According to Huang (2021), reflection on language learning is a process whereby language learners think deeply about their abilities, strategy use, and task performance, and in doing so, become more aware of their linguistic knowledge and self-regulation skills. This is important in helping them develop metacognitive awareness, setting a “foundation for learning and success” (Fleming 2014). The presenters will introduce an ongoing project that commenced in 2018 to systematically integrate reflection activities into a language curriculum at a private university in Japan. The project began as a collaboration between two academic departments, the Self Access Learning Center (SALC) and the English language Institute (ELI), to tackle two mutual concerns: 1) how to help teachers assist their students to achieve one of the ELI’s overarching course outcomes, "Reflection of Self", which has proven to be challenging for both instructors to teach and learners to grasp, and 2) how to reach a wider student audience than the SALC has previously been able to do in their courses on self-directed learning and meaningful reflection. Following full implementation, we asked teachers and learning advisors (LAs) from the SALC who assisted teachers with the classroom activities to reflect on how they used the materials and their feelings about them. We will present a summary of this feedback and show how the findings will be used to make further improvements to the materials to not only facilitate reflection but to make the materials more user-friendly for teachers and LAs.

Authors:
Tanya Louise Kelly, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
Phoebe Lyon, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
Ewen MacDonald, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
Amanda Yoshida, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
Andrej Krasnansky, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Phoebe Lyon is a Principal Lecturer for Curriculum and Assessment and lecturer in the ELI at Kanda University of International Studies, Japan. Her research interests include learner autonomy, learner identity and curriculum and materials development.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Phoebe-Lyon-2

Amanda Yoshida has taught English at the tertiary level in Japan since 2014. Her research interests include action research, cooperative learning, and reflective practices for both learners and teachers.
www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-yoshida-3b32195
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amanda-Yoshida

Andrej A. Krasnansky is a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan. His research interests are in engagement, writing, and multimodal input. He is currently investigating student/teacher perspectives on learning outcomes.

Ewen MacDonald is a lecturer in the English Language Institute at Kanda University of International Studies. His research interests include pragmatics, teacher cognition, learner autonomy, and student reflection on learning.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ewen-Macdonald

See this presentation on the full schedule – Schedule

Bookmark