The focus of this study was to investigate the use of AI speakers and the effectiveness of PeerEval software in improving English proficiency. The longitudinal investigation was carried out from April 2019 to January 2020 using Alexa, PeerEval, ATR CALL Brix, Facebook, Line, and online materials. The participants were 59 first-year students who were engaged in flipped learning lessons through CLIL for two semesters. Pre-test and post-test TOEIC scores, as well as post-training survey results, were used in evaluating the overall effectiveness of two groups. The participants were divided into two groups, one with using AI speakers (n=29) and the other with non-AI speakers (n=30). Non-AI participants were engaged in e-learning outside of the class. While the AI group is studying English with the AI speakers, participants recorded short movie clips of their learning experiences. AI group participants also kept written diaries with their observations about the contents and duration of their studies, periodically recording their thoughts using a smartphone. AI group indicated the improvement of TOEIC mean score from 407 (SD:113) to 604 (SD:92), and the non-AI group showed the increase from 447 (SD:93) to 598 (SD:147). Those who studied English with AI speakers outside of the classroom outperformed the group with non-users of AI speakers on a post-course TOEIC test. This research included some limitations in attempting to ascertain the effectiveness of using AI in teaching language and communication by exclusively focusing on the role of AI and students’ English skills.

Since the publication of Garr Reynold’s Presentation Zen (2008), many educators have become persuaded that text-heavy slides are neither attractive or effective supplements to their message, but instead, lead to the dreaded "death by PowerPoint". As a result, many of these educators have reduced the amount of text on their slides and have taught their students to do the same. However, many people are unaware of the theory and research that support this approach. Some even scoff at the need to invest much time in preparing slides. Moreover, others lack the confidence to prepare data visuals that are both effective and attractive. Research by Mayer (2001, 2009) demonstrates that reducing text on the screen in oral presentations is supported by the evidence for increasing learning, Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning and its principles provide the framework from which to produce visuals that are more pedagogically sound.

This workshop will provide a brief summary of the research and will demonstrate practical steps for producing improved data visuals to support the message of the speaker and will also give suggestions for teaching students. Participants will be able to ask questions and share their own experiences and suggestions.

Both of MEXT(2018) and METI(2018) have been emphasizing the importance of integrating technology into education, so called EdTech. In English classes at university, students are also expected to use EdTech to enhance their learning effectively in this digitalized and global society. In this presentation, I will talk about one four skill-integrated English course at a university with the policy of BYOD in which a learning management system(LMS) called Manaba is used for flipped learning of grammar, group work of making a presentation, and peer evaluation of writing. The use of EdTech is expected to promote students’ active, adaptive, cooperative, and self-regulated learning. However, it will be important to investigate how students as active agents in English classes with EdTech perceive effects of EdTech. Regarding the use of EdTech into English classes, I will discuss results of a questionnaire survey from students and interviews with students and make pedagogical implications about how to use technology effectively in English classes taking students’ perception into consideration. As a final remark, I will propose how English teachers can help students acquire English and use technology, both of which are important skills in the 21st century, in English classes.

This poster session will introduce videos found at youtube.com/InterestingThingsESL that students can use to practice intonation, rhythm and pronunciation. This site features various video series such as the 465 videos covering over 20,000 sentences using the wildcard name "Tom," a series of 48 videos covering over 2,900 sentences starting with "I don't," a series of 80 videos covering over 2,400 sentences beginning with "You're," and a series of videos focusing on /t/ & /b/ linking in sentences. There is also a series of videos with sentences using the language name wildcard "French," some videos for listening to and repeating irregular verbs, and several other series.

Many of these videos use sentences from the Tatoeba Corpus (tatoeba.org), which is a multilingual corpus of sentences in many languages and their translations. It is possible for students to find translations for many of the sentences in these videos. They can also volunteer to add translations in their native language for sentences that do not yet have translations.

This presentation will discuss how to (a) assign presentations, (b) collect them, (c) grade them with a viable peer evaluation rubric, (d) compile and transmit feedback to students, and (e) implement feedback and reflection protocols that ensure students are gaining the most from any presentation syllabus component. Results are based on a decade's worth of research and will be presented such that even novice ICT users should be able to replicate the procedure.

This presentation introduces an action research project conducted at a university in western Japan during the 2019 Fall semester. The project involved a group of twenty-eight non-English majors enrolled in an elective business-focused project taught by the presenter and aimed at investigating the effectiveness of augmenting a project-based learning (PBL) curriculum with team-based learning (the other TBL) elements. This interactive talk starts with some contextual background, goes on to offer brief outlines of PBL and TBL, and then gives a week-by-week overview of how each class meeting unfolded as well as how technology was used to manage the course and assess performance. Some of the more salient findings include increased learner engagement and achievement as measured by readiness assurance tests, both individual and team. After covering the findings of the intervention, its successes and shortcomings will be evaluated. It is hoped that this research might inspire others to experiment with PBL, TBL and other active learning approaches in their second language classrooms.

JALTCALL2020 was the first major JALT conference ever to be held online. It was recognized as a huge success, bringing together almost 100 presenters and attendees from over 60 countries. Participants talked of the event being ‘historically important’ in the way it brought people together in a time of crisis. Yet the transition online was organized in barely two months. The conference team was faced with many challenges, such as building this online system, organising how presenters share their work, ensuring attendees could navigate the online schedule, managing registration/ticketing, hosting online rooms, communicating with their presenters, and creating opportunities for social interaction. They also needed to consider live and asynchronous options and how to share recordings with a wider audience post-conference.

During this forum, three members of the JALTCALL2020 team will discuss how it became our SIG’s first completely online conference and how it can be replicated - indeed PanSIG2020 itself was planned using the same online system and framework. Whether you are planning a weekend webinar of your own or a conference with hundreds of attendees, this talk gives you a practical framework to make your own event a success.