Date: Saturday, June 15, 2019 (12:00-6:00)
Venue: Ehime University, Johoku Campus, Faculty of Education, Building 4, 4F
Multi-media Zone (Room 42) and Room 41
愛媛大学城北キャンパス 教育学部4号館4階　マルチゾーン型教室(42番)及び41番
Sponsors: Matsuyama JALT, East Shikoku JALT, Oxford University Press Website: East Shikoku JALT – http://esjalt.org JALT Members and students: free One-Day Member Fee: 1000 yen

Conference Schedule:

12:00 – 12:50: Registration: Multi-media Zone (Room 42)

12:50-1:00: Welcome/Conference Opening Address

1:00-2:00:  Keynote Lecture: Barbara D. Ito, Ph.D. (Boston English Company, Niihama, Ehime)

Intercultural Understanding – Now More than Ever

More than ever, the world needs intercultural understanding. And language teachers are well placed to play a key role in fostering this essential capability. Anthropology teaches that there is no single “right way” to live in the world and that, in any culture, world view, values, family system, assumptions about social relationships, and much more, are all interconnected. Yet, in every culture, there is always variability and ongoing change. While some of us have the opportunity to experience life in another culture, this is generally not an option. Learning and speaking another language, however, gives us an immediate and direct experience of another way of seeing the world. Through such experiences, we become able to see our own culture for the first time and to recognize commonalities and differences across cultures. This is the basis for the mutual understanding needed in our culturally diverse world today.

2:00-2:10 Short break

2:10-3:10 Oxford University Press Featured Speaker: Rob Peacock (OUP/Oxford Teachers’ Academy)

English for real—promoting pragmatics in an EFL course

“Excuse me! Do you know what time it is” or “Hey, what’s the time?” How can students understand which phrase is appropriate in different situations? In this session, we will look at the importance of pragmatics and experience some practical classroom material which equips students with the tools to master the hidden rules of English. We will also discuss how extensive reading can help support learning, and view an exciting new online platform which helps teachers to monitor their students’ progress.

3:10-3:30 **BREAK Multi-media Zone (Room 42) **

Parallel presentation sessions:

	Multi-media Zone (Room 42)	Room 41
3:30-3:55	Ian Willey
4:00-4:25	Kaori Ono	Gerardine McCrohan and Arran Chambers
4:30-4:55	Adam Sol Brod	Linda K. Kadota

(See below for presentation titles/abstracts)

5:00- Conference Closing

5:00-6:00 Steering committee meeting: 11th Shikoku JALT Conference (Tokushima, 2020)

6:30- Party: UGGLA 大人のワイン酒場ウグラ 4 Chome-1-9 Sanbancho, Matsuyama

Parallel Presentation Sessions (3:30-3:55)

Multi-media Zone (Room 42)
Ian Willey (Ehime University)
Title: An Improv Approach to Communicative Competence
3:30-3:55 – University

University Communicative competence requires an understanding of the cultural conventions of a language as well as its grammar and vocabulary. This talk will describe a trial to help medical professionals at one university hospital in Kagawa Prefecture to become better intercultural communicators. Two evening courses, each running for eight-week terms, were conducted over one academic year. Although working medical professionals were the main target, both graduate and undergraduate students also participated. Course activities included fluency-building tasks as well as awareness-building exercises in English conversational norms; many of these techniques were derived from practices in improvisational theater, which promotes skills in deep listening and impromptu speech. At the end of each course, feedback was obtained from participants through questionnaires and focus group interviews. This trial has shown that both in-service and pre-service learners need explicit training in English speaking norms for them to develop the confidence to use English successfully.

Parallel Presentation Sessions (4:00-4:25)

Multi-media Zone (Room 42)
Kaori Ono (Matsuyama University)
Title: Analog and Digital Intercultural Perception: The Cultural Impact on Pedagogical Decisions of Foreign Teachers in Japan
4:00-4:25 – University; Intercultural Communication

Globalization has increased the number of multicultural teaching settings in many areas of the world and Japan is no exception. We should be aware of the analog and digital concepts and utilize a well-known culture general mental model in the field of intercultural communication introduced by Hayashi (2011). This research discusses the cultural influence on pedagogical decisions in the classroom for 43 foreign professors teaching in Japan. A semi-structured survey with a Likert-type format was conducted to identify analog and digital propensities regarding decisions teachers made in the classroom. Results showed that the average score of male foreign professors were, 3.5 for analog and 3.9 for digital, while the average score of female foreign professors were 4.0 for analog and 3.4 for digital. The shifting of respective perceptions in classroom settings adapted by those professors may provide key elements to a successful pedagogy in Japan.

Room 41
Gerardine McCrohan and Arran Chambers (Kagawa University)
Title: Willingness to Communicate and Self-access Center Use
4:00-4:25 – University; Motivation, Communication

Developing students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) is a key issue for English language teaching in Japan. Encouraging student use of self-access centers (SACs) may be one way to help overcome communication apprehension which inhibits WTC. This study aimed to answer 2 questions: 1) Do participants in an SAC initially have higher WTC compared with students who do not attend an SAC? 2) Do participants in an SAC and those not involved in the SAC, but taking regular English classes, show any changes in their WTC during an academic semester? Preliminary results show that there was little statistical difference in WTC between the two groups of students. However, in terms of orientation for language learning, students who do not attend the SAC view English as a tool for travel, while students who do attend the SAC see English as a means of self-development.

Parallel Presentation Sessions (4:30-4:55)

Multi-media Zone (Room 42)
Adam Sol Brod (Interac)
Title: Metaphors be with you in a New Language and Culture
4:30-4:55 – University, Adult Learners; Bilingualism

This paper explores how metaphors, as a result of being cultural constructs and constructors (Langaker) or arising from common experience (Lakoff and Johnson), may necessarily be acquired differently in a second language than in a first. The ramifications of this difference for English teaching are that English language learners need to learn metaphors authentically in order to process and retain metaphors and metaphor related words (MRW) as functionally, fluidly and effectively as native English speakers. Some suggestions for how to teach or learn metaphors authentically include paying attention to registers in which metaphors are most likely to occur, understanding the benefits and limits of some current methods for language acquisition in regards to MRW (i.e. Image Schema Based Instruction, Translation Based Instruction, Cognitive-Semantic Categorization), and the need to rely on both the home and the target language when developing metaphorical awareness.

Room 41
Linda K. Kadota (Matsuyama Shinonome College)
Title: Effective University-High School Partnerships: Focus on Local Culture
4:30-4:55 – University, High School; Presentation skills, Culture

This presentation outlines the rationale, process, and outcomes of a project designed to help connect a small local college with a nearby high school, through the appreciation of local culture. Too often Japanese students focus on the study of foreign culture, and thus devalue their own. While it is important for students to study foreign culture, they need to recognize that their own culture is an integral part of who they are, and they need to develop their own voice in order to maintain their sense of belonging. The presenter designed a short course to help high school students balance the study of foreign culture with the study of their local culture, with special emphasis on the study of the Henro (Pilgrim) culture of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage.

Access

Google Map

 

10th Annual Shikoku JALT Conference PDF