JALT Forum : Reimagining Contemporary EFL Curricula (original) (raw)

2015

This paper summarizes a 4-part forum describing ongoing efforts to transform Freshman English, a key course in the 1st-year English program at a private university in Japan. Recognizing rapid, consequential changes in the global view of English and the nature of communication, faculty and staff determined to thoroughly reimagine an English program that would authentically address fundamental concerns of our historical moment. This evolving, decidedly hybrid approach is founded on philosophical principles derived from sociocultural theory, social semiotics, multiliteracies, and the New Literacy Studies. The first contribution underscores the need to move away from a skills-based, communicative approach to language teaching. The second outlines the theoretical framework shaping the new curriculum development process. The third provides an example task sequence within a process-oriented syllabus, illustrating how this theoretical position has been implemented. The fourth addresses asse...

Redesigning the Freshman English Syllabus: A Pedagogy of Process and Transformation

Freshman English (FE) is a key course in the English Language Institute (ELI) program at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS). However, due to important changes in the global view of English and understanding of the nature of communication itself, faculty and staff in the ELI worked in collaboration to thoroughly reimagine and redesign the FE syllabus as part of wider program reform. In this paper, we describe the rationale for changing the program at KUIS and shifting our thinking away from the dominant communicative language teaching approach. The evolving, decidedly hybrid framework that we have used to redesign the FE course, is founded on philosophical principles derived from sociocultural theory, social semiotics, and multiliteracies. The process-based approach that promotes learner awareness and an individualized, retrospective syllabus, is also explained.

Redesigning the Freshman English Syllabus: Process and Transformation for the Digital Age

2016

From EFL to Content-Based Instruction: what English teachers take with them into the sociolinguistics lecture.

Asian EFL Journal, 2006

This paper describes the teaching of sociolinguistics to Japanese and Chinese 2nd grade students in a college in Japan by a teacher trained in English as Foreign Language (EFL). It shows how the native speaker EFL teacher employs a methodological combination of teacher transmission and student collaboration as an effective means to teach this particular content-based subject to non-native English speakers using primarily English as the instructional language. This methodological hybrid is argued as being influenced by the teacher’s EFL background towards student input in the lesson, resulting in a syllabus which integrates student beliefs and experiences about the use of language in society and employs multilingual collaboration among students in the lecture itself. This version of traditional lecturing and student interaction, termed here as “collaborative dialogue” (Swain, 2000, p. 97), has succeeded in, firstly, raising the general class level of comprehension and, significantly, lowering anxiety about interaction in class. Additionally, it has resulted in pooling student input about language use to create a rich, contrastive perspective on basic sociolinguistic topics.

English Language Teaching Today : Linking Theory and Practice

The Journal of AsiaTEFL, 2017

One of the most significant professional challenges for language learning researchers is to transform research findings into language teachers' pedagogical practices. For this reason, I am particularly attracted by this edited volume on English language teaching, in which Renandya and Widodo attempt to link theory and practice in teaching English with contributions from more than twenty leading researchers in the field. There are two parts in the book. The first part titled "Theories, Research and Principles" has seven chapters and covers a wide range of topics, from student-centered language learning to multilingualism. The second part titled "Pedagogical Practices" contains thirteen chapters and explores the use of those aforementioned theories and principles in pedagogical practices in teaching conventional language knowledge and helping learners acquire specific language in particular contexts. The book provides readers an up-to-date account of current principles and practices for teaching English, this reader-friendly book has clear content index, and every chapter is coherently and cohesively organized. Chapters in Part I provide some principles of English language teaching and thus establish a sound foundation for the practical accounts in Part II, and in so doing many chapters in Part I themselves have practical suggestions for teaching. In the chapter by Jacobs and Renandya, they present the principles associated with Student-Centered Learning in which students are expected to be independent of teachers and to be responsible for themselves since learning is truly a student-centered journey. Such focus on language learners is closely related with what Mahboob and Lin convey in their chapter, as supporters of the belief that mother tongue-based multilingual education can make students' lives more lively and diversified. Instead of strictly discussing the relevant theories, they provide some guidelines for teachers to use local languages productively in classrooms where language learners are immersed in a familiar experiential context. The fourth and fifth chapters depart from the theme of pedagogy and address the critical issue of curriculum and textbook development to support pedagogical practices. In Macalister's chapter, he reminds curriculum developers that language courses should strike a balance between meaning-focused input and output. In the next chapter, Tomlinson stresses the importance of using authentic texts and tasks in English language teaching to cater to diverse needs of learners of English as a global language, so it is quite essential that current material development should be internationally-oriented, and language teachers should prepare English learners for lingua franca interaction. In the subsequent chapter, Brown puts forward twelve theoretically sound assessment types. In the last chapter of Part I, Farrell documented how three EFL teachers made use of journal writing as a reflective tool to gain insights into their practice. Writing is of course a valuable opportunity for learners to reflect on their beliefs and assumptions on various experiences. Through different kinds of introspects or reflections, learners can gradually understand themselves and find their shortcomings, then make some

Re-envisioning English for Academic Purposes: The view from Kiso Semi

This case study re-envisions the objectives of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program as taught by expatriate staff in a Japanese university. EAP courses in Japan often assume students will study in English speaking countries and prepare them for a western academic experience. However, increasingly English medium content courses are offered in Japanese schools. These courses, while conducted in English are nevertheless grounded in a Japanese academic context and its customs. This qualitative study examines the values and opinions of Japanese Kiso Semi (a fundamental academic skills preparation seminar) teachers through questionnaires and interviews to better inform EAP decision-making. Findings reveal insights into both Japanese academic norms and Japanese faculty expectations for student behavior and performance. Understanding these norms and expectations has lead to a questioning of current EAP curriculum design and a proposed localization of that design. This has implications for specific EAP course objectives, particularly in terms of the importance of intertextuality, multimodality, the role of critical thinking, and the possible transferability of skills between content and language classes.

Inquiries into EFL Education in Japan: Culture, Diversity, and Classroom Pedagogies

Kwansei Gakuin University: eX Essays on Language and Culture, 2015

This article explores selected features regarding English education in Japan. Different views will be highlighted, illustrating Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) and Native English Teachers (NETs) observations regarding the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Japan. Furthermore, the latter half of the research will examine the role of instruction in Second Language Acquisition (SLA). The author will look to examine if there is cultural diversity in Japan and will confer how the EFL classroom should be an exciting environment in which to learn EFL, and will show reasons why English is often taught in the way it is because of certain parts of Japanese history. Findings argue that although grammar training can be left in the hands of competent JTEs, the addition of NETs can add extra beneficial elements to the EFL classroom. Additionally, the research will attempt to clarify how EFL relates pedagogically to certain cultural problems and values in Japan.

JALT Forum : Reimagining Contemporary EFL Curricula (original) (raw)

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