ELI at Kanda University of International Studies

The 36th Annual JALT (Japan Association of Language Teaching) Conference was held November 20-22nd at WINC Aichi in Nagoya, Japan. The ELI had a strong presence at the conference with 31 of 63 ELI lecturers delivering 20 presentations and poster sessions. Here is a video report of the ELI at JALT 2010.

This month’s issue of the Oxford University Press ELT Journal features Students Transcribing Tasks, an article by former and current ELI lecturers Christopher Stillwell, Brad Curraba, Kamsin Alexander, Andrew Kidd, Euna Kim, Paul Stone, and Christopher Wyle. In this video former ELI lecturer Christopher Stillwell talks about the origins of the experimental project, while Paul Stone and Dirk MacKenzie discuss how the project continues as an established classroom activity.

Teachers, students, and administrators who use audio recording devices such as (MP3 recorders or podcasts) for language learning activities should find this video and podcast useful.

Student Transcribing Tasks Abstract:

Student self-transcription can greatly enhance the power of tasks to promote language learning, for it allows students to re-examine their experience freed from the pressure of performing the task itself, so they can notice and reflect on the language used and encountered. This is a powerful step in language development because it allows for increased awareness and informed goal setting. Students can thus become researchers into their own language use, with their transcriptions offering teachers an efficient means of tracking their performances. This article shares findings gleaned from the implementation of a self-transcription activity that followed a poster presentation task, in which post-task reflection had the students assess their transcribed language according to simplified measures of fluency, accuracy, and complexity. In the closing, alternative means of adapting such work to suit a range of classroom conditions and purposes will be discussed.

ELI lecturers Erik Fritz and Rachael Ruegg, and former ELI lecturer Jenn Holland will have their article, “Rater Sensitivity to Qualities of Lexis in Writing” published in the distinguished journal, TESOL Quarterly. The following video explains the story behind the article, from the origins of the research, to writing, and finally to possible implications. Dennis Koyama, ELI lecturer and co-coordinator of the Kanda English Proficiency Test (KEPT), also shares his thoughts on the trio’s project.

In addition, here is the abstract of their article:

Distinguishing lexis from grammar is a particularly thorny issue. Because the distinction is so difficult to make, many scholars suggest that we should not try to distinguish the two but rather should accept the inextricable interwovenness which exists. However, many assessment criteria involve assessment of lexis and grammar. Assessing both lexis and grammar presupposes that the two can be evaluated independently of each other. Therefore, if such criteria are to be used, it is necessary to investigate just how raters are to distinguish lexis from grammar. On the other hand, if we are to accept that the two are inextricably interwoven then the assessment criteria must reflect this by assessing lexicogrammar as a single criterion.

Various researchers have discussed lexis in relation to speaking but there has been very little research relating directly to the distinction of lexis and grammar in writing. Research by Batty in 2006 found no correlation between examinees’ vocabulary knowledge as measured by the Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge (DVK) Test and their vocabulary scores in speaking section of the Kanda English Proficiency Test (KEPT). It was concluded that it is too difficult to assess vocabulary knowledge in a group discussion format. As a result of Batty’s research the vocabulary scale and grammar scale were collapsed into a single lexicogrammar scale for the speaking section of the KEPT.

The present collaborative study was conducted in relation to the writing section of the KEPT. This study was carried out to ascertain what raters are sensitive to when rating writing using the ‘lexis’ scale, one of four analytic rating scales. The lexis scale is intended to evaluate lexical usage in terms of both accuracy and range. It has been considered by some of the administrators of the KEPT that the addition of low frequency words may be sufficient to artificially inflate an examinee’s score on the lexis scale even when, overall, the lexis is insufficient in terms of accuracy and range. The lexical content of 140 essays was analysed. Particular attention was paid to accuracy and range of lexical usage, average frequency of the words used and overall lexical sophistication. In addition, the correlation between scores on the lexis scale and those on the grammar scale was considered. The collaborative research project will be explained in detail, results and implications of the study, as well as directions for much-needed future research will be discussed.