Category: Talk

  • Upcoming – April 26, 2015 – Thomas Bieri – Activating Extensive Reading

    Location: AIINA, ROOM 602
    Date April 26,  2015
    Time: From 1:30pm – 4:30pm(13:30-16:30)
    Cost: Free for JALT members. ¥1000 for non-members. ¥500 for full-time students.
    Contact: iwatejalt@hotmail.com or jasohill@gmail.com phone/fax: 019-663-3132

    Extensive reading has recently become a well-known technique for language study and many programs and individual instructors have been incorporating it into their language teaching practice. However, many educators may not have confidence that they fully understand what ER is or how they can take advantage of the benefits. To help build that knowledge and confidence, this presentation and workshop will include a general introduction to the principles of extensive reading, particularly as defined by Day and Bamford (1998, 2002) and a brief discussion of how practices may differ from these principles. There will also be an explanation and demonstration of a variety of types of materials available. We will continue with a demonstration and practice of several classroom activities related to extensive reading and discussion of ways of managing and tracking student reading.

    Bio: Thomas E. Bieri is an EFL instructor at Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan, with over 25 years’ experience working in higher education, including positions in the USA, Australia, and Japan. He is the Coordinator of the Extensive Reading SIG and the Associate Member Liaison for the Computer Assisted Language Learning SIG of the Japan Association for Language Teaching.  He holds a BA in Women’s Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Southern Queensland, and a graduate certificate in Educational Technology from Michigan State University.

  • Motivation: The Importance of Social Influences – Margarita Foster

    On January 25, Iwate JALT Margarita Foster, a teacher at Hachinohe Gakuin University whose studies include psychology and criminology gave a talk. She is currently researching juvenile delinquency and resilience, but what brought her to us this past Sunday was a discussion about teachers and what motivates them.

    Foster had recently completed some research on the topic of teacher motivation, and she spoke of her results. She explained that there were many external and internal factors that motivate or demotivate a teacher, and that these factors can also cause stress and even burnout if they aren’t dealt with properly.  She went over the results of her teacher survey and outlined that in Japan, working conditions within schools can lead to burnout in teachers. She offered some ways in which teachers might be able to reignite their passion for teaching, and find new ways to keep their motivation up.   We want to thank Margarita for joining us and sharing her research with us.

    Reported by Jason Hill

  • Developing Automaticity in Reading: A Study of University Students in Japan – Bryan Hahn

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    Happy New Year everyone. I want to kick off the New Year with a report of our last meeting of 2014. On December 14, we had a visit from Bryan Hahn of Akita International University.  He was in Morioka to talk to us about some research he had been involved in recently, and he wanted to go over the results.

    Akita International University has a strong emphasis on English and they have a goal to bring their students’ reading levels up as high as possible.  Hahn worked with students who were enrolled in advanced reading classes at the University and tested whether or not there was progress to be gained by having them read words in “chunks” that allowed them to gradually read more words at a time.  He showed us some of the basic techniques he used to get the students to practice their readings, followed by  a pre-test and then a pIMG_1769ost-test to allow him to determine if any progress had been made. His hypothesis is that substantial progress can be made with this kind of reading practice.

    Hahn stated that by having the students read in more manageable chunks and getting them reading more words at a time helps them improve the number of words-per-minute they can read.   We want to thank Bryan for taking the time out of his busy schedule to join us.

    Our next meeting is coming up on January 25. We hope you’ll join us for it. We’ll be featuring Maggye Foster and she will be talking about Motivation:  “the importance of social influences”, and “Strategies and Resources of Motivated Teachers”.

    Reported by Jason Hill

    All photography ©2014 Jason Hill