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Globalization and History of English Education in Japan
This study investigates the history of English language education in Japan over the past 150 years. For this purpose, tabulated representations have been devised which illustrate the educational events in each historical era alongside key national and international events and trends.
An integrated approach to teaching academic writing
This paper outlines an academic writing course that was taught in Japan to 100 students who took the course as a precursor to a study abroad program at the University of British Columbia, Canada. The steps taken to ensure that the students would be properly prepared for their academic life in Canada and their study abroad experience as a whole are also delineated.
Genre-based Teaching and Vygotskian Principles in EFL: The Case of a University Writing Course
This paper documents an initiative in introducing a genre-based approach to EFL teaching in the Japanese university context, in a third-year writing program. Its aim is to illustrate how and why such an approach may be extended to EFL teaching. Principles based on the learning theories of Lev Vygotsky are first outlined, before the notion of a Curriculum Cycle deriving from them is introduced.
The Limited Effect of PBL on EFL Learners: A Case Study of English Magazine Projects
The limited effect of Project-based Learning (PBL) as a realization of Communicative English Teaching (CLT) on EFL learners was investigated in a case study of an English course that was designed to help EFL develop learners speaking and writing abilities. The projects were based on designing an English language magazine.
Models, Norms and Goals for English as an International Language Pedagogy and Task Based Language Teaching and Learning
It is now a widely accepted phenomenon that English has spread to become a world language or a global lingua franca. Based on the increasing diversity in users and uses of English in cross-cultural settings at the present time, the assumptions of current approaches in ELT are currently being re-examined in literature.
Researching the Influence of Target Language on Learner Task Performance
There has been talk in TBL of the dangers of giving students target language before or during the pre-task because students may use the subsequent task to practice target forms and not focus on communication (Ellis, 2003, p. 246).
A Task-based Approach to Teaching a Content-based Canadian Studies Course in an EFL Context
This paper offers a task-based methodological framework for introducing Canadian culture and content to intermediate level Japanese learners. There are very few commercially prepared materials dealing with Canadian culture currently on the market in Japan, and what is available is informational, generalized and staid in nature and often focuses on only one skill such as reading or listening.
Task Based Teaching: Learning English without Tears
Many areas of education are undergoing changes in the way teaching and learning is perceived. Teacher-centered lecturing and structural-syllabus instruction are giving way to a more student-centered, hands-on, practical, and flexible approaches (Shank and Cleary, 1994).
Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning: An Overview
The purpose of this article is to present an overview of second language (L2) task-based language teaching and learning. Prabhu (1987) deserves credit for originating the task-based teaching and learning, based on the concept that effective learning occurs when students are fully engaged in a language task, rather than just learning about language.
Designing Holistic Units for Task-Based Learning
This paper will outline the rationale behind the design of units of learning ‘activities’ in the form of interlocking sets of interactive holistic ‘tasks’ and supporting ‘exercises’. The illustrations used to support the argumentation are extracts from “task-based units” designed for a general education English foundation course at Kochi University in Japan…