NEWS

Special lecture by Doctor Gray from England’s University College London

Special lectures by Doctor John Gray of England’s University College London (UCL) Institute of Education, an OKU exchange partner, were held from August 31 to September 4 at the Kashiwara Campus.
The lecture series focused on “Contemporary Issues in TESOL,” and each lecture featured differing viewpoints on issues such as the effectiveness of reciprocal exchange study seen from a social linguistic perspective, regional and social class differences in language use, perspectives on analysis of educational materials, and corpus- and bona fide usage-based linguistics education.
Approximately 20 people from OKU graduate and undergraduate schools listened with great interest to the lectures and joined in passionate discussions afterward. Doctor Gray expressed his belief that “Nowadays, foreign language education that emphasizes development of communication skills gets a great deal of attention, but when developing class work, it is important to keep a balance between foundational knowledge and comprehension of reading, writing and grammar on the one hand and practical application for development of communication skills on the other.”
Attendees remarked that the extremely innovative perspective helped them to think about many issues in Japan’s foreign language education and analyze the textbooks that they had previously used in a new way. One participant said, “I was nervous at first, but the explanation was very easy to understand, and I was able to actively participate in the discussion.”
Afterward, attendees received a certificate of completion from UCL Institute of Education.