ELT in Japan (ELT-J)

Presentation file (as pdf) Paper

MAR 14 A Quick Guide for Teachers Using Core English for Global Communication I am making a PDF available for download. It is an overview and quick guide about the textbook for teachers who are planning to use the book in their EFL courses. It may also be of interest for those who are considering the textbook for classroom use. It explains the language proficiency levels that the book has been designed for (in terms of TOEIC, CEFR, etc.). It then looks at the main task sets in each unit. Finally, it gives a message that teachers might use in their first class to help their students engage the book and English learning in class. In future blog posts here, we will be looking at sample units and then specifically at how to teach and manage each task set in the book. We will also look at alternative procedures for running the tasks in class. Please note, this file is not the teacher's manual. The teacher's manual is available from Asahi Press.  

Another way to integrate more vocabulary learning into TOEIC lessons Charles Jannuzi University of Fukui, Japan Introduction Today's third period class (after lunch, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.) was Comprehensive English Communication II . This course  emphasizes reading, vocabulary, and TOEIC reading and is complementary to Comprehensive English Communication I (which focuses on listening, vocabulary, and TOEIC listening). The TOEIC reading practice unit that we were doing was themed on 'Health', and this theme then selected vocabulary related to that theme (e.g., patient, symptoms, surgery, dentist, etc.). Each unit in the textbook starts off with a list of key vocabulary items and asks students to translate them into L1 (for most, that's Japanese or Chinese). However, rather than simply start out the unit with this vocabulary activity (which is typical of many of the TOEIC practice books marketed for EFL in Japan), I thought it would be beneficial to elicit voca...

Basics of Vocabulary Study in TOEIC Practice Class Charles Jannuzi, University of Fukui, Japan Introduction Teaching and studying vocabulary are a major part of EFL classes. However, are we helping students to acquire a broad, deep and nuanced lexicon? Many TOEIC practice textbooks on the market here in Japan include a vocabulary section. Usually this is presented as a pre-reading or pre-listening task. Often it is a list of key words taken from the reading or listening exercises of a given unit. And the units are often 'themed': food and drink, shopping, at the airport, recreation, etc. So the themes and the TOEIC practice texts 'select' the vocabulary. Also, textbook writers like to stick with the most frequent vocabulary of English because they know the TOEIC test writers do. The vocabulary pre-reading or pre-listening tasks most preferred here in Japan are (1) the bilingual word list (i.e., a list of English words requiring translation into Japanese) and (2) ...

The TOEFL is more famous than its younger 'cousin', the TOEIC, as the TOEFL is the exam most people overseas take in order to attend college in the USA. However, the TOEIC has increased in popularity all over Asia and Latin America. Many students would like to add a good TOEIC score to their re'sume' for job searches. When students ask about the TOEFL because they want to study abroad, I always ask them to clarify: 1. Where do they want to study abroad? If they choose the UK, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand, they had better make sure the TOEFL is what they need. (Also, have they even considered studying English in SE Asia, such as in Singapore or Malaysia? They could save a lot of money and travel time.) 2. I always advise students to take the TOEIC first, before they take the TOEFL. I can use a TOEIC score to predict a TOEFL score. But it is better to take the TOEIC first because it is cheaper and held more often. Also, if the student scores low, it means they ...

I'm not sure to what extent the makers of TOEIC go out of their way to put idioms on their test, but such idioms do occur often in everyday speech and perhaps reflect an anglophone sense of metaphor, which can be completely baffling to EFL learners. While I don't think the TOEIC or TOEFL or other such standardized EFL tests should be a requirement for everyone, they might help 'non-native' EFL teachers track and guide their own development. In Japan, many teachers refuse to model any oral English at all, often citing lack of self-confidence. I think we need to get beyond this. Indeed, getting beyond this impasse would be a big step forward. On the other hand, native speaker types might spend more time learning how to teach formally described aspects of language, such as grammar, idiomatic vocabulary, and pronunciation (applied phonology).They might also do well to familiarize themselves with the syllabuses and vocabulary lists their students have studied at the second...