Distinguished Lecturer Series at
Osaka Center for Spring 2012

Eng Ed 8655: Distinguished Lecturer Series (Seminar 1): Globalization and Widening Participation: New Contexts and New Challenges for Language Proficiency in Higher Education

1 credit hour

This course will look at the implications for tertiary institutions of the globalization of education and a widening participation agenda that seeks to make education more inclusive by increasing the participation of non-traditional student cohorts many of whom come to university from low socio-economic areas and have suffered educational and/or social disadvantage.

Language proficiency, so called, represents an important point of intersection between, on the one hand, increasingly large university populations of students of non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) as a result of globalisation, and on the other hand, students who arrive courtesy of widening participation initiatives. Students from both these groups present universities with particular challenges around the pre- and post-enrolment language assessment mechanisms and the subsequent provision of language supports that offer those identified as being at risk the help they need to ensure that they reach their full academic potential and are suitably prepared to enter the workforce and meet the increasingly stringent communication requirements of the professions.

This course will:

• Consider what is meant by 'language proficiency' and how it is understood (or not) by stakeholders within the higher education sector;
• consider some of the policy, professional and other drivers of initiatives to improve the way universities respond to the language needs of the above cohorts;
• analyze some of the considerable challenges universities face in engaging in such initiatives;
• Offer a conceptual framework for understanding the construct of 'proficiency'; and
• Propose a model of language provision that promises to be effective while taking into account the constraints under which universities operate.

Professor:

Dr. Neil Murray (University of South Australia)

Schedule:

Saturday, January 28 from 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. and Sunday, January 29 from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

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Eng Ed 8656: Distinguished Lecturer Series (Seminar 2): A Learning Orientation to Classroom-Based Language Assessment

1 credit hour

In this seminar we will examine how assessment fits into the broader notion of learning. I will first describe how learning relates to teaching and assessment in instructional contexts. I will then describe the proficiency model in which the focus is on the conveyance of semantic and pragmatic meanings in situated contexts by means of linguistics resources. After that, I will describe the learning model from a socio-cognitive perspective. In so doing, I will examine how learners process new learning targets individually and will show how assessment figures into this process. I will then describe how this model can be extended to when learning occurs in contexts of two or more learners. Finally, I will show how assessment can be organized to accommodate a proficiency and learning orientation for use in language classrooms.

Professor:

Dr. James E. Purpura (Teachers College, Columbia University)

Schedule:

Saturday, February 25 from 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 26 from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

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Eng Ed 8657: Distinguished Lecturer Series (Seminar 3): Motivation and Autonomy in Language Learning: Theory, Practice and Research

1 credit hour

This seminar will focus on the interactions between motivation and autonomy in language learning. The opening lecture will provide an overview of the rather different traditions of inquiry that have shaped theories of L2 motivation on the one hand, and theories of learner autonomy in language education on the other. Integrating these twin paradigms, it will highlight the conceptual interface between motivation and autonomy and consider how insights from autonomy theory and practice can illuminate our analysis of motivation, particularly from a sociocultural theoretical perspective. The rest of the seminar will then explore implications for classroom practice, drawing on participants' own working contexts and experiences, and examine ways in which teachers can socialize optimal forms of motivation that enhance the autonomy of their students within and beyond classroom learning. The seminar will conclude with a discussion of research issues and consider approaches to investigating motivation and autonomy in the classroom through forms of practitioner research such as action research and exploratory practice.

Professor:

Dr. Ema Ushioda (University of Warwick, UK)

Schedule:

Saturday, March 31 from 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 1 from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

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