On-line presentation (research report on practice and activities) (30 minutes) Guest Speakers and the Promotion of Intercultural Collaborative Dialogue in the Classrooms more

Sat, Nov 27, 11:10-11:40 Asia/Tokyo

The benefits of guest speakers in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes have been established by scholars such as Leor (2015) to be an effective way to provide specific knowledge to students while at the same time encouraging them to make a personal connection between the material and their life. Yet there are fewer studies that look at the benefits of guest speakers through the lens of fostering intercultural communication competence or intercultural collaborative dialogue in the classroom. Yet guest speakers can be crucial to intercultural competence in that they offer new perspectives, ideas, and language usage. This presentation builds on existing research into the efficacy of guest speakers to foster intercultural communication in any curricula through the introduction of case studies of global-issue oriented guest speakers, both in-person and online, with students of mixed English levels. We introduce student responses to guest speakers on diverse subjects such as Japanese colonialism, gender and sexuality, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and Japanese comfort women, among other topics, ultimately demonstrating the benefits of classroom collaboration with guest speakers. By discussing both online and in-person lectures, we demonstrate the efficacy of both and demonstrate ways guest speakers can be utilized in mixed-level English courses in Japanese universities.