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Saturday 9:50 am - 10:20 am
A case study of Amazon Alexa and L2 learning
Gilbert Dizon
JALTCALL 2018 paper 410 Saturday 9:50 am - 10:20 am
The use of intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) such as Siri and Google Assistant has risen in popularity due to the ubiquity of smartphones. However, very few studies have examined their use with L2 learners. This presentation will detail a case study that fills this gap in the literature by investigating the use of Alexa, an IPA developed by Amazon, with four EFL students at a Japanese university. The study had two primary goals: to assess the accuracy of Alexa to understand L2 English utterances and examine the students’ views towards the IPA. To achieve these objectives, three sets of data were collected: learner-generated command performance, interactive storytelling performance, and interviews. Each learner interacted with Alexa individually for approximately 20 minutes in a single session and were interviewed afterward. Results from the study revealed that while Alexa’s accuracy to understand L2 English utterances was low in terms of learner-generated commands, interactive storytelling responses were comprehended by the IPA at a much higher rate. Regarding the students’ opinions of Alexa, three themes were identified: 1) hindered learner efficiency due to the lack of L1 support, 2) improved learner effectiveness through indirect pronunciation feedback, and 3) better access to conversational opportunities. The results indicate that IPAs like Alexa may be potentially useful for language learning and demonstrate the necessity for more research into their use with L2 learners.
Creating an augmented reality app for an enhanced self-access tour
Erin Frazier, Euan Bonner
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 408 Saturday 9:50 am - 10:20 am
Self-access Learning Centers (SALCs) include not only the materials learners need, but also information on how the available facilities can best aid users. However finding a way to introduce these resources to visitors and learners often relies on providing guided tours that by definition do not follow the pedagogy of learner autonomy and limit the experience in order to be of use to the widest variety of users. This show and tell presentation explores the development and implementation of the first iteration of a learner autonomy focused self-access tour app utilizing mobile devices and augmented reality (AR). This app was custom designed using 3D modelling software and app development programs by the presenters. Attendees at the presentation will get the opportunity to experience first-hand how AR can encourage people to get interested in SALCs and take control of their learning from the very moment they arrive. Presenters will provide an explanation of the SALC’s implementation of AR along with the considerations, limitations and lessons learned. It will conclude with some of the future prospects for the app and ideas for other teachers looking to implement similar ideas at their own schools. The presenters believe that attendees will leave with a better understanding of some of the wide ranging capabilities AR now presents within education.
Voice recordings to facilitate spoken interactions
Christopher Tempest
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 407 Saturday 9:50 am - 10:20 am
While there have been some advances and progress in English education in Japan, grammar, reading and test preparation remain the dominant focus at secondary level. As a result, students often arrive at the university ELT context unaccustomed to taking an active role in speaking activities. To address this, an experimental curriculum over one semester was established as an intervention to focus on recorded spoken interactions between students using the Moodle platform. The semester was organised by topics relating to existing curriculum outcome goals and new topics. Each topic was covered over two lessons among three different classes. In the first lesson, students engaged with a variety of speaking materials, vocabulary and conversation practice. In the second lesson, students practiced speaking with multiple partners before recording themselves with a random partner for two minutes. For both mid-term and final assessments, students produced an extended recording of conversation over eight minutes in a three-person group. Students subsequently transcribed their spoken interactions for reflection and later assessment. This presentation discusses the processes involved in this intervention. It provides examples of material used within the tasks and explains the system students used to record their conversations and reflect upon them. It also provides information about some technical challenges. Finally, it provides some feedback from participating students who reported enjoying the process and engaging positively with the intervention.
The impact of 21st-century skills on teaching EFL
Hiroyuki Obari
JALTCALL 2018 paper 402 Saturday 9:50 am - 10:20 am
The aim of this study is to explore the integration of 21st-century skills (Trilling & Fadel, 2012) into teaching EFL with ICT. This study suggests that integrating flipped learning with 21st-century skills may be an effective approach to improving the learners’ language proficiency. The study began in April 2017 and ended in January 2018, targeting 70 Japanese undergraduates. The students were exposed to the following training: (1) viewed online TED Talks and MOOCs about Asuka Academy with their smartphones, and wrote a 300-word summary for ten weeks, created PowerPoint presentations of their summaries, (2) used online ATR CALL Brix for learning TOEIC with their smartphones and PCs; (3) used Globalvoice CALL speech software to improve their prosodic features in presentation; (4) engaged in additional interactions and discussions throughout the duration of the course. Results of the study revealed that the training program had assisted the students in improving their English proficiency from SEFR A2 to SEFR B1 level, and acquiring the 21st-century skills through collaboration with ICT and mobile technologies during the 10-month period. Additionally, pre-and post-questionnaires administered to the students at the beginning and the end of the training period to help evaluate the effectiveness of the program. 90% of students who participated in this study felt that flipped and active learning activities helped them to improve their English proficiency skills and acquire the 21-century skills.
Scaffolding pronunciation: Reader-friendly text annotation
John Blake
JALTCALL 2018 paper 406 Saturday 9:50 am - 10:20 am
At the University of Aizu, undergraduate students have to deliver a thesis presentation in English to graduate. When users of English as an additional language lack confidence in their ability to formulate sentences from bullet points, they tend to resort to writing complete sentences. However, reading a script aloud is still challenging. The delivery tended to be staccato and monotonic. The main contributing factors are the lack of pausing, intonation and sentence stress. With a better grasp of pausing, intonation and stressing content words more than grammar words, presentation delivery could be improved. To facilitate this, we created an online web application that automatically annotates presentation scripts. The core features are the automated annotation of the position and length of pauses (indicated by slashes), marking the end of sentences with rising or falling intonation (shown by arrowheads) and distinguishing content words (shown in a larger bolded font). Additional features that can also be annotated include problematic digraphs, (e.g. /th/, /ed/). For these features, differently coloured backgrounds are used for voiced, voiceless and vowel-inserted sounds. A final, more advanced function focuses on word juncture and indicates whether and how consecutive words connect. Pilot trials (n=16) showed that all lower-level learners (CEF < B2) improved their presentation delivery. Using this tool students can understand how to read their script, and practise their presentation with little or no supervision from their teacher. The Pronunciation Scaffolder will be demonstrated and suggestions on its usage will be shared.
Talk to me: speech technologies in the language classroom
Paul Daniels
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 411 Saturday 9:50 am - 10:20 am
This showcase session will explore how natural language processing (NLP) can support speaking activities in the language classroom using web-based speech recognition engines. First the most popular speech engines by Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft will be briefly introduced. Next a series of practical speaking tasks that can be administered using these speech recognition technologies will be illustrated. Examples of speaking tasks that are typically assessed in the classroom will be demonstrated, which include imitative, intensive, responsive, interactive, and extensive tasks. Finally, the presenter will introduce his updated open source speech assessment plugin for Moodle that makes use of Google’s speech recognition engine. After installing this Moodle plugin, teachers can quickly create online speaking assignments that can be automatically scored by the computer. The speaking assignments can include text, custom text, image, audio or video prompts. Student speech can be captured and saved to a Moodle course for human evaluation or it can be transcribed and scored using a built-in speech scoring algorithm.
Saturday 9:50 am - 11:00 am
Increase average TOEIC and TOEFL scores with the All New WordEngine v3.0
Guy Cihi
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 403 Saturday 9:50 am - 11:00 am
One third of all words in all parts of TOEIC and TOEFL are low frequency words that your students will not meet in any of their EFL materials. This workshop will demonstrate how easy it is for students to quickly learn the specific vocabulary needed to score higher on TOEIC and TOEFL, as well as improve their overall proficiency and satisfaction with English. Learn how to start a WordEngine program; how and why WordEngine is effective, and how to easily motivate your students to attain their study goals. The all new WordEngine v3.0 is a high-speed vocabulary learning system that operates on all mobile devices and computers and costs only about 200 yen per month. Come learn how easy it is to make WordEngine a part of your overall strategy for learning outcome success.
The structure and design of a research app
Bob Cvitkovic
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 404 Saturday 9:50 am - 11:00 am
This workshop will describe the design process of an English language app created for data collection for a research project that was sponsored with funding from a MEXT grant. The app was designed to collect user metrics, test scores, and survey data. The emphasis of this workshop is not on the research results obtained, but on the design process that led to the completion of a working research app, which had data collection capability. In this presentation, the entire process will be covered, describing the software, hardware, and necessary skills required for successful completion. Additionally, this workshop will cover, 1) a high-level overview of the components necessary to construct an app so that it can be used for research data collection; 2) the necessary skills required to successfully complete a project of this complexity; 3) development tools (software, hardware, and websites) used during the project; and 4) the four stages of increasing resource commitment: a) planning, b) prototyping, c) development, and d) distribution. Participants will walk away with tips and hints to avoid many of the pitfalls when undertaking a similar project. Finally, the necessary project management skills required to successfully find, create, and manage a team will also be discussed. Participants are encouraged to ask questions throughout the workshop.
HyperDocs in the classroom (using Google Docs).
Daniel Beck
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 405 Saturday 9:50 am - 11:00 am
Internet access in classrooms has become the norm whether through traditional CALL rooms, school-provided WiFi, or student smartphones. This has made online productivity suites such as Google Apps a true asset for teachers desiring to create paper-free classrooms. Assignments can be submitted online via word processing programs, spreadsheets, presentation slides, and online forms within the same ecosystem all without requiring hard copies or even using email. Usually these tools are used separately. However, instruction can be delivered in a more integrated way using what is known as HyperDocs. This workshop will demonstrate how instruction and classroom management can be transformed using HyperDocs with free online tools to deliver personalized instruction, flexible grouping, collaboration, project-based learning, the inquiry method, blended learning, innovative learning spaces, and even distance learning. The workshop will include step-by-step instruction and real-life examples. Participants will be encouraged to bring a computer or smart device and to ask questions and share experiences and ideas.
Saturday 10:30 am - 11:00 am
Using informal online platforms to teach language: What and how?
Neil Cowie, Keiko Sakui
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 406 Saturday 10:30 am - 11:00 am
This show and tell presentation will report on the process of how two EFL teachers learned to become creators of digital teaching materials on the Udemy online learning platform. The presenters are not endorsing or representing Udemy, but it is the platform that they have created courses on. Udemy does not charge teachers to create courses but receives a proportion of any course fee that students pay. Even so, teachers do not have to charge students and can provide courses for free. The presentation will illustrate the development process that the teachers went through in three stages: Firstly, Udemy and other such platforms, such as Teachable and Skillshare, will be briefly described. Udemy is particularly helpful in providing guidance and advice for the first-time course creator. Examples of useful tips and help concerning video creation, marketing and promotion will be given. Next, the presenters will describe how they have made their online language courses on grammar (articles), small talk, and English for meetings. They will illustrate the basic process of creating online videos, animations, quizzes, and additional learning materials. This will include information about useful software and equipment. Finally, a number of key principles to follow in creating effective online language courses will be discussed and several implications for participants who wish to be better informed about the potential for teaching and learning languages online will be introduced.
Creating a fun and friendly environment: eight effective uses of technology for the EFL classroom
Jason Gold
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 407 Saturday 10:30 am - 11:00 am
This presentation will explain and demonstrate eight uses of technology and digital media in the EFL classroom. They consist of common tools that most teachers know of, or have access to, such as Excel, PowerPoint, smartphone cameras, and the online site Socrative. The eight uses can assist with streamlining classroom routines, getting to know students, relaxing students and creating a friendly environment, creating customized and interesting lessons or fun and engaging whole-class review activities, and simplified ways of conveying important messages to students at the beginning or end of class. In the presenter's experience, all are fairly simple to implement, practical, time-saving, and, most importantly, effective for classroom management and student learning. Instructors of any grade level of language learners will be able to integrate them into their classrooms and reap their benefits immediately.
Newsela for reading in low-level classes
Adam Joseph Garnica
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 408 Saturday 10:30 am - 11:00 am
Newsela is an online reading platform that levels news articles by the American educational standards known as Common Core. It utilizes vocabulary, comprehension questions, and summary writing activities for each article on the web and in their Newsela mobile app. Focused mainly on L1 speakers of English, I adapted the tool for low-level L2 learners of English in my sophomore university reading and writing courses. By using Newsela, students were able to identify of main and supporting ideas more frequently as well as attempt higher-level readings without prompting. Participants and the presenter will discuss how the tool integrates into the curriculum, how the Newsela app works, which issues arise, and how takeaways guide future integration of the Newsela app into reading and writing courses.
Digital games for language learning
Louise Ohashi
JALTCALL 2018 paper 409 Saturday 10:30 am - 11:00 am
Digital games can provide language learners with many affordances, both inside and outside the classroom. However, it is unclear how extensively they are used in English education in Japan. A meta-analysis of 429 articles that appeared between 2012 and 2016 in four Japan-based publications (The JALTCALL Journal, JALT Journal, The Language Teacher and The Asian Conference on Technology in the Classroom Conference Proceedings) shows that research into digital gaming in the Japanese EFL context was a focal point in only 1% of articles. To understand if the lack of coverage above aligned with actual practices, questionnaires were conducted with 215 educators and students from throughout Japan in December 2016. This presentation draws on data from those questionnaires to share information on teachers’ and learners’ uptake of and attitudes towards digital games, including their interest and reluctance in exploiting them as learning/teaching aids. The session will also draw on questionnaire data to provide some examples of games that educators can use in class with their learners or introduce to them for out-of-class use, and will share information on how they have and can be used to teach and learn English in formal and informal settings. It is hoped that attendees will take away knowledge of factors that impact upon learner and teacher uptake of digital games and find some useful new games they can use with or recommend to their students. The session will end with a short interactive demonstration of a freely available game that is popular among students.
Activities with Google Classroom
Nick Boyes
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 402 Saturday 10:30 am - 11:00 am
Google Classroom, a Learning Management System (LMS), just became available to the general public last year. Many teachers may not have considered using Google Classroom to enhance their classrooms. Students and teachers can easily access Google Classroom in a browser or via the app from a computer or smartphone. The main feature is called the “stream”. It functions as the newsfeed of all classroom posts. Teachers and students can easily share photos, videos, posts and links, and comment on these posts as well.
Its simple and intuitive design allows teachers to create a variety of activities to expand their classroom. Google Classroom has the potential to help add more content to classes and aid in flipping classrooms as well. Three classroom activities will be discussed: a “photo scavenger hunt”, “free write and comment”, and “continue the conversation” by posting a video or audio file. There will also be time for audience members to discuss activities they currently do or would like to try.
Online extensive reading - a digital approach supported with paper
Thom Rawson
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 411 Saturday 10:30 am - 11:00 am
Extensive Reading is a key component to the development of EFL learners in Japan. With all the online tools now available for supporting this process (MoodleReader, Mreader, Xreading VL), it is easy to prepare, organize, and track student activity to foster good reading habits. In this presentation, the use of Moodle to track student reading progress and a "inclusion of paper" approach will be discussed in detail. In this approach, students are given points for not only the words they have read, but also the amount of time they spend reading. Students self-log this time using the Moodle Database activity. Students make use of the books they read each week via in-class book discussions. These discussions are supported with the use of online weekly book reports which are also prepared in Moodle as an out-of-class assignment. As a result of combining the digital tracking with a hands-on paper approach, the author has experienced an increase in reading activity in the Reading Skills required course at the university. There is also a noticeably more positive outlook of the Extensive Reading process from the students based on the resulting grades in the course when compared with previous cohorts doing the same program. This Moodle course, an Honorable Mention in the Moodle Association of Japan's Best Open Courseware for 2017, is currently available for sharing by the Moodle community.
Saturday 11:10 am - 11:40 am
Creating a task-based, portfolio-driven presentation course - Serving English Table Meels
Roger Todd Beuckens
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 404 Saturday 11:10 am - 11:40 am
This presentation will demonstrate various tools teachers can use to create a medium-driven, task-based presentation course. The presenter will share an undergraduate level presentation course in which all assignments were task-based using various free online tools, be it freeware or free SAAS. This presentation will look at how the course was structured, how software was taught, what students created and how assignments and portfolios were assessed. In this course, assignments were structured according to various mediums: audio, imagery, video, slide presentation, and text. In the first half of the course, students created individual content about topics of their interest. In the second half of the course, students created content related to a larger joint project. This presentation will share the 20 plus software tools used in the course and tips for integrating them in a classroom environment.
Overcoming student reluctance to using smartphones for learning
Olivia Kennedy
JALTCALL 2018 paper 405 Saturday 11:10 am - 11:40 am
Problematic smartphone usage and dependency has been widely recognized (Al-Barashdi et al., 2015; Chóliz, 2012; Kwon et al., 2012; Pawlowska & Potembska, 2011). While some research (e.g., Stockwell, 2007; 2008) has investigated differences between how students use mobile devices in personal and learning contexts, little exploration exists on the relationship between dependency and how it affects uptake of CALL/MALL activities.
This presentation describes an exploratory study of thirty-six Japanese high school students that sought to understand their reluctance to use language learning applications (apps) in class. A 24-item 6-point Likert scale survey revealed the students’ conflicting feelings about their devices. Most felt very positively towards their phones, but at the same time felt controlled by incoming messages and social networking sites. Most also doubted that their device could be used as a learning tool, and thought that it had no role in a formal learning environment. Small group interview discussions were then conducted to try to understand the reasons for their opinions, and to try to find ways to overcome their resistance.
This reflective-practice presentation will describe the Timeboxing, adapted Pair Programming (Beck, K. et al., 2001) and mindfulness techniques that were eventually used to achieve the effective implementation of one application. Suggestions will be offered as to how practitioners in other contexts can adapt these tools to help overcome similar barriers to learning. The presentation will end with a discussion of the ideas introduced, their potential effectiveness and applicability in participant contexts.
Factors influencing the demand for online education/e-learning at higher education institutions in Japan
James Goddard
JALTCALL 2018 paper 407 Saturday 11:10 am - 11:40 am
Online distance education/e-learning has been the most rapidly growing sector of higher education in most industrialized countries, especially among adult learners. Meanwhile in Japan, e-learning has been static or shrinking since 2005. In a review of the literature, we will consult studies identifying factors that influence the demand for e-learning in other countries and compare those factors to the Japanese context. In Japan, the literature recognizes the logistical matters and perceptions seen to be negatively affecting the attractiveness and success of e-learning at all levels. In the case of adult learners, continued education/lifelong learning itself has been raised as a key issue as it has been asserted that a lack of perceived career reward has served to dampen demand for advanced degrees.
Developing pragmatics training materials for Japanese using web-based video clips
Khadijah Omar
JALTCALL 2018 paper 409 Saturday 11:10 am - 11:40 am
This paper describes the process of producing pragmatics training materials for Japanese language learning purposes. Pragmatic competence is the ability to use language appropriately in a particular situation. Research has shown that pragmatic awareness is something that can be taught, with the most important pedagogic feature being consciousness-raising, or drawing learners’ attention to salient aspects of the input. There have been various studies on pragmatics training in the Japanese language teaching field. Concepts from these empirical studies were applied by using video clips in web-based pragmatics instruction. Selected scenes from Japanese movies were edited and then uploaded to YouTube. Accompanying exercises in the form of consciousness-raising tasks were created using Google Forms, and the YouTube videos were embedded within. The exercises were based on contextual variables that influence the selection of expressions of gratitude and apology, and the lesson design followed an explicit-inductive approach. Sample tasks were identifying expressions and relationships, and assessing the appropriacy of expressions. Links to these exercises were stored on Google Sites to be accessed by learners during their own time. The materials were originally tested on a group of Japanese language learners. Based on their feedback, revisions were made to further improve the exercises, such as condensing the video clips and adding more information to clarify situations and explain answers. This self-access website is expected to facilitate learners in acquiring pragmatic skills that are applicable for all speech acts in Japanese.
New digital pedagogy for the learning of languages in HE – case study from Finland
Heidi Rontu
JALTCALL 2018 paper 410 Saturday 11:10 am - 11:40 am
Digital literacy and computer assisted learning of languages has rapidly developed into one of the main drivers of change in higher education (HE) in Finland. Language and communication proficiency is an integral, mandatory part of all (HE) degrees in Finland. This means that digital literacy has also become the key factor of change in the learning of language and communication.
For HE teachers digital literacy means embracing new (digi)pedagogical thinking and ways of working (e.g. Jalkanen & Taalas 2015, Laakkonen 2015, White 2015). However, for many teachers digital literacy is unclear and can cover almost anything electronic or web based. Teachers need shared discussions and joint efforts to understand digital literacy and its implementations in learning and teaching.
In this presentation, I will show data from a study on the development of digital literacy in a three-year teaching development project. The project focuses on the development of the learning of Finnish and Swedish, with digital literacy and its implementations as one of the main targets. There are 52 teachers from 12 different Finnish universities. The project contains survey data both on teachers' and students' digital competence in language learning. The data shows interesting results in the implementations and perceptions of digitalisation and different forms of computer assisted learning of languages. There is great variation both among teachers and among students as to how the learning of languages can benefit from digitalisation and what is successful implementation of digitalisation and computer assisted language learning.
Japanese students’ e-learning habits–Unchanged or new?
Shudong Wang, Douglas Jarrell
JALTCALL 2018 paper 412 Saturday 11:10 am - 11:40 am
Since 2010, both universities in which the authors teach have integrated PC-based e-learning or mobile learning programs into several English compulsory courses. Students’ online performances are evaluated and used in determining the grades for each course. The data accumulated over the years indicates both unchanged e-learning habits and new trends among Japanese university students. By analyzing the collected data coupled with information obtained from anonymous course questionnaires, we conclude that while some e-learning habits remain unchanged, several new learning habits have emerged. The unchanged e-learning habits include: 1) completion of e-learning tasks right before the deadline; 2) a tendency to start with the listening section when given both listening and reading online tasks. Data also shows that in recent years some new trends have appeared in students’ e-learning: 1) the number of students using smart phones to complete their e-learning tasks is on the rise; 2) the number of complaints about the small screens of handsets has decreased; 3) more students had experience with e-learning before they enter university; 4) students’ computer literacy has not improved alongside the rapid development in IT technology. Finally, the authors will discuss the possible reasons for the newly-emerged e-learning habits and how online learning can be made more effective by taking these changes into account.
Blended learning ecologies: Deconstructing online and face-to-face technologies
Don Hinkelman
JALTCALL 2018 paper 402 Saturday 11:10 am - 11:40 am
As teachers and learners blend face-to-face and online activities in foreign language programs, metaphors of technology are changing. While computers and other electronic devices have been the centre of attention of CALL research, blended learning programs are more concerned with the process of learning and configuring an ecosystem of activities, particularly focusing on synchronous classroom activity and "flipped" asynchronous activity. Blended learning evolves from the fields of collaborative learning, experiential learning, and facilitation, which have identified these face-to-face processes as "participative technologies". This study examines the roots of blended learning through dual site studies in Japan, examining the practice of university foreign language programs. Although ethnography often serves as a means of triangulation in a mixed method study (Nunan & Bailey, 2009), I chose this approach with three aims: 1) to gain insights from personal longitudinal data (a reflexive aim), 2) to produce insights on the meaning of technology (an interpretive aim), and 3) to build an alternative narrative that challenges current theory and practice (an interventionist aim). This 8-year strategy intends to overcome the temptation of ‘snapshot research’--examining a temporary ‘innovation’ rather than systematically examining longitudinal change (Benson & Nunan, 2005). To examine this professional practice, data collection used action research, institutional ethnography, and classroom ethnography. By using three post-modern interpretive frameworks (critical theory of technology, actor-network theory, ecological perspectives), thematic results showed that device-centric research was unable to cope with the vast complexity of blended language learning, and that a multi-dimensional metaphor of technology was required.
Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
Business majors’ language learning technology use preferences
Thomas E Bieri
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
This poster addresses preferences for language learning technology among Japanese students majoring in Business.
Researchers have noted the importance of considering language learner needs and interests in determining what instructional technology to use and how to apply it to courses (e.g. Egbert, 2011; Hubbard, 1996; McCombs & Vakili, 2005). The presenter engaged in a survey project regarding digital technology use in the Japanese university context and in order to understand their own specific context more clearly and to be able to make more informed decisions about effective learning technology use, the presenter identified a subset of respondents who indicated they were majoring in business studies of some type (n = 71). The presenter then examined these learners’ questionnaire responses regarding their preferences in the use of technology for language learning. There were 33 items based on the stem, “How do you generally feel about using each of the following kinds of applications or software for language learning or teaching?” Each item offered five choices: strongly oppose, slightly oppose, neutral, slightly approve, strongly approve. There were also three open-ended questions about the perceived advantages, disadvantages, and helps and hindrances to using technology in language learning.
This poster will chart the individual item responses, give an overall summary of trends in the results, and note some pedagogical implications for this and similar contexts. The presenter will also be prepared to discuss further details about their own teaching context, related teaching experiences, and other details about the research project.
Building Global Awareness and Responsible World Citizenship through Augmented and Virtual Realities in EFL Classrooms
Elisabeth Fernandes, Parisa Mehran
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
English language education no longer focuses merely on building and improving language skills, but also aims to develop independent-thinking learners and socially-responsible global citizens. Teachers play a vital role in helping achieve this. In this poster presentation, we report on our two projects, titled “How Can I Change the World? Bookmarks for Puerto Rico” and “A Virtual Trip to the Unseen Iran”, that we designed to encourage critical thinking, cultivate empathy, dispel stereotypes about the Middle East, with the focus on Iran, and develop global awareness in our students. First, we introduce the projects and share the story behind them. Next, we explain what augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are and how they can be used to enhance student learning, increase motivation and engagement, and improve the classroom environment. We also discuss how these cutting-edge technologies, also known as “empathy machines”, can be integrated into classroom activities to build global awareness and responsible world citizenship. Finally, we demo how we used augmented and virtual realities in our projects to create active, engaging, three-dimensional learning environments in which students came out of their seats and traveled to Puerto Rico and Iran.
Designing a virtual exchange project using video-based communication on Facebook
Kazuko Carlson, Mari Yamauchi
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
For students studying foreign languages, meaningful and real-life interaction with native speakers is sometimes not possible. This poster examines the effects on students’ learning of their target language and culture by creating a partnership to exchange video assignments on Facebook between English learners from a Japanese university and Japanese language students at an American university. Video sharing was chosen as the main part of this project to help inspire their interest and encourage their participation in intercultural interactions. Video-based interactions were expected to be a less challenging or threatening opportunity for language learners to use their target language, compared to synchronous communication via video call. Also, asynchronous video communication was expected to be as helpful as synchronous video communication, since video can convey rich visual and nonverbal information which could help language learners enjoy communicating in the target language. By participating in this highly interactive and engaging virtual exchange, students were able to put their knowledge into use by communicating with the natives online, which enhanced their motivation to learn the target language and deepened their understanding of their partners’ culture. The poster also introduces how the presenters designed this mutually benefiting learning opportunity, which Facebook features they utilized to promote effective interaction, what aspects of the project worked well, and what was challenging for both students and instructors, along with the pros and cons of using Facebook.
A targeted automatic grammar checker for Japanese student mistakes
Stephen Case, Laurie Griffiths
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
This presentation introduces software that uses natural language processing to automatically find common mistakes made by Japanese learners of English and helps them make corrections. There are many English writing mistakes that are often uniquely Japanese. Although many sophisticated programs exist that can spot and correct common errors in English writing, they can fall short in finding many of the common mistakes that Japanese learners make. This is because available error correction programs are designed to find mistakes that only native speakers would make, or more general mistakes made by English learners worldwide. By analyzing and cataloging the mistakes made in a corpus of Japanese learners’ writing, common mistakes and errors were identified. These mistakes were then used to inform and create a grammar checker specifically designed to correct Japanese learners’ common mistakes. This program can be used for self-directed learning without the need for active input from a teacher. The program can also gather statistics on common mistakes which can be catalogued on a per student or per group basis. Due to the autonomous nature of the software, feedback is instantaneous allowing students to continue corresponding and writing uninterrupted. It can also help students save face, prevent fossilization and track progress. It can also free up educators’ time by stopping both learner and teacher from constantly revisiting the same common issues.
Increasing English speaking opportunities with recorded speaking tasks
Stephanie Reynolds
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
Despite spending years studying English in both junior and senior high school, Japanese learners of English commonly perform at a more advanced level on evaluations of listening and reading than similar evaluations of writing, and especially, speaking. There are many factors that contribute to this, such as fear or reluctance to speak, instruction which focuses heavily on preparation for exams, and a lack of time for instructors to assess individual students’ speaking with personalized feedback. This poster presentation examines how recorded speaking can be used to offer additional opportunities for EFL students to speak English. By using smartphone voice recorders, email, and Google Drive, the presenter developed several recorded speaking tasks for a class of 19 students majoring in International Communications at a Japanese university. This presentation explains how the projects were adapted from in-class presentations to recorded speaking projects. For each project, students were given the opportunity to practice, record, and immediately review their own speaking with the option of re-recording before the final file submission. The presenter will also explain how the technology was implemented, and how this approach could be further developed and applied to other areas of an EFL curriculum. Additionally, the presenter will address the limitations and challenges of this approach.
Incorporating the Videos of International YouTubers into a Freshman EFL Listening & Speaking Class
Tsui-Lan Chen
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
This poster presentation will demonstrate how the videos of international YouTubers motivate students to learn from authentic world Englishes in a freshman EFL Listening & Speaking class. Most college freshmen have used TV series episodes, sitcoms, movies and online websites like TED, VOA, CNN and BBC for EFL listening and speaking proficiency practice; however, they find the videos of international YouTubers more appealing and functional for learning real-life communication. On the Youtube website, English-speaking YouTubers from different parts of the world are increasingly sharing their life and culture in different English accents. Many short English videos on varied topics are available free of charge for English learners, and they are frequently being used by English teachers in class. Through viewing those innovative and fascinating videos uploaded by talented YouTubers who are their own age, EFL learners in college are motivated to learn communication skills. Consequently, EFL pedagogy is headed in a more globalized direction. The effects of selected international videos on language learners will be investigated through content analysis, participant observation, and questionnaires. The goal of the study is to understand the motivation that authentic world Englishes on YouTube can provide as a popular tool for students to acquire both linguistic and cultural competence.
Using Google Classroom to promote extensive reading.
Robin Sneath
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
Effective use of online tools to promote reading can lead to a better use of class time and increased student autonomy. This poster examines the use of google classroom as an ongoing form of blended learning in a university to enhance students' perceptions of, and engagement with extensive reading (ER) texts. The students had access to resources online through their computers, the majority of them using it though the app on their smartphones. A number of various activities are used to assist the students in their reading assignments. The activities on google classroom are also linked to support our existing ER programme using M-Reader. These vary from having resources available to remind them of tasks and also to generate interest, from book lists, how to guides for M-Reader to video to comprehension questions while trying to incorporate the dimensions of personalisation and novelty where possible. Activities were developed and presented to 1st and 2nd year English language learners in a variety of classes from general English to writing skills classes. Surveys covered areas such as a) time spent; b) interest; c) perceived difficulty; d) relevance; e) enjoyment. Course evaluation comments also provided some useful data. The results of this study will be presented.
Students' reaction to Duolingo language learning app in a university setting
Jonathan Isaacson
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
The language learning app Duolingo now has a classroom learning platform, Duolingo for schools. This poster will share the instructor’s experience using the app with lower section (CEFR pre-A1) English classes in a university setting. The reason for using this platform with pre-A1 students is that the app heavily utilizes grammar translation methodology which I believe is easily accessible for low level Japanese learners of English as it is similar to instruction many have received in prior English classes. The platform allows instructors to assign two different types of tasks: point based and specific skill based assignments. This allows for use in mixed CEFR level classes and encourages students to work at their own pace in their own time. Duolingo also provides a tool for keeping all students occupied with English activities when students are working at different paces in class. My teaching partner and I introduced Duolingo for Schools in our pre-A1 university English classes, tracked students usage, and asked students’ opinions of the app. We tracked student point totals as well as their progress through the program. We also conducted three reflection surveys, in Japanese, on their perceptions and use of the app. This is a preliminary study of students’ responses, which so far have been mixed and have changed over the course of the semester. Some students disliked the activities, almost from the first day. Other students started the semester enthusiastic about the mobile app activities but grew ambivalent about them as the semester progressed.
Japanese college students ICT skills and preferences
Bob Gettings
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
How extensive are Japanese students’ ICT skills? How do they prefer to access CALL educational materials? What ICT services do they prefer? Do they use mixi? Email? Facebook? Students' ICT preferences have evolved since the introduction of smartphones. Are they digital natives? Mobile natives? Other? This presentation will report recent research, describe the results of a survey of English major and non-major first year junior college students' ICT skills, and describe both EFL and Computer Literacy teachers' perceptions of changes in students' ICT skills over the last ten years.
This presentation is a follow-up to a 2017 study based on interviews with thirty first and second year junior college English majors concerning their desktop and mobile ICT skills. Students preferred to use mobile apps in their personal lives and desktop computers for academic purposes. Students seldom used email for private, as opposed to business, communication. They reported similar mobile skills but their computer keyboarding and software skills varied widely due to their pre-college experience. The group tended to prefer iOS over Android devices.
The survey and interviews for the present study have been based on the results of the 2017 interviews and carried out in April 2018. Participants included 30 first year English majors, 30 non-majors. Two English and Computer Literacy were also interviewed.
After the results of the research are presented, participants will be invited to take part in an online with the hope of gathering data to aid widening the investigation of students’ ICT preferences.
What a Kahoot! Using an online student response system for ongoing assessment
Peter Harrold
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
Online Student Response Systems offer a quick an easy way to collect and collate students’ answers in class and allow the teacher to provide immediate feedback. This presentation will share efforts to transition from a weekly paper based vocabulary quiz to using the Online Student Response System Kahoot, as an alternative for ongoing assessment on a Listening and Speaking program at a Japanese university. It will explain how to create various question types, such as picture matching, translation, and gap fill, as well as how the data collected on student responses can be used for both ongoing assessment and informing and enhancing review activities. Finally, it will share data on the students’ reactions and preferences when compared to the traditional paper based format.
Podcasts for all!
Casey Bean
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
Technology is playing an increasingly important role in language teaching, and making it easier than ever for students to pursue language studies on their own, outside of the classroom. Podcasting is one such technology that is gaining popularity. This poster will introduce a project in which students produce their own English podcasts. The project is unique because it benefits both the project members, who improve their speaking ability, and also provides a valuable learning resource for audience members who can use the podcasts to practice listening skills. While it may seem like a daunting task to have every student in a class record a podcast episode, this poster will provide a road map for doing just that. It will cover the logistics of recording podcasts with a large number of students, including suggestions for equipment, scheduling, podcast content, and ideas about how to use podcasts in the classroom. In addition, this poster will highlight the results of a survey regarding student attitudes towards recording podcasts.
Mastering the delivery of presentations in virtual learning communities
Denise Haugh
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
Helping university-level EAL learners to deliver effective presentations is one of my current goals in teaching. This poster presentation explores how Smartphone and LMS technology can support students in the assessment of their personal progress in the delivery of their presentations. Such digital tools provide students with opportunities to successfully experience learning through virtual learning communities, created through the practice of peer-assessing their group members' videos of their presentation practice sessions. Students develop their self-awareness by actively reflecting on their own videos and the videos of their classmates, and by applying strategies to improve and master effective eye contact and gesture, clear speaking, good posture, and expressiveness of the face and voice. To facilitate this process, I draw from two theories of pedagogical practice - experiential learning and self-regulated learning, which integrate experience, active reflection, and experimentation as the locus of learning. My future investigation will focus more on incorporating Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle (1984) and Zimmerman and Campillo's (2003) Phases and Subprocesses of Self-Regulation into the (virtual) classroom.
Speaking with your computer: a new way to practice and analyze conversation
Gary Ross, Glen Norris, Stephen Henneberry
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Saturday 11:50 am - 1:20 pm
Online speech recognition and synthesis, using technologies built into the browser, allow students to practice conversations using a PC or mobile device. This represents a major development in how we can implement speaking practice and will have a significant impact on teaching speaking skills, especially in conjunction with the flipped classroom. This poster session will demonstrate a free online system open to anyone, where students can have a conversation with the computer through role-play and drill conversations entered by the instructor, and can be used for both scripted and open-ended conversations. The scripted conversations can be automatically graded and analyzed. This presentation is funded by a research grant (18K00825) from the Japanese Govt (Kakenhi).
Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Introducing programming and computational thinking in English at the elementary school level
Luc Gougeon, Yuka Kazahaya
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 406 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Will Japan be ready to introduce programming in public schools in 2020? Although there is no clear answer, we intend to introduce basic programming and computational thinking skills using English in a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) environment. We will start by defining the current state of CLIL education in public elementary schools in Japan and specify the benefits of combining language instruction with programming. Depending on the level of the students, speaking, listening and reading exercises already being used in Japanese classrooms will be combined with programming exercises. Programming gives the student an opportunity to see English commands in action on the screen. Our introduction to computational thinking for elementary school students targets 3 different groups ranging from first to sixth grade. In this show and tell session, we will the define the vocabulary we intend to teach for each group and present the tools we will use in class (e.g. the Scratch programming language, mBot robot). We will also discuss the pedagogical framework of our research which is supported by a JSPS KAKENHI (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research #18K00836 ). It is too early to present the results of the research, but we hope we can inspire other teachers to use programming as a way to teach simple functional English.
EFL college students’ perceptions of a self-access center in Taiwan
Man-Lin Hung
JALTCALL 2018 paper 407 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
A Self-Access Center (SAC) is a place where learning resources (e.g., software, videos, digital electronic magazines, games) are accessible for learners in an organized way. SAC users can freely choose materials and tasks to improve their language skills. Previous studies revealed positive correlation between students’ use of SAC and their autonomous learning behaviors (Hsieh, 2010; Lin, 2010). However, the use of SAC does not always guarantee the development of autonomy in learners (McMurry, 2005; Zou, 2006). Several factors, including the introduced materials, initial orientation, learners’ attitude and understanding of self-access learning should also be addressed. The aim of this paper is to clarify the key elements promoting learner autonomy in SAC and the influence of learning experiences in SAC on English learning styles. The participants comprised 44 freshman students in an EFL context. They were required to visit SAC at least ten hours over the semester. Two research instruments were utilized in this study, including paper-pencil questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The result showed that participants displayed lower motivation for using SAC. Possible factors include outdated resources, disorganized arrangement of the learning resources, inflexible opening hours, and slow Internet connection. Yet, some participants demonstrated higher confidence level of English learning, commenting that they have learned to listen to different accents and to follow foreigners’ rate of speech. This study suggests that learning resources in SAC should be updated periodically and elements of SAC, including initial orientation, teacher’s guide, and technology, should be considered in order to successfully develop autonomy in learners.
An online system to ask questions and check the spoken or typed responses
Myles O'Brien
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 408 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
The presenter will demonstrate an online system he developed, which poses questions to the learner and checks if the response is appropriate, in order to facilitate pattern practice. The questions may be presented as text only, simulated speech only (using the device’s text-to-speech facility), or both. The user’s response may be typed or spoken. Spoken input is transcribed through Google’s speech recognition function.
The system differs from a chatbot in that it handles only questions and answers confined to a limited framework of forms and vocabulary, rather than trying to offer simulated realistic conversation.
The system is freely available for download, and comes with a default set of text files containing common vocabulary, classified into verbs, male names, female names, places, times, etc. Each verb should list some appropriate objects to avoid the generation of nonsensical questions. The teacher can edit the text files before uploading to a website for deployment. Also, learners can add or delete vocabulary contents as they wish while using the system. It works on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Android, and IOS, the only limitation being with speech recognition, which does not work on iOS, and requires the Chrome browser on other platforms.
Broadly classified, the question types handled are WH, Yes/No, and OR questions. The types of question generated may be set to include all available types or only a specified selection. Where the learner's answer is judged inappropriate, an example of an acceptable answer is given.
A Study of problems in learning English and needs for online learning of SUT students
Suksan Suppasetseree, Varitsara Botmart, Wachiraya Bangkadara
JALTCALL 2018 paper 409 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
In the 21th century, advancements in technology are inevitable and becomes part of human life. In an education system, recent attempts are being made to better integrate technology into the classroom under the aims of improving and enhancing skills. In the field of language learning, the use of technology and online learning is increasingly accepted as a valuable tool in classroom. At Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) in Thailand, e-learning and online courses are integrated into some courses. However, students’ English proficiency is still low. Many researchers pointed to a few main factors contributing to the failure of English language teaching and learning: unqualified and poorly-trained teachers, poorly-motivated students, learners of mixed abilities in overly large classes, and rare opportunities for student exposure to English outside of class time (Dhanasobhon, 2006; ONEC, 2003). SUT also has similar challenges. 260 students were surveyed to examine problems in learning English and needs for online learning. The result showed that most of the students have difficulty in communication and speaking skill is the crucial issue that need to be improved. Furthermore, the finding from the interview reviewed that the biggest problem students faced was the difficulties in vocabulary. To improve students' speaking and communication skills, students have to overcome their vocabulary problems. Moreover, the students favored to use more technology (Social media, Mobile-learning, Games, etc.) in learning English. The suggestion for further study is to develop an online course or integrate technology in vocabulary learning.
Integrating the CEFR with emerging CALL technologies
Stephen G. Lambacher, James W. Pagel, Hisayo Kikuchi, Sachiho Mori
JALTCALL 2018 paper 403 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment has been an important part of language curriculum creation and assessment in Europe since the late 20th century. CEFR contains six reference levels, from beginner to near-native fluency level. At present, non-European countries such as Japan and Vietnam are trying to adopt similar scales with which to assess a learner’s language abilities (skills level), and as a shared reference point to compare choices regarding pedagogy, policy, textbook and materials development, and assessment tools. The main purpose of our research is to investigate whether top universities throughout Japan and Asia have implemented and/or recognized the CEFR in some form or another. To determine the attitudes towards the CEFR among faculty, administrators, and staff, an online survey was developed using SurveyMonkey®. The survey was administered at several CALL-related conferences domestically and overseas to collect comparable data. Another interest is to determine how language learning technologies have been employed in implementing CEFR. Research shows that in order to remain competitive in the high stakes field of education, there has to be strong, administrative support, a staff firmly behind the goals and objectives of the undertaking, and instructors who are fully supportive of moving to adopting the CEFR (O'Dwyer et al., 2017). Our research findings show how far along individual faculties and universities are in their understanding of and adoption of CEFR in their English education programs, as well as the degree to which technology can be integrated with CEFR.
Metacognitive monitoring as the pivot of the ignition on reading comprehension strategies with iSTART
Chih-Hsiang Hu, Gi-Zen Liu
JALTCALL 2018 paper 402 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
iSTART (Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking) has been a successful intelligent tutoring system that promotes self-regulated learning (SRL), which is critical to effective reading comprehension. However, the success of the promotion on SRL highly depends on users’ prior knowledge and metacognition, which is the manipulation process of one’s knowledge. Therefore, studies of iSTART programs, which include their research design and effectiveness on users’ prior knowledge and metacognition, are reviewed in this study to provide evidence and insights on which iSTART programs are based on. Further, in order to better illustrate the improvement by using iSTART, “metacognitive monitoring,” which deals with monitoring to set effective goals, is proposed in this study to account for the various and dynamic dimensions of improvement on the reading comprehension when using it. Moreover, quantitative and qualitative data of the speech analysis on the pre- and post-test with think-aloud protocol as well as a set of questionnaire are provided to verify the proposal of metacognitive monitoring. Results have shown to support the usage on metacognitive monitoring but not monitoring as the pivot to ignite the other four metacognitive strategies trained by iSTART for enhancing reading comprehension. Finally, verification of metacognitive monitoring and educational implication are discussed. In sum, the proposed concept of “metacognitive monitoring” should be referable by researchers in the fields of metacognition and development of iSTART, designers of intelligent tutoring system in the context of SRL, and teachers in search of economical manners to help students efficiently develop effective reading comprehension.
Language teachers as consumers versus developers of CALL materials
Mohsen Hedayati
JALTCALL 2018 paper 411 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
The integration of new technologies into second language teaching and learning has greatly influenced language teachers’ roles and responsibilities. There is an ongoing enquiry about teachers’ perceptions of and reactions to these changes. This presentation will report on a study conducted in the Iranian context, which investigated language teachers’ perspectives concerning their roles as consumers versus developers of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) materials and practices. The presentation will include a brief overview of CALL teacher training in Iran, as well as the research methodology and the findings of the current study. The findings showed that the majority of the teachers perceived themselves as consumers of CALL materials, due to availability and accessibility factors. Despite their positive attitudes towards becoming developers, the teachers cited a range of contextual barriers which hinder this progression. This presentation will conclude with a discussion of the similarities and differences between CALL consumers and developers.
Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:40 pm
Encouraging Japanese teachers and researchers for more involvement into the field
Maki Terauchi Ho, Mehrasa Alizadeh, Peter Ho
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 405 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:40 pm
In the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), there are not so many Japanese teachers and researchers who actively participate or take lead roles in domestic and international CALL conferences. In fact, due to the lack of IT education in schools in Japan, many Japanese teachers are not confident about their digital skills or have to cope with technophobe colleagues. Although various organizations, JALTCALL included, make efforts to provide information in Japanese and encourage presentations in Japanese, the number of submissions by Japanese teachers still remains comparatively low. In this workshop, the participants will work to identify their obstacles and seek some solutions so that they can take a step forward. The presenters will also share their own personal experiences of successful involvement in the field of CALL. Furthermore, the participants will be exposed to the following:
- Preparing for a presentation (selecting the topic, preparing slides, …)
- Technical tools and resources to use in class(Kahoot, Quizizz, Moodle, Google apps for collaboration, Seesaw & GarageBand)
- Introduction to other CALL associations and conferences in Japan and worldwide
LET (Japan Association for Language Education and Technology)
GloCALL (Globalization and Localization in Computer-Assisted Language Learning)
EUROCALL (European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning)
CALICO (Computer-Assisted Language Instruction Consortium)
IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology)WorldCALL
WorldCALL
- Networking opportunities (for those who are willing to get involved in more active roles)
- Topics and possible outlets for publication
Japanese CALL: Practice what we preach!
Rich Bailey
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 404 Saturday 1:30 pm - 2:40 pm
While many of us encourage our students to use technology to improve their English study, are we doing the same with our own language studies? Based on nine years of studying Japanese and extensive exploration and experimentation into different CALL/MALL options, this workshop’s objective is to share that experience and knowledge to help you start, improve, or re-energize your own Japanese language learning, regardless of your current level. The first half of this workshop will focus on a variety of tried and tested Japanese CALL and MALL websites, apps and other resources, such as dictionaries, intelligent flashcards (spaced-repetition software), kanji learning systems, listening content sources, graded/leveled reading (on and offline), and other well-known language software (i.e. Rosetta Stone). Participants will also have the opportunity to share their own knowledge and experience. In the second half of the workshop, participants will experiment with the different resources, ask questions and share their own ideas.
Saturday 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy or Recommendation?
Anthony Brian Gallagher
JALTCALL 2018 paper 403 Saturday 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
What is the impact on students of a BYOD recommendation rather than a policy? The device lending data trends are analyzed to establish the differences in student needs and wants between iPad tablet devices and standard PC laptops. What correlations may exist between lending data and accessibility? Will device lending capacity have an impact on future borrowers and the entire university recommendation (not policy)? This presentation will show borrowing data of devices and student preferences along with a student questionnaire to establish if there are any correlations between the types of devices, access to those devices and the limitations of the Japanese university involved. I suggest that no policy is pushed on students because of the pre-knowledge that it is fundamentally flawed. Trends in the data will clearly show that students have a preference for one specific device over the other because of the limitations of the latter. Money spent on tablet devices would be better spent on PC devices that are more practical and effective for students to function within their university environment. This presentation confirms with data the need for ensuring the user experience is best prepared for and to show how finances should be spent for maximum effectiveness for institutions.
Usage patterns of an English language learning app
Bob Cvitkovic, Max Praver
JALTCALL 2018 paper 402 Saturday 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
With the introduction of mobile devices in the summer of 2007, students’ attention spans are shortening and microlearning is starting to appear on the education scene. Aspects of microlearning include short-term learning activities with small learning units. This approach to skill-based education has accelerated recently with the ubiquity of mobile devices. Hence the need to understand usage patterns and learning effectiveness in second language acquisition. In this pilot study, we created an English language learning app called English Gauge for EFL students and had 101 students use it over a 4-week period. They engaged with practice activities and tests which included 4 English ability levels and 3 activities with leaderboards, badges and progress tracking. The activities included one grammatical, one vocabulary and one listening activity. Their usage patterns were then tracked by having thousands of data points sent from each device to a web-server. Over 30 metrics were monitored. Some of these include: average, median, and total time for each activity per session; number of retries for a given question; number of sessions per day and per week; drop-off in usage sessions and duration over time; and time of day used. This presentation will summarize and draw preliminary conclusions from the metrics collected and discuss the implications for designing English educational apps for EFL learners in the context of microlearning.
Text to speech technology for EFL: Read aloud module on Microsoft Edge for Windows 10
Masami Yasuda
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 406 Saturday 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
This paper discusses the potentials of text to speech (TTS) technology in EFL teaching and demonstrates how to make use of such assistive technologies of read-aloud enhancement for ePub format eBooks, PDF, e-mail text, as well as web pages. Apple's R&D on TTS technologies has a longer and richer history than its counterpart, Microsoft, and has made available audio generation programs, such as "Voice Over," and "Speak Selection," on its iPad and iPhone products. Until recent years, Apple was the leader of an assistive technology of a read-aloud gadget for CALL. Targeting Android makers, Microsoft only last year has nonetheless caught up with such TTS technologies.
One of the productivity enhancements that Microsoft Edge provides since late 2017 is the read-aloud TTS technology module. This paper will demonstrate how Microsoft Edge, the latest and not yet very popular web browser for Windows 10, reads classroom weblog threads as well as ePub format eBooks, and PDF files, and in turn will discuss how TTS technologies can be an asset for EFL environments. MS-Edge comes with male and female voices in US and British English and reads aloud texts highlighting words with minor speed control. The paper will demonstrate how weblog or BlogCast with TTS applications can render many benefits to EFL students and teachers as well, based on decade-long action research on Weblog projects. Join us to discuss how useful TTS would be to help improve reading and writing skills in EFL settings.
Technical reading and content design with infographic analysis of business English text
Debopriyo Roy
JALTCALL 2018 paper 408 Saturday 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
This presentation discussed a unique pedagogical approach in an undergraduate EFL business-writing course. The course content is focused on textual data modeling with non-classified company information available on the web. In this paper, technical reading is related to business English text based on readers’ ability to read through company information in a linear way and then perform data modeling through clustering of various information together in a networked landscape. The primary motivation behind such course design is to improve computer science students’ global understanding of the corporate scenario in the Silicon Valley and the Tokyo start-up ecosystem and develop students’ critical organizational analytic skills and technical reading. This 8-week course experiment based on analysis of student performance explored students' ability to analyze company information based on their technical reading skills, ability to perform text mining, and how to represent the information graphically as infographics, concept maps, and social networks. Multiple software was used such as Voyant, Mattermark, IHMC Concept Maps, MindMeister, and Venngage. Concept mapping data showed computer science students were able to dissect text on various topics related to Silicon Valley and Tokyo ecosystem business models. Further, with multiple iterations, students could design concept maps demonstrating the interplay of various actors, processes, interactions, and identify contextually important terms and phrases. However, data indicated below-par performance on designing social networks, indicating the need for more time spent with social networking visualizer software. Self-reported data on usability and reading strategies questionnaires suggested students’ understanding of the content and the pedagogical approach.
Task creation for virtual worlds: a comparison of face-to-face and online interactions
James York
JALTCALL 2018 paper 409 Saturday 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
In research on task-based learning and teaching, there are numerous empirical studies exploring the effect of task complexity on learner spoken output (e.g. Sample & Michel, 2014; Yuan & Ellis, 2003). However, the effect of completing tasks in virtual environments on learner spoken output remains a largely unexplored area (Jee, 2014; Lin, 2014). This presentation highlights results of a study that explored task design for VWs to improve the speaking ability of low-level EFL learners. 20 participants undertook a total of six tasks in dyads. The tasks were separated into three task-pairs comprising of an online (VW) and offline (face-to-face) version of the same task in order to generate comparative data. Data was collected by transcribing audio recordings of each pair. Following, the complexity, accuracy and fluency of learner speech was analysed using descriptive and statistical analyses.
This presentation will highlight findings of descriptive and statistical analyses, and relate findings to pedagogical implications such as a best-practices guide for designing tasks in VWs. Additionally, I will provide advice on how to set up such environments in classroom contexts.
Developing EFL students' global workplace communicative competence through telecollaborative learning
Rosa Huiju Chen, Carmella Lieske
JALTCALL 2018 paper 411 Saturday 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
Telecollaboration, commonly referred to as online intercultural exchange, has gradually gained attention in the foreign language education field as a valuable tool for engaging students in virtual collaboration with partners from different sociocultural contexts and locations. This is particularly relevant in today’s globalized world since individuals are often expected to have the necessary sociolinguistic competence and skills to perform appropriately in different workplace communicative settings like videoconferencing. The purpose of this presentation is twofold. First, it examines how EFL college students from Taiwan and Japan interacted synchronously through a videoconferencing platform, Adobe Connect, and asynchronously through a Facebook community. Second, it aims to investigate whether there were differences in various modes and perceptions about the implementation of teaching presence for developing EFL students’ intercultural competence. This study adopted a quantitative and qualitative approach and data were collected from multiple sources including students’ online engagement, the teaching presence effectiveness scale, and focus group interviews. Specifically, a scale measuring the effectiveness of teaching presence and participants’ engagement was developed to construct a theoretically based pedagogical framework for incorporating telecollaborative learning tasks into EFL courses. Overall, it was concluded that the social and pedagogical support from the instructor was highly related to participants’ success of collaborative experience and most stduents felt motivated by the learning tasks. Implications and suggestions for improvements to EFL workplace communication pedagogy are made to the educational use of telecollaboration in language learning domain.
Prototyping the 21st Century English classroom in Japan
Huy Tran
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 410 Saturday 2:10 pm - 2:40 pm
What does the 21st Century classroom look like in terms of second language learning? Technology has drastically changed our lives in the last ten years and its effects are still being pioneered in the classroom. This presentation will share educational technology platforms such as Skype, Kahoot!, Quizlet, and other learning apps and how they are implemented in mixed level, and mixed aged classroom. We explore the traditional models of classroom education and how the new career skills of the 21st Century will require new styles of learning and the evolved responsibilities of the teacher to meet those skills. This presentation will demonstrate the use of autonomous, asynchronous, student centered learning environment within an eikaiwa. Eikaiwa kyōshitsu (英会話教室) or Eikaiwa gakkō (英会話学校) are usually privately operated, for profit English conversation schools in Japan. The Japanese public education system requires that English is taught as part of the curriculum from upper elementary school to high school, with the focus generally on English grammar. Eikaiwa schools tend to offer alternative methods of instructions and learning beyond those of the traditional Japanese public education system and supplement their second language skills usually with an emphasis on conversation, fluency and additional exposure to foreign teachers.
Saturday 2:50 pm - 3:20 pm
Student Perceptions of Required Smartphone Use in the English Language Classroom
Edo Forsythe
JALTCALL 2018 paper 403 Saturday 2:50 pm - 3:20 pm
This session presents the results of a 2017 doctoral dissertation, single case study that explored Japanese university students' perceptions of being required to use their own smartphones in English language learning activities. At first, the presenter's experience with Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) teaching methods and how the presenter incorporated smartphones into English language classrooms will be explained, along with a brief presentation of the details of the doctoral research study. Then a discussion of the research findings will be held, focusing on potential implications for teachers who plan to incorporate the use of student smartphones and other mobile technology in their language lessons. Finally, session participants will be given an opportunity to share and discuss how they use mobile technology in their classrooms, as well as ask questions about MALL methodology. Attendees will come away with research data supporting the use of students' mobile devices in English classes, as well as several ideas for effectively and efficiently using MALL techniques in their own classrooms.
Cinemagraphs in education
Renaud Davies
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 406 Saturday 2:50 pm - 3:20 pm
With developments in mobile technology rapidly increasing, and the integration of mobile devices in the classroom becoming more common, many educators are now creating some or even all of their content to be delivered digitally. One of the biggest aims when creating digital content is to make it not only user-friendly, but also aesthetically pleasing as this will increase engagement. Visual images, both still and moving, are arguably one of the most compelling tools a teacher can use to enhance any curriculum. In this presentation, participants will be introduced to the cinemagraph. A cinemagraph is a creative blend between photography and videography. These living photos, quite reminiscent of the moving pictures in the Harry Potter movies, bring still photography and video together in a seamless loop, which auto-play on blogs, websites and social media. Why use cinemagraphs in education? Memory is closely tied to emotion, so being able to evoke certain feelings in a learner during a lesson will help with knowledge retention. A good cinemagraph can accomplish this. Cinemagraphs also really help to engage students with the course content owing to their ability to instantly mesmerize, puzzle and surprise. The presenter will demonstrate how to utilize cinemagraphs both inside and outside of the classroom, where to find free embeddable cinemagraphs, as well as introduce a few applications to help you create your own.
Zotero: a case study on International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program students' academic writing and referencing
Rab Paterson
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 407 Saturday 2:50 pm - 3:20 pm
This presentation examines the approaches taken and results gleaned from an action research collaborative writing project with two classes of students. These classes were from an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program at Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School (TGUISS) in Tokyo, where the students included Japanese
returnees and mixed nationality children. In both cases, students were taught how to use Zotero with Google Docs in their academic writing. Zotero offers a note taking and sharing function for items and collections, which can be synced via the cloud for usage on multiple devices and by multiple users and these functions were also leveraged in this study. Students were also given a Google Document template for academic writing, comprising of five sections: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion, and deadlines for preparing a draft for each section, and then engaged in peer review of each other’s work. These peer groups were set up thematically so that students writing on similar topics could share resources and ideas with classmates via Zotero and their Google Drive accounts, drawing upon Lave & Wenger’s (1991) widely cited communities of practice, which has evolved into online communities of practice: see Lewis & Allan (2004). Reactions to this writing process (and to the introduction of Zotero and Google Suite for Education) in end-of-course reflective blog posts on what they had learned were overwhelmingly positive.
Connecting Japanese and English native speakers, easier than you think
Akiko Meguro
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 408 Saturday 2:50 pm - 3:20 pm
For my language classes, I have found it very useful to connect our students in all language programs with native speakers learning English around the world. The original goal was to increase language production and listening skills among our students, but we have found secondary benefits including increased motivation, confidence and cultural awareness to be equally important. Unfortunately, while there is broad support for the idea of language exchanges and free video conferencing on the web is also greatly improved, a relatively tiny percentage of language courses involve regular communication with native speakers. Much of this is due to the practical difficulty of scheduling meetings between groups of students with varying semester schedules, class hours, and time zones. To overcome these challenges, Dickinson College developed the Mixxer website, www.language-exchanges.org. The site provides three options for educators to connect their students for language exchanges: a teacher search, individual search, and the event function. I will spend the majority of the presentation focusing on the event function. It is the method we use the most as it allows us to organize exchanges for our students during their lab hour with only a week’s notice, despite the very challenging time difference between U.S. Eastern Time and Japan. I will demonstrate to participants how to create the event and signup page on the site, announce it to learners matching a language profile, and then use the created signup sheet to partner the native speakers with our students on the day of the exchange.
Designing a children’s English learning mobile app
Joshua Wilson
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 409 Saturday 2:50 pm - 3:20 pm
Designing language learning apps for young learners presents an array of challenges. This presentation elucidates the process by briefly presenting steps taken to adapt hidden object games -games in which the player searches for objects concealed in a picture- for language learning. The presenter will first show a demo of the game under development and present the design and pedagogical constraints that informed the initial design. He will then introduce the development tools used and the workflow for the design process as well as briefly touch on asset creation and construction of demos and prototypes prepared for the development team. Finally, there will be a short discussion of the design philosophy for the app.
Extensive reading with e-readers: Initial feedback from university L2 learners
Joseph Wood
JALTCALL 2018 paper 402 Saturday 2:50 pm - 3:20 pm
Advances in technology can bring new and interesting tools for learning into the language classroom. It can also, however, bring intimidation and uneasiness to students who are not as confident in their technology skills or just feel reluctant to change what they have been doing for years. This presentation will present the initial feedback from two rounds of survey data collected from three classes of university students in Japan who were “forced” by their teacher to begin reading the university library’s newly purchased graded reader e-books. Students read the e-books in class as well as for homework. The survey data showed that the overwhelming majority of students read their e-books using their smartphones, however, many complained on the second survey that their screens were too small and it was difficult to read the e-books using their smartphones. During the initial survey, students were hesitant and not very enthusiastic about reading e-books, but by the second survey, after they had become used to reading e-books, their attitudes became much more positive towards reading them. This presentation will discuss problems that arose and give advice on how to manage extensive reading using e-books in the classroom. The presentation will highlight specific reasons that students liked or disliked reading the e-books and give detailed reports of problems that arose as students learned to use them. It will end with an open discussion with attendees about their experiences using e-books in their classes and how they have successfully done so.
How LoiLoNote School changed the way we teach presentation skills
Nadine Richard
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 411 Saturday 2:50 pm - 3:20 pm
This Show & Tell presentation will introduce LoiLoNote School, a cloud-based system that enables students to quickly create, share, present, and record presentations. We will present what we have learned from using it for one year at our English-immersion Japanese school, and how it has already impacted both students and teachers. Our findings come from our experience in Elementary, but they can be applied to a wide range of ages and language levels.
Logistics play an important part in adopting technology for teaching and learning, for both teachers and students. When asking students to make digital presentations, teachers have to ensure that students have access to the technology they need for preparing and presenting, whether they are using the school devices or their own. Another frequent issue is to collect student presentations for assessment or sharing. LoiLoNote School enables students to work on various platforms, and to easily share and submit their work.
Using LoiLoNote at our school also made us rethink how we teach presentation skills. While traditional presentation tools, like PowerPoint, are developed to produce and project elaborated slides when presenting, “unpolished presentations” are a great way to quickly share ideas with the class or in small groups, and get the students to interact using the target language. Also, an interesting alternative to live presentations is for students to record their voice and turn presentations into videos; this is an effective way to practice monologue skills without the stress of presenting in front of an audience.
Saturday 2:50 pm - 4:00 pm
Transforming reading through the immersive learning technology of Moo-O
Eiko Takeuchi, Benson Loo
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 404 Saturday 2:50 pm - 4:00 pm
The workshop lets teachers learn how technology can transform reading from the passive consumption of text to an active and creative process that can engage learners’ imagination. Through the use of the Moo-O app, reading is re-conceptualized as social practice, in which readers engage with the text as an authentic context that affords opportunities for learning, creating and imagining. The technologies in Moo-O enable children to imaginatively personalize and transform the text through the reading process. In addition, reading is done in collaboration with other learners, thereby developing learning as a social action.
Please bring your laptop or iPad to the presentation
Way To Go! – An Effective Listening and Speaking Practice Strategy
Cameron J. North
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 405 Saturday 2:50 pm - 4:00 pm
Targeted for TOEIC levels 350-650, Way To Go! is a guided speaking and listening practice textbook and online audio system that will effectively benefit both high school and university students. Using attainable and challenging exercises, the methodology promotes full participation and a positive supportive classroom atmosphere. Importantly, the 12 hours of easy access online audio allows for effective independent study. Each unit's online audio page includes two audio files with matching online textbook pages for listening and speaking practice. Each unit's audio page also includes a 300 word story with matching video. Discover a strategy that keeps students on task and produces recognizable improvement with students. Further information can also be found at WayToGoESL.com.
Saturday 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Utilizing machine translation in EFL writing class
Sangmin-Michelle Lee
JALTCALL 2018 paper 403 Saturday 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Machine translation (MT) has gained popularity both inside and outside of the classroom for diverse purposes. However, there still remains the controversy over its reliability and accuracy. Despite the growing number of students using MT, little is known about its use as a pedagogical tool in the EFL classroom. Moreover, prior studies on MT treated MT mainly as a Bad Model of language learning, which students had to fix through post-editing. On the other hand, the present study uses the mixed method to investigate the role of MT as a CALL tool in EFL writing. Text analysis of students’ writing outcomes showed that MT helped to decrease lexico-grammatical errors and improve student writing in their revisions. Using MT for revisions also positively affected student writing strategies and helped them think of writing as a process. The surveys, interviews, and reflection papers show that the students viewed the use of MT during writing positively. The students also reported drawbacks related to MT, including the accuracy issues and literal translation. This study concludes that MT can be a useful aid to language learning, but, for it to benefit student learning, teachers must be aware of its limitations and provide adequate guidance to students, not just ignoring it.
Providing engaging comprehensible input through video
Branden Kirchmeyer
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 406 Saturday 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Providing comprehensible input that also engages student attention can be a challenge for teachers of English at Japanese universities. Video content, while more laborious to produce than conventional written input, provides visual and audio cues that can aid comprehension and may contribute to audience attentiveness. This presentation illustrates the design process one curriculum development team at a small university in southern Japan implemented to transform conventional reading station activities (Wall Readings) into video content. Pre-existing text selections were recorded by teachers and exported as MP3 audio files using Audacity. These audio files were used as main audio tracks in short videos created with Apple's iMovie, which featured contextual photos downloaded from the internet. Video files were then uploaded to the internet on Vimeo, a video sharing website, where they were subtitled and distributed to students via class Moodle sites. These videos were used in place of written texts for the last two units in a five-unit semester-long course. Based on teacher observations and student surveys, it was determined that the videos were more effective in engaging student attention. However their effect on student comprehension was indeterminable, as students were more able to control their interaction with the video content than with the written texts. Attendees of this presentation will be shown workflows, production notes, and basic features of each tool used in the production and distribution of the videos. Advantages and disadvantages of creating video content for compulsory English classes will be discussed.
Do augmented reality (AR) enabled textbooks promote more learning?
Steve Quasha
JALTCALL 2018 paper 407 Saturday 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Augmented Reality enabled textbooks are slowly being introduced into a variety of educational fields. However, as Hawkinson (2014) pointed out, many of these applications are marker-based AR and lack the digital prowess of commercial game developers. For foreign language educators, while AR certainly offers a multitude of learning applications, it does beg the question whether these marker-based applications are enough to capture the attention of our students. Seeking answers, the presenter is conducting an ongoing research paper to determine if introducing an AR enabled textbook will promote student learning. In particular, will students spend time outside of class using AR material to supplement their English language education? This qualitative research study consists of a series of focus group interviews and some of these results will be discussed. For the AR application, the presenter began using the Aurasma app whose name was rebranded to HP Reveal late last year. As Antonopoulos (2016), Driver (2016), and Valle (2014) all noted, Aurasma has been used in a multitude of language learning settings due to its ease of use. Markers or images serve as triggers for the augmented reality files. Initial results of the paper indicate that while AR has a certain technological appeal, it did not promote learning outside of class. As a result, the presenter created a YouTube channel as an alternative learning tool. Due to its popularity among students, this has shown to be more successful than Aurasma.
Developing sequenced LMS activities for effective EAP task preparation through Moodle completion tracking
Sean Grant
JALTCALL 2018 paper 409 Saturday 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Successful EAP task execution requires prior higher-order conceptualization skills and academic vocabulary knowledge. Theories on skill automaticity and working memory suggest pre-task authentic exposure to and practice of these skills can assist EAP task execution. However, many instructors may lack the time necessary for extensive higher-order conceptualization practice or academic vocabulary development within class. LMS completion tracking is a functionality which allows language instructors to sequence online activities within a prescribed order of completion for follow-up or homework practice. Sequenced completion tracked activities are well suited for developing students’ higher-order conceptualization and academic vocabulary skills in preparation for in-class or assessed EAP task execution. This session will discuss skill automaticity and working memory theories, which emphasize the importance of prior higher-order conceptualization skills and academic vocabulary knowledge for EAP task performance. It will also exemplify some sequenced tasks developed through the Moodle LMS and utilized for an EAP programme within a Macau university. This session will be of interest to Moodle and other completion tracking supported LMS users.
A hands-on how-to for increasing student engagement and speaking time using FlipGrid.
Terrill Reid McLain
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 410 Saturday 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
In business English writing classes, second language learners can be reticent to speak about their writings. To combat this and give students more opportunities to practice speaking and allow instructors the ability to measure the engagement, assignments and tasks can be created using a video response service called FlipGrid. This web-based educational technology tool gives instructors the means to help students increase their productive language skills by increasing the time students spend speaking outside class. Both spontaneous and planned vocal practice assignments can be created with this tool resulting in more student engagement and speaking practice. During the presentation the presenter will share the philosophy behind FlipGrid, a simple rundown on how to use FlipGrid, and share the evaluation and speaking engagement data from a recent Business Communication Class in South Korea. Further, audience members will have an opportunity to experience FlipGrid from both a student perspective, by taking part in a video grid activity and a teacher perspective, by creating their first grid(s). Internet (Wi-Fi), and an electronic device with a built-in camera (any recent smartphone, tablet, or laptop with a built-in camera and ability to access the internet) is all that needed for the participation aspect of the presentation.
Saturday 4:10 pm - 4:40 pm
Evaluating the ability of English teachers in Japan to detect machine-translated assignments
Jonathan Lynch
JALTCALL 2018 paper 403 Saturday 4:10 pm - 4:40 pm
The use of online machine translation (MT) services by English students to produce output has been problematic for teachers for at least two decades. In recent years, the implementation of neural network based translation has improved the accuracy of translations, even for longer sentences. In addition, evidence collected by the author points to increased sophistication among students as to how best produce natural-sounding English from these services. It may, therefore, be the case that teachers are increasingly having to deal with submitted assignments that have been machine translated but may be difficult or even impossible to detect. The problem may be particularly acute for assignments submitted by lower-level learners. Although some research has focused on the ability of software to detect machine translation, little research is available on how well teachers can spot machine translations among a typical batch of submitted work. The current paper will report on the results of an experiment in which thirteen native-speaker teachers of English and six Japanese teachers of English were asked to identify samples of machine-translated work among batches of twenty-five assignments submitted by lower-level learners (a typical grading workload). The machine-translated samples were produced with a variety of different online services commonly accessed by students. The participants were also asked to give reasons for positively identifying samples as being machine translated. It is hoped that the results of the experiment may allow teachers to better distinguish between human-produced and machine-produced work.
Overcoming the limitations of off-the-shelf Mobile Computer-Assisted Language Testing (Mobile-CALT)
Andrew Komasinski
JALTCALL 2018 paper 405 Saturday 4:10 pm - 4:40 pm
Over the last ten years, cellphone-based Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Computer-Assisted Language Testing (CALT) have become prevalent (Stockwell 2013).
Google Forms provides a common and simple version of Mobile-CALT, allowing instructors to quickly have students complete assignments, and produces a spreadsheet of students’ answers (Komasinski 2016). It cannot, however, give back grades, comments, or corrections, so instructors must conduct these tasks separately. Moreover, simple Mobile-CALT has problems with data management, the potential for cheating, and browser compatibility (taken from Roever 2001’s list).
This paper addresses the need for database-driven Mobile-CALL, which links questions, answers, users, grades, and comments, presenting theoretical considerations and then answering problems of conventional Mobile-CALT tools (such as Google Forms and Survey Monkey) through results from an implementation case study.
First, database-driven solutions allow instructors to grade and comment both individually and in batches and to direct this feedback on a per student level. Both the questions, assessments, and feedback can be reused with one click – speeding future use of the same assignment.
Second, such solutions allow educators to maintain data and use it to assess question difficulty and performance over time, and (pending student consent) index student performance with survey data about WTC, student anxiety, and other items.
Finally, Mobile-CALL provides countermeasures to curb cheating and can handle more types of browsers and data than Google Forms.
Ultimately, this paper argues that common CALL systems (such as Moodle) should incorporate or be replaced by database-driven systems that provide time-saving and informative functionality.
Project-based English language learning beyond the classroom with student-produced video
John Brine
JALTCALL 2018 paper 406 Saturday 4:10 pm - 4:40 pm
This presentation will describe a project-based learning approach in which student teams create videos on technical topics to prepare for writing the graduation thesis in English. The University of Aizu offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science. English is an important aspect of the university curriculum and administration. All degree programmes can be completed in English and all theses must be written in English. We enrol international students in our university, and Japanese students can apply for study abroad. In order to increase student competency in spoken English, we employ project-based learning to promote the use of English outside of the classroom. Richards (2015) describes a wide range of out-of-class projects for authentic language learning. In this work, Japanese students record interviews in English with international students to prepare for thesis writing and presentation. Authentic face-to-face conversation and interaction in English with international students are integral to this approach. The video and software technologies employed in this research are now widely available and familiar to students and teachers. We will describe pre-production, production and post-production of student videos; supporting activities include scripting, recording, subtitling, and editing for student-produced video. We will also discuss student reflection on language use, confidence in speaking English with international students, and video-production as a pre-writing technique for the graduation thesis. Finally, the discussion will draw on teaching experiences with student-produced video to illustrate the curricular transition to project-based learning.
Evaluating graded readers with a digital library
Paul Goldberg
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 407 Saturday 4:10 pm - 4:40 pm
A fundamental benefit of a digital library connected to a learner management system is that it can be used to monitor and assess students’ reading progress. It can track how many books, words, and minutes a student has read. However, a digital library can also be used to evaluate graded readers. By flipping the metrics around, instead of analyzing each student by the books he or she has read, it is possible to analyze each book by the number of students who selected it, the completion rate, and the speed at which it was read. If user profiles are included, it is possible to see demographic trends such as which books are preferred by particular age groups or genders. In addition, user ratings can easily be collected. All of this information can have important applications for teachers and administrators running extensive reading programs. For example, it can give guidance on which books to recommend to students, or which books they should select as class readers. In this show-and-tell session, the presenter, who has developed the online library, Xreading, will demonstrate how the system can now easily provide educators with insightful book usage data.
“MultiForm Scores”: software that addresses multi-word awareness, motivation, feedback and learner corpus development
Kevin Mark
JALTCALL 2018 paper 410 Saturday 4:10 pm - 4:40 pm
This presentation describes a database tool called “MultiForm Scores” (MS) that is being used in a university context to allow the author to quickly create paper worksheets, tests and feedback as well as maintain a database of the weaknesses of individual learners and groups of learners. MS was developed initially for listening dictation and the strengthening of learners’ awareness of multi-word chunks of language. In the course of using the software in this way it has become apparent that MS can also be used in the practice and testing of writing. Its apparent motivating effect on learners is promising but is yet to be systematically investigated. Using MS regularly for ten to fifteen minutes in classes is providing the author with a rapidly growing parallel corpus comprising learner chunks of language and target language counterparts. The presentation will describe the software, a sophisticated Filemaker Pro database, and show how its semi-automatic processes make it a practical tool for regular use by a practitioner willing to give time to inputting data equivalent roughly to the time that might be used for marking tests and scripts by hand. Illustrative learner performance data will be given, and the algorithm used for calculating a numerical score for each multi-word unit will also be discussed.
Simple and effective use of the Moodle grader report as a leader board
Trevor Fernandes
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 411 Saturday 4:10 pm - 4:40 pm
This presentation will explain the results of using the Moodle grader report in the classroom. Examples will be given of how it can be used to promote appropriate learning strategies and autonomy. Some ideas on how it can be used in other ways in the future will be explored. The grader report when used a leaderboard adds an element of gamification which and has proven to be a great motivator at individual and group levels in my teaching environment. During classes learner engagement is increased through moment by moment rewards. Due to the immediacy of the change in ranking and scores a certain degree of excitement is also achieved. How to avoid discouraging underperforming students as well as help them will also be shown giving examples. The learner strategies that have allowed for greater learner autonomy and less direction from the teacher will be presented. These strategies will be explained in detail. The problems faced from a teacher and learner point of view will be discussed along with possible solutions. Further extensions and ideas about how to make the best use of the grader report will be presented based on what has been observed in class. The audience will have an greater appreciation and understanding of the Moodle grader report when used in large classes and multiple classes. These uses can be applied to any LMS with a grader report style feature.
Saturday 4:10 pm - 5:20 pm
Live Streamed Chat
Louise Ohashi
JALTCALL 2018 livechat 402 Saturday 4:10 pm - 5:20 pm
Live streamed CHAT with invited speakers: Louise Ohashi, Parisa Mehran, Kazunori Nozawa, and Aga Palalas.
Saturday 5:20 pm - 6:20 pm
Technology and the Changing Role of the Teacher and Learner
Agnieszka Palalas
JALTCALL 2018 keynote DN301 Saturday 5:20 pm - 6:20 pm
The relationship between language, pedagogy, and digital technologies has been steadily changing how we communicate, connect, share, and socialize. Digital technologies have transformed language and language learning as well as the context of language usage and learning. With the consequential pedagogical shifts, the identities and roles of language teachers and learners also transform.
Digital technologies offer increasingly powerful language performance supports as well as novel educational tools and methods in newfound environments, which potentially augments language practice through exposure to real-life language and communicative situations. Mobile and blended language learning approaches expand the contextual and interactional dimensions of language practice and use. This might call for a shift toward pedagogy that allows for the selection of the right approach for the right outcome and context, for learners and learning, often resulting in a “mash-up” of pedagogical approaches. More innovative constructivist, collaborative, learner-centered instruction leads to new learning-teaching relationships that may require stronger self-directed learning and metacognitive skills as well as time management skills.
Despite all these changes, the role of teachers remains important. In this era of more learner-centred and participatory approaches to pedagogy, learners still need the guidance of subject matter experts and teachers who can direct them to valid content and the optimal learning strategies for their particular needs.
The keynote addresses how the new digital technologies impact the practice of foreign and second language learning and how this affects the roles of the teacher and learner, particularly in the mobile and blended language learning setting.
Sunday 10:00 am - 10:30 am
Developing English listening comprehension material in a flipped classroom environment for blind students in Thailand
Suksan Suppasetseree, Arnon Jannok
JALTCALL 2018 paper 403 Sunday 10:00 am - 10:30 am
Teaching listening comprehension to students who are visually impaired or blind involves complex challenges. The teachers need to understand the visual condition of their blind students and learn more about their backgrounds. The problem of a shortage of material has always plagued teachers for the blind. Nowadays there is computer software that is able to download reading content and transcribe it into Braille dots. Technology can overcome that problem. Blind students can be trained to use the computer. There is sound synthesis software such as text to speech and voice recognition that can be installed on the computer for free. In addition, the flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning that reverses the traditional learning environment by delivering instructional content, often online, outside of the classroom. It moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered homework, into the classroom which has a lot of benefits for blind students. This study aims at investigating English listening comprehension achievements and opinions of blind students toward learning in a flipped classroom environment in Thailand. Pre-and post-tests were used to compare listening achievements before and after learning through the materials designed by the researcher. Then the questionnaire and interview were administered to explore their opinions. The results show that flipped classroom facilitates the blind students on listening comprehension improvement and they have the positive opinions that flipped classroom helps them develop listening comprehension.
Developing a web-based tool for promoting spoken fluency
Rob Hirschel
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 408 Sunday 10:00 am - 10:30 am
Despite abundant instruction throughout the course of formal education, many Japanese English language learners experience limited opportunities to develop spoken fluency skills. This presentation introduces a web-based tool called Fluency Builder, which is being designed for the Moodle learning management system for the purpose of increasing spoken fluency. The main function of the tool is to present the user with an audio prompt, record his or her response to the prompt for a set duration, then playback the user's response for comparison against a prerecorded model answer. Additionally, the user is provided the opportunity to self-assess the accuracy of his or her performance through a simple and intuitive interface. Fluency Builder enables teachers to quickly create activities either by recording prompts and model answers directly in the browser or by uploading previously recorded audio files. The number of prompts included in each activity is determined by the teacher as is the amount of time the user is granted to provide an answer. At the conclusion of the activity, Fluency Builder displays a score (based on the user's self-assessment) alongside the option to try again. Provisions have also been made for completion tracking to ensure accountability. The presenters will provide a live demonstration of Fluency Builder and attendees will have an opportunity to test the software for themselves. Although this tool is currently under development, it will be made available for free to download and use in the near future.
The experimental classroom: promoting a genre-based pedagogy through virtual reality
Euan Bonner, Phil Murphy
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 407 Sunday 10:00 am - 10:30 am
The English Language Institute at Kanda University of International Studies moved into a new building at the beginning of the 2017 school year. This custom-designed state-of-the-art facility features an experimental classroom, the purpose of which is to research the use of technology before introduction into regular classrooms. The first project conducted in the room utilises fully immersive virtual reality systems (HTC Vives) and software to develop a pilot lesson for English majors on a Freshman literacy course. Using commercial software, Owlchemy Labs’ Job Simulator (2016) was chosen as the Kitchen Chef scenario matched (a) the need for practicing procedural texts and (b) the topic of the course material which was recipes.
With a focus on genre analysis and communication, the non-VR course materials were analysed in terms of lesson aims, outcomes, grammar, vocabulary, functions, genre and communication/interaction patterns. The next stage was to determine whether these areas could be catered for, and/or improved, through the use of technology. For example, in contrast to current course materials, Kitchen Chef provides the opportunity to directly interact with numerous utensils and ingredients. Therefore, only after such considerations did work start on designing the new VR lesson.
This show and tell comprises a description of the instructors’ journey from starting the project up to trials. Notes kept throughout document both the challenges faced and the decisions made along the way. Hopefully, this session will provide a useful set of considerations regarding the successful inclusion of VR in language courses.
Including effort in assessment using e-learning
Adam Jenkins
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 409 Sunday 10:00 am - 10:30 am
The fundamental principle underlying education is that through the expenditure of effort, a person's abilities can be enhanced and new abilities can be acquired. However, it is commonplace to assess students solely on the performance of their abilities and to neglect the effort expended. When student effort is assessed, it tends to be a subjective judgement made by a teacher or a 'participation' mark that may not capture the effort that leads to an improvement in ability. E-Learning affords us tools that can be used to assess student effort more objectively, for example by incorporating automatically graded quizzes that allow multiple attempts or by mediating the assessment of an extensive reading program. Once student effort can be objectively assessed it then becomes possible to reward and thus encourage effort. This can lead to improvements in student motivation, learner autonomy and combat the effects of learned helplessness by creating a syllabus with increased learner agency. In this presentation I will introduce the hybrid syllabus that incorporates both ability and effort based assessment, along with an example assessment schedule that is a hybrid of both measures of ability and measures of effort, along with several principles that can be applied to effort-based assessments to enhance their effectiveness. Finally, there will be a discussion of the hybrid syllabus' effects on student motivation and their development of a 'growth-mindset.'
Socialising and personalising language MOOCs: Developing a social and personal online language course (SPOLC)
Napat Jitpaisarnwattana
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 410 Sunday 10:00 am - 10:30 am
This show and tell presentation will look at a Social and Personal Online Language course (SPOLC - a newly coined term used to refer to Language Massive Open Online Course in this project), which is being designed as a part of a PhD project. In recent years, there has been a lot of attention given to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and their potential to disrupt education in recent years. Language education, albeit being a rather slow starter, is starting to embrace this development. However, what Language MOOCs (LMOOCs) have struggled with is encouraging and enabling student interaction in order to improve learning. In addition, the high heterogeneity among students (language level, learning needs, goals, intentions and learning styles) is also an important issue in LMOOCs. People come to MOOCs for different purposes and goals. However, most existing LMOOCs still fail to incorporate these elements into their design. The design principles of SPOLC, aiming to solve these existing problems, afford a personalised language-learning environment for learners by exploiting the data available through learning analytics as well as providing the highly interactional learning activities for participants. The content of the project targets primarily, albeit nor exclusively, professional engineers who need to give presentation in their workplace. The course is entitled Presentation@work and will be launched through Canvas Network, a MOOC platform around July-August 2018, so bring your own device, help me evaluate the SPOLC and all come!
Corpus consultation in an online writing course: a scaffolded approach
Peter Parise
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 411 Sunday 10:00 am - 10:30 am
This presentation will show the preliminary results of an exploratory case study of three participants who are in-service Japanese teachers of English attending a blended online writing course which focuses on writing four different types of essays. During this course, these participants were guided to conduct corpus consultations independently to revise their errors. This online course offers a unique variety of corrective feedback methods generated by the instructors such as direct correction, comments, and hyperlinked concordances attached to a word processing file to aid the participants in revising their written errors. However, these methods do not encourage autonomous revision but sustain a dependence on the instructor. In order to address this issue, two additional feedback methods were adopted: ratings based on the IELTS writing rubric and scaffolded instruction from the instructor to help the participants begin conducting corpus consultations on their own. This presentation will look at data related to the progress of the participants’ writing development based on the ratings as well as before and after samples of error repair as a result of the participants’ independent corpus consultations. The presenter will argue that while consulting corpora has the potential to help learners gradually become more independent in terms of revising, it should be done after a careful process which requires guidance in reading and understanding concordances.
The pedagogical frontier: web-based simulation learning with English as Lingua Franca
Hisayo Kikuchi, Dennis Harmon
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 406 Sunday 10:00 am - 10:30 am
This case study is international in scope, including 40 participants from Japan and abroad for one semester and extra curricular activities in 2017. It explores if the benefits of Model United Nations (MUN) can be used in information and communication technological (ICT) environments and intends to attempt to develop a MUN online homepage. We will discuss the effectiveness and use of simulations and simulation-based learning (SBL) in the contexts of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and English Medium Instruction (EMI). The purposes of this case study are to investigate how students (1) effectively use time and educational resources, (2) explore active participation in a simulation event without participants feeling the economic burden of leaving their respective countries, and (3) strengthen participants native language and target language through ELF strategies. Further, we will focus on: information dissemination, research approaches, learner perceptions, motivations, and attitudes toward simulation themes. With these research approaches and pedagogical strategies, we will showcase our developing approach to MUN using web-based resources and demonstrate how students effectively discuss and create their own online video content.
Sunday 10:00 am - 11:10 am
Apps4EFL.com: 30+ web-based activities and tools for English teachers and learners
Paul Raine
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 404 Sunday 10:00 am - 11:10 am
In this presentation, the speaker will introduce and demonstrate Apps4EFL.com, a free, cross-device compatible Web-Based Language Learning (WBLL) platform, wholly developed by the speaker. The site utilizes creative commons data and open web technologies to provide engaging and intuitive English language teaching and learning tools.
During the workshop, the following web-apps will be demonstrated and explained::
"Real Time" - an Online Student Response System (OSRS) which allows teachers to test the vocabulary knowledge of an entire class of students using their smartphones or computers to respond to question prompts.
"Auto Cloze" - an app which allows students to watch subtitled YouTube videos, or read Wikipedia articles and other texts, and respond to cloze tests which have been automatically generated from the videos or texts.
"Quick Speak" - an assignment type that allows teachers to administer speaking assignments to students, and for students to record and submit their answers on any PC or mobile device.
"Lyric Learner" - an app that allows students to listen and engage with over 50 popular music videos by typing the missing words in song lyrics.
A fully comprehensive Learner Management System (LMS) is also built into Apps 4 EFL, and allows teachers to track in detail student time-on-task (ToT), study habits and preferences, and attainment as measured by Apps 4 EFL's universal point system.
Google Classroom to your classroom.
Robin Sneath
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 405 Sunday 10:00 am - 11:10 am
In modern classrooms the effective use of online tools has become an area of increasing importance, as they are are becoming increasingly available to educators.
This workshop will demonstrate the use of Google Classroom and how it can be used with various courses in a university or another educational institution. The workings of the different parts of Classroom and the materials used to enhance the students' perceptions of and engagement with various lesson materials will be demonstrated, as well as the benefits to the teacher. The platform and the activities presented were implemented with 1st and 2nd year English language learners.
During the workshop time, participants will be shown the ease of class set up and usage that the students had access to, both online through their computers and using it through the smartphone app, which was the most popular choice.
There will be discussion and demonstration of activities that were used to assist the students in their class assignments. These vary from having resources available to remind them of tasks and also to generate interest, book lists, how-to guides for M-Reader, to video and comprehension questions.
Participants will have a number of opportunities to try Google Classroom throughout the workshop, as well as time for questions.
Navigating Language Development: How are learners evolving with language learning technology?
Blair Barr, Daniel Hougham, Brett Milliner
JALTCALL 2018 ldforum 402 Sunday 10:00 am - 11:10 am
The Learner Development SIG Forum at JALTCALL 2018 is an interactive event featuring innovative approaches for facilitating independent learner development with the use of technology in the classroom and beyond. The aim of this forum is to view technology from the perspective of learners. First, Brett Milliner will report on student engagement with extensive listening exercises and listening logs. In addition, he will introduce some of the steps taken to train students to be more effective consumers of online content for language learning purposes. Next, Daniel Hougham will share survey results on perceptions of doing a program of vocabulary learning, with Quizlet, and online vocabulary quizzes using Google Forms and the Flubaroo add-on. Finally, Blair Barr will demonstrate how one particular group of learners in an advanced, university-level, TOEIC class were engaged in the co-development of Quizlet flashcard sets for both in-class and independent study. The three presentations will be followed by a discussion period where participants will be given an opportunity to reflect on the presentations while participants can share their own research experiences, puzzles, and narratives about learner growth and language development through the use of technology.
Sunday 10:40 am - 11:10 am
Technology and CALL in an international PhD program: Innovation or hindrance, inspiration or distraction
Dion Clingwall
JALTCALL 2018 paper 411 Sunday 10:40 am - 11:10 am
This presentation analyzes the language learning outcomes of various technologies and CALL applications used in an international, EMI graduate program at a national university in Japan. The question of whether these applications increased program appeal or raised program quality will also be addressed.
This study involved 45 PhD students from 14 countries (English proficiency levels: intermediate to fluent). It took place over three years and attempted to identify the impact of technology and CALL on language learning outcomes (objective measures: vocabulary & grammar assessment) and fluency ratings (subjective measures: pronunciation & functional adequacy). Opinion surveys (subjective measures & ratings scales) were given to PhD students, program professors and program administrators each semester (six times in total).
Examples of technology include the BB9 learning management platform (internal program messaging & sharing academic content), an e-portfolio system (cataloging learner achievements), and a teleconferencing system (instructor/student & student/student remote interaction). The CALL applications included video and audio editing programs, dictation and transcription software, simultaneous video subtitling, online grammar and vocabulary programs, scientific writing template support and various others.
The presentation will begin with a discussion on using technology to enhance learning. I will then explain why certain CALL applications were chosen and how they were used. I will then report on the pros and cons of the technologies and the CALL applications (identified by students, instructors, and administrators) as well as whether or not we found positive language learning outcomes. Finally we discuss whether these applications increased program appeal or raised program quality.
Using social interaction to enhance teacher presence in mobile assisted language learning
Phuong Tran
JALTCALL 2018 paper 403 Sunday 10:40 am - 11:10 am
Encouraging learners to carry out learning activities outside of formal class time is an ongoing challenge for language teachers, and there is an increasing number of studies exploring the potential of social interaction to achieve this (e.g., Álvarez Valencia, 2016). Results thus far have been rather mixed, with learners showing positive attitudes but limited interaction (Tran, 2016), suggesting reconsideration of how social interaction tools can be used. Ideally, this should promote the social and cognitive aspects of teacher presence (see Lee, 2014), and determine whether this can link to enhanced task activity outside of the classroom. The purpose of the study was to explore how social interaction can be used to support engagement in language learning activities outside of the classroom, and to determine how social and cognitive aspects of teacher presence can encourage task engagement. The study was carried out with 109 pre-intermediate learners of English at two private universities in Tokyo over a two-year period using LINE as a forum for interaction between the teacher and learners. Learner engagement in Quizlet vocabulary activities and online listening activities were investigated via student reporting and server logs, and scores on vocabulary quizzes were correlated. Logs of all interactions in class LINE groups and individual interactions with the teacher were analysed to determine how learners perceived the presence of the teacher, and if this impacted on task engagement. The results are discussed in terms of how teacher presence through mobile learning may be used to support learners both socially and cognitively.
Building classroom community: using YouTube to bridge language ability and interests
Nicholas Delgrego
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 408 Sunday 10:40 am - 11:10 am
Many learners feel frustration when the level of language they command cannot adequately describe what they want to convey. Additionally, language learners may grow weary from a steady barrage of common topics that may not challenge them intellectually. However, by utilizing YouTube in the classroom, a teacher can re-energize learner motivation by allowing students to introduce topics that are meaningful to them.
This presentation will give examples of adapting a traditional "show and tell" style activity with application for the language classroom. Research has found that "show and tell" can simultaneously help basic language/presentation skills (Peregoy & Boyle 2005) and higher order skills such as identity shaping and value judgements (Bodrova and Leong 1996).
This activity is recommended to be used as a weekly introduction or warm-up. All students must sign up to present once during the semester. Each week, a few designated students must select a YouTube video that is meaningful or interesting to them. Next, students bring a rehearsed short speech (less than two minutes) to introduce their video. The speech can either follow a predetermined script with detailed scaffolding for lower-level learners or more freedom with general speech guidelines for intermediate/higher level-learners. In order to ensure observing students remain engaged, individual student speeches and videos should not last more than five minutes combined. If time is available, observers can also ask followup questions.
This seemingly simple activity can have a great affect on student motivation by allowing them to express themselves through their own selections.
"New directions in educational technology" 20 years ago
Suzan Stamper
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 409 Sunday 10:40 am - 11:10 am
This presenter's first educational technology course was in 1982. At that time, the course content included making overlays for overhead transparencies, using a copy stand to photograph material for slides, laminating dry-mounted visuals, and operating film projectors. In 1996, a new edition of the course textbook was published with one chapter "Looking Ahead" at educational technology in the future. Using the course and textbook for inspiration in this session, the presenter will reflect on how educational technology has changed over the last 20 years and how we now envision educational technology's future. To begin, the presenter will sum up and highlight the textbook's predictions. For example, one trend that was predicted was the merging of media and technology. In one figure, the 1950s was represented by separate and distinct forms of media like motion pictures (e.g., film), text (e.g. textbooks), audio (e.g., phonographs), objects (e.g., models), and visuals (e.g., photographs). A figure for the 1980s showed how separate media were starting to overlap. The figure for the 21st century showed media as nearly identical concentric circles of "digital video interactive," "digital audio," "desktop publishing," "CD-Rom," and "Virtual Reality" with the idea that we will eventually be unable to distinguish between media types. Another interesting prediction is "the computer itself, as we know it today, is likely to converge into one platform and eventually disappear." After summing up key predictions in the textbook, the presentation will conclude with eliciting predictions for new directions from the attendees.
Sunday 11:20 am - 12:20 pm
CALL Integration into EFL: Successes and Challenges over the Years
Kazunori Nozawa
JALTCALL 2018 plenary DN301 Sunday 11:20 am - 12:20 pm
Changes in the pattern of globalization and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have accelerated over the past thirty years. The emergence of such changes has serious implications for the goals of educational institutions. Schools cannot remain as mere venues for the transmission of a prescribed set of information from teachers to students, over a fixed course period. Instead, schools must promote “learning to learn.” As the sociologist, writer, and futurist, Alvin Toffler, says, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
ICTs have been promoted as potentially powerful enabling tools for educational change and reform. When used appropriately, different ICTs help expand access to education, strengthen the relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, and raise educational quality by helping make teaching and learning into an engaging, active process connected to real life. However, full realization of the potential educational benefits of ICTs is not a given. This plenary focuses on the appropriate and effective use of ICTs in one Japanese university by first providing a brief overview of the benefits of ICT use and the ways by which different ICTs have been used in the university thus far. Second, it addresses the four broad issues (effectiveness, cost, equity, and sustainability) in the use of ICTs in education. The plenary concludes with a discussion of five key challenges (educational policy and planning, infrastructure, software and/or courseware, language and content, and financing).
Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
How Narrative Task Performance in Chat Rooms Affects Oral Production
Nami Takase
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Text chat has unique advantages for language practice, as it offers spontaneous interaction in written form. Researchers have stated that text chat has features of both speaking and writing. In addition, tasks and instructions have been shown to affect the learning process. Task-based learning has gained attention in recent years, and empirical studies have been conducted on technology-mediated communication. Technology and face-to-face activities are becoming blended in real-life classrooms. It is therefore worthwhile to investigate whether tasks in technology-mediated settings achieve similar or different goals to those undertaken in face-to-face environments. In this poster, a study comparing technology-mediated and face-to-face tasks has been presented. The aim of the study was to understand how task intervention affected monologic oral production using a pre- and post-test design. Participants were two groups of first-year university students. The experimental group undertook tasks in a text-based chatroom, which allowed them to engage in technology-mediated communication. The control group undertook tasks in a face-to-face setting. Participants were given narrative tasks, as it is possible to use them to measure learner performance (Kormos & Trebits, 2012). Pre- and post-test results of participants’ monologues from each group were analyzed according to complexity and fluency. Results showed between-group similarities and differences in attention and learning opportunities. Findings may guide educators’ choice of learning mode (online or face-to-face) according to their teaching goals.
Developing a digital teaching portfolio
Michael Stockwell
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
This presentation will propose a framework for developing your own teacher’s digital portfolio. We will focus on two key areas. First, we’ll discuss the content of a digital teaching portfolio. What should and shouldn’t be included to demonstrate the depth and breadth of the teacher’s skills and abilities. Secondly, the presenter will suggest a framework to maintain a reader-centered approach to organization and to prevent the reader from being overwhelmed with data. By following good design practice and using a variety of formats, the reader can quickly gain an overview of an applicant's qualifications and experience. Also, if interested the reader can easily obtain examples of the teacher’s work and skills. The presenter also will share recent research on the use of teaching portfolios in Japan at the university level by both hiring committees and candidates for teaching positions.
Introducing Web-based English Learning Applications in the Japanese University Classroom
Robert Anthony Olexa
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
A case study that examines the introduction of web-based apps to Japanese university students for skill-based English learning. The focus is a class of 43 students from the International Studies and Education departments at a private Japanese university. The course was an elective English course titled, "Current Events English". In class, activities consisted mainly of analog speaking activities from the textbook. However, web-based applications were introduced to support class preparation, the midterm, and final project. The Memrise app for vocab learning was optional for class preparation, use of Google Classroom was optional for the midterm, and Cambridge Write & Improve was required or the final project.
Students were given two separate surveys, one to assess their experience with the course and another to assess their experience with the technology. In addition, data from each application was collected and used to determine students progress. Student feedback and observations from the study reveal a student reticence to use the apps. However, it is clear that the students who used the apps regularly were able to recall more of the vocabulary at the end of the course than those that didn't. Students also gained an awareness of their current writing ability in respect to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Overall, the students who used the apps seemed to perceive them as beneficial for their improvement in English.
Comparing Read Theory and MReader in a Japanese university EFL context
Christopher Tempest
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
This presentation explores the implementation of Read Theory, a free reading-focused website, to an English programme at a Japanese university. Read Theory is a platform for users to read short passages and take comprehension quizzes. It was selected as it allowed easy access to short reading passages via smartphones and in-class tablets, reading levels that adjusted to students’ performance and a large pool of resources to read from. Previously, students had been asked to use physical graded readers followed by an online quiz via the MReader website with the aim of reading specified word count targets. However, this system had proved problematic as many students focused on the quizzes rather than on reading, or they completed quizzes by only referencing the books or choosing unsuitable levels. This poster outlines and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of both MReader and Read Theory, how it was used within the course, and how students interacted with it. It also briefly outlines other uses of Read Theory, as well as limitations of the platform and problems encountered.
Voice recording assignments on Facebook
Mari Yamauchi
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Many Japanese learners of English have little confidence about their pronunciation, which is likely due to their previous lack of pronunciation practice and also to their desire to sound like native speakers. The students who take the presenter’s phonetics class at a university tend to share those characteristics. In the class, they are explicitly taught to recognize the differences between English and Japanese sound systems, with a focus on selected areas of intelligibility problems for Japanese speakers, and they are encouraged or forced to try using their articulators to mimic the target phrases, followed by feedback on intelligibility of their English and advice on the use of articulators. The explicit instruction and plenty of practice in the class alone could make a big difference in their phonological awareness. To make a bigger difference, by adding more opportunities to practice and get feedback, the presenter set up weekly voice recording assignments using a Facebook group. Compared to other tools (LMSs, Evernote, etc.), Facebook was more mobile-friendly and easier to use for sharing recordings and feedback, without having to worry about technical problems. After the 15-week class sessions, supplemented by the weekly recording assignments, the participants were more phonologically aware and more confident in spoken English, as they found themselves better at listening comprehension tasks, and knew how to practice their pronunciation skills. The poster illustrates how the Facebook assignments were implemented to help the participants practice their skills, and discusses advantages and disadvantages of using Facebook for teaching spoken English.
Getting student in LINE: The affordances of a Japanese SNS
Joseph Tomei
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
LINE is ubiquitous, and this presentation will show how teachers can use it to support their classroom and their faculty. The poster will review some of the research into Social Networking Services (SNS) and EFL and give the background as to why and how LINE was adopted by the presenter. LINE is, at its heart, a social app, and taking a Vygotskyan approach (which argues that the community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning) can explain why the affordances of LINE can have an impact in your classroom. The presenter has used LINE for the full range of groups, from small 5 person seminars to 120 person yearly faculty intakes. Creating a LINE group as an adjunct to your class can help with attendance, participation and learning in a number of surprising ways. This poster presentation will discuss a number of tricks to more effectively use LINE for classrooms as well as discuss some limitations and affordances of LINE that can make it useful for some tasks and problematic for others. The poster will also give participants the opportunity to join a LINE group and test some of the features discussed in the poster. Because LINE is the most popular app among Japanese students, discussion will be concentrated on that particular app, but connections to other apps such as Kakao and Kix will be discussed.
Navigating cooperative language space with Spaceteam ESL
Troy Rubesch, Evan Cacali
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Language teachers face many obstacles in motivating students. Recently, technology-mediated apps and programs featuring gamified elements such as Duolingo, Quizlet, and EnglishCentral seek to motivate learners through activating their competitive nature. Spaceteam ESL takes a different approach to gamifying language learning by appealing to a learners’ cooperative nature.
Spaceteam ESL is a free app for Android and IOS which was purposefully designed for ESL students to engage in meaningful communication using targeted vocabulary. The game uses task-based principles in an information gap format to require participants to share information to achieve a shared task: to protect their spaceship from crashing.
The game is played in pairs or small groups and involves speaking, or often shouting, directions to other players to help co-pilot a spacecraft. Each player commands only a portion of the ship’s controls and receives directions on their device that they need to convey to the other players, so clear and fluent communication is needed to successfully pilot the ship. The vocabulary in the game can be selected by the teacher, making it perfect for reviewing and drilling relevant target vocabulary.
The presenters will discuss the considerations for onboarding students. Participants will leave with an understanding of the structure of the game as well as the socio-linguistic principles addressed in the game design. Participants will be encouraged to trial the app on provided smartphones and tablets or on their own devices. *Note: The presenters are not part of the app development team in any way.
University students preferred platforms for studying second language vocabulary
Emily Mindog
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Building vocabulary knowledge is crucial in order for second language (L2) learners to attain proficiency. This is something that most L2 learners believe to be true but many still struggle to allocate time to vocabulary learning.
In order to support students L2 vocabulary acquisition, the Reading course at our university uses 3 platforms for students to choose from. This poster will show the results of giving over 200 first year university students the option to study vocabulary using a mobile and web-based study application. During the first term, students studied for vocabulary quizzes using their textbook and a vocabulary list which they can access and download from the school website. Quizlet was introduced in the second term so that students can utilize features of mobile learning such as easy access, anytime and anywhere learning. This poster will present the factors that affect engagement with a digital study application, and whether there are differences in the learning outcomes between students who used the study application versus those who did not. It will also show how positively or negatively students view different platforms and whether this perception is correlated to use of platform. The lessons learned from this will be used to further improve students' learning experience.
Pronunciation practice for EFL classrooms
Robert Clayton
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Proven an effective and efficient technique for quickly improving speaking and listening skills, pronunciation activities offer short routines which help students "warm-up" and begin studying English. A wide variety of applications, software and online resources are now available for teachers to create engaging pronunciation activities which spark student interest in English and add to their enjoyment of modern foreign language classrooms. Whole-class, pair-work and individual tasks ranging between 5 and 15 minutes in length will be presented using several of these tech tools to create digital presentations, interactive charts, multimedia flashcards, teleprompter and text-to-voice readings, student feedback, instant messaging and other pronunciation-related material. Basic activities focus on individual sound pronunciation and minimal-pairs practice to help students distinguish between similar sounds. Additional activities increase student awareness of word and sentence stress and intonation. Limited in length and content, these beginner to pre-intermediate level activities also help unify diverse classes by being informative for beginner level students and yet offering an engaging review for higher level students. Students enjoy these pronunciation activities and find the advice and in-class practice with friends helpful as they build confidence and become more motivated for independent study. This poster presentation will provide teachers practical information proven useful in teaching elementary through university level EFL classes in Japan. A handout of resource information will be distributed and the presenter will be available and eager to listen to other teachers willing to share their own opinions and experiences.
Digital book reports with GoogleForms
Blake Matheny
JALTCALL 2018 poster Learning Commons (2F) Sunday 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Extensive reading has proven effects upon students' acquisition of vocabulary; however, finding good methods of implementing and assigning value to this work has difficulties. In order to balance administrative requirements while following the pure extensive reading approach, which involves no assessment, this researcher has implemented the use of GoogleForms as the medium of submission. One to two graded readers are required to be read per week for all beginner level classes. Book reports were previously submitted to the professor on paper. Using the new method, book reports have been successfully submitted by this researcher's students using GoogleForms for 3 semesters. The students use a QR code to access the book report form, type the required information (title, author, and a three sentence impression). This method has proven to be useful and user friendly for the student and the teacher alike. This poster will contain examples of the implementation of digital book reports in GoogleForms, quantifiable feedback from the students, and a brief explanation of how to process the data with Microsoft Excel.
Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Connecting learners and creating online spaces in your class through Google plus social network
Eng Hai Tan
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 403 Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
The objective of this presentation is to showcase how Google Plus Social Network can be turned into a network of learning opportunities for students. Examples of Google Plus Communities used in English Communication and Basic Academic English classes at the tertiary level will be introduced. The presentation is divided into three sections and it includes a variety of language tasks that utilize the social network to enhance student learning, maximize engagement, and encourage communication both within and outside of class. Section 1: Setting up the Community. How to get started and some logistic and privacy issues will be discussed (such as a public community cannot be made private and vice versa once it is being set up). Students need to have a Google account in order to be part of the community. Section 2: Learning opportunities. To engage in the activities, students are required to use their mobile devices to access the Community. They can through their devices share materials that promote class interaction and discussion. For instance, in a self-introduction activity, students upload a photograph of themselves, write a few lines about it and other students will make comments. Instructors can also utilize its capabilities to gather student information, by using the polling function, provide links to announcements or materials which students can access after class. Section 3: Limitations. What the Community is unable to do in terms of its function will also be mentioned.
Is an internet-supported content-based flipped language classroom for everyone?
Yu-Chih Sun
JALTCALL 2018 paper 406 Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
This research explores 30 university-level foreign language learners‘ perceptions of the internet-supported content-based flipped classroom approach, and factors influencing their perceptions. The study was conducted in an English class over a semester (18 weeks). The research questions guiding the study are three-fold: (a) What attitudes and perceptions do students have about language and knowledge acquisition in the internet-supported content-based flipped classroom? (b) What learning processes and strategies do students employ in the process? (c) What themes emerge from the content-based flipped classroom experience? The findings suggest that by humanizing the classroom through rich interaction between students using the flipped classroom concept and guiding students to explore rich knowledge online out-of-class, students show improvement in communicative skills, confidence, and content knowledge development over time. However, students differ in their perceptions of its effectiveness due to their varying epistemological beliefs about the certainty of knowledge, authority and the sources of knowledge, what learning really means, and the importance of measurability in learning outcomes.
A detailed lesson plan and course design will be presented. Photos and videos taken in the classroom will be shared to illustrate the interaction among students and activities in the flipped classroom. Excerpts of students' responses and online task will also be presented to allow a better understanding of students' attitudes and engagement in out-of-class activities.
Using corpus methods to study nonverbal communication in fiction
S. Kathleen Kitao
JALTCALL 2018 paper 407 Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Nonverbal communication is a central aspect of communication, although speakers/hearers are not often conscious of its importance. Aspects of nonverbal communication include touch, facial expression, vocal expressions (including silence), gestures, clothing and artifacts (anything that is worn or carried, other than clothing), and gaze and eye contact. Writers of fiction often used descriptions of nonverbal communication to reveal the characters' relationships, attitudes, reactions, etc. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen used eye contact and gaze to reveal the changing attitudes of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy toward each other. Corpus methods can be used to explore the use of nonverbal communication in prose. For example, if one searches for collocates of silence in the Corpus of Contemporary American English, there are positive words such as companionable, comfortable, respectful, peaceful, and sweet, negative words such as sullen, strained, awkward, and uncomfortable, and descriptive words such as long, short, or brief for the length of the silence, total, absolute, or perfect for the completeness of the silence, etc. These are used to give information about the relationships between people and the atmosphere of a particular encounter. Students can use corpora such as the Corpus of Contemporary American English (available at https://corpus.byu.edu/coca) to learn more about nonverbal communication and how it is used in prose. In this presentation, I will show how corpus methods reveal about the use of facial expression, vocal expression, and other aspects of nonverbal communication in prose.
Computer-assisted language tests and learner mindsets
Brett Milliner, Blair Barr
JALTCALL 2018 paper 408 Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Following the trend towards more formative assessment in the language classroom, computer-assisted language tests (CALT) offer teachers a time-saving means to grade and monitor the effectiveness of their teaching. For language learners, CALT can provide more immediate and dynamic feedback on their work. In this talk, the presenters will report on their investigation of how CALT feedback influences the behavior and learning mindset of foreign language learners. Approximately 300 Japanese university students who experienced taking CALT created in either Blackboard® or Google Forms were surveyed on their impressions of CALT versus a paper-based format and how they interacted with test feedback. This presentation will report on the survey results before discussing how CALT can be implemented in the language classroom, and how language learners can be trained to more effectively respond to computer-generated feedback.
Using Google Forms to facilitate student self evaluations
Rich Porter
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 409 Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
This “Show and Tell” will demonstrate how an instructor can set up an on-line form to facilitate student self evaluations in a regular classroom. Historically, self evaluations needed completion on paper or assigned as homework to allow for connection to the Internet. Attendees will see how students enter and submit data on a Google Form during class in approximately 15 minutes. Such speed by the students is largely due to this type of self evaluation emphasizing the use of several distinct and readable guidelines to facilitate their input of two digit numbers with a smartphone. It is this arrangement that enables quick transfer to the instructor’s Google Sheets. This transfer in turn allows for incorporation into a final grade calculation, such as in Sheets, that combines the instructor's score with the student's. Constructing such self evaluation for Google Forms normally can be cumbersome due to its design. However, improvisations can address such issue. Meanwhile, attendees will discover that such thinking outside the box, thus unnoted in Google Help, could also spur additional tweaks in other Google Forms, such as the expanding the limited font and text color choices to ease readability. Minimally, attendees will become aware of an additional option for constructing a Google Form, such as for a self evaluation.
Supporting individualized vocabulary study with word/phrase lists
Nathaniel Carney
JALTCALL 2018 paper 410 Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
When asked to create individual vocabulary lists, university English language learners do not necessarily have a perspective on which words or phrases are most frequently used or which words might be most useful to them for academic purposes. That is, many learners are confronted with a large number of unknown vocabulary, but no simple method for ranking which words or phrases they will likely encounter most often or in certain types of texts (e.g., academic texts, language proficiency test readings). In this study, twenty-six Japanese university English language learners from two separate classes maintained individual vocabulary lists on class Google Docs over a 13-week period. Vocabulary lists consisted of English words and phrases with L1 Japanese meanings. Individual learners chose which vocabulary to include from self-selected reading texts. The class Google Docs were structured so that learners’ English entries were immediately compared with a number of word or phrase lists (e.g., TOEIC, TOEFL, COCA), and if learners’ entries were on a given list, the name of that list would appear on the same line as the entry. The percentages of words appearing on each list over the course of 13 weeks, as well as learner reflections and the results of semi-structured interviews revealed that most learners appreciated the system, but there was also need for improvement.
Carrot and stick: Motivating learners to excel at extensive reading
Cory Koby
JALTCALL 2018 paper 411 Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
When practiced correctly, the benefits of extensive reading (ER) have been proven to include incidental vocabulary and grammar acquisition, increased reading comprehension and speed, and gains on language tests such as the TOEIC. But getting students to “buy in” and develop ideal reading habits have proven to be a rather difficult challenge for many ER practitioners. After a moderately successful inaugural year of an ER program at a mid-level Japanese university, during which students (n=67) read an average of 250,000 words, the presenter sought to improve the program structure, with particular focus on motivational factors—both negative and positive, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic. At first glance, the increase to an average of 380,000 words for the second cohort of first-year students (n=76) in 2017-18 appears significant. A careful comparison of the reading habits of these two groups reveals an even more impressive improvement in the program’s results in its second year. The presenter will detail this ER program’s structure, and explain the motivational approach he took in order to foster a healthy and positive reading culture in his classes. Presentation attendees will come to understand the particular features of this ER program, and gain specific knowledge which will aide them in developing or improving their own ER programs. Specific mention will be made of the ER-specific LMS, XReading, that this program employs to manage the high volume of paper-based and e-book reading, as well as administer brief comprehension quizzes in order to validate that reading has, in fact, occurred.
The effective use of digital storytelling in JFL classrooms: Sample projects and pedagogical reflections
Kasumi Yamazaki
JALTCALL 2018 paper 402 Sunday 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Digital storytelling can be defined as a new, emergent form of narrative that involves multimedia and digital platforms for the purpose of creating, maintaining, and presenting stories. Currently, there are a variety of tools for creating digital stories, ranging from PowerPoint to more sophisticated tools like anime and interactive novel makers, which all have the potential to help support language learners’ literacy development. With an attempt to explore the effective use of digital storytelling in L2 classrooms, this presentation will introduce two sample projects: 1) Digital Children’s Book Project using PowerPoint and 2) Interactive Novel Production Project using Ren’Py. Interactive novels are computer-mediated narrative games, which allows readers to control characters to help determine the outcome of the story. For developers, interactive novels can create multi-sensory simulating environments where readers can experience a story with various screen effects, while manipulating the story to fit the audience’s input. Due to the emerging theme of technologically-enhanced language instruction, the aim of this presentation is to examine the ways in which digital storytelling projects can be integrated into L2 classrooms to support students’ narrative writing skills. While the sample projects were conducted in JFL classrooms, the audience will be able to get a general sense of what digital storytelling is, and how it can be used to assess students’ different modes of communication. The presentation will also showcase students’ sample work and reflections so that the audience will be able to consider how best to utilize such technology in their classrooms.
Sunday 2:00 pm - 3:10 pm
Vocabulary Gamification in the All New WordEngine
Guy Cihi
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 405 Sunday 2:00 pm - 3:10 pm
This workshop will show the various ways in which the new WordEngine v3.0 vocabulary learning system has been gamified to increase and sustain self-study motivation. The presenter will briefly show how to start a WordEngine program; how and why it produces superior outcomes, and conclude with how the newly added game components function to sustain learner motivation toward meeting and exceeding weekly study goals. The all new WordEngine v3.0 is a high-speed vocabulary learning system that operates on all mobile devices and computers and costs about 200 yen per month. Find out how you can easily make WordEngine a part of your overall strategy for learning outcome success.
How to set up your own website to support your students and career
Andrew Blyth
JALTCALL 2018 workshop 404 Sunday 2:00 pm - 3:10 pm
Many academics in the US, the UK, and Australia now use their own website to promote themselves, their ideas, and their careers. Consequently, having a professional web presence is now essential for modern academics. Overseas teachers also use their own blog/website to provide online access to "handouts" (easy to update, tweak, and edit pages/posts), downloadable files (including pdfs, sound files, and more), course updates, and to display their professional accomplishments (their online résumé). However, not everyone realizes that a website and blog is easy to set up and maintain. This workshop will demonstrate the basics of setting up a webspace, simple installation of WordPress, and basics of using WordPress. WordPress skills will include updating the software, creating and editing posts, pages, customizing the navigation menu, and more. No coding skills are assumed, and only very basic coding (like how to make text bold) is demonstrated. A free HTML5 index page will be available to attendees.
Sunday 2:40 pm - 3:10 pm
Using student-generated Moodle quizzes in language classrooms
David Yoshiba
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 410 Sunday 2:40 pm - 3:10 pm
This presentation will offer two models showing teachers of classes using Moodle as an example LMS how to incorporate student-created quizzes, as well as how to adapt these to the teachers’ own teaching styles, students, and materials. The first model discusses a class about travel-related English using YouTube videos. The second is one where students create their own podcasts and quiz their fellow students on their contents. Creating questions for quizzes encourages ESL students to interact with their learning materials in ways novel to many of them, encourages students to self-assess their understanding and, also, communicate their knowledge in creative ways. Students can additionally benefit by employing the target language to authentically engage their fellow students in a game-like environment. Furthermore, students can gain satisfaction and confidence through the process and seeing their classmates interact with their own creations. The presentation will discuss multiple approaches to assisting students create questions and quizzes as learning tools. It will also cover some of the lurking pitfalls and points of confusion, particularly those most likely to arise from student technical skills. It will additionally touch on question bank management issues, such as organizational challenges and cataloging. This presentation also acknowledges that environments differ according to institutions and teacher or student user privileges and that students and teachers also possess varying degrees of technical sophistication and prowess.
Building a community of writers: improving peer feedback through collaboration in blended academic writing courses.
Bradley Irwin
JALTCALL 2018 paper 409 Sunday 2:40 pm - 3:10 pm
In academic writing classes, appropriate teacher feedback is widely recognized by students as one of the most important catalysts to improving their writing skills. Unfortunately, this type of feedback is also widely recognized by instructors as one of the most time consuming aspects of teaching an academic writing course. Although peer feedback in L2 contexts often presents unique challenges related to language and affective barriers, the case study described in this presentation shows that Moodle workshop modules can provide a platform for students to produce appropriate peer feedback.
Quantitative data from 25 undergraduate students in a low level (CEFR A1) first year academic writing course was collected by analyzing writing assignments, peer feedback examples, and self-assessment surveys. The results showed that students evaluated peer feedback positively and that it contributed to improving the quality of their writing. Interestingly, although there was little attention given to lexical or grammatical correction, the number of writing errors decreased throughout the course as L2 development was facilitated through exposure to multiple sources of authentic student writing. Moreover, peer feedback allowed students to become active participants in the feedback process and also reduced some of the teacher’s workload.
This presentation will describe how Moodle workshop modules were set up to overcome typical problems related to peer feedback in a low level, process oriented, blended writing course. The presenter will outline pedagogic considerations when configuring the workshops, how these workshops can be implemented effectively, and the benefits, as well as potential hazards, of using this system.
Exploring teacher's roles in online non-formal project-based language learning (PBLL)
Jessica Sampurna
JALTCALL 2018 paper 407 Sunday 2:40 pm - 3:10 pm
EFL learners in Indonesia face many challenges, such as large class sizes and limited teaching time (Ariatna, 2016). Incorporating digital technologies to extend teaching and learning beyond the classroom could alleviate these problems. Project-based language learning (PBLL), a student-centred learning approach rooted in constructivism, is suggested as a promising pedagogy. In recent years, PBLL has been implemented online using Web 2.0 tools in formal and blended education settings (Avci & Adiguzel, 2017; Elam & Nesbit, 2012). Still, little is known about how online PBLL teachers can engage students in non-formal contexts and how students view the teacher’s roles in such environments. This presentation reports on two phases of a study (4 weeks each) conducted to address these gaps in the literature. Drawing on PBLL principles and facilitated by Facebook, WhatsApp, Google Docs, and Line, 21 tertiary learners from across Indonesia were asked to collaboratively create English teaching artifacts of their choice. Although participants were encouraged to use English throughout the project, there were no predetermined linguistic targets. Online data collected from the aforementioned Web 2.0 tools, field notes, and post-study interviews with learners were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results show that the combination of online and non-formal education settings proved challenging for learners, requiring the teacher to provide extensive social and academic support. Learners’ interviews revealed that although they had different opinions on the teacher’s roles in online non-formal PBLL, they valued the teacher’s presence, persistence, and guidance.
Factors that made teletandems successful for undergraduate students at two universities
Clair Taylor, Noriko Fujioka-Ito
JALTCALL 2018 paper 406 Sunday 2:40 pm - 3:10 pm
Teletandem is a practice where a proficient speaker of one language is paired with a proficient speaker of another language, in order that they can help each other learn reciprocally using text, voice, and videochat on a VOIP application such as Skype. Two linked institutions can set up these tandems for students, providing orientation and support. Teletandems may be integrated with courses, entailing structured tasks, or students may autonomously manage their own learning in ‘free’ tandems, negotiating their needs and wants with their partner. From learner reports, some teletandems appear to be more successful than others, and can be sustained past the target endpoint, even leading in some cases to partners meeting face-to-face.
This study explored the experiences of eight ‘free’ teletandem participants using an interview approach. The three undergraduate students learning Japanese in the United States, and five undergraduate students majoring in English in Japan had all reported sustaining tandem exchanges they felt to be significantly effective and motivating. Based on the students’ voices, the three main points that were associated with successful teletandems were: positive attitudes toward learning foreign languages, a similar age group and background, and sympathy and open-mindedness toward speakers of the target language. This information may help faculty and self-access centers to set up free tandem pairings, and to prepare and provide ongoing support to students taking part in teletandem exchanges.
Utilizing Facebook secret groups for speaking outside class
Chris P. Madden
JALTCALL 2018 show and tell 403 Sunday 2:40 pm - 3:10 pm
The presenter will show his research results from over two years of using Facebook Secret Groups with 1st through 4th-year university students. All homework assignments were to record themselves speaking in videos, upload them, and comment on each other's videos. Most assignments were solo, some pair, and some group role plays. How the curriculum was altered due to students reporting their motivation and speaking confidence will be explained. Themes, methods and materials will be explained and shared on a handout, thus, attendees will leave with a full understanding of how to run a very successful program themselves.
Exploring competition to enhance learner engagement in out-of-class activities
Glenn Stockwell
JALTCALL 2018 paper 411 Sunday 2:40 pm - 3:10 pm
As a number of researchers have concluded, learners are often not prepared to transfer their personal and social uses of technology directly to language learning tasks (e.g., CALICO Journal special issue, 2013; Fischer, 2012; Winke, Goertler, & Amuzie, 2010). Mobile learning includes an even greater emphasis on students working outside of more traditional classroom situations without direct supervision. In order to enhance learner engagement in online activities, a game-like competitive element was added to see if it could have a positive influence (Cornillie, Thorne, & Desmet 2012; Cagily, Ozcelik, & Ozcelik, 2015). Two intact (i.e., as is) classes of pre-intermediate Japanese learners of English were used over a full fifteen-week semester, where both classes (Class 1, N = 26; Class 2, N = 18) received similar learner training in how to engage actively in the learning activities. However, Class 2 added a competitive element: the class was divided into five teams of three to four students each, with the understanding that the three top-scoring teams each week would be placed on a leaderboard, along with a cumulative individual leaderboard. Some interesting trends have emerged thus far, demonstrating that the group with a competitive element slightly outperformed the other group, and group members encouraged each other to carry out the activities during the week to achieve higher scores. The dynamics between the learners and the teacher, the learning environment, and learners’ patterns of engagement in the activities are discussed in terms of their implications for both learner training and competition.
Sunday 3:20 pm - 4:20 pm
The Future of Educational Technology
Agnieszka Palalas, Kazunori Nozawa
JALTCALL 2018 roundtable DN301 Sunday 3:20 pm - 4:20 pm
Capping off JALTCALL2018, we would like to invite you to a very special Roundtable Discussion, featuring Keynote Speaker Aga Palalas and Plenary Speaker Kazunori Nozawa. They will be discussing how CALL is being implemented in Japan and the future of educational technology in the EFL field. Enjoy the exchange of ideas as well as a question-and-answer session open to the audience.