{"title":"Incorporating Reader’s Theater in Japanese University EFL Classrooms","authors":"Wilma Capati","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-2","url":null,"abstract":"Reader's Theater is an activity that is often utilized in classrooms for younger learners. However, this activity, which fosters a cooperative learning environment, can also be used to increase the fluency of Japanese university EFL learners. This article explains how the author uses Reader’s Theater (hereafter called RT) with adult learners and how it can be scaffolded in a Japanese university setting through the introduction of information on the Japanese voice acting industry. Moreover, the benefits of implementing RT in the EFL classroom, potential challenges when doing so, and different ways of addressing these challenges are also discussed. The article focuses on the use of cooperative learning strategies, such as the jigsaw technique, which can be used to enhance student voice acting skills, delivery, pronunciation, and teamwork. Utilizing strategies like these can help ensure that RT will be an engaging activity for students in an English-medium classroom.","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122441629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Genki: A Case Study of Benefits for Foreigners Producing Theatre in a Japanese Regional Dialect","authors":"Philip Head","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-4","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes the Genki Tosaben Musical (Genki), a unique community theatre project in Kochi prefecture in Japan. Since 1996, foreigners living in Kochi have been creating original musical theatre productions in Tosaben, the local Japanese dialect, and touring the prefecture to raise money for charity and promote cross-cultural exchange. In this study, qualitative survey responses from 35 former participants in Genki were analyzed. Based on these survey responses, this paper explores the motivations of the participants in this production, how the experience impacted language learning and community integration, as well as the positive and negative aspects of partaking in this event.","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"104 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127198274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Using Screenplays to Integrate Filmwork in the ESL Classroom","authors":"Michael Walker","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-5","url":null,"abstract":"Although the use of film in both ESL and EFL classrooms is widespread, the screenplay on which most films are based is almost non-existent as a language learning resource. However, its structured framework provides the opportunity to teach skills-based activities that are contextually clear, particularly when accompanied by the movie. The primary challenge in adopting screenplay work into a curriculum, especially for educators not familiar with the format, is in ensuring specific language-based learning objectives are being met, whilst also encouraging creative freedom amongst the students. To that end, this paper begins with an introduction of what a screenplay is before examining how utilizing a script can transform the traditionally passive activity of watching a movie, into a series of justifiable language tasks. The familiarity with the language used from these comprehension activities then becomes the foundation for an assessable filmmaking task where students write their own screenplay and subsequently shoot it. The final part of this paper provides instructions on how to implement the movie-making segment and marking criteria for grading.","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116174021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Videoconferencing Imitating Television in Foreign Language Instruction","authors":"Timothy A. Cook","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-3","url":null,"abstract":"This is a report on a videoconference conducted by a Japanese university seminar, the topic of which is language learning with online language exchange partners. The Japanese students are studying English and their partners are English speakers studying Japanese at American universities. While the technology used in the videoconference was limited to on-hand hardware and free software, it was staged as an interactive television show informed by the author’s past experience in distance learning programming. The reactions to the videoconference, from seminar and remote students, are discussed and suggestions for further exploration are offered.\u0000これは、日本の大学のゼミで行われた「オンラインによる言語交換パートナーとの言語学習」をテーマにしたビデオ会議のレポートである。日本の大学生は英語を学んでおり、言語交換相手はアメリカの大学で日本語を学ぶ大学生たちだ。ビデオ会議に使用された技術は、手持ちのハードウェアと無料のソフトというごく限られたものだったが、筆者が過去に経験した遠隔教育番組の経験を生かし、インタラクティブなテレビ番組のように演出がされている。日本のゼミ生や相手側の学生によるビデオ会議への反応を考察し、さらなる調査のための提案が薦められる。","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"172 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121881641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Page to Stage: An Empirical Study of Foreign Language Learning (FLL) and Motivation Through Playwriting, Readers Theatre, and Stage Production","authors":"Matthew Barbee","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie10.1-1","url":null,"abstract":"This article describes a set of lessons used in a university EFL course and presents empirical, classroom-based research. The set of lessons, Page to Stage, was designed to teach English through the use of drama, dramatic activities, and theatre production—more specifically: dramatic adaptation of Japanese folktales, playwriting, readers theatre, and the rehearsal, memorization, and performance of original, student-written plays. At the end of the lesson and course, students were surveyed on their beliefs regarding the lesson’s effects on their motivation, level of English, use of prosody, and confidence when speaking in public. The students’ enjoyment of certain aspects of the lesson as well as the lesson as a whole was also surveyed. Results showed that the students saw self-improvement along all points, while they feel that their motivation and use of prosody improved most. Regarding enjoyment, students most enjoyed (from most enjoyable to least enjoyable) watching other students perform, working together in groups, using Japanese folktales as reference for the playwriting, the readers theatre, the final performance, and playwriting. Students least enjoyed memorizing the scripts in preparation for the final performances. Based on the results, a case is made for the benefits of drama, readers theatre, and theatre production in the EFL classroom.","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129454847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Conducting Research on Performance-Assisted Learning","authors":"D. Kluge","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie7.1-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie7.1-1","url":null,"abstract":"Teachers who include performance activities in their course syllabus may find it difficult to convince administrators and other teachers of the value of its use, and one of the reasons is a lack of research data on the efficacy of performance use in teaching. This article proposes that practitioners of Performance-Assisted Learning (PAL) conduct micro-evaluations of the PAL activities that they do in class. The aggregation of such evaluations will form a macro-evaluation of PAL and may provide support for the use of PAL. The micro-evaluations would be based on the Ellis (1997) article on task evaluation which is described in detail in this article.","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134456494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"English Noh Theater Workshop: Lessons from a Japanese University EFL Classroom","authors":"K. Rockell","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie7.1-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie7.1-3","url":null,"abstract":"Recognizing the value of performing arts activities within EFL education, teachers have experimented with a wide variety of approaches in their teaching. This article draws broadly on one such project which took place at a prefectural university in Fukushima during late 2016 and early 2017. Here, English was embedded in a traditional Japanese dramatic form and students in a third-year elective course developed an English language Noh theatre set in cyberspace. While this work is discussed in detail elsewhere (Rockell, 2019), the current article focuses on some of the practical ways the project was carried out and uses these ways as a basis for a suggested English Noh Theatre workshop to be offered to language teachers in Japan in the near future.","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134341905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Top Ten Improv Games for EFL Classrooms","authors":"J. White","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie7.1-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie7.1-4","url":null,"abstract":"This paper focuses on improvisation (also known as improv), which is one of the dramatic techniques that teachers are using in EFL classrooms today. Many teachers have found that improvisation is valuable for a multitude of reasons, including increasing student motivation and lowering foreign language anxiety, creating a positive learning environment, and generally increasing the level of enjoyment for foreign language students. There are numerous possibilities for teachers who would like to use improv games as a main component, or as a supplement, to the standard curriculum in their foreign language classes. This paper discusses the history of improvisation, and then gives a detailed explanation of ten popular improv games that teachers can use in their classes. It should be noted that these games are discussed as used by the author and may not match exactly with the definitions or parameters of similar games found on improvisation websites or in books about improvisation.","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114295197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Living Newspaper in the English Discussion Classroom","authors":"Christopher Parham","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie7.1-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie7.1-2","url":null,"abstract":"Since 2003, the Japanese government has been urging universities to improve and reform the way they teach English to develop young people who can actively and immediately work in global contexts after graduation (MEXT, 2003). Some universities are using drama in the English language classroom to nurture students’ creativity, cooperation, and confidence. As has been shown, drama brings a multitude of psychological and communicative benefits – it helps students think about pronunciation, meaning, emotion, motivation, cooperation, confidence, and active participation, all of which can help to promote language acquisition and the spontaneous use of language (Miccoli, 2003; Ranzoni, 2003; Sato, 2001; Shapiro & Leopold, 2012; Zyoud, 2010). With a background in theatre and some useful drama resources at my disposal, I have been seeking\u0000ways to give my English classes a communicative and performative edge, and this article examines how I tried to incorporate a drama activity into my university discussion class.","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"107 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116941441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel 1.1","authors":"","doi":"10.37546/jaltsig.pie1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.pie1.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":424202,"journal":{"name":"JALT PIE SIG: Mask and Gavel","volume":"117 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122890305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}