Sessions

A CEFR-informed Action Research Model: Developing a research plan.

The JALT CEFR & LP SIG is currently supporting teacher-researchers through a collaborative Kaken research project entitled “Language Education reform using action research: Putting CEFR’s educational principles into practice”. During the Forum, project participants will share the research plans they designed using Stage 1 of a CEFR-focused Action Research Model (CARM) developed by the SIG. These plans were designed in part through collaboration facilitated during workshops held in the first year of the project. The SIG forum will be an opportunity to discuss Stage II, the implementation of the research plan which involves two aspects: the participants’ plan to (1) trial proposed solutions to their teaching-learning dilemma (i.e. the focus of their research plan), and (2) collect data to critically examine the effectiveness of this solution. Forum participants are encouraged to contribute to this ongoing collaborative process to help move these research projects forward, as well as reflect on their current practice and consider how the CEFR and CARM might be utilized in their own contexts. The forum will conclude with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the CARM model and the goals for the second year of the KAKEN project.

Friday Night PanSIG Kick Off Social

All you can eat and drink social.

Opening

Welcome to PanSIG2021!

Local and Global Perspectives: Plurilingualism and Multilingualism - Trends and Needs / Closing Ceremony

The panel discussion at PanSIG 2021 aims to address the conference theme in relation to foreign language education in Japan. We invited four experts who are teaching and researching in Japan to contribute and discuss this issue from their perspective of research, practice and experience. PanSIG 2021 Panel discussion invited guest speakers are: Fumiko Kurihara (Chuo University), Tomokazu Ishikawa (Tamagawa University), Paula Martinez-Sires (Nihon University), Alexandra Shaitan (JALT Bilingual SIG). Interlocutor/moderator: Mehrasa Alizadeh (Osaka University). In Japan the insular attitude to one culture one language is often stressed yet Japan has quite a diversity throughout its regions. Japan is an international oriented country, globally connected, with the Japanese passport most valuable to travelling to 193 countries (Japan Times April 16th, 2021). There had been efforts by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology Japan (MEXT) to internationalize, globalize its educational system, yet there are still pitfalls regarding the level of foreign language proficiency mostly related to English (MEXT uses foreign languages but this is understood often as English (American English)). At the same time Japanese as a foreign language had been getting more attention, English only programs established to attract students from other countries, foreign scholars were invited teaching Japanese culture, history etc. The integration of a needed workforce from other countries (mostly from Asian countries, South-America) is acknowledged more and more as a demanding task, Japan becoming a tourist spot with more than 30 Million visitors in 2019. This is reflected in the research and topics of many studies and conferences. Namely, JACTFL (Japan Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 日本外国語教育推進機構) is putting the plurilingual (複言語) and multilingual (多言語) language education in the center of its agenda, backed by the Japan Association of Language Policy (JALP). PanSIG 2021 is a conference organized by JALT Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and this theme was chosen to shed light on JALT as the Japan Association for Language Teaching having many SIGs with topics related to the plurilingual individuum and the multilingual environment (society, classroom), teaching language and languages: Other Language Educators SIG, Bilingual SIG, Global Issues in Language Education SIG, CEFR & LP SIG, Intercultural Communication in Language Education SIG, Learner Development SIG, Teacher Helping Teachers SIG, Japanese as a Second Language SIG, Teaching Young Learners SIG, Study Abroad SIG and more.

JALT's Got Talent Showcase and Networking Social

*Doors open at 1900 if you want to come and practice your talent! All you can eat and drink social for all attendees. Please come and share your talent and hobbies with us. We hope to have a series of special presentations to break the ice and then open up breakout rooms to continue networking and socializing. This will also be a great way to welcome new members to our organization and show them that we too are human! So please come, laugh, and enjoy the evening with your PanSIG family.

Multilingual Cafe at PanSIG 2021

This is the Multilingual Café: meet and chat in your favorite language. The Multilingual Cafe provides a space to meet and share using languages other than English, creating a community of practice. The languages available depend on those attending on the day (for example French, German, Spanish, Thai, Hungarian, Chinese, Tagalog and many more). Interested? You are welcome to join! Lingua Franca are English and Japanese. Languages available depend on the participants.