On Tuesday, December 3, the TD SIG hosted a forum titled – Using Video in Language Teacher Education. The forum took place at Toyo University in Tokyo and was attended by approximately 15 people from a variety of different teaching contexts. The forum featured three speakers, Dr. Steve Mann from the University of Warwick, Robin Skipsey from the British Council, and Davey Young from Rikkyo University.

Dr. Mann opened the forum with a presentation that provided an overview of video uses for teacher development, and he gave some examples of different tools that could be used for implementing video projects. Following this, Robin Skipsey introduced the audience to a British Council project in which video was part of a cascade teacher training model. Robin talked about how trainee teachers used video to reflect on their own teaching practices, try new activities in their classrooms, and pass on useful approaches to others.

The final presentation saw Davey Young talk about how lesson observation videos are used to maintain quality assurance in a unified course at Rikkyo University. Through making recordings of lessons, both teachers and program managers were able to collaboratively assess how objectives were being met, for example.

As well as presentations, the forum also featured interviews. The TD SIG’s coordinator Matthew Turner asked questions to Robin about the content of his presentation, with Steve asking questions to Davey about his talk. Through the interviews, both the audience members and participants were able to interactively explore themes in more detail. The forum culminated in a discussion between the panel, led by questions from the audience.

On Friday, 19 July, professor Nick Ellis from the University of Michigan delivered a talk titled
– Understanding Language and Learning: Theoretical, Methodological, and Cultural
Developments in Applied Linguistics, at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. The event was hosted by
JALT’s Tokyo chapter, and we were happy to co-sponsor the event alongside the West Tokyo
and Yokohama chapters. Professor Ellis is an esteemed and notable scholar in the field of
cognitive linguistics, as well as other related areas, and opened his presentation by taking
the audience on a journey through his lengthy career. Professor Ellis then described
important changes, trends and insights regarding second language acquisition research, and
their implications for researchers and research. Focussing primarily on quantitative studies
into cognition and language learning throughout his talk, professor Ellis concluded by
discussing the expectations of scholars currently working in the field, by explaining about
the open access and open data movements in modern academia, and the increasingly
demanding rigours of conducting reliable, significant and empirically sound studies.
Professor Ellis also talked about some of the figures in our field who are best placed to
bridge the gap between researchers and teachers, and also offered some ideas on potential
areas that need further investigation and research. We would like to thank Nick for his
presentation, the hosts at Rikkyo university, as well as the three chapters who co-sponsored
this event.