Category: Uncategorized

  • Interactive Workshop: Digital Tools for Language Education – Kathryn Akasaka –

    Place: Aiina・Iwate Prefecture Information Exchange Center rm 817

    Time: 1:30pm

    Cost for JALT Members: Free

    Cost for non-JALT Members: Free

    The event is free for all to attend.
    The location has been changed from Iwate University to AIINA Rm 817. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

    AIINA can be found behind Morioka station.

    Please bring a tablet or laptop if you wish to try out the websites that will be discussed during the presentation.

    Abstract: This interactive workshop introduces digital tools designed to streamline collaboration, engagement, and learning in a variety of educational environments. These tool are either completely free or have a free option. Busy teacher know how important it is to have a few tricks up their sleeve. In this practical workshop participants will be guided through hands-on demonstrations of five key platforms: Padlet, LingoLive, Classroomscreen, Mentimeter, and Wordwall. Each tool offers unique features, there is something here for everyone. Padlet facilitates collaborative information sharing and organization; LingoLive specializes in personalized language learning experiences; Classroomscreen offers a customizable virtual classroom management dashboard; Mentimeter enables engaging, interactive presentations through real-time polling; and Wordwall helps create interactive and fun educational activities. The workshop will provide practical applications, tips for effective usage, and strategies for integrating these tools into daily routines to maximize productivity and engagement.

    Bio:Kathryn Akasaka has lived and worked in Iwate for more than 30 years. She graduated from Earlham College majoring in Education. Having taught all ages and levels she currently divides her time between a private combined Junior High and Senior High School and four universities a part-time teacher,

  • Welcome to the New Iwate-Aomori JALT Page

    This will become to new home for our chapter. I will be doing some tweaking here and there during the next few weeks, so I ask for your patience as we settle into our new site and server. All the data from the previous site is still here, so feel free to search for it if you like.

  • Double Presentation with Edo Forsythe and Jim Smiley

    Date: Sunday, January 21, 2024 1:30pm

    Location: AIINA – Rm 807

    Cost: JALT Members – Free. Non-member – 1000 yen

    Event Registration is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1116409366393717/

    Edo Forsythe
    Student Perceptions of Benefits of Free Writing in English

    Japanese university students are often required to perform free writing activities in their English language classes in an attempt to encourage confidence in writing in English. This session will explain the free writing activities used in the authors’ courses, discuss the changes in fluency observed, and provide qualitative data describing the participants’ thoughts about free writing activities. Attendees will receive ideas for effectively employing free writing in their English language classes to meet students’ desires.

    Jim Smiley
    Multiple document reading in Japanese English majors

    One key aspect of successful academic writing is the capability to assess and evaluate information sources (Moon, 2008). Japanese undergraduate academic writers are known to trust authority sources in preference to anonymous writers when resolving controversial everyday topics (Kobayashi, 2014) and are capable of coherently arguing on social topics with which they have adequate topic knowledge (Stapleton, 2001, 2002). However, the issue of how undergraduate subject specialists deal with unresolved debates in their major field of study remains unknown. The speaker addresses the question of how advanced third-year undergraduate English majors resolve discipline-specific controversies in second- language theory. A mixed-methods research design centring on multiple document reading was used to investigate this question. Participants read two articles that presented conflicting perspectives on the critical period hypothesis (CPH). They answered comprehension questions on each article, submitted a written report on their beliefs about the CPH and participated in a semi-structured interview that collected information about their reasoning and writing processes. The results suggest that the role of prior beliefs, personal experiences and opinions strongly informs participants’ perspectives and that encountering alternative viewpoints may fail to generate a deeper critical engagement appropriate to this level. The presenter will discuss some implications for pedagogy relevant to developing subject specialists’ academic writing in the later years of undergraduate study.

    JALT Officers Meet and Greet after the presentation.