The Tokyo Chapter is accepting proposals for presentations at the 2022 Tokyo Showcase.

Whether you are interested in gaining valuable presentation experience, getting feedback on your research, adding to your professional CV, or contributing to the Tokyo JALT community, please consider submitting a proposal to present to the nearly 700-member-strong Tokyo Chapter. In addition, all local members who present for Tokyo JALT are eligible to receive a “Best of JALT” award at the JALT National Conference. For information on previous Best of JALT recipients visit: https://jalt.org/main/best-jalt. Please consider applying.

We are seeking: short research or practice-oriented presentations for 25-minute slots. Presentations may be individual or co-presented. However, for submissions with multiple presenters, at least ONE (1) presenter must be a member in good standing of the Tokyo Chapter.

Your proposal will be vetted in our blind review process by professionals and you will be notified if accepted.

1. Apply at http://bit.ly/PresentatTokyoJALT.

2. Indicate whether or not this session will be promoting commercial teaching materials, commercial systems, or other commercial services. Tokyo JALT gives preference to any non-commercial presentations. If you are interested in presenting commerical materials, please speak to our Programs Chair at tokyojaltprograms@gmail.com about potential opportunities.

3. Insure that the topic is current and relevant to the language teaching field and to Tokyo JALT members.

4. Clearly explain the purpose of the presentation.

5. Refer to specific theories, practices (e.g., teaching methods, scholars), and/or research on which the presentation is based. Use citations, terminology, and/or refer to recent debates in the field, as relevant to your presentation content.

6. Provide enough detail to indicate that the recommendations/conclusions/arguments will be substantiated. For research based presentations in particular, indicate what your findings are (e.g., in mixed methods studies—do the findings from your qualitative data support the findings from your quantitative data; did you reject your hypothesis or not; was there a significant correlation or not, etc.).

7. Write clearly so that a non-specialist would be able to understand it. If you are referring to concepts and scholars outside of TESOL/SLA, provide a short explanation (or definitions) of what the terms mean, who the scholars are, etc. as appropriate.

8. Do not include your name or any identifying details in the abstract that could be used to identify the presenter.

9. Keep the abstract under 300 words long.

10. Include an 80 word blurb for use in publications and advertising, should your presentation be accepted.

11. Submit a short (up to 75 word) bio including your education and work background, suitable for publication. You will be asked to submit a recent photo if your presentation is accepted.

12. Keep all applications plain text only. Do not format your document with tabs, bold text, bullet marks or multiple line breaks between paragraphs. All formatting will be stripped when the document is submitted to the database and sent to the reading committee.

13. Enter all your submission details following the on-screen instructions. Once complete, submit your summary and abstract. DO NOT SEND BY EMAIL. Only website submissions will be accepted.

14. If your application is accepted, you will receive an email from TokyoJALTPrograms@gmail.com. Therefore, please ensure you enter a correct working email address! It is important you provide an email address you can access at this time, as presenters who do not confirm their intention to present may be removed from the schedule. It is your responsibility to confirm your presentation even if you are away from home or work. Should two weeks pass after a confirmation is sent, a second attempt will be made. Should no timely response be received, acceptance will be rescinded. For this reason, be sure to notify the program team of any changes in your contact address.

Date: Friday, December 10, 2021

Time: 7-9 pm

Location: Zoom

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/3014119545507365

Each year we invite all members of the Tokyo Chapter to apply for a spot at our annual Tokyo Showcase and this year we have selected some outstanding presentations for you.

Guy Smith & John Peloghitis: The Future of Critical Thinking – Countering Cognitive Bias

Abstract:

Cognitive bias is emerging as one of the key challenges for future critical thinking instructional approaches. One of the key objectives of critical thinking courses and materials is to teach students how to think in a clearer, more rational, and more open-minded manner. Research from psychology, economics, cognitive science and other fields shows that in order to achieve this it is important to mitigate or forestall the effects of distorted and flawed reasoning that can emerge as a result of cognitive bias. Cognitive bias has received significant attention in regards to practical considerations in fields such as medicine, business, leadership, and economics as it has been shown to play a powerful role in negatively impacting clear thinking. As yet, it has received limited attention in most educational critical thinking instruction and most teachers are unaware of how cognitive bias works, its implications for the classroom, and what they can do to mitigate the negative impact of cognitive bias. This presentation first provides an overview of cognitive bias. It looks at some of the more common biases that can appear in classroom tasks and suggests some strategies for teachers to address the negative effects that biases can have on the development of critical thinking skills in language learning contexts and other areas of learning. Debiasing refers to teaching and activating thinking or behavioral habits that prevent, mitigate, and control the negative effects of cognitive biases, leading to an enabled and enhanced ability to practice and develop critical thinking skills. Based on the body of research regarding debiasing, this presentation explains practical ideas for how language teachers of all levels and also those who teach in other areas can introduce debiasing into their critical thinking teaching through close discussion of some actual lesson plans.

Bios:

Guy Smith – My teaching and research interests are understanding cognitive bias in education and critical thinking, self-determination theory, and teacher and student well being.

John Peloghitis - I teach academic reading and writing, debate, and research writing. I am interested in second language writing, metacognitive strategies, syllabus design, and critical thinking.

Deborah Maxfield: Impact of Online Teamwork on Anxiety and Group Cohesion

Abstract:

Research has suggested that forming cohesive ingroups can increase self-esteem (Tajfel & Turner,1978; Dovidio et al., 2009) and reduce anxiety (Lee & Robbins,1998) as well as foster motivation (Dornyei & Murphey, 2003; Deci & Ryan, 2000). However, whether these relationships exist for online contexts remains under-researched.

In 2020, two new courses (Presentation and Debate) were made compulsory for all first-year students at a major university, and were taught entirely online. Based on previous psychological and EFL research, students were assigned to regular groups for 3-4 weeks to encourage peer support and, thereby, (a) decrease anxiety and (b) foster motivation. At the end of the term, over 200 students were surveyed about their experiences with online teamwork using a 6-point Likert scale survey. Their perceptions of online group work, including cohesion and efficacy, impacts on social and state anxiety, effects on motivation, and other concerns were analyzed.

Initial analysis suggests that the overwhelming majority of students found teamwork helpful and enjoyable during the course and reported feeling less language learner anxiety overall due to teamwork, yet some still reported language learner or social anxiety. These results and more will be explored in greater detail in this presentation.

Bio:

As a Lecturer in English Education at Rikkyo University, Tokyo, I am conducting research on how psychology is mediated by L2 learning environments.

Keiko Nakamura: Analysis of Junior HIgh School English Textbooks Focusing on Cross-Cultural Understanding

Abstract:

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology issued the latest Course of Study for junior high schools and its new explanatory guide in 2017. One of the goals the new educational guideline is ‘to develop an understanding of the culture behind a foreign language’. In addition, the explanatory guide aims learners should acquire a spirit of tolerance, acceptance of others, peace, and international contribution through the study of foreign languages, and also requires that learners should be able to think in many different ways. In accordance with the new guideline, new government-approved English textbooks were published by six different publishers. Those newly published textbooks are fully used from April 2021. As learners who learn English in the EFL environment, they rely on textbooks in English classes as well as their teachers. Thus, it is worth examining how newly published textbooks deal with ‘cross-cultural understanding’. This study conducted a quantitative analysis of cross-cultural materials which appeared in the new textbooks, as compared to older versions of the textbooks. Referring to previous studies, the number of times which the materials related to ‘global issues (including race issues)’, ‘foreign cultures (including the way of living and foods)’, ‘Japanese cultures (including furoshiki and how to celebrate events)’ and ‘comparative cultures (including the way learners address teachers, the differences between student life in Japan and the U.S.) appeared in the textbooks are recorded. It was found that there are more appearances of the materials which related to ‘global issues’ and ‘foreign cultures’ in the newly published textbooks than older ones. However, these materials do not provide learners an immediate understanding of different cultures. It is hoped that the effective use of these materials by the instructors in the classroom will enhance the learners' communication skills.

Bio:

Keiko Nakamura has previously worked as a part-time teacher at a Junior High School, and now teaches at several universities in Kanto area.

Sanduni Sarathchandra: How to implement a CLIL lesson in a university academic speaking course to teach critical thinking skills

Abstract:

Coyle, Hood & Marsh (2010) define that the “Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a dual-focused educational approach in which additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language” (p.1). CLIL is an influential and evolving learning approach. It encourages language learning by understanding the authentic communication and training skills in the course of active participation. Teachers play important roles as trainers, supporters, monitors, assessors and guides. Similarly, learners act as receivers, risk takers and innovators. Through CLIL, learners are able to practice how to make the maximum use of one’s own communicative skills to move from L1 to L2. It provides a chance for students to learn helpfully and also it triggers learners’ apparent aptitudes to use and deal with the target language in a proficient way. Because language learners try to learn the content using a foreign language, they have a good chance to communicate with their peers via listening and speaking. It is this collaboration that is presumed to comfort language acquisition where learners are willing to understand each other and to present their individual thoughts. Language teachers in foreign language context can effectively employ CLIL in order to offer learners with a natural background for language application. At the same time teachers can provide a productive input of L2 for students, upsurge their skills to interact efficiently, and to boost students’ enthusiasm to the lesson.

In this Practice-oriented presentation, I show teachers how to effectively integrate the content and language via a CLIL lesson and implement it in the university sophomore language classroom to teach academic speaking, and thus enabling students to state their opinion in a logically structured way based on their learning from the class. A detailed CLIL lesson plan will be explored in this presentation.

Bio:

Sanduni Sarathchandra is a Lecturer in English Communication at Reitaku University. Her research interests include Material Development for Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), Test Preparation in Language Assessment, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), and Language Learners in Classroom Research.

Yuka Masda & Kana Watanabe: Can aerobic exercise be used as a strategy to reduce Test Anxiety? (short student presentation)

Abstract:

Yoshida and Masda (10, November, 2020, Tokyo JALT) examined literature and concluded aerobic exercise may be an effective method to alleviate test anxiety in college students. Test anxiety is defined as excessive worries about taking tests and is believed to have negative impacts on students’ test performance. In recent years, reports of the cognitive function-enhancing effects of aerobic exercise have attracted attention (Hillman, Erickson & Kramer, 2008 et al.). Aerobic exercise has been associated with academic performance in students in high-school and younger. Acute aerobic exercise is also thought to influence our emotions including anxiety (Ekkekakis & Petruzzello, 1999). Despite such evidence, the amount and frequency of aerobic exercise drastically decreases in college students compared to high school students, while test anxiety tends to increase. This suggests the lack of exercise may be the cause of increased test anxiety in college students. However, while past research demonstrates positive effects of aerobic exercise on general anxiety, only one study has focused on test anxiety.

In this study we investigated the relationship between exercise habits and test anxiety using an online survey with 100 college students. For this we translated the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale Questionnaire (Cassady & Johnson, 2002) into Japanese and compared the results with their reported exercise habits.

Our main interests were the two questions as below:

1. Did the degrees of test anxiety vary depending on their exercise habits?

2. Did the exercise timing - exercise performed before or after the tests - affect test anxiety?

This paper reports the results from the survey above.

Bio:

Kana Watanabe is a 5th year student at Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. She studies the relationship between test anxiety and aerobic exercise.

Each year we invite all members of the Tokyo Chapter to apply for a spot at our annual Tokyo Showcase and this year we selected four outstanding presentations for your viewing pleasure.

Heather Woodward: Creating an AI Chatbot for Academic Discussions

Abstract: Artificially intelligent chatbots can provide an opportunity for students to practice using academic discussion skills (e.g., asking for and giving opinions, reasons, viewpoints) and communication skills (e.g., paraphrasing). Popular chatbots such as Google Assistant and Siri were designed for transactions and not for interactional exchanges of ideas especially ideas relating to academic topics. Teachers who wish to incorporate AI chatbots can use programs such as Teneo to design their own chatbot. In this presentation, I show teachers how to create a chatbot, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a bot, and lastly, present some feedback from my students who used the chatbot I created during Spring 2020 semester. The chatbot was quite divisive among students insofar as they either strongly liked it or strongly disliked it. Some students enjoyed its quick responses whereas other students preferred communicating asynchronously with real humans. I recommend incorporating an AI chatbot as optional out-of-class assignment for students who strongly prefer using the bot while giving students who do not enjoy using it opportunities to exchanges ideas asynchronously with their classmates.

Bio: Heather Woodward earned her M.S.Ed in TESOL from Temple University in 2018. Heather taught in China, Vietnam, and Japan before joining Rikkyo University.

Colin Walker: Leading change through design-based research: findings from an ELT debate class

Abstract: Since the 2016 American Presidential Election, there has been much discussion on the shifting landscape of political discourse. In place of meaningful discussion on policy and legislation, the candidates traded verbal jousts that were nationally televised and proliferated through social media. The result has been a divided nation, one that focuses on hyperbole, conjecture, and allegiance to political ideology. To my surprise and curiosity, pedagogy and course materials on how to teach students in skills in perspective and merit-based discussion are scant in ELT literature. Often branded as ‘debate’, course books are not difficult to find, though the pages are often replete with fill-in-the-blank activities, inauthentic dialogues, and sterilized, politically correct topics.

To address this gap, this presentation uses principals of design-based research (Amiel & Reeves, 2008; The Design-Based Research Collective, 2002) to explain the development of a course titled ‘Presentation & Debate’ at a midsize university. As an emancipatory project, the researcher worked in concert with the students to answer key pedagogic decisions including the scheduling and selection of captains, teams, debate topics and positions, and evaluation criteria. Through cycles of iteration, this led to the design of a guide for students to brainstorm ideas, develop their arguments, write a script, and anticipate rebuttals in preparation for a formal debate. Findings synthesized from video-recorded classes, observational notes, and course evaluations revealed that students not only demonstrated an ability to engage in civil debate on (politically-sensitive) topics, but also that they developed skills in critical thinking, perspective, and tolerance. Although students responded favourably to the methods and content, the presentation concludes with a discussion on the study’s limitations and suggests avenues for further research.

Bio: Colin Walker is currently completing his PhD in Educational Leadership at the University of Calgary. His publication topics include foreign language anxiety, motivation, and storytelling.

2017 Tokyo JALT Grant Winner

Natasha Hashimoto: A Bourdieusian multi-case study of eikaiwa teacher mobility and migration

Abstract: This presentation will share findings from a multiple case study of five immigrant NES and NNES eikaiwa teachers’ career trajectories. In this narrative case study, I investigated the reasons for these teachers’ decisions to migrate, come to Japan, and teach in the eikaiwa sector (and then, in some cases, to leave). A Bourdieusian framework was used in the analyses to address the issue of “teachers’ cultural, intercultural, and transnational identities [that] remain undertheorized” in TESOL (Menard-Warwick, 2008, p. 620).

Migration has not been sufficiently addressed and theorized in TESOL research (Menard-Warwick, 2008), even though the field of ELT is full of immigrant teachers. The eikaiwa industry, in particular, has been overlooked by researchers (Duff & Uchida, 1997; Nagatomo, 2013), although it is a large sector in which many foreign teachers in Japan have worked and started their careers. There is also equally little research that addresses native English-speaking teacher diversity (Breckenridge and Erling, 2011) and the lives of nonnative-English-speaking teachers (Braine, 2010). The present multiple case study findings make a contribution that might help fill the aforementioned research gaps. In the study, I investigated six NES and NNES eikaiwa teachers’ trajectories of adapting to the host country and their new ELT jobs.

After experiencing feeling like "a fish out of water" (Bourdieu, 1986, 1992) upon arrival in Japan, each participant strived to adapt to their workplaces and fulfill their students’ needs. Each participant’s habitus transcended from being simply a foreigner and migrant to acquiring appropriate behaviors and adapting to their work environment to deliver what was expected of them. They never forgot their first “failures,” and that seemed to guide them to become more professional as they adopted their new teacher habitus (i.e., their “feel for the game,” Bourdieu, 1998, p. 25).

However, eikaiwa work continues to be the least prestigious type of ELT work in Japan (Appleby, 2014; Nagatomo, 2016). Employment is unstable and involves mainly part-time and contract work. Like in other educational sectors, commodified teaching (Werler, 2016) and deskilled work (Tsang, 2015) has become the norm in eikaiwa. The current study shows how the participants’ habitus goes through changes triggered by migration and commercialized ELT work. Over the years, the participants experienced the effects of deskilling of teachers’ work, and their habitus became misaligned with the field of eikaiwa teaching.

Bio: Natasha has lived in Japan for 18 years. Currently, she teaches at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University. She received her MA (Human Rights, research track) from Arizona State University and a Ph.D. (Education/Applied Linguistics) from Temple University. In 2020, she co-edited a book on the eikaiwa industry. Her research and teaching interests include migration, human rights issues in ELT, language assessment, metacognitive strategies, and collaborative learning.

2019 Tokyo JALT Grant Winner

Hidayat Polim: Pedagogical Skills Development of Pre-Service Teachers in their Teaching Practicum

Abstract: The teaching practicum has been emphasized as the core of teacher education of Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs). During their practicum, PSTs experienced real-classroom teaching and encounter various issues. As a result, they should learn from this experience and develop pedagogical skills to manage the learning environment more effectively. The goal of the research is to identify and investigate the impact of the teaching practicum on PST’s pedagogical skills in Indonesia. Utilizing mixed-method research methodology, the data of this study were collected through open-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The participants were selected based on purposeful sampling, which resulted in two groups of PSTs (Pre- and Post-Practicum) and a group of graduates of the program (In-service teachers). These participants were from the undergraduate level of the English Teacher Education Program at the University of Riau Kepulauan in Batam, Indonesia. In addition, supervisors at the university and homeroom teachers at local high schools were interviewed. The open-ended questionnaires, interviews and document analysis were analyzed through coding to identify topics and trends throughout the data. Given the context of the study, Batam Island, where English has intensively shifted from the paradigm of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to English as a Lingua Franca in Indonesia, this research attempts to explore prospective teachers’ preparation to be an effective teacher in their current practices. Furthermore, this research could accommodate novel insights and recommendations toward the improvement of the teacher education in Indonesia and other countries where English is spoken as a Lingua Franca.

Bio: Hidayat earned his M.A. in TESOL from Soka University of Japan with his research on teacher education in Indonesia. His research interests in education include areas of teacher development, teaching to young learners, and special needs education. He is currently undertaking a job within a new educational field for him, learning to elaborate his knowledge and vision at a newly established after-school for student with special needs in Kanagawa.

This year we are proud to welcome several exciting Tokyo area presenters covering a variety of research and practice-related topics, sure to interest all of our members.

NOTE: we regret that due to circumstances beyond our control, Dr. Butler will be unable to attend on the 13th, so we are now in talks for a separate event on December 20th (see below for more information). Thank you for understanding.

Oliver Smith: Curiosity (& Interest) in Relationship to Language Learning

Abstract: A key issue identified in high school classrooms in Japan is that for a good proportion of students their English studies often have little meaning or value beyond passing university entrance exams. It seems an intuitive proposition that the more curiosity and interest one feels toward studying a subject, one would have corresponding greater associations with positive affect, attitudes and intended learning effort toward it.

This presentation will show results that support this supposition from exploratory quantitative research using multivariate regression analysis of Likert scale questionnaire data from 269 Japanese high school students. Dimensions of Kashdan et al’s (2018) Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale (5DC) measuring trait aspects of curiosity were found to relate to second language acquisition constructs at differing levels of explanatory variance: 40% of 'international posture's variance being primarily accounted for by the dimension of 'joyous exploration'; 52% of the variance in a new scale labelled ‘curiosity in English studies’ (CiES), again explained by joyous exploration. International posture and CiES together were then found to subsequently relate to an 'intended learning effort' scale and a scale measuring 'attitudes toward studying English', accounting for a high amount of explanatory variance at 72% of each, with CiES acting as the far more substantial predictor in both cases. Given how curiosity is a universal human emotion and the statistical strength of these results, it suggests that curiosity should be further probed both in terms of its trait, state and dispositional nature in the classroom, and then in particular in its associations and potential causal relations with motivational language acquisition constructs, so that it may be leveraged by teachers in aiding students in Japan and beyond to form their own meaningful connections to their English studies.

Bio: Currently working for the Yokohama BoE and Waseda Gakuin H.S., Oli's research interests are in critical thinking skills applied in language learning classrooms (CT SIG member) and language learning psychology.

Natasha Hashimoto: Cultural, Intercultural and Transnational Identities of NES & NNES Eikaiwa Teachers

Abstract: In this presentation, I will share findings from a case study of five immigrant "native" English Speaker (NES) and "non-native" English Speaker (NNES) eikaiwa teachers’ career trajectories. In this study, I investigated the reasons for these teachers’ decisions to migrate, to come to Japan, and to work in the eikaiwa sector (and then, in some cases, to leave). A Bourdieusian framework was used in the analyses to address the issue of “teachers’ cultural, intercultural, and transnational identities [that] remain undertheorized” in TESOL (Menard-Warwick, 2008, p. 620).

Bio: Natasha Hashimoto is currently a PhD candidate at Temple University. She has lived in Japan for 17 years and has worked in eikaiwa and cram schools (juku) for several years. Currently, she teaches in the English Language Department at Tokyo Women’s Christian University. Natasha received her MA in Human Rights (research track) from Arizona State University in 2010. Her research interests include language assessment, migration, and labor and human rights issues in ELT.

Jason Pratt, Keiko Omura, Kayoko Yamauchi, Manna Aoki: Creating and Adapting Materials Specific to Students’ Needs and Vocabulary Knowledge: Lessons from a Pilot Program

Abstract: How do you design a curriculum for low-intermediate freshmen majoring in business? What kind of scaffolding techniques can you incorporate in class? On average, students in our low-intermediate freshmen English class only had a good command of the 700 most-frequent word families out of the 2800 in the New General Service List. In order to work within these students’ particular vocabulary limits and to focus on faculty and student-selected topics, the teachers in charge of their English classes in 2017 launched a pilot program that includes the creation of new materials. In this presentation, the considerations involved and the web application developed by the team will be shared with attendees in order to facilitate similar student-centered program design and material creation or adaptation.

Lina Gordyshevskaya: Teaching Pronunciation in Japan: Practical Tips that Work

Abstract: Japanese learners of English often have problems with pronunciation due to the significant difference between their L1 and L2. This phenomenon even received special recognition by receiving the name of so-called katakana English. What can we as teachers do about it? I have the luxury of teaching a separate course on pronunciation. The syllabus I developed is centred around common issues shared by most Asian speakers of English. The course I designed focuses on the accuracy of pronunciation and takes into account the major differences between the two primary standards of English, i.e. British and American English. However, not all teachers have time to focus solely on pronunciation. What can we do in this case?

In my presentation, I will share tips for teaching pronunciation on the spot, as well as some guidelines for those interested in focussing on this issue in more detail. To be precise, you will learn about which points to cover, how to use Speech Recognition Technology (SRT) to help learners practise pronunciation, and which activities proved to be especially successful and effective.

Bio: Lina graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2015. She obtained CELTA in 2016 and passed Delta Module 1 in 2018. She has taught teenagers and adults of various levels in different contexts. Currently, she is teaching Business English at EPAM in Tokyo. She blogs regularly for https://eltbylinablog.wordpress.com/.

Featured Presentation: Foreign Femininity and Masculinity in Japanese Translation

Dr. Momoko Nakamura (Kanto Gakuin University)

Abstract: How are non-Japanese femininities and masculinities represented in Japanese translation, and how they affect the understanding of Japanese genders? I attempt to answer these questions by examining the ways Japanese translators use the gendered features in translating the speech of non-Japanese women and men in English and Russian literary works, TV dramas, films and newspaper interview articles. The analysis shows: (1) Japanese translators overwhelmingly use feminine features in translating non-Japanese women’s speech, and (2) while they also employ masculine features in translating non-Japanese men’s speech, with respect to the casual, laid-back speech of non-Japanese men, they have created a specific Japanese style used only in the translation of the speech. The findings suggest: (1) the predominant use of feminine features for the speech of non-Japanese women works to naturalize Japanese femininity beyond linguistic and ethnic boundaries, and (2) the invention of the style for non-Japanese men serves to enregister the Japanese stereotype of non-Japanese casual masculinity, depending on which Japanese masculinity maintains its idealized status.

Bio: Momoko Nakamura, Ph.D. is Professor of English at Kanto Gakuin University, Japan. Her research interest includes linguistic construction of gendered, sexualized identity and historical discursive formation of gendered styles. She is the author of Gender, Language and Ideology: A Genealogy of Japanese Women’s Language (2014), Honyaku ga tsukuru Nihongo: Hiroin wa onna kotoba o hanashi tsuzukeru [Translation and Japanese: Heroines Speak Women’s Language] (2013), Onnakotoba to Nihongo [Women’s Language and Japanese] (2012), Onnakotoba wa tsukurareru [Constructing Women’s Language] (Received the 27th Yamakawa Kikue Award, 2007), Sei to Nihongo: Kotoba ga tsukuru onna to otoko [Sex and Japanese: Woman and Man Constructed by Language] (2007), Kotoba to jendā [Language and Gender] (2001) and Kotoba to feminizumu [Language and Feminism] (1995). She has contributed chapters to The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality (2014), The Political Economy of Affect and Emotion in East Asia (2014), Femininity, Feminism and Gendered Discourse (2010), The Language and Sexuality Reader (2006), and Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology (2004). She also edited a textbook, Jendā de manabu gengogaku [Learning Linguistics through Gender] (2010), and translated into Japanese Feminism and Linguistic Theory by Deborah Cameron (1990) and Language and Sexuality by Deborah Cameron and Don Kulick (2010).

2018 Tokyo JALT Showcase Presentations

Disability Discourse and Its Implications for Teaching Disabled Students in EFL Classes at Japanese Universities

Liz Shek-Noble (New York University School of Professional Studies Tokyo)

Abstract: Recent changes to disability law have led to scholarship about disabled students and reasonable accommodation in EFL courses at universities. This scholarship draws on the discourse of special needs education to frame recommendations for inclusive practices. The presenter advocates Disability Studies in Education (DSE) as an alternative to special needs education, since disability activists have criticised the latter for its pathologizing attitudes towards impairment. The presenter proposes a conceptual framework for creating accessible skills-based EFL classes using DSE principles.

Bio: Liz is the Academic Coordinator at New York University School of Professional Studies Tokyo. Her research interests include critical disability studies and east-west aesthetics.

Promoting Gender Diversity in the Classroom through Drag

Michael Ellis (International Christian University High School)

Abstract: The presenter shares the experience of showing “RuPaul’s Drag Race” to Japanese high school students (n=109). Each step is discussed, from a pretest and mini-lecture on drag culture to the viewing of the show. Students’ response papers indicated they were able to understand complex concepts, especially gender as a social construct and the importance of individuality. Finally, the presenter offers advice for teachers interested in showing similar material in their own classrooms.

Bio: Michael is the EFL program coordinator at ICUHS. He's interested in reflective practice (among many other topics), and is currently program chair of TD SIG.

Featured Presenter: Jim McKinley