scholarly journals Promoting Learner Autonomy and Self-Directed Learning: The Evolution of a SALC Curriculum

2017 ◽  
pp. 169-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Mynard ◽  
Rob Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
The Self ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Learning Center ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Technical Challenges ◽  
Gradual Approach

If key aims of a SALC are to support learners and promote language learner autonomy, then the curriculum is an important tool in order to ensure that this is being systematically addressed. After explaining the context of the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies in Japan, the authors will briefly describe the self-directed learning curriculum, its evolution, and approaches to its evaluation. The development, implementation, and evaluation of a SALC curriculum is not straightforward as there may be political, financial, and technical challenges. However, with planning, persistence, and a gradual approach, a SALC curriculum can eventually become an integral part of a university program. Although the journey of this particular SALC is far from complete, charting its development so far could provide encouragement for SALC managers elsewhere, whose SALC curriculum may be at different stages of development.

scholarly journals “Still Sounds Quite a Lot to Me, But Try it And See”. Reflecting on my Non-Directive Advising Stance

Relay Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 98-107
Author(s):  
Jo Mynard
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Learning Center ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
One To One

This reflective observation takes place at the self-access learning center (‘The SALC’) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Japan. The environment is supportive and there is a one-to-one professional advising service and also courses and modules on self-directed learning that students can take for credit.

scholarly journals A Review of The Plenary Talks on Advising and Self-Directed Learning: Two Important Systems for Learner Autonomy

2021 ◽  
pp. 295-300
Author(s):  
Neslihan Atcan Altan
Keyword(s):  
Interest Group ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Education Conference

This paper presents a review of the plenary talks at the Self-Directed Learning and Advising in Language Education Conference, one primarily on advising by Jo Mynard of Kanda University of International Studies and the other on self-directed learning by Lawrie Moore-Walter and Christian Ludwig of IATEFL Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group. It offers a brief overview of both sessions as well as underlining the highlights and the takeaways.

scholarly journals A Framework for Curriculum Reform: Re-designing a Curriculum for Self-directed Language Learning

2013 ◽  
pp. 142-153 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
The Self ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Environment Analysis ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Directed Learning

Welcome to this new SiSAL column, which will examine a long-term project conducted at one institution in depth over several issues. The focus of this column will be the curriculum design project currently being undertaken at the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Chiba, Japan. In my role as Academic Coordinator of the SALC from 2011-2013, I was in charge of leading this project in its initial stages, before I moved institution. As editor, it is from this perspective, as someone familiar but no longer directly involved in the project, that I hope to collate and introduce a number of columns from the learning advisors and teachers who are conducting the research and designing the new self-directed learning curriculum. In this first installment, a revision of an earlier article which first appeared in the IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG newsletter, Independence, (Thornton, 2012) I present the background to the project, the framework used to guide it and the results of the first stage, the environment analysis.

scholarly journals Piloting and Evaluating a Redesigned Self-Directed Learning Curriculum

2014 ◽  
pp. 58-78
Author(s):  
Satoko Watkins ◽  
Neil Curry ◽  
Jo Mynard
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Development ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Development Project ◽  
The Self ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Freshmen Students ◽  
Self Study ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Insight Into

In the fourth installment of the column following the self-directed learning curriculum development project at Kanda University of International Studies, Japan, Satoko Watkins, Neil Curry and Jo Mynard detail the process of conducting a pilot of a possible self-directed learning curriculum for freshmen students, that would meet the needs and principles established in the previous two installments. This pilot represents quite a shift for the learning advisors (LAs), as it would bring what has up until now been a largely self-study course into the mainstream classroom environment, taught by LAs. The installment offers an insight into the strengths and potential weaknesses of such a course, and how students responded to it.

scholarly journals Fostering Learner Autonomy as Agency: An Analysis of Narratives of a Student Staff Member Working at a Self-access Learning Center

2011 ◽  
pp. 268-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsumi Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Staff Member ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
The Self ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Learning Center ◽  
Target Community ◽  
Analysis Of Narratives

This study investigates narrative stories of a student staff member working at the Self Access Learning Center (the SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies, Japan in order to discover whether / how her working experiences in the SALC have an impact on her identities especially focusing on her development of learner autonomy as agency. Drawing on four layers of narrative positioning (Wortham & Gadsden, 2006), I will explore: 1) the ways that agency is projected; and 2) how the learner’s involvement in a SALC impacts on her identities. The examination revealed that the learner’s involvement as a student staff member enhanced her agency to access a target community of English in the SALC. Drawing on the Communities of Practice (CoP) framework by Lave & Wenger (1991), I discuss the possibility that gaining voice in the target community might enable a learner to be more autonomous. Finally, this paper addresses the importance of learner involvement in SALCs – not only for the learners involved, but also for other SALC users in order to provide opportunities to activate both agency and autonomy.

Introduction to the Column: Curriculum-Based Approaches

Relay Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 73-74
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Directed Learning

Welcome to the curriculum column of Relay Journal. Here our aim is to provide a space in which we can view and discuss items relating to the facilitation of language-learner autonomy and the explicit teaching of self-directed learning (SDL) skills. As so much of learning takes place beyond a formal classroom setting, it is vital that as educators we help to equip our students with the cognitive and meta-cognitive abilities to make best use of their own skills and opportunities to improve their abilities to effectively learn languages. Many learners can be unaware of exactly what their strengths and skills are, and thus some form of formal training in tandem with learner advising can be very effective (Kato & Mynard 2016). In addition, taking a curriculum-based approach allows the provision of “scaffolding structures that support learners in decision-making processes” (Benson 2001 p.170). A discussion and examination of how best to do this, and the different means by which these goals could be achieved, is the ambition of this column. We welcome insights into this process from colleagues based elsewhere to develop a deeper understanding of our research and practice, to learn from each other, and to develop a collection of papers over time that can serve as a starting point to others. Papers in this column can include descriptions of classroom practice, research-in-progress papers, full research papers, or examples of resources related to curriculum approaches to promoting learner autonomy. If you would like to respond to one of the papers in this column, please get in touch. We welcome you to the discussion.

A Reflection on the Two-year Progress of Peer Advisor-led Events for Promoting Collaboration among Students

Relay Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
Yusei Takahashi ◽  
Rio Fukumura
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Learning Center ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Peer Advisors ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Personal Reflections

The authors work in the Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) at our university as student staff. Specifically, our role is as Peer Advisors (PAs), and we have supported students by having advising sessions and events related to self-directed learning. In this article, we focus on an event that PAs have organized for two years and reflect on the progress. In particular, differences between the physical and online versions of the event are mainly discussed in terms of the number of participants, topics for each session and the method for event promotion. At the end of the article, each of our personal reflections is introduced.

scholarly journals Needs Analysis: Investigating Students’ Self-directed Learning Needs Using Multiple Data Sources

2013 ◽  
pp. 208-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keiko Takahashi ◽  
Jo Mynard ◽  
Junko Noguchi ◽  
Akiyuki Sakai ◽  
Katherine Thornton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Student Needs ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Environment Analysis ◽  
Multiple Data ◽  
Directed Learning

As explained in the first installment of this report (Thornton, 2013), the learning advisor (LA) team at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) has engaged in redesigning a curriculum for the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) by following a framework adapted from the Nation and Macalister (2010) model. This framework, which is based on an investigation of student needs, aims to establish criteria in the shape of clear principles and goals. Following the Environment Analysis stage, detailed in the previous installment of this column (Thornton, 2013), this paper describes the needs analysis stage which was undertaken in 2012.

scholarly journals Sharing Stories of Practice in Self-Access Facility Design and Management

2015 ◽  
pp. 216-218
Author(s):  
Katherine Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
The Self ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Learning Modules ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
Access Services

Welcome to the new column in SiSAL Journal. So far, this regular column has followed two different institutions as they reconceptualised aspects of their self-access services, in the case of Kanda University of International Studies (Japan), the self-directed learning modules offered through their SALC, and, in the case of the University of Bradford (UK), the reinvention of the self-access facilities as a social learning space. The upcoming column is a much bigger project. It will run for seven volumes of SiSAL Journal. Each issue will address a different aspect of self-access management, through reflective case studies from professionals who work in language learning spaces.

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