The 2009 pan-sig conference is sponsored by the following JALT Special Interest Groups:
College and University Educators SIG
Our goal is to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of educational activities, ideas and research of broad interest to college and university educators in Japan. If you are involved in tertiary education and are committed to professional development, you are CUE too.
Extensive Reading SIG
The ER SIG made a successful debut at JALT2008. Both the ER Colloquium and AGM were well attended, the publishers kindly donated hundreds of books for the SIG to give away at the Colloquium, and we now have over 100 members. A hard copy of the second edition of our journal Extensive Reading in Japan was sent to members just before JALT2008. It can be downloaded from our website.
Gender Awareness in Language Education SIG
The purpose of the GALE SIG is to research gender and its implications for language learning, teaching, and training. We welcome submissions for our newsletter (spring, summer, and fall issues) on topics, both theoretical and practical, related to the SIG's aims. Book reviews, lesson plans, think pieces, poetry -- basically anything related to gender and language teaching is welcomed. To see our past newsletters, please visit our website.
GALE SigLifeLong Learning SIG
We offer a bright future to our aging society. The energy of older learners who wish to lead active lives is flowing all over Japan. LLL (LifeLong Learning) is willing to help these older learners enrich their lives through language learning. LLL also provides resources and information for teachers who teach English to older learners by holding events and publishing online newsletters.
Material Writers SIG
The MW SIG was established for the purpose of helping members to turn fresh teaching ideas into useful classroom materials. We try to be a mutual assistance network, offering information regarding copyright law, sharing practical advice on publishing practices, including self-publication, and suggesting ways to create better language learning materials for general consumption or for individual classroom use.
Other Language Educators SIG
Hello; dobr denj; kalimera; ni hao; guten tag; anyong hashimnikka; bonjour, buenos dias; bom dia; haisai; konnichiwa! In a time when we can easily understand where and how other people live, there is still only one surefire way to find out what they think individually or as a culture: to learn their language. As every culture contains specific patterns of thought and mindsets which cannot always be put into English or translated easily from one language to another, learning its language opens the door to that culture and the countries using it. The OLE SIG was founded in 1996 in order to serve the special needs of such learners and teachers. Languages are also thought to be instrumental in developing cultural empathy, opening up our minds to other concepts and ideas, and enabling us to reflect on our own. In this way, OLE can also be considered part of peace education. Although many teachers of German, French, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Russian etc. have their own teacher organizations, they need JALT with its powerful network across the nation and even outside of Japan in order to get more urgently needed representation on a nationwide overarching scale. On the other hand, JALT would simply be incomplete without representing the thousands of students learning and the hundreds of teachers teaching the above languages throughout Japan. So, please help us by letting your colleagues know that JALT is inclusive of all language teaching in Japan!
Pragmatics SIG
The Pragmatics SIG welcomes members who are interested in both research and practical teaching issues related to "how people do things with words." The group publishes a completely bilingual newsletter, Pragmatic Matters, three times a year. The SIG is very active, having co-sponsored the Pan SIG Conferences in May with other JALT SIGs and co-sponsoring the annual Temple University Applied Linguistics Colloquium held in February. The SIG has recently published the first volume of its Pragmatics Resources series and welcomes new book proposals from prospective authors and editors. If you do anything with language, you are using pragmatics! So, come join us!
Study Abroad SIG
The Study Abroad SIG is a new and upcoming group interested in all that is Study Abroad. We aim to provide a supportive place for discussion of areas of interest, and we hope that our members will collaborate to improve the somewhat sparse research into Study Abroad. We welcome submissions for our newsletter, Ryugaku, and we are still in need of officers. Contact Andrew Atkins or Todd Thorpe "studyabroadsig at gmail.com" for further information.
Testing and Evaluation SIG
The Testing and Evaluation SIG aims to provide avenues for research, information, and discussion related to foreign language testing and evaluation both from within JALT membership and with other professional organizations which have common interests and goals.
Testing and EvaluationSupported by the JALT Computer Assisted Language Learning SIG
The JALT CALL SIG is the group for those who are interested in the application of computer technology to language learning. C@lling Japan is our newsletter and JALTCALL is our annual conference. Come visit our website jaltcall.org for an overview of the SIG and its activities.
JALT CALL