2022 Back to School Presentation Abstracts

Jennifer Yphantides – A grassroots effort to help Ukrainian refugees learn English

In this session, the presenter will discuss a grassroots effort she began with a former colleague to support refugees from Ukraine as they settle into their new lives in the UK. The session will cover how the initiative started, some of the successes, and a number of the practical challenges including checking teachers, finding appropriate materials, and supporting students with trauma.

Lori Zenuk-Nishide – Model United Nations: Building English as a lingua franca and 21st century learning skills

This presentation will introduce some insights drawn from research on ELF (English as a Lingua Franca) in MUN (Model United Nations) simulations and will summarize some of the best practices in MUN events and delegate preparation. Model United Nations (MUN) simulations are uniquely positioned to help students develop their language ability and their global competencies, as well as being ideal opportunities for participants to experience ELF in an intensely communicative context. 

Paschal Orjika – Self-directed learning in the university classroom

This presentation is a professional contribution to university research and learning. It presents the benefits of self-directed learning as a teaching method at universities. Self-directed learning is best introduced to students during the transition period from high school to the university (Van et al, 2015), and then reinforced throughout the university years. Interestingly, self-directed learning does not end within the university walls - it does exist beyond those walls.

John Carle – How to create a digital workbook

The presenter will detail how he was able to create a digital workbook on a publisher’s version of the ZenGengo platform and successfully bring it to market. He will share his knowledge and resources so that any educator can make their online vision a reality. Participants will learn how to create content that far surpasses Google Forms and other similar learning tools. Please join us and feel free to ask any questions.

Wade Muncil – Starting a startup from the start

In this presentation, Muncil provides an overview of the current situation with start-ups, then moves on to the relevance and application of start-ups in education. He offers a template for an assignment from Fall semester, 2021, along with a student-made video based on that assignment. Attendees are welcome to use the template to craft their own assignment related to their teaching context.

Eucharia Donnery – The International Virtual Exchange (IVE) Project: Meeting low-level EFL learner needs

After six years of accuracy-based English study at JHS and SHS, the International Virtual Exchange (IVE) Project offers an alternative for Japanese university students to meaningfully communicate with people THROUGH English. The (IVE) Project can provide low-level university learners with counterparts predominantly in Colombia, as well as other countries including Taiwan, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Kenya among others. The presentation traces the journeys of three students over a two-semester period, and how their writing developed.

Terry Tuttle – A how-to video activity sequence for Japanese high school EFL students

Many conversation textbooks offer an insufficient volume of meaningful use for the language features they cover. This activity sequence uses real videos from TikTok and YouTube as authentic materials to supplement a textbook unit on using imperative form for instructions and advice. Students are guided through a modular activity set from listening comprehension exercises through guided practice, before finally scripting and filming their own instructional videos for evaluation.

Paul Goldberg – Xreading: What’s new and what’s next

Xreading is an online library that gives students access to thousands of graded readers and allows instructors to track their students’ reading progress. Since its launch in 2014, the system is being continuously being updated and improved with new features and more books. In this presentation, the founder of Xreading will explain the new features and improvements, and review what is planned for the future.

Paul Mathieson & Claire Murray – The AWL Readers: An Academic Vocabulary Story

Authentic academic materials rarely have sufficient academic vocabulary range and frequency to facilitate meaningful academic vocabulary learning. Against this background, the presenter wrote a fictional graded reader series (‘The AWL Readers’). The AWL Readers follow the adventures (and misadventures) of a fictional university student and her unusual friend. They include all 570 AWL words, with spaced repetition.  This presentation will discuss how and why the AWL Readers were created and how they can be used.

Thomas Boutorwick – ESL Speed Readings, the free mobile app

Speed reading, part of Nation's (2013) fluency strand, is an important language learning skill. This presentation introduces a free speed reading app which includes 120 graded stories. Each of these stories has a comprehension quiz consisting of 8-10 multiple-choice questions. The app manages the administrative tasks of speed reading, including automatic quiz scoring and data visualization. By doing so, learners can focus on increasing their reading speed and not worry about the details.

Zoe Barber – (Un)willing to communicate?: Incorporating different modes of participation in the classroom

The strong emphasis placed on oral production and willingness to communicate (WTC) in Japanese EFL contexts has led to the conflation of L2 oral production and active participation. This approach ignores other participation modes that contribute significantly to learners' L2 acquisition and active participation. By reconceptualizing classroom participation as “willingness to participate” (WTP), EFL teachers can accommodate multiple participation styles. This presentation will give suggestions for incorporating alternative and silent participation modes into classroom practice.

Anthony Walsh – A step-by-step guide for speech contests

This presentation will provide helpful recommendations in facilitating a speech contest. Setting up a well-structured event requires timeframes for contestants to transition smoothly. Therefore, it is imperative to design guidelines for judges to keep score. Incidentally, scoring mechanisms takes out all the disagreements on selecting a winner. Furthermore, having goals clearly outlined helps participants prepare for reading aloud whether that is online or in front of an audience. 

Elizabeth Leigh – A tour of the “Zero-waste” town of Kamikatsu, Tokushima prefecture

Kamikatsu’s residents sort waste into 45 types in 13 categories, and managed to recycle 81% of all their refuse in 2016. This presentation describes a recent tour of this town, which was the first municipality in Japan to put into effect a “Zero Waste” policy.

Eric Martin & Robert Kerrigan – Presentation and evaluation of an Extensive Listening program using Xreading

The researchers will describe an extensive listening, and an extensive listening with textual support, pilot program conducted in 2021 in which university ELF learners listened to graded readers independently over one semester. The researchers will also present the results of the study and suggestions for alterations to the program and future research. These include ideas for setting appropriate goals and for scaffolding learners away from textual support to focus on listening exclusively and successfully.

Michael Herke – From the known to the new: Everyday creative arguments for language learning

Arguments (minimally defined as a claim plus a reason to accept it) are not only ubiquitous in daily interactions, but are also an essential mechanism for creating new knowledge and, therefore, they should have a central place in 21st century classrooms. Participants will learn the core features of argument and their functions, what differentiates arguments, and, most importantly, meet a wide range of examples that can be easily imported into traditional language learning activities. 

Matthew Wiegand – Re-evaluating expectations of camera use in online language classes

Students and teachers have varying expectations about camera use during online language classes in platforms like Zoom. Furthermore teachers know of students' resistance to camera use. Some feel strongly and require that cameras should be turned on. However my research shows that students felt ambivalence - only 26% thought it was important to keep cameras on. My research shows there are many valid and interesting reasons for this. Perhaps it is time to reevaluate our expectations. 

Mehrasa Alizadeh – Professional development and distance learning with Gather.Town: A preliminary report

This show-and-tell presentation is a report on the experimental use of a Metaverse-like platform called Gather.Town in a JALT professional development (PD) event and at an elementary school and a university class. The presenter will talk about the features of the platform and make a comparison to Zoom and other teleconferencing tools. She will then showcase what went on at the PD event and the online classes in reference to transformative learning design.