The Japan Association for Language Teaching

Kyoto Chapter

(Read the archived description for the Kyoto Chapter)

Kyoto Chapter Events in 2002

Events archive by year:
2008 [3]; 2007 [6]; 2006 [6]; 2005 [6]; 2004 [4]; 2003 [5]; 2002; 2001 [7];

Friday, February 8th, 2002

Uh! I don't understand...Teaching students to ask questions

Speaker: John F. Fanselow
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM (Fri., February 8th, 2002)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Kyoto
City: Kyoto
Venue: Kyoto Kyoiku Bunka Center, Marutamachi, Sakyo-ku
Description: Often teachers meet with stunned silence from students when asking questions in the language classroom.The central goal of the workshop will be to introduce/practice/develop a range of activities which can teach students how to ask a wide range of questions. Knowing a range of questions to ask will help students move beyond muttering strange sounds and constantly acting helpless, as reflected in their constant expressions of lack of understanding. Come and experience some totally different activities to try in your English classes. Prof. Fanselow is President of International Pacific College, Palmerston North, New Zealand, and Professor Emeritus, Columbia University, Teachers College, New York, U.S.A.

Friday, April 26th, 2002

Testing for Reliability: Test Item Analysis on a TOEIC Listening test

Speaker: Paul Hackshaw
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM (Fri., April 26th, 2002)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Kyoto
City: Kyoto
Venue: Kyoto Kyoiku Bunka Center, Marutamachi, Sakyo-ku
Description: This presentation describes Paul Hackshaw's small-scale Item Test Response analysis conducted on the TOEIC test. The study examines how university students performed on a section of the TOEIC listening test. Hackshaw examined the fairness of individual items in the test and calculated the test's reliability. He observed 54 students in his TOEIC class,and analysed their scores on a twenty item listening test. He investigated the correlation between the difficulty of individual items and the measured ability of the students, their ranking based on their performance on the test. In some cases there was some variation between the questions and their ability, among the three groups. Hackshaw plans to show some examples of poorly written test items during the presentation.

Saturday, October 26th, 2002

Using Information Technology (IT) to Improve Language Teaching: Kyoto JALT's Annual IT Conference

Speaker: Keynote speakers: Charles Kelly, Kenji Kitao, Kathi Kitao, and Tom Robb.
Time: 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM (Sat., October 26th, 2002)
Fee (JALT members): 1000 yen if paid by September 1st, but 1500 yen if by October 10; 2000 yen on-site.
Fee (One-Day members): 1500 yen if paid by September 1st, but 2000 yen if by October 10; 2500 yen on-site.
Prefecture: Kyoto
City: Kyoto
Venue: Doshisha University, Kyotanabe campus
Description: This conference is for both experienced and inexperienced IT (information technology) teachers looking for ideas on how to better utilize information technology in their language classrooms. The four keynote speakers (Charles Kelly, Kenji Kitao, Kathi Kitao, and Tom Robb) will be speaking on various aspects of using the Internet and IT. During the day, twenty six presentations in total will be given by speakers from North America, Europe and from many parts of Japan, consisting of fourteen presentations in English and twelve in Japanese. This conference has been endorsed and supported by the Kyotanabe City Board of Education and the Joyo City Board of Education, and we warmly invite local Japanese junior and senior highschool English teachers to participate. Conference participants are encouraged to bring any publications and articles they have, and share them with other teachers at an exchange corner that will be set up at the conference site. Published conference proceedings of a few presentations will be available. Following the presentations, there will be a small reception and the giving away of over 290 lottery prizes. More details (including full program) are available on the conference website.

Friday, December 6th, 2002

The Influence of Early Education on Japanese University Students' Performance

Speaker: Michael Furmanovsky, Ryukoku University
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (Fri., December 6th, 2002)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1,000 yen
Prefecture: Kyoto
City: Kyoto
Venue: Kyoto Kyoiku Bunka Center, Marutamachi, Sakyo-ku
Description: Commercially available supplementary early-educational materials (SEM) for children aged 6-9 can give a useful insight into the broad pedagogical goals of a society's educational system. This presentation will deal with two separate topics related to the content and approach of these materials. The first - mostly of interest to parents - is the potential role of British and American supplementary workbooks and educational magazines in helping foster biliteracy in bicultural children brought up in the mainstream Japanese educational system. The second - perhaps of interest to higher education teachers - is the extent to which specific differences in the content and goals of SEM from Japan and English speaking countries can reveal larger and more general pedagogical differences and approaches to learning. These differences, it is argued, may have considerable carry-over effect into higher education, resulting in a specific set of gaps in the general knowledge and cognitive skills of many Japanese university students.
The meeting will be followed by a bonenkai party at a local restaurant. All are welcome to attend.

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The Japan Association for Language Teaching
Urban Edge Bldg 5F, 1-37-9 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016, Japan
Tel: 0352885443