Tag: JALT

  • This Sunday – September 28 – Martin E. Pauly – Being Hired at National University Corporations

    Location: AIINA, ROOM 602
    Date September 28, 2014
    Time: From 1:30pm – 4:00pm(13:30-16:00)
    Cost: Free for JALT members. ¥1000 for non-members. ¥500
    for full-time students.
    Contact: iwatejalt@hotmail.com phone/fax: 019-663-3132

    Hi everyone. I hope you all had a great summer. I can feel the fall winds starting to make their approach and that means I should update you on Iwate JALT’s fall and winter schedule. Please stay tuned to our site for updates in the next few days. I will get things going with our meeting on September 28. We will be visited by Martin E. Pauly from the University of Tsukuba and he will be talking about getting hired at National University corporations.

    Abstract: Hiring of faculty is carried out in different ways throughout Japan at national university corporations (formerly national universities).  And this varies even within individual institutions.  The presenter will focus on 2 such institutions, relating his experience as a part timer at one and a Gaikokujin Kyouin at another.  As his field of view is quite narrow (i.e., until 2 years ago, zero experience in private institutions) the presenter will offer the workshop section as a time for participants to compare and contrast points of the talk with their own experience.

    国立大学法人の就職の実情

    教員の雇用は日本中の国立大学法人（以前の国立大学）において異なる方法で行われている。個々の大学内においてさえも異なる。発表者は、非常勤講師、外国人教員としての自信の経験に関連させて、２つの大学に焦点を合わせるつもりである。市立大学での勤務経験がないため、彼の視野は非常に限られているので、参加者の話の内容を自分自身の経験と比較する時間としてワークショップセケションを設けるつもりである。

    Bio: Martin E. Pauly was a professor (now Professor Emeritus) in the Research and Support Center on Higher Education for the Hearing and Visually Impaired, Tsukuba University of Technology.  He was a guide runner for blind athletes and faculty adviser of the Taichi Circle. He retired on March 31st, 2014.   He is presently teaching part time at the University of Tsukuba.

    In this next few days, I will preview our October, December, January and February meetings as well. Also, don’t forget about the Nation JALT meeting Tsuka this year. Click on the logo on the right for more info.

    I hope to see you all in September.

  • Revisiting Mechanical Speaking Practices – Emiko Kaneko

    IMG_5595 On Sunday, we had a visit from Emiko Kaneko from the University of Aizu, in Aizu Wakamatsu, Fukushima. She was in Morioka to give a talk about mechanical speaking practices such as repetition and drilling. Traditionally, when we think of these practices, we are reminded of endless sentence and vocabulary lessons at grade school. While there has been a push to more hands-on learning with foreign speakers, Emiko believes that there is still a need for more explicit learning techniques, and studies have shown that they are effective in improving the students language ability. She added that not all students have access to native language speakers or the ability to travel overseas.

    Emiko’s talk focused on how educators traditionally use mechanical speaking practices, and how we can adjust the way we use them when teaching lower level students who aren’t able to generate their own conversation patterns during class. Emiko added that generally, Japanese students can be shy around fellow students that are not in their peer group and it is difficult for them to even make small talk in Japanese.  She lists a number of teacher directed techniques such as shadowing, read-and-look-up and mimicking, and shows how these techniques have had a positive impact on the language creation abilities in students.

    Emiko wanted to emphasize that language acquisition is something that still requires a lot of time and patience. Thousands of hours are necessary to gain fluency. However, she is confident that mechanical speaking techniques are still some of our best tools for getting our students up to fluent levels. We want to thank Emiko for taking the time to come up and share her research with us.

    Reported by Jason Hill

    All photography ©2014 Jason Hill

  • Upcoming – July 27 – Emiko Kaneko – Revisiting Mechanical Speaking Practices

    Iwate JALT is happy to announce the speaker for our upcoming talk in July. We will be hosting Emiko Kaneko.

    Location: AIINA, ROOM 602
    Date July 27, 2014
    Time: From 1:30pm – 4:00pm(13:30-16:00)
    Cost: Free for JALT members. ¥1000 for non-members. ¥500
    for full-time students.
    Contact: iwatejalt@hotmail.com phone/fax: 019-663-3132

    Abstract

    In the English as a foreign language (EFL) context, learners only have limited exposure to naturally spoken English. They also have very few opportunities in which they use English naturalistically for oral communication. Considering the limited exposure to the target language and a large classroom size, speech repetition may be a useful practice for oral fluency development. Though traditionally “repeating” and “drilling” have negative connotations, more recent studies show that they have positive influence on learner oral proficiency. In this presentation, I will familiarize the audience with a series of oral dictation practice conducted in the University of Aizu and report how students’ spontaneous speech (speaking without prior preparation) changes.

     

    外国語として英語を学ぶ場合、自然な英語に学習者が触れることは少ない。また、口頭コミュニケーションのために英語を自然に使う機会も限られている。目標言語に触れることがあまりないこと、そしてクラスが大きいことを考えると、「繰り返し」練習が口頭運用能力向上のために効果的な練習法となる可能性がある。今まで、「繰り返し」や「ドリル」と言った練習は否定的に扱われてきたが、最近の研究では学習者のスピーキングに好ましい影響を与えることが分かってきた。本発表では、会津大学で行われた、オーラルディクテーション練習を説明し、それにより学習者の自発発話（事前準備をしない発話）がどのように変化したかを報告する。

     

    Bio:

    Emiko Kaneko is a senior associate professor in the Center for Language Research at the University of Aizu, specializing in English language acquisition and instruction for EFL learners, with special interest in teaching/assessment of L2 speaking and phonology. Her Ph.D. in English comes from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.