identify mistakes, fill in gaps, ormake corrections based on information learned in theconsiderations in screencast activity design that have tobe addressed, both in terms of the quality of the video
itself and the design of tasks that students will be asked
to complete while watching the video and reviewing thescreencast content in class.

screencast, but the directions for the in-class tasks are

Though the responses were largely positive, they also

generally quite vague, stating that the answers to therevealed a number of limitations of the screencasts andquestions will be reviewed in class. This makes it quite

their accompanying materials and tasks, which need toeasy to see why students were less positive whenbe given greater consideration in order to ensure that

responding to the question of whether or not thestudents get the most out of them. Moreover, thescreencasts were easy to do as homework andmaterials were developed and piloted over a single

especially why teachers were split about the extent tosemester. More time needs to be taken for thesewhich the screencasts allowed for more interactive

materials to develop and improve, though this study itself

The 2018 PanSIG Journal120

has been a positive step in that direction. Also, the data

guide by the side. Paper presented at the 11ththat was gathered to evaluate the success of the projectInternational Conference on College Teaching andwas based on a fairly small sample size. It would be

Learning, Jacksonville, FL.

beneficial to conduct this study over a longer period oftime and with a larger group of respondents. Moreover,the information gathered by the study can sometimes beslightly ambiguous. For example, it is not clear what thestudents thought it meant that the homework was easy
to complete. For some, this could mean simply copying
answers from a classmate which is, of course, of little orno pedagogical value, though students might view it as

Correa, M. (2015). Flipping the foreign language
classroom and critical pedagogies: A new (old) trend.
Higher Education for the Future, 2(2), 114-115.
Farah, M. (2014). The impact of using flipped classroom
instruction on the writing performance of twelfth
grade female Emirati students in applied technology
high school (Doctoral dissertation).

positive because it is convenient for them. Also, teachers
are not really able to objectively assess things like theFindlay-Thompson, S. & Mombourquette, P. (2014).

extent to which students understood the screencasts.

Evaluation

This could, however, be objectively assessed by anundergraduate business course. Business Education

experimental study in which one group is taught theand Accreditation, 6(1), 63-71.

ofaflippedclassroom

inanwriting material using the screencasts and the other istaught using a traditional classroom lecture format. SuchHan, Y. (2015) Successfully flipping the classroom fora study could discern not only the extent to whichlearner autonomy. NYS TESOL Journal, 2 (1): 98-

students think they have learned from the materials andthe extent to which they were engaged by them, but
actually give an objective look at how the materials
helped them improve.

109.
Kang, N. (2015). The comparison between regular andflipped classrooms for EFL Korean adult learners.
MALL: Media Assisted Language Learning, 18(3),41-71.

Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be seen that screencasts offer avery low cost way to flip the classroom, in regards to
both

money

and

time.

They

also

give

learning

Lage, M. J., & Platt, G. J. (2000). The internet and theinverted classroom. Journal of Economic Education,31(1), 11-11.

opportunities to students not afforded by the traditionalLage, M. J., Platt, G. J., & Treglia, M. (2000). Invertingclassroom structure, such as the ability to replay content

the classroom: A gateway to creating an inclusive

when viewing it outside of the classroom and a greater

learning

amount of time to engage with and practice the content

Education, 31, 30-43.

environment.

Journalof

Economic

in an interactive way when in class. This objective ismore easily attained in some classes than in others,

Meyer, S. (2014) Performing and Creating Speeches,

depending on student motivation. In any case, in order

Demonstrations,for this to be done effectively, the screencasts,

Experiences. New York: Rosen Publishing.

supporting materials, and in-class follow up activities
need to be carefully designed. It may be that thematerials will take some time, and trial and error, todevelop. However, given the benefits in terms of bothtime and potential to enhance chances for interactive
engagement, it is well worth the effort.

andCollaborative

Learning

Sung, K. (2015). A case study on a flipped classroom in
an EFL content course. MALL: Media Assisted
Language Learning, 18(2), 159-187.
Webb, M. & Doman, E. (2016). Does the flippedclassroom lead to increased gains on learning
outcomes in ESL/EFL contexts? The CATESOL

References

Journal, 28 (1), 39-67.

Baker, J. W. (2000). The "classroom flip": Using web
course management tools to become theThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

121

SALC Rainbow Forum:Establishing a student community group to
discuss LGBTQ+ themes
Lorraine Kipling
Kanda University of International Studies
Many students are interested in learning more about gender and sexuality, and in discussing their own
thoughts, feelings, and experiences. However, while LGBTQ+ groups are a well-established feature ofmany campuses around the world, there are significantly fewer at Japanese universities. This article
outlines an initiative to address students’ need for an on-campus LGBTQ+ community group, providing aplatform for discussing LGBTQ+ themes, sharing information, support, and social events. It will outline
the rationale and context for this initiative, and give some insight into the logistics of establishing andmanaging a student community (SALC Rainbow Forum) in the context of a Japanese International
Studies university, including some practical ideas for discussion topics, events, and student-led activities.
Reflecting on the successes and challenges of SALC Rainbow Forum so far, it will make suggestions for
how initiatives such as this can be developed to more effectively support students’ needs in future

多くの学生はジェンダー・セクシュアリティについて学び、自身の考え、感情、経験について話し合う
事に興味を抱いています。しかしながら LGBTQ+ グループは、世界における多くのキャンパスでは定着しているにも関わらず、日本の大学においては著しく少数であるのが現状です。本論文は、LGBTQ+
テーマに関する話し合い、情報、サポート、ソーシャルイベント共有プラットフォームを提供する、キャンパス内での LGBTQ+ コミュニティグループに対する学生のニーズを示すための取り組みに関する概要です。また、本取り組みの論理的根拠、背景を概説し、議論トピック、イベント、生徒中心のアク
ティビティに関する実用的なアイデアを含む、日本の外国語大学という背景における学生コミュニティ（SALC レインボーフォーラム）の設立、管理の流れに関する見解を提供します。本論文は、これまでの SALC レインボーフォーラムの成功と課題を熟考し、本取り組みが今後の学生ニーズをより効果的にサポートするため率先し展開できる旨を提案します。

Representation of LGBTQ+ identities inschools and universities
LGBTQ+ student groups have become increasingly
recognised features of university communities aroundthe world. From the early days, in the late 1960s, of theStudent Homophile League (SHL) of Cornell andColumbia Universities in New York, which engaged in
gay rights activism at the time of the Stonewall
movement, to the widespread representation on many

campuses today, student groups have played an
important

role

in

LGBTQ+

historyandliberation

movements (Beemyn, 2003). In addition to affording
students an active relationship with the wider LGBTQ+
community and events, campus groups are also vitally
important in providing support to young LGBTQ+ people
in terms of their specific social, educational, andpersonal needs.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal122

A 2017 survey conducted by the National

into silence, self-loathing, and in some cases, self-harm”

Union of Students (NUS) in the UK found that LGBTQ+(n.p.). The report also found that Japanese teachers

students are more likely to drop out of their course

were often ill-equipped to respond to LGBTQ+-specific(especially if they have experienced harassment), do notbullying, and sometimes reluctant to be associated withfeel their experiences are represented in their curriculum,

LGBTQ+ issues, leading to an “information vacuum [inand are less likely to participate in sports or clubwhich students] who have questions about gender andactivities (Smithies & Byrom, 2017, p. 15). It also

sexuality are left in a harmful lurch.” (Knight, 2016, n.p.)suggests that the mental health difficulties faced by

In a step towards promoting tolerance in the Japanese

LGBTQ+

andeducation system, the Ministry of Education, Culture,

exclusion experienced from wider society and in

students

mayreflect

discrimination

Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) anti-bullying

educational institutions during their upbringing. Suchpolicy was updated in 2017 to better protect gender andresearch points to the need for schools and universities

sexualto develop an understanding of the social, educational,

understanding (“Japan: Anti-bullying Policy to Protect

and mental health implications of LGBTQ+ identity andLGBT Students,” 2017). However, as Tomoya Hosoda,

experience, and to provide resources, support, andCity Councillor of Iruma, Saitama and the first transopportunities for LGBTQ+ students to form groups andperson to be elected into office in Japan, explains:communities according to their needs.

“Teachers’ lack of knowledge of LGBT issues is aminority

students,

andpromoteteachers’

problem and, for some, it is still impossible for them to
In Japan, awareness of LGBTQ+ issues istalk with LGBT students.” (cited in Ryall, 2017, n.p.)

beginning to gather momentum, with some high-profile
events and public awareness campaigns (Ryall, 2017).

Stonewall Japan currently lists 114 LGBTQ+

There has also been limited but important progress instudent groups at 97 universities (“LGBT University

terms of legislation and representation. Steps towards

Groups,”marriage equality in some municipalities started with theexamples from Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) groups infirst ordinance recognizing same-sex partnerships in

the US, that many LGBTQ+ student groups have

Tokyo’s Shibuya and Setagaya Wards in April 2015

historically struggled to be afforded the same rights as(Sechiyama, 2015). However, there continues to be aother clubs. Similar struggles could be expected in thegeneralJapanesetaboosurrounding

LGBTQ+

issues,andn.d.).

Hartinger

educational(2011)

system,recounts,

but

the

using

increasing

LGBTQ+ rights are still not represented in anti-

tolerance towards LGBTQ+ identities in the media anddiscrimination

government suggest that the climate may be becoming

legislation.

AccordingtoAmnesty

International, pervasive discrimination is still the reality inmore welcoming for new student groups to form.

the daily lives of LGBTQ+ people, which results in manyhidingtheiridentities(“HumanRightsLaw

andDiscrimination,” 2017, p.6). Furthermore, a culture of
intolerance is perpetuated by explicitly homophobic
statements made by some politicians and government

Establishing an LGBTQ+ group (SALC
RAinbow Forum) at a university inJapan: The author’s experience

officials, such as LDP lawmaker Mio Sugita’s recent
argument that taxes should not be spent on LGBTQ+

The

people, as they are “unproductive” members of society

serendipitous, with students and teachers coming

inception

of

SALC

Rainbow

Forum

was

(Osaki, 2018).

together at a time of when each had been separately
motivated into action. Having noted the lack of provisions

The Japanese social and political climate isfor LGBTQ+ students on campus, the author and herreflected in the school system, which Human Rights

colleague, Jackie Holowczyk, wanted to offer support in

Watch reported as being rife with homophobic bullying

some way, agreeing that student voices were essential(“Japan: Bullied LGBT Students Unprotected,” 2016). In

for any progress in this area. During a consultation witha comprehensive report on the issue, Knight (2016)
explains that ‘hateful anti-LGBT rhetoric is nearlyubiquitous [in Japanese schools], driving LGBT students

one of Kipling’s former Freshman students (then a
Junior), who had previously shown an interest in
LGBTQ+ issues, the topic came up. This student was

The 2018 PanSIG Journal123

enthusiastic about the prospect of starting a group of

officially recognised community for students to feel safe

like-minded people, and was excited to report that theyand comfortable talking about their own experiences,

had recently discovered that another student had, in May

meet people who shared an interest in LGBTQ+ issues,

2016, started an unofficial Twitter account, KUIS

and find out information about LGBTQ+ issues, news,

Rainbow, hoping to reach out to other people interested

and events (both in Japan, and globally). Kipling andin LGBTQ+ issues.

Holowczyk continued to liaise between KUIS Rainbow
student members and university management, trying toThis was an encouraging start, and in June
2016 Kipling and Holowczyk invited the former student

find out viable alternatives to establishing a Circle, which
had run aground as an option.

and the Twitter account holder (plus any other interested
students they wanted to invite) to an informal meeting in

Fortuitously, new initiatives in the university’s

one of the teachers’ offices, in order to discuss possible

Self Access Learning Centre (SALC) provided ancollaboration in a student community group. Five

opportunity for establishing an officially recognised

students and the two teachers came to the first of what

Rainbow group on campus. After discussing this option

would become weekly meetings, during which attendees

with student members, and a SALC Learning Advisor

would talk about LGBTQ+ issues, personal situations

who agreed to advocate for them, Kipling and Holowczyk

and questions, as well as discussing future possibilities

applied for, and were granted, permission to form afor establishing an official group, and planning public and

SALC Learning Community, SALC Rainbow Forum,social events for members. During this first meeting, thewhich was officially launched in November 2017. The

student with the Twitter account explained that they had

purpose of SALC Learning Communities is to bringstarted to apply for KUIS Rainbow to be recognised as atogether ‘a group of students (and teachers) who share

university Circle, which would afford it official status andcommon academic goals or interests, and meet regularly

certain permissions for publicity and presence attouniversity

events.

However,theCommunities,” n.d.) Although occupying a different

application

process

requiredendorsement

complex

Circle
from

learn

with

and

from

each

other.’(“Learningastatus to Circle group activities in terms of campus-wide

tenured faculty member, which Kipling and Holowczyk,

social acceptance, the Learning Community identity fit

being untenured, were unable to help with, and which

the more general purposes of KUIS Rainbow well.

the students struggled to obtain elsewhere. In the

Furthermore, the SALC management and staff provided

meantime, KUIS Rainbow continued its activities in its

refreshing encouragement and support, in terms of

unofficial state, holding small group meetings in the

morale as well as more practical matters. As a Learningteacher’s office on a word-of-mouth basis.

Community, SALC Rainbow Forum gained access toresources such as meeting spaces and poster printing,In this unofficial capacity, KUIS Rainbow
started to build momentum during the next year (20162017), using weekly meetings to plan activities such as

and assistance with publicising the group’s meetings andevents through their website and notice-boards aroundthe SALC.

movie nights (both on campus, using projectors inclassrooms, and off-campus cinema visits), participation

Due to the increased publicity afforded byin Yokohama Pride and Tokyo Rainbow Pride Parades,

being a Learning Community, as well as word-of-mouth

and an (unofficial) presence at the university festival.

and a fresh influx of students at the start of the 2018-19

Student members oversaw the design and production ofacademic year, spring semester 2018 saw SALC

t-shirts and badges. In addition to discussing practicalRainbow Forum becoming more established and widelyand logistical issues for events and initiatives, members

recognised by both students and staff. By the end of thecontinued to use meeting times to share ideas on how tosemester, there were 36 contacts in the group mailingpromote the group, and raise awareness of LGBTQ+

list, consisting 8 teachers, 19 KUIS students, and 9

issues

at

From

these

exchange students. Social media and word-of-mouthinterest

andhad drawn attention from the Student Affairs Coordinatorparticipation in events, student members made it clear tofor one of the university's exchange programmes, who

the teachers that there was a growing demand for anoffered to publicise SALC Rainbow Forum amongst their

discussions,

a

wider
and

university
fromlevel.

increasing

The 2018 PanSIG Journal124

students, leading to increasing diversity in the form ofDuring the Spring semester 2018, SALC

exchange student membership. In addition to a larger

Rainbow Forum was joined by a number of exchangepresence at events such as Tokyo Rainbow Pride in

students from the US. This created a new dimension to

June

and

the group’s membership, with additional opportunities fordiscussions, the expanding membership and fluid

cultural and language exchange. In addition, some ofattendance at weekly meetings meant there were newthese new members had previous experience ofexperiences and ideas to share, exciting opportunities

LGBTQ+ groups, as well as event planning andfor cultural, language, and information exchange, andleadership experience, and were motivated to take a

fresh logistical challenges for group infrastructure andmore active role in managing the group. This had an

project management.

interesting impact on the group dynamic. On the one

2018,

and

bi-weekly

movie

viewing

hand, the increased diversity in membership developed

Coordinating SALC Rainbow Forum:
Some observations

an added interest for permanently-enrolled students
seeking opportunities to make international friends. On
the other hand, it was a challenge to maintain a

Since SALC Rainbow Forum has been established,

comfortable platform for students who were lessthere have been a variety of practical and logisticalconfident in talking about LGBTQ+ issues, or group

matters

andspeaking more generally, who had been used to a moremembership, and the practicalities and purposes ofmoderated ‘turn-taking’ meeting style. Another issue wasregular meetings and events. Although SALC Rainbow

that, due to the limited time available to exchange

Forum is still in its nascent state, some observations

students, it was difficult for them to commit to some long-

regarding the practicalities of coordinating an LGBTQ+

term projects that they had suggested. As each

student group might be generally applied.

semester brings a new group of exchange students, andtoconsiderregardingadministration

In terms of membership and communication,
SALC Rainbow Forum has been administered by Kiplingand Holowczyk on an ad hoc basis, building up a mailinglist in their institutional email accounts and manually

since attendance and membership is fluid and voluntary,a ‘wishlist’ of future projects is currently being developed
for students and Teacher Liaisons to coordinate
according to individual talents, interests, and availability.

adding new members on request. Since Kipling and

One of the main considerations in coordinating

Holowczyk share the duty of Teacher Liaison for the

SALC Rainbow Forum has been to provide a safe andgroup, this means that they must coordinate carefully to

comfortable environment for students to share their

keep the contact lists up to date. This is only workable

thoughts and ideas, and participate in group activities

for a small group size, and will soon be replaced by awithout judgement or obligation. An ideal location to holdmulti-user mailing account with a centralised list. Groupregular meetings would be freely available, and have amailings are sent out as bcc, to maintain privacy withinvariety of furniture and resources to allow relaxed

the group membership. Membership is open to anyone

conversation as well as more focused meeting time andat the university, including permanently-enrolled students,

project work. Issues of privacy and confidentiality forinternational students, teachers, advisors, and staff.

individuals also need to be balanced with the visibility

There is no obligation to attend meetings or participate inand presence desired by the group as a whole. The firstgroup activities, which means that regular email updates

meetings of the unofficial group were held in a teacher’s

and announcements enable less active members, oroffice during a koma time that was free to all members ofstudents who are overseas during study abroad etc., tothe small group. This took the shape of a coffee-talk,be kept updated on the group’s progress. Student

round-table, format, with a closed door but ‘Rainbow

members have also set up group chats in the messaging

Meeting in Progress’ sign to welcome anyone who

app LINE, which has been helpful in providing morewanted to join.

mobile contact during unofficial off-campus events andsocial activities.

In Spring 2017, a departmental move meantthat teachers had new offices, where students were notallowed access, so the meetings moved to a classroom

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

125

space. This move corresponded with a growth inmembership, and a more fluid attendance at meetings.

•

Be prepared to talk and/or ask questions about the
topic

The meeting time was moved to a lunch time toaccommodate more people, and students voted on the

It was agreed that this Code of Conduct could be edited

most convenient day to hold meetings. The classroom

and adapted over time as new points become apparent.

location provided space for more people to join meetings,

In addition to the mutually-agreed rules, all Learningand greater flexibility in terms of group dynamics, as well

Communities are required to conduct at least part of theiras desks, whiteboards and projectors for more focusedmeetings in a language other than Japanese, andactivities. However, some students commented that thestudents are encouraged to use whatever language theyless casual environment may detract from the appeal ofare comfortable expressing their thoughts in. Since thewhat is primarily a social group. Following this feedback,terminology used to talk about gender and sexuality is

meetings started to move out of the classroom and into

often culturally loaded and contentious, this provides

the SALC communal area towards the end of the 2018

interesting

Spring semester. The group will continue to trial

The content of meetings varies depending on who is inlocations in the coming months, in a search for a spaceattendance and what people want to discuss or preparethat might satisfy the dynamic needs of such a group.

for at any given time. Students have used meeting time

pointsforlinguistic

discussions.

to plan and organize events, including Yokohama Pride
The basic function of the regular weekly(2016), and Tokyo Pride (2016, 2017, 2018), to design

meetings is to provide a forum for people to get together

and sell t-shirts, to research information, and tofor informal discussions about LGBTQ+ issues. At thebrainstorm ideas for future projects. Students can also

beginning to the Spring semester 2018, a provisional

anonymously share ideas, ask questions, or make

Code of Conduct was discussed and agreed between

suggestions and discussion topics for future meetings,

teachers and students, to ensure that meetings were aby putting them in a star-shaped, rainbow-decorated

safe and mutually respectful environment for students tosuggestion box (AKA the Magic Rainbow Box of Ideas).

share their thoughts. Key points in this provisional Code

These ideas often drive the content of these informalof Conduct are:meetings, and the Teacher Liaisons follow-up on thesesuggestions by sourcing short videos or articles to•Come as little or as much as you want.

•

You don't have to be out, or feel pressured toprovidecome out in this group.

astimulusforfuturemeetings,

whereappropriate.
SALC Rainbow Forum also gathers bi-monthly in a small
TV stage in the communal area, to watch and discuss•

Respect the privacy of others.

•

When telling a story, remember you can always

staff has been very accommodating and encouraging of

use "my friend" and avoid naming others.

these meetings, even offering the use of bean-bags tomovies related to LGBTQ+ themes. The SALC Admin

make them more relaxing and welcoming. Movies are••

Sharing is ok! Feel free to share as little or as

agreed in advance by teachers and students, andmuch about yourself as you want to.

advertised by email and on posters on the SALC

Be careful with direct and personal questions toothers.

•Be

considerate

noticeboards. A database of LGBTQ+ themed movies,
with basic information and links to trailers, has beencreated and shared, for group members to add their own

of

using

people’spreferredpersonal pronouns.

suggestions and vote on what they would like to watch
next. To provide variety and balance, these viewings
have included movies from a range of countries and•Don't speak for others or on behalf for a whole

languages (either subtitled in English or Japanese,

identity.

depending on availability), serious and light-hearted
fiction, documentaries, classic and contemporary works.
Regardless of content or quality, these movies have

The 2018 PanSIG Journal126

invariably provided rich stimulus for the reflective

updates and event information, as well as links to useful

discussion that follows.

online resources, news pages, and other university
community groups. The movie database will continue to

Suggestions for future development of
SALC Rainbow Forumbe added to, as well as a list of useful discussion topics
and themes that students can use either in meetingtimes, or to stimulate discussions in their own time. The

In the past two years, SALC Rainbow Forum has growngroup is also looking into the possibility of inviting guest

from an informal collaboration between students andspeakers from LGBTQ+ community and student groups,

teachers who felt that LGBTQ+ students deserved

depending on logistical and economic feasibility, andacknowledgement and support within the university

preparing presentations to explain key themes andcommunity, to an official Learning Community with

topics to the wider student body.

administrative support and access to facilities andpublicity. This has involved a steep learning curve, andProviding appropriate facilities and support forthere is a great deal of scope for improvement in the

our students is a key priority, and there is still a lot of becoming months and years. Some of the following ideas

done in this respect. As mentioned previously, ensuring

have already been put into motion. Some ideas, whilethat students have access to a safe space that is bothseemingly aspirational at the moment, might be realised

conducive to sharing ideas and experiences on sensitivein the near future as the political and social climate

topics, and visible and accessible to all, is a complex andbecomes increasingly aware, and accepting of, LGBTQ+

changeable requirement. Ideally, a designated area thatissues.

is fit for all the purposes of the group would be madepermanently available to SALC Rainbow Forum. Since
Community building is a priority for the future ofthis is practically impossible at the moment, the group

SALC RAinbow forum. The group is now afforded awill continue to use communal areas, hopefully settling in

range of advertising and PR opportunities, and willa space that is comfortable enough for the majority ofcontinue to take advantage of the SALC’s facilities,group members. Meanwhile, the group will continue to

website, and poster advertising, as well as the SALC

liaise with SALC Admin and Management regarding

Rainbow mailing list. It is hoped that the future will see

useful resources that can be made available to all

increased student autonomy, and gradual handover ofstudents.

group coordination tasks from the Teacher Liaisons to a
student leadership team. Ideally, an entirely student-led

Another key priority is making sure thatgroup would receive additional recognition as a Circle,

teachers and university staff are equipped to support

which would afford a larger campus-wide profile,students regarding LGBTQ+ issues in their training andincludingandeducation. Marine and Nicolazzo (2014) outline some offestivals, and publicity in student newsletters. Contact

the challenges faced by educators in promoting an

has already been made to Stonewall Japan to request

inclusive environment, especially with regard to transthat SALC Rainbow Forum be added to their list ofidentity, while Knight (2016) explains that even when

LGBTQ+ student groups in Japan, to make contact withteachers are compassionate and supportive towards

the wider Japanese student community.

their students’ needs, students are often faced withrepresentation

atuniversity

eventsimprovised

knowledge

andsubjective

views

from

Accessing and providing clear and usefulteachers who have not received appropriate training in

information regarding LGBTQ+ issues, news, and events

LGBTQ+ issues. The Human Rights Watch report

has so far been done on an ad hoc basis, as and whenconcludes with the recommendation that all teacher

students have raised specific questions or queries tocertification programmes should include “mandatory

address. A more consistent platform needs to be

training on working with diverse students” as well asavailable for students to access a variety of information

information about gender and sexuality in the nationalin their own time, without having to attend all meetings. A

sex education curriculum (Knight, 2016, n.p.). The

website is currently under development for this purpose,

Teacherwhich will include a FAQ page and a noticeboard forindependently pursuing greater knowledge and skills to

Liaisons

for

SALC

RainbowForum

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

are

127

facilitate their roles in the group, with the hope that atsome point in the future, education and training will behttps://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA225
9552017ENGLISH.PDF

available, for all teachers.
Learning Communities. (2016), Kuis 8 online for KUIS
students. Retreived Aug 14, 2018 from

Conclusion
SALC Rainbow Forum is one example of how an
LGBTQ+ student group has established in a Japanese
university. It would be interesting and useful for otherstudent groups to share their experiences, successes,
and challenges, in order to pave the way for similargroups to become the norm in universities across the

http://kuis8.com/community-events/learningcommunities/
Japan: Anti-bullying policy to protect LGBT students:
Efforts boost regional, global role on gay rights.
(2017, March 24). Human Rights Watch. Retrieved
August 19, 2018 fromcountry. Administrative support, facilities, and training
are key factors towards satisfying the needs of diverse
students regarding issues that are sometimes sensitive

https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/24/japan-antibullying-policy-protect-lgbt-students

and taboo. As media representation and social attitudes
towards LGBTQ+ identities become more positive, there
is hope that legislation and educational policy will
acknowledge and represent LGBTQ+ people.

Japan: Bullied LGBT students unprotected: Policies,
National

Curriculum

ignoresexualorientation,

gender identity. (2016, May 5). Human Rights Watch.
Retrieved from

Acknowledgments
The author would like to acknowledge Jackie Holowczyk,
who has shared the journey of SALC Rainbow Forumfrom the early coffee-talk meetings to its current
incarnation, and proved a true ally time and again.
Additional thanks to all the SALC staff and teachers who

https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/05/japan-bullied-lgbtstudents-unprotected
Knight, K. (2016, May 5). “The nail that sticks out getshammered down” LGBT bullying and exclusion in
Japanese schools, Human Rights Watch. Retrieved
fromhave provided practical support and encouragement to
SALC Rainbow. Community extends beyond a single
group.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/05/05/nail-sticks-outgets-hammered-down/lgbt-bullying-and-exclusionjapanese-schools

References
Beemyn, B. (2003). The silence is broken: A history ofLGBT University Groups. (n.d.). Stonewall Japan.
Retrieved August 14, 2018 fromthe first lesbian, gay, and bisexual college student
groups. Journal of the History of Sexuality 12(2),205-223. University of Texas Press. Retrieved from
Project MUSE database.
Hartinger, J. (2011, Aug 1). Triumphs and setbacks of
Gay Straight Alliances, The Advocate. Retrieved
fromhttps://www.advocate.com/society/education/2011/08

http://stonewalljapan.org/resources/lgbt-universitygroups/
Marine, S. B., & Nicolazzo, Z. (2014). Names thatmatter: Exploring the tensions of campus LGBTQ
centers and trans* inclusion. Journal of Diversity inHigher Education, 7(4), 265-281.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037990/01/triumphs-and-setbacks-gay-straight-alliances-1
Osaki, T. (2018, July 24). LDP lawmaker Mio Sugita
Human rights law and discrimination against LGBT
people in Japan. (2017). Amnesty International.

faces backlash after describing LGBT people as‘unproductive,’ Japan Times. Retrieved from

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128

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/24/national/pSechiyama, K. (2015, May 28). Rainbow in the East:olitics-diplomacy/ldp-lawmaker-mio-sugita-faces-

LGBT rights in Japan, Nippon.com, Retrieved frombacklash-describing-lgbt-people-

https://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00174/.

unproductive/#.W3lzK9JKjIV
Smithies, D. & Byrom, N. (2017). LGBTQ+ Student
Ryall, J. (2017, Oct 15). What’s it like being a gay

Mental Health: The challenges and needs of gender,

student in Japan?, South China Morning Post,

sexual and romantic minorities in Higher Education,

Retrieved from

Student Minds. Retrieved Aug 14, 2018 fromhttp://www.studentminds.org.uk/uploads/3/7/8/4/3784

http://www.scmp.com/week-

584/180730_lgbtq_report_final.pdf

asia/society/article/2114697/whats-it-being-gaystudent-japan

Author biography
Lorraine Kipling teaches in the ELI at Kanda University of International Studies, Chiba. Her professional interests
include literary theory, literature in language teaching, extensive reading, pastoral care, and gender and sexuality. She
is also a proofreader and copy editor for the JALT journal, The Language Teacher. kipling-l@kanda.kuis.ac.jp

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

129

We Think We Have to Speak English Perfectly
Dawn Kobayashi
Onomichi City University
In this paper the author describes the results of a pilot study to test the appropriateness of an interview
protocol. The pilot study is part of wider research that investigates how the concept of self-efficacy fromsocial cognitive theory can be used to understand the reasons for Japanese university students’ low
speaking fluency. The author discusses how semistructured interviews were used to examine how
students’ learning experiences at junior and senior high school contributed to their current self-efficacy
levels. Four major commonalities in responses emerged from the data. These were foreign speakereffect, lack of feedback, negative reactions, and passive learning. Finally, the author suggests how eachof these issues could be addressed through classroom practice and reflects on how an interviewer’s
style of questioning impacts on the quality of responses.

この論文は、インタビュー・プロトコルの妥当性を確認するための予備調査の結果を紹介しています。
この予備調査は、どのように社会認知理論における自己効力感の概念が、日本の大学生が英語を流暢に話せない理由を理解するために用いられるかを調査する幅広い研究の一部です。本論文では、中学校と高等学校での学習経験が、現在の自己効力感のレベルにどのように貢献したかを調査するために、半構造化面接法をどのように使用したかについて説明します。データから 4 つの大きな共通点が明らかになりました。これらは、外国人の話し手の効果、フィードバックの欠如、否定的な反応、受動的な学習であった。本論文は、これらの問題それぞれが、教室の指導に与える影響を考察しています。

In this paper, I report the findings of a pilot study into thewillingness to communicate (Munezane, 2015; Yashima,

sources of Japanese university students’ self-efficacy to

Zenuk-Nishide, & Shimizu, 2004); other studies indicate

speak English as a foreign language (hereafter speakthat students lose motivation and confidence due toEFL). The pilot study was conducted as part of anteaching pedagogies at junior and senior high schools

ongoing mixed methods study to design a new inventory(Kikuchi, 2009). Therefore, understanding the factorsof Japanese university students’ speaking EFL self-that cause Japanese students to lose confidence inefficacy.

speaking English has significant consequences forraising their speaking proficiency levels.
Raising the speaking fluency of students is a

key concern of educators in Japan (Amaki, 2008)

I teach general English to 1st year students at a

because competency to communicate in English as arural, civic university in Japan; the students are enrolledforeign language serves as a gateway to global

in economics courses. Enabling my students to reach

employment and academic opportunities (Baker, 2016;

their full potential as speakers of English is a primary

Breaden, 2014). However, improving fluency levels is

goalchallenging because not only do Japanese students tend

discussions with students and through reading student

to have low speaking proficiency (Hamada, 2008;

class reflections, I realized that although students

Rogers, 2007), but also according to some measureswanted to become fluent speakers of English, they did

their proficiency is falling behind that of their Asiannot feel confident in their ability to achieve this goal. This

neighbors (Education First, 2018). Research has posited

led me to suspect that a leading cause of students’ lowthat Japanese university students’ low proficiency at

proficiency was low self-efficacy. Bandura’s (1977)

speaking EFL stems from low motivation and a lack ofconcept

of

my

of

teaching.

self-efficacy

However,referstothroughtheinformaldegreeThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

of

130

confidence that an individual has about the likelihood of

Self-Efficacy in Foreign Language Learningthem completing a specific task, and it has been found to

Self-efficacy in language learning has thus far been

be a powerful indicator of success across domains

studied as an aspect of motivation (Dörnyei, 1999;(Zimmerman, 1995).

Kormos, Kiddle, & Csizér, 2011) with studies pointing to
self-efficacy as a powerful indicator of foreign language
learning success (Burrows, 2016; Templin, Guile, &Literature Review

Okuma, 2001). Nevertheless, research so far hasconcentrated on how self-efficacy correlates with otherSelf-Efficacy
Self-efficacy developed from Bandura’s social cognitive
theory. Social cognitive theory holds that people havethe power to influence their own action through theinterplay of behavioral, environmental, and personal
determinants (Bandura, 2012). A person’s belief thatthey can successfully execute a behavior is controlled bytheir self-efficacy. Self-efficacy itself is determined byfoursources:mastery,socialmodelling,socialmotivational

factors

ratherthanconcentratingon

generating actionable results for classroom practice.
Additionally, the area of self-efficacy in foreign language
is

still

relatively

new

and

existing

studieshave

concentrated on reading, writing, or listening skills rather
than on speaking.

Speaking EFL Self-Efficacy in Japan
Studies that focus on the Japanese context have tended

persuasion, and physical and emotional states (Bandura,

to center on reading and listening self-efficacy. Studies2012). Mastery experiences are those of successfully

that address speaking confidence of Japanese learners

completing the task in the past, social modelling

have done so from other perspectives such as self-

experiences are observing similar others successfully

perceived communicative competence (Lockley, 2013),

completing the task, social persuasion experiences arelanguage learning beliefs (Toyama, 2015), or foreign

the verbal and nonverbal feedback from others about

language anxiety (Matsuda & Gobel, 2004). Also, to mytask performance, and finally physical and emotional

knowledge at the time of writing, there is no empiricallystates refers to how people interpret their emotionaltested inventory to determine speaking self-efficacy

feelings and physical reactions associated with the task.
Rather than being a general personality trait,
self-efficacy is domain specific so that a person may
have high self-efficacy in one area, yet low self-efficacy
in another (Zimmerman, 1995). Self-efficacy is believedto influence academic achievement in a mediating rolelevelsofJapanese

students.

I

hope

that

the

development of a specific inventory will help teachers
design learning programs that are attentive to students’
self-efficacy levels, improve both the self-efficacy levels
and the learning outcomes of their students, and alsoenable further research in this area.

by encouraging students to try more difficult tasks andhave fewer negative reactions to the task (Zimmerman,
2000). We can anticipate then that students with low
self-efficacy to speak English are likely to refrain fromengaging in communication and to feel anxiety whenpressed to do so. Self-efficacy levels are formed by theaccumulation of learning experiences; this means that
not only do past experiences form present self-efficacy
levels but also that they can be developed bytransforming current teaching practice.
Although there have been studies that explore
sources of self-efficacy in mathematics (Lent, Lopez, &Bieschke, 1991; Usher & Pajares, 2009) and of student
teachers (Phan & Locke, 2015; Poulou, 2007), there arefew studies that deal with sources of EFL self-efficacy.

MethodIn this paper, I report the results of a pilot study that was
conducted as part of a larger mixed methods project todesign an inventory of Japanese university students’
speaking EFL self-efficacy levels. In the design,
semistructured interviews will be used to explore
students’ experiences of learning to speak English atjunior and senior high school. This information will
determine themes to include in the inventory. Finally, theinventory will be administered to a sample of Japanese
university students and then be tested quantitatively forvalidity and reliability. The pilot study was conducted totest the effectiveness of the interview protocol for thesemistructured interviews and to establish tentative

The 2018 PanSIG Journal131themes to guide the main study. The interview protocol isinterviewed. I then ranked the responses by totaling theadded as an appendix to this paper.

self-efficacy scores and divided the responses into low
and high self-efficacy groups. I asked two males and two

Pilot Study Research Design

females from each group to be interviewed yielding eight

The purpose of the pilot study was to determine thereliability and usefulness of the interview protocol, toestablish tentative themes to inform the analysis of themain study’s qualitative stage, and also to give mepractice at conducting qualitative interviews. In the pilot
study, students were invited for an interview after
completing a selection questionnaire of EFL speaking
self-efficacy scales and demographic questions. This
questionnaire was adapted from that of Mills’ (2004)
French foreign language self-efficacy scale. I choose thisbecause it has been found to be reliable and been widelyused in subsequent research. From the questionnaire
results, I invited eight students to participate in theparticipants. However, one male student later dropped
out of the study this meant the final number ofinterviewees was seven, four female and three male.
The demographic data of the participants is included inTable 1. The interviews were held in an office at theuniversity with just the student and myself present andtook an average of 30 to 40 minutes to complete. Theinterview was conducted in Japanese and audio
recorded with two voice recorders and then wastranslated and transcribed by the author. The data wasanonymized by removing student numbers from thequestionnaires after the analysis was completed and by
students choosing an alias to use in the study.

interview. I constructed the interview protocol to draw out
students’ learning experiences at junior and senior highschool in relation to Bandura’s four sources and also to

Main Findings

self-regulated learning, which has been forwarded as a

Deep reading of the interviews was performed to

fifth source by Usher (2009). The completed protocol

determine common themes. However, since the sample

was reviewed by a professional educator and thenwas relatively small, it is unlikely that saturation wastranslated into Japanese by the author. The translated

achieved with the number of interviews. Consequently,

protocol was then sent to two native speakers forthe following main findings from the pilot interviews

comments with amendments made where appropriate.

shouldberegardedascommonalities

betweenresponses rather than actual themes. The four main

Procedure
The site of the pilot study was a rural, civic university inJapan. I administered the selection questionnaire to 104
first-year economics majors enrolled in general English
classes. An explanation of the study and informed
consent were distributed with the questionnaire. I
requested students to include their student number at
the top of the questionnaire if they were willing to be

topics that repeated frequently across interviews were
foreign speaker effect when students indicated that theyneeded to converse with foreign people to improve
English speaking skill, lack of feedback when students
said that they had no recollection of receiving feedbackon speaking performance from peers or teachers,
passive learning when students recalled speaking
practice as being restricted to reading aloud from theTable 1: Demographic Data of Interview Participants
Alias

Age

Gender

Self-Efficacy

TOEIC

Karen

18

Female

Low

245

Lisa

18

Female

Low

325

Mika

18

Female

High

450

Saori

18

Female

High

390

Riku

18

Male

Low

445

Hiro

18

Male

Low

230

Joe

18

Male

High

245

The 2018 PanSIG Journal132

textbook or reciting speeches, and finally negative

Negative Reactions

reactions when students reported feeling bored or
As students reported that their speaking experiences

embarrassed by speaking practice.

were restricted to reading the textbook aloud andForeign Speaker Effectperforming memorized speeches, it is not surprising thatthey reported negative feelings such as boredom andStudents felt that speaking with foreign people was anembarrassment about speaking activities.

essential factor in becoming good English speakers. A
lack of social modelling through observation of similar

A tendency to strive for perfection may also

others such as teachers and peers using English

have negatively affected students’ reactions to speaking

communicatively in class may have reinforced theEnglish. As Riku explained, “We think we have to speak

impression that they need to speak to a foreign person to

English perfectly or fluently, if we speak clumsily we arelearn to speak English well. There is also the sense thatembarrassed. If we can’t show our true ability, we arelessons with a foreign teacher involve more active tasks;

embarrassed.” Students consistently said that they did

Joe said, “We had a teacher from America we did easy

notgames together. It was fun.” Conversely, students had aopportunities to talk with friends about everyday topics.

likedesk-based

study

and

wantedmore

negative impression of their Japanese teachers’ English
abilities,

forexample,Riku

complained

that

Reflections“theJapanese teacher’s pronunciation was not good.”
In this section, I will first suggest how each of the above
Lack of Feedback
Japan is a collectivist society and as such receiving
support and confirmation from ingroup members such asteachers and peers is essential for the development ofissues could be addressed through classroom practiceand then reflect on the impact my interviewing style hadon the quality of responses.

Implications for Classroom Practiceconfidence and self-efficacy (Markus & Kitayama, 1991).
It is concerning that students said they never received

The main findings from the interview prompted me toany feedback or support about their English speaking

consider their impact for classroom practice in Japan. In

ability. For example, Saori’s response that “I’ve never

the following, I introduce some ideas for how teachers

been told anything” was typical. Of course, just because

may address foreign speaker effect, lack of feedback,students do not recall receiving positive feedback, it

passive learning, and negative reactions.

does not mean that teachers never gave it, but rather
that it was insufficient to leave a lasting impression. This

Foreign speaker effect. Students’ belief that they needidea was reinforced by Mika who commented thatto talk with a foreign speaker to improve their English

students “need more individual feedback, to hear what

speaking proficiency could stem from lack of social

we can and can’t do well.”modelling by Japanese speakers of English. Therefore,
students’Passive Learning
Students reported that speaking practice at junior andsenior high school was limited to either reading the
textbook aloud or performing memorized speeches.

socialmodellingexperiences

could

be

increased by Japanese teachers using English foreveryday communicative tasks in class, and by teachers,
irrespective of their first language, using materials thatfeature Japanese nationals using English effectively.

Karen said that she had no memory of communicating inLack of feedback. Students said that they did not recall

English at school at all, commenting, “Conversation? I

receiving

don’t think I did any conversation at all in lessons.” This

Feedback is most effective when it is genuine, relates toissue is worrying because it appears that for some of thea specific element, and also offers steps for further

students, experiences of learning to speak English were

improvement

restricted to forming the sounds and intonations

Therefore, a generic “good job” or “well done” is unlikely

necessary for good pronunciation.

to affect students’ self -efficacy. I suggest that teachers

feedback(Krenn,about

Würth,

their&

speaking

Hergovich,

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

ability.

2013).

133

ensure that feedback is individualized and focuses onwhat students can do to improve.

Also, I found through the course of the pilot
interviews that I began to identify some key phrases thatindicated students might have more to say. One was da

Passive learning. Students reported a focus on passive
learning, such as recitation and pronunciation exercises.
These skills are of course essential, but they need to betaught as part of a range of communicative skills andconversation practice so that students can gain anassortment of mastery experiences of communicating in
English and thereby improve their self-efficacy.
Negative reactions. Feelings and reactions towards atask influence how we perceive our ability towards thattask because we tend to attribute these reactions to ourown ability rather than to the quality of the activity.
Negative feelings of anxiety or boredom lead to feelingsof incompetency, whereas feelings of interest andengagement lead to feelings of capability (Usher &kedo (however or but), and the other was ma (well); bothindicated that students probably had a different opinion
to what they were actually telling me. In the laterinterviews, I learned to push the students to explain
more often by prompting through repeating the phraseback to them “da kedo?” Finally, on a practical note, I
realized that it is best for the interviewer to say as little
as possible; it soon became tiring having to transcribe all
the little encouraging comments I had made in theinterview such as “really”, “wow”, and “oh.” Again, in laterinterviews, I learned to keep encouraging responses tosmiles and nods, which were just as effective in getting
students to elaborate and less bothersome when it cameto transcription.

Pajares, 2009) . Negative feelings could be ameliorated

Limitations

by having students practice conversations with friends
rather than in front of the whole class. Moreover, interest
could be increased by providing students with a variety
of discussion topics, using a range of activities, andalternating between group, pair, and individual tasks.

As this was a pilot study, the motivation was to test thesuitability of the interview protocol rather than to produce
definitive conclusions. Therefore, there are significant
limitations to the study. The results should be treatedInterview Style

with caution and cannot be expected to adhere to

In light of the pilot test, I was able to both improve thepresented here to encourage dialogue and discussion ininterview protocol and to become more aware of mythe exciting area of educational psychology and in theinterviewing style. Concerning the protocol, although thehope that they may be of immediate use to educationalquestions themselves stayed the same, I changed mypractitioners.

manner of asking the questions. The phrasing of
qualitative questions often employs phrases such as“Tell me about a time when you …” or “How did you feelwhen....” (Merriam, 2014). I found that this style ofquestioning did not yield lengthy responses from thestudents with many responses limited to “No, nothing.” or“I don’t remember that.” This made me conjecture thatthese kinds of questions might have been threatening tothem. Therefore, after the first two interviews, I decided
to change the structure to twostep questions where first I
asked an easy question such as “Have you ever….?”and once I had elicited an answer, I followed up withmore probing questions such as “Can you tell me more
about that …” or “What did you think about that?” I foundthat when I gradually led them into the topic, I could getricher responses from them.

covenants of reliability and replicability. They areConclusion
The pilot study yielded some noteworthy results thatsuggest that the participants of the study had notexperienced sufficient positive experiences at junior andsenior high school to develop a strong sense of selfefficacy to speak EFL. Particularly, students’ masteryexperiences were limited to recitations and reading aloudwith little exposure to less structured communicative
tasks. Students also had not experienced positive
feedback and evaluations from teachers and peers.
Neither had they developed an image of Japanesepeople as English speakers, which had led to apreoccupation with the need to converse with foreign
people to improve speaking proficiency.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

134

Finally,
feelings

students

towards

hadspeaking

developed
EnglishnegativethroughanLanguage Teaching Research, 13(4), 453–471.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168809341520

overreliance on whole class activities such as reading
aloud and speech giving. I hope that these results canMarkus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and theself:

be further expanded and validated in the main study.

Implicationsfor

cognition,

emotion,andmotivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224

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The 2018 PanSIG Journal

136

Appendix

Interview Protocol
Date_____________________

Interviewer_____________________

Interviewee nickname_____________________

Age_____________________

Academic Year_____________________

File code_____________________
Theme 1: General Background1)

Tell me about yourself.
a)

2)

3)

What do you like to do in your free time?

Tell me about yourself as a student.
a)What do you think is your favorite subject?

b)

What is your least favorite subject?

I’d like to ask about your history of speaking English.
a)

Have you studied English outside of school? Where? For how long?

b)

Have you ever travelled to English speaking country?

Theme 2: Opinion Towards Learning English
4)

5)

I’d like to ask you about your opinion towards learning English.
a)What do you think of the English course at this university?

b)

Could you describe the kind of activities you would like to do in an ideal English course to me?

Tell me about your goals for learning to speak English.
a)What do you want to learn English speaking for?

b)

How do you imagine yourself using English after you graduate university?

c)What areas do you especially want to work on?

d)

How important is learning to speak English to you?

Theme 3: Learning English Experiences (Mastery + Self-regulatory)
6)

7)

Tell me about the kind of English speaking activities you did at senior high school.
a)Which ones did you particularly enjoy? Why?

b)

How would you rate your ability as an English speaker from 1-10?

c)

Did you perform tasks in front of: the whole class, a few classmates, just the teacher?

Tell me about a memorable occasion of speaking English at school.
a)

How well did you do?

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

137

b)
8)

Why do you think you could /could not do well?

Tell me about the kind of practice you did to help you speak English.
a)What experiences do you have of speaking English outside of class?

b)

What kind of homework did you do for English speaking practice?

c)

Did you do any other activities to help you speak English?

Theme 4: Support Received from Teachers, Parents and Classmates at Senior High School (Social
Persuasion)
9)

Tell me about someone who helped you to learn English speaking.
a)What kind of things did they do to help you?

10) Tell me about what others have told you about your English speaking ability.
a)What kind of feedback did you receive from teachers?
i)What kind of feedback did you receive from parents?

ii)

What about your friends?

b)

How did your teachers make you feel about your English speaking ability?

c)What other things do you think teachers could have done to make you feel more confident andmotivated about speaking English?

Theme 5: Emotional Reactions to Speaking English at Senior High School (Physiological States)11) I’d like you remember the speaking activities you did in high school, in general how did they make you feel?
a)

How did you physically feel? Alert, energetic, tired, etc.

b)

How did you mentally feel? Anxious, engaged, bored, etc.

c)

What factors do you think made you feel so?

Theme 6: Influence of Others on English Speaking Ability (Vicarious Experiences)
12) Tell me about how you prepared for speaking tasks in class.
a)

Did you listen to CDs, videos, teacher’s reading, another students’ reading?

b)

Who or what did you find most useful to listen to?

13) Tell me about someone you think speaks English well.
a)

Where are they from?

b)

What’s your relationship to them?

c)

How about your teacher or classmates?

14) Is there anything else you think I should know about your experiences of learning to speak English at seniorhigh school?
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal138

Getting Creative in Writing Classes
Lauren Landsberry
Nagoya College
Many teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) struggle with writing classes. It can be achallenge to get students writing in English, let alone to be creative with their writing. To make a change
from the more traditional paragraph, essay and email writing, the author used two lessons in a semester
on creative writing, using Storybird, an online software program enabling students to be inspired by art
and apply creativity to write a story in English. Students were able to share their stories in an anonymousclass library, and talk about the stories they enjoyed or thought were interesting and well-written.
Students enjoyed the Storybird activity the most in the entire course, and the researcher felt it was animmensely worthwhile project with countless future possibilities.

英語を外国語として教える(EFL)多くの教師がライティングの授業で困難を抱えている。学生に英語で文章を書かせ、創造的にさせるのは課題になりうる。従来の段落やエッセイ、e メールのライティング
活動から離れ、著者はストーリーバードというオンラインソフトを用いたクリエイティブライティングの授業を学期に 2 回行った。学生は匿名のクラス図書館で自分たちの話を共有し、楽しんだ作品、興味深かった作品や優秀な作品などについて話し合った。学生は一年を通じてストーリーバードの活動を最も楽しんでおり、無限の可能性を秘めた非常に価値のあるプロジェクトだと思われる。

Technology has become a major aspect in all of our lives.

existed, there were stories, many of which were

The impact it has had in various shapes and forms has

augmented by simple drawings and pictographs. In the

been a major game changer within the education sector,

past decade or so, the emergence of digital storytellingand its use should not be ignored in the classroom.

has changed the way writing is taught, and it has gained

Technology needs to be incorporated into EFL (English

momentumas a Foreign Language) classes, not only to meet thestudents (Menezes, 2012). Leslie Rule of the Digital

student’s needs, but also to work towards achieving theStorytelling Association has said “Digital Storytelling is

standard that the students themselves are seeking

the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling...

(Prensky, 2007). It is clear that teachers need to move

Stories have been adapted to each successive medium

with the times, evolving their teaching techniques withthat has emerged, from the circle of the campfire to thetechnology. The value of its use in the classroom cannot

silver screen, and now the computer screen.” (as cited in

be underestimated. However, Sadik (2008) said that “theMenezes, 2012. p. 299). Digital storytelling has provided

use of technology can only be effective if teachers

educators with a tool that is both effective for student

themselves possess the expertise to use technology in alearning (Mohamed, 2017) and enjoyable for students

meaningful way in the classroom” (p. 487), so it is(Koelzer, 2017). If you try digital story telling techniques

essential that the teacher selects technology which isright from issuing assignments, through writing and onto

within their own technological capabilities.

reading, you will find that even the most relcuctant

andpopularity

amongstteachers

andstudents will be motivated and inspired by a product like
Since the beginning of time, humankind has

Storybird.

created stories and pictures to pass down culture andhistory, to relay myths and legends, and also as a
pastime for entertainment. Long before writing systems

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

139

What is Storybird?

future as the platform evolves. Setting up an account

Storybird (www.storybird.com) is free online writing

with Storybird is completely free for both educators andsoftware that can be used to create a story in just a few

students, and to make it even more compelling, it is free

simple steps. The platform is easy to use, and even theto use and publish within the platform indefinitely.

technologically-challenged instructor will be able tocreate accounts for themselves and their students andmanage the process of incorporating the software into
their teaching strategy. With professional artwork,
students are inspired to create original stories, poems,
along with short and long picture books.

After an account is setup, you will receive an
email, and when you click on the link for confirmation,
the account will be created. You are then free to produce
and read Storybirds, which is the name given to a story
that was created using the platform. After confirming
your own account, you can log in and create a class

Although originally designed as a writing

account. From here you can invite students to yourplatform for K-12 native speakers, Storybird has alsoclass; the number of students and classes that an

been used successfully in EFL classes (see Christensen

educator can create is unlimited.

& Koelzer, 2016, Giacomini, 2015; Koelzer, 2017; Poth,2016; Zakaria et al, 2016). In fact, there has been apositive response to the use of digital storytelling in
general in the EFL classroom (Christiansen & Koelzer,
2016). Storybird is currently used in over 190 countries
by more than 400,000 educators, and 5 million students
who have published more than 15 million stories within
the Storybird platform (Storybird, 2018a; Storybird, 2015).

Once the teacher in this study had set up an
account, she explored the online writing platform until
she felt comfortable with it, writing her own sample story
to show the students what was expected of them. She
then set up accounts for her students within a classaccount; a separate class account was set up for each of
the three writing classes which were using Storybird
during the semester.

Storybird is a great pedagogical tool partly
because students do not even feel like they are learning.
In Japan, the traditional English education system isdesigned to prepare students for examinations andadvancement to the next level of their education, and so
there is rarely room for creativity, particularly in the latter

While setting up student and class accounts asoutlined above is relatively simple, as an alternative,
students can set up their own accounts, then join theclass via the Storybird class-code provided by theeducator.

years of formal education (Lewis, 1986). However,research has shown that students in Japan love using
technology, particularly their smartphones and whilst
they readily adopt this technology into their lives forcommunication or entertainment, they are reluctant touse devices for educational purposes (Mills, 2014). Thatsaid, the author witnessed even the reluctant students
becoming more motivated and engaged when using thisplatform. Moreover, research also shows that information
retention is enhanced by the use of pictures, and thatvocabulary acquisition increases with the use of digitalstorytelling tools (Burmark, 2004; Christiansen & Koelzer,
2016).

Creating and reviewing work
Storybird studio, is a section of the website that was
created purely for educators. The studio tab, which canbe found on the dashboard, allows educators to set up
assignments for their students. Assignments can begiven a description or explanation, and the teacher iseven able to add specific vocabulary that they require
the students to use in the assignment. The due date canalso be included, and this will appear as a reminder oneach student’s dashboard when they use Storybird. The
teacher is also able to comment and grade student workwithin their account.
As with any online platform, there may be

Setting up an accountconcerns around privacy, so it is important to note thatAt the time of writing, Storybird only exists as a website,

Storybird includes a number of features designed toand there are currently no apps that can be downloaded

protect students’ privacy. Firstly, student stories are

to mobile devices; however, this may change in theconfined to the Storybird “class”, and are not publicly

The 2018 PanSIG Journal140

available within the Storybird community. Even within the
Storybird“class”,

each

studentisassigned

Another aspect of Storybird that students may

anfind limiting is that once they choose their art, or an artist

anonymous username based on the educator’s chosenthat they like, they have to stay with that particular art orclass name, so that they can remain anonymous to theirartist. However, there is a workaround for this: if the user

peers, although the teacher can still identify them.

searches for a certain theme or word, the platform will

Students can view one another’s work anonymously,

display all related art, allowing a user to use art frommake comments and even “heart” their work, which isvarious artists.

the equivalent of liking something on Facebook orFurthermore, the Storybird text editor is not as

Twitter.

advanced as other word processing software. For
As their anonymity is assured amongst theirinstance, you cannot change the font’s style or colour.

peers within the digital class, there is no reason to feel

However, it does contain an automatic spell check, withembarrassed or self-conscious about their English

all misspelled words appearing with a red underline. This

language abilities. Furthermore, if they are feeling moreis an immensely valuable tool for EFL students. As theconfident, they are able to change their usernames to aplatform was designed for students as young as five, it ispen name, nickname or their first name, in which casevery simple and user-friendly. The students in this study

they will be known to one another.

had no problems when creating their stories, besides theusual writer’s block or lack of ideas.

Storybirds can be searched across a number ofcriteria including age, format, category, new or popular,
and students are also able to save a copy of the story,

Methodkeeping it on their virtual bookshelf, or they can

To provide a break from the more formal styles of writing,bookmark stories that they want to read at a later date.

such as essay, paragraph, letters and emails, the author

All of this can be done within their account. This isspent two periods in a semester on creative writing using

particularly useful if they need to refer back to a certain

Storybird. The 55 students came from three classes, andstory for assignments or reports. They are also able tothey were all economics and humanities majors at a

subscribe to accounts belonging to their friends, authors

private university in central Japan. As part of their final

and artists, which is similar to following someone on

portfolio assessment they were required to make a ten-social media. This will also let the student know when

page digital picture book using Storybird. The writing

someone they are following publishes a new story.

class took place in a computer room, and each student
had an individual computer. That said, the software isavailable for use on any Internet connected device

Possible Problems and Challenges(Storybird, 2018a).

It’s worth noting that while Storybird worked incredibly
well in the classroom, it was not without a few issues,
although most have acceptable workarounds.

The students were shown an example of a
Storybird, and they were given time to familiarise
themselves with the platform. During this time, the author

A few students had trouble accessing theiraccount with the information generated by Storybird andprovidedbytheauthor.

This

is

most

likelyatechnological glitch that at times cannot be avoided.
When setting up student accounts, the author would

monitored progress and circled the classroom, helping
students

who

were

havingdifficulties.

Once

the

familiarisation process was complete, the students wereready to begin browsing the millions of available
artworks to produce their own Storybirds.

recommend to creating a few extra in case this problem
arises, so if you have 25 students in your class, create

Students clicked on create to write a story, and30 student accounts. If one or more have trouble signingthey chose from options including poems, short-stories

in, they can be provided with another account to try. The

and long stories. When the students found artwork thatteacher can then amend their names via the classthey wanted to use, they dragged it and dropped it onto

account.

their canvas, which they had opened in their account. By
moving the mouse they could position images, leaving

The 2018 PanSIG Journal141

an open section where they could write a part of the

As well as focusing on creative writing, additional

story to go with the artwork. They could then create any

lessons could be spent reading, with tasks set aroundnumber of new pages and repeat the process as theyreading Storybirds, rather than traditional books andbuilt up their story.

exercises for individuals or discussions in pairs andgroups could be assigned. Students could also be

When they wanted to save their work, they
simply

hit

the

save

button;however,

Storybird

automatically saved their work after two to three minutes,
with the time of the last save appearing on the student’s

provided with a particular grammar point, or a list of
vocabulary to use within their writing. These tasks could
be completed in class time, or even set for homelearning, assignments and projects (Mohamed, 2017).

dashboard.
Students could also present their stories, andResults

explain how and why they were inspired by the art theychose. They could also create advertisements, fliers, andAs some of the students had never written a story inposters, or even write a journal. The platform also

English, it was a challenging task, but it was also aenables students to collaborate, creating stories together

rewarding one, with the majority of the students enjoying

and providing feedback and scaffolding for one another,

the process. The initial response to Storybird was

so a story could be created in pairs or groups withextremely positive, with students being impressed withclassmates, students from other classes, or eventhe high standard and quality of the available artwork.

students in another country (Menezes, 2012). The class

When they were first introduced to Storybird they madeas a group could collaborate on a story, creating acomments like sugoi (Wow!), ii ne (This is great!), kawaii

literary chain, with each student adding a sentence or a(Cute!) and kore wa omoshiroi ne (This is fun!). In fact, inpage. If they felt confident enough with their work, they

a post-class survey (see Appendix) 78% of theparticipants claimed that using Storybird was the mostfun activity in the semester-long writing class. Some of

could even publicly publish it on the Storybird platform
with millions of potential worldwide readers who may
also provide feedback, or “heart” their stories.

their comments in the survey were “Making my story wasvery fun”, “It’s fun because its pictures are so cute” and “I
could express freely my thoughts in pictures”.

The platform also provides an opportunity for
writers to purchase their work in a digital or printed form.
Whilst the printed form is probably too expensive for

The students were all successfully able tostudents, given the added cost of postage from thecomplete their stories, and there were numerous genres

United States, it is only a few US dollars to buy theamongst them. After completion, they published theirdigital version. Stories could be made and purchased as

stories in a digital class library. They then read theira keepsake or gift for special events like Mothers’ Day,

classmates stories and had group discussions around

Valentine’s Day or Christmas. Furthermore, Storybird

which stories they liked best, giving their reasons, asawards their members with crowns the more they write

well as receiving feedback from their peers.

and publish in the digital class library. More crowns are
rewarded to those who write the longer and more

Future Possibilities
Whilst this project only used Storybird for creative writing,there are many future possibilities to use the platform inboth reading and writing classes. With millions of stories
already created by others within the Storybird platform, it

numerous stories. The crowns can then be used topurchase a digital copy of a story or poem, so often nomoney is needed. This is an ideal opportunity forstudents to be able to get a digital copy of their stories orpoems for free.

could also be used for extensive reading. Students could
comment on, and heart Storybirds that they particularly

Conclusion

enjoyed. All public Storybirds along with comments on

Whilst originally designed for younger English-speaking

them are monitored for “safety and age-appropriateness”,

learners, Storybird is currently used around the world inand they can all be accessed for free provided you’re anumerous

countries

and

in

many

languages.

member of the Storybird community (Storybird, 2018b).

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

142

Furthermore, it can be used with more mature learners in

Mills, D.J. (2014). Examining attitudes towards anduniversity, and with EFL classes in a myriad of ways. As

usage

research shows, visual images and digital storytellingJapanese university students studying EFL. CALL-EJ,

help EFL students to develop their English. As educators,

15(2), 1-15.

ofsmartphone

basedtechnology

among

we should be making more use of this free, feature rich,and inspiring creative platform. Take a break from thetraditional writing classes and inspire your students
through art, allowing them to show you their creativity in
English. With Storybird, the sky is the limit and yourMohamed, S.M.B. (2017, September 7). Storybird: An
innovative, inspiring tool to create stories individually orin groups. Retrieved fromhttps://thedigitalteacher.com/reviews/storybird

students are the birds, able to explore and create freely.
Poth, R. (2016, April 7). Storybird in the foreign language
classroom. Retrieved from

References
Bible, A. (2015, October 19). How to use Storybird witholder students. Retrieved fromhttps://storybird.com/blog/2016/4/storybird-foreignlanguage-classroom/https://storybird.com/blog/2015/10/how-use-storybirdolder-students/

Prensky, M. (2007). How to Teach with Technology:
Keeping Both Teachers and Students Comfortable in an

Burmark, L. (2004). Visual presentations that prompt,
flash & transform. Media and Methods, 40(6), 4–5.
Christiansen, M. S. & Koelzer, M. (2016). Digitalstorytelling:

Using

different

MEXTESOL

Journal,40(1),

technologies
1-14.

for

EFL,

Retrievedfrom

http://www.mextesol.net/journal/index.php?page=journal&id_issue=0
Giacomini, L. (2015). Using “Storybird” inyounglearners’ creative writing class. English Teaching Forum,
53(4), 35-37.

Era of Exponential Change. Emerging Technologies for
Learning, 2, 40-46.
Sadik, A. (2008). Digital Storytelling: A Meaningful
Technology-Integrated Approach for Engaged Student
Learning.

Educational

Technology

ResearchandDevelopment, 56, 487-506. doi:10.1007/s11423-0089091-8
Storybird. (2015, May 28). 2014-2015 Edu
review.

year in

Retrievedfromhttps://storybird.com/blog/2015/5/2014-2015-eduyear-review/

Koelzer, M.L (2017). Is it just ”very fun?” Or does it
actually help?: Digital storytelling in L2 academic writing.
(Master’s thesis). Available from ProQuest Dissertations
and Theses database. (UMI No. 10274349)
Lewis, C. (1986). Creativity and Japanese education.
Report to the United States Study of Education in Japan,
Office of Educational Research and Improvement,
Department of Education. University of California, San
Fransico: Lewis

Storybird. (2018a). Inspire your students to write betterand read often. Retrieved fromhttps://storybird.com/educators/

Storybird. (2018b, March 12). How long does moderation
take? Retrieved fromhttp://help.storybird.com/customer/en/portal/articles/7893
18-how-long-does-moderation-take-Menezes, H. (2012). Using digital storytelling to improve

Zakaria, S. M., Yunus, M. M., Nazri, N. M., & Shah, P. M.

literacy skills. Proceedings of the IADIS International(2016). Students’Experience of Using Storybird in

Conference on Cognition & Exploratory Learning in

Writing ESL Narrative Text. Creative Education, 7, 2107-

Digital Age, 299-301.

2120. doi: 10.4236/ce.2016.715210

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

143

Appendix
Student Portfolio Reflection

Name: _________________________
Student number: _________________
1.

Which assignment was easiest for you?

2.

Which assignment was the most difficult for you?

3.

Which assignment was the most fun? Why?

4.

What improvements have you made in your writing this course?

5.

Which assignment do you think is your best work? Why?

6.

How do you feel you did in this class? Do you feel you worked hard or are you satisfied with how you
did?

7.

What grade do you think you deserve/ or will get?

By John Howrey of Nanzan University

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

144

Preparing for Extensive Reading in an English Communication Course:
An MReader Solution
Colin Mitchell
Reitaku University
As of April 2018, Reitaku University has made (ER) a compulsory part of its English for Communication
classes. This reflects the reforms in modern education in Japan. MReader is presented as a solution toa standardized platform for implementing ER by using existing university library resources. This paper
gives background and documents the first step to introducing MReader as a university-wide ER platform
for English for Communication. The paper considers data of seventeen teachers’ beliefs of ER and the
obstacles faced when using ER at Reitaku University. These teacher beliefs are discussed regarding thedecision to implement MReader to standardize the ER program.

2018 年 4 月より、麗澤大学は多読をコミュニケーション英語の授業の必須項目にしている。これは近年の日本の英語教育改革を受けてのことである。MReader は標準化されるプラットフォームの解決策として、既存の大学図書を使った多読の実施を行う。本稿は背景知識を与え、コミュニケーション英語の大学規模の多読プラットフォームとして MReader 導入の第一段階として記録される。本稿は麗澤大学における 17 名の教員の多読の信念と多読を利用した際に直面する障害の資料を考察する。これらの教員の信念は、多読プログラムの標準化に向けて MReader の実施決定に対して討論される。

Universities in Japan are under pressure to standardize

However, it was for the teachers to discover the best

their courses. This is true now more than ever due to themeans to implement the program. As of April 2018, all

Ministry of Education’s (MEXT) efforts to reform higher

first-year English for Communication classes have a

education, in the run up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

standardized ER program as part of their curriculum.

games (MEXT, 2018). Like many universities in Japan,

This paper discusses how the implementation of a

Reitaku relied on individual teachers to implement

standardized ER came into fruition and benefitted fromextensive reading (ER). Often these teachers had theirusing the online website Mreader.org (MReader). The

own

of

paper discusses the trialing process of the ER program

standardization caused confusion regarding what wasand the initial research which discovers teachers’ beliefs

being taught and the level of quality of the ER being

about ER in general.

varying

approaches

to

ER.

This

lack

implemented. This confusion made it difficult to quantify
to stakeholders what was being done in class in regards
toER.

Therefore,

Reitaku

University

decidedtostandardize many of their courses, including ER, in orderto have a common understanding of their program andstudents’ progress. However, this is not a straightforwardtask and Walker (2016) discovered that one initialproblem over implementing an ER program at Reitaku
University was the confusion over the definition of ER.

MReader hosts ER quizzes online which
students can take after they have read a book. It keeps
logs of their word count and what books students arereading. The paper reveals how MReader effectively
supports teachers who are implementing a standardized
ER program. It gives reasoning behind the decision touse MReader and how it fits in with the current
curriculum at the university. The small-scale research ofteachers’ beliefs in this paper was conducted before the

The decision to standardize the university

MReader trial was introduced to the university. It wascourses and the ER program came from the university.

used to help understand the beliefs of the teachers so

The 2018 PanSIG Journal145

that the faculty was sure that MReader provided the best

increasing the teacher workload. The autonomous

solution.

nature of the student selected books took pressure off
the teacher to decide the books. Being an individual task
The paper documents the standardization of an

ER program which uses a system aimed at improving

allowed the ER to be done outside of the already busy
90-minute class.

student motivation, autonomy, and use of the on-campus
library. Cost was also a concern, and the ER program isIf we consider Yamashita (2013), Waring &one which has no additional costs. Finally, workload is

McLean’s (2015) suggestions, then the goal of thealso considered, and effort is put in to providing a

English for Communication ER program is to create asolution without increasing teacher or student workload

positive attitude towards English culture while offering abeyond what is manageable.

pleasurable ER experience. This method of focusing on
ER for pleasure is supported by notable ER experts

If readers are unfamiliar with MReader, thispaper serves as a brief introduction. It is the hope that

(Cheetham, Harper, Elliot and Ito, 2016; Tien, 2015;
Yamashita, 2013; Susser & Robb, 1990).

sharing this standardization method will make it easierfor existing teachers to implement ER. It also offers an

MReader

accessible method for new teachers to implement ER.

In 2017, one Reitaku University lecturer offered an ER

From an administrative perspective, the standardized

program that was both “transparent” and “easier to track

implementation ER using MReader will allow for moreor observe” compared to paper-based ER reports usedaccurate record keeping on students’ progress throughby other teachers (Walker, 2017, p. 337). The route

MReader.

chosen was through using the commercially available
Xreading platform (Xreading.com). Xreading offers an
online library of books and quizzes, however, theLiterature Review

physical university library has had substantial financial
investment, and the stakeholders would like it to be used.

Extensive Reading in English forCommunication

Within the university library there are over 900 physicalWaring & McLean (2015) of The Extensive Reading
Foundation, suggest that ER should be “easy, fast, silent,pleasurable, individual and self-selected, and involve
reading as much as possible while guided by a teacher
as a role model” (p.161). Yamashita (2013) states that
exposure to ER will positively influence “L2 learners’

graded readers which can be used for ER. An ideal
solutionfor

implementing

ER

for

EnglishforCommunication would be one which gives students
access to graded readers and avoids investing money inother means such as Xreading. This led to MReader
being used in the standardization of ER.

attitudes towards the culture” (p.250). The standardized

MReader is a free website that offers quizzes

ER program for Reitaku University needed to be part ofto graded readers. Unlike Xreading, MReader has no

the hectic English for Communication curriculum, which

online books. However, much like Xreading, MReader

is a four-skills course held twice a week for first andcontains quizzes for graded readers aimed at verifying

second-year

university

students.

EnglishforCommunication has a lot of blended cultural learning
content in the forms of videos, reading, English grammar
exercises, projects, listening and speaking practice. On
top of this, English for Communication students need tothat students have read and understood a graded reader.
MReader compliments the existing university library byencouraging students to take out physical books, but it
also

reducesthelabor-intensive

teachermarking

physical graded readers offer.

do ER. Therefore, the logistics of implementing ER on
had to be considered before a standardized program

Assigning Graded Readers to the Right
Students

could be decided. Waring & McLean’s suggestion was

The number of quizzes available on MReader for gradedchosen as the definition for the ER in English forreaders far exceeds the number of graded readers

Communication since it suggested reading as much asavailable in the Reitaku University library. The library has

possible, promoted enjoyment, and did not focus on

graded readers from many different publishers such as

students with heavy workloads and alternative priorities

The 2018 PanSIG Journal146

Oxford, Cambridge and Macmillan. These publishers

already taken out by one person another person cannot

also use their own in-house method of giving quizzes fortake out the book until it has returned. Having multiple

their books.

copies of popular titles would allow alleviate this problem.

One problem with having many publishers is

MReader Trial

they all have different levelling systems for example,

Before ER was a standard part of English for

Macmillan Starter is for students with a 250 score on

Communication, the system was trialled by four teachers

TOEIC and Cambridge Starter is for students with a 320

over the second semester of 2017. There were elevenscore on TOEIC. Although these books are both ‘starter’classes which took part with a total of 199 English

level, they have different levelling systems. MReader

language students in their first and second years

provides one website which encompasses quizzes forenrolled on the MReader trial program.

many graded readers over various publishers. MReader(2017) uses The Kyoto Scale which “is loosely based onreported headword counts but further adjusted by close
inspection of the text series, with reference to the"Yomiyasusa Levels", created by Akio Furukawa”(mreader.org), this makes it easier to find a standard
level across publishers. Having a common level makes
the MReader a more streamlined option as the website
shows the level and all the publishers’ levels collectively
associated

with

the

MReaderlevel(https://mreader.org/mreaderadmin/s/html/Kyoto_Scale.html). Referring to Oxford Starter and Cambridge Starter,
the Kyoto Scale shows that the levels are one and threerespectively. The Kyoto Scale also shows that Oxford
Starter is the same level as other publishers, such as
Foundation Series-Levels 4,5 and Penguin Readerslevel 1. This makes MReader a compelling way tostandardize ER evaluation as publishers of the samelevel can be organized together to make booklists.

Graded Reader Booklists
MReader has a database of all the book quizzes it hosts
on its website (https://mreader.org/viewbooks.php). This
database was matched with the books in the university
library. This correlated database showed all the graded
readers in the library which have quizzes on the
MReader website. The database was filtered using thelevel of the book and the TOEIC level for that class. This
allowed books lists to be made of titles and publishers
which are in the library and are of the relevant readinglevel of the class. Teachers give these level appropriate
book lists to students who then find the book in thelibrary to read. This makes it easy for students to findgraded readers which are of the appropriate level.
One limitation faced was the library rule of only
having one copy of each title. This means if the book is

There were two types of classes which were
included in the program, English Workshop class andWriting class. English Workshop class focused onacademic reading and writing and prepared students for
conducting research. Writing class focused on students
writing and had a heavier focus on academic writing
skills. These classes were chosen as none of thestudents overlapped with any other teachers and so to
avoid enrolling the students on the MReader program
twice. These students were also taking English forCommunication classes too, but currently the English forCommunication course is shared over many teachers.
This would skewer the results of this trial as some would
be trialing ER and some would not.
Signing up to the MReader online system wastested with dummy accounts before it was deemedsuitable for the students to use. There are three levels ofaccess to MReader, admin, teacher and student. Admin
can see students’ names, emails and classes as well as
the teacher information, but they cannot see passwords.
Admins make the classes and give the class code to theteachers to give to the students. The class codes were amix of upper and lower-case letters and numbers. Someof these were a little difficult to read as the font does notdistinguish clearly between an upper-case ‘I’ and alower-case ‘l’. Teachers can see their own class, student
names and student progress. Students can only see
their own information. Teachers were satisfied thesignup process was both easy and secure.

Signing Up Students
Signing up the students to MReader for the trial wasquick and done in class orientation time with the teacher
going through the process with the entire class. The
MReader website can be used on computers andsmartphones, which many students have with them in

The 2018 PanSIG Journal147

class. There is also the option of sending students

6.

Involvement in the task precludes worries andnames and numbers to MReader and letting them makefrustrations from ordinary life.

the classes. However, there were concerns about
7.

privacy.

The person is able to exercise a sense of control

over his / her actions.
Initial signing up took about 10 minutes of class time,and many students opted for the smartphone method,
this allowed the teacher to be sure all students were8.

A concern for self-disappears

9.

A sense of duration of time is altered.

clear on signing up. For the username the prefix ‘rei-’ tosignify Reitaku was used, and the students used their

10. A sense of accomplishment is felt in the task

student numbers. Sometimes students could not log incompletion.

because they forgot their usernames or passwords.
Teachers can tell students their usernames, but the
password needs to be recovered through the password
recovery system.

11. An increase intrinsic motivation results.
12. The ability to carry out tasks at higher levels ofcomplexity increases.

Cheating
There is an issue of cheating where a student could takethe same test as another student. This is avoided byusing the MReader cheat checking feature which allows
the teacher to check if any tests were completed with ashort timeframe of each other. The 10 questions on
Mreader are also taken from a larger pool of 20 or 30
questions to make it less likely for questions to repeat inquick succession. Although this issue never came up, it
is a useful addition to the website which is another lessconcern for the teacher.

It has been noted in previous studies that avast amount of reading is needed for students’ L2 skills
to improve in a significant way (Nishizawa, Yoshioka andIchikawa, 2017; Carney, 2016; Storey, Gibson andWilliamson, 2005; Waring & Takaki, 2003; Sakai, 2002).
Sakai (2002) has previously suggested setting one
million words as a milestone. However, Nishizawa et al.
found that even one million words was not enough toreach 550 on TOEIC. It would be difficult to expect the
English for Communication students to read such vastquantities as the course is not a dedicated ER class andstudents have other priorities. Therefore, a more

Goals of the ER Program
Since goals are “closely associated with motivations andreasonable word count based on the students’ workloads

attitudes” (Grabe, 2009), to motivate the English for

had to be agreed upon. While ER was still in the trial

Communication students to read, manageable goals

stages at Reitaku University and with there being little

were set by the teacher. Nakamura & Czikszentmihalyi

reliable evidence on ER contributing significantly to(2009) discussed the concept of flow which Dörnyei &TOEIC scores, 10,000 words was set as a reasonable

Ushioda (2011) applied to L2 motivation.

entry level goal per semester.

As amotivational concept, flow considers “enjoyment as themain reason for pursuing an activity” (p.89). The 12
characteristics of flow experiences taken from Grabe(2009) are the following:
1.

Tasks must have a reasonable chance of being

completed.

In previous studies, having students readvoluntarily has been met with poor results. Van
Amesvoort (2016) and De Burgh-Hirabe & Feryok (2013)
had great difficulty in their study of implementing ER
which involved students with other priorities and offering
no credit for their reading. Completing the 10,000-wordtarget of the MReader trial did contribute to 10% of their

2.

Concentration on the task must be possible

3.

The task has clear goals.

4.

The task provides immediate feedback.

final grade for the year, and teachers reminded thestudents regularly. Offering the credit helps to avoid thepitfalls experienced by van Amesvoort (2016) and BurghHirabe&

Feryok(2013).

This

satisfiesflow

characteristics one, two and three, it also satisfies
5.

The person has interest in the task

characteristic six. However, the teacher may need to

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

148

assist students with signing up. The students will take

Data Collection

short quizzes on MReader satisfying characters four and

The survey was distributed in English via email using theten. Students will be able to choose the books they likeinternal mailing system The provider of the online survey

which they find interesting, satisfying characteristics five,

was SurveyMonkey. (surveymonkey.com) as it one thatseven and eight. The semester lasts 15 weeks, and thethe researcher has used in previous studies.

students can read the graded readers anytime over that
periodwhich

satisfies

characteristic

nine.

For

characteristic eleven, there is hope that the students willgrow a habit of using the library and find further joy inreading.

Characteristic

twelvecanbeachievedthroughout the course; they will acquire the skills throughthe English for Communication class plus reading for
general comprehension. How the students respond to

The questions where all quantitative multiplechoice with questions 3, 5 and 6 adding an ‘other’ option
and invited the participant to specify their answer
qualitatively in their own words. The final question,question 7, invited the participants to define ER in theirown words and is thus qualitative data. Qualitative data
is used for this final question as it allowed the researcher
to understand how this paper’s belief of ER and thethis theory will be part of an ongoing study.

teachers’ beliefs of ER differs. The qualitative data is

Reitaku University Teachers’ Beliefs on ER

given in appendix A of this paper.

In 2017, research was carried out regarding the belief’steachers have about ER. The research was conducted
due to a lack of information in the implementation of ER
in their classes. The aim was to get some insight into
how teachers felt about ER before launching the
MReader trial. The following questions are addressed inParticipants
A total of 43 university teachers who teach English forCommunication Studies, English for Liberal Arts, and
Non-Majors at Reitaku University were invited to take thesurvey (N=43). These teachers were chosen as thesewould all be teaching the ER course in 2018. Of the total

this research:of 43 teachers, 17 participated in the survey n=17. Using
1.

2.

What do teachers at Reitaku University believe area confidence level of 95% (z=1.96) there is an 19%

the benefits of ER?

margin of error.

How

are

teachers

atReitaku

University

implementing ER in their classes?
3.

𝑧×

!
!

The teachers were mixed nationalities including
Japanese and non-Japanese teachers. The teachers

What is stopping teachers at Reitaku University

had no obligation to take the survey, and it wasfrom implementing ER in their classes?

completely anonymous. Coding has been used in thismanuscript to protect the identification of the teachers
participating. The coding will be the question andMethodology

number represented by Q# and the teacher and number

Before the MReader trial, a survey was designed for theas T#; for example, Q3T1 being teacher 1’s answer toteachers

question 3.

at

Reitaku

University

teaching

EnglishCommunication Studies, English for Liberal Arts andNonemajors.

It

wasdesigned

to

aid

in

The full answers given for the qualitative

answers can be found in appendix A.

ourunderstanding of ER among the faculty. The data fromthat survey presented in this paper shows the skills
which teachers believe will be improved as a result of ER.
It also reveals how many teachers are doing ER and
how they are doing it, but also shows why other teachers
are not doing ER. Finally, the survey invites all theparticipantstodefineERtoobtainauniversal

understanding of how the teachers believe should be
defined.

Data Analysis
1. Student Benefits of ER
The first question reveals that all the teachers in thisresearch agree that ER would be beneficial to English forCommunication (ECS, ELA or N) students. This can befound in figure 1 where we can see that ER has the
support with the participants. The second question
revealed that all participants believe that ER would be

The 2018 PanSIG Journal149

beneficial

tostudents

studying

EnglishforCommunication.

university library, and one does not know where to findER books.

With figure 1 showing that all the participants

The ‘other’ response encourages the teachers to

support the benefits of ER it is essential to understandoffer answers in their own words. These six responses

what areas those teachers see those benefits lie. Figure

reveal that one teacher is concerned that they do not

2 shows the areas where the teachers expect language

know if the students are doing another teachers ER andskills to improve through extensive reading. Here thedoes not want to implement more ER on those students.

participants could choose more than one response. Out

Following that response, two teachers call for a betterof the seventeen who participated in this question, fifteen

system of ER implementation. Another teacher believes

believed ‘vocabulary’ would be expected to improve after

the selection of ER books in the university library is old

ER. Twelve teachers believed ‘reading speed’ would

and there is a demand for more books for lower level

improve and nine believed ‘writing’ would improve.

students. One teacher reveals they are not teaching ER,‘Grammar’ had less than half of the teachers’ belief in its

and the last teacher suggests somewhat crypticallybenefits from ER with only six. The lowest responses“Inertia” (Q6T1), possibly calling for more change and an

were ‘speaking’ and ‘listening’ which got four and one

ER system to be implemented.

response

respectively.

‘No

improvement’

got

no

response which means that all teachers believe ER will
give some improvement. A couple of teachers addedthat they believed ER benefitted students “reading
simply” (Q3T1) and “motivation” (Q3T2).

3. What does ER mean to you?
Question seven is qualitative and asks the participants toanswer in their own words what ER reading means tothem. For this question n=15. Five of the teachers
believe ER is about improvement be it either vocabulary

2. Current Implementation of ER at
Reitaku University

improvement, reading improvement or English in general.

Only four of the seventeen teachers who answered Q4

couple of the teachers believe ER is about bothare doing any kind of ER in their classroom (figure 3).

improvement and enjoyment. One teacher believes it is

Despite only four answering that they do ER in class,something that needs to be introduced “under certain

seven teachers revealed how they do ER in class (figure

coordination by the faculty” (Q7T2). Another teacher

4). Therefore, we can assume that seven teachers aresuggests ER should start as “a small scale” and “develop

doing ER. However, despite this error in the data

into an organized program” (Q7T5). Finally, one teacher

collection, the data shows that 39% of teachers whobelieves ER can “develop learner autonomy” (Q7T8).

Three of the teachers believe ER is about enjoyment. A

participated are implementing in ER in class. The results
showing how these seven teachers implement ER are

Discussion

shown in figure 4. The figures show that a couple of theteachers are using their own material. However, five of
these seven teachers are using the university library as asource for ER.

1.

What do teachers at Reitaku University believe
are the benefits of ER?

Teachers believed in some way ER could benefit all the

Since 35% of the teachers are not doing ER, it

suggestions put forward in the questionnaire. Most

is equally important to understand their reasons. This isnotable ‘Vocabulary’, ‘Reading’ and ‘Writing’ would

especially interesting as it was seen that all teachers

improve. However, one teacher suggested “motivation”

agreed ER was beneficial. Figure 5 shows the reasons(Q3T2) was a benefit, and this supports previous

why thirteen teachers are not implementing ER in theirresearch by Yamashita (2013) who suggests ER canclass. The teachers could give more than one response
and some teachers answered both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in Q5
and Q6 repeatedly. None of the teachers find ER tootime-consuming to teach or grade, but five find it difficult
to set up. Three teachers do not know the books in theincrease motivation.
In the qualitative question seven, five of the
respondents mentioned reading for pleasure or to enjoy
reading. By giving students the freedom to choose theirbooks from the library, it is hoped they choose the books

The 2018 PanSIG Journal150

they like. By being clear on the level of the book,

Hopefully in the future, the library can change its policy

students can also enjoy reading books at a suitable level.

and order more than one title of each book.

Therefore, they have the chance to get the best
In question seven, teachers suggested that anunderstanding of the book and enjoy reading the content.

ER program should start small and develop under
Such unanimous positive belief in the benefits of ER
cannot be ignored.
2.

How

are

certain coordination by the faculty. This is precisely what
has happened with this MReader trial.

teachers

atReitaku

University

implementing ER in their classes?

Finally, a teacher believed that ER will develop
learner autonomy. Teachers can use MReader to create
an autonomous motivational ER learning platform inSome teachers are using other resources such as theirown material or Xreading. Xreading or own materials

which students can choose the books they desire andread at their leisure.

should have their merits, and they can be used byteachers.

However,with

MReader

being

the

standardized platform it means it will be the one used byConclusion

all teachers in their English for Communication classes.

The research regarding teachers’ beliefs is limited by the

Any other materials would be extra content for the class.

amount of responses and some unclear answers such3.

What is stopping teachers at the university
from implementing ER in their classes?

Although none of the teachers found ER too time
consuming to teach or grade, there were five who foundit difficult to set up. With the databases of Mreader
quizzes and the corresponding database of books in thelibrary, teachers can know the graded readers how many
words are in the book and its level in a standardized
system. These databases allow teachers to give reading
lists to students based on their level and know how many
words the students are reading. This takes a lot of theas answering yes and no to implementing ER in class.
However, this paper has shown that there is indeed apositive feeling towards ER at Reitaku University. Since
the university already has a library of graded readers,
and with the teachers calling for an ER system whichuses the library and offers a easy to use platform, thispaper shows that MReader would be the best way for astandardized ER platform. The MReader quiz databasecan be used with the books already available in thelibrary. The Mreader database can make it easy forteachers and students to find the right levelled book andkeep records of word count read.

work out of setting up the ER program.
A teacher was concerned that they did notknow if students were doing another teachers ER. As astandardized program, MReader also holds a databaseof students’ progress and what titles they have read. The
website shows the student and which teacher is teachingthat course. Other teachers can log on a see what
students are doing other classes. This kind of data canbe useful for understanding how much students can read
and what other teachers are doing.
With a teacher being concerned about old
books in the library, MReader can lead to a solution tothat problem. The library can know which books are
more popular than others and invest more in popular
books. This will make more sense than wasting money

It should be noted that standardizing a program
requires

lots

of

trial

and

error.

EnglishforCommunication course is the one being used currently;
however, it may be better to move ER to a reading andwriting course in the future. Having a standardized
program allows this ER to be moved easily.
In this trial, a word count of 10,000 words was
settled on. However, some teachers at the university
have had recent success with 40,000 words, 50,000
words and 60,000. A trial of varying wordcounts iscurrently underway, with 60,000 words a year (30,000 asemester) being considered for 2019. Further tweakingof the system will possibly continue indefinitely as new
ideas are implemented. Having a good standardized
system should allow for this.

buying books which students do not like or cannot read.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

151

Finally, it is the hope that other educators who

Latham, G. P., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Slef-regulation

are looking to implement an ER program consider thethrough goal setting. Organizational Behavior andbenefits of MReader as a way to offer standardization.

Human Decision Processes, 50, 212-247.

Every student, teacher and institution is different andonly by collecting data, experimenting, and sharing canwe understand how to implement a suitable ER system.

MEXT. (2018, 11 20). Support for University Educational
Reform. Retrieved from Higher Education Policy:
http://www.mext.go.jp/en/policy/education/highered/ti
tle02/detail02/1373886.htm

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Richard Walker, Robin
Sneath and Anna Belobrovy for trialling the MReader
platform at Reitaku University, Japan.

program: Theory and practice. Journal of the Facultyof Letters, Kobe Shoin Women's University(6), 1-16.
doi:doi/10.14946/00001966

concept of flow. In C. R. Snyder, & S. J. Lopez (Eds.),
Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology (pp. 89105). USA: Oxford University Press.
Nishizawa, H., Yoshioka, T., & Ichilkawa, Y. (2017).

Burgh-Hirabe, d., & Feryok, A. (2013). A model ofmotivation for extensive reading in Japanese as aforeign language. Reading in a Foreign language,25(1), 72-93.
(2016).

Mreader.org:

https://mreader.org/mreaderadmin/s/html/Kyoto_Scal

Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2009). The

Bibby, S. (2017). Introducing and extensive reading

N.

from
e.htmlReferences

Carney,MReader. (2017, 10 19). The Kyoto Scale. Retrieved

Effect of a six-year long extensive reading programfor reluctant learners of English. Modern Journal of
Language Teaching Methods, 7(8), 1-8.
Palmer, H. E. (1964). The principles of langauge -study.

Gauging

extensive

reading's

relationship with TOEIC reading score growth.
Journal of Extensive Reading, 4, 69-86.
Cheetham, C., Harper, A., Elliot, M., & Ito, M. (2016).
Assessing student attitudes toward graded readers,
MReader and the MReader challenge. The Reading
Matrix: An International Online Journal, 16(2), 1.
Dörnyei, Z. (2016). Research Methods in Applied
Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford.
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching andresearching motivation (2nd ed.). Harlow, England:
Pearson Education Limited.
Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language:
Movingfrom theory to practice. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Humphries, S., & Burns, A. (2015). "In reality it's almost
impossible": CLT-oriented curriculum change. ELT
Journal, 69(3), 239-248. doi:10.1093/elt/ccu081

Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Robb, T. (2002). Effective extensive reading in an Asian
context - An alternative view. Reading in a foreign
language, 14(2), 146-147.
Robb, T. (2015). Quizzes-A sin against the sixthcommandment? In defense of MReader. Reading in
a Foreign Language, 27(1), 146-151.
Sakai, K. (2002). Kaidoku hyakumango [Toward one
million words and beyond]. Tokyo: Chikuma shobo.
Storey, C., Gibson, K., & Williamson, R. (2006). Can
extensive reading boost TOEIC scores? In K.
Bradford-Watts, C. Ikeguchi, & M. Swanson (Ed.),
JALT2005 Conference Proceedings (pp. 1004-1015).
Tokyo: JALT.
Susser, B., & Robb, T. (1990). EFL Extensive Reading
Instruction: Research and Procedure. JALT Journal,
2(12), 161-185.
Tien, C.-Y. (2015). A large-scale study on extensive
reading program for non-English majors: Factors andattitudes. International Journal for Applied Linguistics

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&

EnglishLiterature,8(1),46-54.

Q3T2: Motivation

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.4p.46
Q5 If 'yes', how do you implement extensive reading in
van Amelsvoort, M. (2016). Extensive reading onboard:

your class?

Challenges and responses in an optional program.
Juntendo Journal of Applied Linguitsics & English

Q5T1 I encourage students to read about things thatthey're interested in. I often give them short 'interviews'

Literature, 1, 95-106.

on what they've read recently.
Walker, R. J. (2016). Three steps towards authenticating
the practice and research of extensive reading at aJapanese university. Proceedings of the Third World

Q5T2 Inertia
Q6 If 'No', why not?

Congress on Extensive Reading (pp. 87-98). Dubai:
Extensive Reading Foundation.

Q6T1 Inertia

Walker, R. J. (2017). Screen versus paper: Perception of

Q6T2 I don't know how I can review and evaluate theirscreen-based reading versus paper-based reading in

extensive reading works. And, I don't know if othersupplementary extensive reading (SER) programs.

teachers for the same students assign them extensive(G. Brooks, Ed.) The 2016 PanSIG Journal, 336-348.

reading. If anyone does, these students are to beevaluated doubly for the same tasks.

Waring, R. (1997, May 1). Graded and Extensive
Reading -- Questions and Answers. Retrieved 2017,
from

JALT

Publications:

Q6T3 not currently teaching reading skills

http://jalt-

publications.org/tlt/articles/2133-graded-and-Q6T4 Have a common platform of what extensive

extensive-reading-questions-and-answers

reading means.

Waring, R., & Takaki, M. (2003). At what rate do learners
learn and retain new vocabulary from reading a
graded reader? Reading in Foreign Language, 15(2),1-24.

Q6T5 Books in the library are rather old, and I think weneed more books for the lower level students.
Q6T6 Don't seem to find the time to organize it
systematicallyWarning, R., & McLean, S. (2015). Exploration of thecore and variable dimensions of extensive reading

Q7 What does extensive reading mean to you?

research and pedagogy. Reading in a Foreign

Q7T1 Extensive reading will help students pick up

Language, 27(1), 160-167.

incidental vocabulary and structure and can be beneficial

Yamashita, J. (2013). Effects of extensive reading on
reading attitudes in foreign language. Reading in a
Foreign Language, 25(2), 248-263.

in their writing. Motivating students to spend time reading
significant amounts of English if their own accord has
been successful in only a small percentage of the class.
Q7T2 Stepping into Another World
Q7T3 It must be something very effective to our students.

Appendix A:
Qualitative answers to the following questions:
Q3 If you do believe extensive reading would be
beneficial to ECS and ELA language students, what
areas of language skills would you expect to improve?
Q3T1: Reading simply

Also, it is something we need to introduce under certain
coordination by the faculty. Perhaps we need more FD
discussion how to use it in our Enshu classes.
Q7T4 a good way to enjoy English
Q7T5 I think it's good for academic skills in getting their
speed up, and for vocabulary building, too. I also think
it's positive in developing critical thinking skills andencouraging a love of books.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

153

Q7T5 Should start in a small sacle and then develop into

Q7T11 Vocabulary development

an organized program.
Q7T12 getting learners to read for enjoyment and to
Q7T6 Students read English, understand what they aredevelop their skills

reading, look up for difficult words they encounter andeventually are able to apply the words in their dailyinteraction or writing. Extensive reading can be just 15
mins of reading each day but with the above aims.
Q7T7 Improvement

Q7T13 reading basically for general understanding andabove all for enjoyment
Q7T14 It supplements intensive reading and gives
students what they will talk about in a pair activity called"oral book report."

Q7T8 Reading for pleasure….
Q7T9 One way to develop learner autonomy.
Q7T10 Extensive reading helps students improvereading skills.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

154

Examining Japanese High School Students’ Beliefs about Learning
EnglishClaire Murray
Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
This paper investigates L2 (English) beliefs in Japanese high school students. The aim is to determine
areas of L2 learning weakness where teachers can help students improve as learners. In order todetermine student’s beliefs about learning English, a survey based on the Beliefs About Language
Learning Institute (BALLI) (Horwitz, 1988) was administered to 79 Japanese high school students.
Results indicate the main areas of weakness are: a lack of self-confidence and learning strategy use,
and a potential lack of motivation. Suggestions on how to help students improve in these areas areincluded.

本稿は、日本人高校生の第２言語（英語）学習に対する学習観を考察する。その目的は、第２言語学習
プロセスの弱点を解明し、生徒たちが学習者として成長するのを助けることである。生徒たちの英語学
習に 対す る 意識 を明 ら か に する た めに 、 高校 生 79 名 を 対 象に 、Horwitz (1988)の Beliefs About
Language Learning Institute (BALLI) に基づくアンケートを実施した。その結果、上達を妨げる要因は、自信の欠如と学習方略の活用不足、および潜在的な学習意欲の低下にあることがわかった。調査結果の分析に加え、これらの問題点改善のための指導案も提示する。

The role of individual learning beliefs in language•

Learnerbeliefs

influencewhat

studentsarelearners’ learning experiences has been researched in

prepared to do in order to learn an L2 (Ellis, 2008;

second language and foreign language for over three

White, 2008),

decades since Horwitz’s (1988) ground-breaking study
introduced the Beliefs About Language Learning Institute•learning process (Horwitz, 1988; Bernat, 2006), and(BALLI) as an instrument for measuring learner beliefs.
Now, learner beliefs about second or foreign language
learning are considered to be a key element in the
success (or failure) of a student’s mastery of a foreign

Learner beliefs can hinder or improve the L2•

Learner beliefs are dynamic and changeable (White,
1999; White, 2003),

language (Rifkin, 2000). Benson and Lor (1999, p. 462)

learner beliefs are a valuable resource for teachers toconclude that beliefs “can be understood as cognitive

help their students improve as L2 learners. Therefore,

resources on which students draw to make sense of andthe purpose of this study is to use the results of a survey

cope with specific content and contexts of learning”. In

administered to Japanese high school students about

the context of L2 learning, beliefs influence learners’

their beliefs on English language learning. The goal is toattitudes toward the language (Riley, 1996), its specificdetermine areas of L2 learning weakness where

nature (White, 2008), the process of acquisition, andteachers can help students improve.

their individual goals and expectations (Brown, 2007).
Furthermore, researchers have concluded that context

The survey is based on the BALLI (Horwitz,(Benson & Lor, 1999; Rifkin, 2000) and nationality

1988) which has been widely used to investigate the(Siebert, 2003; Prudie, Hattie, & Douglas, 1996) canbeliefs of L2 learners (e.g., Kuntz, 1996a; Yang, 1999;

affect learner beliefs. Therefore, considering:

Rifkin, 2000; Bernat, 2006; Nikitina & Furuoka, 2006;
Altan, 2006). Although the validity of the BALLI has been
criticized (see Kuntz, 1996b), Nikitina and Furuoka

The 2018 PanSIG Journal155

(2006) conclude it is a suitable tool for researching

misunderstanding. The English and Japanese versions

language learning beliefs in different socio-linguisticof the survey can be found in Appendices A and B

settings. The survey contains 38 items to assess student

respectively. Students read each item and indicated abeliefs in six areas of L2 learning: 1) language learning

response from strongly agree, agree, disagree anddifficulty; 2) self-assessed proficiency; 3) language

strongly

aptitude; 4) nature of language learning; 5) learning

compulsory and some students did not answer all of thestrategies; and 6) motivation.

questions. There is no single composite score from thedisagree.

None

of

the

questions

were

survey; rather, responses to all of the items are tallied
individually.

MethodThe survey was administered to 79 Japanese highschool students (56 female and 23 male) aged between

Results and Analysis

15 and 18. All of the students have completed at least 3

This section presents the results for each of the survey’s

years of grammar-focussed English language instruction

six categories. The tables show the full English text ofin the public school system. The participants are all in an

the items and the total number of responses for eachEnglish intensive stream at their high school and receive

option. When discussing results, the totals for ‘strongly

an extra 2-4 hours of English instruction per week plus

agree’ and ‘agree’ responses are combined, as are thethe 6 hours per week all students receive.

totals for ‘strongly disagree’ and ‘disagree’ responses.

Difficulty

The survey was uploaded to an online survey
websitestudents

Items 4, 6, and 14 concern the difficulty of learningcompleted it on school tablets. The questions were(www.surveyplanet.com)

English. The responses to these items are reported in

writtenTables 1, 2, and 3 respectively.

in

EnglishandandJapanese

to

avoid

Table 1: The Difficulty of Learning English (Item 4)4.

English is a (……….) language to learn.

Verydifficult

DifficultModerately
difficult

Easy

Very easy

12

32

28

7

0

Table 2: The Difficulty of Learning English (Item 6)

6.

I believe that I will be able to speak
English very well in the future.

Strongly
agree

Agree

Disagree

31

25

19

Strongly
disagree4

Table 3: The Difficulty of Learning English (Item 14)

14.

If someone spent one hour a day learning
English, how long would it take them to speak
English very well?

Less than
1 year

1-2
years

3-5
years

5-10
years

You can'tlearn English
in 1 hour a
day

2

26

25

23

3

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

156

Regarding the difficulty of learning English,

unrealistic beliefs about language learning are more

8.9% of students find English to be an easy or very easy

anxious than those who hold more positive and realistic

language to learn, 35.4% find it to be moderately difficult,beliefs (Bernat, 2006).

and 55.7% find it to be difficult or very difficult. However,Finally, although 55.7% of students believe

70.9% of students agree they will be able to speak
English very well in the future. Item 14 asks how long it
would take to learn English studying one hour a day.
35.4% of the students feel it would only take up to two
years to become fluent in English, 31.6% believe it would
take 3-5 years, 29.1% believe it would take 5-10 years
and 3.8% believe English cannot be learned in one houra day.

English is a difficult or very difficult language to learn, themajority of students (70.9%) believe they will ultimately
be able to speak English well. This indicates optimismand motivation.

Students’ Abilities
Item 36 reports the length of time the students havebeen studying English (Figure 1) and item 38 reports theTheseresults

indicateanunrealistic

students’ self-evaluation of their English ability (Table 4).

expectation on the difficulty and length of time it takes toacquire an L2. Student judgments about the difficulty oflanguage learning are critical to the development of theircommitment to it (Rifkin, 2000). Although only 8.9% of
students indicated English is an easy or very easy
language to learn, 35.4% of them believe they can learn
it in less than two years. Horwitz (1988) argues thesestudents will become disappointed with their progress,
and become less motivated to learn the L2. Conversely,
the 29.1% who believe it takes a very long time to learn
English may find that discouraging and cause them tomake a minimal effort. This indicates a potential lack ofintrinsic motivation. Furthermore, learners who hold

The students have been studying English for 3
to 16 years (with the majority studying for 4 or 6 years).
However, only 5 students rate their English ability ashigh intermediate and none as advanced. The majority ofstudents (46.8%) rate themselves as low intermediate,with 22.8% describing themselves as beginners. Of the
37 students who rate themselves as low intermediate, 35
have been studying English for 4 or more years, and of
the 18 students who rate themselves as beginners, allhave been studying for 3 or more years. Despite theiroptimism regarding their ability to speak English very
well in the future, these results could indicate a lack ofFigure 1. Students’ length of English study
Table 4: Students’ Self-evaluated Levels of English

38.

My level of English is:

BeginnerLowintermediate

IntermediateHighintermediate

Advanced

18

37

19

5

0

The 2018 PanSIG Journal157

self-confidence.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

158

Aptitude

language. This negative assessment is also seen in theItems 2, 15, 33, and 34 relate to student beliefs about alow self-assessment of their English skills and indicatesspecial aptitude for L2 learning. The responses to thesea lack of self-confidence.

items are reported in Table 5

Nature of Language Learning
Regarding language aptitude, 99% of students

Items 8, 11, 16, 20, 25, and 26 concern the nature of theagree that there is a special ability for learning L2s,

L2 learning process. The responses to these items are

however, only 27% believe they have this aptitude.

reported in Table 6. First, with reference to the role of

Furthermore, 78% believe Japanese people are notcultural contact in the language learning process (items

good at learning L2s, however, 90% of students agree

8 and 11), 91.1% of students believe it is necessary toeveryone can learn to speak an L2.

know about English-speaking culture in order to speak
English and 92.4% believe it is best to learn English in

The responses to these items indicate anegative self-assessment of the students’ language
learning abilities, even though the high percentage ofanEnglish-speaking

country.

This

reflects

anunderstanding of the importance of culture in effective
communication (Bernat, 2006).

students who believe everyone can learn an L2 indicatesthe belief that an average ability is adequate to learn a

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

159

Second, regarding the view of how English isgrammar and 27.8% believe it is a matter of translating

learned (items 16, 20, 25, and 26), 72.2% of students

from Japanese. However, the majority of students

Table 7: Learning Strategies
Strongly
agree

Agree

DisagreeStrongly
disagree7.

It is important to speak English with excellent
pronunciation.

30

41

7

1

9.

You shouldn’t say anything in English until you
can say it correctly.

0

1

30

48

12.

If I heard someone speaking English I would talkto them so I could practice speaking English.

6

20

43

9

13.

It is OK to guess if you don’t know a word in
English.

31

44

4

0

17.

It is important to repeat and practice speaking a
lot.

58

20

1

0

18.

I feel shy when speaking English with otherpeople.

14

42

18

4

19.

If you are allowed to make mistakes in English in
the beginning, it will be hard for you to speakcorrectly later on.

12

32

25

10

21.

It’s important to practice listening (listening toEnglish CDs, TV shows, movies, etc)

59

20

0

0

Table 8: Motivation
Strongly
agree

Agree

DisagreeStrongly
disagree1.

I like learning English.

30

42

4

3

5.

Studying for university entrance exams is themost important part of learning English in highschool.

11

22

33

13

23.

If I learn to speak English well, I will have many
opportunities to use it.

37

31

10

0

27.

If I learn to speak English well, it will help me geta good job.

44

32

2

1

30.

People in Japan feel that it is important to speak
English.

21

41

17

0

31.

I would like to learn English because I would liketo get to know English speakers better.

23

32

22

1

believe the most important part of learning English is(65.8%) believe learning English is different from otherlearning vocabulary words, 51.3% think it is learning

subjects. Horwitz (1988) argues preoccupations withThe 2018 PanSIG Journal160

learning

vocabulary

words,

translation

distract

learners

language

tasks

such

as

grammar
from

rules

more

building

andimportantimportant part of learning English is to pass their
university entrance exam.

communication
The responses indicate this group of students

strategies. These results indicate these students may beinvesting the majority of their time memorizing new
words and grammar rules. Furthermore, students whobelieve L2 learning consists of rote memorization andtranslation are unlikely to adopt the strategies associatedhas high levels of motivation to learn English, with higher
levelsof

instrumental

motivation

than

integrative

motivation, and much higher levels of intrinsic motivation
than extrinsic motivation.

with successful language learning (O'Malley & Chamot,1990). Therefore, these students may not be using
enough effective language learning strategies.

Discussion
From the analysis it seems students have areas where
they can improve as L2 learners. The main areas ofLearning Strategies
Items 7, 9, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, and 21 address L2

weakness found were: a lack of self-confidence andlearning strategies as reported in Table 7.

learning strategy use, and a potential lack of motivation.
This section outlines some measures the classroom

The great majority of students understand thevalue of oral repetition (98.7%) and listening practiceteacher can take to help these students improves as
language learners.

(100%), however, only 33.3% of students are willing topractice speaking English with English speakers. The

Lack of Self-confidence

great majority (94.9%) also indicated agreement thatStudents’ lack of self-confidence was seen in the low

guessing a word in English is permissible, and 98.7%
disagree that you should only speak English if you canself-assessment of their proficiency, their perceived lackof language aptitude, and their shyness in speaking

speak correctly. However, the majority of students

English. Self-confidence is important because high self-(55.7%) believe mistakes should be corrected for

confidence is linked to increased motivation (Saville-

beginning students, and 89.9% stressed the importance

Troike, 2012) and increased achievement (Gardner &of excellent pronunciation. The majority of students

MacIntyre, 1993).

(71.8%) reported feeling shy when speaking English.

According to Brown (2001) techniques toforpromote student self-confidence include using a variety

communication activities (their willingness to guess andof activities in class so students who are weaker in one

practice speaking), however, the preoccupation witharea but stronger in another have a chance to show off

error correction and proper pronunciation may impede

their abilities; reminding students you believe in them;some students’ participation in communication activities

and(Horwitz, 1988). Furthermore, their feelings of shyness

Furthermore, activities like guessing games, role plays

may prevent students from communicating in English.

and group work helps lower inhibitions about speaking

Theseresults

indicate

supporthaving

them

make

lists

of

their

strengths.

English in front of others. Incorporating these activities

Motivation

andItems 1, 5, 23, 27, 30, and 31 relate to student

environment can boost student self-confidence (Oxford &motivation for studying English. Responses to these

Shearin, 1994).

creatingawelcoming

andpositivelearning

items are shown in Table 8.

Effective Use of Learning Strategies
The majority of students (83.2%) enjoy learning

Students may not be using learning strategies enough or

English, and 87.2% believe they will have manyeffectively as indicated by their responses regarding theopportunities to use English. Moreover, 96.2% associate

importancelearning English with better job opportunities, and 78.5%

vocabulary words and grammar rules in learning English,

believe it is important to speak English in Japan.

and in their preoccupation with error correction andHowever, 70.5% of students learn English to get to know

proper pronunciation.

oftranslation

andmemorizingnewEnglish speakers more and 41.8% believe the mostThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

161

According to Oxford (1990) effective language

achievable, accepted by the students, and accompanied

strategy use can be taught, and making students aware

by feedback about progress” (Dörnyei, 1994, p. 276).

of the variety of strategies available to them andMoreover, such goals lead students to use the kind of

encouraging them to choose the ones that suit them

useful learning strategies that aid learning performance

should be a priority.

(Oxford & Shearin, 1994). Therefore, teaching thesestudents to set weekly goals in class with specific time

Given that 72.2% of students think learning
new

vocabulary

words

is

important,introducing

strategies to improve lexis is a good starting place.
Nation(2001)

suggestsplannedreview,use

commitments would help them monitor and become
responsible for their progress, and stay intrinsicallymotivated.

ofdictionaries and note-taking are all useful strategies to

The overwhelming percentage of students who

improving lexis retention. To that end, classes should

believe a special L2 learning ability exists coupled withinclude activities such as making and using vocabulary

the low percentage of students who believe they

notebooks or flashcards to promote those strategies.

possess that ability could have a detrimental effect on

Training can start with simple recording of L1-L2 word

their motivation. Studies show students are more likely topairs, and then move on to include other aspects of word

give up if they ascribe L2 failure to low ability rather thanknowledge, such as pronunciation, collocates, roots andpoor effort or insufficient learning strategies (Dörnyei,

derivatives. However, these students should be made2003). By increasing students’ self-knowledge through

aware

is

strategies like using peer-evaluation in the class andimportant, being able to use it in conversation is alsoteaching students to view failures as instruments for self-

important. Therefore, speaking activities to use new

diagnosis, Brown (2001) argues students can use thisvocabulary, and guessing activities that encourage

self-knowledge to stay motivated.

that

althoughlearning

newvocabulary

students to guess the meaning of new lexis from theAdditionally, motivation is such an important

context should be included.

factor for L2 success (Dörnyei, 1994) and learners’
Finally, strategies to help students understandmotivations can change or suffer unless they are well-

the value of errors should be introduced. To do that,

regulated

Brown (2001) suggests incorporating peer-evaluation, as

constantly be teaching students to foster their own

well as recording students speaking English and having

motivation. Therefore, periodically asking students about

them identify errors, and Ferris (2003) suggests having

their motivations allows the teacher to both determine

students make lists of their most common errors andwhich parts of L2 learning are especially valuable forteaching them to edit for these errors in their writing. By

students in order to include activities that foster theseencouraging

learning

aspects (Oxford & Shearin 1994); and encourage

opportunities, and teaching students how to assess andstudents to engage in intrinsically motivating activities

self-correct their errors, teachers can help thesethat reinforce their enjoyment of learning the language

students become better English learners.

(Ushioda, 2008). For example, the high levels ofstudents

toseeerrorsas(Ushioda,

2008),

thatteachers

shouldagreement to items 23 and 27 (which assess students’

Motivation

belief in the benefit of speaking English) indicate these

Although students all reported high levels of motivation,
the survey results revealed two potential areas of
weakness. The unrealistic time expectations students
have regarding English fluency and their perceived lackof L2 learning aptitude could both lead to dissatisfaction
and a lack of motivation. One of the best ways toincrease

motivation,

especiallyregardingtime

expectations, is to help learners set realistic goals tostudents value the skill of speaking English, and the highlevels of agreement to items 8 and 11 (which assess therole of cultural contact in learning English) indicate thesestudents value English-speaking culture. Therefore,
including classroom activities that promote speaking,and encouraging students to find and participate inenjoyable English-speaking cultural activities will help
students maintain their intrinsic motivation.

manage their ideas on how long it takes learn alanguage. These goals “should be specific, hard but

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

162

Therefore, by reminding students of their goals

Brown, H. (2007). Principles of language learning andand why they like studying English; teaching them toteaching. 5th ed. New York, NY: Pearson Education.

monitor their progress and achievements; teaching avariety of learning strategies; and incorporating activities
that promote high value skills, teachers can help thesestudents stay motivated while fostering their ability to
manage their own motivation.

Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and motivating in theforeign language classroom. The Modern Language
Journal, 78(3), 273-284.
Dörnyei,Z.

(2003).

Attitudes,

orientations,andmotivations in language learning: Advances in theory,
research, and applications. Language Learning,

Concluding Remarks
This paper examined Japanese high school students’beliefs about L2 learning and offered suggestions on
how to improve their self-confidence, use of language

53(S1), 3-32.
Ellis, R. (2008). Learner beliefs and language learning.
Asian EFL Journal, 10(4), 7-25.

learning strategies and motivation. Given the impact
learner beliefs have on language learning, it is believed

Ferris,D.

(2003).

Response

tostudent

writing:that by adopting these suggestions these students could

Implications for second language students. New

improve as language learners. However, three limitations

Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

need to be mentioned. Firstly, this study was carried out
with a relatively small group of learners, and it isuncertain whether these findings are applicable to otherlearners. Secondly, there was an imbalance between
female (71%) and male (29%) participants. Thirdly, there
are limits to what can be learned about learner beliefs
through questionnaire items. Questionnaires do not allow
participants to describe the reasons, sources, orGardner, R., & MacIntyre, P. (1993). A student's
contributions to second-language learning. Part II:
Affective variables. Language Teaching, 26 (1), 1-11.
Horwitz, E. (1988). The beliefs about language learningof beginning university foreign language students.
The Modern Language Journal, 72 (3), 283-294.

behavioral outcomes of their beliefs, nor do they allow

Kuntz, P.S. (1996a). Students of “easy” languages: Theirthem to address beliefs not included in the questionnaire.

beliefs about language learning. Retrieved from

Further studies could widen the scope of participants

ERIC database. (ED397658).

and include more male participants as well as include
either open-ended questions or interviews in order toKuntz, P.S. (1996b). Beliefs about language learning:
The Horwitz model. Retrieved from ERIC database.

provide data qualification.

(ED397649).
Nation, P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another

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Oxford, R., & Shearin, J. (1994). Language learning

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Appendix A
Survey on student beliefs on L2 learning (English)
Students read each item and choose one from the following: ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree’
unless otherwise indicated.
1.

I like learning English.

2.

Some people have a special ability for learning foreign languages.

3.

Some languages are easier to learn than others.

4.

English is a (..........) language to learn. (very easy, easy, moderately difficulty, difficult, very difficult)5.

Studying for the university entrance exam is the most important part of learning English in high school.

6.

I believe that I will be able to speak English very well in the future.

7.

It is important to speak English with excellent pronunciation.

8.

It is necessary to know about English speaking cultures in order to speak English.

9.

You shouldn't say anything in English until you can say it correctly.

10.

It is easier for someone who already speaks a foreign language to learn another one.

11.

It is best to learn English in an English-speaking country.

12.

If I heard someone speaking English I would talk to them so I could practice speaking English.

13.

It is OK to guess, if you don’t know a word in English.

14.

If someone spent one hour a day learning English, how long would it take them to speak English very well?
(Less than 1 year, 1-2 years, 3-5 years, 5-10 years, you can’t learn English in 1 hour a day)I have a special ability for learning English.

15.

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164

16.

The most important part of learning English is learning vocabulary words.

17.

It is important to repeat and practice a lot.

18.

I feel timid (shy) when speaking English with other people.

19.
20.

If you are allowed to make mistakes in English in the beginning, it will be hard for them to speak correctly lateron.
The most important part of learning English is learning the grammar.

21.

It's important to practice listening (listening to English CDs, TV, movies).

22.

Women are better than men at learning foreign languages.

23.

If I get to speak English well, I will have many opportunities to use it.

24.

It's easier to speak than understand (listening) English.

25.

Learning English is different from other school subjects.

26.

Learning English is mostly translating from Japanese.

27.

If I learn to speak English well, it will help me get a good job.

28.

It's easier to read and write English than to speak and understand (listening) it.

29.
30.

People who are good at mathematics or science are not good at learning foreign languages.
People in Japan feel that it is important to speak English.

31.
32.

I would like to learn English because I would like to get to know English speakers better.
People who speak more than one language are very intelligent.

33.

People in Japan are good at learning foreign languages.

34.

Everyone can learn to speak a foreign language.

35.

I am (female, male)36.

So far I have been learning English for (......) years.

37.

My age when I first started learning English:

38.

My level of English is: (beginner, low intermediate, intermediate, high intermediate, advanced)

Appendix B
Survey on student beliefs on L2 learning (Japanese)１

英語が好きだ。

２

外国語学習を得意とする人はいると思う。

３

ある言語はほかの言語よりも簡単だと思う。

４

英語は、（

５

大学入学試験のために勉強することが、高校英語において最も大事なことだ。

６

自分は将来、とても上手に英語を話せるようになると信じている。

７

すばらしい発音で英語を話すことは大切だ。

８

英語を話すためには、英語圏の文化について知ることが必要だ。

９

正しく言えるようになるまでは、英語を使って何も言うべきではない。

）な言語だ。（とても難しい、難しい、まあまあ、簡単、とても簡単）

１０

すでに外国語を話せる人にとって、また他の外国語を学ぶことは簡単になる。

１１

英語圏の国で英語を学ぶことは一番良い。

１２

英語を話している人を見つけたら、会話の練習のために話しかけに行くと思う。

１３ある英単語がわからないとき、その意味を推測してみることに問題はないと思う。

１４

もし毎日 1 時間を英語の勉強に費やしたとすると、その人がとても上手に英語を話せるようになるまでにどのくらいの期間がかかると思いますか。（１年未満、１～２年間、３～５年間、５～１

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

165０年間、毎日１時間英語を勉強することはできない）
１５

わたしは英語を学ぶのが得意だ。

１６

英語学習において一番大切なことは、英単語を覚えることだ。

１７

スピーキングにおいて、繰り返し声に出したり練習したりすることは大切だ。

１８

他の人と英語で話をするとき、少しおどおどしたり恥ずかしいと感じたりする。

１９

英語を学び始めた頃に間違えた英語を使うことを許されていれば、後になって正しい英語を話すことは難しくなると思う。
２０

英語学習において最も大切なことは、英文法を学ぶことだ。

２１

リスニングの練習をすることは大切だ。（英語の CD やテレビ、映画などの音声を通して。）

２２

女性のほうが、男性よりも外国語を学ぶのが得意だ。

２３

英語を上手に話せるようになったら、英語を話すたくさんの機会ができると思う。

２４

英語を聞き取ることよりも、話ことのほうが簡単だ。

２５

英語学習は、学校の他の教科とは違っている。

２６

英語学習は、ほとんど日本語を英語に訳す作業ばかりだ。

２７

英語で話せるようになれば、それは良い仕事を得ることにつながると思う。

２８

英語を読んだり書いたりすることは、話したり理解したりする（聞き取ったりする）ことより

も簡単だ。
２９

数学や理科に強い人は、外国語を学ぶことには弱いと思う。

３０

日本の人々は、英語を話すことは大切だと感じている。

３１

英語を話す人ともっと知り合いたいので、私は英語を学びたいと思っている。

３２

一か国語以上の外国語を話す人は、とても頭が良いと思う。

３３

日本の人々は、外国語を学ぶのが上手だ。

３４

外国語での会話のしかたは、だれでも学ぶことができると思う。

３５

私は（女性、男性）です。

３６

これまで私は（

３７

英語を学び始めたときの年齢は：

３８

私の英語レベルは：）年間、英語を学んできました。

初心者、準中級者、中級者、中上級者、上級者

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166

Reflective Practice through Duoethnography
Yuzuko Nagashima
Yokohama City University

Luke Lawrence
Yokohama City University
This paper will draw from original research to advocate for the emerging methodology of
duoethnography as a new approach to add to the reflective practice repertoire. Duoethnography utilizes
dialogic communication to gain insights into the nuances and complexities of individual experiences. In
this paper, we first share details of our duoethnography research project, including a dialogue excerpt, todiscuss different aspects of our teacher identities as they relate to our professional trajectories. We willthen illustrate how undertaking this project has impacted on our teacher identities and practices as aresult. Finally, we will also encourage other teachers to adopt a duoethnographic approach to aid inprofessional development through reflective practice.

本論文では近年注目されているデュオエスノグラフィーが反省的実践のレパートリーとして有効な方法論であることを独自の研究の結果を通じて報告する。デュオエスノグラフィーは対話的コミュニケーシ
ョンを用い、個人の経験のニュアンスや複雑な側面への洞察力を得ることを目的としている。本研究では筆者のデュオエスノグラフィーのプロジェクトを通じて語学教師としてのアイデンティティーの様々な面がどのようにキャリアの軌道と関連しているかを実際のデータからの抜粋例を含め、議論する。また、このプロジェクトが結果として教師の信念と実践にどのような効果をもたらしたかを報告する。最後に、デュオエスノグラフィーのアプローチが反省的実践として専門的能力開発を促進するものであるという論点を踏まえ、更なる語学教師による活用を奨励する。

Reflective practice has been an essential component ofinternalized following reflection and consideration at aprofessional development in the educational field forslight distance" (p. 11).

several decades. However, until relatively recently,
reflective practice has often been carried out by
individual teachers on an ad hoc basis and in teacher
education programmes via checklists and unidirectional
trainer feedback (Mann & Walsh, 2017). This perfunctory
approach to professional development fails to make useof empirical data and does not take into account the'social'natureofreflective

practiceandteacherdevelopment. By linking professional development to
Vygotskyian (1978) sociocultural theory in which a
mediator provides scaffolding and support in order to aid
development, Mann and Walsh (2017) stress the social

In this paper we first review reflective practicefrom an historical perspective, both in general terms andalso within the specific context of the ELT (English
language teaching) field. We then go on to introduce thequalitative research method of duoethnography, which
utilizes dialogue within a multiperson, social, dynamic
setting, and make the case for its use in reflective
practice for ELT professionals. We go on to offer andexample dialogue excerpt from our own research andexplain the impact that the project has had on ouridentities as teachers and our teaching practices.

and dialogic nature of reflective practice, asserting that"new understandings might be derived first throughdiscussion

withanother

professional

and

then

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

167

Reflective Practicevaluable development in their actions and behaviors for

Reflective practice was first promoted by the educational

the future.

philosopher John Dewey. He refers to reflective thinking
as “the kind of thinking that consists of turning a subject
over in the mind and giving it serious and consecutive
consideration” (1933, p. 3). In order to engage inreflective

thinking

effectively,heemphasizes

thedifference between regular (and random) thoughts andreflective thoughts. He claims that on one hand, our daily,
random thoughts can be chaotic and unanalyzed, which
can often cause people to jump to conclusions. He
points

out

that

this

actionunintentionallyleads

individuals to adhere to authority, which makes them
unable to advance in a productive way. On the other
hand, reflective thoughts require a higher level ofthinking, such as critical thinking and involves specificsteps toward a concrete goal, utilizing specific evidence
and proof. Therefore, by doing so, individuals would be
able to challenge authority and grand narratives, thus
bringing about productive changes in their actions andbehaviors (Dewey, 1933). Dewey also mentions that
although his model of reflective practice largely entails
cognitive aspects, it is also imperative for individuals toretain certain attitudes, including being open-minded,
responsible, and whole-hearted (Farrell, 2015).
Another philosopher, Donald Schon (1983),
based on Dewey’s philosophy, reiterates the significanceof reflective practice and also advocates that teacher
educators and teacher trainees need to include morecritical forms of reflection. He illustrates two important
approaches to reflective practice; reflection-in-action andreflection-on-action. Reflection-in-action entails reflecting
on a specific issue on the spot, as it unfolds (Chien,2013). It aims to construct a new theory and approach

Reflective Practice in ELT
Reflective practice has gained momentum in the field of
ELT because of the overall shift in teacher educationfrom knowledge-transmission style to more teachercentered style where teachers’ knowledge, teachers’
identity, and teachers’ narratives are brought to theforefront (Johnson, 2009; Johnson & Golombek, 2011;
Kanno & Stuart, 2011). One of the pioneering authors inthis field, Thomas Farrell, has brought the aspect ofreflective practice to the fore for teacher education andprofessional

developmentencourage

language

in

TESOL

teachers

to

in

order

be

reflective

topractitioners, where teachers know what they are doingin the classroom and are able to practice what they
believe in as teachers (Farrell, 2004, 2015). He also
provides a five-step comprehensive framework for any
level of language teacher to conduct evidence-based
and data-based reflective practice (Farrell, 2015).
Another book by Mann and Walsh (2017) aims
to review and move forward with fresher ways ofengaging with reflective practice. They also focus on thedata and evidence-based approach to reflective practice
but provide more specific methods and examples indetail. They also advocate for a more collaborative
approach to reflective practice rather than it being done
individually, and promote more dialogic and spoken
forms of reflective practice instead of conventional
written forms. These renewed characteristics haveplayed a significant and active role in our current project,
especially employing duoethnography as a methodology.

based on the unique situation in the moment. The
second approach, reflection-on-action refers to reflection
on an event after the fact and focuses on how ourprevious knowledge has led to this situation and how it
could be changed for the future. Lastly, a third model ofreflection, reflection-for-action, was later incorporated(Killion & Todnem, 1991), where teachers have specificintentions to direct future changes in the classroom.
These three approaches to reflection are useful tools forteachers to employ so that they can analyze where theirteaching belief comes from, which, in turn, helps themreflect their current status quo, and strategically build

Duoethnography for Reflective Practice
Duoethnography is an emerging qualitative researchmethodology in which two (or more) researchers use
dialogue and narrative to juxtapose their own lived
experiences in order to shed new light on given topics
and to interpret and reinterpret their own identities andpractices (Norris & Sawyer, 2012). Given the focus on
individual experience, duoethnography can be seen as
the perfect complement to reflective practice (Sawyer &Norris, 2016) as it builds on its principles, as they havebeen outlined above, whilst also answering some of the

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168

criticisms of reflective practice as it exists in its current
form in the field of ELT (Mann & Walsh, 2013, 2017).
In duoethnography, researchers engage inrecorded dialogues around a topic. These recordings arethen transcribed and coded by more specific emergent
themes and the transcripts are then reconstructed into
semi-fictional dialogues to form cohesive narratives(Sawyer & Norris, 2013). As Sawyer and Norris (2016)
state, "part of the difficulty in acknowledging thecomplexity of practice may stem from the lack of an
enquiry language to access the relationship between self
and practice" (p. 2). Duoethnography provides space for

Duoethnography for Reflective Practicein ELT
Duoethnography also aligns well with engaging inreflective practice in the ELT field. It fits Farrell's (2004,
2015) overall framework of making use of empirical data(the reconstructed transcripts) that provides a focused,data-led approach to reflective practice. It also answers
Mann & Walsh's (2017) call for a dialogic approach thattakes a free-flowing spoken form and gives reflective
practitioners the opportunity to engage in deep reflection,rather than a surface, tickbox approach that passes forreflection in many teacher education courses.

this language to emerge between two researchers

As Brown and Barrett (2017) state in regard to

through mutual trust, the courage to be vulnerable

the use of duoethnography for reflective practice: "Within(Norris & Sawwyer, 2017), open-mindedness, andour personal curriculum we become engaged withwholeheartedness, as recommended by Dewey (1933)

ourselves through the other as we interrogate our past inas essential ingredients of reflective practice (Brown &light of the present with hope to transform our future" (p.

Barrett, 2017).

87).

Another characteristic of duoethnography is its
focus on analysing the actual lived experience of the

Project Overview

researcher, a form of 'reflection-on-action' (Schon, 1983),

The initial idea for the project presented in this paper

allowing researchers to examine their own practice fromcame about through a mutual interest in critical issues

within the experience, "but through the eyes of one

and concepts of identity that we discovered we had after

distant to it - to provide a new a destabilizing lens"

Luke interviewed Yuzuko for a separate research project(Sawyer & Norris, 2016. p.3). As such, duoethnographythat he was involved in. Our original intention was simply

encourages researchers to reach far back into their own

to take the template of duoethnography and utilize it as

identity construction to examine their own current beliefs

an exercise in ‘reflection-on-action’ type reflective

and practices, which seem natural and taken-for-granted,

practice.

but all contain underlying sources and reasonings.
Data collection consisted of six face-to-face
It is also provides a way to engage in 'reflection

sessions,

amounting

to

just

under

11

hours

of

for action' (Killion & Todnem, 1991) as examining theconversation. We each came into the sessions with an

past

us

initial list of possible discussion topics that reflected ourreconceptualize our perspectives and actions (Norris &own personal interests. For Yuzuko these included

Sawyer, 2017, p. 1). This can be on the practical day-to-

educational background, previous work experience,

day classroom level, but can also encompass our own

gender, language, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation,

fundamental deep-seated beliefs about teaching and thesocial class/family and age, whilst Luke’s list addedrole of education.

social class, native-speakerism and culture. However,through

the

lens

of

“anOther”

allows

The final area of reflective practice that isaddressed by the use of duoethnography is Dewey's
concept of reflective practice as a challenge to authority
and the disruption of the status quo of our everyday
existence as teachers. This is concurrent with one of thedue to the nature of duoethnography, these initial topic
lists were often abandoned shortly after the beginning of
the session with conversation going in a number ofdifferent directions.
These

conversations

wererecordedandmain tenets of duoethnography as outlined by Sawyer &analysed for prominent themes, with the themes that

Norris (2013), which is that it should seek to disrupt

finally emerged covering two broad areas: our identity as

grand narratives and question accepted wisdom.

teachers and our teaching practices. Under the general

The 2018 PanSIG Journal169

headingof‘identityasteachers’,

topicscoveredincluded: our career paths, native-speakerism, race,
gender,sexuality,

futureplans

andemergent

bilingual/bicultural identity. For teaching practices, thetopicsdiscussed

included:beliefs

VSpractices,heteronormativity, LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, Queer) issues, critical issues, English-only
policies, feminist pedagogy and queer theory. (We coverissues surrounding gender, sexuality, race and nativespeakerism in more detail within the framework ofintersectionality in a forthcoming paper [Anonymous, inpress]).
In the following sections we present a shortexcerpt from our data and narrate the impact that the
dialogueandthereflections

that

it

engendered

subsequently had on our identities as teachers and ourteaching practices.

DialogueIn the following excerpt, after coming out to Luke for the
first time as a reaction to what Yuzuko perceived as aheteronormative discourse in the discussion, we went on
to discuss our experiences (or lack thereof) of discussingthese issues as part of lesson content and creating
inclusive classrooms.
Yuzuko: I don’t know if I told you, but I’m actuallybisexual.
Luke: Right, I didn’t know.
Yuzuko: Well, I don’t really talk about it with anyone atwork. I think I try to be as heterosexual as possible.
Luke: Hmm… do you think if there were another gay orbisexual teacher here that you would be more open?
Yuzuko: Probably, yeah. But even when I was in theStates, I have to say I didn’t really openly talk about mysexual orientation to straight people… because in myexperience, they either do not have the understanding of
bisexuality or hold hypersexualized misconceptions
about it, which was made worse because of the fact that
I am an Asian woman, so I just didn’t really want tobother.
Luke: Do you ever talk about these issues in theclassroom?
Yuzuko: That is something I would love to do, to explore,
because I’m sure it’s a relatable topic to a lot of students
whether they are LGBTQ members or not. But, when I
came back, I was quite surprised that people are not as
homophobic in the classroom, they kind of casually joke
about each other, and it’s not taken too seriously.
Luke: Maybe it’s because they don't think ofhomosexuality or bisexuality as a real thing. It’s like ajoke. For example, I’ve heard male students calling theirfriends “gay” in order to make fun of each other. I’m sureit’s the case in a lot of countries, but it seems like they
just don’t have any understanding of these kinds ofissues.
Yuzuko: Do you think that prevents them from coming
out?
Luke: Yeah, definitely. And I think that as teachers, weneed to make it part of the content of our lessons. For
example, I have discussions about things like gay
marriage in my classes. It depends who you speak to,
but most people basically say that it shouldn’t beallowed.
Yuzuko: Oh wow, really! I don’t think I can take it, I think
I would freak out if I did that!
Luke: I deliberately put in these kinds of topics. I
suppose part of me just wants to get a reaction out ofthem. So, I’ll often talk about married gay friends andthings like that because I want to see how they react.
Yuzuko: I think in the past few years teaching here,
maybe I’ve given up a lot of things that I originallywanted to do in class. It’s maybe partially because of thestudents’ limited level of communicative competence inEnglish, but I think I just keep choosing really easy ways
and that has made me become more like an entertainer.
And I don’t like it, but at the same time, students seem tolike that more.
Luke: I think you are right, but I also think it’s possible toget a balance. I went on a similar journey to you, having
these ideals and then getting in the classroom andrealizing first of all that they often didn’t have the skills to
do it, and second, that they didn’t seem to care. I hope
this doesn’t come across like I am patronizing mystudents, but for example, I will say something like “Whatdid you do last weekend?” and I’ll consciously try to saysomething casually like “I had dinner with a gay couple
that I know”, just something to make them think. I try tosneak it in, but I think it’s probably not enough.

Impact on Our Identity and Teaching
Practice
Yuzuko’s Case
Identity as a teacher
Some of the topics that we discussed the deepest
throughout this project were regarding gender andsexuality. In a working environment where these topics
would be considered controversial, I found juxtaposing
our life narratives pertaining to these topics insightful andit helped me reconstruct my identity in relation to these
aspects of teacher identity. One of the most significant
impacts on my identity as a language teacher is that thisproject helped me heighten my awareness of my selfidentification as a bisexual, bilingual, bicultural Japanese
woman. As it shows at the beginning of the excerpt, I
came out as bisexual for the first time at work as we
discussed heteronormativity and LGBTQ issues not only

The 2018 PanSIG Journal170

in ELT but also in society in general. Since then, I have

why it matters, and where the importance comes from. It

foundhonest about myis obvious that these direct and indirect impacts on mybisexuality both toward my students and coworkers.

teacher identity and teaching practice are not the end

Although I do not consider my or anyone’s sexual

result and I believe they will continue to affect my identity

orientation to be a topic of classroom discussion, I haveand teaching as a process in the future.

myself more

open

and

started to recognize it as an important part of who I am
as a language teacher along with other more pertinentsocial categories such as gender and ethnicity. In

Luke’s Case

Identity as a teacher

addition, although I had regarded myself as an advocate

For me, the ‘reflection for action’ instigated by this (andfor social justice and equity before, I had not been able

other) conversation(s) took a practical approach. The

to find a way to incorporate critical contents into myfinal clause of this excerpt: “but I think it’s probably notlessons. This discussion made me realize that utilizing

enough” stayed with me as I engaged in reflective

feminist pedagogy implicitly in conducting lessons wasjournal writing (Farrell, 2015) later that same evening.

important, but not sufficient. This realization gave me

The following day I set up a Wordpress blog in order toopportunity to critically reflect where the difficulty that I
experienced stemmed from and what I could do to makemy lessons more critically-oriented. In the end, this

explore issues in critical ELT that I was interested in in
more depth, followed by my first Twitter account a few
days after. This had the follow-on impact of connecting

collaborative dialogue and self-exploration afterwards

me with the wider ELT world and bringing me into ahave fundamentally helped me shift the way in which I

community of like-minded teachers and researchers that

prepare for my lessons so that my teaching philosophy

I had hitherto largely avoided. It also helped oldand beliefs could correspond with my actual teachingacquaintances and colleagues to see me in a new light

practice, taking into account critical beliefs such as what

as a serious researcher, which led to increased

I want to achieve through a lesson and how I hope it willcommunication and subsequent research collaboration.

help my students in a long run.

Furthermore, although the thought had been at the backof my mind for a short time before this, this realisation

Teaching practiceOne significant shift in my teaching practice is thestrategic use of my first language, Japanese, andtranslanguaging. Although English-only policy has been
implemented in the program that I work at, our dialogue
has brought a variety of changes into my language
choice. Not only has it helped my teaching become morethat my commitment to exploring these issues was “notenough” prompted me to undertake formal postgraduate
study in order to explore the issues of identity that thisproject had brought to the surface.

Teaching practiceIn terms of teaching practice, as a direct result of thisefficient and productive, my decision has helped inreflection (and others) I have become more aware ofbuilding a more tightly-knit learning community by

diversity issues in the classroom and created a completechoosing to build more rapport with my students throughcritical English course. Awareness of diversity is

our mutual first language. Additionally, I have started toreflected in the wording that I use in my interaction with

explicitly teach gender-specific aspects of English

students and the worksheets that I provide in class. For

grammar and vocabulary which reflect critical feminist

example, as briefly touched upon in the above dialogue

values such as gender-neutral pronouns and progressive

extract, being aware of heteronormativity and genderlabeling for relationship status, in order not to reinforce

stereotypes in pronoun choice and examples led to mesocietal assumptions of heterosexuality in our daily
conversations. Lastly, this discussion has helped me
overcome my hesitation to incorporate more criticalcontents

anddiscussion

topicsintomyclasses,

adopting a more neutral and less gendered dailyclassroom discourse. In addition to this, and again asrecognition that simply “sneaking in” critical issues was“not enough”, I requested to teach an advanced elective

especially in terms of English language, so that students

course. I used this opportunity to create a complete 30

have more opportunity to reflect on their language

lesson course dedicated to critical issues. The processlearning experience by critically co-examining with theirof creating and teaching this course has also spilled intoclassmates questions such as why they learn English,

my other classes and the previous off-hand classroom

The 2018 PanSIG Journal171

comments as identified in the dialogue excerpt above

Chien, C. W. (2013). Analysis of a language teacher’s

has been replaced by a more structured approach tojournal of classroom practice as reflective practice.

introducing issues pertaining to race, gender, sexuality

Reflective Practice, 14(1), 131-143.

and other critical issues into classroom discourse. Also,just as Yuzuko reports strategic use of her L1(Japanese) in the classroom as a result of the reflectionsof this research project, it prompted me to be more
confident in employing my L2 (Japanese) in my own
lessons. As well as adding an extra dimension to myclassroom repertoire, it has also affected the way I see
myself (and perhaps how the students see me) in terms

Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of therelation of reflective thinking to the educative process.
Boston, MA: D. C. Heath.
Ellis, E. M. (2016). “I may be a native speaker but I’m notmonolingual”: Reimagining all teachers’ linguistic
identities in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 50(3), 597630.

of my teacher identity as a ‘native speaker’ andstereotypical notions of monolingualism that often
accompany such categorisation (Ellis, 2016).

Farrell, T. S. C. (2004). Reflective practice in action.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Farrell, T. S. C. (2015). Promoting teacher reflection in

ClosingsecondAs is clear from the examples above that reveal changesinourteacher

identityandteaching

possibilityofsignificant

education.

New

York,

NY:

Routledge.

practice,duoethnography as a tool for reflective practice signals
fruitful

languagetransformationaslanguage teachers. However, we recognize that not allteachers may be comfortable sharing their histories andlived experiences in the intimate and revealing manner
which duoethnography demands, which can be seen asa limitation of the methodology. While we would like to

Johnson, K. E. (2009). Second language teacher
education: A sociocultural perspective. New York,
NY: Routledge.
Johnson, K. E., & Golombek, P. R. (2011). The
transformative power of narrative in second language
teacher education. TESOL Quarterly, 45(3), 486–509.

encourage teacher educators and other language

Kanno, Y., & Stuart, C. (2011). Learning to become ateachers to utilize duoethnography to become reflective

second language teacher: Identities-in-practice. The

practitioners (Farrell, 2015), we would also like toModern Language Journal, 95(2), 236-252.

emphasize the significance of reflexivity and criticality inour duoethnographic dialogues. It is our hope that

Killion, J. P., & Todnem, G. R. (1991). A process forcollaborative dialogue through duothnography will be a

personal theory building. Educational Leadership,

powerful catalyst for many language teachers to critically48(6), 14-16.

connect their lived experiences with wider social
contexts which can lead to potential changes for the
purpose of social justice and equity in the ELT field.

Lawrence, L., & Nagashima, Y. (in press). Theintersectionality of gender, sexuality, race and nativespeakerness: Investigating ELT teacher identity
through

References
Brown, H., & Barrett, J. (2017). Duoethnography as apedagogical tool that encourages deep reflection. In
J. Norris, & R. D. Sawyer (Eds.), Theorizing
curriculum studies, teacher education, and researchthrough duoethnographic pedagogy (pp. 85-110).
New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Duoethnography. Journalof

Language

Identity and Education.
Mann, S., & Walsh, S. (2013). RP or ‘RIP’: A criticalperspective on reflective practice. Applied Linguistics
Review. 4(2), 291-315.
Mann, S., & Walsh, S. (2017). Reflective practice inEnglishlanguageteaching:

Research-based

principles and practices. New York, NY: Routledge.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

172

Norris, J., & Sawyer, R. D. (2012). Towards a dialogic

Sawyer, R. D., & Norris, J. (2016). Interdisciplinary

methodology. In J. Norris, R. D. Sawyer, & D. E.

reflective

practicethroughduoethnography:

Lund (Eds.), Duoethnography: Dialogic methods for

Examples for educators. New York, NY: Palgravesocial, health and educational research (pp. 9-40).

Macmillan.

Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press Inc.
Schӧn, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner. London,
Norris, J., & Sawyer, R. D. (2017). Theorizing curriculum

England: Temple Smith.

studies, teacher education, and research throughduoethnographic pedagogy. New York, NY: Palgrave
Macmillan.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: the developmentof higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.

Sawyer, R. D., & Norris, J. (2013). Duoethnography:
Understanding qualitative research. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.

Author biographies
Yuzuko Nagashima is an instructor at the Practical English Center at Yokohama City University. She has taught
English in Thailand, the United States, and Japan. Her main research area is centered around language teacher identity
in relation to gender and sexuality and critical language teaching. Her email address is yuzukon@yokohama-cu.ac.jp.
Luke Lawrence has been teaching in Japan since 2002 and is currently an instructor at Yokohama City University anda PhD candidate at Stirling University in the UK. His research interests include teacher identity, especially issues
surrounding native-speakerism as well as practical application of group dynamics theories in the classroom. E-mail:lukel1@yokohama-cu.ac.jp

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

173

Changing Role of the English Course of Study
Keiko Nakamura
Center for Extension Programs, Sophia University
A nationwide long-term English Education Reform Plan, led by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science, and Technology (MEXT) accelerated in 2014. It aims to enhance learners’ four English
language skills and develop communication ability to response the globalisation (MEXT, 2014). As asurvey in 2014 shows that learners first start to feel being poor at English between the first half of the 1styear and the latter half of the 2nd year in Junior High school, reform of the English education at this levelis crucial. The English section of the new Course of Study at Junior High School level (MEXT, 2017a)
underwent remarkable changes. Key features of the new curriculum guidelines for English education at
Junior High school include putting a stronger emphasis on learners' attainment of practical targets which,as argued here, will enhance learners’ motivation, encourage students to take an active role in morelearner-centered classes, and offer learners opportunity to improve their thinking ability to tackle theissues related to pertinent and relevant social topics.

文部科学省は世界のグローバル化に対応するため 2014 年から長期にわたる様々な英語教育改革に取り組んでいる。ある調査によると、苦手と感じる最初の時期が、中学 1 年生の前半から中学 2 年生の後半であることなどから、本稿では、特に中学校の学習指導要領に注目する。2017 年に改訂された学習指導要領では、例えば、学習者は自身の英語運用能力上達を確認することで動機づけが進み、さらに、学習者の中心の授業運営、関連のある、社会的な課題を扱うことで考える能力を強化、英語学習の包括的な向上が期待される。

The MEXT commenced implementation of the “English

The English section of the new Course of

Education Reform Plan Corresponding to Globalization”

Study at Junior High School level (MEXT, 2017a)(MEXT, 2013) in 2014 to improve the educationalchanged remarkably. Three key features of the newenvironment corresponding to globalisation from thecurriculum guidelines for English education at junior highelementary to junior/high school education stages. To

school include putting a stronger emphasis on learners'

steer this long-term project to success, the revision of

attainment of practical targets which will enhance

the English section of the Course of Study, which is alearners’ motivation, encourage students to take angovernmental national curriculum standard play anactive role in more learner-centred classes, and offer

important role.

learners opportunity to improve their thinking ability totackle the issues related to pertinent and relevant social

A survey in 2014 by Benesse (Benesse, 2014)

topics.

shows interesting results. For instance, the amount of
at 2nd year in Junior High School and that learners first

The Gap between the Government’s New
Target Levels and Learners’ Actual Levels

start to feel being poor at English from the first half of the

Despite the various efforts to improve English language

1st year to latter half of the 2nd year in Junior High school.

ability of Japanese young learners over the past years, it

It is therefore important to review the English Education

has been argued that sufficient improvement has not yet

at Junior High School level in particular.

been seen in the English abilities of learners in juniorwriting and speaking activities in class reaches its peak

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

174

high

schools(MEXT,

2015).

For

instance,theGovernment expected that 50% of students at juniorprinciple. For the number of English class hours in an
academic year will remain the same at 140.

highy schools would pass the Society for Testing English
Proficiency (STEP) Grade 3 test, which is equivalent toCommonEuropean

FrameworkofReferencefor

Languages (CEFR) – A1 or above level, but according tosurveys conducted by MEXT since FY2011, only 34.7%
of students had either ‘passed’ or ‘probably passed’ thetarget level in FY2014. Nonetheless, this was an

Reforms at High School Level
New Course of Study for high school is scheduled to be
introduced in stages from FY2022. The new guidelines
require “English Communication I” as the compulsory
subject, . They newly introduce elective subjects which
are expected to promote learners’ skills to understandand convey information and their opinions appropriately

increase of 2.5 points from the previous year.

(equivalent to B1 level of CEFR).

Ongoing English Education Reforms
Since 2014, the English education as a whole isundergoing a significant process of various reforms inJapan. This section briefly describes main points of theongoing English education reofrms at each level:
elementary, junior high, high school and university
entrance exam.

New University Entrance Exam System
In order to realise this drastic reform in English education,
the university entrance exam system will also bereformed. As of yet, there remain some specific points tobe finalised. The current National Center Test, which is amultiple-choice test, will be abolished in FY2020. At thispoint, a new unified exam system will start. This new
system will measure all four basic language skills

Reforms at Elementary school level(including

speakingskillsforinteractions

andAt the elementary school level, foreign language activity

presentations). Individual universities can choose eitherclasses for 5th- and 6th-graders have been compulsory

the Common Test for University Admissions which will

(35 class hours per year) since FY2011. From FY2020,

be available from FY2020 (selection for admission for

the grade level of students will be lowered, and thus

the FY2021) to FY2023, or/and some designatedforeign language activity classes will become mandatory

private-sector English tests, such as the TEAP, GTEC,

for 3rd- and 4th-graders. At this stage, the main focus

STEP, TOEIC, and IELTS. In the case of private-sector

will be on listening and speaking. For 5th- and 6th-

English tests, the test companies will send the test

graders, English will be upgraded to a formal subject,results to the National Center for University Entrance

and will be involving 70 class hours per year.

Examinations, and the centre will pass on the test results

Approximately, there will be two English classes per

to universities on behalf of the test takers (National

week for 40 weeks which is 200 school days in a year. In

Center for University Entrance Examinations, 2017).

addition to listening and speaking, students will also
learn reading and writing skills (MEXT, 2016).

Course of Study

Reforms at Junior High School Level

This section explains the backgound, how the objectives

MEXT officially revealed the new Course of Study atand content of school courses are set. The first Course

junior high school level in March 2017. Specifically, theof Study was tentatively introduced in 1947. Since 1958,

reform plan aims to ensure that learners at Junior High

Courses of Study have been announced under the name

Schools nurture the ability to understand familiar topics,of the Education Minister. They have been revised

carry out simple information exchanges, and describe

approximately every 10 years since then.

familiar matters in English. Each school is expected tosetconcreate

objectives,andpractice

Englishcommunication in meaning full contexts. In order tomake a smooth transition to the English education athigh School Level, the new Course of Study states that
English classes are to be conducted in English in

The enforcement regulations of the School
Education Act stipulate the standard number of classes
for subjects taught at elementary and junior high schoolover each year. Thus, Course of Study have a legallybinding power in relation to compulsory education.
Schools involved in compulsory education are required

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

175

to refer to and abide by them, regardless of whether theundertake the main roles and they usually spend

public or private.

substantial time making revisions.

Course of Study sets the objectives andcontent for each subject taught at elementary, lower, andhigh school. The Course of Study for junior high school

Schedule for Implementation of the New
Guideline

includes the following subjects: national language,

Regarding the schedule of implementation, the newsociology, mathematics, science, music, art, health andguideline for junior high school is scheduled to bephysical education, technical arts and home economics,

introduced in stages from fiscal 2018 and are set to be

and foreign languages. Chapter 9 of the Course of Study

fully implemented from FY2021 (Figure 1).

focuses on learning foreign languages, but in fact, ismainly about learning the English language. Individual
schools design their own curriculum to reflect therelevant Course of Study at junior high school level.

Comparisons between the Old and New
Objectives
To better understand the aims of the ongoing reform of

The Course of Study for English at JuniorHigh Schools

English education, it is useful to compare the objectives

Along with the changes in various educational stages,

at ljunior high school level.

for the current and the new Course of Study for English

the course of study for junior high school has beenrevised accordingly. MEXT also issued an explanatory
foreign languages which was mainly about learning

Main Objectives of Learning English in
the 2008 Course of Study

English. As this is not required under any specific laws,

The objectives (MEXT, 2008) are set under four basic

the explanatory guide has no legally binding power.

language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing

guide (MEXT, 2017b) as a supplementary guideline for

MEXT revises Course of Study based on

as follows:

Figure 1: Schedule for Implementation of the New Guideline Based on MEXT (2017c)
Fiscal Year

2018

2019

Transition period
Elementary

Texts

Schoolto beauthorised

2020

Start using

provide texts

new texts

Transition period
SchoolTexts to beauthorised

2022

Full implementation

choose+Junior High

2021

Full implementation
choose+provide
texts

Start using
new texts
Start ofTransition period

implementationin stages

High School
Texts to beauthorisedchoose+provide
texts

Start using newtextsreports submitted by the Central Council for Education

1) To enable students to understand the speaker’s(Benesse, 2008). As for Course of Study revisingintentions when listening [emphasis added] to English.

process, MEXT and the Central Council for Education

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

1762) To enable students to enable to talk [emphasis added]

learner has an interest in, b) organising content of facts

about their own thoughts using English.

or the learner’s thoughts about daily topics to convey
these to others, and respond to questions from others,3) To accustom and familiarise students with reading[emphasis added] English and to enable them tounderstand the writer’s intentions when reading English.

and c) exchanging with simple phrases and sentences
learners’ thoughts, feelings and its reasons about social
topics.

4) To accustom and familiarise students with writing[emphasis added] in English and to enable them to write
about their own thoughts using English.

For speaking (presentation), the main aims areto become capable of a) speaking spontaneously using
simple phrases and sentences about the topics thelearner has an interest, b) organising content about daily

The Main Objectives of Learning
English in the 2017 Course of Study
On the contrary, in the 2017 Course of Study for English
at junior high school, the objectives are described in

topics and speaking about this using simple phrases andsentences, and c) speaking about thoughts, feelings,
and the reasons for these, using simple phrases andsentences.

more detail. The objectives are listed under five basic

Finally, for writing, the main aims are tolanguage skills. Each of the five language skills lists

become capable of a) writing about daily topics using

concrete objectives in the form of, for example, “thesimple phrases and sentences or short sentences, b)

student is to become capable of ~” which are actuallyorganising content about daily topics and writing about

concrete CEFR Can-Do list.

this using simple phrases and sentences, and c) writing

These learning attainment targets can be used
as an indicator for what required in English learning andabout thoughts, feelings, and the reasons for these,using simple phrases and sentences.

for evaluation, and also present a mean to integrateteaching and evaluation. Each school decides upon theirown objectives by referring to the stated objectives, thecontents of the Course of Study, and so on. This process
helps instructors to improve their classes according totheir students’ specific needs. The main aims (MEXT,
2017b, pp.17-29) of each skill can be summarised andtranslated as follows.
In terms of listening skills, the main aims are to
become capable of identifying and comprehending a).
the necessary information, b) the outline of discussions
about daily topics if the speaker speaks clearly, and c).
The key points of short explanations about social topics.

Three Key Features of the Objectives ofthe 2017 Course of Study
There are three key features of the objectives in the
English section of the new Course of Study for ljuniorhigh schools. Key features of the new curriculum
guidelines for English education at junior high school
include putting a stronger emphasis on learners'
attainment of practical targets which, will enhancelearners’ motivation, encourage students to take anactive role in more learner-centred classes, and offer
learners opportunity to improve their thinking ability totackle the issues related to pertinent and relevant social
topics.

For reading, the main aims are to become
capable of a) reading about daily topics which are written
in simple phrases and sentences or short sentences, b)
understanding necessary information or understanding
the outline, and c) catching the key points of short
sentences written in simple phrases and sentences
about social topics.

Goal Setting Theory
Locke and Latham presented a goal setting theory(Locke & Latham, 2006, p.265) which proposes that“specific, high (hard) goals lead to a higher level of task
performance than do easy goals or vague, abstract goals
such as the exhortation to “do one’s best””. The term

As for speaking (interaction), the main aims are“goal” can be defined as “attaining a specific standard of

to become capable of a) talking to others spontaneously

proficiency on a task, usually within a specified time limit”

using simple phrases and sentences about the topics the(Locke, Shaw, Saari & Latham, 1981, p.130). For the

The 2018 PanSIG Journal177second language (L2) learners, their ultimate goals

the standards are obtainable. And setting specific goals

would be to acquire the target language and tomay be more effective than making vague goals forcommunicate with others through the language. For

people to take action (Lockke & Latham, 1990).Thus,

those L2 learners who spend more than several years tousing specific and concrete CEFR Can-Do list can be a

attain a basic knowledge of the target language, that isvery effective way to enhance learners’ motivation astoeach school tailermaid such list according to thelearn

Englishasaforeignlanguage(EFL)

environment, setting a specific short-term goal would be

students’ level.

particularly important.
Furthermore,

the

new

version

will

allow

Furthermore, Dörnyei (2001) explains that

instructors to place a greater emphasis on learners’

goals are not only outcomes to aim for, but also

substantial targets and this could lead to more learner-

standards by which students can evaluate their own

centred classes. The content of the new Course of Study

performance and which mark their progress. He also

focuses more on the practical use of English than onstates that “Proximal goal-setting also contributes to the

preparation for university entrance exams. The changes

enhancement of intrinsic interest through favourable,in the entrance exam system, which in the near futurecontinued involvement in activities and through thewillsatisfaction derived from sub-goal attainment. Attainableacquisition of four key skills, will be significantly

sub-goals can also serve as an important vehicle in theinfluenced by the new Course of Study. In addition,

development

andcomprehensively acquiring four key language skills will

efficacy (Dörnyei, 1994, p.276)”. Thus, these lists ofhelp learners to develop their communication abilities so

attainment learning targets in the 2017 Course of Studythat they can practice conveying their thoughts andshould help enhance the motivation of learners. The

opinions to one another as they would in a real-life

associated attainment lists should also encouragesituation. It will be also an essential skill for learners tolearners to express desires, such as, “I want to be ableenhance their ability to identify problems and try to solveto ~”, or “I aim to be able to do ~”.

them through discussions with peers. As Japanese

of

the

students'

self-confidence

requirelearners

todemonstrateabalancedlearners tended to be passive in teacher-centred class
In addition, the new version of the Course of
Study

will

offer

learners

greaterautonomy

andstyles, active learning will be extremely beneficial forthem.

confidence, which should enhance their motivation.
These attainment learning targets should not promote

Finally, learners are expected to understandcompetition among classmates, but instead rather

basic information about social topics and exchange theirencourage achievement as, with sufficient effort, they

views in English. Therefore, the new guideline promotes

are obtainable. Therefore, it can be expected thatlearners’ English learning while broadening their visions.

learners will continue to try learning English after they

It is both useful and beneficial for young learners tofinish school.

develop an interest in social and global issues and tohave time to think independently about them. Thus,
learners gain the benefit of coming into contact with

Discussion

different ideas and ways of thinking, and to appreciate

As stated above, one of the main features of theobjectives is that the new Course of Study for Egnlisheducation at junior high school

the need to respect foreigners and foreign cultures.
Learning the contents of other subjects while being

contain lists of

instructed in English may have a positive effect on

attainment learning targets, meaning that the newlearners’ understanding of global issues, and ultimately,

guidelines help learners identify what they need to strive

may inspire their motivation to learn more about thefor. While some kinds of tests could act as goals forEnglish language. As most of Japanese learners study

learners, there may be test-takers for whom motivation isEnglish as in a foreign language, they would enjoy the

impaired rather than boosted through their comparison

realising that their learnig of the language is actually very

with others. That said, attainment lists, in general,

meaningful and usful tool to research and improve theirencourage achievement because, with sufficient effort,

understanding of various issuse not only in the country

The 2018 PanSIG Journal178but also the events in the overseas. As Colye, Hood andAcknowledgments

Marsh point out that ”CLIL can offer learners of any age

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the anonymous

a natuaral situation for language development which

reviewers for their thoughtful feedback regarding thebuilds on other ofrms of learning. This natural use ofearlier versions of this article.

language can boost a learner’s motivation towards, andhunger for learnig language (Coyle, Hood & Marsh, 2010,
pp.11-12). As the new Course of Study will invite

References

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Benesse. (2008). Chuo Shingikai no Toshin [Report byauthentic materials, it can be expected to raise their

theCentralAdvisory

Panel].

Retrievedfromawareness of cultures and the global citizenship agenda.

http://benesse.jp/kyouiku/200808/20080814-3.html

With regard to materials for language activities,

Benesse (2014). Chu Ko sei no Eigo Gakushuu ni

instructors should choose that which satisfies learners’

kansuru Jittai Chosa 2014 [Survey on the attitudes

interests, and should use the contents which learners

towards learning English by Junior High and Highhave studied in science, music and other subjects in

Schooltheir mother tongue. This is a extremely practicalhttps://berd.benesse.jp/up_images/research/Teenag

approach for both learners and instructors. Since many

ers_English_learning_Survey-2014_ALL.pdf

of the incumbent English instructors themselves may nothave learned English through English at schools, theymight find it difficult to teach English by directly
instructing in the language. If learners already have a

students].

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Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and motivating in theforeign language classroom. The Modern Language
Journal, Vol. 78, No.3. 273-284.

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Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in thelearn in English, the knowledge will compensate for their

Language Classroom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

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University Press.

language proficiency.
Coyle, D. Hood, P. & Marsh, D. (2010). Content andLanguage

Conclusions

Integrated

Learning.

Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press

In this paper, we have looked at the English section of
the 2017 Course of Study for ljunior high schools

Locke, E.A. & G.P. Latham (1990). A Theory of Goal

focusing on its roles as a guideline. Important features of

Setting and Task Performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

the roles of the new guideline are: 1).To provide thePrentice Hall.

learning attainment target lists which should help
learners acquire four language skills comprehensively.
Attainable sub-goals can also serve as an importantvehicle to enhance the students' motivation; 2). Helping

Locke, E.A. & G.P. Latham (2006). New Directions in
Goal-Setting

Theory.

Current

Directions

in

Psychological Science, Volume 15: 265-268

learners become more active and autonomous so that

Locke, E., Shaw, K., Saari, L., & Latham, G. (1981).

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versions tend to state the objectives and content of

MEXT. (2008). Chugakko Gakushu Shidoyoryo (Heisei

English learning, the new version, however, also20) [The Course of Study for Junior High Schools

describes the objectives in relation to other subjects.

(Heisei

20)].

Retrievedfrom

http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/newIt is suggested that in the future, more research

cs/youryou/chu/index.htm

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The 2018 PanSIG Journal

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(2013).

corresponding

Englishto

Education

ReformPlan

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http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/25/12/134245(Heisei 29)]. Retrieved from8.htm
http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/mic
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Kansuru

Shoiinkai

Shinginomatome

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ro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2018/05/07/1384661_5_4.pdf
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102/102_2/index.htm

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29)].

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http://www.mext.go.jp/en/news/topics/detail/1378469.

micro_detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2018/05/07/1387018

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_10_1.pdf
Gaikokugo

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http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/(2016).

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Student’s

high

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koremadeno kento jikoni kansuru ronten [The Issues

Working

Groupni

Kaiteini Kansuru Schedule [A tentative schedule plan

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http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/new-

cs/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2017/05/12/1384662_1_1.pdf
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo
3/074/siryo/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2016/02/04/1366588_
4_4_2.pdf#search='%E5%B9%B3%E6%88%9027%
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National Center for University Entrance Examinations(2017). National Center for University Entrance
Examinations. Retrieved fromhttp://www.dnc.ac.jp/albums/abm.php?f=abm00033081.p
df&n=2017%E8%A6%81%E8%A6%A7%E8%8B%B1%
E8%AA%9E_Web_2.pdf

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

180

Study Abroad Destination: The Case of Beijing
Toshiko Oda
Tokyo Keizai University
The scope of study abroad destinations is wider than ever. However, China is not in the sights ofJapanese college students unless they are Chinese majors. This paper describes the benefits of study
abroad programs in Beijing, China; they include (a) business practicality and (b) affordability. This paper
is unusual in that the author, an instructor of English, points out those benefits. The benefits overcome
the following problems of many study abroad programs in major English-speaking areas that the author
has observed—that is, they are often (a) less related to career development and (b) expensive. An
additional argument is that traveling to Beijing would give students considerable motivation to study
English as well as Chinese. Some downsides of study abroad programs in China are also addressed sothat the readers can make good decisions.

留学プログラムは多様化しているが、中国は一般の大学生の視野には入っていない。そこで本稿では、留学プログラムの渡航先としての北京の利点を紹介する。この論文の大きな特徴は、これらの利点が英語教員によって紹介されている点にある。北京の大きな利点は１）キャリア教育と密接に関連した学びが期待できる、２）英語圏と比較して費用が安い、の二点である。これらは英語圏での留学プログラム
でしばしば見られる問題を解決する。英語圏への留学プログラムは学生に人気がある一方、１）観光に近い内容になりがちであり、かつ２）高価である。北京への渡航は、中国語ばかりでなく英語の学習に対する動機づけにもなる。しかし、中国には特有の問題があることも事実である。本稿では、学生の渡航先として中国を選ぶ際に考慮すべき問題も合わせて紹介する。

The purpose of this paper is to promote Beijing as a

However, China has other, less well-known

promising study abroad destination for Japanese college

benefits for college students as a study abroad

students from the viewpoint of an instructor of English.

destination. In this paper, I narrow my focus to Beijing,

When Japanese college students think of study abroad

the capital city of China, because China is a very large

destinations, China is usually not among their options.

country with many regional differences; thus, it is difficult

According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,

to make generalizations. I argue that study abroad

Science and Technology (n.d.), only 5.8% of Japanese

programs in Beijing provide excellent opportunities forcollege students who study abroad choose to do so inJapanese college students because they have certain

China. Another data by Japan Association of Overseas

characteristics that are missing in programs in English-

Studies (2018) shows that only 2.3% of Japanese who

speaking areas. To be more specific, experiences instudied abroad in 2017 either via school-organized

Beijing will be directly related to the career development

programs or private programs chose China as theirof Japanese college students. Furthermore, the total cost

destination. Despite the fact that China has the secondof a Beijing program is far less than the typical cost inlargest economy in the world, Japanese college students

major English-speaking areas. In a nutshell, programs in

do not pay much attention to their neighboring country.

Beijing are characterized as “low cost and high return.”

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

181

The organization of this paper is as follows.

Costs

First, I discuss some downsides of study abroad

For students, the biggest obstacle to studying in major

programs in major English-speaking areas. Then, I

English-speaking areas is the cost. For example, thediscuss the benefits of study abroad programs in Beijing.

summer English program in the UK organized by TokyoI also point out drawbacks of the programs in Beijing,

Keizai University costs around 500,000 JPY. This

many of which apply to China in general.

expense is not quite affordable for Japanese college
students, many of whom take out loans to attend college.

Descriptions of Beijing in this paper are
primarily based on my observations as a visiting
instructor of Japanese and Japanese Linguistics at the

The Japan Student Services Organization (November2017) reported that one Japanese college student out of
2.7 takes out a student loan through its services (p. 10).

University of International Business and Economics(Beijing) from May 2015 to January 2016, as a student ofBenefits of Study Abroad Programs in
Beijing

the Chinese language at Beijing Language and Culture
University in August 2016, and as a visiting instructor of
Linguistics at the University of International Businessand Economics (Beijing) in July 2018. I have also

Business Practicality

observed students enrolled in the Beijing Course of the

The biggest benefit of study abroad programs in Beijing

Global Career Program at Tokyo Keizai University sinceis their business practicality; they directly help students

2006 as a faculty member there.

progress toward their careers. For example, students
who are interested in the hospitality industry will haveopportunities to observe Chinese tourism practitioners at

Problems of Study Abroad Programs in
Major English-Speaking Areas

work.

According

to

the

Japan

National

Tourism

Organization, foreign visitors from Mainland China
represent a quarter of the total number of foreign visitors,

Less Relevant for Career Development
The idea of China as a promising study abroadand visitors from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong
Kong represent nearly half of the total visitors (Figure 1).

destination stems from my own experience as an
instructor of English. I have been involved in organizing
study abroad programs for Tokyo Keizai University formore than 10 years. Such programs in English-speaking
areas have always been popular among students.
However, there are typical problems that we expect withthese programs.
One issue involves the contents of the
programs. For instance, a typical college-organized

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summer English program consists of English lessons in
the morning and excursions in the afternoon, with

Figure 1. Foreign Visitors to Japan in January 2018. (Nlanguage and culture as the main targets of learning.

=

However, they can easily turn out to be college-

Organization, February 21, 2018.)

organized sightseeing trips, as excursions often involve
visits to popular tourism spots. For many students, suchprograms are great substitutes for a vacation abroad
because they are often subsidized and, thus, more
affordable than personalized travel plans. Though suchprograms play a certain role in college education, there
should be other options that are useful for students’2,502,000)(Source:Japan

National

Tourism

When employees of Japanese firms havebusiness trips abroad, they are likely to go to Chinesespeaking areas instead of English-speaking areas (Table1). For Japanese college students, getting to know major
Chinese cities such as Beijing will definitely help their
future careers.

career development.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

182

Table 1: Business Trips Abroad Among Japanese Firms

college students to go out without wallets since making
purchases while shopping and eating can be paid for

Ranking

Destination

1

Shanghai

2

Seoul

3

Taipei4

Bangkok5

Hong Kong

6

Singapore7

Beijingusing apps on their smartphones. (WeChat and Alipay
are the two biggest players.) Students also move fromone building to another via shared bikes (Mobike, Ofo,and others). For the local people, life without these
services is hard to imagine. However, it is difficult toenvision the potential for these services in Japan. Other
common services that are missing in Japan include ridesharing (Didi and others. See “China’s Didi faces newchallenge from new rival Meituan,” 2018 for details.), andfood delivery (Ele-ma, Meituan-Dianping, and others.
See Shi, 2018 for more.).
Beijing and other big cities in China are hot

8

New York

9

Paris

spots for new businesses, and Beijing is particularly
known as a center of new high-tech startups (“Chuugoku,
sougyounitiikisyoku:

kousyuu=aribaba

kei,shanhai=kinyuu, sinsen=seizou, pekin=haiteku,” 2018).
10Frankfurt

Japan’s younger generation should not miss theopportunity to observe what is happening there.

Source: Japan Travel Bureau, August 23, 2013.
The high demand of business trip to Chinese
speaking areas reflects the trade relation between Japanand China. In 2017, China was the largest trade partner
for Japan (Table 2).

Needless to say, the local lifestyle in generalprovides much insight for Japanese college students.
Both men and women have jobs; grandparents take careof young children; and restaurants are full of noise. Evena short visit to a 7-Eleven store in Beijing would be a

Table 2: Japan’s Trade Partners in 2017: Total Tradeuseful experience in order to see the differences(Exports and Imports combined) in Billions of JPY.

between convenience stores in Japan and those in
Beijing (Chiba Bank, 2018).

Ranking

Country/District

Total Trade

1

Mainland China

33,740.6

2

USA

23,365.3

3South Korea

9,259.2

4

Taiwan7,453.4

5

Australia

6,313.4

When it comes to networking, there is a large
variety of Japanese groups in Beijing that Japanesecollegestudents

can

join.

There

are

kenjinkai(associations of people from the same prefecture) for all
prefectures and alumni associations of many Japanese
universities. These groups usually have regular meetings,
and they welcome new students. When I was in Beijing
in 2015, I participated in monthly meetings of thefor Japanese firms in Beijing. They are role models for

Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan, n.d.
The

city

of

Beijingisfullkenjinkai of Aichi prefecture, and I met people who work
Japanese college students who are interested in workingoflearning

opportunities for current Asian businesses. From the firstday in Beijing, Japanese college students will see things
that are ubiquitous there but they do not see in Japan.
Electric payments and bike sharing are just a few
examples among many. It is quite common for local

abroad.
Associating with foreign students in Beijing is
also important for understanding global business. Amongthe 112 National Key Universities of 211 Project, 23
universities are located in Beijing (Japan Science andTechnology Agency, n.d.). These universities attract

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

183

exchange students from all over the world. In 2017, thestudents is to apply for a language program. As shown in

top 10 home countries of foreign students in China wereTable 3 below, the tuition price in a language school in

Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, the US, India, Russia, Japan,

Beijing is also affordable compared to prices in major

Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Laos. The diversity ofEnglish-speaking areas.

foreign exchange students in Beijing reflects the
economic ties with their home countries. Students from
central Asian countries who are partners of China’s One
Belt, One Road Initiative comprised 65% of the total
foreign student population in 2017. (“Chuugoku, 17 nen
no gaikokujin ryuugakusei ga 48 man 9200 nin ni,” 2018)
The Chinese government is eager to invite students frommany key regions for their economic strategies including
Russia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands, and provides
scholarships. In 2016, 40,022 foreign students received
scholarship from the Chinese government to study in
China (Wang, 2017, p.167). Beijing is a hub ofinternational business and politics, and its global human
network is priceless.

major English-speaking areas, business is the primary
focus of foreign exchange students in Beijing. Many ofthem are looking for opportunities such as internships
job

interviews

Language Schools*.
One-month study abroad

Local costexamplesJapaneseyen

Beijing Language and3,500 CNY

60,0001,600 AUD

135,425780 GBP

150,000

1,500 USD

160,000

Culture University, China
Flinders University,
Adelaide, Australia
Chichester College,
West Sussex, UK
Pace University,

NYC,

US
*Tuition prices and exchange rates are based on those

Unlike foreign students in language schools inandTable 3: Tuition Prices for One-Month Programs inin

Beijing.

Theycontinuously

exchange job information on SNSs. By associating withforeign students in Beijing, Japanese college students
have a chance to observe activities in the global
business arena.

in May 2018.
Living costs in Beijing are considered very high in China.
Nevertheless, they are within an affordable range forJapanese college students. For instance, the price for asingle room in student dormitories at Beijing Language
and Culture University can be 100–200 CNY (1,700–
3,400 JPY) per night. In any school cafeteria, a dinner
can be easily purchased for 15 CNY (250 JPY) at any
school cafeteria.

Among Japanese universities, programs in
China that are focused on business are not major
options yet but have been growing. Some of theuniversities that offer such programs in China include
Asia University, Aichi University, Tokyo Keizai University,
and Ritsumeikan University.

Affordability
The total cost of a study abroad program in Beijing ismuch more affordable compared to such programs inmajor English-speaking areas. The total cost is hard to
estimate, but just to give the readers an idea, a weeklong program in Beijing could cost 100,000 JPY, and amonth-long program at a language school in Beijing
could cost 300,000 JPY including air fare, tuition,accommodations, and food.
Presently, Japanese passport holders without visas canstay in China for 15 days. For programs that are longer
than 15 days, the most common option for Japanese

Motivation for Learning Languages
ChineseAs an instructor of English, I have observed that many
Japanese college students are tired of English. After
years of English lessons, their English abilities remain at
the novice to intermediate level. However, this does not
apply to the Chinese language; it is a great option forstudents who would like to choose a foreign language
other than English. Thanks to kanji (Chinese characters),
which is used in common in written Chinese andJapanese,Japanesespeakers

learn

the

Chineselanguage relatively quickly.
At Tokyo Keizai University, students in Beijing’s Global
Career Program begin taking Chinese lessons when
they enter college. Within 2 years of study—including
one semester abroad in Beijing—, many students attain

The 2018 PanSIG Journal184

Level V5 of the HSK, the Chinese equivalent of TOEIC.

Japan’s EIKEN test (Okano, 2017; Honna 2007). Many

Level V5 is categorized as C1 by the Common European

students pursue CET Band-6 (Grade Pre1 – Grade 1 inFramework of Reference (CEFR), requiring a vocabulary

EIKEN) for better job opportunities. Research suggests

size of 2,500 words. This category could correspond tothat Chinese college students may study eight to 10

TOEIC 800 in English.

times more English than Japanese college students do(Ichikawa, 2009, p.2).

During my stay in Beijing in the 2015–2016 academic
year, I interviewed instructors of Chinese as a foreign

Note that this trend of better proficiency in English

language at the University of International Business andamong Chinese college students applies to Japanese

Economics (Beijing). Many pointed out that Japanesemajors as well. In fact, it is known among Japanese

speakers are one of the top groups among Chinesecompanies that Japanese majors in China speak better

language learners.

English than Japanese college students in general.
Some Japanese firms hire Japanese majors from China

If students are reluctant to study Chinese just because
China is not their favorite country, they should consider
Chinese as a global language. Chinese is one of the six
official languages of the United Nations. Many Asian

to work in Japan as translators of Chinese, Japanese,and English (“Chuugoku kara no daigakusei, dounai norizooto de tanki syuugyou, kyaria banku ga syoukai,
hounichikyaku no taiou ni,” 2015).

countries have large Chinese-speaking populations (e.g.,
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia). In any country they
visit, there is usually a Chinatown. As more Chinese
people travel globally, services in Chinese are available

Problems of Study Abroad Programs inChina

in many stores.

The Internet
I will also address some problems associated with

Bridge to Better English

programs in Beijing and China in general. Internet

Going to China does not mean that students will

regulation is the biggest problem. It is well-known thatabandon English. Rather, the opposite situation is typical.

many websites are banned in China (e.g., Google,

Going to China provides a bridge to better English

YouTube, LINE, Facebook, Dropbox). Not having LINE

abilities for Japanese college students. English is thefor a month could be a nightmare for many Japanese

lingua franca anyway, and foreign students in Beijing use

college students. Students who have never been to

EnglishChina are encouraged to start with a short program of aascommunities.

a

means

of

Therefore,

communication

unlessJapanese

in

their

collegeweek or less and get ready for a longer program.

students speak some English, they will lose valuable
opportunities to be part of the global human network

Foreign students usually use virtual private network

present in Beijing.

(VPN) services to avoid regulations by the Chinese
government. However, the regulations are getting tighter.

When Japanese students do not speak Chinese withThe

some proficiency, English is usually the common

misunderstanding—, but services can be obtained fromlanguage

andonly a limited number of service providers (Ministry ofChinese students. The English level of college students

Industry and Information Technology of the People’s

in Beijing is much higher than that of Japanese college

Republic of China, 2017). Skype service is still available

students. Thus, studying there can be motivating for

as of August 2018, but its app has been removed fromJapanese college students who desire to work on their

the Chinese market since 2017 (“Chuugoku de sukaipu

English. For Chinese college students, good English ishaishin teishi,” 2017).

forinteractions

betweenJapanese

use

of

VPNs

is

not

banned—acommonrequired to graduate from college and land their dreamjobs. In most Chinese universities, students do not

To communicate with counterparts in Beijing, the best

obtain college diplomas unless they pass the College

option is to use WeChat, the so-called ChineseEnglish Test (CET) Band-4 in China, which roughly

equivalent of LINE. Taking advantage of free email

corresponds to Step Test Grade 2 – Grade Pre-1 onaddresses in Chinese is also useful. For instance,

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

185

NetEase offers three kinds of free email addresses

quality is far better in summer. There are fewer problems(163.com, 126.com, yeah.net). They are acceptable as

related to hygiene in Beijing than in the past.

formal contact addresses. Many universities in China do
not provide students or employees with email addresses,

Except for cases of potential fraud, Beijing is much safer
than many major cities in the world, with surveillanceso they use free email addresses.

cameras all over the city, as well as police stations on
When they use WeChat or Chinese email

the streets just like in Japan.

services, however, Japanese students should keep inmind that their posts could be censored (Tanaka, 2018).

Currently,

Beijinglacks

affordable

housing,andarranging accommodations can be a headache. Tokyo

Private Information

Keizai University and I came across cases in which

There is much less sense of privacy in China than incounterparts in Beijing were not able to provide

Japan. I have seen multiple times that a list of students,

information about accommodations until a few days

their student ID numbers, and their phone numbers is

before departure.

put on a classroom wall so that people can share theinformation. Administrators would often ask you to
submit a copy of your passport, and it is often visible on
the desk. They all raise the risk of identity theft. When it
is necessary, students need to raise their voice.
Otherwise, people would not notice your concern.
Chinese citizens have personal ID cards issued by thegovernment called shenfenzheng, and they are used tosubmit their ID numbers whenever required.

Students and administrators involved in China programs
will need to get used to the way the local people arrange
schedules. In Chinese culture, it is quite common forappointments to be arranged the day before andcancelled on the day of an appointment.
Unexpected obstacles may originate with parents ofJapanese college students. Parental understanding ofChina varies, and parents may or may not be in favor of

Many internet services (Alipay, Mobike and others)
request you to upload a photo of your passport. It would
be wise for students to minimize the services they use
until they get used to the life in China instead of

their children’s visits to the country. I came across acase in which a student wanted to participate in a China
program with the US students (Council On International
Education Exchange, n.d.) but her parents did not
approve. Nevertheless, they approved a similar program

randomly giving out their passport information.

in Korea.

Historical Issues
Some sentiment against Japan still remains in China dueto the history of the two countries. It is advised toremember some memorial days of the year that are
related to Japan. They include July 7th for the Marco
Polo Bridge Incident, September 3rd for the Victory Day
of Anti-Japanese War of Resistance, and September

Overall, obtaining updated information is crucial for
successful study abroad programs in Beijing and otherareas in China. Unfortunately, there are not many goodprinted resources that have comprehensive information
about study abroad programs in China. One of few is
Watanabe and Wagabahashi (2010). However, theChinese society has been changing rapidly, and printed

18th for the Manchurian Incident.

information becomes outdated quickly. At this point
Nevertheless,bewebsites and word-of-mouth can be much more usefulintimidated in associating with the local people. BilateralJapanese

studentsshouldnotthan printed resources. For general statistics, a website

relations between Japan and China have been stable forcalled Science Portal China by Japan Science andthe last couple of years, and there will not be any

Technology Agency contains reasonably updated andharassment against Japanese students as long as they

trustworthy information about China in Japanese.

behave in a sensible manner.

Health, Safety, and Other Practical Issues

Conclusion

Air pollution in Beijing could be a problem in winterFrom the viewpoint of an English instructor, I havemonths for students with respiratory illnesses, but air

arguedthat

Beijingprovidesvaluablelearning

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

186

opportunities for Japanese college students; these

China, internships in resorts in hokkaido, arranged

advantages are sometimes missing in programs in

by Career Bank, managing foreign visitors] (2015,

English-speaking areas. In Beijing, students have

July 17). Nikkei Hokkaido, p. 1.

opportunities to learn about current Asian business andtwo global languages—English and Chinese. As many
Japanese companies conduct business with China, theirexperiencein

Beijing

directly

helps

the

careerdevelopment of Japanese college students. Beijing
provides opportunities to be connected to the world as it
hosts many foreign students. These opportunities areopen to Japanese students and cost much less thanChuugoku, sougyou ni chiikisyoku: kousyuu=aribaba kei,shangai=kinyuu,shinsen=seizou,pekin=haiteku[China,
regional characteristics among startups: Hangzhou=
Alibaba-related,

Shanghai=finance,

Shenzhen=manufactuaring, Beijing=high-tech] (2018, October
17). Nikkei. Retrieved December 15, 2018, fromhttps://
www.nikkei.com/article/DGKKZO36560790W8A011

programs in major English-speaking areas.

C1FFE000/
Chuugoku, 17 nen no gaikokujin ryuugakusei ga 48 man

Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Paul
Horness, Soka University, Tokyo for his encouragement
to participate in the JALT Pan-Sig SA Forum 2018. I also
thank Professor Steven Herder, Kyoto Notre Dame
University, for his support during the forum as well as
during the preparation process. This study would nothave been possible without their help.

9200 nin ni [489,200 Foreign exchange students in
China in 2017] (2018, April 3). People’s Daily.
Retrieved

August10,

2018,

http://j.people.com.cn/n3/2018/0403/c944759445099.html
Council on International Education Exchange. (n.d.).
Summer business + culture. Retrieved August 10,
2018,

from

https://www.cieej.or.jp/exchange/scholarship/

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tsuite [Regarding the market of convenicence storesin China] Chuugoku repooto 2018 nen 1 gatsu gou[China report, January 2018]. Retrieved December
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from

2018,

program001.html
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Ichikawa, K. (2009). English language education in
Chinese universities: The present conditions andproblems. Bulletin of Aichi Institute of Technology, 44,

China’s Didi faces new challenge from new rival Meituan.

1-5.

(2018, July 23). Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved
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14,

2018,

from

Japan

AssociationofOverseas

Studies(2018,

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/FT-

December 17) Firipin ga zouka suru naka amerika ga

Confidential-Research/China-s-Didi-faces-challenge-ookiku gensyoo [Study abroad increased in thefrom-new-rival-Meituan

Philippines and decreased in the US] Retrieved
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Chuugoku de ‘sukaipu’ haishin teishi [ ‘Skype’ app

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2018,

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www.jaos.or.jp/newsrelease

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https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO23810730S721). Hounichi gaikyaku suu (2018 nen 1 gatsu

A121C1000000/

suikeichi) [Estimated number of foreign visitors inJanuary, 2018] Retrieved August 10, 2018, from

Chuugoku kara no daigakusei, doonai no rizooto detankisyuugyou,

kyariabankugasyoukai,

https://www.jnto.go.jp/jpn/statistics/data_info_listing/p
df/180221_monthly.pdf

hounichikyaku no taiou ni [College students fromThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

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Chuugoku

andnoTechnology

jyuutendaigaku

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ichiran(211

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November 25, 2018, fromThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

188

Eliciting Student Answers: Finding What It Takes
Stephen M. Paton
Fukuoka University
Classroom silence is a commonly misunderstood aspect of English language teaching in Japan.
Teachers who use communicative approaches can be frustrated and confused by students’unwillingness to participate, respond, or communicate. The cultural bases of classroom silence arelargely understood by researchers, but whereas some suggest that coming to terms with and adapting tostudent reticence is the most appropriate response, others argue that it is in students’ best interests thatteachers teach and then insist upon greater communicability and interactivity. This article describes a
pre-emptive approach to classroom silence that resulted in students coming to participate comfortably indirect teacher-student communication. By raising students’ consciousness to the problem of classroom
silence, casting it in a negative light, and describing and demonstrating more efficacious communicative
practices, the author came to have confidence that his students would respond to his questions without
the anxiety and reluctance so familiar in Japanese classrooms.

教室の沈黙は一般的に誤解されている日本における英語教育の側面である。コミュニケーションを多用するアプローチを採用する教師はフラストレーションを溜め、生徒の授業への参加、反応、コミュニケーションにおける消極性に戸惑う事がある。教室内の沈黙の文化的基盤は研究者らによって大きく理解されているが、生徒たちの消極性を受け入れ、それに合わせるべきだと言う意見もある一方、教師が教える事でコミュニケーション力や対話性を要求するべきだという主張もある。この論文では教師と生徒が直接的にコミュニケーションを快適に取り、積極的にクラスへの参加を実現させた教室の沈黙に対す
る先制的なアプローチを説明する。教室の沈黙という問題に対する生徒の意識を高め、否定的観点を投げかけ、より効果的なコミュニケーションの実践を論証する事で、著者は不安や嫌気を感じる事無く生徒が質問にしっかりと答えてくれるという自信を得た。

It is not uncommon for foreign English language

asking students questions, either one-to-one or openly toteachers in Japan to be surprised and frustrated by non-an entire class. Even apparently easy, reasonablecommunicative

questions to which the students almost certainly know

tendencies

that students

frequently

display in the classroom, particularly low-level and low-themotivation

uncomfortablestudents

for

whom

our

classesareanswer

can

be

met

drawn-outmoresilenceandavoidance.

rendered largely pointless if teachers make the mistakemethodology that depends on speedy and efficientofteacher-tooheavilyupon

students

eagerly

opportunities.

Miller(1995)

warnedthatto which Japanese cultural norms are indeed at variance
Western

norms

where

classroom

interaction

can

be

teaching
enormously

challenging.

“Westernteachers new to Japan quickly come to realize the extent
withstudent

communicative

than

Therefore,

dependingalittlecompulsory. Activities can fail and whole lessons can beparticipating or actively seeking out communicative

utilisingwithinteraction

patterns are concerned” (p. 32). Student reticence isperhaps most apparent in cases of teachers verbally

After years of trial and error in adjusting myapproach to eliciting responses from my university
students, trying different strategies and approaches so
as to mitigate the stifling discomfort and stress that myquestions seemed to elicit, mid-way through a recent

The 2018 PanSIG Journal189

semester I began to notice that I was having consistent

Having attained the CELTA in 2004, my own ELT career

success in getting prompt and relaxed answers to mybegan with 4 years of teaching in Australia, with highly-

questions. To my surprise and delight, I observed that

motivated

my students seemed receptive and comfortable when

methodology of the CELTA formed the basis of mybeing asked questions, and that I could have confidenceteaching throughout those years. Upon coming to Japanthat my questions were not going to cause the kind ofinanxiety or reticence that they so often had throughout mycompulsory courses in universities the following year, I

years of teaching in Japanese universities. I had, as

very

always, put in a great deal of effort throughout the early

approach I had used with success in Australia was

weeks of the semester preparing and training theentirely alien to the students I was now teaching. My

students for the kind of simple and easy communicative

questions, no matter how reasonable and easy I thoughtexchanges I’d be asking them to join me in; perhaps

they were, suddenly elicited little more than silence andafter years of searching I had found what it takes to getembarrassment.

students on board with a communicative approach.

experience had not prepared me to deal with reticence

Reflecting on the preparatory work I had done, and theand passivity, and I found myself unequipped to teach inliterature on the cultural basis of classroom reticence, I

a way that encompassed a reluctance to communicate

identified several factors that had apparently comeand participate actively. My not wanting to give up on a

together

serendipitously

and

given

rise

to

2008,

students

andquicklyfromespecially
discoveredMyaround

upon
that

the

world.

starting
the

to

The

teach

communicative

teacher-training

and

prior

an

pedagogical approach in which I believe means I haveenvironment in which, more than ever before, myspent a great deal of energy seeking ways in which to

students seemed comfortable and at ease in directreconcile, as best I can, a communicative English

teacher-student communication.

teaching approach with a classroom culture that
instinctively resists it.

ElicitingTrainee teachers on the Cambridge CELTA (Certificate

Classroom Silenceof English Language Teaching for Adults) course are

Brown’s (2004) experience, reported in a study involving

taught to elicit answers and responses from students,

210 first-year Japanese university students, is likely

rather than to dictate answers and content from the front

familiar to many foreign teachers. The overwhelmingof the room. Responses are elicited at many stages

majority of the subjects had endorsed statements

throughout a lesson. When pre-teaching vocabulary, forregarding the worthwhileness of English, the benefits of

instance, a teacher might illustrate the concept of thelearning it, and the personal effort required to acquire it,target word by such means as realia, image, or

yet in what Brown called “bafflingly counterproductive

explanation, and then ask if any student knows the word,learning behavior” (p. 15), many students declined topausing to give them a chance to provide it. Only if

participate in classroom activities that required oral

nobody provided the word would the teacher overtly

production. He cites McVeigh’s (2001) observation thatteach it. In a speaking lesson, following any kind of

students often fear making mistakes in view of theirfluency activity, one or two pairs or groups will be asked

peers, and indeed standing out in any way, including

to give a brief account of what they discussed or of what

positively. Students are in a double-bind of wanting

their partners had to say. After students have completed

neither to be seen to have made a mistake nor seen toa written set of comprehension questions as part of abe correct. Silence when called upon in a classroom islistening or reading lesson, rather than giving thean attractive option that serves students well.

answers to each question, a teacher will elicit them fromindividuals or groups, then confirm or correct theiranswers. Eliciting answers and responses from students
is an integral part of the CELTA’s very communicativeand student-centered teaching methodology. It keeps
students

actively

involvedinthelesson,acknowledges and utilises their existing knowledge.

andLanguage education researchers are divided interms of how to respond to classroom silence. Somehave aimed to demonstrate that the problem may lie in
foreign teachers rigidly adhering to an ethnocentric(Western)

perspective

ratherthan

attemptingtounderstand and adapt to the culture of their students.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

190

Harumi (2011) observed differences between Japanese

Despite such preferences and tendencies

and British teachers’ responses to video footage ofbeing at odds with the educational norms of many

classroom silence, with British viewers quick to attributeWestern

the silence to disinterest, boredom, or laziness, but

incompatible with modern communicative language

Japanese observers interpreting it as either face-saving,teaching methodologies, it is ignorant in the extreme forapotentiallyteachers to expect that students’ behaviours can simply

productive silent request for help. She describes the

be changed or switched off at a teacher’s request.

“positive value of silence as showing appropriate

However, simple acceptance of the largely non-listening behaviour and its active role in communication”

communicative Japanese classroom, and adjusting(p. 261), and urges non-Japanese teachers to be open

one’s teaching approach so as to accommodate it, is not

to different interpretations of classroom silence and its

an agreed-upon response whatsoever. Elsewhere in his

many functions. Miller (1995) is sympathetic to this view

1995 article, Miller states that “Lessons in how toto an extent, explaining that “Newcomers to Japan may

express oneself actively in ways that would please abe surprised to learn that a student’s reluctance toWestern teacher would seem to be particularly valuable

respond quickly is a deeply ingrained response which

to Japanese learners of English,… especially as theaccords with sociocultural norms; it is more an act ofclassroom is often the sole setting in which many EFL

politeness than one of recalcitrance” (p. 32). Do foreign

students have occasion to use English” (p. 33). Is this ateachers simply need to learn to adapt?

culturally-insensitive or even a culturally-imperialistic‘difficulty-avoidance

strategy’,oracountries

and,indeed,being

largely

view? Far from it. He is one amongst many researchers
It helps to have a broader understanding of
national cultures generally in order to understand thebasis and specifics of Japanese classroom culture.
Hofstede and Hofstede (2010), looking worldwide,
identified six dimensions of national culture: power
distance,

individualism

avoidance,

masculinity,vs.

collectivism,

long-term

uncertainty

orientation,andindulgence. The first three dimensions are particularly
relevant to an understanding of the education culture ofJapan. Power distance refers to the degree of inequality
between authority figures and ordinary people, or interms of education, teachers and students. Teachers inJapan are granted a much higher degree of respect thanthey are in many Western countries, where teachers andstudents tend to relate on a more equal footing. The
secondfactor,individualism

vs.

collectivism,isexpressed in Japanese students’ tendencies towards
forming and operating within a group or groups.
Speaking up or volunteering participation would violategroup harmony expectations, therefore “… it is illogical to
speak up without being sanctioned by the group to do so”

who argue that it is in the students’ interests for teachers
to insist upon new behaviours and even adopt more
overtly “Western” classroom styles when it comes tolanguage education. Banks (2016) for instance views
student reticence as a problem that should be addressed
overtly and remedied. The communication difficulties thatthe students in her case study expressed resulted largely
from their declining to take advantage of the teacher’s
invitations to request repetition, or to express confusion
or even slight negativity. In her view, the cultural
misunderstandings that gave rise to the less-thanoptimum

outcomessheobserved

had

been

the

responsibility of the students: “Asking a question about
the instructions, clarifying meaning and seeking help are
not troubles in an EFL context,Without realizing this, thestudents would remain silent, compromise what theyneed, and keep wondering why they cannot speak well”(p. 71). Banks boldly and refreshingly asserts that it is in
students’ interest that teachers not merely acknowledge
and accommodate the tendency towards silence, butthat they actively teach students ways to overcome it.

(p. 117). The third factor, uncertainty avoidance, also
rates highly in Japan; it is visible in students favouring

It is important to teach students how to ask

learning situations with precise objectives and a single

questions for their growth and own goals. Such skills arecorrect answer at which to arrive. In lower uncertainty-

important not only to improve English fluency, but also to

avoidance cultures, open-ended learning situations withparticipate in intercultural, global society with manyvague objectives are preferred, along with discussion,different people from various backgrounds… Simply

reflection, and experience- or process-based learning.

trying to put a positive face on communicative trouble

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

191

spots, acting as if no problems have occurred, would not

happening.

Certainnon-communicative

tendencies

improve our mutual understanding. (p. 71)

should be staked out from the outset as inappropriate
and, if possible, odd. Addressing the problem proactively

Foreign teachers who are concerned withachieving good outcomes for their students are justified

puts the teacher in a position of leadership, rather thanplaying catch-up when things start to go wrong.

in attempting to introduce into the language classroom
far more interactivity and communication than students

My introductory class for courses in which I’m

are accustomed to or even initially comfortable with.

going to be attempting to elicit answers consists mostly

Failing to incorporate expectations in regards toof a slide presentation in which, amongst other things, I

communicability that reflect more non-Japanese (orattempt to use humour and exaggeration to present

overtly“Western”)

accommodating

idealsprolonged

andrathersimplyclassroom silence as an unwelcome aberration. In an

and

other

attempt to get out ahead of my students and to raise

impediments to natural discourse is to commit asilencestheir consciousness to the existence of the problem, I

disservice to one’s students. Indeed, it is precisely

bring three major themes surrounding classroom silence

because of the cultural differences that researchers haveto their attention, as follows:

identified that alternative classroom behaviours ought tobe taught and expected. We are not, after all, helping ourstudents towards the ultimate goal of communicating in
English with polite and patient English language
teachers, nor with their own compatriots. If our students
are ever to utilise the English language skills we’reteaching, it will most likely be with people who are,culturally speaking, not as accepting of long drawn-out
silences, and who will expect swift communication evendespiteincomplete

knowledgeorlowconfidence.

Students need to be prepared for communication in
English with people who communicate much more
actively and interactively than is characterised by
Japanese classroom experience.

a)
My asking you a question is neveran attack, and fear or anxiety is an absurd
overreaction.
Some students respond to teacher questions with
anxiety, believing them to be tests designed to single
them out, expose their lack of knowledge, and cause
embarrassment. My questions will be nothing of the sort,and I make that clear before I ever ask one. Amongst myslides is one that visually conflates my classroom with aprison or dungeon in which my prisoner-students will be
unwillingly exposed to certain terrifying horrors. Whathorrors, exactly? The screen goes black, and the words
slowly appear, one by one: “I… TALK… WITH… MY…
STUDENTS.” A terrified face appears, lampooning a fearof something that upon a moment’s reflection, is

Finding What It Takes
As stated earlier, mid-way through a recent semester I
noticed that my students were more comfortable
responding to my requests for communication than I had
seen in many years of teaching in Japan. I appeared tohave finally persuaded my students to feel comfortableparticipating responsively in teacher-student discourse,
rather than to act out familiar avoidance strategies. After
reflecting on how I might have managed to bring about
this happy circumstance, I identified four main factors as
having contributed. These are presented here as
guidelines with examples that others might follow.

1)
Get out ahead, and raise students’
consciousness
It is essential that the problem of classroom silence be
addressed before it happens rather than in response to it

mundane,common,andharmless.

I

continue,

dramatically warning them that it gets even worse: “I…
WANT… STUDENTS… TO… TALK… TO… ME.”, withthe screen then erupting with images of fearful andterrified faces. These two sentences remain on thescreen as I explain that they describe the most terrifying
circumstance that the students will encounter in ourcourse. The point, obviously, is to exaggerate what might
be an unconscious conditioned anxiety response toteacher questions, and to re-frame teacher questions as
an unremarkable and innocuous element of a safe
environment.

b)
My asking you a question is not agrammar test or an IQ test.
Students tend to expect that a question from a teacher
will be difficult. I act out, dramatically, a classroom

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

192

full 20 seconds before giving an answer to an easily-

2)
Carry out a practice and disarming
stage

comprehended question about her travel experience:

Having made these claims about what kinds of“Where did you go on your high school trip?” (The pause

communication will and won’t be accepted, I quickly want

was a matter of her busily attempting to compose andto allow students to test them. A very fast and simple

rehearse

exercise facilitates this, one that demonstrates that myexperience I once had in which a student paused for athegrammatically-perfectresponseshethought I was demanding.)

questions are unencumbered by hidden agendas, andconvinces them to relinquish their resistance. As a

The 20 seconds of silence in my re-enactment
is terribly awkward, followed as it is by her shortunremarkable answer. I ask students to try pausing forsuch a duration before answering a friend’s question atlunchtime— the thought of doing so is discomfiting
enough!

This

and

other

similarexamplesanddemonstrations stake out prolonged nervous silences as
being as strange in my class as they would be in aconversation with friends.

warm-up activity at the start of each of the next few
lessons, students seated in groups of between four andsix are asked to determine, for example: “Who in yourgroup has the next birthday?” Using Japanese if they
prefer, groups have a minute or so to determine theiranswer and prepare a response using English words.
After that, I will ask a group to give their answer, then thenext group, then the next, until it is determined who inthe class has the next birthday. That’s it.

c)“I don’t know” is an acceptable andwelcome answer.
Admitting a lack of knowledge seems to be all but
forbidden in Japanese classroom culture, and students
can spend a great deal of time grappling for something
to say in response to a question to which they don’t havean answer. To preempt this consistent source ofclassroom silence, I have created a stick-figure cartoon
sequence that I display on-screen. In it, two friends sit ata cafe enjoying a conversation. At one point one asks aninnocuous question: “So, what time are you going to gohome today?” His partner panics! He doesn’t know theexact answer! His eyes bulge, he sits bolt-upright in his
chair, he looks around for help, glances wide-eyed at his
partner, before looking at the ground, then at the table,

As simple as it is, this exercise can and often
does fail spectacularly. Such occurrences present
fantastic“teachable

impediments

tomoments,”

communication

as
come

the
into

familiar
play.

Sometimes, inexplicably, groups will not have comeclose to arriving at a group answer when called upon
and will flounder nervously under the spotlight as theygrapple with the communicative practicalities of the task.
At other times, groups might stall, unable to determine
which member will announce their answer, with nostudent volunteering and a time-consuming stand-off
ensuing. In such cases those groups receive a very
tempered admonishment by way of the obvious contrast
with groups who were able to determine and deliver therequested information in a timely manner.

then at the ground, then at the table… It goes on and on,
going nowhere, with the questioner simply waiting for ananswerwhile

hisfriendsuffers

terrible

The exercise is ideal in that it makes a clear

anxiety,request and has a single goal, it’s fast and easy tounwaveringly determined to not admit that he doesn’t

repeat, and can elicit genuinely interesting information. I

know, but unable to find anything whatsoever to say.

have a number of such easy questions prepared and canpractice it as an exercise until the answers comeStudents more often than not laugh verysatisfyingly at my scratchy representation of familiarclassroom “rules” being juxtaposed onto a casual friendly
context. My point, and I demonstrate it often in thefollowing few weeks, is that I am a teacher thatwelcomes “I don’t know” because the rules of ordinary
conversation apply, and thus anxiety over not knowing

promptly. Carrying it out to a satisfying point also
provides a reference for any time later in the semester
when eliciting answers fails: I am able to remind students
that they managed to discover and convey who had thenext birthday, who lives furthest from the university, or
who has the largest number of cousins, proving that
arriving at and communicating an answer is achievable.

an answer is both unnecessary and unwelcome.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

193

3)
Be prepared to make an impact—
judiciously

the most minimal effort, and an absurdly disproportionate
fear of something utterly harmless held them back.

Occasionally, non-communicative classroom habits reemerge egregiously during a semester. At such times, it
may be appropriate to make it clear to students, subtly or
not-so-subtly, that their behaviour is at odds with thelowest benchmarksof reasonableness. Judiciously

making a strong impact can have long-lasting benefits.

4)
Establish elicited answers as a nonnegotiable part of the class
Twenty-five percent of each student’s final score reflects
their ability to respond communicatively to my questions.
This is applied to groups: Each member of a group
receives the same weekly group score with regards to

As an example: I have an vocabulary-learning

elicited responses. Groups change week to week, so

activity that requires that I elicit a short list of random

25% of each student’s score is an average of how wellEnglish words from students for a memory game. So as

their groups responded to my questions each week. If a

to avoid the appearance of cheating, it’s essential thatgroup is unable to give an answer within a reasonable

the students, not I, provide the 12 English words, of any

response time, they lose a point. Just like in regularkind, which I type into a table on the computer (visible on

human interaction, students come to see that there is athe screen). I ask students to simply call out any English

price to pay for prolonged silence and unresponsiveness

word, cat, dog, eat, drink, anything. I await their words,

and that communicative readiness is rewarded— even if

poised at the computer. More often than not, thethe response is “I don’t know.”

response is awkward silence. Again, I request, “Oneword, just one word, any word of English, just one,” andConclusion

wait. This can go on for minutes at a time. At the point of
absurdity, when the collective has irretreivably usurped
any individual’s willingness to speak even a single word,Byutilisingthe

combinationofstrategies

andapproaches outlined here, it appeared that I was
successful in making students feel comfortable enoughI make my point.

to participate in direct teacher-student interaction in the
To my students’ surprise, I have alreadyclassroom. They appeared to have been relieved of the

prepared slides in anticipation of this precise moment. I

familiar anxieties that hold students back and thatswitch to my presentation application, and onto thepresent impediments to a communicative teaching

screen flash the words that I have just been saying:approach. Culture is a powerful force, and students must

“ONE WORD. I am asking you to say ONE WORD.”

be appealed to from multiple angles to examine andSome students squirm or smile as they realise I havequestion certain behavioural norms and be made to feelgotten ahead of them and correctly predicted their non-safe enough to drop certain avoidance strategies. Doing

responsive behaviour. The slides continue: “ONE WORD.

so will allow them to take advantage of modernONE. ONE WORD. SAY ONE WORD.” Often this iscommunicative language teaching approaches. It is inenoughdisproportionate

our students’ interest that we teachers make efforts toresistance to such a minor request having been exposed

to

open

them

up,

their

disabuse them of the anxieties and fears that give rise toas such. At other times, I continue on with the slides I’ve

non-communicative behaviours and to prepare them

prepared, the message getting stronger: “This is ainstead

SPEAKING CLASS. If ONE WORD is too difficult, you

exchanges in English.

for

confident

andcompetentintercultural

WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PASS THIS COURSE.”
Such a measure undeniably errs towards

References

condescension, but the logic is beyond dispute. The

Banks, S. (2016). Behind Japanese students’ silence instudents are confronted with an uncomfortable truth: The

English classrooms. Accents Asia, 8(2), 54-75.

awkwardness of the preceding few minutes of reluctanceand silence, which their teacher was able to predict,Brown, R. A. (2004). Learning consequences of fear of

hinged entirely upon their unwillingness to rise to evennegative evaluation and modesty for Japanese EFL
students. The Language Teacher, 28(1), 15-17.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

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Harumi, S. (2011). Classroom silence: Voices from

McVeigh, B. J. (2001). Higher education, apathy, andJapanese EFL learners. ELT Journal, 65(3), 260-269.

post-meritocracy. The Language Teacher, 25(10),29-32.

Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010).
Cultures and organizations: Software of the Mind

Miller, T. (1995). Japanese learners’ reactions to(3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

communicative English lessons. JALT Journal, 17(1),31-52.
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The 2018 PanSIG Journal

195

Menus, Movie Clips, and Online Restaurant Review Websites: Exploring
Authentic Materials via a Restaurant Unit
Justin Pool
Osaka Kyoiku University
Teachers are generally encouraged to integrate authentic materials into the curriculum. This essay
explores how that can be done in the context of a unit focusing on a restaurant. The authentic materials
introduced include movie clips, restaurant menus, and online restaurant review websites. Furthermore,this essay goes beyond the typical definition of authentic materials simply being those materials, which
are made by the L2 community for the L2 community for a specific social purpose. The author assertsthat there are four additional conditions: In order for authentic materials to be truly authentic, they mustnot be selected or altered for pedagogical purposes, they must be used in their natural context and theyought to be used for their original social purpose. In addition, this paper describes many of the benefitsof using authentic materials while still urging teachers to give priority to pedagogical goals.

一般的に教師はカリキュラムにオーセンティックな教材を取り入れることが推奨されている。この論文
は、それがレストランに焦点を当てた単元においてどのようになされるのかを検討したものである。オーセンティックな教材として使用したのは、映像とレストランのメニュー、レストランレビューウェブ
サイトである。加えてこの論文は、単に特別な社会的目的で第二言語のコミュニティーによって第二言語のコミュニティーのために作られたものを教材として扱うというオーセンティックな教材の典型的な定義を超越したものである。著者は、オーセンティックな教材が真にオーセンティックとなるためには、
それが教育的目的のために選択されたり変えられたりしてはならず、自然な文脈で使用されなければならず、本来の社会的目的のために使われるべきだという 4 つの付加的条件があると述べている。さらに、この論文は教師に教育的目的の達成を優先するよう促しつつ、オーセンティックな教材を使用することの数多くの利点を記述している。

Teachers

integratesituations and conditions to practice in. More pertinently,

authentic materials into the curriculum. This notion may

aregenerally

encouragedtoregarding materials, MEXT asserts that “materials should

be reinforced in postgraduate education programs,

be useful in deepening the understanding of the ways ofamong colleagues sharing curriculum choices, or bylife and cultures of foreign countries and Japan, raising

official government standards. The Ministry of Education,interest in language and culture” (p. 8, 2011). Authentic

Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) stops

materials are perhaps the most suitable types ofshort of specifically calling for the use of authentic

materials achieve this objective. Considering thesematerials, however, their standards do imply that the use

guidelines and the enhanced access to authenticof them has value. For instance, MEXT recommends

materials brought about by the continued spread of thethat students “should be able to perform language

Internet, this practice-oriented essay seeks to investigate

activities in which they have to think about how to

the nature of authentic materials and show how to

express themselves in a way appropriate to a specificintegrate authentic materials into a restaurant unit of ansituation and condition” (p. 3, 2011). Authentic materials

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course. It defines

are a logical way to create opportunities to create such

authentic materials not within a binary paradigm

The 2018 PanSIG Journal196

(authentic vs. inauthentic), but rather as a spectrum inon pedagogical purposes in a pattern inconsistent fromwhich authenticity is measured by the extent to which

what s/he would receive within the L2 community.

authentic materials fulfill various characteristics ofauthenticity in practice. This paper will also include a
discussion on the value of authentic materials.

They must not be altered for pedagogical
purposes.
When teachers cannot find materials that are completely
suitable to their students’ needs, many will take a

Defining Authentic Materials

genuine material and simplify it, add target language, or

The many definitions of authentic materials tend toamend it in some other way that leads to a pedagogicalrevolve around the ideas that they are materials

end.

produced not for pedagogic purposes (Nunan, 1989;

authenticity.

Wallace, 1992), but rather by the L2 community for theintended consumption of the L2 community (Morrow,
1977; Harmer, 1983), and for a specific social purpose(Little & Singleton, 1988; Peacock, 1997). However,merely fulfilling these characteristics is not sufficient forauthenticity. Widdowson coined the term ‘genuineness’
to refer to this level of authenticity. Distinguishing
between the two terms, Widdowson (1978) said,“genuineness is characteristic of the passage itself andis an absolute quality. Authenticity is a characteristic of
the relationship between the passage and the reader
and it has to do with appropriate response (p. 80).

With

each

amendment,thematerial

loses

They must be used in their natural context.
In most cases, the materials that language teachers aretaking from the L2 community to be used in theirclassroom are being presented in a decontextualizedstate. A restaurant menu comes without the additionalsignage in the restaurant, knowledge of the type ofrestaurant, the clientele, or numerous other factors thatwould alter the linguistic reality of the situation. Similarly,
an excerpt from a book that is distributed to students
does not allow them to understand the overarchingcontext of the entire book, nor the culture from which itcame. While the teacher could take pains to explain the

Using Widdowson’s distinction, I would like tocontext of any material being used, the learner is notfurther explore the necessary conditions for materials

receiving the full authentic experience. The advent ofused in the classroom to be considered authentic.

online communities has made it possible for learners to

Beyond being produced by the L2 community for the L2

engage more fully in certain texts where much of thecommunity for a specific purpose, I would like tocontext is located within the online community itself.

introduce four more conditions for materials to truly beconsidered authentic. They must 1) not be selected forpedagogical purposes, 2) not be altered for pedagogical
purposes, 3) be used in their natural context, and 4)
serve the social purpose they were intended to serve.

They must serve the social purpose they
were intended to serve.
Returning to the example of a restaurant menu, we must
recognize that each text has a social purpose. In thiscase, a menu is used as a means for appraising food

They must not be selected for pedagogical
purposes.

and drink choices at a restaurant and selecting the

In real life situations, language learners will not have

However, when a language learner uses a menu,

simpler, level-appropriate language materials chosen forregardless of whether it is from an actual restaurant orthem. They will need to make meaning from thenot, s/he does so with no expectation of receiving any

language surrounding them as they traverse various

food or drinks. The menu is genuine, but the interaction

situations in the L2 community. Billboards, menus, andwith the text is not authentic. Texts serve functions and if

radio traffic reports are rarely made with the language

learners are not using the texts to perform thoselearner’s interests in mind. Therefore, even if thefunctions then the experience is not authentic.

desired items to be brought out for consumption.

materials that a teacher has selected are genuine L2
artifacts, the very act of curating materials at anaccessible level for the student reduces the authenticityof the material. The learner is receiving materials based

Viability and Value of Authenticity
The list of conditions needing to be fulfilled in order for amaterial to be truly authentic is exceedingly difficult to

The 2018 PanSIG Journal197

achieve, if not impossible. It is perhaps more valuable toprocessing

look at degrees of authenticity rather than viewing

ambiguities or to select between alternative possible

authenticity as a binary entity. While it is nearlyinterpretations of the incoming data” (p. 221). They note

impossible to truly recreate authentic experiences withthat especially proficient learners are encouraged toauthentic materials, lessons may become enhanced

engagewhen bearing elements of authenticity.

processing.

in

helps

more

the

listeners/readersconceptually

driventoresolve

top-down

Although we may not be able to replicate in

Finally, Yashima (2013) points out that “it isabsolute terms authentic materials in the classroom,

crucial for learners to be able to imagine or visualize thethere is great value in providing learners with texts andtarget community they are relating to in order to develop

opportunities that come close. This notion is supported

intercultural

by Bacon & Finneman (1980), who noted, “learning toauthentic materials in an authentic way allows learners

deal with authentic input is the true measure of language

the opportunity to imagine themselves as part of the

proficiency” (1980, as cited in Ciccone, 1995, p. 204).

target community. Learners can imagine themselves incompetence”

(p.

35).

InteractingwithL2 contexts and increase their understanding of what it
There are numerous benefits to using authentic
materials. One of the most important may be that thesetypes of materials can instill confidence in the learners

means to interact with a particular L2 culture and how
they want to position themselves in regard to that L2
culture.

that they can successfully engage with real English.
Simply realizing that they can cope with real English canbe motivating for students (Cross, 1984). This may be

Authentic Materials in a Restaurant Unit

especially important in Japan, where English language

In accordance with the premise of this essay, four sets oflearners may not get as many opportunities to interact

authentic materials for use in a restaurant unit will bewith real English due to it being taught as a foreign

presented. None of these materials are completely

language rather than a second language and the fact

authentic in perfect alignment with the conditions statedthat many schools still focus on explicit grammar

above. It is nearly impossible to use an authentic

instruction and university test preparation (Kikuchi &material in a fully authentic manner. Instead, we must

Sakai, 2009).

look at the various benefits offered by authentic

Another benefit is that learners can learn
language that actually exists out in the wild, rather thanmerely textbook English and the grammatical structuresthat rarely exist outside of entrance examinations. There
are many idioms and nonstandard forms of language
use that exist throughout all English-speaking cultures.
Understanding these phrases can help the learner tobetter understand the culture and to communicate withgreater nuance and ease.

authentic way can also lead to top-down processing. As
previously mentioned, a lot of English education in Japanhistoricallyreliedusing materials with the highest degree of authenticity
that we can. Classroom use of authentic materials is not
the goal, but rather a vehicle that helps to drive learners
toward the goal of being able to use the language andcultural knowledge for their own needs beyond theclassroom. As Senior (2005) asserts, teachers using
authentic materials “need to have a clear pedagogic goalin mind: what precisely they want students to learn fromthese materials” (p. 71). When possible, the teacher

The interaction with authentic materials in an

hasmaterials and figure out how to achieve those benefitsonteaching

vocabularyusingbottom-up

Eisterhold(1988)

definegrammarmethods.

bottom-up

Carrel

and

and
and

top-down

processing as follows: “Bottom-up processing ensuresthat the listeners/readers will be sensitive to informationthat is novel or that does not fit their ongoing hypotheses
about the content or structure of the text; top-down

should use authentic materials that 1) further thepedagogic goals of the class; 2) activate background
schema in the learners; 3) provide an interesting andaccurate glimpse into the target culture; 4) afford
learners the opportunity to use the target language in ameaningful way when interacting with it; 5) be used withthe same goals and purposes as it is normally used; and
6) allow for interaction with the target culture. While not
all of these characteristics can be attained with each useof authentic materials, those that embody many of the

The 2018 PanSIG Journal198

characteristics are likely to increase the probability that

Both of these videos are posted online as

the materials will be well-received and resulting in

homework to grant students the ability to watch and re-

successful lessons.

watch at their own pace. Learners engage in an online
discussion based on the following questions:Cultural comparison of restaurant scenes
via movie clips
To introduce the topic of restaurants, I try to activate

Movie

Discussion Questions

Tampopo1.

students’ background schema of restaurants in Japan

What does the youngest member dothat is considered bad in Japanese

while simultaneously preparing them for the notion that

culture?

the act of eating at a restaurant may not be completely2.

the same abroad. First, I show learners a clip of arestaurant scene from the movie, Tampopo (1985). In

Is this type of scene still a part ofJapanese culture?

this scene (JonathanBX, 2008), a group of Japanese3.

businessmen file into a French restaurant. The youngest

What would you have done if you
were the young man?

worker commits multiple social mistakes in this scene.
He casually attempts to sit down before his seniors andBluesis held up by the scruff of his collar to make sure he does

Brothers

1.

What are some of the things these
two men do that are considered

not finish the offensive blunder. The waiter goes to therude?

most senior member of the group and asks if he is ready2.

to order. Unable to read the French menu, he simply

Are some of the things consideredsays he wants something light. The next oldest member

rude in the United States but notalso defers. Finally, the third oldest, who is able to

Japan?

understand the menu, orders something that he believes

3.

fits the cues that the eldest member of the company

from restaurants in Japan?

desires. The eldest member of the company orders theexact same food, as does everyone else until the waiter

Table 1. Discussion questions for each movie scene.

reaches the youngest member of the group. He asks thewaiter probing questions showing off his knowledge ofFrench cuisine and wine.

How is this restaurant style different

The pedagogic goal of this activity is not a
timed assessment of cultural understanding. Instead, it ismeant to instigate fruitful discussion. Both Japanese andA link is posted to the video on the class

English are permitted in the discussion to ensurewebsite with a list of discussion questions. I ask thelearners the ability to share their thoughts. The

students to talk about what the young man did thatpedagogic goals are to activate schema and to get

violates rules of Japanese culture, if they notice anything

students to think about what is unique about restaurant

else in the video that reflects Japanese culture, any

culture in Japan and what may be different when eatingideas they have of other ways eating out in Japan may

abroad. This also offers learners who have experience

be unique from eating at a restaurant in another country.

eating abroad to contribute their own funds of knowledge(Moll, 1992) to the class. Educators can read the online

The second scene was a restaurant scene

discussions,highlight

andexpandupon

student

from an American movie, The Blues Brothers (1980). In

contributions, and correct any misunderstandings inthis scene (THESSALONIAN31N, 2014), the two mainclass.

characters are trying to create a disruption in a fancy
restaurant in order to embarrass the maître de so he

Restaurant Menu

quits his job and rejoins their band. Students are asked

As previously stated, the use of a genuine restaurant

to list their various rude behaviors and to use theirmenu in a classroom does not lead to an authentic

background knowledge and the video to guess how

experience. Students engaging in a restaurant role playeating at a restaurant in the United States is different

are not using the menus because they are hungry orfrom eating at a restaurant in Japan.

want to meet with friends over drinks and theirinteractions with the role-playing waiters, who are not

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

199

performing their task to receive wages, will not produce

activities, I increase learners’ genre awareness of online

any food or drinks. Short of finding a nearby restaurant

written restaurant reviews and assign their entrance into

owned by English speakers in Japan who do not

the online community of one of either Yelp or TripAdvisor,

understand Japanese, it is unviable to create a truly

interactive websites that host user-produced restaurant

authentic experience. However, there is still value inreviews. Learners are introduced to the online written

using genuine restaurant menus, especially when therestaurant review websites, Yelp and TripAdvisor. Most

alternative is the over-simplified types of menus often

students are already familiar with the concept due to thefound in English textbooks. The menu I use in my

popularity of similar websites in Japan, such as Tabelog.

classrooms is from the American restaurant, Cheddar’s

The instructor chooses four popular restaurants in Japan

Scratch Kitchen (2017). This specific menu was selectedthat the students are likely to be aware of. The students

for pedagogic reasons. While this further reduces theread one restaurant review selected by the teacher fromauthenticity, the pedagogical goals of the course

each restaurant and in groups try to figure out whatsupersede the level of authenticity of materials used. In

restaurant the review was discussing. This activity

this case, the menu was used because it 1) offers many

encourages learners to engage in top-down processing

dishes typical to American restaurants, 2) does not use

and focus on the meaning of the text over the structure.

many words or phrases coined by that particularIt

restaurant, 3) has descriptions of each item to aid

understanding words based on context. For example,

comprehension, and 4) existed on the website as an

one of the restaurant reviews contains the phrase “quaileasy-to-print pdf file.

eggs”. Before beginning the activity, very few students

also

helps

to

developtheimportant

skill

of

know this word, but after seeing the term in the context
To prepare for use of the restaurant menu,
learners first do a teacher-created worksheet that goes
through a typical restaurant role play. Students look at ateacher-created menu that is more complex than most
textbook menus, but simpler than the genuine Cheddar’smenu. The teacher prepares a presentation with picturesof the different types of food, introduces common
restaurant phrases, and learn about various systemsof a review of a restaurant that they were familiar with,nearly all students could understand the meaning of thephrase. Finally, this activity introduces students to theactual idioms and nonstandard English written in morecasual genres. Students come into phrases like “Thisrestaurant is the bomb” or “I went to this restaurant withmy bff.” A short discussion can ensue about when andhow such language is used.

common to American restaurants (tipping, choosing side
items, etc.). After performing a practice role play with the

Writing online restaurant reviews

simplified menus, learners then are given the Cheddar’sUsing Yelp or TripAdvisor to share restaurant reviews in

Scratch Kitchen menus. They are given ten minutes toEnglish is perhaps the most authentic use of English inlook over the menus and to research on their phones orthis essay. Learners are creating their own authentic

to ask the teacher about anything they do notmaterials by entering the L2 community and creating

understand. Questions are shared with the entire classcontent posted for the consumption of that community.

toanStudents choose a local restaurant that they want toimprovised restaurant role play using the language andreview and write a review. By writing about their own

cultural knowledge they have acquired using the genuine

experiences, Perl (1980a) found that students write withmenus.

greater fluency and satisfaction (pp. 30-31). Additionally,

ensureunderstanding.

Then,

learnersdothe students are afforded the opportunity to write for a

Reading online restaurant reviews
In addition to using authentic materials such as videos
and restaurant menus, it is important to show students
the access they have to various types of authentic
materials and target language communities online.
Actively participating in such communities can pushlearners toward longer-term entry into the target
language and culture (Blake, 2011). In these next two

specific audience. As Zamel (1982) asserts, “students
should learn to view their writing as someone else’s
reading” (p. 165). Any English-speaking traveler whocomes to the region and searches for a restaurant to eat
at may read their review or, at the very least, take into
account their rating. Incorporating online authentic
materials into a curriculum can result “in environments
where learning [is] independent, social and student-

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

200

owned (Erbaggio et al., 2012; p. 30). Writing restaurant

https://cheddars.com/wp-content/uploads/images/pdfmenus/EDv18_10_17.pdf

reviews cultivates confidence in students that they can
not only passively observe and understand the language,
but also that they can actively engage in the community

Ciccone, A.A. (1995). Teaching with authentic video:
Theory and practice. In F.R. Eckman, J. Mileham, R.

and provide something of value to it.

Rutkowski Weber, D. Highland, & P.W. Lee (Eds.),
Second Language Acquisition Theory and Pedagogy.

Conclusion

Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,

Pool (2018) used the analogy of viewing animals in azoo versus in the wild to compare classes taught
exclusively with a textbook to the use of authentic
materials. If you knew nothing about a lion and went to
the zoo, you would get a distorted view of the majestic
beast’s nature. You may watch one in isolation pacing
back and forth in its constricted confines or lazing the
day away in apathy. Only by viewing the animal in its
natural habitat and seeing how it interacts in its natural
setting can you truly understand and appreciate it.

Inc.
Cross, D. (1984). News and activity in the media. In B.
Jones (Ed.), Using authentic resources in teaching
French. London: Centre for Information on Language
Teaching and Research, 19-28.
Erbaggio, P., Gopolakrishnan, S., Hobbs, S., & Liu, H.
(2012). Enhancing student engagement throughonline authentic materials. The IALLT Journal, 42 (2).
27-51.

Similarly, authentic materials give learners a glimpse of
the language in its natural setting and that allows for
greater understanding.
Authentic

Harmer, J. (1991). The Practice of English Language
Teaching. London, England: Longman.

materials

instilllearnerswith

Itami, J., Hosogoe, S., Tamaoki Y. (Producers) & Itami, J.

confidence, aid in top-down processing, and provide(Director). (1985). Tampopo [Motion Picture]. Japan:

learners access to the target language and culture. Thus,

Toho.

the use of authentic materials in authentic ways has a
net positive outcome. Yet, the issue is muddled by thenumerous

conditions

requiredtomakeauthentic

materials truly authentic. Rather than simply focusing on
accumulating materials that contain a higher degree ofauthenticity, we ought to reflect upon our pedagogicalgoals and decide how and when authentic materials canhelp us to achieve them.

JonathanBX.
Restaurant(2008,

May

17).

Scene.

TampopoRetrieved

Frenchfrom:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcMaZLiqVpI
Kikuchi, K. & Sakai, H. (2009). Japanese learners’
demotivation to study English: A survey study. JALT
Journal, 31 (2). 183-204.
Little, D.G. & Singleton, D.M. (1988). Authentic materials

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195-

202

The purposes of images in ELT textbooks reexamined
Cameron Romney
Doshisha University
Previous research into the roles images play in language learning textbooks have largely focused on abinary classification system of either decorative or useful (Hill, 2003; Romney & Bell, 2012, Roohani &Shari, 2015), but researchers have noted that this system seems inadequate (Romney & Bell, 2012;
Romney, 2012). This paper reports the results of using the three-category classification system ofdecorative, instructional and supportive proposed by Romney (2017). Images in three ELT textbooks
were analyzed. Results show that the majority of images were neither decorative nor instructional, butwere connected to the content and may help reinforce learning. These types of images are bestclassified as supportive, demonstrating the need for a more robust classification system.

言語学習の教科書において画像の果たす役割に関する以前の研究では、装飾目的またはあるいは有用性の 2 つのいずれか判断することに主に焦点を置いていたが(Hill, 2003; Romney & Bell, 2012, Roohani &Shari, 2015)、研究者らはこのシステムは不適切であると指摘している(Romney & Bell, 2012; Romney,2012). この論文では 装飾的、指示的、補佐的という 3 つのカテゴリーの分類システム(Romney, 2017)
を用いた研究結果を報告する。3 つの ELT 教科書の画像を分析した。結果、画像の大部分の意図は装飾的でも指示的でもなく、教科書の内容に関連しており、学習を強化するのに役立つ可能性があることを示した。このタイプの画像は、補佐的な分類に最も多く所属しており、より堅牢な分類システムが必要であることが実証されてた。

ELT textbooks are increasingly becoming more multi-

this question by trying to determine if the images foundmodal and contain more images than ever before. In thein three ELT textbooks were just decoration or if they

past textbooks were mostly text with small images

had any connection to the content and thus contributed

inserted here and there; now textbooks often feature

to learning.

large

photographs

with

small

snippetsoftext

superimposed on them. These new full-color, vivid,
visually rich ELT coursebooks have been likened to

Image purposes in ELT Coursebooks

magazines (Bowler, 2004) with Cook (2013) going so far

One of the first people to look at the role that images

as to describe recent ELT textbooks being more likeplay in ELT coursebooks was David A. Hill. In two“fliers for takeaway food” (p. 304) than textbooks. So

studies, one in 2003 and a follow-up in 2013, hewhat are teachers and students to make of this? Many

reviewed images in general English textbooks used inteachers have expressed concern that images can be

Britain using a twofold coding system of decorative anddistracting (Evans, Watson & Willows, 1987; Petrie,

useful. In his 2013 study he explained that he coded

2003; Clark & Lyons, 2011) and some students haveimages as useful if students used the image to doresisted graphics in ELT materials (Tang, 1991). As

something, for example “finding objects from a written list

Prowse (2011) asks, is the ever growing number andin the picture” (p. 177) and decorative for everything else.

size of images increasing the “effectiveness of learning,

In 2003 he found that 55% of the images wereor merely insuring that one book is purchased rather

decoration and 45% were useful; in 2013 he found thatthan another?” (p. 162). This study attempts to answer

47% of the images were useful and 53% of the images

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

203

were

decorative

representing

only

a

small

2%

representation. By applying Levin, et al.’s (1987)

adjustment towards useful, but still an overwhelming

typology Romney and Bell (2014) were able to reduce

majority of images in the studies were coded as

the number of images classified as decorative to 577

decoration.

representing 25% of the total, a significant reduction.
However, they still felt that there was more to the

Romney and Bell (2012) working off of Hill’s(2003) study looked at 15 Business English textbooks
using a similar binary coding system. They coded
images as either being instructional or decorative. Theirremaining 577 decorative images than just being merely
ornamentation and wondered if there was not still a more
descriptive way to understand how images are used inlanguage learning materials.

determining factor was similar to that of Hill (2013). If
there were instructions to the student to use the image it

Roohani and Shari (2015) analyzed two ELT

was instructional and if there were no instructions it wascoursebooks used in Iran. They found, unlike Hill (2003

decorative. Romney and Bell (2012) found that 73% of& 2013) and Romney and Bell (2012 & 2014) that only

the images were decorative and just 27% were

8% of the images were decoration and 92% were useful.

instructional, again showing that the majority of images

However,in coursebooks were only decoration. However, they felt

decorative images as not having “a strong associationthat there should be a third category between the two

with the instructional content” (p. 16) and coded images

categories for images that did not ask the students tothat had any kind of connection to the text, whether there

directly use it for a learning activity, but were connected

were instructions to the students to use the image or not,to the text and might help students to better understandas useful. The two examples shown in their study would

the content, activate schema, etc.

have been coded by both Hill (2003 & 2013) and

they

used

Lohr’s

(2003)

definitionofRomney and Bell (2012) as decorative.
Again in 2012 Romney, working solo, tried toaddress this issue of a third category by applying J. R.

In summary, the three studies by both Hill

Levin’s (1981) typology of images in learning materials to(2003 & 2013) and Romney and Bell (2012) found athree general ELT coursebooks. Levin’s (1981) typology,

large

while not specifically created for language learning

coursebooks they reviewed and expressed concern thatmaterials, but for all types of learning materials, consists

these types of images were not the most effective.

of eight possible roles: decoration,

remuneration,

Romney (2012) and Romney and Bell (2014) tried tomotivation,organization,

resolve this concern by applying Levin, et al.’s (1981 &interpretation and transformation. Romney (2012) found1987) typologies but met with only limited success.

that images in ELT coursebooks could be organized

Roohani and Shari (2015) revised the definition ofusing Levin’s (1981) typology, as he found images for all

decorative and were able to more or less resolve thebutissue of too many decorative images but were only ablethereiteration,

representation,transformational

category,

including308

decorative images (18% of the total), but he felt that thisnumberofdecorative

images

in

the

ELT

to do so by using the broadest definition of useful.

typology still lacked conciseness and that language
learning

presented

some

uniquechallenges

Therefore, in 2017 Romney proposed, but did

notaddressed by Levin (1981).

not test, a new three category, four role typology ofimages in ELT coursebooks. He advanced the idea thatIn 2014 in an attempt to reduce the 73% ofimagescanbeeitherdecorative,

supportive,

orimages in business English coursebooks they classified

instructional. His new typology is based in part on aas decorative, Romney and Bell looked again at thethree category typology suggested, but undescribed, by

1655 decorative images and applied Levin, Anglin, &Jones (n.d.) of decorative, supporting and central.

Carney’s (1987) revised typology. Levin, et al. (1987)

Additionally, this new typology uses a more refined

reduced the purposes of images in learning materials

definition of decorative images by applying both Lhor’s

from eight to five by combining the decoration,(2003) definition of decorative, used by Roohani andremuneration and motivation categories to decoration

Shari (2015), as well as Clark and Lyon’s (2011)

and the reiteration and representation categories todefinition of decorative images. He proposed that

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

204

decorative images should be defined as images that do

and Bell, (2012) and Roohani and Shari (2015) havenot contribute to language learning in any way. He

done.

further suggested that instructional images, much likethat of Hill’s (2003 & 2013) useful and Romney andBell’s (2012) instructional, are images that have

Methodology

instructions to the student and/or teacher for using the

The images found in three general English coursebooks

image for learning. New to his typology was the third
category of supportive images. These are images that

commonly available in Japan published by international
publishers were studied: Empower B1+ (Doff, Thaine,provide support to the learning by being connected to the

Puchta, Stranks & Lewis-Jones, 2015), Top Notch 2

content “by offering context or by providing another(Saslow & Ascher, 2015), and World English 3 (Chase &channel for information reception” (Romney, 2017, p.

Johannsen, 2015b) . All three coursebooks were275).

reported by the publisher to be at the CEFR B1(intermediate) level, and all three were published in 2015,
Romney (2017) further breaks down supportive

images into two sub-categories of weakly supportive andthe most recent year available at the time of datacollection.

strongly supportive. Weakly supportive images might
include things like an image of a person on the phone

The study used the three category, four roleaccompanying a script of a telephone conversation. An

typology proposed by Romney (2017). Images in theimage like this, while related to the content, does notcoursebooks could be categorized as either: decorative,

provide students with much information unless they doweakly supportive, strongly supportive, or instructional.

not know what a telephone is or they have never used
one. Strongly supportive images, on the other hand,provide significant context and “an additional modality forunderstanding” (Romney, 2017, p. 275). For example, if
students are reading an article about sightseeing in New
York and included with the article are images of thesightseeing spots they are reading about, students would
be better able to understand what they have read.

Each textbook was surveyed page-by-page,
image-by-image. For each image encountered thefollowingquestionswere

asked:First,

are

there

instructions to the student or teacher to use the image ina learning task or activity? If the answer was “yes” thenthe image was coded as instructional and the survey
moved to the next image. If the answer was “no” anadditional question, “does the image support the

The study described in this paper tests thelearning?” was asked. If the answer was “no” the image

three category, four role typology proposed by Romney

was coded as “decorative” and the survey moved to the(2017) by reviewing images in three ELT coursebooks

next image. If the answer was “yes” the image wasmuch in the same way that Hill (2003 & 2013), Romneycoded as strongly supportive. If the answer was “maybe,”

Figure 1: A graphical representation of the methodology
The 2018 PanSIG Journal

205

“indirectly,” or “somewhat” the image was coded as

images being instructional. If both instructional images“weakly supportive” and the survey moved to the next

and strongly supportive images can be seen to impact

image. Figure 1 demonstrates the process graphically.

learning, than combining these two categories together
to form a super category yields nearly 83% of images inTable 1: A Summary of Results
Decorative

WeaklyStrongly

Instructional

Total

Empower B1+

0

58

81

220

359

Top Notch 2

5

77

298

89

469

World English 3

3

37

89

67

196

8

172

468

376

1024

Table 2: Comparison to Previous Research
Not Beneficial

Beneficial

W. Supportive +Useful and/or

S. Supportive +Decorative

Decorative

Instructional

Instructional

Hill (2003)

55%

n/a

45%

n/a

Romney & Bell (2012)

73%

n/a

27%

n/a

Hill (2013)

53%

n/a

47%

n/a

Roohani and Shari (2015)

8%

n/a

92%

n/a

Current Study

0.8%

17.6%

37%

82.4%

Study

the coursebooks reviewed are beneficial, or useful, toResults

learning. This stands in contrast to previous studies. Hill

In total, 1024 images were reviewed. 359 images from(2003) reporting 45% useful, Romney and Bell (2012)

Empower B1+ (Doff, Thaine, Puchta, Stranks & Lewis-

27% instructional, Hill (2013) 47% useful. Furthermore,

Jones, 2015); 469 images from Top Notch 2 (Saslow &this result is similar to Roohani and Shari (2015) who

Ascher, 2015), and 196 images from World English 3

found roughly 92% of the graphics to be useful.

(Chase & Johannsen, 2015b). Eight images were coded
as decorative, 172 images were coded as weakly
supportive,

468

images

were

coded

as

strongly

supportive and 376 images were coded as instructional.
These results are summarized in Table 1.

In contrast, roughly 17% of the images wereweakly supportive and less than 1% were coded as
decorative. Combining these two categories together toa super category, roughly 18% of the images were notbeneficial, or only slightly beneficial, for learning. Onceagain this stands in contrast to previous studies: Hill

Discussion(2003) 55% decorative, Romney and Bell (2012) 73%

The first thing that this data set indicates is that thedecorative, Hill (2013) 53% decorative. However, it ismajority of images in these coursebooks, 46% of thesimilar to Roohani and Shari (2015) who calculated that

total, are strongly supportive followed by 37% of theroughly 8% of the graphics in the two books theyThe 2018 PanSIG Journal

206

reviewed

tobedecorative.

These

resultsaresummarized in Table 2.

decorative images than before, it would be necessary toreview the same coursebook overtime as it has changed.
For example, to take the first edition of the coursebook

These results indicate two possibilities: First,
that the instruments used to measure the roles of images
in language learning are getting more sophisticated.
Second, that publishers are less likely to use images that
do not support learning. First, the instruments used tomeasure the purposes of images in ELT coursebooks
are more sophisticated. Hill (2003 & 2013), Romney andBell (2012) and Roohani and Shari (2015) used only
binary coding. This study had four possible outcomes forimages. However, the outcome categories can be
combined into two meta-categories, decorative/weakly

and compare it to the second, third, and so on, editions.
Additionally writers, editors, and designers could beinterviewed about the process of image selection. Whochose the image? How it was chosen? Why was it
chosen? Et cetera. Prowse (2011) notes that while someauthors have complained about their lack of contribution
to the visual design, there has been an increasingawareness that the visual design of a coursebook is an
important part of its commercial success and that
authors are more likely to take an active role now thenbefore.

supportive and strongly supportive/instructional, thereby
essentially making the current study also a binary survey

Finally, it is tempting to write off decorative

albeit a more sophisticated one. However, weakly

images and weakly supportive images as useless and a

supportive images are not strictly decorative. While theywaste of space, but as Tomlinson (2011) rightly notes

do not support learning in a clear and direct manner,that language learning materials should have an impact

they do relate to learning and are not completely without

on the learners and should make learners feel at easejustification.

and including images in materials is one way toaccomplish both of these goals. Furthermore, it is not

It

is

also

important

to

note

that

the

categorization of weakly supportive is subjective. A
picture of a person talking on a telephone next to ascripted conversation of a phone call may not activate astudent’s schema, or provide useful comprehension
clues, but it is not unrelated. In fact, for certain students

just language learning materials that are becoming morevisual, but all types of written communication, whether it
is web log posts or graphic novels, students these days
are more accustomed to visually rich materials (Lai,2010) and many students expect their language learning
coursebooks to be so (Brinton, 2014).

it might very well aid in their ability to understand theconversation. It is the subjective projection of theresearcher that the image may not be very helpful to anConclusion

average student. To truly test the notion of whether orThis study, in contrast to other studies, has shown that

not images can be either strongly or weakly supportive ofimages in ELT textbooks are less likely to be merely

learning would require feedback from students as todecorative and to have at least some connection to, andwhether or not they found the image useful.

purpose for, language learning. It suggests that the more

Second, while the outcome category of weakly
supportive does suggest that the image was primarily
included to fill-up space or to increase the visual appealof the coursebook, the image is not completely divorced
from the content, and, as noted above, may in fact berobust typology proposed by Romney (2017) is moreaccurate and useful for analyzing the images found in
ELT coursebooks. Finally, that teachers, administrators,
and students should be encouraged that the everincreasing visuals in ELT coursebooks are not justdecoration and serve to improve student outcomes.

useful for some students. This, therefore, does provide ajustification, albeit a limited justification, for its inclusionand suggests that publishers are less likely to use

References

images that are purely decorative. This, once again,

Bowler, B. (2004, March 18). Magazine looks lose theirstands in sharp contrast to previous studies that foundgloss.

the majority of images in coursebooks were decorative.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/mar/18

To truly test the hypothesis that publishers are using less/tefl3.

The

Guardian

Online.

Retrieved

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Brinton, D. M. (2014). Tools and techniques of effective

Levin, J. R., Anglin, G. J., & Carney R. N. (1987). On

second/foreign language teaching. In M. Celce-

empirically validating functions of pictures in prose.

Murcia, D. M. Brinton & Snow, M. A. (Eds.),

In D. M. Willows and H. A. Houghton (eds.) The

Teaching English as a second or foreign language

psychology of illustration, volume 1: basic research.

(4th ed.) (pp. 340-361). Boston, MA: National

New York: Springer-Verlag.

Geographic Learning.
Lohr, L. (2003). Creating graphics for learning andChase, R. T., & Johannsen, K. (2015). World English 3(2nd ed.). Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning.
Clark, R. C., & Lyons, C. (2011). Graphics for learning.
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performance: Lessons in visual literacy. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Petrie, M. (2003). ESL teachers’ views on visuallanguage: A grounded theory. The reading matrix,
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Cook, V. (2013). Materials for adult beginners from an L2
user perspective. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.) Developing

Prowse, P. (2011). How writers write. In B. Tomlinson

materials for language teaching (2nd ed.) (pp. 289-

(Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (2308). London, U.K.: Bloomsbury.

ed., pp. 151-173). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge
University Press.

Doff, A., Thaine, C., Putcha, H., Stranks, J., & LewisJones, P. (2015). Empower B1+. Cambridge, U.K.:
Cambridge University Press.

Romney, C. (2012). Images in ELT textbooks: Are they
just decoration? In A. Stewart & N. Sonoda (Eds.),
JALT2011 Conference Proceedings (pp. 27- 33).

Evans, M. A., Watson, C., & Willows, D. M. (1987). A

Tokyo Japan: JALT.

Naturalistic inquiry into illustrations in instructional
texts. In D. M. Willows & H. A. Houghton (Eds.), The

Romney, C. (2017). Considerations for using images in

psychology of illustration, volume 2: Instructional

teacher made materials. In G. Brookes (Ed.), The

issues (pp. 86-115). New York: Springer-V erlag.

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Hill, D. A. (2003). The visual elements in EFL
coursebooks. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.) Developing

Romney, C., & Bell, L. (2012). The role of graphics inmaterials for language teaching (pp. 174-182).

business English textbooks. In K. Bradford- Watts, R.

London, England: Continuum.

Chartrand,

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Conference Proceedings (pp. 210-219). Matsumoto,Hill, D. A. (2013). The visual elements in EFLJapan: JALT.

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Romney, C., & Bell, L. (2014, August 15). Is a picture
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writing(unpublishede-book).

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England: ELT teacher 2 writer.
Roohani, A, & Shari , M. (2015). Evaluating visualLai, A. (2010) Teaching with images. The innovative
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Retrievedfromelements in two EFL textbooks. Indonesian Journalof Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 68-77.

http://www.cer.jhu.edu/ii/innovinstructbp_usingimages.pdf

Saslow, J., & Ascher, A. (2015). Top Notch 2 (3rd Ed.).
New York, NY: Pearson Education ESL.

Levin, J. R. (1981). On functions of pictures in prose. In.
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Author biography
Cameron Romney has taught ESL/EFL in both the United States and Japan for over 20 years. He holds an MA in
Applied Linguistics from the University of Colorado at Denver and a graduate certificate in Instructional Design from the
University of Wisconsin Stout. His primary research interest is how the visual elements of language learning materials
contribute to, or detract from, learning. In 2018 he was an assistant professor in the Global Communications Faculty ofDoshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

209

In-house Journals as a Form of Program Development
Matthew Y. Schaefer
Rikkyo University

Jamie Lesley
Rikkyo University
In-house journals are a feature of many university English language departments and centers, providing
teachers with a forum to publish articles primarily of interest to their institutional colleagues. Morespecifically, journals can play an important role in formalizing teachers’ professional development andhopefully help improve the quality of learning for students. This paper will describe the benefits ofproducing an in-house journal from a program development perspective, as well as key steps to follow
when overseeing such a publication. These will be exemplified by a current in-house journal co-edited by
the two authors.

紀要集を出版することは、多くの大学の英語学科や英語センターの特徴である。それは教師たちに論文を出版する場を与えると同時に、主として、供に働く同僚にとっての情報交換の場でもある。特に論文集は教員たちの専門的な成長を明確にするために重要な役割を果たす。それは同輩との共同研究においてや、最終的な目的である学生の学習の質の向上においても有益である。この論文は、プログラム開発の観点から紀要集を作ることの利益について説明する。またそのような出版物を刊行する為の、いくつかの重要な段階について書かれている。この二人の作家によって編集された紀要集を例にして説明している。

It is a common feature of university English language

continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers.

departments,

toDeveloping any of these as a means to strengthening

produce in-house journals as a forum for their members

the program can be conducted in a principled way by

to publish articles. These may cover a variety of topics,

academic managers collecting data through student

including classroom practice, teacher identity, critical

and/or teacher feedback, applying relevant evidence-

issues, and data-based research projects. Writing these

based theory, and implementing manageable changes

as journal articles can be viewed as the final stage in thethat are themselves subject to evaluation.

colleges,andcenters

worldwide

process of formalizing a particular aspect of teachingpractice. And while this may occur as professional
development at the individual level, it is also a way to

Case Study

engage with, and contribute to, the wider language-

In order to exemplify how producing an in-house journal

teaching community.

may contribute to the development of a language
program, the following section describes one such

Program Development can be defined as any

journal that is co-edited by the authors of this paper inaction taken to assess and improve various components

their capacity as program managers. This journal, Newof a program. These components generally consist of

Directions in Teaching and Learning English Discussion

goals and objectives, teaching materials, assessment(hereafter, New Directions…) most overtly addresses theprocedures, and classroom teaching (Brown, 1995). In

development of the teachers’ CPD, although it may also

some cases, the program may also include a system ofaffect other components of the program.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

210

Program Outline

Article Types

To provide context for the New Directions… journal, theThe journal features five sections, the first four of which

program which produces it will first be described. The

directly relate to the different types of CPD projects that

Center for English Discussion Class (EDC) (Hurling,

EDC instructors may undertake.

2012) is part of a private university in Japan andadministers a compulsory course taken by all of theapproximately 4,500 first-year students. As class size isrelatively small, with an average of eight students perclass, 42 full-time instructors are required to meet thedemands of the teaching load. Their duties are to planand teach up to 14 lessons a week, and to take part inthe center’s professional development system, which
includeslessonobservations,facultydevelopment

sessions, and a series of professional development
projects written up as articles for potential publication in
New Directions…. These non-teaching responsibilities
are quite unique because they are part of the contractual
duties of the position. However, they are deemednecessary due to the EDC course employing a strongly
unified curriculum. This means that all instructors share
the

same

courseandlessonaims,

assessment

procedures, materials in the form of an in-housetextbook, and methodology. Four program managers,
whose duties include curriculum design, overseeing
instructors’ CPD, and program evaluation, support the
instructors and the standardization of the curriculum.

New Directions in Teaching and Learning
English Discussion
This journal publishes annually in March at the end of
the Japanese academic year. The journal was firstpublished in 2012, while the sixth volume was publishedin March, 2018. Contributions are currently accepted
only from instructors, program managers, and professors
who teach, or have taught, the EDC course. The
journal’s mission statement is “to improve the quality oflearning for EDC students by providing a forum for
instructors to reflect on teaching and learning, designand share classroom

activities, and advance anunderstanding of communicative language teaching inpractice and theory.” For readers, this is intended toconvey the understanding that the journal’s articles areoriented towards the EDC course, while also being
potentially of interest to any classroom practitioner
involved in teaching spoken communication skills.

Teaching journals. First-year instructors are asked tokeep a journal to reflect on student performance in class.
They note changes in performance and possible reasonsfor them. Typically, instructors focus on students who are
considered “difficult”, because of either poor classperformance or behavior. However, some instructors
keep notes on classes that they deem successful, as away of investigating what factors have led to thissuccess. Resulting articles are written up with reference
to relevant journal entries and what they possibly reveal
about the student performance. This process is intended
to aid teacher’s CPD by asking them to focus on theirstudents and to consider relevant teaching methodology
and language-learning theory.
Classroom

activities.

Second-year instructors aretasked with identifying some of their own teaching
principles and then designing a classroom activity basedon one or more of those principles. This project isdesigned to help instructors think about the EDC course
aims and how best to meet them with their own students.
The final published article features a procedural outline
for conducting the activity and the specific principles that
support it. It is intended that other instructors can readthe articles and decide if they want to try the activity in
their

own

presentingclassrooms.
targetExamplelanguageandactivities

includehelping

students

generate ideas for extended discussions.
Classroom research. Third-, fourth-, and fifth-year
instructors are given more freedom in their CPD project
when designing and conducting a piece of classroombased research. They are expected to collect data forthis research, which may be qualitative, quantitative, or a
mix of both (Brown, 2014). Data types include audio
and/or video recordings of student and/or teacher
behavior,

class

notes,

andstudent/teacher

questionnaires. Example topics have included student
motivation, L2 use, and teacher beliefs. The journal
article is structured as a traditional research paper,featuring a literature review, methodology, results and, a
discussion of the results, and a conclusion. This cancontribute to teachers’ CPD by improving skills of writing

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

211

research questions, survey design, and data collection

benefits of doing so that have a strong impact on theand analysis.

classroom and beyond. Livingston & Moroi (2015), in asurvey regarding EDC’s CPD program and in-house

Reflective practice. The above three PD project types
all involve a large amount of oversight by EDC program
managers. However, more experienced teachers may
opt to complete a reflective practice task of their own
design, with minimal manager input. Farrell (2015)
defines reflective practice as “a cognitive process

journal, found that instructors agreed with a range ofbenefits, including improved learning outcomes andcritical reflection on teaching. The two broad areas ofdevelopment can thus be defined as practical andtheoretical, though additional benefits from a vocational
point of view have also been identified.

accompanied by a set of attitudes in which teacherssystematically collect data about their practice, and […]Practical. Although all conscientious teachers strive to

use the data to make informed decisions about theirdevelop their classroom practice, undertaking thepractice both inside and outside the classroom” (p. 123).

process of more formally reflecting on what they do or

Therefore, this type of article is a more self-directed

designing and evaluating principled activities may help

piece of professional development that potentially results

carry out this process more efficiently, leading toinincreased awareness of ways to maximize students’promotingteacherautonomy,forexampleinclassroom decision-making skills or through further

learning

opportunities(Farrell,2018).

In

addition,reflection on teaching principles.

collaboration that occurs through peer and content
editing en route to preparing the finished journal article

Program development. The journal is also used as aforum for the EDC program managers to provide theperspective of those involved in developing the program.
Articles in this section include evaluation research

provides space for ideas to be discussed and means that
more than one perspective can be applied to any
consideration of classroom practice (Mann & Walsh,2017).

projects conducted to help improve various aspects ofthe course. They may also provide documentation ofTheoretical. As part of the process of researching forprocedures, both as a way to keep a formal record of

and writing journal articles, teachers are required tothem and as a reference source for others. Finally, someconduct background reading to help connect their ideas

articles by managers may be a means of explaining andto the broader field. This results in them potentiallyjustifying to teachers relatively large program changes.

increasing their knowledge of language teaching theories

This is important to help maintain teachers’ investment inand principles. As a result, they may reconsider aspects

the program as a whole. In previous journal volumes,of what they do in the classroom (Corlett, 2004) and/or

program managers have included an article that details

find new and interesting avenues to explore in the future

how faculty development sessions are designed (Lesley,(Crandall & Miller, 2014).

2017) and one that explains a re-conceptualization of
aspects of the course’s target language (Schaefer, 2018).

Beyond the above benefits, practical andtheoretical gains can also come from the journal as aforum for documenting and sharing ideas. In the most

Benefits of In-House Journals

recent journal edition (Brereton, Lesley, Schaefer, andProducing an in-house journal may result in a variety ofYoung, 2018), 15 of the 39 contributing authors cited,

benefits for all stakeholders of an academic program

collectively, 33 articles published in previous editions,(Bunker, 2003). These benefits can be seen mostsuggesting

obviously with regards to teachers, but the following

professional development. (These figures do not includesections will also consider advantages for students andcitations of Hurling (2015), which is considered aat the managerial level.

foundational text of the course and is often referenceda“cascade”

effect(Hayes,2000)

ofwhen describing the program.)

Teachers
Although contributing an article to an in-house journal

Vocational. Not all language teachers have extensive

may be seen as an imposition on teachers’ time thatexperience writing journal articles. Therefore, doing so,

could be spent planning lessons, there are several

in the relatively accommodating context of an in-house

The 2018 PanSIG Journal212

journal, gives them the opportunity to develop academic

overseeing teachers’ projects and editing their articles

writing skills with the support of peers and managers.

exposes them to a variety of ideas and perspectives that

This is especially advantageous for instructors with

contribute to their own CPD as teachers and program

limited experience of teaching and carrying out research,

designers. Second, it lightens the load with regards toand may have the added benefit of putting them in ateacher training. This is because, as teachers become

position to be better prepared to submit articles to out-of-

more self-directed, their expertise in lesson planning andhouse journals and/or to undertake a graduate degree

in-class

program. Moreover, having articles that can be listed on

autonomous, and flexible (Tsui, 2003). When moretheir CV, or freely accessed online, is helpful when job-

experienced teachers in the program pass on their

seeking in the future (McCrostie, 2010; Rose, 2015).

collective wisdom, the sharing of best practice not only

Articles in the most recent edition of New Directions…

benefits the instructors (Hayes, 2000; Richards, 2001), it(Brereton et al., 2018) were downloaded from the

may also mean less oversight is required on theuniversity’s web-based repository system an average ofacademic managerial side.

decision-making

becomesmore

selective,

32.7 times (excluding four outliers whose download
numbers were in the hundreds).

How Does a Journal Get Written?
The process of preparing for and writing a

The process of creating a journal begins at the planningjournal article can also be one way to fight job

stage, moving from drafts of first to final versions of

dissatisfaction or disillusionment derived from stalenesssubmitted content, each of which must be proofread andor stress. For more experienced instructors, stress hasedited according to fixed, standardized guidelines. Whatbeen identified as a demotivating factor that connects tofollows is a short overview of the key stages carried out

a drop in classroom performance (Aubrey & Coombe,by authors and editors to bring each edition of New

2011), which may occur after several years in the same

Directions… to publication.

position. Thus, conducting some kind of reflective task,
activity

design,orclassroom

research

can

help

instructors find a new perspective or challenge andtherefore “re-charge the batteries” to offset potential
frustrations or feelings of burnout (Bailey, Curtis, &Schedules and Deadlines
Care is taken to ensure that important deadlines are
staggered to make the editing team’s workload moremanageable given time and human resource limitations.
Hence, the starting point for all published articles begins

Nunan, 2001).

with the creation of a project plan. This outlines points

Students

when key elements of the instructor’s current research

The benefits for students of an in-house journal are

project or reflective investigation need to be completed

clearly linked to many of the benefits for teachers. In

and when progress needs to be reported. It also

other words, if teachers improve their classroom practicehighlights dates scheduled through the semester forthrough CPD, students should receive a higher quality offaculty development sessions where instructors discuss

lesson. Similarly, if teachers are more motivated andmatters with and receive input from peers and program

engaged in the classroom, they are likely to deliver moremanagers. Throughout the year, harder deadlines areengaging lessons. Feedback from students in end-of-

set for the submission of the article outline, the full firstsemesteraredraft, and the final draft. Considerable time and needlesssuccessful in this endeavor. Results from the surveys

effort on the part of the author and editor can beconsistently reveal positive findings related to improved

salvaged if misdirected write-ups are intercepted early,

discussion skills, greater speaking confidence, andwhich is an advantage of the in-house structure. Overall,

support for EDC’s lesson style and structure.

deadlines are important for helping everyone stay on

surveyssuggests

that

instructors

Academic Managers
Managers who are tasked with overseeing the CPD of
language instructors may also benefit from producing an
in-house journal in two key ways. First, the process ofschedule. Ones that feature early in the process can besomewhat flexible, whereas latter ones are generally
immovable. Of course, when deadlines are missed, it issometimes necessary to have difficult conversations with
instructors, but these are easier when acceptanceThe 2018 PanSIG Journal213

criteria are made explicit from the start and the“track changes” function. As required, comments andconsequences of missing deadlines are clearly conveyed.

suggestions are left for the author to review and respond
to. There is much debate surrounding the ethics andPublication Criteria
Publication criteria fall into one of two categories: content
and format. It is vital that all parties understand andadhere to these, and on the editorial and peer-review
side for them to be consistently and fairly applied (Turner,
2003b), as they ultimately determine which submissions
will proceed to publication. Key questions that need to beanswered are:•

Does it meet the general project brief?

•

Does it fulfill all given task requirements?

•

Does it fall within the acceptable page count range?

•

If used, has data been appropriately handled andappropriacy of double-blind peer reviews (Lee, Sugimoto,
Zhang, & Cronin, 2013) with calls for anonymity to be
removed in a bid to place greater accountability on(undulyharsh)

reviewers(Turner,

2003a;

2003b;

Osterloch & Kieser, 2015). Yet, others warn against suchdisclosure for fear of inviting academic impartiality or
retribution (Brown, 2007; Corlett, 2003, 2008). In ourown context, the fact that authors and reviewers are
known to each other provides scope for feedback andrecommendations to be discussed and/or challenged inperson, which we see as a significant benefit for the
clarity and immediacy of any follow-up interactions. With

presented?
•

no such veil to shield authors from knowing that theirreviewers are their immediate managers, we feel better
placed to avoid issues of unfairly critical or potentiallyhumiliating feedback (Conner & Schwartz, 2014). This is

Are sources referenced and cited according to our

because a managerial approach taken with humility andguidelines?

an eye to supportive collaboration is a standard premisefor a healthy working relationship between teachers and•Is formatting correct?

academicmanagement.

In

short,

it

would

be

counterproductive for it to be anything but mutually
If the answers to any of the above are not in theaffirmative, then revisions will be required, providing time
to do so remains. If the criteria are still not met by the
final deadline, the paper will not be published. Ultimately,

cooperative, respectful, and sensitive to the avoidance of
face-loss. All feedback and follow-ups happen inadvance of the deadline for compiling all of thesubmissions.

the right to publish is never guaranteed, although theright to fair and equal treatment through the submission

Compiling and Printing

and review process certainly is (Corlett, 2003).

Once checked and approved, all drafts are placed into amaster template for the entire journal. These are sorted

Templates
To assist the writing and editing process, an in-house
template into which instructors are asked to type theirfirst drafts is used. This helps increase the chances thatwhat is submitted subscribes to prescribed formatting
requirements, including, among others, page layout,
fonts, and section names. It also provides sample charts,
figures, and tables, with examples of in-text citations andreferencing. As with other aspects of template formatting,the provision of guidelines is useful, but not foolproof.
Naturally, careful checking on the editing side is still an
absolute must.

Proofing
Concerns regarding submissions and modifications thatneed to be made are documented on the original using aby project type, put into appropriate sections, andarranged alphabetically by author. Section breaks andpage numbers are added, as are headers and footers.
This leaves the table of contents and cover pages to be
updated to reflect the current year of publication, before
final hardcopies are printed. These are given to all
authors to check again before the master document issent to the publisher. In time, the publisher returns a
proof version. This is checked thoroughly, in advance ofthe final print request. After publication, all instructors
receive a full hard copy of the new journal. Additional
copies are placed in the university’s two libraries, as wellas in the national library, which is searchable online.
Digital copies of individual articles are also stored, withauthors’ consent, on the university’s repository system.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

214

Process Evaluation

Miller, 2014). It is hoped that the ideas offered in thisOver time, the journal production process inevitably

paper might provide some insight and encouragement toundergoes changes, and efforts should be madeothers in similar contexts, or those considering pursuingroutinely to fine-tune procedures and make matters as

the introduction of a journal for in-house purposes.

smooth as possible for all participants. The end of theacademic year, when the newest journal reaches
publication, is a good opportunity to reflect on the most

References

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Aubrey, J. & Coombe, C. (2011). An investigation ofoccupational stressors and coping strategies amongchanges to improve it for next time.

EFL teachers in the United Arab Emirates. In C.
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Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and Learning in the Arab
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routinely discuss all aspects of the journal, reflecting on
their own experiences interacting with, and informal

Bailey, K. M., Curtis, A., & Nunan, D. (2001). Pursuing

feedback from, contributing authors. One example of aprofessional development: The self as source.

change to the journal production process made as a

Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

result of such reflection refers to the article outline stage.
After an instructor submitted a first draft that wasdeemed unsuitable according to the set criteria, theeditors added this stage to help avoid such drafts fromreaching the submission stage.

Brereton P., Lesley J., Schaefer, M. Y., & Young, D.
(2018). New Directions in Teaching and Learning
English Discussion, 6.
Brown, D. G. (2007). On doffing the mask. Journal of

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Academic Ethics, 5, 217-219.

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Brown, J. D. (1995). The elements of language

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Brown, J. D. (2014). Mixed research methods for TESOL.
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Bunker, V. C. (2003). Setting up and editing an “in-house”
journal. English Teaching Forum, 41(4), 49-52.

Conclusion
While in-house journals may be viewed by some as a“lesser” forum in which to publish an article (Kamada,2007), they still provide numerous benefits for students,
teachers, and managers. Moreover, in addition to
helping develop classroom practice and furtheringknowledge of the field within a university department orConner, D. R. & Schwartz, M. (2014). The problem of
humiliation in peer review. Ethics and Education, 9(2),141-156.
Corlett, J. A. (2004). Ethical issues in journal peer-review.
Journal of Academic Ethics, 2, 355-366.

center, at the institutional level, in-house journals
document

ways

in

which

instructors

have

tried

reflectively to improve their teaching and learning
outcomes. As the number of volumes grows, it creates
an archive of instructors’ academic investigations andendeavor. Due to the growing availability of online
access to university repositories, this is valuable not justto an institution’s own teachers and students, but
hopefully to the wider EFL community too (Crandall &Corlett, J. A. (2008). The ethics of academic journal
writing. Journal of Academic Ethics, 6, 205-209.
Crandall, J. & Miller, S. F. (2014). Effective professional
development for language teachers. In M. CelceMurcia, D. M. Brinton., & M. A. Snow (Eds.),
Teaching English as a second or foreign language(4th Edition) (pp. 630-648). Boston, MA: Heinle,
Cengage Learning.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

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Farrell, T. S. C. (1995). Promoting reflection in second
languageeducation:A

frameworkfor

McCrostie, J. (2010). The right stuff: Hiring trends for

TESOL

tenured university positions in Japan. The Language

professionals. New York, NY: Routledge.

Teacher, 34(5), 31-35.

Farrell, T. S. C. (2018). Research on reflective practice

Osterloh, M. & Kieser, A. (2015). Double-blind peerin TESOL. New York, NY: Routledge. Hayes, D.

review; How to slaughter a sacred cow. In I. M.

(2000). Cascade training and teachers’ professional

Welpe, J. Wollersheim, S. Ringelhan, & M. Osterloh

development. ELT Journal 54(2), 135-145.

(Eds.), Incentives and performance: Governance of
research organizations, Cham, (pp. 307-321). New

Hurling, S. (2012). Introduction to EDC. New Directions

York, NY: Springer Publishing.

in Teaching and Learning English Discussion, 1(1),1.2-1.10.

Rose, H. (2015, June). Conducting classroom-based
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Kamada, Hitoshi (2007). Kiyo Journals and Scholarly

at Tokyo JALT chapter event, Tokyo, Japan.

Communication in Japan. Libraries and the Academy,
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Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development inlanguage

Lee, C. J., Sugimoto, C. R., Zhang, G., & Cronin, B.

teaching.

Cambridge:

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(2013). Bias in peer review. Journal of the American
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strategic competence. New Directions in Teachingand Learning English Discussion, 6, 273-279.

Lesley, J. (2017). Managing professional development ina unified curriculum: The FD planning and review

Tsui, A. B. M. (2003). Understanding expertise incycle. New Directions in Teaching and Learningteaching: Case studies of second language teachers.

English Discussion, 5, 303-312.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Livingston, M. & Moroi, T. (2015). Instructors’ views on

Turner, L. (2003a). Doffing the mask: Why manuscript

tasks outside the classroom: A report on areviewers ought to be identifiable. Journal ofquestionnaire survey. New Directions in Teaching

Academic Ethics, 1, 41-48.

and Learning English Discussion, 3, 333-351.
Turner, L. (2003b). Promoting F.A.I.T.H. in peer review:Mann, S. & Walsh, S. (2017). Reflective practice inEnglishlanguageteaching;

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principles and practices. New York, NY: Routledge.

Author biographies
Matthew Y. Schaefer is a program manager at the Center for English Discussion Class at Rikkyo University. He holds
an MA in TESOL and a Delta. His professional interests include program evaluation, teacher education, and speaking
assessment methodology. Email: myschaefer1920@gmail.com
Jamie Lesley is a program manager at the Center for English Discussion Class at Rikkyo University. He holds an MA in
Applied Linguistics and TESOL. His research interests include English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English forSpecific Purposes (ESP), professional development in language education, and language testing. Email:jslesley2001@yahoo.co.uk

The 2018 PanSIG Journal216

Developing Learner Autonomy through Proofreading: Do Students
Perceive a Benefit?
Adam Taylor Smith
Toyo University
This paper presents the results of a survey on attitudes towards proofreading given to undergraduate
students who completed a one-on-one academic writing course in English at a university writing centerin Japan. Students were divided into a survey group that received personalized guidance on checking
their own writing for mistakes similar to ones they had made previously, and a control group thatreceived no such feedback or guidance. Survey results showed that students in the survey groupchecked their writing for mistakes with greater frequency and were more satisfied with instructor advice
than those in the control group, but did not have greater confidence in their ability to find their own
mistakes nor see greater value in making the effort to proofread their own work.

本稿は、当大学でマンツーマンのアカデミックライティングコースを修了した大学生を対象に行った、英文推敲の取り組み方の調査結果に関するものです。学生は、テストグループとコントロールグループに分かれます。テストグループは、以前と同じような間違いに関して個別に指導を受け、コントロール
グループは、そのようなフィードバックまたは指導を受けません。調査結果は、テストクループのほうがコントロールグループよりも頻繁に推敲をするようになり、またインストラクターのアドバイスにより満足していることを示しました。しかし、テストグループは自分の間違いに気づく能力や、自分の文章を推敲する努力に対する価値というものに、より強い確信を持っているわけではありませんでした。

Writing effectively in a second language is a highly

considered ways to improve L2 writers’ ability to

demanding skill, even for those who have successfully

proofread their own work, and found that focusing

obtained oral fluency in that language. Second language

lessons on correcting specific classes of common errors(L2) writers must grapple with issues of coherence,

resulted in significant improvement in student writing

format, grammar, and language sophistication that they

performance. The results of an earlier study conducted

may otherwise overlook when speaking in the non-nativeby Fathman and Whalley (1990) similarly indicated that

tongue. Moreover, readers tend to be far less forgiving ofdrawing writers’ attention to their grammar mistakes

errors than listeners are (Hacker, 2002), and errors inresulted in fewer similar errors in subsequent rewrites.

writing can even be stigmatizing when readers evaluate

Ferris and Roberts (2001) likewise found that students

them harshly. Therefore, it is essential that writing

who received feedback on their errors showed greater

instructors help their L2 students to make progress inability to successfully edit their own texts than those who

eliminating problematic error patterns in their writing overreceived no such feedback. These viewpoints aretime (Ferris, 2017, p.147). This aspiration provides theconsistent with the research and experience of Frodeson

motivation for the current study, which will investigate

and Holten, who argue forcefully that error feedback

possible effects of providing guidance to students onhelps L2 writers “develop self-editing skills by focusing

proofreading their own written work.

their attention on the patterned nature of their errors”(2003, p. 147).

A review of the literature finds relatively little
that has been published on the efficacy of having L2

One major obstacle L2 writers face when self-

students self-edit their own texts. O’Brien (2015)

editing is that they are often either unaware of or unable

The 2018 PanSIG Journal217

to recognize their own errors (O’Brien, 2015, p.85). Thus,and contrast writing (module three), and argumentative

an essential part of the proofreading process must be

writing (module five). In addition to composing araising students’ awareness of the kinds of mistakes thatminimum of one essay in the genre of the module, CW

they tend to commit. Foss and Waters (2007, p.2)

students must also complete 10 online journals of atrecommend that writers create their own personal style

least 120 words each in the genre. Journals are checked

sheet containing a list of errors that they make mostby the instructors online and are not discussed during

frequently. Personalized feedback and guidance from athe six face-to-face sessions.

teacher can be of great help to L2 students when
In contrast to CW, the Special Academic

creating such a list. However, such an endeavor takes
valuable class time. While classroom settings withmultiple students may or may not afford teachers thetime to give students sufficient individual attention for thistask (Ferris, 2003, p. 121), one-on-one settings such as
those available at many university writing centers offer

Writing (SAW) program has no journal requirement or
module system. Instructors assess the individual needsof each student and offer a custom academic writing
program that often, but not always, includes thecompletion of one or more essays by the student.

greater potential.

Due to the voluntary and non-credit nature ofboth CW and SAW, students who take these programsContextual Overview
From their origin in the United States, writing centers
have spread to universities all over the world (Chang,2013, p.1). However, they are a relatively recent
phenomenon in Japan, where the first writing center was
established around 2004 (Johnson, Yoshida, & Cornwell,2010, p.693). Currently, the Writing Center Associationof Japan website lists 14 writing centers that exist in the
country ("WCAJ - Writing center resources"). The Toyo
University Language Center (LC), established in 2013
and based in the university’s Hakusan, Tokyo campus,
offers free individualized writing assistance, one-on-one
tutorials, and other English-learning programs to theschool’s entire student body. Unlike many other writing
centers in Japan, it employs dedicated teaching staff
who primarily work as writing instructors in the center.
In the spring and fall semesters, the LC offers
two different individualized writing programs wherestudents may have the opportunity to complete one ormore essays. Both programs are completely voluntary,
non-credit bearing, and consist of six 30 minute one-onone sessions with an LC instructor. The Conference
Writing (CW) program follows a module system, withstudents attempting to complete one module persemester. Six modules exist in total, with students being
placed into a module appropriate to their skill level basedon either the results of a placement test or on their past
performance in the CW program. Each module offers
students the chance to try different genres of academic
writing, such as process writing (module two), compare

tend to be highly motivated to improve their written
English and often have dreams of studying or working
abroad. In both programs, students who attend at least
four sessions and complete all the required work are
rewarded in two ways: they are eligible to take a writing
programagain the following semester, and they

additionally receive three Toyo Global Points that counttoward the school’s Global Leader program.
The instructional goal of both CW and SAW is
to help students develop writer autonomy. As opposed tofunctioning as proofreaders, instructors aim to assist
students in gaining the skills to evaluate and improvetheir own work. Therefore, these programs offer teachers
an excellent opportunity to help individual students
discover, recognize, learn to correct, and ultimately
eliminate their own recurring mistakes related togrammar, organization, and style. The attainment of thisability has the potential to help students improve theiroverall language proficiency in addition to their writing
skill. This objective motivated the researcher to attemptoffering explicit proofreading guidance to a portion of his
students and to objectively compare these students’level of improvement with that of the remaining students
who did not receive such guidance. However, given the
difficulty in determining whether specific improvements instudent writing could be explicitly linked to whether or not
proofreading guidance was given, the decision wasmade to focus the study on students’ subjective opinions
on proofreading their own work as opposed to thecollection of objective measurements. The research

The 2018 PanSIG Journal218

questions this study therefore attempted to address
were:

The main aim for both CG and SG students
was to progressively complete an academic essay of fiveparagraphs or more by their final session. At the end of

Would students who received explicit guidanceon proofreading their own essay for mistakes they had
made in the past…
1.

each session, students were typically instructed to write
one new paragraph for homework, although students
occasionally were encouraged to or elected to write

proofread more than those who did not receive

such guidance?

more. During each session, all students in both the CG
and SG received similar guidance and feedback on theiressay that was intended to aid them in developing the

be more confident in their ability to find theirskills to evaluate and improve their own work. For all

own errors than those who did not receive such

students, the instructor drew attention to errors andguidance?

elicited corrections from the students themselves.

2.

However, an additional layer of guidance was given to3.

think that proofreading was more worthwhile

than those who did not receive such guidance?
4.

be more satisfied with instructor advice on theiressay than those who did not receive such guidance?

students in the SG. In their second session, SG students
were given an unfilled-in Proofreading Checklist sheet, ofwhich the instructor kept a copy (See Appendix A). In
every lesson except for the first and the last, theinstructor would help the student become aware of one
or two repeated errors that they had made on their essay.

Methods

A rule to check for this kind of error was then created
and written down by both the student and the teacher on

Participants

their respective copies of the checklist. A model of thisThe study was conducted in the LC in the fall semester

type of error along with a corresponding correction wasof 2017. At the start of the semester, 37 students (25written next to the rule when appropriate. So, by the

CW and 12 SAW) were assigned to meet with thestudent’s fifth lesson, both teacher and students had an

instructor once every other week for twelve weeks. Upon

identical custom checklist that contained a list of up toattending their second session and bringing a first draft

eight rules that corresponded to errors that this particularof their essay’s introductory paragraph, students werestudent had made when writing their essay. Common

randomly and unknowingly placed in either a control

rules that ended up on many students’ checklists were togroup (CG) that would receive no explicit proofreading

check for subject-verb disagreement mistakes, singular-

guidance, or a study group (SG) that would receive suchplural problems, and verb tense errors. At the end of

guidance. This placement occurred for all CW and SAW

sessions two through five, students were told tostudents on attendance of their second session, with theproofread the next version of their essay before class by

exception of one SAW student who was given anotherlooking for and correcting any errors correlating to thosekind of writing support as opposed to completing anon their checklist as well as any other mistakes that they

essay and was therefore left out of the study. Factoring

could find. Students were advised to proofread byout this student as well as two others who did not attend

reading once silently, and then a second time aloud as

any sessions, the instructor had an initial combined SAW

this would help them find errors they may have missed

and CW pool of 34 students, who had been divided

when first reading in silence (Madraso, 1993, p.33).

evenly into a 17 student control group and a 17 student
study group. Nine of the students in the SG and six in

Surveythe CG had taken a writing program with the instructor

At the end of the course a survey was prepared thatthe previous semester. All other students were taking

aimed to measure student attitudes toward proofreading

CW or SAW for the first time. From this point on, no

as well as their satisfaction with the advice they received

distinction will be made between students taking SAW oron their essay (See Appendix B). Google Forms was

CW as all students in the CG and SG were tasked withused to convey the anonymous eight question survey.

completing an academic essay, the subject of the end-

Five questions required students to respond according toof-semester survey.

a four-point Likert scale, and three necessitated a

The 2018 PanSIG Journal219

response designating frequency of action. Questions andJapanese undergraduates, with the exception of one

responses were written in both English and Japanese.

undergraduate from Myanmar in the CG. English level

Two identical digital copies of the survey were created,among those in both groups varied widely, with TOEIC

one to administer to students in the CG and another toscores ranging from 450 to 900.

students in the SG. In order to ensure surveyed students
The instructor informed eligible students about

had adequate opportunities to work on, receive feedback
on, and proofread their essay, only those who had
successfully completed an essay and attended at least
five of the six scheduled sessions were deemed eligible
to participate in the survey. This whittled down the initialpool of 34 students to 28, of which 13 were in the CG
and 15 in the SG. All students in this pool were

the survey at the end of their final session, presenting it
as a personal research project. Students were told thatthe questionnaire was anonymous, non-compulsory, andwould not affect their grade, and were therefore
encouraged to answer honestly should they choose torespond. Next, the instructor provided the student with awritten hyperlink to the survey, taking special care to

Table 1: Survey Results#

1.

Control

Study

Group

Group

(n=11)(n=12)

5.54

5.83

97.0%

86.1%

42.4%

33.3%

1.37

1.92

I feel I was able to find and correct mistakes in my essay when I

56.7%

52.7%

read my essay silently before each lesson(n=10)(n=12)

This semester, I read my essay aloud to check for mistakes ____

0.9

1.25

I feel I was able to find and correct mistakes in my essay when I

66.7%

63.6%

read my essay aloud before each lesson(n=6)(n=11)

How would you rate the advice your instructor gave you on your

90.9%

97.2%

Statement/Question

This semester, I met with Smith Sensei for a writing lesson ____
times

2.

I think that checking my English writing for mistakes on my own
is a useful way to improve my English

3.

I feel confident in my ability to check my English writing for
mistakes on my own

4.

This semester, I silently read my essay to check for mistakes ___time(s) on average before each lesson

5.

6.

time(s) on average before each lesson
7.

8.

essay this semester?
Notes. Statement 2, 3, 5, 7 possible responses: disagree, somewhat disagree, agree, strongly agree; Question 8
possible responses: not useful, a little useful, useful, very useful; Statements 5 and 7 only administered if value
greater than 0 given in response to previous statement

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

220

ensure that the link corresponded to the appropriate

students were less likely to feel confident in this area

copy of the questionnaire depending upon whether thethan students in the CG. Because the SG generally

student was in the SG or the CG. Students thenproofread more than the CG, it is quite possible thatdeparted the LC and could complete the optional survey

some SG students felt greater frustration when theon their smartphone, tablet, or computer at any time andinstructor spotted mistakes in their writing despite theselocation of their choosing.

students’ additional efforts, and consequently lost
confidence in their ability to find and correct their own

Eleven students in the CG and 12 students in

mistakes.

the SG opted to complete the survey. The satisfaction
rate of the SG was slightly higher (Question 8), which
could indicate that the additional feedback on recurring

Conclusion

mistakes that SG students received made these

Proofreading is an essential part of the writing process. It

students more likely to rate teacher advice highly.

is especially important for L2 writers, many of whom

Survey results indicated that the SG put more
overall effort into proofreading than the CG, which isunderstandable given that CG students were notexplicitly advised to check their work for mistakes. Whilemost students in both groups did respond that they
proofread silently at least once, students in the SG weremore likely to indicate that they did this multiple times(Statement 4). In addition, the majority of SG students
indicated that they proofread aloud, whereas just overhalf of the students in the CG acknowledged making thiseffort at all (Statement 6). Students in both groups weremore likely to indicate that they successfully found andcorrected

errorsbyproofreading

aloud

than

by

proofreading silently (Statements 5, 7). Somewhat

understandably tend to commit more errors than native
writers. While proofreading may seem a thankless task,
if turned into an learning exercise it can actually become
an effective tool for developing learner autonomy, writing
ability, and overall language proficiency. Many students
in the study described in this paper did not exhibit great
confidence in their ability to find errors upon receiving
specific proofreading guidance. However, this could
have been due to excessive critical focus on the
mistakes they did not catch, instead of a more positive
focus on the errors which they had learned to overcome.
This possibility may serve as a reminder to both theresearcher and other interested readers that praising
student successes is crucial in helping L2 learners gain
confidence and mastery of a non-native language.

surprisingly, CG students who proofread aloud and those
who proofread silently were slightly more likely to feel
that

they

could

find

and

correct

errorsBecause proofreading is so often overlookedthan

as a useful tool for language learning, this area is ripe forcorresponding SG students were. One might havefurther research. Future studies could expand upon thisexpected that the SG would have indicated greater

one in myriad ways. If the proofreading rules that weresuccess in this regard as students in this group had

available to students were predefined and limited inadditional proofreading guidance. Perhaps the extra

scope, perhaps objective measurements of writeronus placed on SG students to find their mistakes madeimprovement would become a viable undertaking. A

them more conscious of how many errors they were still

future study of students’ subjective opinions regarding

unable to catch, despite whatever successes they did

proofreading could additionally include the administration

have.

of the same survey at the start of the semester, in order
Most students in both groups strongly believethat checking their English writing for mistakes is a
useful way to improve their English. However, CG
students were more likely to feel this way (Statement 2).

to measure changes in student perception upon course
completion. Lastly, a larger sample size combined with aqualitative analysis could provide much more data to
explore

as

well

as

greater

insight

into

student

perceptions.

This result may be related to the tenor of student
response on the next survey item (Statement 3): while
few students in either group indicated confidence in theirability to find their own mistakes without assistance, SG

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

221

References

Foss, S. K.,

Chang, T. S. (2013). The idea of a writing center in Asian
countries: A preliminary search of models in
Taiwan. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, 10(2).
Retrievedfrom

http://www.praxisuwc.com/journal-

page-102

Waters, W. J.

(2007). Destination

dissertation: A traveler's guide to a done dissertation.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Frodesen, J. & Holten, C. (2003). Grammar and the ESL
writing class. In: B. Kroll (Ed.), Exploring the
Dynamics of Second Language Writing (pp. 141-161).

Fathman, A.K. & Whalley, E. (1990). Teacher responseto student writing: Focus on form versus content. In
B. Kroll (Ed.), Second Language Writing: Research
Insights

&

for

the

Classroom(pp.

178-190).

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hacker, D. (2002). The Bedford handbook. Boston,
Massachusetts: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Johnston, S., Yoshida, H., & Cornwell, S. (2010). Writing

Ferris, D. (2003). Responding to writing. In B. Kroll (Ed.),
Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing(pp. 119-140). New York: Cambridge University
Press.

centers and tutoring in Japan and Asia. In A.M.
Stoke (Ed.), JALT 2009 Conference Proceedings,
692-701. Tokyo: JALT.
Madraso, J. (1993). Proofreading: The skill we've

Ferris, D. (2017). Facilitating L2 writers’ academic
language development. In Bitchener, J., Storch, N., &neglected to teach. The English Journal, 82(2), 32-41.
O'Brien, J.

(2015).

Consciousness-raising,error

Wette, R. (Eds.), Teaching writing for academic

correction

purposes

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 15(3), 85-103.

tomultilingual

students:

Instructional

andproofreading. Journal

of

the

approaches (pp. 145-167). New York, NY: Routledge.
WCAJ
Ferris, D., & Roberts, B. (2001). Error feedback in L2-

Writing

centerRetrieved August 27,

resources.

(n.d.).

2018,

from

writing classes: How explicit does it need to be?

https://sites.google.com/site/wcajapan/writing-center-

Journal of Second Language Writing, 10, 161-184.

resources

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

222

Appendix A
Example Proofreading Checklist Sheet (Teacher Copy)

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

223

Appendix B
Survey1. This semester, I met with Smith sensei for a writing lesson ___ times ( 今学期、スミス先とのCW/SAWのセッションに___回出席しましたか。)

3 or less (３回以下 )4 (４回 )
5 (５回 )
6 (６回 )
2. I think that checking my English writing for mistakes on my own is a
useful way to improve my English ( 分で書いたものを 直して間違いをつけることは、英語を学習する上で有益だと思う。)
Disagree ( そう思わない )Somewhat Disagree ( あまりそう思わない )Agree ( そう思う )Strongly Agree ( 強くそう思う )3. I feel confident in my ability to check my English writing for mistakes on
my own ( 分の英語の作 における間違いを 分で つけることに 信がある。)
Disagree ( そう思わない )Somewhat Disagree ( あまりそう思わない )Agree ( そう思う )Strongly Agree ( 強くそう思う )4. This semester, I silently read my essay to check for mistakes ___ time(s)on average before each lesson (今学期、CW/SAWの毎回のセッション前に、平均して___回くらい、いを分で分のエッセイを声を出さずに読んで間違つけようとした)

0 (０回 )
1 (１回 )
2 (２回 )
3 or more (３回以上 )5. I feel that I was able to find and correct mistakes in my essay when I readmy essay silently before each lesson ( CW/SAWのセッション前に、分のエッセイを声に出さずに読むことで、間違いを分でつけられたと感じる。)

Disagree ( そう思わない )Somewhat Disagree ( あまりそう思わない )Agree ( そう思う )Strongly Agree ( 強くそう思う )6. This semester, I read my essay aloud to check for mistakes ___ time(s) on
average before each lesson ( 今学期、CW/SAWの毎回のセッション前に、平均して___回くらい、分で分のエッセイを声に出して読んで、間違いをつけようとした。)

The 2018 PanSIG Journal224

0 (０回 )1 (１回 )
2 (２回 )
3 or more (３回以上 )7. I feel that I was able to find and correct mistakes in my essay when I readmy essay aloud before each lesson ( CW/SAWの各セッション前に、分のエッセイを声に出して読むことで、間違いを分でつけられたと感じる。)

Disagree ( そう思わない )Somewhat Disagree ( あまりそう思わない )Agree ( そう思う )Strongly Agree ( 強くそう思う )8. How would you rate the advice your instructor gave you on your essay
this semester? ( 今学期、スミス先のエッセイについてのアドバイスについて、どう評価しますか。)
Not useful ( 有益ではなかった )A little useful ( 少し有益だった )Useful ( 有益だった )Very useful ( とても有益だった )The 2018 PanSIG Journal

225

What Makes Language Learners Succeed Online?
Aviva Smith Ueno
Meiji Gakuin University
What kind of effect can English Skype Lessons have on university students’ English skills andmotivation? This paper will report on a program that was implemented at a private university in easternJapan, where, over two 15-week semesters, 98 university students were each given the opportunity totake 54, 25-minute English language lessons through Skype. The lessons were provided to develop
learners’ English skills so that they could confidently participate in study-abroad programs. The results ofthe program will be reported on, and advice on how to set up and administer this type of program will be
provided.

大学生の学習スキルとモチベーションに SKYPE を利用した授業はどのような効果をもたらすだろう。
本論では日本の私立大学で実施されたあるプログラムに関して報告するものである。そこでの授業は15 週にわたるセメスター制を敷いており、98 人の学生が 25 分の SKYPE を通じた英語の授業を 54 回受講するものである。授業は学生が留学先のプログラムに自信を持って取り組むことができるように、
英語のスキルを伸ばすことを目的として提供されるものである。このプログラムの結果を報告し、このようなプログラムをいかに確立し実施していくかについての考察を報告するものである。

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance,

this opportunity, many students seem to hesitate to apply,

learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what

possibly because of the aforementioned issues. While

you are doing or learning to do. (Pele)

educators cannot alleviate learners' concerns about
finances or the necessity to extend their enrollment

Doubling the number of Japanese students
studying abroad was a goal set in 2013 by the Japanese
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology (MEXT). (Tobitate! (Leap for Tomorrow)
Study Abroad Initiative, n.d.). Data provided by MEXT
indicates the number of Japanese students studying

period, they can address the issue of "lack of language
skills". Learners who lack confidence in their language
skills or are unable to attain a high enough score on
required tests like TOEFL or IELTS are likely to give up
on their dream of studying abroad unless they aresupported by their educational institutions.

abroad had been steadily increasing until it peaked at
82,945 in 2014, but after 2014 the numbers have been

In 2017, a private university in eastern Japandecreasing. (New data suggests Japanese outboundoffered a supplementary online program to support

market has been significantly undercounted, 2017). A

learners who were interested in studying abroad but

White Paper published by Tokyo University suggests a

lacked sufficient language skills and confidence. The

number of reasons for this downward trend, namely

Ryukatsu Program gave learners the opportunity to takefinancial constraints, necessity to extend the school

English lessons via Skype with instructors in theenrollment period, lack of language skills and lack ofPhilippines, funded entirely by the university, to develop

program

Kokusaika

learners’ English skills so that they could confidently

Hakusho , 2009). To help offset at least part of theinformation(TokyoDaigaku

participate in study-abroad programs. The university

financial concerns, in 2014 MEXT launched “Tobitate!

chose to implement this program through Skype with

(Leap for Tomorrow),” a program that provides 10,000

instructors in the Philippines because the university had

scholarships for university and high school students toan existing program in one of its departments thatstudy abroad. (McCrostie, 2017). However, in spite ofsuccessfully blended lessons through Skype with an

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

226

academic English program. Having already established alearners is essential for learner retention in online

relationship with the instructors in the Philippines throughprograms. Simpson (2004) explains that contact can be

the blended academic English program, the coordinator

either reactive (student-initiated contact) or proactiveof the Ryukatsu program was confident that the teachers(instructorin the Philippines would provide high quality lessons to

Ryukatsu Program was designed to provide support that

achieve the goals of the program. This paper will reportwas both proactive and reactive. In terms of proactive

on how the program was conceptualized and set up,

contact, once students were selected to participate in thespecifically focusing on measures that were taken tocourse, lines of communication were established withfacilitate course participants’ success and the results ofparticipants through e-mail, LINE (a free messaging app)

the

upon

and the university’s Learning Management Systemcompleting the program suggest that language learners(LMS). Participants received regular messages of

can successfully learn online if they are provided withsupport through LINE from the course assistant (a recent

adequate support from program coordinators andgraduate from the university), as well as messages fromstimulating, engaging lessons from instructors.

the course coordinator (a faculty member) through email

program.

Participants’achievementsoradministrator-initiatedcontact).

Theand LMS. In terms of reactive contact, participants wereable to contact the course coordinator and course

Conceptualizing and Initiating theProgramassistant using the same methods, and all messages
were responded to within 24 hours. Participants could

When conceptualizing the Ryukatsu Program, one of thealso contact the organization that coordinated the Skype

greatest

lessons

concerns

was

ensuring

that

the

courseforadviceontechnical

difficulties.

An

participants would complete the course. Studies suggest

intervention was made if participants’ attendance rates

that,

distancebegan to drop. In this case, participants were contacted

programs’ dropout rates are generally higher. (Carr,

and were required to meet with the program coordinator

2000). Some studies have shown that as many as 50 –to discuss their attendance issues and any other

70% of online learners drop out of their courses orconcerns that they had. It was hoped that providing bothprograms (Lehman and Conceicao, 2014). The literature

proactive and reactive support would not only minimize

suggests that there are several reasons why learners

attrition but would also help participants maintain theirdrop out of online courses. Lehman and Conceicao

motivation. In addition, gatherings were scheduled(2014) categorize the barriers to online learning by skill

periodically throughout the semester to create a sense oflevel, motivation, and support. Frankola’s report (2001)

community. Participants were invited to join the program

seems to concur, suggesting that additional factors for

coordinator for lunch twice during each semester, and alearners dropping out include lack of time, technological

special face-to-face gathering that included some of theissues, insufficient student support, under-qualified

instructors visiting from the Philippines was held.

comparedtoface-to-facecourses,

instructors and poor course design and content.
Therefore, during the planning stages of the program, it
was imperative to consider the reasons why learners

Maintaining Motivation

might drop out, and devise a system to keep the attrition

In order to maintain participants’ motivation during therate to a minimum.

program, it was important to identify the kind of
motivation that participants were entering the programwith and what kind of motivation they would need toProviding Supportcompletetheprogram.

Integrative

motivation,as

When considering how to minimize attrition and ensure

explained by Crookes and Schmidt (1991), is associatedsuccessful completion of the course, the main areas

with being interested in the target language group, andfocusedtohaving a desire to meet, interact and possibly become atheirmember of that group. Participants were selected for the

motivation was maintained, and offering sufficient

program in part based on their level of integrativetechnical

thatmotivation, which was measured by their desire to study

maintaining regular contact between the institution andabroad, so providing them with useful information aboutonparticipants,

were

providingdevising

support.

ways

Simpsonadequate

supporttothat

ensure(2004)

contends

The 2018 PanSIG Journal227

study abroad programs and stimulating them with

Details of the Ryukatsu Program

lessons that would prepare them for studying abroad

During the 15-week semester, participants were required

was how integrative motivation was maintained. In

to take 54 25-minute lessons (a total of 22.5 hours)

addition to integrative motivation, possible intrinsic andthrough Skype with instructors in the Philippines.

extrinsic motivation barriers were discussed when

Participants were advised to take a minimum of 4planningA

lessons per week to ensure that they could complete thecharacteristic of an intrinsic motivation barrier that was ofentire program. The lessons and all course materials

a particular concern was procrastination; as this program

were provided free of charge.

how

to

best

supportparticipants.

was a non-credit course, participants might not prioritize
it over courses for credit, club activities or part-time jobs.

Participants were recruited through explanatory

In addition, extrinsic motivation barriers such as isolation

meetings. For the first cohort who participated during theand lack of interaction with peers might lead to attrition

spring semester, explanatory meetings were held and(Muilenburg & Berge, 2005, cited in Lehman &attended by 204 students, of which 108 students applied,

Conceicao, 2014). To prevent these types of barriersand 42 were selected to participate. In the second cohort,from forming, the program coordinator addressed them

210 students attended the explanatory meetings, 110

frankly in the initial screening interview and during thestudents applied, and 56 were selected to participate.

orientation to the program. Participants were told of the

The selection process was primarily based on applicants’commitment that was necessary to complete thestatements of purpose and most current TOEFL ITP

program and were asked to sign a learning contract,scores. The entry score for the program was loosely set

promising to fulfill the requirements of the program. Thisat 460 points because it was hoped that participants

contract can be found in the appendix.

could raise their scores enough to be able to participate
in study abroad programs that required a minimum of
480 points. Applicants who passed the initial screening

Pre-empting Technical Issues

were jointly interviewed by the program coordinator and

The final area of concern was how to handle technicalthe program assistant to reconfirm their goals andissues, which can lead to loss of motivation, focus andcommitment to the program. All applicants were required

confidence, as well as create feelings of frustration and

to attend an orientation session to create Skypedissatisfaction. (Lehman & Conceicao, 2014, p.5). Whenaccounts, make appointments for their first lesson, andcandidates were interviewed for the program, thereview the details of the learning contract. Participants

majority of them had never experienced online learning,

could select their teacher, the day and time of the lessonso participants were assisted in creating Skype accounts

through the online booking system. To maximize

and practiced making and receiving calls through Skypeopportunities for participation, and to accommodate

with the instructors in the Philippines during thestudents’ late-night schedules, lessons were available

orientation session prior to the start of the program. Thisbetween 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on weekdays, and 9:00

not only ensured that they would be able to use thea.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

technology but gave them an opportunity to briefly"meet" the instructors online, which was a positive way

The initial lesson was an interview conducted

to begin the program, and to establish some kind of face-through Skype with one of the instructors in the

to-face contact.

Philippines to evaluate the learner’s communicative
ability. The interview was not counted as part of the 54

Therefore, before launching the program, thelessons to be completed by the end of the course.

time spent conceptualizing and considering potential

Participants were placed into levels from 1-6 (1 being thebarriers to participants completing the program proved tolowest level, 6 being the highest) with each level being

be valuable in keeping attrition rates low.

further divided into low, middle, and high. The lessons,developed by the instructors, were based on TED Talks
and other video materials. Participants were required topreview the materials before the lessons and be
prepared to discuss them. In addition, participants were

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

228

asked to submit a weekly learning journal through theresult, considering that, as previously mentioned, studies

LMS, detailing what they had learned and their thoughts

have shown that 50-70 percent of online learners dropon the week’s lessons.

out of their courses. Based on comments given by thecourse participants who were not able to complete theParticipants who were highly motivated andcommitted to completing the program were selected, andthe program was designed to help them successfully

program, it is clear that the reasons for not completingthe lessons are mainly because of intrinsic and extrinsic
motivational barriers.

complete the lessons and prepare them to study abroad.
Written comments* from participants who did notcomplete all of the lessons

Measuring Course Participants’
Success
Participants who were able to achieve the criteria forsuccess set by the program coordinator were considered
to be successful. The criteria were as follows:
1. The participant completed most of the lessons.
2. The participant’s motivation level was raised.
3. The participant felt that his/her communication
skills had improved.
4. The participant became more interested instudying abroad.

I had too much homework for other classes, and couldn’t
find the time to take all of the lessons.
I didn’t have enough time to finish all of the lessons
because I was busy with other things.
I couldn’t make a reservation for a lesson at a time thatwas convenient for me.
The Wi-Fi connection at home was poor, so it wasdifficult for me to take lessons.
I couldn’t communicate well with the teacher, so I got
scared and stopped taking the lessons.
*All comments translated from Japanese
2. How did the Ryukatsu Program lessons affect yourmotivationforlearning

English?

Pleasecomment

specifically on how it affected your motivation.

5. The participant’s TOEFL score improved.
Table 2: Effect on Participants’ Motivation (N =In order to assess whether participants had met the76)

criteria for success, attendance records were checked,

Effect on

feedback was collected from the instructors and online

motivation

surveys were taken throughout the program.

Exit Survey Results
1. How many lessons did you complete? If you did notcomplete all of the lessons, please explain why.
Table 1: Lesson Completion Rates (N = 98)
Numberoflessons

N

Percentage

Greatly raised

21

28%

Somewhat raised

48

63%

Not sure

6

8%

Lowered00%Greatly lowered

1

1%

The data in Table 2 shows that participants’ motivation

N

Percentage

50+

55

56%

comments indicate that as they developed confidence

40-49

10

10%

their integrative motivation increased.

30-39

10

10%

20-29

5

5%

Written comments* from participants about how their

0-19

18

19%

motivation was affected:

completed

was strongly affected by the program, with 91% statingthat their motivation had been raised. Participants’

As indicated by Table 1, 66 percent of participants
completed 40 or more lessons, which was a positive

After taking the Skype lessons, I thought that I would liketo be able to communicate more with people fromEnglish-speaking countries. Although I can’t afford to
study abroad right now, my desire to do so has greatly
increased.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal229

Because I had to speak in English with my teacher, myresistance to speak English has decreased and I am
becoming able to speak with confidence.

Table 4: Interest in Studying Abroad (N=76)
Interest in studying abroad

N

Percentage

As I became more confident, my motivation to study
English increased.

Very interested

46

61%

Interested

23

30%

As I gained confidence in speaking in English I havefound more opportunities to speak. I had fun learning! I
feel the necessity to improve my vocabulary, so now

Not sure

7

9%

Not interested00%

I have begun studying vocabulary on my own.
Now I can try to think about problems of government,
society, or community, which I usually did not think about
in English. I could expand my vocabulary by taking
Skype lessons.
*All comments translated from Japanese
3. Do you think your English communication skills have
improved since starting the program?

Responses to the survey indicated that the majority ofparticipants were interested in studying abroad. They
were interested in a variety of programs, which included
short-term study abroad programs (one month or less) to
The Philippines, Australia, Canada, the United States
and the United Kingdom during summer and springvacation, internship programs to Australia, Hong Kong

As the data in Table 3 reveals, 75 percent of theand the United States, and one-semester programs toparticipants thought that their English communication

Croatia, Australia, Ireland and the United States.

skills had improved, which was considered to be a signof success.

5. Please give your comments on the Ryukatsu Program.
Written comments* on the Ryukatsu Program

Table 3: Improvement of Communication Skills

Thank you for giving me chances to speak English!!

(N = 76)

I am very satisfied that I can take these lessons andstudy English conversation at my own pace.

Communication

N

Percentage

Skills Improved

This has been a really great opportunity. I have madenew friends – it’s fantastic!

Definitely

16

21%

I think so

41

54%

It was so much fun talking with the teachers from Cebu
when they came to visit our university!

I’m not sure

16

21%

*All comments translated from Japanese

I don’t think so

3

4%
6. Based on the entry and exit scores of 69 participants,
the average TOEFL score improvement was 23.4 points.

Written comments* from participants about how their

There was no direct correlation between the number ofEnglish communication skills improved:

lessons that participants took and TOEFL score

After taking these lessons, I found it much easier tocommunicate in English when I studied abroad.
I have become able to respond more quickly andsmoothly
I can express my opinions more easily now
At first, I couldn’t speak to or understand what theteacher was saying, but by the last lesson I realized how
much better I had become at speaking and listening
I think I improved, but there are still times when I can’t
say what I want to say.

improvement.
Based on survey results and the participants’ comments,
many of the participants were able to achieve successbased on the criteria set by the program coordinator.

Advice for Success from an
Administrative Viewpoint
After reflecting on the program, the following advice was*All comments translated from Japaneseoffered by the program coordinator:

4. How interested are you in studying abroad?

1. Select students to participate in the program who have“self-ish” traits, namely self-assurance, self-confidence,
self-discipline, and self-reliance. (Curtis, 2013). Students

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

230

who exhibited “self-ish” traits in the initial interview andthe homework, which helps to build the spirit of aorientation sessions were the ones who were the mostlearning community.

successful, whereas participants who lacked these traits
3. Conduct thorough English skills checks at the

had difficulty completing the program.

beginning, middle and at the end of the course. It is
2. Establish a relationship with participants before theimportant to know the participants’ level so that thecourse begins, carefully monitor attendance, and makelesson content and level of difficulty is appropriate. If thecontact as soon as attendance levels begin to drop.

lesson is too easy or too difficult it will affect theProactive and reactive contact with participants proved

participants’ motivation.

to be effective in keeping participation levels high. In
addition, having an “open door” policy and encouraging
participants to visit the program coordinator’s officewhenever they had questions or concerns created apositive rapport between participants and the coordinator

4. Make sure that participants take lessons in a location
with a stable network so that the lesson will flowsmoothly. When the Internet connection is lost during thelesson it is frustrating and demotivating. Participants
need to take into consideration the quality of the Wi-Fi at

and helped maintain motivation.

the location where they will take their lesson when they
3. Create a learning community. Participants who were

make a reservation, so that they can book a time when

proactive about joining the gatherings with the program

they will be in a location that they know has a strong Wi-

coordinator and with the visiting instructors from theFi signal.

Philippines were more successful at completing the
program than those who did not participate.

Conclusion
4. Make sure that participants can use the technology.

The Ryukatsu Program was implemented to support

Although having participants create their Skype accounts

MEXT's initiative to increase the number of Japaneseand reserve lessons during the orientation session

study-abroad students. It provided an opportunity foravoided many technical issues, some participants

highly motivated learners to improve their English

continued to struggle with the technology. Student

communication skills and to develop the confidence tosurveyshadapply for study abroad programs. As the program wasoccasionally interfered with their lessons. Having abeing conceptualized and implemented, strategies tosupport system in place to deal with technological issues

avoid common problems with online programs indicatedis imperative.

by research such as high attrition, loss of motivation andindicatedthat

technologicalissues

5. Work closely with the Skype instructors. Regularcommunication with the instructors is essential to ensurethat the learning environment is conducive to success.

technical issues were employed. As a result, course
completion

percentages

were

high,

participants’motivation levels were raised, they believed that theircommunication skills had improved, and their interest in
studying abroad was raised. These results suggest that

Advice for Success from an Instructor’s
Viewpoint (Casimero, 2018)
1. Get to know your students’ personalities, especiallywhen correcting their mistakes. Some students do notwant to be corrected every time they make mistakes,
and become self-conscious and withdrawn, while others
want to be corrected right away
2. Have a syllabus to set the pace of the lessons so that

language learners can study online successfully if they
are provided with a strong support system and engaging
lessons. Educational institutions that implement this kindof program will be able to help the learners who are
motivated to study abroad but need additional support todevelop their confidence and communicative skills,
which in turn will help MEXT achieve its goal of doubling
the number of Japanese students studying abroad by2020.

all students are working with the same topic. If all of theteachers keep following the syllabus, participants canconsult with each other on the content of the lesson and

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

231

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Agenda.

Simpson, O. (2004). The impact on retention ofinterventions to support distance learning students.
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fromWorkforce:

Tokyo Daigaku Kokusaika Hakusho (Tokyo University

http://www.workforce.com/2001/06/03/why-online-

Internationalization White Paper). (2009, March).

learners-drop-out/

Retrieved from Tokyo University: https://www.utokyo.ac.jp/content/400009824.pdf

Lehman, R. M. (2014). Motivating and Retaining Online
Students. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
McCrostie, J. (2017, August 9). More Japanese may be
studying abroad, but not for long. Retrieved from The
Japan

Times:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/08/09/i
ssues/japanese-may-studying-abroad-notlong/#.W3wXHi2B0dU
New data suggests Japanese outbound market has
been significantly undercounted. (2017, January 23).

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

232

Appendix
Ryukatsu1 Program Contract*
I have read and understood the following rules, and agree to follow them as a participant in the program.
1.

I promise that I will complete all 54 of the online English conversation lessons between the first and last dayof the semester.

2.

I promise that I will take between 2-4 online English conversation lessons per week.

3.

I promise that I will take the TOEFL ITP test at my own expense after the end of the course and will submit
the score to the program coordinator.

4.

I promise that I will take other English courses and TOEFL preparation courses to prepare myself forstudying abroad.

5.

I promise that I will write my learning journal weekly and submit it to through the university’s LMS.

Please note that if lessons are not canceled before the day of the lesson it will be counted as an unexcused absence. If
there are more than 3 unexcused absences you may lose the right to continue taking lessons and will be required tomeet with the program coordinator.

Date: ___________________Name of Department: ____________
Name:_________________________

Student ID number: ________________

Signature of Program Coordinator: ___________________________*This document has been translated from Japanese.
1. Ryukatsu is a word created by the program coordinator that combines the Chinese characters for study abroad andactivity

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

233

Synform Pseudowords and Yes-No Vocabulary Tests
Raymond Stubbe
Nagasaki University

Kousuke Nakashima
Hiroshima Institute of Technology

In 1983, Anderson and Freebody introduced pseudowords to the yes-no test format to check forevidence of over-estimation of word knowledge by test-takers. Laufer (1988) introduced the concept of
synforms, where readers confuse a word for a different word because their forms appear similar. Stubbe
and Cochrane (2016) reported that “synform errors made up the largest category of errors” on an L2 to
L1 translation test. In the present study, synform pseudowords were included in a yes-no test of 45
items: 30 real words; and 15 pseudowords (including 5 synform pseudowords). Results found that yesno test scores were 11.5 percentage points higher than translation test scores, confirming the existenceof overestimation on the yes-no test. The use of all 15 pseudowords, including the five synform
pseudowords, in the application of the h-f scoring formula resulted in adjusted yes-no test scores towithin 1.2% of translation test scores, a statistically insignificant difference. However, correlation analysis
found mixed results when comparing correlations between the five synform pseudowords and yes-no
test overestimation counts with the ten Meara pseudowords correlations with the same overestimation. It
was concluded that future studies should use test items that include a larger proportion of words that arelikely to suffer from synformic confusion.

先行研究において、疑似語の導入が学習者の語彙知識を図るために有効であることや、L2 から L1 への翻訳の際に起こる間違いにおいて、類似語に因る間違いは、最も大きな比重を占めることが示されてきた。本研究では、疑似語を 15 問含む（綴り字が似ている疑似語を 5 問含む）45 問から成る正誤選択問
題と、英語から日本語への翻訳問題（L2 から L1）を日本人学習者に課し分析を行った。結果として、L2 から L1 への翻訳の試験よりも、正誤選択問題の方が正答率が 11.5%高かった。今後の研究においては、試験で問う語彙の選択において、綴り字が似ている問いの割合を増やして、結果の変化を観察していきたい。

During a previous study (Stubbe & Cochrane, 2016) a

Low-level students in Japan are not the only

high number of synform errors were found on an English

English learners to experience synform errors. Other

to Japanese (L2 to L1) translation test. According toresearchers have also reported such errors in their

Laufer (in Laufer, Meara, & Nation, 2005) synform errors

vocabulary studies and classrooms. Gu, and Leung“are word pairs or groups of words with similar (though(2002) found that their Chinese participants, from bothnot identical) sound, script, or morphology, which

Hong Kong and Beijing, “confused the form of the target

learners tend to confuse” (p. 4; see Laufer, 1988 for aword with the form of another English word already indetailed explanation of synforms). For instance, Stubbe

their working vocabulary” (p. 131). Nural (2014), studying

and Cochrane (2016) reported that back translations ofintermediate-level Turkish learners of English, reported

the Japanese equivalents of the word row, were raw, lawthat synform errors appeared in a wide range of lesson

and low by 25, 26 and 34 of the 204 test-takers,

activities including vocabulary revision; reading; listening

respectively, and suggested “that the l/r distinction

comprehension; and, discussion. That study reported

remains a problem for these low-level students” (p.168).

that most of the synform errors resulted from synforms
with the same root, but different suffixes. Kocić (2008),

The 2018 PanSIG Journal234

investigating of the effects of synforms on advanced-

tests, and as pseudowords were introduced to the yes-level Serbian learners of English, similarly found thatno test format to adjust measurements of student

these learners have difficulty with suffix related synformvocabulary knowledge, this study aims to determine

errors.

whether

synform

pseudowords(nonwords

which

resemble real words) can assist the adjustment of yesYes-no vocabulary test are recognized as anefficient method of enquiring about students’ perceived

no test scores to better reflect student actual vocabularyknowledge.

vocabulary knowledge. According to John Read (2007,
pp. 112 - 113). “Despite its simplicity, the Yes/No format
has proved to be an informative and cost-effective

Methodology

means of assessing the state of learners’ vocabulary

Two vocabulary tests were created as pre-tests toknowledge, particularly for placement and diagnostic

determine the students’ perceived and actual knowledge

purposes.” In these tests, participants are presented withof words to be encountered during the semester. The

a list of decontextualized words, usually as single items,

first was a yes-no test; the other was an English to

and asked to signal whether or not they know a correct

Japanese (L2 to L1) translation test of the same 30 items.

meaning

The yes-no test contained 45 items: 30 real words,

for

each

item.

Unfortunately,

student

perceptions are not always accurate. Although amounts

selected

vary, many students signal knowledge of words that they

pseudowords, five of which were synform pseudowords.

do not actually know a correct meaning of; labeled over-

The synform pseudowords were created by substituting

estimation. To attempt to measure this over-estimation,

one or more consonants in a real word for its partner inAnderson and Freebody (1987) introduced pseudowords

katakana: l/r, b/v or syllabic final m/n, as follows: clearly(non-words) to the yes-no test format, on the assumption

became crealy; detail became detair; value becamethat if participants are signaling knowledge of items

balue; grab became grav; and, improve became inprove.

which have no meaning, then they are likewise apt to

The other 10 pseudowords were randomly selected fromsignal knowledge of real words for which they do not

Tests 101-106 of the EFL Vocabulary Tests (Meara,know a correct meaning. In the lingo of yes-no

2010): balfour, ralling, degate, oxylate, glandle, dowrick,vocabulary testing, checking a real word is labeled aperryman, curify, noot, and lannery. The 30 real words“hit”; not checking a real word is a “miss”; checking awere selected from the students’ textbook and included

pseudoword is called a “false alarm” and not checking anine multi-word items, such as “get ready”. The 45 items

pseudoword

in the yes-no test were ordered randomly, as were theisa“correct

rejection”(Mochida&

Harrington, 2006).
Two uses for the false alarm (FA) data havebeen developed. One usage is to delete all test forms
with a FA rate exceeding 10% (Barrow, Nakanishi, &Ishino, 1999; Schmitt, Jiang, & Grabe, 2011). The otheris to adjust yes-no test results with a correction for

from

the

students’

textbook;and15

30 items in the translation test. The yes-no test was
taken at the beginning of a class in October 2017 (earlyin the autumn semester) and the translation test was
taken towards the end of that same class, in order tomaximize test-pairings. Participants (n = 205) were highbeginner-level first year students enrolled in one of five
mandatory English classes at a Japanese university.

guessing formula. This study will utilize the simplest
adjustment formula, h-f. With this formula, the FA rate

Yes-no test forms were scored using an optical(the number of false alarms divided by the total number

scanner, and translation test forms were markedof pseudowords) is subtracted from the hit rate, which ismanually - by one native Japanese university instructor

the number of hits divided by the number of real words inof English. Prior to marking the translation test, 21 forms

the yes-no test. The resulting rate is the multiplied by thewere randomly selected (10% of 205), copied and sent

number pf real words (30).

to a different Japanese teacher of English for marking.
Co-rater reliability between the two raters was high at

As Stubbe and Cochrane (2016) demonstrated
that low-level Japanese students confuse items for otherwords (synform errors) when completing vocabulary

92%. The translation tests were subsequently backtranslated from the Japanese answers into English tocheck for synform errors.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

235

Table 1: Yes-no (YN) and Translation (Tr) Tests Descriptive Statistics
Test

mean

SD

range

low-highrTr

18.51 (61.7%)

3.53

20

10 - 30

1

YN Words

21.95 (73.2%)

3.37

21

7 - 28

0.54

YN FA

1.61 (10.7%)

1.54

6

0-6

0.09

h-f

18.73 (62.4%)

4.22

21

7 - 280.37

note: Tr denotes translation test; YN denotes yes-no test; r denotes correlation (Pearson Product Moment) withtranslation test results; n = 205; k = 30 words and 15 pseudowords
studies (Mochida & Harrington, 2006; Stubbe, 2012).

Results

The FA rate for the synform pseudowords was more five

Descriptive stats are presented in Table 1. The

times higher at 23%. Correlations with translation test

translation test mean of 18.51 of the 30 real words wasscores were low at .04 and .09, respectively.

3.44 words lower than the yes-no test mean of 21.95,
suggesting that some of the students had over-estimatedtheir knowledge of the real words on the yes-no test. The

Table 2: Meara’s Versus Synform Pseudowords

false alarm rate of 11% was substantially higher than the
5% rate found in Mochida and Harrington (2006), andStubbe (2012); both also studying Japanese learners.
The correlation with translation test scores was only

Pseudowords

mean

SD

R

YN FA 15

1.61 (10.7%)

1.54

.09

Meara’s 10

0.44. (4.4%)

0.79

0.04

Synforms 5

1.17 (23.4%)

1.06

0.09

moderate for the yes-no test real words (.54) andnegligible for the pseudowords (.09). Applying the h-f
correction formula adjusts the yes-no test mean
substantially closer to the translation test mean (18.73
and 18.51, respectively), but lowers the correlation (.37).
A paired t-test found no statistically significant difference
between the h-f and translation test results (t = .73, df =note: r denotes correlation (Pearson Product Moment) withtranslation test results; n = 205; Meara’s = 10 pseudowords,
synforms = 5 pseudowords

204, p = .47). The effect size (Cohen, 1988) between the

Table 3 reports the results of applying the h-f

two results was also very small (d = .06). While yes-nocorrection formula to Meara’s 10 pseudowords and thescores were 11.5% higher than translation test scores

five synform pseudowords separately. The h-f mean for(73.2% - 61.7%), the h-f adjusted scores were only 0.7%

Meara’s pseudowords was 7% higher that the translation

higher.

test
Table 2 breaks down the pseudoword resultsby origin, Meara’s 10 pseudowords versus the 5 synform
pseudowords. The FA rate of 4.4% for Meara’s

mean,

but

the

h-f

mean

for

the

synform

pseudowords was 12% lower. Although the correlation
with the translation test was moderate for Meara’s h-f
at .43, it was much lower for the synform h-f at .18.

pseudowords was much more in line with previous

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

236

Table 3: Applying h-f to Meara’s 10 Versus the 5 Synform Pseudowords
Test

mean

Tr

SD

range

low-highr

18.51 (61.7%) 3.53

20

10 - 301h-f

18.73 (62.4%) 4.22

21

7 - 280.37

Meara’s h-f

20.63 (68.8%) 4.02

21

7 - 280.43

Synform h-f

14.93 (49.8%) 6.67

28

0 - 280.18

note: r denotes correlation (Pearson Product Moment) with translation test results; n = 205; Meara’s = 10
pseudowords, synforms = 5 pseudoword
Table 4: Over-estimation and Pseudoword Means and Correlations
Item

mean

SD

range

low-highrOver-estimation

4.99 (16.6%)

2.57

16

0 - 16

1

Meara’s

0.44 (4.4%)

0.79

4

0-4

-0.002

Synform

1.17 (23.4%)

1.06

4

0- 4

0.11

Meara’s h-f

20.69 (69%)

3.95

21

7 - 280.22

Synform h-f

14.99 (50%)

6.78

28

0 - 280.03

h-f

18.79 (63%)

4.24

21

7 - 280.156

note: r denotes correlation on Over-estimation results; n = 205; Meara’s = 10 pseudowords, synforms = 5
pseudoword
By comparing

yes-noresults

withtheAn item analysis of the pseudowords revealedtranslation test results on a student by student, item bythat the synforms crealy and inprove accounted for more

item bases, the actual amount of over-estimation can bethan half of the total synform reports of 242 (Table 5).

calculated (Table 4). The mean amount of over-

Whereas Meara’s ten pseudowords had a mean of 9.9

estimation for the 205 participants on the 30 tested

FAs per pseudoword by the 205 test-takers, the fivewords was 4.99 (16.6%). Although the correlation

synform pseudowords had a mean of 48.4, almost five

between over-estimation and the synform pseudowords

time more popular.

was weak at .11, it was considerably higher than for
Meara’s pseudowords at -.002. However, applying thepseudowords in the h-f correction formula resulted in the
opposite: the correlation for Meara’s h-f was stronger

Discussion/Conclusion
The results presented above present conflicting data

than for the Synform h-f (.22 and .03, respectively). As

concerning the usefulness of synform pseudowords. On

might be expected, the h-f (full 15 pseudowords)

one hand, the t-test found no significant difference (pcorrection with over-estimation was between the two= .46) between the full 15 pseudoword h-f adjusted yes-at .16.

no test results and participant demonstrable knowledgeof the 30 tested real words, as measured by the L2 to L1

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

237

Table5:

Item

Analysis-

Meara’s& Synform

Pseudowords (n = 205)

the tested items. Back translations of the responses on
the translation test found that only one of the 30 tested
real words suffered from what Laufer (1989) labeled

Meara’s

Total

Synform

Totalralling

33

crealy106

degate18

inprove

68

dowrick

12

balue

31

noot

7

grav

21

“synformic confusion”. The word “vase” was translated
as “base” by 32 of the 205 test-takers (15.6%).
This has been an investigation into theusefulness of including synform pseudowords in thepseudoword item pool of a yes-no vocabulary test. The
results

reportedabovesuggestthat

synform

pseudowords may be useful when adjusting yes-no testscores to better reflect the actual word knowledge of theparticipants. Future research should utilize an item list

oxylate7

detair16

which contains a higher proportion of words that areprone to synformic confusion (“law” versus “raw”; “vase”

glandle6curify4

perrymanversus “base”, for example).

References
Anderson, R. C., & Freebody, P. (1983). Reading

3

comprehension and the assessment and acquisition
lannery

of word knowledge. In B. A. Hutson (Ed.), Advances

2

in Reading/Language Research (Vol. 2, pp. 231-256).
balfour

1

Total

99

Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
242

Barrow, J., Nakanishi, Y., & Ishino, H. (1999). Assessing
Japanese college students’ vocabulary knowledge

Mean

9.9

48.4

with a self-checking familiarity survey. System, 27 (2),
223–247. 10.1016/ S0346-251X(99)00018-4

translation test. The combination of five synform
pseudowords with ten Meara’s pseudowords (a rate of
two to one) appears to have created a useful scoring
formula. The full h-f results had the closest mean to thetranslation test mean (63% and 62%, respectively) but a
low correlation (.37). The correlation between the five
synform pseudowords and the over-estimation results

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the
Behavioral

Sciences

(2nd

ed.).

Hillsdale,

NJ:

Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gu, Y. & Leung, C. (2002). Error patterns of vocabulary
recognition for EFL learners in Beijing and HongKong. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching,12, 121-141.

was significantly better than for the ten Meara’s
pseudowords (.11 versus -.002). However, when used in

Kocić, A. (2008). The problem of synforms (similar

separate h-f scoring formulas, the opposite ranking

lexical forms). Linguistics and Literature 6 (1) 51 - 59.

occurred (r = .003 for Synform h-f and .22 for Meara’s hf). The difference between the translation test scores andthe Synform h-f scores was greater than between thetranslation test and Meara’s h-f results (12% lowers
versus 7% higher, respectively) and the correlation wasmuch lower (.18 versus .44).
One factor likely contributing to these less than

Laufer, B. (1988). The concept of 'synforms' (similar
lexical forms) in vocabulary acquisition. Language
and Education 2 (2), 113-132.
Laufer, B. (1989). A factor of difficulty in vocabulary
learning: Deceptive transparency. Aila Review 6, 1020.

impressive synform pseudoword results can be found in

The 2018 PanSIG Journal238

Laufer, B., Meara, P., & Nation I. S. P. (2005). Ten best
ideas

for

teaching

vocabulary.

The

Language

International Journal of English Studies, 7(2), 105125.

Teacher, 29 (7), 3-6.
Schmitt, N., Jiang, X., & Grabe, W. (2011). The
Meara, P. (2010). EFL vocabulary tests. Swansea:
Lognostics

secondedition.

Retrievedfrom:

http://www.lognostics.co.uk/vlibrary/meara1992z.pdf

percentage of words known in a text and reading
comprehension. Modern Language Journal, 95 (1),26-43. doi: 10.1111/j1540-4781.01146x

Mochida, A. & Harrington, M. (2006). The Yes/No test as

Stubbe, R. (2012). Do pseudoword false alarm rates anda measure of receptive vocabulary knowledge.

overestimation rates in yes/no vocabulary tests

Language Testing 23 (1), 73-98.

change with Japanese university students’ English
ability levels? Language Testing, 29 (4), 471–488.

Nural, S. (2014). Approaching Synforms (Similar Lexical

doi:10.1177/0265532211433033

Forms) in an EAP Context. Theory and Practice inLanguage Studies, 4, (9), 1753-1762.

Stubbe, R. & Cochrane, Y. (2016). Common Errors on
an L2 to L1 Translation Test. Vocab@Tokyo

Read,

J.

(2007).

Secondlanguage

vocabulary

Conference Handbook, 167-168.

assessment: Current practices and new directions.

Author biographies
Raymond Stubbe holds an M.A. in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Leicester, England; and a
B.Ed. from the University of Victoria, Canada. He is presently a full-time Assistant Professor at Nagasaki University. His
research interests include vocabulary acquisition and testing.
Kousuke Nakashima holds a Ph.D. in Language and Culture Studies from Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (2014).
He worked for Kyushu Sangyo University and National Institute of Technology, Ariake College as a full-time lecturer.
Presently he is an assistant professor at Hiroshima Institute of Technology.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal239

Action Research on the Effect of Focus-on-Form Instruction: developing
Junior High School Students’ Communicative Competences
Yoko Takano
Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
The action research was conducted in a private school from April 2014 to March 2015. Target students
were junior high school (JHS) students who had been learning English in this school for 90 minutes
every Tuesday night. Two students in particular, had come to dislike lessons due to complicatedgrammar explanations in their JHS classes, and were in need of treatment. On the other hand, theremaining three students enjoyed the lessons in their JHS. During this research, focus-on-form
instructions (FFIs) were implemented and the students actively used target grammar form incommunication. In addition, speaking and writing tests were given in order to evaluate their performance.
As a result, all students gained confidence to use English in this school. Furthermore, their paper testscores (summative assessment) in JHS increased in March 2015. This research explains how FFIs canlead to positive results in improving students’ communicative competences.

本研究では、小さい規模で個人経営の英語学校で１年間行われた実践報告を行う。研究対象は、中学校において英語の授業内容が分からず英語嫌いになった中学生 2 名と、英語が比較的得意な生徒たち 3 名が毎週火曜夜 90 分間、英語をコミュニカティブに使用できるかどうかに焦点をあて、１年間に渡りア
クションリサーチを行ってきた。コミュニケーションに重点をおいた文法学習（フォーカスオンフォーム）による指導を行った結果、生徒たちは意味と文法の形を結び付け、その形を積極的に使用した。そして、話す・書く実践テストを繰り返し、生徒たちは話すことと書くことにおいて能力を伸ばしただけ
でなく、英語を使うことに対して自信が付き、中学校での英語テストスコアの向上にもつながった。この研究では、生徒たちがどのように英語の使用能力を伸ばしたかを論じる。

Though a great number of students have been learning

meaning,

andcommunicativecompetence

English in Japan, the results obtained after spending

capability

toperceivemuch time on learning English do not reach theircommunicative competence （ CC ） .

expectations. Lee and VanPatten (2003) argue thatmainly of four components, which are grammaticaltraditional instructions consisting of drills in which

competence,learners' output is manipulated and instructions are farcompetence, and strategic competence. To activate CC,from understanding actual meanings of forms is not an

all components require attention. Savignon (2002) also

effective method for enhancing language acquisition (p.

insists that each kind of competence is essential and137). In order to change this situation, Communicativeinterrelated, so each cannot be developed or measured

Language Teaching (CLT) was introduced and brought

in isolation, and one cannot develop them separately.

favorable results in language learning classrooms.

Rather, when one kind of competence works with thecontext

sociolinguistic

using

is

the

integrated

CC consists

competence,

discourse

other types of competence to interact with each other,
only then CC can be intensified overall.

Background
Savignon(1997)

expressions,arguesinterpretations,

that
and

communicationisConsidering English skills based on this theory,negotiationsofdifficulties of improvement grammar competence are

The 2018 PanSIG Journal240

often discussed in Japanese language education. In

communicative and effective approach for L2 learners ingeneral, teachers in English classes in JHS put

order to allow them to notice meanings of forms inemphasis on grammar teaching to help students with

communication. It is based on a synthetic syllabus, so

various methods, thus some instructions are not practicallearners are required to treat a language primarily as an

to improve students’ grammar competence.

object to be studied and practiced step by step rather
than to be used. On the contrary, focus-on-form

Grammar through Communication

apparently

Ellis (2006) states that “[a]lthough there is a clear
conviction that a traditional approach to teachinggrammar based on explicit explanations and drill-likedraws

students’attentiontolinguistic

elements as they arise incidentally in classes whose
overriding focus is on meaning or communication (Long,
1991 p.45-46).

practices is unlikely to result in the acquisition of the
explicit knowledge needed for fluent and accurate

Planned FFI & Incidental FFI

communication”

andFurthermore, Ellis (2006) states that “focus on form

grammarentails a focus on meaning with attention to form arising

practice is largely mechanical with the focus exclusivelyout of the communicative activity” (p. 100). This focus

on using grammatical features to produce some sort ofactivity is planned focus-on-form instruction (FFI) whichutterance. A focus on messages and a focus on input

provides input and output simultaneously while focusing

are simply absent when it comes to grammar" (p. 123).

on the meaning of target grammar. This means that L2

For instance, traditional grammar teaching, such aslearners can notice grammatical structures naturally. In

mechanical drills, is not effective because students justother words, this meaning-focused input allows students

copy sentences and cannot focus on the meaning of

to notice the form-meaning relations. Then, they canform. In short, it can be concluded that grammar drill

establish their developing systems and intake thelessons do not work well to learn a language. Rather, itmeanings of forms and output in this planned FFI. It

would

VanPatten(p.

(2003)

bring

102).
insistthat“traditional

languagerequires a focused task, so it is an intensive activity. On
the other hand, Incidental FFI attempts to form the not-English education in JHS, some students who canpredetermined context of communicative activities. It

accesslexiconissuesLeeacquisition. Taking into consideration the background of
their

serious

Furthermore,

quicklyincansecondvariousrather occurs in accordance with needs linguistics togrammar forms in traditional grammar teaching in theiracquireaccord with its activity (ßthis sentence doesn’t makeclassrooms. However, most students fail to master thesesense to me. I’m not sure what the message is..) (Ellis,

forms due to the mechanical drilled teaching and come2006). Incidental FFI is an extensive activity and output-

to dislike the English lessons in JHS. To make the matterbased instruction in essay writing that forms are notworse, these students are losing their motivation towardtargeted in advance. This FFI implies integrated

language learning, so the gap between other students

grammar teaching which consists of communicative

who have strong motivation is becoming wider. From thecurrent situations in English lessons, some practical
approaches are indispensable to support the students
who fail to understand grammar learning.

Focus on Forms versus Focus on FormLong (1988, 1991) categorizes focus on form instructions
into two different types (Ellis 2006). He argues thattraditional grammar teaching is focus on forms where L2
learners focus on just forms and do grammar practicewithout understanding the meaning of forms, such as

Table 1: Types of Focus-on-form(s) Instruction
Type of FFIPrimary Focus

Distribution

Focus-on-forms
(Long
1998,
2000)

Form

Intensive

Planned FFI

Meaning

Intensive

Meaning

Extensive(Ellis 2006)

vocabulary, phrases, and sentences. On the other hand,

Incidental FFI

focus on form is a different approach in grammar(Ellis 2006)

teaching where learners can focus on meanings before
focusing on forms. Therefore, focus on form is a

The 2018 PanSIG Journal241tasks. In addition, Ellis (2006) maintains that “incidental

focus-on-forms students produced plural -s, but it

FFI has special values because it affords an opportunity

occurred in repetitions of teachers’ utterances. In otherfor extensive treatment of grammatical problems" (p.

words, focus-on-form instruction gave students incidental

102). There is another privilege of incidental FFI ingrammar acquisition better than their learning in focus-

grammar teaching when students make errors in

on-forms. This study explains that FFI created the needclassrooms, teachers can give corrective feedback.

for learners to distinguish the target grammar forms andTherefore, students can learn grammar forms to apply inestablish the form-meaning connection. As a result of thereal-communication and through teachers’ feedback,study by Shintani (2015), students mastered plural –s

modify their forms if they choose inappropriate ones.

throughincidental

FFI

and

successfully

producedpluralized nouns. Unfortunately, no students produced aPrevious Studies

plural noun in focus-on-forms instruction even though

Ellis et all (2001) studied how preemptive (incidental) FFI

teachers revised their erroneous utterances.

was accomplished in the meaning-focused lesson taught
by ESL teachers in New Zealand. The meaning-focused

Methods

instruction made students use English actively and ledthem to acquire the target grammar form. Needless tosay, the acquisition of form is a very important stage forL2 learners when choosing a specific form for the topic

Research Issues
Ellis (2006) explains that few studies have beenof communication. As a result of these studies on

conducted on the influence of FFI on language learning.

incidental focus-on-form instruction, students-initiation

Still, traditional grammar teaching is the most common

took place more often than teachers-initiation. In fact,

method in language learning because a great number ofstudents-initiated focus on form involves actual gaps inlanguageteachers

misunderstandCommunicative

the students’ knowledge, so it is worth to gage their

Language

Teaching(CLT).

cannotdevelopment of language acquisition in incidental

approach due to their believes (Sato & Kleinsasser

instruction. To sum up this study, incidental FFI

1999). For this reason, some of my students got boredpromotes uptake effectively for students in paying

because of traditional grammar teaching and failed toattention to form in an unplanned context. In addition,

understand the grammar rules in their JHS. As a result,

Sato et al (2012) explain that two projects by two
different teachers in JHS were designed to implement

Theychangethey came to dislike English lessons in their classes andtheir parents asked me to increase their motivation

planned FFI, and finally showed positive results in

toward the language learning. To solve this issue, theincreasing students’ motivation toward language learning.

action research was conducted to know how students

Moreover, one project which was designed to implementchange their emotion toward language learning, and how

both planned and incidental FFI concluded positive

FFI, which is one aspect of CLT, can support them in thisresults in JHS, too. The teacher in JHS used target

private school. In particular, there are existing studies

grammar in the textbook explanation in Japanese and(Sato, et al 2012) which illustrate how three teachers incarried out planned FFI to encourage students to use the

JHS conducted longitudinal action research to explain

target grammar form in communication. Later, she gave

what FFI procedure they tried in their classrooms, andincidental FFI after one or two units of textbook.

how students increased their motivation. Therefore,

Students in JHS changed their attitudes and participatedaction research with JHS students in this private schoolin the classroom through writing essays in English.
Furthermore,

Shintani(2015)

investigatedwhether

focus-on-form instruction or focus-on forms are effective
for young children to learn plural -s in schools in Japan.
These young children who were divided in two groups(focus-on-form vs focus-on-forms) joined the study to
examine the target features and ability (receptively andproductively). For instance, focus-on-form students
produced plural -s many times. On the other hand,

was launched in 2014.

Teaching Contexts and Research
Questions
Action research (Apr. 2014 – Mar.2015) was conductedin a small private language school with students (S1, S2,
S3) who liked English classes in JHS and students (S4,S5) who came to dislike the classes. Every Tuesdaynight, they took planned FFI for 60 minutes and did

The 2018 PanSIG Journal242

incidental FFI for 30 minutes. Week by week, they

Table 2:. Students’ comprehension in English
lessons in private School and JHS (Pre-survey)

learned the target grammar form which was in their JHS
English textbook through planned FFI. During theSurvey questions: Do you understand English
lessons in private school and JHS? (As the
supplement information, EIKEN <English proficiency
tests in Japan> grades of participants are shown on
the table.

incidental FFI, they chose specific grammar form to state
their opinions and to negotiate during conversation. In
pairs, they did timed-conversation for one minute, two
minutes and three minutes with different partners. At the○＝completely understand×＝hard to understand

beginning, students failed to continue conversation due
to

the

lack

of

speaking

experience.

Therefore,

S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

Privateschool

○

○

○

△

△

In JH

○

○

○

×

×

EIKEN

Pre 2

3

3

4

5

conversation strategies were introduced to them as atreatment to avoid communication breakdown. For
writing, they did step writing activities (flash-writing, peerediting, teachers-feedback, self-editing) in order to use
specific grammar form for essays. Periodically, speaking
tests were implemented as summative assessment to

Source: Survey conducted in April 2014assess their incidental grammar acquisition, fluency,
conversation strategies usage, and speaking attitude in

Table 3: Students’ self-evaluations in May 2014

spoken context. Similarly, a writing test with the same
topic as the speaking test was conducted to assess
fluencyandincidental

grammaracquisition.

Questionnaires as formative assessment were analyzed
to discover changes in their views toward language
learning. Three research questions: (1) How does FFI
improve students’ communicative competence? (2) How
does performance tests (speaking and writing) influence
students’ motivation in private school? (3) How does FFI
influence summative assessment in students’ paper testscores in JHS? were explored using a mix method
approach. Both qualitative and quantitative data such asquestionnaires,

video-recordingand△＝almost understand

What
S1
criteria are
improved?

S2

S3

S4

S5

eye-contact ○

×

○

○

○

Volume(Voice)

○

○

○

×

×

speaking
content

○

×

×

×

×

Fluency

○

○

×

×

×

Attitude

○

×

×

×

×

Source: Survey conducted after the performance
test (1 min. conversation) in May 2014self-evaluation

sheets were collected, analyzed, and discussed at themonthly action research meetings of the NUFS graduate

the conversation due to a lack of communication

school program.

strategies and experience speaking.

Three students(S1,2,3) completely understood

After the first speaking test, S2 noted on the

English lessons in both their JHS and this private school,comment sheet that “Speaking test was like torture! I

whereas two of them (S4, 5) held negative feeling toward

want to practice drill-patterned grammar to prepare highEnglishschool entrance exam”. From the students’ perspective

studies

due

to

the

peer

pressure

andcomplicated grammar explanation in JHS. Moreover,ofthey had a hard time enjoying FFI in the private school atcommunicative grammar teaching and tests were not

the beginning of this action research.

welcomed at the first stage.

bothplannedandincidental

FFI,

launched

From April 2014, the students had been

To release students’ anxiety of speaking,learning target grammar in planned FFI and spoke andconversation strategies were introduced. In each class,wrote about their favorite topics step by step in incidental

students learned these strategies to speak English

FFI. In May, the first speaking test was conducted.

fluently. Timed-conversation (1min. 2min. 3min.) was a

Unfortunately, most of them (except S1) failed to enjoy

routine activity, so they gradually gained confidence in
speaking. From May to August, speaking tests were not

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

243

Table 4: Speaking test results

Source: performance tests (1min: My favorite in Sep./2 min. Happy story in Nov./3 min. New Year memory inJan./ 4 min. My future in Mar.)
Table 5:. Writing test results (written words on essay for 20 min.)

Source: performance tests (Essay Topic: My favorite in Sep./Happy story in Nov/New Year memory in Jan./My
future in Mar).
successful due to their attitudes in the private school.

essays in English to express their feelings and opinions.

Moreover, most students did not show up on the

Because of test rubrics (Appendix 1 and 2), fluency was

speaking test day by giving excuses about being busy

weighed higher than accuracy, so they talked more andwith club activities and other cram school tests.

wrote

Therefore, during this period no performance tests werepressured. From students’ comments on the evaluation

conducted, but various FFI were introduced to give

sheet, it seems that all of them got satisfaction andstudents time to output English more. From September

confidence in speaking and writing.

more

in

performancetests

without

feeling

to March, students were active to engage in performance
tests to show their communicative competence in
speaking and writing.

Finally, all students improved paper test scores
which were evaluated by their teachers in JHS.

All students gradually gained motivation andconfidence in front of the video camera in speaking tests.
Similarly to speaking tests, they had a good time writing

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

244

Discussion

and feelings. At last, their paper test scores of each term
Table 6. Number of paper test scores in JHS

Source: Conducted paper tests in students’ junior high schools in May, July, Oct., Nov. 2014 and Feb. 2015
Table 7: Students’ comments in March 2015
Survey question: What do you think of FFI? It is helpful to write and speak?
Comment
S1

Very useful. On both tests in JHS and private school, I used target grammar easily andactively.Speaking English is very fun, and I want to make people laugh in English in future.

S2

Once I notice the correlation of meaning and form, I can remember them. In paper tests in JHS, I
was able to choose correct answer quickly. I was surprised.

S3

I can use many target forms in performance tests because it was not difficult. It was good to have
performance tests many times, because I got rid of pressure in speaking little by little.

S4

As I don’t understand some grammar rules in JHS, I came to understand them through FFI in private
school. The topic on FFI was fun, so I never felt board.

S5

I disliked English before, but I like English study now because I can speak and write English.
Especially, I made it to write more than 100 words in English. I am super happy.

All five students came to engage FFI actively andconducted by JHS dramatically improved.

showed good performance in both speaking and writing
tests. Especially, S5 who disliked going to JHS due tothe peer-pressure in English lessons, changed his
attitude and was happy to participate in both planned
and incidental FFI(Appendix 3). Thanks to this change,

Conclusion
This action research (AR) conducted with five junior highschool (JHS) students to study the effect on boththe classroom atmosphere also improved. They become

planned and incidental FFI in improvement of theirmore excited to try various grammar form(s) that they

communicative competences (CC) has been concluded.

have already learned through planned FFI and in JHS. In

Research question (1) How does FFI improve students’

addition, they gained confidence through multiple-timed

CC? could be probed with these figures as test results

conversations.

wereshow in the previous section. Despite the small number

instructed to write English essay with the target grammarof participants, the data was collected and analyzed

form(s). As a result, they discarded their anxiety forfollowing a mixed-method approach, and through AR the

speaking and enjoyed writing to express their opinions

sources to probe the improvement of their CC were

After

the

conversation,they

The 2018 PanSIG Journal245

discovered. Therefore, this study corroborates the

Lee,

J.

F.&

VanPatten,

B.

(2003).

Makingfindings of Sato et al. (2012), which stated that FFI was

Communicative Language Teaching Happen (2ndeffective in JHS. Furthermore, this result of AR reflectsed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

the study of Ellis (2001) and Shintani (2015) whichinvestigated that incidental FFI was helpful in incidental

Long,

M.

H.

(1988).

Instructedinterlanguage

development. In L. Beebe (Ed.), Issues in second

grammar acquisition

language acquisition: Multiple perspectives (pp. 115To

answerthequestion

(2)

How

does

141). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

performance tests (speaking and writing) influence
students’ motivation in private school?, the perspectiveof students on Table 7. might be seen as supporting
evidence since it shows that they gained motivation to
speak and write English through performance tests andfinally had an enjoyable time. Compared to the first stageof AR, their attitude was different, and they became
active speakers by the final stage.

Long, M. H. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature inlanguage teaching methodology. In K. de Bot, R.
Ginsberg, & C. Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language
research in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 39-52).
Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Sato, K., & Fukumoto, U., Ishitobi, N. &Morioka, T.
(2012). Focus-on-form instruction and students

Yet, there is no clear evidence to answer thequestion (3) How does FFI influence summative
assessment in students’ paper test scores in JHS? Since
these tests were made by teachers in JHS, it is hard tofind correlations. Probably, the students’ comments on
Table 7. has some potential to state that they performed

learning in Japanese junior high schools In. Steward
&

N.

Sonda

(eds.).

JALT

2011

Conference

Proceedings (pp. 283-303). Toikyo: JALT.
Sato, K,. & Kleisasser, R. C. (1999). Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT): Practical understandings.
The Modern Language Journal, 83, 494-515.

well on paper tests in JHS thanks to the quick access tothe target grammar form by noticing meaning. In addition,

Savignon, S. J. (1972). Communicative Competence: Anthey took planned FFI to learn the same target grammar

Experimentform which is used in their JHS textbook. In short, they

Philadelphia,

used the form for communication and mastered it due toDevelopment.

inForeignPA:

Language

CenterTeaching,

forCurriculum

Communicativecompetence:

multiple exposures they had to it. However, it is just ahypothesis and not a definite answer, so it could be

Savignon,S.

(1983).

grounds for further study to know the relevance between

Theory and classroom practice. Reading, MA:

FFI efficacy and increased paper test scores in JHS

Addyson-Wesley.
Savignon, S. J. (1997). Communicative Competence
Theory and Classroom Practice (2nd ed.) New York,

References
Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of Language Learning
and Teaching. (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Ellis,

R.,

Basturkmen,

Savignon, S. J. (2002). Interpreting Communicative
Language Learning: Contexts andH.,&Loewen,S.

(2001).

Preemptive Focus on Form in the ESL Classroom
TESOL Quarterly, vol. 35, No. 3. (Autumn, 2001), pp.
407-432.
Ellis, R. (2006). Current issues in the teaching ofgrammar: An SLA perspective. TESOLQuarterly, 40,
83-107

NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Concern in Teacher Education. London, England: Yale
University Press.
Shintani, N. (2015). The Incidental Grammar Acquisitionin Focus on Form and Focus on Forms Instruction for
Young Beginner Learners. TESOL Quarterly vol. 49,
No.1, March 2015 115-140.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

246

Appendix 1: Speaking test rubric

Speaking Test Rubric
1.C heck List

N am e(）

H ow m any tim eｓyou used

O pener
Rejoinder(Sounds nice,great..)Repeating
Follow -up questions(W hen?)Filler(Let m e see, W ell,,)C loser項目
６points
５points
6回以上
5回以上
6種類以上全て 5種類以上使うことができた

4 points 3points
2point1point4回以上 3回以上 2回以上 1回4種類以上 3種類以上 2種類以上 1種類

３points
内容が豊かで、たいへん

2points
1point内容が適切でだいたい内容がわかりにくく

理解しやすい理解できる

理解しにくい3points
2分間会話をスムーズにできた

2points
時々沈黙があるが会話をできた1point
沈黙が続き会話ができなかった

Attitude

4points
十分な声の３pointsある程度

１point
声が小さく（Volum e&]

大きさでアイコンタクトを声量、アイコンタクト

アイコンタクトがEye contact)

しながら話せるに気をつけていた

できていないC onversation
Strategies

C ontent

Fluency

B onus point! 友達とお互い協力しあって会話を続けることができたら 4PO IN TS!!
C om m ents

Score

/20points

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

247

Appendix 2: Writing test rubric

評価表
Categories

Point

Criteria

項目

得点

評価基準

Length & Style

5

70文以上で，事実や感想が書かれている。段落形式で書かれている(作文の長さ＆4

60～69文で，事実や感想が書かれている。もしくは70文以上で書かれているが，段落形式でない

350～59文で，事実や感想が書かれている。もしくは60～69文で書かれているが，段落形式でない

2

49文以下でしか，事実や感想が書かれていない。もしくは50～59文で書かれているが，段落形式でない

Neat &Tidy

3

誰でも読める丁寧な英語が書かれているyHandwriting2

読みにくい字が５か所以上ある

1

読みにくい字が8か所以上ある

３

文法や記号，大文字・小文字の使い分けに，間違いが５つ以内。

２

文法や記号，大文字・小文字の使い分けに，間違いが６－１０ある。

１

文法や記号，大文字・小文字の使い分けに，間違いが１１以上ある。

Content

３

冬休みの素晴らしいできごとについて，一貫性がありよく書けている。

内容

２

一貫性が欠ける部分がややあるが，まとまった文が書けている。

１

ばらばらな文章のみ書かれているスタイル）

Grammar &Punctuation
文法&句読点及び大文字・小文字の区別

BONUS POINTS!
オリジナルな点が多い場合

TOTAL
３ポイント UP!

学習済の文法を工夫して使った場合３ポイント UP!

/20points

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

248

Appendix 3: Incidental FFI
What a wonderful world！
How about you? After reading Yoko’s wonderful world story, talk about your wonderful story with partner.
Ex. A: What did you do during New Year’s holidays?
B: Let me see. I went to my grandparents’ house.
A: Sounds good. How much money gift did you get?
B: 30000yen. How about you?
A: Ehen. 50000yen. I will buy new ipod. How about you?
B; Hmmm. I haven’t decided yet.

Ask your partner!
S1

S2

S3

S4

S5

What did you do?
What did you see?

What did you eat?
Who did you see?

How much ?
What will you buy?

Special thingYour question

The 2018 PanSIG Journal249

Developing Speaking Fluency through Tasks in Chat Rooms
Nami Takase
Nagoya University Graduate School
Completing tasks in an online platform through text-based communication is relevant to language
learning today. The current study explores how simple interview tasks using chat rooms can affectfluency in speaking output in comparison with face-to-face tasks. The study was conducted with 138
university freshmen students in Japan. The study used two groups. Group One used text-only chats forinterview tasks; Group Two completed interview tasks using face-to-face communication. Both groups
repeated the tasks three times. The results of pre- and post-tests for speaking were compared. The
results indicate that the chat room group gained higher scores in fluency and accuracy compared to theface-to-face group. The author discusses the potential of how certain tasks such as interviews conductedin a chat room environment affect fluency; the limitations of this study are also discussed.

言語活動の効果を最大限に引き出す手段としてコンピュータを利用したタスク活動がある。そして、この活動は空間を気にせずに行えることから学習機会を拡大することができる。本研究は、シンプルなイ
ンタビュータスクを文字のみのチャットルーム（チャット）と対面でのスピーキングの二つの方法で行い、スピーキングの流暢性がどのように変化するのかを調査・研究したものである。日本の大学一年生を対象に、一つのグループではインタビュータスクをすべてチャット内で行い、もう一つのグループでは対面で行った。両グループに対しては事前と事後にスピーキングテストを行い、その変化を分析した。
結果、チャットを利用したグループは、流暢性と正確性共に対面グループよりも向上していることが分かった。本論文では、以上の外、チャット内で行うタスクの効果を議論するとともに、本研究の限界についても言及している。

Literature Review

As the usage of computer-mediated communication(CMC) has increased, researchers have exploredeffective ways to deliver optimal instruction for its use inbased and face-to-face learning, the role of CMC in

Synchronous Computer-MediatedCommunication and Second Language
Acquisition

improving oral communication skills, especially forPrevious studies have shown that the inherent features

particular task types, has been little investigated.

of chat rooms facilitate language learning (Blake, 2000;

Although some argue that chat room communication is a

Payne & Whiney, 2002; Sotillo, 2000). As a form ofform of written communication, others contend that thesynchronous communication, chat room conversations

subtle turn-taking that takes place in chat rooms

provideresembles

face-to-facetakinginteraction (Blake, 2000; Kitade, 2000), which has

advantageoflanguage learning. Despite extensive research on task-

computercommunication.
featuresandBy

opportunities

for

instant,

comprehensible

completing

important consequences for second language learning

appropriate tasks online, this study has investigated how

and may trigger cognitive processes necessary forchat room activities can improve oral performance.

second language acquisition (SLA) (Long, 1981; Swain& Lapkin, 1995). Interactions provide external feedback(e.g., clarification requests) and internal feedback (e.g.,monitoring), which serve metalinguistic functions: helping

The 2018 PanSIG Journal250

language learners internalize linguistic forms, testsame L1, it may become difficult to continue exchanges

hypotheses about language, and increase control overin the L2. Chat rooms, though, allow learners to monitor

internalized forms. In other words, when learners andtheir own output, so evidence of code switching is moreinterlocutors

noticeable, and learners can better reflect on what theynegotiatetoresolve

impassesincommunication, they signal and respond in ways that

produce (Beauvois, 1998).

enhance their comprehension of input and assist theirproduction of modified or pushed output, facilitating SLA.
It, therefore, can be stated that SLA is promoted byopportunities for learners to solve communication
problems through self-correction, corrective feedback,Text-Based Interaction and Oral Proficiency
Development
The earliest research on text-based interaction and oral
development was Beauvois (1997) and Payne andWhitney

and negotiation of meaning.

(2002).

Beauvois(1997)

conducted

anexperiment using two pre- and post-tests in an oral
The challenge to learning through interactions

format. The T-test result indicated that the group using

is that learners must notice the gap between thetextmessagingoutperformed

counterparts

in

the

interlanguage and the target language. Text-messaging

posttest results. Payne and Whitney (2002) havein a chat room allows learners to pay attention toinvestigated further into the mechanism of how online

language production, helping them notice their own andtext messaging would develop oral proficiency among L2others’ errors (Kitade, 2000; Lai & Zhao, 2006,Shintani;learners. According to Payne and Whitney (2002), text2015). As learners can easily read and revise what theymessaging indirectly improves oral skills as the process

have produced in chat room interactions, mistakes areof texting follows the same cognitive mechanism thatsalient for self-correction and negotiation for meaning. In

underlies oral communication (Levelt, 1980).

a study on corrective feedback, Shintani (2015) foundthatcomputer-mediatedsynchronous

Other research on online text-based interaction

corrective

feedback allows learners to notice the gap in a context
similar to oral recasts. Oral recasts can provide
immediate feedback but possibly not written feedback
because it is often given when the material has been
written. Synchronous corrective feedback, as in chatrooms, is “more likely to engage with the cognitive
mechanisms responsible for acquisition" (Shintani, 2015,p. 4). Providing immediate appropriate feedback side by

has yielded different results (Abrams, 2003; Kost,2004).
Abrams (2003) found no significant difference for lexicalrichness, lexical density and syntactic complexity ingroups using discussion rooms, chat rooms and face-toface discussion. Kost (2004) using role-play for the tasks
found no significant difference among groups engaged inchat sessions and face-to-face communication in termsof the development of oral and written proficiency.

side in a written form may be more noticeable to thelearners.

In a meta-analysis of recent studies of theeffect of CMC on oral proficiency, Lin (2014) found that

Another advantage of communicating throughtext-based chat rooms is that it encourages learners totake additional time to process and produce messages inongoing interactions. Lai and Zhao (2006) claimed thismight lower learners’ cognitive load, so they can allocate
their cognitive resources to reviewing and evaluating the
linguistic forms in their output. Moreover, text-based
communication supports students at different levels,
including low-proficiency students who rely on their first
language (L1) and shy students who lack fluency. Textbased chat rooms can help elementary-school learners
stay focused on their second language (L2). In English

language performance depends on several variables,
including task type. Discussions with assigned topics
and role-playing followed by discussion tasks have beenreported to benefit oral development (Beauvois, 1997;
Blake, 2009; Payne & Whitney, 2002). Other tasks, suchas picture narrative tasks, have not outperformed control
groups engaging in face-to-face speaking (Loewen &Erlam, 2006). Although comparing these results requires
careful attention because not all the study designs arecompatible, Lin (2014) identified task type as amethodological factor that affects oral proficiency inCMC.

as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting where learners
come from a homogenous environment and share theThe 2018 PanSIG Journal251

Task Effect on Oral Fluency

2. Does engaging in interview activities in a text-based

Task effect on oral fluency has been widely beenchat room affect accuracy and complexity in oral

researched in face-to-face communication (Foster &proficiency?

Skehan,1996; Skehan,1998). Foster & Skehan (1996)
reported that fluency develops when there is planning

Methodtime in all three types of cognitive tasks (personal,
narration, and decision-making). Also based on attention
resource

theory(Foster&

Skehan,

1996)

task

characteristics may have a strong influence in directing
the attention during planning towards accuracy andcomplexity. As the attention capacity is limited, this canresult in trade-offs in performance in some areas at theexpense of others (Skehan, 1998). According to Foster &Skehan (1996), when giving planning time to participants
engaging in tasks with inherent structure such as
personal or narrative tasks, their attention is directed
towards achieving accuracy (Foster & Skehan, 1996) atthe expense of complexity while improving their fluency.
In a recent study of attention resources andlanguage processing using chat rooms, Adams and Nik

ParticipantsThis research involved 138 first-year students taking an
English communication class that included this study aspart of the class content. The participants were informed
about the study purpose and content, and data weregathered with their consent. All the participants were
nonnative English speakers whose L1 was Japanese.
The male–to–female ratio was 1:3, and most werestudying

and

Nik

Mohd

Alwi

(2014)

state

that

fluencydevelopment is due to the nature of chat rooms, where
the separation of the production and transmission of themessage gives more opportunities to process and edit
output. The text-based communication in chat room
provides additional planning time compared to face-toface interaction, which may develop oral fluency.

Present Study
Based on Foster & Skehan's attention resource theory(1996) and providing planning time through text-based
communication in chat rooms, the present study
hypothesizes that oral fluency development is greater
through the use of text-based chat rooms. To compare
the results with Foster & Skehan (1996), a personal task
is used for the present study. Given Adams and Nik
Mohd Alwi’s (2014) findings on prior knowledge, theinterview task was adopted to make use of the learners’
past experiences. Tasks were repeated to ensure
fluency (Ahmadian & Tavakoli, 2010).

Research Questions;
1. Does engaging in interview activities in a text-based
chat room improve oral fluency?

orculturalpolicy.

Their

Englishproficiency levels were A1-B1 in the Common European
FrameworkofReferencefor

Languages(CEFR)

framework, with Test of English for International
Communication (TOEIC) scores of approximately 250–
500.

Mohd Alwi (2014) claim that decreasing task complexity
with prior knowledge appears to develop fluency. Adams

designTwo classes were asked to participate in thisstudy. Class One functioned as a control group andcompleted all the interview tasks using face-to-facecommunication. Class Two was the experimental groupand completed the interview tasks using the text-based
chat tool embedded in the computer-assisted language
learning (CALL) classroom. To avoid the instruction
effect, both classes were taught by same instructor.

Task
The task was conducted from October to November in2017. Students were paired together and assigned toask partners what they did during their summer
vacations. The task was repeated three times withdifferent partners each time. The learners were asked tosummarize the interviews and report to the teacher atthe end of the task. Before the interview task, bothgroups participated in a pretest, in which they recorded a
one-minute speech on what they did over the summer
using the recording software in the CALL lab. They gave
another one-minute speech for a posttest after the threeinterview tasks.

Data Analysis
Pre- and posttest sound files were collected andtranscribed for analysis. The transcribed pre- andposttests were divided into T-units, which are minimally

The 2018 PanSIG Journal252terminable units (Hunt, 1965). The data were analyzed

disagreements, the first rater independently coded thewithrest of the data.

ShapiroandMann-Whitney

U

tests

and

independent T-tests using computer statistical analysis

Lexical variety

software R.

The Guiraud Index (GI) was used to analyze word types

Fluencyin all of the words produced in a single task. Although

Fluency of language was assessed based on the

the GI is sensitive to text length, it has been used in

number of pauses, phonation time, and speech rate

research to show lexical richness (Vermeer, 2000).

(syllables divided per total time). The silence threshold
was set to -25(dB), and the minimum duration was set to

Results

0.3(s) (De Jong & Bosker, 2013) in Praat phonological

Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics for accuracy,

analysis software (Boersma & Weenink, 2018).

complexity, fluency, GI (lexical variation), and total

Accuracy

number of words produced during the face-to-face andAccuracy of language production was evaluated by thechat room interviews.

percentage of error-free clauses per T-unit. Errors were
defined at the sentence level rather than the discourse

Fluencylevel. Different verb tenses in a single task, misused

In terms of fluency, the chat room group had a reduced

conjunctions, and “a/an” distinctions, therefore, were notnumber of pauses (t (30)=1.632, p=0.113) (Figure 1) andcounted as errors. Foster and Skehan (1996) used theimproved phonation (t (36)=2.441, p=0.020) (Figure 2)

same accuracy measures to analyze oral performance.
A total of 25% of the data was compared with anotherrater for reliability. There was an 82.9 percent agreement.
After discussing the disagreements, the first rater
independently coded the rest of the data.

The chat room group had higher accuracy in the posttest
results (t (26.315)=2.167, p=0.039), while the face-top=0.966).

Repeated words, self-repair words, fillers, and L2 usewere eliminated before analysis. Syntactic complexity
was measured utilizing the mean length of the T-units inthe pruned speech. T-units 25% of the data wascompared with another rater for reliability. There was apercent

Accuracy

face group saw no significant difference (t(30.944)=0.043,

Complexity

91.0

and speech rates (t (32)=1.276, p=0.211) (Figure 3).

agreement.

After

discussingtheComplexity
Both the face-to-face and chat room groups recordedslight increases in syntactic complexity and had similareffect sizes (face-to-face: t (31)=0.913, p=0.368; chat: t(26)=0.986, p=0.333).

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

253

Lexical variety

Engaging in interview tasks in chat rooms had a larger

The GI and total number of words increased significantlyin the comparison of pretest and posttest results for bothFigure 1: Number of Pausesmodes (GI: face-to-face: t (37)=2.459, p=0.019, chat t(37)=2.782, p=0.001; total number of words: face-toface: t (32)=2.000, p=0.054 chat t (37)=3.65, p=0.001).

Discussion
To summarize the pre- and posttest results, the chatroom group gained a certain amount of fluency, withimprovement in syntactic complexity and accuracy. In
contrast, the face-to-face group showed only slight
improvement in oral performance on complexity andfluency. There was no difference in accuracy.
Research Question 1: Does engaging in interview
activities in a text-based chat room improve oral fluency?

Figure 2: Phonation TimeIn this present study, engaging in the interview tasks inchat rooms had an improved effect on fluency comparedto the face-to-face group, as shown by the results of a
posttest for speaking. This result corroborates Adam and
Nik Mohd Alwi’s (2014) finding that engaging in tasks
with prior knowledge develops fluency. Interview tasks
are simple, structured tasks with which the participants
are familiar within a variety of contexts. Drawing on
knowledge of past experiences to complete tasks
enables learners to improve fluency.
The results also indicated that lexical variety
and total number of words both increased in face-to-faceand chat group post-test results. This can be taken as an

Figure 3: Speech Rate

indicator of more meaningful output in both modes
through task repetition. Repeating the task three times
was sufficient to affect the results of the oral posttest.
Looking carefully at the results, the chat room group hada larger effect size for the total number of words incomparisons between pretest and posttest results.
These results may be because some participants foundchat room conversations to be less intimidating thanface-to-face communication. The opportunity to practicea task in a safe environment may have impacted theposttest results.
Research Question 2: Does engaging in interview
activities in a text-based chat room affect accuracy andcomplexity in oral proficiency?

effect on accuracy and an equivalent effect oncomplexity as compared to face-to-face communication.
This result supports the claim of attention resource

The 2018 PanSIG Journal254theory (Foster and Skehan, 1996). In a structured task

Conclusion

such as an interview task, providing more planning time

This study examined how interview tasks conducted in awill increase accuracy more than complexity (Foster andchat room and in face-to-face communication affects oral

Skehan, 1996) as interview tasks may be completed

speaking. The chat room group made greater gains inwithout using complex language. Participants are aware

fluency and accuracy and had similar effects onof the task procedure and the task contains clear steps.

complexity as the face-to-face group. The result

Another

explanationfor

improvementin

accuracy over complexity is that the participants’proficiency levels were not sufficient to easily produce

suggests that taking part in interview tasks using textbased chat rooms may have the same effect asadditional planning time in face-to-face activities.

complex sentences. The participants may have preferredPrevious study (Loewen & Erlam,2006) has

accuracy at the expense of complexity. Previous studies

reported mixed results from using chat rooms to improve

have

speaking. This study found that engaging in simple tasks

reported

thegreatest

trade-offisbetweencomplexity and accuracy (Finardi, 2008).
Inaddition,aspreviousin a chat room, such as interview tasks, improved
researchhassuggested, engaging in online text-based chat rooms
may

directattentiontolinguistic

aspectsofcommunication due to the written format (Beauvois,
1998; Kitade, 2000; Lai & Zho, 2006; Shinatani, 2015).
The written mode of exchange makes errors more
obvious, possibly resulting in greater accuracy comparedspeaking more than using face-to-face environments.
For beginning learners, producing text in instantcommunication may bring their attention to linguistic
aspects, allowing for more fluid output. Future studies
are needed to support the claim that the presence of text
in communication facilitates shifting attention to linguistic
aspects.

to face-to-face communication.

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257

Smartphone Augmented Reality for EFL learners
Samuel Taylor

Adam Stone

Kyushu Sangyo University

Kyushu Sangyo University

This study details the development and application of two Augmented Reality (AR) activities designed foruse in listening and speaking university EFL classes. The authors demonstrate how the HP Reveal
smartphone application can be used with a low degree of complexity to create AR content to encourage
physical movement, collaboration, and contextual learning. Furthermore, is it shown how current AR
technology is compatible with language learning, and displays a relative advantage over conventional
materials. Analysis of participant survey data and discussion of the teacher and learner experience of
the AR activities is contextualized with practical observations concerning the use of HP Reveal.
Conclusions include suggestions for future educational AR research and materials development, andemphasize the importance of the demonstration of the benefits and uses of AR technology for bothteachers and learners.

本研究は、大学の EFL リスニングおよびスピーキングクラスで使用するために計画された 2 つの拡張
現実 (AR) 活動の開発と応用に関するものである。発表者は、動作、共同作業および環境にそくした学習を促す AR コンテンツを作成するために、スマートフォンのアプリである HP Reveal がどのように複雑さの程度が低い状態で使用されるかを説明する。さらに、現在の AR 技術が言語学習とどのように適合しているかを示し、従来の教材を超えた相対的な優位性を示す。参加者に対するアンケート調査および AR 活動についての教員と学習者の議論の分析について、HP Reveal の使用に関する実践的な観察とともに説明する。結論では、将来の教育的な AR 研究および教材開発への示唆を含み、教員と学習者両者のための AR 技術の利益と使用の証拠の重要性について強調する。

Augmented Reality (AR) is a relatively new technology

meaningful, real world situation. The paper will conclude

brought to public consciousness by the Pokémon Go!

with discussion of the teacher and student experience ofgame in 2016 (Godwin-Jones, 2016). The technology is

AR technology and suggest possibilities for future

now at a stage where researchers can develop anddirections in AR material development.

evaluate AR learning experiences (Santos et al, 2014),
The current study utilizes Rogers’ Diffusion of

without the use of coding. However, the usefulness of
AR in education remains unclear (Radu, 2014), and thepotential of AR for language learning remains underresearched (Godwin-Jones, 2016). The following paper
will detail the development and application of two AR
activities designed to serve the teaching of listening andspeaking skills to EFL learners. Specifically, the authors
will discuss how the smartphone application HP Reveal
can be used to experience camera tracking, markerbased AR, utilized to encourage physical movement andcollaboration, and provide contextual learning in a

Innovation theory (Rogers, 1983) to demonstrate thatcurrentAR

technology

embodies

many

of

the

characteristics of innovations that are adopted into
widespreaduse.

Rogers(1983)

identifies

fivecharacteristics of innovations that determine eventual
adoption; relative advantage, compatibility, complexity,
trialability, and observability. The relative advantage ofAR, the degree to which it supersedes conventional
means of the representation of information, and its
compatibility to language learning, the degree to which it
The 2018 PanSIG Journal258

is consistent with the values and needs of potential

goals, deliver multiple modes of presentation that may

adopters, will be detailed below. The complexity, thenegate learner differences, and avoid attention tunnelingdegree to which it is difficult to use, and the trialability,

through contextual learning. In short, the following study

the degree to which it may be experimented with, of AR

will demonstrate the compatibility of current mobile AR

technology will be illustrated in the Methods section,technology for teachers and learners in university EFL

while the observability, the degree to which the results

classes.

are visible to others, will be shown in the Results section.

Methods

The authors became interested in applying
Augmented Reality (AR) technology to educational
activities from using Quick Response (QR) codes. QR
codes embody characteristics of mobile learning, byallowing meaningful information to be temporally andspatially independent (So, 2008). They allow the teacher
to augment teaching materials by, for example, linking
grammar explanations to online grammar quizzes. In thisway, QR codes reduce the temporal and spatial distance
between, and allow easy access to, different modes ofMaterials design
Two activities were created using HP Reveal, asmartphone application (app) for iPhone and Android
devices, that enables the user to create camera tracking,marker-based AR content (Hawkinson, 2014). It ismarketed to businesses as a means of creating
engaging consumer experiences, is free to use, and has
a simple interface. The app allows the user to create AR

informational content. The promise of AR technology forcontent through the selection of ‘triggers’ and ‘overlays’.

language learning lies in the ability to directly layer

Triggers must be unique, detailed, 2D images orcontent

thesurfaces. At the time of use, overlays were limited tosimultaneous alignment of multiple representations

video, image, or 3D animation files. The images andupon

existing

content,

that

is,

for

(Radu, 2014). For example, if you are practicing
speaking in the language classroom AR technology
allows for the audio of a conversation to be overlaid on
to the transcript of the conversation, so that both modes
may be accessed in the same space and at the sametime. This is said to improve learning by reducing the
cognitive load required to direct attention (Mayer &surfaces chosen by the authors to be triggers were
photographed using the HP Reveal app camera. The
overlays to be assigned to each trigger were videos
recorded by the authors using a smartphone camera.
The video overlays were then assigned to each trigger
using the HP Reveal app interface, which is similar to
one used when attaching a file to an email. Once saved

Moreno, 2003), and demonstrates the relative advantage

to the app, triggers and the corresponding overlayof AR technology over conventional representations ofcontent are viewable to the creator’s in-app followers. A

information. Being able to so clearly direct attention tofollower is then able to use the in-app camera to view acontent is also said to improve performance and memory

trigger. Once the camera detects a trigger, the video

retention (Radu, 2014). Furthermore, activities that utilize
AR technology in the augmentation of real-world
environments encourage collaboration and increase
motivation, while being compatible to theories of learningand second language acquisition that value contextual
learning (Godwin-Jones, 2016).
There are, of course, issues that make AR
technology inappropriate in some learning contexts,
including, complexity, ineffective integration into learning
goals, learner differences, and attention tunneling (Radu,
2014). The current research will show that the HP

overlay is displayed on the trigger, so that it appears as if
a 2D image or surface has become a video screen.
The first activity, a campus treasure hunt, wasgame-like and required teams of learners to collect a setof passwords contained in videos located aroundcampus. The authors chose ten locations on campus
and photographed a unique, 2D surface at each location
to be used as a trigger, such as an information board orwork of art. The authors then recorded ten videos
explaining the position of these locations, to be used as
overlay content. The language in the videos included

Reveal smartphone application can be used with a low

prepositions of place that students had studied in theirdegree of complexity to create AR content. It will also becourse textbooks. Each video also contained a password

demonstrated how AR content can facilitate learningand directions to the next location. The last location had
The 2018 PanSIG Journal259

directions to the first location, making a loop. This design

Procedures

enabled contextual learning using familiar real-world

After the design and creation of materials the activities

places, and allowed for the integration of the activity into

were administered in one-off classes at the end of thea review of prepositions of place. Liu & Tsai (2013) use

second semester. Both activities were preceded by aGPS-enabled AR technology in a similar activity, while

short instructional session during which all students

Richardson (2016) found the HP Reveal application to

downloaded the HP Reveal app onto their smartphones.

be a good means of creating a location-based, task-

Duringcompletion game.

administered to a total of 66 participants, 29 from level

thetreasurehunt

activity,

which

was

one and 37 from level two, students were put into small
The second activity, a conversation jigsaw, wasclassroom-based and required teams of learners toreconstruct a conversation from its separate parts. The
authors wrote and video recorded a conversation about
their winter holiday, to be used as overlay content. The
conversation included culturally appropriate activities,
images of which were selected to be used as triggers.
The authors then split the video file at every change of
speaker and assigned the separate parts of theconversation to the triggers. This design encouraged
collaboration, provided scaffolding for speaking practice,groups, and each group was given directions to adifferent trigger in the loop. In this way, each group
started from a different position, meaning that, because
they were not all moving around the loop together, allgroups were engaged with the task of collecting the
passwords. Students accessed the triggers using the HP
Reveal app, watched the video overlays, and wrote
down the passwords contained within them, thenfollowed the directions to the next trigger. Once groups
had collected all the passwords they returned to theclassroom.

had a natural focus on conversational turn-taking, andwas integrated into a winter holiday-themed speaking

Duringthejigsaw

activity,

which

was

class. Antonopoulos (2016) shows how HP Reveal canadministered to a total of 109 participants, 58 from levelbe used to create such an activity. This activity took

one and 51 from level two, the students worked in small

advantage of one of the benefits of AR technology, thatgroups to move around the classroom, watch each parttriggers can be portable. The images used as triggersof the conversation, and identify the correct sequence ofwere printed on pieces of paper and attached to thethe eight separate parts. They were then required towalls of the classroom, and then taken down and used inpractice and perform their own conversation using thea different classroom with a different set of students.

provided conversation as a model. Therefore, the AR
content

ParticipantsParticipants were 175 students (n=175) of compulsory
English listening & speaking classes at a Japanese
university, consisting of two distinct proficiency levels.
Level

one

and

the

accompanying

worksheet,which

contained a further trigger to a video overlay of thestudents(n=87)

were

false

beginner/elementary, or the equivalent of CEFR A1.

complete conversation, acted as scaffolding for speaking
production. At the end of each class all students were
provided with a QR code link to an anonymous online
survey, which they completed on their smartphones inclass.

Level two students (n=88) were upper elementary/lower
intermediate, or the equivalent of CEFR A2. Learners in

Survey design

both levels are categorized by the Council of Europe as

Thebeing basic users who “can understand sentences andcharacteristics of innovations in order to gauge thefrequently used expressions related to areas of most

readiness of learners to be adopters of AR technology.

immediate relevance” (Council of Europe, 2001), a

Survey items were written based on interpretations offeature which influenced the decision to ground theRogers’ characteristics (Table 1). A further two items

activities in the contexts of the university campus, in thewere added in order to measure student interest in AR

treasure hunt activity, and typical winter holiday activities

technology. A 5-point Likert scale was used, where one

in Japan, in the jigsaw activity.

indicated strong disagreement, and five indicated strong

surveywascreatedusing

Rogers’(1983)

agreement.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

260

Table 1: The correlation of survey items to Rogers’ (1983) characteristics of innovations
Characteristic

Interpretation

Survey item

Relative advantage

Improves English

AR can improve my English level.

Compatibility

Helps Learn

Using AR is compatible with how I like to learn.

Complexity

ComplicatedThis AR activity is too complicated.

Trialability

Need ARThis activity could be done without AR.

Observability

Understand Goal

The goal of this activity was clear.

Enjoy

I enjoyed using this AR activity.

Want ARI want to use more AR activities to learn English inclass.

students for Enjoyment (p<0.05), Helps learn (p<0.05),

Results

Improves English (p<0.05), Understand Goal (p<0.05),

The survey data was anonymized, and incomplete

and Want AR (p<0.05). Whereas, Level one students

entries were discarded before analysis began. The small

rated the activities higher than level two students forsampleComplicated (p<0.01), and Need AR (p<0.05).

size(n=175)necessitatesacautiousinterpretation of data, and requires any results to befollowed up with a more rigorous experimental design.
Descriptive statistics showed a positive response to theactivities. The Enjoyment, Helps Learn, and Improves
English items all received mean scores of over 4 (Table2), with the highest being Enjoyment (M=4.21). ANOVA
analysis was used to investigate whether the student
experience differed across activity type and proficiency
level. The student experience showed no significant
differences across activity type in Enjoyment, Helpslearn, Improves English, or Understand Goal. However,

Discussion
Student experience
The descriptive statistics show that students enjoyed theAR activities (M=4.21), and that the AR activities helped
them learn (M=4.006) and improved their English(M=4.057). This suggests that students view AR
technology as compatible to learning. In contrast,
students were unsure of how complicated the AR
technology was to use (M=2.506). It was observed by
the authors that most problems in using the technology

Table 2: Descriptive statistics

arose at the stage of enabling the AR technology. To
MSDreach the stage where they were ready to access the AR

Complicated

2.506

1.195

content required the students to complete the following

Enjoy

4.210

0.989

four tasks; download the app, create an account in the

Helps Learn

4.006

1.039

app, which required the creation of a username andImproves English

4.057

1.007

password, search for the teacher account in the app,

Need AR

3.063

1.256

follow the teacher account in the app. This is an area in

Understand Goal

3.835

1.070

which the complexity of the technology could be reduced

Want Again

3.892

1.093

by simplification of the set-up procedure.
The degree to which the activities required AR

there were significant differences, whereby Want AR
was scored higher by the Treasure Hunt participants(p<0.05), and Complicated and Need AR were scoredhigher bythe

Jigsaw

participants(both

p<0.05).

Considering the student experience by proficiency level,
there were significant differences in all categories. Level
two students rated the activities higher than level one

was rated relatively low (M=3.063). This could reflect alack of understanding of the relative advantage of AR
technology. However, this result could also be explainedby an issue involving the previewing of triggers in the HP
Reveal app. The authors noticed a student during the
Jigsaw activity viewing overlays using triggers displayedon the smartphone of classmate sitting next to them,
The 2018 PanSIG Journal261

thereby negating the need to move around theirdemonstrated that learners have a generally positiveenvironment to access the overlays. The ability toexperience of AR technology. Improvements to thepreview triggers thereby endangers one of the means bymeasure of the learner experience could include the use

which location-based AR enables interaction with realof open response survey items to allow for a greater

world environments.

degree of qualitative analysis.

The strongest result of the ANOVA analysis

FutureARlanguagedevelopment could

found the activities. Students of lower proficiency foundintegration into language courses by means of theboth activities more difficult than students of higher

incorporation of student-generated content, of the

proficiency (p<0.01), and suggests that learners at theTreasure

A1 level found using the AR technology and completing

smartphone apps that allows for teachers and learners to

the linguistic task more cognitively demanding. Whether

create AR content in ways that avoid the complexities

this difference is due to either or both of the cognitive

involved in current technology, as mentioned above.

demands of using the AR technology, or of completing

Nickerson et al (2014) show how adopter beliefs

the linguistic task is unclear. Future research may focus

regarding the characteristics of an innovation areon varying the task difficulty to determine whether there

positively associated with adopter categories. Therefore,

is a proficiency level-related threshold whereby the use

educational AR research should be concerned withof AR technology in its current state becomes too

demonstrating the benefits and uses of AR technology

demanding.

for language learning to both teachers and learners, as

activity,thematerials

concerned the difference in how complicated students

Huntincludelearning

anddevelopment, andthedevelopmentofwell as the development of the means of measuring the

Teacher experience
The process of creating AR content in HP Reveal wasquick and simple. The biggest issue concerned therequirement of unique surfaces for the creation ofreliable triggers. This meant it took consideration andeffect of AR technology on teachers, learners, and thelearning process. The more teachers and learners adopt
AR technology, the greater its potential to advance theeffectiveness of language instruction and learning will be
realized.

time to find suitable triggers for both activities. However,
The HP Reveal app slightly negates this difficulty bydisplaying a bar below the camera screen that indicates

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ma-collaborative-%20jigsaw-reading.html (accessed

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The 2018 PanSIG Journal

263

Exploring the Roles that SIGs Play in Teacher Development: Three
Interviews
Matthew W. Turner

Amanda J. YoshidaToyo University

Kanda University of International Studies

Michael Ellis
International Christian University HighSchoolThis is an account of a forum that was conceived of with the aim of bringing together different SIGs
(Special Interest Groups) in order to cooperatively establish connections with one another and foster aclearer understanding and awareness of one another’s interests through oral dialogue. In a departurefrom many other conference forums, this session saw officers of the Teacher Development (TD) SIG
each conduct one-to-one semi-structured interviews with a representative from the Teaching Younger
Learners (TYL), Gender Awareness in Language Education (GALE), and Mixed, Augmented, and Virtual
Reality (MAVR) SIGs before an audience. Given the unfamiliar nature of the forum, the article openswith a description of the aims and format of the session. This will be followed by interviewer narratives ofeach of the three interactions. Finally, the article will conclude with a summary of the points that were coconstructively emergent through the interactive dialogues between SIGs.

この論文は、幾つかの異なる、分野別研究会がその理解、及び認知度を促進すること、そして意見交換
や情報提供を通じて分野別研究会が連携することを目的とするために開かれたフォーラムの報告書である。通常の学会のフォーラムとは異なり、このセッションでは Teacher Development SIG (教員養成研究会）の役員が、Teaching Younger Learners SIG(低学年の学習者研究会), Gender Awareness in
Language Education SIG (語学教育におけるジェンダー研究会), そして Mixed, Augmented and Virtual
Reality SIG (MR, AR & VR の各研究会)の代表者たちと一対一の形式のあり程度決まった面談を観客の前で行った。 このようなフォーラムは前例があまりないため、この論文の冒頭ではセッションの形式、目的について述べる。 次にそれぞれの意見交換の詳細について述べたい。最後に分野別研究会の意見交換を通じて出てきた包括的な問題点や共通点について纏めをこの論文の結論としたい。

The JALT PanSIG conference is an annual event

networks, learning communities (Barfield, 2014), andinvolving SIGs collaborating in order to conduct a

communities of practice (England, 2018). At the time ofconference showcasing work being carried out acrosswriting, JALT has 28 unique SIGs representing individual

various disciplines in the language teaching profession.

areas of inquiry into language education and related

SIGs are defined as “smaller groups within the overall

matters. In many senses, the conference is theorganization or association that focus on specialized

culmination of a cooperative effort between SIGs, with

topics” (Davidson & Coombe, 2018, p. 137). In practicalthe conference providing a space where each special

terms, SIGs function as semi-autonomous committees

interest can be represented alongside one another.

within JALT (Keith, 2010), facilitating different nodes of

Although there is clear cooperation between SIGs, it

activity. Theoretically, SIGs could interchangeably beremains questionable as to whether members on behalf

considered to be teacher support groups, teacher

of SIGs collaborate with others on a level of professional
The 2018 PanSIG Journal264

other’s activities through dialogue;

and critical engagement. While some JALT members
freely join multiple SIGs and combine numerous
research interests, it seems worthwhile for SIGs to also

3. Exploring teacher development stories

physically engage with one another to share and develop
anunderstandingofothers’interest

areas.

across SIGs; andWithadditions to the JALT family being continually made, this

4. Encouraging more formal exchanges acrosscould be reflective of the expanding and fragmenting
our field.

makeup of the wider applied linguistics field. Medgyes(2017) observes that “researchers are locked up in theirown little cage with no periscope available to scan thewhole landscape,” whereby “experts in second language
acquisition,” for example, “seldom exchange views with
lexicographers,” and that typically, “academic discourse
is conducted among a handful of fellow researchers
working in the same specialist field” (p. 493). Given thistrend, it seems important for practitioners working acrossdifferent sub-disciplines to maintain an interface with one
another, not just across the wider field, but also within
local teaching associations (TA) such as JALT. This
article is an account of a forum that was conceived ofwith the aim of bringing SIGs into closer and more

A tacit ethos of the TD SIG is to promote thegrowth of teachers as professionals. Through ongoing
SIG activities, there is a belief that teacher development
partly happens informally through conversation. The
aims of this forum similarly reflect the beliefs of Zeldin(1998) who views conversations as a “a meeting ofminds with different memories and habits,” and that“when minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: theytransform

them,

reshape

them,

draw

different

implications from them, and engage in new trains ofthought.” Therefore, “conversation doesn't just reshuffle
the cards: it creates new cards” (p. 14).

meaningful contact with one another, in order to foster

The forum also allowed for the opportunity for

greater understandings of each other’s work, andmeaningfulenvisage future collaborative agendas within the JALT

association (TA) itself, and about SIGs’ roles within it.

association together.

This supports and corresponds with an emerging focus

exchanges

about

the

JALT

teaching

on TA-research that is characterized as “a collective
attempt within a TA to carry out research based on

The Forum Aims
Although the PanSIG conference continues to provide aspace for participants to present and attend practical andtheoretically-focused sessions, and informally interact
with other participants, it seems that further spaces andsessions could be created to allow SIGs to cometogether and learn from one another in a more dialogic
mode of transmission. Unlike other forums, which
traditionally see practitioners sharing completed or
ongoing

projects

foregrounded

the

with

others,exploration

this
of

paper’s

new

ideas

forum
and

members’ expressed practical needs” (Smith & Kuchah,
2016, p. 213). Although the forum was chiefly devised ofwith the four aforementioned collegial aims in mind, inbringing SIG representatives together in this way, theforum organizers were hopeful that future ideas for
professional initiatives would be established. Althoughideas were informally expressed in the forum, a numberof potential “research priority areas” that could instigate
future TA projects (Kuchah & Smith, 2018) were sparked
through collaborative dialogue.

discoveries, co-created in the moment by SIG actors.
The TD SIG used their allotted forum at the conference

The Forum Format

to create a chance for different SIGs to connect in

The forum’s format follows a previous project titleddialogue with one another, with aims of:

Global Educators, Local Connections (Schaefer, Turner,

1. Providing a space for meaningful andgenuine interaction between SIGs;& Lowe, 2018). In both sessions, three one-to-one semistructured

interviews

wereconducted

beforeanaudience. The interviews were considered to be semistructured, owing the interviewer’s flexibility (Gall, Gall, &2. Developing deeper understandings of eachBorg, 2007), and a mixture of prepared questions andfollowupquestionsin

responsetointerviewee

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

265

utterances (Mann, 2016). The choice of interaction drew

learning and sharing in an informal way. Concerned

upon

Development

about how TYL members were coming to terms with

Edge’sprincipals:a(2002)

Cooperative

professional

MEXT’s push for introducing English in the classroom

interaction that allows for (self-) development. Before thenon-judgmental

earlier and earlier (International Education Division, n.d.),forum, organizers prepared a series of questions themed

I asked how TYL would address this. Kenn said that as aaround areas of focus including SIG specific and teacher

SIG, TYL has not formed a committee to decide how todevelopment

questions,form

designedof

SIG

contribute to this cause; however, his school has arepresentatives the space to illustrate their group’s work.

to

allow

department that dispatches ALTs to work in 23 local

Following the interviews, a panel discussion supported

public schools. Teaching methods and techniques differ

by questions from audience members concluded thegreatly depending on the teacher, but Kenn explained

forum. The interviewees were further encouraged tothe current popular methods of teaching young learners

reflect on each other’s exchanges throughout the forum.

in Japan and how his members attempt to promote thesemethods within the public school’s English educations at

Preparation saw the organizers carefully consider
which SIGs and representatives to invite, agreeing on
the following invitees:
Kenn Gale - Coordinator of Teaching Younger
Learners (TYL) SIG;

elementary level. For preschool and kindergarten, Kenn
explained that they focus on child-centered approaches,
which is apparent in the professional development
sessions and invited speakers that TYL works with. The
child-centered approach refers to hands-on, active, andinquiry-based styles of teaching. Kenn remarked that he

Gerry Yokota - Officer of Gender Awareness inoften tells teachers to think of themselves as tour guides,

Language Education (GALE) SIG; andwhose job it is to guide the students to learn. However,when it comes to teaching, Kenn felt that while theEric Hawkinson - Coordinator of Mixed, Augmented,
and Virtual Reality (MAVR) SIG.
Through correspondence, certain selection criteria
emerged. The organizers wanted to feature SIGs that
had not recently collaborated with the TD SIG, SIGs thatwere of personal interest to the organizers, and above all,SIGs that were new to, or perceivably less familiar within
the JALT association. Once the three chosen SIGs had
been set, the organizers were keen to see whatconnections and themes would emerge, given the three
decidedly different areas of interest.

Japanese teachers’ skillsets are high, if not higher thanhis own teaching staff, he acknowledged that teaching aforeign language can be intimidating for elementary
school teachers. He affirmed that ALTs need to give
more support, and he hopes the JTEs and ALTs cancollaborate in teaching foreign languages by sharing
methods and techniques that work for various groups oflearners. He acknowledges that ALTs and other teachersof younger learners are professionals at teaching English
and working with children. Meanwhile, the Japaneseelementary school teachers have a lot of other subjects
and responsibilities, and they may value all the help they
can get with teaching English.

Interview Narratives
Each of the following interview narratives are abridged,
with the organizers using audio recordings to construct
written summaries. Interviewees are referred to byforename throughout. Each summary is written from theperspective of the individual interviewer indicated inparentheses.

Kenn followed by saying that the SIG is
growing and benefits from having members that exude agreat amount of energy and show a hunger for more. In
response to demand, TYL has been sponsoring
numerous chapter events around Japan in which they
contribute by covering printing costs and sending
representatives. Since Kenn’s school has finances toInterview 1: Kenn Gale (by Amanda J.
Yoshida)hold monthly professional development sessions, heI asked Kenn to briefly describe the TYL SIG, with Kennto the various activities and speakers. In addition, JALT

describing the high level of energy amongst members,

Junior is the SIG’s main annual event. JALT Junior

with a major focus of the SIG being a platform forresembles

opens it up to SIG members so that they can be exposedamini-conference

withinthe

JALT

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

266

International Conference and is unique in that the

exploration. Gerry felt that if teachers do not guideatmosphere is energetic and lively, complete withcarefully students’ explorations of multiple perspectives,

examples of teaching paraphernalia. Kenn invitedunexamined stereotypes may proliferate.

anyone interested in teaching younger learners to visit
Movingthe area at the next JALT conference.

the

discussion

toclassroom

applications of gender awareness raising, I asked Gerry
In an attempt to connect the TYL SIG and TD

to describe GALE’s influence on her professional

SIG, I asked Kenn how he could see the two SIGs

development. After recounting her experience at her firstcooperating in the future. Kenn explained that teachers

GALE conference, Gerry shared lessons from Keikotravel from all over to attend the monthly training

Ochiai, founder of the feminist bookstore Crayon Housesessions at his school, reflecting a demand for(See Masumizu, 2017). Ochiai is an advocate ofcontinuous teacher development. Kenn also suggested

equitable power sharing, making her realize that those inthat the potential of co-sponsorship with chapters andpositions of power, such as full-time teachers atother SIGs to bring the theme of teaching younger

universities, must not shy away from using power, butlearners together with teacher development and otherrather use their fair share of such positions and platforms

SIG themes, since every area of teaching requires

to help raise others. Gerry hoped this lesson provides adevelopment.

foundation for our practice as teachers.

Finally, I asked Kenn to tell us what his future

Next, I mentioned how impressed I was thatvision of the TYL SIG is. Kenn indicated that he hopes

GALE’s forum the previous day highlighted women of

for a consistent platform, and to develop some regularcolor’s struggles in across the world, asking her aboutannual events in which groups of local chapters and

GALE’s

SIGs can co-sponsor events, ensuring a higher andintersectionality. Gerry explained that while GALE as amore diverse attendance.

group tries their hardest to be the best they can, they

level

of

consciousness

inpromotingactively encourage advice about for how the SIG can do

Interview 2: Gerry Yokota (by Michael Ellis)
I first asked Gerry to introduce GALE’s goals andactivities. Gerry stated that the SIG’s aims are toresearch gender’s implications on language education,
improvepedagogicalpractices,developlanguageteaching materials, raise awareness of workplace andhuman rights issues related to gender, and increase
networking opportunities among language professionals.
I encouraged Gerry to describe challenges inpromoting gender awareness in Japan, a country which
the World Economic Forum reports has dropped threeplaces in the global gender equality rankings to 114 out
of 144 (WEF, 2013). Gerry encouraged teachers invarious contexts with various levels of autonomy to findgood, gender literate textbooks when possible, but also
to use weaker textbooks as opportunities to criticallyraise awareness of their problems. Gerry invited
participants to use resources, especially newsletters andjournals from groups such as GALE and International
GenderandLanguage

Association(IGALA).

She

recommended that teachers avoid simply presenting
random articles and issues to students, but rather

better. She continued by explaining that LGBTIA+ issues
and issues related to ethnicity and other intersections
are focuses of GALE. She mentioned an article in a
GALE newsletter which offered suggestions for things to
do on the first day of class to foster safe places forstudents, such as including LGBT and ally symbols inpresentation slideshows. She referenced a plenary talkshe gave at the JALT2014 conference in Tsukuba titledBeyond the Binary, and directed attendees to the GALE
journal to read a related interview and many otherarticles which tackle intersectional issues (Yokota, 2015).
Within the discussion of intersectionality, I
asked Gerry to comment on how GALE supports
transgender people specifically, as it seems that one
shortcoming of some otherwise progressively mindedfeminists is a failure to recognize transwomen as womenor to understand non-binary gender identities. Gerry
responded by referring to the spectrum of feminism andthe wide variety of different feminisms. She recognizedthat there are those who question the concept oftransgender due to the tendency of some to replicate
oppressive gender roles in their relationships. Gerry

carefully scaffold the materials to support students’

The 2018 PanSIG Journal267

emphasized that this is not the case for all transgenderI encouraged some examples of the SIG’speople, nor is this position held by all feminists, and that

output, recounting the group’s forum I attended. Eric

we must respect the wide spectrum of diversities andexplained

seek common ground. Gerry insisted that rather thandifferent realities, in that there were participants dealing

avoiding such differences or pushing them under the rug,with technical aspects by developing new applications

we must confront them head on.

and tools for the community, but also participants with

how

the

forum

presentations

portrayedprojects concerned with connecting people via social
To conclude, I thanked Gerry for bringing up the conceptof a spectrum of feminisms, before asking the audienceto never forget the relevance of non-binary gender
identity to us as teachers, especially teachers of youngcauses. I paraphrased Eric’s ideas by exploring how thistechnology

appears

notonly

supplementary,buttransformative in nature, exposing students to multiple
realities that can be virtually present in classrooms.

people.
Regarding teacher development, I asked Eric

Interview 3: Eric Hawkinson (by Matthew W.
Turner)Eric first introduced the focus and scope of the fledgling
MAVR SIG he coordinates, stressing that although there
is a tendency to view the SIG as being technology-based
and tools oriented, the members hope to explore what
this technology represents moving forward, as well as
studying the disruptiveness of this technology.

how he encourages teachers to experiment with
disruptive technology. Eric stated that novice educators
have numerous inexpensive ways to sample suchtechnology. Eric mentioned Google Cardboard as being
an affordable and accessible way to try immersive 360
degrees videos with smartphones. Eric explained how
our thought patterns, our sense of agency, and ouremotional responses are changing through experiencing

Referring to a quote attributed to Marshall
McLuan, that “we shape our tools, and thereafter ourtools shape us,” Eric explained that the internet age has
afforded new and unprecedented ways of interaction.
Eric, therefore, feels the SIG should attempt to navigate

immersive

videos.

I

asked

Eric

about

teacherdevelopment possibilities through the use of related
technology. Eric suggested this technology has theability to give individuals feelings of proximity to others,
allowing groups such as SIGs, who may geographicallyoperate in different locations, to interact in more

the facets of these ongoing paradigm shifts.

immersive ways.
Eric responded to perceptions that the MAVR
SIG and the Computer-assisted Language Learning SIG(CALL)

aresimilar.

Differentiating

the

two,

Eric

reaffirmed that his SIG is not purely technology focused,
but about its representations. Eric charted how thecomputer age became the mobile age, and that given
how ubiquitous technology has become, it could beconsidered that a further paradigm shift is in motion.
Following this, I asked the MAVR SIG’s formationreflects the surrounding teaching community and wider
society. Eric referred to Gerry’s earlier interview,
explaining that although JALT is centrally concerned withlanguage teaching, the association’s membership isinterested in how communication and relationships insociety may be evolving more broadly. Eric asked
attendees to consider what being another gender could
feel like, and how digital advances are letting us shapeand create possible new personal identities, explaining
how this technology has implications on wider humanity.

Following on, I asked if there could be dangers
that the so-called ‘wow factor’ of using new technology
might become a distraction. I wondered how educators
could judge the relationship between technology andpedagogically robust principles. Eric stressed that someof the most important work his SIG should do is maintainskepticism, especially with regard to the commercial
narrow-sightednessoftechnologicaltools.

Eric

mentioned the problematic privacy and data-gathering
aspects of digital platforms, and the physical dangers
that augmented games bring. With these issues set to befurther exacerbated, Eric wishes the MAVR SIG remain
conscious to these developments.
Finally, Eric stated that the SIG should provide
a safe, inclusive, flexible, and altogether disruptive
environment, where boundaries are pushed and newunderstandings

aregained.

Along

with

emerging

technologies, Eric hopes for the SIG not to be too rigid in

The 2018 PanSIG Journal268

focus, but instead loosely guided by the aforementioned

mentioned how young people use such technology tovalues and beliefs.

experiment with new identities and forms in online
games. Gerry expressed her wish that Eric’s SIG
promote the term empathy machines more, feeling that

The Panel Discussion

people sense this technology may be having a negative

This section summarizes the open discussion sessionthat followed the individual interview exchanges. Invitees
were asked to join together, with the forum organizers

effect on empathy, such as cyberbullying cases. Gerry
encouraged

opportunities

forshowinghow

thistechnology could promote empathy.

encouraging the interviewees to engage with one
add to the discussion. The invitees drew parallels

Gender, Intersectionality, and Young
Learners

between their personal and SIG interests and developed

The discussion developed to questioning gender andunderstandings with each other. The following fourintersectionality issues with young learners. An attendee

sections are arranged by the themes explored.

explained that any inclusion should be at an age-another. Audience members were also encouraged toappropriate level, given that very young learners won’t

Young Learners, Technology, and Privacy

be able to process some details. Another attendee

The panel agreed that technology is pivotal in earlyremarked on themselves as being an educator dealing

language education. However, the panelists raisedwith intersectionality related issues, and that giving

privacy issues related to technology’s presence. Eric

young children the opportunity to be taught by similar

claimed that while higher education has the flexibility theteachers may provide early exposure. Gerry raised thecomes with working with young adults, elementary, junior,potential for teachers’ own implicit biases and theand senior high schools however are governed by laws

possibility of unconsciously indoctrinating young learners

aimed

being

with personal prejudices. However, she also pointed torepresented on social media for example. Eric felt

studies indicating that young adults are interested in

disruptive technology uses could invade privacy inlearning

about

potentially deep ways, whether the teacher is aware or

perhapsthinking

not. Eric asked Kenn to comment on any pushback

teachers should be making informed and firmly groundedissues from working with technology in public schools.

decisions about what is appropriate to introduce toKenn explored his experiences with using social media

young learners. Eric suggested that technology hassuch for marketing purposes with kindergartens andafforded more familiarity and reduced the controversy

preschools. He mentioned that as little as five percent ofwith young people, given the way information isparents have resisted their children’s involvement. Kenncommunicated. Kenn additionally warned that because

reflected on the challenges for teachers who must

young learners have no preconceptions, presenting suchremain diligent and conscious to these issues, by paying

issues should be done so carefully.

atprotecting

young

childrenfrom

LGBTIA+issuesotherwise.

Gerry

despiteteachers

concludedthat

attention to online output.

JALT and Teachers of Young Learners

Technology, Gender, and Identity

An audience member asked the panel about how SIGs

Gerry wanted to find out what MAVR SIG’s position was

could help teachers of young learners and/or thosewith regard to Japan’s world position on gender equality

working in the eikaiwa industry to understand that JALT

within the larger educational context. Gerry highlighted

is inclusive of their interests. Kenn said he joined his SIG

the term disrupt, a recurrent theme during Eric’s

to provide an example for teachers he works with, ininterview. Eric explored how immersive technology likehoping to maintain professional engagement. Although

VR and AR has been described as an empathy machine,

Kenn said he was successful in bringing fellow teacherswith movie directors attempting to use technology to put

to a JALT event, useful sessions for the group werepeople in others’ shoes, creating a sense of agency.

lacking. In response, Kenn cited JALT Junior as an event

Immersiveforfeelings,

therefore,

can

offer

new

teachers

of

young

learners

toexperience

perspectives and insight into different lives such as

demonstrations of high applicability to their classrooms.

another

An audience member contributed by suggesting a sense

genders.

With

regardtoeducation,

Eric

The 2018 PanSIG Journal269

of difficulty in attracting Japanese teachers of English to

England, L. (2018). Communities of practice. In J.I.

JALT, expressing a wish that SIGs could collectively

Liontas(Ed.),The

TESOL

encyclopediaofthink about ways to attract them. Some ideas followed,

Englishlanguage teaching. Hoboken, USA: Wiley.

ranging from promoting the affordability of local chapter
and SIG membership, making efforts to have moresessions in Japanese, increasing awareness, forming
partnerships with local boards of education, and thepossibility of using emerging technology to provide
online content and virtual opportunities for participatingin JALT events.

GALE. (2018, April 22). GALE mission statement.
Retrieved

fromwww.gale-sig.org/website/gile-

constitution.html.
Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2007). Educational
research: An introduction. Boston, MA:
Pearson.International Education Division, Elementaryand Education Bureau. (n.d.). English education

Evaluation of Forum

reform plan corresponding to globalization. Mext:

This paper documented an experimental forum thatbrought different SIGs together to share in a cooperative

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science &Technology (Japan). Retrieved fromand collaborative form of dialogue. The forum waslargely successful in its aims of developing mutual

www.mext.go.jp/en/news/topics/detail/1372656.ht

understanding about each other’s SIG’s interests, findingmcommonality between each group’s activities, andcollaboratively uncovering potential projects together
within the JALT association through actual conversation.

JALT. (2017, July). JALT code of conduct. Retrieved
from

The organizers of the forum encourage similar dialogic
sessions be created at future events, and hope thiswww.jalt.org/main/jalt-code-conduct.

paper illustrates the value of SIGs participating in
dialogue with each other.

Keith, C. (2010). The unseen face of JALT-Part 1. The

Acknowledgements

language teacher, 34(4), 78-79.

We would like to thank Kenn Gale, Gerry Yokota, andEric Hawkinson for taking part in our interview forum.

Kuchah, K., & Smith, R. (2018). An Invitation to teacher
association research. ELTED Journal, 21. Retrieved
from:www.elted.net/uploads/7/3/1/6/7316005/kuchah___s

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Davidson, P., & Coombe, C. (2018). The impact of a
SIG on assessment literacy. In A. Elsheikh, C.
Coombe, & O. Effiong (Eds.), The Role of Language
Teacher Associations in Professional Development.
Gewerbestrasse, Switzerland: Springer.
Edge, J. (2002). Continuing cooperative development: A
discourse framework forindividuals as colleagues.
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

mith_2018.pdf
Mann, S. (2016). The research interview: Reflective
practice and reflexivity in the research process. New
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Medgyes, P. (2017). The (ir)relevance of academic
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Schaefer, M. Y., Turner, M. W., & Lowe, R. J. (2018).

Yokota, G. (2015). Beyond the binary: An interview with

Global educators, local connections. In P. Clements,

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A. Krause, & P. Bennett (Eds.), Language teaching

and Proceedings of GALE 2015, 8(1), 58-71.

in a global age: Shaping the classroom, shaping theRetrieved

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sig.org/website/galejournalv8.pdf

Tokyo,

Japan:

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http://jalt-publications.org/sites/default/files/pdfarticle/jalt2017-pcp-003.pdf

Zeldin, T. (1998). Conversation: How talk can change
our lives. London, England: The Harvill Press.

Smith, R., & Kuchah, K. (2016). Researching teacher
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WEF, F. E. M. (2013). The Global Gender Gap Report2017. World Economic Forum.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal271

Teacher Efficiacy and Effective Language Teaching in the 21st Century
Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas
Universitas Gadjah Mada
This study aims to identify teacher efficacy in teaching English and its correlation to their teaching
performance. Teacher efficacy describes teachers’ confidence and belief that they can carry out effective
learning process to help their students improve their language and communication skills necessary for21st century. In this study, 30 pre-service teachers in western, central, and eastern areas of Indonesia
were given evaluation checklist to self-assess their efficacy level and the results of their assessments
would be compared with the evaluation scores given by their observers. The results of statistical analysis
infer that teacher efficacy affected their performance in conducting language teaching and learning
process.

本研究は、21 世紀の英語教育において極めて重要な言語運用能力の向上について、教員の自己肯定感の高さと指導効率の相関性を明らかにすることを目的としている。本研究では、インドネシア西部・中部・東部各地域の 30 名の教育実習生を対象に自己評価アンケートを実施し、指導教員の評価と比較した。調査の結果、自身の指導能力に対する教員の自己肯定感は、指導の成功に影響を与えるということが明らかになった。したがって、教員養成プログラムは、教育実習生の自信を高める機会を提供する必要がある。

With all forms of development in education in the 21st

affects behaviors and attitudes toward teaching (Dembo

century, effective English teachers should build stronger& Gibson, 1985).

foundation for teaching, see possible opportunities, andTeacher

anticipate challenges. In Indonesia, the qualifications ofEnglishteachers

Qualificationsaredescribed

Framework

and

in

this

the

National

becomestheguideline to design curriculum for teacher training
program. Effective and qualified English teachers shouldhavematureattitudes

asprofessional

teachers,

knowledge on language, pedagogical principle, andeducational

psychology,

communication,

and

as

well

professionalasskillsteaching,
which

are

continuously developed in the training program andthroughout their career. In addition to having attitudes,
knowledge, and skills, there is one key element that also
contributes to shape teaching performance called
teacher efficacy. Efficacy refers to belief in one’s
capabilities to organize and execute the courses ofaction which influences how people think, feel, motivatethemselves, and act (Bandura, 1995, pp. 2-3). Teacher
efficacy can be described as teacher’s confidence tomake to make improvement on students’ learning whichefficacyisimportanttoidentify

because it also contributes significantly to teaching. How
efficacy affects teaching performance in linked toteachers’ effort and behavior towards teaching andlearning process. Efficacious teachers spend their time
to plan the teaching and learning process, put theircurrent

knowledge

intopractice,

apply

teaching

principles that work best in the classroom, analyze theirown teaching practice, identify problem that appear, andfind out the ways to solve the problem. A study by Wareand Kitsantas shows that teachers who have highteaching efficacy level contribute greater effort to theirjobs and take more personal responsibilities for theirsuccess and failure (2007). Another study by Coladarci
also suggests that highly efficacious teachers haveenthusiasm and full commitment to teaching (1992).
Those explain that efficacious teachers are highlycommitted and dedicated to teaching, continuous selfdevelopment, and lifelong learning. They are willing toreflect on their own practice, try out new practice, as well

The 2018 PanSIG Journal272

as adapt to changes and development in education.

about students’ differences in terms of language

Referring to the importance of efficacy in teaching, thiscompetence, learning styles, learning pace, and interest,

paper aims to identify teacher candidates’ efficacy level

they give their students some space for personalized

and investigate the correlation between teacher efficacy

learning. They will allocate time for group work to allow

and teaching performance.

discussion and knowledge sharing among their students
before asking the students to work independently.
Another result shows that teachers who have highTeacher Efficacy

efficacy try various learning materials and approaches,

Teacher efficacy refers to teachers’ belief that they havefind better ways of teaching, and implement progressive

the ability and skills to bring about students’ learningand innovative methods (Allinder, 1994). Conducting(Dembo & Gibson, 1985) and make a difference to theclassroom action research or experimental research,education of the students they serve (Schleicher, 2011).

employing new teaching methodology, using educational

Teacher efficacy can also be described as teachers’

technology in the classroom, and updating knowledge

confidence and beliefs on their capability to organize andfrom various workshops or seminars are essential for

execute courses of action to successfully accomplish ateachers

teaching task, overcome problems in learning, develop

determines teachers’ efforts and behaviors toward

strategies to organize courses, and overcome students’teaching, teacher efficacy is important to research andobstacles in learning as well as their judgement of
whether their current abilities and strategies aretoconduct

successful

teaching.

As

itdevelop. These constructs above were used to design
the self-assessment questionnaire.

adequate for the teaching task (Tschannen-Moran, Hoy,
& Hoy, 1998). Another definition of teacher efficacy is thedegree to which teachers feel that their own efforts

Methodology

determine the success of their students (Slavin, 2006, p.

To self-assess their efficacy level, teacher candidates

7). As a conclusion, teacher efficacy is the picture of

were asked to fill out a questionnaire designed as self-teachers’

theirevaluation checklist to score their performance on theknowledge and skills to carry out effective teaching andscale of one to four. Self-assessment questionnaire

help their students succeed.

should gather information about personal capabilities,

beliefs,

values,

and

ideas

about

such as skills, knowledge, strategies, and personality
The

results

ofseveralprevious

studies

describe some characteristics of efficacious teachers.
Teachers with high efficacy level have clear expectations
on learning (Ashton, 1983), feel well-prepared, maintain
good classroom management, and influence students’achievement and motivation (Tschannen-Moran, Hoy, &Hoy, 1998), adapt teaching to individual differences(Fuchs, Fuchs, & Bishop, 1992), maintain students’
academic working habits (Fuchs, Fuchs & Phillips, 1994),
and employ constructivist approach in their teaching(Temiz & Topcu, 2013). Efficacious teachers know what

traits as well as their teaching tasks (Tschannen-Moran,
Hoy, & Hoy, 1998). The questionnaire consisted of 30
closed-ended questions for self-assessment and 5 openended questions that gathered information about what
had been learned in the teacher preparation program,
how the teacher candidates learned and practiced, what
they thought about effective teaching, what worked wellin the classroom, and what aspects still needed to be
improved. The questionnaire was distributed to someschools in western, central, and eastern parts ofIndonesia via email.

the students need to learn and achieve at the end of thelesson as the learning outcomes. To achieve the

A teaching evaluation rubric was also sent

outcomes, they always spend some time to plan andtogether with the questionnaire to be filled out by the

prepare the lesson. During the lesson, they always

teacher candidate’s supervisor. The evaluation rubric

maintain the classroom environment conducive to

was to give information about the teaching performancelearning, engage students in the learning activities, andof each candidate. Responses from fifteen teacher

motivate the students to learn. Teacher efficacy is also

candidates in western, ten teacher candidates frommarked by teachers’ belief that they can help all students

central, and five teachers from eastern parts oflearn and achieve the learning outcomes. Being aware

Indonesia were returned. These teachers were doing

The 2018 PanSIG Journal273

their pre-service teaching program at schools in thelike group discussions, pair works, or group projects inacademic year 2017-2018.

scaffolded learning would help the students internalize
and experiment with the concept to acquire theknowledge

Table 1. Criteria of answer (Sudijono, 2009, p. 175)andskills.

Based

on

their

opinions,

collaborative learning they had in the classroom provided
Criteria of Answer

Score

more opportunities for learning support, sharing ofVery positive

3.4 – 4.0

knowledge, and active learning, so the students would

PositiveFair

2.8 – 3.3
2.5 – 2.7

be ready to work independently after collaborating with

Negative

2.2 – 2.4

Very negative

1.4 – 2.1

their peers or groups. Well-organized learning that theteacher candidates mentioned was also linked to ability
to manage classroom, students’ behaviors, and learning.
These findings were similar to the results of previous

This research adopted criteria of answer above
to assess teachers’ responses on their competence.
Besides

self-evaluation,teachercandidates

also

received feedback and performance evaluation scoresfrom their supervisors at school. After obtaining bothscores, the correlation between teacher efficacy andtheir teaching performance was analyzed using Chi
square analysis. The data would explain how efficacy
shaped teaching performance.

study by Faez and Valeo that effective teaching ischaracterized by skill development, good classroom
management, effective materials, and good planning(2012). The teachers also mentioned that effective
teaching should be clear in terms of explanation andinstruction. In terms of learning material, rather thanbeing dominated with explicit teaching of grammar, theyemphasized communicative experiences for the students,
such as discussing an issue, analyzing messages from a
spoken or written text, and presenting ideas. As what

Teacher Candidates’ Views and Beliefs
on Effective Teaching
When asked to write about their beliefs and views on
effective teaching in 21st century, teacher candidates
mentioned several points or principles they learned fromthe courses and their experience. In general, thoseteachers mentioned quality of instruction, learning media,
affective

factors,andresearch-based

practiceascharacteristics of effective teaching in 21st century.

mentioned that effective teaching is well-planned, wellorganized, collaborative, clear, communicative, andstudent-centered. These teacher candidates believedthat clear lesson-planning determined not only thequality of learning materials and activities but also theflow and success of teaching and learning process. To
structure and organize the lesson, the effective teachersuse

scaffolding

technique.

Scaffolded

rules, students should be able to use the rules effectively
and appropriately when communicating (2001, p. 12).
The teacher candidates also agreed that effective
teaching should be student-centered. Based on Johnson,
effective teaching integrates student-centered approach,involve contributions and discoveries by learners as wellas assistance of a teacher so they can accomplish goals
or solve problems on their own and maintain interaction
between teacher and students (2009, p. 63). Therefore,

First, in terms of instruction, the teachers

would

Nunan says, instead of merely knowing the grammaticalandassisted learning involves the steps of introducing a
concept, making it explicit and experimenting with it forthe students’ lives by using various meaningful andpurposeful activities, so at the end of the process thestudents will have the control over their language(Johnson, 2009, p. 70). Various collaborative activities

active participation from each student was highly
promoted in the class.
Second, effective teaching can be achieved byintegrating educational technology and various media inthe classrooms. Teachers should be able to improvetheir instruction by using technology-mediated activities.
Therefore, the teacher candidates also agreed thatteachers should learn to manage online classroom portal
and use online learning activities like online reading,listening, writing, game, and quiz that can be accessedon the internet or designed using applications. Not only
technology, they also used various learning media suchas pictures and realia to support teaching. Third, related
to affective factors, learning can be considered effective
if it is enjoyable and motivating. All teachers wanted to

The 2018 PanSIG Journal274

make the students feel motivated and enjoy the learningb. Plan lesson

process so they could achieve the learning outcomes.

Teachers found the importance of planning for effective

Fourth, the teacher candidates mentioned that effective

teaching. Most teachers planned and prepared theteaching is research-based. They always tried to reflectlesson before the teaching practice. The lesson planningon their experiences, identified the effects of their actions,that they prepared clearly stated the expected learning

choices of activities, media, and materials, as well as

outcomes, the series of tasks to achieve the learning

tried out new ideas to solve learning problems or

outcomes and time spent on each task, the learning

improve the quality of their instruction. Good teachersmaterials, and media for effective teaching. From course

always learn from teaching experience and improveon learning program design the teachers also learned topractice (Goodwyn & Branson, 2005, p. 143; Slavin,design teaching syllabus for a set of learning program.

2006, p. 7). Research done in the classroom functions to

Having skills on lesson planning and curriculum design,

establish, test, and verifies theories of teaching andthe teachers always felt well-prepared when teachinglearning as well as make sense of practices (Kiely &their students.

Askham, 2012).

c. Develop learning materials, media, andassessment

Teacher Candidates’ Efficacy Level

Teachers integrated various resources in their teaching

Based on the self-evaluation results presented inpractice. Besides adapting or adopting materials from

Appendix 1 and open-ended questions, it can be inferred

textbooks and other sources, teachers also used theirthat in general, teacher candidates gave positive

own learning materials. The self-evaluation score shows

evaluation on their performance. During the trainingthat almost all teachers believed that they could develop

program, the teachers took several courses on teachinglearning materials and media. Before teaching theprinciples, such as learning program design, language

students, they prepared learning materials and media

learning assessment, second language acquisition,that would be used for activities in the classroom. The

educational technology, and educational psychology, so

teachers

they felt confident and ready to teach their students in

instruments to assess students’ learning achievement.

the apprenticeship program they were taking. The
preparation program provided them with teachingpractices and meaningful reflections that could develop
their potentials as teacher candidates and build theirefficacy as described below.

were

also

able

to

developevaluationd. Conduct effective teaching
The teachers believed that they were able to explain thematerials clearly, give clear instructions and questions tothe students, and communicate with their students so thestudents know what to learn and how to learn thea. Apply theories and principles of effective
teaching

concepts effectively. Communication skills in the target

The teacher candidates believed that they mastered themaintained communication and interaction with andsubjects or materials so they were able to explain theamong their students by questioning students, providing

materials to the students in the teaching practice. Not

feedback, and responding to students’ questions. The

only the subjects, they also mastered the teaching skills

tasks given, such as text analysis, discussion, and group

and applied the educational theories or principles when

project also required critical thinking and problem solving

preparing a lesson, designing learning materials andskills. In the teaching practice, the classroom situation

media, conducting a lesson, observing students’ learning,

was conducive for learning and the teacher started andassessing language performance, and solving problems.

finished the class on time based on the lesson plan.

Feeling successful in applying the theories they hadlearned,theteachercandidates

becamemoreefficacious. Previous study by Haverback and Parault
also shows that teachers who can successfully relatetheories and teaching practices increase their efficacy
level (2008).

language were highly prioritized. These teachers always

Based on their views on effective teaching, theteacher candidates felt successful in conducting theforms of scaffolded, collaborative, and self-regulated
learning. They always encouraged their students to be
active and responsible for their learning by giving series

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

275

of

tasks

that

requirestudents’engagement

like

these teacher candidates also observed in-service

discussion, presentation, simulation or roleplay, projectteachers’ classes and wrote regular reflection about theirbased learning, group work, and individual work. Thislearning to identify successful model of effective teaching,

was also to facilitate students in mixed-abilities class todevelop teaching principles, and improve teachingsupport and learn from each other. After working inpractice.

groups or pairs, the students would work independently
Teachers’ actions and efforts demonstrated

to compose written or oral texts using the concepts.
While teaching, these teacher candidates tried to find out
the most effective ways to teach the materials, spent
their time understanding their students and theirproblems in learning, monitored their progress, and gave

their capability to create and facilitate effective teaching.
The findings were similar to Gurney’s research thatfoundationofeffective

teaching

includesteacherknowledge, enthusiasm, responsibility, self-regulated
learning, effective feedback, and effective interaction

constructive feedback.

(2007). When those requirements were met by thee. Motivate students

teacher candidates, their efficacy level would increase.

Students’ learning motivation was considered important

The results above explain that teacher efficacy wasfor learning because it affected students’ behavior andaffected by their understanding about teaching principles

effort toward learning. These teacher candidates appliedand experience in carrying out effective teaching.

various teaching activities and gave ice breaking

Teachers’ successful experiences as educators andsessions in the classroom, such as listening to recorded

students, personality traits, abilities to meet teachingtalks or conversations, watching videos, analyzingtask requirements, and knowledge on educational

pictures, miming actions, singing songs, and playing

principles impact teachers’ beliefs on their capabilities

games to stimulate students’ motivation and interest forand practices (Richards & Lockhart, 2007, pp. 29-32;

learning. Their enthusiasm in teaching the students also

Tschannen-Moran, Hoy & Hoy, 1998).

raised students’ energy to learn as well. Frequently, theAlthough most teacher candidates believed onteachers used educational technology for online games,
quizzes, or tests. Course on educational technology also
introduced the students to some applications or online
classroom portals such as Kahoot, Hot Potatoes,

their capabilities to become effective teachers, someteacher candidates were not really confident and readyto teach. They were unable to manage the classroom,
discipline

Edmodo, and Moodle.

theirstudents,

preparelesson,conducteffective lesson and variate learning activities whichf. Conduct research
Based

on

the

resulted in low efficacy and motivation to teach. In theteaching

evaluation, several teachers mentioned that they did notpreparation program prepared the candidates to be

self-assessment

results,use educational technology because they did the pre-Table 2: Correlation analysis result between teacher efficacy and teaching performance

Value

df

Asymp.
(2-sided)Pearson Chi-Square

7,873a1,005

Continuity Correctionb

5,136

1

,023

Likelihood Ratio

6,873

1

,009

Fisher's Exact Test
Linear-by-Linear Association

7,610

N of Valid Cases

30

1reflective practitioners who would always reflect from

Sig. Exact(2-sided)

Sig.Exact(1-sided)

,016

,016

Sig.

,006

service teaching at schools which had limited access totheir teaching experience. Before teaching practice,

The 2018 PanSIG Journal276

Figure 1: Teacher efficacy and effective language teachinginternet and did not provide LCD projector or computers

would be repeated. Similar to previous research result, if

for learning.

teachers believe that they could control their actions,they could influence students’ learning and once efficacy

Teacher Candidates’ Efficacy Level and
Its Relation to Teaching Performancedeveloped, it would last (Goddard, Hoy & Hoy, 2000).
Based on the correlation result between

Based on the evaluation scores given by the supervisors

teacher efficacy and teaching performance, teacherspresented in Appendix 2, most of the teachers were

who had high efficacy level performed successful andconsidered qualified and able to carry out effective

effective teaching. The findings also explain that teacher

teaching. Feedbacks after teaching simulation andpreparation program in the university contributed toteaching reports show positive results that almost all

shape teacher efficacy. How reflective practice inteacher candidates could present materials clearly, planteacher preparation program shaped teacher efficacy

lesson,conduct

and influenced teaching can be summarized in the figure

successful mastery learning, maintain positive interaction

above. Various activities like discussion, observation,with their students, and help students achieve theand teaching practice as well as constructive feedbacks

expectedin the teacher preparation program developed teachers’

structurelearning

andmanageoutcomes.

lesson,Teachers’

successful

experiences in the classroom shaped their confidence,

knowledgeonlanguage,teaching

principles,andenthusiasm, and commitment toward teaching.

teaching skills. Based on Zimmerman, teachers who
receive feedbacks on their performance may be helped

Understanding the teaching principles andreflecting

from

their

successful

experiences

to analyze their strengths and skills in teaching andandevaluate things need to be improved (in Bandura, 1995,

feedbacks from supervisors, these teachers established

p. 208). Teachers who successfully applied their

their own model of effective teaching and teachingknowledge and conducted effective teaching felt moreprinciples. After they had been established, they wereconfident, well-prepared, enthusiastic, and committed toused as habit and improved throughout teaching career.

teaching

The coefficient score below 0.05 confirms that there wasconsistently practice the teaching model and apply thecorrelation between teacher efficacy and teachingsame principle that made them successful in conducting

performance. It describes that teacher candidates who

effective teaching and helping their students. This

made positive beliefs about their language competence,

explains that once the beliefs and confidence in teachingknowledge of teaching principles, and teaching skills

were formed, the effects in teaching practice would last

performed effective and successful teaching. This finding

throughout

also explains why efficacious teacher candidates werecandidates. Previous studies also found that effective

able to control and manage teaching and learningteaching practice assisted teachers to better manage

activities. Teachers were more confident to make use ofchallenges, formed teaching habit, as well as enhanced

their teaching model and principle that made themself-efficacy

successful to conduct effective teaching and help theirdevelopment (Farrel, 2012; Wyatt, 2011). As teacher

andself-development.

their

and

career

as

Thus,

they

professional

commitment

to

would

teacher

professional

students achieve the learning goals. Thus, the practiceThe 2018 PanSIG Journal277

efficacy

bringssignificant

impactonteaching

performance and has lasting effect on teaching career,

Farrel, T.S.C. (2012). Novice-service language teacher
development. TESOL Quarterly, 46(3), 435-449.

teacher candidates should be assisted to find theirFuchs, L.S., Fuchs, D., & Bishop, N. (1992). Instructional

potentials and develop effective teaching model.

adaptation for students at work. The Journal of
Educational Research, 86(2), 70-84.

Conclusion
Teacher efficacy is the picture of teachers’ beliefs,
values, and ideas about their knowledge and skills tocarry out effective teaching. Teachers’ positive beliefs ontheir competence and capability made them feel more
confident and motivated to give their efforts in teaching
and helping their students. The result of this study
confirms that teacher efficacy influenced and predictedteaching

performance.

Therefore,teachertraining

Fuchs, L.S., Fuchs, D., & Phillips, N. (1994). The relation
between teachers’ beliefs and about the importanceof good student work habits, teaching planning, andstudent

achievement.

The

Elementary

SchoolJournal, 94(3), 331-345.
Goddard, R.D., Hoy, W.K., & Hoy, A.K. (2000).
Collective teacher efficacy. American Education
Research Journal, 37(2), 479-507.

program needs to provide opportunity to increase
efficacy level through meaningful and reflective practices.

Goodwyn, A. & Branson, J. (2005). Teaching English: A
handbook for primary and secondary school teachers.
New York, NY: Routledge

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The 2018 PanSIG Journal279

Appendix 1
Teaching Evaluation Rubric
Self-Evaluation Result of Efficacy Level
No

Evaluation

Score

1

I reflect from experience as a teacher

3,32

I can develop my skills as a teacher, problem solver, critical thinker, and decision maker3,43

I have clear goals and objectives in every meeting

3,3

4

I feel motivated and enthusiastic to teach3,5

5

I have knowledge about educational principles

3,3

6

I can make syllabus for a learning program

3,2

7

I can develop a lesson plan using the principles of learning program design

3,1

8

I can develop good learning materials and media

3

9

I can use various learning strategies that can be applied in the classroom

3,2

10

I know how to approach and communicate with my students

3,3

11

I can manage the students and learning using the theories of educational psychology

2,9

12

I apply effective classroom management

2,9

13

I can develop assessment instruments and assess my students' learning achievement

2,9

14

I use learner-centered approach

2,8

15

I can give clear instructions and questions

3,2

16

I feel confident to teach

3,2

17

I believe that I am a good learning facilitator

3

18

I feel well-prepared to teach the students

3,1

19

I use information technology or educational technology in the learning process

3,4

20

I can create organized, stress-free, and enjoyable learning situation

3

21

I always plan and prepare the lesson well before teaching

3,2

22

I use various games when teaching

2,9

23

I use various learning media when teaching

3,2

24

I variate the learning activities to teach the students in mixed-abilities class

3,2

25

I involve all students in the learning activities

3,1

26

I apply cooperative learning through group work or pair work

3,2

27

I encourage the students to use their problem-solving skills in the learning activities

3,2

28

My explanation is clear and easy to understand

2,9

29

I use learning activities that require students’ critical thinking

2,8

30

I always motivate the students to learn

3,3

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

280

Appendix 2
Evaluation Scores from Supervisors

Aspects
Total
Score

Student

Material
Mastery

Material
Delivery

Instructions&
QuestionsClassroom
Managem

Activity

Language

Voice
Production

Lesson
Plan

1

4

3

3

3

4

3

3

4

84

2

4

4

4

3

4

4

4

4

97

3

4

4

3

4

3

3

3

4

88

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

100

5

3

2

3

2

3

3

3

4

72

6

4

4

3

4

3

3

3

4

88

7

4

3

3

3

2

4

4

4

84

8

4

3

4

4

3

3

3

4

88

9

4

4

4

3

4

4

4

4

97

10

3

3

3

3

4

4

3

3

81

11

4

3

3

3

2

4

4

4

84

12

3

2

3

3

2

3

3

4

72

13

3

4

3

3

4

4

3

3

84

14

4

3

3

3

3

4

4

3

84

15

4

3

4

4

4

3

4

4

94

16

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

100

17

4

4

4

4

3

3

4

4

94

18

4

4

3

4

4

3

4

4

94

19

4

4

4

3

4

3

4

3

91

20

3

3

4

3

4

3

4

4

88

21

3

3

4

3

3

3

3

4

81

22

4

3

3

3

4

3

4

4

88

23

4

3

4

4

4

4

4

3

94

24

4

4

4

4

4

3

4

3

94

25

4

4

4

4

3

4

3

3

91

26

3

4

4

4

3

4

3

4

91

27

3

3

4

4

3

4

4

3

88

28

4

3

3

3

4

3

4

4

88

29

3

4

3

2

3

2

4

4

78

30

4

4

3

4

4

3

3

4

91

The 2018 PanSIG Journal281

Appendix 3
Teaching Evaluation Rubric
Category

1

2

3

4

Material andcontent mastery

The teacher does notseem to understand thematerial and content
very well.

The teacher shows
good understanding ofparts of the materialand content.

The teacher shows
good understanding of
the material andcontent.

The teacher shows
full understanding of
the material andcontent.

Material delivery

Teacher explanations
are ineffective, unclear,and inaccurate, andincoherent.

Teacher explanations
are accurate and clear
enough, but theteacher needs to fully
clarify the information.

The teacher explains
the material very well.
Only several parts ofthe explanations are
not clear.

Teacher explanations
are very clear,accurate, coherent,
and precise.

Instruction andquestions

All questions andinstructions are difficult
to understand.

Questions andinstructions areprovided but confusing
and limited.

Questions andinstructions are clear
and easy tounderstand. But theteacher needs to
explain twice.

All of the questions
are clear and concise.
Teacher gives all
instructions clearly
and they are easy tofollow.

Classroom
management

The session lasts before
10 minutes or for morethan 18 mins. The
teacher does not giveattention to the students.

The session lasts formore than 17 minutes.
The teacher gives
attention to somestudents.

The session is finished
before or after 15
minutes, but no morethan 2 mins. The
teacher gives attention
to almost all students.

The session isconducted effectively
within the time
allocation. The
teacher gives
attention to allstudents.

Activity

The activities do notaddress the targetedskills. No variety ofactivity is evident. It ismostly explanation.

Skills are practiced but
not really reinforced.
The teacher needs tovary the activity tomake the lesson
engaging andmotivating.

Most of the targetedskills are practiced
through the activities.
The activities areengaging. At least two
types of activities areevident.

All targeted skills arepracticed through theactivities. The
activities are various
and engaging. At least
three types ofactivities are evident.

Language

More than 5grammatical errors arefound.

3-5 grammatical errors
are evident.

Grammatical errors
are found but no morethan 3.

No grammatical errors
are found.

Voice production

Teacher often mumbles
and mispronounces
more than three words.

Teacher speaks
clearly most of thetime andmispronounces threewords.

Teacher speaks
clearly all the time andmispronounces one or
two words.

Teacher speaks
clearly all the time andmispronounces nowords.

The activities are not
relevant to the learning
objectives or targetedskills. The lesson isentirely teacher-directed.

The activities do not
clearly address theobjectives or targetedskills. Some activities
are not relevant andleading to confusion.
Teacher almost
dominates the lesson.

The teacher is wellprepared. The
activities areconnected to thelearning objectives
and targeted skills.
The lesson goes welland is quite organized.

The teacher prepares
the lesson very well.
The learning
objectives andtargeted skills are
reinforced strongly
during the lesson. The
lesson is very
organized and welltimed.

Lesson plan

The 2018 PanSIG Journal282

Flipping a Global Topics Classroom
Adrianne Verla Uchida
Nihon University
This paper introduces a classroom activity that the researcher implemented in a second-year integrated
skills class, focused on global topics, at a private university in Tokyo. Her research interests had beendrawn to 21st Century Skills (Tilling & Fadel, 2009) and she felt her students did not have many
opportunities to implement the 4 Cs, communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking whenusing English. This paper will introduce how she flipped the classroom in detail and share student
reflections from the course. Finally, this paper will elicit the limitations and possible ways to continue
similar project-based work in the future.

本稿では、研究者が東京の私立大学で、グローバルトピックスを中心とした、2 年次英語スキルズのクラスで実施した教室活動を紹介する。彼女は 21 世紀の技能（Tilling & Fadel, 2009)に引き寄せられ、生徒が英語を使うときに 4Cs（コミュニケーション・コラボレーション・創造性・批判的思考）を経験す
る機会があまりないと感じた。それが本研究の始まりになった。本稿では、この反転授業活動を詳細に紹介し、そして、本授業に関する学生の意見を共有する。また、これから本研究をベースにし、どのよ
うにして作業を続けられるか、限界と可能な方法を導き出すことに説明する。

During the 2016 academic year, I selected a textbook

Connecting with 21st Century Skills

and taught a second-year global topics course that
integrated the four skills: reading, writing, speaking, andTrilling and Fadel (2009) state that innovation andlistening. The textbook content was recent and relevant,technology are now common place in the world today.

but my Japanese university students failed to thrive for

They explain that to thrive in the 21st century students

various reasons including their belief that the topics wereneed to have knowledge of digital literacy, learning and

not relevant to them and the textbook was not at a level

innovation skills, and career and life skills. Learners also

appropriate for their English ability. The students

need to foster “values and behaviors such as curiosity,

seemed demotivated to participate in the class and thecaring, confidence, and courage” (Trilling & Fadel, 2009

course continued to be lackluster despite trying various

p. xxxii). Without these skills it will be very difficult forways to improve it. In the end, I decided to not use thestudents to integrate into the 21st century workforce andtextbook in the fall semester and began designing

Japanese EFL students are no different. They too, must

materials to use for the remainder of the course. Thisbe able to utilize these skills in the future. Critics of 21st

experience spurred me to not use a textbook for the

century skills argue that there is no need to learn those2017 academic year while instilling a desire in me toskills and that it is just a ‘fad’ (Sawchuk, 2009; Mathews,

design a course that my students would find engaging,2009), however in current EFL research there is a call for

relevant, and meaningful. Additionally, I hoped thea balanced and cautious approach (Griffin, 2018). Whilecourse would entice my students to become motivated,

an additional cognitive demand on the learner cannot be

autonomous learners of English while gaining 21st

denied, integrating these skills into the classroom moves

century skills; all qualities that would be useful whether

the focus away from just learning English and places it

their future selves used English in the workplace, on

on using English which will benefit Japanese EFL

study abroad, or never again.

students in the future even if their majors, or futureoccupations do not require English. For these reasons,

The 2018 PanSIG Journal283

as I designed the year-long course, I tried to implement

2015a, 2015b); and speaking (Leis, 2016). There isthese skills and values into the lessons and projects, inlimited research on integrated skills and content based

the spring semester.

EFL courses (Hsieh, Wu, & Marek, 2017; Kang, 2015;
Sung, 2015). With the extremely limited research

The Decision to Flip My Classroom

regarding EFL and integrated skills and EFL and

The decision to shift the responsibility of the individual
topics each lesson on the students as well as

content-based learning, I set out to integrate flipped
learning into my class.

relinquishing a large portion of the control of theclassroom to my students during the fall term was a

Course Design and Implementation

frightening proposition initially. “Would they prepare

While the spring semester focused on cultivating 21st

appropriately each week?” and “Would they participate incentury skills, helping students build confidence in using

English?” were just a few of the questions I pondered.

English, and becoming acclimated to having more

However, the more I researched about flipped learning,

autonomy in the classroom, the fall semester found theand flipping the classroom, the more I realized thatstudents being the main facilitators of knowledge being

elements from it would be very useful in the design of theshared and exchanged in the classroom. My role wascourse. Bergmann & Sams (2012, 2014) gave examples

mainly to act as a coordinator or overseer to make sureand techniques from successful flipped classrooms in a

students moved between activities on schedule, and in avarietylanguagetimely manner. Occasionally, I would have to intervene inclassrooms. Those examples provided me with a moreofsettings,

includingforeigngroup discussion to help with conflict resolution, or aid in

concrete focus of what I hoped to achieve in my class.

clarification or interpretation of students’ opinions,however generally, the students took control of each

From my observation, classroom practice inJapan often is based on the idea that a student’s job is toenter the classroom, listen to the instructor, take copious

activity. Overall, the majority of my time was spent,listening

to

group

discussions,joininginwhenappropriate, and assessing participation and effort.

notes, memorize the information, practice translating
various sentences in preparation for a final exam or a

The 15-week course was designed with theuniversity entrance exam. Moreover, it can be said thatfirst twoweeks

of class

being

introduction

andmany Japanese students are familiar with a traditional

preparation classes. Weeks three through 15 wereteacher-centered, lecture-based, passive education style

divided into three rounds labeled A, B, and C. Eachduring secondary and tertiary education which is in directround was four weeks long. Each round the students

opposition to the structure of a flipped classroom

were divided into four groups and each group chose aenvironment. However, it must be noted that the

topic for their presentation and discussion. Each week

Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science,

was a new group, a new topic, and a new presentation

and Technology (MEXT) has made efforts regarding

and discussion. At the end of each round, the members

English education policy to promote more active learning

were shuffled, and the process was repeated.

in the classroom (MEXT, 2003). With this educational
Each group was required to choose a topic forbackground, getting students to accept that the majorityof the content would be learned outside of the classroom,ashomework,

wasaforeseeable

hurdlewhen

implementing flipped learning in the course.

their

group

presentation(Appendix

A).

Some

presentation topics students chose include: Dating
customs, marriage traditions, transportation, Christmas,
and World Heritage sites. After the weekly topic was

A search of relevant literature found that the
majority of flipped learning research was based on

chosen, each group member had to choose a country torepresent (Appendix A). Below is one example:

STEM related courses (Biemiller, 2012; Berrett, 2012;
Steen-Utheim & Foldnes, 2017). However, as for flipped
learning and EFL, research has been conducted, mostly
on specific EFL skills; EFL writing (Leis, 2015; Leis,
Tohei, & Cook, 2015; Leis & Brown, 2018; Mehring,

Topic: LGBT Rights
Country 1: America
Country 2: Afghanistan
Country 3: Thailand

The 2018 PanSIG Journal284

Country 4: Uganda

information to prepare for the class topic that week.

Country 5: Australia

Background Information
Each group was required to find, and submit to me, one

Country 6: The Netherlands
This style of presentation allowed the students
tocooperateinchoosing

thetopic,

subtopics,

introduction, and conclusion while allowing them thefreedom to work on their section of the presentation
independently. From my experience, many students
often complain about the difficulties of group work andpresentation work outside of class, however throughusing a class Google Sites page designed by me, google
slides, and students individual LINE accounts, thestudents claimed that the pressure of working as a group,
was greatly reduced.
Presentation days in weeks three through 15
were conducted with the same process each week. This
allowed the students to become comfortable andconfident with the flow of the class. The process was
divided into three categories: before class, in class, andafter class. Figure 1 summarizes each step of theprocess.

or two authentic English resources. These could benewspaper or magazine articles, videos, or TED Talks
that connected with their presentation topic. Occasionally,
students would send extremely short materials andwould have to try again to find more suitable materials.
The process could be as easy or as difficult as thepresenting group chose to make it. Once approval was
granted, the link(s) were posted on the classroom
Google Site and students could access the materials,
from school, home, or anywhere with an internet
connection.

Class preparation
For class preparation, all students were required toaccess the background information and prepare a written
impression about the article sharing their ideas andopinions about the topic. This served two purposes. The
first showed me that they had done the homework andprepared for class. The second, and more important
purpose, was to create an opportunity for them, to thinkcritically about the topic and their opinions, in English,

Before Class

before they entered the classroom.

Before each class there was one task that thepresentation group needed to complete. They wererequired to find background information. All classmates
were then required to use the assigned background

In Class
Each 90-minute class was divided into three main
sections: group presentations, group discussion, andFigure 1: Process Graph of Global Topics course flow

Graphic template design ©PresentationGO.com

The 2018 PanSIG Journal285

oral reports. The first few minutes at the beginning andthat each group had very different discussions andend of class were used for administrative purposes,

outcomes despite the original discussion questions being

however the bulk of the class time was given to thethe same.

students to use English.

After Class

Presentations
During presentations there were two groups of students.

After each class the students were required to write a

The presentation group comprised of six students, andreflection about the experience. They had the freedom to

the remaining students who participated as audience

reflect on anything, as long as it connected to the classmembers. Each group presentation took about 25

or the topic. Some of the reflections focused on who

minutes. During the presentation, the presenters would

made good presentations or were strong group leaders

briefly introduce the topic of the week drawing on thewhile others shared their personal opinions or analyzed

homework that they had assigned. Next, each group

what went well or poorly during the group discussion.

presenter would individually introduce the situation in

Still others would be more critical of themselves andtheir chosen country. Finally, the audience members

focus on how or why their opinions had changed or

could participate in a question and answer session with

developed during the class.

the presenters. During that time, the presenters would try
to answer any questions that were asked. During theThis process was repeated each week. In thepresentations, the audience members were encouraged

beginning the students would often complain about how

to take notes, however it was not a graded requirement.

difficult it was, but by the second round the majority ofstudents had acclimated to the process and found the

Discussion

repetitive style and requirements to be less and less

The next 30 minutes of class time was devoted to small-daunting.

group discussions. Each presenter was assigned as thediscussion leader of a small group and used the classStudent and Teacher Voices

discussion questions they prepared in advance to aid the

As this was my first time to try running a class in this

discussions. Generally, each discussion group had fourstyle, I unfortunately didn’t have the foresight tomembers. Each group member was also assigned with aadminister a class survey before or after the course,

specific role for that week. The roles were: discussion

however the students graciously granted me permission

leader, notetaker, speaker, and timekeeper (Appendix B).

to use their reflections as my main source of qualitative

The discussion leader moderated the discussion. The

data. Focusing on the second semester data alone, I

notetaker generally took notes on paper, but a few chose

was provided with 165 pages of impressions andto use their tablets or smartphones. The time keeper

reflections. Three main themes could be taken from theperiodically shared the time remaining with the groupstudents’ reflections: motivation, autonomy, and English

members and gave warnings when the discussion timeskills.

was coming to an end. The speaker summarized thegroup discussion at the end of the oral report round. In
this way, each student had a role to complete for the
discussion to run smoothly.

Oral Reports

Motivation
Reflections

regardingmotivationwere

pepperedthroughout the student reflections. Here are some of thestudents’

directquotes

taken

from

the

weeklyimpressions and reflections. “I was motivated and

The final 20 to 25 minutes of class were devoted to oral

inspired by your Global Topics class so much.” “All thereports. Each group was given about 10 minutes to work

people I met in this lesson are motivated to speakwith the speaker to prepare a brief summary of their
discussion. This required the participation of all groupmembers for the speaker to do a thorough job. Next, theEnglish,” (Student reflections, 2017) and,In spring before entering this class, my English
skill was clearly lower than [when] I was studying

speaker would share their group’s summary with theEnglish to enter college. However, I did not study

whole class. Quite often students were surprised to learn

English because I didn’t get motivated… I like theThe 2018 PanSIG Journal286

lesson[s] gradually. I thought that such a lesson

shown

will make my life of the next grade (Student

positively,’ becoming ‘conscious’ of one’s actions, andreflections, 2017).

understanding why one does certain actions. As this wasThese quotes all directly mention a personal sense of
motivation or a sense of feeling motivated by theactivities or people in the class. As this was one of mythroughactionswhich

include‘speakingone of my main goals in creating the course, it can besaid that the student results can uphold a positive
outcome among students.

main goals in designing the course, it can be said that

English Skills

the results can confirm a positive outcome among

Reflections regarding the improvement and growth ofstudents.

English skills were most prevalent throughout thestudent reflections. The students wrote about theAutonomy
Reflections that showed instances of learner autonomy
were sprinkled throughout the student reflections. Someof the students’ direct quotes taken from the weekly
impressions and reflections and shared here. “I speak
positively from myself in this class.” “I felt I had to freemyself from a sense of inferiority as early as I could. This
is what I decided to study hard for.” “I gradually became
conscious of being able to remember the content to bereleased by myself firmly and making slides thateveryone can see easily,” (Student reflections, 2017).
I learned many things…I am apt to neglect to add
more details. One of the reasons why…is that I
made much of forming the rim of the presentation,
so I couldn't take time to deepen the content ofwhat I introduced. However, at the same time, I
realized [how] to make a presentation. I don't feelso nervous while speaking in front of people,
because I concentrate on making the rim, so I
realized it's not so difficult to speak (Student
reflections, 2017).

outside [Japan] by presentations [of] other groups,
and when I examined [about them] by myself, I
was able to know a lot of things. Some countries
I've heard of, some countries I do not know aboutthat country at all (Student reflections, 2017).

doing things in English.” “I thought my English skill
became surely good. Not only knowledge, but also mymindset to speaking seemed to be improved.” “It wasdifficult writing before impression[s] and after reflection[s]each more than 100 words. However, I became able towrite them easily little by little, so I felt that my ability ofEnglish continued to develop through this class” (Student
reflections, 2017).
It was difficult to talk about the topics of the worldin

English.

Discussionisdifficult

even

in

Japanese... I was made aware of my absence of
vocabulary…I thought that I first had to know theword rather than grammar to speak from myself.
However, as I repeated the classes, I thought that
it was not necessary to use only difficult words. Of
course, it is important to know many words, but
you can also speak with simple word[s]. The mostimportant thing is to talk a lot (Student reflections,

number of…regions. In addition, there was also
knowing Japanese culture …by examining theculture of other countries. I was surprised torealize that there are many things I do not evenknow about the culture of the country where I wasborn and raised (Student reflections, 2017).

all

expressasense

At first, I was little confident to speak English, butnow, I changed my mindset and…I became toexpress what I want to say in English. I am feelingthis is one of the valuable facts in my life, so if I
bump into some difficulties in my life, I want toconfront them taking advantage of this experience

There are countries that I'd like to visit in aquotesthis lesson I was able to feel the joy and importance of2017).

I was able to obtain information on countries

These

following in their reflections and impressions. “Through(Student reflections, 2017).
I thought that we should have speaking andlistening skills because we will have opportunities
that we work with foreigners and talk with them or
we go to abroad to work in the future. Thus, I
wanted to improve my speaking and listening
skills more while I took this class (Studentofreflections, 2017).

participating or growing due to a sense of self. It is

The 2018 PanSIG Journal287

I think we could develop so many skills. For

References

instance, reading, listening, and speaking…we got

Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom:

homework of reading article[s] or watching TED

Reach every student in every class every day.

every week. At the first time the homework was

Eugene,hard because of the topic…However throughdoing the homework I feel that my listening skill
and reading skill is developed (Student reflections,2017).

These

Oregon:International

SocietyforTechnology in Education.
Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2014). Flipped learning:
Gateway to student engagement. Eugene, Oregon:quotesall

express

a

sense

of

International Society for Technology in Education.

improvement in their English skills. The main skills

Berrett, D. (2012, Feb. 19). How ‘flipping’ the classroom

students consciously wrote about were mainly speaking

can improve the traditional lecture. The Chronicle ofand listening skills. Reading skills were mentioned far

Higherless often, while writing skills were seldom mentioned. I

https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Flipping-the-found that intriguing as the students wrote so much overClassroom/130857

Education.

Retrievedfrom

the term. As a major goal of the course was to integrate
the four skills, it can be said that more focus to make

Biemiller, L. (2013, Dec. 18). San Hose State U. says

reading and writing skills explicit was needed however

replacing live lectures with videos increases test

the majority of students completed the course feeling ascores.

sense of satisfaction or growth relating to their English

Retrieved

ability.

https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/san-The

ChronicleofHigher

Education.
fromjose-state-u-says-replacing-live-lectures-with-videosincreased-test-scores/40470

Conclusion
This practice-oriented paper introduced the teaching

Griffin, M. (2018, August). Balancing the teaching of

methodology and implementation of a flipped-learning

English and teaching 21st century skills. Paper

project in a second-year tertiary global topics course.

presented at the 9th International Conference on

The activities in the spring semester were designed to

TESOL, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

teach the students various 21st century skills andimprove their confidence in using English with their peers,
while also fostering autonomy. The fall semester
students then were given more autonomy as they
workedingroupstocompletetheirhomework

Hsieh, J. S. C., Wu, W.C.V., & Michael W. Marek. (2016).
Using the flipped classroom to enhance EFL learning.
Computer Assisted Language Learning. 30(1-2), 121. DOI: 10.1080/09588221.2015.1111910.

assignments, presentations, group discussions, andKang, N. (2015). The comparison between regular andreflections in a flipped classroom. Student reflections on

flipped classrooms for EFL Korean adult learners.

the classroom format and the fall semester were very

Multimedia-Assisted Language Learning, 18(3), 41-

positive overall and numerous students reported feeling72.

a sense of growth throughout the semester in theirreflections.

Leis,

A.

(2015).

DynamicsofEffortin

FlippedClassrooms in an EFL environment. Educational
However, it must be noted that this is a paper

Informatics Research, (14), 15-26.

based on one teacher’s classroom and more research isneeded before definitive outcomes can be confirmed.
Finally, as I work to improve this model, I will hold thisstudent’s quote close to heart, “I want to do my best
making use of this irreplaceable experience,” (Student
reflections, 2017). I hope that through flipping contentbased integrated skills EFL classes, more students will
become motivated and autonomous learners.

Leis, A. (2016). Flipped learning and EFL proficiency: An
empirical study. TELES Journal, (36), 77-90.
Leis, A. & Brown, K. (2018). Flipped learning in an EFL
environment: Does the teacher’s experience affectlearning outcomes?. EUROCALL Review, 26(1), 313. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4995/eurocall.2018.8597.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

288

Leis, A., Tohei, A. A., & S. Cook. (2015). The effects offlipped classrooms on English compostion writing inanEFL

environment.

Computer-Assisted
Teaching

International

Language(IJCALLT),

5(4),Journal

http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/html/hpac20020
1/hpac200201_2_015.html

ofLearning

and37-51.

DOI:

Sawchuk, S. (2009, March 2). Backers of ‘21st century
skills’ take flak. Education Week. Retrieved fromdoi:10.4018/IJCALLT.2015100103

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/03/04/23pushb
Mathews, J. (2009, Jan. 5). The latest doomed

ack_ep.h28.html

educational fad: 21st century skills. The Washington
Post.

Retrievedfrom

investigation of student engagement in a flipped

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2009/01/04/AR2009010401532.ht

classroom. Teaching in Higher Education, 23(3),307-324. DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2017.1379481

ml
Mehring, J. (2015a). An exploratory study of the lived
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Steen-Utheim, A.T. & Foldnes, N. (2018). A qualitativeofJapanese

undergraduate

EFL

students in the flipped classroom. (Unpublisheddoctoral dissertation). Pepperdine University, Malibu,
CA.
Mehring, J. (2015b). A new pedagogy for the JapaneseSung, K. (2015). A case study on a flipped classroom inanEFL

content

course.

Multimedia-Assisted

Language Learning, 18(2), 159-187.
Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills:
Learning for life in our times. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.

EFL classroom. PeerSpectives, 14(Spring), 2-7.
MEXT. (2003). Regarding the establishment of an action
plan to cultivate “Japanese with English abilities”.
Retrieved from

Author biographies
Adrianne Verla Uchida is an assistant professor at Nihon University in Mishima, Japan. She has over 14 years ofteaching experience at the secondary and tertiary level. Her interests include four-dimensional education, 21st century
skills, student motivation, learner autonomy, curriculum design, and reflective practice. Email: verla.uchida@nihonu.ac.jp

The 2018 PanSIG Journal289

Appendix A
Presentation Topics and Countries by Round
Table A1
List of Student Topics and Country: Round A
Student Name
Group
Topic
Student 1
1
Student 2
1
Student 3
1
FashionStudent 4
1
Student 5
1
Student 6
1
Student 7
2
Student 82Student 92
Average
Student 10
2Life Span
Student 10
2
Student 122
Student 13
3
Student 14
3
Student 15
3
Same-Sex
Student 16
3
Marriage
Student 17
3
Student 18
3
Student 19
4
Student 20
4
Student 21
4
DatingStudent 22
4
Customs
Student 23
4
Student 24
4

Table A2
List of Student Topics and Country: Round B
Student Name
Group
Topic
Student 1
1
Student 2
1
Student 3
1
SportsStudent 4
1
Student 5
1
Student 6
1
Student 7
2
Student 82Student 92
Weddings
Student 10
2
Student 10
2
Student 122
Student 13
3
Student 14
3
Student 15

3

Student 16
Student 17
Student 18
Student 19
Student 20
Student 21
Student 22
Student 23
Student 24

3
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
4

Food
CultureWorld
Heritage
Sites

Country
Saudi Arabia
France
Italy
Peru
RussiaSouth Korea
America
Brazil
India
Switzerland
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Australia
Netherlands
America
Afghanistan
Thailand
UgandaRussiaAmerica
Italy
Cambodia
Egypt
South Korea

Country
Germany
SpanishAmerica
China
RussiaJamaica
China
N/A
RussiaIndia
SwedenEgypt
America
Italy
Federated States ofMicronesia
Germany
India
Spain
Austria
CanadaChina
EcuadorCzech Republic
Italy

The PanSIG 2018 Journal

289i

Table A3
List of Student Topics and Country: Round C
Student Name
Group
Topic
Student 1
1
Student 2
1
Student 3
1
Festivals
Student 4
1
Student 5
1
Student 6
1
Student 7
2
Student 82Student 9
2Transportation
Student 10
2
Student 10
2
Student 122
Student 13
3
Student 14
3
Student 15
3Christmas
Student 16
3
Traditions
Student 17
3
Student 18
3
Student 19
4
Student 20
4
Student 21
4
New Year
Student 22
4
Customs
Student 23
4
Student 24
4

Country
Taiwan
Spain
N/A
Italy
Germany
England
USA (Alaska)
China
Thailand
United Kingdom
India
Maldives
Australia
EnglandFinlandGermany
RussiaUSA
India
New Zealand
Spain
Madagascar
Chile
TaiwanThe PanSIG 2018 Journal289ii

Appendix B
Discussion Group Members and Their Roles: Round A
Below is the table the students made to divide into discussion groups for Round A. A similar process was repeated
for rounds B and C. All students experienced being the discussion leader, timekeeper, speaker, and notetaker threetimes each during the semester.
Table B1
Discussion Group Members and Their Roles: Round A
GroupsWeek 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 41Student 1

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

1Student 7

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

1Student 13

Notetaker

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

1

Student 19

Timekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

Leader2

Student 2

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker2

Student 8

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

2

Student 14

Notetaker

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

2

Student 20

Timekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

Leader3

Student 3

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker3

Student 9

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

3

Student 15

Notetaker

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

3

Student 21

Timekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

Leader4

Student 4

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

4

Student 10

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

4

Student 16

Notetaker

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

4

Student 22

Timekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

Leader5Student 5

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

5Student 11

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

5Student 17

Notetaker

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

5

Student 23

Timekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

Leader6

Student 6

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

6

Student 12

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

Notetaker

6

Student 18

Notetaker

Speaker

LeaderTimekeeper

6

Student 24

Timekeeper

Notetaker

Speaker

Leader

The PanSIG 2018 Journal289iii

Using TV Commercials to Promote Critical Thinking and Cultural
Understanding
Daniel Velasco
Rikkyo University
Television can be viewed a mindless form of entertainment, or a powerful tool for education and change.
Using television commercials in classrooms can provide a much-needed break from textbook-based
instruction and bland handouts, connecting students to a familiar media format while activating priorknowledge. Incorporating commercials that some have deemed controversial can be a powerful tool,
engaging learners and encouraging them to consider other cultural viewpoints and global social issues.
University students in three English classes (n=74) in a Japanese university were shown televisioncommercials and completed connected exercises. Students then completed a survey measuring levelsof self-reflection and growth as a Global Critical Thinker (GCT). Since controversial commercials wereused, levels of discomfort were also measured. Results show a majority of students agreed or strongly
agreed that the television commercials, activities, and discussions assisted them in self-reflection andbecoming a better GCT.

テレビは、単なる娯楽としてではなく、教育や考え方の気づきのために必要な強力なツールとして見解できる。 授業でテレビコマーシャルを使用することは、教科書や配布物だけに基づいただけの指導からの「休憩」を提供し、すでにある知識を活かしながら、身近なメディアフォーマットで学生の意欲を高めることができる。 話題や論議を醸しだしているコマーシャルを組み込むことで、学生の興味を引き、文化的な視点や世界的な社会問題を考慮する強力なツールになる。3 つの英語クラス（n = 74）において、日本の大学生にテレビコマーシャルを視聴させ、それぞれのコマーシャルに繋がる活動を行なった。
その後、グローバルクリティカルシンカー（GCT）としての自己反映と成長のレベルを測定する調査をした。物議を醸し出すようなコマーシャルでもあったため、不快感のレベルも測定された。結果として、大多数の学生が、テレビコマーシャル、活動、およびディスカッションは、自己反映に役立ち、より良
い GCT になることに同意、または強く同意することを示した。

Education has undergone multiple transformations, fromA

commonproblem

expressed

amongteacher-centered to student-centered classrooms, fromeducators is that the modern student has become

textbook-focused to multimedia inclusive. Using videos

unfazed by interesting, yet predictable videos of wildlife,

within lessons was a breakthrough in education.

pollution, and space travel. YouTube has now become a

Unfortunately, after years of overuse, the video-focusedcommon tool for teachers in need to liven up alesson has become as interesting as the VCR itself, andclassroom, supplementing lesson after lesson with quick,with the invention of the computer and then theoften amusing videos that catch students’ attention.

smartphone, students now have quick and easy accessto a range of videos and other media online, making
educational videos challenging to use.

Incorporating videos is not a new trend ineducation, but as stated above, with the advancement oftechnology, students are able to receive new information
at a rapid pace, which makes showing videos in

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

290

classroom lessons a daunting task. In other words,

listening” (p. 1). Brief video clips, such as television

incorporating videos are becoming more of a challengecommercials,

than ever before, with some teachers opting not to showauthentic language spoken in natural settings while

video in their class at all. Add to this the continued use ofbeing presented with relevant issues in society, with thepredictable education DVDs that book publishers aregoal of achieving high levels of critical thinking.

offer

students

opportunities

to

hear

including in every new textbook, and the field ofCritical thinking has been a key phrase ineducation has put itself in in a difficult situation, with
nowhere to go but back to the basics—textbook
exercises, pop quizzes, and cloze handouts. In short,educators are struggling with making content meaningful
and engaging to students who are more interested in
Instagram updates than traditional medicines from asmall desert village in Tunisia.

education for years, producing a variety of definitions.
Lai (2011) provides one clear definition of criticalthinking: “Critical thinking includes the component skillsofanalyzingarguments,

makinginferencesusing

inductive or deductive reasoning, judging or evaluating,and making decisions or solving problems” (p. 2). With
globalization entering education jargon, “Global Critical

Globalization is affecting every country, andThinking” (GCT) is a more of an appropriate phrase foreven the most closed off, either by choice (Japan) or bytoday’s classroom goals. GCT combines both criticalforce (North Korea), are having to deal with thethinking skills and cultural understanding (in other words,

eventuality of a multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual

one’s own culture, as well as other cultures around thesociety. So, a relevant question now for educators is:world). Researchers admit, “Very little is known about

How effective are videos for teaching cultural awarenessvideo’s role in knowledge development and helping

and understanding, and promoting critical thinking?

critical thinking, and this is identified as a major gap intheThere are more layers to this question, ofresearchthatrequiresmore

investigation”(Carmichael, Reid, & Karpicke, 2018).

course. There are probably very few educators who do
not believe videos have the potential to enhance daily

So how can GCT be achieved by incorporating

lessons, making them valuable teaching resources.

videos into lessons? One way to accomplish GCT is to

Neuman, Wong, Flynn and Kaefer (2018) showed thatbroaden students’ perspectives and understanding of theusing videos during classroom lessons was an effective

world around them. This thought causes a lot oftool particularly for vocabulary building. Even students

educators to hesitate for fear of disrupting the peaceful

are happy that teachers are mixing things up in theflow of their classrooms and replacing it with a tenseclassroom, as one student in an English class was

atmospherequoted as saying, “I like the way you use videos with us -controversial nature of some of the topics brought up in- you get us moving, talking, writing and speaking. The

videos. With the new wave of politics, technology, andproblem is you make us think too much” (quoted in

global issues permeating the news and infiltrating our

Ferlazzo, 2012). Educators will agree that students need

lives, it is becoming more acceptable to discuss

critical thinking skills, so “The teacher made us think too

controversial issues in classrooms and faculty lounges,

much” is a complaint most would love to see on course

even in countries that have a reputation of conducting

evaluations.

relationships on mostly superficial levels.

Another point that needs to be considered isandawkwardsilences

due

to

the

My research question is: How effective are

the use of television commercials compared to clips

videosfound on textbook DVDs. In her paper promoting using

understanding, and promoting critical thinking?

forteaching

culturalawarenessandtelevision commercials in language classrooms, Oliveira(n.d.) writes, “Authors such as Medina (2002) andMethods

Weyers (1999) claim that the cognitive support provided
by video may help second language learners acquire
grammar and vocabulary, improve spelling and develop
the linguistic skills of reading, writing, speaking andParticipants
All participants are university students attending a wellknown private university in Saitama, Japan. During the

The 2018 PanSIG Journal291

Spring semester of the 2018 academic year, threecomplete survey).

English language speaking (communication) classes
Students were also asked to document at any

with a total of seventy-four (n=74) university students
were recruited for this study. Twenty-two (22) students
were female and fifty-two (52) students were male. The
mean age was 18.43. All students were majoring in
Economics, Business Management or Law, and theEnglish language level for all classes was “Intermediate”(i.e., all students fell in the range of TOEIC 400-500).

point in the lesson when they felt uncomfortable (divided
into three sections—Beginning, Middle, and End of thelesson), with the material being presented, with thediscussion topic or with the assigned activity, andmeasure their levels of discomfort during the lesson on ascale of one to ten.

Each class met once a week for 15 weeks, with eachperiod lasting one hour and 30 minutes.

Procedure
Three classes were chosen to show the television

Results
The collected survey results for all three classes (n=74)
are shown in Table 2.

commercials followed by one main activity (both thevideos and activities are explained in detail in the
Appendix B below). The class number (e.g., “Class 5”
took place during week 5 of the academic semester),chosen videos, and activity are shown in Table 1.

After finishing the three lessons throughout thesemester, and compiling the survey data, the following
results surfaced. For Statement #1, about 72% of theparticipants either agreed or strongly agreed that the
televisioncommercials,

activities,

anddiscussions

On each of the chosen days, the students

assisted them in self-reflection. For Statement #2, about

would engage in a warm-up exercise meant to activate

76% of the participants also agreed or strongly agreed

prior knowledge on the chosen theme and video. Afterthatthe warm-up activity, the students would view thediscussions helped them to think about new cultural

television commercial twice. Finally, the students would

perspectives. For Statement #3, 82% of the participants

engage in various activates based on the day’s theme,

either agreed or strongly agreed that the televisionusing the television commercial as the main focus ofcommercials,

discussion. At the end of the lesson, students took a 4-

opportunities to openly discuss global issues. And finally,

statement survey using a standard Likert scale format

for Statement #4, 74% of participants felt they becamethat inquired about their perceived levels of self-

better Global Critical Thinkers (GCT) after the threereflection, as well as cultural viewpoints and global social

lessons.

thetelevisioncommercials,

activities,

andactivities,

discussions

andofferedissues they took into consideration (see Appendix A for

The 2018 PanSIG Journal292

Students were also asked to make a note if at

globally-minded thinkers, or Global Critical Thinkers

any point in the lesson they felt uncomfortable with the(GCT). With the Japanese government urging morematerial or activity being presented. The points were

university students to study abroad in order to meet its

divided into three sections—Beginning (0-30 minutes),promise of doubling the number of students by the year

Middle (31-60 minutes), and End (61-90 minutes) of the2020,

lesson, with the material being presented, with theactivities that promote a more global perspective while

discussion topic or with the assigned activity, andchallenging Japanese norms (Lee, 2018). Including

measure their levels of discomfort during the lesson on atelevision commercials is just one way in which this canscale of one to ten (“1” being the lowest level ofbe accomplished.

university

teachers

areincorporating

more

discomfort, and “10” being the highest level). The results
are shown in Table 3 and Table 4.

The most pressing issue in this study was
whether students would feel uncomfortable talking aboutcomplex and sensitive issues found in the television

Discussioncommercials, such as racism and sexism. However,A quick analysis of the survey results reveals about 75%

according to the results, only about 34% of students feltof the students felt that the lessons offered opportunities

uncomfortable with the first lesson, and the number

to self-reflect and discuss pertinent issues in today’s

decreased with each subsequent lesson (22% for lesson

global society, thus increasing their feeling of being

two, and 18% for lesson three). The high number of

The 2018 PanSIG Journal293

students who felt uncomfortable with the first part ofConclusion

lesson one could be attributed to the nervousness thatAs technology becomes more commonplace, children

naturally

are spending more time in front of computer, tablet, andaccompanies

taking

on

any

new

task,

particularly in a foreign language.

smartphone screens—for children under eight years ofMoving out of one’s comfort zone is never a
comfortable experience, but being put into situations
where one must face discomforting circumstances,whether it be a volunteering, giving a presentation or
discussing sensitive topics in an open forum, can build
leadership qualities by defying the “grooves of routine”

age, that could be 48 minutes per day, in addition to atleast two hours of television viewing (Barshay, 2017). If
eight-year-old children are spending almost an hour aday on cellphones or tablets, imagine how much time theaverage high school of university student spends in frontof the “black mirror.”(Worline, Wrzesniewski, and Rafaeli, 2002) and increase

Rather than view this as a detriment topersonal and professional success rates (Caprino, 2014).

education, educators should embrace technology by

Therefore, it is critical that students begin to encounter

carefully choosing which multimedia to bring into his ormore challenging situations to better prepare them forher classroom, and how to present that material tolife—and what better place to begin this journey than in a

students in ways that will deepen their understanding of

safe, controlled classroom environment supervised by athemselves, broaden their cultural perspectives, andcaring, culturally-sensitive educator. If students feelstrengthen their Global Critical Thinking (GCT) skills.

comfortable discussing difficult global issues in theirThis has been a major issue in higher education, withclasses, then perhaps they will feel more confident about

many teachers relying on textbook DVDs and online

studying abroad and not focus on the “hassles” (Hassett,websites to satisfy the technological craving of students,2018).

and while there is an appropriate time for textbook DVD
There are some limitations to this study thatshould be discussed. First, the study took place over one
academic semester, so it is unclear whether the benefitsof presenting challenging material to students will have along-term impact on their general critical thinking skills,
as well as the Global Critical Thinking (GCT) skills.
Second, all of the students were Japanese nationals, so
this study needs to be applied to a mixed ethnic group of
university students in order to test the generalizability ofvideos, other media, such as television commercials,
could provide more opportunities to grow critical thinking
skills and global minds. In the end, hopefully the
research and application illustrated in this paper will
provide educators with ideas to use in their lessons, or atthe very least inspire them to consider other ways tochallenge students to think more critically about theworld around them and the issues that permeate national
borders.

the findings. Finally, the videos chosen for this study
were specifically chosen with the participants’ general

References

personalities in mind, so care must be taken when

Barshay, J. (2017). Technology overuse may be the newchoosing television commercials (or any multimedia) todigital divide. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved fromshow and sensitive topics to discuss before presenting

https://hechingerreport.org/technology-overuse-may-them to the class. As Martinelli (2018) confirms, “Thenew-digital-divide/most important factor in knowing when and how much topush is thinking about your [students’] personality,”

Caprino, K. (2014). 6 Ways Pushing Past Your Comfort

andZone Is Critical to Success. Forbes. Retrieved frominterpersonal conflicts, and, if possible, having them behttps://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2014/05/2

part of the development of the lesson. This last comment

1/6-ways-pushing-past-your-comfort-zone-is-critical-

is more of a warning than a limitation, but still needs toto-success/#7d9e1f507e48

considering

theirstrengths,

be carefully considered.

weaknesses

Carmichael, M., Reid, A., & Karpicke, J. D. (2018).
Assessing the Impact of Educational Video on
Student Engagement, Critical Thinking and Learning.
Sage Publishing. Retrieved fromThe 2018 PanSIG Journal294

https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/hevideolearnin
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https://childmind.org/article/pushing-kids-withoutpushing-too-hard/

Ferlazzo, L. (2012). Eight Ways to Use Video With
English-Language

Learners.

Retrieved

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Neuman, S. B., Wong, K. M., Flynn, R., & Kaefer, T.
(2018,

April

26).
Media:

Learning
The

Vocabulary

Role

of

From

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/ell-engagement-using-

Educational

video-larry-ferlazzo-katie-hull-sypnieski

Supports for Low-Income Preschoolers. Journal of

Pedagogical

Educational Psychology. Advance online publication.
Folgers Coffee Sexist 60s Ads. (2011). Retrieved fromhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000278

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnjjkgIO3Ck
Oliveira, E. C. (n.d.). Using TV Commercials in the
Hassett, M. (2018). Why don’t more Japanese study
abroad? The cost and the hassle, survey shows.
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Racist Chinese Laundry Detergent Ad Qiaobi (俏比) ad.

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volume-3-issue-2-summer-2015/
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Lee, H. (2018). Recent Trends in Japanese Students
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The 2018 PanSIG Journal295

Appendix A
Student Survey
Please respond to the following statements about the lessons with television commercials.
1) The television commercials, activities, and discussions helped me think about myself in new ways (selfreflect).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree2) The television commercials, activities, and discussions gave me the opportunity to consider new
perspectives from other cultures (cultural viewpoints).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree

3) The television commercials, activities, and discussions gave me a chance to think about and discussproblems around the world (global issues).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree4) After the three lessons, I feel I’ve become a better Global Critical Thinker (GCT).
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
5. Strongly agree
1.
2.
3.
4.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal296

Appendix B
Videos and Activities
Activity
Role Play

Evaluate, Analyze,
Describe (E.A.D.)(Velasco, 2015)

Individual or Group
Presentations

MethodMaterials

After viewing the video,
students will be placed
into groups of two or
three, and develop oneof the following tasks:
1) Recreate one of thecoffee ads to reflect amore “modern” family.
2) Reenact one of thecommercials, switching
the genders.
3) Act out one of thecommercials as it ispresented, andafterwards discuss how
you felt during theperformance.

-Folgers commercial(accessed from
YouTube using acomputer and projector
or TV).

Participants are shown
the commercial twice.
Have the students justwatch the first viewing.
For the second viewing,
have them write
information for the three
categories. Students are
asked to first evaluate
how they feel about
what is happening; next,
analyze the situation—i.e., why it is happening;
and finally, describe thesituation in the video inthe simplest terms.
Afterwards, students caneither share theirfindings to the class,followed by a group
discussion, or the
students can write abrief journal/reflection
paper on what theywrote for the three
categories.

-Kool-Aid commercial(accessed from
YouTube using acomputer and projector
or TV).

After viewing the video,
students will be placed
into groups of three orfour, and prepare a 5minute presentation on
the commercial, issues
reflected in thecommercial (Was thecommercial racist, or
simply culturaldifferences/
misunderstandings?),
and what they learned
from the experience.

-Large sheets of paper

Video
Folgers Coffee(Folgers Coffee Sexist 60s Ads, 2011)(Note: This activity canbe applied to any chosen
video and theme.
Choose a selection ofvideos and theme thatbest suits your class!)-paper-writing instruments
Kool-Aid(Kool-Aid Kids in Japan 1960 commercial,
2013)(Note: This activity canbe applied to any chosen
video and theme.
However, the subject ofthe video is chosen
based on the possibilityof multiple
meanings/conclusions
that could be drawn
from what is occurring.
For example, students
can view the video fromvarious cultural, ethnicor racial perspectives.
-paper-writing instruments-thick markers (blackand a variety of othercolorsChinese Detergent(Racist Chinese Laundry Detergent Ad
Qiaobi (俏比) ad, 2016)-Optional: Oldmagazines ornewspapers students canuse for photographs,
images, graphs, etc.

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Realisations through Conversation Analysis (CA): Increasing awarenessof interactional dynamics in the discussion classroom
Richard John Walker
Reitaku University

James Michael Underwood
Reitaku University
This paper is about how Conversation Analysis (CA) helped us attain a deeper understanding ofinteractional dynamics in the classroom. We video recorded discussions of English language majors
and initially used CA to investigate student use of taught discourse strategies (TDS) when turn taking.
However, this investigation brought us an increasing awareness of two interactional phenomena we had
not consciously considered: gesturing and intersubjectivity. Our focus therefore is on excerpts ofclassroom talk that highlight their importance. We believe that a recognition of the communicative
potential of bodily gestures and an awareness of how intersubjective forces define the trajectory of a
discussion may lead to a revision of grading criteria. The context specificity of our excerpts and their
non-lexical focus may be of interest to ELT teachers: greater awareness of embodied communicationand of the psychological dynamics within groups will increase the mindfulness of teachers to contextual
contingencies that affect classroom performance. The experience of ‘doing’ CA has reminded us of theneed to grade holistically, to pay more attention to the formation of groups, and to recognise a need toanalyse patterns and sequences of both verbal and non-verbal communication in discussion groups.

この論文は、会話分析（CA）が教室での社会関係のダイナミクスについて、いかに私達の理解を深める助けになったかについて書かれています。私達は英語専攻の生徒達のディスカッションを録音し、CA を使用して、話者交替の際に生徒達が指導された会話戦略（TDS）をどのように使用しているか調査しました。 しかしながら、この調査は私達が認識していなかった 2 つの相互作用現象、「ジェスチ
ャー」および「主観性」について意識を高めました。この論文は、その重要性を浮き彫りにした教室での会話の抜粋を含みます。 私達は、（ジェスチャーによるコミュニケーション能力や主観的な力がいかに議論の軌跡を定義するか意識することについての）認識が、成績評価の修正につながる可能性があると考えています。 私たちの抜粋の文脈の特異性とそれらの非語彙的な焦点は ELT 教師の興味を引くかもしれません。少なくとも、身体的コミュニケーションとグループ内の心理的ダイナミクスに対する意
識が高まれば、教室のパフォーマンスに影響を与える文脈上の偶発事象に対して教師は順応しやすくなるでしょう。CA の「実施」の経験により、総合的に評価を付ける必要があること、グループの形成にもっと注意を払うこと、ならびに英語のディスカッショングループで相互作用のパターンと順序を示す
必要性を私たちは再認識しました。

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

298

1 CA

word searches) have become perceived as skills that areused when dealing with contingencies in interaction. We

Conversation Analysis (CA) is an approach to the study

noted how Burch (2014) described how a learner of aof interactional talk that is organised around action andsecond language worked toward interactional goals andsequence. Its methods allow us to “investigate thedeployedcommunicative and cultural constraints that shape

microanalyticallanguage as they intersect with the cognitive” (Clift,

multimodal communication strategies. His paper made2016:1). Although it evolved through a focus on casual

us interested in using CA to investigate our student’s

conversation, CA is now used to investigate task or

production of discourse strategies.

interactional
focus

competenceonparticipant

throughaactionandinstitution-centred interactions, and thus has relevanceto language teachers. Our classrooms are venues for

2 OUR PROBLEM

public displays of interaction where socially sharedcognition and learning are on display. The practice of

We

teach

discussion

skillstothird-year

Englishdetailed transcriptions of audio or video recordings used

Language majors at a Japanese university. The course

in CA help us observe what happens between minds inmaterials and textbook (Lo Dico et al, 2016), designed toorder to discover more about what is inside them (Clift,

promote discussion skills in English, focuses on six

2016: 1).

academic themes and nine TDS (shown in figure one).
We knew students were using the TDS but we realised
Since Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson’s (1974)

that other non-lexical factors had a strong influence onground-breaking paper, CA studies have focused on two

turn-taking and we wanted to know more. Some of ourareas: turn-taking dynamics, and the characteristics ofstudents acted in similar ways to Young’s (2015; 2018)speech and delivery. Both have obvious uses forwhose first-year Japanese students stayed oriented toteachers who seek clearer understandings of classroom

Japanese styles of floor management (discussed below),

performance. Yet perhaps surprisingly, CA was initiallyand we also realised that pragmatic issues were involved

disregarded by some SLA (second language acquisition)(e.g. see Williamson, 2019).

researchers who saw SLA as a predominantly cognitive

pragmatic issues would be partly-detectable throughprocess that takes place in the mind. However, after

bodily movement, in Spring 2018 we sought andFirth and Wagner (1997) called for SLA to re-direct its

obtained permission to record eight discussions. We

Believing that these

cognitive focus towards discourse and communication
there has been a wider acceptance that language

Figure 1: TDS

acquisition is a social process whereby learners acquirea language in interaction with speakers of the language.

TDS

There has also been a refining of classroom aims from

(Taught Discussion strategies)

communicative competence to interactional competence(see Young, R, 2011). SLA has evolved from a cognitive
focus to a sociocognitive one (Larsen-Freeman, 2018:

Leading a discussion
Giving an opinion

67), and CA is now mainstream enough for Discourse

Agreeing

Studies to publish criticisms of a key figure in CA

Disagreeing

research (John Heritage) for allegedly being too
cognitivist and not fundamental enough in his practice ofInterrupting

CA (e.g. see Lynch and Macbeth, 2016; Raymond,

Checking your own comprehension2018).

Checking others’ comprehension
CA informed studies now often focus oninteraction that highlights learner competencies overRephrasing
Reporting information

learner deficiencies (e.g. Mori and Hasegawa, 2009;
Burch, 2014). Phenomena once perceived as indicativeof deficient competencies (e.g. restarts, self-repair, andThe 2018 PanSIG Journal299

transcribedandanalysedthemtoincrease

ourunderstanding of turn-taking dynamics.

they displayed pauses between turns. An avoidance ofoverlapping talk is common to all languages but
overlapping is far more common in English thanJapanese (Stivers et al, 2009). The displaying of pauses

3 TURN-TAKING

is less common. Hauser (2009: 220) showed and

It is axiomatic that a turn is taken by one speaker. An
individual turn contains the main content of an utterance
and is built from turn-construction units (TCUs). The end

reported on studies where low-level Japanese students
made turn transitions with “precision-timing”. Yet there
are definite pragmatic-related difficulties concerningof a TCU is a point where a turn may end and a newinter-group relationships and face-sensitivity issues

speaker may begin, at a place termed a transition-

regarding content of talk that slows the process of turn-relevant place (TRP). Turns are allocated in two ways: ataking (Williamson, 2019). In addition, foreign language

current speaker (CS) can select a next speaker (NS), or

students may be silent or use lengthy pauses for aa NS can select his or herself (see figure two). These

multitude of other reasons. It is not necessarily down torules were outlined in Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson

an unwillingness to speak (Bernales, 2016: 10; Hauser,(1974). Turn-taking itself has a context-free organization

2018). Situational antecedents influence communication

but participants call upon “the thick particular of content

inand context” within each interactional moment (Lerner,

expectation and classroom organisation do too.

theclassroom(Zhangetal,2018);

teacher

2003: 196).

3.1 TURN-TAKING AND JAPANESESTUDENTS

4. RESEARCH QUESTION
The premise of the course textbook was that teaching

We learn how to turn-take with fluency by noting how
turns are completed. To do this we often have to focus
on syntax because the syntactic ordering of an utterance
can ‘project’ the forthcoming TRP.

TDS would lead to an improvement in student fluency. It
led to our exploratory research question: (Other than
TDS) What influences turn-taking?

Linguisticallyspeaking, there are definite difficulties in turn-taking forJapanese students. Firstly, in English, question words

5 METHOD

tend to appear at the beginning of an utterances andWe recorded eight classroom discussions of English

create strong projections of a TRP; in Japanese, theLiberal Arts students who were taking a once-weekly

flexible word order in a clause, and postpositionalcoursesentence structures prevent such a strong projection

Students were preparing for the end-of-semester test the(see Fox et al., 1996; Hayashi, 2003; Tanaka, 1999).

following week and had been informed that they would

Secondly, interactional units that determine the end of a

discuss topics from themes studied in the previous

turn (in all languages) can be syntactic, intonational, ormonth. They had been told to review vocabulary,

pragmatic (Ford and Thompson, 1996). Thirdly, as

readings, and TDS’s from the course text. They could

Williamson (2019) notes, there are issues related to

not prepare a script and were not informed of the exact

pragmatics,

andtopic before class. After viewing the discussions, wepoliteness, that affects who will be expected to take atranscribed the talks and discussed areas of interest. It

turn. If there is an effect of mother tongue turn-taking on

was clear that TDS were used, but we noticed otherforeign language learners, we may expect the effect tophenomena which impacted turns. They are discussed

be strongest on lower-level students; it is therefore

below

understandable that first-year university students remaintranscriptions for the four excerpts are found in theoriented to a Japanese style of floor management evenappendix where bodily gestures are put in parentheses.)

notablyinrelationtohierarchy

calledinSpeaking

Gesturesandfor

Academic

Intersubjectivity.

Purposes.

(Longer

after explicit instruction and awareness raising on turntaking (see Young, 2018: 12).

6 GESTURES
Young reported that his students did not

Recent years have seen an increase of CA studies that

produce simultaneous or overlapping speech and thatinvestigate how “visual orientation, gesture, and other

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

300

kinds of bodily comportment” inform the production of a

students used gaze and gesture to great effect. Two

turn-at-talk (Heath and Luff, 2013: 283). In class time,

examples will follow.

we can’t pay too much attention to such actions but after
In excerpt one (a), all participants are female.

viewing the discussions we were struck by how ourStudent B uses gesture to maintain the floor and,ultimately, to recall a word. All were in the lowest level
Excerpt 1 (a)class and requested to use notes for assistance. ‘A’

1. A. Let’s begin. Eehh,
2. (A looks at B and quickly at C. All smileand look at handout.)
3. A. Lesbeginwith (.) what does job
satis+facation (0.2) mean (1)4. = (All look at their paper; A raises headon ‘mean’)
5. = (A looks quickly at B)
6. A. What do you think (B)?
7. (A puts head down after question; looks
directly at B) (1.5)

opens the excerpt by gazing and then requesting B toanswerherquestion

about

the

meaningofjob

satisfaction (line 1 to 7).
It takes a long time (lines 8 to 36) for B tosupply her answer (that a good workplace should not be
not far). She has trouble completing her sentence andturn, but her continual use of (often rhythmical) gestures
while speaking ensured that other participants did notchallenge her.

Unusually, there is a six second gap

between ‘for me to’ in line 29 and the completion of her
Excerpt 1 (b)8. B. I think (.) eeeehhh (0.5) {sniff} (.)
ehh.(1)=
10. = goodt (1)13 good place (.) soooo (.) <goodplace>(.) and
14 ah (.) I think (0.2s)
17 B. ihmp (.) ah! (.)
18 C=tsh(h) hhhh.(h)19 A= tsyaheeheejee
20 B = the besst pointo (0.5)=
21 = <workplace>. (0.5)
22 Sooo I thinkuh (.)
27 it (.) uh itis good (0.5)
28= (moves hands in circular motion)29= (moves hands away again)
29 for meee touu (6)30= (separates both hands again)
31= (extends right hand away from left
hand eight times;32= (then moves left hand in rolling
motion in direction of C)
33 not far
34(B nods three times quickly foragreement while looking at A, who nods)
35(A nods several times to receive
her answer)
36 Do you know what I mean?

utterance ‘not far’ in line 33. During this time, she makes
use

of

hand

and

arm

gestures

to

prime

this

communication. A and C smile and maintain eye contact
while awaiting her to complete her turn. It appears in line
33 to which B self-selects and adds the TDS, “Do you
know what I mean?”
together toensure

The three members worked
Bcompleted

her turn. Aftercompletion, she receipted a confirmatory nod from A thather question was answered. B had used gestures tokeep the floor, recall a word, and complete a turn. As
teachers, what can we learn from this? One thing is that
we could encourage lower-level students to use bodylanguage to assist recall. It would, however, bepreferable for us to teach or remind students of suitablephrases (e.g. Let me think or What do I mean?).

The 2018 PanSIG Journal301

In excerpt two, all four participants are male. A
and B have just returned from a six-month study in the
US; C is a high-level student who has only studied inJapan; D is similar to B in excerpt one in having difficultyin completing sentences. Excerpt 2a shows that B and D
answered A’s question; excerpt 2b shows an example ofinterruption without a TDS.
‘A’ opens the talk in and asks what factors
students consider when choosing a part-time job.
Although B and D answer, C plays no part in 2a(although he communicates through gestures - seeappendix). Later in 2b, we see C interrupted whenattempting an answer. This disrupts turn-taking norms. C
begins his turn at line 91 in excerpt 2b. He starts to
speak but is interrupted by ‘A’ in line 93 (and uses a TDS– ‘as for me’ – after using a hand gesture in line 94). Ainterrupts and prevents C from taking his turn. Prior to
the interruption, A gazes at all participants. Thisaffirmative move, we surmise, is probably due to his
experience using English in the US, and a desire to
speed-up discussion in the group.
Excerpt one and two show how gesture plays
important roles for both low- and high-level students. In
addition, excerpt one showed how participants help each
other

to

reach

intersubjective

understanding(andcomplete a turn).

7 INTERSUBJECTIVITY
Intersubjectivity is a systematic consequence of turntaking that obliges its participants to display their(shared) understanding of other turns’ talk (Sacks,
Schegeloff, and Jefferson, 1978). It synthesises anumber of different components, each of which may bepresent to a greater or lesser extent during a single
interaction (Stevanovic and Koski, 2018:40). As Harding
and McNamara (2017) note, to have communicativecompetence today is to be able to interact with people atdifferent proficiency levels. We see one student show

Excerpt 3
1 A Let’s begin (laugh)
5 = uh what is population aging (.) and oh
6 = what oh (.) are its causes (smile)
7 (T is moving papers; C points to B; B looks at
A)
Excerpt
2 (a)8 (B smiles and laughs; no verbal response)
pointsself begin
and B withnods)the ah discussion
19 A.(Aokay
sotolet's
10.
Inmy
opinionuh(DOWN)
11
what factors do uh university students ah
11 (A moves hair back at ‘uh’)
uhconsiduh
12 ==whenpopulation
iz increasing
14
they aging
choosing(.) uh part time job?
13
(A
pusheshand
down
on ‘increasing’)
22 – 56 (D answers the question)
14- 89= elderly
people58(B answers
the question) …
15
B
I
agree
(looksat isA)uh an important to(89) B. Learning skill
16
C
=
the
numberofchoose (.) in uh part-timeelderly
job people
17 A Mmmm yes. (2)Excerpt 2 (b)89
B Learning
skill is uh an important to
Excerpt
4achoose (.) in uh part-time job
90
(Ayou
nods
at ‘toJapanchoose’and babies?
moves back; B
6 T Do
think
needs
looks
around;12 Why?
(1) C looks at D)
91.
Exactly=
13 CCTo(.) develop (.) our country.
92
opens
mouth
to speak)
15 T I(Cthink
yourcountry
is already developed.
93. A = Uh94
(A raises
hand up vertically to D)
Excerpt4b
95 = as for me ah96= university
students
c… and looks at T)
19 C= But (moves
body back
20 A = uh
21 C = its not enough (.)
22 A =younger people pay (0.5) nenkin
23 (A moves hands around and looks at C)
24 C uh nandake (.)
25 (C hunches his body and puts hand to head)
26 C = income ta=
27 A= uh
28 CW= (whisper) pension
29 A = money ah for (looks at camera woman)
30 A eh?
31 CW =(whisper) ‘pension’
32 A mention mention
33 =T hehehehehe
33 = CW (whisper) pension pension (in tune with‘A’)
34 T Thank you camerawoman!
35 A aha ha ha(.) pension! (said with hand
gesture)such interactional competence in excerpt 3. It is thesame student C who was interrupted in excerpt 2b. In

A to continue but focuses on the talk. B responds bythis excerpt he talks with two female co-participants. He

using a TDS (‘I agree’) in line 15, but in the next line C

chooses to assist rather than to interrupt.

recasts A’s response (in line 16) to her own question. ‘A’acknowledges but does not uptake this cast in line 17

Student A begins by asking B and C about thecauses of population aging. ‘A’ smiles at B, who gestures(possibly as it is not part of an adjacency pair to herquestion). By doing this he does not unduly impose

but chooses not to say anything. C sits back and allows

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

302

himself on other speakers, but this deference was

In excerpt 4a, the teacher asks why Japan

unrecognised before we reviewed the recordings.

might need more babies.

C answers that they are

However, now we read it as behaviour of a student

needed to ‘develop’ the country. T replies that Japan isaware of the group’s intersubjective needs. It could be

already developed to which C retorts that the present

inferred that C is hiding behind the perceived norms ofdevelopment is not enough. ‘A’ comes in at a TRP and

TRPs to display cynicism towards the situation, but weuses the Japanese word for pensions, something whichnote that when A and B speak he offers smiles andC tries to recast and translate. However, the CW thenencouragement.

When viewing the whole discussion,interrupts with a correctly-translated (and whispered)and seeing C’s performance in other discussions, it

recast (“pension”), which she repeats on lines 28, 31 and33. ‘A’ humorously mishears her recast and says

Excerpt 4c
37 T So if there are fewer babies and fewer
children
38 T it means you pay a /higher/ (.)rate of tax
for /older/ peoples pensions.yeah slh h.
(all nod; T moves back)39 T I see (0.5) I see I see I see (1)…(looks at all,fixes on C) (0.5)
40 C how about um Finland (.) system (looks atall; hands open)
41 C they
42 T = (quiet) good
43 C they have a really good system tochildcare.
44 C the /price cost/ of school is not is free you
know (looks at A and B)
45 C so (.) but this is difficult to (.) do in Japan
46 C I think our taxes or something (inaudible)
47 C (0.5) this is my (.) idea

‘mention’ twice. As a student, CW demonstrates
attentive recipiency but in attempting a recast she
speaks ‘out of turn’ (Bolden, 2018: 142) in her role as acamerawoman.
In lines 37 to 39 of excerpt 3c the teacher
provides a summary. C takes the floor at a TRP that
opened up after T repeatedly using the phrase ‘I see’ tocreate room for another to enter the talk. C self-selected
and showed ability to repair and redirect the discussion.
He also added something unexpected: the talk hadcovered talk of taxes and pensions as covered in class,but, coincidentally or not, C then referred to something
new: the Finnish social security system. Possibly hewould not have offered this without the breaking-up of
floor management norms. He may have consideredintersubjective needs and played it safe.

appears that his behaviour reflects procedural display.
Procedural display occurs when people work together to

8 CONCLUSION

interact and follow procedures to accomplish a cultural

We initially considered ‘C’ to be disinterested in groupevent (Bloome, Puro, and Theodorou, 1989: 272). C

participation but the process of doing CA gave us a very

realises that A and B need to use floor time for their own

different perspective. In conclusion, firstly, we realise

and the watching teacher’s benefit. He holds back for thethat we might not have been paying enough attention tobenefit of all.

non-lexical interactional dynamics. This may be because

Student C is also involved in excerpt 4. The
four other participants are the (T)eacher, students A, B,
C, and CW (a student camerawoman). There are twomatters of interest: firstly, it shows how teacher
interruption breaks standard floor management for good
ends, and secondly, it shows a participant (CW) to speak‘out of turn’ (Bolden, 2018) when recasting A’s utterance.
As Young noted (2015), interruption does not often occur
in some Japanese English language discussions, buthere we see it from a teacher and a student. It leads to a
TRP where ‘C’ offers a highly relevant and unexpected
topic into the talk.

we were focusing on TDS and expected turn-taking
patterns. Secondly, we know that some students may
use gesture to aide word retrieval. Thirdly, we saw how a
student used gesture to interrupt another’s turn (prior tousing a TDS). Fourthly, we infer that many students who
appear reticent and unwilling to speak might beconstrained by intersubjective considerations that could
be understood upon video analysis. Fifthly, we contend
that there may be occasions when teachers shouldinterrupt during student discussions – a) as an exemplar,and b) to see who will initiate repair and take the floor.
Although we were aware of these points, the process of
doing

CA

has

deepenedourunderstanding

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

of

303

interactional phenomena and has made us reconsider

Hayashi, M. (2003) Joint Utterance Construction in

how we group students. We hope other teachers will findJapanese

these realisations helpful in developing their own

Benjamins.

Conversation.

Amsterdam:Johnknowledge and understanding of classroom discussions.
Hauser, E. (2009). Turn-taking and primary speakershipduring a student discussion. Talk-in-interaction:

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Reader’s

Forum,

The

CompetenceinLanguage Teacher 42.3. pp 9-11.
Young,

R.

Language(2011).

Interactional

Learning,

Teaching,andTesting.

Handbook of research in second language teaching
and learning. 2. 426-443.
Zhang, J., Beckmann, N., & Beckmann, J. F. (2018). To

1. A. Let’s begin. Eehh,
2(A looks at B opposite
her and quickly at C. All smile and look at
handout.)
3. A. Lesbeginwith (.) what does job
satis+facation (0.2) mean (UP) (1)4.
= (Alllook at their paper.)= (raises headon ‘mean’)4.
= (All look at their paper.)= (raises head on ‘mean’)5. A. = (A looks quickly at B)
6. A. What do you think (B)? (A puts head down
after question)
7.
=(A looks directly at B) (1.5)
8. B. I think (.) eeeehhh (0.5) {sniff} (.) ehh.(1)=9.
(puts hand on
nose; looks up in direction of C)
10. = goodt (1)11(raises left hand to head; pushes hairback)
12
(A and C look at her; A moves back inchair)
13 good place (.) sooo (DOWN) (.)<goodplace> (.) and
14 ah UP .)(I think (0.2s)
15=(places right hand in left and poundspalm)
16= (C and A smile at her)
17 B. ihmp (.) ah! (.)
18 C=tsh(h) hhhh.(h)19 A= tsyaheeheejee
20 B = the besst pointo (0.5)=
21 = <workplace>. (0.5)
22 Sooo I thinkuh (.)
23= B places right hand in left
palm three times
24
B moves both hands awayfrom each other26
A is looking at her; C at her
paper
27 it (.) uh itis good (0.5)
28= (moves hands in circular motion)29= (moves hands away again)
29 for meee touu (6)30= (separates both hands again)

talk or not to talk: A review of situational antecedents

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31
= (extends right hand away from left
hand eight times;32= (then moves left hand in rolling motion
in direction of C)
33 not far
34(B nods three times quickly foragreement while looking at A, who nods)
35(A nods several times to receive heranswer)34
Do you know what I mean?
35(looks with a fixed smile at A
and then to C)
36 A Yesss (nods and moves back;B looks at
C; C moves forward)
37
What do you think C? ((gesture; gaze))
Excerpt 2
1 A. Okay so let's begin with the ahdiscussion.
2(A gestures with both hands pushingdone
3( …. then pulls at his cardigan withboth hands twice rhythmically while talking)4( B looks at d who has a pained
expression; C nods)
5(C touches nose at ‘begin’; A pulls at
nose when saying ‘discussion’
6 = first we’ll do tha works and priorities.
7(A touches table and then puts hands
under table after ‘works’8(B looks at camera in corner of eye)9an ah first question is uh
10(All look at A; A smiles while asking
question)
11 what factors do uh university students
ah uhconsiduh
12( A moves shoulder on ‘factors’)13( C nods on ‘students’)
14 =when they choosing (DOWN) (.) aparttime job?
15(A nods after ‘apart time job, so does
D in alignment)
16(A puts head down and then leanschair back away from the table)
17(C looks at A and points to self) andove statement)
18 What do you think D?
19(A points in a throwing gesture to D
when asking and then covers face)20(A points to nose and then pushes
hand over lips … then smiles)
21(B looks at C and D looks ahead
before looking outside group)
22 D. So I think so (down)
23(D looks up and then down)
24
about uh25
(C joins hands together on ‘about’ thenmoves both outwards)
26
wage is high or not.
27
(C does same as in 25 on ‘wage’; A
nods to him)
28
=also
29
(C looks up and moves head in circularmotion; blinks three times
30
=erm
31
=working contents
32(C does same gesture as in 25 and 27
on ‘contents’; looks upwards)
33= what he is34(C does same gesture at ‘what’)35
he or not36
= he or she
37(C points to self with both hands)
38
wants to39
= work. (END OF UNIT)
40(.) Looks to A and makes disjointed
gesture with arms
41
Wants to work (.)
42= (A looks upward)
43
things.
44
and uh45(C looks up, blinks, and points to self) (2)46we (.)
47(C points to self and then shakes head)48= they49(C puts hands together; puts eyes
skyward)50= commit51(C looks at A who has a fixed gaze)52= they can commit (.) or not
53(C has hands clasped)54
to near (.) by55
nearby (2.5)
56(nods head to A who is fixed in his gaze;nods some more)
57(A nods head twice and then turns to B ()TRP
58 B so59(releases hands at ‘So’; continues to lookdirectly at C)
60
ayou you mean61
you need you see the62(B pushes hand toward C at ‘see’)63= when you choose the job (DOWN)
64 parrrt time job you see the wage
65 ah just wageor
66 or (.) you can learn
67 (B looks upward; A looks away from group)
68 learn language skills for eh
69 = for example I'm working in the
McDonald's
70 (B points to self at ‘I’m’)
71 = and I can learn the (.) uh

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72 leadership
73 (B has hands together bur releases at‘leadership’; projects body forward)
74 (C pushes head forward to listen moreclearly)
75 uh an how to teach76 (B pushes left hand towards C at ‘teach’)
77 and to uh I call the we call the78 (B makes gestures with right hand)
79 Japanese say kouhai
80 (B makes same gesture at ‘kouhai’)81 = and we weteach
82 = and (.) I can learn the (.) teaching skill
83 = and I can learn the (.) uh society skills
84 = so I mean uh ah you you saw (.)
85 = I know the wage
86 = and I see
87 (D mutters to self at ‘see()88 = I need the how to (learning) skill
89 Learning skill is uh an important tochoose (.) in uh part-time job
90 (A nods at ‘to choose’ and moves back;(B looks around;(C looks at D)
91. D Exactly=
92 (D opens mouth, but)
93. A = uh,
94 (A looks at all and raises hand vertically toD)
95 as for me ah
96 = university students (DOWN(
97 = will consider about the
98 = what time (.) what time the part time job
maybe starts
99 = and what time tha what time the parttime job will be ends

Excerpt 3
1 A Let’s begin (laugh)
2(All smile to each other)3(A looks at B; C on other side isdistant but smiling)
4 = with fir topic (.) topic (.) population aging
5 = uh what is population aging (.) and oh
6 = what oh (.) are its causes
7 (T is moving papers; C points to B; B looks at
A)
8 (B smiles and laughs; no verbal response)
9 (A points to self and B nods)
10. In my opinion uh (DOWN)
11 (A moves hair back at ‘uh’)
12 = population aging iz increasing
13 (A pushes hand down on ‘increasing(
14 = elderly people
15 B I agree (looks at A)

16 C = the number of elderly people
17 A Mmmm yes. (2)18 B I agree (quiet)
19 A = and it causes (.) it causes by (.) uh (2)20= people getto (2)21(B puts head down then up)
22(C mutters something inaudible then
adds:
23 C
marriage late
24
(A looks at C when he utters ‘marriage’
25 A= get marriage late26
(B nods in tune with ‘marriage’ and ‘late’)27 B = whoaoh I see
28 C= I see I see
29 B = I see I see
30 A How about you?
31 (A gestures in a circular motion to B; C
looks away momentarily)
32 B I think (looks down)
33 = eh its cost is
34 (C smiles and looks at her)
35 = to deku decline (.) in [birthday rate]
36 (B looks at C then A then to C)
37 How about you? (gestures to C)
38 C uuuh as for me
39 = there is
40 (Hand gesture on each word: ‘so many
attractive things’)
41 so many attractive things
42 around us
43 like uh game or sports …
Excerpt 4
A teacher, student A, B and C.
The teacher has summarised student opinion
on population decline
1 T But maybe Japan need babies
2 C = Yesss
3A== (nods head)
4 T Or does Japan needs babies?>
5 (T gestures to all with hand)
6 T Do you think Japan needs babies?
7 (A and C look at each other; B smiles)
8 = A Yess
9 = C Yess [together] (nods)
10 T Do you think so?
11 (T looks at all; A looks at C)
12 Why? (1)13 C To (.) develop (.) our country
14 (C looks at T and holds hands together)
15 T (moves back before speaking)16 I think your country is alreadydeveloped
17 (C smiles then A does too on ‘developed’)
18 and beautiful an’ everything
19 C = But (moves body back and looks at T)

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20 A = uh
21 C = its not enough (.)
22 A =younger people pay (0.5) nenkin
23 (A moves hands around and looks at C)
24 C uh nandake (.)
25 (C hunches his body and puts hand to head)
26 C = income ta=
27 A= uh
28 CW= (whisper) pension
29 A = money ah for (looks at camera woman)
30 A eh?
31 CW =(whisper) ‘pension’
32 A mention mention
33 =T hehehehehe
33 = CW (whisper) pension pension (in tune
with ‘A’)
34 T thank you camerawoman!
35 A aha ha ha(.) pension! (said with hand
gesture)36 T pension yes yes (.) /yes/ (slow down) (.)
37 T So if there are fewer babies and fewer
children

38 T it means you pay a /higher/ (.)rate of tax
for /older/ peoples pensions.yeah slh h.
(all nod; T moves back)39 T I see (0.5) I see I see I see (1)…(looks at all,fixes on C) (0.5)
40 C how about um Finland (.) system (looks
at all; hands open)
41 C they
42 T = (quiet) good
43 C they have a really good system tochildcare
44 C the /price cost/ of school is not is free
you know (looks at A and B)
45 C so (.) but this is difficult to (.) do inJapan
46 C I think our taxes or something (inaudible)
47 C (0.5) this is my (.) idea

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JALT Special Interest Groups & the PanSIG Conference
Extensive Reading SIG (ER)The ER SIG exists to help promote extensive reading (ER) in Japan. Through our website, our newsletter, the ERJ
Journal, and presentations throughout Japan we aim to help teachers set up and make the most of their ER
programmes.
Framework and Language Portfolio SIG (FLP)
FLP SIG wants to discuss the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and European Language
Portfolio (ELP), and other similar frameworks and their relevance for Japan. There is an emphasis on developing
materials to support educators who would like to use these pedagogic tools. This is currently practically pursued ina Kaken Project. Also, the bilingual Language Portfolio aimed at Japanese universities is available on the SIG
moodle.
Gender Awareness in Language Education SIG (GALE)
The purpose of the GALE SIG is to research gender and its implications for language learning, teaching, andtraining. We welcome submissions for our newsletter (spring, summer, and fall issues) on topics, both theoreticaland practical, related to the SIG’s aims. Book reviews, lesson plans, think pieces, poetry -- basically anything
related to gender and language teaching is welcomed.
Global Issues in Language Education SIG (GILE)
GILE aims to promote global awareness, international understanding, and action to solve world problems throughcontent-based language teaching, drawing from fields such as global education, peace education, environmental
education, and human rights education. GILE SIG produces a quarterly newsletter, organizes presentations for
local, national, and international conferences, and maintains contacts with groups ranging from Amnesty
International to Educators for Social Responsibility to UNESCO.
Japanese as a Second Language SIG (JSL)
日本語教育研究部会(JSL SIG)の役割は、第二言語としての日本語指導、日本語学習、 日本語 教育研究の向上を目指し、指導、学習、研究のための資料や情報を与えることで す。日本語の指 導者、学習者、研究者の皆様加入大歓迎です。発表の援助をし、ニュー スレターと論文集を発行 するので論文・記事の寄稿を歓迎します。 The
mission of the JSL SIG is to serve as a resource for promoting JSL teaching, learning and research. We welcome
JSL teachers, learners, and researchers to join and take an active role in our SIG. We sponsor presentations, andpublish a newsletter and a journal.
Learner Development SIG (LD)The LD SIG is a lively energetic group sharing an interest in ways to promote learner (and teacher!) development
and autonomy. LD SIG は、多様な教育現場(大学以外)でご活躍の皆さんの参加を歓迎しています。 小 学校、中学校、高校、通信教育、大学院、語学学校での指導や、英語以外の言語を教え ている教師の皆様、 どうぞご参加く
ださい。
The 2017 PanSIG Journal
Lifelong Language Learning SIG (LLL) We offer a bright future to our aging society. The energy of older learners
who wish to lead active lives is flowing all over Japan. LLL is willing to help these older learners enrich their lives
through language learning. LLL also provides resources and information for teachers who teach English to older
learners by holding events and publishing online newsletters.
Literature in Language Teaching SIG (LiLT)
LiLT started up to encourage and promote the use of literature in the language classroom. Literature provides realcontent to engage and to motivate our EFL students.
Materials Writers SIG (MW)The MW SIG was established to help members turn fresh teaching ideas into useful classroom materials. We try to
be a mutual assistance network, offering information regarding copyright law, sharing practical advice on
publishing practices, including self-publication, and suggesting ways to create better language learning materials
for general consumption or for individual classroom use.
Mind, Brain, and Education SIG
The Mind, Brain, and Education SIG is a forum for language educators and researchers to share insights inneuroscience. We hope to be a driving force in bringing relevant new discoveries in psychology, cognitive
neuroscience and neurolinguistics into language teaching in Japan.

The 2018 PanSIG JournalOther Language Educators SIG (OLE)
The OLE SIG was founded in 1996 in order to serve the special needs of learners and teachers of a wide variety oflanguages (German, French, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Russian etc.). OLE can also be considered part ofpeace education as languages are also thought to be instrumental in developing cultural empathy, opening up our
minds to other concepts and ideas, and enabling us to reflect on our own.
Pragmatics SIG (PRAG)
The Pragmatics SIG welcomes members who are interested in both research and practical teaching issues related
to “how people do things with words.” The group’s newsletter, Pragmatic Matters, is published electronically threetimes a year. Our Pragmatics Resources series offers practical and theoretical articles on language in use. If you
do anything with language, you are using pragmatics.
School Owners SIG (SO)Language School owners have always played a significant role in JALT both at national & local levels. The SIG
functions as a private online forum where owners can share ideas, experiences & solutions to the academic andcommercial challenges they face which cannot be addressed through other SIGs such as: recruitment & training;taxes, accounting, banking and bookkeeping; marketing & advertising; and partnerships & trade between owners.
Speech, Drama, & Debate SIG (SD&D)
The mission of the SD&D SIG is to provide a forum for teachers and academics to discuss, research, andimplement oral interpretation, speech, debate, and drama in language education. The main activities are creationof newsletters, two journals, and sponsoring a Speech, Drama, and Debate conference. Future activities may besponsoring and supporting local and regional speech, drama, and debate contests or festivals.
Study Abroad SIG (SA)The JALT Study Abroad SIG was established in 2008 to promote research on overseas study and facilitate
networking among those interesting in learning more about study abroad.
Task-Based Learning SIG (TBL)
The TBL SIG is aimed at teachers who currently use, or are interested in using, task-based approaches in theclassroom. TBL SIG focuses in particular on issues related to Task-based Language teaching and learning in the
Asian EFL context, where TBLT has yet to enter the mainstream of language pedagogy. We hope that the SIG willserve as a useful forum for the exchange of practical teaching ideas, theoretical discussion, and academic studies
of TBLT issues.
Teacher Development SIG (TD)The TD SIG is a network for those who want to help themselves and others become better teachers. Our activities
include retreats, mini-conferences, social and networking events, and forums & presentations. TD’s
comprehensive newsletter, Explorations in Teacher Education, welcomes stimulating articles!
Teachers Helping Teachers SIG (THT)
THT is a grassroots organization founded by members of the Himeji Chapter of JALT in 2004, out of the efforts of
the late Bill Balsamo, longtime president of the Himeji chapter. THT is dedicated to the aid and assistance of fellow
educators and students in and around Asia. We fulfill this mission by providing teacher- training workshops in
Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, and Vietnam that exhibit practical, student and teacher-friendly approaches tolanguage education that are informed by current research in the field.
Teaching Younger Learners SIG (TYL)
The TYL SIG is for teachers of children of all ages. We publish a bilingual newsletter four times a year withcolumns by many of the leading teachers in the field. We are always looking for new ideas and new people to keep
the SIG dynamic. With our bilingual newsletter, The School House, we particularly want to appeal to Japaneseteachers and teachers who team teach.
Testing and Evaluation SIG (TEVAL)TEVAL SIG aims to provide avenues for research, information, and discussion related to foreign language testingand evaluation both from within JALT membership and with other professional organizations which have common
interests and goals. Current and back issues of Shiken, the TEVAL SIG publication, are available on the TEVAL
website.
Vocabulary SIG (VOCAB)
The VOCAB SIG aims to provide a forum for focused research and discussion in specific regard to vocabularyacquisition. We aim to offer both teachers and researchers a place to connect regarding how learners improvevocabulary knowledge, how to test their knowledge, and how these theoretical aspects will connect to classroom
practice. The VOCAB SIG aims to be a driving force for both current and future research in the field of how
vocabulary can be taught, learned, and tested in an increasingly global context.

The 2018 PanSIG Journal

PanSIG Journal 2018
ISBN# 978-4-901352-58-1
Debopriyo Roy – Editor-in-Chief
John Blake – Associate Editor

PanSIG Journal 2018
Selected articles from the 2018 PanSIG Conference
JALT Central OfficeUrban Edge Bldg. 5F, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016, Japan
http://jalt.org/
http://www.pansig.org/
The 2018 PanSIG Journal

PanSIG Journal 2018

ISBN# 978-4-901352-57-4
Created and Edited by Debopriyo Roy and John BlakePanSIG is a yearly conference held by the Special Interest
Groups in the Japan Association of Language Teachers.