JALT 2021

JALT 2021 will take place from 12th -15th November 2021. The theme of this conference is “Reflections and New perspectives”.

LiLT SIG will be well-represented this year, with its annual SIG forum “Looking Back, Thinking Forward,” invited feature speaker Greta Gorsuch from Texas Tech University providing two talks, and other presenters discussing the benefits of literature in language teaching.

All links and further descriptions can be found at https://jalt2021.edzil.la/

Below are the details of all LiLT-associated talks:

Literature in Language Teaching SIG Forum

Looking back, thinking forward: Literature in Language Teaching

 This forum includes presentations on the use of literature and creative writing in the classroom. The presenters will reflect on the benefits literature had for students and teachers during the 2020 academic year, and they will discuss new and innovative practices for reading and sharing stories across borders. Audience members will be invited to discuss these ideas and ask questions. Please join us for a lively exchange of ideas.

Attend forum here

Teaching Outside the Canon Inside Japan

Camilo Omaña Villanueva (Murray State University)

Summary: The literary canon is a crucial reference point for literature teachers deciding what to teach their students. As the recent Black Lives Matters protests have erupted worldwide, university students in Japan have been asking their professors with ties to foreign countries about their feelings on such issues. Here, it is proposed that university English teachers in Japan instruct students using material outside the canon, such as historical texts about the Civil Rights Movement and the Underground Railroad. Historical narratives dealing with race and the “other” reveal social inequalities that exist globally and can inform students of social commentary today.

Biography: Camilo Omaña Villanueva is a doctoral student at Murray State University. He is from Atlanta, Georgia, and has an MFA in creative writing. He researches literature, English pedagogy, and TESOL, with a focus on using literature in the K-12 and university second-language classroom. Villanueva’s recent work has centered on the obscure 19th-century poet Charles Crocker and Japanese writers Natsume Sōseki, Abe Kōbō and Nakagami Kenji. He lives in Japan with his family and teaches at Nagoya Women’s University and Nanzan University.

Translingual and Multilingual Writing Practices in University Students’ L2 Poetry

 Jared Michael Kubokawa (Aichi University)

Summary: This presentation will provide a new perspective on L1-L2 relations by focusing on the pedagogical implications of using translingual writing (TLW) and multilingual writing (MLW) linguistic, rhetorical, and compositional concepts and strategies in L2 writing (SLW) as seen through the lens of the presenter’s university L2 creative writing (SLCW) course. The presentation will utilize students’ L2 poetry as examples of MLW and TLW practices claiming that SLCW offers an efficacious genre for L1-L2 relations in SLW. This is an extension piece to my JALT 2021 presentation proposal and will expound on using L2 poetry as means of increasing learner agency.

Biography: Jared Michael Kubokawa is an assistant professor in the department of humanities at Aichi University and a member of the Toyohashi JALT chapter. His research interests include second language and multilingual writing, corpus linguistics, communities of practice, and multilingual creativity. More information can be found here: https://jaredkubokawa.wordpress.com.

From literature to literary publishing: Students publishing students’ creative writing

Andrew Decker (Kansai University)

Summary: Whether or not your students are already reading literature or writing creative writing, publishing can be an important next step or a good place to start. This talk will introduce how student publications written and published by students at partner universities abroad have been used not just as examples of contemporary literature and for creative writing, but as examples to create their own student publication. Through project-based learning, one small group of students reviewed, edited, and published not only their own work, but also the work of 15 students from the three other classes that received their call for submissions.

Biography: Andrew Decker is a specially appointed lecturer at Kansai University. He was a senior lecturer at Chatham University, a partner of Kansai, where he graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing. His research interests include project-based learning, student motivation and satisfaction, action research, teacher development, literature in language teaching, study abroad, and writing centers.

The Psychological Benefits of Creative Writing for L2 Students

Iain Maloney (Sugiyama Jogakuen University)

Summary: 2020 was a stressful time for teachers and students, and teaching creative writing online raised a number of challenges. One positive outcome of the year however was the emergence of creative writing as a useful means for airing the fears and frustrations the pandemic wrought on students’ lives. Unprompted, many students used poetry to directly express their emotional responses to the situation, and peer review sessions provided a forum in which they could discuss their feelings with their peers. Using students’ work to illustrate the argument, this presentation will look at the positive psychological benefits creative writing can bring to educational contexts.

Biography: Iain Maloney is an Associate Professor at Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Nagoya. He is the author of five books and a regular contributor to the Japan Times.

Pandemic reading in the language classroom: The Decameron Project

Tara McIlroy (Rikkyo University)

Summary: The ongoing global pandemic has increased the availability of new fiction for use in second language (L2) and literature classes. The New York Times Decameron Project (2020) is one such source of classroom material. In this talk I will describe some potential benefits for using pandemic reading including relevance, authenticity and interest. The talk will then focus on adaptation of one short story (‘Origin Story’ by Mattthew Baker) from the collection using content and language integrated learning (CLIL) methodology and principles of second language acquisition. The final part of the talk will describe pedagogical implications and suggestions for adapting materials for learners of different levels.

Biography: Tara McIlroy is an associate professor at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Japan in the Center for Foreign Language Education and Research. Her research interests are L2 language acquisition, uses of literature in the language classroom, teacher education and language curriculum design.

Strangely familiar: Reading Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan (怪談) with Japanese Students

Li-hsin Tu (University of Niigata Prefecture)

Summary: “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things,” written in English by Lafcadio Hearn (1904), is a collection of strange or somewhat chilling Japanese folktales about ghosts or unusual happenings in old Japan. Because of the stories’ setting and folklore nature, most Japanese students find these narratives familiar and relatable, presenting an opportunity for teachers to leverage the cultural connections for higher-level discussion. In this section, the presenter will share their experience guiding university-level students in experiencing and appreciating these narratives from an inquisitive angle and discuss the different strategies to use “Kwaidan” as a touchstone text, prompting meaningful L2 output.

Biography: Li-hsin Tu has been teaching at the University of Niigata Prefecture since spring, 2020. She has an MA in TESOL (K-12) from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is a former NYC public school ESL teacher. She has enjoyed teaching in Japan’s universities since 2013. Her research interests include L2 creative writing, narrative development, and L2 reading/writing methodology.

Forum Chair

Mary Hillis (Ritsumeikan University)

Biography:

Mary Hillis is the Forum Chair of the LiLT SIG. She teaches English at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto and volunteers as an Educational Arm Assistant at Asymptote. She was awarded the Michele Steele Best of JALT Award for her 2019 LiLT SIG Forum presentation “Read, Research, and Write: Ethnographic Poetry in the Classroom”.

LiLT featured Speaker

Greta Gorsuch (Texas Tech University)

Interest Pursuit: Choosing and Using Narrative Texts
(Pres ID #673)
Featured Speaker Workshop; Language Classroom Content & Pedagogy — General
is scheduled for:
Day: Sunday, November 14th
Time: 10:45 AM – 11:45 AM  (60 minutes)

Summary: Learners reading narrative texts has a long tradition in second language classrooms. We have students read, answer some questions, and then talk to them about prioritized language points. Missing from this equation is agency and choice for teachers and learners, particularly when it becomes clear narrative texts have deep and unpredictable riches to offer for concepts and language. This workshop takes up questions of, and alternatives for, text selection and use by teachers and learners.

Luke Draper (Kwansei Gakuin University)

Literature and Global Citizenship in the Language Classroom

Sun, Nov 14, 13:25-13:50 (25 mins – short practical Workshop)

Click here to attend

Summary: This presentation discusses the role and practical use of literature in the language classroom within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for curriculum developers. First, relevant literary texts will be introduced in relation to specific goals and analysed with reference to learner level suitability. Next, authentic classroom activities and assessments that may increase affective learner engagement, as well as their awareness of global issues, will be explored.