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accent
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articulation
brogue
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conversation
dialect
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dictionary
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<jalt-publications.org/tlt> interchange
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JALT2012 Pre-conference Special Issue . palaver
..
July / August 2012
parlance
3 Plenary speaker articles from Suresh Canagarajah,
Volume 36, Number 4
John Eyles, Alan Firth, zge Karaolu, and Jeanette
patois
Littlemore
ISSN 0289-7938
phraseology
950
18 Featured speaker articles from Charles Browne, Carolyn
prose
Graham, Marjo Mitsutomi, Garold Murray, Ted ONeill,
Diane Nagatomo, John Wiltshier, and Sean Wraysignal
The Japan Association
slang
for Language Teaching
Feature Article . . .
sound
41 Eleanor Carson and Hidenori Kashihara examine
speech
students preferences for L1 use in the L2 classroom
style
talk
Readers Forum . . .
JALT2012
terminology
Making a Difference
49 Simon Cooke explores grammar and autonomy
tongue
55 Chris Wharton highlights two classroom activities that
utterance
transcend level and age
verbalization
My Share . . .
vernacular
Contributions
from
Bibby,
Chauhan
Lidgley
and Lidgley,
61
vocabulary
Cheetham, Lang and Park
October 12-15, 2012
vocalization
ACT City Hamamatsu,
voice
Hamamatsu, Japan
Book Reviews . . .
<jalt.org/conference>
word
67 Text Reviews from Fast and Nagai
wording
Language
Teacher
THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
JALT Publications
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TLT Editorial Staff

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Martha Robertson Aichi University
Stephen Ryan Eichi Sapientia University
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jco@jalt.org
JULY / AUGUST 2012 VOL. 36, NO. 4

CONTENTS
Plenary Speaker Articles
}} Plenary speaker articles from Suresh
Canagarajah, John Eyles, Alan Firth, zge
Karaolu, & Jeanette Littlemore. . . . . . . . . 3
Featured Speaker Articles

}} Featured speaker articles from Charles
Browne, Carolyn Graham, Marjo Mitsutomi,
Garold Murray, Ted ONeill, Diane
Nagatomo, John Wiltshier, & Sean Wray. 18
Feature Article
}} Using the L1 in the L2 classroom:
The students speak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Readers Forum
}} Developing learner autonomy in a
grammar class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
}} One size fits all: Two activities that
transcend level and age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Resources
}} My Share. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
}} Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
}} Recently Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
}} Outside the Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
JALT Focus
}} JALT Notices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
}} Showcase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
}} Grassroots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
}} Outreach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Columns
}} SIG News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
}} Chapter Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
}} Chapter Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
}} Job Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
}} Conference Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
}} Old Grammarians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
}} Membership Information. . . . . . . . . . . . 116
|1
In this months issue . . .

JALT2012: Making a Difference
October 12-15, 2012, Hamamatsu, Japan
his issue of TLT

comes with the
Conference Preview,
a very helpful bulletin of
information that is designed
to help you get ready
for JALTs major professional event, Asias biggest
language-education conference. This year the conference
will be held in Hamamatsu; its our second time there,
but its been a few years, so for many of you this will
be your first visit to the superb conference facilities of
ACT CITY. Because we will be meeting in early October
instead of late November, theres a bit less time to get
ready. We hope that this special issue of TLT will be
helpful as you make your conference preparations.
As Co-Chairs of this years conference, we want to welcome you very warmly to Hamamatsu. The conference is
shaping up to be an impressive series of talks, workshops,
presentations, and social events. Plenary speakers from
New Zealand, Great Britain, the United States and
Turkey will give it an exciting international flavor, while
dozens of sessions offered by local teachers, writers, and
researchers will continue to illuminate the high quality
Continued over
JALT PUBLICATIONS ONLINE

<jalt-publications.org>
July/August 2012 online access
Material from all our publications produced in the last 12
months requires a password for access. These passwords
change with each issue of TLT and are valid for a 3-month
period. To access our archives:
[ login: jul2012 / password: 68TatREc ]
}} Online Access Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

TLT Editors: Jennifer Yphantides, Jason Peppard
TLT Japanese-Language Editor: Emika Abe
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.4 July / August 2012
The Language Teacher Foreword & Information

of pedagogy and professional development that
is currently happening right here in Japan. The
annual conference within a conference that we
call JALT Junior is one of the fastest growing areas
of JALT, due to the new elementary school English
curriculum that was recently introduced, so we
also look forward to welcoming a large number of
local teachers to the conference this year.
Making a Difference: this theme has encouraged
us to look back over our professional lives and
to identify the experts, events, and episodes that
helped make us who we are today. All of us in
JALT stand on the shoulders of those who helped
us, taught us, and mentored us. We sincerely
hope that JALT2012 will be a memorable and
important event in your life! Whether you come
to the conference as an experienced old hand
or as a newbie doesnt really matter: learning
is a life-long process, and everybody benefits
from the vital exchange of ideas that goes on
when hundreds of thinkers, writers, teachers,
and learners get together for three days. This
could be the year that your presence at JALT is
the one that makes a real difference to you.
See you in Hamamatsu!
Steven & Deryn
elcome to our Pre-Conference Special

Issue! In this edition of TLT, readers
will find short papers and interviews
previewing the Plenary talks of Suresh Canagarajah, John Eyles, Alan Firth, zge Karaolu,
and Jeanette Littlemore. We are also pleased to
present a series of papers from our Featured
Speakers: Charles Browne, Carolyn Graham,
Marjo Mitsutomi, Garold Murray, Ted ONeill,
Diane Nagatomo, John Wiltshier, and Sean Wray.
In addition to our special content, we also have
our regular line up of Features and Readers Forums. Our Feature Article by Eleanor Carson and
Hidenori Kashihara looks at student preferences
on L1 use in the foreign language classroom. Our
Readers Forum articles come to us from Simon
Cooke and Chris Wharton. Simons paper looks
at teaching grammar with a focus on autonomy
and Chriss article outlines two teaching activities that transcend both level and age. We hope
you enjoy this special issue and we look forward
to welcoming you to the conference in October!
Jennifer Yphantides, TLT Coeditor
THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online <jalt-publications.org/tlt>
T L T
J A L T
2
ACT CITY
1110
TLT
JALT Junior
JALT
Making a Difference
JALT
JALT2012
JALT
Steven & Deryn
TLTSuresh
CanagarajahJohn EylesAlan Firthzge
KaraoluJeanette Littlemore
Charles
BrowneCarolyn GrahamMarjo MitsutomiGarold
MurrayTed ONeillDiane NagatomoJohn
WiltshierSean Wray
FeatureReadersForumFeature
Eleanor Carson Hidenori Kashihara
L1ReadersForum
Simon Cooke
Chris Wharton
2
10
Jennifer Yphantides, TLT Coeditor
JALT2012 PLENARY SPEAKER | 3
From the periphery

to the center:
Making a difference
An interview with Suresh
Canagarajah
The Pennsylvania State
University
Deryn Verity
Deryn Verity: You are probably best known in Japan
as a former Editor of the TESOL Quarterly, and as a
scholar whose focus is on the global role of Englishes
and questions of voice and agency in academia. In
what ways would you say that you have made
a difference to the field of TESOL and language
education?
Suresh Canagarajah: The changes I can think
of cannot be attributed to me alone, but to all
multilingual scholars from the periphery like me
who have started making our presence felt in the
profession. Firstly, we have broadened the professions understanding of the English language.
When I came to the US for graduate studies in
1985, I was asked by my university to do a test
to prove that I can communicate in English. Yet I
came from a community where English had been
used for about 200 years.
Now, there is more appreciation of the different
varieties of English spoken all over the world.
The notion of World Englishes makes the point
that English has become diversified to the point
where it cannot be considered a single language
anymore, but a package of diverse varieties,
each having its own norms and functions for
specific communities. The marks of local norms
(such as unique accent or idioms) shouldnt be
disparaged as evidence of ignorance. Scholars
now argue that these varieties of English should

be treated as having equal status as the traditional elite varieties such as American or British
English.
DV: Where is the line between varieties with status
and what are essentially interlanguage varieties?
SC: The distinction between interlanguage and
new varieties is complex. When a community of
speakers shares certain norms, even though they
may appear distant from native speaker norms,
they should be considered a variety in their own
right. Also, the distinction between these terms is
relational. That is, an item that may appear like a
fossilized item of interlanguage can gain uptake
by many others in the local community and
become normative. At that point, scholars are
prepared to acknowledge such usage as part of
the local norm and not interlanguage. Multilinguals in those settings use their English varieties
confidently for their own purposes without
bothering about native speaker norms.
DV: What are some other changes youve been a part
of?
SC: We have raised the awareness of our profession about diverse language teaching methods.
When I came to the United States for teacher
training, the methods we used in Sri Lanka,
resembling grammar-translation and teacherfronted methods, were considered inferior and
ineffective. The fashionable methods in the
profession, such as communicative language
teaching or task-based method, were considered
to be superior and backed by research. However,
the fact that these methods kept changing
periodically made some of us suspect their effectiveness. We wondered if these shifting fashions
were motivated by commercial interests.
The Language Teacher JALT2012 Special Issue Plenary Speaker Article

Gradually, we picked up the courage to analyze
how our local teaching methods were motivated
by our own cultural values, language needs,
and learning traditions. The profession has now
come to the realization that there is no best
method in language teaching. We have all
started developing our teaching methods ground
up, in relation to the learning objectives, needs,
and interests of our students and communities.
DV: Should changes in pedagogy be driven more by
tradition or by developments in global access and
exchanges of ideas?
SC: There are two kinds of tradition. In one
sense, traditional methods are those that belong
to the tradition of our profession. So, people
would consider methods such as grammartranslation or direct method as part of the
professional tradition. Tradition in the second
sense relates to cultural and educational traditions that belong to the local community. I find
these traditions useful to tap into. They often
resonate better to the needs and interests of local
teachers and students, although they dont relate
to the professional orthodoxy.
Sometimes local communities lack the confidence to creatively borrow from their community traditions to develop suitable pedagogies.
This grounding in ones own local cultural and
educational traditions can also be a good standpoint from which to critically appropriate new
global ideas and developments. In other words, I
am thinking of a critical appropriation of the old
and new according to the needs and objectives in
the ground.
teachers are second class citizens in the profession.

But the inequalities and discrimination
multilingual periphery scholars faced in the
profession made us sensitive to the politics of
English language teaching. We also became
more sensitive to the role of English as a global
language. We had to ask if English was a threat
to our local languages and cultures in our own
local communities. We realized that we cant
teach English innocently. We had to ask uncomfortable questions about its implications in the
lives of our students and our communities. We
developed pedagogies for appropriating English
according to our values and interests. My first
ever academic article explored these connections
in TESOL Quarterly in 1993, one of the earliest
articles on critical pedagogy in our field.
For a variety of reasons, English speaking
scholars from developed countries dominated
publishing in our field. It appeared as if they
were the custodians of superior and true knowledge! It seemed as if all others from other parts
of the world didnt have anything useful to say.
They were just expected to read the research
and textbooks of these advanced scholars and
apply them in their local communities. I myself
grew up with this understanding for a long time.
Later, when I tried to publish my own research
from Sri Lanka after my doctoral degree, I experienced certain disadvantages that revealed the
biases in academic publishing. Reviewers of the
elite journals in the US treated my British English
spelling as implying badly edited articles.
DV: So local teachers of English are important

participants in this process of critical appropriation?
DV: Is there a one-principle-fits-all guideline you

could offer for publications that want to publish more
articles from writers of different backgrounds?
SC: Now the profession has an increased appreciation of the contributions and roles of nonnative teachers. At the 1996 TESOL convention in
Chicago, some of my nonnative colleagues and I
got together and organized a colloquium about
the perspectives of nonnative teachers in the
profession. The contributions later came out as
a book Non-native Educators in English Language
Teaching (Erlbaum, 1999). Soon a caucus was
formed in the TESOL organization to represent
our interests. The rest is history! Now, there
are very few who think that nonnative speaker
SC: I hold that editors and reviewers have to

first acknowledge that the articles are coming
from different parts of the world where there are
different norms for writing and using English.
What bothers me is editors or reviewers who
cant look beyond their own norms. They end up
insulting authors because they are so ethnocentric. However, after the review process, authors
should be open to negotiating their usage with
the dominant conventions of the journal. Some
journals, such as TQ, are open to using either
British or American spelling, as preferred by the

author. Others do insist on American spelling,
and I dont have a problem changing it when
they suggest it. The more difficult area for
negotiation is styles of writing. Often journal
editors impose a data-driven and inductive
writing styles on all their authors, which some
of them would consider mechanical and blunt.
Here, there is more room for negotiation on
both sideswith give and take on the extent to
which dominant conventions can be more or less
revised for purposes of authors voice.
Research approaches in all academic fields
are now changing. There is now a realization
that controlled experiments on a few chosen
variables distort the wholeness and complexity
of language learning and teaching. We are now
interested in situating language learning in its
natural ecology. There are many qualitative approaches that help us understand how learning
takes place in situated contexts. Methods based
on ethnography, case study, narrative research,
and action research are providing new insights
into language learning and teaching. Coming
from a community that is open to knowledge
and research that deviate from the positivistic
enlightenment tradition, I have been sympathetic
to research that adopts alternative approaches.
DV: What changes or trends in research styles do you
see in the next ten or twenty years?
SC: Genres of academic communication have
been changing. Gone are the days when scholars
used to believe that using the I in research was
not permitted. Now we have a frank expression
of ones voice in research writing. We have many
other ways of organizing the research article
beyond the stereotypical IMRD (Introduction/
Methodology/Results/Discussion) structure. I
have published articles that are structured as a
dialogue or a narrative, not to mention hybrid
texts that shuttle between data, introspection,
and stories. TESOL Quarterly has led the way in
representing a range of research approaches and
writing genres in its pages.
My effort to give voice to diverse researchers thus goes beyond publishing the work of
international scholars. It has broadened to giving
space to diverse approaches to knowledge and
writing from scholars of different social backgrounds.
Reference
Braine, G. (Ed.) (1999). Non-native Educators
in English Language Teaching . Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Suresh Canagarajah is
the Erle Sparks Professor
at Pennsylvania State
University. He teaches
World Englishes, Second
Language Writing, and
Postcolonial Studies in
the departments of English and Applied Linguistics. He has taught before
in the University of
Jaffna, Sri Lanka, and the
City University of New
York. His book Resisting
Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching (OUP,
1999) won Modern Language Associations Mina
Shaughnessy Award for the best research publication on the teaching of language and literacy.
He is the former editor of TESOL Quarterly and
the current President of the American Association of Applied Linguistics.
JALT Journal
is a refereed research journal
of the Japan Association for
Language Teaching
().
It invites practical and
theoretical articles and
research reports on second/
foreign language teaching
and learning in Japanese and
Asian contexts.
For more information and
submission guidelines see
<jalt-publications.org/jj>
6 | JALT2012 PLENARY SPEAKER
Technology as an enabler
Interview with John Eyles
Eyles and Associates, Ltd.
EON Foundation
john@johneyles.info
Steven Herder
Steven Herder: We are very excited to have you asa
plenary speaker at JALT2012. Can you give us a little
background informationabout yourself and some of
the experiences that have influenced yourlife?
John Eyles: Sure, I was born in the UK andeducated there. I went to a Rudolph Steiner school
from age 3 until about 17. Then Itook a year off
and went to India. You ask about influences .
One day, Iwas walking down the street in Delhi
and in the gutter there wasthis strange shape,
and as I got closer I saw it was a human forma
person died in the gutter right across from the
hospital. It struck me then, theinequality that
there is in the world.
I went back to the UK anddid four years
of study. My focus was on photography and
sculpture. After I graduated, I met a fashion
designer and wedecided to travel toJapan. It
was originally going to be for six weeks. This
stretched to six years.
SH: How has Japan, in particular, influenced you?
JE: I realized at some point that one way thatJapan influenced me was from my teaching there.
We would bring global issuesinto the classroom
such as global warming or acid rain, but while
we felt we were doing something positive
inbringing these ideas into the classroom, the
students were leaving feeling lessempowered
than when they arrived. And from that, the
wholeconceptof needing to provide the
students with a pathway of influence and a

pathwayof action came into being.
SH: Can you elaborate on what you mean bystudents
feeling less empowered?
JE: Surewe would expose them to a textor
listening about these huge issues and then they
would leave with theweight of the world on
their shoulders. They were suddenly exposed to
this, theheaviness of all of it, and didnt know
what to do. So, my friend, Graham, starteddoing
project work with a high school in Kamakura
and the Shiseidocosmeticsfactory, and put
together what we called an English for sustainabilitycurriculum. It looked at the main pillars
of sustainability, which are economy,society, and
environment. It takes the students on acollaborative journey with an organization to do
project work, where the students go inand kind
of do an environmental audit of the organization.
Then, in English,they advise the company as to
howthey can make moremoney by doing more
with less, and by being more sustainable in their
business practices.
SH: So, do you actually see yourself more as ateacher
or more as a businessman?
JE: Well, whenever I come into New Zealand,
orgo into another country, I have to fill out the
immigration form and I stillwrite teacher as my
occupation. I mean, fundamentally, I see myself
first as anartist, then the teacher,and then a
businessman. But, my great passion iseducation, and I try to bring in the creative world
of art, design, and newmedia, and also the
business side. Of course, governments mostly
pay foreducation, andthere is a strong idea that
education should be free, but realistically itsalso
a business and you are a teacher and you expect
to get paid. So, there isa kind of business model
that underlies education.

SH: Ireally like that self-description of artist, educator, and businessman. In reading about you online,
one skill that came upover and over again on your
LinkedIn page was that people love working withyou.
How important is connecting well with peopleor
having peopleskills?
JE: I think the people skills set is important.
Iloved hitchhiking when I was a kid. I started
hitchhiking around Europe when Iwas 15. Being
on the open road, jumping into a car, not knowing quitewhere you might endup or who you
were going to sit with, it fascinated me howpeople would open up and share intimate aspects
of their lives over a couple ofhours and then
you would never see them again. That ability
to get on withpeople, I think I get on with most
people, was always meaningful for me.
Nobodydoes anything that doesnt make sense
to them; it often doesnt make sense toother people, but for them it always makessense. So, Im
always veryrespectful of that. And as for connecting with people, Im just curious, reallycurious to know their ideas and perspective on the
world. We are alldifferent and thats the magic
of theworld. In terms of work, I like things
tobe fun. If somethings not fun, then, lifes a bit
short and why would we be doing it?Even quite
serious things, theres always the opportunity to
beplayful. I think play isunderrated. In terms of
creativity, play isabsolutely vital.
SH: Another thing that many people highlight is your
ability to see the big picture. Have you always had
that skill?
JE: I noticed early on that I have avisual mind.
I perceive things very strongly in pictures and I
can rotate thosepictures. I also have the capacity
to hold a number of different elements,somewhat like a jigsaw,dreaming tendency. And, its
similar inmy career and my own skills set as
well. It kind ofhappened in pieces like a jigsaw
puzzle. Now that I look at it, my career has quite
astrong picture on the lid of the jigsaw box,but
when I started there was no picture on the
lidand Ive drawn a number of different strands
together. But that big picture thinkingbegan
early on, probably from age eight or nine .
SH: So, looking at the big picture, how do you see
technology at present asit relates to the work you are
currently doing or to the state of education ingeneral?

JE: Okay, if I stand back, and thinkabout why
Im motivated in the ESL area, its very much
from a humanityperspective. Within the current
state of the world we have a lot of issues and
alot of problems. Its thecontext we all live in
and we have to deal with. So,when I think about
teaching language students in a classroom, we
talk verbs,vocabulary and all of that structural
stuff, but what actually are they learninglanguagefor? Whats the bigger need? What does
the world require of language teachers at this
time?
As I see it, these global problems that existare
often shared, and so the first step to solving these
problems is having acommon language where
we can articulate what the problems are,identify thosethat are the same, and build mutual
respect, understanding, and trust. Then,work
together to find solutions. And that need has
never been greater. Right orwrong, English has
become the de factolanguage in the world.
So, through the medium ofEnglish, you are
teaching all sorts of other things: leadership
skills,collaboration skills, and all of that good
stuff. And where I see it going isthat its all
becoming about co-creation, collaboration,
andconversation. The technology is simply
there as support, and it has become anenabler
in itself. You know, they say, knowledge is in
the networks and thecontent is in theconversations. And I see, increasingly, that technology
isallowing us to speed up our adaptive learning
with portable devices.
So the learner and the knowledge are now
fluid,so youcan be in a situation where you can
download inspiration or instruction, oropen up
a channel to have a live video feed, and bring
in a mentor or guide. Wherever youare, pretty
much in the whole world, you have that connectedness.
SH: Well, this naturally brings us intothe whole IT
technology side of the interview. What projects are
you investingyour time in these days?
JE: One is with the BBC, called BBC Janala
in Bangladesh. This is a multi-screen, multimediumEnglish language program using TV

broadcasts with TV soapoperas and quizshows
as springboards to learning. This is tied into a
mobile application as well as anonline website
that can be accessed by computers or by mobile
phones. Its very much a kind of mass adoption program aiming for thenon-formal sector.
Its actually targeted at some of thepoorest in
Bangladesh.
Another project is working for Urban
PlanetMobile, an American outfit, which as the
title suggests focuses on mobilelearning. The
first product that we launched was in Indonesia,
using simplecell phones (not smartphones) to
deliver learning in very bite-size piecesthrough
ring tones. Ring tones are usually used for
music, but what wevedone is to stretch the ring
tone function to three minutes of audio, and created ahugelibrary of phrases and idioms with
translation in 12languages. Im on the advisory
board as a strategic advisor (where I amwearing my business cap), but Im also down in the
engine room working oncurriculum development. NTTdistributes some of our smartphone
programs here in Japan.
And yet another project Im working on is
anartificial intelligence (AI) writing program,
which takes students essays andgrades them.
SH: Wow. Youre a busy guy. I think a number
of teachers in Japan can relate to the idea of being involved in a number of projects within their
classrooms, their schools, and within JALT or their
communities. It has been so invigorating talking with
you and I hope everyone will attend your plenary
address and realize how technology can be such an
enabler for learning. Thank you, John.
John Eyles is currently
Visiting Fellow at AUT
University,Chair of
the EON Foundation,
and Managing Director of an Education
Consulting Company.
He has been a pioneer
of technology-enabled
learning for the past 15
years. Most recently he is working on projects for
the BBC and Urban Planet Mobile that use mo-
bile phones to teach English. Prior to this hewas

Head of Research and Alliances at Telecom
NewZealandlooking three to five years into
the future atopportunities and threats for the
business, a Senior Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology,and CEO of English-To-Go
Limited, which, in associationwith Reuters
news, ran the worlds largest lesson in 2001. He
has led one of New Zealands largest English
languageschools, worked in Europe, the Middle
East, and South EastAsia, and spent six years in
Japan as a university lecturer and consultant to
the Japanese government. Visit <www.johneyles.
info>.
Speakers at JALT2012
This years conference brings to Japan five respected

plenary speakers from five distinct fields which means
that whatever your area of interest, there is something for you. On top of this, there are eight featured
speakers and a specially invited Asian Scholar.
Even a brief look at the biographies of the plenary
speakers suggests that among them, they have
worked in, taught in, lived in, or been to a large percentage of all the countries in the world.
Jeannette Littlemore
. . . who will give the opening
plenary on Saturday morning,
is an expert on the use of metaphor and figurative language
by second language learners.
She comes to JALT2012 from
her UK base, the University
of Birmingham, having in the
past also taught in Belgium, Spain, and Japan.
As a Reader in Applied Linguistics and a lecturer
on Birminghams MA TEFL/TESL and Applied
Linguistics programmes, Jeannette will be known
to many Japan-based Masters students as a
knowledgeable speaker whose talks feature the
impressive quality of being highly practical but
with a solid grounding in theory.
Look for information about our other
JALT2012 speakers on other pages of
this issue of TLT.
The social practice of

practising English
Learning lessons from outside the

language classroom
Alan Firth
Newcastle University
The aim of this paper is to explore L2 learning in the Internet
chat community of Skypecasts, and to reflect on the implications of Skypecast interactions for our understanding and
conceptualisations of L2 learning and L2 competence in ways
that may inform what teachers do in classrooms.
Skypecasts
2 (L2) L2
L2
Skypecasts
ithin applied linguistics, the bulk of

extant descriptions and conceptualisations of L2 learning are based on
observations of behaviour occurring within the institutionalised setting of foreign/second language
classrooms. Thus, notwithstanding competing
paradigms, methods, and theoretical frameworks,
much of what we know with regard to L2 learning is inextricably linked to teachers and students
in instructional environments pursuing the overarching institutional goal of developing students
L2 competence (see Miller & Zuengler, 2012). So,
for example, teachers organise learning activities
and students purposively engage in them, while
roles such as teachers and learners are instantiated
through talk and other activities.
Contrasted with this is the relative paucity of
research on L2 learning occurring outside foreign
and second language classroomswhere L2s
are used as part and parcel of the everyday-life
world (Masuda, 2012). Such settings might
include the workplace, the home, service encounters, the media, and the Internet.
The aim of this paper is to explore L2
learning in the Internet chat community of
Skypecasts,and to reflect on the implications

of Skypecast interactions for our understanding and conceptualisations of L2 learning and
L2 competence in ways that may inform what
teachers do in classrooms. My study is based on
approximately 12 hours of Skypecast recordings.
When they were closed by Skype in 2010,
Skypecasts had become a popular venue for L2
users/learners who wished to practise their L2
online by chatting, through the spoken medium,
with other Skypecast users around the world.
Skypecast users could log on to chatrooms they
themselves had created. These chatrooms covered a plethora of topics, from politics to football,
from rock music to cars, from religion to practising English/French, as well as other foreign or
second languages. Since Skypecast was closed, a
number of other online voice- and video-chatting
sites have emerged, so the medium and setting I
am examining is live and relevant today.
As with L2 classrooms, Skypecast users engage
in various forms of talk (chatting, debating, discussing), but unlike the majority of L2 classrooms,
Skypecasts can also be the site of elaborate forms of
ludic and even anarchic verbal behaviour, as some
participants enter the Skypecasts with the intention
of undermining the putatively scholarly forum of
the Skypecasts. In Skypecasts there are no leaders
or teachers establishing or organising the rules of
social engagement, which includes L2 learning and
language use. My analyses will examine whether
and, where appropriate, how, in the absence of a
teacher, Skypecast users orient to language learner
status, how they deal with varying proficiency
levels, different cultural backgrounds, and how (if
at all), they go about establishing the rules of L2
learning. I show that although language learning
is a ubiquitous phenomenon, it is enveloped in
contextual configurations and exigencies, which

are not predetermined, but co-constructed by the
interactants in-situ.
My conceptualisation of language learning is
therefore embedded in the local, micro-interactional details of talk. In this paper I view language learning in two ways: first, as a members
notion, that is, as something the participants
talk about, discuss, thematize, draw attention to,
and show awareness of, in more or less explicit
ways, as interaction is underway. Second, as a
locally achieved, ubiquitous element of social
and communicative competence underpinning
meaningful, orderly, intersubjective practices. In
order for meaningful communication to occur,
learning must, of necessity, be operationalised
within micro-moments of talk and social interaction (see Kasper, 2009). Thus, topical coherence,
orderly turn-taking, the design, and formatting
of talk, inter alios, are dependent on learning.
By deploying Conversation Analytic methodology, I uncover and explicate the social practices
through which Skypecast users practise English.
I ask, how is practising English brought about
within the cyber-environment of Skypecasts? My
findings reveal a variety of participant orientations, including those that closely resemble more
conventional conversation activities characteristic of L2 classrooms. I show how participants
negotiate the content, tenor and rules of
engagement within Skypecasts. Skypecasts
are frequently the site of contest: contest over
how English practice is optimally undertaken,
over what is allowable in English practice,
over language choice, over the conversational
floor, and over topic content, and duration. Not
surprisingly, we find that some forms of interaction occurring in Skypecasts are intricately
connected to the medium itself, which impacts
upon how presentation of self is accomplished,
how lurking is dealt with by the interactants,
how leave-taking is managed, and more.
I argue that, because the communicative
norms, expectations, number of participants,
proficiency levels, and cultural backgrounds of
newly arriving participants are subject to change
on a moment-by-moment basis, Skypecasts are
profoundly dynamic communities of practice,
where skilled and experienced participants demonstrate their Skypecast competence and adeptly
socialise novice participants into the Skypecast
10
community. I argue that findings permit a

reconceptualisation of established notions of L2
competence and L2 learning.
In terms of JALT and the interests of language
teachers more widely, I also focus on the question of how analyses of Skypecast behaviours
can be utilised in the L2 classroom. It is my
contentionargued in papers such as Firth and
Wagner (1997, 1998, and 2007)that for too long,
applied linguists and teacher education have
been overly and exclusively preoccupied with
the language classroom, with the result that our
understandings of competence are inevitably
limited and shaped by the institutional environment where teachers, lesson plans, pedagogy,
etc., are primary. What happens outside classrooms remains, mystifyingly, terra incognito for
most language teachers and applied linguists.
Learning in and through language is almost
undoubtedly a ubiquitous social activity. If Firth
and Wagner (1998) are correct in arguing that
communicative competence is a fundamentally
transitional, situational, and dynamic process,
then any language users will always be learners
(or acquirers), regardless of the social setting,
because [n]ew or partly-known registers, styles,
language-related tasks, lexical items, terminologies
and structures routinely confront language users,
calling for contingent adaptation and transformation of existing knowledge and competence,
and the acquisition of new knowledge (Firth &
Wagner, 1998). Nevertheless, notwithstanding
the small but growing number of studies of L2
outside the classroom, we know very little about
what happens in the complex interplay between L2
use, L2 learning, and L2 competence in naturallyoccurring interactions outside the classroom. As
several recent studies have shown, language use
and language learning are not only conceptually
inseparable; they are also context sensitive and
context dependent (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Candlin
& Sarangi, 2002; Leung, 2005; Canagarajah, 2007;
Firth & Wagner, 2007; Kramsch & Whiteside, 2007).
Learning of any kind is rooted in and shaped by
particularized social practices. This is the core
insight of Lave and Wengers (1991) influential
notion of situated learning and underpins Vygotskys (1978) theories of learning. Classrooms and
experimental settings where L2 learners perform
tasks and interact with teachers and fellow students are communities of practice, with their own

(pre-ordained and emergent) rules of engagement,
impacting social relations, the identity work that
gets done in classrooms (Duff & Uchida, 1997), and
not least the structures of talk (some of which have
been described in Markee, 2000, 2004) and other
semiotic resources, and, presumably, the processes
and products of learning.
What, then, of L2 learning in naturalistic encounters outside the classroom? How might L2
learning be conceived and said to occur beyond
the classroom/educational setting? How, if at
all, is learning oriented toby the participants
in their dealings with one another, when the
setting is not educational and L2 instruction is
not the order of the day? How is L2 competence
managed and developed outside the classroom
setting? And how might research into L2 use
and learning in non-instructional settings such
as Skypecasts contribute to and possibly expand
our general stock of knowledge of L2 learning
and L2 acquisition? These are the questions I will
seek to address in this paper.
References
Canagarajah, S. (2007). Lingua franca English,

multilingual communities, and language
acquisition. Modern Language Journal, 91, Focus
Issue, 923-939.
Candlin, C., & Sarangi, S. (2002). Foreword. In
Kramsch, C. (Ed.). (2002). Language acquisition
and language socialization: Ecological perspectives
(pp. xi-xiv). London: Continuum.
Duff, P., & Uchida, Y. (1997). The negotiation of
sociocultural identity in post-secondary EFL
classrooms. TESOL Quarterly, 31(3), 451486.
Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (1997). On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts
in SLA research. Modern Language Journal, 81,
285300.
Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (1998). SLA property: No
trespassing! Modern Language Journal, 82, 9194.
Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (2007). Second/foreign
language learning as a social accomplishment:
Elaborations on a reconceptualized SLA. Modern Language Journal, 91, Focus Issue, 800-819.
Kasper, G. (2009). Locating cognition in second
language interaction and learning: Inside the
skull or in public view? International Review of
Applied Linguistics, 47, 11-36.
Kramsch, C., & Whiteside, A. (2007). Three
fundamental concepts in second language
acquisition and their relevance in multilingual

contexts. Modern Language Journal, 91, Focus
Issue, 907-922.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning:
Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Leung, C. (2005). Convivial communication:
Recontextualizing communicative competence.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15(2),
119-144.
Markee, N. (2000). Conversation analysis.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Markee, N. (Ed.). (2004). Special Issue: Classroom talks. Modern Language Journal, 88 (4).
Masuda, K. (2012). Acquiring interactional
competence in a study abroad context: Japanese
language learners use of the interactional
particle. Modern Language Journal, 95(4), 519540.
Miller, E. R., & Zuengler, J. (2012). Negotiating
access to learning through resistance to classroom practice. Modern Language Journal, 95,
130147.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Alan Firth is Senior Lecturer
in Applied Linguistics at the
School of Education, Communication and Language
Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. His major research
interests are institutional
interaction, second language
learning and use, and English
as a lingua franca. In 2005, he coedited (with
Carolyn Baker and Michael Emmison) Calling for
Help: Language and Social Interaction in Telephone
Helplines (Benjamins). In 2007, Modern Language
Journal featured a special focus issue entitled,
The impact of Firth and Wagner 1997: SLA
Reconceptualized?, which examined Firths
work (with Johannes Wagner) on respecifiying
the field of Second Language Acquisition. He has
published in Applied Linguistics, Modern Language
Journal, IRAL, Intercultural Pragmatics, Journal of
Pragmatics, Discourse and Society, American Journal
of Sociology, amongst other journals. His monograph Talk International: English as a Lingua Franca
at Work will be published by Oxford University
Press in late 2012.
11
12 | JALT2012 PLENARY SPEAKER
Technology is for everyone: Take the leap!

zge Karaolu
Terakki Foundation Schools
zge_Karaolu@hotmail.com
www.twitter.com/zge
www.zgeKaraolu.edublogs.
org
The immense and growing change in technology in the last

decade has opened up a new door in education, creating new
opportunities to learn, collaborate, and connect to each other
by exponentially expanding the physical limits of school. This
digital revolution has unleashed creativity and new insights with
unlimited resources to facilitate language learning. Our newest
generation has already demonstrated to us how it has impacted
the way they learn, think, and interact, pointing us to learning
technologies and their potential uses in and out of our classes.
This talk will explore the whys and hows of integrating technology in small steps; making learning fun with web tools that
every teacher should know and take advantage of to heighten
the learning experience in young learners classes. Hang onto
your hats because technology is for everyone and we are
about to take that leap!
10
Our students have changed radically. Todays students are no longer the people our
educational system was designed to teach.
Marc Prensky
12
oday the world is undergoing a digital

change that cannot be dragged back,
changing our newest generation of digital
users as well.If we look around, we can easily
see the effects and the radical impact of the latest
technologies on our children that are growing
up in this digital wave. It is reshaping the way
they live, think, and learn, allowing our children
to collaborate, interact, and create more things
than ever before. It is as if our children have been
normalized by all these new gadgets of this new
era. In one of his talks, Sir Ken Robinson said,
Technology isnt technology if it already existed
when you were born. He is quite right because
what we actually call technology today our
children simply accept as a natural part of life.
Todays children are interactive, online, more
collaborative than ever, and they are much more
motivated to respond when they do the things
that they are passionate about. They have a wide
range of hobbies and they are multi-taskers.
They like to be challenged and they can easily
get bored if they are not.Every day, they are
spending countless hours using these popular
technologies. They are in a way learning to use
the digital devices before they learn to tie their
shoes or even speak and they are good at adopting and using them, most of the time they are
much better than us. I have always had children
in my young learner classes who are trying to
help me figure out how to make the computer or
the CDs work when they think I am not capable
of doing so. I am sure you have had similar
experiences in your life with children at home or
in classes.
If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob
our children of tomorrow. John Dewey
In fact, integrating technology in education
is no longer a new area. Its always been a part

of our classes from the beginning. Once it was
the pen and paper; today the Internet, mobile
devices, and web-based tools are the new
technologies. While all these technologies have
arisen throughout the centuries, our needs and
passion as teachers to find useful and meaningful ways to incorporate them into our teaching
has flourished as well. It has pushed the evaluation of learning technologies that is demonstrating to us the immense potential that they have
for our children today.
It has opened new doors for us, letting students and teachers access information, resources,
and even each other in a more flexible way.
It has created a new and a different context
where children can experience new challenges
and connect to different places and cultures. It
has made it easier for us to connect with our
students outside the walls of the classroom and
create new dynamic learning environments.
The innovative and creative ways of using these
tools help us to engage our children in their own
learning using different materials and activities
in ways in which traditional education doesnt
seem capable of. The new tools have helped us
bridge the gaps between the classroom and the
real world: how students learn and how they are
taught.
If you generally think of the Internet as a place
to look up stuff, you are missing the best part.
Anonymous
There are numerous web tools that we can
integrate into our own teaching, and if you are a
teacher of young learners like me, the tools that
you can use are more colourful, interactive, and
fun to play with. The good thing about these
tools is that you dont have to be a tech savvy
teacher to use them. If you know how to sign
up for a website, have a Facebook account, or
know how to upload pictures and copy a link to
an email, thats enough to figure out how to use
them. Most of the tools are alike in form and in
use, so once you get the idea of using one, the
others seem much easier to implement and create. We can also take advantage of the fact that
often, educators from around the world have
already created tutorials on how to use these
tools, written lesson plans for different level of
students, and come up with inspiring ideas to

integrate these tools into our own teaching.
By using some of the tools in class or assigning
students to play with one of the tools at home,
we can give students another powerful tool to
motivate them and facilitate language learning.
Think of your children creating avatars (a character that represents anonlineuser) and making
them talk about their likes and dislikes with their
own voices, or putting some pictures together
with their favourite music and creating a short
video of the things that they did last weekend,
or creating an online pin board where they can
pin virtual pictures, texts, links, and videos
and share them with others. Think of yourself
as a teacher sitting in front of your computer
screen, with your coffee in your hand, ready to
collaborate with your students or other classes
on a worldwide project. Think of the power in
your hands when giving your students the two
options of writing a diary: one of them is with a
pen and paper, the other one is by simply trying
a web tool to keep an online diary. To be able to
do this, you dont even need to have the facilities
in the classroom because students already have
them at home.
These days, we have various tools in our
magic bags to encourage our kids to speak and
write in English at home while they are having
fun and doing the thing that they know best:
using technology and engaging themselves in
their own learning while facing challenges. Our
children can write a dialogue on a worksheet or
they can use the same dialogue in creating an
animation or an online pop-up book. What they
write, what they learn, and the outcomes will
be the same. The only difference is the tools that
they will be using.
Yes, of course, web tools have come with
their numerous uses and put new demands on
teachers. Our classrooms, houses, and even our
students may be surrounded by the latest and
greatest of technology and the challenge starts
here. It is how we find the best tools that are relevant to our topic, culture, and curriculum and
most importantly, important for our objectives.
It is how we use these tools to facilitate language
learning that counts, because we cannot think
of technology tools that can be used every day
13

or for every bit of our curriculum. We cant
use technology just for the sake of using it or it
certainly cannot replace what we are teaching.
We should consider technological tools just like
any other tool such as a new game or a new spice
for cooking to help us to teach, motivate our
students, blow their minds, and make them learn
or practice the language.
Answering the call of the new century with
small steps, even if it is only on a trial basis
means a lot (Klopfer, Osterweil, Groff, & Haas,
2009). You may think that you do not have
the facilities to use these tools at the moment.
But who says that you wont forever? Lets be
prepared. Lets not limit ourselves from seeing
the potential of the tools that are ready in our
hands, because we are teachers who are building the steps towards the future. It means that
we believe in lifelong learning and continuous
professional development. Lets juggle one
more thing to take another leap forward with
our students to do our best to engage them in
this globally connected world, by giving them
something new, something better.In the end,
taking this leap is sure to be a journey that we
and our students will enjoy and benefit from.
References
Klopfer, E., Osterweil S., Groff J., & Haas J. (2009)
Using the technology of today, in the classroom
today. Retrieved from <education.mit.edu/
papers/GamesSimsSocNets_EdArcade.pdf>.
zge Karaolu is an English teacher, teacher trainer,
and educational consultant
in teaching young/very
young learners, teaching
with web-based technologies for international
organizations, schools,
and institutes worldwide.
She is the main author
of Minigon ELT books
and she is working
forMindactivain the US as the content and story
coordinator of the Yes, I Speak English DVD
series. She has been developing animations,
digital games, and smartphone applications
14
with her young learners for the last four years.

She has won many prestigious awards for her
work including the Creativity and Innovation, award, the Highly Commended 2010,
Highly Commended 2011, Microsoft Award
for Outstanding Teachers - Runner up, and
most notably, ESU - Cambridge University
New Writing Award,which earned her a visit
to Buckingham Palace to receive her award from
Prince Philip. She has a blogwhere she writes
about teaching English through technology and
web-based tools. She is currently teaching young
and very young learners in Turkey and enjoying
every minute of it.
This years conference brings to Japan five respected

plenary speakers from five distinct fields which means
that whatever your area of interest, there is something for you. On top of this, there are eight featured
speakers and a specially invited Asian Scholar.
Even a brief look at the biographies of the plenary
speakers suggests that among them, they have
worked in, taught in, lived in, or been to a large percentage of all the countries in the world.
John Eyles
. . . speaking on Saturday
afternoon, is a new communication technology expert
who works with companies
and organizations around the
world planning and developing digital education programmes and projects,
some of which hell talk to us about. Early in his
career, he taught in Japan so he has an insiders
knowledge of the situations that Japan-based
educators face on a day-to-day basis. Like the
other plenary speakers, he has worked around
the world, including the UK, USA, Thailand,
and NZ (his homeland). John is Chair of the
EON Foundation.
JALT2012 speakers on other pages of
this issue of TLT.
The role of metaphor

and metonymy in EFL
proficiency
Jeannette Littlemore,
University of Birmingham
I report the findings from a Cambridge ESOL-funded research
project (Cambridge ESOL Funded Research Programme
Project number 17092010), which investigated how an ability
to use metaphor and metonymy contributes to successful
performance in the written component of Cambridge ESOL
examinations. Learners are significantly more likely to do
unusual things with metaphor at the First Certificate level. They
do this in response to the very particular requirements of the
examination. For these reasons, I argue that, at FCE level, it is
important to adapt a tolerant attitude towards uses of language
that some may refer to as creative but which others might
simply describe as wrong. I also outline the different things
that learners need to do with metaphor and metonymy at each
level, illustrating my points with short examples taken from
essays written by students who have been successful in their
examinations.

Cambridge ESOL
Cambridge ESOL
First CertificateFCE
FCE
etaphor involves describing one thing in

terms of another, such as when Hamamatsu is described as an important
industrial hub, or when The Tomei Expressway is
described as the main artery through the Chubu
region. Metonymy is a related trope which
involves a kind of figurative shorthand, such as
when Hamamatsu is described as the City of Music or when the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical
Instruments is described as having a hands-on
room where one can play many different types of
instruments.
Studies of metaphor and metonymy have

shown that they perform key functions, such as
the signalling of evaluation, agenda management, mitigation through humour, irony, and
euphemism, reference to shared knowledge, the
building of rapport, and discourse-community
membership (Cameron, 2003; Littlemore & Low,
2006). An ability to use metaphor and metonymy
appropriately can thus contribute to a language
learners communicative competence. One might
therefore expect an ability to understand and
produce metaphor and metonymy to contribute
to language proficiency.
At this years JALT conference, I will be
presenting research that I have conducted, in
collaboration with a number of colleagues, into
the use of metaphor and metonymy by language
learners. In particular, I will be reporting the
findings from a research project, funded by
Cambridge ESOL (Cambridge ESOL Funded
Research Programme Project number 17092010)
(Littlemore et al., 2012a), in which we looked at
how an ability to use metaphor and metonymy
contribute to successful performance at the
different levels of the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
as measured by the written component of the
Cambridge ESOL examinations. These include
the Key English Test (KET), the Preliminary
English Test (PET), the First Certificate in English
(FCE), the Cambridge Advanced Certificate in
English (CAE), and the Cambridge Proficiency in
English test (CPE). In this study, we found that
the amount of metaphor that learners produce
increases as each level, very much as one would
expect. However we also found that learners
are significantly more likely to try to do strange
things with metaphor around the First Certificate level; it is at this level where they start to
try new things out, make mistakes, and transfer
metaphor from their own language, as well using
15
16
much more open class metaphor. They do this

in response to the very particular requirements
of the FCE test and the CEFR can-do statements
that the test is aligned to. For these reasons, I will
argue that, at FCE level, it is important to adapt
a tolerant attitude towards uses of language that
some may refer to as creative but which others
might simply describe as wrong. Our findings
for metonymy are much less systematic, but
interesting nonetheless.
I will also outline the very different things that
learners need to be able to do with metaphor
and metonymy in each of these examinations.
For example, while for the KET examination,
one would not expect learners to do much more
than use metaphorical prepositions and fixed
expressions, whereas for First Certificate, one
would expect learners to use metaphors with
an evaluative function as well as what might be
called creative metaphors for dramatic effect
in order to support their points of view. When
learners reach CAE and Proficiency, one would
expect them to be able to use metaphors to
show relationships between their ideas and to
reinforce their evaluations, to express abstract
and complex issues, highlight salience, and write
emotively about topics that they feel strongly
about. It is at this level where one would hope
to see learners producing metaphor clusters that
have a degree of coherence, and to use these
clusters to make their writing vivid, memorable
and persuasive. In the talk, I will expand upon
and exemplify these ideas, illustrating my points
with short examples of figurative language use
taken from essays written by students who have
been successful in their examinations.
I will then go on to discuss the role of metaphor in spoken interaction and present preliminary findings from a study funded by the British
Council (Littlemore, et al., 2012b), in which we
investigated the ways in which metaphor contributes to successful spoken interaction between
native and non-native speakers of English.
Qualitative analyses of conversations between
native speakers of English have shown that
when a metaphor is working in a conversation,
it will often get refined and elaborated upon and
tossed backwards and forwards between speakers, but if it is not working, it is swiftly replaced
by another one (Cameron et al., 2009). An ability
to pick up on the metaphors that are used by
ones interlocutor and refine and develop them

is therefore an important interactive skill. In
addition to this, an important aspect of spoken
communication that differentiates it from written
communication is that it can involve gesture, and
research has shown that a substantial amount
of gesture involves metaphor (Cienki, 2008),
especially when abstract concepts are being
discussed. Metaphor and metonymy have been
shown to work together very closely in discourse, with the same words being used literally,
metonymically, and metaphorically over the
course of the conversation (Cameron, 2011; MacArthur & Littlemore, 2011). Moreover, metonymy
has also been found to play an important role in
gesture and is arguably at least as pervasive as
metaphor in this respect (Mittelberg & Waugh,
2009). I will therefore provide examples from our
study showing how a learners use of metaphor
and metonymy (in both language and gesture)
can contribute to, or in some cases detract from,
their spoken communicative competence.
Finally, I will argue that learners need to be
able to make subtle changes in their use of
metaphor and metonymy according to genre
and register, and that the ability to do this is a
real mark of the communicatively competent
learner. In order to support my case, I will
provide linguistic evidence from authentic
settings involving different discourse communities, which illustrates how a one size fits all
approach to figurative language is simply not
appropriate (Deignan, Littlemore, & Semino,
forthcoming). I will demonstrate how genre
and register features shape figurative language
use in important ways, and argue that language
learners need to be made aware of this. I will
use these data to show how ability to adapt ones
use of figurative language to different forms of
communication is a key component of language
proficiency.
At various points in the talk, I will discuss
the psychological processes involved in the
production and comprehension of metaphor
and metonymy, emphasising the respective roles
played by declarative and procedural knowledge
in the development of metaphoric/metonymic
competence in a foreign language, arguing that it
is important to view metaphor and metonymy as
both cognitive processes and linguistic products
used in real communicative situations. Through-

out the talk, I will emphasise the high degree of
variation across different learners and different
contexts of use. Finally, I explain why future
research in this area could usefully include: a
greater focus on metonymy; more consideration
of the role of gestural metaphor and metonymy;
and an increased appreciation of the ways in
which patterns of metaphor and metonymy use
vary across different registers and languages.
References
Cameron, L. (2003). Metaphor in Educational
Discourse. London: Continuum.
Cameron, L. (2011). Metaphor in spoken
discourse. In J. P. Gee & M. Handford (Eds.),
The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis.
London: Routledge, pp. 342355.
Cameron, L, Maslen, R., Todd, Z., Maule, J.,
Stratton, P., & Stanley, N. (2009). The discourse dynamics approach to metaphor and
metaphor-led discourse analysis. Metaphor and
Symbol, 24(2), 6389.
Cienki, A. (2008). Why study metaphor and gesture? In A. Cienki & C. Muller (Eds.), Metaphor
and Gesture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 5-26.
Deignan, A., Littlemore, J., & Semino, E. (forthcoming). Figurative Language, Genre and Register. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Littlemore, J., & Low, G. (2006). Figurative Thinking and Foreign Language Learning. Basingstoke/
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Littlemore, J., Krennmayr, T., Turner, J., & Turner,
S. (2012a). Investigating Figurative Proficiency
at Different Levels of Second Language Writing, Cambridge ESOL Funded Research Programme Round 2, Final Report. Cambridge ESOL
Examinations Research Notes 47, 14-26. Retrieved
from <www.cambridgeesol.org/rs_notes/
rs_nts47.pdf>.
Littlemore, J., MacArthur, F., Cienki, A., &
Holloway, J. (2012b). How to make yourself
understood by international students: The

role of metaphor in academic tutorials, British
Council English Language Teaching Research
Partnership Award Project Final Report.
MacArthur, F., & Littlemore, J. (2011). On the
repetition of words with the potential for metaphoric extension in conversations between
native and non-native speakers of English,
Metaphor and the Social World, 1 (2): 201-238.
Mittelberg, I., & Waugh, L. (2009). Metonymy
first, metaphor second: A cognitive semiotic
approach to multimodal figures of thought in
co-speech gesture. In C. Forceville & E. UriosAparisi (Eds.), Multimodal Metaphor, Amsterdam: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 330-356.
Jeannette Littlemore
is a Reader in Applied
Linguistics in the
Centre for English
Language Studies at the
University of Birmingham, UK. Her research
focuses on the use of
metaphor by second
language learners.
She is also interested
in applying cognitive linguistics to second
language learning. She is currently investigating
the development of metaphoric competence in
written and spoken learner English, and variations in metaphor use according to genre and
register. She has taught and lectured in Spain,
Belgium, Japan and the UK and has presented
at conferences in over thirty countries. She has
published widely in the areas of metaphor,
cognitive linguistics and language learning. Her
books include Figurative Thinking and Foreign
Language Learning (2006, Palgrave MacMillan,
with Graham Low), Applying Cognitive Linguistics
to Second Language Learning and Teaching (2009,
Palgrave MacMillan) and Doing Applied Linguistics (2011, Routledge, with Nicholas Groom).
Visited TLTs website recently?

<jalt-publications.org/tlt>
17
18 | JALT2012 FEATURED SPEAKER
Maximizing vocabulary
development with
online resources
Charles Browne
Meiji Gakuin
Although there are nowmany online resources for accessing
authentic video in and out of theclassroom, thispresentation
argues that the gap between the average vocabularysize of
typical EFL language learners and the amountof vocabulary
needed tocomprehend those videos is usually quite daunting.
In this session, thepresenter will begin bydeveloping the argument for the importance of teachinghigh frequency vocabulary, citing some of his backgroundresearch on theserious
vocabulary gaps that face EFL learners in Asia. He will then describethe theoreticalunderpinnings of several online scaffolding
tools he helped todevelop for assisting students to be able
to bettercomprehend unsimplifiedvideos (as well as some
excellent freeware and shareware equivalents).Participants will
alsobe introduced to an approach for rating the difficultyof
videos by their vocabulary content and simple techniques
fordevelopingtargeted special purpose vocabulary lists based
on corpus research of thetranscripts of the video.
EFL
EFL
ver since the late 80s when I worked as

coordinator for alarge chain of English
language learning schools owned by
SonyCorporation, Ihave been intimately
involved with trying to figure out ways to
utilizetechnology to improve and enhance
Japanesestudents language learningexperience.
Unfortunately, much of what Ive learned was
through the painfulprocess of trial anderror. As
a featured speaker at JALT this year,I would like
to share some of my insights, so that your own
use of technologyin andout of the classroom,
18
especially with regard to teaching vocabulary

anddeveloping reading skills will be more
successful than myown first attempts!
When I was at Sony, I remember that during
summer vacationsthey would send me to visit
junior and senior high schools aroundthe countryto help the schools to be able to make more
effective use of the high tech Sonylanguage laboratories they hadpurchased. Back in the 1980s,
the only room in theentire school that had air
conditioning was usually the language lab room,
so Ihadassumed that the language lab would
be the most popular room among bothteachers
and students as a way to escape the terriblyhot
and humid Japanesesummers. Imagine my
surprise when I discovered that in almost every
school Ivisited, the rooms wereempty and the
machines were unused and covered indust!
Why did this happen? Well, there are several
reasons.Perhaps the biggest problem was that
both teachers and students wereunfamiliarwith
and a little intimidated by the technology.Most
schools, when budgeting for thepurchase of a
language laboratory, wouldspend almost their
entire budget on expensive hardware, but almost
nothing ontrainingfor teachers and students
or on hiring the very necessary supportstaff
(in almost EVERY case of the successful use of
languagelabs I observed,there was inevitably
good full or part-time support staff to help teachers andstudents to use the equipment moreeffectively). Another very important reasonis that
the approach to teaching English with language
labs was based on theso-calledAudio-Lingual
method of language teacher, an ineffectiveand
outdated approach to teaching developed in
the 1950s, based ontheprinciples of repetition,
error-correction, and rote memorization.
As unsuccessful as the methodology for
language lab-basedEnglish teaching was, Ive
The Language Teacher JALT2012 Special Issue Featured Speaker Article

found that vocabulary instruction, especiallyinJapanese high schools, to be equally problematic.Although there are more than 600,000
wordfamilies in the Oxford EnglishDictionary,
which is considered to be thelargest dictionary of English in the world, research in corpus
linguistics hasshown that avery small number
of these words are actually used in daily life.In
an excellent overview of vocabulary research
to date, Nation(2001), foundthat knowledge
of just the 2000 most frequent words of English
coverapproximately 81-85% of words that
appearin general English texts, and thatthe top
5000 words covers approximately 95% of such
texts. Researchers such asHirsch andNation
(1992) argue that knowledge of these 5000 high
frequency corewords give enough coverage
and contextto allowsecond language learners to
function more successfully andindependently.
The problem is that even after 800-1200 hours
ofinstruction,Japanese students do not know
even half this number (Barrow et al., 1999;
Shillaw, 1995) and the words they doknow tend
to be the wrong words (Browne,1998). In
other words, they have huge gaps in knowledge
of core words at eventhe1,000-2000 word level
while knowing many extremely low frequency
words inthe 50-100,000 frequency range.
Why do such vocabulary knowledge gaps
occur? Although it isnot within the specific scope
of this article, research by the authorandothers
(Browne, 1996, 1998; Butler and Iino, 1995; Kikuchi,
2006; Kitao and Kitao, 1995) have pointed to both
theextreme difficulty of reading textsused in
high schools as well as the undueemphasis that
Japanssecondary education systems places on
teaching Englishin order to pass college entrance
exams (rather than for purposes ofcommunication) as contributing factors.
In the early 1990s, as language laboratories
lost theirpopularity, computer assisted language
learning (CALL) became the new buzzword,
and schools began to shift their huge budgets to
creating high-techcomputer laboratories. While
at Aoyama GakuinUniversity, I was asked to
helpmy department implement a several million dollar Ministry of Education grant tocreate
(amongother things) a new CALL center for our
school. After myexperience at Sony, I was hesitant to get involved and said that I wouldonlybe
willing to help if the CALL center would be
low-tech ratherthan high-tech so that the

center would be more likelyto be usedby teachers and students who were not yet that confident
in using computers,and that a large part of
the budgetwould be devoted to hiring CALL
staffthat could support teachers with training and
lesson prep and students withtraining inusing
the lab. Their reply? Surprisingly, they said NO to
bothconditions but said that I had to help them
anyway. Their reasoningwas thatsince Waseda
University was going high-tech, that they had to
bestate-of-the-art as well, and that there wasnt
enoughmoney in thebudget to hire CALL staff
or do training. What was the result? A brand
newhigh-tech CALL center that went almostas
unused and gathered almost as muchdust as the
Sony language laboratories!
The first thing I did after these difficult experiences wasto get much more active in the field
of CALL, especially the wonderfulorganizations of JALTCALL here in Japan <jaltcall.
org>,EuroCALL in Europe <eurocall-languages.
org>,andin working together with an amazing
group of CALL experts to publish anedited
volume on how to do things RIGHT withtechnology in the classroom (Fotos & Browne,2004).
Ialso swore to myself that any future projects
related to technology in theclassroom would
be done on my own terms, meaning that they
would (1) be basedon sound pedagogy, (2)
utilize technology thatteachers and students
werefamiliar and comfortable with, and (3)
would be intuitive enough to use that notraining
or manualswould be required.
I have since became much more involved in
the process ofsoftware development itself, first
in making software based on mydoctoralresearch in vocabulary acquisition <wordengine.
com>,using authentic materials such as video
for teachingvocabulary in context, improvingpronunciation skills, and extensive listening
<englishcentral.com>, developingpedagogicallysound approaches for improving speaking
and listening skills viaSkype <gofluent.com>,
making simpleiPhone apps to helpquickly
increase student knowledge of important
vocabularylists such as the General Service List
(West, 1953) <charlie-browne.com/services/
appde/gs>,and Academic Word List (Coxhead,
2000) (<charlie-browne.com/services/appde/
aw>,a small blog devoted to the discussion of
19

use of tech in language learning andteacher
training<elearnguy.com>, anda web-based
solution for combining extensive graded reading
with a direct andsystematic study ofimportant
vocabulary words (soon to be announced).
In my workshops and lectures for JALT this
year, my hope isto help participants to better
understand the whys and hows ofhelping Japanesestudents to quickly build their knowledge
of core vocabulary, the wonderfulcontribution
both to vocabularydevelopment as well as overall languageproficiency that extensive reading
can make, as well as introduce participantsto a
widerange of online tools which can be used for
materials development,research and teaching
and learning, in these two veryimportant areas.
With all the new technological possibilities inside
andoutside the classroom, it is a very exciting
time to be an Englishteacher. Agood portion of
the undergraduate teacher training courses I amin
charge of at Meiji Gakuin University are devoted
to helping mystudents notonly to become familiar
with, but also to create new ways of using technologyin motivating and stimulating ways. Iam often
amazed at the innovative ideasthey come up with.
For already practicing teachers, I think it isimportant to try andfamiliarize yourself with the latest
trends and lookfor ways to bring some of these
ideas to their students. In addition totheorganizations mentioned above (which hold wonderful,
informativeconferences here in Japan and abroad),
there are also severalexcellentCALL-related
journals worth looking at: Language Leaning and
Technology <pllt.msu.edu>, ReCALL <wwweurocall-languages.org/recall/index.html>and the
JALT-CALL Journal <jaltcall.org/journal>.
(This article is a substantially revised and
expanded version of a March 2011 column I
wrote for theEigoKyoiku Journal, titled To Tech
or not toTech: That isthe question...)
References
Barrow, J., Nakanishi, Y., & Ishino, H. (1999). AssessingJapanese college students vocabulary
knowledge with a self-checkingfamiliaritysurvey. System, 27, 223-247.
Browne, C. (1998). Japanese high school reading
textbooks:Help or hindrance? Temple University Japan Working Papers inAppliedLinguistics,
12, 1-13.
20
Browne, C. (1996). Japanese EFL textbooks: How

readable arethey? Temple University Japan
Working Papers in AppliedLinguistics, 8, 28-41.
Butler, Y. G., & Iino, M. (1995). Current Japanesereforms in English language education:
The 2003 action plan. Language Policy 4,25-45.
Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list.
TESOLQuarterly, 34, 213-238.
Fotos, S. & Browne, C. (Eds.) (2004). New Perspectiveson CALL for Second and Foreign Language
Classrooms, Mahwah: NJ:LawrenceErlbaum
Associates.
Hirsch, D., & Nation, P. (1992). What vocabulary
sizeis needed to read unsimplified texts for
pleasure? Reading in a ForeignLanguage, 8,
689-696.
Kitao, K., & Kitao, K. S. (1995). Englishteaching:
Theory, research, practice. Tokyo: Eichosha.
Kikuchi, K. (2006).RevisitingEnglish entrance
examinations at Japanese universities after
adecade. JALT Journal, 28(1), 77-96.
Nation, P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in another
language.Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Shillaw, J. (1995). Using a word list as a focus
forvocabulary learning. The Language Teacher,
19(2), 58-59.
West, M. (1953). A General Service List of English
words.London: Longman.
Dr. Browne isProfessor of
Applied Linguistics and head
of the EFLteacher-training
programat Meiji Gakuin
University. He is a specialist
inSecond LanguageVocabulary Acquisition, CALL,
and has written dozensof
research articlesand books,
including a monthly column
for Japans topEnglish educationjournal
(Eigo Kyoiku). He is deeply active in the area
ofCALL, helping to create research-based languagelearning software such asWordEngine,
EnglishCentral, andGoFluent,and works hard
to share this knowledge with teachers andresearchers throughcountless hand-on workshops
and courses withBoards of Education around
thecountry as well as Columbia TeachersCollege
and Temple University Japan.
JALT2012 FEATURED SPEAKER | 21
Making it memorable
through songs and
chants
Carolyn Graham
Author, Jazz Chants (Oxford
University Press)
In the words of Alan Maley, it is rhythm that underlies the
ability to speak English accurately and with confidence. Jazz
Chants are a rhythmic expression of spoken American English.
They are a particularly effective way to teach natural intonation
and pronunciation in a fun, engaging way. Just as the selection
of a particular tempo and beat in jazz may convey powerful and
varied emotions, the rhythm stresses and intonation patterns
of the spoken language are essential elements for the expression of the feelings and the intent of the speaker. Although the
primary purpose is the improvement of speaking and listening
comprehension skills, they also work well in reinforcing specific
structures in a situational context. In this Featured Speaker
Workshop, participants will learn ways to bring Jazz Chants into
their classrooms and to create their own chants to help make a
difference in the lives of their students.
Alan Maley
1
1
riginally, Jazz Chants were defined

as a rhythmic expression of spoken
American English as it appears in
situational contexts. Over the years, through the
development of vocabulary chants, it would be
more correct to say that Jazz Chants are simply
a rhythmic expression of spoken American
English. They are a particularly effective way to
teach natural intonation and pronunciation in a
fun, engaging way.
Just as the selection of a particular tempo and
beat in jazz may convey powerful and varied
emotions, the rhythm stresses and intonation

patterns of the spoken language are essential
elements for the expression of the feelings and
the intent of the speaker. Although the primary
purpose is the improvement of speaking and
listening comprehension skills, they also work
well in reinforcing specific structures in a situational context. In this way, chants can be used as
a fun and memorable even humorous way to
teach grammar.
People often ask me how I made the connection. The story begins in the 1970s when as I
was teaching English at New York University
by day. At night, I went by the stage persona
of Carolina Shout and performed in the New
York piano bars playing and singing my favorite
old-time jazz. It was this combination of very
diverse vocations that led me to this wonderful
discovery.
My first book Jazz Chants was published in
1978 by Oxford University Press with the subtitle
Rhythms of American English for Students of
English as a Second Language. In actual fact,
Jazz Chants are equally, if not more effective for
EFL students in helping them to remember key
language. That is why much of my work focuses
on high frequency language such as days of the
week, weather, numbers, food and drink.
I had learned from my father who started my
piano lessons when I was four years old. He was
a classical musician but played beautiful ragtime
piano at home. I was in love with my father and
looked up to him. So I wanted to play just like he
did. When he passed away, I didnt fly home to
California for his funeral. Instead, I went to my
piano bar and played and sang his favorite songs
all through the night.
One evening a friend came into the bar and
said to me, Gee, its good to see you! You look
wonderful! When I heard those words, a penny
21

dropped, and I realized that what my friend had
uttered fit exactly to the beat of the music I was
playing. It was from this realization that Jazz
Chants were born.
In my own classroom, I immediately found
them to be a useful tool for working on the
sound system of English, and in particular for
developing an ear for the correct stress and intonation patterns of the spoken language. I experimented with all sorts of regular conversational
phrases in my classes at the American Language
Institute at NYU where I was Master Teacher of
ESL developing the technique. Jazz Chants in
fact became an integral part of the curriculum at
the American Language Institute. They are now
used in classrooms all around the world.
Many people falsely assume that Jazz Chants
are just for kids. In actual fact, they can be used
with students of any age. In addition to teaching at Harvard University and NYU School
of Education, I have also conducted classes at
Teachers College Columbia University in New
York and Tokyo. US State Department grants
took me to places as far afield as South Africa,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali, Russia, the Baltic States,
Georgia, Ukraine and Peru, where I was able
to share the technique. These days, I regularly
spend and present workshops in April and May
in France, at NYU every June and October. I also
usually visit Japan in November and December.
The theme for this years JALT International
Conference will be Making a Difference. In
my Featured Speaker Workshop titled Making
it Memorable through Songs and Chants I will
show you ways that you can bring Jazz Chants
into your classrooms and even ways to create
your own chants to help you make a difference
in the lives of your students.
I am often asked about the use of music
with Jazz Chants. Strictly speaking, chants
are different to songs in that songs are always
set to music. It is important to remember that
Jazz Chants are not a poetic distortion such as
rapping, songs, or nursery rhymes. But when
practicing chants, they should mirror exactly
the way the phrases would sound outside the
classroom in the real world.
In addition to Jazz Chants, I have created many
songs for the EFL and ESL classrooms. When
I create songs, I always try to remember that
22
the singing should not distort the language but

should stay as close to natural intonation as possible. Nursery rhymes are particularly popular in
many EFL classrooms. But there are two reasons
why they are not the best material for learning:
The language is not high frequency and is
often irrelevant to communication in the real
world.
The intonation of words is often stretched
to fit the melody rather than keeping the
natural pattern of English.
With Jazz Chants, students dont have to be
good singers as they are chanting closer to
actually speaking rather than singing. When I
use music to back up my Jazz Chants, I almost
always prefer the New Orleans Preservation Hall
Jazz Band. One of the best numbers to start off
with is Joe Avery, which offers a perfect tempo
and a sound that is happy and bright. The best
music is that which has no vocals, as the singing
voice in the background can distort the chant
and break concentration.
What follows is an overview of the steps of
creating a Jazz Chant:
1. Choose a topic of interest to your students or
use the topic or language point that is being
covered in your regular textbook.
2. Use real language that is useful and appropriate for the age of your students.
Whats your name? is real language, but
What is your name? is not real language,
because nobody really talks like this. The use of
contractions is one example where Jazz Chants
really come into their own in helping students
to master natural English pronunciation and
intonation.
3. It is often easier and more effective to build
students up to longer phrases and sentences
by starting with vocabulary in isolation first.
This can be done by starting with a vocabulary chant.
Choose three vocabulary words a 2-syllable
word, a 3-syllable word, and a 1-syllable word
and put them together with a bit of repetition:
Soccer, basketball, golf.
Soccer, basketball, soccer, basketball

4. Once the students are confident with the
vocabulary, you can then put the vocabulary
into sentences. This allows the students to
practice language in a natural context that
can be tied to the real world. It also has the
effect of reinforcing and internalizing key
grammar and structures in the students
minds. I call these Grammarchants.
He plays soccer.
She plays basketball.
They play golf.
They play golf.
5. Have fun and dont be afraid to play with
language! Many teachers like to experiment
with various different items in the vocabulary chants and grammarchants. This is a
great way to deepen the students knowledge and confidence. It also helps them to
see that the language is real and versatile.
Carolyn Graham is
synonymous with Jazz
Chants, a technique
which she created that
connects the rhythm of
spoken American English
to the beat of jazz. She
developed the technique
during her twenty-five
years teaching ESL in
the American Language
Institute of New York University.
She has also taught at Harvard University, the
NYU School of Education, Columbia Teachers
College in New York and Tokyo, and elsewhere
throughout the world. Ms. Graham is the
author of numerous Jazz Chants books, and
contributed the songs and chants to series such
as Tiny Talk and Lets Go, published by Oxford
University Press.
The Ten
Commandments of SLA
Marjo Mitsutomi
Akita International University
This workshop will address the most prevalent challenges in
Japanese English education. The attendees will explore some
key components which must be present for foreign language
education to be successful. The speaker will examine case
studies from California, Finland, and the aviation industry to
draw some parallels of language education systems in different
contexts. It appears that the underlying system motivation,
which consists of assumptions, attitudes, and beliefs about
language education, drive the decisions that ultimately affect
student achievement
or many years I have taught graduate and

undergraduate courses on second language
acquisition (SLA) theories in higher education institutions in the US and in Japan. Each
time, my teacher candidates want to know the
ONE theory or teaching method that would
guarantee L2 (second/foreign language) learners success in their endeavors. And, each time
I tell them that there is no one way that works
with every student every time. Each teaching
context is unique. Each teacher is unique. Most
importantly, each learner is unique. There is
no one-curriculum-fits-all approach to second
language acquisition. This is the bad news.
23

Teachers responsibility is to do all they can
to motivate the students and to know their
particular levels and challenges. Teachers also
need to know the curriculum and textbooks in
order to supplement their lessons in appropriate
and high-interest ways whenever possible and
necessary. Equally importantly, teachers need
to stay current with the development of their
professional field and model life-long learning
to their students, whether native or nonnative
speakers of the target language themselves.
Then the good news: All normal people are capable of learning second and foreign languages
at any age. The ultimate rate of success may vary
considerably from one person to another, but
we all tend to go through the same processes.
L2 students, like their teachers, often ask for
the ONE right way to study, the one set of CDs
that will help them to become fluent, or the one
software program that will guarantee their rapid
advancement toward communicative competence. The answer is always the same: there is
no one way that works every time with every
learner. The learners responsibility is to take
ownership of their own learning and get to know
themselves as students. They need to know their
preferred learning strategies, their interests in
life in general, and use their natural curiosity to
learn about various topics through that second
language. Learning languages is really learning
about life.
Decades of being on both sides of the teachers
desk in foreign language classrooms has led me
to conclude that the biggest asset in language
study is the right mindset. I have observed what
successful L2 learners do and have noted that
they all share some basic characteristics. It is as if
they were obeying an internal set of commands
that guides their reactions to new linguistic
stimuli and directs them to proactively seek
meaningful learning experiences.
The successful language learners mindset
seems to be programmed to obey the following
Ten Commandments. Teachers would do well to
share these with their L2 students. Teaching our
language students includes teaching them how
to learn a language.
The Ten Commandments of SLA are my
summary of the many things I have learned over
the years, and they are listed here to help remind
24
us of our own responsibilities as learners and

teachers of English. During my presentation and
workshop at JALT2012, however, I will speak of
some deeper issues that go beyond the learner,
the teacher, and the classroom but are all the
same fundamental ingredients to effective L2
instruction in Japan.
Commandment 1: Do not fear mistakes and

errors. You will make them.
All language learners and teachers know that
developmental errors are part of parcel of the
learning process. The language student may
learn a rule but often impartially. Trial and
error is an integral part of finding out how the
language works. Most L2 students experience
what is called the interlanguage stage of
language development (Selinker, 1972). It is
an approximation of the target language. Even
though learners know mistakes are inevitable,
they may feel intimidated and shy away from
language production to protect their fragile
(second language) ego. Communicative efforts
should not be sacrificed at the altar of accuracy.
There is a time and place for error correction, but
it is not all the time.
Commandment 2: Do not translate. In real

communication there is no time for it.
When communicating with speakers of the L2,
the learner should try to negotiate meaning
instead of remaining in a state of linguistic
paralysis, which often results in complete silence.
Attempting to translate the intended message in
ones head from the first language to the second
is time-consuming and native speakers seldom
have the patience to wait for the completed message. They move on while you are still thinking
of what to say.
Commandment 3: Tolerate ambiguity. You

do not need to understand everything all the
time.
Focusing on discrete points and details is a
detrimental practice when trying to get the gist
of something that is being said. Learners should
go for the big picture and allow for a steady
flow of language to enter their mind. Once the
main idea, the framework becomes clear, the

details begin to make sense as well. In trying to
understand L2 grammar, it is not particularly
helpful to judge the L2 rules against ones L1
rules. Accept the L2 for what it is and allow for
rich L2 input.
Commandment 4: Forget your pride and learn

to laugh at yourself.
This is just good advice for every aspect of life.
Maintaining a sense of humor in the learning
process is a healthy thing. Remembering and
sharing the funny conversations and events that
take place in the L2 world make for great party
stories!
Commandment 5: Be patient with yourself.

Language acquisition will take time.
Give yourself the time that you need to make
progress in the language. Compete only with
yourself. Do your personal best. Your rate of
learning L2 is no reflection of your general
intelligence.
Commandment 6: Forgive native speakers, for

they know not what they do.
When in conversational contact with native
speakers, do remember that they acquired this
language as a birth gift, subconsciously, and with
little effort. Native speakers without language
teacher training have no idea how to adjust their
speech to help you comprehend them. They
have no sense of how to create comprehensible
input (Krashen, 1982) nor can they explain the
rules of their language to you (Long, 1983). They
just speak it the way they do because it sounds
right.
Commandment 7: Use the language and it

multiplies.
If you know two words, use those two words as
often as possible. That will soon increase to three
or four words. Then use those four words every
time they make sense in another context. Keep
this up and you will acquire a speech repertoire
relatively quickly. Do not wait until you have
memorized a certain size vocabulary or language
structures to begin speaking. The process does
not work that way. It is like manna; you must
consume it as soon as you receive it. Comprehensible input is important but so is the learners
own output (Swain, 1985).
Commandment 8: Notice the gap. Listen for

what you need to learn next.
As you advance in your studies, you will begin
to hear structures which you are yet unable to
produce (Gass, 1988). That is a good thing. It
is your internal heading indicator that points
to you what your next target should be. This
is encouraging! Your language skills are really
improving at this stage.
Commandment 9: Develop a second language

identity.
Language and culture go hand in hand. When
studying English, it is easier to sound natural in
the use of the language if you adopt some of the
overt behaviors used by English speakers. You
dont need to change yourself or your personality. Just develop a behavioral repertoire and attitudinal shift that allows you to navigate between
languages and cultures fluently (Norton, 2000).
You are now a member of the community that
uses L2 to communicate. You belong!
Commandment 10: Enjoy yourself during the

process.
This needs little explaining. Find your own
way in learning your target language. You
know yourself the best, so do what you need
to do to have a good time. Try, for example, the
latest Cengage Learning book series, created in
collaboration with National Geographic. These
texts are not only linguistically meaningful but
visually stimulating as well. Learning should be
a pleasant experience!
Conclusion
It is not unusual for many peoples in the world
to know more than one language functionally
well. Knowing several languages is considered
to be common sense. Japan is among those
nations which approach foreign language competence with a certain amount caution. It will
not be possible for English education to thrive in
this nation until the mindset at the highest level
25

of government shifts from linguistic isolation to
that of multilingual acculturation. In the meanwhile, we have the Ten Commandments.
References
Gass, S. (1982). Intergrating research areas:
A framework for second language studies.
Applied Linguistics 9(2), 198-217.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second
language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.
Long, M. (1983). Native speaker/non-native
speaker conversation and the negotiation of
comprehensible input. Applied Linguistics, 4(2),
126-41.
Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning:
gender, ethnicity and educational change. London:
Longman/Pearson Education.
Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. Internatonal
Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 219-31.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence:
Some roles of comprehensible input and
comprehensible output in its development. In
S. Gass and C. Madden (eds.), Input in Second
Language Acquisition (pp. 235-53). Rowley, MA:
Newbury House.
Sponsored to JALT2012
by Cengage, Marjo
Mitsutomi (Ph.D) is
professor of applied
linguistics and administrator at Akita International University (AIU).
A native of Finland, Dr.
Mitsutomi is fluent in
three languages and
conversational in another
three, and has lived for
more than a decade in each of three continents:
Europe, North America, and Asia. Dr. Mitsutomi
has participated in several cross-disciplined
projects involving language planning and policy.
Her most notable contribution was to be the
co-author of English proficiency standards for
pilots and air traffic controllers. The proficiency
standard governing both native and non-native
speakers of English is the first global language
mandate of its kind.
To make a difference,
imagine a difference
Garold Murray
Okayama University
This workshop will explore how teachers can work with
imagination, narrative and autonomy in order to foster learners
motivation. The introduction will provide an overview of the
key constructs and situate the topic in the literature by briefly
discussing Nortons imagined communities and Drnyeis L2
Motivational Self System. These theories suggest that teachers
might enhance learners motivation by helping them to develop
26
and sustain visions of future selves as foreign language speakers

and possible participants in target language communities. The
rest of the workshop will focus on ways to do this. Participants
will have an opportunity to consider specific suggestions for
classroom practice in relation to their own teaching context.
They will also be invited to engage in activities which draw on
narratives of their own teaching experience and rely on their
imagination as they devise ways to support learners visions and
make those visions a reality.
Nortonimagined communitiesDrnyeiL2 Motivational Self

System
he recent focus on self and identity in

language learning motivation research
points to an intriguing area of inquiry
the role of imagination. In her work, Norton
(2001) noted that learners can see themselves as
members of communities with which they do not
have everyday, face-to-face contact. Their sense
of belonging to these imagined communities has
the potential to influence their second language
(L2) identity and motivation. More recently,
Drnyei (2009) has proposed the L2 Motivational
Self System in which learners ideal selftheir
vision of the person they would like to becomecan serve as a source of motivation to
learn a language. From the research surrounding
imagined communities and the ideal L2 Self, one
can make three observations. First, the constructs
are closely related. If learners are to picture a
future self as a target language speaker, it will
most likely be in relation to some context or
community. Secondly, teachers concerned about
motivation need to consider learners identities.
Thirdly, teachers can foster students motivation
by helping them create visions of themselves as
L2 speakers and picture the contexts or communities in which this future self might use the
language. In order to do this, teachers will need
to understand and facilitate the functioning of
the imagination in the learning process.
Primarily, imagination serves to reveal a world
of possibilities. Liu and Noppe-Brandon (2009),
who promote imagination as an essential cognitive skill, describe it as the ability to conjure
new realities and possibilities: in John Deweys
words, to look at things as if they could be
otherwise (p. 19). Egan (1992), whose work
focuses on stimulating the imagination through
classroom instruction, defines imagination as
the capacity to think of things as possibly being
so (p. 43). He writes, It is by imagination
that we make ourselves, seeing the directions in
which we might move and the possible selves
we might inhabit (Egan, 1992, p. 33). Similarly,
Wenger (1998), known for his work on identity
and communities of practice, explains that imagination is a process of expanding our self by
transcending time and space and creating new
images of the world and ourselves (p. 176). In
language learning it is through the imagination
that learners can see themselves as future foreign
language speakers and entertain the possibility
of participating in target language communities.
Most learners will probably not have imagined
a future self capable of conversing in a foreign
language. For language teachers, the challenge is
to create learning environments and to devise tasks
which enable learners to develop and sustain such
visions. To achieve this, teachers might consider an
approach like Davis and Sumaras (2007) pedagogy
of the not-yet-imaginable, which focuses on that
space of possibilities that is opened up through the
exploration of the current space of the possible (p.
58). The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for the emergence of the not-yet-imaginable
by orienting the attentions of learners and helping
them to explore what is currently possible within
and beyond the classroom.
If teachers are to support the emergence of
learners L2 selves, they are going to have to
engage their imaginations to come up with alternative pedagogical possibilities. They will need
to ask the question: What if...? What if we did
things differently? However, Liu and NoppeBrandon (2009) see what if as being more than
a question. They define what if as an art form
which encompasses a number of capacities,
such as noticing deeply, embodying, questioning, identifying patterns, making connections,
exhibiting empathy, creating meaning, taking
action, reflecting and assessing. Fortunately,
these capacities are not new to language teachers
who regularly employ them in various contexts.
However, the art of what if is not only for
teachers. Learners also have to engage in this
practice, starting by asking themselves, What if
I were able to speak a foreign language? Once
learners have a vision of a possible L2 Self, they
are going to need a concrete action plan aimed at
making that future self a reality (Oyserman et al.,
2006). Here, the imagination is instrumental in
defining a trajectory that connects what we are
doing to an extended identity, seeing ourselves in
new ways (Wenger, 1998, p. 185). Learners will
have to consider a series of what if questions as
27

they engage in the processes of planning and carrying out their learning: What if I set these goals?
What if I choose these materials and strategies to
help me meet these goals? Imagination also plays a
crucial role in critical reflection and self-assessment.
Markus and Nurius (1986) argue that possible
selves furnish criteria against which outcomes are
evaluated (p. 956). In my research I have seen
evidence to suggest that learners assessed their
learning my comparing their present L2 self with
their ideal L2 self (Murray, 2011a, b). To facilitate
the realization of their possible selves, learners
need a pedagogical context which enables them
to set goals, determine a concrete course of action,
and reflect on the process and outcomes (Drnyei,
2009). In other words, the learning environment
has to offer a degree of autonomy.
Yet, autonomy has a more fundamental
role to play. Wenger (1998) contends that for
imagination to flourish it needs freedom from
constraints. Learners need to be free to explore
new things and to try on new identities. If
imagination is to support learners motivation
by enabling them to develop an L2 identity, the
pedagogical environment has to offer them the
autonomy they require to explore, experiment,
and engage with new ways of being.
In conclusion, if we hope to enhance our
students motivation by helping them create and
sustain visions of themselves as future foreign
language speakers, then we will have to devise
a pedagogy which stimulates their imagination.
The Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote,
The stronger the imagination, the less imaginary the results. Whether we are students learning a language or teachers trying to facilitate this
process, if we are going to make a difference, we
first have to imagine a difference.
References
28
Davis, B., & Sumara, B. (2007). Complexity science

and education: Reconceptualizing the teachers
role in learning. Interchange, 38(1), 53-67.
Drnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self
system. In Z. Drnyei and E. Ushioda (Eds.),
Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self (pp.
9-42). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Egan, K. (1992). Imagination in teaching and learning: The middle school years. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
Liu, E., & Noppe-Brandon, S. (2009). Imagination first: Unlocking the power of possibility. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves.
American Psychologist, 41, 954-969.
Murray, G. (2011a). Imagination, metacognition and the L2 Self in a self-access learning
environment. In G. Murray, X. Gao, & T. Lamb
(Eds.), Identity, motivation and autonomy in
language learning, pp. 75-91. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Murray, G. (2011b). Metacognition and imagination in self-access language learning. In D.
Gardner (Ed.), Fostering autonomy in language
learning (pp. 5-16). Gaziantep: Zirve University.
Retrieved from <ilac2010.zirve.edu.tr>
Norton, B. (2001) Non-participation, imagined
communities and the language classroom. In
M. Breen (Ed.), Learner Contributions to Language Learning: New Directions in Research (pp.
159-171). Harlow: Pearson Education.
Oyserman, D., Bybee, D., & Terry, K. (2006).
Possible selves and academic outcomes: How
and when possible selves impel action. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 91(4), 188-204.
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Garold Murray is associate
professor in the Language
Education Center at
Okayama University. In
addition to having taught
EFL courses in undergraduate, graduate, and teacher
education programs, he
established two self-access
centers in Japanone of
which is open to the general public. He has
served as president of the Japan Association of
Self-Access Learning (2005-2010) and convener
of the AILA Research Network on Learner
Autonomy in Language Learning (2005-2011).
His research interests include narrative inquiry,
learner autonomy, metacognition, imagination,
and the social semiotics of place. He is coeditor
of the book Identity, Motivation, and Autonomy in
Language Learning.
Gender counts: Women

in Japanese higher
education
Diane Hawley Nagatomo
Ochanomizu University
Teachers identities form through constant movement between
their personal and professional lives, and they are shaped by
the wider sociocultural context in which they live and work.
In Japan, a distinct gendered division between the educational
and professional opportunities available for women and men
may be at the heart of how teachers see themselves and how
others see them. This featured speaker workshop at JALT
will be comprised of two parts. The first part will be a guided
discussion covering gender issues that influence the lives of
Japanese and non-Japanese female and male teachers. The
second half of the workshop will explore ways of interpreting
identity formation through a guided analysis of data obtained
from Japanese female university teachers narratives. Upon
completion of this workshop, participants should have a greater
understanding of a useful analytical tool for exploring genderrelated issues in personal and professional settings.
n my research of Japanese teachers of English

in Japanese higher education (Nagatomo,
2012), I found that the professional lives of
my female participants were intricately bound to
societal expectations of women in Japan. Their
narratives suggested that their paths toward
becoming English teachers, even university
professors, were motivated by ideologies that
have traditionally limited Japanese women in the
sorts of careers to which they can aspire. Even as
professionals in a prestigious occupation, their
gender influenced their treatment inside and out-
side the workplace. This paper briefly outlines

several core issues that shape Japanese womens
professional lives in general, followed by those
that are directly related to university teachers.
Japanese womens participation in society

In 2010, the Global Gender Gap Index, which
takes into account economic participation and
opportunity, educational attainment, health and
survival, and political empowerment ranked
Japan as 94 out of 134 countries. Because Japanese women have the longest life expectancy in
the world and because they receive high levels
of education, this low ranking signifies Japanese
womens severe underrepresentation in political
and economic spheres. They comprise 50% of the
workforce, but they work mainly in low-status
and low-wage feminine occupations related
to clerical work, nursing, and childcare because
of ideologies that view women as naturally
peripheral to the world of work, and define them
primarily by their relationship to domesticity,
reproduction and the family (Liddle & Nakajima, 2000, p. 317).
Gendered paths in Japanese education

These ideologies reflect the two educational
paths taken on by male and female students
that result in a gendered-stratified workforce
(Amano, 1997). For boys, the function of education is to gain entry to professions and jobs with
high income and social status; for girls it is to
signify the social class and culture to which
they belong (Amano, 1997, p. 217). Parents may
feel that examination hell is an appropriate
pathway toward their sons futures, but they
often decide to spare their daughters from it by
sending them to less-competitive schools, which
tend to be private, all-female, and usually within
29

easy commuting distance. Because of deeprooted beliefs that women should marry men
with greater academic credentials, parents worry
that if their daughters become too educated,
the pool from which they can select eligible
husbands will be reduced. In other words, there
may be less pressure to provide an elite education for daughters than for sons (Ono & Piper,
2005). Prestigious universities located in Tokyo
are often literally out of reach for girls, but many
businesses have linkages with local institutions
that hire female graduates through a recommendation system. Fujimoto (2005) explains
that many companies only hire graduates living
at home, believing them to be dependent upon
authority. This supplies a continual obedient
and docile workforce for the OL [office lady]
market, which is one of the main career choices
for women, which also move[s] women from
school into suitable marriages (p. 256).
Successful Japanese women

It is important to note, however, that there are a
number of professional women in Japan. Liddle
and Nakajima (2000) found in their longitudinal
study of 120 professional women, that the
cultural capital obtained from their elite education provided professional respect generally
unavailable to the majority of Japanese women
working in short-term positions. One woman in
their study reported that it was not until she had
obtained a PhD from the United States, that the
companys clients treated her with respect, and
not as one of the girls. In other words, an elite
education is essential, but as noted in the previous section, is not always available to female
students.
Japanese female researchers

Considering societal attitudes toward the education of and the employment of women, it is not
surprising that women comprise less than 15%
of full-time faculty in Japanese higher education
and that female academics engage mainly in
areas pertaining to home economics, humanities,
and education and rarely in areas pertaining to
science and engineering (MEXT, 2006). It is also
not surprising that female academics face numerous difficulties: they lag five years behind men in
terms of promotion, experience fewer mentoring
30
opportunities by senior professors, and have

fewer chances for overseas sabbaticals than
their male counterparts (Sodei, 2005). Reported
instances of sexual (sekuhara) and academic
(akahara) harassment include the withholding
of research funds, not having the cooperation
of a supervising male professor, being denied
first authorship on papers they had written, and
being gossiped about in a sexually inappropriate
manner (Normile, 2001; Sodei, 2005). However,
what may be the biggest problem for professional women is the burden of balancing work,
housework, and childcare. Kubo (2006), former
director of the Gender Equality Promotion Division in the prime ministers Cabinet Office said
in a workshop on Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology that Japanese husbands
in duel income families are lazybones (p. 3),
citing statistics showing that they spend less
than 30 minutes per day on household tasks
while their working wives spend more than four
hours.
Hopes for improvement

In spite of the difficulties described above, there
may be a different trend in the future. Action is
being taken by the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality in Japan to ensure that
women will hold 30% of leading positions by
2020 (Fujita, 2006). MEXT (2006) hopes that the
harassment and discrimination against female
students will decrease in academic institutions
through improving environments and raising
awareness. The University of Tokyo established
the Todai Model Support Plan 10 Years to Establish a Career to increase the number of female
researchers to 50% in the long term. They hope to
do this by removing gendered barriers, establishing a harassment-free environment, improving
maternity and child-care leave systems, and
increasing safety features in laboratories (The
University of Tokyo, n.d.).
Another important step was taken to close the
career gap experienced by female scientists. A
two-year postdoctoral reentry fellowship was
created to begin in 2006 and 2007 to assist female
scientists to recommence research after taking
maternity or childcare leave. Applicants for the
60 places (30 each year) this fellowship offered
exceeded 350, indicating, a strong desire by

Japanese women to return to full-time research
(Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 2006).
Conclusion
This paper has highlighted several important
aspects that shape the professional lives of
Japanese women in Japan (for discussions of how
non-Japanese female teachers fare in Japanese
universities, see Simon-Maeda (2004), Hayes (in
press) and Hicks (in press)) and those that continue
to shape the lives of our female students. These
issues are important for all EFL teachers to be
aware of, whether they are male or female and
whether they are Japanese or non-Japanese. Even
though steps are being taken to reduce the barriers
faced by women in Japan, societal attitudes toward
women that originate in the home and carry over
into the workplace are difficult to overcome.
References
Amano, M. (1997). Women in higher education.
Higher Education, 34(2), 215-235.
Fujimoto, K. (2005). From womens college to
work: Inter-organizational networks in the
Japanese female labor market. Social Science
Research, 34(4), 651-681.
Fujita, F. (2006). The status of women faculty: A
view from Japan. Journal of Womens History,
18(1), 177-180.
Hayes, B. E. (In Press). Hiring criteria for Japanese
university English-teaching faculty. In Stephanie
A. Houghton & Damian J. Rivers (Eds.), Nativespeakerism in Foreign Language Education: Intergroup Dynamics in Japan. Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters.
Hicks, S. K. (In Press). On the (out)skirts of TESOL
networks of homophily: Substantive citizenship
in Japan. In Stephanie A. Houghton & Damian
J. Rivers (Eds.), Native-speakerism in Foreign
Language Education: Intergroup Dynamics in Japan.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2006)
JSPSs new restart postdoctoral fellowship. JSPS
Quarterly 18, 2. Retrieved June 24, 2011 from
<jsps.go.jp/english/e-quart/19/jsps19.pdf>
Kubo, M. (2006). Support for female researchers

in Japan: Current actions of Japanese funding
agencies to assist female researchers. JSPS
Quarterly 18 Winter. Retrieved from <jsps.
go.jp/english/e-quart/18/index_01.html>
Liddle, J., & Nakajima, S. (2000). Rising suns,
rising daughters: gender, class and power in Japan.
New York: Zed Books Ltd.
MEXT. (n.d.). Japans education at a glance.
Retrieved October 15, 2007, from <mext.go.jp/
english/statistics/05101901/005.pdf.>
MEXT. (2006). OECD Thematic review of tertiary
education: country background report of
Japan. Retrieved from <oecd.org/document/1
6/0,3746,en_2649_33723_35580240_1_1_1_1,00.
html>
Nagatomo, D. (2012). Exploring Japanese university
English teachers professional identities. Bristol,
U.K.: Multilingual Matters.
Normile, D. (2001). Women faculty battle Japans
Koza system [Electronic Version]. Science,
291.5505, 817. Retrieved from <find.galegroup.
com/itx/start.do?prodId=EAIM>
Ono, H., & Piper, N. (2004). Japanese women
studying abroad, the case of the United States.
Womens Studies International Forum, 27(2),
101-118.
Simon-Maeda, A. (2004). The complex construction of professional identities: Female EFL
educators in Japan speak out. TESOL Quarterly,
38(3), 405-436.
Sodei, T. (2005). A comparative study of the
research conditions of women scientists and
the present states of womens/gender studies
in Asian countries toward the sustainable
development. Paper presented at the The Fifth
Conference of the Science Council of Asia.
University of Tokyo Admission Information
(n.d.) Retrieved October 8, 2009 from <www.utokyo.ac.jp/index/e00e.html>
University of Tokyo. (n.d.) Gender-equal
participation basic plan for the University
of Tokyo. Retrieved from <72.14.234.132/
search?q=cache:n9DQmgp5qy4:kyodosankaku.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/UT/History/documents/GenderEqualityBasicPlan.pdf>
31

World Economic Forum (2010). The Global
Gender Gap Report 2010. Retrieved from
<weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gapreport-2010?fo=1>
Diane Hawley Nagatomo has been living and
teaching in Japan for more than 30 years. She is
an associate professor at Ochanomizu University
and has a PhD in Linguistics from Macquarie
University. She has authored and coauthored
numerous EFL textbooks for

the Japanese market, and
her book, Exploring Japanese
University English Teachers
Professional Identity, was
published by Multilingual
Matters in February 2012.
Her featured speaker workshop at JALT is sponsored
by the GALE SIG.
Writing for your

readers: Tools and
approaches
Ted ONeill
Tokyo Medical and Dental
University
As teachers, we adjust our language to meet our students
needs, but these choices can sometimes be based on flawed
intuitions. In planning a lesson, we intentionally include or
exclude forms or vocabulary to support learning goals. But
once in the classroom, even the most experienced teachers ad
hoc judgments can be wrong. Learners immediate responses
should provide feedback, but this loop is broken when writing
for learners; we do not have direct access to their understanding. Therefore, external checks on our linguistic choices
become helpful. This workshop will demonstrate real world
examples of using of corpora, text analysis tools, and other
resources to analyze language. Participants will try tasks to
see how these can be used to inform decisions when writing
graded language. Teachers will leave better informed about the
linguistic content of graded readers and with practices they can
apply to their own writing and teaching.
32
few years ago, I made a somewhat rash

decision that deepened my appreciation
of language for learners and connected
research with practice. I was planning a course
with a narrow reading approach in the sciencefiction genre. The capstone assignment was
Vonneguts satiric, dystopian Harrison Bergeron.
I wanted accessible texts to help students build
background knowledge and work with genre
conventions in English. Some existing graded
readers supported this goal, but I needed something a little bit darker so I chose to adapt and
self-publish my own as ebooks.
Public domain source texts, basic reading level
indices, online corpus tools, and ebook stores
may not match the resources of major publishers,
but are enough to let any teacher begin. I took
the plunge and soon found myself recapitulating
the last few decades of discussion around the
benefits and problems of simplification.

Anne Lamott wrote, You take the action, and
the insight follows. Having already wrestled
with writing graded readers gave me a better
understanding once I turned to research findings, commentary, and argument. I made creative decisions and looked to theory for guidance
later. I doubt I would have finished those first
couple of readers if I had set out from within the
narrowed constrictions of the ongoing argument
and various prescriptions.
Not a simple debate

Most arguments against simplification begin
with Honeyfields Simplification in 1977. Day and
Bamford (1998) reframed the perceived weaknesses of simplification in opposition to a strict
demand for authenticity, but left the discussion
open. Nation and DeWeerdt (2001) continued
with a vigorous argument for simplified reading
materials written with known vocabulary. However, the argument is far from over, and it is still
common to hear the same concerns again and
againespecially around authenticity, simplified
content, and vocabulary.
Authenticity
Widdowson (1998) pointed out the possibility
of authenticity of works written for learners. I
wrote for my students. Instead of handing out
photocopies, they went to an online bookstore to
download their readers from among thousands
of other published books. Knowing that many
other peoplesome of them most likely native
speakers of Englishhad freely selected the same
books they were reading, shifted the context out
of the classroom and brought the learners into a
community of readers.
Graded readers also became more authentic
for me. I had sometimes found reading them as
preparation for class a chore, and Im probably
not the only one. Instructor copies of readers
sometimes sit on the shelf untouched by teachers. Writing gave me a new reason to read. I
started to appreciate good graded readers for
their craft. Even the occasional dud became
interesting from a thats not how I would have done
it perspective.
Methods of simplification
I started off down a well-worn path by selecting texts and then interpreting each paragraph
and refactoring each sentence into simpler
elements as close to the original as possible. This
reformulation approach is common and can be
faithful to the plot, but the experience of reading
the story suffered. I began to depart further and
further from the original. Later, when working
with an editor, I felt even more of a license to
make changes. Through this approach, I had
reinvented the most popular wheel.
The other approach is prescriptive. Using
existing series as models, I resolved to follow an
exacting grammatical syllabus. However, I soon
put the list aside and went with what felt best
for a known audiencemy students. My feelings
of failure for not slavishly writing from the
rulebook were assuaged by learning that such an
intuitive approach is sometimes recommended
(Day & Bamford, 1998). There are indications
that intuitive simplification at the low level tends
towards more features related to comprehensible
input than simplification at higher levels (Crossley, Allen, & McNamara, 2012). So, perhaps I had
been on safe ground all along.
Vocabulary and wandering in the headword

forest
Adapting an authentic text to a low headword
count is a linguistic challenge as well as a creative one. Native English speaking teachers may
not be good at judging word frequency intuitively (McCrostie, 2007). An external reference is
necessary. Unfortunately, most major publishers
do not publish their headword lists. I wanted to
publish with actual data: the number of headwords and frequency. Tom Cobbs Compleat
Lexical Tutor <lextutor.ca> made this a relatively
trivial taskor so I thought.
For my first reader, I tried three different
vocabulary profile measures: General Service
List-based; BNL2079-based (Hanciolu, Neufeld,
& Eldridge, 2008); and Bauer and Nation British
National Corpus-based lists. These gave very
different word family counts. The number of
headwords is not solely a characteristic of the
text, but also of researchers choices when defining word families. I began to question headword
33

counts generally. Using publicly available
measures, Eldridge and Neufeld (2009) found
that readers from one publisher differed greatly
from their stated headword count and were
sometimes higher than indicated.
Moving forward
Computational analysis of syntactic, rhetorical,
and other text features has become possible
relatively recently. Coh-Metrix software goes far
beyond readability indices such as Flesch-Kincaid (Crossley, Allen, & McNamara, 2011). Early
analysis using these tools has begun to counter
some assumptions of simplified text authors
(Crossley, Louwerse, McCarthy, & McNamara,
2007). This new research analyzing corpora of
simplified texts rather than just comparing and
interpreting brief good and bad examples is the
difference between data and anecdote.
Young, but thriving genre

There are still comparatively few published
authors of graded readers in English. Considering
West in the 1920s as the start, ELT learner literature
is less than 100 years old. Accessible corpus tools
have been available for a generation. New word
lists such as the BNL2079 are even more recent, and
others are coming along. Besides Coh-Metrix, more
software for syntactic analysis is under development. Interested teachers now have powerful tools
to help them create more of the good simplified
learner literature we want, and less of the bad.
Doing that writing becomes a process of thinking
about good language and literature for learners.
References
Crossley, S. A., Allen, D. B., & McNamara, D. S.
(2011). Text readability and intuitive simplification: A comparison of readability formulas.
Reading in a Foreign Language. 23(1), 84-101
Crossley, S. A., Allen, D. B., & McNamara, D. S.
(2012). Text simplification and comprehensible
input: A case for an intuitive approach. Language Teaching Research. 16(1), 89-108.
Crossley, S. A., Louwerse, M. M., McCarthy, P.
M., & McNamara, D. S. (2007). A linguistic
analysis of simplified and authentic texts. The
Modern Language Journal, 91(i), 15-30.
34
Day, R. R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive Reading

in the second language classroom. Cambridge:
CUP.
Eldridge, J., & Neufeld, S. (2009). The graded
reader is dead, long live the electronic reader.
The Reading Matrix, 9(2), 224-244.
Hanciolu, N., Neufeld, S., & Eldridge, J. (2008).
Through the looking glass and into the land of
lexico-grammar. English for Specific Purposes,
27(4), 459-479.
Honeyfield J. (1977). Simplification. TESOL
Quarterly, 11(4), 431-440.
McCrostie, J. (2007). Investigating the accuracy
of teachers word frequency intuitions. RELC
Journal, 38(1), 53-66.
Nation, I. S. P.(2006). How Large a Vocabulary
Is Needed for Reading and Listening? The
Canadian Modern Language Review / La revue
canadienne des langues vivantes, 63(1), 59-81.
University of Toronto Press. Retrieved June 11,
2012, from Project MUSE database.
Nation, I. S. P., DeWeerdt, J. P., (2001). A defense
of simplification. Prospect, 16(3), 55-67.
Widdowson, H. G. (1998). Context, community,
and authentic language. TESOL Quarterly,
32(4), 705-716.
Ted ONeill teaches
English in the College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences at Tokyo Medical
and Dental University.
His professional interests
include Open Access and
Open Educational Resources, Extensive Reading,
ebooks and eLearning.
Ted has conducted ICT
workshops for staff and
graduate students at universities around Japan
to support education and research. His love
affair with books goes back to his first parttime job shelving returned books at the Lenox
Public Public Library for 25 an hour. He is an
author in the Choose Your Own Adventure series
of graded readers from McGraw Hill Education.
Materials writing:
Seven key factors
John Wiltshier
Miyagi Gakuin Womens
University
This is a 90 minute workshop. I will firstly explain seven key
factors in successful material writing and publishing: idea, difficulty level, piloting, editing, sign-posting, design, and sales.
Participants will be shown the importance of each by examining
a variety of draft copies of currently published course books. In
each draft copy certain changes were made for good reason.
Participants will learn, by seeing real examples of how materials
go through various developmental stages, what to focus on
and when (i.e. prioritizing ideas and resources). This in turn
will lead to improvements in quality and quantity of their own
work. In the last 30 minutes, participants own material will be
distributed for discussion using the seven key factors explained
at the beginning of the workshop. The participants will then
be invited to comment on future improvements (or radical
changes!) that might be needed in order to lead to publication.
30
7
ave you ever thought about writing

materials? Perhaps you have already
done some writing. A high percentage
of teachers write materials for their own classes.
It can be a very satisfying thing to do and is, I
believe, a natural extension of what we do in the
classroom. A small number of teachers then go
on to publish the material they have written and
commercial sales teams make sure it gets into the
hands of the maximum number of users. Publishing allows a teacher to positively affect the
lives of many more students than just the ones

in their own classes. This was my aim in 2005
when I was first invited to write for the English
Firsthand series and it still remains so, guiding
my role as author and consultant of the global
primary course; Our Discovery Island.
Of all the materials written by teachers, only a
small percentage gets published. This is perhaps
a good thing. If all got published there would
be far too much material of poor quality and too
much time would be wasted searching through
it. Publishers are selective about who they work
with, as well as what they publish. Quality
rather than quantity should remain the guiding force. That said, it is a shame if potentially
excellent material never gets published due to
a lack of opportunity or understanding about
the publishing process. This short essay and my
workshops at JALT2012 aim to reduce the lack of
understanding by focusing on seven key factors
that have helped me achieve my aim in publishing. The seven factors are; idea, difficulty level,
piloting, editing, sign-posting, design, and sales.
Ideas
Ideas soundly supported by pedagogical theory
are fundamental to good material writing.
However, an idea will remain simply an idea
without the knowhow and effort to convert it
into publishable material. From the outset it is
important to know that one good idea does not
make a book and course book writing involves
equal amounts of effort and creativity. Simply
making a lot of effort with no theoretically sound
idea is unlikely to result in anything of worth.
How to generate publishable material from
a sound idea will be better understood at the
workshop, by seeing examples of how first drafts
develop into publishable material.
35
Difficulty Level
When considering difficulty level we need to
think about both the course as a whole and
each activity within it. The course level will
be largely the editors responsibility to control
and will be guided by an initial scope and
sequence. The larger and more diverse the target
market, the more difficult it is to set appropriate
levels for the course material. For this reason
global courses tend to produce country or region
specific versions.
For each activity, a total task-difficulty level
needs to be gauged rather than simply focusing
on individual vocabulary items or grammatical
structures. How to adjust the difficulty level
and a discussion of specific markets will also be
included in the workshop.
Piloting
An essential tool for gauging difficulty is piloting: trying out activities out with a small sample
of the target group. Through piloting important
data about the difficulty level and timing of
an activity can be gathered. Also, unclear signposting and instructions will become apparent.
After piloting, appropriate levels of language
support can be added either directly or as notes
in a teacher manual. Despite the importance
of piloting, it takes time to do well and time is
a very valuable commodity in the publishing
world.
Editing
After piloting, your written material will need
to be edited which means parts cut or changed
to suit some criteria (not necessarily your own).
You can try to do this yourself, but any commercial project will have an editor. The editor
is the main person who is in charge of deciding
what, from the submissions you present to them,
will be published. The idea that a good editor is
invisible is not true in ELT publishingthis is
very much a team effort. Taking time to develop
good relationships with my editors, from an
initial mutual respect to a deeper friendship, was
time very well spent. Be aware the editor will cut
some of your work. I found this quite painful,
but had to get used to it quickly. However, as
36
I began to understand the editing process and

rationale behind it better, I found it easier to accept and be flexibleI will share my experiences
with you in the workshop.
Sign-posting
Sign-posting refers to the ease with which
students can navigate through a unit. The ability
to write clear rubrics or instructions is a large
part of this and, I believe, is more a science than
an art. Language needs to be controlled and
unnecessary words should be removed. Consistency is vital. As a guideline, each instruction
should contain seven words or less, but oversimplification should be avoided. Use of L1 will be
an editorial decision depending on the demands
of the target market.
Design
Designers are a special breed. They are not educationalists, they are designers. They see things in a
different way. Good designers can make even the
simplest activity look superb. If a book is to pass
the three-second flick-test, it needs to be attractive.
However, design should also do two other things;
enhance ease of comprehension and play a large
role in overall sign-posting for each unit. Not all
books that look beautiful do this.
Sales
Anything that wont sell, I dont want to invent.
Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.
Edison
The same is true with commercial course
books. However, I think it can be argued that it
is not always the best books educationally that
sell the most copies. How big your sales team
is and whether your book is on the publishers
promotion list are also important. If you were an
author would you care about the sales figures? I
think you would. I do. The more your books sell,
the more successful you can claim your writing
has been. In commercial ELT publishing, sales
figures do matter and the role of authors in helping to achieve those sales figures is increasingly
important. This is likely to be reflected in any
contract you may sign as an author in the future.
Conclusion
Turning your written material into published
material is, I believe, well worth striving for. It
is very rewarding to see your own material in
a published form. My learning curve was steep
and holding onto my educational principles
was tough at times. Being flexible enough to
accommodate other opinions and compromising
when necessary were essential skills I had to
learn. I realized quickly this is so much more
about the team than the individual. I hope to get
the chance at JALT to share my experiences with
you. In my workshops we will look together
at how first drafts eventually develop into
published material, and the points touched on
in this essaycontrolling total-task difficulty,
sign-posting, writing clear instructionswill be
demonstrated. Results of piloting will be shown
and editorial changes will be highlighted with
the reasons explained. I am looking forward to
meeting you at JALT2012.
John Wiltshier has been

a teacher for 21 years
and is currently an
Associate Professor at
Miyagi Gakuin Womens
University in Sendai. He
has presented in Asia,
Europe, and the U.S.,
being invited speaker on
the ETJ Teacher Training
Tour, plenary speaker at
the PANSIG conference,
and featured-speaker
at JALT and at MICELT
in Malaysia. He is author and series consultant
(Japan) of the new global primary course, Our
Discovery Island. In addition, John is co-author of
the highly successful English Firsthand series.
His workshop is kindly sponsored by the Material Writers SIG.
Critical thinking for

EFL in Japan: The way
forward (I think)
Sean Wray
Waseda University International
Critical thinking (CT) has been debated among EFL educators
for some time. Supporters claim that it is simply a universal
process of thinking that will assist students in both their cognitive and linguistic development. Others harbor concerns that its
inclusion represents inappropriate cultural thinking, that its focus
is too narrow, or that it requires an already high level of L2
ability. This workshop takes the view that CT is essential in the
contemporary Japanese university classroom. CT development
imparts a greater understanding of information and provides
a meaningful context whereby learners need to express
themselves with a greater lexical breadth and depth by tapping
into their dormant vocabulary or by increasing their lexical
firepower. This workshop will offer insight, suggestions, and

practical activities that have been used effectively at different
language levels at a university in Tokyo for teachers to consider
for use in their own contexts.
CTEFL
CT
CT
L2
CTCT
CT
37
he idea of critical thinking (CT) or critical

discourse analysis (CDA) pedagogies
in EFL contexts is now decades old. Yet,
the actual presence of CT-based or influenced
curriculums remains relatively scarce outside
EAP compared to the established EFL curriculum choices such as structural, functional,
or skills-based. This lack of popularity can be
construed as somewhat of a surprise, given the
advocacy CT has garnered over this same time
period. Pennycook (1994) sounded the necessity
of CT in EFL when he asserted it was essential
for learning and adapting to todays quickly
changing, globalized world. CT skills would be
needed to replace traditional modes like rote
learning to ensure students have the ability to
question, consider, and act according to their
reasoned beliefs as they increasingly find themselves in situations where engaging in dialog
internationally is not just a matter of choice, but
of necessity. Of course, the subtext relevant to
EFL educators is that CT would also facilitate
a corresponding gain in L2 linguistic development. Thus, the apparent dearth of CT in Japan
cannot be attributed to the typical passage of
time normally taken from a theorys conception
to adoption. The seeming paralysis stems from
conflicting interpretations of what CT actually
means, or should do. Skeptics wonder whether
CT in English language classes is culturally
appropriate for Japanese students. Still others see
the high-level cognitive demands of CT as useful
only in EAP courses. More extreme voices add
that if the objective of CT is to sharpen cognitive
awareness, and not language learning, then it
should be taught in the students L1. As a result,
implementing CT within university English language classes has been dogged with uncertainty.
However, these concerns are ultimately unfounded. Research reveals that Japanese learners
can already use CT skills (Stapleton, 2002), and
that they feel prepared and comfortable using
the CT process in their L2 lessons (Long, 2003).
Indeed, CT can be clearly and practically defined
and be universally deployed in any educational
setting. In an EFL curriculum in Japan, CT skills
can be effectively integrated and result in both
cognitive and linguistic development.
To render CT a more manageable and teachable process for the Japanese EFL classroom, it
is useful to first clarify its meaning. A critical
38
pedagogy as defined by Canagarajah (2005) is a

specific means to redress imbalances and injustices between peoples inherent in and resulting
from English as the dominant world language.
This definition can be very loosely described as
the CDA variety, and, perhaps, it is this meaning,
with its overt, politicized agenda that raises
suspicions of its efficacy in a Japanese context.
However, working with a broader definition of
CT may be more fruitful. CT is defined by the
National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking as,
the intellectually disciplined process of
actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated
by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief
and action. In its exemplary form, it is based
on universal intellectual values that transcend
subject matter (Scriven & Paul, 1987)
With this definition, the application of CT
skills becomes more concrete: to conceive, apply,
analyze, synthesize and evaluate information
are achievable for any person. Yet, despite this
seeming coverage, CT teaching is still interpreted
as incongruous to EFL purposes by some. Most
notably, Atkinson (1997) argues against incorporating CT because it teaches a way of behaving,
exclusive thinking, alien cultural norms, and insufficient practical linguistic applications. Others
have since taken positions to dispel these criticisms. Both Akbari (2008), speaking in general,
and Kubota (1999) specifically for a Japanese
setting, counter that precisely because everyone
is subject to their cultural beliefs, CT is essential
to understanding the world because it impels
people to view their own culture from different
perspectives and thereby better prepares them
to understand and describe other cultures. This
clarification may perhaps lead to the idea that CT
is not an alien force thrust upon the unwilling
or the unable; it is rather a universal process
customized by culture and therefore can be
universally deployed in any educational setting.
The challenge, therefore, is for the instructor, not
the student, to render this process into a coherent
CT blueprint for EFL classes.
One method to introduce CT skills into an EFL
classroom is to begin with the well-established

description of educational objectives outlined in
Blooms revised taxonomy of learning (Anderson, Krathwohl, Airasian, Cruikshank, Mayer,
Pintrich, & Wittrock, 2000). The taxonomy seeks
to guide students to a more holistic education by
encouraging the movement through six cognitive
domains: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis. Each
domain is clearly delineated in the taxonomy
and example question prompts are provided for
each that typically requires responses matching
the cognitive level of complexity described. Why
this could be of value to language education
in Japan can be first addressed by the need for
education reform. A report from Japans National
Institute for Educational Policy Researchs (
) on the state of education in Japan
concludes that once students have cleared
the entrance examination hurdles to get into a
university, Japanese higher education institutions do not demand strict study from their
students. There is perceived to be no particularly
great effort required the mediocre quality
of higher education has become a major issue
(Saito, 2008, p.8), and that the content of education should be carefully reviewed to reduce the
teaching of the mere knowledge or rote memorization material (Saito, 2008, p. 10). What the
taxonomy basically directs is the lower domains
cover foundational comprehension while the
higher domains stimulate greater complexity
of information processing and understanding.
This escalation has been attributed to both
greater motivation among students, and forcing
knowledge languishing in short-term memory to
be actively used: two apparent goals to stimulate
education in Japan.
Research in EFL where CT has been deployed
internationally speaks to this potential. Kabilan
(2000) reported successful linguistic improvement using CT with his students. In a study in
Taiwan, Liaw (2007) found that students also
experienced gains in English acquisition through
using CT. Renner (1996) found even among
young learners that when using a content-based
curriculum with CT, students reported higher
motivation and significant gains in language
growth. In other findings, Karvanpanah and
Zandi (2009) found that CT skills made students
more aware of grammar and vocabulary while
reading and helped them better understand
meaning through the logical relationships

between sentences. Similarly, Hashemi and Ghanizadeh (2012) reported that students improved
their CT skills and suggested students needed to
employ a greater range of language to express
themselves in the CT activities. Notable in all of
these cases, CT had not been restricted to EAP
nor only with students at higher levels of English
proficiency. In short, CT has shown the ability
to succeed in EFL classes and can lead to both
higher cognitive thinking and effective linguistic
development.
The process of critical thinking is within
human potential; it is neither culturally nor
academically exclusive. As a means for bettering
EFL instruction in Japan, CT can be the basis for
an entire approach or integrated into existing
curriculums. As CT involves having learners
analyze multiple perspectives, it lends itself well
to the creation of activities covering the four core
language skills. CT activities can provide greater
meaning into content, increase motivation and
interest, and force a greater breadth, depth and
active use of vocabulary in EFL learners. With
increasing communication demands, having
these skills taught in English can equip learners
with the confidence and opportunity for greater
participation around the world. And, to this end,
English-language education must surely direct
its efforts.
References
Akbari, R. (2008). Transforming lives: Introducing critical pedagogy into ELT classrooms. ELT
Journal, 62(3), 276-283.
Anderson, L., Krathwohl, D., Airasian, P., Cruikshank, D., Mayer, R., Pintrich, J., & Wittrock,
M. (2000). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching,
and Assessing: A Revision of Blooms Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives. (2 ed.). Boston: Allyn &
Bacon.
Atkinson, D. (1997). A critical approach to critical
thinking in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 31(1),
71-94.
Canagarajah, S. (2005). Critical pedagogy in
L2 learning and teaching. In E. Hinkel (Ed.),
Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning (pp. 931-949). Mahwah, New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
39

Hashemi, M. R., & Ghanizadeh, A. (2012). Critical discourse analysis and critical thinking: An
experimental study in an EFL context. System,
40(1), 37-47.
Kabilan, M. K. (2000). Creative and critical
thinking in language classrooms. The Internet
TESL Journal, 6(6). Retrieved from <itselj.org/
Techniques/Kabilian-CriticalThinking.html>
Kaivanpanah, S., & Zandi, H. (2009). The role
of depth of vocabulary knowledge in reading
comprehension in EFL contexts. Journal of
Applied Sciences, 9(4), 698-706.
Kubota, R. (1999). Japanese culture constructed
by discourses: Implications for applied linguistics research and ELT. TESOL Quarterly, 33(1),
9-35.
Liaw, M. (2007). Content-based reading and writing for critical thinking skills in an EFL context.
English Teaching & Learning, 31(2), 45-87.
Long, C. (2003). Teaching Critical Thinking in
Asian EFL Contexts: Theoretical Issues and
Practical Applications. In Proceedings of the 8th
Conference of the Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics (pp. 229-234). Retrieved from
<www.paaljapan.org/resources/proceedings/
PAAL8/pdf/pdf022.pdf>
Pennycook, A. (1994). The Cultural Politics of
English as an International Language. London:
Longman.
Renner, C. E., (1996). Enrich learners language
production through content-based instruction.
Paper presented at a National Conference on Lingua
e Nuova Didattica, Modena, Italy. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED 411 694).
Saito, Y. National Institute for Educational Policy

Research. (2008). Education in Japan: Past and
Present. Retrieved from <www.nier.go.jp/English/EducationInJapan/Education_in_Japan/
Education_in_Japan_files/201103EJPP.pdf>
Scriven, M., & Paul , R. (1987). Critical thinking
as defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking. Retrieved from
<www.criticalthinking.org/pages/definingcritical-thinking/766>
Stapleton, P. (2002).Critical Thinking in Japanese
L2 writing: Rethinking Tired Constructs. ELT
Journal,56(3), 250-257.
Sean Wray holds an MA
TESOL degree from the
Institute of Education,
University of London. He
taught ESL and EFL in
Canada and the U.S. for
twelve years before relocating to Japan in 2002. He
currently works at Waseda
University International,
and heads the materials development, teaching, and instructor administration for Waseda Universitys School of International Liberal Studies EAP program. His research
interests include academic text construction,
critical thinking in EFL, student error-correction,
and instructor error-correction approaches and
feedback. His JALT2012 workshop is sponsored
by Cambridge University Press (Asia).
The Language Teacher needs you!
40
If you are interested in writing and editing, have

experience in language education in an Asian context,
and are a JALT member, we need your help. TLT is
currently recruiting proofreading and editorial staff.
Learn a new skill, help others, strengthen your rsum,
and make a difference! If you would like to join our team,
please contact the editors:
<tlt-editor@jalt-publications.org>
The Language Teacher FEATURE ARTICLE
| 41
Using the L1 in the

L2 classroom:
The students speak
The goal of this study was to elucidate how students preferences regarding their first language
use (L1, or Japanese) in the second language
(L2, or English) class varied with proficiency.
Participants were 305 first- and second-year students in English-language courses in International
Studies and Information Technology departments
in a Japanese university. Research questions: 1)
Did desires for L1 support vary with proficiency
(Proficiency Effect); did proficiency levels
influence when L1 support was 2) desirable;
and 3) undesirable? Participants selected yes/
no or multiple choice answers in an anonymous
questionnaire. Agreement percentages, classified
by participants scores on the Test of English for
International Communication (TOEIC) into five
proficiency levels, were analysed using Excel.
Results revealed two Proficiency Effect patterns,
influencing when L1 support was most and least
desired in varying classroom situations. Participants preferred more instructive than affective L1
support. Recommendations for educators and
future research were suggested.
2L2
1L1L2
12305
:(1)L1
()(2)(3)
L1
/
TOEIC
5Excel
2
L1
L1
L1
L1
Eleanor Carson
Hidenori Kashihara
Hiroshima City University
his study focuses on evaluating using the

first language (L1) in the foreign language
(L2) classroom in a largely monolingual
country (Japan). The languages in this study
are Japanese (L1) and English (L2). We will use
a questionnaire to assess participants views on
whether they desire the L1s use during instruction, and whether opinions differ with L2 proficiency, measured using TOEIC scores, which will
be termed the Proficiency Effect. This study
will attempt to expand beyond former studies by
clarifying preference patterns for support, and introducing a useful term to describe these patterns,
as they emerge with the use of TOEIC scores to
differentiate proficiency levels. Suggested practical applications could interest teachers following
changes in educational policy.
Literature Review
Mismatched Principles: Institutions and Teachers
Policies regarding L1 use in the L2 classrooms
began with the direct method (Harbord, 1992)
and evolved alongside socio-political developments (Auerbach, 1993). In 1961, five basic
tenets for L2-only use in the L2 classroom were
promulgated during a conference in Mekare
University, with the first tenet being that English
is best taught monolingually (Phillipson, 1992).
These tenets have likely influenced changes in
The Language Teacher Featured Article

education policy in Japan (Honna, 2005; Hughes,
2005; Frederick, 2011).
Monolingual instruction has been used to
maximize students exposure to, and use of, the
L2, and even to push students with incomprehensible input. Unfortunately, it encourages
an asymmetrical teacher-student relationship,
and smacks of linguistic imperialism (Yonesaka,
2005). Among literature comparing views of
teacher beliefs, in none have the majority favored
excluding the students L1 (Macaro, 2001).
Stephens (2006) states that Japanese institutions prefer monolingual English instruction
for pedagogical reasons, which are based on
unsound assumptions, as critiqued by Auerbach
(1993). If data explored in the present paper
support their allegations, then monolingual
instruction is unnecessary and potentially
detrimental in countries like Japan, where the L1
is dominant.
EFL context and Japan

Many Japanese students take compulsory
English courses, but perceive no practical need
for the L2. For these students, using the L2 exclusively in the classroom could not only lower
motivation and morale, but also invite feelings
of rejection, alienation and denigration of their
own language and culture (Auerbach, 1993;
Schweers, 1999). Auerbach and Schweers posit
that this mindset has been observed in the ESL
classroom of immigrants living in the L2 culture,
and might apply to EFL students living in the L1
culture. While a colonial bias might not apply
to English teaching in Japan, because Japanese
enjoys a higher status (Barker, 2003; Stephens,
2006), students might still resent the exclusion of
their L1.
L1 as a tool
The L1 can be used in the L2 classroom as a tool
to reduce affective filters (Meyer, 2008; Norman,
2008). Norman (2008) states Students are often
unresponsive, inattentive, and unwilling to
speak in class (p. 692). However, he observes
that the opposite was true when he occasionally
used the L1 in class with the same students.
Often, students will not speak out of fear of
embarrassment (Nation, 2003; Meyer, 2008).
42
Furthermore, if students want their teachers to

use the L1 but the teachers do not perceive or
respond to this need, it can lead to an unhappy
classroom experience for all (Burden, 2001).
Careful use of the L1 can assist students
to make higher cognitive adjustments while
learning a language. Used effectively, the L1
can be a facilitating, and not just an interfering
factor, to overcome the assumptions created by
the first language (Yamamoto-Wilson, 1997).
Furthermore, if instructors know both the L1
and L2 languages, they can recognize, anticipate
and correct the L1 assumptions by comparing
the two languages (Barker, 2003; Nation, 2003;
Brown, 2009).
Although a potentially useful tool, how the L1
is used determines whether it is detrimental or
helpful (Stephens, 2006). This depends on the
goals, type of language, materials, method and
procedures used in the classroom (Weschler,
1997; Yonesaka & Metoki, 2007). Unlike the
nearly universal success individuals have in
learning their L1, attempts to learn the L2 can fail
for many reasons, such as the inability of teachers to make meaningful connections between
the L2 and the L1 (Yamamoto-Wilson, 1997;
Nation, 2003; Norman, 2008). With sufficient
exposure to the L2, the L1 can be used to clarify
the differences between the L1 and L2, when
accuracy is important and time is limited (Ozaki,
2011). There is no perfect balance or model for
using the L1, but instead usage should be flexible
and adapted to students needs at appropriate
times and ways (Atkinson, 1993; Weschler, 1997;
Nation, 2003; Norman, 2008).
While reviewing the literature, two EFL studies
emerged as useful comparatives for the present
research (Schweers, 1999; Norman, 2008). In both
studies, participants were studying compulsory
English courses while living in their native
environments. In the first study, students and
teachers views concerning a variety of classroom
situations were compared. In the second study,
students views alone were compared between
proficiency levels, but the variety of classroom
situations was not considered. The present study
attempts to combine the issues of both studies
while advancing into new territory using TOEIC
classification.
Carson & Kashihara: Using the L1 in the L2 classroom: The students speak
Schweers (1999): Students and teachers

In a study with university students and teachers
in Puerto Rico, Schweers (1999), investigated the
desired use of L1 (Spanish) in the L2 (English)
classroom. While all teachers felt the L1 should
be used occasionally, some students felt it should
not. Schweers (1999) reported that students and
teachers wanted more use of the L1 to aid comprehension, particularly of new vocabulary and
difficult concepts. Few students and teachers felt
that the L1 was appropriate when summarizing
material already covered. Regarding cultural and
morale support, fewer students than teachers
felt the use of L1 was appropriate. Conversely,
Schweers reported that more students than
teachers felt that the L1 might help students feel
more comfortable and confident in the classroom. During small-group work, both students
and teachers agreed that the L1 was not helpful.
We feel that differences might be explained in
part by the fact that this study took place in
classes where teachers, who might not share the
students L1, preferred monolingual instruction,
and by the difficulty of explaining problematic
concepts in what might have been the teachers
own L2especially where using incorrect words
might compound the confusion. Moreover,
Schweers studied unranked students in rudimentary English university classes. Responses
could have been different if the questionnaire
measured varying levels of English competency.
Norman (2008): Students

In a study with university students in Japan,
Norman (2008) included student competency as
a factor when evaluating using the L1 (Japanese)
in the L2 (English) classroom. Participants
included two non-English-major groups of
first-year students from different universities,
studying Human Health Sciences and Rehabilitation, and a third group of advanced third- and
fourth-year English major students who had
studied overseas. In responses, all students
preferred some use of L1 in the L2 classroom.
Students at the beginner levels preferred more,
while advanced level students preferred less L1
use. Most beginners, compared with few advanced students, preferred that the teacher know
the L1, while many among the advanced students preferred that the instructor not know the
L1 at all. Perhaps, already having experienced

an all-English environment, they were more
comfortable with that situation in the classroom.
Norman found no correlation between varying
levels of student proficiency within groups and
their preference for L1 use, while there was a
significant difference between groups. In openended responses, students reported that L1 use
helped them to understand the content and
explanations used in the classroom. They could
ask questions in the L1, the teacher could explain
common mistakes L2 learners used in the L1,
they had a good perception of and relationship
with the teacher, and they felt that the class
proceeded smoothly. The disadvantages were
that they could become lazy and not try to learn
the L2, they lost the chance to hear the L2 used
by the English teacher, and their listening ability
would not improve much (Norman, 2008).
Problem
We feel that, while Norman addressed factors
not assessed in Schweers study, his results were
limited to the three distinct groups he analysed,
and did not address pedagogical considerations
raised in Schweers study. Teachers need a
practical way to assess students and suggestions
of appropriate teaching methods for each level.
This study will address the following:
Do definite patterns of students preferences
for L1 support exist that vary with their
proficiency (Proficiency Effect)?
Do proficiency levels influence the types of
L1 support students prefer?
Do proficiency levels influence the types of
L1 support students do not prefer?
Method
Participants
Volunteers were 305 university first- and secondyear students in a public Japanese university,
enrolled in International Studies and Information
Technology English language courses.
Questionnaire
An anonymous bilingual questionnaire was
adapted from Schweers questionnaire (1999).
Two questions were added: Question 1, Where
43

does your latest TOEIC score stand in the
following scale?, was included to assess English
proficiency to test Normans findings regarding
differing English proficiency levels (Norman,
2008). Question 2, Should the instructor know
the L1?, was added following its use in Burden
(2001) and Norman (2008). This question was
added to check whether student responses
changed according to their L2 proficiency levels,
as measured by TOEIC scores rather than the
year of the class they were in or whether they
had overseas English experience.
Procedure
Instructors distributed questionnaires to
students in class. Participation was voluntary
and required about 10 minutes. Participants
were asked for their most recent TOEIC score in
Question 1 (N=305). Questionnaires were sorted
into five groups based on their TOEIC scores:
Beginners, Group 1=<299, n=63; High beginners,
Group 2=300-399, n=96; Intermediates, Group
3=400-599, n=110; High intermediates, Group
4=600-799, n=30; and Advanced, Group 5=>800,
n=6. We felt that these TOEIC ranges reflect
reasonable in-class proficiency levels as observed
from years of classroom experience.
Analysis
The questionnaire included nine yes/no and
multiple-choice questions. Scores were analysed
in percentages using Excel, and agreement
percentages for each question were tabulated.
Results
Results in the figures indicate the question
number and answer option letters in the legends.
Full size images are available in the online version of this article.
the classroom, beginners favored the use of L1,

decreasing to Group 5 (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Students desired use of L1

Regarding the specific use of the L1 in the
classroom, students chose only those variables
that they agreed should be used. These results
are reported in terms of Instruction: High L1
desire, and Classroom Management and Affect:
Low L1 desire.
Instruction: High L1 desire

Most students believed that the L1 should be
used to explain difficult concepts, with agreement
declining with increasing proficiency. For explaining the relationship between English and Japanese, about half of the students felt that L1 was
useful, although few in Group 5 agreed that the
L1 was useful. About half believed that it should
be used to check for comprehension in all groups
except participants in Group 5, who believed it
should not be used. Among students who wanted
instructors to define new vocabulary items in the
L1, the lowest proficiency students wanted the
most L1 support (see Figure 2).
Students desired use of L1

Most students preferred that instructors know
the L1. Group 1 expressed the highest desire,
followed in decreasing increments to Group 5.
Regarding whether or not the L1 should be used
in the L2 classroom, students generally felt that it
should, but agreement declined with increasing
L2 proficiency. Concerning whether students
would like their instructors to use the L1 in
44
Figure 2. Instruction: Proficiency and high

desire for L1 use
Emotional support and classroom management:

Low L1 desire
When considering these scores, as the responsibility for classroom experience moves away from
instruction and more towards general classroom
experience, students prefer less L1 support. With
scores generally decreasing from Group 1 to
Group 5, students felt that it was not important
for the instructor to use the L1 to test, joke
around with students, or to help students feel
more comfortable and confident (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. Proficiency: Low L1 desire and

emotional support
Across all groups, few students believed that
the L1 should be used to introduce new material, to summarize material already covered,
during tests, or to carry out small-group work
(see Figure 4). In Figure 4, a second Proficiency
Effect pattern was observed. A U-shaped pattern
appeared; advanced students in Group 5 actually preferred more L1 support than beginners,
although still at low levels of agreement. This
second pattern may reflect an increase in anxiety
felt by advanced students as they worked with
more difficult materials and in groups.
Figure 4. Proficiency: Low L1 desire and

classroom management
Students views
As students abilities and confidence rose, their
perceived need for Japanese support decreased.
Students were asked what percentage of the
time they thought Japanese should be used
in the English-language classroom (Q6). The
majority of all groups preferred L1 to be used in
the classroom less than 40% of the time, and this
decreased with proficiency.
Regarding how often Japanese should be used
in the English classroom to aid comprehension
(Q7), the spread of scores reflected student
English ability. Rarely was chosen in increasing amounts (5% to 50%) and Sometimes was
chosen in decreasing amounts as proficiency
increased (59% to 33%).
Students chose one or more of three possible
reasons they preferred the use of Japanese in
their classroom (Q8). From Group 1 to Group
5, most students chose I feel less lost (83% to
57%). Fewer students preferred Japanese to be
used to help them feel more comfortable (5% to
17%), or to feel less tense (13% to 0%).
Students generally felt that using the L1 in the
L2 classroom would help them to learn English
(Q9). Proficiency patterns emerged when similarranging options were combined. No and A
little increased (27% to 67%) while Fairly
much and A lot decreased (71% to 34%) from
Group 1 to Group 5.
Discussion
Proficiency effect
Two patterns emerged. A decreasing slope was
observed with high agreement among students
desires for L1 use in the classroom (see Figure
1), when helping students construct complex
cognitive connections between the L1 and L2
(see Figure 2), and with low agreement scores
for students desires for L1 emotional support
and testing (see Figure 3), the frequency and
percentage of L1 use desired by students, and
in feeling that the L1 helped students learn the
L2. A U-shaped pattern was observed at low
agreement percentages when introducing and
reviewing material and in small group work (see
Figure 4). Since agreement percentages were low
for the U-shaped pattern across all five groups,
we feel that students generally did not desire
45

L1 support for these factors. We focused on the
factors uncovered by the first pattern.
Results generally support Schweers (1999)
findings, but a strong Proficiency Effect was
discovered which Schweers study does not address. A Proficiency Effect can also be observed
between groups in Normans (2008) study. While
most students believed that instructors should
know the L1, their desire for teachers to use the
L1 in class was lower and declined with increasing L2 ability. Students do not necessarily need
to hear the L1 in class to benefit from instructors
knowledge of it.
Regarding instructive use of L1, beginner
students hope to rely on L1 support in class more
than advanced students. This pattern can be seen
with explaining difficult concepts in class and
defining new words, both of which showed a
strong Proficiency Effect which was not uncovered in Schweers study but supports Normans
(2008) findings. Students hoped for the L1s use
in explaining the relationship between Japanese
and English and checking comprehension, but
this desire dropped by Group 5.
Schweers (1999) and Auerbach (1993) focused
on affective uses of L1 to assist in the less instructive aspects of classroom activities. We found
a higher reported need for L1 use among the
beginners than the advanced students regarding
confidence, banter between students and instructors, and use during tests. Generally, all students
preferred less L1 support in affective and testing
areas than in the more instructive classroom situations. We observed a U-shaped pattern where
advanced students showed a higher need for L1
support for confidence and when reviewing and
introducing material (an instruction aspect), than
even the beginners. Advanced students feel more
vulnerable in these areas than beginners because
they take more risks; their material is more
difficult. In both cases, our affective results were
more pronounced than in Schweers (1999).
Limitations and future research

The standard TOEIC test measures students listening and reading ability but not speaking and
writing ability, yet proficiency cannot be limited
to listening and reading, and the New TOEIC
test still contains serious limitations (Chapman &
Newfields, 2008). Nevertheless, TOEIC scores are
46
extensively used in the education system in Japan to provide an initial assessment of language
proficiency. Others can easily understand, apply,
and test these results. It would be beneficial to
determine proficiency levels using tests targeting the productive aspects of language, such as
the special TOEIC Writing and Speaking tests,
EIKEN or TOEFL, in future studies.
A second limitation of this study is the
uneven number of participants in each group.
This was unavoidable. Conversely, it reflects a
spread of English abilities that could occur in
any classroom. We feel that the large number of
participants was enough to show learning preference patterns among students. Future studies
could attempt to standardize the number of
participants within proficiency levels.
A third limitation regarded the simplicity of
analysis. The use of more rigorous statistical
methods might provide more reliable and
significant findings. However, we chose to use
the simpler percentage analysis to make these
findings easier to compare with similar studies.
A final limitation of this study was the research
designs simplicity. The unique factor observed
was student proficiency levels, overlooking
many factors that might have skewed the
findings, such as overseas travel or exposure to
English-language media. While we observed that
students preferences in the classroom changed
with their proficiency, a more rigorous analysis
should provide results that are more valid.
Conclusions
Patterns have emerged which could help to
determine the most effective use of L1 in the
L2 classroom. There appears to be a need for
L1 support at the beginner levels. Factors that
decline with increasing proficiency include
emotional support, perceived desire for L1
support, and testing. Beginner students prefer
knowing that they can rely on L1 support to
actually needing to hear it. The quickest way for
students to make cognitive additions of the L2
is to connect the L2 to the L1. Teachers can assist
students when comparing L1 and L2 linguistic
rules, teaching new vocabulary, and checking
comprehension. Regarding testing, most students did not perceive a need for L1 support, and
this declined with proficiency levels; advanced
students saw no need at all for L1 support. L1
support for testing could be used in test preparation for beginners and intermediates, but not
appear in the tests themselves. Factors having a
low and U-shaped relationship with proficiency
levels included introducing and reviewing
material and small group work; students did
not feel these factors were important. Allowing
for an increase in L1 use between students when
working with old or new material or in groups
could help promote production of the L2.
Ideally, instructors highly proficient in Japanese
should instruct lower-level students while
instructors highly proficient in English should
instruct the higher-level students. Preferably, all
instructors should have some knowledge of the
L1. While L2 use should be maximized, occasional strategic use of the L1 would be beneficial.
Students need exposure to the L2 first, but the L1
can assist when L2 examples and explanations
cannot alleviate confusion. L1 support could
benefit lower-level students during test preparation, but not appear in the tests. Lower level
students should have access to bilingual texts that
include L2L1 definitions and L1 explanations of
L2 grammar and usage. The use of L1 should not
be punished, and the use of L2 encouraged.
References
Atkinson, D. (1993). Teaching monolingual classes.
London: Longman.
Auerbach, E. (1993). Re-examining English only
in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 27(1),
932.
Barker, D. (2003). Why English teachers in
Japan need to learn Japanese. The Language
Teacher, 27(2). Retrieved November 20, 2009,
from <jalt-publications.org/old_tlt/articles/2003/02/barker>.
Brown, H. (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (5th ed.). White Plains, NY:
Pearson Longman.
Burden, P. (2001). When do native English
speakers and Japanese college students disagree about the use of Japanese in the English
conversation classroom? The Language Teacher,
25(4). Retrieved November 21, 2010 from
<jalt-publications. org/tlt/articles/2001/04/
burden>.
Chapman, M. & Newfields, T. (2008). Opinion

piece: The New TOEIC. Shiken: JALT Testing &
Evaluation SIG Newsletter, 12(2), 3237.
Fredrick, C. (2011). English Translation of the
MEXT Guidelines. National AJET. National
AJET 2011-2012. AJET Blog . Retrieved January
7, 2012 from <jp.ajet.net/2011/02/24/englishtranslation-of-the-mext-guidelines>.
Harbord, J. (1992). The use of the mother tongue
in the classroom. ELT Journal, 46(4), 350355.
Honna, N. (2005). English-language teaching in
Japan: Policy plans and their implementations.
RELC Journal, 363-383.
Hughes, R. (2005). The MEXT English education
reform objectives and student motivation.
Journal of Regional Development Studies, 353-359.
Toyo University Japan .
Macaro, E. (2001). Analysing student teachers
code switching in foreign language classrooms:
This years conference brings to Japan five respected plenary speakers from five distinct fields which means that whatever your area of interest, there is something for you. On
top of this, there are eight featured speakers and a specially
invited Asian Scholar.
Even a brief look at the biographies of the plenary speakers
suggests that among them, they have worked in, taught in,
lived in, or been to a large percentage of all the countries
in the world.
Alan Firth
. . . Senior Lecturer in Applied
Linguistics at Newcastle University,
is based in the UK but has previously
worked in Denmark, Hawaii and
Australia. His travels have certainly
been formative in his interest in
English as a Lingua Franca. It is the
combination of this interest with his
authoritative knowledge of pragmatics which has led him to focus on the way interactions take place in situations outside the classroom.
In his talk at JALT, Alan will discuss the implications
for classroom instruction of L2 learning through
Skypecasting in internet chat rooms.
JALT2012 speakers on other pages of this
issue of TLT.
47

Theories and decision making. The Modern
Language Journal, 85(4), 531-548.
Meyer, H. (2008). The pedagogical implications
of L1 use in the L2 classroom. Maebashi Kyodai
Gakuen College Ronsyu, 8, 147159.
Nation, P. (2003). The role of the first language in
foreign language learning. Asian EFL Journal,
5(2). Retrieved Nov 7, 2009, from <asian-efljournal. com/june_2003_PN. phpz>.
Norman, J. (2008). Benefits and drawbacks to L1
use in the L2 classroom. In K. Bradford Watts, T.
Muller & M. Swanson (Eds.), JALT2007 Conference
Proceedings. Challenging Assumptions: Looking In,
Looking Out, (pp. 691701). Tokyo: JALT.
Ozaki, S. (2011). Teaching collocations effectively
with the aid of L1. The Language Teacher, 35(3),
3740.
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schweers, C. W. Jr. (1999). Using L1 in the L2
classroom. English Teaching Forum, 37(2), 69.
Stephens, M. (2006). The use and abuse of
Japanese in the English university class. The
Language Teacher, 30(8), 1317.
Weschler, R. (1997). Uses of Japanese (L1) in the
English classroom: Introducing the FunctionalTranslation Method. The Internet TESOL
Journal, 3(11). Retrieved October 1, 2011, from
<iteslj.org/Articles/Weschler-UsingL1.html>.
Yamamoto-Wilson, J. (1997). Can a knowledge of
Japanese help our EFL teaching? The Language
Teacher, 21(1), 69.
Yonesaka, S. (2005). A proposal to use classroom
discourse frames to investigate patterns of
teacher L1 use. Hokkai Gakuen University Studies
in Culture, 32, 3157.
Yonesaka, S. M. & Metoki, M. (2007). Teacher
use of students first language: Introducing
the FIFU checklist. In K. Bradford-Watts (Ed.),
JALT2006 Conference Proceedings: Community,
Identity, Motivation (pp. 135143). Tokyo: JALT.
Eleanor Carson has been teaching English in
Japan for over 10 years. She holds a BA degree in
Psychology and Philosophy, and an MA degree
in Philosophy from Brock University in Canada.
Her research interests include the use of L1 in
the L2 classroom, motivation in second-language
48
acquisition, and test-taking strategies for TOEIC.

She may be contacted at <eleanor_carson@
hotmail.com>.
Hidenori Kashihara is a professional translator
and a part-time English lecturer at Hiroshima
City University. He is interested in the use of
L1 in the L2 classroom, theory and practice in
English-to-Japanese translation, and students
motivation in learning English. He may be
contacted at <salivan@bronze.ocn.ne.jp>.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Julia Kawamoto, Naomi
Fujishima, Carol Rinnert, and the anonymous
reviewers for their generous assistance in
reviewing earlier versions of this paper.
in the world.
Suresh Canagarajah
. . . speaking on Sunday morning,
brings his personal experience to the
speakers podium. Originally from Sri
Lanka but now based in the US, he
is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor
of Applied Linguistics at The Pennsylvania State University. Suresh has
extensively researched (and personally experienced) the use of English
in multi-lingual and multicultural contexts. His work
in identity among diaspora language speakers has
led him around the world looking at how English is
used in these contexts. He is author of a number
of books and journals, including Resisting Linguistic
Imperialism, a landmark book which investigates the
use of Englishes in periphery communities.
issue of TLT.
The Language Teacher READERS FORUM
| 49
Developing learner
autonomy in a grammar class
Traditionally, grammar classes have
tended to follow a teacher-led,
prescriptive curriculum with students
given little opportunity to demonstrate understanding, or lack of it, on
a given topic before being asked to
tackle the next grammar point in a
textbook. The university class under
study made such an approach even
more challenging by being open
to students from a variety of year
groups and language learning backgrounds. With a view to establishing
a class which could allow students
of all levels to examine the weaknesses in their grammar and share
learning patterns, the curriculum was
adjusted to allow for the variety of
levels and encourage autonomous
learning of grammar. The resulting classes made for a dynamic and
collaborative learning environment
which allowed students the freedom
to examine and share a variety of
learning styles of grammar points
relevant to their English levels.
Simon Cooke
Miyagi Gakuin Womens University
raditional grammar classes can often follow a teacher-led,

sequential pattern which may arguably be of benefit to
early learners of a similar level in their second language
course. The purpose of this study is to examine an alternative
method to grammar study in a mixed ability university grammar
class. The students were required to self and peer analyse group
spoken and written output for grammatical errors before creating
and carrying out learning plans designed to assist in addressing
methods to remedy those errors in subsequent performances.
Finally, presentations on the degree of success of these study
methods were given. Students reception to the class was wholly
positive and demonstrated a viable alternative to traditional grammar instruction.
How best to teach grammar?

A casual glance at the EFL section of most bookshops will demonstrate the plethora of texts available to students and teachers.
Curriculum designers may be further assisted in their design
of a course by the understanding of the learning errors that are
common to most language learners. In addition to some of the
more common sequences of grammar points featured in the early
chapters of many grammar books, such as tenses, modals, subject/
verb agreement, and other universal developmental errors, such
as the omission of plural s, omission of 3rd person s, overuse
of article the, underuse of article a, double comparative (e.g.,
more faster) (Ellis, 2002, p.27), can be a guideline to establish the
base of a grammar course applicable to most language learners.
While the application of knowledge of the more typical L2 developmental errors might help the teacher of students all starting from
the same page, or might help in an environment where a proactive
approach could aid students in the completion of a group task, students coming to a grammar class with varied grammar knowledge
The Language Teacher Readers Forum

and skills will get less from such a prescriptive
model. In such a class, conformity may well breed
contempt if students perceive a disconnect between the material being taught and the perceived
inadequacies in their current language skillset.
Indeed, Benson (2001) observes that, learnertraining materials tend to treat learners as decontextualised individuals and do little to address
the relationship between the process of learning a
language and the role of language in the learners
lives(p. 147). Benson instead suggests that giving
learners the opportunity to criticise conventional
methods of learning may be more conducive to
the development of autonomy than a focus on
awareness of strategies and skills. Norton (1997)
similarly links motivation to the development
of a sense of ownership of a second language
(Benson, 2001, p. 100). According to Benson,
if the language to be learned is ultimately the
learners own, it follows that the locus of control
regarding linguistic content should lie with the
learner rather than with the teacher, the textbook
or the syllabus. In such circumstances, the
goal of a grammar syllabus becomes not that of
teaching learners to use grammar but of helping
them to understand how grammar works (Ellis,
2002, p. 27). With this in mind, it was believed
this class of mixed-ability learners would benefit
from the creation of an environment in which they
were encouraged to notice the gap between their
own current skillset and the level they wished to
reach, gaining explicit knowledge of the practical
limitations of their current grammar knowledge.
In its original form, the grammar course in this
study consisted of a largely prescriptive curriculum, with students given little opportunity
to demonstrate understanding, or a lack of it,
before the next grammar point was introduced.
The course featured students from a variety
of language learning backgrounds; first year
students with no experience studying or living
abroad may be mixed with third or fourth year
students returning from spending many months
in an English-speaking country. This had resulted
in boredom and frustration at the curriculum
(expressed verbally and/or in weekly student
journals) for those students who were more adept
at recognising and using the grammar point in
focus, and dissatisfaction for the less able students
required to study at an uncomfortable pace.
50
It was hoped that the creation of a learnercentred course, with freedom given to students
to examine individual modes of learning, would
allow for greater opportunities for learner
control. In addition, it was surmised that the
support network of teachers and peers within
the classroom and the resources and support
available in the university would facilitate the
creation of an effective, autonomous learning
environment. By giving students greater agency
in their learning, and by allowing them to focus
on the weaknesses identified by themselves,
their peers, and the teacher, it was hoped that
students would become not only more effective
in their language learning methods, but also that
this identification of their grammar weaknesses
would, in turn, help them to become more
proficient learners, able to focus on identified
weaknesses in their language study methods.
Autonomy and resource-based learning

According to Holec (cited in Dafei, 2007), an
autonomous learner is one that may be described
as being independent and who takes full responsibility for all the decisions concerning their
learning. That is: defining the objectives; defining the constraints and progressions; selecting
methods and techniques to be used; monitoring
the procedures of application; evaluating what
has to be acquired (pp. 5-6). However, even if
the learner is willing to undertake these practices, it does not necessarily follow that he/she
will be permitted to engage in them. Rather, there
are various material, social and psychological
constraints at play that might limit implementation of these responsibilities:
Universities may not have the materials or
facilities available to enable autonomous
study on campus or students may not have
independent access to the materials.
Students may be more used to a teacher-led,
prescriptive grammar curriculum and feel
uneasy about being asked to shoulder such
responsibility and independence for their
learning.
Students familiar with a top-down style of
teaching may feel uncomfortable in an interdependent environment in which they are asked
to share with and learn from their peers.
Cooke: Developing learner autonomy in a grammar class

In an attempt to foster autonomy in the classroom under study, the existence of a Self-Access
Centre (SAC) and other resources at the university meant that the implementation of an autonomous resource-based grammar curriculum
was axiomatic. Resource-based learning puts the
impetus on the learner to discover and interact
with available learning resources. In addition to
the selection of resources chosen by students to
aid them in their task, students following this
learning style are expected to manage both their
learning plan and the evaluation of their learning
and are expected to develop the skills associated with these activities through processes
of experimentation and discovery, in which
freedom of choice is a crucial factor (Benson,
2001, p. 113). Holec and Little (as cited in Dafei,
2007) also argue for the establishment of certain
responsibilities within the learner programme in
creating an autonomous environment, specifically that autonomous learners understand the
purpose of their learning programme, explicitly
take responsibility for their learning, share in
the setting of learning goals, take initiatives in
planning and executing learning activities, and
regularly review their learning and evaluate
its effectiveness. In establishing these goals, it
was hoped that a largely autonomous environment could be created which would enable the
students to foster what Dafei highlights as key
in the practice of learner autonomy: insight, a
positive attitude, a capacity for reflection, and
a readiness to be proactive in self-management
and in interaction with others (p. 6).
Setting
The lessons took place once a week over 13
weeks in a class of 16 students. The class was an
elective grammar course open to all students,
regardless of year group from the universitys International Languages and Culture (ILC) department. The university has an award-winning SAC
which holds a large amount of study materials
in the form of grammar books and worksheets,
in addition to thousands of audio CDs and
DVDs and books. Furthermore, the SAC and
its learning advisors hold an elective course
(open to freshman and sophomore students)
aimed at helping students become more effective
language learners through a guided but student-
led approach to learning strategies outside

the classroom (see Resources at the end of this
paper for more information). During the course,
students are asked to complete a SURE (Study,
Use, Review, Evaluate) learning plan to further
assist their becoming more responsible and
independent in their learning methods. I decided
that the use of the SURE plan from this course
would help these students better shape their
grammar goals in a way which, once completed,
would be simple to follow not only for the
students themselves during their study but also
for their peers and the teacher to examine, in
order to better understand the study method(s)
they had used.
Method
The 16 students that attended the class were
asked to make groups of four. The groups were
given a contentious topic and were recorded
speaking for ten minutes on that topic. The
students were then given performance analysis
sheets and were asked to listen back to one of
their group members utterances and make
notes on their performance. The grammar points
which the students were asked to identify were
selected after consulting a number of the universitys teachers and learning advisors on grammar
errors commonly made by their students and
after having examined the frequency of those
grammar points in a number of grammar
textbooks available in the SAC. When all four
members had completed the sheets, they all then
listened back to another members utterances,
filling out the performance analysis sheet for
that student and so on, until all four members
had had their recording analysed by all members
of their group. The groups then discussed the
points that they had made for each student
before handing the performance analysis sheets
to the respective speaker for examination.
In the week before the next class, the teacher
listened to the recordings and filled in his own
performance analysis sheet for each student. The
following week, using the feedback from the
teacher and group members, students decided
on a grammar point to study and filled out the
SURE learning plan (Appendix A), detailing the
methods they were going to use to carry out study
on the grammar point chosen. If no grammar
51

point had been identified, or if students thought
that their grammar weakness lay somewhere
outside of the judgements made by their peers
or the teacher, they could make an independent
choice on a grammar point to study. When they
had completed the SURE learning plan, students
were asked to show it to the teacher, who judged
whether it had been filled out correctly (students
had already been handed a demonstration plan to
emulate). When the plan had been completed to
the students and teachers satisfaction, students
could spend the remaining time of the lesson and
all of the following lesson time researching their
grammar point in the way that they had identified
in their SURE learning plan.
In the following weeks lesson, students first
presented the learning method they had chosen
according to a guided presentation format (see
Appendix B) in groups of 4. After changing groups
a couple of times and practicing their presentation
in this way, students were asked to present their
study method to the entire class. Students were
also asked to submit a written report detailing their
study methods and results at this time.
In the 6th week of study, the process was
repeated. However, this time, the students were
asked to produce some writing (selected for
variety and also because the university requires
that students get a score of 600 on the writingheavy TOEIC). In the 10th week of the course,
the students were asked to make and analyse
another recording.
Before completing the SURE learning plan in
these subsequent tests, students were asked to
remind each other of the grammar point they
had studied before by writing the grammar point
and their name on the blackboard at the front of
the classroom. Students who were going to be
studying grammar points that other students in
the class had already studied were asked to first
meet with those student(s) to be reminded of
the study methods they had found useful or not
useful when examining this grammar point.
Grades were awarded on the relevance of the
research and the advice given to other students,
demonstrated in the presentations and the
written report, rather than on explicit improvements made in their subsequent performances.
Students were also graded on correct completion
of the SURE print and evaluation sheets.
52
Student feedback
Students were asked to complete a feedback
form at the end of the course stating their overall
impressions of the classes in addition to specific
elements of the course which they liked or
disliked. Apart from one student stating simply:
It is hard to do this course, the remainder of the
responses were wholly positive, with comments
(all in their original form) such as:
It was hard work, especially presentation, but my
grammar skill is up.
This class was freedom so I could try to new way
in myself.
I knew study method when I talked with others.
I think it was a little bit hard because I had to
decide my plan but it is really good for me.
I like this class because we can share the good way
of study each other.
When writing what they enjoyed about the
course, all students commented on the benefits
they felt arising from the collaborative nature of
the class as well as from the freedom of finding
their own way of studying:
To find a new learning way.
Watching presentation and know how my friends
improve.
To learn by myself. I could choose my way to
study.
I enjoyed my presentation time because that time
I could tell my best way of how to study English.
I enjoyed discussing because my friend always
give me good advice.
Asked what part of the course they didnt
enjoy, many students voiced their displeasure
at having to listen back to their own recorded
voices and of giving presentations:
To present, to record.
Recording.
I had to do presentation many times.
Presentation.
Recording because I felt nervous.
Cooke: Developing learner autonomy in a grammar class
Limitations
This study was carried out in an environment
with many resources available to students for autonomous study. Below are indicated some ideas
for alternative ways in which the above methodology might be applied in schools or universities
which have fewer resources available.
Recording equipment and methods: For this research, the students were recording onto MP3
recorders (at the time of writing these cost about
4000 yen per unit). However, many students
smartphones also have the capability to record,
thereby negating the need for the purchase of
special equipment. In fact, many of the students
enrolled in the above-mentioned student learnerstrategy course cite recording themselves into
their smartphones and analysing their own
output as being particularly beneficial to their
language development.
Resources: While students at most schools and
universities will have access to traditional grammar
textbooks, a wealth of grammar examples and
tutorials can also be found online. Simply typing
past tense or any other grammar point into the
search field of YouTube <youtube.com> will reveal
a large number of resources for students. A more
dynamic online resource is Lang8 <lang8.com>, a
free, web-based journal-sharing system in which
users are invited to share their L2 journal entries
with proficient speakers of the language they are
learning. Members then partake in a grammar
correction exchange of the entries made within those
journals. The site currently boasts over 250,000 users
from 180 countries. However, teachers and students
should be made aware of the potential unreliability
of advice posited as factual when accessing largely
unfiltered portals offering knowledge as well as the
potential dangers of online interaction.
Conclusion
The creation of a grammar curriculum in which
students were given the opportunity to engage
with their learning made for a dynamic change
in the roles and responsibilities in the classroom.
Student reports, feedback, and presentations suggested that the curriculum enabled them to direct
their learning in a more personal and focused
manner than they had previously been allowed
in other grammar classes. The introduction of an
autonomous environment encouraged a col-
laborative classroom in which the sharing of ideas

and resources became standard practice. Various
material, sociological and psychological elements
are at play in the classroom that, in other teachinglearning environments, might act as barriers to
the successful implementation of the concepts
introduced here. A number of online and other
resources can be utilised by students and teachers
in learning environments without the materials
used in this study. Despite the positive feedback
from students on the course, future measures of
the development of grammar proficiency stemming from this study will help to further improve
the claims of effectiveness, or otherwise, and help
to refine the course in successive years.
References
Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. Harlow, UK: Pearson
Education Ltd.
Dafei, D. (2007, November). An exploration of
the relationship between learner autonomy and
English proficiency. Asian EFL Journal, Professional
Teaching Articles. Retrieved January 2010, from
<asian-efl-journal.com/pta_Nov_07_dd.pdf>.
Ellis, R. (2002). The place of grammar instruction
in the second/foreign language curriculum. In
E. Hinkel & S. Fotos (Eds.), New persectives on
grammar teaching in second language classrooms
(pp.17-34). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Inc. Publishers.
Norton, B. (1997). Language, identity and the
ownership of English, TESOL Quarterly, 31(3),
409-429.
Resources
Information regarding Kanda University of
International Studies Self Access Centre and
support modules: <www.kandagaigo.ac.jp/kuis/
salc/learningadvisorysupport/modules.html>.
Simon Cooke is originally from
England and has been teaching
EFL since coming to Japan in 1999.
Simon has a Masters degree in
Applied Linguistics and currently teaches at Miyagi Gakuin
Womens University in Sendai,
Japan. His research interests include vocabulary
acquisition and autonomous learning.
53
Appendix A. SURE learning plan

My grammar goal
STUDY it
Choose a gramHow will you study for your goal? What resources,
mar point to focus activities and strategies will you use? Be specific!
on and study
USE it
Practice the
language
How will you practice using the new things you

studied?
REVIEW it
Review what you

have learned so
you dont forget
it!
How will you review what you learned?
EVALUATE it
Evaluate your
SURE model. Is
your plan working?
How will you check if this SURE model is helping you

reach your goals?
Appendix B. guided presentation format

Communicative Grammar Presentation
Please say your name before you begin your presentation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What grammar point did you study?

How did you study it?
How did you use it (practice)?
How did you review what you learned?
How did you check to see if your way of learning was good (evaluate)?
Use your
SURE sheets
to help you
explain what
you did!
6. Explain to your group whether you thought your plan was a good way to study this grammar point - do you recommend your method?
7. Explain to your group ways in which you could have improved your study method.
8. Ask if your group has any questions or suggestions on ways in which you could improve
your study method. Use the back of this paper to add any of these hints that you think might
be useful to you.
54
The Language Teacher READERS FORUM
| 55
One size fits all:

Two activities that
transcend level and age
Finding a successful classroom activity
is a blessing for most ESL/EFL teachers;
finding one that works across proficiency
levels and age groups is a godsend. This
paper details two such activities. The first
activity uses a simple word game as a
gateway to a much deeper process involving vocabulary development, spelling,
sentence formation, paragraph cohesion,
and creative story telling. The second
activity makes use of the students first
language (L1) and encourages translation
from the second language (L2) to the L1,
and back again. Although the use of the L1
in the classroom is a contentious issue, it
is felt that back translation raises students
awareness of the possibility of expressing
the same meaning in various ways. Both
activities were used successfully with very
different groups of students: elementary
school students, college students, and
advanced EFL adult students. English
teachers who can find activities like these
will find their planning to be more efficient
and their classes to be more effective.
ESL/EFL
2
1
2
2L2
L2
EFL
Chris Wharton
CES English School
s owner and head teacher of a private English

school in Japan, I have the good fortune of teaching
students of all ages in the course of a normal day.
Some days can be a little more hectic than others, especially
if the first class of the day is a college class comprised of
twenty bubbly girls, followed by a fun forty-something
housewife, then a group of four energetic 4-year-olds, a
quiet junior high school girl, five rambunctious elementary
school boys, followed by three mixed adult classes, and
topping the day off with two silly high school girls.
Aside from a cup of coffee and a quick rice ball, what gets
me through this kind of day is efficiency through repetition of classroom activities. Of course, the aforementioned
classes are extremely diverse and at first appear to offer no
opportunities to utilize the same kinds of activities. However, it is surprising that what often works with elementary
students can be modified to work with college students, and
even advanced adult learners.
This paper details two classroom activities that were
successful with groups of very different learners in Japan.
The first is called Word Chain Stories and allows students
to express their creativity while focusing on spelling,
vocabulary, sentence formation, and paragraph cohesion.
The second activity is called Back Translation and is only
suitable for monolingual classes. Although some teachers
may have qualms about letting, or in this case encouraging,
students to use their first language (L1) in class, they will be
surprised at the effectiveness of this activity.
Word Chain Stories

Elementary School Students
No! said the cat and tiger. The green pig is

on the tall panda.
Not too long ago, I attempted an activity with a

small group of Japanese elementary school students. It was nothing new to them as it was simply
an adaption of a famous childrens game in Japan
called shiritori. Shiritori translated into English
means taking the bottom and involves players
taking the bottom character of a word (Japanese is
traditionally written from top to bottom in vertical
columns on the page) and saying a word that
begins with that character. The game continues
until a player ends a word with the character n,
as no Japanese words begin with n.
The English version also exists in different
forms and under different names like Word
chain (Hill, 2005, p. 138) or Grab on behind
(Wise & Forrest, 2003, p. 74). The idea of the
English shiritori is generally the same with variations including time limits, category restrictions,
or parts of speech restrictions. These activities
are fun and a great way to warm up or creatively
brainstorm new vocabulary. However, there is
so much more that can be done with this simple
activity.
After setting an arbitrary five-minute time
limit, the two elementary school students and I
wrote down the following 22 words:
A lion has a new key. He said, I will trade

you this wonderful key for a nut.
cat- tiger- red- duck- key- you- up- panda- areelephant- top- pig- green- no- on- nut- tall- lionnew- wonderful- leaf- fish
After taking a quick glance at the collection
of words, I thought it might be fun to put them
together into some kind of short story with the
students. When I told the two grade 5 students
what I was planning, they stared at me with tilted
heads and looks that said, We cant do this. So,
I started them off with a generic opener, One day
a cat . I wrote this on the white board so we
could work together. The students soon chimed
in and the creative process began. I offered a few
suggestions when they were stuck, but for the
most part they filled in the gaps nicely, and we
ended up with a finished product that incorporated all 22 words. The story was as follows:
One day a cat and a tiger met a red duck. They
wanted a new key. A green pig said, Are you
stupid?
56
An elephant-nose fish jumped up from the

Nile River and said, You are all stupid.
Theres a new key on top of that leaf!
The story was so bizarre that the students were
laughing the whole time and seemed to really
enjoy directing the actions of the characters, not
to mention using the word stupid twice.
The activity could have ended there; however,
the story was crying out for more attention,
so I assigned some homework. Students were
instructed to create a comic strip that represented
the story we had just created. The students were
thrilled to give life to their story. Likewise, I was
happy to see them so excited to do homework.
The following week, I had actually forgotten
about the previous weeks homework assignment, only to be reminded by the students
eagerly waiting to show off their creations. The
two comic strips can be seen in Figures 1 and 2.
College Students
The activity had been so successful with the
kids that I thought it could be extended to older
students. A few days later, I tried the initial word
chain activity with a group of 20 college students, all girls. The students had been working
hard the previous eight weeks on preparing and
giving short speeches on various topics in class.
This class happened to have only five speeches
scheduled, so the activity was actually used to
give the students a rest and a change of pace.
I wrote the words on the board as students
called them out. Interestingly, the difficulty level
of the words was not so different from that of
the elementary students. We stopped after three
minutes with 17 words and began to invent
a story. It was equally crazy, yet a little more
sophisticated than the elementary students
masterpiece.
The next step this time around was not to produce a comic strip, but to get in groups of four
and play the word chain game again until they
had between 15 and 20 words. Students were
Wharton: One size fits all: Two activities that transcend level and age
Figure 1. An elementary school students

(boy) comic strip
Figure 2. An elementary school students

(girl) comic strip
then given some time to produce a story using

all of the words. One of the stories is reproduced
below, starting with the groups brainstormed
words.
The story is not finished yet

With the college students I did not offer any
creative advice, just answered questions related
to grammar and spelling. This time there was no
homework assigned.
dog- god- door- rock- kick- kill- life- enjoy- yettalk- know- world- dangerous- speed- do- openneck
One day, I opened the door and I saw a dog
enjoying rock music. The dog talked to me:
The world is becoming dangerous, so my life
changes speedily.
I asked the dog, Why?
The dog answered, God is kicking peoples
necks and killing people! Do you know this
happens?
Intermediate Adult Students

The next day, I had a class of five middle-aged
adult students who were looking tired due to the
hot summer weather, so we started off with the
fun word chain activity. We continued until the
whiteboard could not hold any more words and
then took turns reading through the list as fast as
we could. It was fun and the students seemed to
be more relaxed.
However, the class was surprised when I
told them they had ten minutes to write a story
incorporating as many of the words as they
57

could. We seldom do writing exercises in class,
so it was a good opportunity for some practice.
Students worked individually for ten minutes
and then read their stories to the class. It was a
great way to start the class and students seemed
to have fun with it. The exercise actually led to
an interesting conversation about imagination
and how people often think the same way.
The word chain stories were successful across
different class sizes, age groups, and proficiency
levels. They can be further adapted to suit any
ESL/EFL venue and can be utilized for warmups, creative writing exercises, or just for a fun
break from the usual. The other activity that
worked equally well across these same distinctive groups was back translation, described in
the following section.
Back Translation
Translation is no stranger to English language
teaching (ELT) yet there are many opponents of
its use in the ESL/EFL classroom (Chaudron,
1988; Ellis, 1984; Krashen, 1981). Before delving
into a description of the back translation activity,
it is important to address the main concerns
some might have with encouraging the use of the
students L1 in the English classroom. Weschler
(1997) contends that the arguments against using
translation can be divided into four areas: 1) the
L1 interferes with thinking in English; 2) the L1
acts as a crutch for the learner; 3) the L1 extends
the use of an interlanguage and leads to fossilization; 4) L1 use wastes class time that should be
focused on L2 use.
Weschler (1997) responds by positively reframing each concern. For example, he views the L1
as a tool that helps rather than interferes with L2
acquisition. He substitutes the crutch metaphor
with scaffolding, which can be removed as the
learner improves. He sees interlanguage as
a natural part of L2 development. Finally, he
questions how valuable English-only class time
is for those learners who struggle to produce
comprehensible English output. Nation (2003)
perhaps sums it up best by suggesting, a
balanced approach is needed which sees a role
for the L1 but also recognises the importance of
maximising L2 use in the classroom (p. 7).
Edge (1986) sees English language teaching
and translation as being connected, saying there
58
is no obvious reason why an ability to translate

should not be seen as a type of communicative
competence (p. 121). Campbell (2002) refers
to this as natural translation and rightfully
claims, a regular part of the communicative
repertoire is to explain something in another
language (p. 59).
The idea with back translation is to have
students translate an English passage into their
L1. They then switch papers with a classmate
who has translated a different passage. The next
step has the students translating back to English.
This technique allows for both pair and group
work, contrastive discussions involving accuracy
and appropriateness, and uses translation as a
topic for further discussions in English. Edge
(1986) contends that the procedure creates a
communicative context for more formal followup work (p. 124).
As opposed to the word chain stories, I started
with one of my advanced adult classes using
Eadies (1999) lesson plan, an adaption of Edges
(1986) earlier work, as it was for a monolingual
EFL class using back translation with a teacher
who does not speak the students L1. After a
short warm up to introduce the topic, avoiding
explicit pre-teaching of relevant vocabulary, the
translation task was explained. Students were
then given either Text A or Text B to translate
from English into their L1. The source texts
should be authentic and short, yet challenging
enough to engage the students. Eadies (1999)
example texts were used for comparison and
read as follows:
Text A
There are many ways of sending secret messages. An interesting method was used by a
Chinese general, called Pingyo, 2000 years
ago. Pingyos army was far from their homeland. Between the soldiers and home there
were many enemies. But Pingyo sent letters to
his king and the enemy could not read them.
He sent them like this:
Text B
A strong messenger was chosen from the
soldiers. His hair was cut off and a letter was
written on his bald head. Then he was dressed
Wharton: One size fits all: Two activities that transcend level and age
as a poor farmer and sent home. His journey
lasted many weeks. During this time his hair
grew and covered the message. The enemy
stopped him many times. He was searched
but the letter was not found. When he reached
the kings palace his hair was cut off again
and the letter was read to the king.
The main goal is to raise awareness to the
possibility of saying the same thing correctly in
many different ways (Eadie, 1999). This can be
facilitated by using the chart seen in Table 1.
Table 1. Comparison chart from Eadie (1999)

Original
Version
Acceptable
Not too
bad
Unacceptable
he was
dressed
as
he
wore
he
wear the
clothes of
he
weared
him a
dress
Back translation technique in use

Before I attempted this with one of my classes,
I felt, as Eadie (1999) had predicted some teachers would feel, reluctant to use L1 for fear
of escalating the use of L1 and reducing
exposure to English. Students were also a little
apprehensive, as they do not usually use any
Japanese in the classroom.
During the hour-long lesson, students spent
about a third of the time translating and the
other two thirds discussing, in English, what was
acceptable and why. Some interesting discussions can be seen in Examples 13.
Example 1. Using context to derive meaning

S1: What about a missing word?
T: Look at the context, the words before and
after.
S1: The original was On his bald head
S2: I didnt translate exactly.
T: Thats OK.
S2: Because before the word, his hair was cut off
and the letter was written so he is obviously bald.
S1: Yes, obviously. So its acceptable.
A short discussion regarding the use of context to

derive meaning followed.
Example 2. Active vs. Passive Voice

S1: How about the structure sentence structure?
T: OK, good.
S1: Passive and what is the opposite of passive?
T: Active.
S1: Active, yes.
T: So you switched? Can you give me the
example?
S1: His hair was cut off again and the letter was
read to the king. Thats the original one
and I wrote the king was able to read the
message after shaving his hair.
T: What do you think?
S1: I think the meaning is the same. And cut
off and shave are the same.
S3: Acceptable.
T: Yes, Id say it is perfectly acceptable.
A short discussion on the uses of the active and
passive voices followed.
Example 3. Lexical Choice

S2: I have method. The original one is
method and I wrote way.
T: Ok, method and way. What do you
think?
S2: ... to send a message.
T: Method to send a message?
S1: Same.
S3: interesting method. Same.
S1: Same!
S2: Really?
S1: Almost the same.
T: interesting method
S3: Like a formal or technical method.
T: It sounds more formal
S1: Almost the same.
S3: Yeah, way is a little, how to say, conversational.
59

S1: Acceptable.
T: Yeah, I think so.
A short discussion followed about the acceptability of
alternative lexical choices in English.
I was pleasantly surprised at the conclusion of
the lesson. Students seemed to genuinely enjoy
themselves and the task stimulated some lively
discussions. When the activity was attempted
with the college students and younger children,
level appropriate texts were obviously selected
and they too not only discovered how to state
meanings differently but also why some things
were stated differently. Above all, the lessons
focused on the importance of meaning over perfection and demonstrated to students that they can
use a variety of means to express themselves.
References
Campbell, S. (2002). Translation in the context
of EFL The fifth macroskill? TEFLIN Journal,
8(1), 58-72.
Chaudron, C. (1988). Second language research:
Research on training and learning. Cambridge:
Eadie, J. (1999). A translation technique. English
Teaching Forum Online, 37(1). Retrieved from
<exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/
archives/docs/99-37-1-a.pdf>
Edge, J. (1986). Acquisition disappears in adultery: Interaction in the translation class. ELT
Journal, 40(2), 121-124.
Ellis, R. (1984). Second language development.
Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Hill, M. (2005). Harsh words: English words for
Chinese learners. Hong Kong: Hong Kong
University Press.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition
and second language learning. Oxford: Pergamon
Press.
Nation, I. S. P. (2003). The role of the first language in foreign language learning. Asian EFL
Journal Online, 5(2). Retrieved from <www.
victoria.ac.nz/lals/staff/Publications/paulnation/2003-Role-of-L1-Asian-EFL.pdf>
Weschler, R. (1997). Uses of Japanese (L1) in the
English classroom: Introducing the functional-
60
translation method. The Internet TESL Journal,

3(11). Retrieved from <iteslj.org/Articles/
Weschler-UsingL1.html>
Wise, D. & Forrest, S. (2003). Great big book of childrens games: Over 450 indoor and outdoor games
for kids. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Chris Wharton ran a private
English school in Japan
up until 2010. For nearly a
decade he taught English in
kindergartens, elementary
schools, junior high schools,
high schools, colleges, and
private English schools. He
now teaches EAP at a Canadian polytechnic. His current
research interests are in the field of learner autonomy, the effects of personality in second language
acquisition, and L2 vocabulary acquisition.
in the world.
As with past JALT conferences, JALT2012 features

the parallel JALT Junior conference for teachers of
younger learners. zge Karaolu, a freelance
teacher trainer and consultant based
in Turkey, is the JJ plenary speaker
this year. A specialist in teaching
young and very young learners, she
is also an expert in using technology
in language teaching. A proponent
of project-based learning, she has
worked with children in helping them
develop digital games and iPhone/
iPad applications. Recently she was awarded the
English Speaking Union Award for new writers and
has become a very well-regarded blogger through
her site, zgeKaraolu.edublogs.org.
issue of TLT.
The Language Teacher Resources MY SHARE
MY SHARE
TLT RESOURCES
with Dax Thomas &

Harry Harris
To contact the editors:
<my-share@jalt-publications.org>
Sketch n talk: Pair

interviews about
recent topics
We welcome submissions for the

My Share column. Submissions
should be up to 700 words describing a successful technique or lesson
plan you have used which can be
replicated by readers, and should
conform to the My Share format
(see <jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/myshare/guidelines>).
Simon Bibby
Please send submissions to <myshare@jalt-publications.org>.
Key words: Authentic, repetition, fluency,

news stories
Learner English level: Pre-intermediate and
above
Learner maturity: Junior high school, senior
high school, university, adult
Preparation time: Up to one hour, depending on editing
Activity time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: Views from the Street example
handout, compiled from <search.japantimes.
co.jp/cgi-bin/fl-vf-all.html>; enough
pre-prepared Views from the Street blank
templates, A4 size, for all students
MY SHARE ONLINE: A linked

index of My Share articles can be
found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/
departments/myshare>
reetings and welcome to another installment of My Share. As always, we have

a great variety of activities sure to be of
interest to teachers and students alike. In this
issue, Simon Bibby offers an activity that gets
students interviewing each other about current
events, Devanshe Chauhan Lidgley and Michael
Lidgley present a drawing activity that promotes
describing and listening, Catherine Cheetham
brings the fashion runway to the classroom, and
Elizabeth J. Lange and Jong Oe Park revamp the
classic Broken Telephone game. Four fun activities
to bring a spark to your summer classes. Enjoy.
JALT2012
October 12-15, 2012
ACT City,
Hamamatsu, Japan
Kwansei Gakuin University

<bibs74@yahoo.co.uk>
Quick guide
Teachers want to try to get students talking, but

may struggle to find materials of suitable interest, level, and format. This activity is generic and
can be used for any of the topics from the Japan
Times Views from the Street, or indeed any topic
of the teachers or students choosing. The objective of this interview-style activity is to have
students offer their own views on different news
topics, in six short sketch-and-talk interviews.
Preparation
Step 1: Go to Japan Times Views from the Street
online archive, found at <search.japantimes.
co.jp/cgi-bin/fl-vf-all.html>. Search for suitable
topics.
61

Step 2: Copy the text and images onto a single
A4 size handout.
Step 3: You may like to edit the text depending
on student level. For a topic of the teachers
choice, you can simply use existing pictures
and make up contrasting views yourself, or ask
friends for input.
Step 4: Prepare a student interview sheet. My
Elections Interviews Tom Cruise example (see
Appendix) uses three questions, but you can just
use one question. It is a good idea to provide an
example to show that responses do not need to
be complex or lengthy.
Procedure
Step 1: Have students read the authentic examples from the handout. I had students read the
examples for homework, then also gave them a
few minutes in class to quietly read.
Step 2: Read through the Views from the Street as
a class. Pick students to read aloud. Elicit meanings of uncommon phrases or words. Check
overall understanding of views (e.g., in favour /
not in favour, like/dislike, optimistic/pessimistic, enjoyed/didnt enjoy, depending on topic).
Step 3: Distribute interview sheets and explain
the activity. This is a walk-and-talk activity.
Students will sketch the interviewees and record
their partners views.
If you follow my example based on the elections in 2009, you can have one question on
each of three topics. Students ask three different
students for their views, sketch partner faces and
record the views given. To vary question order,
split the class into three groups: A, B, and C.
Group A ask questions 1-2-3 in order, Group B
2-3-1, then Group C 3-1-2.
Step 4: Students sketch and interview each
other. As the teacher, you may like to participate
yourself, particularly to pick up any students
who may be waiting for a change of partner, or
in case of an odd number of students. Beware:
remind students that this is an English lesson,
not an art lesson. Some students can get carried
away and spend too much time sketching and
not enough time talking.
62
Alternative activities
Variations you may like to consider:
1. Audio record friends/other teachers Views
from the Street. Perhaps take their photos to
use, or sketch them yourself. Blank out key
words, phrases, or grammatical items and
use with students as a listening cloze activity.
2. Increase the number of questions.
3. Increase the number of respondents per
question.
4. Have students produce their own questions
about a topic and ask each other. For example, think of two questions, and do three
sketch-and-interviews per question. This
could be a useful post-reading activity to see
what students think about a particular issue.
Conclusions
The activity is quick and easy for teachers to
prepare and to explain. It is generic and reusable.
For students, sketching each other adds an element of fun, while the chance to talk about real,
recent, meaningful issues will likely enthuse and
motivate them.
Appendix
The appendix is available from the online version of this article at <jalt-publications.org/tlt/
departments/myshare>.
JALT Apple Store
Dont forget, JALT

membership brings
added bonuses, such
as discounted Apple products
through the JALT Apple Store.
<jalt.org/apple>
Thinking outside
the box: English
through pictures
Devanshe Chauhan Lidgley
Tama University, School of Global
Studies
<devanshe@yahoo.co.in>
Michael Lidgley
Tokai University, FLC

<lidgleymike@gmail.com>
Quick guide
Key words: Picture dictation, picture description, story-telling
Learner English level: Adaptable to all
levels
Learner maturity level: Junior high school
and above
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Activity time: 45-90 minutes, plus homework
Materials: Photocopies of pictures depicting
activities
Students practice describing an image using
appropriate structures, such as the present
continuous tense, prepositional phrases, and
clarification and repetition expressions. It is a
versatile activity, which can also provide practice
for Part 1 of the listening section of the TOEIC,
by predicting sentences related to photos.
Preparation
Choose a picture depicting an activity likely to
be of interest to your students. Look in newspapers, magazines, company literature, textbooks,
and so on.
Procedure
Step 1: Write a few sentences on the board
illustrating how to ask for clarification and
repetition. For example: Excuse me, could you go

over that again please? and I didnt quite get that.
Did you say ?
Step 2: Without letting the students see the
picture, describe it, while they draw what they
hear. Be clear, describe objects one at a time, giving them time to draw. To keep the pace going,
reassure them that it doesnt need to be a piece of
art; simple stick figures will do, as long as they
can depict what is being described. Encourage
them to compare their pictures, and to ask you
clarification and repetition questions if needed.
Tell them its OK to interrupt.
Step 3: Hand out copies of the original picture
and have them compare their illustrations
with the original. This usually stimulates some
amusement. Check relevant vocabulary and
elicit expressions needed for describing pictures
in general (e.g., present continuous, there is/
are..., and prepositional phrases). Write these on
the board. To elicit, for example, the use of the
present continuous you can either ask directly
Which tense should we use?, or you could give
them a choice, e.g., He wears / is wearing / wore a
hat, and ask them which is better.
Step 4: Put students in pairs and have them take
turns describing the same picture to each other,
using the target vocabulary and structures on the
board. Have them make true/false statements
and make guesses. Monitor, prompt and provide
help where needed.
Step 5: Put students into new pairs, with a
similar but different picture. For example, the
original picture may depict a man performing a
domestic chore, so the second picture could be of
a woman performing a different chore. Partner A
describes the picture, while B draws.
Step 6: Raise the level of creativity, after drawing, by moving on to thinking questions, e.g.,
What do you think is happening / has just happened
/ will happen next?
Encourage students to develop a story for their
pictures. For example, ask them to:
Name the character(s) and place.
Give a background history of the person(s).
Describe a past event that has led to the
present scene.
For individual students this might be daunting, so put students into small groups, and hand
63

out a different picture per group. Set a time limit
and have them create one story per group. Ask
them to choose a team name and leader (rockscissors-paper usually works).
Step 7: Each leader narrates the story to their
classmates, who listen and ask questions.
Alternatively, regroup the students, and each
group representative narrates their story to the
new group members. For a really creative class,
students can try to create a new story within
their group involving all 3 or 4 of their pictures.
Step 8: As a final task, have them write down
their stories for homework.
Conclusion
Throughout, the teacher makes notes of areas
of difficulty for later feedback. This activity
is structured yet student centered, and can be
developed by stages as the students become
more creative. The teacher needs to be aware of
the class dynamics in terms of louder students
overshadowing quieter ones, and which students
work best together. It can be very rewarding to
see more inhibited students coming out of their
shells as they get used to taking part in these
activities over time.
The Price is Right

meets the fashion
runway
Catherine Cheetham
Tokai University
<catherine_cheetham@yahoo.ca>
Quick guide
Key words: Group and pair work, vocabulary, adjectives, descriptions, numbers
Learner English level: Intermediate and
above
Learner maturity: High school and above
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Activity time: 20-30 minutes for each activity
Materials: A clothing adjectives worksheet,
64
a collection of designer fashion photographs,

paper or writing template
By engaging students to express their own interpretations, this lesson plan emphasizes style and
design when it comes to clothing descriptions.
Being somewhat loosely inspired by the television game show The Price is Right, this lesson not
only seeks to practice clothing descriptions, but
also usage and reinforcement of adjective order.
Furthermore, with the subject of fashion being of
interest to young adults, the activitys materials
can contribute to discussion and enthusiasm
within the classroom.
Preparation
Step 1: Based on the class level, prepare a clothing adjectives worksheet (Appendix A). Copy
enough worksheets for each student.
Step 2: Select, prepare, and enlarge at least
10-12 different designer fashion photos. Fashion
websites, such as <elle.com> and <gq.com>,
have a good selection of photos from a variety
of designers (Appendix B). Using large denominations, decide on or estimate how much
the models outfit costs (pricing should be kept
secret). It is also advisable not to reveal the
fashion designers name until the conclusion of
Activity 3.
Step 3: For each student prepare writing paper
or a writing template (Appendix C).
Procedure
Activity 1
Step 1: Begin the lesson by eliciting information
about fashion from the class as a whole: Where
do you like to go shopping? What are your favorite
brands/designers? What is trendy/popular now?
What styles do you like?
Step 2: Distribute the clothing adjectives
handout (Appendix A) to each student. Explain
adjective order and necessary vocabulary.
Step 3: Students answer questions about their
clothing (Appendix A) or write a short description of their clothing.
Step 4: After completing the handout, students
need to find three classmates that share a similar
style, brand, material or clothing design. Encour-

age students to walk around the classroom to
complete the task.
Activity 2
Step 1: On the blackboard, review numbers
such as 100 (hundred), 1,000 (thousand), 10,000
(ten thousand), 100,000 (hundred thousand),
and 1,000,000 (million). Depending on the level
of your students, more time or an additional
activity may be required when reviewing large
denominations.
Step 2: Divide students into teams, preferably
of 4 to 6 members. Have students determine
the order of the players. Write a scoreboard on
the blackboard. Distribute a writing template
(Appendix C) to each student.
Step 3: Call the first players from each team
to the front of the classroom. Select a runway
fashion photo and show it to the players only
(Appendix B). The players should memorize in
detail the models clothing from the photo.
Step 4: Returning to their teams, players describe
in detail the runway fashion. Team members
record the fashion description on their writing
template (Appendix C) and if necessary refer to
their clothing adjective handout (Appendix A).
Step 5: Teams must decide and reveal aloud
their estimated total price of the runway fashion.
Write each teams estimate on the blackboard
and check pronunciation. The estimated price
that is closest to the teachers wins the round.
Step 6: Repeat step 2 to 5 as often as desired.
Step 7: Post all of the fashion photos (Appendix
B) in random order on the blackboard labeling
them from A to ~. Using their writing template
(Appendix C), students match their written
descriptions with the correct runway photos.
Follow-up Activity
Generate a discussion about runway fashion by
asking students about their impressions, which
fashion they would wear or not wear, and what
designers they prefer. Another alternative activity is to have students write a fashion review.
Conclusion
This is a great activity because it is particularly
geared to young adults who have an expressive
attitude towards fashion. By incorporating a

variety of skills, this lesson plan gives students
the opportunity to express and share their own
interpretation of fashion.
Appendices
The appendices are available from the online
version of this article at <jalt-publications.org/
tlt/departments/myshare>.
Broken telephone
stories: Creating
amusing tales in
the classroom
Elizabeth J. Lange
Tokai University
<eljp.lange@gmail.com>
Jong Oe Park
Rikkyo University
<parkjo.2012@gmail.com>
Quick guide
Key words: Laughter, effective communication skills
Learner English level: Intermediate and
above
Learner maturity level: From young adults
Preparation time: About 15 minutes
Activity time: 90 minutes
Materials: One different story/passage for
each student
We are often amused to discover how messages
can change when passed verbally from person to
person. One such example is a story from during
the First World War when communication
systems were poor. According to the story, a British colonel requested that the following message
be passed down the line of soldiers fighting in
the trenches: Send reinforcements, were going to
65

advance! But, after it had passed from soldier
to soldier and finally reached its destination, the
message was something completely different:
Send three and four pence, were going to a dance!
This reminds us of the popular Broken Telephone
game which involves a message being passed
down a line from person to person, usually
ending up completely different from the original
message. The following activity is a game based
on this phenomenon. However, it is more elaborate and multidimensional, because it requires
all the students to participate all of the time,
telling their own story, speaking and listening to
different partners and then relaying what they
have heard from their current partner to the next
one. The main purpose is to let students practice
English through storytelling, listening, laughing
together, and having fun.
Preparation
For homework, give each student one different
story (or article/passage). Tell them to remember
the key ideas and some details for the next class
so that they can tell the story in two or three
minutes without referring to the original.
Procedure
Step 1: Begin the class by giving the students
about 5 minutes to refer to their stories again to
refresh their memories of the content and then
ask them to put them away.
Step 2: With the students seated in pairs, ask
them to tell their story to their partner without
referring to the original. Encourage them to seek
clarification while listening and even to repeat
back what they heard for confirmation. Before
moving onto the next step, students can rotate
partners several times to gain confidence telling
their story. Allow them to have a short sneak
look at their original stories between rotations.
Step 3: Now, ask them to tell the story they just
heard to their next partner (i.e., not their own
story). Have students change partners 3 to 4
times, each time telling the previous partners
story to their new partner.
Step 4: Ask the class to sit in such a manner that
they can all see each other. Then, choose a student
at random and ask that student to stand up and
tell the class the last story she or he heard. Then,
66
ask the student who first told this story to stand

up and tell the original version. Also, ask the class,
while listening, to note the differences between
the two versions. Repeat this last-story-first-story
retelling process as long as time permits. There
will be laughter in the classroom as they see how
the original has been changed.
Step 5: Elicit comments from the class about
what went wrong with the final version of the
stories told.
Step 6: Give a copy of all the original stories to
each student, asking them to read them in their
free time to discover the true stories.
Conclusion
What started off as a serious activity ends up
inspiring laughter in the classroom as students
see how the meaning of messages can change
when passed from person to person. As it
becomes obvious to students where they have
made mistakes, it is an incentive for them to be
more careful next time, thus encouraging them
to want to repeat the activity in future classes
to see how much they can try to improve their
communication skills.
Email address
changed?
Dont forget to let

us know...
<membership-office@jalt.org>
The Language Teacher Resources BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
TLT RESOURCES
with Robert Taferner

To contact the editor:
<reviews@jalt-publications.org>
If you are interested in writing a
book review, please consult the list
of materials available for review in
the Recently Received column, or
consider suggesting an alternative
book that would be helpful to our
membership.
BOOK REVIEWS ONLINE: A
linked index of Book Reviews can
be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/book-reviews>
his months column features Tom Fasts

evaluation of Time Zones 3 and Nobuhito
Nagais review of La socit franaise:
Lecture et civilisation.
Time Zones 3
[Jennifer Wilkin. Boston: Heinle, 2011. pp. iv
+ 137. 2,596. (Includes CD-ROM). ISBN:
978-1-4240-6127-3.]
Reviewed by Tom Fast, Okayama

Gakugeikan High School
Time Zones 1-4 are the
latest in a series of
global issues-themed
collaborations
between Heinle and
National Geographic.
Intended for a younger
audience, the series
provides content for
elementary to intermediate English communication needs, while
utilizing the cultural and scientific content that
National Geographic is known for. Full color
layouts with vivid photography and Japanesestyle manga characters capture students interest
and inspire them to explore, discover, and learn
about the world around them in English.
Time Zones 3 contains twelve units divided
into four themes: People and Places; The Natural
World; History and Culture; and Science and
Education. Each is accompanied by short videos
highlighting different exciting subjects. While
other textbook topics fade out of style after a few
years, Time Zones are timeless (e.g., Pompeii, the
solar system) and timely (e.g., global warming,
natural disasters).
English skill practice is provided in each unit of
the text, after key vocabulary and target grammar have been introduced. Speaking practice is
included as controlled repetition exercises and
fluency-based communication activities, such as
games, interviews, and conversations. Reading
lessons include sub-skill development tasks, for
example, predicting, skimming, and scanning.
Writing assignments like emails, travel posters,
essays, and short stories, expand unit topics and
encourage the students creativity. Curiously,
listening is not given as much attention. Recordings are intended mainly for pronunciation,
vocabulary, and grammar acquisition. This leads
me to ask Scriveners question regarding choosing
the right task, [a]re we really helping students to
become better listeners by using recordings like
this? (Scrivener, 2005, p. 173). I would have preferred more comprehension activities that actually
teach students how to listen for gist and detail.
It should be noted, however, that Time Zones 3
readings can be converted to listening lessons by
utilizing the CD recordings of the passages. The
accompanying videos also have listening questions in the Time Zones Teachers Edition 3.
For teachers residing in Japan, Time Zones 3 fits
in well with Japanese high school English education curricula. There is a great deal of overlap
in grammar structures and vocabulary included
in Time Zones 3 and standard Japanese English
textbooks. Time Zones 3 is also compatible with
other education programs, such as the IB Middle
67

Years program and is aligned with the Common
European Framework (Council of Europe, 2001).
For teachers wanting a global studies themed
text, Time Zones focuses on World Heritage sites
and topics like globalization and conservation
are in line with UNESCOs Third Principal of
Intercultural Education: Provide all learners
with cultural knowledge, attitudes and skills that
enable them to contribute to respect, understanding and solidarity among individuals, ethnic,
social, cultural and religious groups and nations
(UNESCO, 2006, p. 37).
Through this textbook, my students have
gained knowledge of the world and other
cultures; they have improved their English
ability, and they have learned to think more
critically and creatively. In other words, they
have received content, communication, cognition, and culturethe 4Cs of Content and
Language Integrated Learning (Bentley, 2010, p.
7). When surveyed, my students reported that
they love the layout and view Time Zones 3 as
challenging and useful. I was curious to see
how they would react to the content, as readings
about the Huli Wigmen of Papua New Guinea,
for example, may not seem practical at first. Yet
over 70% reported that they enjoyed the topics.
Some even commented that they were able to
pick up practical language and vocabulary. Only
four stated that they did not like the content and
would have preferred more everyday topics.
Time Zones 3 comes with a variety of supplementary materials and support. It can be
purchased with or without the CD ROM, or in
Combo Split format, which includes only the first
or final half of the student textbook. A thorough
and easy-to-use teachers guide and workbook
are also available, and the ExamView CD ROM is
helpful for creating quizzes and tests, as well as
managing grades. Heinle has also created online
games and activities for ongoing study of each
unit. Teachers can even register their students
and involve them in Heinles worldwide social
network of teachers and students engaging in
thematic projects.
For teachers wanting a text for four skills
instruction, communicative grammar, and
content-driven lessons, Time Zones 3 is the best
all-round book I have encountered for junior
high and high school age students. With Time
68
Zones, you can be part of National Geographics

mission to inspire people to care about the planet
while teaching English at the same time.
References
Bentley, K. (2010). The TKT course CLIL module.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Council of Europe. (2001). Common European
framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR). Retrieved
from <coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/CADRE_
EN.asp>
Scrivener, J. (2005). Learning teaching. Oxford:
MacMillan Education.
UNESCO. (2006). Guidelines on international
education. Paris: UNESCO Education Sector.
La socit
franaise: Lecture
et civilisation
[Jean-Luc Azra, Olivier Lorrillard, Bruno
Vannieuwenhuyse, Yoshio Miki, Meiko
Ikezawa, & Mariko Ichikawa. Kyoto: Alma
Editeur, 2008. pp. 76. 2,520. ISBN: 978-4904147-00-9.]
Reviewed by Nobuhito Nagai,

University of Tokushima
While teaching a foreign
language which is not a
lingua franca, one encounters particular problems.
In the case of French in
Japan, obvious is the
difficulty in maintaining
students motivation. For
most of them, it is merely
an unknown language,
spoken in a remote
country. For such a
language, a textbook must not only instruct, but
also attract (Ohki et al., 2009). La Socit franaise
can be considered an attempt to meet this double
requirement.

According to the authors, this book is for
students who have studied French for 60 to
100 hours. In other words, it should be used by
those who have finished studying grammar and
are able to practise elementary conversation. It
is composed of eleven 6-page units; each unit
includes two texts in French, as well as related
supporting materials, such as official statistics or
opinion polls, which are often quite informative.
There is also a concise glossary.
Themes treated in the units are as follows:
territory/regions, education, food, politics,
work/vacation, religion, gender, manners, etc.
Each text, of some 250 to 300 words, is clear
and logical, and free from blind laudation of
French society or culture. Having two texts on
one theme provides a deeper understanding of
the topic. For example, students can familiarize
themselves with French work life from two
points of view: Employment and unemployment
and Relationships in the work place. Details of daily
life are not forgotten: the last unit is devoted
to Politeness and Conversation, where students
learn that in France sniffing is far worse than
blowing their nosewhich is often surprising to
themor that, if French people talk much about
themselves, it is also a way to invite the interlocutor to talk. In this way, this books contents
are quite attractive.
Concerning grammatical aspects, there are
only brief explanations in the glossary. But
students using a textbook of this level should be
able to understand the language on their own.
Also, the absence of exercises, except simple
quizzes in Japanese or true-false questions in
French to check students comprehension is
evident. However, one soon realizes that formal
exercises are insufficient for exploiting the maximum richness of the texts. The book, without
fixing any pedagogical guidelines, leaves room
to manoeuvre: the teacher can use the texts for
reading or writing, or as materials for discussion
in French. On the phonetic side, downloadable
mp3 files on the website can be used for shadowing or listening practice.
I used this book in a second-year class with
students who have just finished a course emphasizing grammar. Students were interested
in the themes presented in each unit, in spite of
a certain lack of themes, such as student life or

information technology. Concerning comprehension, students were obviously assisted by the
clarity of the texts, and also by the simplicity
of tense, to which we will return below. Their
levellower intermediatedid not permit me
to ask them to paraphrase certain passages,
or discuss the theme in French. Nevertheless,
knowledge of exemplary phrases from the units
will be useful on numerous occasions, even in
conversation.
Overall, this book succeeds in meeting the
double requirement mentioned above: instruction and attraction. The sole regret concerns the
tense: a large majority of verbs used in the texts
are in the present tense. And one of the characteristics of French in comparison with English is
precisely a diversity of past tense usage. French
teachers often point out the difficulty Japanese
students have in using the imparfait (imperfect)
correctly, which they tend to identify with the
past in English. The pass simple (simple past),
another form of past tense, is today disappearing
from French textbooks available in Japan, but
continues to be used in real life, even in newspapers. It is quite normal that a book on French
society is written in the present tense. However,
students who learn French with this book are
supposed to be in a lower intermediate or
intermediate course. For such a level, mastering
different tenses is indispensable, even essential.
I would have appreciated sentences containing
different past tenses.
Despite this lack of diversity of tenses, this
book stands out in the quality of sentences,
supporting materials, and the variety of themes
covered. Finally, this could be used even as a
textbook on French society for Francophones.
Reference
Ohki, M., Hori, S., Nishiyama, N., & Tajino,
A. (2009). Les causes principales de la baisse
de motivation chez les apprentis japonais du
franais. Revue japonaise de didactique du franais,
4(1), 71-88.
69
The Language Teacher Resources RECENTLY RECEIVED
Recently
Received
...with Steve Fukuda
<pub-review@jalt-publications.org>
A list of texts and resource

materials for language teachers
available for book reviews in
TLT and JALT Journal. Publishers are invited to submit
complete sets of materials to
Steve Fukuda at the Publishers
Review Copies Liaison address listed on the
Staff page on the inside cover of TLT.
RECENTLY RECEIVED ONLINE

An up-to-date index of books available for
review can be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/
recently-received>
* = new listing; ! = final notice. Final notice items will
be removed 31 July. Please make queries by email
to the appropriate JALT Publications contact.
Books for Students (reviewed in TLT)

Contact: Steve Fukuda
pub-review@jalt-publications.org
* Basic English for Physics. Imura, M. Tokyo:
Cengage Learning, 2011. [10-unit content-based
coursebook incl. student book w/ presentation guide,
glossary, and audio CD and teachers manual].
Business Life. Badger, M., & Menzies, P. London:
Marshall Cavendish ELT, 2005. [4-levelbusiness
English course starting at A2-level of CEFR incl.
detachable answer booklet, listening exercise CD,
self-study workbook w/ audio CD, and trainers
guide].
! College Grammar Pathfinder. Honda, Y., & Tsuchiya, T. Tokyo: Kinseido, 2012. [24-unit coursebook
in essential grammar for Japanese college students
incl. Audio CD, teachers manual, review tests, and
downloadable audio].
70
! Door to Door: A Complete Study Abroad Guide.

Minehane, G. Nagoya, JA: Perceptia Press, 2009.
[5-section coursebook for students who are thinking
about studying abroad, aimed to guide students
before, during, and after their study abroad experience].
Everybody Up. Jackson, P., & Sileci, S. B. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2012. [7-level course for
young learners incl. student book w/ audio CD,
workbook w/ online practice exercises, class audio
CDs, English and Japanese versions of teachers
book with test center CD-Rom, iTools DVD, and
picture cards].
Outcomes. Dellar, H., & Walkley, A. Hampshire,
UK: Heinle Cengage Learning, 2011. [4-level
English integrated skills course incl. access to
online resources and grade book, review units,
interactive whiteboard CD-Rom, test generator
CD-Rom, teachers book, audio CD, vocabulary builder, and student workbook].
Reading Fusion. Bennett, A. E. Tokyo: Nanun-do,
2011. [2-level reading skills coursebook w/
extra speaking and writing activities, review
tests, audio CD, and teachers manual].
! Tactics for Listening 3rd Edition. Richards, J. C.
& Trew, G. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2010. [3-level listening skills coursebook w/
testing program incl. teachers book, testing
program and resource CD-Rom, and access to
Audio Download Center].
* TakeAway English. Loveday, P., Melissa, K.,
Trowbridge, S., & Varandani, L. New York:
McGraw-Hill Education, 2012. [4-level young
adult/adult course incl. student book w/
audio CD, workbook, interleaved teachers
guide w/ audio CD, TakeAway TV DVD, EZ
Test Generator CD-Rom, and online learning
center and materials access].
* Time to Talk. Independent Publishers International (I.P.I.), 2012.[4-level communicativecentered course for Japanese students incl.
students book, w/ audio CD and teachers
manual].
Word Master Approach for the TOEIC Test.
Tsumatori, C., Matsui, K., Tobe, N., & Inamori,
Y. Tokyo: Seibido 2011. [B6-sized vocabulary
text containing 1080 words from the TOEIC
test w/ self-study audio CD and Linguaporta
access incl. teachers manual and review tests].
The Language Teacher Resources RECENTLY RECEIVED

Write Away Right Away. Martin, D. Saitama, JA:
EFL Press. 2010. [12-unit writing skills coursebook for low-intermediate level Japanese
university students incl. teachers notes w/
answer key].
Books for Teachers (reviewed in JALT Journal)
* English in Japan in the Era of Globalization.

Seargeant, P. (Ed.). Houndmills, UK: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2011.
! Identity, Motivation, and Autonomy in Language
Learning. Murray, G., Gao, X., & Lamb, T.
(Eds.). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2011.
Contact: Greg Rouault

jj-reviews@jalt-publications.org
OUTSIDE THE BOX

with Adam Lebowitz
<outside-the-box@jalt-publications.org>
Outside the Box/Off the Wall is a
column that not only challenges the
community to address a problem,
but proposes a creative solution
without concerns of being unrealistic. The focus is on originality and
creativity, not rigor. More information on submissions can be found
online, or contact the editor.
OUTSIDE THE BOX ONLINE:
A linked index of Outside the Box
articles can be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/outside-the-box>
niversity of Tsukuba faculty Kevin C.

Browne gives his opinion about an alternative to the oft-used TOEIC/TOEFL
tests for placement and benchmarking.
The Versant
English Test
I believe the Versant English Test should replace
the TOEIC-IP and TOEFL-ITP tests as placement
tools for benchmark measurements or as exit
requirements in university EFL/ESL programs if
no suitable in-house assessments are available.
It is superior to the ETS (Educational Testing
Services) products for its construct, ease of
administration, results delivery speed, unbiased
scoring, and reduction of negative washback in

classrooms and curricula.
Scores on institutional versions of the ETS
tests include no speaking components. Assessments limited to multiple-choice items with no
production elements fail to measure the facility
of English, whereas the Versant English Test
construct does through various communicative
tasks.
A completely automated delivery and scored
spoken language test, the Versant English Test,
formerly Ordinate Corporations PhonePass
SET-10 (Speaking English Test), now operated
by Pearson PLC, is a six-part test that is administered over the telephone or via computer. The
test takes 15 minutes to complete and provides
scores and feedback on the day of completion,
often within minutes, which is much faster than
the ETS tests. These quick results can provide
administrators and faculty with the information
they need for placement and scheduling. Washback concerns are reduced, as the test is communicative. Therefore, non-language instruction
such as multiple-choice strategy training is not
necessary in language curricula.
Concerning the merits and capabilities of
automated scoring of spoken English, Alderson
(2004) states, impressive reliability coefficients
have been found as well as correlations with the
Test of Spoken English and with interviews
(p. 10). TOEIC and TOEFL scores also correlate
well (r=0.75 with TOEFLiBT; r=0.77 with IELTS
Speaking) (Bernstein & Cheng, 2007). Additionally, the software alone measures each student
71
The Language Teacher Resources OUTSIDE THE BOX

equally, eliminating bias concerns present in
human-scored assessments.
The Versant English Tests only weakness is
a general lack of awareness by teachers and
administrators, and deserves consideration for
departmental uses.
Bernstein, J., & Cheng, J. (2007). Logic and

validation of fully automatic spoken English
test. In M. Holland & F. P. Fisher (Eds.), The
path of speech technologies in computer assisted
language learning: From research toward practice
(pp. 174-194). Florence, KY: Routledge.
JALT2012
References
October 12-15, 2012
Alderson, C. (2004). The shape of things to come:

Will it be the normal distribution? In European
language testing in a global context. Proceedings
of the ALTE Barcelona Conference July 2001 (pp.
1-26). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ACT City,
Hamamatsu, Japan
JALT NOTICES
JALT FOCUS
with Malcolm Swanson

<jalt-focus@jalt-publications.org>
Contributors are requested by the
column editor to submit notices
and announcements for JALT
Focus by the 15th of the month,
one and a half months prior to
publication.
JALT FOCUS ONLINE: A listing of
notices and news can be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/jalt-focus>
JALT National Officers, 20112012

Our elected national officers work with the JALT Executive Board to administer NPO JALT. They can be contacted at <jalt.org/main/contact>.
}} President: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kevin Cleary
}} Vice President: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nathan Furuya
}} Auditor: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Caroline Lloyd
}} Director of Treasury: . . . . . . . . . . Oana Cusen
}} Director of Records: . . . . . . . . . . Aleda Krause
}} Director of Program: . . . . . . . . . . Steve Cornwell
}} Director of Membership: . . . . . . . Buzz Green
}} Director of Public Relations: . . . . . Michael Stout
72
JALT Focus
JALT National
Elections
For those of you waiting in eager anticipation,
I present the roster of candidates for this years
NPO JALT national elections. Each candidate has
much to offer our vibrant organization. Please
take a few moments to read through the statements and show your support by casting your
vote on the ballot postcard inserted in this issue.
Drop it into your nearest post box as soon as you
can. You neednt wait until the final postmarked
date, September 14, 2012. Do it now, before you
take off for the summer holiday!
Bernadette Luyckx, 2012 NEC Chair
JALT
914
2012
The Language Teacher JALT Focus JALT NOTICES
Candidate statements & bios
Editors note: The following have been formatted somewhat (section titles, order of items), but
not edited for content. This is to give you the
best sense of what the candidates mean in their
own words. After president and vice-president,
the sections are ordered alphabetically by each
candidates surname.
President: Kevin Cleary

Statement of Purpose:
Over the years, JALT has
been instrumental in the
professional development of
many thousands of teachers in Japan. If elected, my
ultimate goals as President
for the 2012-14 term would
be to help JALT do an even
better job of providing
language teachers with
opportunities for development, to transform the
way JALT interacts with members, and to ensure
that JALT retains its grassroots nature even as it
standardizes and professionalizes its management processes.
In the past two years the Board of Directors
has worked hard to not only manage JALTs
current activities, but also to make it possible for
JALT volunteers to spend more time on creative
collaboration and less time on pernicious paperwork. For example, we have had workshops
for Chapter/SIG treasurers, membership chairs
and publicity chairs at recent Executive Board
meetings. By creating and documenting new,
rationalized processes, and then training the officers who give so much of their time and energy
for JALT and its good work, we have helped
improve the quality of the services offered to
JALT members and decreased the administrative burdens borne by our fleet of volunteers
and our staff at JALT Central Office. It may not
sound exciting, but reducing the time spent on
administrative matters allows for more time to
be devoted to creative work and, as a result, all
will have a much better experience with and
through JALT.
With the foundation we have laid in the past
two years in place, I look forward to helping
JALT reach its potential by involving more

people in our important activities at the local
and national levels so that we can work together
to fulfill our ultimate mission of improving
language education in Japan. Thank you.
Work Record:
Japan: Associate Professor, Tokyo Medical
and Dental University (from 2008); Lecturer
of Accounting, Meiji University Graduate
School of Accountancy (from 2008); Lecturer
of English at Tokyo University of Science
(1995 - 2008) and Sophia University Community College (from 1991).
United States: Lecturer of Accounting,
Loyola University of Chicago (1988-1991).
Education Record:
B.S., Accounting and Economics, Oklahoma
State University
J.D., Loyola University of Chicago
JALT Service:
President, 2010-12; Director of Treasury, 2008-10;
Tokyo Chapter Membership Chair, 2008-10;
Internal Audit Coordinator, 2008; Financial Steering Committee Chair, 2007-08; Chapter Treasurer
Liaison, 2006-07; Tokyo Chapter Treasurer,
2002-08.
JALT
2012-14JALT
JALT
JALT
JALT
JALT
JALT
JALT
JALT
73

JALT
JALT
2008~
2008~
1995~2008/1991~
1988~1991
JALT
2010~122008~10
2008~10
20082007~08
2006~072002~08
Vice-President: Nathan Furuya

Biodata
Work Record
1985 - present: Associate
Professor, Kansai Gaidai
University-Hotani,
Hirakata, Osaka
2002 - present:
Part-time Lecturer,
College of Science
and Engineering,
Ritsumeikan University BKC, Shiga
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Teachers College, Columbia University
JALT Service
2002 Kyoto Chapter VicePresident
2003 Kyoto Chapter Vice-President/Program
Chair
2003 Kyoto Chapter President-pro tem
2004 Kyoto Chapter President
2005 Kyoto Chapter President
2006 National Election Committee AssistantChair
2008 JALT Director of Membership
2010-present JALT National Vice President
74
Statement of Purpose
My term as Vice President of JALT National from
2010-2012 has provided me with an extensive
understanding of our organization. The experience and knowledge gained during my first term
as Vice President will enable me to better carry
out the administrative responsibilities required
of the office. I look forward to the challenges of
the next two years as Vice President and humbly
ask for your support.
JALT (
)
Director of Programs: Steve Cornwell

In my JALT service blurb
you can see that I have
volunteered for a variety of
positions since 1994 when I
was asked to be conference
handbook editor for the
Nagoya Conference. The
past two years serving as
Director of Program have
been full and rewarding!
I have learned a lot and
together with the conference team we have
accomplished a lot. For example, in the area of
programming, we have been able to do some
long range planning for future JALT conferences,
have set in place an online conference feedback
system (that had over 400 responses),
It is an honor to have been nominated and
if re-elected, I pledge to continue working on
the strategic long-term program planning that
has been begun. In addition to continuing long
range planning, I would like to explore how
JALT members might possibly be better served
by the development of some How to Present
workshops similar to the popular and useful
How to Publish sessions that Publications has
been doing for years. This is something that I
was not able to do in the past two years. And I
want to focus on supporting the month-to-month

programming that chapters and SIGs work on
throughout the year.
Ever since I first heard the Outward Bound
motto, To serve, to strive, and not to yield
while on one of their trips in the mid-80s, it
has stuck with me. Isnt it a great motto? It has
helped me focus my efforts both personally and
professionally, and this includes, of course, my
volunteer work with JALT. Having served in
co-coordinator, co-editor, and co-chair positions,
you can see that I am a big believer in collaboration. I look forward to continuing to work with
you as we tackle new challenges!
JALT
1994
JALT
JALT
400
How to
Publish
How to Present
JALT
SIG
80
JALT
Biodata
Ed.D. Temple University, Curriculum,
Instruction, and Technology in Education.
(2005).
MAT in ESL School for International Training

(SIT). (1995).
MFA in Arts Administration, Virginia Tech
University. (1987).
MA in Speech, Communication & Theatre
Arts, Wake Forest University. (1980).
BS in Drama, Liberty Baptist College. (1978).
Certificate in Online Teaching, TESOL Inc.,
(2006).
SIT Certified TESOL Certificate Trainer.
(2000-2001).
Certificate in TESOL. The New School for
Social Research, (1991).
Work Experience since coming to Japan

Professor, Osaka Jogakuin College, 1995-present (professor since 2004).
Visiting Professor, School for International
Training, 2008-2009.
Online Faculty, The New School for Social
Research, 2007-present.
Teacher Trainer, BELTA, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
August 2005, February 2007, March 2005,
and March 2006.
EFL Online writing teacher, National American University, 2006-2008.
Online Teacher Trainer, New School for
Social Research, 1996-present
EFL Instructor, Winrock Foundation/China
Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
July-August 1996.
EFL Instructor, Language Institute of Japan,
Odawara, Kanagawa. 1993-1995.
JALT Experience

Director of Program, 2010-2012

Teacher Education SIG, Co-Coordinator, 2010
JALT Conference Main Co-Chair, 2009
JALT Journal Editor-in-chief, 20052008
GALE SIG, Co-Coordinator, 20042006
Osaka Chapter, Member-at-Large, 2003,
2007, 2010
JALT Journal Associate Editor,2003, 2004
JALT Journal Editorial Advisory Board,
20002002, 2009, 2010 (present)
75

Learner Development SIG Newsletter CoEditor, 19971999
JALT Journal Additional Reader, 19962000
Publication Board Chair, 1996,1997
TLT Editorial Advisory Board, 19972010
(present)
Conference Inputter/layout, 1995
Conference Proceedings Co-Editor, 1995,
1996
Conference Publications Editor, 19941996,
2002
JALT Member since 1992.
Temple UniversityInstruction, and Technology in

Education(Ed.D)(2005)
School for International Training ESL
(MAT)(1995)
Virginia Tech University Arts Administration
(MFA) (1987)
Forest UniversitySpeechCommunication &
Theatre Arts(1980)
Liberty Baptist CollegeDrama
(1978)
TESOL Inc.
(2006)
School for International TrainingTESOL
Certificate Trainer(2000-2001)
The New School for Social Research TESOL
(1991)
1 9 9 5 ~
(2004
2008~2009School for International Training
2007~The New School for Social Research
2005382006320072BELTA
2006~2008National American University EFL
1996~New School for Social Research
19967~8Winrock Foundation / China Agricultural

UniversityEFL
1993~1995Language Institute of Japan
EFL
76
JALT
2010
2009JALT
2005~2008JALT
2004~2006
2003, 2007, 2010 Member-at-Large

2003~2004JALT
2000~2002, 2009~JALT
1997~1999
1996~2000JALT
1996,1997
1997~TLT
1995
1995, 1996
1994~1996, 2002
1992JALT
Director of Treasury: Oana Cusen

Bio data:
JALT Service
2010 present: Director
of Treasury
2010: Internal Examination Committee Chair
(former Internal Audit
Committee)
2010: Pan-SIG 2010
Treasurer
2008 2010: Chapter Treasurer Liaison
2009: Internal Auditor
2007 2010: Kyoto Chapter Treasurer
2004 2006: Hiroshima Chapter Recording
Secretary
2003 present: National Member
Work Record:
2011 present: Full-time lecturer, College
of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan
University
2010 2011: Part-time lecturer, College of
Economics and Business Administration,
Ritsumeikan University

2008 2011: Part-time instructor, Doshisha
International Jr./Sr. High School
2006 2009: Part-time lecturer, Katata Nursing College
2006 2009: Part-time lecturer, Kacho Social
Welfare College
2004 2006: Instructor, Hiroshima YMCA
Foreign Languages Academy
Education Record:
2009, 2010: Cambridge ESOL Certified Oral
Examiner (YLE CPE)
2008: MA in Language Education and
Sociolinguistics, Ritsumeikan University
2007: TESOL Certificate, UBC Ritsumeikan
Joint TESOL Program
2007: Japanese Language Proficiency Test,
Level 1
2006: BA in Linguistics, Hiroshima University
2002: Japanese Studies Certificate, Osaka
University of Foreign Languages
Statement of Purpose:
The two years I have served as JALT Director of
Treasury have been challenging but also very
rewarding, as I have had the chance to work
with an extremely dedicated team of directors
and other national officers, JALT Central Office
staff, as well as Chapter and SIG officers. During
this time, I have been successful in working with
the JALT treasury team to streamline many of
the treasury procedures, both at national level
and at Chapter and SIG level. I have worked to
improve the communication between Chapter
and SIG treasurers and the JALT national team,
by organizing Skype training meetings, and a
Treasury Workshop. Also, we compiled a new
Treasury Handbook, which details the duties of
Chapter and SIG treasurers.
If duly elected, I plan to continue working
hard with the JALT treasury team to maintain
and improve JALTs financial health. I consider
that the main role of the Director of Treasury is
to provide support for the other officers, both
national and local. I hope to continue to provide
a clear financial picture, which will allow JALT to
provide the best possible service to its members.
I would very much appreciate your support in

this endeavor.
JALT
JCOSIG
JALTSIG

Skype
SIG
JALT
JALT
Director of Membership: Judith Buzz

Green
Professional Profile
Accomplished career
demonstrating success
as a TESL/TEFL Educator and Administrator
at the elementary and
secondary education
levels. Outstanding
track record assuring
student success.
Experienced in building programs from the
ground up through proven competencies in
developing curriculum and syllabus, project
and program management and staff development through educational seminars and
demonstration lessons.
Extensive background in developing and
implementing programs for district wide
EFL educational training for incoming ALTs
and ELTs.
Effective communicator with excellent
planning, organizational, and negotiation
strengths as well as the ability to lead, reach
consensus, establish goals and attain results.
Education
1982-1985 B.A., Theatre Studies, University
of Exeter, Exeter, England.
77

1979-1981 East Devon College of Further
Education, Devon, England.
Certificates
1995 Certificate in English Language
Teaching to Adults (CELTA), Trinity College
London, London, England. Acquired preservice teaching credential focusing on language
awareness, methods, classroom management and
lesson planning.
Teaching Experience
Senior Assistant Language Teacher, Ibigawa
City School District, Japan, 2001 to PresentTeach English as a foreign language
at the Pre-School, Elementary and Jr. High
School educational levels from classes of 5
students to 40. Increased student interest
and levels in English language abilities by
implementing a revised curriculum focusing
on communicative competencies. Received
accolades from teachers and staff for enhancing the success of students studying within
the new framework. Supervise and organize
all aspects of ALT/ELT instructional leadership and evaluation, including both foreign
and Japanese instructors.
Head Teacher, Millers English School, Aichi,
Japan, 1999-2000Directed all aspects of the
school operations, including the development of course materials for all classes,
arranging the academic calendar, staff
selection, staff training regarding classroom
management and teacher development.
Managed and coordinated all school events
including social as well as academic functions.
EFL Lead Teacher, Ocean Global Network,
Konan, Aichi, Japan, 1996-1998Taught all
levels of EFL with a primary focus on young
learners. Instrumental in the development
of the curriculum, syllabus and materials for
the pre-school program. Consistently met/
exceeded yearly progress goals for students
in the program.
EFL Teacher, Creative English School,
Ichinomiya, Aichi, Japan, 1991-1994Taught
all educational levels from young learners to
adults garnering student satisfaction lead-
78
ing to an increase the number of students

through an 80% student renewal record.
Assisted in the transformation of a small
local school to one competitive with larger
more regional institutions.
EFL Teacher, Hampton Academy of English,
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, 1989-1990Gained
valuable experience as an entry level teacher
assisting more senior teachers and staff in
most aspects of teacher responsibilities,
including creating materials, organizing
student events, assisting staff with instructional supervision and student placement.
Achieved measurable success with students
through positive feedback in evaluations and
in-class observations.
Presentations
Green, J. (2006), Team teaching productive
skills: A communicative activity. Presented
at Japan Association for Language Teachers
(JALT) Young Learner Mini-Conference,
Gifu, Japan.
Green, J. Phonics April 2012. Presented
at Himeji JALT. Activities explored to bring
phonics into your classroom.
Workshops
Green, J. ( 2011 ) Membership Chairs
Workshop. Presented at the June EBM.
Green, J. (2009), Making New Friends.
Presented at Seino Board of Education,
Ibigawa, Japan.
Green, J. (2008), Traveling Around the
World. Presented at Seino Board of Education, Ibigawa, Japan
Professional Affiliations
Member, Japan Association for Language
Teaching (JALT) Gifu Chapter, 2005-Present.
Leadership
Director of Membership, 2010 to 2012
Membership Chair, JALT Gifu Chapter, 2006
to 2010.
Conference Publicity Board Member, JALT
National Conference Executive Planning

Committee, 2010
Gifu Chapter Representative, JALT National
Executive Board (EBM), 2007-2010
Advisory Board Member, JALT National
Chapter Grants Committee ( 2007 )
Advisory Board Member, JALT National
Membership Chairs Committee (2008)
I have been an active member of JALT for 7
years. For the last 2 years I have been the Director of Membership.
As Director of Membership, I have worked to
successfully update the Membership Handbook,
conducted a workshop for Membership Chairs,
helped to update the Excel membership files,
improved the JALT domestic promotion kit,
conducted an outreach to the JETS and devised a
5 Year Membership Campaign.
I believe that as JALT Director of Membership I
can consolidate on the work I have already done
and make a difference by helping all the chapters
to increase their memberships, with practical
advice encouraging the exchange of new membership gathering ideas.
Personally, I am a hard worker who believes
strongly in JALT and its commitment to teachers. I have been a teacher, educational administrator and teacher trainer for 20 years in Japan
with experience in many different school systems. I believe that this experience will be very
useful as I work towards the coordinating of new
affiliates and help them build their relationship
with JALT.
I hope you will consider giving me another
2 years in the post of Director of Membership
when you cast your vote at the next national
elections.
Yours Sincerely, J. Buzz . Green

/TESL/TEFL
EFL
1982-1985ExeterExeter
1979-1981DevonEast Devon
1995LondonLondon Trinity College

CELTACELTA
2001(
)
540
SLT/ELT
19992000Millers
English School

EFL19961998
Ocean Global Network
EFL
EFL19911994Creative
English School

80

79

E F L 1 9 8 9 1 9 9 0
Hampton Academy of English

JALT
(2006)
20124

EBM2011

(2009)

(2008)
JALT(2005)
(20102012)
(JALT20062010)
(JALT National2010
)
(JALT
National2007
2010)
(JALT National2007)
(JALT National2008
)
7JALT
JALTJALT
JALT
JETS
JALT
JALTJALT
80
20
()JALT
J.B. Green
Auditor: Caroline Lloyd

JALT Service

2010-2012 National
Auditor
2008-2010 National
JALT President
Hiroshima Chapter
President for 10 years
between 1998-2008
2004/05 4C Coordinator
2000-2003 Hiroshima Chapter Vice President
Hiroshima Chapter Web Editor 2002-2003
Hiroshima Chapter Programme Chair 3
years between 1997-1999
1996 National Conference Handout Center
2007/2008 National Conference EME
JALT
20102012
20082010
19982008
20042005
20002003
20022003
19971999
1996
20072008
Work Record
2005 present Vice Principal Hiroshima
YMCA International Kindergarten
YMCA
2005-present West Japan YMCA Coordinator/Teacher trainer

YMCA
2004 Hiroshima Institute of Technology

attached High School

2006-present School owner Bluestone Studio
2008-present Owner JB Consulting including

Jellybeans Educational Materials
Part-time teacher Hiroshima Jogakuin University, Hiroshima Dental Hygienist College
2003-present Chief Coordinator Hiroshima

YMCA School of Languages
YMCA
1997-2003 Hiroshima YMCA International

Business College Head of Department
YMCA
1988-1997 Hiroshima YMCA School of

Languages Coordinator Junior/Senior High
YMCA
1986-present Teacher at Hiroshima YMCA

School of Languages
YMCA
Cambridge Examination examiner
TOEFL Assistant Supervisor for 15 years

TOEFL
Education Record
Junior/Senior High Teachers License
Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education
Teaching Certificate Sheffield Hallam

University
BA Education Central Pacific College
Over the past two years I have had the privilege
of serving as the National Auditor of JALT. During that time I have been able to gain a deeper
understanding of the inner workings of NPO
JALT and its constitution.
I know and understand that as the auditor I
must take a neutral stance in order to focus on the
business conducted by the directors, to inspect the
assets of NPO JALT and to present my opinions to
the directors regarding the manner in which they
are exercising the responsibility with which we
have entrusted them. If elected for two more years
I will be able to apply the knowledge and skills I
have acquired over the last two years to help the

organization continue to run smoothly.
22
Director of Public Relations: Michael

Stout
Work Record
2007-Present English Lecturer, Toyo Gakuen University; 2007-Present Part-time
English Lecturer, Shibaura
Institute of Technology;
2006-2007 Part-time English Lecturer, Takushoku
University; 2003-2007
English Teacher, Kanto
International Senior High School; 2001-2003
Assist. Coordinator/English Teacher, Universal
Language Institute; 1997-2001 Assistant Trainer/
English Instructor, Nova.
Education
2003 Master of Education (TESOL). Temple
University. Tokyo, Japan; 1993 Bachelor of Arts
(English). University of Windsor. Windsor,
Ontario, Canada.
JALT service
2010-Present JALT Director of Public Relations;
2010-Present JALT Publications Board Member;
2007-2009 JALT National Domestic Affairs Committee Chair; 2005, 2006 JALT National Conference abstract vetting committee; 2004, 2005, 2008,
2009 JALT National Conference Proceedings
Editorial Advisory Committee Member; 20042005 Omiya Chapter Programme Chair; 2004
JALT National Conference Handbook Proof
Reader; 2002-2004 Omiya Chapter President;
2001-2002 Omiya Chapter Recording Secretary.
81
JALT service
AsJALT Director of Public Relations, I

have gained abroadunderstanding of our
organization.With this knowledge and
experience I am able to assist Chapter and SIG
Publicity Chairs better, and set specific goals
for increasing and improving the number and
quality of JALTs relationships with organisations related to language teaching and learning.Im keentomeetthe challenges ofanother
termasDirector of Public Relationsand humbly
ask for your support.
2010-present: Coordinator, Critical Thinking

SIG
2008-present: Program Chair, Fukui Chapter
Statement of purpose
In four short years, I have been more than happy

to consider myself a part of JALT, as a member of
its rank and file as well as an observer of its inner
workings. From 2009, I have worked with Aleda
Krause, the current Director of Records, and
other members of the Records and Procedures
Committee. In that time, we have worked togeth er to approve the constitutions of nearly every
chapter and SIG in JALT, a minor but necessary
task to allow JALT to function as an NPO.
JALT(
As a candidate for Director of Records, I bring
)
experience
from both chapter and SIG perspec
tives. As Program Chair of Fukui Chapter,

Coordinator of the Critical Thinking SIG, and
participant of almost every Executive Board
Director of Records: Roehl Sybing
Meeting since November 2008, I have been given
Work experience in Japan
a wide variety of responsibilities in my brief time
2012-present: English
as a member of JALT. My hope is to continue
instructor, Toyo Gakuen
the important work currently undertaken by the
University (Nagareycurrent Director of Records. Maintaining the vast
ama, Chiba)
historical record of JALT conferences, meetings
and discussions is a necessary task to guide our
2011-2012: English
policies for the future. Thankfully, Aleda Krause
instructor, Tokai
has done an excellent job in establishing this
University (Hiratsuka,
record. My responsibility, if given the chance,
Kanagawa)
will be to add to this record and include its
2009-2012: English
insight in our organizations decision-making
teacher, Kanto Internaprocess. With the guidance of all my fellow JALT
tional Senior High School (Shibuya, Tokyo)
members, I look forward to this opportunity of
2009: English teacher, Watanabe English
serving you and this organization for the next
School (Fukui City, Fukui)
two years.
2008-2009: English conversation teacher,
JALT
AEON (Fukui City, Fukui)
JALTSIG
2004-2006: English conversation teacher,
SIG
GEOS (Yokohama, Kanagawa)
JALT
Education
2006-2008: Master of Arts, TESOL and
Foreign Language Education, New York
University
2000-2004: Bachelor of Arts, Politics, New
York University
82
JALT
JALT
Aleda KrauseJALT
JALT
JALT
JALT
Positions available
JALT Journal Associate Editor
The JALT Publications Board invites applications for the position of Associate Editor of JALT
Journal. The Associate Editor will work with the
Editor to produce the journal. After being recommended by the Publications Board and approved
by the JALT Executive Board, the successful
applicant will serve as Associate Editor for 1
to 2 years before serving as Editor for a similar
period. The successful applicant will have the
following:
1. Previous editorial/referee experience.
2. Ability to meet deadlines and handle correspondence professionally.
3. A sound background in language education
or a related field.
4. A masters degree or higher in language
education or related field.
5. Seven or more years of experience teaching
language, at least two of which have been in
Japan.
6. Current residency in Japan and definite
intention to maintain such residency for the
period of expected service to JALT Journal.
7. A record of publications in competitive
and refereed journals (in-house universitybulletin articles will be considered as part
of a publishing record on their merits,
but some of the applicants publications
should include recognized, reputable and
anonymously-refereed journals at either the
national or international levels). Information
on either the impact factor or the acceptance
rate for some of the journals in which the
applicant has published would be helpful in
determining the applicants own ability to
publish in competitive forums.
8. Association with JALT through membership
and previous participation in publications
are valued, but meritorious applications
from non-members will also be considered
provided that such applicants meet or exceed the above requirements. The applicant
must become a JALT member if selected by
the Board for the position.
Duties include processing submissions, sending them out for review, communicating with
authors and reviewers, working with authors

to help them improve promising manuscripts,
editing the Perspectives section of JALT Journal,
and assisting the Editor as required. As Editor,
duties increase to include editing feature articles
and the research forum submissions, overseeing
all other sections, working with the Journal
Production Editor and the layout company, and
guiding the future of JALT Journal in accordance
with JALT policies.
Candidates should submit the following
application materials by email attachment. The
deadline for applications is August 15, 2012.
Recruiting will continue until the post is filled
by a suitable candidate who is acceptable to the
Board under the expectations elaborated above
(Points 1 through 8).
1. A curriculum vitae, including a complete list
of publications
2. A statement of purpose indicating both why
you would like to become Associate Editor (and later advance to Editor) and your
qualifications
3. Copies of five publications of which some
should be recent
Application materials should be sent to both
the Publications Board Chair, Ted ONeill
<pubchair@jalt-publications.org>, and the
current Editor, Darren Lingley< jj-editor@jaltpublications.org>.
Applicants will be notified if they have passed
the screening stage. After that, the final Board
decision, which is subject to approval by the
JALT Executive Board, will be made.
Youve done the research,

read the literature, and
thought a lot. . .
What next?
Write it up and submit it to The
Language Teacher of course!
See the Submissions Page
on our website for more
information!
83
The Language Teacher JALT Focus SHOWCASE
SHOWCASE
JALT FOCUS
with Kristen Sullivan

<showcase@jalt-publications.org>
Showcase is a column where
members are invited to introduce
themselves to TLTs readership
in 750 words or less. Research
interests, professional affiliations,
current projects, and personal
professional development are all
appropriate content. Please address inquiries to the editor.
SHOWCASE ONLINE: A listing of Showcase articles can
be found at:
showcase-members-profile>
n this edition of Showcase, Kay Irie shares

how her editorial work for the Learner
Development SIG has helped her gain
confidence and come to terms with herself as a
non-native speaker of English working in the
field of TESOL.
SHOWCASE
Kay Irie
My involvement in the Learner Development
(LD) SIG over the last six years has given me
great opportunities for professional and personal
growth. By actively participating in the LD SIG
community, I have gained a deeper understanding of autonomy, broadened my own view of
learning and teaching, and acquired academic
and practical skills. But what I really appreciate the most is that it has helped me to build
my self-confidence as a non-native speaker of
English (NNSE) professional in TESOL. I am
now comfortable with my strengths, weaknesses,
and possibilities. That self-confidence was very
low six years ago; as a Japanese woman coming
from the world of advertising into the field
84
of language education, I felt more than a little

unsure of myself entering an environment that
seemed dominated by non-Japanese males.
In December 2006, Andy Barfield, the current
LD SIG co-coordinator and then lead editor of
the SIG newsletter, Learning Learning, asked
me to shadow him to be the next lead editor.
I had just received my doctoral degree earlier
that year from Temple University and started
a full-time university teaching job. Yet, I was
feeling uneasy about my legitimacy as a NNSE
teacher-researcher, and as an editor of an English
language publication. When I confided my lack
of confidence to
Andy, he immediately suggested
Alison Stewart to
co-shadow with
me. Ever since,
with the help of
Andy and many
other experienced senpai (
= seniors),
Alison and I
have worked
together on
various editing
projects: Learning Learning,
Realizing Autonomy: Practice and Reflection in
Language Education Context (Palgrave MacMillan,
2012), as well as the program booklet and online
proceedings <ld-sig.org/LL> of the 2011 LD SIG
conference.
My initial view of editing was primarily
correcting other peoples writing. As soon as
I started to shadow, however, my perspective
shifted dramatically. On the practical side, editing requires a lot of organizational skills to keep
the publication on schedule and communication
skills to get the cooperation of many people.
This is where my experience in business became
an advantage, giving me a sense of self-efficacy
early on. My Japanese became useful when it
The Language Teacher JALT Focus SHOWCASE

came to dealing with printing companies and
submissions in Japanese. It was reassuring to feel
useful and capable.
As for editing skills, it did not take me a long
time to realize it has more to do with working
with writers to articulate and express ideas
clearly than fixing what is wrong. Ive learned
(and am still learning) what to look for and how
to ask effective questions about ideas, organization, focus, and logical connections. That is far
more important than being 100% accurate in the
usage of articles or verb tense in the subjunctive
mood (although that would be nice too!).
When I encounter something difficult to
understand, I still wonder if it is my reading
or the writing that is falling short. But I dont
worry about it so much anymore as I always
work with a team or a partner whom I can share
my concerns with. Im no longer afraid to say,
I dont know. And in return, I am becoming more aware that my own experience may
provide insights into how the writing may be
better appreciated by the majority of the field; us
NNSE teachers. Good writing should be easy for
anybody to understand. I could not have gained
the confidence and expertise if it werent for the
supportive environment created by the LD SIG.
An exciting prospect for my professional

development is that I resumed my research on
L2 motivation last year. It was the passion for
teaching, learning, and research I witnessed in
the LD SIG and JALT communities that inspired
me and reminded me of the joy of discovering
and sharing with others. Although I am taking
a break from editing work for the LD SIG right
now, I recently took over the role of LD SIG
treasurer from Hiromi Furusawa. I have no experience in accounting, just like how I was with
editing six years ago, but I am not so worried
this time as I know that I am going to get all the
support I need.
All in all, my six years with the LD SIG and
JALT have helped me to become aware of my
own strengths, more comfortable with my
weaknesses, and have opened my eyes to the
possibilities for learning and being inspired
through working together with language teaching professionals from diverse backgrounds.
Kay Irieis Associate Professor at the
Foreign Language Center, Tokai University in
Kanagawa. Her research interests include L2
motivation and learner autonomy. She can be
contacted at <kayirie@tokai.u-jp>.
GRASSROOTS
JALT FOCUS
with Joyce Cunningham

& Mariko Miyao
To contact the editors:
<grassroots@jalt-publications.org>
The coeditors warmly invite 750-word
reports on events, groups, or resources
within JALT in English, Japanese, or a
combination of both.
GRASSROOTS ONLINE: A listing of
Grassroots articles can be found at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/
departments/grassroots>
n the first report of this edition, Jim Ronald

tells us about some of the benefits of joining
the local Learner Development SIG get-togethers in Hiroshima. In the second report, Stuart
McLean writes: This study aims to determine
the Vocabulary Size (VS) of various university
populations and if VS correlates with hensachi
and TOEIC scores. In order to make conclusions
representative we hope that as many students as
possible sit the VS test. Can you assist us in this?
In the third report, Paul Doyon describes life
teaching EFL in Chile after spending 23 years in
Asia. In the fourth report, Paul Doyon, in the 3rd
part of his Willful ignorance or mindful intelligence
series, places emphasis on discernment and the
questioning of answers as necessary constituents
of critical thinking skills.
85
The Language Teacher JALT Focus GRASSROOTS
Learner
Development
SIG forums:
Networking and
learning together
by Andy Barfield, Darren Elliott,
Bill Mboutsiadis, Rob Moreau and
Jim Ronald, Learner Development
website: <ld-sig.org>
Many JALT Special Interest Groups (SIGs) hold a
forum at the JALT national conference each year,
with each forum serving both as a showcase for
the SIG and as an affirmation to SIG members of
what each SIG is about. A forum acts as a current
demonstration of SIG members special interests
and re-establishes the SIGs identity; indirectly, it
also reflects how the SIG appeals to and involves
SIG members and would-be members. For the
Learner Development (LD) SIG and other active
groups, forums play a very important and
central part of the SIGs activities, and not only
at the national conference. This year, for example, our SIG is organising a total of four forums:
at the Nakasendo Conference in Urawa, at the
Pan-SIG Conference in Hiroshima, at JALTCALL
in Nishinomiya (all in June), and at JALT2012 in
Hamamatsu in October.
Part of a recent call for forum contributions
illustrates how LD SIG forums have typically
worked over the past decade: The forum will
feature simultaneous displays/presentation
corners (poster, laptop, tablet, kami-shibai, and
so on) with plenty of opportunities for audience
interaction, discussion, and plenary round-up.
At this stage, for 2012, we are expecting over 30
people to present at the four forums, if present is
the right word, that is. The goal of each forum is
to be a forum a space for interactions between
presenters and participants. After all, the forum
is about learning, we are all teacher-learners, and
we are looking forward to interacting with many
people at these forums.
86
The LD SIG forum at the 2012 Nakasendo

Conference in Urawa, Saitama, offered an
interesting space for SIG members to share a
variety of ideas on teacher and learner development. Since December 2011, members of the LD
SIG in the greater Tokyo area have been meeting on a monthly basis, discussing ideas, and
beginning to do small-scale research projects in
the following learner development areas: collaborative learning, language learning strategies,
self-assessment, and vocabulary development.
At Nakasendo, participants from the Tokyo gettogethers set up display stations for people to
learn more about what the groups were working
on, ask questions, and engage in dialogue on
each topic. Forum participants also shared their
thoughts in a plenary group discussion.
The theme for the LD SIG forum at the Pan-SIG
Conference in Hiroshima in June, Language, literacies, learners: Development beyond the classroom,
attracted a large number of contributors with
most focusing on learning beyond the classroom.
Some presenters opted to present on finding or
creating opportunities for meaningful communication (for example, with tourists from abroad,
or with people who use English at work), while
others decided to create a forum-within-a-forum
and focus on English camps. One presenter
looked at the use of digital comics as a medium
for reflection on language learning histories,
with another focusing on critical media literacy
development for life beyond the classroom.
Again, the forum was planned to be highly
interactive for participants.
Looking forward to 2013 when the LD SIG
celebrates its 20th anniversary, weve decided this
year to reflect on what learner development means
to different members and what different interests
our members want to explore under the umbrella
theme of learner development. Thus, the focus of
this years forum at the national JALT conference
is Defining learner development: Different interests,
where the aim is to involve as many presentations
as possible in exploring how learner development
can be theorized from different practices. This
will, we hope, allow us to consider overlapping
and conflicting definitions and ideologies of
learner development. Ideas from this exploration
can then be brought into sharper relief at the SIGs
20th anniversary retreat/conference in 2013.

In 2012, part of what being in the Learner
Development SIG means is having many opportunities to be actively involved in local SIG
get-togethers, small-scale research projects,
different publication projects, and collaborative
forums. Through such active involvement, we
can network, learn together, and grow. If youre
interested, please come along to a Learner
Development SIG forum this year. Wed also be
delighted to see you at the SIGs 20th anniversary retreat/conference in 2013. You will always
be welcome.
Assist your students

by knowing their
vocabulary size and
participate in JALTfunded research
by Stuart McLean, Temple University
Japan, Student
For many years various language teaching
approaches have ignored the importance of
vocabulary (Meara, 1980; Zimmerman, 1997).
However, the appropriately entitled Vocabulary
acquisition: A neglected aspect of language learning
by Paul Meara (1980) helped start vocabulary
on the long road towards the central role that
it presently enjoys in most quarters within

SLA research. Here in Japan, vocabulary has
received more attention in the classroom thanks
to ongoing practical research by the likes of Paul
Nation among others. However, considering
these points and that mindful pedagogy requires
teachers to assess students needs (Brown, 2007)
it is strange that so few university lecturers have
only the slightest idea of their students vocabulary size. As a result of this and the amazing lack
of reliable published literature on the subject, we
(Thomas Rush, Nicholas Hogg, and I) decided to
apply for one of the three annual JALT research
grants to assist university lecturers in Japan
make informed estimates of their students vocabulary size. To do this, the average vocabulary
size of various class types will be established and
the relation between vocabulary size and tests
scores will be determined. Table 1 shows the
class types for which average vocabulary sizes
will be established.
Within each of the student groupings, it is
hoped that ten classes, all from different departments, will sit the test and if possible, each
department will be from different universities.
Along with establishing average vocabulary
scores for each of the above groups, correlations
between vocabulary size and individual hensachi
scores, TOEIC scores, and TOEFL scores will be
investigated.
Nation & Beglars (2007) Vocabulary Size Test
(VST), which was Rasche validated by Beglar
in 2010, will be the testing instrument used to
measure students vocabulary. Sections representing the first 8000 words will be used, result-
Table 1. Japanese university student populations which are being investigated.

Hensachi
1st years
2nd years
3rd years
4th years
>60
10 classes
10 classes
10 classes
10 classes
English majors
45-59
10 classes
10 classes
10 classes
10 classes
<45
10 classes
10 classes
10 classes
10 classes
>60
10 classes
10 classes
Humanities
45-59
10 classes
10 classes
majors
<45
10 classes
10 classes
>60
10 classes
10 classes
Science majors
45-59
10 classes
10 classes
<45
10 classes
10 classes
*Hensachi is a score assigned to all university departments established by averaging students national ability test scores.
87

ing in the test taking 40 minutes to complete.
There are paper-based and online versions of the
same test. If assisting teachers wish to use the
paper version of the test, tests will be sent with a
stamped self-addressed envelope. Once tests are
completed, returned, and marked by us, assisting teachers will be informed of their individual
students VST scores. At no time will student
names, university names, or department names
be used in the research. If assisting teachers
choose the self-marking online version of the
test we will send the web address for the online
test and a class specific password. Students sit
the online test and assisting teachers are emailed
individual students VST scores. Two points
should be made clear; teachers do not have to
know their department or departments hensachi
(this will be checked by us), and classes of all
sizes are welcome to participate in this research.
In addition, we have no issue if you wish to use
this test as part of your own research, and we can
assist you in giving posttests.
There is one problem however: we, the
research members, do not teach 260 university
classes between us. As a result, your assistance
is earnestly sought. We are looking for instructors to give the 40-minute VST to their students.
This research runs until June 2013, however, we
are looking to finish as early as possible so the
earlier we hear from willing teachers the better.
If you are able to assist us in this research or
have any questions or feedback regarding this
research, please contact Stuart McLean <vocabsizeresearch@gmail.com>.
References
Beglar, D. (2010). A Rasch based validation of the
Vocabulary Size Test. Language Testing, 27(1),
101-118.
Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.). New York: Longman.
Meara, P. (1980). Vocabulary acquisition: A
neglected aspect of language learning. In V.
Kinsella (Ed.), Surveys 1: Eight State-of-the-Art
Articles on Key Areas in Language Teaching (pp.
100-126). Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Nation, I. S. P., & Beglar, D. (2007). A vocabulary
size test. The Language Teacher, 31(7), 913.
Zimmerman, C. B. (1997). Historical trends in
88
second language vocabulary instruction. In J.

Coady and T. Huckin, (Eds.), Second language
vocabulary acquisition (pp. 5-19). Cambridge:
Life after Japan:

Teaching in Chile
by Paul Doyon, Visiting Professor,
Universidad Catolica del Norte,
Antofagasta, Chile,
<doyon.paul@ucn.cl>
I left my non-tenured teaching position as an
associate professor at Utsunomiya University,
located approximately 120 kilometers (80 miles)
away from the Fukushima nuclear accident, in
March of 2011. I had done some research on the
negative consequences of nuclear power back in
the 70s as a teenager living downwind from the
Three Mile Island accident. Hence, I became well
aware of the dangers involved in living in the
vicinity of nuclear plants.
This knowledge spurred me to leave that area
immediately. Within several days of the accident,
my wife, my son, and I were all living in my
wifes hometown of Tajimi, in Gifu Prefecture,
approximately 400 kilometers away from Fukushima and in the opposite direction the wind
blows.
I played with the idea of seeking work outside
of Japan, but since my Japanese wife seemed
determined to stay in Japan, I decided to concentrate my efforts on looking for another university
position in Japan, but outside the Tokyo and
Tohoku areas. Since I had (at the time) over 23
years of TESOL experience in several different
countries (Japan, Australia, China, India, and
Thailand), held two MAs (one in TESOL and
another in Advanced Japanese Studies), spoke
Japanese fluently, and had numerous publications and presentations under my belt, I did not
think it would be a problem finding a new post.
I applied for 25 university positions advertised
on JRECIN for which I met the criteria and
eventually received 25 rejection letters which
I suspect had something to do with the fact that
I became ill back in 2005 living in the vicinity of

several cell phone towers and have since been
publicly vocal about the possible health risks
wireless technology is posing to the public.
Fortunately, I received offers from China, Saudi
Arabia, Turkey, and Chile. I decided not to go to
China because of its pollution problems; the pay
in Turkey was very low; and Saudi Arabia just
seemed too repressive a society for me to live in.
Chile seemed attractive to me for a number of
reasons: 1) a decent salary with the possibility of
tenure after two years, 2) the dry climate of the
Atacama Desert (the driest desert in the world)
would mean fewer allergies (no mold, no pollen),
3) the economy is booming due to the fact that
China and India are buying up Chiles copper,
and 4) it is a modern European-like country
with both a Hispanic and Germanic population.
Added to that is the fact that I had never been to
South America and it would present an excellent
opportunity to learn Spanish.
I have now been teaching here for approximately two months and I love it. I teach in the
Escuela de Ingles at the Universidad Catolica del
Norte in the city of Antofagasta in the north of
Chile. My colleagues are a mix of both Chileans
and Americans, and the majority of my students
are English pedagogy majors studying to become
English teachers. I teach mainly freshmen and
juniors the speaking and listening components of
a four-skills course.
I find the students here, for the most part,
considerate, sincere, and much more politicallyoriented (there were nation-wide student strikes
at the university level here last year calling for
better and more affordable education) with more
developed critical thinking skills than their Asian
counterparts. I have been giving my 3rd year
students weekly homework assignments which
entail watching videos related to global issues
and then publishing their feedback in weekly
newsletters which serves the purpose of feeding their feedback back to them. The responses
from the students about this activity have been
exceptionally positive.
I have also decided to start a pilot graded reading program and have asked my wife (who along
with my son plans to join me here next year) to
send the approximately 50 graded readers I had
bought over the years in Japan. Textbooks are
extremely expensive here and it is seemingly a
bureaucratic nightmare trying to buy them due

to high taxes for imports and bidding regulations
regarding their purchase. Hence, if you would
like to donate graded readers for this program,
please dont hesitate to contact me at the above
email address.
Chile has its own TESOL organization aptly
named TESOL Chile <tesolchile.cl> and will
be holding its annual conference (ELT: Global
citizenship for a fair world) between August 31 and
September 2, 2012 at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Education in the capital of
Santiago. The call for papers is open until June
29 for those interested in presenting.
Willful ignorance
or mindful
intelligence? Part
3: Questioning the
answers
by Paul Doyon, Visiting Professor,
Escuela de Ingles, Universidad Catolica
del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile,
<doyon.paul@ucn.cl>
The good student answers questions, but does not
question answers. Ira Shor
A teacher I know someone who is seemingly very knowledgeable in the area of critical
thinking mentioned to me how he was feeling
dizzy and weak and also that he was having
heart palpitations and believed he was suffering
from heart arrhythmia. However, when he went
to the hospital for a checkup, the tests showed
that there was seemingly nothing wrong with
his heart. Immediately, he felt better (due to the
power of suggestion perhaps), and he instantly
presumed that he must have just been imagining the whole ordeal without suspecting in
the slightest that the tests might not have been
showing the whole picture. More recently, a
student missed one of my classes because she
was also having heart palpitations and was
referred to a famous heart specialist in the city
89

of Santiago here in Chile. He interestingly asked
her if she was using her cell phone excessively
and whether or not she had WiFi in her home.
The latter doctor seemed to be more aware of
such information and was perhaps able to make
a more informed diagnosis.
Recently I got into a debate with a colleague
of mine who firmly believed that one must put
quotation marks around block quotations and
that block quotations must always be preceded
by a colon without appreciating why we have
such rules in the first place and then discerning
when, and when not, they may apply.
In the first situation we have an unsuspecting
trust in authorities (and the tests they give) and
in the second an unquestioning compliance to
the rules we have inherited. In both cases we can
detect an obvious lack of discernment.
In the area of language teaching, there have
been times when either the grammar-translation
approach, the audio-lingual approach, or some
other approach to teaching were the undisputed
methodologies to be blindly followed and for
one to veer from or question their doctrinaire
ways was to seemingly commit a cardinal sin. I
have even heard from teachers who have taken
one of those one-month CELTA courses and
who were forced to teach strictly in line with
what Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
dictates, and while I am not adverse to CLT
methodology, I am opposed to treating it like a
religion and believe that an informed eclecticism
is definitely the best methodology. Hence, as the
adage goes, we must teach our students how
to think and not what to think and this would
logically comprise the act of being mindful and
questioning the answers we have been handed.
I would assume that this applies for teachers

too, since if the teachers themselves are not able
to think critically, then how can we expect them to
be teaching our students to do so. Unfortunately,
I have heard too many teachers use the term
critical thinking in what seemed to me an empty
platitude without knowing what the term actually
meant. Another colleague, who was seemingly
castigating me (erroneously I might add) for
supposedly not teaching critical thinking skills,
was insisting on another occasion that it was
enough to just teach students to (mindlessly) obey
the rules without having to teach them why we
have these rules in the first place and why there
would also be exceptions to these rules. I argue
on the contrary that by teaching students to be
mindful of the reasons why we apply certain rules
in language, and their exceptions, we are in fact
teaching students to employ and develop discernment, which I also argue here is an extremely
important constituent of the ability to think critically. Furthermore, these skills would most likely
also be transferred to other areas of their lives and
a student body trained to collectively think in a
critical fashion by using discernment and other
critical thinking skills, would turn into a critical
populace, and consequently, a more democratic
and rational one in my opinion.
Unfortunately, that is not presently the case.
I would dare to argue that at present what we
have, for the most part, is a mindless populace
trained to obey and regurgitate information in
school, and as adults end up believing and regurgitating what is heard and read from corporate
controlled media outlets in what I would claim
is a form of trickle-down psychopath emanating
from the top 1% of the population.
The Language Teacher needs you!
90
If you are interested in writing and editing, have

experience in language education in an Asian context,
and are a JALT member, we need your help. TLT is
currently recruiting proofreading and editorial staff.
Learn a new skill, help others, strengthen your rsum,
and make a difference! If you would like to join our team,
please contact the editors:
<tlt-editor@jalt-publications.org>
The Language Teacher JALT Focus OUTREACH
OUTREACH
JALT FOCUS
with David McMurray

<outreach@jalt-publications.org>
Outreach is a place where teachers from around the world can
exchange opinions and ideas about
foreign language learning and
teaching. It provides outreach to
classroom teachers who would
not otherwise readily have access
to a readership in Japan. The
column also seeks to provide a
vibrant voice for colleagues who
volunteer to improve language learning in areas that do
not have teacher associations. Up to 1,000 word reports
from teachers anywhere in the world are welcomed.
Contributors may also submit articles in the form of interviews with teachers based overseas.
OUTREACH ONLINE: A listing of Outreach articles can
be found at:
When learning languages and living in the target

language country, a learner can experience what
I call a click. This click is when everything comes
together: the grammar starts to make sense, we
begin to accept the major differences between the
target language and our mother tongue, and the
mind begins to be able to process the language in
a much less confusing way. This is arguably the
first step to fluency. For some people this click
comes within a month, for others it could take
much longer.
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/outreach>
n this essay for Outreach, Jonathan Gill shares

anecdotes from his experiences of learning
German and Japanese as foreign languages.
He has received instruction from Japanese,
German, French, Polish, and English nationals,
but argues that interacting with native-speaking
people outside the classroom is what changed
him from being an Englishman trying to speak
German into an Englishman who confidently
spoke German. He contrasts the conventional
language teaching methods he was exposed to
at the University of Central Lancashire with the
task-based language learning method he tried
on his own while studying abroad. This method
gave him the click he needed to reach fluency.
The arguments for

task-based learning
Jonathan Gill
University of Central Lancashire
Gill tries out the TPR method
I began learning the German language at high

school in 2002. For five years I used textbooks
and repetitive learning methods. There were 25
students in the class. The teacher would ask each
student the same question. In the very beginning it would be something like, What is your
name? or How old are you? If you had been
listening, by the 25th person the question and its
answer would be firmly set into your memory.
We also played language based games. By late
2007 we were composing 1,500 word reports
in German. We even took a trip to Germany to
practise what we had learned. When I entered
university my knowledge of the German
language grew even further, and I perfected my
German grammar. However, after all those years
there was still something missing. The textbooks
and the teaching methods that helped me to
91

become almost fluent had made me an Englishman trying to speak German, not an Englishman
who confidently spoke German.
This confidence level changed when I went
to live in Germany in 2011. I found a job as a
gardener for a park in the countryside. Living
in a village with a population of 400 people, I
met only one speaker of English. My colleagues
spoke no English. During my time there the
only language learning book I ever used was a
dictionary. The job immersed me into a purely
task-based learning environment. At home, I
would look up words I didnt understand from
the day or if there was something to do the
next day that I was unsure of, I would look up
the lexis. Language was learnt through context
and the tasks someone would ask me to do. By
the end of my stay, the everyday language had
clicked and I had confidently reached my final
destination of fluency in German.
Before coming to Japan, I learnt Japanese
through repetitive structures and independent
composition. I would be given a sentence and
then told to compose a series of other sentences
using the same grammar. The teacher would ask
everyone in the class the same question. At the
University of Central Lancashire we would also
be given sentences in English to translate.
I remember the shock of being able to understand very little on the first day I arrived
in Kagoshima. Five months later, my Japanese
listening and speaking skills had improved
by 100 percent, confirming my belief that the
best way to learn a language is through living
in the country in which it is spoken. You can
learn something in class and then walk right
outside the door and use it. Fluency is quickly
acquired through constant conversation. The
way I learned Japanese completely changed.
I am now learning in a traditional Japanese
way, in terms of education, at the International
University of Kagoshima. It is understandable
that English cant be used in the class. Each day,
I use a different textbook needed for a different
skill and when its finished I go buy the next one.
The heart of my learning is a Japanese course
for non-native speakers in which I study with
people from China, Canada, Latvia, and England. The same method does not suit everyone.
Personally, I prefer repetitive learning because
92
thats how Ive been nurtured throughout my

education.
The task-based learning method is the learning of a language through carrying out tasks
in everyday life situations. For example, when
going to a supermarket to buy fruit in a foreign
language, beforehand we should learn the necessary vocabulary for the fruit we want to buy,
to ask the shopkeeper where it is in the shop,
and for how much it costs. Once we leave the
classroom, we might be surprised by the need for
additional language. When at the till, you could
be asked if you have a point card or whether
you would like a bag and a receipt. All of this
additional experience helps to improve your
understanding of the way language is processed
in the mind. Through situation and context, you
will subconsciously improve your language and
understanding. The next day you may go back
to the shop to buy vegetables and each time you
go, the situation and language becomes clearer
and clearer. Another good example of task-based
learning is when we visit foreign countries for a
holiday and we dont speak the language. If you
spend around 2 weeks there, through experiences, you should at least be able to say thank
you. This is why many British people can ask for
a coffee or a beer in Spanish, but when it comes
to saying anything else they have no idea. Taskbased learning can also be described as learning
by doing.
So the argument is: has my Japanese improved
rapidly because of what Ive studied in class, or
is it due to my experiences in everyday life such
as talking with friends and tasks such as going to
the supermarket to buy fruit?
The traditional Japanese way of teaching
English is through textbooks and materials. Is
this effective? I often find that many Japanese
young people are good at writing English and
when spoken to, they understand the English
that they have learnt either at university or from
their high school days. However, when it comes
to a conversation, they lack the skill because they
havent been taught that way. Often they will
be told to tick the right box in the textbook or
insert the right word into the text and then move
onto the next thing. No real task is involved. The
work is corrected or praised and then they move
onto the next grammar point and the previous

one is often forgotten. Japanese speakers of
English who have reached fluency have told me
that they have spent time abroad in an English
speaking country. Arguably, while they were
abroad, they either learnt through a western
system of teaching or they learnt through tasks
using the language they acquired during their
school daystask-based learning.
There is evidence to suggest that task-based
learning is making its way into Japanese schools.
I volunteered to help teach an English class in a
primary school in Kagoshima. One class particularly stands out in my mind. The students,
who were all complete beginners, were studying
how to give directions in English. They were
given the necessary vocabulary. They studied
in pairs for around half an hour using a book.
We then all stood up and put large cards on the
tables with words like hospital, post office and
supermarket. The class then worked in pairs, one
student would say take me to the supermarket
and then their partner would direct them with
words like go straight. Through the task, the
students learnt words like post office and hospital
as well as for directions. I found this task to be
highly effective for the students. A task to do
with university level students might be to write

a mock letter to a hotel manager. The teacher
plays the role of the hotel manager and answers
the letter. The students are then given the task to
reply once again.
The teaching methods used in classes in the
UK and Japan have help me to learn German
and Japanese grammar but the real way language became set into my memory was through
carrying out tasks and simply talking to people
outside the classroom in Germany and Japan.
Immersion in the target language is the best way
to learn it, but giving students tasks to carry
out in and outside of the classroom is the necessary key. I think task-based learning is a more
effective way than purely using books. When
learning languages, you have to be taught how
to be an independent learner because one day
it will necessarily happen. You will be using the
language and trying to improve on your own.
In essence, to help students to gain confidence
in speaking, Japanese teachers of English could
opt to include a task-based learning environment
inside their classrooms and encourage students
to study abroad.
SIG NEWS
TLT COLUMN
with Jennie Roloff-Rothman

<sig-news@jalt-publications.org>
JALT currently has 26 Special
Interest Groups (SIGs) available for
members to join. This column publishes announcements of SIG events,
mini-conferences, publications, or
calls for papers and presenters. SIGs
wishing to print news or announcements should contact the editor by
the 15th of the month, 6 weeks
prior to publication.
You can access SIG News online at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/sig-news>
SIGs at a glance
Key: [ = keywords ] [ & = publications ] [
= other activities ] [ = email list ] [ ^ = online

forum] Note: For SIG contacts & URLs, please see JALTs
website <jalt.org/main/groups>.
Bilingualism
[ bilingualism, biculturality, international families, childraising, identity ] [ & Bilingual Japan3x year, Journal1x
year ] [ forums, panels ] [ ]
Our group has two main aims. One is to

encourage research in the area of bilingualism
in Japanese contexts. This is reflected in our
peer-reviewed journal, Japan Journal of Multilingualism and Multiculturalism. Our second aim
is to support families who are raising bilingual
children. Our newsletter Bilingual Japan contains
93
The Language Teacher Column SIG NEWS

articles about resources and experiences available to bicultural families. The SIG also works
with various chapters to hold local events. The
SIGs annual forum and banquet at the national
conference provide an opportunity for members
to network with other bilingual families. Further
information at <bsig.org>.
Business English
The JALT Business English SIG is intended
to develop the discipline of teaching English
conducive to participation in the world business
community. We wish to provide instructors in
this field with a means of collaboration and
sharing best teaching practices.
JALT Business English SIG
College and University Educators

[ tertiary education, interdisciplinary collaboration, professional
development, classroom research, innovative teaching ] [ &
On CUE 2-3 year ] [ Annual SIG conference, regional
events and workshops ]
All CUE members receive the refereed publication OnCUE Journal (ISSN:1882-0220).
Submissions for issue 6.3 are due July 1, 2012.
Prospective authors should check out our helpful
authors template and guidelines at <jaltcue-sig.
org/node/56>. A slide show on basic statistics
for SLA educators is available at <jaltcue-sig.
org/node/32>. Details about the OnCUE Journal
sections can be found at <jaltcue-sig.org/
node/160>. Our website also provides useful
information about how to use APA formatting
and statistics at <jaltcue-sig.org/node/37>. For
more information about CUE SIG news and
events, see the CUE website at <jaltcue-sig.org>,
follow <@jaltcue> on Twitter, or join JALT-CUE
on Facebook or Yahoo Groups <bit.ly/9NZBTC>.
Computer Assisted Language Learning

[ technology, computer-assisted, wireless, online learning, self-access ] [ & JALT CALL Journal Newsletter3x year
] [ Annual SIG conference, regional events and workshops ] [ ] [ ^ ]
JALTCALL 2012 was a wonderful conference and

we would like to thank all the presenters and
94
conference attendees. We would especially like

to publicly acknowledge the great talks given by
our keynote speaker, Dr. Stephen Bax and our
plenary speakers, Lance Knowles and Dr. John
Brine. A special post-conference issue of The JALT
CALL Journal on the topic of Beyond CALL:
Integration, Normalisation, or Separation? will
be published in December 2012. Full manuscripts
are due by August 30, 2012. Submissions will
need to follow the guidelines set out on the
journal webpage <jaltcall.org/journal/jcjguidelines.html> and will go through the usual review
procedures. For questions about submitting
papers or the publication process, please feel
free to contact the editor, Glenn Stockwell, at
<journal@jaltcall.org>.
Once again, the CALL SIG Forum will be held
at the JALT National Conference (day/time
TBA). We will be exploring the diverse ways
that Apple iPads can be used in various teaching
environments. For example, a professor may use
an iPad very differently than a junior high school
ALT might. Likewise, the classroom dynamic in
a classroom where only the teacher has an iPad
differs significantly from that of a one-to-one
iPad classroom. If you have practical experience
using iPads in any teaching context and are
interested in presenting in the CALL SIG Forum,
please contact Tom Gorham at <sig-program@
jaltcall.org>.
Critical Thinking
[ critical thinking ] [ & CT Scan3x year ]
We are ALWAYS looking for new input from

teachers interested in critical thinking! We invite
your ideas about the theory and teaching practices
regarding critical thinking. Whether its a classroom idea, a reflection or a full research paper,
we hope to hear from you! Think about writing
for our quarterly newsletter, CT Scan, or our SIG
website today. All submissions are welcome at
<ctscan.editor@gmail.com>. For more information, visit us at <jaltcriticalthinking.org>.
Extensive Reading
[ extensive reading, extensive listening ] [ & ERJ3x
year ] [ Annual ER Seminar ]
The JALT Extensive Reading SIG is pleased to

announce the Fifth Annual Extensive Reading

Seminar, Extensive Reading: Research and Practice.
Plenary addresses from Dr. S. D. Krashen and
Junko Yamanaka. The conference will be on July
1, 2012 at Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Nagoya, Japan. Please follow the website link from
the ER SIG page on the JALT website <jalt.org/
groups/596> for detailed and updated information on the seminar and other related events.
Framework & Language Portfolio

[ curriculum-planning, assessment, language education reform, Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR),
European Language Portfolio (ELP) ] [ & newsletter ] [
workshops, materials development ] [ ^ ]
This SIG wants to discuss the CEFR and ELP, and

other similar frameworks and their relevance
for Japan. There is an emphasis on developing
materials to support educators who would like
to use these pedagogic tools. The SIG holds
periodical seminars focusing on classroom use
of the CEFR, among other things. Please refer
to <sites.google.com/site/flpsig/home> and
<flpsig@gmail.com> for more information,
including info about the Can do statements in
language education in Japan and beyond publication
and to download the bilingual Language Portfolio
for Japanese University.
Gender Awareness in Language Education

[ gender awareness, gender roles, interaction/discourse
analysis, critical thought, gender related/biased teaching aims
] [ & newsletter/online journal ] [ Gender conference,
workshops ] [ ] [ ^ ]
GALE works towards building a supportive

community of educators and researchers
interested in raising awareness and researching
how gender plays an integral role in education
and professional interaction. We also network
and collaborate with other groups to promote
pedagogical and professional practices, language
teaching materials, and research inclusive of
gender and gender-related topics. Ongoing call
for papers for the academic journal. Visit our
website at <gale-sig.org> or contact us for more
details. Please email <coordinator@gale-sig.
org>for any GALE-related inquiries.
Global Issues in Language Education

[ global issues, global education, content-based language
teaching, international understanding, world citizenship ] [
& Global Issues in Language Education Newsletter4x year
] [ Sponsor of Peace as a Global Language (PGL) conference ] [ ] [ ^ ]
GILE aims to promote global awareness, international understanding, and action to solve world
problems through content-based language teaching, drawing from fields such as global education, peace education, environmental education,
and human rights education. The SIG produces
a quarterly newsletter, organizes presentations
for local, national, and international conferences,
and maintains contacts with groups ranging
from Amnesty International to Educators for Social Responsibility to UNESCO. Contact us for a
sample newsletter, or for more information about
the SIGs work in teaching for a better world.
For more information, please visit <gilesig.org>
or contact Kip Cates <kcates@rstu.jp>.
Japanese as a Second Language

[ Japanese as a second language ] [ &
Japanese as a Second Language Newsletter4x year ]
[ AGM at the JALT conference ] [ ]
The 11th Annual Pan SIG Conference was held

on June 16-17, 2012, at Hiroshima University
(Higashi-Hiroshima campus). The JSL SIG sponsored a forum entitled looking for the universal
teaching method in teaching Japanese and other
JSL related presentations. Would you like to join
us? Next, researchers, teachers, and learners
are invited to contribute research articles to our
publication JALT Journal of Japanese Language
Education. Please visit <jalt.org/jsl/> for further
information.
6161711
PANSIG

2013JALT

jalt.org/jsl/

<megumik@tuj.temple.edu>.
95
Junior and Senior High School

[ curriculum, native speaker, JET programme, JTE, ALT,
internationalization ] [ & The School House3-4x year ]
[ teacher development workshops & seminars, networking, open mics ] [ ]
The School House, the JALT Junior and Senior High

School SIG Newsletter, is accepting submissions
for its next edition. We are looking for research articles related to EFL theory or pedagogy, technology articles, lesson ideas, conference reviews, and
anything else that pertains to teaching English
in Japanese junior and senior high schools. All
submissions and/or inquiries should be made to
Robert Morel at <rcmorel@gmail.com>. Our goal
is to function as an instigator, focal point, and
clearing house for research into secondary foreign
language education in Japan. In particular, we aim
to encourage junior and senior high EFL teachers
to think about their work and to share the results
of their efforts with others, in the form of written
or oral presentations. We also aim to provide a
focus within JALT for discussion of issues directly
related to the improvement and development of
foreign language education in Japans secondary
schools.
Learner Development
[ learner autonomy, critical approaches to teaching and
learning, teacher/learner roles, learning processes, learning content, group dynamics ] [ & Learning Learning, 2x
year; regular emailings to members; discussion list ] [
regular local area get-togethers; ongoing practitioner/action
research & ebook projects; conference grants; research
grants; forum at the annual JALT conference ] [ ]
.
190,
, .
,
, , ,
. , ( )
. , , ,
, ,
, . ,
,
. ,
, ,
,
, , .
<ld-sig.org>
.
96
The Learner Development SIG is a lively,

friendly, and growing network with about 180
members around the world who have an interest
in exploring and researching practices that help
develop autonomous learning and teaching.
We are also interested in socio-cultural theory,
critical approaches to teaching and learning,
group dynamics, literacy development, and
other interdisciplinary spaces that teachers and
learners may navigate.
We welcome the participation of teachers from
diverse teaching contexts (other than university) including elementary school, junior high
school, senior high school, distance learning,
and language school settings as well as teachers
teaching languages other than English. We share
a commitment to exploring connections between
our experiences as learners and our practices as
teachers, and the learners experiences inside
and outside the classroom.
The SIG offers chances to get connected with other
teachers, graduate students and researchers through
our twice-yearly newsletter Learning Learning,
email, and online resources, plus ongoing eBook
publication projects. 2011 saw the publication of
a third SIG book, Realizing Autonomy: Practice and
Reflection in Language Education Contexts (Palgrave
Macmillan). We hold regular local area get-togethers
in different parts of Japan, focusing on discussion
and practitioner research into learner development
issues. Come out and meet the community: <ld-sig.
org/get-togethers>. For more information about
all our events please visit our website <ld-sig.org/
events>. 2012 also sees the SIG offering membership
grants, subscriptions, research grants and conference
grants to foster wider membership and participation
in learner development events and publications. For
more information, please visit our website <ld-sig.
org/grants2012>.
Lifelong Language Learning

[ lifelong learning, older adult learners, fulfillment ] [ &
Told You So!3x year (online) ] [ Pan-SIG, teaching
contest, national & mini-conferences ] [ ] [ ^ ]
The energy of older learners who wish to lead

active lives is reverberating all across Japan. The
LLL SIG aims to help these older learners enrich
their lives through language learning. The SIG
provides resources and information online at
<jalt.org/lifelong>.
Literature in Language Teaching

Literature in Language Teaching (LILT) SIG
recently formed to encourage and promote the
use of literature in the language classroom.
Appropriately chosen literature provides real
content, to engage and motivate our language
students. The literature itself provides a readymade context for learning that is so often lacking
in our EFL situation.
What is literature? How to choose appropriate literature for our students? How to devise appropriate curricula? What activities to use? How
to effectively assess student learning? These are
some of the questions members discuss and seek
to answer in our inaugural SIG publication, The
Journal of Literature in Language Teaching.
Literature in Language Teaching (LiLT) SIG is
co-sponsoring Effective English Language
Teaching: The Never-Ending Challenge held
at Kansai University of International Studies
(KUIS) in Amagasaki, Hyogo. This event is also
co-sponsored by JALTs Osaka and Kobe Chapters; the Research Institute for Communication
and the Department of English Education at
KUIS; and Cengage, Pearson, and OUP publishers. The objectives of this annual mini-conference
are to identify and confront common challenges
and to strengthen our network of language
teachers. This years Plenary Speaker is literature
expert Paul Hullah of Meiji Gakuin. For more
information, visit LiLTs new website: <lilt.jalt.
org/>.
Perhaps you are considering using literature
in the language classroom and would like to
discuss how best you may try to do so. Or
perhaps you yourself have some ideas to share
with your professional peers, to improve their
language classrooms. You are all very welcome
to join the LILT SIG, to discuss, learn and share!
If you wish to become actively involved in
organising, we are looking for a Treasurer, and
a Membership Chair and a Publications Chair.
Interested? Contact Coordinator Simon Bibby at
<liltsig@gmail.com>.
Materials Writers
[ materials development, textbook writing, publishers and
publishing, self-publication, technology ] [ & Between the
Keys3x year ] [ JALT national conference events ]
[][^]
The Materials Writing SIG was established with

the purpose of helping members to turn fresh
teaching ideas into useful classroom materials. We try to be a mutual assistance network
offering information regarding copyright law,
sharing practical advice on publishing practices
including self-publication, and suggesting ways
to create better language learning materials for
general consumption or for individual classroom
use.
Other Language Educators

[ FLL beyond mother tongue, L3, multilingualism, second
foreign language ] [ & OLE Newsletter4-5x year ]
[ Network with other FL groups, presence at conventions, provide information to companies, support job
searches and research ]
OLE has published OLE NL 61 and 62, and the

OLE-at-JALT- 2011 Compendium. NL 61 discusses
Chinese LL strategies. OLE 62 contains ample
information for the OLE-sponsored JALTCALL
and PanSIG 2012, and the JALT2012 theme in
French, Spanish, Chinese and German for our
OLE colleagues. Order free copies from the OLE
coordinator at <reinelt.rudolf.my@ehime-u.
ac.jp>. The OLE-at-JALT-2011-Compendium, gratefully hosted by Ehime University, offers of all
OLE-related materials from JALT2012 at <web.
iess.ehime-u.ac.jp/JALT2011/OLE%20at%20
JALT%202011%20Compendium%20cover%20
page.pdf>.
Pragmatics
[ appropriate communication, co-construction of meaning, interaction, pragmatic strategies, social context ] [ &
Pragmatic Matters () 3x year ] [ Pan-SIG
and JALT conferences, Temple University Applied Linguistics
Colloquium, seminars on pragmatics-related topics, other
publications ] [ ]
The Pragmatics SIG is currently calling for

submissions to the third volume in its Pragmatics
Resources series, a collection of pragtivities. Titled
Bringing Pragmatics into the Classroom, this book
will be a practical collection of lesson plans that
97

incorporate pragmatics concepts into classroom
activities. See the SIG website at <pragsig.org>
for further details.
Professionalism, Administration, and

Leadership in Education
[ professional development, ethics, legal issues, leadership dynamics, comparative education, societal demands on
educators ] [ & PALE Newsletter]
PALEs mission starts from the recognition that

language education does not take place in isolation from society and other fields of education.
Issues of concern include curriculum design,
implementation and maintenance, professional
ethics, professional development and evaluation, administrative methodology, leadership
dynamics, comparative education, sociological
trends in education, employment problems, legal
issues, and the demands that societies place on
educators. PALE seeks to appraise teachers of
research and trends in these issues by organizing
conference presentations and through its journal,
newsletter, listserv, and website <jalt.org/
groups/PALE>.
Speech, Drama, & Debate

The Speech, Drama, and Debate SIG has been extremely busy since its first meeting at JALT2011.
Check our new website <sites.google.com/site/
speechdramaanddebatepublicsite/home> to
see what we have been doing.(The website is
also accessible from the SDD SIG page on the
official JALT website.) We prepared our first
presentations as a SIG at the Asian Conference of
Language Learning this April in Osaka, and have
been busy building a good program for the June
PanSIG Conference (a poster session, a panel
discussion, and presentations/workshops on
drama, debate, and oral interpretation/readers
theatre). We are planning our series of webinars
for this summer, and starting to develop a strong
program for JALT2012. Call for Papers for Mask
& Gavel, the peer-reviewed publication of the
SIG.See the website for information.
98
Study Abroad
[ study abroad, pre-departure curriculum, setting up,
receiving students, returnees ] [ & Ryugaku3-4x year ] [
national and Pan-SIG conferences ] [ ]
The Study Abroad SIG provides a supportive

place for discussing areas of interest regarding
study abroad and intercultural training. We
welcome submissions for our newsletter, Ryuugaku and we are looking for new officers to join
the team. Visit our new website at <jalt-sa.org>
or contact us at <studyabroadsig@gmail.com>.
Ryuugaku

<jalt-sa.org> <studyabroadsig@gmail.
com>
Task-Based Learning
The JALT Task-Based Learning (TBL) SIG was
created for teachers and other professionals who
currently use, or are interested in using, taskbased approaches in the classroom and focuses
in particular on issues related to task-based
language teaching and learning in the Asian EFL
context. We hope that the SIG will serve as a useful forum for the exchange of practical teaching
ideas, theoretical discussion, and academic studies of TBLT issues. Our journal OnTask focuses on
both research and theory in the form of feature
articles as well as more practical TBLT-informed
lesson plans. Potential contributors to OnTask are
invited to contact our publications officer, Julian
Pigott at <julianpigott@gmail.com>.
Teacher Education & Development

[ action research, peer support, reflection and teacher
development ] [ & Explorations in Teacher Education
4x year ] [ library, annual retreat or mini-conference,
Pan-SIG sponsorship, sponsorship of a speaker at the JALT
national conference ] [ ] [ ^ ]
The Teacher Education and Development (TED)

SIG is a network for those who want to help
themselves and others become better teachers.
Our activities include retreats, conferences,
a library of books available for loan, and an
Internet discussion group.TEDs comprehensive
newsletterExplorations in Teacher Educationwelcomes stimulating articles!

TED and Shizuoka JALT hosted a successful
mini-conference EFL Teacher Journeys on
June 24, 2012 in Shizuoka city. Find out more
about TED at <jalt.org/ted>. You can also stay in
touch with us online by becoming a friend of our
mascot, Ted Sig, on Facebook, or following him
<@tedsig> on Twitter or Google Plus.
Teachers Helping Teachers

[ teacher training, international education programs, language training, international outreach ] [ & THT Journal
1x year, THT Newsletter4x year ] [ teacher training
conferences/seminars in Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam, and the
Philippines, AGM at JALT national conference ] [ ]
The THT workshops in Bangladesh andKyrgyzstan are moving ahead and we are looking
for participants!The seventh THT/BELTA
program will be held on September 12-14, 2012
in Dhaka, hosted by the Bangladesh English
Language Teachers Association (BELTA) and the
University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB),
while the 4th Kyrgyzstan program atBishkek
Humanities University has been tentatively set
for September 17-19, 2012. The programs are not
limited to SIG members or to those having JALT
membership, so feel free to pass this information
on to others. If you are interested or would like
more information, please email <thtjalt@gmail.
com>, giving your name and the location you are
interested in.
Teaching Children
[ children, elementary school, kindergarten, early childhood, play ] [ & Teachers Learning with Children, bilingual
4x year ] [ JALT Junior at national conference, regional
bilingual 1-day conferences ] [ ] [ ^ ]
The TC SIG is for teachers of children of all ages.

We publish a bilingual newsletter four times a
year with columns by many of the leading teachers in the field. There is an email list for teachers
of children who would like to share ideas or
questions <tcsig@yahoogroups.com>. We are
always looking for new ideas and new people to
keep the SIG dynamic. With our bilingual newsletter, we particularly want to appeal to Japanese
teachers and teachers who team teach. Hope you
can join us for one of our upcoming events.
<tcsig@yahoogroups.com>
Testing & Evaluation

[ research, information, database on testing ] [ &
Shiken3x year ] [ Pan-SIG, JALT national conference ]
[][^]
The Testing and Evaluation SIG is concerned

with all aspects of testing and evaluating
language performance and language programs,
and welcomes both experienced teachers and
those who are new to this area and wish to
learn more about it. Our interests encompass
both quantitative and qualitative approaches to
language assessment, and include alternatives to
traditional testing, such as peer and self assessment, portfolios, and project evaluation. Shiken,
our refereed newsletter, contains a variety of
assessment-related articles, including research
reports, interviews with prominent authors,
book reviews, and instructional columns on
statistical analysis, Rasch measurement, and
assessment literacy.
Vocabulary
JALT members with an interest in the teaching
and learning of vocabulary should watch this
space for future Vocabulary SIG events. The
Vocabulary SIG is one of the newest additions to
the JALT family, but its future contributions appear to be very promising indeed. Please visit the
JALT Vocabulary SIG at <jaltvocab.weebly.com>
for links to the symposium proceedings, upcoming events, the Vocabulary Education and Research
Bulletin (VERB) online publication website, and
their Facebook web page at <facebook.com/
groups/236623256372419>.
JALT2012
October 12-15, 2012
ACT City,
Hamamatsu, Japan
99
The Language Teacher Column CHAPTER EVENTS
CHAPTER EVENTS
TLT COLUMN
with Gary Wolff

<chap-events@jalt-publications.org>
Each of JALTs 36 active chapters
sponsors from 5 to 12 events
every year. All JALT members
may attend events at any chapter
at member ratesusually free.
Chapters, dont forget you can add
your event anytime to the online
JALT calendar at the URL shown
below.
JALT EVENTS ONLINE: You can
access all of JALTs events online at
<jalt.org/events>.
s we enter the dog days of summer,

things are heating up in Japan with lots
of sizzling JALT chapter events to choose
from. Although many chapters take a break in
August, there will still be ample opportunities to
push your professional development forward by
connecting with fellow teachers at one of these
diverse events being held around the country.
Over the next two months, JALT chapters are
holding workshops, presentations, a mini-conference, an international 3-day TEFL certification
event, a toe-tapping lesson, and even a campout,
all waiting for your participation!
FUKUIUsing assessment to promote foreign
language learning and teaching in elementary
school context by Matt Hauca. This presentation
will focus on potential ways to use assessment
in the classroom to promote learning, and will
touch on areas such as current assessment
practices (elementary school program), types
of classroom assessment, and possible ways
forward that benefit both teachers and students.
Sun 22 Jul 13:30-15:30; Open University of Japan,
AOSSA, 7F; See <jaltfukui.org>.
100
GIFUVocabulary: Meaning, form, pronunciation, and beyondby Brad Deacon, Nanzan

University, Seto. In a well-balanced language
program, what kinds of opportunities should
exist for developing students L2 vocabulary?
The focus of our workshop will be to answer
this critical question through lively discussion
and practical hands-on activities. Specifically, we
will learn 1) what kinds of vocabulary students
should be learning, 2) proven techniques for
learning vocabulary inside and outside of class,
3) ways to more effectively teach vocabulary
across the four skills, and 4) relevant theory that
supports the above. You will leave this workshop
with both useful strategies and techniques for
teaching vocabulary, and a greater sense of how
to plan for effective vocabulary acquisition in
your language programs.Sat 21 Jul 19:00-21:00;
JR Gifu Station - Heartful Square 2F (East Wing);
One-day members 1,000, 1st visit free.
HAMAMATSUStandardized testing in Japan
by Edward Sarich. Standardized language
testing in Japan, inexpensive and easily mass
distributed, has been widely encouraged.
External testing agencies have been increasingly
relied upon to make standardized tests for use
as benchmarks in the education system and
private sector. Some of these agencies operate
with very little supervision. This presentation
will review the practices of some external testing
agencies and discuss how greater accountability
from these agencies might not only improve test
validity, but make it more useful for score users
and test takers. Sat 21 Jul 18:00-21:00; ZaZa City
Palette 5F; <hamajalt.org>; Non-members 1,000.
HIROSHIMAProfessional development
through collaboration on quantitative researchbyGary Sholdt, Kobe University.This
enthusiastic presenter will share his passion
for quantitative methods while recommending
a unique approach to gradually developing
quantitative research skills through small-scale
studies. Additionally, the value of collabora-

tion in the application of this approach will be
demonstrated through an ongoing researchtraining project for language teachers (please
note the special starting time).Sun 22 Jul 16:3018:30;Hiroshima Peace Park 3F Conference Room;
<hiroshima-jalt.org>; Non-members500, Students
250.
HOKKAIDOEnhancing learners cross-cultural
communication skills:L2 pragmatics for all
agesbyNoriko Ishihara, Associate Professor,
Hosei University and Adjunct Professor, Columbia Teachers College Tokyo.This presentation
focuses on the pragmatics of a second/foreign
language and addresses possible ways to highlight appropriate language use in the classroom.
Despite the common myth that pragmatics is the
fine-tuning reserved for advanced learners, it
can be incorporated into our everyday instruction from the first day of instruction for learners
of all ages.Sun 29 Jul 14:00-16:00;Hokkai Gakuen
University;<hgu.jp/access>; Non-members1,000.
IWATETeachers finding belonging inside
and outside the classroom by Joseph Falout,
Nihon University. Belonging is a fundamental
psychological need that keeps people living and
working at their best. Workshop participants will
explore pathways of belonging within their own
social environments in order to promote their
motivation to teach in the classroom and engage
within other professional environments. They
will leave with a better understanding of their
own aspirations and the social networks around
them that can help lead to an increased sense of
belonging, purpose, and accomplishment. Sun 22
Jul 13:30-16:00; Aiina, Room 602; One-day members
1,000.
KITAKYUSHUFAB3: First annual brain days
3 (International three-day TEFL Certification
Event) Connecting neuroscience to EFL featuring Robert S. Murphy, Tim Murphey, Curtis
Kelly, Marc Helgesen, David Paul, and other
speakers from around the world. This event will
link neuroscientific research with theory and
practical pedagogy for the teaching of EFL at
the international level. We hope you will join us!
Sat-Mon 14-16 Jul; The University of Kitakyushu,
Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture; <fab-efl.com>;
Fees: 15,000 for 3 days, 6500 for 1 day. [Please

note that we are taking a break during August.
Our next event will be a presentation on Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Fad
or future? by Michael Phillips to be held on 8
September at our regular time and venue.]
KOBEThe comprehension hypothesis extended
by Stephen Krashen. This talkwill cover lots
of thingslanguage acquisition, literacy, and
even a brief discussion of animal language, and
a briefer discussion of alien languagewhat to
expect when they land from Alpha Centauri (unless they are already here).Dr. Krashens Theory
of Second Language Acquisition, published in the
1980s, has been a source of constant debate in
the field of TESOL for over 20 years.Dr. Krashen
is also well known as a proponent of extensive
reading, especially since the publication of his
book, The Power of Reading,in 2004.Most recently, Dr. Krashen has been heavily involved in the
bilingual education debate in California.Space
is limited, so please email<kobejalt@gmail.
com> to reserve your spot.Tue 3 Jul 19:00; Kobe
International House; For more details: <kansaitech.
com/kobejalt>;JALT members free, One-day members
1,000.
KYOTOUsing corpora in the classroom.We
are extremely pleased to announce thatLaurence
Anthony, the developer of the widely used
concordance programAntConc,will be giving a
workshop titledApplications of corpus linguistics
in language teaching and research.In addition, we
are planning to include presentations from local
teachers or researchers who would like to share
their ideas of how they use corpora to help their
teaching. Sat 21 Jul 13:00-17:00; Campus Plaza
Kyoto; For further details, please visit <kyotojalt.
org>.
MATSUYAMASLA and budo (martial arts):
Extended, embodied cognition and practical
implications for ELT by Yosuke Yanase, Hiroshima University. Yanase will use budo as an
analogy for SLA and highlight some interesting
aspects of skill acquisition and consciousness/
non-consciousness in budo. For explanation, he
will use a neuroscientific framework of cognition that is both extended and embodied. Hell
101

also talk about some practical issues, including
cultural differences between TEFL by Japanese
teachers and TEFL by native teachers. Sun 8 Jul
14:15-16:20; Shinonome High School Kinenkan 4F;
One-day members 1,000.
NAGOYAHow to utilize games and psychology to increase motivation in language
classrooms by James Rogers, Kansai Gaidai
University. This presentation encompasses two
approaches towards increasing language learners motivation. First, it will present games that
motivate students with a party-like atmosphere
while also producing serious language gains.
Next, the Freudian concepts of id, ego, and
superego will be utilized to increase learner
motivation. The learning approach will draw on
learners psychological needs to increase their
motivation to participate in class. Sun 8 Jul 13:3016:00; Nagoya International Center, 3F, Lecture
Room 2; <nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/e/about-us/accesshours>; One-day members 1,000, 1st visit free.
OKAYAMAOnline corpus workshop byTed
ONeill.This hands-on workshop will guide
teachers through several applications for online
corpus analysis tools. It will include three types
of activities useful in teaching practice and in
research such as: diagnostic exercises, using
Range to investigate materials for teaching and
to help with curriculum development choices,
tools for comparing texts, and a simulation of a
short research project. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to bring texts they would
like to investigate in plain text files [.txt] format.
All other materials will be provided. Sat 7 Jul
15:00-17:00; Okayama University LEC. RoomA-12.
OMIYAMoving music to center stage for
creative learning(Sainokuni-an event in collaboration with ETJ),byDeborah Grow, Professor,
Tsukuba University.This presentation will address the power of music and rhythm and how
they can improve language skills. By delving a
bit into neuroscience, we will explore the higher
faculties of learning and the influence of music
and rhythm on memory and language.We will
also explore the multi-sensory aspect of music as
well as the multilayered lessons that music holds
for our students. The chance to experience vari-
102
ous ways to incorporate music and rhythm into

varied classrooms will transform this presentation from one to listen to into one to explore
with your own students. A toe-tapping lesson
will get us in the mood to add music into next
weeks lesson plan.Sun 8 Jul 14:00-17:00;Sakuragi
Kominkan, JR Omiya Sta. west exit; <jalt.org/chapters/omiya/map.htm>; Non-members500.
OSAKA/KOBEEffective language teaching: The
never-ending challenge,co-sponsored by JALTs
LILT SIG, JSH SIG, the Research Institute for
Communication andthe Department of English
Education of Kansai University of International
Studies (KUIS), and Cengage, Pearson, and OUP
publishers. The objectives of this annual miniconference are to identify and confront common
challenges and to strengthen our network of
language teachers. This years plenary speaker
is Paul Hullah, Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo.
Sat 21 Jul 10:00-17:00;KUIS, Amagasaki campus;
Further updated details: <lilt.jalt.org/events>; Free
for everyone.
SHINSHUSummer camping weekend. Please
join us for a family-oriented social get-together
featuring an overnight at a campsite, barbeque,
and hopefully a swimming spot. Please bring
your own tent/camping gear; BBQs will be
available to share. Sat and Sun 14-15 Jul; Further
details at the JALT Events Calendar; Free and open to
non-members and families, no pre-registration.
SHINSHUBrain evening by Dr. Kenichi Ariji,
et al. This will be predominantly in Japanese
(questions can be taken in English) by two
experts who specialize in the brain: mapping its
responses to neural inputs (language & related
stimuli), and the consequences of delayed stimulation, e.g. deafness; alternative stimulation, e.g.
sign language; and multiple stimulation, e.g.
bilingualism. Sat 28 Jul 18:00-21:00; Matsumoto
City Tourism Office, 2F, 3-8-13 Ote, Matsumoto-shi,
Nagano-ken 390-0874; Further details at the JALT
Events Calendar; Members free, Non-members
1,000.
YAMAGATAThe state of Washington and
USA in terms of its history, culture, education,

language, etc. by David C. Sanders. Sat 14
Jul10:00 -12:00; Yamagatashi Seibukominkan, tel.
0236-45 1223;For more info, contact Fumio Sugawara (Tel. 0238-85-2468); Non-members 500.
YAMAGATAEngland in terms of its history,

culture, education, language, etc. by Hannah
Craggs. Sat 4 Aug13:30-15:30; Yamagatashi
Seibu-Kominkan, (Tel. 0236-45-1223); For more info,
contact Fumio Sugawara (Tel. 0238-85-2468);Nonmembers 1,000.
YOKOHAMATeaching pronunciation workshop by Terry Yearley. The workshop will begin

by noting some issues in teaching pronunciation
and then discussing participants individual
pronunciation teaching policies. The main part
of the workshop will consist of a tour of some
useful ideas in dealing with a particular point
in pronunciation. Finally, there will be an opportunity for participants to share their own
ideas about what has been showcased. Sun 15
Jul 13:00-16:00; Kannai Hall, Yokohama; One-day
members 1,000.
CHAPTER REPORTS
TLT COLUMN
with Tara McIlroy

<chap-reports@jalt-publications.org>
The Chapter Reports column is
a forum for sharing with the TLT
readership synopses of presentations held at JALT chapters around
Japan. For more information on
these speakers, please contact
the chapter officers in the JALT
Contacts section of this issue. For
guidelines on contributions, see the
Submissions page on our website.
You can access Chapter Reports online at:
<jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/chapter-reports>
AKITA: MarchOld English for today by
Susumu Hiyama. This presentation was in two
sections of discussion followed by a workshop.
Hiyama specializes in English philology, i.e., the
literary history of the English language. He first
treated participants to a discussion of the three
main periods in the history of the English language (Old English, Middle English, and Modern English), which gave the audience a base so
they could engage Old English readings. He then
led the group in sounding out the fundamental
Old English alphabet. Finally, everyone read
passages from the Old English text Beowulf. It
was noted during the concluding discussion that
learning to read Old English might assist with
improving English language pronunciation. This

was an educational and interactive session.
Reported by Wayne Malcolm
AKITA: AprilInterwoven stories told by high
school JTEs and ALTs by Takaaki Hiratsuka.
Japan has used team teaching by JTEs and ALTs
in daily English lessons through the JET programme for more than two decades. The issue of
teachers as well as students perceptions of their
participation in this programme has begun to
attract attention. This presentation shared stories
from a four-month research project that took
place at two Akita high schools. The presentation started with a survey of the literature then
moved on to a video of actual team teaching in
a Japanese high school. The research project is
part of a PhD dissertation that the presenter is
conducting at the University of Auckland. Local
Akita JET ALTs and JTEs were present at the
meeting, so a quite informative discussion took
place during the Q&A session.
Reported by Stephen Shucart
GIFU: FebruaryTeam building and communication by Mhairi Anne Robson. Transferring her
extensive experience of working with HIV/AIDS
victims in South Africa, Robson treated us to
several activities which led to thought-provoking
discussions on teamwork and communication.
The evening began with some creative warm-up
103
The Language Teacher Column CHAPTER REPORTS

activities which could transfer to almost any
classroom. These included mimes and acting,
which emphasized the importance of gestures in
communication. She outlined four categories of
communication, verbal and non-verbal, visual,
and written. We then discussed the importance
of communication in the workplace and the
lack of communication which has led to several
problems in our working environment. There are
four key elements in effective communication, be
clear, be concise, be respectful and be encouraging which would improve our working relationships. In our concluding discussion we decided
that in our workplaces, the opposite is sometimes the case, indirect can be direct, concise can
be lengthy, and that cultural problems and differences can lead to conflict. We sometimes forget
to make allowances, rephrase positively, and
read the situation effectively. Robson concluding
remarks eloquently summarized the workshop,
You cant always control what people say to
you but you can control what you say to the rest
of the world.
Reported by Brent Simmonds
GIFU: AprilFluency in the Reading classroom
by Bjorn Fursting. Firstly, Fursting asked us,
What reading do you do in your classroom? Some
of us had done specialist reading classes while
others used reading as a part of regular classes.
Fursting then explained his own situation and
shared some of his experiences with us both as
a teacher and student. He had witnessed situations where learners were resistant to reading
even in their native language. In the next part of
the presentation we discussed, in small groups,
our beliefs about reading. Some concluded that
students should be challenged to read slightly
above their level, others felt students should
be comfortable with reading and consequently
a lower level was required. The presenter
outlined ten principles to be used in the reading
classroom but most importantly he stressed that
students should enjoy reading and gain pleasure
from the choice of book. The students should
understand about 98% of the book and have
confidence to skip unknown words. A discussion
took place about how to improve reading levels
including combining reading and watching
movies. There were many issues involved in
104
establishing a reading syllabus including funding and which books to choose. The grading of
books varied between publishers but a good rule
of thumb was that if you struggle with 5 or more
words on a page you should choose another
book. In the concluding session assessment
methods were outlined including book reports
and online assessment. The presentation was
both interactive and informative.
Reported by Brent Simmonds
GUNMA: AprilTeaching in a Japanese junior
high school by Kaitlin Kirby and Chiharu Takebayashi. Over the past 25 years, team teaching
has become an essential part of the English classroom in Japanese junior high schools. Combining
their different abilities and strengths can allow
ALTs and JTEs to teach more effectively. However, this synergy is not easily come by, and like
any other relationship, team teaching partners
must work to maintain it. Kirby and Takebayashi
make it look easy. Their easy rapport with
one another showed Gunma JALT attendees
how team teaching should be done. Kirby and
Takebayashi discussed the contrasting roles
and perspectives of ALTs and JTEs. Through
their presentation and subsequent discussion
they explained how they approach some of the
challenges of compulsory English education
in Japan. Kirby and Takebayashi have worked
together for two years at Takasaki Sano Junior
High School where they strive to give their
students authentic communication experiences.
Prior to teaching English in Japan, Takebayashi
lived abroad where she taught Japanese as a
foreign language. Her experiences there give her
a unique perspective on the language-learning
classroom. Originally from Seattle, Kirby came to
Japan in 2010 via the JET Programme. She has a
MA in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University.
Reported by John Larson
HIMEJI: April Fun phonics activities (MPI)
and How to introduce phonics to elementary
schools and elementary school teachers by
Rumiko Kido and Buzz Green. Kido from MPI
Publishers presented phonics-related materials,
and gave us some new ideas including the phonics alphabet chant, sound-recognition activities
such as playing a song and phonics bingo using

phonemes, the driving game where students
turned an imaginary steering wheel when they
heard certain sounds, and more. She explained
how consistent use of phonics in elementary
school and with young learners creates a much
more successful environment for English learners. Their ability to read and, consequently, their
confidence in English, is increased. Green spoke
about how she teaches phonics in her elementary
and kindergarten classes. She uses lots of homemade materials, such as flash cards and small
cards suitable for a variety of activities such
as matching and clapping games, and makes
interestingly shaped phonics letter-sliders where
changing the first letter of three-letter words
makes many new words. She recommended
that the materials handed out to the groups to
use for activities match the main alphabet print
used in teaching the students the alphabet, to
eliminate confusion. Green teaches kindergarten
and elementary school children. By concentrating on phonics she builds a good foundation
for English. Some of Greens methods differed a
little from Kidos, but the end goal was the same!
Have fun and learn English. Theres no doubt
about itusing phonics to teach young English
learners in Japan, or anywhere, is a winner!
Reported by Cecy Wales
HOKKAIDO: April Helping students overcome
fear of failure by Rob Olsen. Olsen identified
the fear of being ostracised as stronger than the
fear of failure. He highlighted two unhelpful
paradigms often encountered in Japan: that
failure is bad, and that English is difficult. His
main point was that we need to create learning
environments where failure is seen as a welcome
and natural part of the learning process and is
accepted by the group. His presentation went on
to introduce ways to achieve this. For example,
he showed us simple but powerful images with
analogies that he uses in class to illustrate his
point that failure is part of a journey in progress.
He also suggested ways to reduce the intimidation students feel from direct contact with the
teacher and even ways to help them relax. He
made an interesting case for an accumulative
reward program whereby students are given
regular and positive feedback not only for success but also for taking risks much like the model
of computer game scoring, where players keep

returning to increase their score. He encouraged
teaching escape phrases that students can use
when they need more time to think or simply
have no opinion. His point here was that not
knowing is okay. Finally we joined in a circular
vocabulary game where mistakes provided
opportunities for us to help each other as a team.
Reported by Haidee Thomson
KITAKYUSHU: AprilTask repetition and
fluency development in the Japan classes:
How much is enough? by Craig Lambert. From
common notions of second language fluency
to the basis for high-stakes decisions about it
(recommendations for jobs or PhDs.), Lambert
walked us through some of the history of the
various theories and methodologies that have
been developed to define and propagate the
teaching of conversation and discussed pros
and cons of popular ways to teach it, from the
structural approach in the 1950s to the communicative approach popular since the 80s. He
pointed out how language which is acceptable
and understandable among family or friends is
not good enough for the workplace or school,
and that students need to know this. In order
to focus communicative language teaching to
promote second language development there are
many advantages to task-based learning, such as
the focus on actual communication, meaningful
outcomes, and connections to future needsalthough it requires an egalitarian value system
often found to be at odds with Asian classroom
values. Finally, Lambert showed us a Fluency
Module to facilitate the putting into practice of
these previously presented ideas for teaching
fluency.
Reported by Dave Pite
KYOTO: JanuaryKyoto JALT workshop day:
1) Reading the room: Reacting to challenges
when implementing an extensive reading program by Justus Wallen. After a brief introduction
about core elements of a lower secondary level
ER program, members role played a typical
lesson and identified potential problems concerning program management, student behavior,
and materials. In small groups, participants
105

brainstormed possible solutions. Finally, Wallen
described actual improvements made to the
program. 2) Five fun vocabulary activities by
Robert Sheridan and Laura Markslag. Use of
word cards for deliberate vocabulary study is
fast and effective (Nation, 2008). In this presentation, Sheridan and Markslag introduced
how to make word cards, four activities for
independent group work, and two assessment
techniques. Members discussed how to adapt
these ideas in their own classrooms at the end.
3) Energizing activities for the communication
classroom by Richard Silve. In this upbeat,
hands-on workshop, members tried out several
speaking activities. All required little preparation
or props. For example, one used photo picture
cards, another made use of political cartoons,
and some built on textbook vocabulary exercises.
All encouraged creativity and pushed learners to
practice fluency.
Reported by Gretchen Clark
KYOTO: MarchContinuing education panel
discussion by Thomas Amundrud, moderator,
(PhD candidate, Linguistics, Macquarie University); Ted Bonnah (PhD candidate, Global Studies,
Doshisha University); Glen Cochrane (MA
Ed. candidate, Distance Education, Athabasca
University); JP DuQuette (EdD candidate,
TESOL, Temple University); Daniel Mills (EdD
candidate, Instructional Technology, University of
Wyoming); Julian Pigott (PhD candidate, Applied
Linguistics, University of Warwick); James Rogers (MA, Linguistics; PhD candidate, Linguistics,
University of Southern Queensland). This highly
informative afternoon of frank discussion about
continuing education brought together seven local
panelists. At the beginning, panelists were given
five minutes to introduce their programs, touching upon three themes: 1) Why they selected their
particular program, 2) How they hoped to benefit
by completing the program, and 3) Positive and
negative aspects of the program. After a short
break, during a Q&A session, members could ask
more pointed questions regarding the programs
represented. A discussion concerning continuing
education and its relationship to job advancement
ended the day.
Reported by Gretchen Clark
106
KYOTO: AprilLearner development SIG joint

event: 1) Strategies in use: Young learners and
the willingness to communicate by Ann Mayeda. Nurturing the learners need to communicate was a concurring theme in her presentation.
Bringing teacher awareness to learner strategies
in the classroom plays a critical role to communicative success. Mayeda discussed ways how to
make the shift from a teacher-centered classroom
to a learner-centered environment that allows
students to take risks and communicate in any
way possible. 2) Vocabulary learning strategies
empowerment by Philip Shigeo Brown. The
workshop was designed to encourage participants to think about how they teach vocabulary
and what kind of strategies their students use
to learn vocabulary. Following Rubin, Chamot,
Harris and Andersons four stage approach
for strategies based instruction and Nations
four fundamental learning strategies, Brown
used learning journals to promote learners
understanding of vocabulary and experimentation with the strategies with the ultimate goal
of learner autonomy. 3) Promoting reflection
in professional development by Akiko Takagi.
Reflection plays an important role in professional
development for teachers. Takagi had several
activities where participants explored how reflection is used in their teaching environment.
Reported by Ann Flanagan
NAGOYA: MarchPart I: Using picture cards/
application, design, Part II: Correction of homework by Peter Warner. Warner says Language is
active, spoken communication, and showed how
to teach basic questions and answers, countable
and uncountable names, adjectives and their
opposites, and some prepositional phrases, using
picture cards for effective and enjoyable lessons
in Part I. These games stimulate students own
thinking, leading to authentic conversation. In
Part II, Warner handed thirty-one reduced-size
worksheets used in his daily lessons, explaining
how to design, apply, and correct homework.
They aim at reviewing, reminding, and reducing
the loss of memory. If their understanding is 80%,
its loss for a week will be 20 %. You can move
along with the material. If less than 40%, they
cant progress. The solution is flexible homework
with worksheets. Constant mutual evaluation

and correction through homework are useful,
and making mistakes can be enjoyable and fun.
Helping them correct their homework, Warner
uses the beginning ten minutes as transition time
for readjusting them from Japanese. Make them
guess and give them a chance to correct their
answers. If they make more than 30% mistakes
you should go back. Build their confidence. If they
enjoy doing homework, they will learn.
Reported by Kayoko Kato
NAGOYA: AprilWorld Englishes, ELF and
related paradigms by James F. DAngelo.
World Englishes is not anti-native speaker, but
anti-native speaker-ism. Outer Circle varieties
of English developed in colonial settings. After
independence, English was conveniently neutral
and equidistant from all groups, and served as
a link language among the many racial/ethnic/
linguistic groups. While successfully shifting the
locus of norms from the Inner Circle, WEs focuses too much on features and is inadequate to
describe English used internationally, resulting
in the emergence of English as a Lingua Franca
(ELF) and new EIL. To maintain effective communication in many varieties, we should develop
pragmatic communication strategies, looking at
how repair and accommodation are handled in EIL
speech. Sharifans meta-cultural competence is a
core element of proficiency in English for international communication. Another recent concept,
the L2 Self, is a re-conceptualization of integrative motivation. DAngelo recommends making
students aware of the reality of global English
use, helping develop an educated vocabulary
rather than eikaiwa, exposure to English varieties, and looking for positive influences of the
L1. New paradigms teach us: be proud of your
multilingual repertoire. That will give students
confidence to go on and truly become English
knowing global jinzai.
Reported by Kayoko Kato
OSAKA: AprilTwo presentations: 1) Here
we are now, motivate us; and 2) Negotiated
syllabuses: Do you want to? by Andy Boon.
Osaka JALT was pleased to sponsor Andy Boon,
a Featured Speaker at JALT2011, for two talks
with us on April 7 in Namba. Heres a recap of
the event from the speaker himself: 1) In the
first presentation, we discussed questions such

as what motivation is and why some students
may not be motivated to study English. I then
provided an overview of Maslows Hierarchy
of needs and Dornyeis Motivational teaching practice and how they relate to English
language teaching in our context (see Dornyei,
Z. (2001) Motivational strategies in the language
classroom, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press for further details). The audience then got
to try out a number of activities to use in the
classroom and discuss the motivational rationale
behind each one. If you missed the presentation,
check out the January 2012 edition of Modern
English Teacher which has a full write-up of
Here we are, now motivate us. 2) In the second
presentation, we looked at the role of negotiation
in syllabus design. I described three contexts in
which I have used a negotiated syllabus; business English classes, extension center classes,
and university classes. Although university
syllabuses have to be written before teachers
actually meet the students of the class, I explored
ways to negotiate projects, homework, groupings, methodology, and material. If you missed
this presentation, check out my chapter in Paul
Nation and John McAlister`s (2011) Case studies
in language curriculum, Routledge.
Reported by Andy Boon
OSAKA: AprilBack to school 2012 by Various.
There were over two dozen presentations and
poster sessions, and proceeds of over 60,000
again donated to Save the Children Japan for
Tohoku disaster relief. This third-annual spring
mini-conference shared ideas on a wide range
of topics to help everyone start the new school
year on a positive note. Thanks to OGU and
the diversity of presenters who came from the
ranks of business, and jr. and sr. high schools as
well as universities (and a special shout out to
OGU student and key grip Ryouta Maruyama, a
volunteer par excellence!). The event began with
The place of literature in the ELT curriculum
by plenary speaker Donna Tatsuki, and was
followed with Bilingual education by Steve
McCarty, TOEIC reading classes by Junko
Omotedani, and Grading efficiency by Sean
Gay. The morning session finished with Peeling the cultural onion by Christopher Micek,
107

Review activities by Jennifer Voss, and Cubing:
Six sides to an activity by Michael Sullivan.
Among the poster sessions were Skype lessons
for Tohoku children by Jason Bartashius, Model
UN by Lori Zenuck-Nishide, and SIG for school
owners? by Matthew Reynolds. After lunch
presentations included OGUs iChat lounge
activities (see video at http://tinyurl.com/cdbooc6)
by Stella Maxwell, Frontloading by chapter
member Alison Kitzman, Classroom assessment
practices by Fergus ODwyer, Speed-reading
by Stuart McLean, 10 lessons w/o handouts
by Arthur Lauritsen, and Role-play by Jason
White, who came all the way from Himeji.
Summaries of all presentations can be viewed at
<bts.osakajalt.org/home/archive/2012>. This
successful event was appreciated by those who
attended as a forum to share teaching ideas and
research results as we started the new school
year.
Reported by Ray Franklin
SENDAI: March1) Issues in the design of
extensive readers for the iPhone by Russell
Willis. Willis kicked off our ER event with a
comprehensive explanation of the history and
development of the Oxford Bookworm Library
app for iPod, iPad, and iPhone. With a very rich
background in software for educational purposes
development, Willis current work with Eigotown.com right here in Japan is being rolled out
worldwide by Oxford University Press. We were
fortunate to get an inside look at the creation
and evolution of this emerging technology, and
had the opportunity to offer input that will affect
the future direction of the project. 2) Building
a course in extensive reading for non-English
majors by Ken Schmidt. With over 15 years
experience with ER, our chapter president
and ER Foundation executive board member
Schmidt described his university-level, elective
EFL course focusing on extensive reading with
graded readers. Because this is the only English
course many of these non-English majors take in
a given year, speaking, listening, and writingin
addition to readingare brought into play,
with in-class emphases on interactive book- and
vocabulary-related activities, and reading speed.
Key components of the course (independent
reading program, initial class reader, in-class
108
activities) were presented. Student response to

the course (in terms of performance and questionnaire results) and action research possibilities
were also discussed.
Reported by Cory Koby
SENDAI: April1) My share: My best communication activity by Marc Helgesen, Ken Schmidt,
Masa Tsuneyasu, Jim Dochterman, Maggye
Foster, Mark Neufield, and Jim Smiley. Seven
members of our JALT community joined efforts
for an action-packed My Share event. Helgesen
opened the event with a great school-year starting activity called Your Name. Schmidt followed
with Find the Writer. Tsuneyasu then offered
a brief overview of MI (Multiple Intelligence)
theory in her How to activate different kinds of
intelligences. Dochterman then demonstrated
two very lively activities-The interview and The
party. Foster then gave us some great insight
into her psychological approach to An evaluation
system as a way to generate participation in classes.
Neufield followed with a fluency building
activity that had us out of our seats and actively
speaking and listening. Smiley concluded the
segment with lessons from nothing that included
a variety of basic but useful activities as well as a
mixed review of the Cambridge publication Lessons From Nothing. 2) Twenty-four/ seven (24/7)
presentations orchestrated by Marc Helgesen.
Our meeting culminated in a pioneering effort
by Helgesen in which meeting participants were
encouraged to prepare a 24-second presentation of an activity, followed by a seven word
summary. Several members made spontaneous
presentations, and great fun was enjoyed by all!
Reported by Cory Koby
SHINSHU: MarchAre we getting it right?
by Various. Mari Nakamura began our look at
the education system in Japan with Enriching
the lives of children in Japan Is it possible? Nakamura introduced the results of a survey done
on the parents of students at her English school
in regard to their childrens lifestyles, learning
environments, and EFL education. The results
gave Nakamura the impression that education is
being outsourced to extra-curricular activities
and that parents, while ignoring emotional and
social development, feel pressured to send their

children to English cram schools to ensure their
success. To address these problems, Nakamura
suggested working on parental education,
generating discussion, and having more community activities. Atsuko Katanaga, in The
cultural differences in teaching My personal
perspective, introduced varying educational
approaches through the way pi is taught in
different countries. She felt that, even though
Japan placed ninth in mathematics on the latest
PISA, the meaning of math problems is not as
much emphasized as in, for example, Scotland.
Katanaga posited that Japanese students are
encouraged to look, write and think, while in
other countries it is listen, think, and talk and
suggested that the Japanese education system
could benefit from looking at the teaching styles
in other countries. In How are my students
getting it right for themselves?, Akiko Seino
explained her terakoya style of teaching: how
she creates classes in which children of mixed
levels can learn individualized content at their
own optimal pace. She discussed the benefits
of meeting the challenges of such a system and
offered numerous practical ways, including Oral
Reading and Show and Share, to address them.
Reported by Mary Aruga
SHINSHU: MayThe 23rd annual Suwako
charity walk by Various. Despite the torrential
rains forecast for the day of this community
outreach event, approximately sixty people
turned out to enjoy an eight-kilometer walk
halfway around Lake Suwa to learn about the
environment from Shinshu University professors
and graduate students. A forum followed with a
presentation by Chika Yoshida on bivalves which
included a quiz contest. A sing-along led by Musisan and Eddie Reynolds concluded the forum.
Participants could further get to know each other
on the boat ride back to the starting point.
Reported by Mary Aruga
SHIZUOKA: FebruarySome thoughts on ELT
material development by Marcos Benevides.
Benevides, who has published several textbooks,
talked about his experience in writing ELT
materials. The presentation was organized into
three main sections: approaches to teaching,
developing materials, and choosing a publisher.
He started his discussion by saying, All teachers are material developers, and thats how he
started to get involved in material writing. First,
an introspective approach was introduced. He
gave us examples of how he enjoyed his hobbies
as a child, through which he learned English. He
suggested that all teachers should become more
aware of their own learning style, and use it to
inform their own teaching. Next, he talked about
the relationship between textbooks and teachers: Instead of the textbook providing language
exercises and the teacher making this material
interesting for students, the textbook should
provide the interesting content and the teacher
should then use this content to target language
forms. Some examples of this approach were
given, such as narrow reading and task-based
learning. Finally, different kinds of ELT publishers were discussed, with some advantages and
disadvantages for each kind.
Reported by Masahiko Goshi
SHIZUOKA: AprilUsing questionnaires and
student reflections to better understand your
classroom by Robert Croker. This event, cohosted with SHARP-DO, was a rare pleasure,
and rare is not an adjective I use very often.
Croker sees writing questionnaires and student
reflections as two ends of a continuum. He first
spoke about the basics: using both open and
closed questions; making a variety of questions
(two-choice lists, rank order, counting and bands,
Likert scales, etc.); the timing of questionnaires;
and appropriate topics (background information,
behavioral, emotional and cognitive processes).
His information was clear, his prints wellorganized, andthis is the rare parthe organized the time so well that we didnt feel rushed
when creating our own questions with partners.
He also showed us some wonderful examples of
how he and various other teachers have shared
back the information they had garnered from
students: class newsletters, posters, etc. He used
the phrases learning community and space to
communicate to emphasize that questionnaires
and reflections can and should be an important
two-way street, a way to communicate and reflect back to your students and to work together
to make your class the best it can be.
Reported by Jennifer Hansen
109

YOKOHAMA: AprilOlder students as both
teachers and students and English rakugo by Tadashi Ishida and Tatsuya Sudo. Ishida explained
his program which, in English, teaches people
from other countries about Japanese culture.
Through a series of workshops and sightseeing
tours, the students can experience such things as
the Japanese tea ceremony, wearing a kimono,
playing the shamisen, staying at a ryokan,
origami, calligraphy, and a trip to Ueno to visit
its many museums and shrines. The applications
for English teaching include writing guidebooks
in English, creating and performing dialogues
about the experience, and using cameras and
voice recorders for listening practice. Sudo gave
a brief explanation about the history of rakugo
in Japan, with special attention given to three
influential rakugo performers Kairakutei Black
who was a British performer, Tatekawa Danshi
who created the school of rakugo that Sudo

joined, and Katsura Shijaku who was the father
of English rakugo. The applications for English
teaching that English rakugo provides are self
conversation, which is especially useful when
there are no native English speakers to practice
with, reading aloud, the development of presentation skills, an introduction to the Japanese
students own culture through English, and an
incentive to study English. During the second
half of the presentation, Sudo donned a kimono
and performed three rakugo stories in English,
a ghost story and two comedies. Before the
performance, Sudo explained some basic rules
about rakugo including the use of props and
hand gestures.
Reported by Tanya Erdelyi
JOB INFORMATION
TLT COLUMN
with Richard Miller

<job-info@jalt-publications.org>
To list a position in The Language Teacher, please submit
online at <jalt-publications.
org/tlt/jobs> or email Richard
Miller, Job Information
Center Editor, <job-info@
jalt-publications.org>. Online
submission is preferred. Please
place your ad in the body of
the email. The notice should
be received before the 15th of
the month, two months before
publication, and should contain the following information:
location, name of institution, title of position, whether
full- or part-time, qualifications, duties, salary and benefits,
application materials, deadline, and contact information.
Be sure to refer to TLTs policy on discrimination. Any job
advertisement that discriminates on the basis of gender,
race, age, or nationality must be modified or will not be
included in the JIC column. All advertisements may be
edited for length or content.
Job Information Center Online

Recent job listings and links to other job-related websites
can be viewed at <jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/
job-info-centre>.
110
Smart goals
and goal setting
for career
enhancement
Goal setting has been a very important tool of
people who want to achieve various difficult
tasks, and with job hunting it is something that
can and should be considered by those who
are looking for employment, or are interested
in improving their careers. While there are a
numerous ways to set goals, there are a couple of
things that one may want to keep in mind when
setting career (or any other) goals.
For years, one tool that was taught in business
schools and business seminars is goals that are
defined and framed through a set of guidelines
called SMART (Doran, 1981). SMART goals
refers to an acronym that means Specific,
The Language Teacher Column JOB INFORMATION CENTER

Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timeconstrained. The first is for the goal to be specific
with the avoidance of generic or undefined
objectives. Measurable requires the goal to have
quantifiable qualities that can be clearly articulated and measured. Achievable is, for obvious
reasons, something that is realistic and not
setting someone up for failure to reach the goal.
Relevant is going to have several implications,
but the most important is that it is something
that is going to be important to the goal setter.
Finally, the time constraint might be one of the
more critical aspects for getting things actually
completed.
While the application can be used for all areas
of life, it can be particularly applicable for career
enhancement. As an example, I need to get
something published is not a SMART goal due
TLT / Job Information Centre

Policy on Discrimination
The editors oppose discriminatory language,
policies, and employment practices, in accordance with Japanese and international law.
Exclusions or requirements concerning gender,
age, race, religion, or country of origin should
be avoided in announcements in the JIC Positions column, unless there are legal requirements or other compelling reasons for such
discrimination, and these reasons are clearly
explained in the job announcement. The editors reserve the right to edit ads for clarity,
and to return ads for rewriting if they do not
comply with this policy.
TLT
JIC
to its lack of most of the goal setting requirements laid out, with the possible exception of its
relevance. Utilizing that example, a SMART goal
would turn into: I will have a 4000 word article
published one year from today (with the date
written) in a peer reviewed journal in the field
of phonology. Remember that if the goal is not
achievable, or seems too much of a stretch, why
not start with something a lot easier. Another
example (for those just starting out) might be, I
will get one 500-word article published on ezine.
com on the meaning of phonology by 60 days
from today. While the first one may be an excellent idea, the second one might be much more
achievable. Again, these are only examples and
they would vary from person to person, but keep
it so that your goals are yours and reflect what
you are focused on, and be sure not to violate
any of the five parameters.
Most experts would agree that by goal setting
you prepare your subconscious to direct your
actions towards the goal or goals that you have
set. Setting the rudder of a ship as it leaves port
to cross the ocean is how Tracy (2010) put it. So,
I would encourage anyone with employment
goals to give these ideas a try as they enhance
their professional careers. They can be combined
and used in conjunction with the balanced
scorecard that was introduced in an earlier
column. In addition, be sure to use them as they
will give you specific targets that youll be able
to work towards achieving.
References
Doran, G. T. (1981). Theres a S.M.A.R.T way
to write managements goals and objectives.
Management Review, 70(11), pp. 35-36.
Tracy, B. (2010). Goals!: How to get everything you
wantfaster than you ever thought possible. San
Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
12-15 OCT 12JALT2012: 38th Annual International

Conference on Language Teaching and Learning & Educational Materials Exposition: Making a Difference, ACT
City, Hamamatsu. Contact: <jalt.org/conference>
111
The Language Teacher Column CONFERENCE CALENDAR
CONFERENCE CALENDAR
TLT COLUMN
with David Stephan

<conferences@jalt-publications.org>
New listings are welcome.
Please email information
(including a website address) to
the column editor as early as
possible, preferably by the 15th
of the month, at least 3 months
before a conference in Japan, or
4 months before an overseas
conference. Thus, 15 July is the
deadline for a October 2012
conference in Japan or a November 2012 conference
overseas. Feedback or suggestions on the usefulness
of this column are also most welcome.
You can access the Conference Calendar online at:
conference-calendar>
Upcoming Conferences
1 JUL 12The JALT SIG Extensive Reading Japan Seminar 2012: Extensive Reading: Research
and Practice, Sugiyama Jogakuin U., Hoshigaoka
Campus, Nagoya. Plenary speakers will be S. D.
Krashen and Junko Yamanaka. Contact: <ersig.
org/drupal-ersig/5th-er-seminar>
14-16 JUL 12FAB3 The 3rd Annual International Brain Days Conference: Connecting
Neuroscience and ELT, Kitakyushu U., Fukuoka.
Featured speakers will be Curtis Kelly, Marc
Helgesen, Tim Murphey, and Robert S. Murphy.
Contact: <fab-efl.com>
31 AUG 12JACET (Japan Assn of College
English Teachers) 2012: The 51st International
Convention, Aichi Prefectural U., Nagakute,
Aichi. Contact: <jacet.org/2012convention/
index.html>
6-8 SEP 1211th Symposium on Second
Language Writing: Graduate Study in Second
Language Writing, Purdue U., USA. Contact:
<sslw.asu.edu/2012>
9-10 SEP 12The 2012 Science and Art of
Language Teaching (SALT) International Con-
112
ference, Arau, Perlis, Malaysia. Contact: <icon.

saltofworld.org/index.php/SALT/2012SALT>
4-6 OCT 12The 10th Asia TEFL International
Conference, Delhi, India. The featured presentation theme will be Tertiary English Education in
Asia. Contact: <asiatefl.org>
4-7 OCT 1213th National Conference for
Community Languages and ESOL, sponsored
by TESOLANZ and CLANZ, Palmerston North,
NZ. Contact: <clesol.org.nz>
12-14 OCT 1222nd Japanese/Korean Linguistics Conference, Tokyo. Invited speakers are
Michael Kenstowicz (MIT), Satoshi Kinsui (Osaka
U.), Seungjae Lee (Seoul Natl U.), Masayoshi
Shibatani (Rice U., Texas), and Akira Watanabe
(U. of Tokyo). Contact: <ninjal.ac.jp/jk2012>
12-15 OCT 12JALT2012, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Contact: <jalt.org/conference>
18-20 OCT 12GLoCALL 2012: Globalization and Localization in Computer-Assisted
Language Learning, Beijing Foreign Studies U.,
Beijing, China. Contact: <glocall.org>
18-21 OCT 12Second Language Research Forum 2012, Carnegie Mellon U., Pittsburgh, USA.
Featured speakers will be Brian MacWhinney
(Carnegie Mellon U.), Bill VanPatten (Michigan
State U.), Natasha Tokowicz (U. of Pittsburgh),
and Patsy Duff (U. of British Columbia). Contact:
<ml.hss.cmu.edu/slrf2012>
20 OCT 122012 Pan-Korea English Teachers Association (PKETA) International
Conference, Pukyong Natl U., Busan, Korea.
Contact: <pketa.org/tt/board/ttboard.
cgi?act=read&db=pketa_1&idx=75>
20-21 OCT 1220th KOTESOL International
Conference: Perfect Score - Methodologies,
Technologies, and Communities of Practice,
Sookmyung Womens U., Seoul. Proposal must
be submitted online. Contact: <kotesol.program@gmail.com>
25-28 OCT 12The Asian Conference on
Education 2012: Learning and Teaching Through
Transformative Spaces, The Ramada Osaka,
Osaka. Contact: <ace.iafor.org>
The Language Teacher Column CONFERENCE CALENDAR

28 OCT 12Fukuoka JALT Conference and
Bookfair 2012, Hakata, Fukuoka. Contact:
<fukuokajalt.org>
1-4 NOV 12FEELTA Pan-Asian Conference
on Language Teaching and Learning (PAC)
2012, Far Eastern Federal U., Vladivostok, Russia. Contact: <feelta.wl.dvfu.ru/pacfeelta-2012>
9-12 NOV 12The Association for Language
Testing Assessment of Australia and New Zealand (ALTAANZ): Innovative Language Assessment - Challanges and Complexity, U. of Sydney,
Contact: <altaanz.org/altaanz-conferences.html>
10-11 NOV 12Japan Writers Conference,
Doshisha Womens College, Kyoto. Contact:
<japanwritersconference.org>
15-16 NOV 12ICT for Language Learning,
Florence, Italy. Contact: <pixel-online.net/
ICT4LL2012>
16-18 NOV 12TESOL France 31st Annual
Conference, Telecom Paris Tech, Paris, France.
Contact: <tesol-france.org>
30 NOV-2 DEC 12International Conference
on eLearning Futures, Auckland, NZ. Keynote
speakers will be Steve Wheeler, Agnes KukulskaHulme, and Judy Kay. Contact: <icelf.org/
welcome.php>
5-7 DEC 12The Second Conference on ELT in
the Islamic World, Teheran, Iran. Keynote speakers will be Hossein Nassaji, Larry Vandergrift,
Ken Hyland, Parvaneh Tavakoli, Cem Alptekin,
and Ghazi Ghaith. Contact: <eltconferenceili.ir>
6-8 DEC 12The Fifth CLS International Conference, CLaSIC 2012: Culture in Foreign Language
Learning - Framing and Reframing the Issue,
Singapore. Keynote speakers will be Michael
Byram (Durham U.), Shengli Feng (Chinese U. of
Hong Kong), Kimi Kondo-Brown (U. of Hawaii at
Manoa), and Claire Kramsch (U. of Cal. Berkeley).
Contact: <fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/clasic2012>
20-23 MAR 13TESOL 2013 International
Convention & English Language Expo: Harmo-
nizing Language, Heritage, and Cultures, Dallas

Convention Center, Dallas, USA. Keynote speakers will be Alberto M. Carvalho, William Labov,
Kurt Kohn, Christine Coombe, Heidi Byrnes, and
Jun Liu. Contact: <tesolconvention.org>
Calls for Papers or Posters

DEADLINE: 31 JUL 12 (FOR 24-25 OCT 12)
E4BT (English for Business and Technology)
Conference, Brunei, Brunei Darussalam. Contact: <itb.edu.bn/e4bt/callforpapers.html>
DEADLINE: 17 AUG 12 (FOR 16-19 MAR 13)
AAAL 2012: Applied Linguistics in a Globalizing
World, Sheraton Dallas Hotel, Dallas, USA. Plenary
speakers will be Lera Boroditsky (Stanford),
William Hanks (UC Berkeley), Agnes Weiyun He
(Stony Brook U.), Monica Heller (Universit de
Toronto), Brian MacWhinney (Carnegie Mellon),
and Srikant Sarangi (Cardiff U.). Contact: <aaal.
org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=85>
DEADLINE: 31 AUG 12 (FOR 8 SEP 12)CUE
ESP Symposium 2012, Nara Inst of Science and
Technology, Keihanna Science City, Nara. Invited
speakers are Judy Noguchi and Laurence Anthony. Contact: <jaltcue-sig.org/cueesp_main>
DEADLINE: 13 SEP 12 (FOR 8-12 APR 13)
IATFL 47th Annual Conference and Exhibition,
Arena and Convention Centre, Liverpool, UK.
Contact: <iatefl.org/liverpool-2013/liverpool-2013>
DEADLINE: 30 SEP 12 (FOR 27 MAY 13)CELS
Symposium 2013: Alternative Pedagogies in the
English Language and Communication Classroom, Natl U. of Singapore. Keynote speakers
will be Christopher Candlin, Ulla Connor, William
Grabe, and Ann Johns. Contact: <nus.edu.sg/
celc/symposium/callforpapers.html>
DEADLINE: EARLY 2013 (FOR 10-15 AUG
14)AILA World Congress 2014: One World,
Many Languages, Brisbane. Contact: <aila2014.
com/abstract_submission.html>
12-15 OCT 12JALT2012: 38th Annual International

Conference on Language Teaching and Learning & Educational Materials Exposition: Making a Difference, ACT
City, Hamamatsu. Contact: <jalt.org/conference>
113
TE S O L |
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13723
The Language Teacher Column OLD GRAMMARIANS
OLD GRAMMARIANS
TLT COLUMN
...by Scott Gardner
<old-grammarians@jalt-publications.org>
A Voyage to
Laputa, Balnibarbi,
Luggnagg, Japan,
and Purikura
The title above is adapted from a section of
Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels, which indeed
labeled Japan as one of the 18th centurys more
exotic, outrageous, and factually suspect travel
destinations. For some people today, Japan seems
no less magical. A few years ago I was walking
through a mall in Seattle, USA, politely declining
the sales pitch of two well-dressed young men
trying to sell me phone service. When I told them
I lived in Japan and couldnt use their product,
they switched from professionals-in-training to
excited schoolboys about to be shown a lizard in
a box. Cool! they both cooed in unison. I asked
them why they thought Japan was so neat, and
they rattled off a list of Japanese objects of western fixation: Akihabara technology, animation,
instant noodles, manga, etc. Perhaps practical
training for exchange students should include
the following advice: As thank-you gifts for host
families, rather than folding fans or pickled plum
treats, they should instead just buy some comics
from the convenience store. Half the fun would
be trying to explain the popular Japanese obsession with oversized eyes.
Which reminds me of an enduring Japanese
fad that doesnt seem to have caught on yet in
most western countries: the print club (purikura).
Recently I stumbled into a purikura hive and
was astounded by the advances that have been
made there. One booth promised to give you
a milk face. Another booth allowed you the
option of enlarging your eyes, a la manga. If
purikura were ever to take off in the USA, though,
I think such features would have to be changed.

Eye enlargement might not be as attractive for
Americans as, say, lip enlargement. And neck
tattoos would definitely have to be available as
after-the-shoot virtual options.
Japan isnt the only culture that engages in
fantasy photography. (After all, everybody says
the most popular cosmetics line in the world is
called Photoshop.) And the desire to be someone
else in a photograph goes back far earlier than the
technology that so easily allows it today. When
I was about 14 my aunt and uncle took me and
three cousinsall girls around my ageto the
tour-rustic town of Jackson, Wyoming, USA.
As part of the fun we went to a studio where we
put on 19th century frontier clothes and sat for
an Old West photo shoot. My cousins all wore
dancing girl dresses and feathers in their hair; I
was the only one in chaps and a ten-gallon hat.
Just before taking the pictures the photographer
put something in my hand Id never seen before:
an elastic garter. Throughout the session I held it
in front of me like it was a snake carcass Id found
on the highway. Every time I see that old photo
I laugh at the expression on my face that says,
What exactly does this thing do?
Of course when youre interested in the exoticism of an item, you dont really care what it does.
I once bought my aunt a plastic wall clock in the
shape of the Southeast Asian country of Laos. It
was meant to serve as a memento of the charity
work she had done for Lao refugee families in our
town. Unfortunately, the hanging clip on the back
wasnt centered properly, so when it went up on
the wall the 12 tipped a few degrees to the right.
I humored her by saying it accurately represented
Laos orientation toward magnetic north rather
than geographic north. She in turn humored me
(for a few months, at least) by finding some place
in her house to hang it. But ultimately it was put
to rest in a corner of her storage room alongside
the Russian doll-within-doll chess sets, Peruvian
llama-shaped saltshakers, and aetherium paperweights from Laputa, all gifts from traveling
acquaintances whose sense of the remarkable
outweighed their sense of taste.
115
JALT MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

The Japan Association for Language
Teaching (JALT)
a professional organization formed in 1976

-1976
working to improve language learning and
teaching, particularly in a Japanese context
-
over 3,000 members in Japan and overseas

- 3,000
Annual international conference
1,500 to 2,000 participants
-1,5002,000
hundreds of workshops and presentations
-
publishers exhibition
-
Job Information Centre
-
JALT publications include:

The Language Teacherour bimonthly publication -
JALT Journalbiannual research journal
- 2
Annual Conference Proceedings
-
SIG and chapter newsletters, anthologies,
and conference proceedings
-
Meetings and conferences sponsored by local chapters and special interest groups (SIGs)
are held throughout Japan. Presentation and
research areas include:
Bilingualism
CALL
College and university education
Cooperative learning
Gender awareness in language education
Global issues in language education
Japanese as a second language
Learner autonomy
Pragmatics, pronunciation, second language
acquisition
Teaching children
Lifelong language learning
Testing and evaluation

Materials development
CALL
JALT cooperates with domestic and international partners, including (JALT

):
IATEFLInternational Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
JACETthe Japan Association of College
English Teachers
PACthe Pan Asian Conference consortium
TESOLTeachers of English to Speakers of
Other Languages
Membership Categories
All members receive annual subscriptions to
The Language Teacher and JALT Journal, and
member discounts for meetings and conferences. The Language TeacherJALT Journal
Regular : 10,000
Student rate (undergraduate/graduate in
Japan) :
6,000
Jointfor two persons sharing a mailing address, one set of publications
2JALT
2
: 17,000
Group (5 or more) 6,500/personone set of

publications for each five members
JALT5
16,500
For more information please consult our website <jalt.org>, ask an officer at any JALT event,
or contact JALT Central Office.
JALT Central Office
Urban Edge Building, 5th Floor, 1-37-9 Taito,

Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016 JAPAN
JALT110-00161-37-9
F
t: 03-3837-1630; f: 03-3837-1631; <jco@jalt.org>
Use attached furikae form at Post Offices ONLY. When payment is made through a bank using
the furikae, the JALT Central Office receives only a name and the cash amount that was transferred. The lack of information (mailing address, chapter designation, etc.) prevents the JCO
from successfully processing your membership application. Members are strongly encouraged
to use the secure online signup page located at <https://jalt.org/joining> .
T E SOL |
T eaching Engl is h t o Speakers

o f O t her Languages
On-ca mp us | F i e l d-ba se d | Onl i ne
Opening the door to a higher level of learning doesnt always mean setting foot in a traditional
classroom. Through Azusa Pacifics TESOL program, students have the opportunity to earn their
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Gain valuable teaching tools grounded in a Christian worldview to enhance your role.
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13723
Whats happening in JALT?

23rd JALT-Gunma Summer Workshop
at Kusatsu, August 1819 2012
Theme: Ways to Promote Active

Learning in L2 Teaching
At Kusatsu Seminar House (737 Shirane,

Kusatsu-machi, Agatsuma-gun 377-1711)
Cost: 9,000
Contact: John Larson
<gunmajalt+president@gmail.com> or
Morijiro Shibayama <mshibaya@jcom.
home.ne.jp> for more information and
registration
Call for Papers for 2012 JALT Hokkaido

Language Teaching Conference
Making it Stick
Saturday, November 3 at Hokkai Gakuen
University in Sapporo
The deadline for submissions is August 12, 2012
Final confirmation of acceptance will be no
later than Sunday, September 2, 2012
For details on submissions, see
<www.jalthokkaido.net/>
Kobe JALT is pleased to announce a presentation

by Dr. Stephen Krashen
The Comprehension Hypothesis Extended
This talk will cover lots of things - language acquisition,
literacy, and even a brief discussion of animal language,
and a briefer discussion of alien language - what to
expect when they land from Alpha Centauri (unless they
are already here).
Tuesday, July 3 from 19:00 at the Kobe International House, Sannomiya. JALT members free, one-day
members 1,000
JALT Central Office Online

JCO on Twitter
<twitter.com/JALTCentralOffi>
JCO on Facebook
<on.fb.me/HNu7Po>
All CALL SIG Members are invited to the annual AGM to

be held at the JALT conference. Ongoing SIG business will
be discussed and SIG Officers will be electedeveryones
chance to get involved!
The CALL SIG Forum at the national conference will feature
presentations about Apple iPads in various teaching environments. Interested presenters should contact the CALL SIG
Program Chair, Tom Gorham, at <sig-program@jaltcall.org>
FAB 3: International Three-Day Conference

Connecting Neuroscience with ELT
Visit
<fab-efl.com>
for more information
July 14-16, 2012. Kitakyushu University

Main Presenters: Curtis Kelly, Marc Helgessen, Tim Murphey, Robert S. Murphy
Special Guest: David Paul
Topics: Mirror Neurons, NeuromythBusters, Brain
Anatomy, Memory, Dynamic Skill Theory, Neuro-Pedagogy,
Happiness, Personal Construct Psychology, Bilingualism,
and much much more!
Earn a certificate in Neuroscience for TEFL
Elections Interviews (and Pictures!) : What do YOU think?

What do I think? Hey, I think the new guy is cool. I hope the new PM can change things.
I hope he doesnt raise consumption tax. Free education sounds good. What do you
think? Give long answers to these three questions #or I promise I will make another
samurai film.
Do you have a message for the Prime Minister of Japan?
What would you do if you were Prime Minister of Japan?
How do you feel about the Prime Ministers keep changing?
FASHION RUNWAY
Adjective Order: (2 or more adjectives + noun)
article
size +
style +
pattern+
colour +
material +
noun
He is wearing
long
loose-fitting
checked
blue and green
wool
coat
She is wearing
knee length
casual
solid
pink
cotton
skirt
Size:
Large
Floor length
Short
Medium
Below/Above the Knee
Long
Small
Knee length
Style:
Tight-fitting
Casual
Classic/Traditional
Loose-fitting
Formal
Mini
Form-fitting
Modern
Sheer
Athletic
Pattern:
Paisley
Strips (Vertical/Horizontal)
Checked
Plaid
Floral
Polka Dot
Lace
Knitted
Sequined
Solid
Graphic
Tweed
Camouflage
Argyle
Pink
Silver
Khaki
Blue
Green
Red
Metallic
Brown
Navy
White
Orange
Gold
Beige
Purple
Black
Yellow
Grey/Gray
Colour:
Dark
Light
Pale
Pastel
Bright
Florescent
M aterial:
Wool
Cotton
Polyester
Fleece
Silk
Linen
Nylon
Corduroy
Fur
Velvet
Spandex
Leather
Knit
Denim
Faux (ex. faux-fur, faux-leather)
Blend (ex. cotton-poly blend)
Articles of Clothing and Accessories:

Skirt
Jacket
T-shirt
Gloves/Mittens
Dress
Coat
Sweater/Jumper
Scarf
Shorts
Shirt
Vest/Waistcoat
Tights/Stockings
Pants/Trousers
Blouse
Tie
Nylons
Suit
Top
Belt
Socks
Boots
High-heels
Hat/Cap
Shoes
Purse
Bag
Necklace
Runners/Trainers
Earrings
Bracelet
Answer the following questions about what you are wearing today:
1. What is the size/style of your clothes?
________________________________________________________________________________
2. What colours/patterns are you wearing?
________________________________________________________________________________
3. What materials are your clothes made from?
________________________________________________________________________________
4. What clothing brand/store do you like?
________________________________________________________________________________
Useful expressions:
It looks like
It feels like
Its made from
I am wearing.
She/he is wearing
I bought it at
Its designed by.
RUNWAY FASHION
<http://www.elle.com/Runway/>
Chanel
Chloe
Celine
Louis Vuitton
Marc Jacobs
Ralph Lauren
Vivienne Westwood
Moschino
Burberry
Carolina Herrera
<http://www.gq.com/fashion-shows/>
Dolce & Gabbana
GIORGIO ARMANI
GIVENCHY
JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
ERMENGILDO ZEGNA
MICHAEL KORS
PAUL SMITH
YOHJI YAMAMOTO
FASHION FILE
Step 1: Listen to the designer fashion descriptions given by your classmates.
Step 2: Write each description below. Use the Fashion Runway handout to help you.
Step 3: Now look at the fashion runway photographs.
Can you match your descriptions with the photos?
Description 1
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Photo ___________
Description 2
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Photo ___________
Description 3
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Photo ___________
Description 4
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Photo ___________
Description 5
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Photo ___________

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The

TLT Editorial Staff

}} TLT JAPANESE-LANGUAGE EDITOR

Dax Thomas & Harry Harris

JALT Focus Editors

Joyce Cunningham & Mariko Miyao

Regular Column Editors

Laura MacGregor Gakushuin University

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}} COPYEDITORS & PROOFREADERS

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}} TLT EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Peer Support Group

JALT Central Office

JULY / AUGUST 2012 VOL. 36, NO. 4

Featured Speaker Articles

In this months issue . . .

his issue of TLT

JALT PUBLICATIONS ONLINE

}} Online Access Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Language Teacher Foreword & Information

elcome to our Pre-Conference Special

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online <jalt-publications.org/tlt>

Steven & Deryn

Jennifer Yphantides, TLT Coeditor

JALT2012 PLENARY SPEAKER | 3

From the periphery

now argue that these varieties of English should

The Language Teacher JALT2012 Special Issue Plenary Speaker Article

teachers are second class citizens in the profession.

DV: So local teachers of English are important

DV: Is there a one-principle-fits-all guideline you

SC: I hold that editors and reviewers have to

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online <jalt-publications.org/tlt>

The Language Teacher JALT2012 Special Issue Plenary Speaker Article

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER: 36.4 July / August 2012

6 | JALT2012 PLENARY SPEAKER

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online <jalt-publications.org/tlt>

students with a pathway of influence and a

The Language Teacher JALT2012 Special Issue Plenary Speaker Article

currently doing or to the state of education ingeneral?

The Language Teacher JALT2012 Special Issue Plenary Speaker Article

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online <jalt-publications.org/tlt>

bile phones to teach English. Prior to this hewas

This years conference brings to Japan five respected

JALT2012 PLENARY SPEAKER | 9

The social practice of

Learning lessons from outside the

ithin applied linguistics, the bulk of

Skypecasts,and to reflect on the implications

The Language Teacher JALT2012 Special Issue Plenary Speaker Article

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online <jalt-publications.org/tlt>

community. I argue that findings permit a

The Language Teacher JALT2012 Special Issue Plenary Speaker Article

Canagarajah, S. (2007). Lingua franca English,

acquisition and their relevance in multilingual

12 | JALT2012 PLENARY SPEAKER

Technology is for everyone: Take the leap!