The Online Student Forum was held on Saturday, July 4, 2020 on Zoom. Twenty-two student participants from seven universities met to share online activities and issues, and they enjoyed coming up with new ideas. There were also 22 teacher participants, who had their own discussion time and observed part of the students’ discussion. See the event page for some photos.
JASAL2020 National Conference – Call for Presentations
The call for presentations is now open for JASAL2020 National Conference, being held on Saturday, December 5, 2020 at Tokyo International University, Saitama and/or online (final decisions on format to be made after the summer break). See the call for presentations for more information, and check the conference page for updates.
Submit your proposal here.
JASAL Journal Volume 1, Issue 1 published
We are proud to announce that the inaugural issue of JASAL Journal has been published. It can be downloaded here.
The deadline for Volume 1, Issue 2 is August 31, 2020, with a publication date of November 2020. The second issue will be edited by Hisako Yamashita, Clair Taylor, and Joe Tomei. For more information, please see the journal and submissions pages.
Announcements from our Partner Organizations
Hello, everyone. There are a couple of announcements from our partner organizations, with some exciting events coming up!
First, from JALT:
PanSIG 2020 June 20-21
PanSIG will be entirely online this weekend, with a great lineup of presentations. Attendance is FREE!
Plenary speaker: Amanda Gillis-Furutaka: “Homo Docens: Lessons From Brain Science About Effective Teaching”
Keynote speaker: Gary Ross: “Technology: Bringing Us Together in a Chaotic World”
With many other presentations and SIG forums.
Keynote speaker: Gary Ross: “Technology: Bringing Us Together in a Chaotic World”
With many other presentations and SIG forums.
Online conference website: https://pansig2020.eventzil.la
PanSIG website: https://pansig.org
PanSIG is an annual conference organized by most of JALT’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs). The conference brings together leading scholars and practitioners in language education from Japan, Asia, and throughout the world.
Next, from ILAC 2020:
Online Teaser Event, June 30
There will be a teaser event on June 30, 2020, 10 pm Japan time.
“Facing the Challenges of Distant Learning”. See the fliers for more details.
The link to join is https://lasig.iatefl.org/events/webinar-challenges/
JASAL Online Student Forum
We will hold an online student forum on Saturday, July 4, 2020 13:00-15:00 on Zoom. There will not be any presentations, but SAC users and student staff members will informally share experiences, activities, and/or issues they face in these unexpected circumstances. Please encourage your students to join. Teachers/advisors/administrative staff members are welcome to observe. More info and a link to the sign-up form can be found below:
Vocabulary Team Challenge
To keep students in your SAC/ LLS involved and bring them together when they may be socially isolating to some degree, why not invite them to take part in this vocabulary tournament? Lexxica, West Tokyo JALT, and JASAL are co-sponsoring a FREE Vocabulary Team Challenge. Teams of 8 to 20 students from around the world can compete to win praise and prizes.
Details here:
https://docs.google.com/…/1qvhFakYzeZzwdnuzHlb2…/mobilebasic
JASAL2020 Announcement
We are pleased to announce that JASAL2020 will be held at Tokyo International University, in Kawagoe, Saitama, on Saturday, December 5, 2020. Look for the call for presentations in the spring.
JASAL Forum at JALT2020, Tsukuba, Nov. 20-23, 2020
We will submit a proposal for a poster and discussion session on: Fostering community in self-access environments
If you would like to take part (depending on our proposal being accepted) please submit a short proposal* using this google form by Feb 13, 2020, including a title and abstract (150 – 200 words).
*Please note that you cannot present the same research or self-access initiative at both the Forum at JALT and JASAL2020.
WCAJ2020 Symposium
Our partner organization, the Writing Centers Association of Japan, has extended the deadline for presentation proposals for their February 23rd Symposium (free of charge!) until January 17th, 2020. Take a look at the website!
Upcoming conferences
Thank you for participating in JASAL2019! We are working now on a conference page with photos and PDFs of presentations.
We would like to let you know about some upcoming conferences which our partner organizations are holding next year. The Writing Centers Association of Japan (WCAJ) will be holding their 12th Symposium on Sunday, February 23rd 2020, at Osaka University (Suita Campus) in Osaka, Japan. The call for proposals is open (Deadline: Friday, January 10th, 2020). WCAJ Symposium Poster 2020
The ILA-LASIG2020 will be held from June 29 to July 1st, 2020 at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The Independent Learning Association Conference (ILA 2020) will be held in collaboration with the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group (LASIG) with the theme “Developing Learner Autonomy in Language Learning”. The deadline to submit a proposal is December 20th, 2019.
The Japan Association for Self-Access Learning 