Shadowing for Improving Listening and Reading Skills (Fukushima & Lavin, 2013): A brief review

On June 13th, Mr. Taishi Kaneko (right) made his début as an emcee for guest speakers Mr. Hiroshi Fukushima (left) and Prof. Richard Lavin (center) at the PIGATE gathering in the KGU English Lounge. I hope we'll see and hear from them all again soon!

Mr. Kaneko introduced the guest speakers.

Along with a bit of historical and theoretical background, Mr. Fukushima and Prof. Lavin introduced two types of shadowing. The first focused learners' attention on the sounds of the target language, and the second focused on content–namely vocabulary, syntax (grammar) and meaning. 

PIGATE members had opportunities to try a little of both types. Then Mr. Fukushima reported on an on-going study to assess the effectiveness of shadowing relative to standardized test results. 

Prof. Takaki summed up the session.

Below are a couple of books on shadowing (Kadota, 2007, and Tamai, 2005) highlighted either in the presentation itself or in Prof. Takaki's summary. The other (Kadota, 2012), which I discovered today at Amazon, JP, appears to be a follow-up on the first.

• Kadota, Shuuhei. (2007). シャドーイングと音読の科学 [shadouingu to ondoku no kagaku: the science of shadowing and reading aloud]. Tokyo, JP: Cosmopia.
• Kadota, Shuuhei. (2012). シャドーイング・音読と英語習得の科学 [shadouingu, ondoku to eigo shutoku no kagaku: the science of shadowing, reading aloud and English acquisition]. Tokyo, JP: Cosmopia.
• Tamai, Ken. (2005). リスニング指導法としてのシャドーイングの効果に関する研究 [risuningu shidouhou toshite no shadouingu no kouka ni kan suru kenkyuu: a study of the effects of shadowing as a method for teaching listening]. Tokyo, JP: Kazama Shobou.

Though there seemed to be a general consensus among audience members about the potential of shadowing for dedicated individual language learners, a question remained about how teachers might adopt and adapt such practices for general classroom instructional purposes.

If you have other key readings to suggest, other questions about shadowing, or suggestions regarding shadowing and classroom teaching practices in particular, please feel free to spell them out in comments on this post.

Coming June 13th: Fukushima and Lavin on Shadowing!

Shadowing is a practice of repeating the words of a model just after they are spoken. It is used quite widely in English education in Japan, where it first became popular after simultaneous interpreters found it beneficial in their training. It is considered important for beginners, because it is helpful in learning pronunciation. It is also considered useful for more advanced learners, because the time pressure can help learners increase the speed of their reactions.

In this presentation, Mr. Fukushima and Prof. Lavin outline the history and theoretical background of shadowing, and then look at its uses in improving language skills. Mr. Fukushima reports on a study he is conducting, in which he is using shadowing to try to improve his TOEIC® scores. 

(Presentation abstract, revised, 06 June 2015)

Mr. Fukushima (right, below) has a Master's degree from the University of New South Wales (Australia), and is working on a Doctoral degree in the Graduate School of Letters at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto (PUK). Prof. Lavin (left, below) teaches in the Department of English Language and Literature at the PUK.

Their presentation will take place in the English Lounge at Kumamoto Gakuen University (bldg. 1, 1st fl.). For a map showing the location and info. about getting there, please see the Meeting Location page.

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PIGATE on the web!

In addition to this blog, we have a Facebook Group, which is located at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PIGATE/

It's a closed group, so please ask to join.

We are still getting our internet ducks in a row, and we would love for you to join us on facebook, and we would also love to have people post to this blog. If you are interested, please let us know!

May Pigate meeting

The monthly meeting of PIGATE, the Kumamoto teacher training group, co-sponsored by the NanKyu JALT chapter, was held on Saturday (9 May) at Kumamoto Gakuen University, Building 1, 1F English Lounge.

This month's meeting revolved around reading.

Mio Ebara discussed Canadian approaches to reading education that she saw in her one year stay there while she was studying TESOL and conducted a reading lesson using Cinderella.

Tomomi Nishioka discussed Ken Toyama's English Grammar textbook presenting a number of examples from the text.

Hisao Kobori introduced his use of Extensive reading at his previous JHS (Shichijo JHS) and his attempts at his new school (Koushi JHS).

The meeting closed with the traditional summary by Takaki sensei.

Next month will be Hiroshi Fukushima, a PhD candidate at Kumamoto Prefectural University and Rick Lavin, a professor at the university, talking about shadowing for listening. Hope to see you there!!

Places to order Extensive Reading books online

There will be a summary of today's PIGATE meeting, but this is probably worth a separate post. There are 2 online booksellers in Japan that you should be familiar with.

The first is Englishbooks.jp and the second is ETJ's book service. Both offer a 20% discount and englishbooks offers free shipping for orders under 8000 yen and ETJ offers free shipping for orders under 10,000 yen. For the latter, you need to be a member of ETJ, but it's free.

This is, of course, great for small purchases, but if your school is trying to buy a large order of books, this can be a big savings and I encourage you to contact them directly.

One of 41 Women in TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2014

Can you spot Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai in the line-up below? It's easy if you filter the TIME 100 display by age. She's one of only two under-twenties and the only under-twenty activist.

You can read what Gabrielle Giffords, a survivor of a different assassination attempt, wrote about Malala by clicking on the thumbnail photo of Malala in the TIME 100 display.

Interestingly enough, eight of the total eleven activists are women, and three of those eleven are from Asia. Do you recognise anyone else?

Image source: TIME 100: The Most Influential People in the World in 2014

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Learning English the STELLAR way - Channel NewsAsia

Here's a bit of news about English teaching and learning in Singapore from Faris Mokhtar:

• Learning English the STELLAR way - Channel NewsAsia
• POSTED: 20 Apr 2015 23:03
• UPDATED: 20 Apr 2015 23:52

I'd never heard of STELLAR before. How about you?

Are any of the activities the article mentions already in your teaching kit, or do they sound like they may be worth trying out (adopting and adapting)?

I'd love to read your thoughts about STELLAR practices in comments on this post!

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'via Blog this'

Malala Yousafzai Honored by Astronomers

Amy Mainser, a NASA scientist in charge of a deep-space telescope called NEOWISE that discovered an asteroid previously called 2010 ML48, asked the International Astronomical Union to rename the asteroid after the youngest-ever Nobel prize winner, Malala Yousafzai.

"Among the strong women of history who have already had NEOWISE-discovered asteroids named for them are civil rights activist Rosa Parks, conservationist Wangari Maathai, abolitionists Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, and singer Aretha Franklin" (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboaratory, Asteroid Named for Nobel Prize Winner Joins Historic Lineup, 15 April 2015).

Image from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Used with permission

Screenshot from the NASA JPL's Small-Body Database Browser:
Orbit Diagram for 316201 Malala

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April PIGATE meeting

by Joe Tomei.  Another great PIGATE meeting!

First was Nicole Gallagher speaking on her recently completed masters dissertation and her upcoming JALT PanSIG presentation on teacher beliefs and the new Course of Study.

Next up as Fumi Ogata from Kikuyo JHS, talking about using the speech of Malala Yousafzai, the recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and the youngest recipient of the prize. A link to the speech is here.

If you are interested in the topic, you can watch Malala's speech on EnglishCentral.com. It is free to join, and if you join, you can access 2 videos a month, but if you become a member, you can watch and record yourself repeating as many videos as you would like. I have some free one-month memberships, so put your name and email address in the comments, or write to me directly at tomeiter@gmail.com.

Another great meeting, looking forward to seeing all of you next month!

Joe Tomei

April PIGATE meeting: Nicole Gallagher

Hi PIGATE! My name is Nicole Gallagher and I have lived in Kumamoto since 2010 when I joined the JET Programme as an ALT. I spent three great years teaching English at Seiseiko High School, Kumamoto Commercial High School, and Kuroishibaru Special Needs School, and I am now in my second year working at the Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education as the ALT Prefectural Advisor where I provide work and personal support to the ALTs in Kumamoto. During my time as an ALT, I began and completed a Master’s in TEFL/TESL with the University of Birmingham. My dissertation topic focused on SHS teacher beliefs on conducting classes in English and using communicative language activities in class (the main revisions of the new Course of Study for English in 2013). I am interested in hearing what teachers think about teaching, and I believe that is the first step in understanding how to improve English education. As I continue my journey of teaching in Japan, I look forward to having some great conversations about teaching with all of you! 

Here's what I'll be talking about, I'd love to hear from you before the meeting, so please feel free to add comments below!

Teacher beliefs on conducting classes in English

TEFL trained educators often take it as a given that conducting English classes in English is necessary and appropriate, and indeed, the Senior High School Course of Study for English (MEXT, 2013) has established that English classes be conducted primarily in English. Yet how this mandate is adapted in the classroom is strongly influenced by the beliefs of teachers and their subsequent actions. In this presentation, I would like to have a discussion about your beliefs about conducting classes in English and explore how your beliefs may be shaping how the new Course of Study will be realized in the classroom.