Date Saturday May 20th, 2023

Starting at 2 pm

Title:

The CEFR – A tool for classroom management and teacher development

Online event

(Zoom -Akita JALT members with be sent a Zoom link for the presentation)

All others who would like to join can send an email to: akita@jalt.org and the zoom link will be given.

Presenters

Gabriela Schmidt (CEFR LP SIG coordinator, Nihon University)

Noriko Nagai (CEFR LP SIG membership chair, Ibaraki University)

Abstract

The CEFR has become widely known in Japan mostly since 2016 when MEXT announced to frame the common entry examination for universities. This had an impact on English language education in high schools. Besides the language politics the Can do-descriptors had become very famous. In 2020, the CEFR Companion Volume was published. The CEFR in itself is neutral and a flexible and reliable tool to be used for various purposes. In today’s talk two aspects of it will be elaborated: one is the CEFR as an effective tool for classroom management planning and as a guiding tool for teacher development.

Schedule

14:00-14:05 Welcome by Akita Chapter Opening 5 min

14:05-14:35 Part 1: The CEFR as a guiding tool – Teacher Development

Speaker: Noriko Nagai (CEFR LP SIG membership chair, Ibaraki University)

20 min talk, 10 min. Q & A

14:35-14:40 Short break

14:40-15:10 Part 2: The CEFR and Classroom management – Basics and Localizing

Speaker: Gabriela Schmidt (CEFR LP SIG coordinator, Nihon University)

20 min talk, 10 min. Q & A

15:10-15:15 Closing by Akita Chapter 5 min.

Each talk will be about 20 minutes as a teaser, followed by 15-20 minutes discussion time or/and break out rooms.

Part 1:

10 min break

Part 2: 20 min talk, 10-15 min. Q & A and discussion

80 minutes in total

Bio

Maria Gabriela Schmidt is a professor at Nihon University, Japan. She received her PhD in Comparative Linguistics from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Her research interests include applied linguistics, phonetics and phonology, history of language, intercultural communication and all facets of the CEFR, especially the reception of the CEFR in Japan.

Noriko Nagai, Professor Emerita and Senior Researcher of Ibaraki University, received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Michigan. Her research interests lie in cross-linguistic influence, explicit instruction of English grammar based on comparative analyses of English and Japanese, criterial lexical and grammatical features, and the implementation of the CEFR to English education in the Japanese higher education context.