2010/08/21 Kusatsu

This year featured Professor David Newby, from Graz University in Austria. In his first lecture, Newby presented the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL). This teacher training tool helps future language teachers assess and reflect on their progress using 195 distinct can-do statements. Newby co-created EPOSTL as an extension of independent learning principles set forth by the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR) and the European Language Portfolio (ELP). Gunma Chapter’s July meeting focused on CEFR, and the member’s familiarity with the subject enabled an interesting and lively discussion. Copies of EPOSTL in various languages are available at http://epostl2.ecml.at/ 

Newby’s second presentation Cognitive + Communicative Grammar addressed some perceived problems integrating grammar education into the communicative classroom. Newby criticized recent trends in communicative teaching which either treat grammar as an afterthought, or disregard explicit grammar education completely. Newby's proposed solution is to focus student attention on language functions, which he terms notions. By focusing on concrete notions instead of abstract grammatical forms, students can concentrate on using those forms to express their own ideas in real situations. Lastly, Newby gave examples of communicative class activities that utilize a notional view of grammar. Descriptions of these activities can be found in Newby’s lecture notes, available for download at the bottom of this page.

Not to be outdone, five Gunma JALT members and guests gave presentations on various projects and research they have completed this year.  

David Gann’s presentation, Critically Minded Podcast: Theory and Application began by clarifying what is and what is not critical thinking. After a brief history of his experiences as a podcaster, Gann played an excerpt of his podcast showing how he uses it to teach critical thinking terminology. Lastly, he invited any interested parties to join the newly-created Critical Thinking SIG. His podcasts and transcripts are at http://www.criticallyminded.com/ and information regarding the SIG can be found at http://jaltct.wordpress.com/ or search Facebook for “JALT Critical Thinking SIG”. 

Fergus O’Dwyer spoke about Can-do Statements in Language Education in Japan.  O’Dwyer showed that by using can-do statements in self-assessment students can more easily identify learning targets and monitor their progress. While the aforementioned CEFR and ELP contain can-do statements, O’Dwyer warned against using these statements without first adapting them to a student’sindividual language learning situation. O’Dwyer’s main reference material, Can-do Statements in Language Education in Japan and Beyond can be downloaded via the JALT Framework and Language Portfolio SIG website http://tinyurl.com/CDSLEJB.

Wayne Pennington’s presentation: An Extensive Reading Program using the Moodle Reader Module started with a brief history of Pennington’s early failures to adapt extensive reading as a component of his English classes. In Pennington’s view, extensive reading was infeasible as a class component because insufficient class time made it “supplemental reading” rather than extensive reading. This year however, Pennington has started two classes dedicated solely to extensive reading. Thanks to the Moodle reader module doing the “grunt work” of record keeping, Pennington is able to concentrate on orienting his students to the goals of the program. Moodle and the reader module are both free web applications that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. They can be found at http://moodle.org/.