Rudolf Reinelt (ed.)

From active learning to optimizing in new FL teaching and learning

アクティブ・ラーニングから最適化へ:新しい外国語教育及び学習

 

 

 

 

- The12thMatsu17 Presentations book -

 

containing the papers and presentations from

the 12th FL Teaching and Research Mini-Conference, September 23, 2017 in Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan

12回松17 プレゼンテーション・ブック

12回外国語教育研究についてのミニ学会 in Matsuyama

Sept.23, 2017. 2017923

Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan

松山市 愛媛大学

December 2017

 

Issued by:

Rudolf Reinelt Research Laboratory     ルードルフ・ライネルト研究室発行

For Citation:

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName (2017) Title-of-the-paper-you-are-citing. In:

Reinelt, R. (ed.) (2017) From active learning to optimizing in new FL teaching and learning. Rudolf Reinelt Research Laboratory EU Matsuyama, Japan, p. first page – last page.

 

              

 

主催:ルードルフ・ライネルト研究室、愛媛大学  教育・学生支援機構

Organization: Rudolf Reinelt, Ehime University Center for General Education

All rights remain with the authors

 

 

 

 

 


 

Imprimatur

Rudolf Reinelt (ed.)

From active learning to optimizing in new FL teaching and learning.

アクティブ・ラーニングから最適化へ:新しい外国語教育及び学習

The 12thMatsu17 Presentation book containing papers from

The 12th FL Teaching and Research Mini-conference, September 23, 2017 in Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan

12回松17 プレゼンテーション・ブック

12回外国語教育研究についてのミニ学会 in Matsuyama

 

 

 

Issued by:

Rudolf Reinelt Research Laboratory

Institute for Education and Student Support

Center for General Education

Ehime University

Bunkyo-cho 3

790-8577 Matsuyama, Japan

-81-(0)89-927-9359 (T/F)

reinelt.rudolf.my@ehime-u.ac.jp

www.ehime-u.ac.jp/

 

 


Sept. 23, 2017923

Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan

松山市 愛媛大学

December 2017


The12thMatsu17 Presentations book

 

Title page

Table of contents                                                                                      page

 

Organizer’s preface                                                                                  4

 

Long program/ program handbook                                                           6

 

Report to Matsuyama board of education                                                  16

 

1.     Rudolf Reinelt (Ehime University), “Approaching determination and nouns in an optimized FL teaching approach”                                                                                                                 17

 

2.     Toshiko Isei-Jaakkola (Chubu University), “Teaching phonetics is essential in English education”                                                                                                                                  43

 

3.     Yasushi Miyazaki (Kwansei Gakuin University), “Language policy and the media in educational context in Japan: aspiring the era of social inclusion and diversity

97

 

4.     Harry Carley (Matsuyama University), “NHK News Shower: Current Events in a ESL Format for Senior High School Students”                                                                                      122

 

5.     Rudolf Reinelt (Ehime University), “The Second time around: Is “Mein Deutsch II” necessary?”                                                                                                                                            132

 

6.     Sarieva Zamira (Termiz (Uzbekistan) University), “Strategies <Cooperative Learning> and <Brain-Based Learning> as the Basis of Formation of Universal Accomplishing Activities During Learning Foreign Language”      

                                                                                                           185

Scenes from 12thMatsu17                                                                        192                                                 

 

 


Organizer’s preface

At a time, when “Active learning” has become a buzz word, not only in Japan, it is already time to look beyond it. One new approach is what the organizer has called the optimized approach. In order to see what can inform it and how it can serve extant approaches, this year’s “Matsuyama Mini conference” had the theme:  From active learning to optimizing in new FL teaching and learning”. This year’s conference accepted 6 presentations, out of which 5 were held, one by Skype from Uzbekistan.

“Active learning” or rather “learner activation” as it was called then, was already an important trend in the early 1980s and it had become the standard for learner- involving foreign language courses. At the time this was dangerous in Japan, when the organizer and a few of his colleagues first introduced learner activities in their German classes and we were asked to refrain from this as it would undermine the teacher’s dignity. After this long pre-history, active learning finally appeared on the landscape of FL teaching with Bonwell & Eison (1991)’s book, only to be developed little further beyond that in the next 20 years. Finally, in Japan, the Ministry of education has caught on, and active learning crops up in all present-day conferences in Japan.

However, learner activation is not the same in all contexts. If you have students with a top-level high school background and a couple of hours target language lessons per week, the results may well be different than when less advanced overall learners may be involved and language courses still held frontally and in the grammar-translation style. On the other hand, all courses, even with their possible limitations, should try to reach for the best and, at any time, try to go whatever little is possible beyond the seemingly unsurmountable limit. In not a few cases this requires a complete redesigning of courses, while in some other cases a little upgrading and expansion may be enough.

In this sense, the following presentations were held:

Reinelt introduced a new way how to cover the German nominal inflection in only a few situations. Starting with determination, this approach covers all articles, nouns, pronouns and adjectives as well as a host of other related phenomena.

Jaakkola reminded us of the importance of pronunciation, especially in a language with a sound-spelling split such as English. In a time when not even IPA is taught anymore, her study demonstrates, teaching pronunciation even on the university level is helpful to students.

Carley used "News shower" in his English classes to invite discussion and increase the learners' world knowledge at a time when world knowledge, despite recent localization effects due to social media such as line, is still increasing in importance.

Reinelt, in his second presentation, explored whether students in his German for beginners classes' course final written exams were only presenting rote learned items by giving a second exam. The results hint at real learning as most students produced increased point results.

Sarieva, in a Skype presentation from Termiz University, Uzbekistan, introduced us to how Cooperative Learning and brain-based learning can be used in foreign language teaching and provided us with a few activities pertaining to these approaches.

We are also grateful to Prof Miyazaki for his presentation “Language policy and the media in educational context in Japan: aspiring the era of social inclusion and diversity”.

This volume presents the papers and presentations as they they were given or afterwards submitted by the presenters and hope the readers will use them to the fullest. Contacting the authors can be done through the volume editor, just send an e-mail with your request.

The next "Matsuyama mini conference, 13thmatsu18”, will take place on Sept. 22 & 23 at Ehime University in Matsuyama, Western Japan. The theme is: Learning FLs: Is the longer really the better?(see the reasoning below). The deadline for proposals is Monday, July 29th, 2018, 23:59. Please include The13thmatsu18 in the title and send your proposal to reinelt.rudolf.my@ehime-u.ac.jp

For the organization

Rudolf Reinelt

 

Reasoning for the 13th FL Teaching and Research Mini-Conference, September 22 & 23, 2018 at Ehime Universityin Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan

Theme: Learning FLs: Is the longer really the better?

The organizer would rather say:Don't study, but use and expand your foreign language

In Japan, English learning at school will soon start in the fourth year (and in the near future maybe even earlier years) of elementary school, go on in junior and senior high school for three years each, and will even continue for one or two years at many universities, resulting in a hefty 8 to 10 years of English instruction, with, to be honest, very little hope that these students will, at the end of their studies, be much better in the productive (speaking, writing) or even receptive (listening, reading) skills than present day English learners, unless tightly defined goals are not only defined and declared, a thing many institutions in Japan, especially the highest ones, are extremely good at, but put through effectively and controlled strictly by the relevant institutions, with severe punishment in case of failure, as learners are bereft of hundreds of their hours by studying in vain.

If foreign language courses are put through and optimized, their effective English learning may be completed in two or at most three years (for German three and a half at most in this writer's courses).  Japanese learners may then even be able to learn yet one or even two more foreign languages, and all this within the 8 to 10 years presently projected for English learning.   

Whether you agree or disagree with this, let your opinion be heard at the 13th Matsu 18.                                        Looking forward to seeing you there!

Rudolf Reinelt  Conference convenor


Program <プログラム>

 

Saturday 923() 

Morning 午前 10:00 – 12:00

 

Organizational meetings and set-up 関係者ミーティング 及び設営 

 

additional slots 予備

 

12:30 開会 歓迎の挨拶 Welcome address

 

12:40個人発表 Individual presentations

 

@   12:40-13:20  Rudolf Reinelt (Ehime University), “Approaching determination and nouns in an optimized FL teaching approach”

 

A   13:30-14:10  Toshiko Isei-Jaakkola (Chubu University), “Teaching phonetics is essential in English education”

 

B   14:20-15:00 Yasushi Miyazaki (Kwansei Gakuin University), “Language policy and the media in educational context in Japan: aspiring the era of social inclusion and diversity”

15:00 - 15:20  Break 休憩

C   15:20-16:00  Harry Carley (Matsuyama University), “NHK News Shower: Current Events in a ESL Format for Senior High School Students”

 

D   16:10-16:50  Symposium シンポジウム: 「外国語教育の新しい展望」

 

E   17:00-17:40  Rudolf Reinelt (Ehime University), “The Second time around”

 

F   17:50-18:30  Sarieva Zamira (Termiz (Uzbekistan) University, “Strategies <Cooperative Learning> and <Brain-Based Learning> as the Basis of Formation of Universal Accomplishing Activities During Learning Foreign Languages”

 

18:30-18:50 Discussion and Conclusion ディスカッションとまとめ

 

18:50 Closing address 閉会の挨拶

 

19:00 End of conference 全日程終了

Contact address 連絡先: <reinelt.rudolf.my@ehime-u.ac.jp> 0081- (0)89-927-9359


 

The Flyer

 

 

 

Volume of received accepted abstracts

 

Approaching determination and nouns in an optimized FL teaching approach

Rudolf Reinelt (Ehime University)

 

The German nominal (article, adjective, noun) flexion is often characterized as a difficult system, and it can easily take up several pages in a grammar book However, in an optimized teaching context such as the presenter's, only limited time can be spent on it. Therefore, this presentation will provide the audience with a different view, setting out from the communicative, situational use of language and introducing a limited number of categories, that is still able to cover all flexion parts for learning German while not taking up more than a few sentences. The system will be explained using examples from the presenter's classes, and be presented for falsification.


Teaching phonetics is essential in English education

Toshiko Isei-Jaakkola (Chubu University)

 

The presenter is responsible for teaching English pronunciation to freshmen and English phonetics to junior and senior students at the university.

Excellent pronunciation is important in aiding Japanese learners of English communicate with other language speakers. The presenter’s survey over several years supports this assertion. Survey results reveal that most freshmen are not taught phonetic knowledge including phonetic symbols before entering university. Nevertheless, they aspire to pronounce English fluently like native English speakers. Additionally, they believe acquiring flawless English pronunciation is profitable for their future.

They take English pronunciation and English phonetics courses with these expectations. Although the class is only once a week, most freshmen learn a considerable number of phonetic symbols and basic phonetic knowledge, thus improving their English pronunciation sufficiently in a semester. However, they forget most of this knowledge rather quickly. As for third and fourth graders, even if they want to expand their phonetic knowledge, they lack the time to practice pronunciation.

In fact, it is time-consuming to master pronunciation. Additionally, it is essential to acquire phonetic knowledge on phonetic phenomena to stabilize their excellent pronunciation.

Moreover, we observed that freshmen learn English pronunciation more quickly than third or fourth graders at university. This may imply that the earlier they begin learning it, the better their English pronunciation.

Thus, the presenter claims that English teachers should teach phonetics to their students from elementary school through high school before entering university. Hence, those who wish to be English teachers must take an English phonetics course and universities should provide this in the curriculum.


Language policy and the media in educational context in Japan: aspiring the era of social inclusion and diversity

Yasushi Miyazaki (Kwansei Gakuin University)

          

With academic discipline of English and of policy science, I have worked on research on a variety of minority issues, including ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. Outcomes of my research on two main topics in my career, the ethnic minorities’ media and the disability discourse, have suggested critical issues of ‘choice’ in language use both on macro and on micro levels.

Based on the above background, the presentation first will outline main findings and of my research in last decade. Second, this presentation will present the possible application of the research outcome for education, especially foreign language education in Japan.

Shortly speaking, the policy research and discourse analysis on minorities could be applied for multicultural understanding, aspiring social inclusion and diversity. For instance, language policy studies can let student feel the policy issues closer with reading and even writing real-world news outlets. Additionally, discourse studies can be applied for aiding critical attitude for applying news materials for students with reading frameworks.

           With the above presentation, I am keen to discuss the possibility of connecting policy and discourse research with systematic and active language education.

 


NHK News Shower: Current Events in a ESL Format for Senior High School Students

Harry Carley (Matsuyama University)

 

As current events are constantly changing in our Internet connected world it is becoming more and more difficult to keep abreast of world events. This is especially true for those individuals who are in a rigorous study mode such as senior high school students. Any free time that they may have is most often spent listening to music, chatting with friends, or in some other leisure activity of their choosing. The events of their world usually only involve going to and from school with large amounts of study and examination times.

           NHK News Shower offers English language instructors a tool to include the latest news events as broadcast by ABC (American Broadcasting Company). ABC has teamed up with NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai or Japan Broadcasting Corporation) to distribute short five-minute news clips of current events in the United States of America and abroad.  The broadcasts in the news shower are actual news items taken from the evening news. The shows are made almost daily with the EFL learner in mind. The news clips are very short but are replayed three times. The initial playing is entirely in English with English subtitles, the second time is in English with Japanese subtitles and the concluding viewing is in English with no subtitles. The news can be started or stopped at any time for instructor explanations or student discussion.  Additionally, with EFL learners in mind there are one or two key words or a phase that is emphasized in each broadcast.

           The ever-evolving inventory of news shows dates back two years with an opportunity to choose topics, key words, or a useful phrase from a broad selection. This gives instructors great freedom in what they can introduce to students. Since these are authentic news transmissions the level of English for pupils would be high intermediate to advanced. Pairs or small groups of students would be ideal for discussion or other tasks.  Japanese students have the chance to compare, contrast, and evaluate how the broadcasts relate or differ to events in their own country.

           The topic selection is quite broad and thus gives teachers the time to elaborate and expand student understanding. At the senior high school where this presenter instructs, the learning process is achieved through team-teaching with a Japanese teacher and a native English instructor. They have devised a plan to allow groups of the students to comprise and act out in skit form the words or phrases that were introduced in previous lessons. This method allows students freedom to formulate their understanding of the words or expressions in a fun and many times humorous many. Students are less stressed and the interaction between their fellow classmates allows for a more relaxed atmosphere.

           NHK News Shower is a free on-line tool that can be used in an assortment of ways to maximize understanding and comprehension of more complex words and phrases in the English language. The broadcasts are currently all free to watch. Access is available through YouTube, or all major browsers for convenient in class or at home viewing. Expanded language learning in a current events format allows for senior high school students to keep abreast of the world that they are about to graduate into.

 


The second time around

Rudolf Reinelt (Ehime University)

 

While the presenter's Ehime University, Matsuyama, German beginners' courses focus on speaking, learners also acquire reading and writing this language through a class file, which records the class contents, and written homework they have to submit almost weekly. In the term-final test called "Mein Deutsch" the learners have to write all they remember of what they have learnt so far in German.

However, as Japanese, amongst others, are famous for rote learning, i.e. remembering for a short time without learning (and accordingly forgetting soon after the test), there have been claims that these productions, which often contain hundreds of words and phrases, do not represent real learning, and that the results should be confirmed by a second (post)test a few days later.

This presentation shows how the two open tests (Mein Deutsch and Mein Deutsch II) were scored and explores whether a second test, as conducted in the last two years, leads to significant differences which prove whether rote remembering, which is not easily recallable a second time, took place or actual learning, i.e. acquisition had taken place.

 


Strategies <Cooperative Learning> and <Brain-Based Learning> as the Basis of Formation of Universal Accomplishing Actibities During Learning Foreign Language

Zamira Sarieva (Uzbekistan)

 

The article reveals the main didactic principles of the strategies "Cooperative learning" and "Brain-based learning", and examines methods that promote the development of communicative and cognitive learning activities for students learning foreign languages. The authors offer universal methods, which enable the activation of the speech and the intellectual activity of students in the process of joint work on the training task as members of the team¸ and in the class as a whole.

 

Keywords: strategy, competences, Cooperative Learning, Brain-based Learning, communication and cognitive skills.

 

In accordance with the concept of modernization of education, the competence to approach the construction of a modern lesson is the competence approach, which, according to the research of A.V. Khutorskogo, A.G. Kasprzhak, L.F. Ivanova, is "a set of general principles - departmental goals of education, selection of the content of education, organization of the educational process and evaluation of educational results. Among these principles are the following provisions:

 

• The meaning of education is to develop

Students have the ability to independently solve problems in various spheres and activities based on the use of social experience, the main element of which is the students' own experience.

 

• The meaning of the organization of the educational process is to create the conditions for the students to develop an independent learning experience in cognitive, communicative, organizational, moral and other problems that make up the content of education "[1: 3].

The implementation of these didactic principles presupposes the introduction of new educational models into the practice of teaching, among which the "Activity-based model of education" developed by V.Lednev [2] and M.Kagan [3] can be singled out. According to this model, the content of education is not a set of scientific and subject areas, but human activity. There are the following five types of human activity:

 

1. Practical-transformative

2. cognitive

3. communicative

4. value-orientation

5. Aesthetic.

 

Communicative and cognitive activities are leading in the lessons of the Russian language and literature and contribute to the formation of universal educational activities (UAL). In order to create a communicative and informative educational environment in the lessons of the humanitarian cycle, you can use the techniques of the strategy "Cooperative learning" (learning in cooperation) and "Brain-based learning".

 

The formation of communicative DMDs in the lessons of the humanitarian cycle: 

The methods of the Cooperative Learning Strategy (CL).

 

Cooperative learning is a successful learning strategy in which small groups, each consisting of students at different levels of knowledge, use different forms of learning to improve their understanding of the subject. Each member of the team is responsible not only for training, but also for helping comrades, thereby creating the atmosphere of success. Students work on the assignment, until all members of the group understand and complete it.

 


第3号様式

 

平成  年  月  日

 

松山市長  野 志 克 仁 様

 

                 所在地 松山市文京町3 愛媛大学     

                 団体名 愛媛大学 教育・学生支援機構   

ルードルフ・ライネルト研究室

                 代表者 ルードルフ・ライネルト    印 

 

平成 29 年 8 月 24 日付 29松(観国)第 256号で貴市の後援を受けた事業について,下記のとおり実施結果を報告します。

名   

12回外国語教育及び研究についてのミニ学会 in Matsuyama

期   

平成29923日(土)

場   

愛媛大学 愛大ミューズ3F 343会議室

 

 

概   

参加者:6名でした。概要:発表者は、「アクティブ・ラーニングから最適化へ:新しい外国語教育及び学習」というテーマのもと、Reineltは最適化した外国語教授法におけるドイツ語の名詞、形容詞、関係代名詞、指示代名詞の新教授法を紹介した。続いて、Isei-Jaakkola先生(中部大学)は、英語教育における発音及び発音記号を含有する音声学の教授が不可欠であることを論じ、カーリィ先生(松山大学)はNHKニュース・シャワーを使用した高等学校・高等教育における時事英語教授法の一部を紹介した。続いてのシンポジウムでは参加者が日本における「外国語教育の新しい展望」を論じ、探った。Reineltは第二外国語としてのドイツ語授業における期末・年末テストのプリーテスト、ポストテストの行い方及びその必要性を論じた。最後のSkypeによる発表ではサリイェヴァ先生(テルミズ大学、ウスべキスタン)が外国語としての英語・ロシア語教育における「共同学習」と「ブレイン・ベースド学習」の教授法によるアクティビティを紹介した。

詳細は、添付してあるThe 12th Teaching and Research Mini-Conference in Matsuyama Program をご参照ください。

追加:今回の発表の論文は、愛媛大学のホームページに掲載予定です:

http://web.iec.ehime-u.ac.jp/reinelt/katudouhoukoku.html

大会プログラムや当日資料等,実施事業の内容の分かる資料を添付してください。

Study scenes from 12thMatsu17