The 2012 Pan-SIG Proceedings
Literacy: SIGnals of Emergence

The 11th Annual JALT Pan-SIG Conference
June 16-17, 2012 - Hiroshima, Japan

Edited & Published by JALT Pan-SIG
Proceedings Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Robert Chartrand
Kurume University

Editors
Sam Crofts (Meijo University)
Gavin Brooks (Kwansei Gakuin University)
Layout and Design by

Gavin Brooks

Message from the editors:
The 11th Annual Pan-SIG Conference was held at Hiroshima University on June 16
and 17, 2012. The theme of the conference was, Literacy: SIGnals of Emergence, and was acollaborative effort from 22 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) within JALT (Japan Association
for Language Teaching). The conference was highly successful as more than 200 participants
attended over 130 presentations with a variety of topics and interests from a wide spectrum inthe field language teaching.

The 2012 Pan-SIG Proceedings is a representative effort from the conference in Hiroshima
as 30 papers were accepted for publication in this year’s volume. The quantity and quality ofpresentations and published papers from the conference is increasing year by year and shows
the professional determination of talented individuals who shared their thoughts and insightsof teaching languages. We are honored and proud to have been a part of this process.

We would like to thank all of the contributors for submitting their papers for this publication.
We are also very grateful for the readers of the papers who suggested changes to the authors andcontributed to the high quality of this volume. The success of these proceedings is a cumulative
effort from a large number of individuals. We hope that you will enjoy reading the papers inthese proceedings and that you can gain some insight for your professional development.

Robert Chartrand
Sam Crofts
Gavin Brooks
February 10th, 2013

ii

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Message from the Conference Chair:
These proceedings are a microcosm of the diverse topics which were covered during the2012 Pan-SIG Conference held at Hiroshima University in mid-June. Readers will find a vastarray of interesting and informative articles in these pages on different aspects of language
education and teaching methodology. When I look at the table of contents, I can see that
there are many articles relevant to my teaching and research interests; I know that readers will
discover the same.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Keiso Tatsukawa at Hiroshima University
for allowing us to use their facilities and make this conference happen. We could not havedone it without his support and generosity. Although the venue was not near a major train
station or airport, we were fortunate to have over 200 delegates make their way to attend fromall over Japan.

I would also like to thank Dr. Robert Chartrand for stepping in as chief editor of theproceedings. He has done a tremendous job of assembling submissions from the conference
presenters and coordinating the work done by the members of the editorial advisory board.
As a result of this hard work I am sure that you will find some new and fresh perspectives onliteracy in language education.

Naomi Fujishima
2012 Pan-SIG Conference Chair

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingsiii

The 2012 Pan-SIG Proceedings
Editorial Advisory Board

Mark Brierly

Thomas Lockley

Shinshu University

Kanda University of International Studies

Brian Cullen

Margaret Orleans

Nagoya Institute of Technology

Seinan Jo Gakuin University

Doreen Ewert

Michael Parrish

University of San Francisco

Kwansei Gakuin University

William GreenRyan Richardson

Sapporo University

Kansai University

Michael Iwane-Salovaara

Judith Runnels

Momoyama Gakuin University

Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s University

Barry Kavanagh

Joe Sykes

Tohoku University

Akita International University

Megumi Kawate-Mierzejewska

James Venema

Temple University, Japan Campus

Nagoya Women’s University

David Kluge
Nanzan Universityiv

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

ISBN 978-4-901352-40-6
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings
Literacy: SIGnals of Emergence
Hiroshima, Japan

JALT Central OfficeUrban Edge Bldg 5F, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016, Japan

http://jalt.org/

http://www.pansig.org/
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingsv

Table of Contents
Which Reading Tasks Help Non-English Majors Understand Academic English Readings?
Mutahar Al-Murtadha

1

Japanese University Students’ Awareness of Hedging Devices in Academic Writing
John Bankier

13

The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Online Self-Placement TestMark Brierley, Richard Lemmer, & Kosuke Adachi

22

Understanding and Improving the Design of Academic Listening Classes
Gavin Brooks

31

Towards a Pedagogy of Conversation
John Campbell-Larsen

37

Face-to-face Communication and Instant Messaging: Similarities and Differences
Seth E. Cervantes & Robert C. Olson

43

Spirited Singles: Re-reading Femininity in Anne of Green Gables

49

Kristie Collins
Podcasting for Your Students: Why and How?
Samuel James Crofts

55

Metaprograms for Literacy Development and Critical Thinking
Brian Cullen, Avril Matsui-Haye, & Sarah Mulvey

61

Academic Science Texts and Popular Science Texts: Differences and Similarities
Stuart Cunningham & Paul Leeming

68

Working Together: Using Tasks to Teach Reading and Writing
Loran Anna-Marie Edwards

73

Model United Nations in the ESOL Classroom
Tom Fast

79

From Praise to Critique in Offering Peer Feedback on Writing
Mayumi Fujioka

86

Using Texts in the University Classroom: Japanese Teachers’ Practices
William Green92

Teaching Sociolinguistic and Cross-Cultural Literacy Effectively
John Herbert

97

Development Beyond the Classroom
George Higginbotham, Monika Szirmai, Ken Ikeda, Nathan Ducker, Masashi Nakamura, Bill
Mboutsiadis & Mathew Porter

102

Design and Practical Applications of University Courses Employing Extensive Reading
Glen A. Hill

111

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The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Correlations Between BULATS Speaking/Writing and TOEIC® Scores
Michihiro Hirai

118

Putting Communicative Literacy Into Conversation
Michael Iwane-Salovaara

126

Benefits of Drama Techniques for Literacy Development in EFL
Aya Kawakami

133

Oral Interpretation in the Language Classroom: Dramatic Activities for Non-Dramatic People
David E. Kluge

140

Japanese L1 Transfer in Refusals in English
Kimiko Koseki

148

Read all About it! Studying can be a Social ActivityJoël Laurier, Ethan Taomae, Machiko Asakawa, Ayako Kanamaru & Chie Shiramizu

155

Better Reading Through a Better Understanding of Punctuation
Margaret Orleans

162

Developing Professional Literacy to Enhance Career Fluency
Michael Parrish, Richard Miller, Zane Ritchie & Ryan Richardson

166

Using Rasch Analysis to Evaluate an Achievement Test
Judith Runnels

175

Communicative Competence for Listening Comprehension
Yukie Saito

181

The Challenge of English Sentence Subjects (Shugo) to Japanese Learners
Nobuko Trent

187

Fables and Fairytales: An Overlooked Classroom Resource?
James Venema

196

Increasing Opportunities to Critique Content in the Media
Richard John Walker & Neil Matthew Addison

202

All materials in this publication are copyright © (2013) by JALT and their respective authors.
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingsvii

viii The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Which Reading Tasks Help Non-English Majors
Understand Academic English Readings?
Mutahar Al-Murtadha
Kanazawa Institute of Technology
murtadha77@yahoo.com
Research on second language learning has emphasized the role of the learner in the learning/teaching processes (Allwright, 1984; Bada & Okan, 2000; Block, 1994, 1996; Brown, 2001;
Noora, 2008; Nunan, 1988; Rifkin, 2000; Wright, 1990).This study investigates the mosteffective activities (PowerPoint presentations, content-based conversations, vocabulary andcomprehension worksheets, textbook exercises, listening exercises, group work, pair work, or
portfolios) that help non-English majors understand academic readings, based on what students
themselves think. These activities were used to teach 320 engineering students at Kanazawa
Institute of Technology. After finishing the course, students were asked to rate the most effective
activities. Results indicated that students considered traditional activities such as worksheets andtextbook exercises to be more effective than any other communicative activities. Such results have
implications for teachers, materials writers, and syllabus designers.
第二言語習得における研究は学習または指導過程において学習者の役割を強調してきた。（Allwright, 1984; Bada & Okan, 2000; Block, 1994, 1996; Brown, 2001; Noora, 2008;
Nunan, 1988; Rifkin, 2000; Wright, 1990）本稿は、英語専攻ではない学生が大学で英語のリーディングをする際に、その読解を助ける最も効果的な活動（パワーポイントでの発表、会話、語彙と読解のワークシート、教科書の練習問題、聴解問題、グループワーク、
ペアワーク、ポートフォリオ）は何かを調査するものである。これらの活動は金沢工業大学の工学専攻である320名の学生を教えるために使用された。本コースが終了した時点で、学生にどの活動が最も効果的であったかについて調査した。結果、学生はコミュニケーシ
ョンを要する活動よりも、ワークシートや教科書の練習問題のほうを好んだ。これらの結果
は教師、教材作成者、またシラバスをデザインする人たちにとって重要な何かを意味するものである。
Keywords: reading tasks, non-English majors, effective classroom activities, learning process

Introduction
Foreign language learning is a slow and time-*

Al-Murtadha, M. (2013). Which reading tasks help
non-English majors understand academic English
readings? In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks(Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings(pp. 1-12). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

consuming process which requires both teachersand students to work together in most cases. In alearner-centered approach, learners’ skills, beliefs,
needs, preferences, and assumptions are given due
attention. Research on second language learning hasemphasized the role of the learner in the learning/teaching processes (Brown, 2001; Noora, 2008;
Nunan, 1988; Wright, 1990). Recently researchers
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings1

Al-Murtadha
and educators have focused on learners’ learning
styles and preferences. Learners’ learning preferences
are very important “to the success or failure of any
student’s efforts to learn a foreign language” (Rifkin,
2000, p. 394). Noora (2008) asserts that “bothlearner skills and assumptions” (p. 33) should betaken into consideration. Nunan (1988) claims thatthe “truly learner centered” (p. 177) curriculum is theone that takes into consideration the learners’ beliefs
and preferences.
Unfortunately, however, “Many teachers seem tofind it difficult to accept their learners as people witha positive contribution to make to the instructional
process (Allwright, 1984, p. 167).” Although many
language teachers and educators realize the needfor understanding learners’ learning styles, beliefs,
and preferences, they do not usually ask about theirlearners’ preferences, needs, or assumptions whenplanning education programs or classroom activities(Bada & Okan, 2000). Perhaps some teachers andeducators think that learners might not be able toprovide effective or appropriate feedback about
effective classroom activities and practices (Bada &Okan, 2000).
Yet, research indicates that learners are awareof the classroom activities that help them learn thelanguage effectively (Block, 1994, 1996; Noora,2008). Breen (as cited in Block, 1996) claimed
that learners could tell which classroom activities
helped them understand the foreign language. Cray
and Currie (as cited in Noora, 2008, p. 34) suggestthat “teachers do not have to act on behalf of theirlearners’ but with their learners.” Two Australianstudies revealed that learners preferred traditional
learning styles to new communicative approaches(Nunan, 1989). Bada and Okan (2000) argues that
there are still some learners who prefer the grammartranslation method to communicative activities.
The present study was conducted to investigate
the most effective reading activities based on what
non-English major university students at Kanazawa
Institute of Technology think so that teachers canhave better ideas about students’ preferences andlearning styles.

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Research Question
The present study aims at answering the following
question:
Which reading tasks do non-English major
university students consider to be the most helpful
in helping them understand academic reading texts?

Context of the Study
The majority of EFL students in Asia are NonEnglish majors. The present study was conducted
at Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT) in
Japan. Students have to finish about eight English
credits to graduate. Students have to study a reading
textbook, but teachers are expected to include mostof the language skills when teaching the textbook
content. Students covered 14 units of the textbook
during the semester and were quizzed on each ofthem for grading purposes. The problem is that they
have to read academic reading texts while some ofthem have near-beginning English language skills
and communicative abilities. As a response to thisproblem, many classroom activities and techniques
have been adopted by the researcher to help students
understand academic readings. However, theresearcher does not know which of these classroom
activities and techniques are the most effective fromthe students’ points of views. The present study
investigates the most effective classroom activities
used at KIT, based on what engineering students
themselves think.

Subjects
A total of 320 sophomore students in different
majors at KIT participated in the study. All theparticipants were the researcher’s students for one
semester. They attended two class sessions a week
(each 45 minutes).

Instrument
The data for this study was collected throughdistributing a 3-point Likert Scale survey (AppendixA) at the end of the Fall Semester prepared by the
researcher. Students were asked to rate the mosteffective activities (PowerPoint presentations,Which Reading Tasks Help Non-English Majors Understand Academic English Readings?, pages 1-12
content-based conversations, vocabulary andcomprehension worksheets, textbook exercises,
listening exercises, group work, pair work, andportfolios) that helped them understand the content
of academic readings (Appendix B). The survey wascomposed in both English and Japanese to makesure students understood the items. The survey was
distributed during the last class and after students
received their final grades. Students were not asked
to write their names or any personal information. All
320 students answered the survey.

Results and Discussions
Students were asked to state the activities thatmost effectively helped them understand the content
of academic readings. The study used a holistic scoring(Likert Scale): Agree, Neither agree nor disagree, andDisagree. Table 1 shows the results.
As Table 1 shows, a significant numberof students’ responses indicated that students
considered worksheets and textbook exercises to be
more effective than any other activities. The majorityof students (81%) thought that worksheets andtextbook exercises helped them most to understandthe content of academic readings. 15% of thestudents neither agreed nor disagreed. Only 4% of

the students disagreed that worksheets and textbook
exercises helped them understand the content
of academic readings. It is possible that students
preferred worksheets and textbook exercises because
they have access to them after class, and therefore
they can study them at home at any time, whereas
many of the other activities did not consist of takehome material. It is probable that students focus on
activities that can help them gain good scores in thequizzes they regularly take. Since English is a required
course at KIT, it is expected that many students haveto take this course without a real desire to learn
English or improve their communication skills.
Therefore, it is possible that students tend to preferany activity that can help them pass the course. It isalso possible that students prefer worksheets because
the worksheets used in this study contained EnglishJapanese translation questions. Some students might
think that translation into the mother tongue is more
effective than any other activities.
In addition to worksheets and textbook exercises,
a significant number of students thought thatPowerPoint presentations were effective. 76% of
the students believed that PowerPoint presentations
helped them to understand academic readings, 19%of the students neither agreed nor disagreed andTable 1
Most effective activities based on what students think

Did the following activities help you understandthe content of the reading texts you studied thissemester?
1

Agree

Neither agree nor
disagreeDisagreePowerPoint presentations

76%

19%

5%

2

Conversations

69%

26%

5%

3

Worksheets

81%

15%

4%

4

Textbook exercises

81%

15%

4%

5

Listening exercises

68%

27%

5%

6

Group work

69%

21%

10%

7

Pair work

66%

23%

11%

8

Portfolios

57%

30%

13%

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings3

Al-Murtadha
only 5% of the students disagreed that power point
presentations helped them understand academic
readings. Probably a significant number of students
believed that PowerPoint presentations were also
effective because they can listen to the information
presented by the teacher and, at the same time, look atand read the content on the slides. It is also probablethat pictures and short summaries in the Power Point
presentations helped students to understand thecontent. Many students have poor listening skills, so
it is probable that they prefer any written activity that
can help them to follow their teacher’s explanation. It
might be a good idea to use Power Point presentations
that can supplement the textbook with pictures andideas to help students understand the content.
For the third most useful item, 69% of thestudents in the study thought that the conversations
helped them understand the content of academic
readings, 26% neither agreed nor disagreed andonly 5% of them disagreed. Since only 5% of thestudents thought that conversations were ineffective,
it is recommended to use such conversations in nonEnglish major classes to help students understandthe content of the readings and at the same time
to improve their pronunciation and daily spoken
expressions. Also 69% of the students in the study
thought that group work helped them understandthe content of academic readings, 21% neither
agreed nor disagreed and 10% disagreed that group
work helped them understand the readings.
68% of the students stated that listening exercises
helped them understand the readings while 27%
neither agreed nor disagreed, and only 5% of thestudents disagreed. It seems that most students
realize the importance of listening exercises. The
listening questions used in the class focused on thecontent of the readings. However, many students do
not seem to have good listening skills. Probably thisis why such a large percentage (27%) neither agreed
nor disagreed that it was valuable. Students seem torealize the importance and usefulness of listening
exercises, but they just could not understand them
due to their poor listening skills. It is recommended
that teachers create listening exercises that are related
to the content of the readings to expose students to

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The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

the target language and at the same time help them tounderstand the content of the readings.
66% of the students agreed that pair work helped
them understand the content of academic readings,
23% of the students neither agreed nor disagreed, and
11% disagreed. In the pair work activities, students
had to talk to their partners in English while, ingroup work activities, students could use Japanese
to prepare their group presentations. In the group
work activities, students did not have to speak totheir partners as each student in the group was finallyresponsible for presenting only one small part of thewhole presentation. It is probable that students feel
more comfortable working in groups than working inpairs. It might be a good idea to increase group workin non-English major classes, but while encouraging
students to use the target language while discussing
their ideas.
Finally, 57% of the students thought that
portfolios were effective, 30% of the students neither
agreed nor disagreed, and 13% of the students
disagreed. In these activities, students were asked tofind readings from the Internet that are related to the
textbook readings and answer five questions about
those outside readings. It is possible that many students
could not find appropriate related readings from theInternet and consequently read articles unrelated tothe content of the textbook. Also, students seemed
to have difficulty using search engines in a foreign
language. Many students reported that it was difficult
for them to find outside readings that were related tothe content of the textbook.

Conclusion
Some previous research has indicated that someforeign language learners still prefer the traditional
teaching methods to new communicative approaches(Bada & Okan, 2000; Nunan, 1989). This study
investigated the learning/teaching styles and methods
that non-English major university students at theuniversity level in Japan prefer. Results of this study
support previous results found by Nunan (1989)
and Bada and Okan (2000). Non-English major
university students at KIT considered the traditional
methods to be more effective than communicative

Which Reading Tasks Help Non-English Majors Understand Academic English Readings?, pages 1-12
activities. Such results have implications for teachersand materials writers at schools in Japan. It is a goodidea to combine both traditional and new teaching
methods.

References
Allwright, R. L. (1984). The importance ofinteraction in classroom language learning.
Applied Linguistics, 5, 156-171.
Bada, E. & Okan, Z. (2000). Students’ language
learning preferences. TESL-EJ, 4(3), 1-15
Retrieved July 2nd, 2012, from http://writing.
berkeley.edu/TESLEJ/ej15/a1.html
Block, D. (1994). A day in the life of a class:
Teacher/learner perceptions of task purpose in
conflict. System, 22, 473-486.
Block, D. (1996). A window on the classroom:
Classroom events viewed from different angles.
In K. M. Bailey & D. Nunan (Eds.), Voicesfrom the language classroom: qualitative researchin second language education (pp. 168-194).
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press.

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: Aninteractive approach to language pedagogy (2ndedition). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Addison WesleyLongman.
Noora, A. (2008). Iranian Undergraduates NonEnglish Majors’ Language Learning Preferences.
GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies,
8(2), 33-44.
Nunan, D. (1988). The learner-centered curriculum.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press.
Nunan, D. (1989). Hidden agendas: The role ofthe learner in programme implementation.
In R. K. Johnson (Ed.), The second language
curriculum (pp. 176-186). Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Rifkin, B. (2000). Revisiting beliefs about foreign
language learning. Foreign Language Annals,
33(4), 394-409.
Wright, T. (1990). Understanding classroom role
relationships. In J. C. Richards & D. Nunan(Eds.), Second language teacher education (pp.
82-97). Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.

Author’s Biography:
Mutahar Al-Murtadha is an English instructor at Kanazawa Institute of Technology. He
started teaching at Kanazawa Institute of Technology in 2009 after he received his master’s
degree in TESOL from Saint Michael’s College in the USA. He was awarded a Fulbrightscholarship in 2007. Before that he taught English in Yemen for more than seven years

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Al-Murtadha

Appendix A: Survey
Class & Number: ________________
Dear Student:
I would like to know which activities helped you most to understand the content of academic readings
this semester. Please answer the following questionnaire about the activities used in English V. The
answers to this questionnaire will not affect your grade for this course at all. Your participation can help
the teacher improve future teaching activities and make the class more interesting and useful for future
students. Please only write your class and number. Thanks for your cooperation!
Question: Did the following activities help you understand the content of the reading texts you studied
this semester? (以下のアクティビティーは教科書内の文章の内容を理解するのにとても役に立っ
た。)

Agree
同意する

Neither agree
nor disagree
どちらともいえない

Disagree
同意しない

1PowerPoint presentations
パワーポイントプレセンテーション

76%

19%

5%

2

Conversations
カンバセーション

69%

26%

5%

3

Worksheets
ワークシート

81%

15%

4%

4

Textbook exercises
テクストブック エクセサイズ

81%

15%

4%

5

Listening exercises prepared by the teacher
先生によって準備されたリスニング エクセサイズ

68%

27%

5%

6

Group work
グループワーク

69%

21%

10%

7

Pair work
ペアワーク

66%

23%

11%

8

Portfolios
ポートフォリオ

57%

30%

13%

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The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Which Reading Tasks Help Non-English Majors Understand Academic English Readings?, pages 1-12

Appendix B: Activities
Sample Power Point Presentation

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Al-Murtadha

Review 3: Content-Based Conversation
Practice with your partner

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The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Which Reading Tasks Help Non-English Majors Understand Academic English Readings?, pages 1-12

Worksheets
Name: ______________________ Class & Number: _________English V: Unit 1 B
Read page 16 and give the Japanese meaning of the following words:
EnglishJapanese

EnglishIslandExtendedRemarkable

CattleImmigration

pigs

Contribution

goats

Inhabit

Sheep

RodentContrasting

ChillilayeredShellfish

Importedyams

Assumption

Corn

Base

Aspects

ChoppedInfluenced

OnionsInvadedgarlicMixed

OreganoCreateCilantro

Japanese

Read the texts on pages 16-17 and answer the following questions:
1. What is a cuisine?
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What is Puerto Rico?
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Who lived in Puerto Rico before the arrival of Immigrants?
_____________________________________________________________________
4. What was the name of Puerto Rico before the arrival of immigrants?
____________________________________________________________________
5. Give three examples of the Taino food?
____________________________________________________________________
6. Who were brought to Puerto Rico as slaves?
____________________________________________________________________
7. Has Taino cooking styles remained unchanged from ancient times until today?
____________________________________________________________________
8. How did the Spanish extend food choices?
____________________________________________________________________
9. What did the Africans add to the island’s food?
____________________________________________________________________
10. Is all the food In Puerto Rico spicy?
___________________________________________________________________The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

9

Al-MurtadhaGroup Work
Instructions:•• Complete the sentences in the box about the unit you studied.
•• Each group is responsible for presenting their information to class.
•• Try to speak as loudly and clearly as possible.

Class: __________

Group ________________

Hello everyone:¡ Today we will talk about unit ________ This unit was about _____¡ Before we read this unit, we didn’t know that _________________¡ After reading this unit we learned that _______________________¡ The surprising thing in this unit was _________________________¡ We still need to know about _________________________________

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Which Reading Tasks Help Non-English Majors Understand Academic English Readings?, pages 1-12

Pair work

A: Which animals do you think are the mostintelligent?
B: I think the most intelligent animals are……
I think ______is more intelligent than______

Look at the photo and ask your partner
A: What’s theman’s job?
B: I think he is_____
A:Where is theman from?
B:I think he’s
from _____.

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

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Al-Murtadha

Portfolios
Instructions:•• Find readings in English that have some connection with five of the units from the textbook.
•• Read the readings. Then answer these questions in English:
1. What is the main idea of the reading?
2. What is the most surprising thing in the reading? Why?
3. Which sentence or paragraph you did not understand?
4. What else do you want to know about the topic?
•• Use your own words to answer the questions except question 3.
•• Do not use online translation software.

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Japanese University Students’ Awareness of Hedging
Devices in Academic Writing

John Bankier
Soka University
johnbankier@yahoo.co.uk
In academic and non-academic literacy, hedging expressions such as “it may be” or “it appears
that” can represent the writer’s confidence in a statement and provide polite deference (Hyland,2000). Misinterpreting and misusing hedges can significantly affect how meaning is expressed
and understood, yet few textbooks focus on hedging. Research by Hyland (2000) showed that
non-native speakers of English do not make use of hedges to determine the writer’s certainty. This
paper describes a pilot study conducted to determine whether Japanese university students makeuse of hedging expressions in answering test questions, and whether their ratings of the strengthof hedges correspond to those of native speakers.
アカデミック、もしくはアカデミックではない読み書きにおいて、『おそらく～であろう』、または、『～のように見える』というような言葉を濁す表現は、書 き手の意見の提示において、自信や思いやりを持った敬意を表すことが可能である（Hyland, 2000）。言葉を濁す表現の誤解や御用は意味の表現や理解に著しい影響があるにも関わらず、ごくわずかな教科
書のみ、そのような表現を集中的に取り扱っ ている。Hyland (2000)の研究では、第一言語が広東語の英語話者は、確実さの度合いを判断するときに、言葉を濁す表現を活用していないという結果が出ている。この論 文は、日本の大学生がテストに回答するときに言葉を濁す表現を使用するかという事と、彼らの使用する言葉を濁す表現の度合いに対する評価がネイティブスピーカーと一致しているかどうかを調べた予備研究である。
Keywords: Hedge, hedging, rating, academic, writing, pragmatics, noticing, politeness,
Japanese, native speaker, NS, NNS

Introduction
An important aspect of literacy in both academic
and much non-academic discourse is understanding
and using hedging expressions such as “it may be”
or “it appears that.” Hedges can precisely represent*

Bankier, J. (2013). Japanese university students’awareness of hedging devices in academic writing: A
pilot study. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks(Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings(pp. 13-21). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

the writer’s confidence in a statement and provide
polite deference (Hyland, 2000). The study describedin this paper was conducted to determine if Japaneseand English native speakers understand and rate
hedges differently.

Hedging in Academic Writing
Hedging is generally defined as the expressionof “tentativeness and possibility” (Hyland, 1996, p.
1). A statement such as “This was a bad idea” canbe softened to “This may have been a bad idea.”
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13Bankier
Hedging is used as a means to save face. Hedging canalso be used to show caution about statements that
may not be true. This could take the form of “Theresults of the study appear to show….” Hedges arealso polypragmatic (Hyland, 1996), which meansthat particular forms are not linked to particularfunctions.
Low’s (1996) think-aloud study showed that
we pay less attention to hedging expressions ascompared to boosters (such as “definitely” or “clearly
demonstrates”) in questionnaire items. Hyland’s(2000) study showed that Cantonese L1 speakers
from Hong Kong noticed and were aware of boosting
expressions in written English, but there was “strong
evidence … [to show that] efforts of academic writers
to weaken their commitment and withhold certainty
from their propositions may go unnoticed by L2
readers” (p. 19). The students either ignored hedges
or attributed an “inappropriate degree of certainty”
to them.
In contrast, Šeškauskienė (2008) showed thatlearners in Lithuania were able to use hedging
expressions. She analyzed a corpus of works by
Lithuanian non native speakers (NNS) and compared
it to that of English native speakers (NS). Her
conclusion was that advanced NNS were fully able
to use hedging expressions. She also concluded thateven works by less proficient Lithuanian NNS usedhedges frequently.

Japanese Learners and Hedging
According to Taguchi (2009), Japanese speakers“[make] use of indirect expressions possible througha variety of syntactic and lexical features including… hedging” (p. 250). However, a study by Shirato
and Stapleton (2007) compared a corpus of Japanese
NNS spoken English with a corpus of NS speechand demonstrated that Japanese learners underusehedging expressions.

Research Question
Do Japanese students make use of hedges tounderstand written discourse, and do their ratingsof the strength of hedges correspond with those of

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native speakers?

Methodology
Participants and Instructional Context
The study took place at a university in Tokyo andconsisted of two groups. The first group included
31 Japanese first-year students enrolled in intensive
English for Academic Purposes classes taught by theauthor. Two classes of a similar level participated:
19 first year economics majors in the spring term
(TOEFL ITP 423-450) and 12 first year economics
majors in the fall term (ITP 450-487). Students were
not given direct instructions on hedging. The second
group comprised 11 native speakers of English, alluniversity teachers of a variety of nationalities.

DesignA similar format to Hyland’s (2000) study wasused. A short essay-style passage of 432 words on afamiliar topic was created, including a large numberof hedges (see Appendix). It was checked against
the British National Corpus vocabulary frequency
list (www.lextutor.ca/vp/bnc); 98.94% of tokens
were within the 1000 most frequent words, and97.89% within the first 2000, judged sufficient forcomprehension. The passage was accompanied bytrue or false questions designed to assess whether
the reader was able to infer meaning from hedges.
Participants were instructed to focus on the opinionof the writer.
In the second part of the study, participants wereasked to rate 10 sentences from the text in terms of
how certain they though the writer was. They wereallowed to look back and read the text again to see thesentences in context.

Results
In Part One of the study (Figures 1 and 2) the
English native speakers and Japanese university
students performed differently. NS correctly answered
all questions on average, yet the NNS answered twoof the six incorrectly.
In Part Two, NS and NNS were again different. As
Figure 3 shows, the Japanese students tended to rate

Japanese University Students’ Awareness of Hedging Devices in Academic Writing, pages 13-21

Figure 1. Part One of the study: Japanese students’ answers to true or false questions

Figure 2. Part One of the study: English native speakers’ answers to true or false questions

Figure 3. Part Two of the study: Japanese students’ and English native speakers’ overall rating of sentences in terms of
how certain they thought the writer was

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Bankier

Figure 4. Part Two of the study: Japanese students’ ratings of sentences in terms of how certain they thought the writerwasFigure 5. Part Two of the study: Native speaker ratings of sentences in terms of how certain they thought the writer wassentences as certain (52% of responses). In contrast,
the native speakers rated 36% of the sentences ascertain. A similar pattern is also seen in the ratings offairly sure and uncertain.
Responses to individual questions vary noticeably
between NNS and NS (Figures 4 and 5). While
the majority of NS chose the same answers, there
was much less consistency among the Japanese
respondents. Although some sentences were rated
similarly on average, many sentences received very
different ratings.

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Discussion
Although the results demonstrate that NS andNNS responded to the study differently, it is necessary
to look at the responses to individual questions todetermine if this is likely to be connected to anunderstanding of hedges.
Two examples of questions Japanese students, on
average, answered correctly are:Text: The factory is likely to have an effect on
the local community in several ways.

Japanese University Students’ Awareness of Hedging Devices in Academic Writing, pages 13-21
Question: The writer thinks the factory willaffect the local community. T/F (the answer is“true”).

Question: The writer thinks companies should
discuss plans with local people. T/F (the answer
is “true”).

example, students may have been misled by thedifference between the expression of hedging (“it istrue… may”) and boosting “will definitely”). The
question requires the reader to understand that these
expressions are not synonymous. This suggests thatlearners were ignoring the hedging expression, or did
not understand its meaning.
In Part Two, there was a great deal of variation
between NS and NNS ratings of sentences. However,the following sentences were rated similarly by bothgroups on average:

It is not necessary to understand the meaning of
the hedges to answer these questions. The hedges caneasily be ignored and mentally replaced with a nonhedged form, such as, “The factory will have an effectA survey which was done of the local area
showed increased levels of harmful chemicals inrivers. (Rated as certain by 82% of NS and 64%
NNS).

on the local community in several ways,” leading toa correct answer.
The following examples show questions that most
NNS answered incorrectly:

The company may have talked to some local
people. (Rated approximately equally as certain,
fairly sure and uncertain by NS and NNS).

Text: It is generally necessary for companies todiscuss significant plans with local residents, andhear their views.

Text: Certainly, at least 100 jobs will be createdby the factory itself. … There is a possibility
that the factory may create more jobs in the
future, though this is not yet certain.
Question: The writer thinks the factory will
create more than 100 jobs in the future. T/F(the answer is “false”).
Text: It is true that the factory may lead to
improvements in roads.
Question: The writer thinks the factory willdefinitely lead to improvements in roads. T/F(the answer is “false”).
In these examples, the meaning of the hedges ismore central. In the first example, it is necessary tounderstand how the hedging “there is a possibility
that” and “this is not yet certain” modifies theinitially strong statement (“at least 100 jobs will becreated”). It seems likely that the Japanese learners
focused on the first part of the paragraph but did
not pay attention to the later hedging. In the second

In fact, the similar plan in Kanagawa has not led
to more jobs being created. (Rated as certain by
91% of NS* and 58% of NNS).
*One NS rater choose “I don’t know”
The first and third sentences here do not include
hedging expressions. The NS had no trouble indetermining that these were certain, though despite
the lack of hedging many NNS rated them differently(as uncertain or fairly sure). This suggests that generalcomprehension may have been an issue, or that theJapanese students were unclear what “How certain
the writer is” (see Appendix) actually meant.
A number of hedged sentences were rated
differently:
The factory is likely to have an effect on thelocal community in several ways. (Rated asfairly sure by 82% of NS and certain by 77% of
NNS).
This suggests that the factory had caused
pollution in rivers. (Rated as fairly sure by 73%
of NS and certain by 61% of NNS).
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17Bankier
It is true that the factory may lead to
improvements in roads. (Rated as uncertain by
82% of NS; NNS rated it as certain, 52%, andfairly sure, 32%).
There appears a pattern in NS and NNS ratings;
native speakers identified sentences containing
expressions such as “is likely to” and “this suggests
that” to be weaker in terms of certainty. In contrast,
NNS rated these sentences more strongly, suggesting
they did not understand or pay attention to thehedging expressions. The third example aboveshows a similar pattern; the native English-speaking
teachers rated it as less certain than the Japanese
students. Interestingly, many NNS did identify thatthe sentence was less strong than the other examples
given above, yet their ratings were still fairly sure,rather than uncertain. That is to say, NNS appeared
to rate everything as “one level” more certain thanNS.

Conclusion
In terms of the research question, the results of thestudy appear comparable to those of Hyland (2000)
and his study on Hong Kong Chinese learners. The
Japanese university students often seemed not tomake use of hedges to understand written discourse.
They answered true or false questions incorrectly
when it was necessary to understand how the hedges
modified the meaning of the sentence (hedge for
accuracy). However, hedges for politeness, which
can be easily ignored, did not impede them. The
ratings students gave hedges were certainly different
than those of those of native speakers; however, thelimitations of the study mean that the reasons for thisare not entirely clear.
Firstly, the mistakes or divergent ratings could be
due to lack comprehension. Although care was taken
to ensure materials were of an appropriate level, somequestions were particularly difficult. For instance,
Question 5 in Part One required readers to ignore
a distractor at the start of the paragraph. If students
were unable to comprehend the meaning of the text,
understanding isolated sentences would be muchharder.

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Secondly, native English speaker ratings
differed, which suggested that the hedged sentenceswere unclear. The intention was for all NS to rate
sentences similarly, but there was some disagreement
between categories. One teacher commented that
it was unclear if “certainty” referred to the writer’s
actual opinion or the hedged opinion he expressedin the text. This illustrates the difficulty of this typeof study; hedges are by their nature unclear, so it is
not easy to produce a task in which only one rating
is possible.
This second issue may have been relevant to theJapanese learners. Although the instructions wereexplained and discussed in the students’ L1, the actual
handout was English. It is likely that students were
unclear about the meaning of “certain” in Part Two.
Part One asked readers to think about the writer’s
actual opinion, whereas Part Two asked for thestrength of the hedges alone. Many hedging expressions
are used to mask an opinion behind polite language;
if learners were ignoring this language, they would
not necessarily be incorrect. Instead, they would havebeen focusing on “the book” rather than “the cover.”This would explain why NNS ratings tended to be
more certain in Part Two.
Finally, though the study does strongly suggestthat Japanese students do not use the same cues asnative English speakers, it was unclear what cues wereused. “I don’t know” was given as an option in Part
Two, and students were encouraged to use it, yet few
did. This implies that students believed they wereable to complete the task. Thus, they must have been
determining certainty in some way.
Further research is needed to address the issues
raised above. A Think Aloud study may well benecessary in order to determine if learners bothunderstand the task and notice and make use ofhedges. This type of task would also help to determine
the cues Japanese learners use to determine certainty
in written discourse.

References
Hyland, K. (1996). Writing without conviction?
Hedging in science research articles. Applied
Linguistics, 17 (4), 433-454.

Japanese University Students’ Awareness of Hedging Devices in Academic Writing, pages 13-21
Hyland, K. (2000). Hedges, boosters and lexicalinvisibility: Noticing modifiers in academic
texts. Language Awareness, 9 (4), 179-197.
Low, G. (1996). Intensifiers and hedges inquestionnaire items and the lexical invisibility
hypothesis. Applied Linguistics, 17 (1), 1-37.
Taguchi, N. (2009). Comprehension of indirect
opinions and refusals in L2 Japanese. In N.
Taguchi (ed.). Pragmatic competence. Berlin,
Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.
Šeškauskienė, I. (2008). Hedging in ESL: A casestudy of Lithuanian learners. Kalbų studijos[Studies about language], 13, 71-76. Retrieved
from
http://www.kalbos.lt/zurnalai/13_
numeris/10.pdf
Shirato, J. & Stapleton, P. (2007). Comparing
English vocabulary in a spoken learner corpus
with a native speaker corpus: Pedagogicalimplications arising from an empirical study
in Japan. Language Teaching Research, 11(4),393-412.

Author’s Biography:
John Bankier has taught in Japan for 9 years. His teaching focus is on EAP and content-based
adjunct instruction. He is interested in researching writing, motivation, and attitudes andbeliefs about language learning in an EFL context. .

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19Bankier

Appendix: Materials Used in the Study
Part One
Choose whether the statement is probably true or false.
Focus on the opinion of the writer.
Read the text once then go back and answer the questions.

Plans for a New Hachioji Factory: A Response
This week it was announced that a new factory will be built in the Hachioji area. The current plan is forthe building of the factory to begin in 2012, and be completed by the end of the year. The factory is likely tohave an effect on the local community in several ways.
1. The writer thinks the factory will affect the local community. T/F
In terms of the negative effects, one important issue is pollution. A similar factory was built in Kanagawa
in 2008. A survey which was done of the local area showed increased levels of harmful chemicals in rivers. In
the area around the factory, levels of mercury were 30% higher than normal. Similarly, levels of acids were50% higher than normal. This suggests that the factory had caused pollution in rivers. Therefore, the factoryin Hachioji may well cause similar pollution problems.
2. The writer thinks that there is only a small chance the factory caused pollution. T/F
A further problem is in terms of the consultation of local residents. It is generally necessary for companies
to discuss significant plans with local residents, and hear their views. Local residents need to agree to the plans.
I attempted to find local residents who had talked to the company; however, I could not find any resident who
had been consulted. It appears that local residents did not agree to the plan. The company may have talked tosome local people, but my research strongly implies they talked to no one.
3. The writer thinks companies should discuss plans with local people. T/F
4. The writer thinks the company talked to some local residents. T/FOne benefit of the factory may be creation of jobs. Certainly, at least 100 jobs will be created by thefactory itself. Many supporters of the factory have also claimed that jobs will be created in the area around thefactory in the future. There is a possibility that the factory may create more jobs in the future, though this is
not yet certain. In fact, the similar plan in Kanagawa has not led to more jobs being created.
5. The writer thinks the factory will create more than 100 jobs in the future. T/F
A second benefit is infrastructure, particularly new roads. Supporters of the factory insist that the company
will invest in building better roads in the area around the factory. It is true that the factory may lead to
improvements in roads. In particular, if the government requires the company to invest, roads will certainly
be built. In the past, this has not always happened, however.
6. The writer thinks the factory will definitely lead to improvements in roads. T/FWhile the building of a factory in Hachioji may have benefits such as an improved road network andjob creation, there may be some drawbacks. In particular, a similar factory seems to have caused pollution inrivers. Furthermore, local residents may not have been consulted by the company. Currently, I would argue
against the construction of this factory until these questions can be answered20

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Japanese University Students’ Awareness of Hedging Devices in Academic Writing, pages 13-21

Part Two
I want to find out how certain you think the writer is in these sentences. Mark the sentences. You canlook back at the article if you like.
C = the writer is completely certain
F = the writer is fairly sureU = the writer is uncertain
If you don’t know, mark ‘D’
1. The factory is likely to have an effect on the local community in several ways. ____
2. A survey which was done of the local area showed increased levels of harmful chemicals in rivers. ____
3. This suggests that the factory had caused pollution in rivers. ____
4. It is generally necessary for companies to discuss significant plans with local residents. ____
5. It appears that local residents did not agree to the plan. ____
6. The company may have talked to some local people. ____
7. There is a possibility that the factory may create more jobs in the future, though this is not yet certain.
____
8. In fact, the similar plan in Kanagawa has not led to more jobs being created. ____
9. It is true that the factory may lead to improvements in roads … ____
10. If the government requires the company to invest, roads will certainly be built. ____How long did you spend on both activities?
						_________ minutes

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The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Online SelfPlacement TestMark Brierley

Richard Lemmer

Kosuke Adachi

Shinshu University
mark2@shinshu-u.ac.jp

Chugoku Junior College
richard@cjc.ac.jp

Shinshu University
adachi@seclab.shinshu-u.ac.jp

The Extensive Reading Foundation has created the Online Self-Placement Test (ERFOSPT) to
find the level of texts at which learners can read fluently. This paper describes the motivation
behind developing the test, the guidelines and procedure for making comprehension questions
for the test, and the format and features of the test. Initial results from trials of the test are alsopresented.
国際多読教育学会（Extensive Reading Foundation） は学習者のレベルにあったテキストを見つける為のオンラインで受けられるテスト ERF Online Self-Placement Test(ERFOSPT)を開発した。そこで、本稿では本テストを開発するに至った動機，テストの練習問題を作成する手順及び，テストの構成や特徴について述べる。また、模擬テストの最初の結果も紹介する
Keywords: Extensive Reading, Language Testing, Reading time, Reading speed, Reading
comprehension

The Extensive Reading Foundation’s
Online Self-Placement Test
Students must read in large quantities in orderfor extensive reading (ER) to be effective. If students
read books that are too difficult, they will read slowly
and will read fewer words in a given time. If theycannot read quickly, they may also lose interest in thestory. It is therefore desirable for students to avoid
books above their level, especially in the early stagesof ER when, as Dupuy, Tse and Cook stated “forthe most part, students have only been exposed to*Brierley, M., Lemmer, R., & Adachi, K. (2013).
The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Online SelfPlacement Test. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, &G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 22-30). Hiroshima: JALT.

*22

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intensive reading of short excerpts or passages in their
ESL classes and tend to believe that this is the only
way to read in a second language” (1996: 10). It may
also be argued that students reading books that are
too easy will not experience sufficient new language
to make the activity an efficient learning experience.
Various tests exist with the aim of finding student
reading level. Many publishers have tests on theirwebsites to guide readers to the correct level, but eachpublisher uses a slightly different scale. The Edinburgh
Project on Extensive Reading (EPER) also produces
a Placement Test and an Extensive Reading Test. The
Placement Test is a modified cloze test with shortpassages from different levels with words missing thatmust be written by students. The Extensive Reading
test consists of much longer passages assembled ina twelve-page booklet with instructions every few

The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Online Self-Placement Test, pages 22-30
pages to refer to a question sheet. The question sheet
contains comprehension questions in true-false,
multiple-choice, open and fill-the-gap formats. Afterseveral questions, the question sheet instructs thestudent to go back to the story.
Drawbacks of both EPER tests are that they arecommercial, on paper and require writing. Brierley(2007) shows that Japanese students fare muchworse on the Placement Test than on the Extensive
Reading Test. In order to fill in the correct word on
a cloze test, students must write the word, so theirproductive abilities are being tested as well as their
receptive abilities. This is true to an extent with the
Extensive Reading Test, where students must write
some of the answers to comprehension questions.
The Placement Test includes texts at various
levels, and the score will predict the reading level ofthe student. However, each version of the Extensive
Reading Test consists of texts at only two levels, andis unreliable at predicting reading levels above or
below these.
While the Extensive Reading Test instructs
students to read the passage first, then answer
questions later, the paper medium allows students todo the opposite, following normal test-taking strategy
for comprehension questions. Another drawback of
the paper medium is that teachers must physicallymark each paper, taking up precious teacher time aswell as risking variation between strict markers whowill only allow answers on the answer sheet, andthose who generously give students points if they
believe they have understood the story, as is written
in the instructions for markers.
The ERFOSPT (introduced in Lemmer, Brierley,
Reynolds & Waring, 2012, and available in beta
here: https://erfospt.ealps.shinshu-u.ac.jp) brings themethod of the EPER Extensive Reading Test online,
makes it adaptive, and prevents backtracking in orderto create a freely available test that quickly finds
the student’s level and focuses assessment on fluent
reading skills.

Comprehension Questions
The true/false format has been chosen for the test
because these kinds of questions are cognitively easy

for students to answer and logistically easy for testdevelopers to make. As mentioned in our critique of
the EPER test, any questions requiring writing arealso dependent upon productive skills, and are likely
to take more of the student’s time. As we are seeking
to test the student’s fluent reading ability, the student
should spend as much time as possible reading
relatively long passages, and as little time as possible
pondering over questions. Other question formats
such as multiple-choice or matching often require
the student to consider each option, and go backand forth between components of the item. Oncethe student understands that these are true/false
questions, it should be possible to read the statements
and answer the questions quickly.
The function of the comprehension questions
is to check whether students have understood thetext. To compare the effectiveness of multiple-choicequestions with true/false questions, we must look at
the probability of the student guessing the correct
answer of all the questions. The table below showsthese probabilities for four different combinationsof number of questions and number of choices, inwhich a true/false question is a multiple-choicequestion with two choices.
Table 1Comparison of performance of multiple-choice question
formats

Number of
choicesNumber ofquestions

Chance ofcorrectly
guessing all

5

3

1/125

20

4

3

1/64

16

3

4

1/81

15

2

7

1/128

7

Items towrite

Three five-choice multiple-choice questions
perform similarly to seven true/false questions. While
there are less than half the number of questions tomake, if we consider the difficulty of creating plausibly
wrong distractors, and the fact that the choices fortrue/false questions are already made, the multipleThe 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

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Brierley, Lemmer, & Adachi
choice format represents perhaps three times morework on the part of the test developers, which is an
important consideration as we expect volunteers todevelop new questions on an ongoing basis as texts
are added to the test.

Guidelines for Questions
In order for the test to work accurately, we have
set these guidelines:•• No difficult lexis. Vocabulary and structures inthe true/false statements should be at or below
the level of the text, and ideally should be drawn
from the text.
•• No trick questions.
•• No double negatives.
•• Explicitly stated or unequivocally implied
information only. Especially at lower levels,
questions should be limited to information thatcan be understood from a literal reading of thetext.
•• Story-based questions. Statements refer to nontrivial information on characters, places, events.
•• In order. Questions follow the order of
information in the text; this is an establishedformat for comprehension questions and students
may be confused if we do not follow it.
•• One item per question.
•• Discrete questions. Questions should not ask
about the same information as other questions, orgive away their answers.
In some cases the guidelines are based on Gary
Buck’s Assessing Listening (2001). Although thisis a reading test, a relatively long extensive reading
passage followed by questions shares similarities withlistening tests where the text cannot be analysedasynchronously.

Procedure for Making Questions
Two people independently write true/false
statements on the text, following the guidelines
above. A third person selects and edits these for
quality and consistency, leaving around ten true/false
statements for the test.

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Test Development and Analysis
The test is currently working in beta, and cangive a rough assessment of reading level. In the shortterm, test-taker data is being analysed to check forinternal consistency between texts, to confirm thatthe nominal levels of text difficulty correspondwith test-takers performance. Also, the test must
be calibrated externally, so that results from the
ERFOSPT correspond with student performance onother tests, such as EPER, with levels suggested by
the MoodleReader module (Robb & Waring, 2012),
or with test takers’ reports of their actual reading, forexample through a questionnaire following the test,
or from online systems such as ERS (see Brown, 2012
for an introduction to online systems).

Estimation of Reading Level, Number,
Length and Kind of Texts
In order to estimate the reading level of thestudents, the test makes the following assumptions:•• A given text can be designated a level of difficulty,
so that any two texts can be compared, and one
can be considered easier than the other.
•• A given reader can be said to be able to read ata particular level, and able to fluently read texts
easier than that level, and not be able to fluently
read texts more difficult.
These assumptions are not true in specific cases:
clearly different texts will be easier or more difficultfor different students depending on the kind of text
and the topic presented; level of text difficulty issomewhat subjective. However, these assumptions
are true in general: given a large sample of students,
trends will show which texts are easier and which are
more difficult. We must therefore seek texts that are
exemplars of their level, and will show little variationin perceived level among students. Also students
must read as many texts as possible during the test,
so that average performance may limit variation.
We also want to keep the time of the test to withinaround 30 minutes.
As we seek to test extensive reading ability, thetexts must be extensive. Brown refers to “texts ofmore than a page” as extensive reading (2004: 189)

The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Online Self-Placement Test, pages 22-30

Figure 1. ERF online self-placement test login pagealthough perhaps this is because they do not fit into
his other categories. For our purposes, texts must
be long enough to allow some story and character
development, and to enable several questions to
be made. As a result, the first 500 words or so of
published graded readers have been chosen.
It may be that some students can read fiction
at a higher or lower level than they can read nonfiction, so we have chosen to use only fictional texts
to avoid this issue. The test is measuring proficiency
in reading fiction; whether this can be generalised to
proficiency in reading non-fiction would be a usefularea of research.

Algorithm
Based on students’ choices in the roughplacement, initial reading levels are given. After eachtext, we are trying to answer the question: could theyread it fluently? If the answer is yes, then we raise thereading level. If the answer is no, then we lower thereading level.
This assessment can be based on three variables:
reading time (t), impressionistic rating (i) andcomprehension score (c). We can easily calculate thereading speed (w / t, where w is the number of words
in the text). We can combine the reading time andcomprehension into effective reading speed (c * w / t),in other words the number of words comprehended
per minute. We could also combine the reading speedwith the impressionistic rating into affective reading
speed (i * w / t), the number of words enjoyed per
minute.
We can take an arithmetic approach, combining
the variables into some number (for example i * c / t)
to give a score for each text. Alternatively we can takea logical approach, giving each variable a thresholdto meet as a criterion, and judging that the student
could read the text if all criteria are met. For example,
the student must read at 100 wpm or faster, scoreover 80% on the comprehension questions, andover 60% on the impressionistic questions. If thestudent reads too slowly, or does not read with highcomprehension, or indicates the text was difficult, we
assume the student’s level is below the level of the
text. As test data is collected the algorithm is being
adjusted to optimise the test’s reliability.
Further information about the technicalfunctioning of the test can be found in Adachi,
Brierley and Niimura (2012).
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Brierley, Lemmer, & Adachi

Figure 2. Rough placement, with buttons indicating “I can comfortably read to here”

Format and Features
Initially students input personal data (see Figure1). The name or student number is a compulsory
field, and students must either choose a teacher andeducational establishment or input a location. These
compulsory fields should allow unique identificationof each student so that teachers can confirm the levelof their students and test developers can calibrate thetest or check its reliability. The system allows teachers
to allocate code numbers or nicknames to students, sothey may protect their identity. In addition, optional
fields ask for a class code, the student’s experiencestudying English and doing ER, and an email address.
The meta-language of the text is currently inJapanese as development and trialling is taking placein Japan. Later versions will feature an Englishlanguage interface and interfaces in other languages.
After logging in, students are shown a story
broken into short passages, between 20 and 100
words, at increasing levels of difficulty. Students
click a button indicating the level at which they canread with ease (see Figure 2). This gives the system’s

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algorithm a starting value for the reading level of thestudent.
The algorithm chooses a text around the starting
value. Texts are around 500 words, at a range ofdifferent levels on the ERF graded reader scale. For
texts, the first passages of published, fiction graded
readers are used. Texts are broken up into pages of
16 lines that will fit onto a computer screen. At thebottom of the first pages are two buttons: one allows
students to indicate that the text it too difficult toread smoothly; the other proceeds to the next page
(see Figure 3). The time spent on each page is logged
and if students press the “next page” button too
quickly, they will be prompted to read the page more
carefully.
Instead of the “next page” button, the final pageof the text has a button “finished reading” (see Figure
4).
After finishing reading the text, the student isgiven four impressionistic questions to gauge howdifficult they thought the text was. Each question has
four answers on a cline (see Figure 5).
Next, the student is given up to ten comprehension

The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Online Self-Placement Test, pages 22-30

Figure 3. First page of a text, buttons indicating “too difficult” and “next page”

Figure 4. Final page of a text

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings27

Brierley, Lemmer, & Adachi

Figure 5. Rough placement, with buttons indicating “I can comfortably read to here”

questions in the form of true/false statements. The
student cannot return to the text once the questions
are presented (see Figure 6).
Based on the time taken to read, the scores on
the impressionistic questions and the scores on
the comprehension questions, the student is given
another text. Between four and six texts are given in

Figure 6. Impressionistic questions

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one test session.
In this way, the test “homes in” on student level,
as can be seen in Figure 6, which represents texts at
19 different levels, indicated at the left. We estimate
the student’s level to be within the yellow area, andgive a test at the level of the red square. Moving fromleft to right on the figure, with each subsequent text

The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Online Self-Placement Test, pages 22-30

Figure 7. Algorithm homing in on level

the student is given, the estimation becomes more

Language House, Oxford University Press andaccurate and the yellow area becomes narrower.

Pearson Longman (Penguin Readers).
In addition we would like to thank those whohave helped in the development of the test, andencourage other teachers to join this project, either
by administering the test to students, helping in thechoosing of new texts and creation of questions, or in
the processing and analysis of data.

Initial Results
Preliminary questionnaire responses and analysisof results suggest the test is working. Since its beta
launch in September, 2011, the test has been taken
966 times (as of November, 2012). A questionnaireadministered to 114 test takers showed that test scores
largely corresponded to students’ perceived levels,
and EPER scores among 64 test takers correlated
significantly with their performance on the test (p =0.01). Publication of a larger trial is forthcoming.

Conclusion
The ERFOSPT has been developed to fill the needfor a short, online, self-administered ER placement
test. It is still in development, and more texts need
to be added, more questions need to be made, anddata needs to be processed. Anyone willing to join
this exciting project should contact the authors.

Acknowledgments
The Extensive Reading Foundation would liketo thank the following publishers for allowing us to
use their material for the test: Cambridge University
Press Readers, Cengage Learning, Macmillan

References
Adachi, K., Brierley, M., & Niimura, M. (2012).
Development of the Online Self-Placement
Test engine that interactively selects texts foran extensive reading test. Intelligent Interactive
Multimedia: Systems and Services, SIST 14, 213222.
Brierley, M. (2007). Extensive Reading levels.
JABAET Journal 11, 135-144.
Brown, D. (2012). Online support systems forExtensive Reading: Managing the tension
between autonomy and institutional education.
The Language Teacher, 36(2), 11-16.
Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment: principles
and classroom practices. White Plains, NY:
Pearson Education.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Dupuy, B., Tse, L., & Cook, T. (1996). Bringing
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Brierley, Lemmer, & Adachi
books into the classroom: First steps in turning
college-level ESL students into readers. TESOLJournal, 5(4), 10-15.
Lemmer, R., Brierley, M., Reynolds, B., & Waring,
R. (2012). Introduction to the Extensive
Reading Foundation Online Self-Placement

Test. Extensive Reading World Congress
Proceedings, 1, 23-25.
Robb, T., & Waring, R. (2012). Announcing
MoodleReader version 2. Extensive Reading
World Congress Proceedings, 1, 168-171.

Authors’ Biographies:
Mark Brierley is an associate professor of foreign languages at Shinshu University. His interests
include Extensive Reading and Low-energy Building.
Richard Lemmer is an associate professor at Chugoku Junior College. His interests include
Extensive Reading and Educational Technology.
Kosuke Adachi is a graduate student at Shinshu University. His interests include Extensive
Reading and Software Engineering.

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Understanding and Improving the Design of Academic
Listening Classes

Gavin Brooks
Kwansei Gakuin University
School of Policy Studies
gavin@kwansei.ac.jp
Recently researchers have begun to examine the importance of listening, long neglected insecond language research, and its place in second language learning (Lynch, 2012). While manyteachers still think listening should be taught by just having their students listen (Suzuki, 2011,p. 1) current research is telling us that this is not true. A good listening course should provide
graded listening materials that have been carefully sequenced to allow students to practice levelappropriate listening, along with the scaffolding needed to help students to develop the listening
strategies that will allow them to succeed. This paper will look at how our views about whatmakes a good listening course have changed over the past 20 years and examine how these new
insights can be used to help develop a successful academic listening class.
本稿では、過去20年における「優れたリスニングクラス」の定義の変移を観察するとともに、
新しいアイデアが如何により良いクラスづくりに貢献できるかを考えてみる。第2言語リスニ
ングがどのように教えられるべきかという研究はこれまであまりされてなかったが、最近になり、リスニングの重要性や第2言語学習におけるリスニングの役割が研究されるようになった。ところが未だに、リスニング指導は、ただ録音されたものを生徒に聞かせて行うべきだと考える教師が少なくない。幸いなことに、最近の研究はこれが誤りである事を示唆し、どのようなリスニング教材が生徒のレベルに適しているかを把握したうえで、リスニングストラ
テジーを上達させる足場(scaffolding)を提供すべきだと結論付けている。
Keywords: Academic Listening, Curriculum Design, Listening Activities

Introduction
Listening has often been the least valued of thefour skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking)*

Brooks, G. (2013). Understanding and improving
the design of academic listening classes. In R.
Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012
Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 31-36).
Hiroshima: JALT.

*

that make up the majority of English language
education (Wilson, 2008). However, over the past 20
years listening has gone from being a neglected skill“… (to) a core course in many language programs”(Richards, 2005, p. 85). Listening is a vital part oflearning a second language and research shows that
listening is used nearly twice as much as speaking
and four to five times as much as reading and writing(Rivers, 1981 as cited in Van Dozer, 1997). Nunan

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Brooks(1998) claims that over 50 percent of the time thatstudents spend functioning in a foreign language will
be devoted to listening (as cited in Nation & Newton,2009). Listening is also an important part of how webuild our understanding of a second language:
Some people now believe that learning alanguage is not just learning to talk, but rather
that learning a language is building a map of
meaning in the mind. These people believethat talking may indicate that the language waslearned, but they do not believe that practicein talking is the best way to build up this“cognitive” map in the mind. To do this, theyfeel, the best method is to practice meaningful
listening (Nord, as cited in Nation & Newton,
2009, p. 38).

Second Language Listening Research
Listening is “the least researched of all four
language skills” (Vandergrift, 2006, p. 191). In an
important 1994 review of listening comprehension
research, Rubin notes that there is still very little

empirical research on listening and what we do know
exists “either because (it is) suspected on logicalgrounds to affect listening or because (it is) thought
to be relevant based on parallels found in reading
research” (Rubin, 1994, p. 199). For example, when
Lynch (2011) reviewed the first nine volumes of the
Journal of English for Academic Purposes, he foundthat out of 147 papers only one specifically focusedon listening comprehension (Figure 1).
Most researchers in the field seem to accept it
as “commonplace that the processes, instruction
and assessment of second language listening are lesswell understood and researched than the other three
conventional skills (e.g. Flowerdew & Miller, 2005;
LeLoup & Ponteiro, 2007; Vandergrift, 2007)”(Lynch, 2011, p. 79). One reason for this is the natureof listening, the spontaneity involved in speech, theinability of the listener to go back and review what
was said, the fact that listening takes place over timeand not space so listeners are forced to segment
words from the flow of speech on the fly, and thepronunciation features such as elision, assimilationand intrusion make it a difficult skill to research.

Figure 1. Articles on Second Language Listening (Lynch, 2011, p. 79)

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Understanding and Improving the Design of Academic Listening Classes, pages 31-36

Figure 2. The processing level of L2 skills, (Chan & Teng, 2005, p. 20)

Listening also includes a lot of sub-skills that manyteachers take for granted as being crucial for effective
listening but that have not been researched (Buck,
2001). However, as our knowledge of what makes aneffective listener is increasing, it is important to makeuse of this knowledge in the classroom, both in our
teaching and in the creation of the texts that we use.
Most of our ideas about how we learn to listen
in a second language can be broken down into oneof three broad categories. A top down approach, abottom up approach and a combination of these
two approaches (see Figure 2 for an explanation of
how these approaches overlap). Richards (2005)
and Lynch (2004) both note that second language
listeners make use a combination of top down andbottom up processing because L2 listening is used toboth comprehend the message in what is being said
and as a means of assisting language learning.
Top-down listening involves the listeners startingwith their prior knowledge on the subject and thentrying to match what they are hearing to the content
and rhetorical schemata of this prior knowledge(Nation & Newton, 2009). It is important formeaning- centered listening because, in this type oflistening, the words, syntax, and expressions used byspeakers are seen as carriers of meaning and “oncemeaning has been identified there is no further need
to attend to the form of messages” (Richards, 2005,
p. 86). The advantage of this approach is that it allows
less skilled listeners to use their existing knowledgeof the subject being discussed to compensate forproblems of perception (Field, 2004). However,current research shows us that this works best as ashort term strategy and, while it will help students
to overcome deficiencies in their listening abilities, itdoes not always help them to become more proficient
listeners of English (Wallace, 2012).
On the other side of the spectrum, we find thebottom-up approach. In this approach listeners areencouraged to focus on the smaller parts of a stream ofspeech, such as the words or the phonemes. Meaning
is constructed by accretion, or “gradually combining
increasingly larger units of meaning from the phonemelevel up to discourse-level features” (Vandergrift,
2004, p. 4). This type of listening instruction has theadvantage of focusing the learners’ attention on theway in which the sounds of speech convey meaning.
The bottom-up approach works because it allows theteacher to focus the students’ attention on the skills
essential to learning to understand spoken English,
such a phonemic awareness or the rules of connectedspeech. This is important because research in second
language acquisition shows us that attention is vitalfor acquisition (Schmidt, 1990).
A number of recent studies such as those by
Chiu (2006) and Lu (2008) (as cited in Gilakjani& Ahmadi, 2011) show that the best way to teachlistening comprehension is neither top-down nor
bottom-up processing, but rather a combination of
the two. It is up to individual teachers to find “anappropriate balance between providing opportunities
for listening skill development through meaningThe 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

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Brooks

Figure 3. The processing level of L2 skills, (Chan & Teng, 2005, p. 21)

focused listening and through language focusedlearning which focuses on bottom-up listening
practice” (Nation & Newton, 2009, p. 42).

Approaches to Teaching Listening
One problem in teaching listening is that teachers
do not understand the pedagogical principles behind
how listening should be taught and their teaching is“shaped by convention and textbooks… with teachers
appearing to believe that listening is a skill masteredsimply through repetition and practice” (Graham,
2011, p.114). This is both surprising and disturbing
given that the research shows us that listening needs
to be approached in a systematic way that takes into
account the processes involved in learning to listen(Vandergrift, 2004). The last part of this paper looks
at some of the basic ideas that have come out of recent
research into second language listening and whatthese ideas can tell us about how a good listeningclass should be designed.
One of the first things a teacher should do whenplanning a class is carry out “a careful ‘needs analysis’and then, as far as possible, ensure that the material
chosen is as relevant and useful to these particular
students as possible” (Mendelsohn, 2006, p. 78).
After the goals of the class have been decided, thenext step in the process is to either find or develop
the listening texts to be used in the class. These texts
should include content that is relevant to the students.
Studies have shown that the listeners’ familiarity witha topic and their interest in that topic are powerful

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predictors of how successful the listener will bein decoding the information in the text (Strong& Dias, 2010). Secondly, the materials should be
authentic. Authentic means that, even though thetexts themselves may be scripted or semi-scripted,
they are close to what the learner would experience ina real life situation. In other words, the listening tasks
required of the students are usually real-life tasks thatthey might carry out in their L1 and the texts include
examples of “language being spoken at normal speed
and with features such as accents, hesitations, fillers,and ellipses” ((Flowerdew & Miller, 2005, p.14).
Also, the listening tasks that are connected to thetext should include opportunities for both bottomup and top-down processing to occur. Finally, theteacher should not be afraid of having the students
listen to an aural text more than one time as it has
been shown that the repetition of passages facilitates“L2 listening comprehension more than other typesof modifications (Cervantes & Gainer 1992; Beme
1995; Lund 1991)” (Berne, 1998, p. 169).
These listening texts should be scripted texts or
semi-scripted texts that have been graded to the levelof the student. For example, with vocabulary, Nation(2009) suggests that “95 percent to 98 percent of therunning words should be within the learners’ previous
knowledge, and so only five or preferably only one or
two words per hundred should be unknown to them”(Nation & Newton, 2009, p. 3). As listening consistsof decoding information into episodic memory andthen moving it from there into short or long termUnderstanding and Improving the Design of Academic Listening Classes, pages 31-36
memory (see Figure 3), it is also important not to
overwhelm the students with information. According
to Chafe (1985), research shows us that students canusually only hold seven to eight words in their shortterm memory (as cited in Buck, 2001) and recorded
texts need to include pauses or breaks to give students
time to process the information they have listened to.
It is also important to plan appropriate activities
connected to these texts. These activities fall into three
categories, pre-listening, while-listening and postlistening activities, and this sequence of teaching canhelp “guide students through the mental processes
for successful listening comprehension, and promote
the acquisition of metacognitive strategies in three
categories: planning, monitoring, and evaluating”(Vandergrift, 1999, p. 172). Pre-listening involves
schema activation and makes it possible for students
to “use the natural listening skills of matching what
they hear with what they expect to hear and using
their previous knowledge to make sense of it” (Rost,
2011, p. 189). While-listening tasks are importantbecause they provide students the opportunity toverify and revise their predictions (Gilakjani &Ahmadi, 2011). These tasks can vary from meaningbased activities to activities that focus the students
attention on form by asking them to “identify
differences between what they hear and a printed
version of the text, complete a cloze version of thetext, complete sentence stems taken from the text,
check off from a list expressions that occurred in thetext” (Richards, 2005, p. 90). Post-listening tasks
should give students “opportunities to connect what
they have heard to their own ideas and experiences,and encourage interpretive and critical listening (aswell as) reflective thinking” (Gilakjani & Ahmadi,
2011, p. 982).

Conclusion
While this review has provided a very brief
overview into how we can use second language
research to help make L2 listening classes more
effective and enjoyable for our students, it is justthat, a very brief overview. It is hoped that this typeof overview will help to remind teachers the need tounderstand the pedagogical underpinnings of theclasses they are teaching and encourage them to geta better understanding of how listening should betaught. It is also my belief that the ideas in this paper
can present a starting point that will allow individual
teachers to begin to explore the current research
being done in the field of second language listening.

References
Berne, J. E. (1998). Examining the relationshipbetween L2 listening research, pedagogicaltheory, and practice. Foreign Language Annals,
31(2), 169–190.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Chan, C. Y., & Teng, H. C. (2005). A studyof metacognitive strategies in EFL listening
comprehension. Unpublished master’s thesis,
National Yunlin University of Science andTechnology, Yunlin, ROC.
Field, J. (2004). An insight into listeners’ problems:
too much bottom-up or too much top-down?
System, 32(3), 363–377.
Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (2005). Second language
listening: theory and practice (Cambridge
Language Education) (1st ed.). New York, NY:
Cambridge University Press.
Gilakjani, A. P., & Ahmadi, M. R. (2011). A studyof factors affecting EFL Learners’ English
listening comprehension and the strategies for
improvement. Journal of Language Teaching andResearch, 2(5), 977–988.
Graham, S. (2011). Self-efficacy and academic
listening. Journal of English for Academic
Purposes, 10(2), 113–117.
Lynch, T. (2004). Study listening: a course in listening
to lectures and note-taking (2nd ed.). Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Lynch, T. (2011). Academic listening in the 21st
century: Reviewing a decade of research. Journalof English for Academic Purposes, 10(2), 79–88.
Mendelsohn, D. J. (2006). Learning how to listenusing learning strategies. In E. Uso-Juan &A. Martinez-Flor (Eds.), Current trends in thedevelopment and teaching of the four language
skills (pp. 75-89). Berlin, Germany: Muton de
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Brooks
Gruyter.
Nation, I. S. P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching
ESL/EFL listening and speaking. New York, NY:
Routledge.
Richards, J. C. (2005). Second thoughts on teachinglistening. RELC Journal, 36(1), 85–92.
Rost, M. (2011). Teaching and researching: Listening(Applied Linguistics in Action) (2nd ed.). Harlow,
England: Pearson ESL.
Rubin, J. (1994). A review of second language
listening comprehension research. The Modern
Language Journal, 78(2), 199–221.
Schmidt, R. W. (1990). The Role of Consciousness
in Second Language Learning. Applied
Linguistics, 11(2), 129–158.
Strong, G. B., & Dias, J. V. (2010). Blended
learning in a listening course: Seeking bestpractices (pp. 20–30). Presented at the JALT
Conference Proceedings, Nagoya.
Suzuki, K. (2011). Factors that affect listening
performance: Strategies helpful for Japanese

EFL learners. Journal of Waseda University Schoolof Education, 18(2). Tokyo, Japan: Graduate
School of Education of Waseda University.
Van Dozer, C. (1997). Improving ESL learners’
listening skills: At the workplace and beyond.
marshalladulteducation.org. Center for Applied
Linguistics Project in Adult Immigration
Education. Retrieved June 9, 2012, fromhttp://www.marshalladulteducation.org/pdf/
briefs/Improving%20ESL%20Lrns%20List.
vanDuzerdoc.pdf
Vandergrift, L. (1999). Facilitating second language
listening comprehension: Acquiring successful
strategies. ELT Journal, 53(3), 168–179.
Vandergrift, L. (2004). Listening to learn or learning
to listen? Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,
24(1), 3–25.
Wallace, M. P. (2012). Searching for a new approach
to listening. Accents Asia, 5(1), 8–22.
Wilson, J. J. (2008). How to teach listening. Harlow,
England: Longman.

Author’s Biography:
Gavin Brooks has a Masters of Applied Linguistics from the University of New England andhas spent 15 years teaching English in Japan, Indonesia, Colombia and Ecuador. He spent 5
years teaching at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan and is currently working as an ALE
at Kwansei Gakuin University in the School of Policy Studies.

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Towards a Pedagogy of Conversation

John Campbell-Larsen
Momoyama Gakuin University
joncamlar@hotmail.com
Japanese learners of English often find it difficult to apply their knowledge of the language toengage in naturalistic conversation. This paper will use data derived from videotaped student
conversations to identify some common features of the spoken language of Japanese speakers ofEnglish. The data showed such traits as frequent and prolonged pausing, lapses into Japanese,
minimized turns and lack of discourse markers to be prominent. By adopting a teaching approachthat had repeated focus on these interactional issues within a framework of student autonomy,
students were able to change their interactional styles and become more able to engage in more
fluent naturalistic speaking.
本稿では、会話にみられる日本人英語学習者の問題点とそれらの改善を考える。
日本人英語学習者は、たいてい英語での会話の際、それまでに培った英語知識を応用することが難しいようだ。そこで本稿では、まず、学生による会話を撮ったビデオをもとに作成した日本人英語話者の持つ共通な問題点を紹介し解決策を考えていく。まず問題点だが、データから、会話中長い間止まってしまう、よく日
本語を使用し返答が短い、談話標識が欠落していることなどがわかった。学生達の会話の自立性を高めるため、何度も授業の中で、これらの問題をとりあげ繰り返し練習を行った結果、生徒達の言葉のやりとりのスタイルが変わり、より自然な話し方出来るようになった。
Key Words: Speaking, Conversation, Fluency, Classroom Interaction

Introduction
Many Japanese students of English display amarked imbalance between their passive knowledgeof vocabulary and grammar and their ability to
use this knowledge to engage in spontaneous,
spoken interaction. Student spoken output is often*

Campbell-Larsen, J. (2013) Towards a pedagogy
of conversation. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, &G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 37-42). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

characterized by hesitancy, frequent pausing, recourse
to L1 utterances, especially markers, complete
absence of common English discourse markers and
L1 style backchanneling. This paper investigates somecommon traits of Japanese English learners’ speaking,based on analysis of video recorded student speaking,with focus on fluency and interactional aspects of
speaking. I will detail the way in which these issues
are dealt with in a two semester course and show thechanges that are brought about in student spoken
language performance through comparison ofvideo recordings made at the beginning and end of
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Campell-Larsen
the course. The paper suggests that by focusing on
specific speaking skills within a framework of student
autonomy, students can move beyond overriding
concerns with grammatical correctness towards amore naturalistic manner of speaking English.

The Japanese Learner
There exists a wide and varied literature on theteaching of English in Japan, and on the nature ofJapanese communication style. Studies range fromanthropological accounts (McVeigh, 2003) to indepth descriptions of specific points of Japanesecommunication (See for example, Clancy, Thompson,Suzuki, &Tao, 1996; Fox, Hayashi and Jasperson
1996; Carroll 2005; Greer, Bussinguer, Butterfield &Mischinger, 2009; Locastro, 1987.)
Ellis (1991) gives an overview of some of thestudies concerning Japanese speakers, and provides alist of general statements on Japanese speaker’s traits,
focusing on sociolinguistic competence such as levelsof formality, differentials of directness according tostatus, and so on. There are two items on the list
which have a narrower linguistic focus, namely, thatJapanese are “less verbal, more inclined to use silence
in intercultural interactions” and “are inclined to use
more backchanneling devices.” (p. 116). Ellis warns
that data derived from elicited data may not reflect
actual behavior in real communicative situations.
That is, it is better to observe actual language use
by learners than rely on data derived under test orinterview conditions. Investigation of actual student
speaking can provide a nuanced view of what istaking place in conversation, providing a solid,
empirical basis for making statements about how
Japanese learners actually speak, with concomitant
implications for the development of English language
speaking and interactional skills.
To sum up, Japanese L1 interaction is carried out
in ways which are different from English interaction,with Fox, Hayashi and Jasperson (1996) suggestingthat interactive workings of a language are deeply
connected to the grammar of that language. This
would suggest the strong possibility that interactional
norms from the L1 may be transferred into second
language (L2) speaking. Whatever the case, there will38

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

be certain recurrent behaviors in Japanese speaker’s
performance which will seem ‘foreign-sounding’ tonative/proficient speakers of English, and thus prime
candidates for language instruction.

Some Features of Japanese Speaking
The following section deals with some traits ofJapanese speakers of English that were observed inanalysis of videotaped conversations of Japanese
university students engaging in English ‘free
conversation’ (N=14). The students were free to choose
partners and no direction was given by the teacher
regarding topic choice. Other groups continued
their own conversations in the background. The
atmosphere was lively and dynamic and the camera
was handheld by the teacher. The recorded sections
were each five minutes in length, representing
five minute stretches of ongoing conversations.
The videotapes were transcribed using simplified
conversation analysis (CA) transcription conventions
and analyzed.
In any situation where learners are conversing
using the target language the most noticeable
indicators of ‘foreignness’ will probably be mattersof pronunciation that is, foreign accent. Similarly,
non-normative grammatical constructions such as“Yesterday, I go to shopping.” will color impressionsof proficiency, especially if repeated across a numberof turns or constructed identically by several speakers.
The analysis of the student conversations ignored
these phenomena and focused on interactional
traits that contribute to feelings of dysfluency andforeignness in the student’s speaking. The following
traits were recurrent and characteristic of many
Japanese learners’ speaking. Each case is illustrated
with an excerpt from the videotaped conversations.
The excerpts are not one-off examples but serve toillustrate features of conversation that were recurrent
both within turns and across speakers.

Use of L1
Students often display a tendency to revert totheir L1 during English spoken interactions. These
reversions fall under three separate categories.

Towards a Pedagogy of Conversation, pages 37-42
Firstly students may consciously code switch andabandon the English interaction. Secondly, students
may use Japanese words during English language
utterances with varying degrees of consciousness andthen self-correct or translate. Thirdly students may
unconsciously mark their English speaking withJapanese markers such as ‘etoh’, ‘anno’ or self-correctwith Japanese markers, ‘jya’, ‘chau’.
(Extract 1.1) Switch to L1
Parentheses indicate short pause. Double parentheses
indicate transcriber’s guess of unclear utterance andtranscriber’s comment.
A: What kind of (.)what (.) you ((pick up))
B: I want to some café. I don’t decide eh (.)((Inaudible Japanese)) Mada (.) not decide
A: Mada kimeteinai
B: So
B: Kyo hataraku( Extract 1.2) L1 Lapse, Self-correction
A: Sunday is Ryoya’s tanjyobi (.)ah tanjyobi jyanai(.)birthday( Extract 1.3) L1 Marking
A: my (.) eto I was was born in Kobe buto eto (.)
eto (.) s (.) sugu

Lack of English Markers
Hasselgreen (2004) refers to ‘smallwords’ as“small words and phrases, occurring with highfrequency in the spoken language, that help keep
our speech flowing, yet do not contribute essentiallyto the message itself.” (p. 162). Words such as‘well’ ‘you know’, ‘I mean’ are the most prominent
members of this group of words (see McCarthy,
2010). Hasselgreen states that use of these words is
central to creating fluency and enabling the speaker
to use language interactively. The video data shows
a complete lack of these markers. There were zerooccurrences of ‘Well’, ‘You know’, ‘I mean’ across six
conversations of five minutes duration.

Backchannel and Aizuchi
The term backchannel refers to the utterancesof speakers that indicate attention, understanding,agreement and so on, whilst another speaker is still inpossession of the floor. Typical backchannel utterancesin English are ‘Yeah’, ‘Right’, ‘Uh huh’ and so on. The
parallel term in Japanese is Aizuchi. The literature on
Aizuchi is large and varied, prompting Hayashi andYoon (2009) to observe, “In the literature on Japanesecommunication style, response tokens have been oneof the most common objects of study” (p. 268). In thepresent study I found that several students displayed astrong tendency to use Japanese style Aizuchi insteadof English style backchanneling in English language
interactions. These responses are most noticeable for
their pronunciation. Words such as ‘Ah’ and ‘Eh’ may
be stretched over a much longer period than is usual
in English and are often uttered with sharply risingintonation and accompanied by facial expressions ofraised eyebrows, widened eyes, open, slightly rounded
mouth and with repeated nodding head movements.
Weaker learners sometimes adopted a passive stanceto the conversation and contributed little to theconversation beyond repeated Aizuchi.
( Extract 2.1) L1 backchannel
Colon use indicates sound stretch, (.) indicates
short pause. Double parentheses indicates transcriber’scomment.
A: (Omitted)
B: Oh:::
A: But my family eto came to Shizuoka to
B: Ah:::
A: Kobe come I eto stay I live in ((inaudible))with my family
B: Ah:::(.) eh::: about (.) one (.) ((inaudible))
A: Un about one one year
B: One year
A: Very (.) nice (.) very en, enjoy
B: Ah::: so ka

Pausing
Many students engage in prolonged inter-turnand intra-turn pauses. Multi-second silences are notuncommon, accompanied by averted gaze. Seedhouse(2004) observes “…gaps between speakers aremeasured in tenths of a second” (p. 27). Multi-second
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39Campell-Larsen
pausing is not characteristic of speech in normal
English conversation, and it is often confusing when
deployed by students as an interactional resource,
especially if pauses occur after every word in an
utterance.
( Extract 3.1) Pausing
Figures in parentheses are pause durations in seconds.
A: How many times a week
B: hhh (3.1)about (2.2) thirty hours
A: (8.8)
A: Hmm (.)so
B: (7.9) come on
A: let’s go let’s go to Osho together next time

Short Turns
One of Grice’s conversational maxims (Cited in
Cook, 1989, p. 29) is the maxim of quantity, thatis, speakers should say the right amount to meet thecurrent purposes of the exchange. Many students
engage in extremely short turns that go little beyond
meeting the bare needs of answering the question,with zero attempts at elaboration. A short turn is
not necessarily out of place, but if a speaker engages
in a prolonged series of such minimal turns then it
may create a problem for the interaction. Schegloff(2007) asserts that in responses to topic proffering,“… the key issue is whether the recipient displays astance which encourages or discourages the profferedtopic…” (p. 171). He goes on to add “… [a key
feature] is whether the response turn is constructed
to be minimal … or expanded.” In the language ofConversation Analysis (CA), a series of minimized
turns constitute dispreferred responses.
(Extract 4.1) Short Turns
Parentheses indicate short pauses, colon indicatessound stretch.
A: What (.) did (.) you do(.) weekend this weekend(.) last weekend weekend
B: Part time job
A: Oh eh what whato what job
B: Konbini (.)ence store
A: Oh (.)where where
B: Near my home.

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A: My home my(.) near
B: Near
A: Near eh Seven Eleven
B: No circle K
A: Circle K Circle Circle (.) ah: ah: ah:::Re-starts
Wong (2005) describes a tendency of nonnative speakers (NNS) to orient their talk towards
grammatical correctness in interactions with native
speakers, with NNS having a tendency to orient
towards meaning. Wong’s data concerns Finnish
language interactions and she concludes, “…
the NNSs treat grammatical correctness as beinga more important factor for understanding thanNSs” (p. 157). The NNS in Wong’s study engaged
in word searches and multiple attempts to produce
grammatically correct forms. Japanese learners
often display this tendency with many re-starts andhesitancies seemingly connected to the desire to
produce correct language and an orientation to theinstitutional (and possibly culturally bound) identityof learner/ non-native speaker.
(Extract 5.1) Restart
Parentheses indicate short pauses
A: Did (.) you(.) give(.) present(.) to your mother?
B: Yes ah: I (.)I (.) give (.) I gave (.) I gave flower

The Classroom as Venue forConversation
The above list is not intended to be acomprehensive account of all of the traits of Japaneselearners of English. Neither are all of the traits present
in the speaking of every student. The list should
be seen more as a broad brush-stroke picture ofcommon points that create a sense of foreignness andhinder smooth interaction. If these points are to beaddressed by the teacher then it is proposed that theinstitutional identities of both teacher and students
will have to be re-imagined and the classroom as avenue for conversation will have to be talked into
being. Seedhouse (1996) argues that due to theinstitutional nature of the L2 classroom true ‘natural’Towards a Pedagogy of Conversation, pages 37-42
conversation cannot take place, stating:
The only way, therefore, in which an ELT
lesson could become identical to conversation
would be for the learners to regard the teacher
as a fellow- conversationalist of identical statusrather than as a teacher, for the teacher not todirect the discourse in any way at all, and forthe setting to be non-institutional. (p. 18)
This is clearly a tall order, but not impossible toachieve with careful planning and training, and withrepeated focus across the year on the interactional
traits referred to above. The students in this study were
habituated to initiating and sustaining conversation in
English each lesson. After the teacher had performed
the institutionally required task of taking attendance
the students began their conversations. The teacher
did not offer any cues, allocate groups or topics
or set a time limit. The teacher moved among thegroups fulfilling a variety of rolls, such as monitoring
interactional behavior for later discussion, prompting
use of discourse markers, drawing attention to L1
usage, providing vocabulary and grammar help
or simply joining in the conversations as an equal
participant. Over the course of the academic year
the students became more oriented to their rolls as
conversationalists, and, it is argued here that on manyoccasions speaking occurred that fulfilled Cook’s(1989) criteria for conversation.
1. It is not primarily necessitated by a practicaltask.
2. Any unequal power of participants is partiallysuspended.
3. The number of participants is quite small
4. Turns are quite short
5. Talk is primarily for the participants and not
for an outside audience. (p. 56)

OutcomeThe students were videotaped again at the end of
the academic year and the conversations transcribedand analyzed. The conversations were compared withthe recordings made at the beginning of the academic
year. The results showed that changes in the students’
speaking had taken place. L1 utterances were much

reduced, with L1 marking being seen in a single
instance of ‘jya’ in one of the conversations, quickly
self-corrected. Smallwords were used frequently by
students in the conversations. Backchanneling waslargely in English and there was a reduced occurrenceof Aizuchi. Turns were longer, there were fewer pauses
and re-starts and the students were able to employ
a wider vocabulary. The cumulative impression
was that the students were more able to engage inconversation in a more naturalistic, confident andfluent manner than at the beginning of the year.
To sum up, identifying interactive language skills,
and then repeatedly addressing these in lessons andcreating a venue for emergent, student initiatedconversation can bring about real and measurable
change in students’ speaking and conversation.

References
Carroll, D. (2005). Vowel-marking as aninteractional resource in Japanese novice ESL
conversation. In K. Richards, & P. Seedhouse(Eds.), Applying conversation analysis (pp. 214234). Basingstoke, England: Palgrave.
Clancy, P. M., Thompson, S. A., Suzuki, R., & Tao,
H. (1996). The conversational use of reactive
tokens in English, Japanese, and Mandarin.
Journal of Pragmatics, 26, 355-387.
Cook, G. (1989). Discourse. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. (1991). Communicative competence and
the Japanese learner. JALT Journal 13(2), 103127.
Fox, B.A., Hayashi, M., & Jasperson, R. (1996).
Resources and repair: a cross-linguistic study ofsyntax and repair. In E. Ochs, E.A. Schegloff& S.A. Thompson (Eds.), Interaction andgrammar (pp. 185-237). Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Greer, T., Bussinguer, S., Butterfield, S., &Mischinger, A. (2006). Receipt throughrepetition. JALT Journal, 31(1), 5-34.
Hasselgreen, A. (2004). Testing the spoken English
of young Norwegians: A study of test validity
and the role of “smallwords” in contributing topupil’s fluency. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
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Campell-Larsen
University Press.
Hayashi, M., & Yoon, K. (2009). Negotiatingboundaries in talk. In J. Sidnell, (ed.),Conversation analysis: Comparative perspectives.
(pp. 250-278) Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
LoCastro, V. (1987). Aizuchi: A Japaneseconversational routine. In L.E. Smith (Ed.),
Discourse across cultures, (pp. 101-113). Hemel
Hemptstead, England: Prentice Hall.
McVeigh, B. J. (2003). Performing the part of the
English teacher: The role of anthropologist
and the anthropologist of roles in Japan. In E.
P. Bueno & T. Caesar (Eds.), I wouldn’t wantanybody to know: Native English teaching inJapan, (pp. 134-146). Tokyo, Japan: JPGS Press.
McCarthy, M.J. (2010). Spoken fluency revisited.
English Profile Journal, 1(1), 1-15.
Schegloff, E.A. (2007). Sequence organization ininteraction: A primer in conversation analysis.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press.
Seedhouse, P. (1996). Classroom Interaction:
possibilities and impossibilities. ELT Journal
50(1), 16-24.
Wong, J. (2005). Sidestepping Grammar. In K.
Richards & P. Seedhouse (Eds.), Applying
conversation analysis, (pp. 214-234).
Basingstoke, England: Palgrave.

Author’s Biography:
John Campbell-Larsen has taught English in Japan since 1995 and is currently teaching at
Momoyama Gakuin University.

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Face-to-face Communication and Instant Messaging:
Similarities and Differences

Seth E. Cervantes

Robert C. Olson

Tomakomai Komazawa
University
sesu46@gmail.com

Tomakomai Komazawa
University
robolson32@hotmail.com

This article reports on a small study examining whether EFL learners use interactional practices
found in face-to-face communication to organize chats using Instant Messaging (IM). Transcripts
of IM chats between seven intermediate level learners and two native speaking English teachers
were collected over four weeks, and the following interactional practices were analyzed: (1) turn(transmission)-taking, (2) sequencing, (3) organization, and (4) repair. Findings suggest that EFL
learners use similar communicative practices found in speech. The implications are that language
teachers can use IM in a systematic manner to highlight the role of pragmatics and the mannerin which face-to-face communication (or talk-in-interaction) is organized.
対面コミュニケーションとインスタントメッセージングにおける類似点と相違点
本稿では、EFL 学習者がインスタントメッセージング (IM) を使用してチャットをする際に、対面コミュニケーションで使われる相互作用の特徴を用いるか否かについて吟味する。中級レベルの学生7名と英語が母語の指導者2名の間で、4 週間にわたるIMチャットの記録を収集し、相互作用における特徴を以下の項目により分析した。(1) turn (transmission)taking practices (ターン・テイキング)、(2) sequencing practices (会話の流れ)、 (3)organization practices (会話の構成)、(4) repair practices (会話の修復)。その結果、教師は語用論の役割および対面的コミュニケーション (またはトークインの相互作用) の特徴を強調する場合、体系的な方法での IM の使用が可能であることがわかった。
Keywords: Computer mediated communication (CMC), Instant Messaging (IM), transmission
unit, interactional practices, Conversation Analysis (CA)Computer mediated communication’s (CMC)
rise has changed how people communicate, for better
and worse (Turkle, 2011). Foremost, CMC provides*

Cervantes, S. E., & Olson, R. C. (2013). Face-to-facecommunication and instant messaging: Similarities
and differences. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, &G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 43-48). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

English learners with safe and meaningful practice
opportunities and teachers with exciting possibilities
that are easy to implement and inexpensive.
Baron (2008) claims that IM borrows many
features associated with face-to-face communication.
Unlike texting, which is asynchronous, IM is
synchronous which creates the feeling of an informal
chat. Users of IM, however, convey meaning throughwriting rather than ephemeral sounds or body
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Cervantes & Olson
gestures (See Navarro, 2009).
Baron (2008) also observed that IM and faceto-face communication have similar turn lengths,
use one-word utterances, and have closings that end
gradually rather than abruptly. Another similarity
exists between turn-at-talk in face-to-face conversation
and IM transmission units. When a writer composesand sends a message, the message constitutes atransmission unit. Baron (2008) used the analogy of
intonation units (Chafe, 1980) to explain why IM
has the feel of a face-to-face conversation. Intonation
units, Baron notes, are recognized by intonation,
pauses, and often conjunctions (e.g., but and and) at
the beginning. Transmission units seem to represent
intonation units that can be broken into chunks, aprocess Baron calls utterance chunking. When two
transmission units constitute one sentence it forms
an utterance break pair (UB pair):
Example 1
Transmission 1 (T1): What’s up
Transmission 2 (T2): John?
The following neither constitutes utterance
chunks nor a UB pair because the transmissions are
not intonation units:
Example 2
T1: What’s
T2: up? John.
The second transmission of an utterance break
can be either a dependent clause starting with acoordinating conjunction or an independent clause,
although the latter is not frequent (Baron, 2008). The
following is an example of a second part UB startingwith a dependent clause:
Example 3
T1: I went to California ←1st UB independent
clauseT2: but I didn’t visit Disneyland. ←2nd UB
dependent clause

Interactional Practices
Thesimilarities
betweenface-to-facecommunication and IM conversation are notcompletely linear. In face-to-face communication,
speakers employ what Wong and Waring (2010)
call interactional practices. Interactional practices

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consist of (1) turn-taking practices, (2) sequencing
practices, (3) overall structuring practices, and (4)repair practices. These practices, when mastered,give speakers a sense of competency that O’Keeffe,
McCarthy, and Carter (2007) call confluency.
Although Baron compared and contrasted face-toface communication with IM conversations, she did
not consider fully how interactional practices allow
speakers to co-produce talk; also Baron’s focus was
not limited to foreign language learners. With theabove in mind, we formed the following question to
guide our research: Do non-native speakers of English
employ interactional practices to organize IM chats?

MethodSeven undergraduate students (five females andtwo males) participated in this study. These students
were selected because their instructors (also theauthors) felt they had the ability and willingness toparticipate.

Materials and Apparatus
The students used two laptop computers (placedin different rooms) equipped with Internet access andICQ, an instant messaging computer program. ICQ
was selected because it is free, simple, and includes afunction that allows for IM conversations, along withthe time and date each transmission unit was sent, tobe downloaded as .txt files.

Procedures
The research experiment lasted four weeks. In
week one, the instructors gave a short lecture on IM,
and then gathered the students for a chat between
the two classes. Students from each class participatedfor five-to-ten minute periods. In the following week,
four pairs of students were blindly paired and chatted
for 20-minutes with some overlap between pairs. In
week four, the same process in week two was followed.

Results
To determine whether English learners employedinteractional practices, we examined the IM
transcripts using the following analytical concepts

Face-to-face Communication and Instant Messaging..., pages 43-48
borrowed from Conversation Analysis (CA): (1) turn(transmission)-taking, (2) sequencing, (3) overall
structuring, and (4) repair.

Turn-taking
The basic unit of a turn is the turn construction
unit (TCU). The importance of a TCU is that itallows the recipient to project an end to a turn.
This is achieved when a turn is perceived as being
grammatically or pragmatically complete. Extract 1
and Extract 2 show that our participants’ TCUs weregrammatically complete, projecting to the recipientsa sense that the transmissions had ended, thus
freeing the recipient to respond in turn. Each turn
type is listed following each TCU (see arrows). The
time each transmission was sent is also shown in theextracts. The extracts were recorded verbatim.
Extract 1
A 10:12 (the time the transmission unit was sent)
01 yes i like tomakomai ← sentential TCU (acomplete sentence)
A 10:1202 but sometimes very cold ← clausal TCU (aclause)Extract 2
A 10:1501 I like K-POP. ← sentential TCU
B 10:15
02 yes, i`m korean. ← sentential TCU
B 10:1503 really? oh thats good! ← sentential TCU
A 10:16
04 Especialy, T-ARA. ← phrasal TCU (a phrase)
B 10:16
05 t-ara! ← lexical TCU (a word)
B 10:1606 very famous girl group. ← phrasal TCU
In face-to-face communication, there is generally
no silence gap with some occasional overlap (Sacks,
Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974; Carrol, 2011). We founddifferences between face-to-face communication and
IM. One concerns gaps. Extract 3 is an example ofsignificant silence gaps between turns:

Extract 3
A 9:1901 I ilke play sports and read a book in my freetime.
B 9:2002 That’s good! Waht’s your favorite book?
A 9:22 ← significant gap between transmissions
03 My favorite book is Isaka Kotaro’s book. Do
you know?

Sequencing
The manner in which turns are sequenced
together form sequencing practices. At the heart ofsequencing practices are adjacency pairs (i.e. greetings
are followed by greetings and offers are followedby an acceptance). These preferred responses arecontrasted with dispreferred responses. A preferred
response to an invitation is a quick acceptance, whilea dispreferred refusal is delayed and usually followedby an explanation of the refusal (ten Have, 2007).
Extract 4 is an example of a dispreferred response wefound in our data:
Extract 4
A 9:5001 Please give me sweets. ← request
B 9:52
02 Really? I want to buy sweets for you, but i
don’t have money. ← refusal
In Extract 5, B compliments A on being an
exchange student from Thailand. A mitigates thecompliment by explaining how hard Japanese is,which is followed by B’s insistence that if she studies
Japanese she will speak it well. In the next turn, A
downgrades the compliment.
Extract 5
A 9:36
01 Yes!!! I come from Thailand. I’m a exchange
student.
B 9:37
02 Wow . That’s great!!!! ← compliment
A 9:3803 Really? But the Japanese language is so hardfor me. ← mitigation
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Cervantes & Olson
B 9:41
04 Oh . . . but if you study Japanese, you goodspeak japanese!!
A 9:4205 No!!! I can speak a little bit. ← downgrading
In Extract 6, B responds to the compliment by
thanking A.
Extract 6
A 10:1801 amazing, you are so wonderful! ← compliment
B 10:19
02 Thank U! ← acceptance of complimentOverall Structuring
Overall structuring practices concern the opening
and closing of a conversation. In this section we
examined how participants open and close IM chats.
Extract 7 is a typical opening we observed in thetranscripts:
Extract 7
A 10:05
01 This is Hisae. ← identification
B 10:07
02 hello my name is liz ← identification
A 10:08
03 Hello! I am Japanese. ← identification
B 10:09
04 nice to meet you. ← greeting
Typically, participants opened an IM chat byidentifying themselves, usually by name. It should
be noted that typical IM conversations do not openwith self-introductions because interlocutors almost
always know each other. However, the participants
basically chatted with strangers so identification was
important.
Closings in face-to-face communication areusually drawn-out affairs; Baron (2008) foundthat closings in IM conversations in her study
averaged seven transmissions. However, closings
were problematic during initial IM chat sessions asparticipants closed their IM chats abruptly. Extract 8
illustrates this in the first IM chat sessions:46

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Extract 8
A 10:04
01 yes! i got it! by the way, when the weather willturn warm here..?
B 10:04
02 it’s time to go !!! thank you!!! ← announced
closing sequence and appreciation
A 10:05
03 Thank u very much*) ← terminal exchange
In line 01, B introduces a new topic by asking “…
by the way, when the weather will turn warm here ..?”
In line 02, B announces that their IM chat is ending
and shows appreciation by thanking A. B ignores A’squestion in line 01. Because both transmissions weresent at 10:04, it is possible that B had already written
his announced closing sequence prior to receiving A’s
introduction of a new topic. Nonetheless, B initiates
a terminal exchange by thanking A, leaving A’squestion and terminal exchange unaddressed.
After observing similar clipped closings, we
explained conversation openings and closings. In thesecond IM chat session, the participants were asked toclose conversations gradually. Extract 9 is an example
of a gradual closing that occurred during second IM
chat sessions:
Extract 9
A 9:5701 Well I have to go to library. ← pre-closing
signal, announced closing sequence
B 9:5802 See you. Thanks for talking, Good, bye. ←appreciation sequence, terminal exchange
A 9:5803 OK! Have a nice day!! Bye. ← solicitude
sequence, terminal exchange
In line 01, A gives a pre-closing signal (“Well”)
and follows that with an announced closing sequence(I have to go the library). B thanks speaker A andthen initiates a terminal exchange (“Good, bye”). A
replies in line 03 with a solicitude sequence (“Havea nice day!!”), and terminates the IM chat with areciprocal “Bye.” Although Extract 8 and Extract 9
are each three turns, the closing sequence in Extract

Face-to-face Communication and Instant Messaging..., pages 43-48
9 has a more natural feel with the appearance ofpre-closing signals (e.g., “Well” and “OK!”), varied
closing sequences, reciprocal terminal exchanges, andno unaddressed questions.

Repair
The last interactional practice we examined isrepair. Repair occurs when there is a misunderstanding
between interlocutors. In face-to-face communication
most repairs occur when the speaker notices a
mistake in his or her output and self-corrects (Wong& Warring, 2010). Another form occurs when therecipient of the output (transmitted message) calls
attention to a trouble source in the message. The
transmitter picks up on the trouble source andinitiates a repair sequence. With the trouble source
addressed, the conversation (chat) is picked up where
it left off.
Extract 10
Teacher
10:13
01 But Hisae you are doing a bang-up job!
Student
10:14
02 Bang? ← repair initiator
Teacher 10:14
03 Bang-up means super. ← repair outcome
Student 10:15
04 THX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In line 01 a teacher compliments Hisae (apseudonym) by telling her that she is “doing a bangup job.” Hisae indicates confusion with a repair
initiator (i.e., “Bang?”). The question mark indicatesthat “Bang” would have an upward intonation in
face-to-face conversations, which highlights thetrouble source in line 01. The teacher recognizes
the repair initiator and offers the synonym “super,”allowing Hisae to accept the compliment in line 04
with “THX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
In face-to-face communication some “mistakes”
are ignored. There is reluctance on the partof interlocutors to correct the person they arecommunicating with, especially when mistakes
do not impede comprehension. The ignoring of“mistakes” is illustrated in Extract 11.

Extract 11
A 9:1401 My hobby is praying sport and listen to music
B 9:16
02 That’s nice! What do you play sport? ← B
avoids correcting A
A’s misspelling of “playing” as “praying” does notcause B any problems, so she ignores it, responding
with a follow-up question (What do you play sport?).
In line 02, B spells “play” in its standard form, whichindicates that she did understand A’s transmission inline 01. Later on in the chat, A continues to misspell“play” even though B does not. The possibility of A
acquiring the standard spelling of “play” incidentally
through noticing was a point we failed to consider
prior to examining the transcripts (Adams, 2007;
Smith, 1998).

Discussion
We found that our participants did employ
interactional practices found in face-to-facecommunication. The participants sent transmission
units that were similar to TCUs in that they weregrammatically and pragmatically complete. However,
we found silence gaps between transmissions, which,as we noted earlier, are usually avoided (See Carroll,2011). Our examination of sequencing practices also
showed that participants were aware of adjacency pairs,
one example being the conversation that contained
the refusal of a request to purchase sweets. There werealso instances of participants accepting (Extract 5) anddowngrading (Extract 5) compliments. The mannerof responding to compliments or complaints (Extract
5) and refusing requests (Extract 4) is significant anddeserves attention (Ishihara & Cohen, 2010).
When participants were messaging each other,
we found no instances of repair practices, with one
exception being when the interlocutor was a teacher.
The instance of the participant ignoring a mistake(Extract 11) is similar to listeners not initiating a
repair sequence if the meaning is clear.

Conclusion
We believe IM can build awareness of interactional
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Cervantes & Olsonpractices and how turns are co-constructed. We
advise that teachers consider how IM can beused systematically to focus on specific aspects ofinteractional practices; for example we noticed thatparticipants abruptly closed conversations. One
disadvantage of using IM to teach conversationis that it does not account for the various contexts
that accompany long silence gaps. Face-to-facecommunication takes place in a high-context setting,and requires that interlocutors always consider themanner in which they are acting and speaking. For
example, we observed one participant checking
her Facebook page on her smartphone during an
IM chat. While recognizing that IM and face-toface communication are similar, we do not suggest
teaching IM per se but rather using IM to instruct
and highlight aspects of face-to-face communication.

References
Baron, N. S. (2008). Always on: Language in an
Online and mobile world. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
Carroll, D. (2010). Conversation analysis andlanguage teaching: A call for action. In T. Greer(Ed.), Observing talk: Conversation analytic
studies of second language interaction (pp. 7-22).
Tokyo, Japan: JALT Pragmatics SIG.
Carroll, D. (2011). Taking turns and talking
naturally: Teaching conversational turn-taking.
In N. R. Houck & D. H. Tatsuki (Eds.),
Pragmatics: Teaching natural conversation (pp.
91-103). Alexandria, VA: TESOL Publications.
Chafe, W. (1980). The deployment consciousness
in the production of a narrative. In W. Chafe(Ed.), Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic aspects ofnarrative production (pp. 9-50). Norwood, NJ:
Ablex.
Ishihara, N. & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching andlearning pragmatics: Where language and culture
meet. London, England: Longman.
Adams, R. (2007). Do second language learners
benefit from interacting with each other? In
A. Mackey (Ed.), Conversational interaction insecond language acquisition. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.
Navarro, J. (2008). What every body is saying: An
ex-FBI agent’s guide to speed reading people. New
York, NY: Harper-Collins.
O’Keeffe, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R. (2007).
From corpus to classroom: Language use andlanguage teaching. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A, & Jefferson, G. (1974).
A simplest systematics for the organization ofturn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4),696-735.
Schegloff, E. A., Jefferson, G., & Sacks, H. (1977).
The preference for self-correction in theorganization of self in conversation. Language,53(2), 361-382.
Smith, F. (1998). The Book of learning and forgetting.
New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
ten Have, P. (2007). Doing conversation analysis: A
practical guide. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect morefrom technology and less from each other. New
York, NY: Basic Books.
Wong, J. & Waring, H. Z. (2010) Conversation
analysis and second language pedagogy: A guide for
ESL/EFL teachers. New York, NY: Routledge.

Authors’ Biographies:
Seth E. Cervantes is a lecturer at Tomakomai Komazawa University. His current researchinterests include pragmatics and foreign language education in Japan’s elementary schools.
Rob C. Olson is an associate professor at Tomakomai Komazawa University. He is the authorof two comic books, and is currently working on this third comic book about international
marriages.

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Spirited Singles: Re-reading Femininity in Anne ofGreen Gables

Kristie Collins
Department of American Literature
University of Tsukuba
Email: kristiecollins@yahoo.com
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic novel, Anne of Green Gables, has captured the hearts andimagination of Japanese readers for over half a century, and its appeal endures to this day. This
paper explores how the text can be used as a teaching resource to facilitate critical readings ofgender issues, and three single female characters are presented as examples of Montgomery’s
strong, female-centered world. The author posits that the novel offers many interesting teachingpossibilities for a gender classroom—such as the Cuthberts’ unconventional family structure,
the subversion of gender roles seen in Marilla and Matthew’s parenting responsibilities; and thedissimilar valuing of boy/girl children in adoption practices—and advocates for further researchon interdisciplinary textual analyses of classic children’s and young adults’ literature.
ルーシー・モード・モンゴメリの『赤毛のアン』は、日本の読者の心と想像力を半世紀にわたって掴み、その魅力は現在でも健全だ。本稿は、このテクストがジェンダー問題の批評的読解を促す教材として使えること、すなわち三人の独身女性の登場人物たちがモンゴ
メリの強力な女性中心の世界を示す例として提示されていることを論じるものである。筆者は、この小説がジェンダーを教える授業の可能性――たとえば、カスバート家の型にはまらない家族構成、マリラとマシューの子育てにおけるジェンダー逆転、養子に際しての男／女の価値不均衡――をしめすだけでなく、児童文学や青少年向け文学の古典を学際的に精読するためのリサーチを奨励するきっかけとなることを願うものである。
Key Words: Gender, Singleness, Canadian Studies, Literature

Introduction
Growing up in Prince Edward Island, Canada, it
is impossible to sidestep the omnipresent influenceof Lucy Maud Montgomery’s literary legacy and hermost celebrated novel, Anne of Green Gables (1908).
*

Collins, K. (2013). Spirited singles: Re-reading
femininity in Anne of Green Gables. In R.
Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012
Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 49-54).
Hiroshima: JALT.

*As children, we read the Anne series in English classes
and sang songs in choir from Canada’s longestrunning stage production, Anne of Green Gables—theMusical; as young adults we drove cars with Anne’s
face emblazoned on the provincial license plates andtook summer jobs in a tourist industry thriving on
lobster suppers, Celtic ceilidhs, and Anne tourism—
the last of the three geared with particular enthusiasm
at visitors from Japan.
Anne of Green Gables—known as Akage no An
to Japanese readers—was first introduced in JapanThe 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings49Collins
in 1952 (translated by Hanako Muraoka), alongwith other children’s literature such as Laura Ingalls
Wilder’s Little House series, as part of an effort to“give hope to young readers in Japan as they rebuilt
their devastated nation” (Kajihara, 1999, p. 434).
The spirited nature of Montgomery’s protagonist
has inspired generations of Japanese readers since its
introduction, and “Anne of Green Gables has been
perennially popular among both children and adults.
It has never been out of print, nor have its sequels;and new editions for children and adults are set to be
published” (Akamatsu, 1999, p. 205).
As a gender scholar, I never imagined that I would
become reacquainted with—or interested in—theclassic novel of my youth. And yet, as an Islanderteaching in Japan, I have found myself continuously
urged to incorporate the book in my syllabi. This
year, in a twist of fate, I was assigned a North
American Literature course and decided to re-readMontgomery’s first novel: to my delight and surprise,
Anne of Green Gables proved to be the perfect text for
my class—a classic piece of Canadiana as well as an
ideal resource for teaching gender topics.

Anne of Green Gables as a GenderStudies Resource
Anne of Green Gables is the story of an elevenyear-old orphan child named Anne Shirley, who gets
adopted by an aging duo named Marilla and Matthew
Cuthbert. The Cuthberts own and manage a farmcalled Green Gables in the fictional town of Avonlea,
Prince Edward Island, and decide to adopt an orphanboy to help Matthew with the physical labor requiredon the farm. Much to their surprise, a mistake ismade while procuring the child from Nova Scotia,
as the orphanage had been told they wanted a girlinstead. While Marilla initially considers correcting
the mistake and replacing Anne with an orphan boy,she decides to keep her when she learns of the child’s
difficult past and sees the girl’s heart set on a future
at Green Gables; furthermore, Matthew is enchantedby the girl from the moment he meets her—a rarehappenstance for this perpetually shy farmer—andhe plays advocate for the tribulation-prone Anne50

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

throughout the novel. In this way, it is set up earlyon that Matthew will be the nurturing parent andMarilla the disciplinarian—a reversal of conventional
gender roles in which women are expected to becaretakers and men figures of authority.
Even more significantly, Anne’s new guardians are
not a married couple. Marilla and Matthew are, in
actuality, sister and brother, and neither of them has
ever married. The two of them function as partners
in the running of the farm and farmhouse, andseem quite content in their companionable living
arrangement. As Virokannas (2011), in her thesis on“The Complex Anne-Grrrl: A Third Wave Feminist
Re-reading of Anne of Green Gables,” argues:
Marilla and Matthew’s relationship as siblings
makes them in some ways more equal thana married couple.… [Marilla] can be seen as
economically independent, not dependent on
her brother’s charity or in need of a husband.
Moreover, being a capable woman with a strong
will she can easily be seen as the dominating
figure in the Green Gables household insteadof the shy, quiet, withdrawn Matthew.… The
Cuthberts’ family structure, made up of siblings
as adoptive parents, not husband and wife andthe adopted child, lacks ‘the dualistic family
values of hierarchy and coercive authoritarian
control’ and is resistant to the patriarchal‘essential family form’ i.e. the heterosexual, twoparent family, which is ‘in conflict with feminist
values.’ (p. 20-22)
As we can see, the general premise of the novel
offers many interesting teaching possibilities for agender classroom: unconventional family structure;subversion of gender roles; gender socialization;and dissimilar valuing of boy/girl children. There
are various ways that this text—and other children’s
literature classics such as Little Women, Pippi
Longstocking, or The Secret Garden—could be utilized
as a resource for critical reading in gender studies
courses, and I propose that Anne of Green Gables has
particular value in the way it positions and esteems
the role of women in the running of the community,
and in the way they “support, direct, and serve Anne

Spirited Singles..., pages 49-54
as models throughout her life” (Berg, 1992, p. 160).
In particular, I will focus on three single female
characters from the book who play significant parts inAnne’s moral, educational, and cultural upbringing:
Marilla Cuthbert, Muriel Stacy, and Josephine Barry.

Miss Marilla Cuthbert
Marilla was a tall, thin woman, with angles
and without curves; her dark hair showed somegray streaks and was always twisted up in a hardlittle knot behind with two wire hairpins stuckaggressively through it. She looked like a womanof narrow experience and rigid conscience, which
she was; but there was a saving something about
her mouth which, if it had been ever so slightly
developed, might have been considered indicativeof a sense of humour. (Montgomery, 1942, p. 5)
Marilla Cuthbert is, certainly, the most important
female role model as Anne’s adoptive mother andguardian. Although she often comes across as stern,particularly in the earlier parts of the novel, there islittle doubt that she falls quickly under Anne’s spelland grows deeply proud and fond of her young
protégé—not that she will often tell her so, however.
We see evidence of this in her conversation with
Matthew, after Anne’s successful oration at the school
concert:“Well now, I guess our Anne did as well as anyof them,” said Matthew proudly.
“Yes, she did,” admitted Marilla. “She’s abright child, Matthew. And she looked real nice,too. I’ve been kind of opposed to this concert
scheme, but I suppose there’s no real harm in it
after all. Anyhow, I was proud of Anne tonight,
although I’m not going to tell her so.”
“Well now, I was proud of her and I did tellher so ‘fore she went upstairs,” said Matthew.
(Montgomery, 1942, p. 217)
Marilla’s strict deportment, nevertheless, is notemblematic of a lack of caring or concern for her
ward. In fact, Virokannas presents Marilla’s style ofparenting as feminist as she calls upon women in thecommunity for guidance and advice in mothering

Anne, a style of child rearing that welcomes“othermothers” (p. 22). Interestingly, other Avonlea
women—such as Mrs. Lynde, Mrs. Allan, andMrs. Barry—offer suggestions for mothering Anne,
which Marilla adopts or ignores as she sees fit, but
it is never implied that Marilla, as an unmarried
woman, is less than capable of parenting Anne. As
single mothers are frequently marginalized in society,this distinction seems noteworthy. Other examplesof Marilla’s feminist parenting are seen in her
continued participation in activities she did prior to
the adoption—evidence of a life of her own beyond
the newly-acquired role of mother—and in her (andMatthew’s) dedication to Anne’s education:“When Matthew and I took you to bring up we
resolved we would do the best we could for you
and give you a good education. I believe in a girlbeing fitted to earn her own living whether she
ever has to or not. You’ll always have a home atgreen gables as long as Matthew and I are here,
but nobody knows what is going to happen inthis uncertain world, and it’s just as well to beprepared.” (p. 258)
As a guardian, respected community leader, andindependent woman, Marilla provides an excellent
example to Anne of what she can accomplish as astrong—and single—woman. Most importantly, she
is able to provide Anne with what she wanted most inlife—a home and a family.

Miss Muriel Stacy
She led her class to think and explore and discoverfor themselves and encouraged straying from theold beaten paths to a degree that quite shocked
Mrs. Lynde and the school trustees, who viewed
all innovations on established methods rather
dubiously. (Montgomery, 1942, p. 269)
Miss Stacy is another significant single woman in
Anne’s world. Although she is described as young andladylike, her unmarried status seems to be of little
concern to the community, and she is able to teachand inspire her students without any matchmaking
interference from the Avonlea townspeople. Like
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings51Collins
Marilla, Muriel Stacy is aware of the value andimportance of education—for her female students aswell as the males—and decides to create and run anadvanced study course for Avonlea students planningto continue with their studies at Queen’s Academy.
Anne and six of her classmates join the “Queen’s
Class,” but her best friend, Diana, is denied thisexperience as “her parents did not intend to send her
to Queen’s” (Montgomery, 1942, p. 259). The Barryfamily’s decision to not enroll Diana in the course
underscores the progressive view of the Cuthberts, as
it would have been common in the early 1900’s foryoung Prince Edward Island women to be directed
towards marriage and domestic responsibilities rather
than education or career training. However, as single
women themselves, Marilla Cuthbert and Muriel
Stacy would certainly recognize the value in acquiring
a teaching certification.
The text itself can be exploited to draw out further
commentary on feminist issues such as women andeducation or work. Anne’s questions and commentson the world around her offer us interesting viewpoints
on gender (in)equality, and give instructors various
ways into teaching points for a gender class. Take, forinstance, the following excerpt where Anne describes
to Marilla her classmates’ motivations for joining theQueen’s Class:Jane and Ruby are just going to study to beteachers. That is the height of their ambition.
Ruby says she will only teach for two years
after she gets through, and then she intends
to be married. Jane says she will devote her
whole life to teaching, and never, never marry,
because you are paid a salary for teaching, but ahusband won’t pay you anything, and growls if
you ask for a share in the egg and butter money.
(Montgomery, 1942, p. 244)
Thanks to Miss Stacy’s thorough guidance andsupport, Anne passes the entrance exam at the
top of the list. Muriel Stacy’s influence on Anne’s
development as a scholar and as a young woman is
profound—she helps her harness her remarkable
imagination and sets her on a path that leads to her
own successful teaching career.

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Miss Josephine Barry
Miss Barry was a rather selfish old lady, if thetruth must be told, and had never cared much foranybody but herself. She valued people only as they
were of service to her or amused her. Anne hadamused her, and consequently stood high in the oldlady’s good graces.... “I thought Marilla Cuthbert
was an old fool when I heard she’d adopted a girlout of an orphan asylum,” she said to herself, “butI guess she didn’t make much of a mistake after all.
If I’d a child like Anne in the house all the time I’d
be a better and happier woman.” (Montgomery,
1942, p. 251)
The final strong, single woman that deservesconsideration is Josephine Barry, the unmarried,elderly great-aunt of Anne’s best friend, Diana
Barry. While the reader’s first impression of “Aunt
Josephine” is one of a cantankerous old woman, it isquickly revealed that Miss Barry is another of Anne’s“kindred spirits.” Not only does she act as a cultural
mentor to Anne and Diana when the girls visit her
in Charlottetown—offering a glimpse into a world
beyond that of rural Avonlea—Miss Barry eventually
becomes Anne’s benefactor when she leaves her one
thousand dollars in her will (in the third novel, Anneof the Island). This inheritance makes it possible forAnne to continue her studies at Redmond College,acquiring the advanced training that would offer ayoung woman a career and financial independence.
Josephine Barry, although depicted as somewhat
selfish and difficult, is not seen as pitiable or lacking
as an unmarried woman—in fact, no accounting ofher singleness is given in the novel. As it happens,within the Anne of Green Gables series, single female
characters are seen in abundance, and rather thanbeing portrayed as “cautionary tales” for young
readers, their lives are presented as very satisfactory.
Moreover, many Anne scholars note that the central
relationships in most of the Anne stories are largely
those between women, not between men and women,
the more conventional heteronormative narrativethat female readers tend to encounter (see Berg,
1992; Gay, 1992; and, Rothwell, 1999). As Gubar(2001, p. 53-54) writes:

Spirited Singles..., pages 49-54
Numerous critics have noticed how insistently
Montgomery stresses the importance of female
community in her novels. Carol Gay, GabriellaÅhmansson, K. L. Poe, Eve Kornfeld, and Susan
Jackson all note Montgomery’s habit of setting
up “matriarchal utopia[s]” in place of more
traditional family configurations (Åhmansson
142). Offering, in Phillipa’s words, “the fun ofhomemaking without the bother of a husband,”havens like Patty’s Place fleetingly fulfill Anne’schildhood fantasy that she and her friend Diana“‘will never marry but be nice old maids andlive together forever’” (Anne of the Island 117),and the cheerful aunts, merry widows, andcharming spinsters who inhabit Anne’s world
serve as role models for other young womeninterested in the allure of unmarried life (Green
Gables 315-16).
Thus, Miss Barry’s role as a cultural mentor andbenefactor plays a significant role in Anne Shirley’slife, and the reader is given yet another positive
example of female singleness in Aunt Josephine Barry.

Concluding Thoughts
In this paper, I have presented a different “lens”
through which we can read the classic Canadiannovel, Anne of Green Gables. As this book holds
great appeal to a Japanese readership, I would argue
that it would be a welcome addition to many of ourclassroom settings in Japan. It is my hope that thistype of study may open up possibilities for othereducators interested in exploiting texts for criticalreadings of gender issues to pursue a re-visiting ofother texts, too. Together, we may find that there areunlimited resources available to us that will helpfully
bridge literary studies, gender studies, language
studies, and many other fields of research.

References
Akamatsu, Y. (1999). Japanese readings of Anneof Green Gables. In I. Gammel & E. Epperly(Eds.) L.M. Montgomery and Canadian culture(pp. 201-212). Toronto, Canada: University ofToronto Press Incorporated.
Alcott, L. M. (1868). Little women. Boston, MA:
Roberts Brothers.
Berg, T. (1992). Anne of Green Gables: A girl’s
reading. In M. Reimer (Ed.), Such a simple little
tale: Critical responses to L.M. Montgomery’s Anneof Green Gables (pp. 153-164). Metuchen, NJ:
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Burnett, F. H. (1911). The secret garden. New York,
NY: Frederick A. Stokes.
Gay, C. (1992). “Kindred Spirits” all: Green Gables
revisited. In M. Reimer (Ed.), Such a simple little
tale: Critical responses to L.M. Montgomery’s Anneof Green Gables (pp. 101-108). Metuchen, NJ:
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Gubar, M. (2001). “Where is the boy?”: The
pleasures of postponement in the Anne of Green
Gables Series, The Lion and The Unicorn, 25(1),pp. 47-69.
Kajihara, Y. (1999). An influential Anne in Japan.
In K. McCabe & A. Heilbron (Eds.), The
Lucy Maud Montgomery Album (pp. 432-438).
Markham, Canada: Fitzhenry and Whiteside
Limited.
Lindgren, A. (1954). Pippi Longstocking. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press.
Montgomery, L. M. (1942). Anne of Green Gables.
Toronto, Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson
Limited.
Rothwell, E. (1999). Knitting up the world: L.M.
Montgomery and maternal feminism in
Canada. In I. Gammel & E. Epperly (Eds.)
L.M. Montgomery and Canadian Culture (pp.
133-144). Toronto, Canada: University ofToronto Press Incorporated.
Virokannas, M. (2011). The complex Anne-Grrrl: A
third wave feminist re-reading of Anne of Green
Gables. Unpublished thesis (72 pages). Schoolof Modern Languages and Translation Studies,
University of Tampere, Finland.
Wilder, L. I. (1932-1971). Little House Series (Vols.
1-9) New York, NY: Harper & Brothers.

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53Collins

Author’s Biography:
Kristie Collins teaches Gender and Literature at the University of Tsukuba where she is an
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

54

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference ProceedingsPodcasting for Your Students: Why and How?

Samuel James Crofts
Meijo University
s.j.crofts@hotmail.co.uk
This article reviews the effectiveness of an English language podcast delivered as a non-compulsory
listening resource at an international university in China. After a pilot survey showed thatauthentic spoken English resources were beyond the capability of many students, a weekly
English language “talk show” podcast was created for the 14 weeks of an academic semester. The
podcast was hosted by three speakers who designed the content to suit students’ abilities andinterests. To assess the popularity of the resource, download numbers were examined alongside
76 emails from listeners. Although the podcast saw an overall decline in popularity over thesemester, positive feedback from a number of students suggested that this type of resource has
considerable potential to attract students to listen to English in their free time.
本稿は、中国にある国際的な規模での大学において強制を強いることのない英語学習ツールの一つである“Podcast”を取り入れることの成功例について述べたものである。先行研究より、ネイティブの英語は多くの英語学習者の英語力では理解不能であるという結果がでていた。そこで筆者を含む3名のスピーカーが生徒のレベルや興味に応じて週ごとに内容を考え、英語の“トークショー”を作成し、大学の1学期間１４週を通し、それらを配信し続けた。その結果、ダウンロード数や視聴者である学生から寄せられた76通ものメールにより、本教材は学生から受け入れられ人気のあるものだとわかった。残念ながら学期中を通して全体のダウンロード数は徐々に下降傾向となっていったが、数多くの学生からの肯定的な反応はpodcastのような教材が、時間のある時に「英語を聴こう」と生徒を引き付けることのできる可能性を多く秘めていることを示している。
Keywords: Podcasting, China EFL, EFL Listening, CALL

Introduction
A podcast is a series of audio or video files, often
in an episodic format, that users can download andaccess in their own time, either online or on personal
media players. Hammersley (2004) used the word forthe first time in the UK’s Guardian newspaper and*Crofts, S. J. (2013) Podcasting for your students:
Why and how? In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, &G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 55-60). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

since then the popularity of podcasting has increased
exponentially, with podcasts now covering subjects
as diverse as politics, sport, music, comedy and, ofcourse, education. In terms of language education,
the “Pod101” series perhaps best exemplifies thecommercial potential of this format, starting in2005 as a single website offering online Japaneseclasses, and developing by 2012 into a company
offering courses in 22 languages and boasting over
100 million downloads (JapanesePod101, 2012).
Aside from commercial language learning, podcasts
have also been created specifically for and by single
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

55

Crofts
institutions, for example Evans (2008) reports positive
results from a study using podcasts to deliver revisionmaterial for classes at the University of London.
This paper looks at podcasting not as acommercial venture, nor as a way to deliver classcontent to students, but as a way to offer interesting
and relevant English listening material to supplement
students’ academic study, and to encourage them toaccess English in their own time. Driven partly by
Templer’s (2008) call to allow students to master
simple aspects of the language before asking them
to climb the “Everest” of complex English, a weekly
English language podcast was established at aninternational university in China and this study
measures the ability of the podcast to attract enoughlisteners to justify the considerable effort put into its
creation.
The opening sections of the article aim to answer
the two questions posed in the title; looking first at
the learning context of the students involved, andsecond by describing how the podcast was made.
Following this, a small scale study tracking student
interest in the project is presented and it is hoped thatthe results are of use to other educators considering

using podcasts to deliver supplementary English
material to their own language students.

Context: Why the Podcast was
Created?
Lazzari’s (2009) praise for the potential of
podcasts in education highlights accessibility as aparticular strength of the podcast format. Alongside
this, a number of conditions at the host institution
were influential in the decision to establish the
podcast. The university in question is marketed as
an international institution; where the first year ofany degree consists of an intensive academic English
course, and where English is used as a teaching
medium across all degree courses. Strong links witha British university also allow students to study for
years 3 and 4 of their degree in the UK. On theother hand, an almost complete absence of nonChinese students at the university has given rise toa gap between the language experience provided in
the classroom, and students’ ability to access English
outside the classroom.
A pilot questionnaire administered via theuniversity’s intranet to 87 First year students reflected

Figure 1. Time students spend on the internet listening to English

Figure 2. Students use of subtitles

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The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference ProceedingsPodcasting for Your Students: Why and How?, pages 55-60
this gap, with fifty-seven percent of respondents
reporting that they used the internet to listen to
English for less than one hour per week (Fig.1) and
96% of respondents reporting the use of subtitles
when watching English language movies (Fig.2). The
conclusion drawn from this pilot survey was thata large number of students either did not want toaccess, did not know how to access, or simply could
not understand authentic English material enoughto enjoy it. The podcast discussed in the paper wasdeveloped as a way to bridge that gap.

Delivery and Content: How the
Podcast was Created?
Having decided to create a university podcast
for students to access as an extracurricular resource,
the most immediate concerns were; firstly, how the
podcast should be delivered to students, and secondly,
what it should contain. This section will look at eachof these considerations in turn.
In terms of delivery, all material was hosted
by the university’s online Moodle-based learning
environment (referred to hereon by its local
name, “ICE”). Hart and Rush (2007) suggest thatsuch learning environments are commonplacein universities across the world and although theprecise details of how each one of these learning
environments functions can vary, each generally
provides an online space, often password protected,
where students can access university material. In
recognition of the differences between the learning
environments provided by different institutions,discussion of online hosting will be kept to generalterms.
Having decided to host the podcast on ICE(for convenience), the hosts were keen to avoid
presenting the resource as a type of homework to
be completed and instead encourage students toaccess the podcast voluntarily. With this in mind, anexternal website was created as an “access point” tothe podcast. This website was hosted under the URLof the main university page and upon downloading
the first episode; students were automatically directedto the ICE learning environment containing all

the episodes. By selecting to listen to an episode,students became automatically subscribed to the
podcast (meaning they had the ability to download
further episodes), and were informed that they could
unsubscribe at any point with an email to the hosts;
it is worth noting however, that none of the eventual
869 subscribers elected to do this.
Podcast episodes were recorded weekly (with a
gap in week 7 for reading week) and released online
alongside a short email to subscribers alerting themto the fact that a new episode was live. Each episodewas delivered in MP3 format, with listeners given
the option of downloading or streaming online. In
addition to this, a text transcription of each episodewas provided as well as an interactive element in theform of a short comprehension quiz or an online
survey related to that week’s content. Whilst a rather
tedious chore, it was felt that a text version of the
podcast could be of use to students and so the decision
was made to manually transcribe each episode, with
duties shared between the three hosts. The technology
behind delivering each podcast was very simple, withhosts recording each episode directly onto an MP3
player, and then using a simple editing program(www.free-sound-editor.com) to add sound effects
and music to each episode.
In terms of content, Dörnyei’s (2006) call fortarget language material which is interesting andrelevant to learners’ lives was particularly influential.
The hosts were careful to talk about topics thatstudents would be readily familiar with, such as theirexperiences of campus life in China or comments
about the local area or local food. In referencing such
local interest, the podcast contrasted with the typesof listening resources available to students throughtheir academic listening studies. Finally, the decision
to record the podcast as a free conversation was taken
as it enabled students to be involved in deciding the
topics that were covered from week to week.
Hosted by a male British native speaker and two
female non-native speakers (from Poland and China),
the podcast exposed listeners to the different accents,
personalities and international experiences of thehosts. Of a similar age and sharing the first languageof the target audience, the Chinese host played a
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57

Crofts
particularly important role in the podcast, acting as
a positive role-model and person that students could
identify with. The importance for learners of having
a pronunciation role model from the same first
language group as themselves has been highlighted
by Jordan (2011), and it is argued that the Chinese
host in this podcast fulfilled such a role.
Each episode of the podcast was essentiallyunscripted, giving students exposure to the type of
mistakes, interruptions and false-starts that typify
real life conversations. Special care was also taken to
avoid the kinds of cultural references that can makeauthentic English conversations so problematic forL2 speakers. To this end, a Chinese a host of similar
age to the target audience was particularly helpful.
Initial subjects for discussion involved the hosts’
reasons for coming to China and initial reactions
to Suzhou life, customs and cuisine but as the series
went on, students became more involved and specificrequests for discussion topics arrived via email. These
requests for discussion included cultural differences
between America and the UK, how Asian pop music
is received abroad, and most numerously, the lovelives of the three hosts.
The non-compulsory nature of the podcast meantthat generating and maintaining interest among
students was the biggest obstacle to a successful

Figure 3. Download numbers for each episode58

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

project. In an attempt to maintain interest levels
therefore, the hosts gave students a number of ways
to interact with the podcast. At the most basic level,
an email account was set up for students to suggest
future topics which resulted in at least one topic
being suggested for each week of the project. Further
methods of interaction included online polls forsurveys announced each week by the hosts (the best
food in Suzhou, the most popular of 3 songs includedin the podcast etc.) as well as a number of student
interviews which featured on certain episodes. An
article was also written for the student magazine
about the podcast, driven completely by students andconducted entirely in English.

Measuring the Success of the
PodcastThe podcast project was evaluated in two ways;
first by the degree to which students used the resource;and second by the reactions of students to what they
heard. In quantitative terms, the number of students
who downloaded various elements of each episodewas gathered through tracking software built into
the ICE learning environment. In qualitative terms,
listeners’ reactions to the podcast came through theanalysis of a number of emails from listeners.

Podcasting for Your Students: Why and How?, pages 55-60

Results
With over 850 subscribers, over 6500 separate
downloads and over 22000 ICE page “clicks” overthe 14 weeks of the project, student uptake in the
project was pleasing. In the opening weeks of the
project especially, a number of positive emails fromstudents and robust numbers of downloads showed
enthusiasm among the student body for the project.
As predicted however, the maintenance of such highlevels of interest proved difficult with download
numbers for the podcast decreasing steadily for eachof the first 6 weeks of the project (Fig. 3).

Quantitative Data
Statistics recorded by ICE were used to createa graph showing download numbers for MP3 andtext files in first seven days of each episode being
online. The reason that these statistics are limited toseven days is that episodes continued to be available
throughout the duration of the project, and therefore
statistics regarding total download numbers could be
misleading in terms of each episode’s popularity, as
higher download numbers for older episodes could
be attributed not only to their popularity, but also totheir being available for a longer period of time.
As can be seen in Figure 3, the first episode of
the podcast recorded significantly higher levels ofactivity than subsequent episodes, which is suggested
to be the result of the novelty of the resource andstudents’ curiosity about the project. Following this,download numbers for the first seven days of each
episode continued to steadily decrease until week 6
which saw an increase in download numbers for the
first time since the start of the project. By the end of
the 14 weeks of the semester, download numbers hadstabilized to around 200 downloads per week.

Qualitative Data
The podcast email account received 76 emails
from students in the 14 weeks of the project, allof which were of a positive nature. Feedback fromlisteners suggests that the hosts were able to provide
English that was easy to understand yet authentic andentertaining with the relaxed and humorous natureof the podcast receiving specific commendation.
Alongside emails praising the podcast as a usefuland interesting resource, a number of messages alsosuggested future topics for discussion on the podcast.
Overall, the impression created by these emails is
one of desire for access to light hearted and relaxed
English, adding weight to the suggestion that it canbe extremely difficult for students to source extracurricular material which is both interesting andrelevant to their lives, whilst also being at a suitablelevel for their listening ability.

Conclusion
I began this article by looking at the rise of
podcasting as a way to deliver sound files to large
numbers of listeners. The use of this medium in
education was displayed in the commercial successof language learning podcast sites as well as thereported successes of the use of podcasts in tertiary
institutions. The flexibility of the podcast format interms of content, as well as the convenience of delivery
convinced myself and two colleagues that podcasting
had the potential to enhance the English language
experience provided at an international university in
China, offering authentic English resources that wereboth comprehensible and enjoyable.
Having considered the type of resource that
ought to be produced, a weekly talk-show based
podcast was created and a small-scale study assessing
the success of the resource in terms of generating andmaintaining interest among students was undertaken.
Given the statistical data gained from the University’s
Moodle-based learning environment (ICE) alongsidequalitative data gathered from emails received fromlisteners, the podcast was judged to be a success.
With over 6500 downloads and with a continuous
audience throughout the project, it is suggested thatthe audience reaction does indeed justify the creationof the resource. The ability of the hosts to provide
interesting and relevant English and the ability of the
podcast format to provide an efficient and flexible
platform for students to access the material showsthat such resources have considerable potential
to enhance the language learning experience ofuniversity students.
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59

Crofts
Although the data presented here does not reveal
exactly how students used the resource, it is suggested
that such concerns are relatively unimportant.
What is important is that the resource was usedand students, it seems, were happy that the podcast
was introduced. In terms of creating future seasons,the results presented in this paper provide enoughevidence to justify the recording and releasing ofsubsequent podcasts. The maintenance of student
interest and a consistent audience in what is acompletely voluntary activity is, however, predicted
to be a continuing issue of concern. It is hoped thatthe increasing bank of episodes will endure as aninteresting, relevant and engaging resource for futurecohorts of students, who can dip into the resource as
they wish and access authentic and understandable
English which has some real relevance to their own
lives.

Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank his fellow hosts,
Aneta Kaczor and Yunyi Zhou for their continued
effort, support and ideas in the recording of the 2012XJTLU Podcast.

References
Dörnyei, Z. (2006). Motivational strategies in thelanguage classroom. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.

Evans, C. (2008). The effectiveness of m-learning in
the form of podcast revision lectures in higher
education. Computers & Education, 50(2),491–498.
Hammersley, B. (2004, February 12). Audible
revolution. The Guardian.
Hart, M. & Rush, D. (2007). Open Source VLEs
(moodle) and student engagement in a blended
learning environment. In Remenyi, D. (ed.)(2007) ICEL2007 2nd International Conferenceon E-Learning (pp. 213–222).Reading, England:
Academic Conferences Limited.
JapanesePod101. (2012). Our story. Retrievedon March 30th 2012 from http://www.
japanesepod101.com/about-us/our-story.
Jordan, E. (2011). Japanese English pronunciation–issues of intelligibility, achievability andperception in the context of World Englishes.
Journal of English as an International Language,6(1) 81-91.
Lazzari, M. (2009). Creative use of podcasting inhigher education and its effect on competitive
agency. Computers & Education, 52(1) 27-34.
Remenyi, D. (ed.) (2007) ICEL 2007 2ndInternational conference on E-Learning. Reading,England: Academic Conferences Limited.
Templer, B. (2008). “Let students master plain,simple English”. The China Post (Taiwan), June
5th 2008. Retrieved on April 7th 2012 fromhttp://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/
letters/2008/06/05/159634/Let-students.htm.

Author’s Biography:
Having recently returned to Japan after a year teaching at a Sino-British university in China,
Samuel Crofts teaches at Meijo University in Nagoya. He is particularly interested in finding
ways to improve students’ engagement with English in their spare time60

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Metaprograms for Literacy Development and CriticalThinking

Brian Cullen

Avril Matsui-Haye

Sarah Mulvey

Nagoya Institute of Technology
cullen.brian@gmail.com

Nanzan University

Nanzan University

This paper presents the concept of metaprograms as a useful tool for exploring critical thinking
skills and literacy development. Metaprograms can be defined as mental processes which manage,
guide and direct other mental processes. The first four metaprograms are more commonly known
as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a common personality assessment tool in schools
and workplaces. This paper presents a comparison of data from the U.S. and Japan on the MBTI
in order to highlight the differences in cognitive style between different cultures. This is followed
by a practical activity showing how metaprograms are useful in examining and discussing people’s
cognitive and social strategies.
本稿はメタプログラムの概念をクリティカルシンキング(批判的思考)能力やリテラシーの開発に役立つ道具として紹介している。本稿におけるメタプログラムとは、心理プロセスを指令、誘導、指示する心理作用と定義する。最初の４つのメタプログラムは学校や企業において普及している性格検査、MBTI(Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)としてのほうがより広く知られている。本稿では異文化間の認識スタイルの違いを明らかにするために、アメリカ合衆国と日本のMBTIデータの比較を提示し、人の認識・社交的戦略を検証・議論するにあたってメタプログラムがいかに役立つかを例示する実践的アクティビティを紹介する。
Keywords: Critical thinking, literacy development, metaprograms, NLP

What are Metaprograms?
Metaprograms have their origins in Carl Jung’s
concepts of psychological types (Jung, 1953, 1971)
and Myers-Briggs personality typing (Quenk, 2009),
and they were later developed by the field of NeuroLinguistic Programming into a comprehensive
framework for identifying and utilizing over
60 personality characteristics (e.g. Hall, 2003).
*

Cullen, B., Matsui-Haye, A., Mulvey, S. (2013).
Metaprograms for literacy development and criticalthinking. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks(Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings(pp. 61-67). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

Metaprograms can be defined as mental processes
which manage, guide and direct other mental
processes. They may also be conceptualized as theunderlying strategies which control our habits andcognitive thinking patterns, and they are useful in
examining and discussing people’s cognitive andsocial strategies. The first four of the metaprograms
discussed in this article correspond to the traditional
Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which is widelyused by schools and company personnel departments
around the world as a ‘personality test’ or aide in
helping people to find a suitable kind of work. The
second half of this article briefly introduces three
more metaprograms from NLP.
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Cullen, Matsui-Haye, & Mulvey
Table 1The Myers Briggs Type IndicatorType Indicator Parameters
Extrovert

Introvert

E

I

Intuitor

SensorN

S

ThinkerFeelerT

F

Judger

PerceiverJ

P

Description

Standard Elicitation Question

Attitude towards
external world“When it’s time to recharge your batteries, doyou prefer to be alone (Introvert) or with people(Extrovert)?”Internal process“If you were going to study a certain subject,would you be more interested in the facts andtheir use now (Sensor) or would you be moreinterested in the ideas and relationships between
the facts, and their applications in the future(iNtuitor)

Internal state“Do you make decisions relying more on logic
and reason (Thinker) or on personal values andfeelings (Feeler)?”

Adaptive response“If we're going to do a project together, would
you prefer that it were outlined, planned, andorderly (Judger), or would you prefer if wewere able to be more flexible in the project(Perceiver)?”

Myers Briggs Type Indicator
The full MBTI test usually involves about 90
forced-choice questions. The results of the test assign
a person a four-letter indicator such as ENTJ or ISFP
(see Table 1). There are sixteen possible combinationsof MBTI. Information is widely available online. For
example, the Personality Page website (2012) offers
an enormous amount of descriptive information foreach of the MBTI types which teachers and students
may find useful. It includes succinct summaries
which we have found useful in the classroom such as:
2. ISTP - The Mechanic
Quiet and reserved, interested in how and why
things work. Excellent skills with mechanicalthings. Risk-takers who live for the moment.
Usually interested in and talented at extreme
sports. Uncomplicated in their desires. Loyal totheir peers and to their internal value systems,
but not overly concerned with respecting laws
and rules if they get in the way of getting

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something done. Detached and analytical, they
excel at finding solutions to practical problems.
The description above is just a summary, and eachtype can also be described in much greater detail.
This type of information is routinely used by careers
departments at schools and universities, or at humanresource departments in companies to give advice tojob-seekers or make personnel decisions. While there
are dissenting voices about the overly widespread useof MBTI (e.g. Pittenger, 1993), there is considerable
research indicating that it gives good insight into
cognitive style (e.g. Lawrence & Martin, 2001).
While the full test may give higher accuracy, James(1988) suggests that the concise elicitation questions
shown in Table 1 can usually be considered equallyeffective.

Comparing Distributions in Japanand the US
As one indicator of the relevance of MBTI toMetaprograms for Literacy Development and Critical Thinking, pages 61-67

Figure 1. Comparison in MBTI between Japan and US

critical thinking and literacy styles, we carried out
an international comparison of the MBTI in two
countries. Figure 1 provides a comparison between
MBTI distribution in the United States and Japan.
We have compiled this data from two sources. The
U.S. data is drawn from the Center for Applicationsof Psychological Types (2012a). This research
institute offers data on the distribution of the MBTI
types in the United States drawn from “more thana million records from people who have taken the
Indicator” (Center for Applications of PsychologicalTypes, 2012b) The data for Japan is drawn from theSociarc website which offers user-generated data on
the distribution of MBTI in Japan. This is a popularsite and the sample size was almost 136,000 people
when the page was retrieved in July 2012.
While variations exist between different data
sources, and the MBTI can even vary for a personfrom one testing to another, there are very clear andstrong differences between the overall figures whencomparing Japan and the United States. For each
MBTI type, the figure for Japan is shown on top andthe US below.
While a full analysis of this data is beyond
the scope of this paper, some of the more obvious

differences that can be highlighted include:•• 50% of people in the U.S. are classified as
Introvert. In Japan, this leaps to 75%. This is avery significant difference and some researchers
including Bouchard and Hur (1998) suggest agenetic basis to these differences.
•• In Japan, the number of Intuitors (59%) is twicethat of the U.S. (31%). Conversely, the U.S. has
a much higher percentage of Sensors. In the EFL
classroom, this suggests that Japanese students arelikely to want to learn the big picture before theylearn the details.
•• 63% of people in Japan are classified as Feeler,
compared to 53% in the U.S. This emphasizes
the importance of positive affect in EFL in theJapanese context.
These significant differences between the U.S.
and Japan are very useful in beginning to understandhow the critical thinking styles of our students candiffer greatly from Western norms.

Three More Metaprograms
The standard four distinctions of the MBTI havebeen expanded, especially by Hall (2003) and othersin the field of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).
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Cullen, Matsui-Haye, & Mulvey
Table 2Three Additional Metaprograms

Type Indicator Parameters

Standard Elicitation
Question

Description

Sample Answer

Towards

Away

Direction of
motivation: A
person will usually
talk either about
what they positively
want (Towards) or
what they don’t want
(Away).

“What do you want ina job?”

Towards: “I want to
get job satisfaction
and a high salary.”
Away: “I don’t want tobe working overtime.”

External

Internal

Frame of reference
for success: A person
will usually judge
success based on either
Internal or External
criteria.

“How do you know
when you’ve done agood job in learning
something?”

External: “Because myteacher tells me that
I’ve done well, or I geta good score in a test.”
Internal: “I just feelinside that I havereally learned it well.”Matcher

Mismatcher

Relationship:
A person will
either describe
similarities (Matcher)or differences(Mismatcher).

“What is therelationship between
what you were doing
last year and what you
are doing this year?”Matcher: “It’s prettymuch the same. I’m a
student – learning thesame kind of stuff.”
Mismatcher:“Our subjects arecompletely different
and I’m learning all
new things.”

Hall expanded the number to more than 50, but
most of these are not commonly used, and only three
additional metaprograms have been given below
which illustrate how metaprograms can be useful in
exploring critical thinking and literacy skills.

Using Metaprograms for EFL
These metaprograms can be utilized in EFL inmany ways, one of the most obvious being to help
our students to develop and apply critical thinking
and literacy skills to the comprehension of texts. The
metaprograms can be introduced by having students
elicit each other’s MBTI in pairs or groups using thestandard elicitation questions. This can also be done

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kinesthetically as a fun whole-class activity by having
students move to one side of the classroom or theother depending on their forced choice for each of
the metaprogram elicitation questions.
The development of reader awareness and writing
for a specific audience can be greatly facilitated byusing the concept of metaprograms. The appendix
shows a sample activity for use in a business
communication class. One sequence of tasks that canbe used is shown below:
1. Have students become familiar with theseven metaprograms by asking the elicitationquestions in pairs or groups.
2. Have the students analyse the target

Metaprograms for Literacy Development and Critical Thinking, pages 61-67
metaprogram combination of the sales letter(see Appendix). Discuss the results to ensurethat they have understood the distinctions
correctly.
3. Ask students to decide a product that theywould like to sell. It can be a real or imaginary
product. They can even be ‘selling’ themselvesin a job interview.
4. For homework, have them prepare a sales
presentation (or a letter if the course focus ison writing). Their sales presentation should
deliberately target one combination of sevenmetaprograms in a similar way to the sales
letter that they have already analyzed.
5. The following week, have the students give
their presentations and analyse the target ofthe sales presentations that they hear.

Drawbacks or Potential Pitfalls
The MBTI and additional NLP metaprograms
could easily be used to assign labels to people andto place them into little boxes of one personality
type or another, but this misses the primary pointthat metaprograms are strategies that we run within
ourselves, just like any other strategy, and that wecan potentially change them. A big component ofcritical thinking skills is the ability to take multiple
perspectives on an issue and to consider the pertinent
points from each perspective. The metaprograms
are all best considered as a continuum runningfrom one extreme to another. Each extreme can be
useful in certain circumstances. For example, when
considering a major change in your life, it is useful
to consider the negative points as well as the positive
ones, and when the “Towards” person (who wants tomove towards goals) begins to realize that the “Away”
strategy (moving away from problems) can also be
a powerful tool, each can begin to incorporate thatstrategy at the most appropriate times. Rather thanbeing caught in little boxes, awareness and growing
flexibility in moving between metaprograms allows
us to gain the benefits of every position.

Conclusions
We have found the MBTI and other metaprogramsfrom NLP to be of great value in helping our students
to develop literacy fluency and critical thinking skills.
The comparison between data from the U.S. andJapan illustrates just how deeply thinking styles canvary between cultures. When we begin to notice thesedifferences and help students to do so, too, we havetaken a big step towards helping our students to adopt
the most appropriate critical thinking strategies forany situation.

References
Center for Applications of Psychological Types(2012a). History and Mission. Retrieved fromhttp://www.capt.org/about-capt/historymission.htm.
Center for Applications of Psychological Types(2012b). Estimated Frequencies of the Types in the
United States Population. Retrieved from http://
www.capt.org/mbti-assessment/estimatedfrequencies.htm.
Sociarc (2012). 性格テスト【私家訳版】. Retrieved
from http://www5.big.or.jp/~seraph/zero/mbti.
cgi?mode=analyze on July 1, 2012.
Bouchard, Jr., T. J., & Hur, Y.M. (1998), Genetic
and environmental influences on the continuous
scales of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: An
analysis based on twins reared apart. Journal of
Personality, 66. 135–149. doi: 10.1111/14676494.00006
Hall, L. M. (2003). Figuring out people: Design
engineering with meta-programs (1st ed.).
Williston, VT: Crown House Pub.
James, T., & Woodsmall, W. (1988). Time line
therapy and the basis of personality. Capitola,CA.: Meta Pubs.
Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types. Bollingenseries. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press.
Jung, C. G., Read, H., Fordham, M., & Adler,
G. (1953). The collected works of C. G. Jung.
Bollingen series. New York, NY: Pantheon
Books.
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65Cullen, Matsui-Haye, & Mulvey
Lawrence, G., & Martin, C. (2001). Building people,
building programs. Gainesville, FL: Center for
Applications of Psychological Type Inc.
Mathison, P. T. a. J. (n.d.). Neuro-linguistic
programming: Its potential for learning andteaching in formal education. Retrieved
from: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/
documents/00003319.htm.
Personality Page (2012). Portrait of an ISP. Retrieved

from http://www.personalitypage.com/ISTP.
html
Pittenger, D. J. (1993). Measuring the MBTI andcoming up short. Journal of Career Planning &Placement, Fall.
Quenk, N. L. (2009). Essentials of Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator assessment (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley & Sons.

Author’s Biography:
Brian Cullen is an associate professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology. His main researchinterests are in L2 creativity, neuro-linguistic programming, and materials development.
Avril Matsui-Haye is a lecturer at Nanzan University. Her research interests include genderawareness and university language education.
Sarah Mulvey is a lecturer at Nanzan University. Her research interests include genderawareness, materials development, and learner autonomy.

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Metaprograms for Literacy Development and Critical Thinking, pages 61-67

Appendix - Sample Reading/Writing Activity
This letter has been written carefully to match the seven metaprograms of a potential customer called John.
Identify the correct metaprogram from each of these seven pairs.
To help you get started, consider the first paragraph. Do you think that John is an Intuitor or a Sensor?
Extrovert / Introvert
Matcher / Mismatcher
Intuitor / Sensor
Towards / Away
Thinker / Feeler
External / Internal
Judger / Perceiver
Dear John,
I am writing today to tell you about a great training opportunity that could change your whole business– not just a few little things, but the way that you look at everything.
Our training seminar is set up so that you have the chance to interact and learn from other people.
Group learning is powerful and can help you to energize yourself with the knowledge and expertise ofothers.
When you think logically about this offer, I am sure that you will come to the conclusion that this will
really help your business. Each step of the training is rationally planned to help you make the changes
required for higher sales.
We have also attached a full schedule for the training program which breaks down the activities hour byhour to give you a complete picture of what you will be learning.
When you think about what you were doing last year, do you really want to be doing the same thing
next year? We are sure that you would much prefer to be doing something new – to be really increasing
your sales rapidly.
This training seminar will help you to move towards your goals easily and quickly.
You know that others around you may doubt the value of yet another training program, but when
you consider your own values, you will realize that it is your own decision and that you can take thatdecision yourself regardless of external criticism.
Sincerely,
Abe Michaels

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings67

Academic Science Texts and Popular Science Texts:
Differences and Similarities

Stuart Cunningham

Paul Leeming

Kwansei Gakuin University
stuart71cunningham@yahoo.co.uk

Kwansei Gakuin University
paulleeming@yahoo.com

This paper considers popular science texts and academic science texts and focuses on differences
between the two kinds of text. After considering the different purposes of the texts, three different
linguistic features are presented which highlight the differences between the two genres.
本稿は、ポピュラーサイエンス・テキスト（一般向け科学書）およびアカデミックサイエンス・
テキスト（学術的科学書）を取り上げ、2種類のテキストの相違点に焦点を当てる。これらのテキストのそれぞれに異なる目的について考察した後、2つのジャンルの違いを明確に示す言語学的特徴を3点提示する。
Keywords: popular science, academic science, English for Specific Purposes

Background
The question that led to this research was first
asked by the authors when we began teachingscience majors at a university in Japan. One of theauthors had a background in chemistry, having
completed chemistry to the level of Master’s Degree(as well as a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics),
whereas, the other author had followed an entirely
Humanities-based path to his Master’s Degree inApplied Linguistics. Having started a new teachingposition at the same time it seemed only naturalthat a discussion arose as to how best to approachteaching English for scientific purposes. In thecourse of this discussion it became apparent that our
background was having a distinct influence on our
approach to investigating and therefore typifying and*Cunningham, S., & Leeming, P. (2013). Academic
science texts and popular science texts: Differences
and similarities. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, &G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 68-72). Hiroshima: JALT.

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categorizing the key language points needed in theclassroom. Having different academic backgrounds
meant one of us was accessing academic science
textbooks (academic science in this paper will refer totextbooks used in university undergraduate courses)
whilst one of us was accessing popular science books(the term popular science will be used to refer to books
that are written by scientists, or science journalists,
for a general audience with no background in thesciences). Furthermore, having talked to a number ofother teachers throughout Japan in similar situations,
we discovered the dilemma we faced was not uniqueto ourselves but rather more widespread. This led
us to ask the question, “Are these two approaches
equally valid for teaching English for ScientificPurposes?” This paper will briefly detail how wecame to conclude that the answer was a resounding“No”. After outlining the difference of purpose ofeach approach, the paper briefly examines the main
linguistic differences. Finally, the strengths of eachapproach will be discussed so as to aid teachers whoneed to choose one of the two approaches.

Academic Science Texts and Popular Science Texts..., pages 68-72

Texts: Audience and Purpose
The audience for popular science is the generalpublic, and no specialized or prior knowledge ofscience is assumed. People buy the texts from a generalinterest in the subject, and based on reviews of thebooks by journalist writing for newspapers. This isevident from the “blurb” on the back of the books,
which quote popular newspapers glowing reviews of
the texts. For this reason, the author must make thebook appealing and accessible to as wide an audience
as possible in order to ensure sales, and subsequent
writing contracts with publishers.
The textbooks that we examined were written
for undergraduate level students and presupposed abasic familiarity with the subject. Students usually
have little or no say in selecting such texts, which arechosen by the teacher and are considered compulsory
texts for the students taking the given course. For thisreason, the author appeals not to the direct audience
for the book, i.e. the students, but to the professor
using the book. This means that the text must be
informative, and contain the information considerednecessary to pass the course, and issues such as interest
and ease of use for the reader may often be secondary.
The texts often have no reviews on the cover, andare generally considerably more expensive than their
popular science equivalents. Furthermore, textbooks
represent a particular stage in the development of thereader, which permits the textbook writer to have afairly accurate idea of what category of individual will
best represent the idealized reader.
The clear difference in audience and purpose forthe texts outlined here is an important consideration
when one begins to examine the language used and themanner in which information is presented. Popularscience represents a description of the content, whichmust be both educational and entertaining. The dense
language of academic science (see below for a detailed
discussion) may make any text inaccessible to generalreaders. Furthermore, popular science can sometimes
diverge in content from academic science, “when thedesire to entertain and generate controversy pushes
into the deep background any intent to communicate
sound, verifiable information” (Doherty, 2005). Thishighlights a difference of purpose between academic

and popular science. A scientist is perhaps unlikely toread a book designed to explain scientific concepts toa lay audience. Science textbooks on the other handwill be scrutinized by experts in the field who will
expect complete accuracy. Of course, the fact thatsome popular science texts are written by leading
scientists will make it likely that such texts are both
entertaining and scientifically accurate, yet this neednot be the case for every popular science text.

Methodology
When attempting to identify key linguistic featuresof academic science texts the authors first turned toHalliday (1998), Halliday and Martin (1993), andMartin and Veel (1998). Three features appeared
pivotal to academic science texts: nominalization,
lexical density, and graphical representations. The
authors proceeded to compare academic science texts
with popular science texts in these three areas in orderto establish whether or not popular science could
be seen as representative of academic science in its
linguistic content.
When investigating how popular science texts
compared with academic counterparts we sampledfrom three areas; biology, physics and chemistry.
It is important to point out that this does not
represent our belief that these are the only subjects
that can be called “science”, but rather that we felt
these three areas represented the least controversial
choices as representatives of science. We sampled a
popular science text on genetics (Collins, 2010),
this particular book was chosen because we knew
the author was a well-respected figure in genetics (hehad been the head of the Human Genome Research
Project), and therefore, having published widelyin academic science would therefore be capable ofincorporating into his writing the features he utilizes
when writing academic science. This was comparedwith an undergraduate textbook on genetics (Watson
et al., 1987). In physics we sampled a best seller(Greene, 2000), again written by an academic expert
in his field (string theory). This was compared with atextbook (Becker et al., 2006). Finally, in chemistry
we compared a popular science text with an academic
science text written by the same author. Cambridge
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Cunningham & Leeming
University chemist Peter Atkins wrote both the
popular text The Periodic Kingdom (1995) and theacademic text Physical Chemistry (1978). Regarding
the size of the sampled text, 2000 words was chosen
as the sample size as Biber (1993) suggests that 1000
words can be sufficient size to gain representativenessof a texts, however, less frequent grammatical features
may require a larger sample size. A sample size oflarger than 2000 words did not appear to have any
noticeable impact on the results and therefore it
was concluded that 2000 words represented thesaturation point.

Results
Nominalization
Nominalization is representing a process asa noun, e.g. declare (verb) would be represented
as declaration (noun). The sentence; “When theminister declared war on tax avoidance it was met withapplause” would become; “The minister’s declarationof war on tax avoidance was met with applause”. Even
the most cursory of glances over an undergraduate
science textbook will reveal the importance of
nominalization, which, given the importance ofprocesses in science, should come as no surprise.
Yet, what we were primarily interested in was not
merely three important features in academic sciencebut in discovering how the use of these features in
popular science compared with academic science.
What we discovered was that in a sample size of 2000
words, the academic texts were using between 90 to
114 instances of nominalization. This was in stark
contrast to the popular texts, which were using 49
to 51instances of nominalization per 2000 words.
Clearly nominalization is of greater importance tothe academic texts than the popular texts.

Lexical Density
The second feature of academic science texts
we compared with popular science texts was lexicaldensity (content words/total number of words*100).
The academic science texts had a lexical density of
between 71% and 76% whereas the popular science
texts had a lexical density of between 52% and 55%.

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The much greater density of the academic texts whencompared to the popular texts suggests that if a
student is learning English for Scientific Purposes thenpopular science texts are not exposing the students tothe type of language being used in academic science
texts. This also helps to explain why scientific texts
can be hard to access by a general audience as they
contain large amounts of information with relatively
little textual redundancy.

Graphical Representation
The third feature of academic science texts
compared with popular science texts was graphicalrepresentations. Unlike the humanities, academic
scientific texts use very little redundancy between
what is described graphically and what is describedtextually. The multiple semiotic nature of scientificwriting is jointly co-constructed through graphics andthe written word. What is represented as a graphic(e.g. a figure, table, graph, illustration) in academic
science texts (see Lemke 1998 for a detailed account)is not explained in the text, unlike the humanities
style of writing. Instead, the graphic is deemed selfexplanatory, and is usually simply referred to by way
of explanation. Furthermore the academic science
texts displayed a much higher ratio of graphics per
page than their popular science counterparts. The
academic science texts averaged 2.3 graphics per pagein comparison with the popular science texts, which
averaged 0.2 graphics per page. This clearly displays amajor difference between the two types of text.

Discussion
In the three linguistic features discussed, theundergraduate science textbooks selected displayeda very pronounced difference from the popularscience texts. This would appear to suggest that whenteaching English for Scientific Purposes it would
be of limited benefit to draw classroom materials
from popular science texts. Given that the three
linguistic features are so important to academic
science and so relatively under-utilized by popularscience it may seem hard to make any case for using
popular science texts for students studying English

Academic Science Texts and Popular Science Texts..., pages 68-72
for Scientific Purposes. However, the simple fact isthat the level of the students is as much a matterfor consideration as the kind of materials to be usedin the classroom. The dense nature of the languageof academic science makes it inaccessible to many
students, whereas the language used in popularscience is more accessible. The teacher is faced witha choice; on the one hand, the language of academic
science is more challenging but more authentic forstudents of English for Scientific Purposes, but on
the other hand the language of popular science is lesschallenging, but less authentic for students of English
for Scientific Purposes. Ultimately, the teacher mustreach a conclusion that balances their knowledge ofthe materials and the students. It may be of benefit tolower level students to progress from popular science
texts to academic science texts, or to use popularscience texts with academic science texts.

Conclusion
Coming from two contrasting academic
backgrounds, the authors of this paper were initiallyunaware of the differences between academic andpopular science texts that seemed to cover the samecontent, and merely offered different paths towards
the same goal. Academic science texts and popularscience texts service different audiences and therefore
serve different purposes. These different purposes
require a different linguistic functionality that hasgiven rise to very different linguistic features. The
linguistic features examined (nominalization, lexicaldensity and graphical representation) are central
to authentic academic science texts and, at best,
peripheral to popular science texts. The teacher ofEnglish for Scientific Purposes may be faced withchoosing between more authentic, less appropriate
texts, or less authentic, more appropriate texts, orcompromising by incorporating the two text types
into the course materials. The findings of this paper
can aid the teacher in making this decision. The mostimportant thing is that teachers are aware of thedifferences between the two kinds of texts and are able
to make decisions as to their respective appropriacy ina given context. In the end, it is a choice that requires
the judgment of an informed teacher.

References
Atkins, P. (1995). The periodic kingdom: A journey
into the land of the chemical elements. New York,
NY: Basic Books.
Atkins, P. W. (1978). Physical chemistry. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press.
Becker, K., Becker, M., & Schwarz, J. H. (2006).
String theory and M-theory. A modern
introduction. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
Biber, D. (1993). Representativeness in corpus
design. Literary and Linguistic Computing, Vol.
8, No. 4, 1993.
Collins, F. S. (2010). The language of life: DNA andthe revolution in personalized medicine. New
York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Doherty, P. (2005). The beginner’s guide to winning
The Nobel Prize. Carlton, Australia: Melbourne
University Publishing Limited.
Greene, B. (2000). The elegant universe. London:
Vintage.
Halliday, M. A. K. & Martin, J. R. (1993). Writing
science. Literacy and discursive power. London,
England: Falmer.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1998). The language of science.
London, England: Continuum.
Lemke, J. (1998). Multiplying meaning: Visualand verbal semiotics in scientific text. In J.
R. Martin & R. Veel (Eds.), Reading science:
Critical and functional perspectives on discourses ofscience (pp. 87-115). New York, NY: Routledge.
Martin, J. & Veel, R. (Eds), Reading science: Criticaland functional perspectives on discourses of science.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Watson, J. D., Hopkins, N. H., Roberts, J. W.,
Stetz, J. A., & Weiner, A. M. (1987). Molecularbiology of the gene. San Francisco, CA: BenjaminCummings.

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Cunningham & Leeming

Author’s Biography:
Stuart Cunningham teaches English at Kwansei Gakuin University, School of Science andTechnology. His interests include Conversation Analysis and English for Specific Purposes.
Paul Leeming teaches English at Kwansei Gakuin University, School of Science and Technology.
His interests include group dynamics, leadership and English for Specific Purposes.

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Working Together: Using Tasks to Teach Reading andWriting

Loran Anna-Marie Edwards
Kansai Gaidai University
loranedwards@me.com
Working together: communicative reading and writing (Edwards, 2011) is a course book thatuses task-based activities to teach both reading and writing skills through a cooperative learning
approach. In writing this book, the author had several goals. These included that the tasks andactivities be easy for both the students and the teacher to use; there be enough material for an
entire course without the need to supplement with outside materials; the students be presented
with some concrete reading and writing tools that would help them develop their language skills;
and that the activities be fun. This paper will examine how these goals were met through a look at
the course components included in the book, and the language learning philosophies that went
into its creation.
本稿はコーポラティブ ラーニングアプローチによるタスクベースのアクティビティを使用したコースブックであるワーキングトゥギャザー リーディング及びライティングコミュニケーシ
ョン(Edwards, 2011)に焦点をあてリーディングおよびライティングスキルを紹介する。本著は以下の目標を掲げている 内容が学生や講師に分かりやすいタスクやアクティビティである、本教材では十分な量のアクティビティを供給している、言語能力の向上のために具体的なリーディングとライティングの教材をを紹介する、そして楽しいアクティビティを紹介する。本稿ではこれらの目標を達成するにいたったコース構成要素や言語学習フィロソフ
ィーを説明する。
Keywords: reading and writing, task-based, cooperative learning, communicative

Introduction
Many EFL and ESL programs around theworld offer courses such as Reading and Writing I
or Intermediate Reading and Writing, but it is often
difficult to find one textbook that not only presents
students with both reading and writing study tools,*

Edwards, L. A. (2013). Working together: Usingtasks to teach reading and writing. In R. Chartrand,
S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 73-78). Hiroshima:
JALT.

*

but also provides adequate practice in both areas. As
an EFL teacher in Japan, I have often had to maketough choices between choosing a writing textbook
and supplementing with outside reading materials,
and choosing a reading textbook and preparing myown writing handouts. Another challenge I have faced
is finding activities that both engage the students andprovide them with opportunities to work with theirpeers in order to communicate about what they arelearning. Especially in EFL environments, wherestudents have few chances to use English outside theclassroom, it is important to provide opportunities
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Edwards
to maximize its use in the classroom (Nation, 2003).
With these two challenges in mind, I designed andwrote Working Together: Communicative Reading andWriting (Working Together), which uses task-based
activities to teach both reading and writing skills
through a cooperative learning approach (Edwards,
2011).
As the title implies, each chapter of Working
Together presents students with a variety of both
reading and writing tasks based on similar themes
so that students can build on activities and skills
learned in preceding chapters. However, the title
also indicates that students will be asked to work
together with their classmates in order to complete
assignments. This makes the classroom atmosphereenjoyable for students and the pair work helps
them to understand and retain information longer.
But how is this collaboration achieved? This paper
will first present the writer’s goals for the book andoutline the course components and tasks presented in
Working Together. It will then examine the languagelearning philosophies that went into its development
along with a discussion of how the author’s goals forthe book were met.

Goals for the Book
When I first began writing this textbook, I had
several clear goals for the final product. First, one of
the main reasons for writing this textbook was that
I wanted to provide teachers with enough material
for an entire course without having to supplementwith outside materials. However, I also did not want
the book to be too long; most textbooks are 12 to 15
chapters long, but teachers often find themselves only
using a small percentage of these. This sometimes
leaves students feeling dissatisfied with the course andthe use of materials.
Also, it was important that the book teach both
reading and writing equally. I wanted students to bepresented with tools for both writing and readingand have opportunities to use these tools multiple
times throughout the course. I also wanted thebook to be user friendly; both for the teacher andfor the students. It was important that the amountof information presented on one page be limited so

74

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingsthat there would be space for students to complete
the tasks in the book. It was also important that tasks
and activities be repeated so that students could use
information gained in previous lessons.
Finally, in my experience with Japanese students,
their reasons for studying English are often more forsocial reasons than for academic ones. Therefore, inorder to cater to the interests of the students without
sacrificing the academics, the topics and tasks in
Working Together had to be carefully designed to beacademically challenging as well as fun and engaging.

Course Components
Working Together is a complete course bookdesigned primarily for EFL students in Japan, but
could also be used by students in other countries orin an ESL environment as well. It has been written
for students at an intermediate level, but has also
been successfully used with more advanced students.
Many other reading and writing textbooks offer
between 10 and 12 chapters however, as a teacher, I
find that I can only teach four or five in a semester.
Therefore, Working Together has been divided into justfive chapters of three units each. If teachers follow
the recommended course schedule, this will provide
teachers with approximately 26 90-minute lessons;enough material to cover an entire course with afew extra class periods for quizzes, a final test, makeup work, etc. Also, because there is not too muchmaterial, students have the opportunity to reallylearn the methods being taught. The first chapter isan introductory chapter that presents students withsome specific reading and writing tools. Chapters
two through five are skill-building chapters thatincorporate a variety of tasks in order for students to
use and improve upon the skills gained in Chapter
One.

Chapter One
Chapter One is an introductory chapter that helps
teachers create a positive atmosphere in the classroom
and introduces the skills to be used throughout the restof the course. Unit One is an introductory unit that
contains several group development and classroom

Working Together..., pages 73-78
language activities. These are designed as simple
tasks to help the students speak English as much as
possible in the classroom and build a strong working
relationship with their teacher and classmates.
In Unit Two, students learn and practice a fourstep writing process, which includes Pre-Writing,First Draft, Peer-Editing and Final Draft, that they
will then use to complete writing tasks in chapters
two through five. Students are encouraged to use thelanguage-learning tools gained in Unit One, such as
working with a partner and using English as muchas possible, while they complete Unit Two. Also,
as with Unit One, the activities begin simply andfollow a step-by-step format with each step utilizing
the preceding information so that students can use
knowledge previously acquired in order to complete
new tasks.
Chapter One concludes with Unit Three, which
introduces students to a reading process. As with
Unit Two, it progresses through several steps andprovides students with some concrete reading toolsthat they can use throughout the rest of the book.
The main readings in Working Together are essays, andthis unit teaches students how to read for main ideas
and write an outline of the essay in order to help withcomprehension. It then teaches them how to use thisoutline to write a summary of the essay.
Because this is an introductory chapter in which
students are learning skills to be used later, it shouldtake a little longer to complete than the rest of thechapters. It is recommended that the teacher plan touse one to two class periods for Unit One, two to
three class periods for Unit Two and one class period
for Unit Three.

Chapters Two – Five
The rest of the chapters in the book build on theskills gained in chapter one and provide students
with three writing tasks and two reading tasks in eachchapter. There is also a supplemental quiz for eachchapter in the teacher’s manual that corresponds tothe main essays. These four chapters all follow thesame format:
1st unit: Paragraph Writing [two class periods]

1st class period: Pre-writing activities, Firstdraft
2nd class period: Peer-editing and Final draft
2nd unit: Essay Reading [two class periods]
1st class period: Pre-reading activities,
Vocabulary study
2nd class period: Read the Essay, Summary
writing
3rd unit: Creative Reading & Writing [one classperiod]The focus of these chapters is to help students
become more confident in their reading and writing
ability through a focus on meaning rather than form.
The most important element in meaning-focusedteaching, according to Willis (2007), is that students
have opportunities to act autonomously and decide
for themselves what language items to focus on. It is
important to allow them freedom to explore their own
ideas and find unique ways to express these ideas inEnglish. Therefore, there are no activities in Working
Together that focus directly on grammar and usage
and, although model sentences are provided in theteacher’s manual, it is important to allow for student
variety and usage mistakes, as long as the mistakes do
not hinder meaning.

Language-Learning Philosophies
Employed
In order to meet all of the goals for Working
Together, several language-learning philosophies havebeen integrated into the final production of the book.

Task-Based Learning
In task-based learning, students use language toachieve a specific outcome; the task is the primary
focus of the classroom. The task should reflect reallife and the focus is on meaning rather than on form
(Bowen, n.d.). In each unit of Working Together
students are asked to complete one task, which
follows a task-based sequence of preparation, taskcompletion and report (Willis, 2007).
In the first unit of chapters two through five, forexample, students are asked to complete an Interview
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topic, brainstorm interview questions with theirpartner and then complete a detailed interview about
their partner’s experiences. After writing a first draft,they then work with the same partner to improve andcorrect the first draft using peer-editing before writing
a final draft that will be evaluated by the teacher.
The second unit of each chapter is an Essay
Reading activity. Again students are asked tocomplete a task sequence with their partner. They
begin with several pre-reading activities, which
includes vocabulary study. They then proceed to themain task of reading the essay together with a partner
and identify the main ideas of the essay through thecompletion of a reading outline. They complete thesequence by using their outline to write a summary
paragraph in their own words that shows they haveunderstood the reading.
In all of these tasks, there is no specific focus
on grammar. In the interview task, the idea is thatstudents are working with their partner to combine
the language skills they already have in order tounderstand each other and negotiate meaning while
talking about their lives and experiences. In thereading task, the focus is on comprehending the mainideas without having to understand the language on
a sentence level.

Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning principles and techniques,
which are tools that teachers use in order to encourage
cooperation and active participation of all students inpairs or small groups, has been around for a long time
(Jacobs & Hall, 2002). According to Stahl (1994),
there are several essential requirements to cooperative
learning including: equal opportunity for successby all students; positive social interaction in which
students have to work together to complete the task;
face-to face interaction and individual accountability.
In an EFL setting, researchers propose that there
are several advantages to employing cooperative
learning techniques. One is that it helps to createa more relaxed atmosphere, which in turn leads toincreased speaking by students. Cooperative learningtechniques also facilitate discussions in which
students are negotiating meaning and receiving

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increased amounts of comprehensible input (Jacobs& Hall, 2002).
In Working Together every activity and task
has been designed with the idea that students cancomplete them in pairs. This leads to improved
communication skills and better understanding
through collaboration. For example, the third unit inchapters two through five is a creative reading andwriting activity. Students are asked to read the first partof a story taken from the Cengage Learning graded
reader series. After completing some comprehension
activities, they then work together with their partner
to write their own ending. This type of task naturally
leads to large amounts of negotiation between thetwo students as well as with the teacher; students
often don’t know how to express what they want to
say in English, which leads them to ask the teacher
for help. As Willis (2007) points out, this type ofactivity, where the student controls what language tofocus on, promotes real learning because the students
are using and focusing on language that they are
ready for and everyone in the class can be learning atdifferent levels at the same time.
Students are also encouraged to work with manydifferent partners throughout the course. Each unit
in each chapter, although related to the other units, isa separate task. This gives the teacher the opportunity
to change pairings frequently. In this way, students
become comfortable communicating with a variety ofpartners. However, although students work together
to gather information and perform the task, in mostcases the final paragraph is written individually, sothat there is individual accountability and assessment.
In this way, students do not feel frustration or anxiety
that their grade is tied to their partner’s performance.

Repetition and Recycling
The idea that in order to learn a language wellthere must be a lot of repetition and reuse of that
language is one of the most basic principles oflanguage teaching. This idea can also be applied tothe acquisition of skills; if certain types of activities
are presented several times, students will be able tosolidify their understanding and use of the skills
being developed. Another goal for Working Together

Working Together..., pages 73-78
was that students would be presented with some very
concrete tools for improving both their reading andwriting skills and then be given multiple chances toreuse this information in order to gain proficiency
as well as confidence in their language usage. By theend of the course, it is hoped that the skills gained
will be solidified for the students and they can thenapply them to other courses and language-learning
experiences.
In order to accomplish this, it was importantthat only a few activity types be included in the bookand that they be repeated many times. This allows
students to learn just once how to do a certain type oftask or activity and then the rest of the course can beused to practice those skills with new vocabulary andcontent. That is, the instruments of instruction staythe same while only the language changes. With thisin mind, chapter one is devoted to teaching students
the main task-types used in the book and provides
them with some concrete reading and writing tools,
including paragraph writing, reading for main ideas
and summary writing. This information is then usedthroughout the rest of the book, giving students
many opportunities to practice and build their skills.
This type of task repetition and focus on skillbuilding not only helps the students gain confidence
in their language learning ability, but it is easy forboth teacher and students to see growth throughout
the course of the semester. Also, since a task only
has to be taught once, after the initial instruction
period is over, the teacher is free to help individual
students at their own pace and level. Since much ofclass time is devoted to students working together
with a partner to complete a task, the teacher is able
to move amongst the students and provide one-onone instruction, which makes possible the studentgenerated focus on language and genuine learningthat Willis finds so beneficial (Willis, 2007).

English Only
One of the hot debates in the EFL world is whether
or not English-only policies are beneficial or not. I
believe that establishing a classroom environment
where students are encouraged to use only English
is a highly beneficial way for them to increase theirlanguage skills. Therefore, Working Together has been
written so that teachers have the option of employing
an English-only policy in the classroom if they wish.
I like to think of the first few days of class as
L+1/4 rather than L + 1; for many students theidea of speaking and working only in English is
intimidating and even scary. They do not believe
they can do it. Therefore, to successfully implement
this type of instruction, it is important to begin
very slowly in order to gain students’ trust and also
to show them that they are capable of doing it. The
biggest hurdle is not the student’s lack of ability but
their lack of self-confidence. Therefore, the activities
in the book begin very simply so that students canutilize language skills they already have and canfocus on using that language without worrying about
gaining new skills right away. Once the students havegained some confidence in their own ability, they are
introduced to some simple tools that can help themuse English only. Finally, they begin to learn thereading and writing skills the book is based on, butvery slowly and simply, using the English-only tools
already established in a manner that makes it easy forthe students to be successful.

Conclusion
I have been using Working Together in myuniversity classes for the past year, but I have beenusing the tasks and activities it is based on for along time. Through my own observations, informal
feedback surveys of the students and official classevaluations, I believe that I have successfully createda reading and writing textbook that meets all of theoriginal goals. The tasks and activities are easy forboth the students and the teacher to use so that reallearning can take place; there is enough material foran entire course so there is no need to supplementwith outside materials; the students are able to learnsome concrete reading and writing tools that help
them build and develop their language; and theactivities are fun. As a teacher, I want to be able tolook out at my students and see them laughing andenjoying themselves while they are learning because
I know that this will increase their focus on the task
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my greatest success has been in finding topics andtasks that the students enjoy; it makes their learning
experience more meaningful and that in turn makes
my job meaningful.

References
Bowen, T. (n.d.). Teaching approaches: task-basedlearning. Onestopenglish.com, Macmillan
Publishers Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.
onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/
teaching-approaches/teaching-approaches-taskbased-learning/146502.article
Edwards, L. (2011). Working together:Communicative reading and writing. Tokyo,
Japan: Cengage Learning.
Jacobs, G. M., & Hall, S. (2002). Implementing
cooperative learning. In J. C. Richards & W.
A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language

teaching: An anthology of current practice (pp.
52-58). Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
Nation, P. (2003, June). The role of the first
language in foreign language learning. AsianEFL Journal: English Langauge Teaching andResearch Articles, vol. 5, article 1. Retrieved fromhttp://www.asian-efl-journal.com/june_2003_
PN.phpStahl, R. J. (1994). The essential elements ofcooperative learning in the classroom.
Bloomington: ERIC Clearinghouse forSocial Studies/Social Science Education.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
ED370881)
Willis, D. (2007). Accuracy, fluency and autonomous
learning: A three way distinction. Retrieved on
July 8, 2012, from http://www.willis-elt.co.uk/
books.html

Author’s Biography:
Loran Anna-Marie Edwards currently teaches at Kansai Gaidai University. She recently
published her first textbook, Working Together: Communicative Reading and Writing with
Cengage Learning.

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Model United Nations in the ESOL Classroom

Tom Fast
Okayama Gakugeikan High School
International Center
tom@gakugeikan.ed.jp
Nothing stimulates high school students’ learning like the Model United Nations (MUN). It
challenges them to role play UN delegates from other countries, exercises their English (throughresearch, writing, presenting, questioning, and debating) and promotes critical/creative thinking
skills to attempt to resolve the most difficult issues of our day. This paper explains what the MUN
is and discusses how the author prepared Okayama Gakugeikan High School students for theannual Kansai High School Model United Nations in Kyoto. It describes how the MUN fosters
global literacy and features comments from former students about its impact on their educationand future career paths.
本稿では模擬国連について紹介する。実際、模擬国連ほど、高校生の学習意欲を刺激する活動はない。模擬国連は、生徒たちに、他国の国連代表としてのロールプレイに挑戦させ、英語の学習（調査、作文、発表、質疑、ディベート）を行ない、今日もっとも困難とされる問題の解決策を考えることを通じて、批評的で創造的な思考法を向上させる。そこで、本稿では、模擬国連とは何か、そして筆者が、毎年京都で開催される「関西高校生模擬国連大会」に岡山学芸館高校の生徒を参加させるためにどのような準備を行ったかを論じ、模擬国連がどのようにグローバルリテラシーを育て、卒業生たちの教育と将来の進路に与えた影響を述べる。
Keywords: Model United Nations, 4 Skills, Content-based Instruction, Creative/CriticalThinking, Global Issues

Introduction
The Model United Nations (MUN) firstcame to the author’s attention ten years ago, while
teaching in the United States. After some years inJapan, attending a large number of speech contests,
the author began looking for more practical andrewarding extracurricular opportunities. Once*

Fast, T. (2013). Model United Nations in the ESOLClassroom. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks(Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings(pp. 79-85). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

aware that the Model United Nations was taking
place in Japan, a group of third year English Course
students was sent as part of Okayama GakugeikanHigh School’s Super English Language High School(SELHi) project. Over the last six years the MUN
has blossomed into one of the pillars of Gakugeikan’s
English program.

Description of the MUN
The Model United Nations (MUN) is asimulation of the real UN in which students play
the role of diplomats discussing solutions for urgent
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Fast
problems of the day. The MUN is as old as theUnited Nations itself (Muldoon, 1995). Over time
the MUN has spread around the world and is now
conducted by over 400,000 middle school, highschool and university students (UN Headquarters,2012).
The Kansai High School Model United Nations(KHSMUN) is 22 years old. It is held each June at
the Kyoto International Conference Center, whereimportant agreements like the 1997 Kyoto Protocol
were enacted. The conference is in English but isintended for non-native speakers, so content andprocedures have been simplified somewhat. Students
discuss two topics. This year’s topics were childsoldiers and child labor. Past topics include foodsecurity, water, and climate change.
The MUN is becoming increasingly recognized asa valuable learning experience. This year the numberof students in attendance at KHSMUN increased
from 200 to over 300. Participating schools included
Kyoto Gaidai Nishi (the host), Ritsumeikan,
Sangyou University High School, Senzoku Gakuen,
Nada High School, Wakayama Hidaka, Osaka
YMCA, Kansai Soka, Kansai International, SenriInternational, Nishiyamato Gakuen and Okayama
Gakugeikan.

Kansai MUN Schedule
The following is the three-day schedule for theKansai MUN.
Day 1: After a welcome ceremony, students breakinto regional blocs (Africa, Asia, Americas, etc.) to
discuss assigned subtopics, (e.g., rehabilitating
reintegrating child soldiers, defining acceptableworking conditions for child labor). In the morning
students present their opinions in English. In theafternoon, they have the option of using Japanese
if necessary, but at the end of the day a written
resolution must be produced in English and contain“clauses” or ideas to address the issues. Teachers create
the preamble statements of the resolutions in order toguide discussions (Appendix A).
Days 2 and 3: The students are divided into
general assemblies consisting of approximately 100
delegates in separate conference rooms. Students

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engage in three forms of debate. “Formal Debate”
is when the students deliver prepared speeches andintroduce draft resolutions. “Informal Debate” is amoderated question and answer session. “Caucusing”
is where the students are free to speak to each otherinformally. Japanese is allowed only during caucustime.

MUN Preparation
Each school has its own approach to prepare for
the MUN. Some start preparing months in advance,others may dedicate only a few weeks, depending
on available time and the ability of their students,
whose English levels range from intermediate to nearnative. Below is an outline of how the third year
English Course students at Okayama Gakugeikan
were prepared:
Step 1: MUN lessons start in April and are held
four hours per week. The students form groups oftwo or three, select a nation to represent, and preparePowerPoint presentations introducing their countries.
Step 2: Students research and present on various
aspects of the United Nations in order to understandwhat it is and what it does. Students also learncommon phrases and vocabulary used during the
MUN.
Step 3: Students begin researching the two
assigned topics. Students are provided with generalcontent language integrated learning (CLIL)
materials. Students are required to seek out theirown country’s specific information as well. As a final
assessment, the students produce a short position
paper to be read at the MUN and two clauses which
students share on the KHSMUN BBS with students
from the same regional blocs.
Step 4: Conduct an MUN practice run in classbefore heading to Kyoto.

MUN and ESOLThe MUN utilizes all four skills of English overthe course of the project. Students read preparedmaterials, skim official documents, and scan
websites. Students write position papers, and draft
and edit resolutions. Radio stories and films on theModel United Nations in the ESOL Classroom, pages 79-85
Table 1Student Evaluations of MUN.

Very positive

somewhat
positivesomewhat
negativevery negative

Overall Impression

62.5%

31.25%

6.25%

0

Has it helped your Speaking?

43.75%

31.25%

12.5%

12.5%

Writing?

25%

37.5%

25%

12.5%

Reading?

43.75%

31.25%

6.25%

18.75%

Listening?

56.25%

12.5%

18.75%

12.5%

Grammar?

6.25%

43.755

37.5%

12.5%

Has it helped you prepare for university?

43.75%

43.75%

12.5%

0

Has it helped you in other ways?

62.5%

25%

12.5%

0

topics are also utilized for listening activities during
preparation. In addition, students spend a significant
amount of time listening to other delegates during
the convention. Regarding speaking, students haveopportunities to deliver speeches as well as participate
in impromptu discussions and debates.

MUN and Global Literacy“Think global, act local” is one possible definition
for global literacy. MUN students learn to “thinkglobal” by researching world issues. After the MUN,
the students at Gakugeikan High School reflect on
the topics from a local perspective. Last year, after
studying food security from the perspectives of othernations, students considered food issues that affectJapan, for example the fact that Japan produces lessthan 40% of its own food domestically (2010, Japan
Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries) andeats 10% of the world’s fish caught annually (Hayes,2009). Students then tried to “act local” by proposing
projects like supporting local farmers via farminternships for students and creating sustainable sushi
menus for local sushi shops to combat overfishing(Appendix B).

Student Reflections
Every year students’ opinions on the MUN
experience are collected on a one page survey.
Questions on the overall experience, whether or
not it helped their English, was useful for university
entrance, etc. are accompanied by this 2 centimeterscale: L
J. Students draw a verticalline to indicate where their feelings lie on the scale.
When tallying the results, the scale is divided into
equal fourths. Marks within five millimeters of the
J are considered very positive, and five millimetersof the L very negative. Marks within five millimetersof the middle on either side are considered somewhat
positive or negative.
This year’s results were typical: 15 out of 16
reported having a very positive or somewhat positive
experience. Only one reported having a somewhat
negative experience. Students also reported positive
impacts on their English skills. Table 1 indicates how
students answered other questions on the survey:
As can be seen, the student reactions were
overwhelmingly positive (very positive or somewhat
positive) for all questions.
Former students were also contacted and reported
the following:
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Fast
“I was amazed to meet all the Kansai students.
Their English skills definitely motivated me to
study harder.” (Okayama University student)“It was really interesting to learn about acountry that I didn’t know before (Cuba), but it
was really really hard! I also learned about otherteams’ countries and their problems. It told
me a lot about the character of each country!”(Kwansei Gakuin University student)“The topic we discussed (climate change) does
help my current study in university. I still
remember learning about “carbon foot print”
and “Kyoto Protocol.” It was a great experience
to learn world-wide issues IN ENGLISH.”(International Christian University student)“Through MUN I discovered what I want
to study in university. Now I belong to
CITYNET Youth Japan. We are preparing
workshops, study tours, etc. And we justfinished a discussion workshop with National
University of Singapore. Next I’ll join
TICAD (Tokyo International Conferenceon African Development). And this August,I’m volunteering in Vietnam for 3 weeks.”(Yokohama City University student)“As a block leader, I could acquire leadershipskills. In fact, I’ve played the role of leader
in many events after MUN.” (International
Christian University student)“I now understand the hardness of making anagreement with ALL countries in the MUN.
This also applies to other meetings (committees,
work, etc). Compromise is NOT EASY.” (Akita
International University)“MUN is not only MUN. I guess what we
experienced there will help us through ourwhole life.” (Bowling Green University student)

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Conclusion
Kansai MUN is one of a growing number of
events in and outside Japan for adventurous students
who are eager to communicate in English. It should
be noted that students need not be high level speakers.
Japanese students are desired at international events
because their attendance is low compared to other
Asian participants. For the past two years, the author
has taken small groups to WEMUN Beijing, thelargest MUN in Asia. The author’s students were
the only Japanese out of 3000 participants fromaround the world. Teachers interested in the MUN
and similar events should encourage their schools
to join the UNESCO Associated Schools Project
Network (UNESCO ASP-NET). In return theirschools will get access to interesting and collaborativeinternational contests, projects, and events.
The value of the MUN is clear in terms of criticalthinking skills, improvement of English abilities,
and awareness of global issues, and current events,
but it also shows itself in sometimes unusual ways.
Gakugeikan English Course graduates often go on to
study abroad in places like England, the USA, andAustralia, but recent graduates have been choosing
more unexpected locales: Sweden, Malta, South
Africa, and Morocco—countries the students may
not have considered prior to their MUN experience.
When students join the Gakugeikan English Course,many dream of being flight attendants. After
participating in the MUN, aspirations often change
to international diplomat or volunteer. MUN widens
students’ perspective of the world.

Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank all involved in
the Kansai Model United Nations and acknowledge
the hard work of the staff of Kyoto Gaidai Nishi
High School, who organize the event each year. Alsoa special thanks to Okayama Binan Rotary for theirannual sponsorship.

Model United Nations in the ESOL Classroom, pages 79-85

References
Hayes, J. (2009). Commercial fishing in Japan:
Fishing industry, overfishing, fish farms, fisherman
and giant jellyfish. Retrieved on July 26th
2012, from http://factsanddetails.com/japan.
php?itemid=937&catid=24&subcatid=159
Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School. (2012). KansaiHigh School Model United Nations. Retrieved
from http://www.khsmun.com
Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries.
(2010). FY2010 Annual report on food,agriculture and rural areas in Japan (Summary).
Retrieved from http://www.maff.go.jp/e/annual_report/2010/index.html
Muldoon, J. P. (1995). The Model United Nations
revisited. Simulation & Gaming, 26 (March),
pp. 27-35.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization. (2012). UNESCO Associated
Schools Project Network. Retrieved from http://
www.unesco.org/new/en/education/networks/
global-networks/aspnet/
United Nations. (2012). Model UNHeadquarters
FAQs. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/
cyberschoolbus/modelun/faq.html
WELAND. (2012). WEMUN Expo. Retrieved
from http://www.welandedu.com/front

Author’s Biography:
Tom Fast is Director of the International Center at Okayama Gakugeikan High School where
he teaches English and International Understanding.

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Fast

Appendix A: MUN Resolution
Below is an abridged Kansai High School Model United Nations Resolution. The preambles (underlined
statements at the top) were prepared by the teachers to guide student discussion. The high level English is a
result of the combined efforts of the student committees. Teachers edited the text for language problems thatmight impede debate.

KHSMUN Commission B
Agenda: 		
Topic 2: 		
Issue 3: 		
Author: 		

The Rights of the Child
Child Labour
Defining Acceptable Conditions for Child Work
Latin America and the Caribbean Bloc

The General Assembly,
Deeply disturbed that one third of the world’s children live in countries that haven’t ratified ILO
convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour and convention 138 on minimum age for work,
Understanding that families are often dependent on their children’s income for survival,
Recognizing that there are cultural differences in how “child” is defined and how children’s roles areunderstood,
Strongly believing that all children need to be educated for their future and to break the cycle ofpoverty,
1. Recommends that all governments sign the International Labour Organizations Convention #182;
2. Recommends that all governments set the minimum age for child work by 2015;
3. Requires all governments to make employers submit information about work performed by children
to the government in order to get permission for employment;
4. Insists that local monitoring groups trained by the United Nations staff work to end debt bondage
by 2020 in countries where there are child labour problems;
5. Demands random safety checks in the manufacturing industry be carried out by United Nations staff
in countries which have not signed and ratified ILO Convention #182;
6. Requests that all governments that have children who have not finished compulsory education
restrict these children from working more than 4 hours a day, and restrict all children from working
more than 8 hours a day;
7. Recommends all countries to establish vocational schools for parents and children in order to allow
them to earn a living without their children working;84

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Model United Nations in the ESOL Classroom, pages 79-85

Appendix B: Sample of Students’ “Act Local” Projects

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From Praise to Critique in Offering Peer Feedback on
Writing

Mayumi Fujioka
Kinki University
School of Pharmacy
mfujioka42@hotmail.com
This paper reviews relevant literature on pragmatics related to feedback and offers suggestions
for second language (L2) English learners to learn to produce pragmatically appropriate oral andwritten feedback in English for peers’ writing. Based on the notion of “from praise to critique” asa preferred mode of L1 English written feedback (e.g., Hyland & Hyland, 2001) and a linguistic
politeness strategy (Bell & Youmans, 2006), this paper introduces the expected structure of
feedback and important discourse markers (e.g., positive comments followed by however), as
well as the use of certain hedge phrases (e.g., a little, could, might) in oral and written feedback
in English. The paper concludes with pedagogical implications and teaching suggestions in order
to assist L2 English learners in adopting effective and pragmatically appropriate peer feedback in
English.
本稿では、フィードバックについての先行研究にもとづき、第２言語(L2)英語学習者が英語で仲間（ピア）のライティングについて、口頭または文章による語用論的に適切なフィードバックができるよう提言をする。具体的には英語のライティングによるフィードバックで求められる形（e.g., Hyland & Hyland, 2001）、および言語ポライトネスストラテジー（Bell &Youmans, 2006）についての研究からの「ほめから批評へ」という概念にもとづき、英語において口頭および文章で求められるフィードバックの形式、特徴的な談話マーカー（例：肯定的なコメントの後にhoweverが来る）、およびヘッジ表現（e.g., a little, could, might）の使用を紹介する。最後に、これらの先行研究をもとに、L2英語学習者が効果的でかつ語用論的に適切なピアフィードバックを英語で遂行できるよう、教育的示唆と教授への提言をする。
Keywords: feedback, pragmatics, oral and written feedback, peer response

Introduction
Offering constructive and tactful oral and written
feedback can be difficult in one’s first language (L1),*

Fujioka, M. (2013). From praise to critique in offeringpeer feedback on writing. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts,& G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 86-91). Hiroshima: JALT.

*86

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let alone in a second language (L2). Nevertheless,with increasing attention to peer feedback as an
instructional practice in the L2 writing classroom(see Liu & Hansen, 2002; Hyland & Hyland, 2006,
for comprehensive reviews of L2 studies on peer
response), L2 English learners who engage in peer
response activities on writing may be required to offer
peer feedback in English, which could be a daunting

From Praise to Critique in Offering Peer Feedback on Writing, pages 86-91
task for them. Drawing on necessarily limited
language resources, these L2 English learners may be
too direct in their criticisms compared to their L1
English counterparts, or they may use inappropriate
phrases such as must or should in offering feedback(Nguyen & Basturkmen, 2010). L2 learners’
difficulty in offering appropriate feedback in English
is attributable to fundamental issues of L2 pragmatics
that learners lack knowledge of and exposure to thetarget pragmatic structure. Focusing on offering peer
feedback on writing, this study identifies difficulties
for L2 English learners offering feedback in English
and provides suggestions to help them learn to offer
effective peer feedback.
Feedback can be investigated through specificspeech acts (see Fujioka, 2005, for the speech actof suggestion in peer response activities). However,feedback is a complicated discursive practice that ismore than a collection of multiple speech acts (seeNguyen & Basturkmen, 2010, for advice-giving
and other language issues in constructive criticalfeedback). Thus, this article addresses larger issues
of offering oral and written feedback on writing in
English, that is, the overall structure of feedback,as well as specific linguistic phrases and speech acts
employed in feedback. The paper consists of threemain sections: first, background literature on the
structure of oral and written feedback on English
writing is introduced. Next, pedagogical implications
for L2 English learners in learning to offer feedback in
English are discussed from a pragmatic point of view.
Finally, a summary of sample activities is presented
in order to demonstrate how L2 English learners canlearn to adopt effective and pragmatically appropriate
feedback to help improve their peers’ writing.

Structure of Feedback on Writing in
EnglishWritten Feedback
The identification of the expected structure of
written feedback in English in this paper is basedon two studies on teacher written feedback: Smith(1997), who focused on L1 English university
teaching assistants’ and teachers’ comments on

L1 English college students’ writing, and Hylandand Hyland (2001), which is about L1 English
teachers’ written comments on L2 English students’
writing. Both of these studies made detailed text
analyses of teacher written comments and they sharesimilar findings. Smith, analyzing a large sample ofcomments, found a general pattern which begins withpositive comments, moves to negative comments andcoaching (suggestions) and ends with either coachingor positive comments. Speculating on reasons forteachers’ initial praise comments, she points out thatteachers relate to students’ general anxiety about
having their writing judged, or they wish to support
students’ motivation with initial praise. Hylandand Hyland, in their analysis of comments by twoteachers on the multiple written assignments of six
English as a Second Language (ESL) students, also
found “praise-criticism-suggestion” (2001, p. 196) tobe the most common pattern, pointing out that initialpraise comments served as a mitigation strategy forteachers to maintain or develop positive relationships
with their students.
In addition to the overall praise-negative
comment-suggestion feedback structure, the twostudies revealed linguistic patterns commonly usedin teacher written comments. Those patterns include
the use of such phrases as however, but, although,while, to signal the turning point between positive
and negative comments (Smith, 1997). Moreover,teachers use various hedges to mitigate the impactof their comments, including such phrases as some, alittle, seemed, wonder, and could (Hyland & Hyland,2001).

Oral Feedback
Bell and Youmans (2006), referring to the findingsof these two studies of teachers’ written feedback,commented that the pattern of praise statements
before negative comments is an important teacher
response strategy in oral as well as written feedback.
They analyzed this comment pattern in oral discourse
by using a well-known framework of linguistic
politeness developed by Brown and Levinson (1987,
as cited in Bell & Youmans, 2006). Bell and Youmans,
observing tutoring sessions between L1 English tutors
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Fujioka
and L1 and L2 English tutees in a US writing center,summarize that tutors’ use of praise statements at the
beginning of sessions is attributable to their desire tocreate rapport and common ground for discussion
with their tutees. According to linguistic politenesstheory, such behavior among tutors is explained by
the concept of positive politeness. Bell and Youmans
also note the same patterns of discourse markers andphrases in their oral feedback of L1 English tutors
as those identified in other studies (Smith, 1997;
Hyland & Hyland, 2001), including signaling
positive to negative comments with such phrases as
however or although, and the use of various mitigatingphrases to tone down the critique statement (e.g.,kind of, maybe, and might want to).

Previous Studies and Pragmatics
The findings from the three studies introduced
above are relevant to pragmatics in two ways. First, thestructure of initial praise, evaluations, and suggestions
in both oral and written feedback by tutors andteachers can be considered to be sociopragmatics (acultural aspect of pragmatics) in that it is a preferred
way of communicating feedback among L1 English
teachers. Second, it represents pragmalinguistics (alinguistic aspect of pragmatics) in that L1 teachers
and tutors use certain discourse markers to indicate
the turn from positive to negative statements, andvarious mitigating phrases to soften the impact of
the negative comments or suggestions. Althoughthese findings suggest that L2 English learners canlearn to make similar comments in English on theirpeers’ writing, there are some issues that need to beconsidered. Thus, the next section introduces someof these issues and discusses pedagogical implicationsof them.

Pedagogical Implications
To teach L2 English students to provide effective
feedback on peers’ writing, it seems necessary to
promote both their receptive and productive skills.
Promoting students’ receptive skills is important interms of sociopragmatics because, while the patternof starting with praise and moving to negative88

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingscomments and suggestions (hereafter from praise tocritique) is a practice to which US-educated students
are acculturated, it may be unfamiliar to learners
from other cultures (Bell & Youmans, 2006; Smith,1997). Based on their observations of writing center
tutoring, Bell and Youmans point out that some L2
English students get confused over tutors’ switchingfrom positive to negative comments and need to
be familiarized with this discourse pattern at thereceptive level.
Another area of difficulty for L2 learners is theritualized aspect of initial praise comments. Some L2students have difficulty understanding the “politenessgesture” (Bell & Youmans, 2006, p. 40) in tutor
comments as they take the praise at the face value.
Thus, L2 English students need to be introduced tothis praise to critique pattern of comment and helped
to understand the intricacies of the role of initialpraise statements.
The previous studies also indicate that students
may understand but not necessarily appreciate
the role of praise comments they perceive as only
ritualistic. Smith (1997) and Hyland and Hyland(2001) share the view that ritual positive openings, if
considered insincere, can diminish their effectiveness.
Thus, an important pedagogical implication here isthat students need to be assisted in understanding
the roles of initial praise as well as learning to makesincere praise comments in their peer feedback.
Another important pedagogical implicationfrom the previous studies is the need for students
to learn how various English mitigating phrases areused in critiques. Hyland and Hyland (2001) pointout that L1 English teachers’ use of various hedges
to tone down the impact of their negative comments
or suggestions through indirect phrases may result inserious misunderstandings. For example, one student
misunderstood her teacher’s hedged criticism andsuggestion “the conclusion may be a bit abrupt – you
could re-state some of the main points” (Hyland &Hyland, 2001, p. 205), interpreting it as the teacher’s
criticism of her stance stated in the conclusion,and consequently did not restate the main points
as suggested. Regarding the use of hedges, Hylandand Hyland also note that indirectness may beFrom Praise to Critique in Offering Peer Feedback on Writing, pages 86-91
counter-productive to the teacher’s goal in conveying
important points.
In another study focusing on the use of hedges,
Bankier (2012) found that Japanese learners ofEnglish had trouble understanding the hedged
expressions heavily loaded in English passages. L2
English learners are instead likely to benefit fromexplicit instruction on various hedges in English
and their intended meanings, such as you could or
you might want to as a friendly suggestion. After they
have developed the receptive skills to understandhedges used in teacher comments, students needto develop the productive skills to use common
hedging phrases in their own peer feedback. Equallyimportant, students need instruction on phrases theyshould avoid, including you must/have to/had better,as research indicates that L2 English learners tend tobe overly direct in their advice-offering (e.g., Houck& Fujimori, 2010).

Lessons on from Praise to Critique
Structure
Based on the pedagogical implications from theprevious studies, two 60 to 90-minute lessons inwhich L2 English students learn the receptive andproductive skills to offer pragmatically appropriate
peer feedback in English are summarized in thissection (see Fujioka, 2012a, for details of the lessonplans). The target population is university level
students with intermediate or advanced level ofEnglish proficiency. One focused on receptive skills
and the other on productive skills. The lessons areintended for Japanese learners of English as a Foreign
Language (EFL), which is the group I teach, butthey can be applied to ESL students as well as other
EFL populations with necessary modifications. In
order for the following lessons to succeed, students
need prior training in understanding how effective
writing in English works, including how to write thefollowing: clear thesis statements, topic sentenceswith supporting details, and conclusions that areconnected with the introduction.

Part 1: Receptive Skills
As a brainstorming activity, students read twoteacher-prepared written comments on a student’s
writing: one with only negative comments and theother with initial praise statements and a critique(pointing out areas for improvements and specificsuggestions). They are asked to share their feelings inpairs, groups, or entire-class discussion, about the twokinds of comments. They are most likely to agree thatreceiving only negative comments is discouraging or
demotivating.
After having students reflect on the two sample
comments, the teacher explains that in English fromthe praise to critique structure is a preferred way ofcommunicating feedback on others’ work. Althoughtechnical information about the linguistic politenesstheory may not be necessary, the teacher can share
his/her perspectives in explaining why this is thepreferred mode of offering feedback such as the wish
to alleviate students’ anxiety about having their works
judged, the goal of building rapport with students,and support of students’ motivation to further revise
by initially acknowledging strong points and giving
concrete suggestions for further improvement in theend. The teacher can then point out that this feedback
rationale applies to students’ making comments on
their peers’ writing as well.
The lesson on receptive skills ends with exercises
on linguistic analysis of the structure of feedback.
In the sample comment with praise and critique,students are asked to point out what phrase is used
to signal the move from the praise comments toareas for improvements (e.g., however) and are also
introduced to other phrases with the same function(e.g., although, but, while) with sample sentences.
Then, students are asked to point out in the sample
comment what modals are used to show suggestions(e.g., you could/might), which are contrasted withmodals that imply commands (e.g., you should/haveto/must). If necessary, the teacher explicitly explains
the illocutionary forces of those modals in that could
and might leave the decision to the hearer and thus
convey friendly suggestions, while should, have to,and must convey rules and obligations, which are notappropriate for making suggestions.
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Part 2: Productive Skills
As a bridge between the lessons on receptive
and productive skills, students engage in abrainstorming activity of putting scrambled pieces ofwritten comments in the right order from a praise
opening, comments on areas for improvements, andsuggestions. After the brainstorming, students engage
in critiquing a sample student essay that the teacher
has prepared. First, they are asked to evaluate how
well each of the specific elements of the sample essay
has been accomplished (e.g., clear thesis statement,
clear topic sentence in each paragraph, detailed
supporting evidence). Students are asked not only tocheck Yes or No on specific items (e.g., Is the thesis
statement clear?) but also to generate reasons for theirchosen answers.
Based on their evaluations, students engage inwriting a comment. Since writing a detailed comment
with the expected structure of praise and critique
may be difficult, students can engage in sentencecompletion exercises. For example, for initial praisestatements, they are asked to complete a sentencesuch as I like your introduction because.... By adding
specifics to their praise statements, the problem of
initial praise sounding insincere may be avoided.
Next, students are presented possible sentences toshow a move from the initial praise to pointing out
areas of problems, for example, However, your thirdparagraph is a little confusing because ..., and are asked
to provide specific reasons. Finally, students provide
suggestions to improve the sample essay, using
pragmatically appropriate modal auxiliaries learnedin the previous lesson. For example, they are to fill inthe blanks in a sentence such as You () add anexample to illustrate your point in the third paragraph.
Advanced level students can be encouraged to write
a comment on their own by using the expectedstructures, discourse markers, and hedged phrases
that they have learned.
After students work on the sample essay, they cancompare their comments with their peers to see whatsimilar or different aspects of the same piece of writing
they refer to. After they have completed enoughadditional structured exercises on offering feedback,students are encouraged to execute this commenting

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practice in speaking or writing activities, where
they exchange their drafts of speeches or writing
assignments with their peers and provide feedback
for real audiences. In pairs or groups, they can decide
whether they want to offer peer feedback orally or inwriting.

Final Remarks
Offering feedback is a complicated discursive
practice featuring the expected use of overall structure
and certain discourse markers and linguistic phrases.
In this paper, suggestions for teaching are offered
as a first step for helping L2 English learners offer
effective and pragmatically appropriate peer feedback
in English. In order to further develop understandingof effective feedback practices, studies from a wider
perspective might need to be reviewed in the future(see Howard, 2012, for example, for teacher feedbackin university classroom discussion; see also Fujioka,
2012b, for pragmatics related to writing center tutor
feedback).
To become adept at providing effective peer
feedback, students need to develop an attitude ofrespect for peers’ work and trust in peers’ comments.
Therefore, pragmatic lessons on peer feedback need
to be introduced at an appropriate stage as students
become mature as learners. Pragmatics concerns social
skills in language use, and teachers and students needto keep in mind that the development in language
skills goes hand in hand with human development.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Professor Sharon L. Pughfor her valuable comments and suggestions on theearlier version of this manuscript and my anonymous
reviewer of the JALT Pan SIG proceedings for his/her
helpful comments.

References
Bankier, J. (2012). Japanese university students’awareness of hedging devices in academic writing:A pilot study. Paper presented at JALT Pan-SIG
Conference, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima,

From Praise to Critique in Offering Peer Feedback on Writing, pages 86-91
Japan.
Bell, D. C., & Youmans, M. (2006). Politeness andpraise: Rhetorical issues in ESL (L2) writing
center conferences. Writing Center Journal,
26(2), 31-47.
Fujioka, M. (2005). The speech act of suggesting aspart of peer response activities. In D. Tatsuki(Ed.), Pragmatics in language learning: Theory
and practice (pp. 166-170). Tokyo, Japan: JALT
Fujioka, M. (2012a). From praise to critique:
Receptive skills; productive skills. In J. Ronald,
C. Rinnert, K. Fordyce, & T. Knight (Eds.),
Pragtivities: Bringing pragmatics into second
language classrooms. (pp. 143-149). Tokyo,
Japan: JALT
Fujioka, M. (2012b). Pragmatics in writing center
tutoring: Theory and suggestions for tutoring
practice. Kinki University Center for Liberal Arts
and Foreign Language Education Journal, 3(1),129-146.
Houck, N. R., & Fujimori, J. (2010). Teacher,
you should lose some weight: Advice giving
in English. In D. H. Tatsuki & N.R. Houck(Eds.), Pragmatics: Teaching speech acts (pp. 89103). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Howard, A. M. (2012). Feedback in university level

discussion sections. Paper presented at JALT
Pan-SIG Conference, Hiroshima University,
Hiroshima, Japan.
Hyland, F., & Hyland, K. (2001). Sugaring the pill:
Praise and criticism in written feedback. Journalof Second Language Writing, 10, 185-212.
doi:10.1016/S1060-3743(01)00038-8
Hyland, K., & Hyland, F. (2006). Contexts
and issues in feedback on L2 writing: An
introduction. In K. Hyland & F. Hyland (Eds.),
Feedback in second language writing: Contexts
and issues (pp. 1-19).Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Liu, J., & Hansen, J. (2002). Peer response in second
language writing classrooms. Ann Arbor, MI: The
University of Michigan Press.
Nguyen, T.T.M., & Basturkmen, H. (2010).
Teaching constructive critical feedback. In D.
H. Tatsuki & N.R. Houck (Eds.), Pragmatics:
Teaching speech acts (pp. 125-140). Alexandria,
VA: TESOL.
Smith, S. (1997). The genre of the end comment:
Conventions in teacher responses tostudent writing. College Composition
and Communication, 48(2), 249-268.
doi:10.2307/358669

Author’s Biography:
Mayumi Fujioka is an associate professor of English at Kinki University, Osaka. Her researchinterests include L2 English academic literacy development, writing center tutoring, andinterlanguage pragmatics.

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Using Texts in the University Classroom: Japanese
Teachers’ Practices

William Green
Sapporo University
wrgreen@sapporo-u.ac.jp
This presentation described a study of Japanese teachers’ cognition and practices, focusing on
their use of texts in the classroom. The aim was to inform the design of co-ordinated English
programmes taught by Japanese and expatriate teachers. The study identified a number of issues
in the Japanese teachers’ thinking which resonate with expatriate teachers, including students’shyness, the importance of teaching and learning English as a living language in context, thevalue of extensive reading, and centring lessons and learning on the students. It was suggested
that these areas could form the basis for co-operation and collaboration between Japanese andexpatriate teachers.
本稿では、教室でのテキストの利用に焦点を当て、日本の英語教師の認知と実践の研究を述べる。本研究の目的は、日本人と外国人講師による協調英語プログラムの設計を助けることにある。研究の結果、外国人教師と日本人教師が同様の問題－学生の内気を克服、生きた原語としての英語学習の重要性、多読と学生中心のレッスンや学習の価値－を認識している事実が確認された。したがってこれらの領域において、日本人と外国人教師間の協力と共同作業の基礎を形成する必要があると分かった。
Keywords: Language teacher cognition, Japanese university teaching

Introduction
One of the defining features of English language
education in Japanese universities is the presenceof two groups of teachers: Japanese teachers ofEnglish (JTs) and teachers from English-speaking
countries (ETs). For the most part the two groups
work separately, but in this talk I argued that English
education in Japanese universities could be improved*

Green, W. (2013). Using texts in the university
classroom: Japanese teachers’ practices. In R.
Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012
Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 92-96).
Hiroshima: JALT.

*92

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by collaboration between the two groups. I presented
the results of a study into JTs’ thinking and practices
which showed that ETs and JTs have much incommon that could be used as a basis for pedagogicalco-operation and collaboration.

Concepts
Language teachers’ practices are influenced bycognitive structures and processes including thethoughts, beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, knowledge
and principles that they have about their teaching.
Teacher cognition research involves looking at theorigin, characteristics and development of these
cognitive structures with a view to understanding the

Using Texts in the University Classroom..., pages 92-96
relationships between teachers’ cognition and practice.
Such understandings are useful in informing projects
which are dependent on the co-operation of teachers,
for example, curriculum renewal projects, pre-service
and in-service teacher education programmes, orpedagogical innovations based on local practices.
In the study reported in this presentation, I
investigated the cognition and practices of a groupof JTs working in higher education in Japan. The aim
was to help inform the design of co-ordinated English
programmes to be taught by both JTs and ETs.

Teachers in Splendid Isolation?
It became clear from preliminary interviews
that I held with JTs and ETs that neither group hadmuch idea what the other group was doing. For
example, one Japanese teacher expressed curiosity
about his students’ performance in ET-led classes
in his institution: “I’ve always wanted to see how
my students work or study in a class with a foreignteacher. I don’t know what they can say or how wellthey can speak, I’m just guessing” (JT2). An ET
talking about his writing class reported that
The writing class is a one-semester class, they
get half their mark from me and half their markfrom a Japanese teacher. I don’t know what theJapanese teacher’s teaching but I’m teachingacademic writing, I focus on a couple of things,
one is timed writing. (ET3)
For another Japanese teacher the isolation caused
some uncertainty, even insecurity, about the validityof her own practices: “I teach very slowly, very relaxed
but I don’t know if it’s good. I haven’t seen otherteachers’ class, so I don’t know, I cannot say for sure.
Am I so different from other people?” (JT4). It isevident that there was plenty of scope for improving
teachers’ knowledge of their colleagues’ cognition andpractices as a first stage in building bridges between
the two groups.

The Study
In this presentation I focused on data from JTs, andon their use of texts in the university classroom. The

data came from a large study which was conducted in
the English departments of three tertiary institutions
in northern Japan. Three ETs and five JTs participatedin this larger study. They completed a backgroundquestionnaire which asked about their own language
learning experiences, their teacher training, and theirEnglish teaching experience. I conducted preliminaryinterviews with the teachers and asked about theirteaching practices and the thinking behind them.
These interviews were also used to identify classes
for me to observe. The next stage was classroom
observation: I observed and video-recorded a lesson
taught by each of the teachers. I then used the video
recordings in stimulated recall interviews, which
I audio recorded. Once I had transcribed all therecordings, I was able to analyse the data using theconstant comparative method (Strauss & Corbin,1998). As noted above, the results which follow arederived from the JTs’ data. I felt I would not be able
to do justice to the Japanese teachers if I also included
ETs’ data in this short presentation.

Results
Text to Enable Teacher-as-Resource Approach
In discussing his reading course, JT1 argued
that the students and not the teacher were the main
characters in class, and that “teachers can only assist[the students] at their own level” (JT1 preliminaryinterview: 144). He reported that he recognized
the students’ various levels and wanted to respondindividually. In order to do this, he selected andprepared a text to teach; his preparation involved
anticipating students’ questions – grammatical,
lexical, pragmatic, or sociocultural – and ensuring
he knew the answers. He then asked students toread the text in class, helping them to identify the
subject and predicate of each sentence in the text, andthen leaving them to read the sentences out loud bythemselves: “two or three, or possibly five or six times
reading is good for the students to appreciate thesentences, and let them know their own capacity or
ability to understand” (JT1 PI: 84-6). JT1 stated thatstudents’ full understanding would only be reached ifthey worked at their own level, recognized their own
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Greenproblems and formulated questions for the teacher
which would help resolve these problems. He saw theteacher’s role as assisting students individually andhaving enough prepared knowledge to be able to do
this, but JT1 commented that this knowledge should
not be forced on all the students in a teacher-fronted,
lockstep approach. He disapproved of the teacher
who “explains super cool things to us but most of us
can’t understand” (JT1 PI: 181). Instead, JT1 moved
around the classroom as the students read the text,
watching for signs from the students that they had
questions for him, and then responding individually.
This backgrounded the teacher, centred the lesson on
the students, increased their involvement and, JT1
believed, their learning. While working within theconfines of a teacher-selected text, JT1’s approach
was based on the individual needs of the students in
his class.
In this pedagogical approach, it is evident that
JT1’s extensive preparation was done so that he could
answer all imaginable questions from the students.
He was therefore able to function as a “resource
person” in much the same way that a teacher in thecommunicative and/or learner-centred tradition
might see him/herself (e.g., Nunan, 1998). By
selecting a text in advance, JT1 was able to delimit
and to some extent predict the resources that students
would require during class. In contradistinction
to the teacher-centredness which the common
interpretation of a traditional, textbook-centred
approach would predicate, it seems that the fixedness
and structure of the text enabled the teacher to adopt
a flexible approach in which individualized teaching
was central.

Text as Sharing Successful Learning
In his preliminary interview, JT2 expressedadmiration for some of his high school teachers
who had done some research and had papers
published. He was not impressed by strict teachers,
but considered studying hard and thus acting as arole-model for students to be a key part of his job.
As a result of this thinking, JT2 used the samematerials with his students that he had used to teachhimself how to speak English. In the second part of94

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the lesson that I observed (his seminar), JT2 used
English conversation materials from NHK with anaccompanying CD. In his preliminary interview
JT2 reported how he used the radio version of thesematerials successfully to improve his spoken English
and listening comprehension:
I started learning how to speak in English at
the age of 25. I started at that time, I started
listening to the English speaking programmeon NHK, and that helped me a lot. Yes, it wasvery effective, and so that’s my conclusion,yeah, yeah just imitating and just changing
some words is enough, or maybe a better way tocommunicate. (JT2 PI: 323-328)
By the age of 25, JT2 had been studying
English for about 13 years, yet he perceived theradio programme as being the reason for his abilityin spoken English. He had therefore decided to use
the textbook-with-CD version of the NHK radio
programme in his seminar, in the same way that heused, and continues to use, the programme:
This is the way I do it, I repeat the sentence
after the radio programme and I try to learn the
new words and phrases and try to remember
and try to learn by heart, you know. I’m always
trying to say those phrases or sentences with the
textbook. I think that helped me to improve myEnglish, so I expect the students to do the samething. (JT2 stimulated recall interview: 519524)
In the seminar I observed, JT2 asked the students
to memorize those sentences which in his experience
were most useful or important. In his stimulated
recall interview JT2 also noted that he asked students
to memorize sentences that he would use, or that hehad heard native-speakers of English use. In this way,
JT2 introduced his most successful mode of study tohis own students.

Text for Intensive Reading
During her Current Affairs English lesson, JT4
gave the students about 10 minutes every week toread a graded reader. In JT4’s own language learning

Using Texts in the University Classroom..., pages 92-96
experiences, learning vocabulary had preceded
learning grammar, and partly as a result of thisexperience, JT4 chose to focus on vocabulary withthe group that I observed.
Grammar didn’t come first for me, the words
came first for me that’s why I just want tofocus on words, it’s my learning experience- it
also comes from my learning experience as
an English learner and teacher, and reading
research papers, and also my learning tell methat words is the key for the- especially for thestarting level. (JT4 stimulated recall interview:214-218)
She used a variety of activities to improve thestudents’ vocabulary, in an attempt to make them“feel more comfortable in reading, speaking” (JT4
SRI: 160). In one such activity, JT4 asked the students
to read a graded reader in the lesson, without using a
dictionary. Her use of this extensive reading exercise
came, she reported
JT4: (…) from my experience mostly, because
I don’t use a dictionary when I read English
books even though I don’t understand all thewords, and in so doing I got more vocabulary
memorized. (….) It sounds very strange forexample, maste- oh I cannot pronounce quite
well “catalysis catalysis catalysis” [sic] eye diseaseright? And when I read Robin Cook’s novels I
just saw that word a hundred times and I didn’t
look it up until the last- I didn’t look it up at all
and I just guessed, it should be some kind of eyedisease and you cannot make- you cannot see
the things, it’s blurred, so it must be hakunaishoin Japanese that’s my guess and I just guessed
and I didn’t check it up, and that’s my attitude
and it helped me. (JT4 SRI: 457-466)
Although JT4 misremembered the word
“cataracts” in this extract, it was clear that guessing
the meaning of words from their context formed apart of her own learning experiences, and she wasattempting to engender this skill in her students
by frequently using the extensive reading techniquein class. She reported that this was “the seventh oreighth or maybe ninth book” (JT4 SRI: 447) the
students had read in this way.

The Value of Drama as a Reading Text
I observed a reading class in which JT5 used
The Glass Menagerie as the text. JT5 noted that hercolleagues teaching classes on the same course used atextbook or a collection of short stories, and she gave
several reasons for selecting a play instead. In the firstplace, JT5 noted that she wanted to help her students
to overcome their shyness about speaking English,
something that she could empathize with.
Especially I was nervous about speaking English,
well of course I was nervous about speaking
English with native speakers, yes, but a different
kind of nervousness in the classroom with otherJapanese students. I think I felt kind of- it was
kind of awkward for Japanese to speak English.
(JT5 stimulated recall interview: 92-95)
While studying in the US on an undergraduate
overseas programme, JT5 had taken a drama classthat had helped her overcome her shyness; she said
that she wanted to bring these benefits to her own
students.
Using skits or lines from drama sometimes
seems to help students overcome shyness oruneasiness about speaking English because
they can concentrate on such aspects aspronunciation, intonation, and stress, andbecause what they are reading aloud is not“their” lines—they are just “playing a part”(I realized that some shy students “acted out”
some characters really well in the past). (JT5questionnaire; parentheses in original)In the class that I observed, JT5 asked students
to work in pairs to prepare a dialogue from theplay. She then moved from pair to pair, listening totheir practice and helping them with pronunciationand intonation. She elicited from the students theemotions that each character was feeling as they spoke,and then encouraged the students to communicatethat emotion through their intonation. In this way,
JT5 aimed to improve students’ understanding of the
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Greentext as well as help them to overcome their shyness.
Using a play in this way was also motivated by
JT5’s belief in the importance of context for language
learning. She argued that using plays and films in herclasses provided language spoken by characters incontext, so that students would realize that English
is a functional language rather than just the subjectof academic study. She stressed that for language tohave meaning it needs to be situated in a context: “Iwant [the students] to feel the sense that English isa language through reading English in the context,
not just sentences but like dialogue” (JT5 SRI:
105-107). In JT5’s view, part of the problem withEnglish education in Japan is that English is notcontextualized; it is not taught as something thatfunctions to form relationships between people, nor
as a reflection of character and personality (JT5 SRI:
653-658). Using a drama in her reading class would,
she hoped, go some way to rectifying these perceived
shortcomings, as well as developing confidence andlinguistic sensitivity in her students.

Conclusions
A number of issues have arisen in these data fromJTs which might resonate with ETs, for example,

trying to overcome students’ shyness, the importanceof teaching and learning English as a living language
in context, the value of extensive reading, andcentring lessons and learning on the students. Eachof these represents an area in which bridges between
ETs and JTs could be built.
The teachers in this study were also concerned
to pass on the learning techniques which had ledthem to learn English successfully. As JTs mightview collaboration with “native-speakers” of English
with some trepidation, it should be rememberedthat actually it is they, not the ETs, who are experts
in learning English as a foreign language, and that
this expertise is a particularly valuable pedagogicalresource that should be mined in future collaborations
between the two groups of teachers.

References
Nunan, D. (1998). Second language teaching andlearning. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative
research: Techniques and procedures for developing
grounded theory (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.

Author’s Biography:
William Green is an English teacher living in Hokkaido.

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Teaching Sociolinguistic and Cross-Cultural Literacy
Effectively

John Herbert
Hiroshima Jogakuin University
herbert@gaines.hju.ac.jp
This paper explains a hybrid teaching methodology successfully used in teaching a sociolinguistics
course at a university in Japan. The course used a combination of mini-lectures and student
activities. The aims of the course were: (1) to introduce students to key themes in sociolinguistics(transmission of knowledge in the content area); (2) to get students to apply this knowledge
to their own lives and make cross-cultural comparisons (personalization); (3) and for students
to improve their English ability by taking part actively in a content-based course through themedium of English (L2 development).
この論文では、日本の大学で社会言語学を教える際にうまく利用されているハイブリッド教
授方法について説明します。このコースはミニレクチャーと学生によるグループワークの組
み合わせで行われます。このコースの目標は、以下の３点です。 (1) 学生に社会言語学の主要なテーマを紹介すること（content areaの知識の伝達） (2) 学生がこの知識を自分の生活に当てはめ、複数の文化と比較すること(personalization) (3) 学生がコンテント重視のコースに積極的に参加し、英語を使うことを通して英語能力を向上させること。
Keywords: content-based (teaching); sociolinguistics; cross-cultural (literacy); personalization;
hybrid approach

How best to teach sociolinguistic and crosscultural competency in a Japanese classroom is open
to debate. Is a traditional content-rich lecture-styleclass the most effective approach? Is a studentcentered approach more effective? Or is there analternative approach? These questions have to be
dealt with within the context of the curriculum of theinstitution as a whole, but it is the assertion of this*Herbert, J. (2013). Teaching sociolinguistic andcross-cultural literacy effectively. In R. Chartrand,
S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 97-101). Hiroshima:
JALT.

*

paper that an effective alternative approach exists.
After briefly clarifying some importantterminology, this paper sets out some of the weak
points of the traditional lecture-style classroom,and describes a hybrid approach that includes a
combination of mini-lectures (teacher transmissionof knowledge) and student-centered activities basedon Adamson (2006). The student-centered activities
are divided into six categories, all of which can beapplied to a variety of themes within sociolinguistics.
An example of the hybrid approach with its minilecture/student activities cycle is set out, alongwith student feedback to this style of class. Finally,
the suitability of the hybrid approach is discussed
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97Herbert
for other classes that have been designated “lecture[kougi]” status.

Definitions
The fields of sociolinguistics and cross-cultural
studies have many overlapping themes. Spolsky(1998, p. 3) defines sociolinguistics as “the fieldthat studies the relationship between language andsociety, between the uses of language and the social
structures in which the users of language live.” These“social structures” can come in many different forms,
and often these structures can form or be thoughtof as “cultures”. Perhaps the most common meaning
attached to the term “cultural” is in relation to theperceived cultures of differing nations. It is notuncommon, for example, to equate cross-culturalcommunication with the efforts of people fromdifferent nations (often with different languages) tocommunicate with one another. However, culturalgroupings are not always defined by the geographicalboundaries of nations. It is quite reasonable to thinkof culture in terms of gender, age, region, religion,and ethnic group among others. There is certainly
evidence to suggest the existence of a female culture
and a male culture (see Tannen, 2005), just as there areyouth cultures, regional cultures, and ethnic cultures.
As these are some of the areas covered by the field ofsociolinguistics, the link between sociolinguistics andcross-cultural studies is clear.
The term “literacy” is often defined as the “ability
to read and write”, but as Crystal (2009, p. 286)
states, it is “also now often used in a broader sense,referring to the ability to understand a technical orcultural domain.” In this paper, the term “literacy”
is equated with “competency,” and it is asserted thatsociolinguistic and cross-cultural competency areimportant fields of study in the classroom.

Traditional Lectures [Kougi]
At Japanese universities, a traditional lecture
course consists of 15 classes (90 minutes each) overa period of 15 weeks. The teaching method in manycases is one-way transmission of knowledge fromthe professor to the students, the so-called “sage on

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the stage.” It is of course possible for this to be aninteresting and motivating course for students. In thefield of sociolinguistics, lectures could be based on
stimulating introductory textbooks aimed at native
speakers such as those written by Holmes (2001),
Romaine (2000), Spolsky (1998), and Stockwell(2002), or even based on Japanese language reading
content from sociolinguistics books such as thoseby Nagao, Hibiya & Hattori (2002) or Tanaka &Tanaka (1996). However, the professor/lecturer not
only needs to have stimulating content, but also
needs to be a great speaker. If this is not the case, with
one voice for 90 minutes, it is all too frequent to seelarge numbers of unmotivated students with heads
on desks fast asleep. This scenario has been noted ascommonplace in Japanese universities (Matsumoto,2008, p.25). In such cases, no matter how contentrich the lecture materials, no content is beingtransmitted from teacher to student. Is this truly agood learning environment for students? Boredom,
passive learning, and problems with attention spanare commonplace with this one-way traditional
lecture-style class.
There have been various studies conducted on
attention span over the years. In the case of lectures,
attention span is defined as the length of time a
student can concentrate on the contents of thelecture. Johnstone and Percival (1976) found that at
the beginning of lectures attention span was between
10 and 18 minutes, but by the end of a lecture that
had dropped to 3 or 4 minutes. Hartley and Davies(1978) found that in 50-minute lectures, attention
span dropped during the first 10 minutes, and wasmaintained only at a low level for the remainder ofthe lecture, with a small spike in attention towards thevery end. Both of these studies were conducted within
English-speaking lecturer/student environments, and
it is not hard to imagine the attention span for foreign
language learners of English would be even less.

Hybrid Approach
In my classes, I use a hybrid approach with ateaching cycle of mini-lectures (approximately 10
minutes in length) and carefully designed group
activities that are related to the content of the mini-Teaching Sociolinguistic and Cross-Cultural Literacy Effectively, pages 97-101
lectures, allowing for the recycling of both content
and language. In the one-semester sociolinguistics
class described in this paper, the themes covered
using this hybrid approach were:
1. variation in language
2. age and language
3. region and language (dialects)
4. gender and language
5. politeness and language
6. non-standard language (slang)(1) Mini-lectures in the Hybrid Approach
For the sake of clarity, the mini-lecture parts ofthe cycle make the most of PowerPoint software,
providing students with visual as well as auralcontent. However, the lecture part of the class neednot be a passive experience for the students. It can bemade more active by requiring students to take notesof the most important points during the presentationof content. Alternatively, providing printouts of theslides can emphasize the content and reduce thefocus on note-taking. There are weak points to both
approaches. The note-taking can take the students’focus away from the content, and the provision ofslide information can allow students to relax too
much and lose concentration. A potential happy
medium is to provide students with partial slide
information that requires them to fill in only certain
essential information from the content of the slides.

(2) Student Activities in the Hybrid Approach
In order to make the learning experience
meaningful, it is vital that there is a strong correlation
between the student activities and the content of
the preceding (or proceeding) mini-lecture. For thethemes chosen for this sociolinguistics course, six
main categories of activities (set out below) were
found to be effective as part of the teaching cycle.
1. Question and Answer Discussion about Japan/
Japanese
This is a vital step in the teaching cycle of thehybrid approach. Ideally, the questions are“personalized” to the students’ own situations,but if this is not possible, then they shouldat least be connected to the students’ homecountries. This “personalization” has multiple
benefits including: allowing students tounderstand how much they already actuallyknow (local/old knowledge); providing areference point for comprehension of global/
new knowledge; and allowing cross-culturalcomparison.
2. Conversation (Paper-based) Analysis
Students work in groups to identify parts of
conversations (reading printed versions rather
than listening to audio files) that show theparticipants are members of certain groups insociety, related to the sociolinguistic variable
under scrutiny.
3. Translation (to Standard English)
Students translate various forms of English
nuanced with gender, age, regional, or ethnic
factors into Standard English. Scaffoldingin the form of glossaries may be required
depending on students’ levels.
4. DVD/YouTube Clips
These clips are always met with enthusiasm
from students, but need to be carefully
designed for content and complemented withsuitable exercises.
5. Group Discussion (on Theme)
This kind of activity works very well as longas the students’ English level is high enough,although with adequate scaffolding, evenlower level learners can take part in discussion
activities.
6. Student Presentations
These can be carried out as group presentations
or as individual presentations within groups.

Example of the Hybrid Cycle on the
Theme of Dialects

The following is an illustrative example, using
the theme of dialects, of how the hybrid cycle
worked. The example below took up two full
90-minute classes.
1. Pre-class: Students read a short article on the
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

99Herbert
basics of regional dialects to act as “content
scaffolding” and also visited the British Dialect
Translator website (http://www.whoohoo.
co.uk). The teacher emphasized that this was a
fun translator and that the dialect translations
were exaggerated versions of the real dialect.
Students had to type in three Standard English
sentences and click the dialect translationof their choice (from Geordie, Brummie,
Yorkshire, Scottish, Scouse, Cockney, or Irish).
They copied these translations onto theirworksheets and brought them to class (see step
5 below).
2. Mini-lecture 1: The teacher gave a 10-minute
PowerPoint-based lecture covering thedefinition of dialect, differences between
languages and dialects, differences between
dialects and standard languages, and theconcept of dialect chains.
3. Activity 1: The first activity was a simple listingof Japanese dialects with language examples
from each of those dialects. This acted as apersonalization of the theme, with students
able to demonstrate how much they knew
about their own dialect, and also of otherdialects in Japan.
4. Mini-lecture 2: The teacher gave detailed
examples of UK dialect differences invocabulary, grammar, and accent.
5. Activity 2: Students worked in groups. Eachstudent showed other students their worksheetswith three examples of dialect translations
from the UK (see step 1 about pre-class work).
The students then worked together to try
and recreate the original Standard English
sentences. The exercise allowed students to
get an introductory grasp on the nature of
the differences in phonology, vocabulary, andgrammar that are a part of dialects.
6. Mini-lecture 3: The teacher explained that many
people have strong attitudes towards dialects,
and that many countries have prestigious
dialects and less prestigious dialects. In somecases, these attitudes are not so serious, but insome cases (such as those used by some ethnic

100 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

minorities within a country), they have aserious bearing on the lives of the people who
speak less prestigious dialects.
7. Activity 3: Students discovered their own
attitudes toward dialects by marking
various Japanese dialects with scores out of
5 for a variety of adjectives that included:
sophisticated, stylish, romantic, rural, friendly,and scary. Students then worked in groups to
explain their attitudes.
8. Mini-lecture 4: The final mini-lecture took theform of a summary of the main points on thetheme of dialects.
9. Activity 4: The final student activity was a
short group discussion. This acted as a review
exercise on dialects and also allowed students
to give their final opinions on the themes
introduced.
10. Simply making students active in the classroom
is no guarantee that they will internalize
the content of the classes. The hybrid cycle
described above includes a summary from theteacher and a review exercise carried out by
students (steps 8 and 9), both of which should
aid comprehension of the content. However, asystematic check in the form of content quizzes(after the end of each theme), coupled witha final research paper (or presentations andresearch tasks) is another means of reinforcing
comprehension.

Student Feedback
Student feedback pertaining to the hybrid
approach has been very positive. The main negative
feedback related to the mini-lecture part of the cyclewith some students commenting on their dislikeof note-taking. Others mentioned that the pace ofthe slides was too quick to allow them to take fullnotes. In spite of this, in general there was positive
feedback about the PowerPoint slides. Most of thepositive feedback was, however, connected to thestudent activities section of the hybrid approach.
Unsurprisingly, students enjoyed the DVD andYouTube clips, but students also commented on
enjoying group exercises and group discussions.

Teaching Sociolinguistic and Cross-Cultural Literacy Effectively, pages 97-101
Overall, the feedback can be summarized by two
students who wrote, “You didn’t make me boring[sic]” and “This course had not only lecture.”

Conclusion
The hybrid approach, while not being perfect,has been successful in this sociolinguistics course as
indicated by student feedback. The hybrid approachis flexible in that it can be tailored to students ofdifferent levels. For lower level students, more preclass work may be required. This may take the formof language or content scaffolding, or preparation
notes for the discussion exercises in the group
activities section of the class. The class is suitable forJapanese-only students, but perhaps would be evenmore interesting from a cross-cultural perspective if
the students were of mixed nationalities.
The evidence from this study indicates that the
hybrid mini-lecture/student activity approach iseffective and could be useful in wider contexts. It
should be noted that not all themes within the field ofsociolinguistics are as easy as others to “personalize”
to the students’ situations, but it is always possible tocreate group activities related to the content theme.
The approach reduces the likelihood of students
sleeping in class, allows students to apply local/
old knowledge to global/new knowledge, increases
sociolinguistic and cross-cultural literacy, and isthoroughly recommended as an improvement on the
traditional lecture style classroom.

References
Adamson, J. (2006). From EFL to content-based
instruction: what English teachers take withthem into the sociolinguistics lecture. AsianEFL Journal, Professional Teaching Articles, 10.
http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/profession_teaching_articles.php
Crystal, D. (2009). A dictionary of linguistics andphonetics. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
Hartley, J. & Davies, I. (1978). Note taking: A
critical review. Programmed Learning and
Educational Technology, 15, 207-224.
Holmes, J. (2001). An introduction to sociolinguistics.
London, England: Pearson.
Johnstone, A. & Percival, F. (1976). Attention
breaks in lectures. Education in Chemistry, 13,
49-50.
Matsumoto, Y. (2008). Investigating classroom
dynamics in Japanese University EFL Classrooms.
PhD thesis. The University of Birmingham,
England. Retrieved October 26, 2012
from http://cw.routledge.com/ textbooks/
eresources/9780415566421/yasuyo.pdf
Nagao, T., Hibiya, J. & Hattori, N. (2002).社会
言語学概論[Introduction to sociolinguistics].
Tokyo, Japan: Kuroshio.
Romaine, S. (2000). Language in society: An
introduction to sociolinguistics. New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
Spolsky, B. (1998). Sociolinguistics. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press.
Stockwell, P. (2002). Sociolinguistics: A resource bookfor students. London, England: Routledge.
Tanaka, H. & Tanaka, S. (1996). 社会言語学への招待[An invitation to sociolinguistics]. Tokyo,
Japan: Minerva.
Tannen, D. (2005). You Just Don’t Understand.
London, England: Virago.

Author’s Biography:
John Herbert has been living and teaching in Japan since 1989. His current research interests
lie in the fields of sociolinguistics and Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings101

Development Beyond the Classroom

George Higginbotham

Monika Szirmai

Ken Ikeda

Hiroshima Kokusai Gakuin
University

Hiroshima International
University

Otsuma Women’s University

Nathan Ducker

Masashi Nakamura

Bill Mboutsiadis

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific
University

Temple University

University of Toronto& TC Columbia University,

Mathew Porter
Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s
University
The ultimate goal for language learners is not to succeed within the classroom but to succeed in
the real world. The six projects outlined in this paper explore ways in which to motivate students
and equip them with the skills and confidence needed to make the step from the classroom to
the world beyond. As well as a discussion of four projects that literally take students out of theclassroom, two projects show how the limitations of the classroom can be overcome throughutilizing online resources. With a focus on encouraging learners to take an active role in theirstudies the authors argue that it is the teacher’s job to give learners opportunities that facilitate
the move toward independence.
言語学習者の最終目的は、教室内で成功することではなく、実社会で成功することである。本稿で述べる6つのプロジェクトは、学生の動機づけや教室から社会へ一歩を踏み出すために必要なスキルや自信を身に付けさせる方法を模索する。実際に学生を教室外に連れ出すプロジェクトについての議論およびオンライン情報源を通して教室における制限をどう克服するか考察する。学習者が学習に対して積極的に取り組むことに重点を置き、自律的学習の形成を促す機会を与えることは教師の義務であると主張する。
Keywords: language, motivation, learner-autonomy

One of the main goals for language learners is
to develop a set of skills that enable them to operate
effectively within the target environment. The realworld is however quite different from the artificial*

Higginbotham et al. (2013). Development beyond
the classroom. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, &G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 102-110). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

102 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

and restricted setting of the classroom that most
associate with language study. It is therefore doubtful
whether classroom study alone can fully prepare
students. The classroom is certainly a useful element
within the learning process in that it allows students
to work with language in an organized manner,receive feedback on their mistakes, and practicewithin an encouraging atmosphere. For many
students, however, the main goal becomes lost within
this traditional setting which often overly focusesDevelopment Beyond the Classroom, pages 102-110
on passing tests, learning words, and analyzing
grammar. With this in mind the authors discussattempts to bridge the gap between the classroom
and the real world and help students to become
more autonomous. Of the projects discussed, fourcontain off-campus components that literally takestudents out of the classroom. Two more projects also
challenge the limitations of the traditional classroom
by exploring online resources. A common threadrunning through these projects is the belief that for
students to really improve they need to be motivatedand independent. This can be achieved throughfacilitating an environment that allows learners totake an active part in the learning process. In otherwords, teachers need to give students opportunities
to develop their language skills beyond the classroom.

A Talk in the Park
This section focuses on a semester longproject that has been running for over five years at
Hiroshima Kokusai Gakuin University; it is thecentral component of a first year speaking course. All
students are non-English majors studying technicalsubjects. Despite six years of compulsory English
classes they enter with TOEIC scores averaging
around 300, and typically students are not motivatedto study English. As their high school studies have
only succeeded in developing the most basic level ofcompetence in the language (and demotivated themin the process), a project was designed that takes quite
a different approach. There are three main parts:
a. Students prepare and practice questions inregular classes;b. Students go to Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Park and interview English speakers;c. Students give a presentation (using presentation
software) about their interviews.
In the first half of the semester, the students
prepare for their interviews. In groups of three orfour, the students choose a topic and are guided
through the process of creating questions. Halfway
through the semester, having prepared and repeatedly
practiced their questions, a day is organized (usuallya weekend) to try them out for real. At the Peace
Park, each group is given a voice recorder and told

to approach English speakers and interview them.
In the third stage of the project the students prepareand deliver a short talk about their interviews. The
assessment for this course is three fold:a. The recorded interviews are graded on
objective criteria;b. There are regular vocabulary tests throughout;c. The post-task presentation is graded.
The interview project is considered to be well
worth the effort from a number of perspectives;
we will briefly consider the language acquired andimpact on motivation. For both of these aspects, data
was available from tests and questionnaires. As canbe seen in Table 1, student scores on a 45 item pretask vocabulary test were very low. After 15 weeks
though, many students made quite dramatic gains
when retested on the same 45 items.
Table 1
Vocabulary Test Scores (2011 Cohort)n=182

Initial test

Final test

Average score7.5 %52.6 %

STDEV

6.1

28.2

It is assumed that these test gains were due tointensive work with a discrete set of words that werereviewed in various contexts. While the number ofwords explicitly taught (60 items over 15 weeks) may
not be impressive it is argued that this is more thanmade up for in terms of depth of processing. Amid
current discussions on how best to teach vocabulary(Nation,2008; Pavičić, 2008) there is generalagreement that students need to repeatedly review
words (both receptively and productively) in order tofully acquire them. Due to the multiple aspects ofword knowledge, (e.g. Nation, 2001 lists 18 aspects),
when a student meets a new word we cannot expect it
to be integrated into the lexicon without considerable
processing. As well as vocabulary gains, post-task
feedback (formal and informal) indicated thatstudents found the project useful and motivating.
In an end of semester questionnaire (July 2011),
82% gave positive comments. Given the generalambivalence to English at the start of the course thisThe 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

103

Higginbotham et al.
was seen as a major achievement. A meta-analysisof over 30 years of research (Masgoret & Gardner,
2003) found that motivation and language learning
are highly correlated; the data from this study support
this.
In short, this kind of project with an off-campus
component has many strengths; specifically, benefits
in vocabulary acquisition and motivation have been
demonstrated. The positive pressure that comes fromusing language in an authentic situation leads to eventhe most recalcitrant students learning something.

Scrabble at Leisure, Scrabble for
Pleasure
The Hiroshima Inter-University Scrabble Project
started in April 2009, and now five universities prepare
teams for the annual friendly competition. One of themain aims is to offer a chance for students to practiceEnglish outside classes. As well as meeting classmates
informally, students have a chance to communicate
with their peers from other institutions. This event
also gives an opportunity for teachers at different
universities to share ideas. Scrabble is not only agreat way to socialize, but it also has considerable
educational value.
Scrabble is an excellent language game for peopleof all ages and as the title of this section suggests, it
can be fun if you have enough time to play. Scrabble
sets available in Japan come with rules in English andJapanese, and they can be easily modified according
to the age and ability of the players. For example, tomake it easier, the use of dictionaries can be allowed
and common abbreviations and acronyms can be
accepted.
As for building language skills, Scrabble serves
as a good way to reinforce spelling skills and review
vocabulary. During the game, players can be required
to explain the meaning of words when they playtheir tiles. If students play on a regular basis, they
may become more competitive, and as a result, may
want to prepare for the next game by consulting
dictionaries. Repeatedly doing this will improve:
vocabulary, knowledge of the alphabet, and speed at
locating items in a dictionary. Still, no matter how

104 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

hard they prepare, scrabble remains unpredictable.
Where words are placed on the board and what letterseach player gets depend on luck. Once students
understand and get to like the game, they are willingto spend time outside of class playing full games.
That usually means about an hour or an hour and ahalf of practicing English, without even realizing thatthey are actually studying in a less traditional way.
Even students who would not do any homework are
happy to play. For more practical minded students, it
may help to offer some kind of reward, for example,
extra points counting toward their grade.
According to a survey carried out before we
started organizing Scrabble events on a regular basis,not many students knew about Scrabble. In order toattract students to such an extracurricular activity,
it is therefore necessary to first introduce them tothe game. The best way to do this is by sacrificing
5-10 minutes of class time for an explanation of thegame and its basic rules. The use of actual scrabble
boards requires a lot of time so worksheets and power
point presentations are recommended to introduce
the basic rules over a series of short sessions. Student
feedback from class questionnaires showed a great
majority liked Scrabble activities. Many of them evenmarked Scrabble as their favourite activity in class, inspite of the fact that most of them had never played afull game but only used the worksheets. Even though
it is difficult to objectively measure the impact of
Scrabble games, and academic articles about Scrabble
are scarce, Scrabble’s educational and social value
has long been recognized by parents, educators, andstudents alike.

Probing the Intensive Aspects of an
English CampThe English Department at Otsuma Women’s
University hosts a four-day language course called
ISEC (Intensive Spoken English Camp) during thelast four days of summer vacation aimed primarily at
first-year students. The course began as an Intensive
Training Course (英語特殊演習) 37 years ago,consisting of supplemental lessons and lectureson grammar, language skills, and intercultural

Development Beyond the Classroom, pages 102-110
communication. Its two guiding principles were tohave “students use only English and allow anyone ofany language level to attend” (Kobayashi, 1978).
The stipulation of anyone can attend requires
more than student enrollment on a sign-up-firstbasis. It would also be quixotic to simply demandthat only English be used in Japanese environment.
The course aims to enable students of differing
language abilities to cooperate in communicating andworking together while inspiring individuals towards
maximum benefit and enjoyment. Through the filterof the term intensive, its two guiding principles can bediscerned at work with regards to the camp schedule,
preparation of students, and instructional renewal.
The four day camp timetable is packed withscheduled group-oriented sessions. The first twodays largely consist of 70-minute lessons with camp
instructors (mostly native English speakers) on topics
taken from social media, such as TED talks. Evenings
consist of a variety of recreational group activities.
The latter two days are spent in preparing students
for two kinds of presentations: individual speeches,
and a small group skit. A towel tug contest between
these skit groups helps cement camaraderie. On thecamp’s final day, each group gets to stage their skit intheir respective rooms and everyone moves en masse
to watch and cheer them. From this year a three-hourorienteering scavenger hunt has been included inwhich student teams will roam the grounds to solve
language tasks.
Attention in the camp instruction of recent years
has been given to preparing students so that theycan engage in the camp from the start. The 2nd
camp director found that students who enrolled in
the intensive course without mental preparation
experienced sharply declining motivation. He
instituted three mandatory preparatory sessions (事前授業) to acquaint students with the camp lesson
topics, self-presentations, and plays (Ito, 2012). The
present director has recognized that intensive student
engagement cannot be achieved by spontaneousparticipation but that prior awareness about thecamp components needs to be built-up.
The directors have not managed the camp from a
blueprint nor run it on autopilot. They have actively

recruited instructors’ input every year, resulting
among many things in: the play-staging, this year’s
orienteering, a reduction in the length and numberof lessons, and greater rest time for the students.
Over the past twelve years, the course name andcomponents have been revised to emphasize the funelement of camp. The site also moved, to the National
Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi Tokyo.
The course was at first intended to supplement
existing curricular aims; in its latter years it has
been run as a self-contained experience. Senior-year
students retain favorable impressions of their ISEC
participation as one of the relatively few opportunities
to use English outside of the classroom. What keeps
the camp intensive has been conscientious renewal
and careful preparation of students. Sustaining
student involvement while maintaining camaraderie
between all participants, (camp directors, instructors
and students) allows its guiding principles to beassiduously upheld.

Accountable Autonomy: Is Assessing
Autonomy Possible or Fair?
In a recently implemented project based-learning
course, I was required to demonstrate accountability
to the university authorities. A meta-study of projectbased learning literature by Stoller (2006) reveals
that such courses are believed to encourage student
autonomy. This led to a discussion amongst thecourse planners on how autonomy can be evaluatedand thus how a student can be assessed.
The centrality of the student to autonomous
learning success creates two stumbling blocks toevaluating autonomy: firstly, the individuality of theconstruct to each student – as Murphey (2003) points
out “Autonomy can’t be the same thing for everyone– that would be an oxymoron” (p.7). Secondly, theapparent paradox of requiring students to develop
themselves – as Breen and Mann point out “Learners
will seek to please me as a teacher…learners will giveup their autonomy to put on the mask of autonomy”(as cited in Benson 1997: p.52). However, a counterargument is provided by Murphey (2003) who argues
that autonomy is a teacher influenced activity, andThe 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

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Higginbotham et al.
Sheerin (1997) who indicates that autonomous
learner development needs teacher involvement. In
each case, forms of teacher feedback and control
are vital to learner success. Given these arguments,
a project-based learning elective course for the 2011
– 2012 fall semester was developed. The criteria for
projects were:•• Be based on the local environment, under theumbrella of culture•• Use English to communicate with stakeholders•• Study the problem from an academic viewpoint•• Create a product that benefits and is accessible tothe community
The project followed the steps below:•• Forming a group•• Finding a problem area to study•• Planning the steps of their research•• Academic reading and first hand data collection(in either order)•• Developing and actually creating a product•• Presenting the product•• Evaluating the projectStudents worked in a team, holding meetings
to review progress and make decisions, andreporting progress to and getting advice from theteacher. Products included: a motivational website tohelp Japanese junior high school students feel positive
about Japan following recent economic troubles andnatural disasters, a video highlighting local projects
that promote integration between international
students and local people, and websites giving job
hunting hints, tips and advice for international
students. Student evaluation came from:
1. An on-going journal (submission dates atstudent discretion) following the criteria(descriptive, affective, evaluative, analytical,
and pro-active).
2. A benchmarking activity where students
developed criteria for evaluating a product,
compared another group’s product to theirown, and respectfully suggested ways toimprove weaker areas.
3. A review of work processes in which students
looked back and discussed how each activity
they carried out helped contribute to the final

106 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

product.
4. A learning review essay based on selected
points from a questionnaire reviewing
students’ learning and progress.
Students’ reports revealed the social responsibility
and pressure that they felt towards their groups.
Students felt they needed to match up to their peers,which encouraged important autonomous efforts
towards improving academic skills and language
ability. This included: attending writing workshops
in the self-access center, detailed self-directed analysis
of course materials, re-writing and reading of groupmeetings minutes, and organizing further meetings
using online media such as Skype and Facebook chat.
Based on such feedback, it was surmised that thecourse does provide autonomy inducing structures.
However, based on the audience responses to theforum, it seemed most teachers were more interested
in teacher and student welfare (such as stress), rather
than questions surrounding fairness of grading
autonomy.

Digital Comic Narratives ofLanguage Learning Histories
Meisei University’s International Studies
Department is promoting learning autonomy (LA)through its CALL LA course. This paper examined an
exploratory research project that engaged university
students in using digital comics (DC) as an approachto giving them a voice through critical reflection
and self-assessment of their language learning
histories (LLH). This action research examined the
motivational potential and self-efficacy enhancing of
DC narratives, in opening doors into learners’ LLH,
and shedding a critical light on current motivations
in language acquisition. The purpose of the final class
DC project was to be an effective communication tool
for facilitating learner critical reflective practice andself-assessment of their learning process and learning
styles and strategies. Lastly, and more importantly, theactivity was to help students answer questions such
as: Why am I learning English? Is learning English
beneficial? Are there alternatives to learning English?
The project involved a planning stage where threeDevelopment Beyond the Classroom, pages 102-110
storyboards were sketched out and narrated. Eachstoryboard worksheet represented a different stageof their English language experience. The first twostoryboards described, in comic form, their past andpresent English language experiences. The final comic
strip had the learners imagine future life experienceswith English and thus in effect, constructing an ideal
L2 self. After receiving peer and teacher feedback on
their storyboards, the learners then used an online
website, bitstrips.com, to animate their narratives. A
final process of sharing and revising their narratives
led to a final colour printed comic strip. The classcomic strips were then made into booklets for the
students to keep as a class memento.
In second language acquisition, biographicalresearch methodology has traditionally been
incorporated and represents a shift of focus awayfrom teaching towards learning issues. Language
learning histories (LLH) are often used in classrooms
to motivate students to reflect on their individual
learning styles and strategies (Deacon et al., 2006).
Many educator researchers view reflections oflanguage learning as a diagnostic tool for both thelearner and the teacher:
Before we are able to help students to progressin their language learning abilities and skills, it
is useful for the students and teacher to discoverwhat the students are bringing from their past
language learning experiences (Oxford & Green
1996: p.23).
Norton and Toohey (2001), among others,
criticize the strong focus on language learning styles
and strategies as being too narrow and limiting andthus state:
The recent literature has been concerned not
only with studying individuals acting on L2
input and producing L2 output, but also
studying how L2 learners are situated in specificsocial, historical, and cultural contexts andhow learners resist or accept the positions thosecontexts offer them. (Norton & Toohey, 2001,
p.310)
By having students reflect on their own

motivations of learning English, the benefits oflearning English, and alternatives of learning
English, they are expanding this narrow focus of
LLH by critically thinking (CT) about their learning
environment. There are various approaches to CT
and many have located it within transformative
pedagogies where reflection is a key concept. For
example, David Stein (2000: p.3) defines reflective
skepticism as a process starting from raising awarenessto exploring possibilities for change. He lists threemain steps:•• Assumptions analysis – a first step to make explicit
our taken-for- granted notions of reality•• Contextual awareness – the realization thatassumptions are socially and personally created ina specific historical and cultural context•• Imaginative speculation – imagining alternative
ways of thinking about phenomena
The DC narrative project had students challenge
their learning assumptions, become aware of pastand present learning contexts, and speculate on
alternative ways of seeing English in their futures.
Through reading my student LLH comics I cameto a clearer understanding of their diverse past
motivations, current context realities, and imagined
future dreams.

Supporting Self-Directed
Pronunciation Study
Effective pronunciation study is often not possible
in general English classrooms at most Japanese
universities due to factors such as class size, priorities,
and curriculum constraints. The importance ofphonological competency though, particularly
to lifelong learning, cannot be underestimated.
However, there is a way to equip students withknowledge and strategies allowing them to takeownership of their pronunciation studies. In thissection, three web-based tools that can support selfdirected pronunciation learning are introduced.
These sites were selected based on a model,
illustrated below, of pronunciation learning strategies(PLS) influenced by Kolb’s learning cycle (Eckstein,2007).
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

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Higginbotham et al.
Table 2Eckstein’s Taxonomy of PLS based on Kolb	  input/practice

hypothesis testing

	
  

	
  

feedback/noticing

hypothesis forming

English Accent CoachStudents must be able to hear distinctions between
L1 and target language sounds in order to noticeareas for growth. Not only is this ability essential
for developing noticing skills, but improving soundperception also affects production (Flege and Bohn,
1997). Sites such as English Accent Coach (http://
www.englishaccentcoach.com) make it possible to do
focused perception practice by presenting the user
with syllable or word-level minimal pair activities
spoken by a large variety of voices. Users can choose
to focus on vowels or consonants and also select the
number of consonant sounds to contrast. The site
is free, but registration is necessary so that students
can track their progress. Also, although there is noJapanese support, the site is fairly intuitive.

Phonetics: The Sounds of American English
Next, sites like Phonetics: The Sounds of American
English(http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/), developed by the University of Iowa
(UI), can provide support for better hypotheses
formation by assisting with the development ofphonological meta-competence, or the “how to” ofpronunciation (Wrembel, 2005), which is necessary
to encourage self-monitoring and self-diagnosis, two
indispensable abilities for forming new ideas about

108 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings	  sound production and enabling lifelong learning.
The UI site encourages deeper understanding ofphoneme articulation by introducing each phonemeof American English through multimedia withanimated cutaway views and videos of the mouth aswell as recorded examples of the sound in different
positions. Because the site is in English and includes
jargon, some Japanese support might be needed.

EnglishCentral
The final web-based tool is EnglishCentral (EC)(http://www.englishcentral.com/), which can be
described as a “freemium” service, with both paid
and limited free content. It provides a wide rangeof original and sourced videos graded and subtitledfor vocabulary and pronunciation practice. All users
receive individualized feedback from EC’s voicerecognition software, but only paid subscribers
have access to the progress tracking feature. Full of
natural, contextualized sounds for practice, EC isan environment where students can gain experiencein each stage of Kolb’s learning cycle. Also, there isa separate pronunciation section to encourage thedevelopment of phonological meta-competence thathas videos, with Japanese subtitles, devoted to theintroduction and practice of difficult sounds, andthese videos are available to all users.
Perception and production problems related
to pronunciation seriously interfere with JapaneseDevelopment Beyond the Classroom, pages 102-110
students’ ability to take control of their English
learning outside of the classroom, and introducing
students to technology that can enable them to doso seems like a solution. However, although these
online pronunciation learning sites certainly have a
lot to offer students, introducing students to thesesites doesn’t mean they will automatically be able touse them effectively or independently. Students mustalso be shown how to leverage the technology tobenefit their own learning cycles and be exposed topronunciation learning strategies appropriate for eachsite. This guidance is vital when using technology to
guide students towards greater success and autonomy
in their language studies.

Conclusions
The six projects discussed are all run within Japanese
universities and at a basic level the participants are
similar in terms of background (mostly Japanese) andage (19-24). It would however be unwise to think ofthem as a homogenous group because a wide varietyof college students is represented. There are technicalstudents and also English majors, some study atsingle-sex institutions and others are mixed, somehave a high ability, and some are at a basic level. We
are not dealing with a homogenous group at all but
rather a diverse cross-section of youngsters from allover Japan. Consequently there is no one-size-fits-all
solution, and the six projects all reflect their differing
requirements and the unique skills and intereststhat the instructor adds to each group. Considering
this diversity, it might seem surprising to find any
common ground at all between these projects, yet
the discussions above do all concur on one particularpoint. That is, for an input impoverished learning
environment such as Japan, the traditional English
classroom is insufficient. Teachers therefore need tothink how they can supplement their classes withexperiences that help students develop the skills
needed to work with language independently. It
is a sad reality for many students that when theirformal language studies finish so does their language
learning. As all the authors would agree, this doesn’tnecessarily have to be the case. Hopefully, teachers
reading this article will be prompted to reflect on

their own contexts and consider how they might
expand the learning environment of their students
and encourage them to become more autonomous.

References
Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching
autonomy in language learning. Harlow,
England: Pearson Education.
Deacon, B., Murphey, T., & Dore, P. (2006).
Knowing our students through language
learning histories. In K. Bradford-Watts, C.
Ikeguchi, & M. Swanson (Eds.) JALT 2005
Conference Proceedings. Tokyo, Japan: JALT.
Eckstein, G.T. (2007). A correlation ofpronunciation learning strategies withspontaneous English pronunciation of adult
ESL learners. Unpublished MA thesis. Brigham
Young University, Provo, UT.
Flege, J.E., Bohn, O.S., & Jang, S. (1997). Effects ofexperience on non-native speakers’ production
and perception of English vowels. Journal of
Phonetics, 25(4), 437-470.
Ito, T. (2012). The past of ISEC. Unpublisheddocument.
Kobayashi, Y. (1978). 英語特殊演習について.
OEA Newsletter, 17, 2-3.
Masgoret, A.M., & Gardner, R.C. (2003). Attitudes,
motivation, and second language learning: A
meta‐analysis of studies conducted by Gardner andassociates. Language Learning, 53, 167-210.
Murphey, T. (2003). Learning to surf. In A. Barfieldand M. Nix (eds.) Learner and teacher autonomy
in Japan 1: Autonomy you ask. Tokyo, Japan: The
learner development special interest group of
The Japan Association for Language Teaching.
Nation, I.S.P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in anotherlanguage. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
Nation, I.S.P. (2008). Teaching vocabulary: strategies
and techniques. Boston, MA: Heinle, Cengage
Learning.
Norton, B. & Toohey, K. (2001). Changing
perspectives on good language learners. TESOL
Quarterly, 35(2), 307-322.
Oxford, R.L. & Green, J. M. (1996). Language
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Higginbotham et al.
learning histories: Learners and teachers helping
each other understand learning styles andstrategies. TESOL Journal, 6(1), 20 –23.
Pavičić, V. (2008). Vocabulary learning strategies andforeign language acquisition. Clevedon, England:
Multilingual Matters, Cromwell Press Ltd.
Sheerin, S. (1997). An exploration of therelationship between self-access andindependent learning. In P. Benson and P. Voller(eds.) Autonomy and independence in language
learning. London, England: Longman
Stein, D. (2000). Teaching Critical Reflection.
Myths and Realities No. 7. ERIC Clearinghouseon Adult, Career, and Vocational Education,
Columbus, Ohio, 2–4.

Stoller, F. (2006). Establishing a theoreticalfoundation for project-based learning in secondand foreign language contexts. In G.H. Beckett
and P.C. Miller (eds.) Project-based secondand foreign language education: Past, present,
and future. Greenwich, CT: Information Age
Publishing.
Wrembel, M. (2005). Metacompetence-oriented
model of phonological acquisition: implications
for the teaching and learning of second language
pronunciation. In: Proceedings of the Phonetics
Teaching and Learning Conference PTLC2005.
London, England: University College London,
1-4.

Author’s Biography:
George Higginbotham is a lecturer at Hiroshima Kokusai Gakuin University. His main
research interests are in vocabulary acquisition and developing task-based learning projects.
Monika Szirmai at Hiroshima International University, has taught English in Hungary
and Japan. Her research interests include corpus linguistics, CALL, lexicography, learnerdevelopment, and pragmatics.
Ken Ikeda teaches in the Department of English at Otsuma Women’s University, Chiyoda
Campus. His research interests bridge Asian American matters and English language education.
Nathan Ducker is a lecturer at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. His research interests
focus on speaking (such as WTC) and student actions (such as autonomy).
Masashi Nakamura, M.A. TESOL candidate (Temple University), is a teaching assistant at
Meisei University International Studies. California study abroad experience has motivated his
current research.
Bill Mboutsiadis, M.A.TESOL candidate (TC Columbia), Chair of CALL-Meisei University
International Studies. Bill has taught academic preparation English at the University of Toronto
since 1996.
Mathew Porter has been working with English learners in the US and Japan since 1999. Hecurrently works at a self-access learning center as a learning advisor, which has inspired muchself-reflection and growth.

110 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference ProceedingsDesign and Practical Applications of University
Courses Employing Extensive Reading

Glen A. Hill
Obihiro University of Agriculture
and Veterinary Medicine
hill@obihiro.ac.jp
Starting a reading program poses several questions, some based on student ability and interestand some based on the teaching situation and institution. This paper will describe how extensive
reading has developed at a national university in Japan. Details will be provided on how to selectstudent reading levels, course assessment techniques, and the amount of material to be read.
Subsequently, I will show how language and content courses use graded readers at the same
university. The article concludes with advice on ways to encourage students during and after
courses that contain extensive reading.
多読を始めるにあたり提起される問題は、学生の能力や興味に関する事項と、指導体制や組織に関する事項である。本稿では国立大学における多読授業の展開について述べる。学生のマテリアルのリーディングレベルの選び方、評価方法、望ましい読書量について考察する。さらに、同じ学内の他の科目における多読の活用についても紹介し、最後に、多読の継続において学生をサポートするためのヒントも述べておく。
Keywords: curriculum design, extensive reading, graded readers, motivation

Introduction
Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary
Medicine (OUAVM) is a national university withroughly 1,100 undergraduate students. The English
Resource Center (ERC; Hill, 2012b, 2012c) houses
about 2,300 publications, about 75% of which are
fiction graded readers (GRs).
Students at OUAVM have only two majors—
agriculture-based or veterinary medicine. Dependingon their major, they may not need to take English*

Hill, G. A. (2013). Design and practical applicationsof university courses employing extensive reading.
In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.),
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
111-117). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

language courses but instead opt for German or
Spanish. The majority of students take all of theirlanguage courses in the first three semesters. OUAVM
accepts a large number of students under the suisen(recommendation) system, which allows them tobe accepted without a typical entrance exam, andteachers have found that they are among the lowest
academically.
By third year, students have to attend special
science seminar courses where they are required toread native English scientific journal articles andgive monthly oral reports. Having seen samples ofarticles with roughly one-third of the text marked up
with translations, I felt that focusing more strongly
on reading skills as a separate course would be toeveryone’s advantage, especially since it was the only
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111

Hill
course dedicated to reading prior to their seminaryear.
The English Reading Skills course1 is dominatedin number by first-year students. It has four sectionsof 40-45 students each, and 90-minute lessons are
given once a week. There is only one teacher (me) forthe entire course.
Surveys on first-year students at OUAVM haveshown that they do not read much more than comic
books (in Japanese) in their previous year. This is
not surprising, since they are preparing for college
entrance exams, and comics are a mainstay ofJapanese culture.
With these points in mind, extensive reading(ER) was thought to be a necessary element in
students’ studies, and it was implemented in 2009
(Hill, 2012a). Initially, there were three major
considerations incorporated into its design: (a) how
much students should be asked to read; (b) how
their English level should be determined to choose
the right GRs; and (c) what would be done to assess
their performance. Most of this paper will discuss
the designs of the Reading Skills course, but data on
the use of ER in other courses (language or content
focused)are also shown.

Early ER Designs on Reading
Progress – How Much to Read?
Because of the low English level of incoming
freshmen, I began the 2009 ER program with alight requirement of five GRs per semester, like somany cautious teachers who feel they should ease
their students into ER. They were assessed with a
MoodleReader2 quiz, or if that was not available, aneasy book report3. Despite that, only 51% of 172
students did either (average = 3.4 books per student,
for those who did read). Twice in the semester,
students read silently about 20 minutes in class andgave positive survey feedback to this activity andlength of time. At the beginning of the semester,
students’ reading levels were evaluated with the

112 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Penguin level tests (levels 2, 3, and 4). Most felt theassessed levels were appropriate (“Ok for me”), but
despite such encouraging feedback, I wanted a moreobjective approach to the ER program.
Consequently, in 2010, student levels wereassessed with the placement test created by the
Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading (EPER,
n.d.). The reading target was slightly higher (sevenbooks), and 95% of the class (149/156 students) readbooks at an average of 5.2 books per student, with
ER assessment limited at that time to book reports
only. MoodleReader quizzes were not used because
the reading level scheme did not match EPER’s.
Instead, a table was constructed with EPER gradelevels versus publisher levels based on data from the
Extensive Reading Foundation (ERF) Graded Reader
Level Scale (n.d.), and students were told to followthat table when choosing books.

Determining ER Targets in More
Recent Years
More research went into planning the 2011 course.
The number of words in a GR varies considerablywith book level (Table 1), font size, pictures, andpublisher style (including exercises or supplementarymaterial), so gauging student progress by page orbook tally is not accurate, and grading book reports
is time consuming and subjective. I decided to returnto MoodleReader quizzes because they automaticallyprovide word counts. However, students were on anhonor system to choose appropriate levels becauseof the previously mentioned incompatibility with
EPER’s levels.
For 2011, students were required to read aminimum of 49,000 words for 15% of their course
grade and 84,000 words for a maximum of 40% of
their grade (Table 2). The starting point (49,000
words) was determined on the basis of students’
average reading speed (average in 2009, 2010, and2011 of 110-134 words per minute for a level 1
Penguin GR). Thirty minutes of in-class time wasDesign and Practical Applications of University Courses..., pages 111-117
Table 1
Average number of words in the lowest level GRs*

Name/No.
of lowest
level

Averageword
count**

Cambridge

Starter

2242

Cengage Foundations

1-4

855

Heinle Cengage Page
Turners

1,23880

Helbling

14167

Macmillan

Starter702

Oxford Bookworms

Starter1326

Oxford Dominoes

Starter2494

Oxford Reading Tree

5326

Penguin

EasyStart

942

Scholastic

Starter

1390

Publisher

AVERAGE

1832*Level 5 Oxford Reading Tree is lowest level that currently
has a MoodleReader quiz.
**Determined from publisher information and Furukawa &Kanda (2010).

devoted to weekly silent sustained reading (SSR), so
the average student could read about 100 x 30 =3,000 words per week in class. With 14 weeks ofreading in the semester, a student would be able toread 42,000 words. Since they are required to attend
and could achieve this anyway, I added 7,000 words(5 minutes outside reading per week) to make aminimum target count.I determined the maximum
word count target after reviewing research by threesuccessful teachers. Takase (2004) showed that during
5 years, students in a private girls’ high school
completed 69,000 to 149,000 words per year. Her
work with reluctant, low level university students
showed that an ER program using very easy books
still succeeded in students achieving 46,000 to
73,000 words in just one semester. Nishizawa et al.
(2004) followed students at a Japanese college oftechnology from high school to early university years.
From student logs, they determined that students
read 250,000 words by the early second year. At his
cram school in Japan, Furukawa (2006 and personalcommunication) has recorded junior high students
annually completing 322,000 words (first year),
410,000 words (second year), and 360,000 words(third year) through the use of the Start with Simple
Stories (SSS) concept.
Using those figures, I decided that OUAVM
students should be able to read 100,000 words ina semester. If they could read half an hour in classper week and another 30 minutes outside class, thatwould mean at the end of 14 weeks, they could
accumulate 84,000 words per semester. Rather thanrequire the whole 100,000 word target, though, I
felt that the slowest readers (70 wpm) would be at aphysical as well as motivational disadvantage. With
84,000 they would have to read 3,000 words outsideclass (roughly 40 minutes) per week, which seemed
reasonable. Partial points were given for intermediate
word counts (Table 3).
The data from 2011 were impressive. The average
student read more than 76,000 words (12 books),and 60% of the class achieved the 84,000 word
target. About 14% read 90,000-100,000 words, and
7% read more than 100,000 words. The number ofstudents who read nothing fell from 5% in 2010 to3%.

Table 2ER portion of course grades for 2011 based on total words read*

Word count49,00056,00063,00070,00077,00084,000Part of course grade

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

*These are not actually the total words read. Students may have read more, but if they failed a MoodleReader quiz, they did notearn the words associated with that book, so they are not included in these tallies.

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Hill
Table 3
Percentage of course grade depending on amount of words read in 2011

Total target words persemester

Outside class ER per
semester (words)

Outside class weekly
effort needed (words)

Portion of course grade

49,000

7,000

500

15%

56,00014,0001,000

20%63,00021,0001,500

25%70,00028,0002,000

30%77,00035,0002,500

35%84,00042,0003,000

40%*These are not actually the total words read. Students may have read more, but if they failed a MoodleReader quiz, they did
not earn the words associated with that book, so they are not included in these tallies.

With this success in 2011, I opted to raise thebeen applied to English language courses other thanbar on target words in 2012 to 100,000 and show
students that it was possible to get over 84,000 words
with the 2011 results. The data showed that 62% of
students achieved or exceeded the course target word
count. An additional 23% read enough to get partial
points. The percentage that read nothing fell from
3% to 1.5% compared to 2011. The overall average
number of books read was 11.3.
Comparing the number of books read in 2011(12) and 2012 (11.3) and the average number ofwords read (76,000 in 2011 and 90,000 in 2012)
may raise a question about the level or length ofbooks. In fact, a 2012 student survey confirmed thatmost students (58%) read higher level books thanthey had been instructed to read (Table 4).
This was a little surprising because most students
reported they thought the levels they were given
were accurate (Figure 1). Perhaps they read higher
level books for the bigger word count or the literarychallenge. Also, a technical malfunction with
MoodleReader may have discouraged students fromreading in the early part of the semester and forced
them to read higher level books later to compensate.

English Reading Skills, as well as to content courses(Table 5).
Since late 2011, the three foreign teachers at
OUAVM in charge of the courses described inTable 5 have collaborated to decide how GRs canbe used with the different grades of students. They

Other Courses using ER at OUAVM
ER is not a program that has to be limited toreading courses4. At OUAVM, the use of GRs has

114 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Table 4
Responses to survey on whether students read books only attheir prescribed level

Responses*

Percentage

No, most books were higher level.

5No, many books were higher level.

12No, a few books were higher level.

18

No, 1-2 books were higher level.

23

Yes, all were at my level.

24

No, most books were lower level.

2

No, many books were lower level.

2

No, a few books were lower level.

5No, 1-2 books were lower level.

2

I never checked levels.

6*N=93 out of 129 students

Design and Practical Applications of University Courses..., pages 111-117

Figure 1. Responses to question whether their prescribed reading levels were accurate

have not all agreed on the strategies for using GRs,and conflicts exist with regard to assigning student
reading level, teacher involvement, in-class reading,the best choice of books, and course assessment. These
problems, coupled with low student motivation,
have led to poor reading performance in most of thecourses even though such courses had a much lower
word count goal than the Reading Skills course. For
example, 16 out of 21 students in the two-year basic
agriculture course read nothing and failed the course.
Although 47% of Current English I students reachedtheir reading target with the Footprint readers (anon-fiction series with topics in science, nature,international culture, and sports), 38% read nothingor failed the few quizzes they took, and 42% reported
the GRs for that course were difficult or too difficult.

levels, and tips on choosing books.
A final note on encouraging students toparticipate in ER relates to teachers working
together. At OUAVM, a recent survey of the science
professors showed that the second-most importantreason students have weak reading ability is thatthe university science course teachers themselves do
not push students to learn to read in English (Hill,2010). It is vital to join language and content teachers
in a crusade to help students to understand how
important reading is. If only the language teachers
do it, students expect to hear the sales pitch andmay be tempted to ignore it, but if they get the samemessage from content course teachers, especially ones
who have acceptable English fluency themselves, themessage may get through to more students.

Encouraging Student Motivation andParticipation

Conclusions

MoodleReader provides teachers with data on
student progress that can be presented to classes
to encourage readers to keep up with classmates.
Providing explanations in writing, whether inJapanese or English or both, can overcome a language
barrier with students who cannot understand what theteacher explains orally. Handouts can give students
information on grading schemes, the purpose of ER,
weaknesses in reading and ways to overcome them,
vocabulary related to literature (genre, plot, setting)for classroom discussion, publisher levels vs. student

Careful planning and execution of an ER
program was shown to succeed in achieving greaterword counts than in courses where such structure was
not in place. Despite the use of non-fiction GRs thatwere thought to provoke interest from science majors
in content courses, a large percentage of students readnothing, perhaps due to the differences in setting up
the courses compared to the Reading Skills course,
and to the difficulty of the GRs. More collaboration
between teachers is needed to improve this situationand maintain ER beyond the first year of students’
academic lives.
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115

Hill
Table 5
Courses at OUAVM that require graded readers

Course nameYear of students

How GRs are useda

Mostly 1st-year

SSRb and outside class reading;
100,000 words/sem.

Mostly 1st-year

outside class reading; 10,000 or
15,000 word/sem.

1st-yearoutside class reading with Foundation
readers; 10,000 or 15,000 word/sem.

Current English I and II

Mostly 2nd-year

outside class reading Footprint
readers; 10,000 word/sem.

International Cooperation
Studies Debated

3rd-yearEnglish Reading Skills

English Communication II

Bekka (2-yr agriculture)coutside class reading with Footprint
readers and discussion; 6 books/sem.

Unless specified, courses use GRs from all available publishers in the ERC. The debate course did not use MoodleReader quizzes.
SSR = sustained silent reading (in class, 30 minutes)cTopics presented in English on animals, agriculture, and environmental issues.
dTopics presented in English on worldwide agriculture and environmental issues.
a

b

Notes
1. OUAVM has just agreed to adding a second
English Reading Skills course, to begin in
October, 2014. The tentative syllabus centersaround aspects of journal articles.
2. MoodleReader quizzes are available online
via the Moodle course management software.
Students must pass with 60% in a variety often questions which test comprehension of thebooks. See http://moodlereader.org/ for more
information.
3. Book reports consisted of three questions to
be completed in English. Contact the author
for a copy.
4. Kyoto
SangyoUniversity
createdMoodleReader (Claflin, 2009) and requires it
as the basis for all English language courses in
the Faculty of English, Faculty of International
Culture, and Faculty of General Education.

116 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Ms. Mutsumi Shioda fortranslation of the English abstract into Japanese.

References
Claflin, M. (2009, July). The human side of a large
MoodleReader ER program. Paper presented at
the Extensive Reading in Japan Seminar, Kinki
University Language Institute, Higashiosaka,
Japan.
Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading.(n.d.).
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/
english-language-teaching/courses/teacherdevelopment/eper
Extensive Reading Foundation Graded Reader
Level Scale. (n.d.).Retrieved from http://www.
robwaring.org/er/scale/ERF_levels.htm
Furukawa, A. (2006). SSS extensive reading method
proves to be an effective way to learn English.
Retrieved from http://www.seg.co.jp/sss/

Design and Practical Applications of University Courses..., pages 111-117
information/SSSER-2006.htm
Furukawa, A., & Kanda, M. (2010). Eigo Tadoku
Kanzen Guidebook [The Complete Book Guide
for Extensive Reading, third ed.]. Tokyo, Japan:
Cosmopier.
Hill, G. (2010). Survey of teachers’ perceptions
toward reading English at a science university.
Research Bulletin of Obihiro University, 31, 87102.
Hill, G. (2012a). Design and practical applicationsof university courses employing extensive
reading. Paper presented at 11th Annual JALT
Pan-SIG Conference, June 16, 2012, Hiroshima
University.
Hill, G. (2012b). English Resource Center as aservice group and self-access English learningfacility. Research Bulletin of Obihiro University,
33, in press.
Hill, G. (2012c). How we do it at Obihiro
University of Agriculture and Veterinary
Medicine. ER Journal, 5(1), 8-11.
Nishizawa, H., Yoshioka, T., & Fukada, M. (2010).
The impact of a 4-year extensive reading
program. In A.M. Stoke (Ed.), JALT2009
Conference Proceedings. Tokyo, Japan: JALT.
Takase, A. (2004). Effects of eliminating somedemotivating factors in reading English
extensively. JALT2003 Conference Proceedings.
Tokyo, Japan: JALT.

Author’s Biography:
Glen Hill has been teaching since 1998. His research interests are ESP, ER, and academic
writing, all for science majors.

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117

Correlations Between BULATS Speaking/Writing and
TOEIC® Scores

Michihiro Hirai
Kanagawa University,
mjhirai@beige.ocn.ne.jp
Amid growing concerns about the wide-spread use of the TOEIC® as a general measure of
workplace English skills, the author analyzed correlations between its scores and those of a moreglobally accepted business English test – BULATS – among Japanese adults and found that their
TOEIC Listening/Reading scores do not correlate as strongly with their BULATS Speaking or
Writing scores (correlation coefficients of .58 and .55, respectively) as the general public tends tobelieve. Another major finding is that the majority of test-takers with TOEIC scores of 800 andabove failed to exhibit the business English speaking and writing skills expected of competentinternational businesspeople.
職場の英語スキル測定指標としてTOEIC® 点数を使う傾向が広まっている中、筆者は、その点数と、世界でより広く使われているビジネス英語試験である BULATS の成績（ともに日本人成人）との相関を分析し、TOEIC リスニング/リーディング点数と BULATS スピーキ
ングおよびライティング点数との相関が、一般に考えられているほど強くない（相関係数が.58 と .55）ことを発見した。また、TOEIC 800点以上の保有者の大半が、国際ビジネスパーソンに期待されるスピーキングおよびライティング能力水準に達していないことも判明した。
Keywords: test score correlation, TOEIC, BULATS, business speaking test, business writing
test

Introduction
The accelerating trend toward globalization of
the economy in recent years has led to a growing needto improve the English skills of corporate employees.
As most Japanese companies depend heavily on the
TOEIC Listening/Reading (hereafter “TOEIC LR”)
Test to assess their employees’ English skills, concerns*

Hirai, M. (2013). Correlations between BULATS
Speaking/Writing and TOEIC® Scores. In R.
Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012
Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 118-125).
Hiroshima: JALT.

*

118 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

have been voiced about the appropriateness of thistest as a measure of English skills – particularly
productive (speaking and writing) skills – in actual
business settings (Chapman, 2003; McCrostie, 2006;
Childs, 1995; Hirai, 2002, 2008, 2009). To date, arather limited number of reports have been publishedon how productive skills correlate with TOEIC LR
scores, as outlined below.
Educational Testing Service (ETS®) publishedseveral research reports on the relationship between
productive skills and TOEIC LR scores between 1982
and 2009 (see Hirai, 2009; Woodford, 1982). The
credibility of their claims, however, has been calledCorrelations Between BULATS Speaking/Writing and TOEIC® Scores, pages 118-125
into question in independent studies (Chapman
2003 ; Hirai, 2002, 2008, 2009). Hirai reports, forinstance, a correlation coefficient of .66 between
BULATS Speaking levels and TOEIC LR scores(Hirai, 2009) and that of .69 between BULATS
Writing levels and TOEIC LR scores (Hirai, 2008).
(Note that BULATS is Cambridge ESOL’s business
English test as described below.) These correlation
coefficients are considered lower than those foundin ETS’s reports and significantly lower than thoseinitially claimed by ETS (Woodford, 1982).
In the meantime, in response to criticisms forthe lack of productive skill tests, ETS upgraded theTOEIC in 2006 to extend its coverage optionallyto speaking and writing skills, while offering somebusiness flavor to a limited extent. It also published aresearch report on the correlation between TOEIC’s
LR, Speaking, and Writing Test scores (Liao, Qu,& Morgan, 2010) to better reflect the reality. They
report an observed correlation coefficient (occ) of .64
and a disattenuated correlation coefficient (dcc) of .75
between TOEIC Speaking and LR scores. Note thatdcc is calculated by calibrating occ with the reliability(alpha) coefficients of the two tests, the theory beingthat low test reliability tends to reduce occ. They also
report an occ of .62 and a dcc of .70 between TOEIC
Writing and LR scores. Both results are substantiallylower than ETS’s initial claims (Woodford, 1982).
Meanwhile Cambridge ESOL introduced theBusiness Language Testing Service (BULATS) suitein the mid 1990s, which is designed to evaluate
all the four skills in business environments. Oneof the most important features of BULATS is thatits scores are closely aligned with the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages(CEFR) and hence can be interpreted in relation tothis international standard, which is of great benefit
to all the stakeholders. While it is not widely known
in Japan yet, BULATS is one of the most significant
business English tests outside Japan, particularly inEurope and some parts of Asia.
What the above observations point to is thegrowing awareness of three issues in the language
education and testing community: (a) the

meaningfulness of using scores of receptive skill tests
in evaluating productive skills, (b) the meaningfulnessof using a test originally designed to evaluate general(non-business) English skills in evaluating business
English skills, and (c) the alignment of language skill
evaluation with an international standard.
This report is intended to address (a) and (b)above, by analyzing how the BULATS Speaking
and Writing test data relate to TOEIC LR scores
using the most recent statistics, and to explain the
gap that exists between how Japanese businesspeople
actually perform on average in business settings(reality) and how they are perceived to perform by
the general public based on their TOEIC (LR) scores(perception).

BULATS Speaking Test
Methods
The author analyzed the score data of 1,621
individuals (original sample) collected by The Society
for Testing English Proficiency (STEP) who took the
BULATS Speaking Test between April 1, 2005 andFebruary 8, 2012 and also had at least one TOEICLR test score. In compiling meaningful score data, toeliminate duplicate items and ensure reliability, thesame care was taken as outlined in the previous report(Hirai, 2009). As a result of eliminating duplications
and outliers, the score data of 1,584 test-takers was
finally selected for this study. For the sake of statisticalhandling, the discrete levels of BULATS tests, 0, 0+,
1–, 1=, etc. to 5+, were converted to numerical values(for the procedure, refer to Hirai, 2009).

Results
Figure 1 illustrates how the BULATS Speaking
level and the TOEIC score are distributed in twodimensional space, with the two variables represented
by the vertical and horizontal axes. The correlation
coefficient was found to be .58.
Figure 2 shows the distribution of BULATS
Speaking levels earned by the holders of TOEIC scoresof 800 and above. The mean BULATS Speaking levelwas 2.86.

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

119HiraiFigure 1. Correlation between BULATS Speaking Levels and TOEIC (LR) Scores

Figure 2. Speaking Level Distribution (TOEIC ≥ 800)

Analysis and Discussion
The correlation coefficient of .58 obtained
between BULATS Speaking levels and TOEIC LR
scores is somewhat lower than the .64 (occ) and .75(dcc) reported by Liao et al. (2010). Business English
generally involves some familiarity with workplace
vocabulary and context, which is an additional factor
that can negatively affect correlations between the
productive skills exhibited in business-oriented tests
such as BULATS and the receptive skills measured
by more general-purpose tests such as the TOEIC.
Compared with the BULATS Speaking test, whose
questions and tasks represent typical business scenes

120 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings(BULATS, 2005), the TOEIC Speaking test hasa relatively small number of questions and tasks
directly related to business. This difference in the
degree of business orientation is considered to be oneof the main reasons for the difference in correlation
coefficient between the present study and that of Liaoet al.
The correlation coefficient of .58 obtained is also
somewhat lower than the .66 previously reported(Hirai, 2009). Whereas the test-takers’ breakdown by
job type remained relatively stable, their distribution
by organization exhibited a significant change: The
number of organizations represented by the test-

Correlations Between BULATS Speaking/Writing and TOEIC® Scores, pages 118-125
takers increased 1.9-fold from 45 to 85. Note herethat the term “organization” refers to a legal entity
such as a company or a university and also that acompany group consisting of a parent company andits subsidiary or affiliated companies is counted as
one organization for the purpose of this analysis.
Because an organization’s employee characteristics
tend to remain the same over a period of time as shortas three or four years, an increase in the numberof test-takers within one organization would not
significantly change its statistical properties. On theother hand, as the number of organizations increases,
generally the test-takers diversify, i.e., a greater varietyof people are involved, and almost by definition thecorrelation coefficient is expected to decrease. Thus,
the drop in correlation coefficient, albeit small, canbe primarily attributed to the shift in test-takerdemography, particularly in terms of the number oforganizations.
Figure 3 is based on Figure 1, with a horizontal
solid line added at BULATS Speaking Level 3,
which indicates the level desirable for international
businesspeople. The regression line, which is also
shown in solid in Figure 1, represents the centerline around which the population of the sample isbalanced, and thus can be considered, for any given
value of one variable, to represent the average expectedvalue of the other variable. It should be noted thatthe regression line has a significantly gentler slope
than the diagonal dotted line connecting the lowest
possible values to the highest possible values of thetwo variables (the BULATS Speaking Test level
and the TOEIC LR score), which can be regarded
as a hypothetical balanced performance line where
speaking skills would be directly proportionate toreceptive skills. Furthermore, this regression line isflatter than that reported previously (Hirai, 2009). It
is clear from Figure 3 that the average speaking levels
were significantly lower than those predicted fromthe balanced performance line, most notably among
the test-takers with high TOEIC scores.
In Figure 3, the regression line intersects with
Speaking Level 3 at the TOEIC LR score of about
930. Level 3 in BULATS corresponds to ALTE Level
B2 (BULATS, 2007), which is generally regarded
as the minimum desirable level for competentinternational businesspeople. This level typicallyenables the test-taker to “deal with clients and resolve
most problems in their own field” (STEP, 2004).
Figure 3 therefore suggests that even with a TOEIC
score of 930, which is generally considered extremely
high for Japanese, about half of the score holders are
not at the desired level for competent international
businesspeople. This fact is also mirrored in Figure
2, which indicates that the mean BULATS Speaking
level was 2.86 (slightly lower than 3) for the holders.

Figure 3. Finding the TOEIC (LR) score that meets the desirable speaking level

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121

Hiraiof TOEIC scores of 800 and above. In fact, a closer
investigation of the score data has revealed that 56%
of test-takers with TOEIC scores of 800 and above
were rated below Level 3.
This tendency is attributed to the fact that businessspeaking is a composite skill involving a variety of
subskills and kinds of language knowledge, such as
logical thinking, rhetoric, organization, and a large
active vocabulary. In addition, the BULATS Speaking
Test places emphasis on task accomplishment, which
is an important factor in real-life business and whichcalls for extra attention beyond mere language skills.
Unfortunately Japanese businesspeople generally lackactive business vocabulary and are relatively weak inlogical thinking and rhetoric, which demand greater
experience and/or ad-hoc training than the sort ofreceptive skills measured by the TOEIC LR.

BULATS Speaking level analysis. As a result, the scoredata of 1,763 test-takers was finally selected for thisstudy. The results of the BULATS Writing Test arereported on the same scoring scale as in the BULATS
Speaking Test; thus, the same level-score conversion
scheme was used.

BULATS Writing Test

Analysis and Discussion

The author analyzed the score data of 1,776
individuals (original sample) collected by STEP who
took the BULATS Writing Test between April 1,2005 and February 8, 2012 and also had at least one
TOEIC LR test score. Duplicate and outlying scoredata were eliminated in the same manner as with the

The correlation coefficient of .55 obtained
between BULATS Writing levels and TOEIC LR
scores is somewhat lower than the .62 (occ) and .70(dcc) reported by Liao et al. (2010). The argument
provided in an earlier paragraph discussing the
BULATS Speaking Test basically applies also to the
BULATS and TOEIC Writing Tests. In particular, theMethods

Results
Figure 4 illustrates how the BULATS Writinglevel and the TOEIC score are distributed in twodimensional space, with the two variables represented
by the vertical and horizontal axes. The correlation
coefficient was found to be .55.
Figure 5 shows the distribution of BULATS
Writing levels earned by the holders of TOEIC scoresof 800 and above. The mean BULATS Writing levelwas 2.52.

Figure 4. Correlation between BULATS writing levels and TOEIC (LR) scores

122 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Correlations Between BULATS Speaking/Writing and TOEIC® Scores, pages 118-125

Figure 5. Speaking Level Distribution (TOEIC ≥ 800)

Figure 6. Finding the TOEIC (LR) score that meets the desirable writing level

BULATS Writing Test tends to include tasks which
require a deeper insight or more experience than its
TOEIC counterparts. Thus, this difference in the
degree of business orientation can be considered oneof the main reasons for the difference in correlation
coefficient between the present study and that of Liaoet al.
The correlation coefficient of .55 obtained is also
somewhat lower than the .69 previously reported(Hirai, 2008). A demographic analysis has revealed

that whereas the distribution by job type again did
not show any major change that would explain thedrop in correlation coefficient, the distribution byorganization exhibited a significant change: The
number of organizations represented by the test-takers
increased 1.7-fold from 57 to 95. Thus, analogously
to the argument on the BULATS Speaking Test,
the drop in correlation coefficient can be attributed
primarily to the shift in test-taker demography,
particularly in terms of the number of organizations.
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123

HiraiFigure 6 is based on Figure 4, with a horizontal
solid line added at BULATS Writing Level 3,
which indicates the level desirable for international
businesspeople. As with the BULATS Speaking Test,
the regression line, which is also shown in solid line
in Figure 4, has a significantly gentler slope than the
diagonal dotted line representing balanced writing
performance. Further, this regression line is flatterthan that reported previously (Hirai, 2008). It is clear
from Figure 6 that the average writing levels weresignificantly lower than those predicted from thebalanced performance line, most notably among thetest-takers with high TOEIC scores.
As shown in Figure 6, the regression line does
not intersect with Writing Level 3 at all, which is
generally regarded as the minimum desirable level forcompetent international businesspeople. This meansthat even holders of the maximum TOEIC LR score(990) cannot on average reach BULATS Level 3. This
fact is also mirrored in Figure 5, which indicates thatthe mean BULATS Writing level was 2.52 (lower
than 3) for the holders of TOEIC scores of 800 andabove. In fact, a closer investigation of the score data
has revealed that 71% of test-takers with TOEIC
scores of 800 and above were rated below Level 3.
Basically the same argument as with the BULATS
Speaking Test applies here, too.

Summary and Conclusions
BULATS Speaking and Writing levels were foundto correlate only moderately with TOEIC LR scores,
with the correlation coefficients of .58 and .55,
respectively, which are a little lower than those reported
by Liao et al. of ETS on the correlation between
TOEIC Speaking/Writing scores and LR scores.
These relatively small discrepancies are attributed tothe difference in the degree of business orientation
between the two tests. The drop in correlation
coefficients from the author’s previous study can be
attributed to the shift in test-taker demography, i.e.,the diversification of test-takers. In general, checking
the correlations between productive and receptive
skills and between general-purpose and specificpurpose (such as business) English skills is essential
in determining the validity or meaningfulness of

124 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

interpreting the scores of any test outside the scopeand domain for which it is originally designed.
The present study has also revealed that Japanesepeople’s business speaking/writing skills measured
by BULATS are substantially lower than the levels
the general public might expect of them fromtheir TOEIC LR scores, highlighting a significant
perception gap between the two. The author attributes
Japanese people’s inadequacy in productive skills totheir lack of exposure to real-life business English as
represented by BULATS.

Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank the staff of the
BULATS team at STEP for their valuable assistanceand generosity in sharing the test data.

References
BULATS (2007). BULATS candidate handbook.
Retrieved July 3, 2008, from http://www.bulats.
org/handbook/index.php
BULATS (2005). Speaking test sample question paper.
Retrieved June 7, 2005, from http://www.
bulats.org/samples/index.php
Chapman, M. (2003). TOEIC: Tried but
undertested. Shiken: JALT Testing & Evaluation
SIG Newsletter, 12 (2) 2-7. Retrieved October
20, 2012, from http://jalt.org/test/cha_1.htm
Childs, M. (1995). Good and bad uses of TOEIC
by Japanese companies. In J.D. Brown and S.O.
Yamashita (Eds.), Language Testing in Japan (pp.
66-75). Tokyo, Japan: JALT
Hirai, M. (2002). Correlations between active
skill and passive skill test scores. Shiken: JALT
Testing & Evaluation SIG Newsletter, 6(3), 2–8.
Retrieved June 12, 2008, from http://jalt.org/
test/hir_1.htm
Hirai, M. (2008). Correlation between STEP
BULATS Writing and TOEIC® scores. In
T. Newfields, P. Wanner, & M. KawateMierzejewska (Eds.), Proceedings of 7th Annual
JALT Pan-SIG Conference, JALT. Retrieved

Correlations Between BULATS Speaking/Writing and TOEIC® Scores, pages 118-125
July 8, 2009, from http://jalt.org/pansig/2008/
HTML/Hirai1.htm
Hirai, M. (2009). Correlation between STEP
BULATS Speaking and TOEIC® scores. In Eric
Skier and T. Newfields (Eds.), Proceedings of
8th Annual JALT Pan-SIG Conference, JALT.
Retrieved July 12, 2012, from http://jalt.org/
pansig/2009/HTML/Hirai.htm
Liao, C., Qu, Y., & Morgan, R. (2010). The
relationships of test scores measured by the
TOEIC® listening and reading test and TOEIC®
speaking and writing tests. TOEIC Compendium
TC-10-13, ETS, January 2010. Retrieved June
9, 2012, from http://www.ets.org/Media/
Research/pdf/TC-10-13.pdf

McCrostie, J. (2006). Why are universities
abandoning English teaching for TOEIC
training? On Cue, 14 (2), 30-32. Retrieved
January 7, 2010 from: http://jaltcue-sig.org/
files/OnCUE/14.2content.pdf
STEP (2004). Sekai kijun no bijinesu eigo nouryoku
tesuto STEP BULATS [Global-standard business
English test STEP BULATS]. Tokyo, Japan:
STEP
Woodford, P. E. (1982). An introduction to TOEIC:
The initial validity study. Princeton, NJ:
Educational Testing Service. Retrieved June
6, 2009, from http://www.ets.org/research/
researcher/TOEIC-RS-00.html

Author’s Biography:
Michihiro Hirai has an M.S.E. degree and a title of Professional Engineer in IT and is amember of JALT, JACET, and IEEE PCS.

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Putting Communicative Literacy Into Conversation

Michael Iwane-Salovaara
Momoyama Gakuin University
mjsalo@andrew.ac.jp
For EFL students to communicate effectively they need to understand conversation is morethan the sum of its parts. Communicative literacy, herein narrowly defined, is the understanding
and practice of conversation as a unified communication event. The parts of which include an
opening/closing, appropriate turn-taking, backchanneling, eye contact etc. as well as the absenceof dysfluencies from the speakers first language (L1) such as kanaeigo, aizuchi, and content poor
responses. I will give a brief overview of what constitutes a conversation and a teaching strategy
which aims to make EFL students aware of conversation as a unified discoursal unit.
本稿では、コミュニケーション能力を会話の理解と実践という統合的コミュニケーションとして狭義に捉え、会話の構成要素やEFL(外国語としての英語)学習者が会話を統合的なものとして捉えるための教授方法についての考察を試みる。まず、EFLの学習者が効果的にコミュニケーションを行うためには、会話は部分的な要素というよりも、統合的なものであることと理解する必要がある。そして、会話における部分的要素とは、会話の開始部/終了
部、 発話の順序交代、相槌のうち方、アイコンタクトなどがあげられる。また、カタカナ英語、相槌、返答の曖昧さのような母語からの影響を受けて起こる非流暢性の欠如も会話の構成要素のひとつとなる。
Keywords: Communicative literacy, conversation strategies, contrastive linguistics

English conversation in Japanese schools is often
taught in discrete parts (grammar, functions & notions,vocabulary, and so on). While these discrete parts of
ELT are, of course, important they can, for Japanese
EFL learners, distort English conversation to such an
extent that they see little connection to conversationin their own first language (L1). Knowing the overall
framework of what a conversation is, and is not, is“one of the… cardinal rules of learning” (Noguchi,
1995 as cited in Maynard, 1998, p. 3).
*

Iwane-Salovaara, M. (2013). Putting Communicative
Literacy Into Conversation. In R. Chartrand, S.
Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 126-132). Hiroshima:
JALT.

*

126 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

In my teaching situation I teach non-English
majors, who are first & second year low to intermediatelevel students (250-270 TOEIC), compulsory
English for 28 90-minute lessons over two semesters.
There is, unsurprisingly, a wide range of motivation,ability, and maturity levels. My responsibility is
to raise learner awareness about the similarities
and differences between English conversation andJapanese conversation and then provide a platform orframework on which learners can build their English
abilities.
I am going to sidestep the issue of whether or
not teaching ‘natural’ English conversation in theclassroom is even possible (see Seedhouse, 1996)
because the focus seems to be misplaced. The goal in
my classes is for the students to be better familiarizedPutting Communicative Literacy Into Conversation, pages 126-132
with ‘natural’ English conversation. If they areaware of a conversational framework, then they canwork towards it. Like many contract and part-timeteachers, I only have a limited time, a little over 40hours a year, with my students. Therefore, I try to
identify a set of skills, approaches and informationthat can help my students to build and improve theirEnglish if they so choose after they completed mycourse.
I will now discuss the main points I present to
my students. I consider these to be a framework fromwhich they can build their English conversation skills.
I do not claim that these main points are exclusive orthat the framework is the only one that would work,
only that I use them and I find them effective in myteaching situation.

Similarities & Differences
There are similar conversation conventions thatare present in both Japanese and English, which, whenidentified, can help the Japanese EFL learner better
understand what is expected. Conversations typicallyhave an opening, body, and ending; the use of backchanneling; and a recognized mutuality to highlight afew. There are also important differences, such as therole of silence, the amount of detail provided, and therole responsibility plays in communication, which
are often lost on Japanese learners. While many ofthese aspects of conversation are taught, they are notusually contrasted with the Japanese learners’ L1.

Similarities
Basic Framework
One of the surprises I have found in teaching
English conversation is how most EFL learners (andmany teachers) are unaware that conversation in any
language has a basic framework, namely, a beginning,a body, and a closing. While quite simple and obvious
once pointed out, many learners did not realize thisframework, presumably because they were nevertaught it.
Teaching learners about this framework serves
several purposes. First, it frames the conversation asa temporal and limited experience that is similar totheir own L1 and therefore achievable. They can know
where to begin or how to end once a conversation has
been started. Second, this three-part framework canlater help prime the learners to understand aspects
of EAP or ESP, particularly presentations and essays.
Backchanneling/Aizuchi
Backchanneling is an interesting aspect ofEnglish and Japanese conversation. Both languages
have backchanneling (相槌 aizuchi in Japanese)
which helps to move the conversation along andcontribute to it sounding more natural. However,there are two important differences: first, aizuchi
is used much more in Japanese conversation thanbackchanneling is used in English conversation. In
fact, the word aizuchi is an everyday Japanese wordthat even children know whereas backchanneling isa specialist word. Because of this difference of usage
I use the term English aizuchi when talking to mystudents about backchanneling in the classroom. The
second difference is that aizuchi and backchanneling
have different sets of vocalizations (etoh, eeeeeeeh etc.
in Japanese and um, er, ah etc. in English) and small
words (soka, honto, usoh etc. and really, wow, that’s
too bad etc.).
Mutuality
As I discovered with my students, the mutualityof a conversation is often overlooked. What should
happen in a conversation is the engagement of bothspeakers in what they are doing, namely, having a
conversation on some topic. Indeed, when watching
Japanese learners chat with each other in Japanese themutuality is apparent. They are looking at each other,
actively listening and responding with aizuchi or withsome appropriate response. However, when speaking
English the sense of mutuality is lost as they struggle
to complete a series of tasks correctly. Tale-tell signsof this are the loss of mutual eye-contact, facing
elsewhere (the ceiling, wall, floor, window, textbooketc.), long silences, little or no English aizuchi,
responses not connected to what was said, and lapses
into Japanese. Or put it another way, conversation
often resembling a series of non sequiturs. The ideathat an English conversation is a singular whole with
two or more interlocutors rather than a prepared
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Iwane-Salovaara
series of scripts for different situations is somethingthat has to be explicitly taught. The simplest way to
do that is to refer to how the learners converse in their
L1.

Differences
Silence
The role of silence is one of the differences that is
distinct between English and Japanese conversation.
In this context I will define silence as a prolonged
lack of response, which includes verbal as well bodylanguage.
Silence in a Japanese conversation may indicatethat the interlocutor may be thinking of a response or
may think that a response is not required. However,in English conversation silence can be a signal of
disinterest or even hostility and thus needs to be
avoided. Since English is often taught as a set of
discrete skills to be mastered and evaluated, at times
EFL learners lapse into long unfilled pauses trying tocome up with answers spoken in “correct” English,
even if in the end the responds is, “I don’t know”.
While there are other reasons for silence, theseexamples illustrate the differences between English
and Japanese. The point is that EFL learners are often
not made aware of the different roles silence plays inthe two languages.
Details
Related to silence is the amount of detailprovided. An English conversation, where one orboth of the interlocutors provide minimal response,
will invariably end fairly quickly because minimal
responses offer little for the listener to respond
to. Also, minimal responses can be interpreted,like silence, as disinterest or hostility. In Japaneseconversation the giving of details is not as important.
Responsibility
The reason details are important in English
conversation has to do with the role responsibility plays
in communication (Hinds, 1987). Responsibility forthe receipt of the message is an important aspect ofevery language including English and Japanese. In
English, the main, but not the exclusive, responsibility
for the receipt of message is with the speaker (or128 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

writer). This responsibility is realized in several ways.
First, the speaker provides enough informationand detail so as to enable the listener to respond inkind and so on. Second, the speaker expects signals
such as backchanneling and small words to indicate
reception of the message. Long pauses and a lack ofbackchanneling are disruptive since they indicate apossible lack of reception, which the speaker must
attend to before continuing. In Japanese, discourse
responsibility is reversed and the listener (or reader) is
expected to understand the context of what was said
thereby receiving the message.

Dysfluencies
Dysfluencies are elements of conversation thathinder fluency and sometimes comprehension. They
often come from the speaker’s L1. In Japan they
are long pauses, lack of eye contact, short or one
word responses, Japanese aizuchi, and what I callkatakana eigo (kanaeigo for short). Pointing out thesedysfluencies to learners can help to improve theirfluency and the overall quality of their conversation.
Eye contact with one’s interlocutor is an
important signal of being engaged in a conversation,
as is providing content rich and relevant responses.
Often English conversations echo the fragmented
and formulaic conversations learners picked up fromtheir textbooks and language lessons. Conversations
are contextual and dynamic artifacts between two or
more interlocutors and therefore should be taught assuch.
The main difference between Japanese aizuchi andbackchanneling (or as I call it in my classes: English
aizuchi) is its higher frequency of use. Examples ofaizuchi include the nasally un, the guttural haw, andmid-tonal ehh, as well as echoing one or two words
the speaker has just uttered, for example:
A: I like ice cream.
B: Ice cream.
A: Chocolate is my favourite.
B: Chocolate.
Kanaeigo is the Japanese pronunciation of English
words, for example: and-oh, from-mu, about-oh,
house-u, etc. It most often occurs with lower level

Putting Communicative Literacy Into Conversation, pages 126-132

Figure 1. Illustration of how “responsibility” is boarded

learners who tend to speak one word at a time rather
than in phrases or chunks. Making learners awareof this dysfluency can go a long way in improving
their pronunciation and intonation because kanaeigo
impedes progress in both areas. Also, learners canself-assess this aspect of their speaking development

任 sekinin) in communication and that in Japanesecommunication the responsibility for comprehension
rests with the receiver (listener, reader) whereas
in English it rests with the sender (speaker, writer)(Hinds, 1987). This contrast is illustrated on theboard as shown in figure 1.Figure 1: I explain andwithout the presence of a language teacher.
In making learners aware of their dysfluencies thelanguage teacher can quickly focus on some of the
major impediments to improved conversation. Also
the learners gain greater autonomy by being able toself-assess their own progress.
Communicative literacy, in this context, is theunderstanding and practice of conversation as a whole
and unified communication event. The following is a
description of how I teach English conversation as a
discoursal whole rather in discrete parts.

demonstrate this by raising their awareness of how
many times a native English teacher asks “Do you
understand?”, “Got it?” etc. or looks at his or her
students for nods and facial expressions for indications
that the message has been received (though notnecessarily comprehended). Then contrast this witha Japanese teacher who does much less checking onwhether or not the message has been received orcomprehended.
Making students aware of how responsibility inconversation differs in English and Japanese is an“aha!” moment for many of them.

Summary of what I do in myclassroom
Responsibility
I first talk to the students about responsibility (責Expectations
Conversation is a series of met expectations. The
listener expects the speaker to respond to what has
just been said and to add more information and

Figure 2. How to board expectations for EFL learners

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Iwane-Salovaara
details (comment, opinion, observation, question,
request, etc.) and maintain eye contact, to name afew. Concurrently, the speaker expects the listener
to maintain eye contact, backchannel (oral & bodylanguage), and to be ready to respond.
While I have talked to my students about
expectations, I have not yet boarded it. In future I
will include a visual like in Figure 2.

Opening-Body-Closing
I use this simple schema which can be later
repurposed to teach essay writing and preparing
presentations.

LengthThe length of the conversation is determined by
the number of turns. A turn is defined as one A/B
exchange
A: {one turn}B:
The length of the first conversation is 7 turns
which includes the opening (1+ turn), the body (5+turns), and the closing (1+ turns). Depending on theability of the class the number of turns increase by 1
turn for each subsequent conversation.

Width
The width is determined by 3 parts: English
aizuchi/thinking and response / “more”. “More” canbe realized by giving extra details or information,
making a comment, giving an opinion, asking aquestion and so on. These terms are not academic
sounding because they are geared to my students
and they appear to understand and use them. Alsothese terms, and my configuration of them, are notexclusive and can be modified as required, particularly
with more advanced students.
A: [statement]
B: aizuchi/thinking + response + more

Textbook or no textbook
For 1st year classes I use Conversation In Class

130 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings(Richmond, Vannieu, Azra, & Torikawa, 2009) byAlma Publishing. A textbook is useful for low level
students who still need to built their vocabulary
and grammar. However, I am in the process ofreconsidering using a textbook since it can reinforce
the static and formulaic language my students learnedin high school.
For 2nd year classes I don’t use a textbook because
I try to draw upon their individual and collective
knowledge of English. After a couple of conversation
exercises on everyday here and now topics I havethem having content based conversations. The topics
are taken from their majors. So sociology students
take their topics from sociology, business students
choose business topics and so on.

Evaluation/dysfluencies
The evaluation is done at the discourse level andnot on the content or grammar of the conversation.
Elements such as responses, extra information, andEnglish aizuchi (back channeling) are noted. Also,
I take note of any dysfluencies such as speaking
Japanese, using kanaeigo, and long silences.

Efficacy
While I am still developing my approach toteaching English conversation at the discourse level,
the response from students has been encouraging.
I surveyed 179 students in 9 classes about various
aspects of the course I taught them. Three of thequestions were the most relevant concerning English
conversation.
In the semester ending questionnaire 76% of thestudents indicated that their attitude toward English
improved. This is significant because on the first dayof class I did a quick hand survey of who liked anddisliked English. While results varied from class toclass I told my students that my goal for the semester
was to improve their feelings towards English.
Affective factors and motivation can have an effect onlearner outcomes and placing this as a stated priority
prepared the students to expect a change in their
feelings towards English (see Figure 3).
When asked about their English speaking ability
70% thought their ability had improved in fourPutting Communicative Literacy Into Conversation, pages 126-132

Figure 3. Question 1 of the end of semester questionnaire. 1=no, 4=yes

Figure 4 . Question 5 of the end of semester questionnaire. 1=no, 4=yes

Figure 5. Question 6 of the end of semester questionnaire. 1=no, 4=yes

months. That this result is close to the improved
attitudes towards English is interesting and in needof further examination (see Figure 4).
Finally, 75% thought their understanding of thedifferences between Japanese and English conversation
had improved. Of the three questions, this one
is the most important since it indicates a deeper
understand of the mechanisms of conversations aswell as the possible acquisition of conversational toolsthat support self-assessment and autonomy and fromthere confidence to engage in an English conversationthat is dynamic and spontaneous (see Figure 5).
These results are preliminary but they do point
to an overall improvement in the learner experience.
By taking a pragmatic approach to teaching
conversation at the discourse level I hope to improvelearner conversational literacy by improving theirunderstanding of various elements of conversationand how these work together. There is much morethat can be said about this approach to teaching
conversation. I have focused only on what I havedone in my classes.

References
Hinds, J. (1987). Reader versus writer responsibility:
A new typology. In Connor U, & Kaplan R,(eds), Writing across cultures: Analysis of L2 text
(141-52) Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Maynard, Senko K. (1998). Principles of Japanese
discourse: A handbook. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Richmond, S., Vannieu, B., Azra, J., & Torikawa,T. (2009). Conversations in class (New Edition)
Kyoto, Japan: Alma Publishing.
Seedhouse, P. (1996). Classroom interaction:
possibilities and impossibilities. ELT Journal.
Volume 50(1), 16-24.

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Iwane-Salovaara

Author’s Biography:
Michael Iwane-Salovaara is interested in teaching conversational English to Japanese English
language learners. Related interests include pragmatics, conversational analysis, contrastive
analysis, and corpus linguistics.

132 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Benefits of Drama Techniques for Literacy
Development in EFL

Aya Kawakami
Nanzan University
kawakami@nanzan-u.ac.jp
The term ‘drama techniques’, often considered by educators as synonymous with ‘theater’, implies
to many teachers, a performance. These two terms are, however, in EFL, two completely different
things, with very different objectives. In discussing widespread misconceptions that hinder theuse of drama techniques, this paper seeks to eliminate many of the fears preventing educatorsfrom incorporating these tools into their teaching repertoire. Drama techniques, such as utilizing
hot seating, people poems, and line omissions, are seen as vital tools which can provide several
useful intermediate steps, particularly in the challenging realm of literacy, that can guide thestudent from the EFL classroom to the L2 world.
ドラマテクニック≫と言う用語は、しばしば教師達に≪劇団≫－数多くの公演を伴う－と同義語とみなされている。しかし、第二言語・外国語教育においては、極めて異なった目的を持つ、二つの全く異なるものである。本稿では一般に広まっている、このツールの使用を阻む見当違いの考えについて論じながら、教師が指導方法の一つとして、ドラマテクニ
ックを取り入れる事において抱いている危惧を払拭する方向を模索する。ドラマテクニック
は幾つかの有効な中級ステップを提供できる重要なツールで有り、特に言語運用能力の分野において、学生をＥＳＬの教室から第二言語の世界へと導ける事が理解できる。
Keywords: drama techniques, teaching techniques

Introduction
Drama and theater–these words seemsynonymous to many in the EFL world. In fact, themere mention of “drama techniques” brings up visionsof a daunting and time-consuming stage productionthat some teachers neither have the time, knowledge,
or ability to do (Gaudart, 1990; Royka, 2002). It is
no wonder that educators shy away from the idea of*

Kawakami, A. (2013). Benefits of Drama Techniques.
In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.),
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp.
133-139). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

incorporating such techniques into their classroom
repertoire. Teachers, particularly those from cultures
where there is a more traditional view of education,
often fear appearing foolish to the students, frivolous
to the administration, and being seen as playing
instead of teaching (Gaudart, 1990; Royka, 2002).
The misconceptions about drama techniques, inaddition to teachers’ lack of knowledge of the rangeof activities available and their benefits, have been the
primary hindrance to the widespread use of drama
techniques in EFL (Gaudart, 1990). Many parallels
exist between preparing actors for the stage andpreparing EFL students for the L2 world, and it is
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Kawakami
precisely these parallels that make the incorporationof drama techniques vital. This paper aims to clarify
the difference between theater and drama techniquesin education, enumerate the benefits of using drama
techniques in the EFL classroom, particularly inregards to literacy, and provide some examples of how
to incorporate such techniques.

Misconceptions: Defining Educational
Drama Techniques and Theater
Educators tend to assume that using drama
techniques implies some type of performance(Gaudart, 1990; Royka, 2002). To put it simply,
this type of performance is what is termed ‘theater’.
Drama techniques in education do not requirea staged performance, but instead focus on theactivities that traditionally are used to develop skills
that actors need, and oddly enough, these match theskills needed by EFL learners. A drama activity is any
activity that “asks the student to portray himself in
an imaginary situation; or to portray another person
in an imaginary situation” (Gaudart, 1990, p. 230).
Therefore, “the developmental aspect of drama [is]stressed and emphasis [is] given as to how drama [can]be used to increase awareness, self-expression andcreativity” (Gaudart, 1990, p. 230). Drama activities
lend themselves easily to creating opportunities for
exploration and analysis, aid the development oflanguage accuracy, provide opportunities for practicein a safe environment, and aid in critical thinking
and cultural competence (Gaudart, 1990). The focus
is on group work and group interaction; performanceis at the discretion of the teacher and dependent onwhether the class desires it. Drama techniques areopportunities for introspection, analysis, creativity,interaction, spontaneity, intimacy, trust building, andself-expression; none of which require performancefor validation.

Drama Techniques: General Benefits
As Dickson (1989) stated, “learning to use asecond language is, in many ways, like learning tobecome a different person” (p. 300). Developing theL2 personality is no easy process and is an area that is

134 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

difficult to address if educators utilize only the mosttraditional teaching methods in the classroom. The
EFL classroom can be like a rehearsal space wherestudents practice to prepare for the outside world.
Students need a safe environment, a buffer area, where
they feel comfortable to explore and make mistakes
before going out onto the stage of the L2 world. Trustbuilding, creating this buffering space both physicallyand mentally, and building empathy for others are all
foundations of drama and some of the benefits thatcan be gained from using these techniques with EFL
students (Paquette & Rieg, 2009). The benefits areendless and the key ones for EFL are examined below.
The primary benefit is that through the use ofdrama techniques, teachers can create an importantintermediate step before learners step out into the L2world, while at the same time maintaining authenticity
of communication and a genuine need for students
to use the language. Many teachers, particularly incountries where the immediate need for the L2 is
not apparent, struggle to motivate students and give
purpose to their activities (Gaudart, 1990; Pin-hsiang& Wen-chi, 2008). This is further aggravated whenthe L2 is forced upon students due to government
policy, a common situation in secondary education(Gaudart, 1990; Pin-hsiang & Wen-chi, 2008).
Drama activities are problem solving in nature-they require students to work together towards
a concrete goal that they can perceive easily, andthrough this process utilize the L2 in authentic
types of communication, thus increasing motivation(Connors, 1986; Gaudart, 1990; Sam, 1990). A
common conversation activity can easily be mademore natural: rather than having students passively
read and practice dialogues written in a textbook,an activity that is not readily purposeful to learners,
teachers could utilize an omission exercise often used
to aid actors in making their responses more naturalto other people’s lines. In an omission exercise,students only have their lines, not their partner’s lines
in a dialogue. By limiting the information available,
students are forced to actively listen and pay attention
to the content of their partner’s speech, an act muchcloser to a real conversation. The situation is still
greatly controlled as the students have their own lines

Benefits of Drama Techniques for Literacy Development in EFL, pages 133-139
in front of them, but suddenly they can no longer
be passive. Further, it is also possible to implant an
unexpected issue that must be resolved, a ‘rupture’
that the students must react to in a spontaneous
fashion, such as a sudden problem like an order nothaving been placed or a relationship issue, once classes
are more confident or proficient (Dickson, 1989).
Teachers can eventually move on to simulations
where there is little to no coaching on the language tobe used, taking away the artificial ‘crutches’, allowing
the students to explore more independently (Dickson,1989). As can be seen here, by utilizing such drama
techniques, the activity of role plays becomes a moreauthentic communication act (Connors, 1986). As
Chauhan (2004) states, “an attractive alternative isteaching language through drama because it gives
a context for listening and meaningful language
production, forcing the learners to use their language
resources and, thus, enhancing their linguistic
abilities.” It can help to provide opportunities tofocus on meaning and on life experiences rather thanon the mechanics of language itself (Dickson, 1989).
There is, however, a key difference between
experiential learning in the L2 environment andincorporating drama activities in the classroom.
Unlike actual experiences in the L2, there is anadditional advantage of these types of activities
being able to provide slightly slowed down or phased
versions of real experiences, catering to the level ofthe student, aiding in easing them into the L2 world(Royka, 2002). The removal of the ‘crutches’ is not
immediate or jarring, but a steady process. Drama
techniques are thus easily modified to suit the levelof the EFL student. This counters another common
misconception of drama techniques: that it is only
meant for advanced, active, and outgoing students(Dickson, 1989; Hoyt, 1992). Activities can easily be
modified and done in sequence to slowly challenge
students and allow them opportunities for free
and authentic language use (Dickson, 1989). Thisis, as previously mentioned, the ideal for the EFL
classroom. As Kasper (2000) states:
cognitive learning theory posits that in theprocess of acquiring literacy skills, students

progress through a series of three stages, thecognitive, the associative and autonomous.
Progression through these stages is facilitated byscaffolding, which involves providing extensive
instructional support during the initial stages oflearning and gradually removing this support asstudents become more proficient at the task.”(p. 106)
Challenging the students in stages allows them tobecome more autonomous and able to use the L2with confidence and independence.
The theory of multiple intelligences in EFL statesthat students have a variety of strengths and thus
learn more effectively in differing ways—therefore,
using a wide range of stimuli and teaching methods
may, in fact, aid in L2 acquisition (Bas, 2008). It is
a common occurrence for teachers of students withlearning disabilities to use drama and art as ways tofacilitate learning and while EFL students do notnecessarily have issues with language learning, they
can certainly benefit from using different approaches
to learning (Jackson & Schneider, 2000). Students
often have different learning styles and learningneeds and thus it is not difficult to see how using
TPR-oriented activities may help tactile or physicallearners, particularly in regards to literacy, to gain
understanding of abstract or difficult readings. As
Hoyt (1992) explains, “transmediation…[the] process
of moving information from one communication
system to another… encourages learners to generate
new meanings and to expand existing ones” (p. 581).
In addition to this, drama activities are great
opportunities for cooperative learning--stronger ormore confident students can help the shy or lower level
students, creating opportunities for peer teaching andstudent-centered learning (Scarcella, 1978). The verynegotiation needed during drama activities can beopportunities for socialization and communicationin the L2, especially when students are given a
degree of autonomy. Most activities are cooperativein nature and when students themselves are allowed
the freedom to mold how the activity is done,
they can decide who takes on the more prominent
positions. This has the additional benefit of allowing
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Kawakami
students to take on roles according to comfort level.
Incorporation of trust building exercises, particularly
at the beginning of a course, can also ease students
into drama activities and promote an atmosphere of
comfort and safety that can aid in all aspects of theclass (Chauhan, 2004; Dickson, 1989).
The role of the teacher is not a passive one, however-the teacher must set the tone, must participate as a
guide and member of the group in order for there to
be true trust (Dickson, 1989; Paquette & Rieg, 2009;
Royka, 2002). The teacher must be sensitive to thelevel of comfort in the activity, as well as the cultural
background and personalities of the students in orderto ease them into more challenging activities in asystematic fashion (Royka, 2002). Gauging when to
critique and when to encourage, to allow the students
freedom to make mistakes without fear of being put
on the spot or made an example of, are essential
teacher skills (Paquette & Rieg, 2009). The students
will sense the teacher’s attitude and act accordingly-having a positive attitude and a belief in the benefitsof the activities is key. Role plays that help to give
students autonomy and learn cultural competence arehighly beneficial but only so if the teacher provides
a comprehensive set-up that is matched to the levelof the students and if the teacher provides themwith the cultural information needed to simulate
the L2 situation (Dickson, 1989). Without proper
set-up, students may revert to cultural stereotypes.
Only by having enough information and the rightamount of coaching can the students truly gain thefull benefits of such activities--learning articulationand intonation, appropriate body language and facial
expressions, common mannerisms and phrases, andmany other aspects unique to the embodiment of theL2 culture.

Literacy and Drama: The Missing
Link
The definition of literacy has evolved a great deal
with the advent of internet technology to incorporatea wide range of skills needed to be considered literate(Kasper, 2000). For the purposes of this paper,
however, focus is placed on the traditional definition

136 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingsof literacy, the reading comprehension and writing
skills necessary to function in the L2 society, as well as
critical thinking needed for discussion—areas that arenotoriously difficult, particularly in countries where
the L1 education does not focus on these skills in thesame manner as the L2 culture. This cross-culturaldifference in focus is particularly noticeable in theteaching of composition. This section focuses on thedevelopment of skills through drama techniques thatare needed for success in L2 literacy and provides
examples of how this can be achieved. The drama
activities here again function as an intermediarystep—a bridge from the skills students have in the L1
to the skills that are needed in the L2.

Reading and Reading Comprehension
The world of literature is a vast one, full of
imaginative and creative stories that enlighten,
entertain, and provoke discussion and introspection.
Yet many teachers avoid stories or poems that they
feel are too abstract for students to visualize fromtext alone. Guided imagery may be the answer-the students are asked to close their eyes while theteacher guides them through visualization of certain
situations, feelings, or characters (Annarella, 2000).
This allows teachers to provide information that aids
in comprehension prior to students reading the text-teacher can set the time, mood, and mode in which thestudents will read the text. Having students do a people
poem (Appendix A) or description circle (Appendix B)
where students can brainstorm key words related tothe theme of the text does not only help to teach vital
vocabulary but helps students retain that knowledge
through memorable, physical activity. Re-enactmentsof scenes in group work can help students gain adeeper understanding of the scene, particularly if
the teacher aids in the development of the roles each
student would play in the re-enactment throughactivities like hot seating (Appendix C). In fact, hot
seating is an excellent tool to help the weaker students
understand the characters and their motivations by
having the students who have a better understandingof the text answer questions as if they were thosecharacters. If the text is non-fiction and for discussion,having students play the people from the story with

Benefits of Drama Techniques for Literacy Development in EFL, pages 133-139
differing viewpoints could be extremely beneficial—
it creates a buffer allowing the student to speak
freely. Students feel liberated as they are not speaking
their personal opinion, and this disassociation aids
in more legitimate and fearless communication,
while simultaneously creating empathy for different
perspectives (Dickson, 1989). Drama activities also
can stimulate imagination, a basic skill needed formaking inferences and finding solutions to issues intext, particularly those with complicated and abstract
themes (Jackson & Schneider, 2000; Dickson, 1989;
Sam, 1990). Visual and physical learners can glean
understanding before moving on to more traditional
activities for reading comprehension.

Writing and Creative Writing“Drama is a powerful learning medium because
it also provides a context within which students may
write for imaginative as well as functional purposes”(Wagner, cited in Jackson & Schneider, 2000, p.
38). Despite its benefits, writing can be a daunting
activity for many EFL students. Many feel their lackof creativity or life experiences hinder them from
effective writing (Annarella, 2000). Brainstorming
tasks can often be a de-motivating and difficult process(Annarella, 2000). Again here, drama activities canserve as an intermediate step. Teachers can use set-up
exercises like the people poem, the description circle,
and guided imagery (Appendices A-C) to spark theimagination in a group context (See Appendix E forwebsites containing sample drama activities).
A text or story could also be the starting point
for creative writing. Exploring a source text withactivities like hot seating and who? what? where?
(Appendix D) can lead to writing activities suchas character histories or diaries, short scripted
scenes based on the who? what? where?, and a mocknewspaper report based on the text. Drama activities
can even be incorporated into the class for extended
periods of time as a binding theme for many different
writing activities. For example, in a class introduced
by Jackson and Schneider (2000), the teacher createda historical drama of immigrants in the United States.
The students, in the roles of immigrants from different
countries, were asked to create diaries, petitions,

official documents, poems, and letters to home
(Jackson & Schneider, 2000). While the writing wastechnically creative, the students had to do genuine
research and write based on the information theygained (Jackson & Schneider, 2000). This is a creative
way to motivate students to learn how to research
and write, while keeping interest so they may moveon to more academic writing. It is hard to deny thatutilizing drama techniques can be an attractive andexciting buffering step that allows students to gain
confidence in their writing skills before setting themoff to do more independent work.

Conclusion
Drama techniques, by their very nature, areperfect aids to teaching a second language. Students
learn team work, negotiation, and learn throughpeers. The use of these activities helps to create a safe
environment where students can explore without fearand such activities can be a vital intermediate step,
helping the students move forward with confidence.
Drama techniques are not meant to replace but toaugment the tools that the teacher already has andlike any new tool, it will require time and patience
to master. While the focus of this paper is toseparate drama techniques in EFL from theater andperformance, it by no means is meant to discount theamazing learning opportunities that theater provides.
It merely hopes to clarify that drama and performance
are not necessarily synonymous and that these drama
techniques can be applied to a wide range of EFL
classes and situations.

Acknowledgments
Many of the ideas regarding the role of theaterand the activities given as examples for literacy
development came about as part of the jointpresentation done by Dawn Kobayashi, Jason White,and myself at the 2012 PanSIG conference

References
Annarella, L.A. (2000). Using Creative Drama
in the Writing and Reading Process. (EricThe 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

137

Kawakami
Document Reproduction Service No.
ED445358)
Bas, G. (2008). Integrating multiple intelligencesin ESL/EFL Classrooms. The Internet TESLJournal, 14(5). Retrieved on July 23rd, 2012,
from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/BasIntegratingMultipleIntelligences.html
Chauhan, V. (2004). Drama techniques for teaching
English. The Internet TESL Journal, 10(10).
Retrieved on July 23rd, 2012, from http://iteslj.
org/Techniques/Chauhan-Drama.html
Connors, C. (1986). Teaching ESL ThroughCreative Drama. TESL Canada Journal, 3(2),73-75. Retrieved on July 20th, 2012, fromhttp://journals.sfu.ca/tesl/index.php/tesl/article/
viewFile/487/318
Dickson, P. S. (1989). Acting French: Drama
techniques in the second language classroom.
The French Review, 63(2), 300-311.
Gaudart, H. (1990). Using drama techniquesin language teaching. (Eric Document
Reproduction Service No. ED366197)
Hoyt, L. (1992). Many ways of knowing: Using
drama, oral interactions, and the visual arts toenhance reading comprehension. The Reading
Teacher, 45(8), 580-584.
Jackson, S. A. W., & Schneider, J. J. (2000). Process

drama: A special space and place for writing.
The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 38-51.
Kasper, L. (2000). New technologies, new literacies:
Focus discipline research and ESL learning
communities. Language Learning & Technology,
4(2), 105-128.
Paquette, K. R., & Rieg, S. A. (2009). Using dramaand movement to enhance English language
learners’ literacy development. Journal of
Instructional Psychology, 36 (2) Retrieved on July
26th, 2012, from http://www.freepatentsonline.
com/article/Journal-InstructionalPsychology/204682056.html
Pin-hsiang, N. W., & Wen-Chi, V. W. (2008).
Creating and authentic EFL learning
environment to enhance student motivation to
study English. Asian EFL Journal, 10(4), Article
11. Retrieved on July 22nd, 2012, from http://
www.asian-efl-journal.com/December_08_wcw.
php
Royka, J. G. (2002). Overcoming the fear ofusing drama in English language teaching.
The Internet TESL Journal, 8(6). Retrieved on
July 22nd, 2012, from http://iteslj.org/Articles/
Royka-Drama.html
Scarcella, R. C. (1978). Socio-drama for social
interaction. TESOL Quarterly, 12, (2), 41-46.

Author’s Biography:
Aya Kawakami teaches at Nanzan University, judges for the Aichi E.S.S. Drama Festival, andis program chair for the Speech, Drama, and Debate SIG.

138 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Benefits of Drama Techniques for Literacy Development in EFL, pages 133-139

Appendix A: People Poem
Students (Ss) generate a vocabulary list based on an anchor word. Ss come up with an object that isconnected to this anchor word. In groups, they create a physical sculpture of the word together and incorporate
the words they brainstormed in a creative recitation. For example, for the anchor word “anger,” Ss brainstorm
these words: fury, revenge, betrayal, violence, punching, fighting, etc. With their bodies, together they createa physical sculpture for anger: a tiger, a gun, a bomb, etc. Can be done in front of the class or in small groups.

Appendix B: Description Circle
Ss view a picture chosen by the teacher based on the lesson theme. Ss brainstorm adjectives/short phrases
connected to the picture in groups. Teacher elicits ideas and puts them on the board. Ss then create descriptive
sentences utilizing the vocabulary on the board. Teacher and Ss form a circle and take turns to speak one
sentence about the picture. Ss eventually run out of preformed sentences but the teacher should encourage
spontaneous responses inspired by the ideas from the circle.

Appendix C: Hot Seating
Ss first identify the different roles (characters) in the text. In groups, characters are assigned to different
Ss. Arrange the groups so they sit in a circle or semi-circle with one chair in the middle. The Ss playing
the characters will take turns sitting at the center while other members of the class ask questions about thecharacter, place in the story, feelings, etc. of the person sitting in the chair in the middle of the circle.

Appendix D: Who? What? Where?
An improvisational activity--usually Ss will decide the answers in their groups but teachers can set theanswer to fit the story the class is reading or the situation they are developing.
For example
Who? Romeo and Juliet
Where? Juliet’s house
What? Juliet has just discovered that Romeo killed Tybalt, Romeo enters her room.
Elicit volunteers to enact the scene spontaneously Allow the scene to develop naturally. Other Ss can joinin the improvisation if the scene demands it. This can be done in front of the class or in smaller groups. Afterthe improvisation, elicit audience/group feedback. Repeat for post-activity feedback if desired.

Appendix E: Websites with Drama Activities
http://dramaresource.com/resources/features/drama-for-language-learning
http://www.freeeslmaterials.com/drama.html
http://www.slideshare.net/MLTANSW/drama-activities-for-language-teachers
http://www.eslflow.com/roleplaysdramatheatregames.html
http://esldrama.weebly.com/index.html
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

139Oral Interpretation in the Language Classroom:
Dramatic Activities for Non-Dramatic People

David E. Kluge
Nanzan University
klugenanzan@gmail.com
Many teachers realize that drama has great potential in the language classroom, but hesitate toimplement it because of lack of the theater training that they feel they must have in order toimplement it correctly. Many teachers also feel that theater is good for some students, but nottheir students (Gaudart, 1990; Royka, 2002). They feel that their students are not advanced
enough, or not uninhibited enough, or lacking in some other necessary element, or too busy
studying for important exams to waste time on theater. This paper proposes a way for language
teachers to use drama in their classroom without years of theater training. It also proposes oralinterpretation, also known as readers theater, as a way for students of a wide variety of language
ability to reap the benefits of drama.
本稿では、演劇授業を考えてみる。多くの教師が、演劇（ドラマ）は語学の授業で大きな可能性があると認識しているが、演劇の経験が少なく、かつ正しく実践しなくてはいけないと考え、演劇を授業に取り入れることをためらってしまっている。また、一部の学生には効果があると感じているが、自身の学生に関しては考えてない (Gaudart, 1990; Royka, 2002)。
つまり、自分の学生は上級レベルの英語力がない、自由に表現することができない、必要な力を十分に兼ね備えていない、受験などの勉強に忙しすぎて演劇には時間をかけられないと考えている。本稿では、演劇の訓練をつまなくとも、語学を教える教師が演劇を授業に取り入れることができる方法を紹介し、様々なレベルの学生たちが、演劇から語学を習得するための方法であるオーラルインタープリテーション（リーダーズシアターとも呼ばれる）も紹介する。
Keywords: drama, oral interpretation, readers theater, task-based learning

1 Introduction
Drama and theater activities have received a lotof interest lately in TESOL circles (Kao, Carkin, &*Kluge, D. (2013). Oral Interpretation in the
Language Classroom: Dramatic Activities for NonDramatic People. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, &G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 140-147). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

140 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Hsu, 2011; Moody, 2002; Wilson, 2008). Many
teachers realize that drama has great potential in thelanguage classroom, but hesitate to use it because oflack of the theater training they feel they must haveto implement it correctly (Gaudart, 1990; Royka,
2002). Many teachers also feel that theater is goodfor some students, but not their students. They feelthat their students are of too low a language level,
are too shy, lack some other necessary element, orOral Interpretation in the Language Classroom..., pages 140-147
are too busy studying for important exams to waste
time on theater. This paper introduces two ways forlanguage teachers to use drama in their classroom
without years of theater training: oral interpretation(OI) and readers theater (RT). The paper first defines
OI and RT, then explains the benefits of OI and RT
for language learning, and finally describes in a stepby-step manner how to do OI and RT as a way forstudents of a wide variety of language ability to reap
the benefits of drama.

to communicate the author’s intent. OI is different
from drama in that there are minimal or no sets,
costumes, lighting, or hand props; all performers
hold the script in hand, there is often a narrator; andthe performers usually face the audience, interacting
more with the audience and not with each other onstage, the so-called “off-stage focus” which happens
rarely or intermittently in drama (Asano, Kluge, &Kumai, 2012).

1.2 Descriptions of Oral Interpretation
1.1 Definition of Oral Interpretation
Oral Interpretation has been called “the oralizingof literature” (Campbell, 1967), and has been an
important aspect of education for centuries. It has
been defined as follows:
Oral Interpretation is the expression and sharingof literature with an audience. The function of
the interpreter is to establish oneself as a liaison
between the author who created the literatureand the audience which responds to it. The
goal of the interpreter should be influenced by
the author’s intention which can be discoveredby investigation into the author’s background,
viewpoint and the time and conditions underwhich the selection was written. (Parker &Bradley, 2012, para. 1)
The key terms here are “to establish oneself as aliaison between the author who created the literatureand the audience which responds to it.” That is,
the performer’s role is to interpret the words for theaudience, and like a foreign language interpreter, thefocus is on the audience, and the interpreter is clearlyanother person and not the author or the characters
portrayed in the piece.
OI has been confused with both the typicalreading aloud activity done in language classes
and with drama or theater—the putting on ofplays. OI is distinguished from the typical reading
aloud activity in that there is more of an effort todramatize, to “interpret” the words on the page toa much greater extent than is usual with reading
aloud. This dramatization includes the use of voice,facial expression, posture, gesture, and movement

The term “oral interpretation” is an umbrellaterm that includes three distinct activities called oralinterpretation, readers theater, and chamber theater(Asano et al., 2012). Although this paper focuses onoral interpretation and readers theater, all three genreof oral interpretation are defined below. What all three
activities have in common is the use of script in handat the time of performance and a general off-stage
focus. Under the umbrella term of oral interpretation
are the performance categories of Interpretive
Reading (sometimes called Solo Oral Interpretationor simply Oral Interpretation), Readers Theater(sometimes called Group Oral Interpretation orInterpreters Theater), and Chamber Theater (Asanoet al., 2012). Each of these performance categories is
described below.
1.2.1 Oral Interpretation/Interpretive Reading
Oral Interpretation (OI) is “the art ofcommunicating to an audience a work of literary art
in its intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic entirety”(Lee & Gura, 2005, p. 4). It usually consists of one
person interpreting a piece of literature—a poem,
song lyrics, an essay, a speech, a short story, or aselection from a novel. It usually excludes the readingof a play. The performer holds the script in hand oron a music stand while performing. (Asano et al.,2012).
1.2.2 Readers Theater
Readers Theater (RT) is similar to OralInterpretation, but it includes two or more performers.
This means that ensemble work is required and isevaluated by the judges. The performers hold thescript in hand or on a music stand while performing,
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings141

Klugeand often sit on high stools. Although it is called“theater,” there are no costumes, sets, or props(Kelleher, 1997).
1.2.3 Chamber Theater
Chamber Theater (CT) was developed by Robert
S. Breen at Northwestern University in 1949 (Breen,1986). In CT performers are both characters in thestory and narrators, meaning CT performances often
happen in two time frames, one in which the story is
happening, and the narrator’s time, often occurring
after the events of the story. Like OI and RT, CT
performers use scripts during the performance. Like
RT it is usually a group activity. Unlike OI and RT,
CT uses minimal sets, lighting, costumes, and props(Asano et al., 2012). Because CT makes use of set,lighting, costumes, and props that require time,money, and effort to prepare, it will not be discussed
further in this paper, as the focus of this work is toexplain drama methods that do not require money or
all the preparation necessary in “putting on a play.”

2 Reasons for Using OralInterpretation
Simply understanding the meaning and structureof OI may not be sufficient to convince teachers of
its value in the language classroom. The issue of why
use OI needs to be addressed as there are teachers
who either do not see the value of drama/OI or who
think that drama/OI has merit for students otherthan their own. Below are only a few of the reasons
to implement OI in language classes. (For a moredetailed discussion of the benefits of OI in language
classes, see Asano et al., 2012).

2.1 OI and Cognitive Theory
Oller’s Episode Hypothesis, a cognitive-based
theory, relates to the benefit of using OI. Oller (1983)
proposed that texts that have an episodic nature help
second language acquisition because they make thetexts easy to understand and remember (Asano etal., 2012). Since OI often uses texts that tell a story(episodic), it is easy to understand and remember the
language and details of the piece.

142 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

2.2 OI and Strategies of Good Language
Learners
Rubin (1975) listed six strategies used by goodlanguage learners:
1. The language learner is a willing and accurate
guesser.
2. The good language learner has a strong
drive to communicate, or to learn from acommunication.
3. The good language learner is often notinhibited.
4. In addition to focusing on communication,
the good language learner is prepared to attend
to form.
5. The good language learner practices.
6. The good language learner monitors his own
and the speech of others.
By using OI, the language learner is asked toparticipate in activities that help them become
good language learners. In OI, the learner must
guess the meaning of literature which is often
purposefully vague (#1). The OI learner is “onstage” to communicate (#2). Good OI performers
rid themselves of much inhibition through repeatedpractice and performance (#3). OI requires performers
to learn good pronunciation and intonation (#4).
OI requires large amounts of practice at home, inclass, and at school outside of class (#5). Throughthe necessities of ensemble work, the OI performer
is required to monitor individual speech as well as
the speech of others in the group (#6). In these ways,
OI helps students to become good language learners(Asano et al., 2012).

2.3 OI and Reading Improvement
Reading is an important part of language
acquisition and OI helps improve reading fluency.
Reading fluency is made up of “accurate readingof connected text at a conversational rate withappropriate prosody (expression)” (Hudson, Lane, &Pullen, 2006, as cited in Hudson, 2006, p. 1). OI
performers practice reading fluency throughout theprocess as they must accurately understand the piecein order to communicate it accurately, practicing

Oral Interpretation in the Language Classroom..., pages 140-147
Table 1
Oral Interpretation Process

Order

Step

Activity1

Selection of material

Selecting a piece to be performed, considering the performer’s andaudience’s interests, maturity, language proficiency, etc. (by teacher or
student)2

Script making

Getting the material scripted for OI—indicating change of characters,
narrator

3

Understanding

Understanding both implicit and explicit messages of the text

4

Practice/Rehearsal

Making arrangements for practice5

Reading aloud

Getting a feel for the words, imagining possible ways to interpret the
piece

6

Coaching

Learning/practicing prosodic features such as pronunciation,
intonation, rhythm, pitch, rapidity, and volume that can match theinterpretation

7

Staging

Planning where to stand and where to move to communicate someparalinguistic aspects of English

8

Performance

Performing the piece in front of an audience

Note: Adapted from Asano, K., Kluge, D., Kumai, W. (2012). An introduction to oral interpretation and its relation to
Nanzan Junior College. ACADEMIA Literature and Language, 91, p. 46.

to perform it at a conversational rate, and using
appropriate prosody to dramatize the piece. In theseways OI helps improve reading fluency (Asano et al.,2012). In addition, Willcutt (2012) reviewed RT
and reading fluency research that showed a positive
link between RT and reading fluency, citing thework of LaBerge and Samuels (1974) and Samuels(1979), Keehn (2003), Martinez, Roser, and Strecker(1998/1999), Millin & Rinehart (1999), Rinehart(1999), and Tyler & Chard (2000).

3 OI Procedure
Now that it has been established that OI does
confer benefits to language learners, it is time to show
how OI can be implemented in language classrooms.
Both OI and RT classroom procedure are explained
below.

3.1 Oral Interpretation Procedure
What follows in Table 1 and its explanation is oneof many possible procedures that could be followed
to implement OI.
Step 1, Selection of material, is an important step
because students will not be be motivated in doinga piece that is not interesting, aimed at a younger orolder audience. For the workshop that this paper isbased on, the piece selected for the OI portion was“IF You Hear a Thousand People Love You,” by
Guadalupe de Saavedra (2012):
IF you hear that a thousand people love you
remember... saavedra is among them
IF you hear that a hundred people love you
remember... saavedra is either in the firstor very last row
IF you hear that seven people love you
remember... saavedra is among them,
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

143

KlugeTable 2
Readers Theater Process

Order

Step

Activity1

Selection of material

Selecting a piece to be performed, considering the performers’ andaudience’s interests, maturity, language proficiency, etc. (by teacher or
students)2

Script making

Getting the material scripted for RT—indicating each person’s parts

3

Understanding

Understanding both implicit and explicit messages of the text

4

Practice/Rehearsal

Making arrangements for practice5

Reading aloud

Getting a feel for the words, imagining possible ways to interpret thepiece, with each person reading the part assigned in Step 2 above

6

Coaching

Learning/practicing prosodic features such as pronunciation,
intonation, rhythm, pitch, rapidity, and volume that can match theinterpretation

7

Staging

Planning where each person should stand and where they should
move to communicate some paralinguistic aspects of English

8

Performance

Performing the piece in front of an audience

Note: Adapted from Asano, K., Kluge, D., Kumai, W. (2012). An introduction to oral interpretation and its relation to
Nanzan Junior College. ACADEMIA Literature and Language, 91, p. 46.

like a wednesday in the middle of the week
IF you hear that two people love you
remember... one of them is saavedra
IF you hear that only one person loves you
remember... he is saavedra
And when you see no one else around you,and you find outthat no one loves you anymore,then you will know for certain
that....saavedra is deadIn this case Step 2, Scripting, was easy as there
was only one character and no narrator, so no workon scripting was necessary. Step 3, Understanding,consists of the performer reading the piece andlooking up unknown words for the explicit meaning,and discussing with the teacher the implicit meaning.
Step 4, Practice/Rehearsal, was easy in this case as all
the steps took place within an hour. In the case of the

144 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

classroom setting, this step will certainly take moretime, depending on the language level of the students
and the time available. Step 5, Reading aloud, wasdone with students going to different places of theroom and reading aloud by themselves. This could
also be done by reading aloud in chorus. Step 6,
Coaching, is usually done over the entire period of
rehearsal, but in this case, the coaching was done
before participants started reading aloud. Participants
were taught they could change the following variables
to make an interesting performance: volume (soft toloud), speed (slow to fast), tone (low to high), andstyle (smooth to staccato). They were given someguidelines: good things are usually soft, slow, high,and smooth; bad things are usually medium volume,
slow, low, and staccato; and advice for a few otherstates, such as the future, past, happy, and angry.
Step 7, Staging, can be done by the teacher or the
student, but if the student does it, the teacher shouldlook at it and make comments. Step 8, Performing,Oral Interpretation in the Language Classroom..., pages 140-147
was done with a partner. A common observationby the participants was surprise at the wide variety
of interpretations of a piece each thought had only
one interpretation. One example is that while mostpeople chose a romantic interpretation of the poem,
one participant chose to portray it as a motherspeaking to her child.

3.2 Readers Theater Procedure
What follows in Table 2 and its explanation is oneof many possible procedures that could be followed
to implement RT.
The steps look very similar to those for OI, butthere are some important differences. The pieceselected for the RT portion of the workshop was
Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen (1997),
based on a popular camp piece:
We’re going on a bear hunt
We’re gonna catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We’re not scared.
Uh-oh. Grass.
Wavy grass.
We can’t go over it.
We can’t go under it.
Oh-no. We’ll have to go through it.
Swishy swashy, Swishy swashy, Swishy swashy
There are several iterations of the above, with theunderlined parts replaced by the following:“. . .river,
A deep cold river
Splash splosh! Splash splosh! Splash splosh!”“. . .mud
Thick oozy mud
Squelch, squerch! Squelch, squerch! Squelch,squerch!”“ . . .forest
A big dark forest

Stumble trip! Stumble trip! Stumble trip!”“. . . snowstorm
A swirling whirling snowstorm.
Hooo wooo! Hooo wooo! Hooo wooo!”“ . . . a cave
A narrow gloomy cave
Tiptoe! Tiptoe! Tiptoe!”
In this case Step 2, Scripting, takes a lot moretime and effort than with the OI piece, and can bedone by the teacher, or better yet, by the students.
Step 3, Understanding, consists of the performers
reading the piece and looking up unknown words forthe explicit meaning, and discussing with the teacher
the implicit meaning. In this case, the onomatopoeicwords would have to be explained. Step 4, Practice/
Rehearsal, was again easy in this case as all the steps
took place within an hour, but this step will takelonger in the classroom. Step 5, Reading aloud, wasdone with students going to a large open space in theroom and reading aloud together. Step 6, Coaching,is the second significantly different step from the steps
for OI. Special care must be taken to ensure that theperformers work closely together as a group, to create
an ensemble. The basic coaching was done in the OI
portion of the workshop, but in actuality, as in theclassroom, one or two students came forward as theleaders/directors of the group and worked on both
the Coaching and Staging steps. Step 7, Staging, isthe third main step that is significantly different fromthe steps for OI: since there are several performers,planning where each person should stand and move
to becomes a challenge to both use the space on thestage and to create nice “stage pictures,” meaningthat if a photo were taken at that exact moment,
the composition of the photo would be artistic andpleasing to the eye. Step 8, Performing, was done at
the end of the workshop. Common observations by
the participants at the end of the performance were
surprise at how much fun the process was (even for
those teachers who use drama techniques in class)and pride in their performance.
An interesting special note: this particular piece
was also done by a group of 36 high school students
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

145

Klugeat a Ministry of Education-designated Super Science
High School. Before this particular workshop, theteacher had stated that the English ability, especiallylistening, of the students was low, so she would haveto translate much of the explanation and directions.
It was not necessary—as a matter of fact, the teacher
was surprised by the enthusiasm, creativity, andEnglish use of her students and stated that on thebasis of the workshop the school would have to reevaluate the English curriculum and the role that OI
and RT would play. She was most impressed with her
students’ active use of English and discovered that OI
and RT were much more valuable English activities
than the “frosting” (not the cake, but just the frosting)activities she apparently thought them to be.

4 Conclusion
This paper has described two dramatic forms, oralinterpretation and readers theater, that can and should
be used in the language classroom. It has shown the
educational and linguistic bases for using them inlanguage classes. And finally, it has demonstrated
how teachers, even those without theater training,and students with low levels of language ability
and motivation, could use these dramatic forms to
improve learning in the language classroom.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the officers and membersof the Speech, Drama, and Debate SIG for theirsupport for this presentation.

References
Asano, K., Kluge, D., & Kumai, W. (2012). An
introduction to oral interpretation and its
relation to Nanzan Junior College. ACADEMIA
Literature and Language, 91, 39-63.
Breen, R. S. (1986). Chamber Theatre. Ellison Bay,
WI: Wm Caxton Ltd.
Campbell, P. (1967). The speaking and speakers ofliterature. Belmont, CA: Dickenson Publishing
Company.
de Saavedra, G. (2012). IF you hear that a thousand

146 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

people love you. Retrieved June 1, 2012, fromhttp://v-forvictory.blogspot.jp/2007/02/thenyou-will-know-for-certain.html
Gaudart, H. (1990). Using drama techniquesin language teaching. (Eric Document
Reproduction Service No. ED366197).
Hudson, R. (2006). Using repeated reading
and readers theater to increase fluency.
Reading First National Conference
2006 . [Handout]. Retrieved June 1,
2012, from http://api.ning.com/files/
cdrRaiYutgasXZ9XRwjO1o7Vu3j7yFBpQ*qP
t5SrArLLAxmUasHKev5*VBebhrO25zHrOT
t5FpHl3H AHvhowRHJnUXc5Oiou/hudson_using_repeated_reading_to_increase_fluency.
pdf
Kao, S., Carkin, G. & Hsu, L. (2011).Questioning
techniques for promoting language learningwith students of limited L2 oral proficiency in a
drama-oriented language classroom. Research in
Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre
and Performance, 16 (4), 489-515.
Kelleher, M. E. (1997). Readers’ Theater andMetacognition. The New England Reading
Association Journal 33(2), 4-12.
Lee, C, & Gura, T. (2005). Oral interpretation.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Moody, D. (2002). Undergoing a process andachieving a product: A contradiction in
educational drama? In G. Brauer (Ed.), Body
and language: Intercultural learning throughdrama. (135-160). Westport, CT: Ablex
Publishing.
Oller, J. W., Jr. (1983). Some working ideas inlanguage teaching. In J. W. Oller, Jr. & P. A.
Richard-Amato (Eds.), Methods that work
(pp. 3-19). Rowley, MA: Newbury House
Publishers.
Parker, N. A. & Bradley, M. C. (2012). Retrieved
June 1, 2012, from http://www.scsk12.org/
STT99_WQ/STT99/Houston_HS/parkern3/
TheatresWebPg/ POI.htm
Rosen, M. (1997). We’re going on a bear hunt.
Illustrated by H. Oxenbury. London, England:
Walker Books Ltd.

Oral Interpretation in the Language Classroom..., pages 140-147
Royka, J. G. (2002). Overcoming the fear of using
drama in English language teaching. The
Internet TESL Journal, 8(6). Retrieved July 22,
2012, from http://iteslj.org/Articles/RoykaDrama.html
Rubin, J. (1975). What the “good language learner”
can teach us. TESOL Quarterly, 9(1), 41-51.
Willcutt, J. R. (2007). Arts for Academic
Achievement: A Brief Review of Research

on Readers’ Theatre and Tableau in Literacy
Instruction. Center for Applied Researchand Educational Improvement, Universityof Minnesota. Retrieved June 1, 2012, fromhttp://www.cehd.umn.edu/carei/publications/documents/AAA-Tableau-and-Readers-TheatreLit-Review.pdf
Wilson, K. (2009). Drama and Improvisation.
Oxford,England: Oxford University Press.

Author’s Biography:
David E. Kluge has been involved in theater and oral interpretation for 45 years as a participant,a coach/director, and teacher.

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings147

Japanese L1 Transfer in Refusals in English
Kimiko Koseki
Denenchofu Futaba Junior and Senior High School
koseki@myad.jp
Japanese high school students’ flat refusals and polite refusals were collected with Discourse
Completion Tasks and were compared with Americans’ refusals. Americans used a negative
willingness strategy to clearly communicate their unwillingness in their flat refusals while theyused gratitude and/or statement of positive opinion strategies to mitigate possible offense to theinterlocutor in their polite refusals. On the other hand, many lower-level Japanese students useda “regret + excuse” strategy both in their flat refusals and in their polite refusals. Furthermore,even though no Americans gave an excuse in their flat refusals, many Japanese students, regardlessof their English proficiency, gave an excuse. These phenomena could be the Japanese students’negative first language (L1) transfer. Therefore, their awareness of intercultural differences inrefusals should be raised. Finally, since refusing flatly and appropriately seemed to be difficult
even for high-level students, both types of refusals should be taught in second language (L2)classrooms.
本稿は、高校２年生の英語会話の授業の中で行った「断り」に関する談話完成タスクの結果（年間得点率上位10人、中位10人、下位10人）とアメリカ人10人に対して実施した同じ談話完成タスクの結果を比較したものである。その内容は、他人に個人情報を聞かれてはっきり断るという課題（課題１）と、仲の良い友人の誘いを相手の気持ちに配慮して断るという課題（課題２）の２つについて実施し、分析方法は、Beebe et al. (1990)の論文の分析方法を用いた。結果は、課題１において、アメリカ人は1人も言い訳をしなかったのに対し、日本人学生は、英語力に関わらず多くの学生が言い訳をし、また、成績下位の日本人学生の多くは、課題１と２のいずれの場合も「“I’m sorry.”＋言い訳」の方略を使った。この現象は、日本人学生が日本語の「断り」の表現方法を転移したためであると思われる。日
本人学生にとって英語で適切にはっきり断ることの難しさが示され、双方のタイプの「断り」の指導が期待される。
Keywords: pragmatics, English refusals, flat refusals, Japanese high school students, L1 transfer

Introduction
Yule (1996) defines pragmatics as “the studyof meaning as communicated by a speaker (or awriter) and interpreted by a listener (or a reader)”*Koseki, K. (2013). Japanese L1 Transfer in Refusals
in English. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks(Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings(pp. 148-154). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

148 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings(p. 3). Research has shown that pragmatics is
integral in understanding people’s messages as wellas in appropriately communicating their intention(Lakoff, 1973; Leech, 1983). However, what makes
matters complicated is that this pragmatic meaning
could be socio-culturally specific (LoCastro, 2003),
and to understand it, shared knowledge in the given
speech community is required (Ishihara & Cohen,2010). Going against this socio-cultural expectation

Japanese L1 Transfer in Refusals in English, pages 148-154
could be interpreted as being inappropriate or evenrude (Ishihara & Cohen, 2010; Nelson, Carson, AlBatal, & El-Bakary, 2002). Thomas (1983) indicatesthat even though grammatical errors show that the
speaker is not a proficient language user, pragmatic
failure could reflect badly on the speaker as a person.
Therefore, pragmatic instruction to second-language(L2) learners is necessary.
This study investigates the speech act of refusals
collected with Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs)
implemented prior to teaching refusals in an English
conversation course for second-year high school
students. Speech acts are defined as a functional unitof communication (Nelson et al., 2002) or the way inwhich people fulfill a specific social function (Ishihara& Cohen, 2010). Refusals are a speech act which
could cause serious offense to the interlocutor because
they are a Face Threatening Act (FTA) and clearly goagainst Brown and Levinson’s (1987) positive want,defined as human beings’ basic desire to be approvedby others. DCTs are an assessment tool to elicit
participants’ pragmatic ability (Ishihara & Cohen,2010). In a DCT, participants are given a situation
and an incomplete conversation. The participants
are then required to complete the conversation withwhat they would say in that situation.

Methods
Participants
The participants were 64 female Japanese
students in their second year of senior high school.
Their English proficiency ranged between TOEIC
350 to 850. One student had just come back fromstudying in the U.S.A. on American Field Service(AFS) Intercultural Programs for one year.
The comparison group consists of 10 American
women who are native speakers of English and livein the U.S.A.. All are college educated with at leasta BA degree. In the current study, only female native
speakers were collected for a comparison group
because the target students are all female and one of
the DCTs was deemed gender-biased (as explained in
the following section).

Discourse Completion Tasks
Two DCTs were introduced to the Japanese
students and the Americans: one was intended toelicit flat refusals and the other was designed to collectpolite refusals which intended to mitigate possible
offense to the interlocutor (See Appendix A). Both
DCTs were developed based on the target students’possible language use domain even though most ofthem have no experience to use English outside of theclassroom. The DCT which was intended to elicit flatrefusals was developed based on one of the students’actual experience. She had a hard time refusing an
English-speaking man’s request for her phone number.
Even though she could successfully avoid giving out
her personal information, she wished she had known
how to refuse in English in such a situation. In theother DCT, participants were asked to politely refuse
their close friend’s invitation to a party because therefuser would not know anyone except the friend atthat party.

Procedure
To keep a consistency between 10 Americans’
responses and the Japanese students’ responses, 10
upper-level students, 10 middle-level students, and10 lower-level students were determined based on
their total exam scores through the course. Then, theresponses from both Japanese students and Americans
were cut into semantic formulas and were coded
based on Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss-Weltz’s (1990)
categorization. Finally, the results of the analysis werecompared between each group of Japanese students
and Americans respectively.

Results
Flat Refusals (Situation 1)
Table 1 shows the result of the DCT in Situation
1, which was intended to elicit a flat refusal. As canbe seen, the most frequently used set of semantic
formulas among Americans was “statement of regret(Regret) + negative willingness/ability (Negative
Willingness)” such as “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel
comfortable giving out that information.” Similarly,
about a half of both the upper-level and the middleThe 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

149

KosekiTable 1Analysis of Flat Refusals (Situation 1)

Set of Semantic Formulas

A

U 10

M 10

L 10

Statement of Regret + Negative Willingness/Ability

6

5

4

1

Negative Willingness/Ability + Statement of Alternative

3

0

0

0

Criticize the Request/Requester

1

0

0

0

Statement of Regret + Excuse

0

3

3

6

Excuse0

8

6

6

Negative Willingness/Ability + Excuse

0

2

1

0

Negative Willingness/Ability (only)

0

0

2

1

Statement of Regret + Postponement

0

0

0

1

Call for help + “No”

0

0

0

1

A=Americans; U 10=Upper-level students; M 10=Middle-level students; L10=Lower-level students.

level students used this strategy whereas only
one lower-level student used this strategy. Other
American responses used “Negative Willingness +statement of alternative (Alternative)” strategy such as“I don’t feel up for helping you at this time. There
are many resources around if you need them, try
looking online.” The other American used “criticize
the request/requester (Criticize)” strategy such as “Areyou serious?”. However, none of these strategies were
found in Japanese responses.
On the other hand, a frequently used set ofsemantic formulas among Japanese, specificallyamong lower-level students, was “Regret + excuse.”
Furthermore, quite a few Japanese students,
regardless of their English proficiency, gave an excuse
even though no Americans gave an excuse in their flatrefusals. In addition, what deserves attention here isthat about two thirds of Japanese excuses, regardlessof their English proficiency, were unavailability of
their cell phone such as “I don’t have a cell phone.” or“I have lost my cell phone.” despite the fact that thisexcuse sounded fictitious because 90% of Japanesehigh school students have their own cell phones(Igarashi, Motoyoshi, Takai, & Yoshida, 2008).
Another notable finding is that all American

150 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

responses except one included “Negative Willingness”
such as “I don’t like to”, “I can’t.”, or “I don’t feel
comfortable.” Therefore, this semantic formulaseems to be important to clearly communicate
unwillingness. Considering Japanese responses, sevenout of ten refusals given by both upper-level students
and middle-level students included this semantic
formula. However, only two lower-level students
used this strategy.

Polite Refusals (Situation 2)
Considering polite refusals intended to mitigate
possible offense to the interlocutor, Americans usedvarious strategies as shown in Table 2. Their typicalresponse was “gratitude/appreciation (Gratitude)”or “statement of positive opinion/feeling or agreement(Positive Opinion) + excuse.” All American responses
included “Gratitude” or “Positive Opinion.”
Similarly, two thirds of both the upper-level andmiddle-level students used it. However, only one
lower-level student used this strategy. On the other
hand, as shown in Table 2, many middle-level andlower-level students used a “Regret” strategy such as“I’m sorry.” even though only a few Americans andupper-level students used this strategy. In fact, allJapanese L1 Transfer in Refusals in English, pages 148-154
Table 2Analysis of Polite Refusals (Situation 2)

Set of Semantic Formulas

A

U 10

M 10

L 10

Gratitude/Appreciation OR Positive Opinion/Feeling or
Agreement

10

7

6

1

Gratitude/Appreciation

5

4

4

0

Statement of Positive Opinion/Feeling or Agreement

5

3

4

1

Statement of Regret

3

4

7

8

Excuse77

5

5Negative Willingness

3

5

5

2

Postponement

2

0

0

0

Promise of Future Acceptance

2

2

1

0

Pause Fillers

2

2

1

0

Attempt to Dissuade Interlocutor (Negative Consequences)

1

3

2

1

No Answer

0

0

0

2

A=Americans; U 10=Upper-level students; M 10=Middle-level students; L10=Lower-level students.

lower-level students except two who gave no answer
to this task began their refusals with “I’m sorry.” In
addition, no Americans gave an unspecific reason,
but a small number of Japanese, regardless of theirEnglish proficiency, gave an unspecific reason such as“I’m busy that day.”Finally, another interesting finding is that two
Americans used a “postponement” strategy such as“I’m not sure if I will be able to make it. Let me check
my calendar and get back to you.” One of them gavea further comment such as “then, e-mail and say I
can’t make it.” That is, she would avoid refusing faceto-face on the spot and then would refuse by e-maillater.

Discussion
Flat Refusals (Situation 1)
Considering flat refusals, two major differenceswere found between Americans’ refusals and Japanese
students’ refusals. One was that most Americans
used “Negative Willingness” strategy while only

two lower-level students used it. This “Negative
Willingness” strategy seems to be important toclear communication of unwillingness. Therefore,
the lack of this strategy among lower-level students
could obscure their message. In fact, one lower-level
student responded, “Sorry, I think about it.” Ignoring
her grammatical mistake, her utterance could beinterpreted as having a possibility of acceptance eventhough the participant intended to refuse flatly.
The other difference is that no Americans gave
an excuse in their flat refusals while many Japanese
students did regardless of their English proficiency.
Furthermore, the lower their English proficiency was,the more students used “Regret + excuse” strategy
even though no Americans used this strategy in theirflat refusals. Kanemoto (1993) discusses that Japaneserefusals have three characteristics: (1) avoiding a clear
refusal, (2) mentioning a third party as an excuse,(3) giving a fictitious reason for their excuse. As
Kanemoto indicates, the aforementioned Japanese
apologetic attitude seems to show their desire to avoid
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Kosekiclear communication of refusals even when they want
to refuse flatly. Similarly, Kanemoto’s second andthird indication could explain the Japanese students’
typical excuse which is, for example, the unavailabilityof their cell phone. Therefore, both Japanese students’unclear communication of unwillingness and theirapologetic attitude in their flat refusals could be their
negative first language (L1) transfer.
Another notable finding was that some Japanese
students seemed to misunderstand that it may beokay to be impolite when the situation requires a flatrefusal, for example “I don’t want to tell my number
to a stranger like you.”, “Sorry, I don’t want tomake friends with you.” Therefore, communicating
unwillingness clearly and resolutely but not impolitely
seems to be difficult for Japanese learners.

Polite Refusals (Situation 2)
On the other hand, regarding polite refusals
which intended to mitigate possible offense to theinterlocutors, most findings agreed with Beebe et al.’s(1990) findings. For example, the Americans’ major
strategy was “Gratitude” and/or “Positive Opinion”
and many Japanese students began their refusals with“Regret.”Another finding was that Japanese students’English competence seemed to impact on theappropriateness of their refusals. Even though research
has found that it is quite difficult even for advancedlevel learners to acquire pragmatic competence
without explicit instruction in an ESL environment(Kasper, 1997; Kasper & Rose, 2002), language
competence might still influence learners’ pragmatic
performance significantly in an EFL environment.
However, more research in an EFL setting is needed
for more conclusive findings.
The other interesting finding on polite refusals wasthat two Americans avoided refusing face-to-face andwould refuse later (i.e. via email). “Postponement”
strategies such as “I’ll think about it.” are in Beebe etal.’s (1990) categories, and using e-mail seems to be
an extension of this strategy.

152 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Conclusion
Considering the implications on teachingrefusals, the following could be suggested. We should
teach Japanese learners of English that they need
not give an excuse in flat refusals in English. On theother hand, regarding polite refusals, students should
be encouraged to communicate a positive attitude,
for example by expressing gratitude and/or positive
opinions/feelings. They should also be instructed touse various strategies to mitigate possible offense to
the interlocutor as well as to use specific reasons intheir excuse.
Therefore, both how to mitigate possible offense
to the interlocutor in polite refusals and how to flatly
and appropriately refuse should be taught to Japaneselearners of English because both types of refusals
seem to be difficult for them. In fact, even though thesituation which was used to elicit a flat refusal in thisresearch was how women might refuse a man’s request
for her personal information, a skill of appropriately
refusing to disclose specific information is importantfor both men and women. Therefore, both types ofrefusals should be taught in L2 classrooms.
Finally, negative L1 transfer was found inJapanese students’ responses. Therefore, we shouldraise our Japanese students’ awareness of crosscultural differences in refusals because many of them
are not even aware that cross-cultural differences exist
in people’s language use.

Reference
Beebe, L. M., Takahashi, T., & Uliss-Weltz, R.
(1990). Pragmatic transfer in ESL refusals. In R.
Scarcella, E. Andersen, & S. D. Krashen (Eds.),
Developing communicative competence in a second
language (pp. 55-73). New York, NY: Newbury
House.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness:
Some universals in language usage. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Igarashi, T., Motoyoshi, T., Takai, J., & Yoshida, T.
(2008). No mobile, no life: Self-perception andtext-message dependency among Japanese highschool students. Computers in Human Behavior,Japanese L1 Transfer in Refusals in English, pages 148-154
24, 2311-2324.
Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A. D. (2010). Teaching andlearning pragmatics: Where language and culture
meet. Harlow, England: Person Education
Limited.
Kanemoto, M. (1993). A comparative study ofrefusal assertion in the United States and Japan.
Ryudai Review of Language and Literature, 38,
199-212.
Kasper, G. (1997). The role of pragmatics inlanguage teacher education. In K. BardoviHarlig and B. Hartford (Eds.), Beyond methods:
Components of second language education (pp.
113-136). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Company.
Kasper, G., & Rose, K. R. (2002). Pragmaticdevelopment in a second language. Malden, MA:
Blackwell.
Lakoff, R. T. (1973). The logic of politeness; or

minding your p’s and q’s. In Papers from theninth regional meeting of the Chicago linguistic
society (pp. 292-305). Chicago, IL: Chicago
Linguistic Society.
Leech, G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics.
Edinburgh, Scotland: Longman.
LoCastro, V. (2003). What is pragmatics? In V.
LoCastro (Ed.), An introduction to pragmatics:
Social action for language teachers. Ann Arbor,
MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Nelson, G. L., Carson, J., Al-Batal, M., & ElBakary, W. (2002). Cross-cultural pragmatics:
Strategy use in Egyptian Arabic and American
English refusals. Applied Linguistics, 23(2), 163189.
Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure.
Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91-109.
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford, England:
Oxford University Press.

Author’s Biography:
Kimiko Koseki received her MA in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University. She
has been teaching at Denenchofu Futaba Junior and Senior High School since 1998.

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153

KosekiAppendix A: Discourse Completion Task
Situation 1
You are a female high school student. A stranger who you have talked with while waiting for a bus asks
you for your cell phone number. You don’t want to give it to him. How would you refuse his request?

Man: Can I have your cell phone number? You speak good English and I have no friends in Japan. So it
would be nice if you could help me when I am in trouble, you know.

You:

Situation 2
A close friend is hosting a party and she invites you. You don’t know anyone at the party besides thefriend, so you don’t want to go. How would you refuse her invitation?

Friend: Hi. I’m arranging a Christmas party on December 17. It will be from 6:00 p.m. at Shibuya.
Most attendants will be exchange students like me and business people I know from my part-time job.
Why don’t you join us?

You:

154 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Read all About it! Studying can be a Social ActivityJoël Laurier

Ethan Taomae

Machiko Asakawa

Gunma Kokusai Academy
waldolaurier@gmail.com

Tokyo Metropolitan University

Yokohama Futaba Jr. and Sr.
High School

Ayako Kanamaru
Caritas Jr. and Sr. High School

Chie Shiramizu

Kyoei University in Saitama

Reading classes in Japan tend to focus on vocabulary and complex grammatical points in ateacher-centered approach which often leads to superficial understanding of texts. To improve
literacy skills, students must be able to go beyond the sentential level and acquire more thanjust a literal comprehension of texts. One way this can be accomplished is through the use of
Cooperative Learning (CL) tasks which help to create more interaction and in turn provide morelearning opportunities for deeper understanding of texts. This paper gives on overview of the
CL workshop presented at the 2012 Pan-SIG conference and describes how high school English
teachers in Japan can use CL structures to design interactive reading tasks which promote deeper
comprehension and higher achievement in reading. This paper will introduce the principles
behind CL and give examples of CL tasks that teachers can use in their own classes.
本稿では、日本の高校英語の授業を対象とした協同学習のストラクチャーについて論じる。現状を鑑みると日本の中学・高等学校におけるリーディングの授業は、語彙や複雑な文法の解説を中心に訳読法で進められることが多く、生徒達の内容理解が表面的なレベ
ルにとどまると懸念されている。リテラシースキルの上達のためには、文法や構造を理解するだけではなく、筆者の意図や論旨を読み解くことが重要である。生徒達の読解力を高める効果的な教授法のひとつとして、協同学習のストラクチャーが挙げられる。それにより、生徒達の相互交流を促進し、協力してタスクを完成させ内容理解を深めることができる。
また、英語学習に対するモチベーション向上や、授業の活性化にも効果があると考えられる。本稿では、先に述べたとおり、日本の高校英語の授業を対象とした協同学習のストラクチャーについて考察し、協同学習の理論や技法を紹介した後、これらの理論・技法を活用したアクティビティを提案する。
Keywords: Cooperative learning, Team building, Interactive reading, PIES analysis

Introduction
Many junior and senior high school English
reading classes still use the yakudoku translation*

Laurier, J., Taomae, E., Asakawa, M., Kanamaru, A.,& Shiramizu, C. (2013). Read all about it! Studying
can be a social activity. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts,& G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 155-161). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

method to teach reading. The problem that arises
is an over-focus on accuracy, resulting in a lack ofauthentic language use. Furthermore, this translation
method tends to focus on the sentential level ofcomprehension and fails to develop higher orderanalytical thinking skills. It is thus the responsibilityof the English teacher to expose students to teachingstyles that will foster engaging and purposeful learning
opportunities with the aim of further developing
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings155

Laurier, Taomae, Asakawa, Kanamura, & Shiramizu
critical thinking skills. The use of cooperative
learning (CL) is now being recommended by the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology- Japan (MEXT) to develop criticalthinking skills (Commission on the Development of
Foreign Language Proficiency, 30 June 2011).
For various reasons, many teachers are reluctant toshift to a new pedagogy. One of the biggest concernsof implementing new strategies is that it requires
more time and effort to re-formulate aims, rewrite
lesson plans, re-learn new techniques, etc. One way
teachers can adapt lessons to develop higher order
thinking skills without having to completely revamp
their system is through the use of CL structures.
For the most part many language teachers alreadyuse some form of group work. While group activities
are more communicative and interactive, they
offer significant drawbacks in that they help foster
unbalanced interactivity. Evidence of these pitfalls is
the opting out of some students and the monopolizingof the conversation by others. Group work without
structure does little to help students demonstrate
their knowledge. This is what differentiates it from
CL.
This paper aims to show how teachers can
incorporate CL into their current reading classes
to develop deeper comprehension. It is a detailed
overview of the Read all about it! Studying can be asocial activity hands-on workshop delivered at the panSIG 2012 Conference. We detail the presentation’s
main steps and demonstrate how we, as EFL teachersin Japan, can use CL as a resource to develop morein-depth thinking skills in our students, particularly
in reading. First, we introduce the essential principles
that differentiate CL from basic groupwork. Secondly,
we give an example of a CL reading structure using a
MEXT-approved high school English textbook.

Team-Building
CL works best when members are comfortableworking together and help each other to learn. The
cohesion of the team is important as teams thatwork well together are able to achieve group goals
more easily. Team-building exercises are one way ofdeveloping the relationships between team members

156 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

and aiding the learning process. Getting individual
members to feel like a single unit is needed for
effective teamwork to exist. According to Kagan andKagan:Creating powerful learning teams has many
aims. There’s the social component. We want
students to know, like, and trust the participants
who they will be working with. And there’s thetask component. We want participants to beable to work well together, take turns, share,
communicate well, and make team decisions(2009, p. 10.1)
The workshop was run utilizing CL structures so
attendees were divided into groups of four and eachmember was given a letter of A, B, C or D. To haveparticipants feel more comfortable with their teammembers, we led them in a Kagan team-building
structure called Round Robin. This structure starts
with member A providing a response to a prompt
followed by members B, C and D sharing their
response in turn. In the first round, each participant
introduced themself, named their teaching institution
and offered one more piece of information about
themselves. The second round started with participant
B completing sentence 1 (see below). For every new
sentence a new participant started the round.
1. My favorite place to travel is ___________.
2. The last movie I saw was ______________.
3. Cooperative Learning is _______________.
4. I hope to learn ______________________.

Introduction to the Principles of
Cooperative Learning
In order to introduce the principles behind CL,
workshop participants were led through a seriesof cooperative activities. The first was a jigsaw
highlighting the principles behind Kagan’s structural
approach, known as “PIES”. PIES stands for positive
interdependence, individual accountability, equal
participation, and simultaneous interaction. These
are the key principles that make CL successful asa teaching strategy. Participants were divided into
groups of four and each participant read about one ofRead all About it..., pages 155-161
the four concepts, as follows:(P) stands for Positive Interdependence. In orderto create positive interdependence, tasks need to beorganized so that participants are on the same side
and working toward the same goal. Furthermore,they should be structured so that it is easier forparticipants to complete the tasks together rather
than individually.
(I) stands for Individual Accountability. The
success of the individual participant is very important.
All participants need to be responsible for theirown performance and contribute toward the goalof the team. An effective team does not allow somemembers to opt out of the tasks being tackled. This
follows the concept of a chain being only as strong as
its weakest link.
(E) is for Equal Participation. It is important forparticipation to be equal if all participants are goingto achieve gains in learning. Some ways for teachers toensure equality in effort and opportunity is throughturn-taking, time allocation, and distribution of roles.
(S) stands for Simultaneous Interaction. Multiple
participants performing the task at the same time
are more productive than one participant at a time.
Simultaneous interaction ensures that a higher
percentage of participants are actively engaged inlearning.
After reading about the concepts, participants
created a visualization of their concept (i.e. they
drew a picture and/or created a diagram to represent
their understanding of that idea). After creating thevisualization, participants gathered with the membersof the same concept (e.g. all the P’s got together). In
pairs, each participant had one minute to explain
their visualization to their partner. At this point,
participants could change their visualization basedon their discussions. Finally, participants returnedto their original team and described it to their homegroup in a Round Robin style; each participant wasgiven one minute to explain their visualization.
The task of creating a visualization as well as
describing it to their classmates helped participants
gain a deeper understanding of the concepts. Kagan
and Kagan (2009) have found the use of multiple
intelligences to be effective in helping students

understand:… we can say with certainty that the teacher
who uses a wide range of cooperative learning
methods provides a greater number of students
greater access to the curriculum through theirpreferred styles and intelligences. This explainsin part why cooperative learning boosts
achievement. In short: The more ways we teach,the more students we reach. (p. 4.19)

PIES Analysis
The purpose of the next task was to haveparticipants solidify their knowledge of the principles
that define a CL task by having them apply what they
had learned in the visualization task (i.e. the PIES
principles). Participants read a list of five sample
activities and had to decide whether they were actually
CL activities or just group work based on whether theactivities implemented the PIES principles. Here are
the five activities:
1. The teacher asks participants in teams of fourto discuss what they think about the reading.
2. Participants work in pairs in an information
gap activity.
3. Each participant is assigned an area of expertiseand must teach it to their group.
4. Participants work together to solve a worksheetof problems.
5. Participants are given 2 minutes each to share
their response to a discussion question.
Participants spent three minutes reading theexamples and deciding whether these activities
incorporated CL principles or not. Next, they werepaired with their shoulder partners and took turns
sharing their answers. One partner explained theirreasoning and the other responded in agreement
or disagreement. The goal of this task was to haveparticipants inductively reason how CL tasks differedfrom regular group work. To make it explicit here,
CL tasks are much more structured in their set up
than group work. This is done in order to create
positive interdependence, individual accountability,
equal participation, and simultaneous interaction.
Research has shown that by fostering these individual
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Laurier, Taomae, Asakawa, Kanamura, & Shiramizu
principles, teachers can eliminate some of the
problems associated with group work such as freeloading or one member taking control of everything(Kagan & Kagan, 2009). Teachers can do this in
their own task design by creating roles, giving time
constraints, structuring gaps in information, etc.

Interactive Reading
The second part of the workshop demonstrated a
CL reading activity using a senior high school MEXTapproved textbook. The reading passage was takenfrom Crown English Course I and is titled “When I
was Sixteen”. It retells the story of Michio Hoshino,a Japanese professional nature photographer, and hisjourney to the US as an adolescent. The demonstrated
activity is used in the second part of a unit focusing
on this reading passage. In the first part, students
are expected to have read the passage as a homeworkassignment, so are familiar with the vocabulary andthe content of the story. Since the participants in thisworkshop had not read the text yet, they were given
three minutes to read it.
The goals of the reading activity were: 1) tocomprehend the content of the text, and 2) toenhance students’ comprehension of the text by
utilizing higher order thinking skills (e.g. connecting
what is written in the text with the participants’ own
experiences and opinions).
For step 1, participants were grouped in teams
of four and assigned a letter (A,B,C or D), as
in the previous activities. They were given threeminutes to read the two-page passage. After that,each participant was assigned one part of the story.
Participants were then placed into new groups,
joining other participants with the same assigned
letter. The As with the As, the Bs with the Bs, andso on. Within this new group, participants worked
together to ensure comprehension of the assigned
part by creating a summary of their section.
For step 2, participants individually madetwo questions pertaining to their assigned part.
The first was a WH question whose answer could
be found directly in the text. (i.e. “When he washitchhiking, why did the family pick him up?”). The
second question was a personalized question that

158 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

drew on readers’ comprehension of the text as wellas their outside knowledge. For example, “If you
were Michio’s father, would you have let him go to
America? Explain.” Participants were then asked towrite their questions and an answer to those questions
on a graphic organizer (see Appendix A). After fillingout the organizer, participants were instructed to foldthe paper so that the answer column was hidden.
In the second part of the activity, participants
returned to their original groups with each groupmember having the organizer with their twoquestions on the assigned part. The next step required
each member to answer each question on the othergroup members’ organizer. This was done in threerounds. In the first round, each member passed
their organizer one place to the left so Participant
B answered the questions written by A; C answered
B’s; D answered C’s and A answered D’s. Each roundlasted three minutes and after writing their answers,
group members had to fold the paper back so theiranswers were hidden. They then passed the organizer
once more to the left. This continued for two morerounds until each member had answered all othermembers’ questions. In this way, when participants
had rotated worksheets four times, they would get
their original organizer back.
Once participants received their own completedorganizers with other members’ answers, they
unfolded the paper and corrected the other groupmembers’ answers. After this, they shared the findings
from the personalized question in a Round Robinstyle starting with participant A and rotating until all
members had presented.

Self-Assessed PIES Analysis
This next section will show how the previous
activity incorporated PIES. The activity utilized ajigsaw reading structure as well as a Round Robin.
Participants needed to work together in order
to complete the task, thereby creating positive
interdependence (P). This activity also ensured
individual accountability (I) as each participant was
responsible for making questions, checking answers
and sharing ideas with their team members. Equal
participation (E) could be found in the activity asRead all About it..., pages 155-161
the amount of responsibility and workload eachparticipant had was the same. Furthermore, both
structures used turn-taking to ensure each member
had an equal amount of time. Finally, simultaneousinteraction (S) was clearly present as all members
were interacting with each other and working at
the same time, when making questions and sharing
answers. Even when answering the questions androtating the papers, participants were simultaneouslyinteracting by responding to each other using thegraphic organizers.
In addition to the tasks presented in our workshop
further extensions and variations are possible. For
example, in the workshop, participants created twocomprehension questions. The number of questions
can be increased or reduced according to the actualclassroom situation or participants’ level. Moreover,
the types of questions they create can be modified,varying from fill-in-the-blank to inferential andpersonalized types of comprehension. According
to Nation, the focus of comprehension questions
typically cover the following: “1) literal comprehensionof the text, 2) drawing inferences from the text,3) using the text for other purposes in addition tounderstanding, and 4) responding critically to thetext” (Nation, 2009, p. 34). Depending on the levelsof the participants, it would be effective to change
the question forms and the foci of those questions.
It would also be beneficial, when sharing the answers
and responding in groups, to have participants who
wrote wrong answers articulate how they arrived
at such answers. This helps participants discover
why they have the wrong answer. Another possible
suggestion is to have participants summarize theirassigned parts to the team members using the jigsaw
structure, after the rotation activity. As Anderson(1999) argues, summarizing requires the ability to
distinguish levels of importance in information in
the text such as main ideas, supporting ideas, anddetails. Therefore, summarizing can help participants
improve their comprehension skill. Moreover, thequestions made by participants can be utilized in inclass quizzes or term tests. This will encourage theparticipants to form good questions and to help themincrease their motivation.

This activity is highly effective and suitable todeepen participants’ comprehension in a variety ofcontexts. Reading itself is often considered to be apassive individual activity. However, reading can beinteractive with classmates and also with the text.
Grabe (1991) argues that reading is interactive in that“the reader makes use of information from his/herbackground knowledge as well as information fromthe printed page” (p. 378). In this sense, by working
together and interacting with their classmates,
participants’ interaction with the text can become
more meaningful and effective.
CL structures such as jigsaw and Round Robinrequire some time for participants to get accustomed
to. However, once students are used to engaging in
CL tasks, their set up will require minimum set-up
time and have students ready to break into discussion
quickly. This results in reduced task implementation
time. Making use of these structures can obviously
help move away from the yakudoku method.

Conclusion
While more and more teachers are incorporating
Cooperative Learning structures in their readingclasses in Japan, it is still true that grammartranslation and rote-memorization are frequently
used in English classes. We strongly recommend that
Cooperative Learning structures be utilized morein classrooms in order to maximize participants’learning opportunities.
University entrance exams in Japan exert a huge
influence on high school English teaching, making
reading comprehension a fundamental skill todevelop. The use of group work to have students
develop these skills is important. The more structured
tasks used in CL help eliminate the problems
associated with group work such as students optingout and unequal participation. CL is an effective
way to design interactive reading tasks that result in
deeper comprehension and can be implemented in
the EFL context in Japanese high schools.

References
Anderson, N. J. (1999). Exploring second language
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Laurier, Taomae, Asakawa, Kanamura, & Shiramizu
reading. Boston, MA: Heinle Cengage Learning.
Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second
language reading research. TESOL Quarterly,
25, 375-406.
Kagan, S. & Kagan, M. (2009). Kagan cooperative
learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing.
Nation, I. S. P. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL reading
and writing. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology – Japan, Commission on theDevelopment of Foreign Language Proficiency.
(2011). Five Proposals and Specific Measures forDeveloping Proficiency in English for International
Communication. Retrieved from website: http://
www.mext.go.jp/component/english/_icsFiles/
afieldfile/2012/07/09/1319707_1.pdf

Authors’ Biographies:Joël Laurier teaches at Gunma Kokusai Academy. He is co-recipient of the 2011 John F.
Fanselow Scholarship awarded by Teachers College, Columbia University.
Ethan Taomae teaches at Tokyo Metropolitan University and at Japan College of Foreign
Languages. He has an MA in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Machiko Asakawa is an English teacher at Yokohama Futaba Junior and Senior High School.
She has an MA in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Ayako Kanamaru is an English teacher at Caritas Junior and Senior High School. She has an
MA in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Chie Shiramizu teaches TOEIC at Kyoei University in Saitama. She has an MA in TESOL
from Teachers College, Columbia University.

160 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Read all About it..., pages 155-161

Appendix A - Reading Comprehension Table

Part ()

Question						
Member’s Name_____________

Member’s Name_____________

Name:

Member’s Name_____________

AnswerQ1
Wh question

Q2
Personalized
Question

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Better Reading Through a Better Understanding of
Punctuation

Margaret Orleans
Seinan Jo Gakuin University
tommysibo@yahoo.com
Most of the questions raised by the author’s first-year university Intensive Reading students
about the 300- to 500-word passages in their textbook concern the meaning and use of words
and phrases. When the definitions and/or examples of terms are actually contained within
the passages themselves, they are signaled by the presence of dashes, colons, and parentheses.
However, students often do not know how to use this punctuation to answer their own questions
about meaning. The author looks at the reasons behind this phenomenon and ways to empower
students through explicit instruction and scaffolded exercises.
本稿では、リーディングで言葉の定義や例を理解するために必要不可欠なダッシュやコロン、括弧の使い方を考えてみる。著者の大学の一年生の精読クラスで使用しているテキス
トに出てくる、300字から500字の作品の一節に関する学生の質問の殆どは、単語や句の意味 と使い方に関するもので、それらは、ダッシュ、コロンや括弧があることで分かるようになっている。しかし、学生のとっては自己の質問の答えを導き出す句読点の使い方が、難しいようだ。そこでこの事実の背後にある原因解明や、明確な指導と基礎固めとなる練習を通して、学生に力をつける方法を考察する。
Keywords: reading comprehension, dash, colon, parenthesis, intra-textual relationships, direct
instruction, images, contrasting punctuation marks

Discovery of the Problem
In my experience as a teacher of Intensive
Reading, otherwise capable university students
struggle to understand non-fiction passages becauseof a lack of understanding of colons, dashes, andparentheses. For example, the very students who asked
penetrating questions like “If the vowels often change
in Greek and Latin roots while the consonants stay*Orleans, M. (2013). Better reading through a better
understanding of punctuation. In R. Chartrand,
S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 162-165). Hiroshima:
JALT.

fairly consistent, is ‘muscle’ related to ‘masculine’?”and “Can you teach us more phrases like ‘beefcake’ totalk about men’s bodies?” also asked questions about
seemingly simpler passages from their textbook: “TheUnited Nations University (UNU) invites you.…”and “…but machines can—and do—go wrong.”
They wanted to know the meanings of “UNU,” “canand,” and “do-go,” none of which appeared in theirdictionaries.

*

162 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Reasons Behind the Problem
An informal survey of 50 junior and seniorhigh English teachers by a former colleague and me
confirmed what I had suspected: punctuation beyond

Better Reading Through a Better Understanding of Punctuation, pages 162-165
the period, comma, question mark, quotation marks,
and possibly the semicolon is not taught in thiscountry. Why? Reasons varied from “It’s not in the
textbook” to “I don’t understand English punctuation
very well myself.” A quick search of several standard
junior and senior high English textbooks showed theformer claim to be accurate.
In addition, the Japanese and English punctuation
systems don’t parallel each other exactly. As a result,students fail the recognize the significance of capitalletters because they do not exist in Japanese, and they
overuse quotation marks because Japanese quotation
marks have to do the work of capital letters anditalics as well as that of English quotation marks, aphenomenon that is discussed in at least one on-line
translators’ forum (Philondra, 2008). Students also
confuse similar-looking punctuation that does notexist in Japanese or they just ignore it altogether.
Aljets (1980) concluded in his survey of editors’
views on Japanese errors in writing English reportsthat most of the punctuation errors are the resultof unfamiliarity with the conventions of English
punctuation; the same seems to be true of reading
errors.

Direct Instruction—a Limited but
Necessary Solution
So how can students learn how to use punctuation
to answer their questions about meaning? The levelat which these low-intermediate first-year university
students do their extensive reading (mostly fiction)
will not expose them to enough usage of thepunctuation marks in question. Dürrenmatt (2011)
points out that the overuse of some punctuation
marks, notably exclamation points, question marks,
and dashes, in early English-language comics makes
their use salient to students, but comics as a genre
rarely use quotation marks or colons. Students likemine write relatively short compositions in which
they do not experiment with such punctuation,
so in the face of little exposure or opportunity for
productive use, some direct instruction concerning
punctuation marks seems necessary.
On the other hand, the effectiveness of direct

instruction is limited because the students do notknow (or want to know) a lot of grammatical terms(even in Japanese). They are interested in the meaningof the passages they are studying, but their eyes glaze
over when they hear technical terms, including thenames of punctuation marks, even though they
are English majors. As Jeffries (1985) pointed out,
native English speaking university students, studying
a second language, are in a similar situation. They
do not have a sufficient grasp of grammatical terms
to understand explanation that contain a lot of
terminology, nor is it useful to teach them such terms.
Now that my students have passed the ultimate goalof getting into a university, I can hardly claim thatpunctuation facts will be on any high-stakes exam,
though relating punctuation comprehension to
TOIEC success might be a helpful motivator.
In light of the situation outlined above, mygoals for my students’ understanding of punctuation
beyond the period and comma comprise three modest
and long-range steps: first, to notice the punctuation;
second, to understand its function; and third, to use it
to help themselves discover the meaning of unknown
words in a given passage. No class has managed toreach the fourth step of appreciating the nuances
behind the choice between several punctuation
options in a given context (dashes versus parentheses,
for example) in the course of a year’s instruction.
Telling students something they do not want toknow can be a rather futile business. A good firststep in teaching punctuation is to arouse students’curiosity. Therefore, two days before the class inwhich we will discuss a particular passage, each
student is required to e-mail me five questions about
the assigned passage that she was unable to resolvewith a dictionary. As a result, questions that could beanswered with a knowledge of punctuation, but notquestions about the punctuation marks themselves,inevitably arise. Alternatively, I can get the ball rollingwith a task such as asking students to look throughthe pages of the textbook we have already covered
and to decide which punctuation marks always
appear singly, in pairs, or in series, and to assign thema spot on a Venn diagram, with examples to justify
their decisions.
The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings163

Orleans

A Four-pronged Attack
Once students are wondering about specificpunctuation marks, it is possible to use one of four
strategies: contrasting specific marks with similar(and more familiar) marks, providing powerful visual
images for the use of the punctuation, extrapolatingfrom contexts in which students are already familiar
with the punctuation, and—that old favorite highschool teachers’ technique—giving students a perfect
example to memorize.
Information is best retrieved from memory when
there are multiple routes through which it can beaccessed, and neuroscience is proving that a picture
really is worth a thousand words (Fine & Minnery,2009). Furthermore, contrast and extrapolationcan, if presented graphically, also provide instantbottom-up saliency for learners. Angelillo (2006),
in addressing ways to teach L1 punctuation at theelementary school level, also suggests aural input—
the dramatic “reading” of punctuation—in order toheighten students’ awareness of it and its functions.
Thus, for example, a colon might be contrasted
with the more familiar semicolon. While a semicolon(apparently constructed by placing a period atop acomma) generally tells readers to pause at the end of
a complete idea before going on to another—closely
related—complete idea, a colon (with nothinghanging down to remind readers to stop; see the figure
below) is a sign to read ahead to find a rewording orsome examples of the idea they just read about which
will help them understand it better.

Dashes can be usefully contrasted with hyphens.
Students usually realize that hyphens connect words
that are split at the end of a line of text or serve as
compound adjectives (5-year-old brother), so an image

164 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingsof a hyphen as a harness on a service dog, keeping theanimal in close contact with its human, serves as a
sharp contrast to a dash. The latter can be likened
to an animal control pole, which holds a vicious
dog away from the handler, while still maintaining aconnection between them.

In the case of the extrapolation strategy, students
are usually familiar with colons after the names of
speakers in a dialogue, so this idea of reading on to
see what that character has to say can be expanded
to the role of a colon within a sentence of nonfiction
pointing ahead to examples or rephrasing.
How might we apply the four strategies to direct
instruction about parentheses? For North Americans,a salient example for parentheses might be a telephone
number: in (801) 555-1212, the digits in parentheses
are necessary only in certain circumstances. But
Japanese telephone number conventions aredifferent. Some students are familiar with Felix theCat, and for the others, his bag of magic tricks canbe likened to Doraemon’s magic pocket, so they can
imagine the handles of that open bag as parentheses;
the information inside should be accessed when thereader finds herself on the spot. Ears look a bit likeparentheses, too. Parenthetical information can be
usefully compared to unspoken information we holdin our mind (between our ears) until that informationis necessary for clarification. In junior high textbooks,
parentheses generally signal the options from which
the student must choose the correct answer, so
students can extrapolate to the optional/expansive
nature of parenthetical information in non-fiction.

Better Reading Through a Better Understanding of Punctuation, pages 162-165

References

Once students see the benefit of using
punctuation to uncover meaning, other tasks canbe set. For example they can be asked to identify
all the proper nouns within a passage and list whatpunctuation, if any, helped them locate explanationsof those nouns. They can be challenged to write a listof “how-to” steps for next year’s class, when tackling
an unknown word in a passage. They can also try to
predict whether the explanations for future unknown
words will come before or after the words themselves.

Conclusion
I am still exploring the possibilities, but throughcycles of tasks (sorting, hypothesis testing) and direct
instruction through contrast, images, expansion, andmemorable examples, I hope that, for my students,
punctuation moves from invisibility throughmysteriousness to a recognizably useful tool fortackling unknown phrases in a reading passage.

Acknowledgments

Aljets, M.G. (1980). Writing Reports in English:
A comparison of Japanese and American
writers’ problems. Osaka Women’s JuniorCollege Departmental Bulletin, pp. 73-82.
Retrieved October 30, 2012, from http://ir-lib.
wilmina.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10775/291/1/
KC11_073.pdf.
Angelillo, J. (2006). A Study Guide for A
Fresh Approach to Teaching Punctuation.
Scholastic. Retrieved October 30, 2012,
from http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/
scholasticprofessional/authors/pdfs/SG_Fresh_
Punctuation.pdf
Dürrenmatt, J. (2001). From invisibility to visibility
and backwards: Punctuation in comics. Visible
Language, 45 (1/2), pp. 21-43.
Fine, M.S . and Minnery, B.S. (2009) Visual
Salience Affects Performance in a Working
Memory Task. The Journal of Neuroscience.
29(25): 8016-8021. Retrieved October30, 2012, from http://www.jneurosci.org/
content/29/25/8016.full
Jeffries, S. (1985). English grammar terminology as
an obstacle to second language learning. Modern
Language Journal, 69(4), pp. 385-390.
Philondra, (2008, December 25). [LANGRAGE]
The “overuse” of quotation “marks” [Msg 1].
Message posted to http://molotov.net.au/forums/ viewtopic.php?f=39&t=4970

The author appreciates the help of Takashi
Inomori of Meiji Gakuen Junior/Senior High School
in surveying junior and senior high English teachers.

Author’s Biography:
Margaret Orleans has over 40 years’ experience teaching at the secondary and tertiary levelsin the U.S., China, and Japan.

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings165

Developing Professional Literacy to Enhance Career
FluencyMichael Parrish
Kwansei Gakuin University
Language Center
mmparrish.japan@gmail.com

Richard Miller& Ryan Richardson
Kansai University

Zane Ritchie
Rikkyo University
College of Community Welfare

Professional literacy is the ability to read and write (understand and produce) documents in afield of employment. As professional college and university educators in Japan, there are many
types of documents that we need to deal with to function fluently. This forum discussed how
to develop the professional literacy that is considered essential for educational careers in Japan.
A non-inclusive list of these skills includes: reading Japanese job postings, creating a Japaneserirekisho, creating an academic CV, writing cover letters and application essays, and getting
published. The forum audience was encouraged to contribute their ideas on what professional
literacy means in the Japanese university context.
本稿では、日本の大学で仕事をするために不可欠であるプロフェッショナル・リテラシーについて論じる。まず、プロフェッショナル・リテラシーとは雇用の場で必要な書類の作成や読み書きの才能である。日本の大学に勤務する講師には、適切に処理しなければならない書類が多々ある。そこで、本稿では、日本の大学が要求する能力を如何に養うかを考えてみる。具体的には、日本語での募集要項の把握と日本語で履歴書作成、英語の場合は詳細な履歴書の作成方法と応募書類につける手紙や応募動機の書き方を紹介し、研究などの出版方法などにも焦点を当てる。
Keywords: academic CV, higher education employment, rirekisho, employment applications

The Academic CV
When beginning a serious job search, or settingout a long term career path in Japan, the first thingthat a person should do is to take stock of where
they are with respect to their career, and in whichareas they are lacking or need to improve. The best
and most effective way is to first write a complete*

Parrish, M., Miller, R., Ritchie Z. & Richardson,R.,(2013). Developing Professional Literacy toEnhance Career Fluency. In R. Chartrand, S. Crofts,& G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference
Proceedings (pp. 166-174). Hiroshima: JALT.

*

166 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

academic curriculum vitae (CV), then step backand use a balanced scorecard approach (outlined
below) to effectively look at the academic CV tosystematically list the areas that need improving,
and then begin to take the steps to improve them.
In contrast to a typical business résumé, we define
the CV as a complete view of one’s professional life;
as it is an academic CV, it is only concerned withwhat you have accomplished in your academic life.
While a résumé would be a one or two page sales
tool, an academic CV might run 15 or 20 pages,
listing all your accomplishments in factual language(in other words, without adjectives) categorizedDeveloping Professional Literacy to Enhance Career Fluency, pages 166-174
into education, service (such as memberships, extracurricular professional activities, or volunteering),classes taught and presentations/publications. Such alist might take some time to compile, but it shouldlook something like the following:First list your name, address and contact details(very similar to a résumé) with the academic
qualifications closely following, beginning with thehighest attained. Next are the presentations thathave been given and then publications (both inreverse chronological order starting with the mostrecent) and brief abstracts. After that is professional
experience, starting with the most recent academic
year, and including the classes taught, with the nameof the university and the number of students.
After taking inventory of your teaching career, itis then time to take stock of those areas that need
improving. This can be easily illustrated with the useof a balanced scorecard approach. This term is takenfrom a corporate governance tool and applied here
in the context of teachers’ professional development.
The areas that are the centerpieces of academia
become the main areas included in the academicbalanced scorecard. Academic qualifications,publications and presentations, work experience andservice are all areas that should be reflected upon inorder to identify where one’s weak areas are. Keep inmind that, just as with the academic CV, only thoseareas that are directly related to academic work, orsomehow relevant to an academic career need to beconsidered. This would mean that jobs outside ofteaching would not normally be included, although
editing and writing might be.
This first set of tools should be helpful in setting
you up to start looking introspectively at where
you stand in your career and how to increase youracademic career credentials and marketability. There
are a number of ways that you can improve your CV,
so an interesting and helpful exercise is to write down
how you plan to improve your CV in the next 90,
180 and 365 days.

Japanese & the Japanese Curriculum
Vitae for Academic Job Applications
The importance of submitting a CV in Japaneseand having a little knowledge of Japanese should not
be underestimated when applying for a job at an
academic institution in Japan. First, we will examine
what we term the Japanese Academic Curriculum
Vitae (JACV), before emphasizing the importance of
having even a basic working knowledge of Japanese,
which will come in useful should you get to theinterview stage.
The first and foremost thing to remember is tosubmit a JACV along with your English one, even if it
is not requested. There are several reasons for this. An
obvious one is that it will give you a big advantage
over the competition by showing that you are making
an effort to stand out from the rest, and are actuallyinterested in Japan and Japanese culture. In addition,
your CV will almost certainly be circulated among
various committees, and if there is no Japaneseversion, somebody will have to translate it, which
entails a whole set of new problems. It is better tosave them the trouble and avoid possible errors bysubmitting your JACV in advance; you know thateverything is correct and to your liking. A third
reason is that having a CV in Japanese puts you at anadvantage when it comes to applying for other jobs as
well, since a lot of them require you to submit yourCV in Japanese in addition to your English one. So,
instead of struggling to prepare one in Japanese in ahurry while trying to meet a deadline, why not havea JACV prepared in advance? You can then modify
it slightly depending on the needs of the different
institutions you will be applying to. Finally, should
you actually be selected for the interview, be awarethat it may be possible that some members of thepanel speak little or no English and asking them towade through your English CV means there is always
the potential for misunderstandings, something you
want to avoid at all costs.
Before we examine exactly what should be
included in the JACV, it should be noted that ingeneral a traditional Japanese curriculum vitae placesemphasis on social abilities, whilst a typical Western
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Parrish, Miller, Ritchie, & Richardson
one will emphasize individualistic values, competitive
spirit, initiative and passion for personal challenges,
and critical thinking abilities. Keep this in mind as
you prepare your JACV.
Now, let’s discuss some of the basics of the JACV.
First, since it is a specialist document, you won’t finda “traditional” form. In addition it won’t be necessary
to handwrite it. Indeed, in this day and age, if you do
handwrite it you might get strange looks! Instead, it isessential to prepare your curriculum vitae in Japaneseand submit it as a PDF document (if submitting
materials by email), or print it and add it to yourapplication along with your English CV. Next, as per
the traditional Japanese CV, remember to write your
JACV in chronological order, which differs from an
American CV, which is in reverse chronological order.
The JACV may require more personal information
than a typical Western CV, and furthermore it should
be tailored to the individual institution, since theinstitution will want to know how well you are going
to fit into their organization.
The JACV can be broken into five parts: personal
information, education, work experience, memberships
and associations, and research and publications. Let’s
examine each of these in detail. For your reference,
there is a sample JAVC in the appendix, completewith example entries. The first part is personal
information. In addition to your name and current
address, it is compulsory to include your birth date,age and gender. Phone numbers (including yourcell-phone) and an email address are mandatory (seeAppendix Section A).
The second part is education (Appendix Section
B). Here you list in chronological order all the schools
you have attended from university onward. For an
academic job, it will not be necessary to include
schools you attended before university. You may
enter the starting year on one line and the finishingyear on another for each institution, or you may enter
the finishing dates in brackets on the same line (seethe appendix for samples of both). Just remember tokeep it consistent. As part of this, there is a section
called 学位 (Appendix Section B-2).
The third part is work experience. Here youlist places you have worked with the dates in

168 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

chronological order, and include starting andfinishing dates (Appendix Section C). In the fourthpart, memberships and associations (Appendix
Section D), you enter any associations you belong toor any volunteer activities you participate in.
The final part is research and publications. In thispart, similar to the English version, you should havethe full titles of presentations or publications, namesof all authors/presenters (indicating whether the
publication/presentation was single- or co-authored),
where the article was published (including page
numbers) or where the research was presented (SeeAppendix Section E).
If you are invited for interview, it will be aperfect opportunity to demonstrate your knowledgeof the Japanese language; submitting your CV in
Japanese as well as English will have helped you
stand out enough to be selected for interview. In aninterview at a Japanese institution there can be no
denying the importance of being able to converse
in Japanese, to some degree. After all, you are to be
employed at a Japanese institution where the day-today administration is usually carried out in Japanese.
If you can successfully demonstrate your Japanese
language ability, and your ability to fit in, you’ll
certainly impress those on the interview panel. So,
where to begin? At minimum, you should have a selfintroduction prepared. Practise it a few times before
the interview, so you are able to put your message
across in a confident and fluent manner. You should
also prepare to be asked questions, particularly on
the content and length of past employment, otherplaces you have lived or worked in Japan, and a little
about your home country. Being prepared to talk alittle bit about your hobbies and interests would also
be of value. Finally, good luck, and remember thatyou need not be fluent in Japanese (that is not what
the panel is looking for), but you should be able todemonstrate that you are interested in the language,
culture and people. After all, you are in Japan, so be
sure to at least show some interest.
The benefits of having a Japanese curriculum vitae
and showing some knowledge of Japanese actuallyextend beyond the job-hunting phase. If you get thejob, many universities have very few staff members

Developing Professional Literacy to Enhance Career Fluency, pages 166-174
who are fluent in English and therefore day-to-day
business matters will necessarily be conducted inJapanese. In addition, ability in Japanese will help you
to discuss more important issues with students, andto communicate with other non-English speaking
faculty members. As Miller and Parrish (2012)
point out, if you move up the university hierarchy
the requirements for Japanese language become evenmore demanding, and it becomes essential that you
are able to contribute in meetings, and even write
documents in Japanese.

Publications
When seeking employment at institutions ofhigher learning in Japan today, one of the more
important sections of a professional CV is the
publications section. Publications have grown inimportance over the past few years with very nearly
all listings for jobs stating that publications are a basic
requirement for job placement (see JACET, 2012;
JALT Publications, 2012; JREC-IN, n.d.). A variety
of factors need to be taken into consideration based
primarily on the kind of job one is applying for, butwhatever the job, publications are likely to play abig part in whether or not an applicant gets that allimportant chance to interview for the job they want.
Anecdotally, in interviews or discussions withpeople at various institutions in the Kansai area, theMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology (Monbusho or Monkasho) requirements
have been cited as the cause of the recent increasein calls for publications. However, no evidence has
been found to suggest that this is the case (Higher
Education Bureau, 2009). Instead, discussions withpeople connected with hiring at major universities in
the Kansai area have suggested that the “requirement”
is more of a “suggestion” from Monbusho and thatthe publications section is being used as a kind of
sorting or gate-keeping mechanism. With large
numbers of applicants sending in résumés and CVs
for many jobs, those including no publications are
frequently being disregarded at the initial stage.
While constituting a relatively simple mechanism forlimiting the number of CVs reviewed, it may be seen
to increase the prestige of the university by ensuringthat all instructors have publications. It may also beseen as a superficial way of finding teachers who are
more enthusiastic about the profession, as they arecontributing to the professional dialogue in areas
related to language teaching in Japan.
One of the key issues that often comes up inplanning and discussing publication requirements
is considering what counts as a publication. As withmost areas of the professional or academic CV, what
is useful in any particular area is dependent upon
what institution is being applied to and for what
type of position. For many jobs, at many universities
or colleges, any publication may be useful for parttime or even limited-term teaching positions. Suchpublications may include book reviews, short articles
similar to the My Share articles in The Language
Teacher, which have a 700 word limit (JALT
Publications, n.d.), conference proceedings and otherpeer-reviewed works. For tenured or other similar
positions the requirements appear to be stricter, withsome institutions indicating that papers less than
15-20 pages will not be counted toward the basic
minimum needed to have the CV reviewed. In mostcases, of course, a Master’s or Ph.D. thesis will eachcount as one publication whether or not they havebeen published.
The topic on which to get published is also
an important point that needs to be taken into
consideration when applying for work. Many listings
for language teachers are not specific about whatkind of publications are needed, though others
call specifically for publications in areas related tolanguage teaching or applied linguistics. Though thismay seem limiting, the requirement for “language
teaching” or applied linguistics related publications
should, in most cases, be read quite broadly, so a variety
of topics could be included. Topics could include
in-class activities or practices, trends in language
teaching in Japan, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics
and much more. Some jobs today, especially withthe “Global 30” project officially underway (MEXT,
2012), may require publications more focused on a
specific subject area. However, the availability of suchjobs appears likely to remain limited compared withlanguage-teaching focused jobs, at least for the next
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Parrish, Miller, Ritchie, & Richardson
few years.
Another important concern that many teachers
have is where they should get published. Again
anecdotally, many seem to think that publications
in major foreign journals are all that count. This,of course, is not the case overall, but again will
be influenced by the kind of job one is applying
for. Many Japanese institutions view Japan-based
publications favorably, not necessarily over the major
publications overseas, but a Japanese publication ofalmost any kind will be recognized more favorably
than many overseas publications. A university-based
publication, especially if it happens to be at theuniversity to which one is applying, is often viewed
far more positively than many foreign instructors
realize. As a result of this misunderstanding, many
non-Japanese teachers fail to take advantage of thispublishing opportunity. University-based journals
often publish in a shorter period than a professional
journal and though some are reviewed quite strictly,
the entire submission/editing/publishing processoften takes far less time than many other professional
journals.
Publishing is a key aspect of the academic CV
and, more importantly, of almost any successful
search for a job teaching at a Japanese university.
Though publications may not officially be required
by Monbusho, there is pressure in this direction fromthis government ministry, and as we have explained
above, having publications is a way of getting youracademic CV/résumé past the initial review stage.
When planning to get published, what to publish andwhere often requires a bit of strategic thought; keep
in mind that there are a variety of options open to
most teachers if you dig a little beneath the first layerof big name journals. Efforts should be made a year or
two ahead of the job-hunting period to identify whatkind of publications might be needed and when. The
simplest rule to keep in mind is that better jobs will
require better and longer publications. In any case,a list of varied academic publications should serve
any teacher well in their job hunt, and will at thevery least get them the chance to interview, which
otherwise qualified teachers without publications
may be denied.

170 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Essential Documents for Academic
Job Applications
The core of the application package for an academic
job is the academic CV, its Japanese counterpart,and copies of three to five major publications, butthere are a few other documents that are commonly
required, as well. Sometimes these documents canbe difficult to obtain quickly and cause applicants tomiss application deadlines or have their applications
delayed or even rejected. The documents required
fall into three main categories: documents related
to academic and working credentials, documents
demonstrating your teaching abilities, and documents
evaluating your abilities and character.

Academic Credentials
The basic requirement for all university-level
teaching jobs is a Master’s degree in any field, butpreferably in a field related to TEFL/TESOL or
Linguistics. If your degree is not in a field closely
related to language education, then teachingexperience or supplemental credentials such as aCambridge CELTA may help. Most universities
require a copy of the original diploma to prevent
fraud. Others request official university transcripts as
an additional assurance of authenticity. Transcripts
can take some time to order and arrive, so having
two copies on hand (one sealed and one opened, forphotocopying) is recommended. You may also be
required to show copies of your alien registration andpassport to prove your eligibility to work or facilitate
the university’s visa sponsorship process.

Teaching Ability
Another important area to document is yourteaching and professional ability. Although notalways explicitly required, such documentation is
helpful in presenting a complete picture of you asa professional educator. The ways to demonstrateteaching ability vary by institution; for example, one
Kansai university requires a video of your teaching,while others typically require you to teach a model
lesson during the interview (JALT-Jobs Available,2012). Preparing a quality video or lesson plan isDeveloping Professional Literacy to Enhance Career Fluency, pages 166-174
time consuming, so the sooner you start the better.
Other types of documents include actual or proposed
syllabi or lesson plans. Keep syllabi for different
types of classes you have taught (reading, writing,listening, communication, EAP, or content-based) tohelp you remember what you have done. Also keepa few detailed lesson plans for particularly successful
activities or lessons (these could also be published as
My Share articles to serve double duty).

Evaluations
The third type of documentation is related towhat others think of your abilities and character.
It typically takes the form of a reference from acolleague or supervisor. Sometimes only contact
information is required, but often an actual letter isrequired. In any case, keep a list of potential referees
with their updated contact information, including
snail and email addresses and telephone numbers.
Do not assume that someone will give you a goodevaluation – confirm that your potential referee iswilling to speak to your experience in a positive andinformed way. It can take time to write a letter ofrecommendation and your referees are busy people,
so allow at least one week. It is also kind to remind
your referees of all the good things you did whileworking together and describe any particular things
you think should be emphasized in your specificapplication for a particular job. Keep in touch. Thankthe referees for their help, let them know how theapplication went (even if it is bad news). Keep abreastof changes in contact information. People change
departments, institutions, or retire, so you need to
update their information.
Another source of evaluation is from yourstudents, in the form of student satisfaction/teacher
evaluation surveys. Schools generally require students
to complete teacher-evaluation surveys; these canserve as evidence of your popularity and effectiveness.
You can also administer more personalized surveys at
the end of the course to get in-depth informationfrom your students.
A third kind of evaluation is a peer teachingobservation, allowing a colleague to monitor andcritique your class. Some referees (including one of

the authors’ current supervisor) require this kind ofobservation before consenting to write a letter ofrecommendation. This kind of evaluation is usefulboth for the job search and overall professional
development, but it takes time and planning.

Conclusion
Remember, application materials (CV, JACV,
copies of your M.A., publications, et cetera) will
not guarantee you a job. They are simply what willkeep your application out of the shredder. Searchcommittees often separate applications into two piles
from the start: complete and incomplete. The best
way to make the first cut is to include everything
requested in the initial posting together in one
package. Seemingly insignificant requests, when
heeded, make the process of hiring you easier for thosein charge. Think of your application’s completeness asa given, not a goal—that is how universities see it(Miller & Parrish, 2012).
The suggestions outlined in this paper to improveyour academic scorecard seem straightforward,
but are not always easily followed all of the time.
However, just beginning the process will improveyour understanding of your career strengths andweaknesses and put you on the road to professional
fluency.
Best of luck in your pursuit of your next academic
position!

References
Higher Education Bureau. (2009). Quality Assurance
Framework of Higher Education in Japan.
Retrieved from: http://www.mext.go.jp/english/
highered/1307524.htm
JACET (2012). Job openings. Retrieved from: http://
www.jacet.org/kobo/index.html
JALT Publications (2012). Jobs available. Retrieved
from: http://jalt-publications.org/tlt/
departments/job-info-centre/jobs
JALT Publications (n.d.). Guidelines: Publishingin My Share. Retrieved from: http://jaltpublications.org/tlt/departments/myshare/
guidelines
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Parrish, Miller, Ritchie, & Richardson
JREC-IN (n.d.). Job information search.
Retrieved from: http://jrecin.jst.go.jp/
seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=0&ln=1&id=
D112071672&ln_jor=1
MEXT (2012). The “Global 30” project to invite
300,000 international students to Japan.

Retrieved from: http://www.uni.international.
mext.go.jp/global30/
Miller, R. & Parrish, M. (2012). Preparing yourself
for employment success. The Language Teacher
36(1), pp. 96-97.

Authors’ Biographies:
Richard Miller has taught English in Japan since 1995. He also edits the Job Information
Centre column in JALT’s The Language Teacher.
Zane Ritchie has been teaching and studying at the university level in Japan since 1995. Hecurrently teaches a content-based syllabus in comparative social-welfare systems.
Ryan Richardson has taught at various educational institutions since 1994. He is a Ph.D.
candidate in Psychology researching student motivation post-study abroad.
Michael Parrish has taught foreign languages (English, Spanish) since 1990. He serves as thecoordinator for the Job Information Centre at the JALT National Conference.

172 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Developing Professional Literacy to Enhance Career Fluency, pages 166-174

Appendix: Sample Japanese Academic CV

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173

Parrish, Miller, Ritchie, & Richardson

174 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Using Rasch Analysis to Evaluate an Achievement Test

Judith Runnels
Hiroshima Bunkyo Women’s University
jrunnels@h-bunkyo.ac.jp
Rasch-based analyses are frequently used to evaluate tests by providing arguments toward thevalidity of the assessment and by highlighting items that produced unexpected response patterns.
Rasch analysis estimates the probability of a specific response according to person ability and itemdifficulty parameters, placing both on an interval scale. In the current study, an 82 item multiplechoice English vocabulary achievement test was administered to first-year non-English majors at
a Japanese university. Rasch analysis produced precise information that could be used by the testdevelopers or educators to modify potentially problematic test items, with the ultimate goal of
improving the precision of the measurement capabilities of the assessment. This article outlines
the process for using Winsteps® (Rasch analysis software) outputs to analyse and evaluate a test.
本稿はテストを分析評価する為のWinsteps（ラッシュ・モデルの為のコンピューターソフト）
を使用するプロセスを説明する。ラッシュ・モデル(Rasch model)は、最近ではテストの妥当性に対する議論を提供し、予期しない答えのパターンを生み出す項目を強調することにより、テストを評価するために使用されている。具体的には能力値と項目難易度を間隔尺度にかけて、それぞれの項目による特定の反応の確率を推定するものである。更に、その最終目的は、テストのような評価媒体の正確さを改良することで、潜在的に問題のあるテスト
項目を修正するためにテスト開発者や教育者が使用出来る情報を生み出している。本研
究では、８２の多肢選択英語語彙テストが英語専攻ではない日本の大学一年生に実施された。
Keywords: Rasch analysis, fit statistics, validity, assessment evaluation, variable map

Many vocabulary tests, such as the Vocabulary
Levels Test (Nation, 1990) and the Eurocentres
Vocabulary Size Test (Meara & Buxton, 1987) aim tomeasure a language learner’s vocabulary size and are
frequently used as a placement tool (Nation, 1990).
Evaluation of such tests has recently been donewith Rasch-based approaches (Royal & O’Neill,*

Runnels, J. (2013). Using Rasch analysis to evaluate
an achievement vocabulary test. In R. Chartrand,
S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 175-180). Hiroshima:
JALT.

*

2011; Yumoto & Stone, 2011). Rasch analyses use
probability to determine the relationship between
a raw score and a person’s ability on an item-byitem basis (Bond & Fox, 2001; Eckes, 2011). Since
vocabulary items are discrete, this type of analysis
is argued to form a better representation of a test
taker’s vocabulary knowledge than more traditional
deterministic statistics which provide a less accurate
measure of ability since the knowledge of one word
does not necessarily predict the knowledge of another(Beglar, 2010; Schmitt, Schmitt & Clapham, 2001).
Rasch-based analysis takes into consideration both
item difficulty and test-taker ability while assuming
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Runnels
all test-takers and items to be independent (Wright &Stone, 1979). A test-taker’s raw test score is converted
into a ratio of success to failure and then into thelogarithmic odds that the response to an item will
be correct – this is known as a logit (Eckes, 2011;
Smith, 2000; Rasch, 1980). The same procedureis also applied to each of the items on the test. All
logits are plotted on a single scale that is used as an
estimate of ability for a test-taker and difficulty of an
item (Wright & Stone, 1979). For vocabulary tests inparticular, this framework of test evaluation has beenused by Wolfe and Smith (2007), Beglar (2010),
Beglar and Hunt (1999), Schmitt, Schmitt andClapham (2001), Bond (2003) and Smith (2001),
among others.
The current study was designed to evaluate a
newly developed multiple-choice question (MCQ)
vocabulary achievement test for English learners
at a university in Hiroshima, Japan. Rasch analysis
provides information about item difficulty, item
functioning and test-takers’ individual responses andability. It is hoped that the analysis will identify any
test-takers (in this instance, students) or items thatexhibit unexpected response patterns and that theresults will provide useful evidence in the form of
preliminary validity arguments in the evaluation ofthis test (Messick, 1995).

MethodParticipants
The test takers were 323 first year non-English
majors (aged 20 and 21) from Hiroshima Bunkyo
Women’s University, a private university located in
Hiroshima City, Japan. The test-takers were in 13
different mixed-major classes. All test-takers’ first
language (L1) is Japanese and second language (L2)
is English.

Materials
The test, administered in July 2011, consisted of
82 MCQs of 4 types: gap fill, both L1-L2 and L2L1 translations, and picture definition (see Nation,2001). The questions were based on a 250 word
study list provided at the start of the semester. All

176 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

words and all sentences in the test items were taken
directly from lesson materials.

Procedures
The test was taken in the students’ usual classtime and in their regular classrooms. The test wasadministered using www.classmarker.com®, an online
testing site which randomizes response and distractor
order. Classmarker.com® requires a response before
a test-taker can proceed to the following item, andin doing so guarantees no skipped items. Winsteps®
Rasch software Version 3.72.4 (Linacre, 2008) wasused to analyse the results of the test. Descriptive
statistics, Cronbach’s alpha and Rasch measures were
calculated.
The Rasch measure is the probability of a person
correctly responding to a given item and is related
to their ability and the difficulty of the item (Rasch,1960). It is calculated with the following formula:log[ pni/(1 − pni)]= Bn− Di(1)where Bnis the ability of a person n and Di
is the difﬁculty of item i.
In addition, a person-item map of difficulty andability, point-measure correlations and fit statistics
are all calculated. The point-measure correlations,which refer to whether the responses to the itemalign with the abilities, should be positive so as toindicate a positive correlation with the average scoreof the other items (Wolfe & Smith, 2007). A negative
correlation indicates that the item is functioning in
direct opposition with the variable being measured(Churchill, 1979). Fit statistics are used to check forany items that are causing strange response patterns.
Fit statistics consist of mean-square values (MNSQ)
and z-standardized scores (ZSTD) for both infit
and outfit. MNSQs measure how well a test taker’s
response patterning matches the predictions of
the model, or in other words, the size of the misfit(Smith, 2001). The standardized z-score (ZSTD)
indicates the significance level of the misfit (Bond &Fox, 2007). According to Linacre (2007), acceptablevalues for low-stakes multiple choice tests for MNSQs
range from 0.7 to 1.3 and -2.0-2.0 for ZSTDs.

Using Rasch Analysis to Evaluate an Achievement Test, pages 175-180

Figure 1. Person-Item Variable Map for all item and person measures

These analyses are essentially flagging questions that
produced unexpected response patterns.

Results
For the 323 tests, the average test score was 86.4%(SD = 10.4%). Cronbach’s alpha was 0.90. The Raschanalysis person-item variable map is shown in Figure
1. On the right of the y-axis are items, on the leftof the y-axis are persons and to the far left are the
Rasch linear measures in logits. One ‘#’ represents 4
test-takers, while ‘.’ represents 1-3. The ‘#’ nearest the
top represents the 4 most abled test-takers while theuppermost item (I0032) refers to the most difficult
item (Figure 1). When a person aligns with an item,
this indicates that the person has a 50% chance of
success on that item. Several clusters of persons do
not correspond to any item or difficulty level. Mostof the items on the test have fallen below the clustersof people (Figure 1).
The results of the Rasch analysis with Winsteps®
for most items are shown in Table 1. The items arearranged from most difficult to easiest. The firstcolumn, ‘ENTRY NUMBER’, corresponds to thetest items (82 in total). ‘TOTAL SCORE’ indicates
the total number of correct responses. ‘TOTALCOUNT’ is the total number of attempted responses
and the ‘MEASURE’ column is the Rasch measurefor this item (the difficulty in logits) followed by thestandard error. The infit and outfit statistics are in thenext two columns, which show the MNSQ (meansquare) and the ZSTD (standardized z-score). Point
measure correlations are shown in the eighth column.
Any item that has a point-measure correlation of 0
(whereby in this case, 100% of test-takers responded
correctly) has been removed from the output. A
further 28 additional items with infit and outfit
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Runnels
Table 1Rasch Analysis for All Test Items

statistics within the acceptable range have also been
removed. Only one item exhibited a negative pointmeasure correlation (I0018). For infit statistics,
none of the items exhibit an MNSQ outside of theacceptable range. For outfit, 43 items (52.4% of total)
fall outside of the acceptable range, 13 (15.9% of thetotal) of which have significant ZSTDs. Summarizingthese analyses provides a list of 14 items (Items 3,
18, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 38, 54, 56, 60, 66) that
require further exploration due to their negative
point-measure correlations or statistical misfit.

Discussion
Overall, although test-takers appear to have
performed well on the test (with a mean of near90%) the high number of outfit statistics outside of
the acceptable range indicates that this test did not

178 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

act as an effective measurement tool. The personitem variable map (Figure 1) showed that there wasa mismatch between clusters of test-takers and itemdifficulty – most items fell below the abilities of test
takers. This represents a low precision of measurement
and is known as an item-targeting problem (Wright,
Mead & Ludlow, 1980). Gaps in the spread of items
potentially indicate that some domain of the assessedvariable is not being measured by the test and that thecontent validity of the assessment tool is questionable(Baghaei, 2008). In the current case, this means that
there were not enough questions of high enoughdifficulty to assess the acquisition of the original 250
word study list and that this test was likely partly
measuring another dimension; for instance, preexisting knowledge of many of the words. Gaps in the
person-item map may mean that the items on the test

Using Rasch Analysis to Evaluate an Achievement Test, pages 175-180
are not appropriately representative of the content
being tested (Baghaei & Amrahi, 2011; Smith,2001). The gaps may also mean that the items on
the test are not appropriately representative of thecontent being tested (Smith, 2001). Fit statistics wereused to check the relevance of test content since misfitting items are suggested to be measuring a different
construct although in this test, the infit statistics
were generally within the acceptable range (Baghaei,2009). However, over half of the test items exhibited
misfitting outfit MNSQ values, which could meanthat either able students were getting easy questions
incorrect, or less-abled students were getting difficult
questions correct. These items certainly require
further exploration to determine which was thecase, and how this might be addressed. Nonetheless,
it is the mis-fitting infit statistics that are a greater
threat to measurement precision than outfit (Linacre,2007). The responses to the 43 items with all outfit
statistics outside of the acceptable ranges, 13 of which
are significant, most likely represent an issue withparticular test-takers’ responses rather than the item
itself, especially since none of the items fell outside
the abilities of the test taking population.
In terms of the potentially problematic items,
there are several options for follow-up: eliminationof the item, adjusting some or all of the distractors
or modifying the question stem. Any of theseprocesses would likely require a distractor analysis
beforehand, which determines whether the test taker
is being meaningfully distracted or if the distractor iscontributing to the measurement (Andrich & Styles,
2011; Baghei & Amrahi, 2011). It would also ensure
test takers are engaged with the items by providing
evidence for how well the distractors are causing
responses that match the cognitive processes forwhich the distracters were developed to engage (Wolfe& Smith, 2007). Factor analysis is also lacking fromthe current study (which could determine the unidimensionality of the test to confirm that there are
not several different constructs being measured) as arecomparisons with scores from other forms of English
assessment (oral assessment, overall course grade) for
the sake of predictive validity and generalizability.
While further investigation is certainly required,monitoring and modification will likely contribute to
the validity arguments for future versions of the test.

Conclusion
Despite test items falling well within the abilitiesof the test takers, the results of the Rasch analysis
provided an initial evaluation of the validity of items
on an achievement vocabulary test for beginner
English learners. While some of the items on thistest require further analysis, the results here show thevalue of evaluations of tests using Rasch. These typesof analysis can provide a useful tool for educators
working towards increasing the validity of theirassessment, ultimately providing a better picture ofwhere students’ abilities lie.

References
Andrich, D., & Styles, I. (2011). Understanding
Rasch Measurement: Distractors with
Information in Multiple Choice Items: A
Rationale Based on the Rasch Model. Journal ofApplied Measurement, 12, 67-95.
Baghaei, P. (2008). The Rasch model as a constructvalidation tool. Rasch Measurement Transactions,22, 1145-1146.
Baghaei, P. (2009). A Rasch-informed standard
setting procedure. Rasch Measurement
Transactions, 23, 1214.
Baghaei, P., & Amrahi, N. (2011). Validation of aMultiple Choice English Vocabulary Test with
the Rasch Model. Journal of Language Teaching
and Research, 2, 1052-1060.
Beglar, D. (2010). A Rasch-based validation of the
Vocabulary Size Test. Language Testing, 27, 101118.
Beglar, D., & Hunt, A. (1999). Revising andvalidating the 2000 Word Level and University
Word Level Vocabulary Tests. Language Testing.
16, 131-162.
Bond, T. G. (2003). Validity and assessment: a
Rasch measurement perspective. Metodologia delas Ciencias del Comportamiento, 5, 179-194.
Bond, T.G., & Fox, C.M. (2001). Applying the
Rasch Model: Fundamental Measurement in
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Runnelsthe Human Sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Churchill, G.A., (1979). A paradigm for developing
better measures of marketing constructs, Journalof Marketing Research, 16, 64–73.
Eckes, T. (2011). Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch
Measurement. Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang.
Linacre, J. M. (2007). A user’s guide to
WINSTEPS-MINISTEP: Rasch-modelcomputer programs. Chicago, IL: winsteps.com.
Linacre, J. M. (2008). Winsteps Rasch Measurement
Computer Program. Chicago: winsteps.com.
Meara P., & Buxton, B. (1987). An alternative to
multiple choice vocabulary tests. Language
Testing, 4, 142–154.
Messick, S. (1995). Validity of psychologicalassessment: Validation of inferences frompersons’ responses and performances as
scientific inquiry into score meaning. American
Psychologist, 50, 741–749.
Nation, I.S.P. (1990). Teaching and learning
vocabulary. New York, NY: Newbury House.
Nation, I.S.P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in anotherlanguage. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
Rasch, G. (1980). Probabilistic models for someintelligence and attainment tests. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.
Royal, K., & O’Neill, T.R. (2011). Explaining
Discrepancies Between the Sum of Subtest

Scale-Scores and Total Scale-Scores. Rasch
Measurement Transactions, 25, 1338.
Schmitt, N., Schmitt, D., & Clapham, C. (2001).
Developing and exploring the behaviour of
two new versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test.
Language Testing, 18, 55–88.
Smith, E.V. (2000). Metric development and score
reporting in Rasch measurement, Journal ofApplied Measurement, 1, 303–326.
Smith, E. V. (2001). Evidence for the reliability ofmeasures and validity of measure interpretation:
A Rasch measurement perspective. Journal ofApplied Measurement, 2, 281-311.
Wolfe, E. W. & Smith, E. V. (2007). Instrument
development tools and activities for measurevalidation using Rasch models: Part IIvalidation activities. Journal of Applied
Measurement, 8, 204-234.
Wright, B.D. & Stone, M.H. (1979). Best test
design. Chicago, IL: MESA Press.
Wright, B.D., Mead, R.J., & Ludlow, L.H.
(1980). KIDMAP: Person-by-item interaction
mapping. Research Memorandum No. 29. MESA
Psychometric Laboratory, Department of
Education, University of Chicago.
Yumoto, F., & Stone, M. (2011). Comparing Item
Calibration Estimates using Winsteps and
RUMM2010. Rasch Measurement Transactions,25, 1329.

Authors’ Biographies:
Judith Runnels is lecturer in the Global Communication Department of Hiroshima Bunkyo
Women’s University. Her research interests include language testing and evaluation.

180 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

Communicative Competence for Listening
Comprehension

Yukie Saito
Dokkyo University
ty-saito@yacht.ocn.ne.jp
Acquiring communicative competence has been considered as the ultimate goal in communicative
language teaching. Although the importance of acquiring communicative competence has been
mainly emphasized in terms of the instruction of speaking, it can also be applicable to the
instruction of listening. In Japan, recently the instruction of listening has been recognized as oneof the major components in English education. However, it seems that English teachers lack clear
guidelines on how to instruct listening skills. Therefore, in the paper, adopting the definition ofcommunicative competence in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages,
I will attempt to reconsider communicative competence as a comprehension framework forlistening comprehension.
コミュニケーション能力の取得はコミュニカティブ·ランゲージ·ティーチングにおける究極の目標として考えられてきた。コミュニケーション能力を獲得することの重要性は、スピーキン
グ指導の観点から強調されてきたが、それはまた、リスニングの指導にも適用が可能である。日本では、リスニング指導法には明確なガイド導最近になってリスニング指導は英語教育における主要な要素の一つとして認識されてきている。しかし、それは英語教師にとって、リスニングスキル指導法に関しての明確なガイドラインが欠けていると考えられる。したがって、本論文では、ヨーロッパ言語共通参照枠のコミュニケーション能力の定義を採用して、リスニングのための理解の枠組みとしてコミュニケーション能力を再考を試みる。
Keywords: Listening comprehension, communicative competence, pragmatics, sociolinguistics

Currently, one of the most commonly accepted
methods in language teaching is communicative
language teaching, in which the desired goal is to help
English learners acquire communicative competence(Brown, 2001, p. 42). The importance of acquiring
communicative skills has also been emphasized in
English education in Japan. According to Ministry of*

Saito, Y. (2013). Communicative Competence
for Listening Comprehension. In R. Chartrand,
S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 181-186). Hiroshima:
JALT.

*

Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology(MEXT) (2003), the overall objective of foreign
language teaching is to develop students’ basic
practical communication abilities. Though theimportance of acquiring communicative competence
for speaking has been mainly emphasized, acquiring
communicative competence can be helpful for
listening comprehension. One of the major goalsof foreign language teaching in Japan proposed by
MEXT is to accustom and familiarize students
with listening to English. Also, English language
proficiency tests such as TOEIC and EIKEN, which
are widely taken English proficiency tests, and the
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181

SaitoNational Center Test, a test taken by third grade highschool students, include listening sections which
require various types of knowledge for listening
comprehension. Recently, many researchers (Brown,
2001; Field, 1998; Flowerdew & Miller, 2005;
Gilbert, 1995; Mendelsohn, 1995; Rost, 2002;
Vandergrfit, 1999; Yumitani, 2005) have proposed
the adoption of listening strategies or skills forlistening comprehension. However, it seems there isno systematic and comprehensive guidance on how
to instruct listening to Japanese EFL learners. Thus,
a comprehensive and effective teaching of listening,which can be applied to a wide spectrum of Japanese
EFL learners who need to communicate in English or
take English proficiency tests such as the TOEIC or
EIKEN tests, is crucial. Communicative competence
may offer some suggestions on how to address theneed for the instruction of listening comprehension
in English education in Japan.
Hymes defines communicative competence
as what a speaker needs to know in order to becommunicatively competent in a speech community(as cited in Richards & Rodgers, 2001). Canale
proposed four comprehensive theoretical frameworks
of communicative competence: grammaticalcompetence, socio-linguistic competence, discourse
competence and strategic competence (as citedin Kitao, 1993). Backman’s model of language
competence consists of organizational competence
and pragmatic competence (1990). Organizational
competence is composed of grammatical competence:
the knowledge of vocabulary, morphology, syntax, andphonology; and textual competence: the knowledgeof the conventions for joining utterances together
to form a text. Pragmatic competence is composedof illocutionary competence: the knowledge ofspeech acts as language function and sociolinguisticcompetence: the knowledge of the conventions oflanguage use determined by the features of the specificlanguage use context. Recently under the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages(CERF) the learning, teaching and assessmentof communicative competence was reevaluated(Council of Europe, 2001). CEFR is a framework ofreference and it was designed to provide a transparent,

182 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

coherent and comprehensive basis for the elaborationof language syllabuses and curriculum guidelines, thedesign of teaching and learning materials, and theassessment of foreign language proficiency (Councilof Europe, 2001). Communicative competences,which CEFR presents, are composed of linguisticcompetences which include lexical, phonological,
syntactical knowledge and skills and other dimensionsof language as a system, sociolinguistic competences
which refer to the sociocultural conditions of languageuse, and pragmatic competences which are concernedwith the functional use of linguistic resources suchas the production of speech acts. In this paper, using
the model of communicative competence given
by CEFR, it will be demonstrated how linguistic,sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences canform a comprehensive framework for listening
comprehension.

Linguistic Competence for Listening
Comprehension
Linguistic competence is lexical, grammatical,
semantic, phonological, orthographic and orthopedic
knowledge (Council of Europe, 2001). Flowerdew
and Miller (2005) point out that a listener needs theknowledge of the role of syntax. The knowledge ofsyntax is a part of grammatical knowledge (Councilof Europe, 2001). This knowledge is essential for
Japanese EFL learners because the structures ofEnglish and Japanese are different. For example, theknowledge of syntax will enable listeners to predictthat a verb comes after a subject in declarative
sentences, not an object or a complement as inJapanese. Semantic knowledge of the meanings ofthe relations between the words in a sentence is also
helpful in listening comprehension (Flowerdew &Miller, 2005).
Recently, the importance of phonologicalknowledge, such as the knowledge of phonemes,stress, tone groups as a basic unit of informationand sound change like assimilation and elision forlistening comprehension has been emphasized bymany researchers (Brown, 2001; Gilbert, 1995;
Mendelsohn, 1994, 1995; Rost, 2002; and Yumitani,

Communicative Competence for Listening Comprehension, pages 181-186
2005). Understanding the difference betweem stresson content words and stress on function words isbeneficial to listening. Content words such as nouns
or the main verbs are usually stressed while function
words such as articles and conjunction are not usuallystressed (Murcia, Brinton & Goodwin, 1996). Thisknowledge is helpful because it enables listeners tofocus on content words in listening. Since a numberof differences exist in phonemes and stress pattern
between English and Japanese, the knowledge
needed for listening mentioned above should beseen as basic and structural knowledge for listening
comprehension, thus it should be introduced fromthe early stages in the instruction of listening.

Sociolinguistic Competence for
Listening Comprehension
Sociolinguistic competence is related to theknowledge and skills required to deal with the social
dimension of language use (Council of Europe, 2001).
Understanding register differences and politenessconventions are a part of sociolinguistic competence(Council of Europe, 2001). English native speakers
can choose appropriate expressions from informal
ones to formal ones depending on context. For
instance, they may use “Close the widow, please.” fora request to a friend and “May I ask you to close thewidow?” for a request to someone whose position ishigher than their position. They may also use moreindirect expression, such as “its cold in here”, as arequest to close the window. However, it is difficult tounderstand the intention of the indirect request as a
non-native English speaking listener. Native speakers
also try to avoid face threatening acts, to mitigate
refusals and to adopt different uses of refusal strategies
including fillers such as “well”, regrets such as “I’msorry” and gratitude such as “Thank you” (Beebe,
Takahashi, & Uliss-Weltz, 1990). Listeners need tounderstand not only language but also contextual
meaning including the social status and interpersonal
relationships in the language use and the intentionsof the speakers (Murcia & Olshtain, 2000). In
one of the proficiency tests which has been widelyused, the TOEIC, the listening section includes

various types of indirect expressions such as indirect
requests, suggestions, offers, apologies and refusals(Saito, 2012). Therefore, listeners need to become
accustomed to indirect expressions not only forconversations but also for listening comprehensionof such language proficiency tests.

Pragmatic Competence for Listening
Comprehension
Pragmatic competences are related to the user
/ learner’s knowledge of the principles and include
functional competence such as production of speechacts, discourse competence and design competence(Council of Europe, 2001). It can be said that it is
the knowledge of how to use and respond to different
types of speech acts. In order to understand a basic
unit of communication, listeners need to understandspeakers’ intentions in different speech acts suchas requests, suggestions, promises, apologies andquestions. Murcia and Olshtain (2000) mention thathigher-level organizing elements such as adjacency
pairs in conversation structure are all crucial to thelistener. Adjacency pairs are the relation of the firstpair parts and the second pair parts such as a question
and an answer and they are at least two turns inlength (Psathas, 1994). The knowledge of adjacency
pairs and speech acts will help listeners to predict
appropriate responses such as an answer to a question
and an acceptance or a refusal to a request. Discourse
competence is the knowledge of cohesiveness in formand coherence in meaning in both spoken and written
text (Barron, 2003). As an example of cohesivenessin form, understanding different pronouns and whatcertain pronouns refer to in spoken text can be helpful
in listening comprehension. The knowledge of topic
shift which refers to the knowledge about when tochange a topic, the knowledge of turn taking whichrefers to how interlocutors take turns at speaking, andthe knowledge of back channeling which are signals
a listener uses to show that he/ she is attending are allimportant for listening (Flowerdew & Miller, 2005).
In order to understand how discourse is structured,
the knowledge of discourse markers can be also
beneficial to listening to a conversation (Mendelsohn,
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SaitoFigure 1. Framework for Communicative Competence for Listening Comprehension

1994). The knowledge of discourse markers suchas “however” as contrast, or “moreover” as addition
will enable listeners to understand structures oflong monologues. This knowledge can be helpful inlistening to speeches and lectures. The knowledge of
topic shift, turn taking and discourse marker, whichmake spoken text into meaningful sets of utterances,is essential in order to be able to listen to spoken texts
with larger structures.

Suggestions
In the previous sections, it was discussed how
linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence,and discourse competence in communicativecompetence of CEFL can be useful knowledge forlistening comprehension. Figure 1 shows a summaryof the instruction of listening using communicativecompetence as a comprehensive framework.
Grammatical knowledge such as lexicon andsyntax in linguistic knowledge is essential for listening
comprehension. Also, phonological knowledge suchas phonemes, stress, tone group and sound change
like assimilation and elision can be beneficial for
Japanese EFL learners since there are significant
phonological differences between Japanese andEnglish. For instance some differences of phonemes
between /f/ and /h/ are difficult for Japanese EFL
students (Avery & Ehrlich, 1992). Not only linguisticcompetence but also sociolinguistic competence isessential for listening comprehension. Teachers are
expected to instruct different indirect expressions
such as indirect requests using different linguistic

184 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

forms depending on different contexts, which enable
listeners to understand speaker’s intention in indirect
expressions. Pragmatic competence such as theknowledge about how to use and respond to different
speech acts and the knowledge to understand larger
spoken texts will also enables listeners to understandintentions in different speech acts and understandcontents of larger spoken texts. Framework as
proposed above from linguistic competence forbeginner level students to discourse competence foradvanced students is the suggested framework. About
when to teach linguistic competence, sociolinguisticcompetence, and discourse competence does not haveto be so clear cut and for instance some knowledgeof discourse competence can be introduced at any
stage of learning. However, all of the competencesof linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence
and discourse competence are essential competences
and they should be introduced in the instructionof listening. Thus, this framework can be a usefulframework for the instruction of listening.

Conclusion
In this paper, it was demonstrated how
communicative competence can be a comprehensive
framework for listening comprehension using thedefinition of communicative competence of CEFR.
As discussed, linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmaticcompetences in communicative competence can beimportant knowledge for listening comprehension.
Using the framework discussed above, it is possible
for teachers to instruct students about the knowledge

Communicative Competence for Listening Comprehension, pages 181-186
necessary for listening comprehension depending on
students’ levels. Some of the competences looked atin this framework such as phonology and even basic
speech acts can be introduced to young learners. It is
hoped that the proposed framework of communicativecompetence for listening comprehension can givesome suggestions about what needs to be taught in
the instruction of listening to English educators.

References
Avery, P. & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American
English. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press.
Backman, L. F. (1990). Fundamental considerations
in language testing. Oxford, England: Oxford
University Press.
Barron, A. (2003). Acquisition in interlanguage
pragmatics: Learning how to do with words ina study abroad context. Philadelphia, PA: John
Benjamins Publishing Company.
Beebe, L. M., Takahashi, T. & Uliss-Weltz, R.
(1990). Pragmatic transfer in ESL Refusals. In
R. Scarcella, E. Anderson, & S. D. Krashen(Eds.), Developing communicative competence
in a second language (pp. 55-73). Boston, MA:
Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
Brown, A. (2001). Teaching by principles: Aninteractive approach to language pedagogy. New
York, NY: Pearson Education.
Council of Europe. (2001). Common European
framework of reference for languages: learning,teaching, assessment. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Field, J. (1998). Skills and Strategy: Toward a new
methodology for listening. ELT Journal 52(2),110-118.
Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (2005). Second language
listening: Theory and practice. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Gilbert, J. B. (1995). Pronunciation practice asan aid to listening comprehension. In D. J.
Mendelsohn & Rubin (Eds.), A Guide for theteaching of second language listening (pp. 97109). San Diego, CA: Dominie Press.
Kitao, S. (1993).Communicative competence inEnglish: Teaching about functions. Kyoto:
Doshisha Women’s College. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED 3712614)
Mendelsohn, D. J. (1994). Learning to listen: A
strategy based approach for the second language
learner. San Diego, CA: Dominie Press.
Mendelsohn, D. J. (1995). Applying learning
strategies in the second / foreign language
listening comprehension lesson. In D. J
Mendelsohn & Rubin. (Eds.), A guide for theteaching of second language listening (pp. 97109). San Diego, CA: Dominie Press.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology. (2003) The course of study for foreign
languages. Retrieved from http://www.mext.
go.jp/english/shoutou/ 030301.htm
Murcia, M.C., Brinton, D. M, & Goodwin, J.M.
(1996).Teaching pronunciation: A reference
for teachers of other languages. Cambridge,
Engaland: Cambridge University Press.
Murcia, M.C., & Olshtain, E. (2000). Discourse andcontent in language teaching: A guide for language
teachers. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
Psathas, G. (1994). Conversation analysis: The studyof talk in interaction. London, England: Sage
Publications.
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches
and methods in language teaching. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Rost, M. (2002). Teaching and researching listening.
Essex, England: Longman.
Saito, Y. (2012). Sociolinguistic competence forlistening comprehension: Speech act analysis
of TOEIC Part 2. The modern English circles
collections of papers, 6, 19-42.
Yumitani, Y. (2005). Phonetic instruction is usefulfor listening. The English Teachers’ Magazine,
54(10), 22-24.

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SaitoAuthor’s Biography:
Yukie Saito has been working for Dokkyo University since 2012. She has been interested
in pragmatics, particularly its application in second language listening practice and second
language listening.

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The Challenge of English Sentence Subjects (Shugo) toJapanese Learners

Nobuko Trent
Aoyama Gakuin University
nobuko@trent.net
Japanese learners of English in colleges, especially basic level students, tend to have difficulties indetermining the proper sentence subject even after years of formal instruction. This problem ofsentence structure could seriously hinder their development of English skills because in English
sentences, the sentence subject is said to be the most important and powerful element controlling
all grammatical elements in the sentence. Japanese sentences are also supposed to have a sentence
subject, shugo. On the surface, however, Japanese sentences do not always have a subject, butscholars simply consider this an abbreviation of an understood subject. However, error analyses
of Japanese learners of English suggest that the learners may not have correct understanding ofsentence subjects in either language. This study presents an analysis of this particular syntacticalproblem, relates the issues to the theories of Japanese syntax, and proposes solutions to improve
English education.
文法的に正しい英文を構築できない初心者レベルの大学生の比率は年々高くなる傾向にある。特に適切な文主語を設定できない学習者が多く、英文では主語が文全体の形態を決定するのでこれはスキルの向上を大きく妨げている。初級学習者の多くは日本語を英文に変換しているので、実際に使われている日本語文に主語がないことが英語の主語の問題に影響しているのではないだろうか。現在の教育では日本語に主語があるとされているが実際には使われない場合が多い。英語学習者のエラー分析の結果、学習者はどちらの言語でも正しい文主語の概念を持っていないのではないかと疑われる。この文主語の問題は英語、日本語がそれぞれの話者にどのように言語脳内で認知されているかにも関連があるという学説もあり、統語論、外国語教育を含む様々な領域に関連している。このリサーチは文の構造学の中で特に主語についてのエラー分析に基づき英語教育への提案も試みている。
Keywords: EFL, pragmatics, Japanese syntax, English syntax, sentence subject

Although we tend to assume that sentence subjects
are obligatory in most languages, apparently, this is*

Trent, N. (2013). The challenge of English
sentence subjects (Shugo) to Japanese learners. In R.
Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012
Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 187-195).
Hiroshima: JALT.

*

not the case. According to Matsumoto (2006), thegroup of languages that structurally require sentence
subjects is smaller than the group in which a subject is
not obligatory. A limited number of languages belong
to the former group including English, German,
French, Romansh, Dutch, and some Scandinavian
languages (Pelmutter, 1971 quoted in Matsumoto,2006, Tsukimoto, 2008). Whether or not Japanese
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Trentsentences have a syntactical subject has been acontroversial issue in academia. Considering the long
history of Japanese literacy, it is puzzling that scholars
started energetically debating this issue a mere 50
years ago. Even more disturbingly, this impedes theforeign language learning processes for Japanese
students. One of the reasons for the confusion is that
the Japanese subject issue includes both syntacticaland semantic aspects. Since this study deals with aJapanese learners’ problem with English sentence
structure, especially the sentence subject, the study’s
focus is with the Japanese syntactical sentence subject(subjective case).

MethodEight hundred ungrammatical English sentences
written by 95 basic and 74 intermediate level
Japanese learners of English were categorized into
13 major error types. Among them, errors related tosentence subjects were analyzed and contrasted withcorresponding Japanese sentences. Learners werealso asked how often they translate from Japanese
to English when they create English sentences, andwhich English grammar issues they have difficulties
with (see Appendix).

Learners’ Problem with English
Sentence Subjects: A Type ofNegative Transfer?
Language transfer from a learners’ native language
can occur when learners think in their native
language, and transfer its unique features to theirtarget language. Figure 1 shows how often, students
claimed, they translate Japanese sentences to English.
Among 187 students, fewer than 10% answered thatthey think in English and do not translate. The restof the students translate from Japanese to English 50
to 100% of the time. This process most likely causes
negative transfer from Japanese structure to English.
Figure 2 shows the numbers of actual errors in
different grammar items found in students’ writing.
The most frequent errors are with general syntax,
verb/verb phrases, sentence subjects, and articles.
Thus, sentence subject-related errors are a serious
problem. However, when students were asked whatgrammar points are most difficult, their answers(Figure 3) did not conform to the results in Figure
2. Learners are not aware they have problems withEnglish sentence subjects. As a matter of fact, aftersemesters of instruction to pay attention to English
sentence subjects, a great proportion of learners nevermake significant progress; they keep writing subject-

Figure 1. How often students translate from Japanese sentences to English.

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The Challenge of English Sentence Subjects to Japanese Learners, pages 187-195

Figure 2. Number of actual errors in different grammar items

Figure 3. Grammar items that students claim to be challenging

free sentences or sentences with wrong subjects.
In this study, errors with sentence subjects are
categorized into several common types, and analyzed
in relation with equivalent Japanese sentences to see
if negative transfer is involved.

Analysis of Learner Errors with
Sentence Subject in English
Error Type (A): Dummy Subject “It” Is Used
Without Representing a Concrete Agent (Doer)The English dummy subject “it” is mainly used
“in the normal subject position in statements abouttime, distance, or weather” or “in the normal subject
or object position when a more specific subject
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Trentor object is given later in the sentence” (OED,
2003), but is frequently used by learners in place ofappropriate sentence subjects as if they do not feel thenecessity for concrete subjects.
(*ungrammatical)(A-1) *There are things that are more important thanknowing the opposite sex. It cannot understandthe opposite sex unless knowing the opposite sex.
(A-2) * If it thinks only bad things, it becomes impossible
to do anything.
(A-3) * I am not working in order to do the management.
It is working in order to make highest computer.
In these sentences (A-1–A-3), the incorrectly usedsubject “it” can be replaced by, for example, “they” or“I.” However, these “it” sentences are natural without
an explicit subject when translated to Japanese as
shown in (A-2J) below.

(A-2J) moshi warui koto dake o kanngae tara,
If bad thing only OBJ think COND
nanimo dekinaku natte shimau.
nothing cannot do become RES“It” is used as the dummy sentence subject for
English sentences without a concrete subject.
(A-4J) samui. (It is cold)
cold(A-5J) ima gojida. (It is 5 o’clock now.)

now five o’clock COP
It can be assumed that Japanese learners often use
the subject “it” incorrectly in English because they
consider “it” to be good for statements without clear
subjects like the above examples (A-4J) and (A-5J).

Error Type (B): English Sentence Subjects Are
Missing(B-1) *I think that (missing subject) should not quit
using nuclear power for two reasons.
(B-2) *However, this opinion is wrong, and (missing
subject) don’t agree with their idea.
(B-3) *The second reason is that (missing subject andverb) not discharging CO2 at the time of power
generation.

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These ungrammatical sentences do not havesentence subjects (or clause subjects). However, thesubjects can be easily filled with “we,” “I,” or “they/it.” Then, why do not the learners use a concrete
subject? Again, in the equivalent Japanese sentences,subject words are not obligatory. For example, in (B2J), a subject is not used in the second statement, but
the sentence is natural in Japanese.
(B-2J) shikashi, kono iken wa machigatte iru,
however this opinion TOP wrong STAT
soshite karera no iken ni sansei shimasen.
and their POSS opinions DAT agree do NEG
Japanese speakers often do not emphasize
pronouns equivalent to “I,” or other words thatsuggest agents when the subject/agent is obvious, oreven when not obvious. Nakajima (1987) wrote thatemotions and intentions are always expressed fromthe speaker’s viewpoint in Japanese so that the subject
does not need to appear in such sentences, while
English sentences are expressed from the viewpointof its sentence subject. Also, it is said that understood
topics/subjects can be omitted in Japanese social
situations that are intensely grouped and closed (e.g.,
Makino and Tsutsui, 1989). Additionally, it has beenargued that modern day pronouns are imported fromwestern languages, and the Japanese language does
not require them (e.g., Kanaya, 2002). Therefore,
it can also be hypothesized that students may havedifficulties using English pronouns properly.
Error Type (C): General Topic Is Incorrectly Usedas the Sentence Subject for English Sentences
In these types of ungrammatical sentences, thetopic of the speech situation is erroneously used as
the sentence subject. In these sentences, even if the
topic is shown, there is no subject, and the predicate
does not provide clear meanings.
(C-1) *Christmas is cake.
(We eat cake at the time of Christmas?/Cakeis the most important thing at the time ofChristmas?/Christmas means that we eat
cake?)(C-2) *Sunday is dating.

The Challenge of English Sentence Subjects to Japanese Learners, pages 187-195(I am dating on Sundays?/Sundays are goodfor dating?/People should date on Sundays?)
The meanings of the above sentences can beinterpreted in many ways. Similarly, the Japanesecounterparts (C-1J) and (C-2J) do not provide clear
meaning.
(C-1J) kurisumasu wa keeki da.
Christmas TOP cake COP(C-2J) nichiyoobi wa
deeto da.
Sunday TOP dating COP
However, these Japanese sentences are commonly
used, and it seems that the precise meanings are notconsidered important. This sentence structure, called“predicate structure” has been used for at least one
thousand years from the 10th century. For example,
Makurano-soshi, a book of observation and musings,
written by Seishonagon around 990 A.D. alreadyused sentences composed simply of a topic and ashort predicate.
haru wa akebono. (In spring, the time of dawn isgood?)
spring TOP dawn
natsu wa yoru. (In summer, night time is good?)
summer TOP night
aki wa yugure. (In autumn, evening is good?)
fall TOP dusk
fuyu wa tsutomete. (In winter, early morning isgood?)
winter TOP morning
It seems that subject-free, predicate-only sentences
are a Japanese tradition. Again, the exact meanings ofthese sentences are not clear, and readers or hearers
decide the meaning of such sentences.
Error Type (D): The Subject Is Detached from theEnglish Sentence, and Is Expressed in Adverbial
Phrases and Attached to the Sentence
In this kind of erroneous English sentence,subjects are treated as the topic in an adverbial phrase,
and there is no appropriate subject in the main clause.
(D-1) *As an employee, there is fear that a person is alittle tooth on a giant cogwheel.

(As an employee, I have a fear that?/An
employee has a fear that?)(D-2) *A reason for declining birth rate, it is in awoman’s order of desirable priority of marriage
and children.
(One reason for declining birth rate is relatedwith women’s decreased order of priority
regarding marriage and having children?)(D-3) *A solution to declining birth rate, improvementof childcare system and social security system isneeded.
(One solution for the declining birth rate is
to improve the childcare system and social
security system.)
In (D-1) “there is/are” structure is used. Japaneselearners tend to overuse “there is/are” structures. This
probably comes from learners’ preference for the
popular Japanese verb “aru” (exist). Some scholars
claim that Japanese is a language of “aru” (exist)and “naru” (become) while English is a “suru” (do)language (e.g., Ando, 1996; Kanaya, 2003). Whenthe verb “aru” (exist) is used, the sentence may notneed a subject (doer). In D-2 and D-3, the first part[A reason for declining birth rate], and [A solution
to declining birth rate] are the literal subjects ofthe sentences, but the learners chose to treat themas topics, and made them separate from the main
sentence. These examples may reflect the reality of
spoken Japanese sentence structure; that is, althougha topic (shudai) exists, a clear sentence subject is not
usually used.

Does Japanese Really Have Sentence
Subjects?
There seem to be roughly three varieties of analysis
regarding Japanese sentence structure, especiallysentence subject. The first approach, which may be
the most prevalent, is that Japanese sentences have asentence subject similar to English sentences. Current
Japanese “school grammar” taught from elementary
to high school, based on the so-called “Hashimotogrammar,” assumes the existence of a sentence subject(shugo) (e.g., Kuno 1973, 1983; Kuroda, 2005;
Shibatani, 1990). This analysis is largely influenced
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TrentFigure 4. Different analysis of Japanese sentence structure

by western linguistic studies and was introduced toJapanese school grammar decades ago. In this view,
Japanese sentence structure can be analyzed like
English, with the exception that Japanese sentences
follow SOV structure while English sentences have
SVO structure [see (A) in Figure 4].
The second analysis of the issue claims thatJapanese does not need a sentence subject, andhistorically has never had one: sentences are composedof predicates only and sometimes have a topic. (e.g.,
Hattori, 1966; Kanaya, 2002, 2003; Mikami, 1975;
Nakajima, 1987; and Tsukimoto, 2008). [see (B) in
Figure 4]
A neurological approach may support this view.
Based on neurological experiments on brain behavior
using several languages, Tsukimoto (2008) claimed
that the brain of speakers of languages in whichvowels are dominant, including Japanese, tend not
to need sentence subjects. Vowels are processed in
the language area of the left brain. On the other
hand, consonants are acknowledged in the right

192 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

brain and their information is transferred to theleft brain. The right brain is also responsible fordifferentiation between “self ” and “other.” As a result,vowel-dominated languages are processed fasterthan consonant-dominant languages. Also voweldominant languages do not cause active cognitionof “self ” and “other.” The speakers of consonantdominant languages such as English, on the other
hand, discriminate between “I” and “other” moreclearly and use sentence subjects as well as personalpronouns. Tsukimoto and other related researchers
also identified the correlation between vowel
dependency and subject omission (e.g., Tsunoda,1978).
Another approach to Japanese syntax takes
a position between the previous two. There aredifferences among the supporters of this group. For
example, Tsunoda (2009) stated that compared toEnglish, Japanese sentence subjects have a weakersyntactic function, and thus are less important. Noda
(2002) proposed that the shudai (topic) should beThe Challenge of English Sentence Subjects to Japanese Learners, pages 187-195
separated from the idea of shugo (subject) which isconsidered to have multiple functions including
being the nominal case, the agent of the verb, and theagent to show the topic.
Approaches which do not vehemently support
shugo in Japanese seem to be closer to the reality ofactual language use: predicate-only structures arewidely used. At the same time, shugo (or agents/
doers) does appear in Japanese sentences, so shugo
as a subjective (nominative) case may be optional aswell as other grammatical cases that complete the fullmeaning of a sentence. As Nakajima (1987) wrote,
Japanese may not be a language which can be analyzed
fully by its syntax, and its meaning may depend more
on semantic or pragmatic analysis.

Conclusion and Suggestions forEnglish Teaching
To discuss whether or not Japanese has a sentence
subject is not at all the primary purpose of this study.
The intent is to determine the relevance of Japaneselearners’ English errors to their understanding of
the structure of their native language. Based on theerror analyses, it can be argued that Japanese learners’
problem with English sentence subject is largely
created by their idea of Japanese sentences; thus,
negative transfer is the cause. Then, the next step is toconsider solutions.
By the time students are in college, it is fairly
difficult to make a drastic improvement in theirsyntactical understanding of English. Early stage
instruction may be significantly useful. However,currently, young students are mostly engaged incommunicative learning; thus, it may not be ideal
to introduce structure focused instruction at an
early stage. Based on this notion, some ideas can beproposed including the following.
Give learners some opportunities to think about
the differences between their native language andEnglish in relation with the use of sentence subjects.
The following are some examples:
1. Present Japanese fairy tales in both Japanese andEnglish. Most Japanese sentences do not havesentence subjects (agent/doer), and the subject

positions of English sentences are not filled.
Instruct them to add appropriate subject words totheir English sentences from the Japanese context.
2. Compare the use of English and Japanese nouns
that reference people such as “you” (anata, omae,
name+san, kimi, etc.,) and “I” (watashi, ore,watakushi, okaasan, boku, etc.) to see how English
subjects and Japanese subjects are very different,
and thus cannot be treated in the same way.
3. Emphasize the nature and limited use of thedummy subject, “it.”4. Use natural sentences for Japanese translations ofEnglish. Where appropriate, Japanese sentences
should not include a subject word.
5. Discuss English language culture in comparison
with that of Japanese. For example, being familiar
with the differences of “do” language culture and“existing” language culture may help learners
intuitively understand how to begin sentences ineach language.

References
Ando, S. (1996). Eigo no ronri nihongo no ronri[English logic and Japanese logic]. Tokyo, Japan:
Taishukan.
Hattori, S. (1966). Gengogaku no hoho [Methodsof linguistics studies]. Tokyo, Japan: Iwanami
Shoten.
Kanaya, T. (2002). Nihongo ni shugo wa iranai [Noneed of sentence subject for Japanese]. Tokyo,
Japan: Kodansha.
Kanaya, T. (2003). Nihongo bunpoo no nazo o toku
[Solving the mystery of Japanese grammar].
Tokyo, Japan: Chikuma Shobo.
Kuno, A. (1973). The structure of the Japanese
language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kuno, A. (1983). Shin nihon bunpo [New Japanesegrammar]. Tokyo, Japan: Taishukan.
Kuroda, S. (2005). Nihongo kara mita seisei bunpo[Generative grammar viewed from Japanese].
Tokyo, Japan: Iwanami Shoten.
Makino, S., & Tsutsui, M. (1988). A dictionary ofbasic Japanese grammar. Tokyo, Japan: Japan
Times.
Mastumoto, K. (2006). Sekai gengo e no shiza
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Trent[Perspectives on world languages]. Tokyo, Japan:
Sanseido.
Mikami, A. (1975). Mikami Akira ronbunshu[Collection of papers by Akira Mikami]. Tokyo,
Japan: Kuroshio Shuppan.
Nakajima, F. (1987). Nihongo no kozo [Structure ofJapanese]. Tokyo, Japan: Iwanami Shoten.
Noda, H. (2002). Shugo to shudai [Subject andtopic]. Gengo 31-6, 38-49.
Shibatani, M. (1990). The language of Japan. New

York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Tsukimoto, H. (2008). Nihonjin no noh ni shugo wa
iranai [No sentence subject is needed for theJapanese brain]. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha.
Tsunoda, T. (1978). Nihonjin no noh. [The Japanese
brain]. Tokyo, Japan: Taishukan Shoten.
Tsunoda, T. (2009). Sekai no gengo to nihongo[World languages and Japanese]. Tokyo, Japan:
Kuroshio Shuppan.

Author’s Biography:
Nobuko Trent holds degrees in English (BA), Japanese (MA), and foreign language education(Ph.D.). Her primary interests include discourse grammar and politeness studies.

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The Challenge of English Sentence Subjects to Japanese Learners, pages 187-195

Appendix
Questionnaire (無記名です)(1) 英語の文章を作るとき(書く、話す)、まず日本語で考えてからそれを英語に変えます
か？○をつけてください。
(A)
日本文で考えて英文へ変換することが多い。
(B)
いつもはじめから英語で考える。
(C)
どちらともいえない。両方の場合がある。
(A) = _________ パーセントくらい、 (B) = _________ パーセントくらい        （A, Bの合計が100%になるようにお願いします。）(2) 英語の文章を作るとき(書く、話す)、難しいと感じることはなんですか？以下から選んでください。該当するものにすべてチェック（⋎）をつけてください。より深刻なものにはダブルチェック（⋎⋎）をお願いいたします。
(1)(   ) 適当な英単語が浮かばない。
(2)(  ) 単語の並べ方（語順）が良くわからない。
(3)(  ) 英文には必ず主語が必要だが主語を何にしたら最も適当なのかよくわ
からない。
(4)
(     ) どのようなときにIt を主語にできるのかよくわからない。
(5)(  ) 英文の基本5文型のどれをつかったらいいのかわからない。
(6)(  ) 基本5文型を知らない。または5文型の考え方に賛成できない。
(7)(  ) 一文の中に複数の節（主節、従節）があるときどちらが主節なのわからない。
(8)(   ) 関係代名詞の働き、関係節の作り方が良くわからない。
(9)(   ) 英文の動詞は何にするか迷う。
(10) (   ) 動詞の時制（現在、過去、未来、進行形、完了形）がよくわからない。
(11) (   ) 受動態（受身形）と能動態がわからない。
(12) () 準動詞(I want to travel, crying child, I enjoy drinkingなど)がわからない。
(13) (  ) a/the などの冠詞がわからない。
(14) (  ) 慣用表現 (イディオム)などの知識が足りない。
(15) (   ) 単語のつづり方がよくわからない。
(16) (   ) 辞書の使い方がわからない。

TOEIC, TOEFLを受けたことがありますか？差し支えなければスコアをお知らせください。
（無記名です）The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

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Fables and Fairytales: An Overlooked Classroom
Resource?

James Venema
Nagoya Women’s University
james.venema@gmail.com
This article explores fables and fairytales as an overlooked source of materials for the English
language classroom. While many readers are familiar with fables and fairytales, there are lesscommon stories that can surprise readers. Furthermore, the message of the two genres, explicit infables and usually implicit in fairytales, is strikingly different and frequently at odds with modern
liberal values. This paper looks at three example fables that are not so widely known to highlighta harsh world view that is common in Aesop’s fables. This paper also summarizes three versions of
two common fairytales to demonstrate the rather shocking origins of many fairytales and to show
how the fairytales of Perrault and the Grimm brothers provided a consistent model of appropriate
behavior for young women. The article concludes with some suggestions for incorporating fables
and fairytales in the English language classroom.
本稿では、英語教育においてみすごされてきた寓話や童話を、教材として活用する方法について考察した。寓話や童話は一般によく読まれているが、中にはその驚くべき内容があまり知られていない作品もある。さらに、寓話においては明確に、また、童話においては暗示的に、これら二つのジャンルが伝える教訓の中には、現代の価値観とは著しく異なり、違和感を覚えるものもある。
本稿では、イソップ物語の三つの作品を取り上げ、顕著な特徴があるにもかかわらず、それらの厳しい世界観が知られていないことを例証する。さらに、別の二つの有名な童話を取り上げ、それぞれ三つの翻案を提示し、多くの童話には驚くべき原本があること、そして、ペローやグリム兄弟が、一貫して若い女性に相応しい行動の規範を描いていることを明らかにする。そして、最後に、英語の授業における寓話や童話の有効な活用法について提示する。
Key Words: Fables, fairytales, folk tales, classroom materials, EFL classroom

There probably isn’t a single reader, teacher or
student, who is not already familiar with fables and*Venema, J. (2013). Fables and Fairytales: An
overlooked classroom resource? In R. Chartrand,
S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012 Pan-SIG
Conference Proceedings (pp. 196-201). Hiroshima:
JALT.

*

196 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

fairytales. Just giving a title, such as ‘The Hare andthe Tortoise’ or ‘Cinderella’, is enough to send mostpeople off on a summary of the plot. The popularityof these stories is reflected in their abundance inmodern media, be it online written versions of thestories, published books, feature films, short videos,and even songs, meaning there are countless resources
available for teachers to use in their classrooms.

Fables and Fairytales..., pages 196-201
No doubt a number of teachers are already taking
advantage of both these resources to incorporate
fables or fairytales in the English language classroom.
However, many of the stories we are so familiar
with are based on modern adapted versions and on
a cultural filtering that can leave out lesser known,and less digestible, details. Furthermore, while fables
and fairytales are often confused, a closer look atthese two genres reveals two very different and often
surprising messages, explicit in the case of fables, andmostly implicit in fairytales. It is both the familiarityof fables and fairytales and their ability to surprisethat present opportunities to facilitate learning in the
EFL classroom.

Fables
While fables are common to many cultures andlanguages one cannot begin a discussion on fables
without reference to Aesop. Ironically, there still
remain questions and controversy regarding theattributed author of the ancient Greek fables. Most
historians attribute the fables (or most of them) to
Aesop, a slave in the ancient republics of Greece,born around the 6th century BC and later freed asa reward, perhaps for dazzling audiences and readerswith his stories. Still the only writers that make any
reference to Aesop, such as Aristotle and Herodotus,
were not his contemporaries and were, occasionally,
known to include myth in their histories. Whether
he is real or fictional, the author or the collector offables, the sole author or one of many does not, forour purposes, really matter. The power of these fables
to entertain and instruct remains.
The fables are usually very short and almost always
contain animal characters. There are typically in threeparts: the situation in brief, a choice of action, andthe result of the choice taken. The ending, whether
positive or negative, serves as an evaluation of the
choice taken. The fable may also conclude with an
overt message, occurring outside of the story, to makeexplicit a general principle. The evaluation, whether
implied by the outcome of the story or overtly
written, is central as the stories are primarily vehicles
for instruction.
Many fables such as ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’and ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’ are well-known.
However, I suspect the fables that I will introduce
are less familiar, and readers may find their messages
surprising.
(For each of the three fables the source is ‘The Project
Gutenberg EBook of Aesop’s Fables’)
The Wolf and the Lamb
A Wolf came upon a Lamb straying from the flock,and felt some compunction about taking the life of so
helpless a creature without some plausible excuse; so hecast about for a grievance and said at last, “Last year, sir,
you grossly insulted me.” “That is impossible, sir,” bleatedthe Lamb, “for I wasn’t born then.” “Well,” retorted theWolf, “you feed in my pastures.” “That cannot be,” replied
the Lamb, “for I have never yet tasted grass.” “You drink
from my spring, then,” continued the Wolf. “Indeed, sir,”said the poor Lamb, “I have never yet drunk anything
but my mother’s milk.” “Well, anyhow,” said the Wolf,“I’m not going without my dinner”: and he sprang upon
the Lamb and devoured it without more ado.
The Lion, the Fox, and the Ass
A Lion, a Fox, and an Ass went out hunting
together. They had soon taken a large booty, which theLion requested the Ass to divide between them. The
Ass divided it all into three equal parts, and modestly
begged the others to take their choice; at which the Lion,bursting with fury, sprang upon the Ass and tore him topieces. Then, glaring at the Fox, he bade him make a
fresh division. The Fox gathered almost the whole in one
great heap for the Lion’s share, leaving only the smallest
possible morsel for himself. “My dear friend,” said theLion, “how did you get the knack of it so well?” The Fox
replied, “Me? Oh, I took a lesson from the Ass.”
Happy is he who learns from the misfortunes ofothers.
The Lion in Love
A Lion fell deeply in love with the daughter of a
cottager and wanted to marry her; but her father was
unwilling to give her to so fearsome a husband, andyet didn’t want to offend the Lion; so he hit upon thefollowing expedient. He went to the Lion and said,“I think you will make a very good husband for mydaughter: but I cannot consent to your union unless
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Venemayou let me draw your teeth and pare your nails, for mydaughter is terribly afraid of them.” The Lion was somuch in love that he readily agreed that this should be
done. When once, however, he was thus disarmed, the
Cottager was afraid of him no longer, but drove him
away with his club.
The morals presented in these fables are morejarring to the modern liberal mind than that of the far
better known ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’, although
all our consistent with the Aesop world view. As
Reinstein (1983) writes:(Fables) recognize that the world is a dangerous
place, full of exploiters, bullies, and false
friends. Love counts for little; it exposes you
and foolishly allows you to relax your defenses.
The fables teach self-protection and the value of
hard work. Goodness is rarely rewarded, but evil
is often revenged. The fables recognize that in
the real world, might does make its own right –unfair, perhaps, but true, nonetheless. (p. 47)
The rationale for animal characters lies in the factthat the fables, however entertaining they might be,
are primarily vehicles for communicating practical
wisdom. Whereas with humans it might be difficult
to refrain from assuming complexity in motives andcharacter, the animals remain trapped within theirown characterizations. A lion will always be strong
and ruthless; the wolf rapacious and merciless; thefox cunning; and the ass, well, a bit of an ass. Where
animal characters try to change who and what they
are, the inevitable result is failure and, often, theirdownfall.

Fairytales
The origins of fairytales can typically be traced
to folklore. The literary fairytale with which weare most familiar evolved from oral folktales toa written genre, becoming most famous in theworks of Perrault in France, the Grimm brothers ofGermany, and Andersen in Denmark. In the 20th
century it has undergone another metamorphosis,or ‘Disneyfication’, if you will, in modern animatedfilm. More recently, movies such as Shrek (2001) and

198 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

children’s books such as The Paper Bag Princess (2007)
are offering further adaptations on the fairytale genrethat tend to be more palatable to modern westernvalues.
However popular fairytales may have become
as children’s stories, the original stories from which
they derived were often not intended for younger,
more sensitive, ears. In addition, the way the stories
evolved from oral tradition of folk tales to a written
genre shows a consistent message that is strikingly
in contrast to that of Aesop, as well to that of ourpost-feminist world. While word constraints preventme from including complete versions of the stories,
this paper will offer plot outlines of three versions of
two very popular fairytales: ‘Little Red Riding Hood’and ‘Sleeping Beauty’. All of these stories are available
in the wonderful anthology by Hallet and Karasek,‘Folk and Fairytales’ (2011).
Little Red Riding Hood
Story 1: ‘The Story of Grandmother’ (oral folktale,author unknown)
This folktale depicts an unnamed peasant girlwho meets a ‘bzou’ (werewolf ) on her way to visit
her grandmother. When the girl foolishly divulges her
destination the werewolf quickly departs and arrives
at the grandmother’s house, where he devours the oldlady and places some of her flesh in a bowl and someof her blood in a bottle. After the peasant girl arrives,
the werewolf offers the girl the blood and flesh of her
grandmother and, unwittingly, the girl does indeed
engage in cannibalism. The wolf then invites the girlinto bed, and has her take off, and burn, every article
of clothing before doing so. Once in bed she asks several
questions and realizes the wolf is about to eat her. Finally
she engineers her escape by protesting the need to relieve
herself.
Story 2: Little Red Riding Hood (Perrault):
While the girl in ‘The Story of Grandmother’ proves
she can fend for herself, in Perrault’s story she is now
spoiled and naïve, and wears a red cap symbolic of her
sinful nature. There is no cannibalism but the girl does
strip and climb into bed with the wolf. Her reward forher impropriety is to be devoured by the wolf. The sadending stands to serve as a warning to young girls to notFables and Fairytales..., pages 196-201
stop and talk to strangers, and to be aware of the always
rapacious creature: man.
Story 3: Little Red Cap (Grimm Brothers)
The plot outline pretty much follows that of Perrault,
minus the stripping, and with a happy ending inserted
as the girl is miraculously rescued by a passing hunter
who cuts open the wolf ’s stomach and pulls out the girland her grandmother. As is typical in Grimm’s stories,
the villain is served with a bloody end as the wolf issewed back up again with a stomach full of stones.
Sleeping Beauty
Story 1: Sun, Moon, and Talia (Giambattista Basile)
A princess (Talia) falls into a coma from a splinterlodged in her fingernail and is left to lie in a closed roomby her heartbroken father. She is subsequently the victim
of rape from a king passing by and gives birth to twochildren nine months later, all the while remaining in
a coma. The children are looked after by fairies until
one sucks on Talia’s finger, dislodging the splinter andawaking her from the coma. The king returns andcontinues a relationship with Talia. In revenge the queen
attempts to have the children murdered and served to theking for dinner. Her plans are foiled by a cook, and thequeen is rewarded with the fate she intended for Talia –being burned to death.
Story 2: The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
(Perrault)
An angry faerie curses the girl with death but thecurse is lessened to 100 years of sleep and the whole palace
falls into a deep sleep along with her. This time the chaste
prince who comes upon her refrains from any physicalcontact and the spell on Sleeping Beauty coincidentallycomes to an end as the prince falls, trembling, on his
knees in front of her. The role of jealous rival is given
to the mother of the prince who, once again, is foiled in
an attempt to have the children of the princess served fordinner.
Story 3: Brier Rose (Brothers Grimm)
This is the shortest version, and probably the one
we are most familiar with. While a mild form of sexual
innuendo returns as the princess is awoken by a kissfrom the passing prince, all aspects of cannibalism areremoved. The story ends with the marriage of the prince

and princess soon after her awakening.
Not surprisingly for a written genre that evolved
into stories targeting families and children, theshocking cannibalism, sexual innuendo, and rape that
occur in the original stories are edited out. Violence ismore likely to survive the editing process than sexual
innuendo, particularly in the most influential sourceof fairytales – “Children’s and Household Tales” by
the Grimm brothers (Grimm & Grimm). Thus thevisit of the prince in ‘Rapunzel’ is revealed not by
the tightening of Rapunzel’s dress, but by a slip of
the tongue. Yet he still suffers the same violent fateof being dropped from the tower and having his eyes
gouged out by thorns. More subtly, there is a gradualshift in the stories that reveal some common themes
and values that stand in stark contrast to the messagesof fables. Whereas fables offer a rather cynical visionof world where only the cunning and ruthlesssurvive, fairytales reward meekness and obedience inits female characters with magical rewards. Little Red
Riding Hood, in Grimm, no longer engineers her
own escape but is miraculously rescued by a passing
hunter. The magical spell on Sleeping Beauty is broken
by a kiss, and Cinderella’s humility and stoicism in
the face of bullying and taunting by her step-sisters
and step-mother is rewarded by the intervention ofa fairy godmother (or, in Grimm’s version, a magicaltree and birds). Charm is rewarded over cunning.
Self-sacrifice is rewarded over cynicism. And magic
prevails over all obstacles. There often appears to be acontradiction as Reinstein (1983) writes:
If you are happily poor, and neither complain
nor take active steps to secure your fortune,
you may be rewarded with wealth; if you are
passively self-effacing and let others mock you,
mistreat you, and enslave you, you may end
up with both power and fame. Self-sacrifice
becomes the prudent course of action. (p. 49)

The EFL Classroom“That is all very interesting, but what does it haveto do with the EFL classroom?” is what some readers
may be asking themselves. I would argue that where
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Venemathere is the opportunity to surprise learners (as I hope
many readers of this article have been surprised) there
is also the opportunity to engage them. Readers need
not love the ‘The Story of Grandmother’ to be drawn
in by shock and surprise to the precursor of the very
famous fairytale cousin. An exploration of further
fairytales, particularly those where the predominantsource may be Disney (such as ‘Cinderella’ or ‘Beauty
and the Beast’), can uncover chances to engage
learners in comparing stories. While fables may beless common in modern media than fairytales, they
are shorter, simpler, and more thematic, thereby
making it possible to have students predict stories
from pictures before reading, and perhaps surprisingthem with stories such as have been included in thispaper.
Both fables and fairytales present an opportunity
for multimedia classrooms. Written versions, forwhich copyright is long since void, are plentiful online
allowing teachers to copy, paste, and edit to suit theirstudents’ needs. Indeed, as the fables included inthis paper would reveal to any experienced teacher,some rewriting, including more modern and relevant
language, would go a long way to making them moreaccessible to students. Many fables and fairytales havebeen made into short videos and feature films. Those
include the animated Disney shorts with the inevitable
happy ending (A Walt Disney Silly Symphony - The
Grasshopper and the Ants), to modern short versionsof stories like the youtube version of The lion, the fox
and the donkey (multichrom, 2009). There are then,of course, the fairytale Disney films including suchclassics as ‘The Little Mermaid’ (Clements, 1989),‘Beauty and the Beast’ (Trousdale and Wise, 1991),
and the previously mentioned ‘Shrek’. For a thoroughreference of fairytale and film the ‘Enchanted Screen’
by Jack Zipes (2011) is an excellent resource.
The clear structure of fables and fairytales,
particularly the former, lend themselves to rewriting
and creating tasks. Where students are uncomfortablewith the morals of fables, they can be encouraged
to revise them to alter the message. There are someexamples online, my favorite (despite the inaccurate
subtitles) being a YouTube video revision by Japanese
students of ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’: もひとつ

200 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingsのアリとキリギリス (O2BO1968, 2008). In some cases
teachers might find that students rewrite fables in a
‘Disney fairytale’ manner as in the faintly disturbing
rewrite of the fable ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’ by astudent in my class (edited by the teacher).
A wolf came upon a ewe straying from the flock. He
was all set to devour her when he looked her in the eyes
and fell in love with her at first sight. At first the sheep
was terrified of the wolf and refused to trust him. But hewas so gentle and kind with her, as well as being strong
and protective, that she grew to love him as well. The
ewe and the wolf were married, had children, and lived
happily ever after. (Anonymous)

Conclusion
For teachers looking for authentic stories for theclassroom fables and fairytales may warrant a second
look. Despite their ubiquity, or even because of it,they still retain the ability to entertain, enlighten, andsurprise readers. As genres with explicit or implicit
messages, often undergoing revisions over time,they also offer the opportunity for interpretation,comparison, discussion, and rewriting. So go backand dust off some of those ‘children’s stories’, you justmight just be surprised by what you find.

References
Adamson, A. & Jensen, V. (Directors). (2001). Shrek[Motion Picture]. Los Angeles, CA: Dream
Works.
Aesop. (1912). Aesop’s Fables (V. V. Jones, Trans.)
Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/
files/11339/11339-h/11339-h.htm
Clements, R. (Director). (1989). The little mermaid[Motion Picture]. Los Angeles, CA: Walt
Disney Studios.
Grimm, J. & Grimm, W. (2006). Household Stories
by the Brothers Grimm (L. Crane, Trans.)
Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/
files/19068/19068-h/19068-h.htm
Hallett, M. & Karasek, B. (Eds.). (2011). Folk andfairy tales, concise edition (4th ed.). Naperville,
IL: Broadview Press.
Jackson R. (Director). (1934). A Walt DisneyFables and Fairytales..., pages 196-201
Silly Symphony: The Grasshopper and the Ants.
[Short Film]. Los Angeles, CA: Walt Disney
Productions.
multichrom. (2009, August 11). Der Loewe derFuchs der Esel (OT) / The lion, the fox and thedonkey. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=Ati3IJeA1iU
Munsch, R. & Marchenko, M. (2007). The paper
bag princess. Toronto, Canada: Annick Press.
O2BO1968. (2008, Dec 17) もうひとつのアリとキリギリス another “the ant and the grasshopper”.

[Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=VKFsnfK0Ao0
Reinstein, R. (1983). Aesop and Grimm: contrast
in ethical codes and contemporary values.
Children’s Literature in Education 14(1), 44-53.
Trousdale, G. & Wise, K. (Directors). Beauty andthe Beast [Motion Picture]. Los Angeles, CA:
Walt Disney Studios.
Zipes, J. (2011). The enchanted screen. New York,
NY: Routledge.

Author’s Biography:
James is currently teaching at Nagoya Women’s University where he has been incorporating
folk tales, fables, and fairy-tales in classes for a number of years

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Increasing Opportunities to Critique Content in the
Media

Richard John Walker& Neil Matthew Addison
Meiji Gakuin University
rjwalker@warpmail.net
naddison34@yahoo.co.uk
This paper reports on ongoing research within the field of content and language integrated
learning (CLIL) in a Media English course taught at two private universities in Japan. Following
a discussion on the aims and objectives of CLIL, of our course, and issues regarding criticalthinking in a second language, a description of the authors` pedagogic ambitions is outlined.
Effectiveness of the course methodology is assessed with reference to statistics taken from student
response questionnaire data. This data is examined in a paper which concludes with discussion
on plans for further course improvement and research.
本稿は、日本の２つの私立大学で実施したメディア・イングリッシュ・コースにおけるCLIL（ある科目を外国語を媒体として教える授業形態）分野の研究について考察する。具体的にはCLILおよび当該コースの目標と目的に関する考察を始めとして、第二言語によるクリ
ティカル・シキング（対象物を見聞きしたままに受け取るのではなく、客観的なおかつ分析的に理解する考え方）に関する問題点や本稿の著者達が抱く教育に対する熱意などを主に述べている。当該コースにおける授業方法の有効性については、生徒に実施したアンケート結果の統計を基に分析・評価してある。また、当該アンケート結果は、さらなるコースの改善と研究も考慮しながら、分析および調査されている。
Key Words: CLIL, Critical Thinking, EFL, Media Studies

1. Introduction
The use of computer technology to assist thelearning of English as a second language is a subject atthe very frontier of language teaching. Over the past
decade, EFL teachers have rushed to use and advocate*

Walker, R. J. & Addison, N. M. (2013). Increasing
opportunities to critique content in the media. In R.
Chartrand, S. Crofts, & G. Brooks (Eds.), The 2012
Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings (pp. 202-209).
Hiroshima: JALT.

*

202 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

the use of online mediums, such as blogs and social
networking systems, i.e. online tools that students
now use willingly in their free time. Through theInternet, the predominant medium of today, teachers
are exploring new ways to utilize media in language
courses, but appear to do so without attempting to
critique the social ramifications of such media, ortheir long term effectiveness as educational tools.
While theorists outside the world of EFL (e.g. Carr,
2010; Herman & Chomsky, 1988; Kahneman, 2011)
have critiqued new media in their work and discussed
their effects on humanity, EFL practitioners mainlyIncreasing Opportunities to Critique Content in the Media, pages 202-209(and perhaps necessarily) focus on the practical natureof the media. We felt it worthwhile to establish aunique course that referred to such theorists and casta critical eye upon the media, while employing a blogthat hosted language and material prior to each class.
Theoretically, we were also influenced by readings inShaules, Itoh and Sanae’s (2001) media focused EFLtext, Fish in Water, but wished to develop multi-media
materials on similar topics to seize student attention
and activate a higher order of cognitive processing.

1.1 Considering Cognitive Processes andThinking in English
To promote critical thinking in an EFL classnecessitates a consideration of cognitive processes,
specifically a movement from lower-order to higherorder processing skills (see Table 1). While most pretertiary and much tertiary education concentrates
on teaching that aims at lower-order processing(remembering, applying and understanding), wesought to create a Media English course where higher
order processes of analysis, evaluation and critiquewere pronounced and expected from students.
There are plenty of usable English language media
products that already resonate with students, throughmusic, televisual media or websites, and although
the consumption of Harry Potter, Pinky Blondeor Twilight is frequently in our student’s mothertongues, such media is consumed increasingly inEnglish. While watching such movies, students
will utilize lower order thinking skills but it is our
proposition that the popularity of such media can beutilized in the classroom to move students towards
deeper, more considered thought.
The aforementioned movies also represent fantasybased entertainment, i.e. worlds in which anythinggoes. When further considering the popularity ofmanga comics and anime with our students, thereis the unmistakable truth that, for many, media
products might be promoting an avoidance of real life
issues. We believe that such ‘pop culture’ media canbe used contrarily, as a springboard towards deeper
channels of thought to confront authentic issues in
the lives of our students. Not only does this allow us
to use popular culture to illustrate academic topics,
it also allays our Freirean concern of becoming top
down promoters of western media without critique.
Therefore we sought to increase opportunities forcritical perceptions of media and we did so throughthe teaching of interlinked topics over two semesters.

2. Content and Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL)
We decided to employ CLIL as a framework
to help shape the critical thinking aims of ourcurriculum. CLIL emerged in 1994, within aEuropean pre-tertiary context, as a term for teachingcontent through a foreign or second language(Marsh, Maljers & Hartlia, 2001). Such courses
had begun to permeate teaching in Japan by thelate 1990s (e.g. Murphey, 1997), and graduallybecame more established due to instructors andTable 1
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Processing, as revised by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001, pp. 67-68)

Type of Cognitive

Processing Description

Lower Order Cognitive Processing

This type of cognitive processing covers three
types of lower-order classroom based skills: 1)
remembering information, 2) understanding
information, and 3) applying information.

Higher Order Cognitive Processing

This type of cognitive processing covers three
types of higher-order cognitive skills:1) analyzing
information, 2) evaluating information, and 3)
creating with the information.

The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings203

Walker & Addison
institutions that wished to concentrate on content.
For many who used CLIL as a methodology, theapproach reconceptualised language learning. Thischange is best explained through Coyle, Hood andMarsh’s (2010) language triptych, which comprises
the language of learning, language for learning andlanguage through learning. A simplified paraphrasingof these foci follows below; full details are available in
Coyle, et al. (2010, chap.3).

2.1 Language of Learning
Language of learning is language needed to accessbasic concepts and skills relating to a theme or topic
in a course. It may refer to contextually based phrases
used as building blocks to begin activities suitable
for the class. Effectiveness of such language increases
when the phrases are recycled throughout thecourse. Ultimately, the extent and expertise to which
language of learning is synthesized, within grammar,
writing or communicative activities, determines thefate of the course.

2.2 Language for LearningThis focuses on language needed to operate in aforeign language environment. It may include speechacts or strategies related to the discussion of content,
i.e. phrases to facilitate group based discussions,evaluations, or the drawing of conclusions.

2.3 Language through LearningThis is based on the principle that effective learning
cannot take place without the active involvement oflanguage and thinking. Learners need language tosupport and advance their thinking processes while
acquiring new content-based knowledge. As Mohan
and Naerssen (1997) noted, new meanings require
new language, which is problematic as such language
cannot always be predicted in advance. It gives
teachers the task of grasping and explicating emerging
language in an ad hoc manner, a situation rendered
best through a carefully organized curriculum. In our
curriculum, we planned thematic classes that followedon from each other and which, in turn, afforded us
the chance to use and predict thematic vocabulary

204 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedingsthat would re-occur and be recycled in later classes.
Our vocabulary selection was influenced primarily by
the texts employed on the course, and we chose words
we felt best helped scaffold these theoretical texts andideas. This involved much author discussion, but
resulted in the best selection of words for the type ofstudents we expected.

3. Advantages and Disadvantages
CLIL has distinct advantages for both EFL teachersand students. Firstly, CLIL courses allow students tostudy subjects in a foreign language which they havealready developed familiarity and interest in throughtheir mother tongue. When classroom activities
move from comfortable to challenging questions,teaching may be scaffolded towards the promotionof deeper thought in English. This can be illustrated
by the manner in which we bridged the functional
topic of shopping towards contentious issues suchas the cannibalization of coffee shops by corporate
coffee chains, the issue of celebrity ‘chameleons’ whosell widely differential products and the existenceof sweat shops which produce the clothing many
students may purchase or already own.
Secondly, CLIL courses are of especial use to
students who expect to study or work in an Englishspeaking environment. Authentic or semi-authentic
materials can be utilized towards the specific needsof such students. This might include a focus on study
skills to help them work overseas, such as listening
for gist, note taking or giving personal responses. This
makes CLIL courses more flexible than conventional,
pre-packaged ELT courses, or those that focus upon
the teaching of discrete language forms.
These advantages naturally depend upon thematerial having resonance and relevance with students.
Inevitably, there will be students whose intrinsic
reason for studying English is for commercial tests
such as TOEIC. Though a potential disadvantage, it
can be made advantageous if the course broadens thestudents’ world view while using vocabulary usefulfor such tests. For students who take the course forless specific reasons, a teacher must remember thatthey might not have interest in course topics. Courses
thus should be designed with such students in mind

Increasing Opportunities to Critique Content in the Media, pages 202-209
and an understanding of the need for activities which
entertain and surprise. Without a flexible approachto material creation or willingness to create material
accessible to a wide range, difficulties can ensue.

4. Potential Difficulties When
Teaching CLIL in Japan
There are potential difficulties to consider whenteaching CLIL in Japan. They stem from the purpose
to which English has been taught at pre-tertiary level.
Two studies might be said to encapsulate this: firstly,
Nishino’s (2008) research which showed a majority
of secondary school English teachers perceiving
grammar, vocabulary and translation skills as more
important than communication skills. Nishino
noted that whilst teachers were sympathetic to thecommunicative approach, they did not necessarily
know how best to implement it in the classroom.
It is also unsurprising that teachers would make thepragmatic decision to focus on skills required topass university entrance examinations; still, more
surprising might have been the results of a 2010
government survey on public high schools in Japan:
it stated that only 20% of English communication
lessons were taught in English (McCurry, 2011). The
under-emphasis upon authentic second language
communication in pre-tertiary classrooms might
have been a factor which problematized the transition
to CLIL courses at tertiary level that targeted higher
cognition. Yet The Japanese Ministry of Education
and Culture’s decision to mandate English lessons
to be taught in English from 2013 suggests that
the Japanese pre-tertiary educational environment
will no longer be described as having a dominanteducational paradigm that stifles communication(Murphey, Falout, Elwood, & Hood, 2009).

5. Background to the Course
After considering the barriers to teaching a
CLIL course, we applied four factors Butler (2005)
claimed influence the effectiveness of a content-based
course. They concern the setting of a program andcurriculum, the characteristic of teacher(s) who teachthe course, the characteristics of the learners and theresources available.

5.1 The Setting of the Program and theCurriculum
The course was designed to provide analysis andcriticism to selected aspects of the media. Classes
were decided to be theme-based with an emphasis
upon stimulating in-class conversation, discussion
and finally analysis. The theme based structure
contained weekly titles such as Social Networking,Beauty, The Global News, and Celebrity Gossip. By
using authentic texts, the course blog and multimedia
clips, we were able to introduce critical theories andliterature that were used to gradually promote an
expectation of making critical responses. The course
was taught over 15 weeks of the Spring-Summer2012 semester. A sample of course theorists and ideas
is given in Table 2. Examples of how two theories
were taught are shown in section 7.

5.2 The Characteristics of the Teachers andLearners
Table 2
Theorists and Ideas in the Curriculum

Theorists
Marshall McLuhan
Aldous Huxley & Neil
PostmanStuart Hall
Edward Said
From Wordsworth to
the Global Village
From Wollstonecraft toNaomi Wolf:
Sigmund Freud and
Edward Bernays
The Milgram
Experiment–

Ideas
The Medium is the
Message.
TV Entertainment andSocial Distraction
Re-presentation,
Encoding & Decoding.
National Stereotypes in
the Media
The World is Too Much
with Us
Women and Gender in
The Media.
The Unconscious andAdvertising
Public Deference to(TV) Role Models

Both teachers had previously been engaged inresearch in academic speaking courses as well as
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Walker & Addison
Media English with third and fourth year seniors(Addison & Walker, 2011; Walker & Addison, 2012).
In this study, our learners were also third and fourthyear seniors from the English Language departments
enrolled at two private universities. Learners took
the course for different reasons, which many of themacknowledged in section 4. This necessitated ourtaking a flexible approach to curriculum design.

6. Teaching Approaches in the
Curriculum
6.1 Vocabulary
We placed a primacy upon teaching textuallyspecific vocabulary to students. Our vocabulary
selection was concerned with teaching specific words
we felt best helped scaffold the theoretical texts
and ideas used in the course, and, as it was felt thatusing an academic word reference list would be too
general for this purpose, no corpora were employed.
Taking especial care to explicate complex ideas inmore comprehensible ways, we were guided by
Byram, Gribkova, and Starkey’s (2001) critical andcross cultural comparative approach that advocatesthe employment of key terms and vocabulary
to help learners talk about cultural diversity. We
therefore decided upon specific vocabulary to
promote understanding of key issues related to theclass content, with an aim to improve the qualityof in-class discussion. Vocabulary sheets, gap fills,
word searches, multiple choice exercises and reading
handouts were thus used in attempts to complement
work on developing critical responses to course
subjects.

6.2 The Employment of Video Clips andReading Materials
In previous courses, the effectiveness of video
clips and reading materials were affected bycomprehension problems. We therefore reconsidered
our use of video clips and redesigned the formatof reading worksheets. We introduced a moreconsidered, tempered approach to such materials by
reducing time on video clips and creating pre-viewing
questions that allowed for an earlier and easier entry

206 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

into a topic. Additionally, our reading materials on
theorists were made more succinct.

7. Theoretical Concepts Taught in
the Class
The theoretical concepts associated with key
thinkers in our course were explicated in class invarious ways. Below we shall explain how we dealt
with Marshall McLuhan’s theory that a medium has amessage (for an example see McLuhan & Fiore, 1967)
and Stuart Hall’s (1980) theory regarding media
representation: encoding and decoding information.

7.1 The Medium is the Message
Teaching for this concept comprised two classes,with the theory of a medium being a message called
upon in the teaching of concepts later in the course.
It began with an initial brainstorming about themeaning of ‘media’ and was followed by an exploration
about the message of specific media. This was madeeasier through the use of Marshall McLuhan’stheoretical tool: the tetrad (Collections Canada,2007). The tetrad is a theoretical device which when
visually portrayed allowed students to consider theeffects of a single medium on society. We chose theubiquitous iPhone to explore the four ‘effects’ of
the tetrad on a medium: what it enhances, makes
obsolete, retrieves and reverses within developments
and trends in humanity and society. Following this,we later used a communicative act to compound themessage of a medium by asking students to role play
the act of inviting someone to a restaurant. We used
three media: a mobile phone, the Instant Messenger
Service on Facebook and face to face communication.
Upon completion of the activity, students considered
the following questions:a. What were you looking at?
b. What distractions were there?
c. How could you control the privacy of this act?
d. How did the language change with eachmedium?
This deceptively simple series of activities afforded
students the opportunity to reflect upon the ‘message’of each medium.

Increasing Opportunities to Critique Content in the Media, pages 202-209

7.2 Stuart Hall - ‘Re-presentation Encoding and Decoding’Students were introduced to the media theorist
Stewart Hall and his media theories “re-presentation,
encoding and decoding” (1980). Over two classes
we gave examples of how the news media cansubtly represent the news through dramatic visualtechniques and rhetorical devices. In the firstclass students studied and discussed film styles
and dramatic techniques such as lighting, soundeffects, camera angle, CGI, facial gestures and voice
intonation. In the second class the students wereintroduced to the ideas of Stewart Hall through asimplified reading sheet. They then watched a seriesof news reports and were encouraged to identify
examples of rhetorical encoding by drawing stylistic
parallels between these clips and the movie styles they
had earlier viewed. The students then viewed a BBC
video newscast and were requested to identify specificwords that were rhetorically emphasized, or encoded,by the newscaster. After this the class discussed why
specific facial gestures and intonation were employedwith specific words, and, in a final discussion, thestudents reflected on whether re-presentation in
the media potentially compromised objective news
reporting, and to what extent this potentially shaped
or influenced the viewer`s comprehension of world
events.

9. The Role of the Blog
To increase opportunities for students tocomprehend the ideas of Hall and McLuhan, weused a blog to give students online access to ideas
and vocabulary. Students could access it before andafter each class. Included on each page was a list of
vocabulary considered essential for the class. Using
seventy key words for the first semester, we broke themdown to five new words per week. They were placedon PDF files, uploaded onto an external website, andembedded in the blog. By continuously recycling
the words in class, key content was reinforced whichallowed us to improve the likelihood of vocabularyacquisition and familiarization of course content. We

requested students to check each blog entry before
class and post an answer to a question. In doing
this, they were better prepared for a vocabulary
test which we mandated to students. The test wasgiven in June 2012 to thirty-four students from twoclasses, covering a selection of forty words that had
been uploaded onto the blog site, in which students
chose a correct definition from a choice of four. It
allowed us to record and check student acquisitionof vocabulary. Pleasingly, our students scored a meanscore of 75%, which suggested that our students had
acquired content specific vocabulary and phrases
from our course. It also suggested that vocabulary
inputted onto the blogs was a factor in promoting
vocabulary acquisition. This did not necessarily meanthat they understood the course theories and ideas;
thus we requested students to answer a question on
their understanding of course content.

10. Question on Course Content
and Theory
In June 2012 students answered a question on
their perception of their understanding of course
content and theoretical ideas. The question useda Likert scale with two positive and two negative
choices both question and the four responses are
given below:
How well did you understand the course theories
and ideas, such as media re-presentation (dramatic
techniques)?
a) very easy to understandb) quite easy to understandc) a little difficult to understandd) difficult to understand`Very easy to understand’ was assigned 4 points
and ‘quite easy to understand’ a score of 3. These
were the two ‘positive’ responses. ‘A little difficult tounderstand` was given a score of 2, and ‘difficult tounderstand’ a score of 1. These were the two ‘negative’
responses. The result of the question is shown in
Table 3.

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Walker & Addison
Table 3
Mean Score for Course Theory Question

Question

Mean Score

How well did you understand the course theories
and ideas, such as media re-presentation (dramatic
techniques)?

2.80

11. Conclusion and Directions for
Future Research
The results from this research reflected student
perceptions halfway through the Spring 2012 courseand suggested, due to the relatively average responsescore of 2.8, that there are improvements to be made inincreasing student understanding of course content.
This relatively low response score may be attributed
to a self-assessment phenomenon noted by Dörnyei(2010), who notes that people do not always provide
accurate responses regarding themselves, observing
that “the results represent what the respondents reportto feel or believe, rather than what they actually feelor believe” (p. 8). Secondly, the low response may
have been the result of student anxiety towards
their perceived, rather than actual, lack of ability inhandling the critical thinking demands of the course.
Young, cited in Ohata (2005), observes that student
anxiety and negativity can arise through “a lack of self
confidence in language proficiency and their perceived
lack of knowledge about the class subjects they werestudying” (p. 14). Wishing to avoid evaluating ourcourse purely in terms of student self-assessment
or by testing passive vocabulary awareness, future
research will aim to quantify students` productive
ability through an assessment of written essays,
which will be subjected to a word frequency test. In
pursuing a triangulated assessment of our course itis hoped that student perception of content will be
evaluated in a more holistic, practical way. Subjecting
the essays and exams to this test would enable us tosee how students use the language more critically. We
aim to conduct this future research and publish theseresults in 2013.

208 The 2012 Pan-SIG Conference Proceedings

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Author’s Biography:
Richard Walker teaches at Meiji Gakuin, Reitaku and Shibaura universities. Recent research
has focused on blended learning, critical thinking in ELT and laughter in second language
interaction.
Neil Addison teaches at Meiji Gakuin, Bunkyo and Reitaku universities. Recent research
includes blended learning, culture and ideology in ELT and teaching English literature to EFL
students.

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