We will be having our Lifelong Language Learning SIG forum this coming Sunday on the topic “Reflections on the Past, Projections of the Future” at the JALT National Conference (held online this year). You are warmly invited to attend. The session is a combined AGM (Annual General Meeting) and LLL-SIG Forum. You may vote for SIG officers no later than November 15 at 11:59 PM at https://forms.gle/T6adBiFMuXENatRQA

Sun, Nov 14, 14:45-16:15
[If you’re registered for the conference, you can go directly to https://jalt2021.edzil.la/session/2381 .]

In the slightly more than half a century of TESOL’s existence there have been a cascade of methods and innovations that teachers have been challenged by. The move to an online pedagogy due to the pandemic accelerated trends while forcing all of us to reevaluate fundamentals. In this forum, prompts (both visual and textual) will be provided to elicit discussion on where we’ve been on our journey as language teachers and where we’re headed.

Speakers & Sub-sections:

1) Andrew Reimann
Title: Digital Templates and Worksheets

Andrew spoke about changes in teaching in the digital and post pandemic age, looking first at changes in teaching as as a career and concluding with suggestions for interactive materials in both the conventional and virtual classrooms.

Bio: Andrew Reimann is from Vancouver, Canada and has a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Macquarie University. He teaches classes on Comparative Culture Studies and Intercultural Communication. His research interests include raising cultural awareness and communication strategies.

2) Kathy Yamane
Title: Old Dogs, New Tricks: Mature Learners in the Age of Covid

Kathy Yamane spoke about the development of a three-day intensive English “Schooling” program run through Nara University’s Distance Education Division and the challenges faced during the pandemic.

Bio: Kathy Yamane, a native of upstate New York, studied Linguistics at Cornell University. She came to Japan as an MEF in 1981 and is currently teaching English and Communication classes at Nara University. Her research interests are primarily in the area of language varieties. She is co-author of the Broadcast: ABC World News Tonight textbook series. She is the membership chair of the LLL SIG.

3) Taron Plaza
Title: Connecting & engaging in online teaching environments

Taron presented on teacher engagement and how the switch to computer-based lessons provided him with opportunities to transform himself as an educator. Participants were invited to share experiences of how they struggled with and/or managed to find ways of connecting and engaging with their classes in the current online environment.

Bio: Taron teaches courses in English communication, cultural studies and second language acquisition. His research interests include
intercultural communication, digital spaces and transformative
learning.

4) Joseph Dias
Title: Roles for LMSs In Pandemic and Post-pandemic times

The presenter spoke about some of the most common LMSs available, the role they played during the pandemic, and how they might play a more important role in our “routine” teaching practice in the future. Audience members were asked to share what they liked most (and least) about the LMSs they use either by choice or by institutional requirement.

Bio: Joseph V. Dias co-coordinates the Integrated English Program in the English Department of Aoyama Gakuin University, also teaching courses on intercultural communication and food culture. His research interests include computer-assisted language learning and autonomy in language learning.

5) Tim Gutierrez
Title: What’s Next for Technology Supporting Remote Language Instruction?

In order to facilitate discussion of the role of technology in the foreign language classroom, the presenter first revisited a fundamental controversy from his formative years of what to do in the university composition classroom. Next, he showcased a Moodle workshop activity, a tool to facilitate process writing that he rediscovered during the remote teaching resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, participants were invited to speculate about how electronic tools will shape both online and in person teaching of foreign languages to university students.