Mayu Shintani, Ryoko Ohata, Andy Boon

Morning Presentations:
Session 1. (10:00 ~ 10:50)
By: Mayu SHINTANI
Presentation Title: Image Schema-Based Instructions on English Grammar
**Summary of presentation
Cognitive linguistics has been devoting to reveal the very nature of language since the last few decades. One of their most fruitful results is the abstraction of the general patterns, the “image schemata,” underlying the grammatical entities. In this presentation, we will propose the grammar teaching method adopting the image-schema theory and show its strong potential in language teaching areas. As the instruction is more visible to learners than the ordinary character-based ones, it could offer them a clearer (and probably less boring) way to understand the grammar. We will also give the data collected in the experiment with native Japanese speaking students at several universities to prove the effectiveness of our method.
Mayu SHINTANI, teaches English classes at the University of Tsukuba and Linguistic at Kawamura Gakuen Woman’s University. She received a PhD in linguistics from the University of Tsukuba in 2012 for a comparative and contrastive study of rhetorical expressions in English, French and Japanese. She has also studied at the graduate school of “Literatures, cultures and social sciences,” the University of Caen Basse-Normandy in France.
Session II. (11:00 ~11:50)
By: Ryoko OHATA
Presentation Title: Study on Politeness in Japanese Learners’ Context
** Summary of presentation:
The expression of politeness is one of the most challenging aspects for Japanese learners. This presentation will stress the importance of non-verbal factors of politeness despite the current trends in the Japanese linguistic/pedagogical studies. In addition to previous research such as Lebra (1976) and Argyle (1983), behavioral teachings in Japanese tea ceremonies and service industry manuals will be examined with a view to applying these factors to behavioral instructions in the classroom.
Ryoko Ohata currently teaches English as a part-time instructor at Ibaraki University and Ibaraki Christian College. She has received her first master’s degree in education from Middle Tennessee State University with a concentration in TESOL and second master’s degree in Japanese Pedagogy from Columbia University. She also has experience in teaching Japanese as a second language to the speakers of English and Chinese at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Aletheia University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Her current research interests focus on bilingualism and cognitive development.
Afternoon Presentation:
Session III: 14:00 ~ 15:4)
By: Andy Boon
Presentation Title: Inspire or perspire? Getting students speaking
(Supported by the Cengage Publishing Company)
**Summary of the presentation**
Inspire or perspire? Getting students speaking
This presentation will introduce the audience to a number of strategies that can help break the silence in the Japanese classroom and get students engaging in meaningful communication. Audience members will be asked to try out a number of tried and tested speaking activities and also be encouraged to share their ideas for getting students talking to one another in the L2. Inspire is a listening and speaking course with additional content reading designed to create a richer speaking experience. The spectacular National Geographic photos and video provide enduring images that inspire learners to discover the world in all its brilliance.
Andy Boon is an associate professor in the faculty of humanities at Toyo Gakuen University, Tokyo. He has been teaching in Japan for over 17 years. He holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Aston University. He has been an active member of JALT since 2004, has presented at numerous conferences, and has published several articles on teacher development, motivation, and methodology. He is also co-author of Inspire; a 3-level listening and speaking coursebook (Cengage Learning, 2013-14).
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