Volume 8 Issue 2, April 2016
What Teachers Can Do in the Pedagogical Trinity: Pragmatics, Grammar, and Communicative Language Teaching
Sanae Oda-Sheehan
Abstract:
While pragmatic awareness plays a vital role in developing communicative competence, it is less likely to be addressed in the Japanese EFL classroom partly due to lower pragmatic awareness among teachers. In fact, many cases of pragmatic failure are related to deficiencies of adequate teaching, which need to be urgently addressed in order to prevent learners from making unintentional mistakes. Towards that end, this study explores possible paths to promote pragmatic pedagogy and proposes one feasible approach, fully utilizing what is already available in the classroom – the integration of pragmatics and grammar pedagogy. Although grammar-oriented approaches are often cited as one of the causes for ineffective EFL learning, this integration can benefit the classroom where teachers need to satisfy various demands such as implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT) and preparation for college entrance exams. This approach will have great significance for teachers who struggle to balance those needs, especially for Japanese teachers of English (JTEs), many of whom believe that their strength is more likely to lie in their grammatical competence. The implications of this study may lead to more holistic approaches to L2 pragmatics with new teaching perceptions in the demanding EFL classroom.
Issues in the Effectiveness of Early Exposure to Learning English in an EFL Environment
Emiko Matsui
Abstract:
Since the Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo in 2020, there has been a growing interest not only in incorporating English in schools’ curricula but also in exposure to learning English from a younger age. In this paper, the author will discuss issues regarding early exposure to learning English from a Second Language Acquisition (SLA) point of view. This paper attempts to show the necessary ideas that need to be understood when making good decisions about English education in an EFL environment.
The Effect of Popular American Films on Taiwanese University EFL Students' Perceptions of L2 Culture
Morgan William Dooley
Abstract:
Film has been used for many university-level courses in Taiwan. Extant research, though, is limited regarding how this specific form of visual media may affect EFL students’ understanding of foreign or L2 culture. Hence, the purpose of this research is to discover if using this authentic material has significant impact on students’ L2 cultural learning. The 52 student participants were enrolled in a junior-level course at a northern Taiwan university. They first completed a quantitative attitudinal pre-test with Likert-type questions at the very beginning of the semester. After two months of instruction, the posttest identical to the pre-test was administered. Next, SPSS software was used to obtain the bivariate statistical data with t-tests for comparative analysis. Final results proved overall that popular American films affect participants’ L2 culture learning. These results provide EFL educators with an effective option for teaching this subject. In addition to providing the effective aspects of this approach, there are suggestions regarding how to manage some ineffective ones.
Behind Japanese Students’ Silence in English Classrooms
Sachie Banks
Abstract:
This ethnographic study investigated what challenges Japanese university students faced in communicating in English with their teachers. The study focused on the functions of student-teacher interaction in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts in Japan. Participant observations were conducted during two English classes and further data was collected from four students through semi-structured interviews. The study revealed three factors that could have interrupted student-teacher interaction: a collective communication system created by students, respect for their teacher and peers, and students’ higher expectations of what they should say. Academic support for teaching cultural differences in educational settings and encouraging students to speak up individually should contribute to communicative strengths in the classroom and wider intercultural situations.
Integrating Research Approaches Toward Fluent EFL Literacy
Anna Husson Isozaki
Abstract:
Evidence has been accumulating regarding the specific challenges for reaching fluency in reading L2 English, particularly in EFL settings. Some interventions are showing potential value, according to recent cognitive and classroom research. Among these are incorporating multimedia, especially audio to make use of evidence of phonology’s facilitative role in building L2 reading, and also incorporating collaborative reading work in the classroom. This paper briefly reviews relevant research and develops an integrated skills approach to a proposed pedagogical intervention for university learners. Designed to collect qualitative and empirical data, this proposed action research is intended to explore and help clarify if integrating support for phonological awareness in collaborative classroom settings can improve EFL literacy experiences and acquisition for learners.
Team Teaching in the English Classroom in Japan: A Call for Intercultural Communicative Competence Development
Jonathan David Brown
Abstract:
This study looks at the problems of team teaching in Japan through a review of earlier studies and a brief survey of elementary school Japanese and native-English teachers that was conducted by the author. The results of the survey corroborate earlier studies and suggest team teachers need Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) development to make team teaching more effective. Accordingly, this paper encourages those who are in a position to incorporate ICC development into teacher training programs to do so.
An Argument for Stepping Back: A Comparative Analysis of L2 Interaction in Student-Student and Teacher-Student Dyads
Daniel Hooper
Abstract:
Many scholars claim that interaction is an essential element in developing L2 competence. ELT professionals are therefore often concerned with creating scenarios where L2 interaction is being fostered. The purpose of this study was to investigate how differences in interlocutor can influence the amount and nature of interaction occurring within a communicative task. Utilizing a conversational analysis (CA) methodology, this study analyses conversation strings from two (student-student and teacher-student) dyads recorded during a picture dictation task. Transcriptions of the recorded data highlighted differences between the two dyads in the patterns of interaction that occurred. Interaction in the student-student data featured a higher amount of repair initiation sequences and conversation strategies than was found in the teacher-student group. Furthermore, whereas next turn repair initiation (NTRI) was frequent in the student-student dyad, repair initiation was significantly delayed in the teacher-student data. Potentially problematic examples of teacher talk were also identified from the teacher-student transcription. The results suggested that an expert-novice orientation in the teacher-student dyad may have created psychological constraints limiting the amount and type of interaction that occurred. This study provides further evidence of both the importance of peer interaction and the necessity for reflective inquiry in teachers’ professional development.
The Global Academic Vocabulary Lexicon: A New ELT Resource
Paul Wadden, International Christian University; Dan Ferreira, International Christian University; Edward Rush, Trinity College, University of Melbourne
Abstract:
This article describes the Global Academic Vocabulary (GAV) lexicon, lessons, and platform that was initially implemented at International Christian University in Tokyo and is now under significant further development at the University of Melbourne and NYU-Tokyo. Research by Na and Nation has shown that understanding of about 95% of the words in an academic text is required for learners to confidently comprehend its meaning. But exactly what words do university learners need to know to achieve such a level of coverage? The GAV provides one important answer to this question by combining the headwords from the three most significant long-standing corpus-based vocabulary studies to date: the University Word List (UWL), the Academic Word List (AWL), and the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) word lists, with a fourth, the New Academic Word List (NAWL), now being added. This article provides the rationale behind the creation of the GAV.
Metalanguage as a Component of the Communicative Classroom
Michael Jonathan Ellis, International Christian University High School
Abstract:
In this paper, the author reviews research on the use of metalanguage in language education to suggest that metalanguage has productive uses in communicative language teaching (CLT). First, there is an exploration of definitions which begins by borrowing Berry’s (2005) notion of metalanguage as an imprecise concept, indistinct from the target language. Then, the relevant aspects of SLA theory including metalinguistic knowledge, meaning-focus and focus on form, implicit and explicit knowledge, and languaging are explored to frame the potential utility of metalanguage. Finally, a summary of research on metalanguage is provided, followed by a discussion of conclusions. The findings indicate that metalanguage can be used productively in CLT if proper consideration is taken for students’ varied metalinguistic backgrounds and target language proficiency. Furthermore, written tasks with a goal of passive metalinguistic knowledge seemed to be better suited for metalinguistic instruction. In addition to its use during class time, metalanguage may be considered a learning strategy which leads to increased learner autonomy.