Active Learning, Pro-Active Teaching

1. Active Learning, Pro-Active Teaching Michael Rost JALT 2016

2. PART 1 Exploring the Concept What is…. …?

3. Active Learning: Key Constructs • Interact • Initiate • Connect • Show curiosity • Take the lead • ??? Rank: Most “culturally challenging”

4. Implementing “active learning” means 3 things: Do more ____________ Do less ____________ Emphasize __________ How can you implement “active learning” in your classroom?

5. Example from a university class • student presentations • out of class explorations • pair and small group tasks • strategy development • collaborative assessment • in book exercises and individual activities • lecturing by teacher • corrections by teacher • sitting in desks facing front of room • homework assignments • praise student presentations • reward progress • solicit student ideas for activities Your own “do more/do less/emphasize” list

6. Pro-Active Teaching = Installing an active learning • set a personal example with your own behavior • recognize students’ efforts and celebrate their • promote learners’ self-confidence • create a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere in the classroom • present tasks clearly • emphasize attention, intention and effort • make learning tasks stimulating and “fun • familiarize students with “21st Century Values” • promote group cohesiveness and group norms • advance learner autonomy Rank: Which come easily to you?

7. PART 2Looking at the Japanese context • What language education transformations have you witnessed in Japan? • What language education transformations would you like to see in Japan?

8. Some ideas from educators, politicians, and business leaders on transforming English education in Japan

9. Emphasis on “globally-communicative” education ”English education in Japan must produce more ‘globally-minded, globally-communicative and globally-competitive’workforce to help revive the world’s third-largest economy. ” ShinzoAbe, Prime Minister

10. Emphasis on creative thinking “Most university graduates I interview lack English language skills, but more importantly, they seem to lackcritical thinking and problem-solving abilities.…The presence or absence of these skills are core elements for me in deciding whether to offer them a position. ” Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Rakuten

11. Emphasis on “multicultural mind” “We have a major thinking gap in our country today. At a company like ours, a globally active one, people need English, no question about that. But what’s more important is the ability to be independent, self-determining, responsible, communicative, persuasive and multicultural in mind. A lot of the Japanese students I’ve interviewed were smart but many of them didn’t have what I was looking for. ” Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Uniqlo

12. Emphasis on “functional bilingualism” “ Japanese graduates just cannot live or do business in today’s world speaking Japanese only, and living just by the Japanese values and culture. Without English language skills and the ability to be more communicative, persuasive, expressive and sometimes assertive, the future of Japan in the global economy is not guaranteed. But how good is the government’s new educational initiative, if students here learn English without learning how to express themselves better and develop critical thinking and persuasive and empathetic communication skills in their own language? ” What do you think? Junko Ashida, Educator

13. PART 3Illustrating an approach to active learning The Contemporary Topics series (4th Edition)

14. Learning Path

15. 1: Activation • goals: • get engaged with the topic • express & solicit experiences with the topic • obstacles: • self-efficacy; feeling you don’t know about the topic enough to participate • communication apprehension; feeling uneasy with L2

16. 2: Processing • goals: • show curiosity/ learn something new • interact with classmates to build understanding • obstacles: • perfectionism, wanting to understand everything perfectly before speaking • competitiveness; initial shyness in group interactions

17. 3: Assessment • obstacles: • other-directedness; uncertainty about role of collaboration • lack of strategies for review, clarification, interaction • goals: • instill progress orientation • encourage collaboration in review and preparation

18. 4: Expression • goals: • increase self-expression, satisfaction, “ownership” • introduce self-efficacy, instill research mindset and techniques; show empathy • obstacles: • perfectionism; feeling the need to give a mistake-free presentation • other-directedness; uncertainty about how to behave in front of a group

19. SUMMMARY • Language education is in transition…globally, and in Japan. • Emphasis is shifting toward pragmatic “empowerment” through language, away from abstract “mastery” of language • Active Learning is a metaphor for this shift • Active Learning requires Pro-Active teaching: teaching with the intent to install “Active Learning Mindsets” in students • Teachers — in their own context — can affect this shift — as appropriate —in specific, practical ways • Content based teaching, using an Activation-Processing-Assessment-Expression approach is one approach to Active Learning What is your “take away”?

20. REFERENCES • Amano, Ikuo (2014). Globalization and Higher Education Reforms in Japan: The Obstacles to Greater International Competitiveness. Nippon.comhttp://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a02801/ • Ashida, Junko (2016). Japan’s ‘global education’: Learning English is not a magic wand. Asia Times. http://www.atimes.com/article/japans-global-education-learning-english-is-not-a-magic-wand// • Kameda, Masaaki (2013). English to get 2020 push but teachers not on same page. Japan Times.http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/31/national/english-to-get-2020-push-but-teachers-not-on-same-page/#.WCjnZXeZPOY • Kuwamura, Teresa (2014). Acceptance and Transformation of English Educational Theory in Japan: On Student-Centered Education. International Education Studies, 7-12, 47-52. • Matsuoka, Misato(2015). Transforming IR Education in Japan. E-International Relations Journal. http://www.e-ir.info/2015/07/07/transforming-ir-education-in-japan/ • Matsuoka, Rieko (2015). Willingness to Communicate: The Effect of Conference Participation on Students’ L2 Apprehension. In Sachiko Horiguchi, Yuki Imoto and Gregory S. Poole (Eds.) Foreign Language Education in Japan: Exploring Qualitative Approaches, pp. 133-146. Boston: Sense Publishers. • McVeigh, Brian (2002/2015). Japanese Higher Education As Myth. New York: Routledge. • Shimomura, Hakubun (2015). Japan to transform its education sector for a more globalized world. The Culture Of Japanese Education.http://www.theworldfolio.com/interviews/japan-to-transform-its-education-sector-for-more-globalized-world/3772/

21. THANK YOU! For complimentary copies of Contemporary Topics, please contact Pearson