CALL Newsletter - September 2015 (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
LEADERSHIP UPDATES
•  TOUCHSTONES AND TURNING POINTS: THE CALL-IS IN TESOL'S GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
•  HOW THE TESOL CALL INTEREST SECTION BEGAN (UPDATED)
•  LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
ARTICLES
•  LANGUAGE AND INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH A TELE-COLLABORATIVE PROJECT BETWEEN AMERICAN AND SPANISH UNIVERSITIES: FROM STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVES
•  TOP 10 USES OF A PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP FOR YOUR STUDENTS
•  WHY NOT TEACH PREZI FOR LISTENING AND SPEAKING?
•  PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE ONLINE TEACHING
•  THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING CALL 2015 CONFERENCE REPORT
EXTRA CATEGORIES
•  MAKING CONNECTIONS
ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY
•  CALL FOR ARTICLES
•  ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY

THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING CALL 2015 CONFERENCE REPORT

Edo Forsythe, Hirosaki Gakuin University, Hirosaki, Japan

When and where did the conference take place?

The Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) CALL Special Interest Group's annual conference—JALTCALL 2015—took place 5–7 June 2015 at Kyushu Sangyo University, in Fukuoka, Japan. This was the 22nd annual JALTCALL conference where teachers, researchers, and commercial vendors shared research and practical applications in the field of CALL.

Who/what organizations/people were involved?

More than 100 presentations and workshops were offered by an international array of language teaching professionals. The types of sessions available to the more than 200 attendees included show and tell, poster presentations, workshops, and paper presentations, as well as commercial demonstrations of cutting-edge programs and materials in the field of EFL education.

The conference was highlighted by a keynote address by Dr. Ema Ushioda, of the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, titled "Engaging With Technologies for Language Learning: Perspectives on Autonomy and Motivation." The plenary address by Rab Patterson of the International Christian University, Japan, titled "Creativity, Innovation, and 21st Century Literacies as a Path to Student Academic Autonomy" energized attendees' efforts in employing state-of-the-art technology in language learning. Details about the presentations and videos of the keynote and plenary speeches are available on the conference website.

What were the highlights of the conference?

The conference weekend opened on Friday evening with two technology workshops about the use of wiki pages for online intercultural collaborations by the author of this report, and on the use of digital badges in the gamification of Moodle by Gordon Bateson. The highlights of the conference presentations included 36 paper presentations about using CALL methodologies. Examples of the papers presented included

• Developing Learner Autonomy in Online English Language Courses,by Maureen Andrade and Ellen Bunker,

• Cycles of Reflection: Using Technology in CALL Teacher Education,by Marcia Johnson

• Scribblenauts: The Principled Adaptation of a Video Game for Classroom Use,by Stephen Case.

Additionally, the conference offered 32 show and tell sessions, including

• Designing speaking activities using Google's Web Speech API, by Paul Daniels,
• Developing a Digital English Phonetics Course, by Malcolm Swanson, and
• Using Lingt Language for Oral Reports or Speaking Assignments, by Cathrine-Mette Mork.
  
  

The six workshops included

• Integrating Scratch Coding Tasks in a Science and Engineering University ESL Classroom,by Suwako Uehara, and
• A Cross-Context Framework for Project-Based English Using Film,by David Laurence and Ashley Ford.
  
  

Finally, the 17 poster sessions included

• Examining Student Attitudes to the Use of Plagiarism-Detection Software: A Pilot Study at a Japanese University,by Nick Canning, and
• A Paperless Final Exam With iPads, by Alexander Cameron and Nicholas Bovee.

One of the biggest events of the year is the JALTCALL Conference Networking Reception. This year's amazing reception was held under the palm trees on the beach at Luigans. The attendees enjoyed seeing old friends, sharing thoughts and experiences in CALL, and meeting new colleagues. It is always a memorable event, and this year's reception attendees shared robust interactions with one another with drinks in hand while savoring the fresh ocean breeze.

What about future JALTCALL conferences?

The location of JALTCALL 2016 is still being decided, but this annual conference is normally held in early or mid-June. Details will be posted on the JALTCALL Special Interest Group's website. We hope that more TESOL and CALL-IS members can join us at JALTCALL 2016 to share their experiences and best practices in the field of CALL. Questions about the JALTCALL Special Interest Group or JALTCALL conferences can be directed to me.

Edo Forsythe is an associate professor of English and foreign language education at Hirosaki Gakuin University, in Hirosaki, Japan. He is an EdD candidate at Northcentral University with a focus on EFL and technology in language learning. He has published several articles on the topic of technology in language learning.