Following are the lecturers and topics of past seminars of the Distinguished Lecturer Series.
Dr. Kristopher Kyle (University of Oregon, U. S. A.)
Measuring Productive Lexical Proficiency in Learner Corpora
Lexical proficiency is an essential component of effective written and spoken communication, and is commonly measured as the proportion of sophisticated or advanced words a language learner uses to complete a particular task. Most often, a word’s reference corpus frequency determines the degree to which it is considered advanced or sophisticated (e.g., Laufer & Nation, 1995). While frequency is undoubtedly an important feature of sophistication, a number of recent studies have demonstrated that lexical proficiency is most accurately modeled when multiple complementary lexical and lexicogrammatical features are used (e.g., Kim, Crossley, & Kyle, 2018; Kyle, Crossley, & Berger, 2018).
This seminar will first provide an introduction to lexical (e.g., frequency and concreteness) and lexicogrammatical (e.g., the association of word combinations) features that affect perceptions of lexical proficiency from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. The broad implications for pedagogical considerations will also be discussed. In the next portions of the seminar, students will be led through a hands-on workshop in which an analysis of lexical sophistication will be conducted using an open-source learner corpus. Finally, students will demonstrate their understand of theoretical and practical concerns surrounding the analysis of lexical sophistication by independently conducting a preliminary study.
Dr. Alyssa Kermad (California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, U.S.A.)
Applied Methods for Researching and Teaching L2 Pronunciation
The overarching aim of this seminar is to develop an awareness of the area of second language (L2) English speech and pronunciation which has received increasingly more attention and importance over the years, especially considering that there are currently more non-native English speakers than native English speakers. This seminar takes a bottom-up approach to the topic, beginning with an overview of the English sound system, including segmental and suprasegmental properties of speech. This seminar will cover core concepts of David Brazil’s (1997) framework of intonation, including the context of interaction, prominent syllables, tone units, pitch, and intonation. Instruction will be provided for analyzing and quantifying speech properties related to fluency, word stress, sentence prominence, pitch, and intonation. Praat, a speech analysis software, will be used alongside this instruction to visually illustrate the physical correlates of these speech properties. The seminar will conclude with discussions on the topics of research and teaching in L2 speech and pronunciation. For research, this seminar will survey recent findings related to L2 speech patterns, especially those with a focus on suprasegmental production. This seminar will also consider important methodological issues in research design. Finally, for teaching, this seminar will explore the applications of Praat for teaching and learning in the language classroom.
Dr. Shinichi Izumi (Sophia University, Japan)
Seeking for the Interface between SLA Research and Language Teaching
In this seminar, the lecturer would like to discuss issues related to the interface between Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and language teaching (ELT). It is a welcoming thing that SLA has finally become a necessary part of the national teacher license curriculum in Japan, and universities nationwide have thus started to offer courses in SLA to prospective language teachers. However, what is needed is not simply to make SLA a mere “knowledge base” for language teaching, but to actively use such knowledge by critically examining our own learning and teaching in light of what SLA research has uncovered about the intricate processes of L2 development. This may be somewhat similar to the still controversial issues in SLA research concerning the interface between metalinguistic explicit knowledge and communicable implicit knowledge, that is, whether and how the two types of knowledge interact with each other to enable better learning. It is the lecturer’s contention that, instead of an either/or answer, this all depends on how one tries to bridge the two in the course of one’s learning (and teaching)—an issue that he wishes to discuss in some detail as part of his talk in the seminar. In a similar manner, it is incumbent on us to actively seek for ways to connect SLA research and language teaching if the lecturer and attendants wish to create the interface and derive any benefits from it.
In this seminar, the lecturer would like to first start off by introducing what research in First Language Acquisition has revealed about the processes of L1 acquisition, discuss some major theoretical approaches to L1 acquisition, and later use these as a basis for examining and discussing issues raised in SLA research and language teaching. In the latter part of the seminar, the lecturer would like to introduce a Soft CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) lesson for high school in Japan as a way to apply SLA research findings/insights to practical classroom teaching.
No prior knowledge of SLA is required to take this seminar. Anyone who wishes to seek for the interface between SLA and language teaching are welcome to join in.
Dr. Donald Carroll (Shikoku Gakuin University, Japan):
Conversation Analysis and Its Practical Application to Language Teaching
The field of conversation analysis is now into its sixth decade of empirical research into the structure and social order of interaction. The first generation of researchers would be pleased and astounded at how much is now known across such a wide range of contexts, languages, and interaction types, from mundane daily conversation to talk-at-work to pedagogic interaction, both in classrooms and in-the-wild. Yet most of these empirical observations remain unknown to the overwhelming majority of language teachers worldwide, not to mention textbook authors and publishers.
The twin goals of this seminar are to introduce the fundamental orientations and working practices of ethnomethodological conversation analysis and then examine how the resulting observations on interaction are of immediate relevance to the teaching of an additional language, specifically TESOL. The seminar will focus on several broad and particularly well-researched aspects of empirically observable interactional order, aspects that are of immediate relevance to language teachers and language learners and yet often stand in direct contraction to orthodox teaching materials and syllabi.
In addition to an initial presentation, the seminar will include a practical workshop component during which participants can try out practical ideas that can be immediately incorporated into their own teaching and/or language learning.
Dr. Rob Waring (Notre Dame Seishin University, Japan):
The Place of Extensive Reading and Listening in and EFL Curriculum
This session will first outline what a typical EFL curriculum should cover at various ability levels and ages. The lecturer then will investigate how typical courses structure learning tasks and material to attempt to achieve these goals and will reflect on how they often may be underserving the learners. The lecturer then will build up a picture of how extensive reading (ER) and extensive listening (EL) help fill in many gaps in EFL curricula by providing the much-needed input, repetition and recycling needed to deepen and consolidate learning. This review will also look at what needs to be done to prepare learners to read and listen extensively. The lecturer also will discuss the limits of an ER approach particularly for more specialist topics, and at the more advanced levels and suggest approaches and strategies to ensure effective learning.
The session will then review the state-of-the-art of ER and EL research in order to understand the current state of play. Participants will be invited to discuss what the lecturer and they still need to find out by composing a research agenda. The lecturer then look at some examples of ER and EL research to highlight commonly-made pitfalls in research design. Participants will come up with some principles of how to effectively design ER and EL research so as to avoid as many pitfalls as possible. Participants will then select several research questions and propose how these may be examined experimentally, present these to fellow classmates, and submit a paper describing and justifying their proposal.
Dr. Irina Elgort (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
L2 Vocabulary Acquisition, Learning and Processing: Adopting an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Lexical knowledge is foundational. In reading and listening, not knowing a word (or a phrase) is a bottleneck of comprehension. In communication, lexical errors are tolerated to a lesser degree than other types of errors by native and non-native speakers. But, as Virginia Woolf put it, “words do not live in dictionaries, they live in the mind”. So, how do we store and access L2 word knowledge in the mind?
In this seminar, we will take an interdisciplinary look at the question, “What does it mean to know a word?” (Nation, 2001), as it is posed by L2 acquisition researchers, psycholinguists and cognitive psychologists, applied linguists and language educators. (1) We will consider acquisition, learning and processing of orthographic, phonological, lexical and semantic knowledge components, with a view to optimize L2 vocabulary instruction and contextual acquisition from input. (2) We will reflect on interdisciplinary frameworks that have informed research into word learning and processing, and review studies that combine online and offline measures of knowledge. (3) We will examine instruments and measures used in evaluating lexical knowledge and discuss what may be gleaned from different types of vocabulary knowledge tests, response time tasks, as well as eye-movement and event-related brain potentials measures. By the end of this course, you will have an interdisciplinary appreciation of “what it means to know a word”.
Dr. Mark E. Davies (Brigham Young University, U.S.A.)
Using Large Online Corpora for Research, Teaching, and Learning
This series of seminars will examine the many ways in which corpora can be used to enhance research, teaching, and learning. The seminars will be based primarily on the corpora from English-Corpora.org, which are perhaps the most widely-used corpora currently available. In the seminars, we will consider the following topics (among others):
- Basic corpus linguistics methodologies such as concordances (to examine the patterns in which words occur), collocates (to examine the meaning and usage of words and phrases), and n-grams (highly frequent strings of words). We will also focus on how this data can be used to improve teaching and learning.
- Insights from corpora into word frequency (including variation by genre, dialect, and time period), and how this frequency data can be used in teaching and learning
- Keywords and “virtual corpora”, to focus on the vocabulary of particular domains (e.g. engineering, economics, or sports)
- Insights into English grammar (again, including variation by genre, dialect, and time period), similar to what Biber et al (1999) have done with the Longman Grammar of English.
Dr. Charles Browne (Meiji Gakuin University, Japan)
Developing Lexical Competence: From Theory to Classroom Practice to Online Application
This seminar will consider the development of Lexical Competence from several points of view. Through a review of some of the core research in second language vocabulary acquisition we will first try to dispel some of the “myths” about vocabulary learning that are still prevalent among classroom practitioners and researchers. Keith Folse’s excellent book, “Vocabulary Myths: Applying Second Language Research To Classroom Teaching”, one of the two required books for this course, covers eight such myths including the idea that (1) in learning another language, vocabulary is not as important as grammar or other areas, (2) using word lists to learn L2 vocabulary is unproductive and (3) presenting new vocabulary in semantic sets facilitates learning. After developing a basic understanding of how vocabulary should be tested, taught and learned, we will then move on to consider several corpus-derived word lists for second language learners that I have developed. We will then review a range of classroom vocabulary teaching and testing techniques based on current research. Finally, we will look at and get hands on practice in using a variety of online tools for testing, teaching and conducting research on second language vocabulary acquisition.
Dr. Mitsue Allen-Tamai (Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan)
Teaching English to Young Learners
In order to keep up with the pace of globalization, people in non-English-speaking countries are eager to acquire high levels of communicative English proficiency. In response to this current social demand, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) publicized its urgent English education reform from elementary to high school. The introduction of English education into elementary schools will officially start from April, this year after two years of transitional period. MEXT has specified the course’s aims and contents in the latest Course of Study issued in 2017, and MEXT-approved textbooks for upper elementary school children are now accessible.
This seminar will provide an introduction to the theory and practice of Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL), from the ages of three to twelve, after viewing its implementation in public education in the world and Japan. The objectives of the course are to discuss the significance of TEYL and develop: (a) an understanding of the psychology of young learners and their language acquisition and (b) a working knowledge of methodologies, classroom practices, and assessment.
Dr. Nöel Houck (California State Polytechnic University, U.S.A.)
Teaching Spoken Interaction
(Cancelled due to COVID-19 global impact)
Pragmatic and discourse competence in the target language are often elusive, especially when learners in an EFL situation do not have the opportunity to interact with L1 speakers of English. However, while most English teachers labor to build students’ grammatical competence, pragmatic and discourse competence tend to receive little attention. In this presentation, we will look at how L1 speakers perform spoken pragmatic and discourse actions in natural linguistic contexts. Since in real life, interaction involves initiating and responding actions, learners need to know how to negotiate their way through the sequences initiated by, for example, invitations or requests. A look at not only how sequences are initiated, but how they unfold in natural spoken interaction can provide considerable insight into what aspects of interaction teachers may need to teach and what they need to know in order to teach them. In this course, we will look at interaction in discourse contexts. We will then focus on implications for teaching how to perform ‘appropriate’ or ‘acceptable’ (or even ‘recognizable’) sequences.
Dr. Sara Cushing (Georgia State University, U. S. A.)
Assessment in the EFL Classroom
(Cancelled due to COVID-19 global impact)
Assessment in the language classroom is a complex issue that many teachers find challenging. We can distinguish between assessment of learning, or summative assessment, and assessment for learning, or formative assessment. Both formative and summative assessment can support student learning and help teachers and students understand where students are in their language learning, where they need to be, and how best to reach their learning goals.
In this seminar, participants will learn to develop formative and summative assessments for language classrooms. The opening lecture will focus on important aspects of useful assessment, including reliability, validity, practicality, and washback, and how research on large-scale assessment can be translated into classroom practices. The remaining sessions will focus on hands-on activities designed to help participants select, adapt, and create classroom tests for summative assessment and activities for formative assessment, including peer and self-assessment, using rubrics to evaluate speech and writing, providing effective feedback to students, and using assessment results to improve instruction.
Required Textbook:
Cheng, L., & Fox, J. (2017). Assessment in the language classroom: Teachers supporting student learning. London, UK: Palgrave.
Dr. Eli Hinkel (Seattle Pacific University, U. S. A.)
Effective Techniques for Teaching and Learning L2 Writing
L2 writing instruction has the goal of developing learners’ skills directly relevant to producing written text. These skills necessarily include grammar and vocabulary. For learners, becoming fluent and proficient in using vocabulary and grammar takes a great deal of time and work simply because the English grammar system is complex, and the number of words to be learned, retained, and practiced is enormous. There are, however, effective strategies that learners and teachers can use to make the learning process more efficient.
Language analyses demonstrate unambiguously that recurrent multiword units and prefabricated expressions are extremely common in both speech and writing. Efficient learning strategies take advantage of this characteristic of English.
Teaching grammar for writing cannot take place in isolation from the lexical properties of text and recurrent multiword phrases (Hinkel, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020).
- In language uses of any kind, many words are combined in various patterns to create new meanings that cannot be predicted from the meaning of their component parts.
- Lexical phrases can be rigid and inflexible in their forms, or flexible with variable components.
Examples of recurrent phrases are myriad: a recent/new development, a wide/broad range, based on/on the basis of, give an example, give credit, give rise to, in general, in sum, make a decision, make a point, on the one hand, on the other hand, take into account.
This seminar offers highly practical suggestions for teaching vocabulary, grammar, and phrasal constructions that occur frequently in written texts. These suggestions target specific areas of L2 writing and maximize language gains by employing a few shortcuts. By focusing on teaching vocabulary and phrases, as well as adding to the students’ range of frequent grammar constructions, teachers can help students L2 writers develop their productive skills.
Dr. Scott Crossley (Georgia State University, U. S. A.)
Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics is concerned with how language is acquired, used, stored, and processed cognitively. This course will offer an introduction to the field of psycholinguistics with a specific focus on language learner data. The opening lecture will provide an overview of psycholinguistics theory and methods. The remainder of the course will cover research areas including word recognition, the reading process, semantic networks, and word meaning. Major theories, research questions, and related empirical findings in each area will be discussed. Most importantly, students will become familiar with the tools and methods used in psycholinguist research through the participation in and replication of classic and modern psycholinguistic experiments including the analysis of psycholinguistic data.
By the end of the course, students are expected to achieve the following objectives:
- Understand the major theories/models of language processing, production, and acquisition.
- Have working knowledge of psycholinguistic experimental paradigms, related technology, and data analysis.
- Understand the relationships between applied linguistics, language acquisition, and psycholinguistics.
- Produce, develop, and disseminate psycholinguistic knowledge.
Prerequisite Skills and Knowledge Needed for Seminar Participation
Having basic computer literacy will help in developing on-line experiments using experimental software. Basic knowledge of statistical terms, theories, and techniques will assist students in examining psycholinguistic data.
Computer Software Needed for Participation for the Entire Weekend
Attendees who attend the entire seminar are required to bring a personal computer that is running an updated version of Windows or Mac OS operating system. These attendees will need to have two applications already installed on their computers. Both of these applications are free to download and use. The first, OpenSesame, will be used to develop psycholinguistic experiments and collect data. The second, JASP, will be used for statistical analysis of the data. Students familiar with R are welcome to use it instead of JASP for statistical analyses.
Required Readings:
A collection of articles and book chapters will be provided as required readings.
Other requirement:
The laptop is required for those people staying after the public session. Please make sure to bring your own laptop to this seminar if you are staying for the entire weekend.
Dr. Anna Siyanova (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
On the Role of Multi-Word Expressions in Language Learning and Use
The last decade has seen an unprecedented interest in the acquisition, processing and use of multi-word expressions (MWEs). The last few years, in particular, have been instrumental in our gaining better understanding of the role played by elements above word level in first (L1) and second language (L2) learning and use. MWEs are frequent and/or highly familiar phrases that exhibit a degree of fixedness and are recognized as conventional by mature language users. Examples of MWEs include, among others, collocations (strong tea), binomials (bride and groom), phrasal and prepositional verbs (tell off), idioms and proverbs (better late than never), grammatical constructions (this is X), and other phrasal configurations. MWEs constitute a large proportion of authentic spoken and written discourse, which renders them an essential component of proficient language use.
This series of seminars will follow a recently published volume on the various aspects of MWEs. In particular, we will focus on MWEs in the usage-based tradition, corpus linguistics and learner corpus research, L2 pedagogy and academic discourse, and language processing. We will look at some of the L1 and L2 differences, as well as a central place of phrase frequency effects in MWE enquiry. The pertinent evidence will be discussed and analyzed in view of methodological rigor and replicability. The interdisciplinary seminars will be of interest to research students working in the area of vocabulary and second language acquisition, corpus and cognitive linguistics, and psycholinguistics.
Required Textbook:
- Siyanova-Chanturia, A., & Pellicer-Sánchez, A. (Eds.). (2019). Understanding formulaic language: A second language acquisition perspective. New York, NY: Routledge. (Buy on Amazon.co.jp / Buy on Amazon.com )
The book is required for doing the course assignments.