Event

Understanding Language Course Design as a Problem-Solving Process (in Tokyo)

Saturday, October 20th, 2018, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Speaker: David Crabbe (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)

Course design at its most basic is specifying learning goals, together with effective learning opportunities to achieve those goals. But it is more exciting than that. Course design in practice and in context is not static. It requires systematic and on-going problem-solving that starts with understanding the people concerned and the resources available. The understanding entails elements such as the potential roles of learners and teachers, their motivation and beliefs, the opportunities available in and out of the classroom for communicative performance, ways of enhancing that performance, ways of describing it for better metacognitive understanding, and any obstacles in taking up the opportunities.

This course will provide a framework for course design as informed problem-solving, drawing on what are seen as universals of human language learning and focussing on how those universals might be activated in context. The framework will raise questions about, for example: the role of the learners in the problem-solving; how their autonomy and motivation as members of a learning community might be fostered; how the impact of examinations could be managed productively; and how a bridge might be built between the classroom and the private domain of learning. Attention will be paid throughout to continually evaluating the impact of actions taken.

Organization: Temple University Japan

Cost: free

Venue: TUJ Tokyo Center, Azabu Hall 2-8-12 Minami Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0047 (map)

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan

Contact Temple University Japan

Temple University Japan

Work phone: 03-5441-9800