Welcome to Fukuoka JALTThis is the official Website for the Fukuoka chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT). JALT, a dynamic nonprofit organization, supports language teaching, learning and research both within Japan and internationally.
▼ Upcoming Events ▼
May Event: Exploratory Practice: 'Quality of life' as a principle for research into language learning and teaching
Date: May 25th, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Speaker: Judith Hanks (University of Leeds) Description: Fukuoka JALT is pleased to announce that one of the Pan SIG conference plenary speakers, Judith Hanks, will come to Fukuoka to give a presentation at our chapter. In recent decades Exploratory Practice (EP) has emerged as a way of combining research and pedagogy in language classrooms. Based on a framework of principles for research and pedagogy, EP recommends prioritizing 'quality of life' as the fundamental issue for practitioners to consider (Allwright, 2003, 2005; Allwright & Hanks, 2009; Gieve & Miller, 2006; Hanks, 2013; Miller, 2009). But what does this mean in practice? In this seminar I will consider the EP principle of 'quality of life' as practitioners work together to understand classroom language learning life. Drawing on a number of case studies from around the world, I will examine the notions of developing understanding(s), collegial working, and mutual development which are central to the EP approach. Participants will be invited to discuss their own experiences of language learning and teaching, and consider ways of researching classroom language learning life. We will end by considering future challenges and opportunities for EP in Japan. Allwright, D. (2003). Exploratory Practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching. Language Teaching Research, 7(2), 113-141. Allwright, D. (2005). Developing principles for practitioner research: The case of Exploratory Practice. The Modern Language Journal, 89(3), 353-366. Allwright, D., & Hanks, J. (2009). The Developing Language Learner: An introduction to Exploratory Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Gieve, S., & Miller, I.K. (2006). What do we mean by 'Quality of Classroom Life'? In S. Gieve & I.K. Miller (Eds.), Understanding the Language Classroom (pp. 18-46). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Hanks, J. (2013). Inclusivity and trust in Exploratory Practice: A case study of principles in practice. In E. Tarone & D. Soneson (Eds.), Expanding our Horizons: Language teacher education in the 21st century. Minneapolis: CARLA. Miller, I.K. (2009). 'Puzzle-driven' Language Teacher Development: The contribution of Exploratory Practice. In T. Yoshida, H. Imai, Y. Nakata, A. Tajino, O. Takeuchi & K. Tamai (Eds.), Researching Language Teaching and Learning: An integration of practice and theory (pp. 77-93). Bern: Peter Lang. Cost: JALT Members: free Non-members: 1,000 yen Venue: Seinan Community Center, 2F meeting room (map to the venue) Post-meeting social All attendees are invited to participate! Time: 20:10 - Place: Bimi Nan (092-407-0646) Cost: 3000 yen All-we-can-drink (beer, chuhai and soft drink), and set menu. (If we have a large group, Bimi Nan will put on a buffet for us.) June event: So you want to publish an EFL textbook? Four Points of View to Consider when Writing a Proposal--The Myths and Realities of EFL Publishing in Japan
Date: June 15th, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Speaker: Todd Jay Leonard (Fukuoka University of Education) Description: This presentation will outline the current publishing market in Japan for EFL/ESL textbooks by reviewing the various points of views of the publishing industry. The presenter, Todd Jay Leonard, has published extensively within the ESL/EFL market in Japan and will offer helpful advice to budding authors who wish to pursue projects geared to Japan's domestic market. Most likely, every language teacher in Japan has (at some point during his/her tenure) contemplated writing a textbook to fill a void in the market...in that constant search for the perfect, all encompassing textbook. In today's competitive publishing world, getting the proverbial "foot in the door" can seem daunting and nearly impossible. What are publishers looking for in the current market? What appeals to editors who ultimately decide which titles go to production and which ones do not? What are the salespeople on the front lines hearing from their market base? What must an author do in order to get his/her book published? This presentation focuses on these very questions, offering inside insights from all the various points of view that must be considered when writing a proposal to publish a textbook--the publisher, the editor, the salesperson, and the author. Professor Leonard explains the realities within the publishing industry and addresses some common myths associated with EFL publishing. Todd Jay Leonard has been actively involved in book publishing for over twenty years and has published twenty books, with several more in the works. He has published books with a number of different Japanese publishing companies and this experience has given him a unique perspective in offering advice to potential authors on what the market is looking for currently and what the publishing industry is searching for in new titles. About the Author: Todd Jay Leonard lives, writes, and teaches on the southern island of Kyushu, where he is a university professor at Fukuoka University of Education. He has published extensively in academic journals, magazines and newspapers on cross-cultural, historical, and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) themes. He is the author of 20 books. Cost: JALT Members: free Non-members: 1,000 yen Venue: Seinan Community Center, 2F meeting room (map to the venue) Post-meeting social All attendees are invited to participate! Time: 20:10 - Place: TBA  ▼ Completed Events ▼ March Event: Cross-Linguistic Variations in Second Language Reading Development: Research and PracticeDate: Saturday, March 30th, 2013 Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speakers: Keiko Koda (Carnegie Mellon University) Description: In all languages, learning to read entails making links between a spoken language and its writing system. In second language reading, the linking process is far more complex because it involves two languages and their writing systems. Models of monolingual reading cannot adequately explain how reading skills are acquired, refined, and maintained in two languages. In this talk, Dr. Koda will demonstrate how second language reading development is constrained jointly by the two languages involved, and in so doing, explain how it is facilitated by previously acquired reading skills. Keiko Koda (Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) is Professor of Second Language Acquisition and Japanese in the Department of Modern Languages at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests include second language reading, biliteracy development and foreign language pedagogy. She has edited and co-edited special issues of Language Learning and Reading in a Foreign Language. Her publications include Insights into Second Language Reading (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Reading and Language Learning (Blackwell, 2007) and Learning to Read across Languages (Routledge, 2008). This meeting was co-sponsored by Kurume University, whose generous donation helped bring Prof. Koda to Fukuoka for this presentation. Cost: JALT Members: free Non-members: 1,000 yen Venue: Venue: Seinan Community Center, 2F meeting room (map to the venue) 
March post-meeting social All attendees are invited to participate! Date: March 30th Time: 20:10 - Place: Aiyara Thai Restaurant, Nishijin (map: http://goo.gl/maps/XBP82) Cost: 3,000 yen for nomihodai (all-you-can-drink of beer and wine) and a set menu. Learning to perform narrative tasks in the L2 classroom: A longitudinal intact-group semester long study of task sequencing effects
Date: Saturday, January 26th, 2013
Time: 18:00 - 20:00 Speaker: Craig Lambert Description: Learning to perform narrative tasks in the L2 classroom: A longitudinal intact-group semester long study of task sequencing effects. Lambert, C. & Robinson, P. (To appear in early 2014). In Baralt, M., Gilabert, R. & Robinson, P. (Eds). Task Sequencing in Instruction Second Language Learning. London: Continuum Books. The talk will consist of three section of 20 minutes each followed by discussion. The first will provide an overview the SSARC model of L2 task sequencing. The second will talk about a set of teaching material designed for Japanese university-level English majors based on this model. Finally, the third segment will discuss the results of a classroom-based research design which compared the gains of learners who were taught with these materials to those who were taught with a content-based approach to instruction. Craig Lambert is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Studies at the University of Kitakyushu. His publications have focus on the effects of task design factors on L2 production, task-based needs analysis, and task-based materials planning. Cost: JALT Members: free Non-members: 1,000 yen Venue: Seinan Community Center, 1F meeting room (map to the venue) *Please note that this is not our usual meeting room. Post-meeting social Date: January 26th Time: 20:10 - Place: Bimi Nan (092-407-0646) Cost: 3000 yen All - we - can - drink (beer, chuhai and soft drink), and set menu Testing and Teaching: Myths and Misunderstandings
Date: Saturday, February 16th, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Speaker: Trevor Holster (Fukuoka Women's University) Description: Standardized tests are often seen as harmful for language instruction. While much of this criticism is justified, many claims are founded on myths and misunderstandings. One criticism is that standardized tests are inherently summative, intended to summarize ability as a single score, whereas teacher assessments have beneficial formative properties. Formative and summative tests, however, are based on the same process of assessment, and thus "formative" and "summative" refer to the end use of the assessment rather than the assessment process. Washback, the effect of tests on teaching and learning, is also seen as a negative result of standardized tests, in particular on "curriculum narrowing", where instruction focuses on test content. However, research shows washback to reflect beliefs about tests and teaching as much as the actual features of tests, so reducing harmful washback requires changing the beliefs of end users as much as changing the design of tests. A further misconception is that multiple-choice standardized tests provide objective measurement, whereas performance tests involving judges are inherently subjective. This view confuses objective scoring with objective measurement of ability, and it will be argued that not only can judged performances provide objective measurement, but also that subjectivity is an inherent problem in the choice of tasks and content in any test. An important implication of this is that classroom assessments intended for formative purposes can be combined with standardized tests intended for summative purposes. As well as providing formative benefits and reducing curriculum narrowing, this can improve the validity of testing for summative purposes. The presenter will propose that the harm caused by standardized assessments results from their high-stakes, low frequency, and misunderstandings by end users about their nature, that this harm can be reduced through more frequent assessments with lower stakes, and that this is best addressed by combining standardized tests and classroom assessments. Trevor Holster has a Master's degree in TESOL, specializing in curriculum design and materials writing. His research interests include the integration of classroom assessment with instruction, performance based testing, peer-assessment, and placement testing. He is the Membership Chair of the JALT Testing and Evaluation SIG. Cost: JALT Members: free Non-members: 1,000 yen Venue: Seinan Gakuen University Community Center 2F Meeting Room (map to the venue) Post-meeting social All attendees are invited to participate! We'll have a sign-up sheet at the meeting. Date: February 16th Time: 20:10 - Place: Bimi Nan (092-407-0646) Cost: 3,000 yen per person All you can drink (beer, chuhai, soft drinks), plus set menu (Indian food: nan, curry, etc.) BBQ Hanami Party in the Park!
Come and round off the spring break with cherry blossoms and a BBQ in Ohori Koen on Sunday March 31st. We'll light the grills around noon, and start cooking when the grills are hot!
Oxford University Press have kindly offered to provide drinks (while supplies last). BYO soft drinks and "reserve supplies". JALT will organize the grills, charcoal, and food, and ask for a donation of ¥1000 per person on the day (children in elementary school or younger eat for free). Please see this Google map for the general location, then look out for the blue JALT banner when you're close. Hope to see you there! April Event: (1) TOEIC for Lower Level Students; (2) Online Placement and Practice TestsDate: Saturday, April 20th, 2013 Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Speakers: (1) Grant Trew; (2) Oliver Bayley Description: There are two presentations today. TOEIC® for lower level students Grant Trew The TOEIC® is a challenging test and especially so for lower ability learners. The level of vocabulary, length of the passages, and the speed of the listening sections pose problems, not only for test takers who need high scores, but also for teachers trying to prepare them to take the test. This presentation will use actual test questions to illustrate the challenges these students and teachers face, and outline an approach to helping these learners raise not only their test scores, but also their overall communicative ability. Grant Trew has been working in the field of ELT for nearly 25 years as a teacher, trainer and materials developer in Asia, the UK, and the Middle East. He is the author of a number of ELT books including the ‘Tactics for TOEIC®’ series for Oxford University Press. Online Placement and Practice Tests: What are they and should I use them? Oliver Bayley Placement testing can be time-consuming and complex for schools, teachers and students. However, the internet now provides online alternatives to the traditional oral or paper and pen test for both adults and children. In this presentation, participants will consider:
Oliver Bayley is the Learning and Assessment Manager at Oxford University Press Japan. A graduate of the University Of Birmingham, his interests include CALL, Learning Management Systems, online gaming, and assessment. Cost: JALT Members: free Non-members: free (This event is co-sponsored by Oxford University Press) Venue: Seinan Community Center, 2F meeting room (map to the venue) Post-meeting social All attendees are invited to participate! Date: April 20th Time: 20:10 - Place: Bimi Nan (092-407-0646) Cost: 3000 yen All-we-can-drink (beer, chuhai and soft drink), and set menu. (If we have a large group, Bimi Nan will put on a buffet for us.) |
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