Okayama Chapter

(Read the archived description for the Okayama Chapter)

Okayama Chapter Events in 2003

Events archive by year:
2008 [11]; 2007 [13]; 2006 [8]; 2005 [12]; 2004 [9]; 2003; 2002 [12]; 2001 [8];

Saturday, January 18th, 2003

Two Presentations:
1. English Teaching in Japanese Elementary Schools;
2. The Test of English Conversation

Speaker: 1. Christopher Creighton; 2. Paul Moritoshi
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sat., January 18th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen, students 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: There are two presentations tonight.

The first is entitled "English teaching in Japanese Elementary Schools: How to Move Beyond Shaking Hands, Signing Autographs, and 'Simon Says'"
Since April 2002 Japanese elementary schools have adopted a new curriculum incorporating English instruction. Christopher Creighton will review his own experiences as an AET for Okayama city and describe the successful paradigm he has been using to plan, coordinate, and present pedagogically sound lessons to large groups of young children. Creighton will also present some lesson plans.
The second is entitled "Not an Interview, Not just a Chat: The Test of English Conversation"
Dissatisfied with commonly used techniques such as interviews and role-plays as an assessment tool for measuring students' proficiency in English conversation, Paul Moritoshi has been developing (over the last three years) a direct test: The Test of English Conversation Proficiency (TECP). After explaining the background to the test, he goes on to describe its procedure and scoring system, providing an example of an actual test via video.

Sunday, February 16th, 2003

DramaWorks' innovative materials ("Star Taxi" and "PopStars")

Speaker: 1. Christopher Creighton; 2. Paul Moritoshi
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., February 16th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen, students 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: DramaWorks' innovative materials ("Star Taxi" and "PopStars") use drama techniques to teach English communication to teenagers and adults. They provide intensive speaking and listening practice and an enyoable experience of communication: students learn by doing while having fun. "Star Taxi" and "PopStars" are stories told in 20 scenes of simple yet memorable dialogues, which motivate students. Each book includes teachers notes, warmups and extra activities, and stage directions. No theatrical experience or ability is required. Come and see what all the excitement is about!

Saturday, April 5th, 2003

Common Sense in Vocabulary Instruction

Speaker: Rob Waring, Notre Dame Seishin Women's University
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sat., April 5th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen, students 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: The workshop will first look at some general underlying principles that affect vocabulary instruction and learning. These include the importance of the different stages of word learning, the appropriate amount of repetition, which words need to be taught, and so on. This will look at the relationship between vocabulary and each of the four skills with a special emphasis on reading. We shall then look at how vocabulary is most often dealt with in classes and in textbooks to determine if indeed vocabulary teaching and learning is following these basic principles.
The second part of the workshop will focus on types of vocabulary exercises that will best meet the general principles of vocabulary instruction and learning. The participants will look at the strengths and weakness of various activities and exercises to determine to what extent they meet these principles. Participants will look at ways to modify existing vocabulary activities and create new activities to better meet the general principles of vocabulary instruction and learning.
This will be a 3 hour presentation. Participants should bring a text book they are currently using for examination in this workshop.

Saturday, May 17th, 2003

Two Papers on Student Performance

Speaker: Peter Burden, Dr. Paul Hullah
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sat., May 17th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen, students 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: Date is subject to change. contact burden-p@osu.ac.jp
There are two topics today. The title of the first is:
How do Japanese students perceive success and failure?: A study using Attribution Theory
Peter Burden.
This paper attempts to shed light on ways in which Japanese learners interpret and construct reasons for their success and failure in learning a foreign language, and how they make sense of their learning situation. Students' own attributions of the success or failure of their English language learning were analysed, and results of a questionnaire of 231 University students suggested that learners saw ability and effort as being principal attributions for success and failure. Although many learners stated that they sometimes felt success in learning English, the relatively low number of attributions suggests that learners need a focus for their studies, need to learn how to use appropriate strategies, and to be encouraged to perform metacognitive self-monitoring to raise expectancy of success. The use of co-operative rather than competitive goal structures would create positive interdependence to overcome failure acceptance or "learned helplessness."
The second topic today is entitled:
Is L2 Oral Test Performance Affected by Audio Stimulus Genre?
Dr. Paul Hullah.
Recent research has shown that L2 performance is influenced by a number of variables, including topic, rhetorical structure, purpose, and audience. At a 1997 JALT Seminar, Hullah presented experimental research findings to demonstrate specifically that written stimulus genre also significantly affects L2 written test performance. But current L2 testing may also seek to elicit spoken language from learners using prompts presented in audio form. Students may be asked to summarize, or comment upon the style or content of a stimulus. However, to the best of the speaker's knowledge, the effect on learner spoken performance of audio prompt genre has not yet been subjected to formal study. Hullah thus decided to repeat the 1997 experiment with attention turned now to audio input and oral response. This paper describes the subsequent experiment, conducted with subjects comprising a group of Japanese university graduates, and presents the results. The implications of these new study findings are of clear significance to ELT teachers and testers.

Saturday, June 14th, 2003

Three Presentations

Speaker: Chikako Shimobayashi, Kyoko Burden, Noriko Matsuda
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sat., June 14th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen, students 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: Date is subject to change. contact burden-p@osu.ac.jp
Come hear three 30-minute presentations on a range of topics. The presenters are all MA Postgraduates from Okayama University.

Collaborative listening: Using dictogloss tasks to foster learners' language development.
Presenter: Chikako Shimobayashi.
The presenter made a hypothesis that collaborative work was more effective than individual work and designed an experiment so that learners performed it individually and then collaboratively on two kinds of dictogloss tasks.
The role of L1 in Japanese non-native teachers' language classrooms: An analysis of codeswitching behaviors.
Presenter: Kyoko Burden.
This study reveals how effectively non-native-speaking English teachers code-switched into Japanese in conversation-based lessons. Four Japanese teachers of English were observed and video-recorded, and analysis reveals three code-switching mechanisms identified among the teachers: switching on students' signals, spontaneous switching, and intentional switching.
A story-based approach to teaching English to primary school children.
Presenter: Noriko Matsuda.
This is a short report of an approach based on children's stories, which investigated the listening comprehension of 11 sixth graders in an elementary school.

There will also be a discussion on introducing a "Local Membership scheme" for JALT chapters.

Sunday, July 27th, 2003

Two Presentations: Peer Review and Counseling Techniques

Speaker: Yoshiko Kondo and Scott Gardner; Raphael O'Donoghue
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sun., July 27th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen, students 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: Becoming A Better Peer Reviewer: How Can Peer Review Practice Help Improve teacher practice (Yoshiko Kondo and Scott Gardner)
Peer Review is an activity widely used as part of process writing. However, some teachers are skeptical of its effectiveness because of students' inadequacy in responding with helpful and constructive advice. Kondo and Gardner conducted a study to explore ways for the students to become effective reviewers.
Reasons For and Methods Of Integrating Counseling Techniques into the Classroom (Raphael O'Donoghue)
This presentation tries to show the value and the means of having a counseling orientation as part of the language teacher's basic philosophy of teaching and learning. The presentation explains various counseling approaches as they could be applied in the classroom. Specific counseling approaches and techniques are then explained in the context of particularlanguage learners and particular learning tasks.

Saturday, October 18th, 2003

Dealing with Depth of Word Knowledge

Speaker: Brent Wolter, Okayama University
Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Sat., October 18th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): 1000 yen, students 500 yen
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Sankaku A Bldg. 2F
Description: In this lecture, Brent Wolter discusses the meaning and importance of depth of word knowledge and how it effects second language learners. After this, he explains some of the current approaches to assessing depth of word knowledge, and their limitations. He finishes by presenting his own approach to assessing depth of work knowledge, which views it in terms of the degree to which connections have been formed between words in the mental lexicon. Brent Wolter is an Associate Professor at Okayama University. (After Brent's speech, the Okayama Chapter will hold their chapter elections.)

Thursday, November 27th, 2003

Passport or Excess Baggage? Current Concerns in Socio-Cultural Training

Speaker: Simon Greenall
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM (Thu., November 27th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): free
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Okayama University, Department of Education
Description: This talk will examine what and how to teach a socio-cultural syllabus strand in a multi-syllabus course design, and why. It will focus on socio-cultural training:

at lower levels,
in monocultural groups,
to develop an awareness of the learner's own cultural identity.

Three types of topics will be covered:

Social conventions and rituals, such as forms of greeting, making introductions, personal space etc.
Customs and traditions, such as weddings, festivals, gift giving, dating customs, etc.
Attitudes and beliefs, such as superstition, networking, face, time etc.

The talk will suggest that socio-cultural training is not an optional extra, or excess baggage, but an essential component of a language course, and the passport to effective communication.

Saturday, December 13th, 2003

Games and Activities; Fluency and Accuracy

Speaker: Stephen Crabbe, Oxford University Press
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM (Sat., December 13th, 2003)
Fee (JALT members): free
Fee (One-Day members): free
Prefecture: Okayama
City: Okayama
Venue: Okayama Sankaku building near Omotecho
Description: There are two presentations today.

Games and activities for young learners: 3:10 to 3:55
This workshop will introduce a variety of games and activities aimed at motivating in the 6 to 12 year old age range. It will particularly concentrate on games using cards and music.
Fluency vs. Accuracy: Which is more important? 4:10 to 4:55pm
This workshop will look at various issues related to fluency and accuracy in the classroom. It will concentrate particularly on activities for college and university age students.

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