JALT2021 Plenary Speakers

Yuko Goto Butler

University of Pennsylvania

Sponsored by JALT Teaching Younger Learners SIG

The Digital Generation’s Language Use and Abilities

Plenary Presentation

Saturday, Nov 13th, 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM

As the use of digital technology continues to increase, the types of communicative competencies that young people need to develop is changing. Digital technology changes both the way we learn languages and the way we communicate. It also changes the target language itself. As a result, we need to account for the ways in which children and young people use digital technologies in their daily life. How do they perceive their own use of digital technology? What kinds of communicative abilities do they need to develop in this new era? In this talk, I focus on children and young people who were born after the year 2000, whom I refer to as the “digital generation.” I first address the current use of digital technologies in Japanese schools. After examining their digital environment, I discuss the ways in which this generation uses language in this environment. I argue that digital technology has both advantages and disadvantages, and that the role that teachers and parents play is critical for teaching communicative competencies in this new era. We also need to be mindful of differences not only in access to digital technology but also in the quality of its use. I conclude my talk with a proposal for communicative competencies that are needed in this era of advancing digital technology.

Research With Children: A Digital Game Project

Additional Presentation

Sunday, Nov 14th, 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM

In child development studies, the notion of research with children has gained substantial attention in recent years. However, the methodological and ethical issues associated with research with children have not been sufficiently addressed in the field of applied linguistics (Pinter, 2014). In this paper, I discuss these issues based on my experiences with them while conducting a task-designing project among Japanese children (Butler, 2021). I discuss both the opportunities and challenges that became apparent through this project. My project included eighty-two sixth-grade students (ages 11-12) who were enrolled in a public primary school in Japan. The children worked in groups to design computer games that were designed to help them learn English vocabulary. The aim of the project was to better understand the elements that were both attractive and effective for foreign language learning from the children’s points of view. The merits of conducting research with children included maintaining their motivation, giving them greater autonomy when engaging in tasks, and allowing researchers to understand their own assumptions. In this regard the project demonstrated some of the opportunities that are available in research with children. However, a number of dilemmas also emerged. Three specific challenges that I encountered were: (i) how to resolve the power imbalances between adults and children and among the children themselves; (ii) how to conceptualize the role of reflection in research with children; and (iii) how to shed light on individual differences among children in participatory research. The paper concludes with suggestions for conducting research with children.

Yuko Goto Butler is Professor of Educational Linguistics at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the director of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program at Penn. Her research focuses on the improvement of second and foreign language education among young learners in the U.S. and Asia in response to the diverse needs of an increasingly globalizing world.

Makiko Deguchi

Sophia University

Sponsored by JALT

What is Japanese Privilege? Applying the Privilege Construct to the Japanese Context

Plenary Presentation

Sunday, Nov 14th, 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM

Is the ‘privilege’ construct effective in Japan? Can we teach members of the dominant groups about diversity, equity, inclusion using the “privilege” construct? Does the construct of racial privilege, which in North America is white privilege, translate in a Japanese context? Returning to Japan after living in the U.S. for 14 years, the speaker will discuss how her positionality shifted from being a racial minority to a racial “majority” or a member of the dominant race/ethnicity in Japan, and how teaching courses on privilege awareness in Japan led her to important revelations and challenges that have implications for social justice education in Japan.

Teaching about Male Privilege in the Japanese Classroom

Additional Presentation

Saturday, Nov 13th, 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM

With so many students believing that women-only carriages during rush hour to be a form of reverse discrimination against men, teaching about male privilege in today’s climate can be challenging. This talk will unpack effective ways in which we can introduce the concept of privilege and male privilege in a Japanese university course without raising defensiveness. Findings from her own research will also be discussed.

Makiko Deguchi is a Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Studies and the Director for the Center of Global Education and Discovery at Sophia University in Tokyo. She received her doctorate in cultural psychology at Boston College. Her research investigates the impact of social oppression on the psychology of both the advantaged and disadvantaged group members, factors that lead people to take collective action, and qualitative research on life histories of people who become allies to minority groups. She currently teaches courses in Cultural Psychology, Psychology of Discrimination, Psychology of Positionality: Understanding Majority Privilege, and a seminar in Qualitative Research Methods. She served as the President of SIETAR Japan from 2017-2021.

Luciana de Oliveira

School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University

Sponsored by JALT

Preparing Teachers of Young Learners of English: Examples of Promising Practices in Literacy Instruction

Plenary Presentation

Monday, Nov 15th, 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM

This plenary provides examples of promising practices used by teachers of young learners of English at the elementary school level in the United States. These practices draw on students’ backgrounds and experiences while also expanding their repertoires in the English language. The presenter demonstrates how these promising practices in literacy instruction foster linguistic, literate, and cultural multilingualism and describes ways in which teachers promote learning through language and learning about language.

A Genre-based Approach to Writing Instruction for Multilingual Learners

Workshop

Sunday, Nov 14th, 11:25 AM – 12:25 PM

This workshop presents a genre-based approach to writing instruction for multilingual learners, drawing on work in systemic-functional linguistics. This approach emphasizes an apprenticeship model – the Teaching and Learning Cycle – based on detailed reading, deconstruction, joint construction, and independent construction. Using examples from elementary classrooms, the presenter highlights some challenges a genre approach can address and shows how teachers can assist second language writers in the context of the classroom.

Luciana C. de Oliveira is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA. Her research focuses on issues related to teaching multilingual learners at the elementary and secondary levels. She served in the presidential line of TESOL International Association (2017-2020) and was a member of the Board of Directors (2013-2016). She was the first Latina to ever serve as President (2018-2019) of TESOL.

Nicola Galloway

University of Glasgow

Sponsored by JALT

Reflections on Traditional ‘TESOL’ Curricula and New Perspectives for Teaching English as a Global Language

Plenary Presentation

Friday, Nov 12th, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Communicative language teaching may have been “the most significant development within ELT over the last 50 years” and “generally regarded as a clear paradigmatic break with the past” (Hall, 2016, p. 214), but nativespeakerism prevails in ‘traditional’ TESOL curricula. The globalisation of the English language raises several questions about how to prepare English language learners in today’s globalised world leading scholars to call for a further paradigm shift. In this talk, I explore research in the field of Global Englishes that calls for new perspectives to ensure TESOL curricula match the new sociolinguistic landscape of the 21st century. I will examine attempts to theorize innovations and highlight similarities in proposals for Teaching English as an International Language, WE-informed ELT, ELF-Aware pedagogy and Global Englishes Language Teaching. I will also examine empirical pedagogical research that has been conducted in terms of innovations to further our understanding of what ELT in the 21st century should look like, drawing on a recent systematic review (Rose, Mckinley and Galloway, 2021). COVID19 has had a major impact on our teaching and, as outlined in the conference overview, many of us have created new networks and embraced technology. I will end this talk with an examination of Global Englishes technological innovations and a new innovative online network.

Facilitating an Online Community of Practice

Workshop

Monday, Nov 15th, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

As outlined in my plenary address, COVID19 has had a major impact on our teaching and many of us have created new networks and embraced technology. We have been forced to face a new normal, with many of us working online. This workshop explores the use of an innovative new online network to create a community of practice of teachers and practitioners working in the fields of Global Englishes and English Medium Instruction (EMI). We will review some of the resources for teaching, testing and conducting research and explore how to work with our peers across the globe.We will focus on how to increase the impact of our research and encourage pedagogical uptake, as well as the challenges to collaborating and teaching online.

Nicola Galloway is Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in Education (TESOL) at the University of Glasgow. Her research focuses on the pedagogical implications of the global spread of English and the global spread of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education. She is author of 4 books on Global Englishes and has two books on EMI (in Press). She leads a global network that brings together both fields and aims to create a global community of practice of teachers and researchers- Teaching English and Teaching IN English in global contexts https://globalenglishes-emi.network/

Christina Gkonou

University of Essex

Sponsored by JALT

Reflections and New Perspectives on Language Teacher Emotions

Plenary Presentation

Sunday, Nov 14th, 4:45 PM – 5:45 PM

Emotions are at the center of all human behavior, and teaching and learning are no exception. Teaching, in particular, requires careful handling of teacher own emotions and that teachers also demonstrate empathy, enthusiasm, and optimism in order to influence their learners’ emotions positively. Despite the inherent importance of teacher emotions and well-being in the process of teaching, existing research has been disproportionately less than that into language learner emotions (Gkonou, Dewaele, & King, 2020). In this talk, I take stock of what we already know about language teacher emotions in terms of specific emotions felt as part of one’s practice, challenging moments experienced throughout one’s career, and positive psychology. I discuss how this knowledge can help us to better understand teachers and inform classroom practice. I then reflect on what we still potentially do not know about how language teacher emotions work and what possible new directions we can take within research and teacher education to address this important, yet neglected, side of teaching.

Socio-Emotional Competencies for Language Learning and Teaching

Workshop

Sunday, Nov 14th, 6:40 PM – 7:40 PM

Language learning and teaching are fundamentally social and interpersonal practices, and often generate a number of emotional reactions amongst learners and teachers. The omnipresence of emotions makes it necessary for them to develop a set of socio-emotional skills, which encompass the following three key life competencies: a) self-awareness, or identifying and talking about emotions; b) self-regulation, or managing one’s own emotions; and c) empathy and relationship skills. Within psychology, these competencies are broadly categorised under the constructs of emotional intelligence (EI) and social intelligence (SI), two terms which became widely known through Daniel Goleman’s (1995, 2005) bestselling popular science books. Researchers in the fields of psychology and general education have indeed suggested that apart from standard IQ tests, strong socio-emotional skills are also indicators of being intelligent. This workshop will focus on reviewing theories of EI and SI, how these have been applied in language education (Gkonou & Mercer, 2017, 2018; Mercer & Gkonou, 2017) and how socio-emotional competencies can be used in contemporary classrooms.

Christina Gkonou is Associate Professor of TESOL and MA TESOL Programme Leader in the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex, UK. She convenes postgraduate modules on teacher education and development, and on psychological aspects surrounding the foreign language learning and teaching experience. She is co-editor of New Directions in Language Learning Psychology (with Sarah Mercer and Dietmar Tatzl), New Insights into Language Anxiety: Theory, Research and Educational Implications (with Jean-Marc Dewaele and Mark Daubney), and The Emotional Rollercoaster of Language Teaching (with Jean-Marc Dewaele and Jim King). She is also co-author of MYE: Managing Your Emotions Questionnaire (with Rebecca L. Oxford) and has published a number of research articles in international, peer-reviewed journals. Her new co-authored book (with Kate Brierton) for Cambridge University Press is on cultivating teacher wellbeing and will be out in March 2022.

Baye McNeil

Author & Activist

Sponsored by JALT

From Activist to ALT to Activist Abroad

Plenary Presentation

Saturday, Nov 13th, 4:45 PM – 5:45 PM

I wasn’t born an activist but damn near. My mother made sure our formal education was one that would prepare not only our minds but our souls for a society dominated by white supremacy and Eurocentricity, which intentionally or not, sublimated all non-whites. My mother enlisted me in an Afrocentric school and environment and set me on a path that eventually compelled me to teach what I had learned to young minds, and to share my ideas via activism, journalism, and publishing with the world at-large. I’ve been asked to share some of this journey with JALT so buckle up. I’m going to take you from my roots as a student at school on the forefront of the Pan-African / Black Power movement of the 70s (an earlier articulation of Black Lives Matters) in Brooklyn NY, through to utilizing activism and the media to end blackface in Japan. Along the way I had to live two lives, hardworking ALT by day, and, under a pseudonym only, author, activist, journalist, and sometimes TV talent. Trying to keep the two lives separate was a task and a half, until one incident stripped the fence away and my two lives collided.

Reducing Presumptions

Workshop

Sunday, Nov 14th, 2:05 PM – 3:05 PM

The goal of this workshop is to examine the presumptions we make about other people, particularly people of another race, ethnicity or nationality, but also of other sexual orientation, professions, political affiliations, even age and weight. All come to bear on how we choose to interact with said person. During this session we will:

1. Define presumption
2. Attempt to identify our presumptions
3. If possible, ascertain the root / source of our presumption
4. Ascertain whether said presumption is problematic or not.
5. Establish / Uncover / Utilize Practical ways to reduce our use of presumptions (if it’s called for)

Likely we all have done some version of this in our self-assessments, but I’ve found, even in myself, as I’ve conducted this workshop at universities here in Japan, that many problematic presumptions, particularly ones acquired in our formative years, tend to be resilient and will persist to wreak havoc often under the radar. So, let’s pop the hood and see what we see.

Baye McNeil is an author, columnist, ALT and activist, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He is the author of two critically acclaimed books on life in Japan, and his column, Black Eye, featured in The Japan Times, focuses on the image of “blackness” in Japan, and the lives of people of color from the African continent and the diaspora living in Japan. He currently resides in Tokyo in a house he built with his wife and two adorable cats.