IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Language > ACL2020 > Programme (Live-Stream)

Programme (Live-Stream)

Speakers at The Asian Conference on Language (ACL2020) will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. This page provides details of featured presentations, the conference schedule and other programming. For more information about presenters, please visit the Speakers page.

Due to continued uncertainties surrounding the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, ACL2020 will be held Online.

Conference Outline

Monday, March 30, 2020Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Watch and participate via Zoom

Watch and participate via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/130873588
Meeting ID: 130873588
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

10:00-10:15: Welcome Address & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan

10:15-10:55: Featured Presentation (Online via Zoom)
Dislocation/Invitation
Donald E. Hall, University of Rochester, USA

10:55-11:20: Break

11:20-12:00: Keynote Presentation (Online via Zoom)
Making Communicative Teaching Viable through "Bottom-up"
Task-based Assessment
Marcos Benevides, J. F. Oberlin University, Japan

12:00-12:15: IAFOR Documentary Photography Award (Online via Zoom)

12:15-13:50: Lunch Break

13:50-14:30: Keynote Presentation (Online via Zoom)
The Ups and Downs of Language Learning
Christina Gkonou, University of Essex, UK

14:30-14:45: Break

14:45-15:25: Keynote Presentation | (Online via Zoom)
Language and Power in Interfaith Dialogue: Inclusion, Exclusion and Essentialism
Stephen E. Gregg, University of Wolverhampton, UK

15:25-15:40: Discussion/Questions

Watch and participate via Zoom

Watch and participate via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/564882083
Meeting ID: 564882083

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

09:00-10:40: Online Session I – Language Acquisition
Contrasting Pragmatic Elements of L2 Japanese and L2 English Learning: A Closer Look at Refusals and Indirect Opinions
Tarin Griswold, U.S. Air Force Academy, United States

Revealing a Japanese Emergent Bilingual Child’s Complex Experience in USA: Rewinding Time to Search a Way to Support His Success
Gumiko Monobe, Kent State University, United States

How the ‘Productive Failure’ Instructional Design Encapsulates the ‘Active Learning’ Essence of Eliciting L2 Output Using the ‘Information Gap’ Construct
Eric Buck, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

Comparative Review of the Foreign Language Learning History of a Japanese and a Flemish-Dutch Native Speaker
Masako Nishikawa, Nishogakusha University, Japan

10:40-11:00: Break

11:00-12:15: Online Session II – Second Language Learning

The Role and Impact Teaching Assistants Have With Second Language Learners and the Acculturation Process
Greta Gokey, University of Utah Asia Campus, South Korea
Brandy Bippes, University of Utah Asia Campus, South Korea

Teaching the Lost Art of Conversation
Jay Veenstra, Toyo University, Japan

Text-based Syllabus Design for L2 writing: A Genre-based Approach
Akiko Nagao, Ryukoku University, Japan

12:15-12:30: Break

12:30-13:20: Online Session III – Language & Culture

Some Features of Translation of Literature Texts From Russian Into Japanese
Marina Shchepetunina, Osaka University, Japan

Progressive Expressions in the Papiamentu Language
Patricio Varela Almiron, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan

The above schedule may be subject to change.

Virtual Presentations

Watch Virtual Presentations

Final Programme

The online version of the Conference Programme is now available to view below via the Issuu viewing platform. Alternatively, download a PDF version. The Conference Programme can also be viewed on the Issuu website (requires a web browser). An Issuu app is available for Android users.

Click to download as a PDF

The Conference Programme contains session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule.

Featured Presentations

  • Making Communicative Teaching Viable through “Bottom-up” Task-based Assessment
    Making Communicative Teaching Viable through “Bottom-up” Task-based Assessment
    Keynote Presentation: Marcos Benevides
  • The Ups and Downs of Language Learning
    The Ups and Downs of Language Learning
    Featured Presentation: Christina Gkonou
  • Language and Power in Interfaith Dialogue: Inclusion, Exclusion and Essentialism
    Language and Power in Interfaith Dialogue: Inclusion, Exclusion and Essentialism
    Keynote Presentation: Stephen Gregg
Making Communicative Teaching Viable through “Bottom-up” Task-based Assessment
Keynote Presentation: Marcos Benevides

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to second language teaching that emphasises language as primarily a tool for communication. The importance of CLT is now widely recognised and research validated. However, in many Asian contexts the perception of communicative proficiency remains that it is impractical to target and to assess in the classroom. Task-based language teaching (TBLT), a refinement of CLT principles that introduces the "task" as a unit of instruction, can solve this problem.

In TBLT, communicative tasks are defined as pedagogical constructs that have meaningful, real-world-like outcomes; for example: Write a thank you letter or Fill out a job application. Tasks can be described according to clear features and parameters, they can be sequenced in a syllabus according to relative complexity, and they can be assessed in a valid and reliable manner by focusing on outcomes. In these ways, tasks provide a systematic and practical way to implement communicative lessons, solving many of the major concerns regarding CLT.

Nevertheless, TBLT remains little-used in many instructional contexts due to a scarcity of easy-to-use teaching materials and assessment tools. In particular, there remains a lack of options for task-based assessments that are practical in the classroom. In order for TBLT to be more widely accepted and implemented, assessment tools are needed that are not only valid and reliable, but also easy to use by classroom teachers of varied experience.

This talk will introduce a new task-based assessment tool designed for the classroom. If successful, this has the potential to both inform and transform communicative language teaching in Asian contexts and beyond.

Read presenters' biography
The Ups and Downs of Language Learning
Featured Presentation: Christina Gkonou

Emotions play an important role in our daily life and interactions, and language learning is no exception. Our learners may sometimes feel energetic, motivated and confident, and at other times indifferent, embarrassed and nervous. Research into language learning psychology has grown exponentially in recent years, with motivation predominantly being the most prolific area in the field. Students who do not perform satisfactorily may indeed lack motivation, but they may also be faced with a number of concerns and anxieties, which they are not always keen or given the chance to verbalise. Educators and/or researchers should take these complexities into account if they are to better understand learners and address their academic and emotional needs in their practice. In this talk, I examine the constructs of emotion and anxiety – which is the most frequently studied emotion within second language acquisition – and how they impact on learners’ classroom experiences. I then discuss the role of emotion regulation in 21st-century classrooms and ways of helping our learners become autonomous, both emotionally and academically.

Read presenters' biography
Language and Power in Interfaith Dialogue: Inclusion, Exclusion and Essentialism
Keynote Presentation: Stephen Gregg

Interfaith dialogue is often portrayed as a way of bridging cultural gaps and allowing a “safe space” for mutual respect between different religious worldviews and communities. Whilst it is certainly true that this can occur, in this presentation I will be proposing that interfaith dialogue is, in its framework and performance, a complex projection of inclusion, exclusion and reinforcing of pre-existent relational religious identities. By focusing upon the historic case study of the first ever World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, and bringing in recent and contemporary examples of interfaith encounter (including religion and non-religion) from the UK, I will discuss the particular importance of language and power discourse in the projection of religious identities which seek to both embrace and highlight difference.

Read presenter biographies.