Hello, and welcome to another monthly edition of JALT Talk, the announcements newsletter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching. A lot of information about the 2022 JALT International Conference has just become available (or will become available by early next week), so that basically dominates the first half of this newsletter. Our July ZPD (Zoom for Professional Development) starts an hour earlier on Friday, July 29 (7 PM - 8 PM), and in addition to our usual themed breakout rooms, we'll have a breakout room dedicated to the November conference, so please bring your questions. (http://bit.ly/ZPDRSVP to register for the Zoom link.)
By the way, the shorthand name for our conference in November is "JALT2022". The long name is "The JALT 48th Annual Conference on Language Teaching and Learning & Educational Materials Exhibition."
In this issue:
Job listings
JALT receives a number of job advertisements each month. If you're looking for a new position, please check out our job posts on our JALT Publications site: https://jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/career-development-corner/jobs
Hotels for JALT2022: Book soon!
Fukuoka will be busy the weekend of November 11-14. In addition to JALT2022, the sumo tournament will start, and there will be a city marathon.
To assist with information on travel reservations see https://jalt.org/conference/jalt2022/accommodation. JTB has partnered with JALT to help conference goers book necessary accommodation. The JALT Central Office will not accept payment for hotel or travel reservations nor will it be responsible for any mistaken payment of these. Please make reservations at your own initiative, or contact our agent, JTB Global Marketing and Travel Inc. jalt2022@gmt.jtb.jp.
If you want to make your own reservations (such as through https://hotels.com or https://travel.rakuten.co.jp) and want some advice, my personal recommendation as a long-term resident of Fukuoka is taking a look at the Fukuoka BRT bus route, because this bus (1) stops right in front of the conference venue, (2) has English announcements, (3) is the only yellow double-length bus around, so it’s easy to spot. These buses come every 15 minutes, run in a loop (clockwise and counterclockwise), and have distinctive bus stops.
JALT2022 is In Person
JALT2022 sees a return to the face-to-face format, but we are not strictly staying face-to-face. JALT2022 will bring a hybrid experience to our flagship conference event. We will have a curated number of presentations that will have presenters giving a physical onsite presentation to both live and online audiences, and this is just one of the many highlights regarding this conference.
Early Bird Registration (lower prices) ends October 31
You can register online, by postal payment (postal furikae), or onsite. We encourage you to take advantage of the lower early bird registration rates by registering by 31 October 2022. See https://jalt.org/conference/jalt2022/registration for details.
Childcare at JALT2022
There will be accessible onsite childcare at the Fukuoka International Congress Center. These services will be operated by an outside agency and mediated by JALT. More information regarding sign-up forms, schedules, payments, and procedures will be provided for those who wish to use the childcare options.
JALT2022 Guardian Program
If you wish to bring a caretaker to the conference, for whatever necessary situation you have, JALT will provide that person with a conference so they can freely enter the facilities and travel around as necessary to perform their duties. Please email our Central Office - jco@jalt.org - with the name and reason this person needs to be in attendance. If you have any questions, please email our JALT Central Office.
Volunteer Editor Needed for CUE Circular
JALT's CUE SIG is looking for someone to step up as chief editor for our online CUE Circular. If you don't know what that is, you have been missing out on some really good pedagogically related material from many teachers. Look here to see past copies: http://jaltcue.org/cuecircular "CUE Circular [is] a forum for discussing what really matters to us [teachers] in a practical sense. [It is] more concerned with publishing short (1,000-word), accessible, interesting articles concerned with the day-to-day realities of teaching and learning in our sector" in a casual, not academic style. In order to do this and get teachers' stories out quickly, we publish only three articles per issue.
The editor will work with two experienced assistant editors and the team of CUE proofreaders, so the duties are to seek out and receive potential articles, then work with the assistant editors to vet and edit them. Additional material for the CUE Circular has been conceived, and the new editor will have input on whether/how they can be implemented. This position is therefore an exciting one, not a mere routine role. We are hoping to hear from creative, organized people to take this over and put out 2-3 issues per year.
Contact Glen Hill with inquiries glenahill@gmail.com
6th CUE ESP Symposium
As usual, the CUE SIG offers its poster-only symposium for topics related to teaching, learning, or using English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
Date: Saturday, September 24, 2022
Deadline for submissions (75-100 word abstract for poster): Sunday, August 28, 2022
Click here to submit.
This will be an online event. Keynote speakers are Joseph Falout, Matthew Apple, and Glen Hill, who will speak on "STEM English: Student empowerment and a new frontier". Details on registration to be announced.
Setting up a new World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca Special Interest Group
There isn’t a SIG for English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) or what is variously called World Englishes, English as an international language, or English in a global context. So, why not set one up? Feel free to use which of the latter terms you prefer. ‘World Englishes’ (WE) seems to be a good choice for the name of the SIG because it at least has the virtue of comparative brevity!
These terms probably don’t need introduction, but for anyone who may not be familiar with them I’ll put them in a nutshell. ELF refers to the use of English as an additional language to communicate with people who primarily also don’t have it as their first language. More precisely, ELF is a research project that attempts to theorise and empirically study such interactions and how English is changed when they occur. WE refers to the diverse communities around the world in which English is now used in life, as a part of the furniture, if you will. It should be said that both ELF and WE are contested concepts in several ways. Some people would object to the pluralization of English and prefer just to refer to World English, for example. That is perfectly reasonable. Part of the idea of forming the SIG is not only to have a space to discuss and collaborate on these ideas, it’s also to critically engage with them. So, if these things interest you, please add your details to the ‘petition’ (don’t fear, it’s not like complaining to the government). Note that by signing the petition you do not have to become a member and pay the joining fee. If you’re interested, but not sure about joining yet please fill out the short form anyway because we need 30 people to do that to get the SIG started. Thank you! https://forms.gle/1QovK7ALs5QmXYxk9
Setting up a new English For Academic Purposes Special Interest Group.
There isn’t a SIG for English for Academic Purposes (EAP), so why not set one up? EAP may seem to be a narrow area of interest, but there’s actually quite a lot to discuss and learn about. Firstly, EAP is changing. Compare, say, Hinkel’s approach in Teaching Academic ESL Writing (2004) to Liyanage and Walker English for Academic Purposes in Asia (2014) to see how things are changing. There is also a lot to discuss in terms of pedagogical methods, textbooks, and materials design. Also, often EAP is primarily thought of as being about writing, but EAP in spoken communication is also deserving of attention. So, if these things interest you, please add your details to the ‘petition’ (don’t fear, it’s not like complaining to the government). Note that by signing the petition you do not have to become a member and pay the joining fee. If you’re interested, but not sure about joining yet please fill out the short form anyway because we need 30 people to do that to get the SIG started. Thank you!
https://forms.gle/detRukTJFp7FrtZv9
Hinkel, E. (2004). Teaching academic ESL writing. Practical techniques in vocabulary and grammar. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Liyanage, I. & Walker, T. (Eds.), (2014). English for academic purposes in Asia: Negotiating appropriate practices in a global context. Sense Publishers.
REMINDER: The JALT Research Grant Application Period closes September 30th
Each year, JALT awards up to three grants for a maximum of 100,000 yen each for research on language teaching in Japan. Only JALT members who have no outside funding sources to conduct research are eligible to apply. The grant aims to support language teachers in their professional development and encourage teachers to engage in classroom-based research. Grant applications are collected each summer and vetted by the JALT Research Grants Committee. Winners of the grants receive funding before the start of the following school year, during which they conduct their studies, provide quarterly reports, and receive guidance from the committee. After completing the research, winners are invited to give presentations on their projects at the JALT national conference and publish a paper in the Language Teacher. The deadline for proposals for projects starting in the 2023 school year is September 30th, 2022.
The research grant application form can be found here: https://forms.gle/jYhbU458qJMbJDxMA
Recent JALT Publications
For a full list of all of JALT's publications (including SIGs, chapters, and conferences), please see https://jalt.org/main/publications
JALT has published the Language Teacher - Issue 46.4; July 2022 https://jalt.org/main/tlt
The JALT PanSIG Conference has published the PanSIG Journal 2021 (Selected articles from the 2021 PanSIG Conference) https://pansig.org/pansig-publications
Mind, Brain, and Education has released Missed in 2020 Mind, Brain, and education Think Tank+: July 2022. This issue contains pieces that our readers chose as the best from 2020, and with topics ranging from introversion, predictive processing, positive psychology, embodiment, and the social brain, there is something for everyone to enjoy! 今月号は2020年の記事の中から読者が選んだ「ベスト」を再掲載しています。トピックは、内向性・予測処理・ポジティブ心理学・身体性・脳の社会性、きっとお好みの記事が見つかるはずです。 https://www.mindbrained.org
Upcoming JALT Events
Event details: https://jalt.org/events
29 July 2022, 7:00pm
July ZPD (one hour earlier!)
30 July 2022, 3:00pm to 5:00pm
Post-it Presentations: Collegial support for your practice
Okayama Chapter
31 July 2022, 1:30am
July 31st Fukui JALT Event: Narrative Inquiry of ALT Identity
31 July 2022, 10:30am to 11:30am
Becoming Ideal Classmates (BIC) Research: 10 years of Becomings
Tokyo Chapter
31 July 2022, 1:30pm to 4:00pm
Making words come alive by Readers Theatre
Toyohashi Chapter
31 July 2022, 7:00pm
PresentERs (July): A short talk about extensive reading from one of our members
Extensive Reading SIG
05 August 2022, 12:00am to 11:55pm
Extensive Reading Around the World 2022 (ERAW2022)
Extensive Reading SIG
21 August 2022, 10:00am to 5:00pm
OkiJALT Summer Symposium 2022
Okinawa Chapter
21 August 2022, 2:00pm
TEVAL SIG & Gunma JALT present Successful Conversation Tests: Basic Principles & Techniques
27 August 2022, 9:45am to 5:15pm
NEAR Language Education Conference 2022
Niigata Chapter and GILE SIG
28August2022, 7:00pm
PresentERs (August)
Extensive Reading SIG
That's all for this month. You can subscribe and / or access back issues here. Alternatively, if you'd rather not receive more information from JALT, you can unsubscribe here: https://hosted.jalt.org/membermail/unsubscribe-success.php?c=121
Best regards,
Bill Pellowe
JALT Director of Public Relations
pr@jalt.org
http://jalt.org
I'm looking forward to seeing so many JALT people come to my home city of Fukuoka for the Annual JALT International Conference on November 11-14, 2022. https://jalt.org/conference