2015 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Online Classroom English Course for Elementary School Teachers
| Project/Area Number |
15K02809
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| Research Institution | Sojo University |
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Principal Investigator |
ハーシェル ロバート 崇城大学, SILC, 講師 (60458651)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
LaClare Elton 崇城大学, SILC, 講師 (20720593)
ローベリー ジョナサン 崇城大学, SILC, 教授 (90751727)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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| Keywords | Teacher Talk / Teacher Training / Elementary English / Communicative English / CALL |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
As detailed in the application for this grant, we have successfully conducted a needs analysis of regular public school elementary school teachers. The principal investigator observed six separate lessons at three different local elementary schools. The lessons were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed. A paper for publication is being prepared and presentations will be given during the Fiscal Year 2016.
We have also begun building the website that will host the content for teachers to access in order to improve their classroom English ability. Informed by the needs analysis, the content is focused largely though not exclusively on classroom direction/instructions in coordination with the Hi, Friends! textbooks and the MEXT curriculum.
We have determined that the diagnostic tool for teachers to use will comprise simple can-do statements for teachers to self-assess themselves. This diagnostic will also be trialed in Fiscal Year 2016.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
The computer programmer, Justin Hunt, responsible for designing one of the central components of the online program requires more time to finish the Fluency Builder block on the Moodle Learning Management system.
The principal investigator and the co-investigators also require more time to develop content for the online site.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Apart from slight delays, the project is generally going ahead as planned. We will continue to develop content and aim to trial it with teachers as soon as possible, sometime during Fiscal Year 2016.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Given that Fiscal Year 2015 was the first year of this project, there was not much data to present at conferences. In Fiscal Year 2016, however, we have ample research to present and disseminate.
Additionally, the grant funds provided were not quite enough for us to host our own server. We have thus saved money through third-party hosting.
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
We plan to use more of the allocated funds to attend and present our research at conferences. We may also require additional help in creating content for the website. Finally, when the website is ready to go live, we will require more powerful hosting and greater bandwidth.
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