Event

(TUJ Only) Seeking for the Interface between SLA Research and Language Teaching

Saturday, March 6th, 2021, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Speaker: Shinichi Izumi (Sophia University)

Please note that the TUJ DLS seminars have switched to online only, which are open to the public only on the first sessions: Feb. 13 (for the Carroll DLS) and Feb. 27 (for the Izumi DLS). Regarding the Feb. 20 and March 6 TUJ DLS seminars, only registered TUJ students or alumni can attend them.

In this seminar, the lecturer would like to discuss issues related to the interface between Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and language teaching (ELT). It is a welcoming thing that SLA has finally become a necessary part of the national teacher license curriculum in Japan, and universities nationwide have thus started to offer courses in SLA to prospective language teachers. However, what is needed is not simply to make SLA a mere "knowledge base" for language teaching, but to actively use such knowledge by critically examining our own learning and teaching in light of what SLA research has uncovered about the intricate processes of L2 development. This may be somewhat similar to the still controversial issues in SLA research concerning the interface between metalinguistic explicit knowledge and communicable implicit knowledge, that is, whether and how the two types of knowledge interact with each other to enable better learning. It is the lecturer's contention that, instead of an either/or answer, this all depends on how one tries to bridge the two in the course of one's learning (and teaching)--an issue that he wishes to discuss in some detail as part of his talk in the seminar. In a similar manner, it is incumbent on us to actively seek for ways to connect SLA research and language teaching if the lecturer and attendants wish to create the interface and derive any benefits from it. In this seminar, the lecturer would like to first start off by introducing what research in First Language Acquisition has revealed about the processes of L1 acquisition, discuss some major theoretical approaches to L1 acquisition, and later use these as a basis for examining and discussing issues raised in SLA research and language teaching. In the latter part of the seminar, the lecturer would like to introduce a Soft CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) lesson for high school in Japan as a way to apply SLA research findings/insights to practical classroom teaching. No prior knowledge of SLA is required to take this seminar. Anyone who wishes to seek for the interface between SLA and language teaching are welcome to join in.

Organization: Temple University Japan

Cost: TUJ Members: free
Non-members: Only open to TUJ students and alumni

Venue: Online via Zoom

Location: Online, Online Events, Online Event

Contact Temple University Japan

Temple University Japan

Work phone: 03-5441-9800