rod ellis

Bio

Rod Ellis is currently a Research Professor in the School of Education, Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He is also a visiting professor at Shanghai International Studies University and an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of the University of Auckland. He has recently been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has written extensively on second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. His most recent book is Reflections on Task-Based Language Teaching (2018) published by Multilingual Matters.

Plenary Title

Role of planning in oral performance

Plenary Abstract

This talk examines the effect of three kinds of planning on oral performances: pre-task planning, online planning and rehearsal. Pre-task planning refers to the strategic planning that learners engage in prior to performing a task. Online planning refers to the planning that takes place during the performance of the task. It can be ‘careful’ in the sense that performers of the task have opportunity to plan their production and make use of this opportunity to attend to the content and/or expression of their performance. Alternatively, it can be ‘pressured’ in the sense that performers are required to speak rapidly and thus have limited opportunity to attend closely to content and/or expression as they perform the task. Rehearsal is a special type of pre-task planning. That is, performance of a task at one time constitutes planning for performance of the same task at a second time.

This talk will draw on theories of speaking (e.g. Levelt, 1989; Skehan, 2014) to examine the effects of pre-task, on-line planning and rehearsal on the fluency, complexity and accuracy of second language learners’ performance of oral activities. It will report the results of studies that have investigated these three types of planning and consider the research questions in need of further investigation.

Dawn Kobayashi

Bio

Dawn Kobayashi is an English lecturer at Onomichi City University in Hiroshima prefecture. Her research interests are educational psychology, especially self-efficacy, speaking fluency, and drama in ELT. She conducts qualitative and mixed-methods research and is interested in how researchers' worldviews shape their identities as researchers.

Plenary Title

Forming an Identity as a Researcher: Reflections on Qualitative Practice

Plenary Abstract

One of the most challenging parts of conducting qualitative research for emergent researchers is understanding their worldview. Cohen, Manion, and Morris (2011) tell us that researchers cannot decide on research methods by technical decisions alone, they must also consider their understanding of the world. Asking questions such as the nature of reality (ontology), how we can make sense of that reality (epistemology), and the best approaches for measuring it (methodology) guides us through the research design process and helps us to justify our decisions. Although these philosophical questions are commonly associated with qualitative research, they underpin each decision in the research process for all types of research. In this presentation, I will share how contemplating such issues about my beliefs regarding the social world shaped how I define myself as a researcher. I hope that by honestly sharing my reflections on forming my research identity that attendees will be able to consider or reassess their own worldviews.