We regret to inform you that the 11th Shikoku JALT Conference, scheduled to be held in June 2020 at Tokushima University, has been cancelled this year. This decision was taken in consultation with officers from East Shikoku JALT and Matsuyama JALT, which organize and co-sponsor this event each year, and with the Conference Site Chair at Tokushima University. We are planning to hold the Shikoku JALT Conference next year in Tokushima (2021).

For those members who submitted a proposal, we invite you to submit again next year. Of course, if you can find a different outlet to present your work before then, we would fully understand. The Conference Chair, Darren Lingley, will be contacting those who submitted individually.

Due to travel restrictions, this event has been canceled.

Language education in context: Bilingual experiences from Melbourne, Australia

• Speaker: Dr. Naomi Wilks-Smith, RMIT University
• Date: Thursday, April 9 (6:30 – 7:30)
• Location: KUT, Eikokuji Campus (Room TBA0

Japanese is amongst a plethora of languages taught in schools and spoken in the community in Melbourne, Australia. This presentation explores the provision of Japanese in Melbourne, both as an additional language in schools, and as a home language in the community. It outlines the wide range of programs available and the practical strategies that families are using to raise children with Japanese in Melbourne. This presentation responds to the JALT Bilingualism SIG publication ‘Raising Bilingual and Bicultural Children in Japan: Essays from the Inaka’ (2018), in which stories were shared from families raising children with English in Japan, by sharing reverse stories of raising children with Japanese in the English-dominant context of Melbourne, Australia. It is anticipated that the understanding of bilingualism is further enhanced through the sharing of these context-specific stories and that teachers and families can expand their repertoire of strategies by learning from each other. 

JALT has expanded our family-friendly policy. As in previous years, attendees are welcome to bring their child(ren) and a guardian free of charge. At JALT2020, you may also bring a spouse/partner with you without paying. Your spouse/partner may like to see your session, understand more about the organization you volunteer for or simply spend time with you while you are away from home. This provides that opportunity.

We are also arranging onsite childcare this year. It will be available to attendees regardless of whether or not they present. At this stage, we are asking those who make presentation proposals to indicate if they would like to use this service or not so we can get a rough idea of potential numbers. More details here:https://jalt.org/conference/jalt2020/information-families

The call for presentation proposals will be open until February 24th. Details here: https://jalt.org/conference/call-proposals

The call for papers is now open for the 11th Shikoku JALT Conference to be held at Tokushima University on Saturday, June 20th, 2020. The Conference will be co-sponsored by East Shikoku JALT, Matsuyama JALT and Oxford University Press. 

Donna Brinton: Dispelling Pronunciation Myths

• Saturday, December 7
• 4:30-6:00
• Room A108
• Kochi University of Technology (Eikokuji Campus)

Isn’t it impossible to impact students’ fossilized pronunciation? Wouldn’t students make more progress if they just practiced more? Don’t you need to be a native speaker to teach pronunciation? Isn’t the best way to teach pronunciation by having students listen and repeat? The field of pronunciation teaching abounds with myths that derive from lay beliefs about acquiring the sound system of a second language. Unfortunately, without adequate teacher preparation, teachers often buy into these myths and remain unprepared to teach pronunciation. In this talk, Donna Brinton presents an overview of recent research in practical phonetics that helps to dispel some of the above popularly-held misconceptions. She also summarizes best practice for pronunciation teachers.

Understanding Peer Feedback in the Writing Classroom: A Theoretical and Practical Approach

• Date: Oct. 6th
• Time:  14:00-16:00
• Place:  Kagawa University, Olive Square, Global Cafe. 
• Speaker:  Luke Draper

A Narrative Approach to Teaching Pragmatics and Intercultural Awareness

Date: Monday, September 16 (6:30-7:30)

Place: KUT/Kochi Prefectural University, Eikokuji Campus, Room A104

Prof. Noriko Ishihara will facilitate a workshop discussing a narrative approach to instructional pragmatics and intercultural communication. She will illustrate the approach through her own story and its interpretation. This will lead into a discussion about possible ways teachers can use their stories to teach pragmatics with their best effort not to stereotype others and essentialize cultures

Noriko Ishihara, Ph.D. is Professor of Applied Linguistics/EFL at Hosei University, Japan. She facilitates teachers’ professional development courses in Japan and the U.S. on language teaching methodology, pragmatics, and intercultural communication. Her research interests include instructional pragmatics, identity and language learning, language teacher development, and peace linguistics.