Macquarie University Graduate Student Showcase

Friday, 3:35 pm - 5:45 pm, Room 301

(1) Raising cultural awareness via learner ethnography

Andrew Reimann

Raising cultural awareness is an essential component of EFL teaching but is often problematic for the teacher: most materials are biased, stereotypical or irrelevant; and experience, training and background may be insufficient or inconsistent. The presenter will describe a simple methodology whereby cultural awareness and intercultural communicative competence are developed by approaching classroom diversity as a resource rather than as an obstacle. Utilizing these differences, learners create, organize, initiate and engage in local ethnographic research projects.

(2) Assessment for Learning in an EFL context

Eddy White

Assessment for Learning (AFL), a version of formative assessment, has the explicit purpose of using assessment as part of teaching to promote students' learning. Originating in mainstream education in the UK in the 1990s, AFL includes such key components as giving appropriate feedback, sharing criteria with students, and peer-and-self-assessment. This talk will present an overview of AFL and the presenter's efforts to incorporate it into classroom practice in an EFL context with Japanese university students.

(3) A new kind of graduate: Critical thinking in Japan

David Rear

The presenter will discuss the public discourse of the Japanese government on the subject of critical thinking within education, and examine the dilemma the conservative government faces regarding the erosion of traditional group-oriented values in Japan amongst the younger generation and the need for a new kind of critical-minded and independent employee to help Japan compete successfully in the globalised marketplace. This conflict echoes the tension within the concept of critical thinking itself.

(4) Loan-words and code-switching in J-pop

Julius Parker

The presenter will offer a number of different perspectives on the use of English and English-derived words in Japanese popular music, noting implications for the study of EFL, linguistics, sociolinguistics and World Englishes.

(5) Peace education in Nagasaki

Tim Allan

The presenter will outline part of a project examining the pedagogies of peace education among foreign-language learners in Nagasaki, where officially mandated programmes from elementary school through university have created unique learner histories. After a brief overview of the programmes in place, the presenter will describe one semester in a peace studies class at a local university, explaining the results of a 15-week ethnographic research task involving 117 students, and will preview future research.

(6) Operationalising the construct of learner autonomy

Fumiko Murase

The presenter will report on a preliminary stage of research aiming to develop an instrument to measure learner autonomy. An operational definition of learner autonomy, arrived at from an interdisciplinary review of the literature, will provide a theoretical framework for developing the instrument. The process of designing the instrument and some initial thoughts on what it may look like will be also presented.