ELT in Japan (ELT-J)

ELT in Japan , Issue #3 (Aug-Sep 2010)   Article 1: Schema theory: Is this set of concepts relevant to TEFL? Article 2: Truespel - the English-based phonetic notation  for both ESL and EFL Article 3: Writing systems across languages and cultures: Implications for language teaching and learning   Article 4: Japanese publishers of EFL books for self-study/ 自習のための言語・英語材料の出版社 Article 5: Key concepts in EFL literacy: Phonics vs. whole language Article 6: Three phonics, spelling and whole word activities for EFL learners Article 7: Should the JET Programme be axed?

ELT in Japan , Issue #3 (August 2010) Feature 4: Japanese publishers of EFL books for self-study/ 自習のための言語・英語材料の出版社 Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan Self-study is really a potential growth market for many publishers, including the ones who dominate university textbooks. So there is potential for overlap with the list of publishers of Japanese EFL university textbooks.　More companies will move into self-study materials to try and offset the declining cohorts of young people. Even if university and tertiary enrollment hasn't started to decline yet, it is somewhat stagnant. Perhaps the decline in enrollment has been delayed by the final expansion of the tertiary sector opening up more enrollment slots combined with the fact that more young people stay out of the full-time workforce and in education or training longer. I have listed here mostly publishers who didn't make it into the previous list of textbook publishers. English-language pages are rare at these websi

Note: this is a different version of the articles on the implications of writing systems for EFL literacy. This article includes specific discussion of classroom activities and content for materials writing. It also has enhanced graphics which are better than previous versions.   ELT in Japan, Issue #3 (August 2010) Feature 3: Writing systems across languages and cultures: Implications for language teaching and learning Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan Introduction TESOL practitioners anticipate some degree of interference from the native language of their students. The explanatory power of L1 interference and contrastive analysis has been de-emphasized in recent theory and research. Nor can we think that all linguistic, meta-linguistic and literacy transfer effects have a negative impact on L2 acquisition. However, if the students' first language is not closely related to English nor English widely used in the native culture (i.e., EFL situations or in some ESL

ELT in Japan , Issue #3 (August 2010) Feature 2: Truespel - the English-based phonetic notation for both ESL and EFL Tom Zurinskas, www.truespel.com Truespel phonetic notation was created in 1986 to answer the question: What would phonetics look like based on English?  After all, if English is the lingua franca of the world, shouldn't phonetics (for ESL and EFL learning) be based on it as well?  The result is truespel, a phonetic notation very close in appearance to traditional English.  Truespel is so close to traditional spelling that a tilde < ~ > is used to identify it.  Its the first phonetic system with a unique identifier. In 1986 I was a human factors specialist looking into standardizing man-machine interfaces. I found that pronunciation guides were not standardized nor human or computer-friendly, not even useful for basic copy/paste functions.  Even academic notations such as the International Phonetic Association (IPA) were unfriendly, using a mix of lang

ELT in Japan (Issue #3, August 2010) Feature 1: Schema theory: Is this set of concepts relevant to TEFL? Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan Introduction Schema theory (or actually theories) is an important area of discussion that could be added to ELT's growing catalogue of 'key concepts'. This is especially true because of the prevalence of 'top down' approaches to teaching communicative activities such as EFL 'listening' and 'reading'. It should be emphasized from the very beginning of this discussion that, however we define it, a 'schema' is NOT something that is real in the sense that neuroscientists can or will ever literally put their finger on it. It is basically an empirically 'unverifiable object', like a myriad of other 'things' that we talk about stipulatively in education, linguistics and ELT, e.g., IQ, linguistic competence, universal grammar, general learning ability, learning styles, multiple

ELT-J ISSUE ARCHIVE ELT in Japan Issue #2 (March 2010) as online readable/downloadable documents ELT in Japan Issue #2 (March 2010) ELT in Japan Issue #1 (December 2009) bonus article ELT in Japan Issue #1 (December 2009) as online readable/downloadable documents ELT in Japan Issue #1 (December 2009)