Azuma, Yoko 留学生教育 : 琉球大学留学生センター紀 … · Method and Procedure ... Fourth, I argue the advantages and disadvantages of the TA participation. Finally,

Title Do volunteer teaching assistants recruited from native speakershelp to increase the effectiveness of language teaching?

Author(s) Azuma, Yoko

Citation 留学生教育 : 琉球大学留学生センター紀要, 5: 35-50

Issue Date 2008-03

URL http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12000/6707

Rights

, 2008

Do volunteer teaching assistants recruited from native speakers

help to increase the effectiveness of language teaching?

AZUMA, Yoko

Key words: Volunteer TA, Acquisition theories, Activities

Abstract

A novel approach to teaching Japanese language by inviting native speaker

volunteer teaching assistants (TAs) to the classroom has been used in Japanese

Language instruction in Carleton University since 1995. TAs' involvement in the class

has provided a relaxed atmosphere that encourages student participation, accelerates

learning and increases the efficiency of language instruction. This teaching approach

is discussed in the context of acquisition theories. It is concluded that the presence

of TAs lowers students' affective filters, accelerates utterances of students and

increases their productivity. In addition, the interaction between TAs and students

helps to raise the socio-cultural as well as intercultural awareness of the students and

turns out to be beneficial for both the Japanese language learners and volunteer

students. Some practical examples of possible classroom activities that increase the

efficacy of learning are discussed. The TAs1 and students' reactions to this language

teaching approach that have been compiled from interviews and questionnaires have

been very positive. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of this approach,

suggestions for efficient class preparation in collaboration with TAs as well as

possible improvements are discussed.

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0. Introduction

One of the most common problems for a language teacher teaching language

courses at universities is providing interaction in the second language if there is

large number of students in the class, particularly when using a communicative

approach. The university setting, however, sometimes offers possibilities for

interaction with students from other language courses. For example, if a large

number of ESL students are Japanese, inviting Japanese ESL student volunteers to

assist in the classroom turns out to be mutually beneficial. The students appreciate

the opportunity for cultural exchanges and a new teaching experience while the

students in the class benefit from the interaction with Japanese native speakers.

This paper presents the theoretical background and some practical results of this

innovative approach in teaching Japanese language in a university context. I also

evaluate the positive and negative aspects of this approach and examine the

effectiveness of the volunteer TA usage in a Japanese language class. The results of

this study suggest that volunteer TA students are valuable assets for a class of

Japanese language learners.

1. Method and Procedure

This paper is based on data collected in an observational study and direct

conversations with students and volunteer assistants participating in the Japanese

language Level I - IV taught froml995 to 2006. At the end of each semester, the

students are requested to provide written feedback on the TAs. In addition, private

interviews were conducted with 50 TA volunteers.

First, I describe the present context of Japanese classes offered at Carleton

University. Second, the participation of TA is discussed from two perspectives: The

acquisition theories, with a special focus given on the Affective Filter Hypothesis

(Krashen 1985), and the socio-cultural aspects of learning a foreign language in a

classroom. Third, I suggest practical situations for the classroom when TAs can

facilitate the teaching. Fourth, I argue the advantages and disadvantages of the TA

participation. Finally, I suggest a possible improvement towards increased efficacy of

native speaker assisted Japanese class instruction in the university context.

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2. The Japanese Language Course at Carleton University

On average, there are about 200 students taking Japanese courses at Carleton

University. Usually, the class sizes exceed 25 students; this is not an ideal situation

when one introduces a new language using a communicative approach because

opportunities for interactions in the second language are reduced. The extensive ESL

program at Carleton University attracts many Japanese students. On average for each

academic term about 100 Japanese students come from Japan to take the ESL

program each year. Most of them become involved in our Japanese language program,

directly or indirectly, interacting with students in Japanese language courses.

In Japanese language program, volunteers are employed in at least two

different ways: for in-classroom instruction, and out-of-classroom settings. As for the

out-of- classroom instruction, students are paired with Japanese students in the ESL

program. With help of ESL teachers, SLALS (School of Linguistics and Applied

Language Studies) provides a resource person to help connect these language

partners. After pairing up the students, it is all up to the students whether they will

meet and practice languages on regular basis or not. Some of the pairs work well and

become good friends while others do not work together.

For the in-the-classroom instruction, two to three Japanese native speakers per

course are recruited to assist in the classes. For example, in 2005/2006 academic

year, there were three committed volunteer students who assisted in the morning

class. One is an ESL female student, who is a high school teacher in Japan, and the

other is a female linguistics major graduate student. The third TA is a male ESL

student who holds a certificate for teaching English in high school in Japan. Likewise,

in the afternoon class, there were three TAs. Two of them are ESL students and the

other is a graduate student of linguistics who is committed to become a Japanese

language teacher after finishing her master's degree. In addition, every Friday, four

more ESL Japanese students came to assist the afternoon class.

As a result of the participation of TAs in the classroom, students are more

relaxed, enjoy the class more, work harder, and consequently students' productivity

goes up. More participation of TAs in the classroom contributes to achieve a higher

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level of oral performance. Also, students interact more confidently with native

speakers of similar age. At the same time, they are exposed to more varied Japanese

pronunciation and usage, and have an opportunity to learn differences in expressions

used by Japanese men and women in natural way, by directly interacting with the

native speakers.

There are two main reasons why volunteer TAs are invited to assist in

classroom. First, the theoretical aspects from the point of view of language are

discussed. Then, the socio-cultural and intercultural point of view is presented.

3.Acquisition theories

Krashen (1981, 1982, 1985) proposed five hypotheses in his theory of Second

Language Acquisition. They include: the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Natural

Order Hypothesis, the Monitor Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis and the Affective

Filter Hypothesis. The Affective Filter refers to factors that prevent acquiring the

comprehensible input for language acquisition. Krashen (1985) pointed out three

possible factors: self-confidence, motivation and anxiety. In order to utilize input

containing "i + 1" ( "i" refers to the current level of acquirer, and "i+l"refers to

the next level along the natural order), learners should be ideally placed in a context

where they are very confident, have high motivation, and low anxiety. This means

that when the affective filter is high, then, the acquisition level is low, and when the

affective filter is low, then acquisition can take place successfully, if other conditions

are met.

Does the presence of TAs in the classroom lower the affective filter? From the

experience of a person who has learned English as a second language, it is certainly

true that under the pressure, a learner's English tends to be less fluent. On the

other hand, when that person is relaxed her or his English tends to improve.

Similarly, many years of observation of my students learning Japanese in classroom

also reveal that students utter more when they are relaxed. It is certainly important

to get rid of students' anxiety by creating a comfortable, informal environment while

they learn the target language. Ellis and Rathbone (1987) have reported that

sometimes teachers' questions frighten students. They have pointed this out from

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the diary of Monique who was one of the subjects in their research that examined

the anxiety in classroom.

I was quite frightened when asked questions again. I don't know why, the

teacher does not frighten me, but my mind is blocked when I'm asked questions.

I fear least I give the wrong answer and will discourage the teacher as well as

be the laughing stock of the class maybe. Anyway, I felt really stupid and

helpless in class. (Ellis, 1989, p.257)

If this experience continues, probably Monique will quit the class. It is certainly

important to get rid of as much anxiety as possible, and make students feel confident.

Before Krashen's ideas were popular, Lozanov (1982), who is the father of

suggestopedia, was deeply concerned about students' anxiety and confidence levels,

and advocated that eliminating the psychological barriers to learning, in other words

eliminating the fear of students, was one of the most important factors for successful

teachings in the classroom. Students by interacting with native speaking TAs who are

similar in age, often break learners' psychological barriers to learning. As well, I

often break students up into smaller groups, and assign a native speaker for each

group. Through smaller group work, students are more relaxed, have more chances

to speak, and more chances to interact with each other.

These advantages are suggested by the following students'comments on

volunteer TAs in the classroom and support the above ideas and practice.

"The TAs offer a more relaxed and related atmosphere."

"They gave the students a resource which could be accessed during the class."

"The volunteers were very helpful in the class. It was a good idea to have

Japanese volunteers in the class to work in small groups because this makes it

easier for us students to practice and learn."

"The volunteers also give us more individualized attention."

"Volunteer TAs were extremely helpful. They help us to learn more than the

materials we cover. We have more chance to use what we learned."

(Written feedback from students.)

Often, the language classes at universities in North America, the students are

not homogeneous. In addition, there are time restrictions for covering the courses'

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contents. Furthermore, students who learn language are often isolated from the

country where the target language is spoken. This means that students do not have

enough time to learn Japanese gradually as native speakers of Japanese do. Moreover,

input given to students is limited, and this makes it difficult for students to access

the necessary range of data for making appropriate rules of generalizations. I believe

that teaching language, especially typologically different languages, such as Japanese,

should be taught with a good, balanced combination of approaches and methods.

Krashen (1981) has argued that language learning is largely an unconscious

process, and there is a natural order in acquisition. Therefore, it is not necessary

to teach forms, in other words, it is not necessary to teach grammar explicitly. On

the other hand, Sharwood Smith (1981) has argued that consciousness raising is

important, because it facilitates the language learning. This means that it is important

that learners are aware of the grammatical and conceptual differences between the

target language and their native language. I strongly support the formula learning,

that is, that learning grammar is one of the important parts of language lessons

whether it is taught explicitly or implicitly in a manner of good flow during the

lesson.

In the Japanese classes, with participation of TAs, students have a better chance

to do form focused activities and drills in addition to free conversations and

discussions that are more natural and not restricted. In order to maximize the class

output, I encourage students to work together, not only to work with a TA. Swain

(1985), for example, argues that learners need the opportunity for meaningful use of

their linguistic resources to achieve full grammatical competence, and this idea is

called comprehensive output. The idea of comprehensive output is when learners fail

to communicate, then they really need to push themselves to make a more precise,

coherent, and clear message to communicate with others. It means that the learners

correct their mistakes by themselves in order to make communication possible.

Through this push, learners can learn the syntax. As we can see in Swain's

argument, students' interaction is also very important to set up a favorable

environment that helps accelerate acquisition of newly learned structures. Ideally, the

final outcome of student's productivity is checked in the interaction with a native

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speaker. Learners often try out rules or items in production. They would like to

know whether they are using certain rules or expressions correctly. TAs can give

the needed feedback. An accurate feedback, either direct or indirect, is a very

important element in learning a new language.

Also, by increasing the chance of interaction with native speakers in small

groups, students become more comfortable and confident using the newly acquired

language. They receive more input and have more chances to use the newly learned

structures and expressions. In addition, TAs in classroom provide students not only

with a better linguistic environment, but they also offer a culturally rich environment.

4. Socio-cultural aspects of learning in a classroom

Learning a foreign language implies acquiring a tool to communicate with the

people who use the target language. In order to learn and acquire the target

language, one has to learn how certain expressions and words are used in real

situations in a given context. Therefore, learning the target language implies learning

the socio-cultural context in which the target language is spoken Qin and Cortazzi,

1998). Increasing awareness of how native speakers use the target language and how

the target language is structured helps the students understand the thinking

processes of native speakers, and vice versa. Without this awareness and some

knowledge of the culture and society, one cannot efficiently communicate using a

target language.

For example, in the case of Japanese language, there is an on-going debate about

the fact that the usual concept of subject is inadequate, invisible or may not exist at

all in Japanese. This idea of the non-existing subject or invisibility of the subject in

a sentence reflects Japanese mentality, the fact that the Japanese people do not want

to standout in a group and wish to keep harmony within the group (see, e.g., Azuma-

Prikryl, 1988).

This can be illustrated by the following sentence in Japanese: Nihongo wo narau.

(Nihongo = Japanese, wo= object indicator, or marker, narau = learn). The English

translation is: I/We learn Japanese. Clearly, the subject is missing in the Japanese

sentence. In Japanese, the concept of topic is often confused with the subject. Fujita

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— (M)

explains this concept as follows:

In Japanese, topic which is marked by particle wa is one of the most difficult

concepts for English speaker to comprehend since this notion is syntactically not

realized in English.(Fujita 1997, p.124)

In order to grasp this new concept Japanese is a typical example of the topic

prominent language, on the other hand, English is a typical example of subject

prominent language) students are required to practice a lot with sentences conveying

this concept even though it is reported that eliminating the subject is not as difficult

to acquire as mastering the totally new additive concept (Danesi and Di Pietro 1991,

p.24). In order to understand the concept of topic, students need large amount of

input as well as opportunities for practice. With the help of volunteer TAs in

classroom, there is more input and eventually a higher chance of acquiring the new

important concepts in Japanese.

Another example is registers; the degree of politeness in Japanese varies

according to the situation or to whom you are talking. The usage of registers

indicates social position and is complex but very important in Japanese. In Japanese,

expressing the social distance between the speaker and other participants in a

conversation varies greatly. Two major distances are distinguished. The vertical

distance indicates the social status, and the horizontal distance is often explained by

the concepts of uchi and soto indicating the speakers belonging or non-belonging to

a group. (Otsubo, 1991)

It is therefore, very important for students whose native language is English or

French to learn different forms of expressions, i.e., the casual forms and polite forms,

and to understand the concept for using honorific forms. Inviting TAs in to the

classroom makes it possible for students to become aware of these concepts through

the experience. By observing the conversations between TAs with the professor, and

how TAs carry on conversations with other TAs, gives students a very good idea

about different levels of honorific usage. As we often experience in teaching, it is

difficult to introduce socio-cultural and socio-linguistic rules in to classroom. TAs are

vital for creating Japanese atmosphere expressed through their behavior, gesticulation,

eye to eye contact, pause, bowing and other cultural actions in the context.

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Moreover, volunteer TAs can provide different variations in Japanese accents.

Awareness of the variation between accents is important nowadays, since learners of

Japanese may not come across only Tokyo accents where standardized Japanese is

spoken, but they come in contact with various dialects, including a variation in tones,

a pitch, and pronunciation. For example, vowel de-voicing takes place in standardized

Japanese, but it does not often occur in Japanese spoken in Kansai area. In addition

to that, having male TAs in the classroom is particularly important in case of

Japanese language teaching, since talking habits such as sentence ending are often

different from those used by Japanese females. Such differences are insignificant in

English. The importance of male TAs becomes even more evident when we consider

the fact that most language teachers are females. For example, all Japanese language

teachers at Carleton University are females while roughly two third of students

taking Japanese courses are males.

As mentioned above the presence of volunteer TAs can lower the affective filter,

give students more input and opportunity to utilize newly introduced expressions and

words. As well, volunteer TAs provide a Japanese atmosphere through their behavior

and language usage. They help to raise students' awareness of intercultural and sotio-

cultural differences in addition to raising the awareness of linguistic similarities or

dissimilarities between the mother tongue and the target language.

5. TAs in classroom

There are a variety of ways TAs can facilitate teaching in classroom. Here are

some examples drawn from my teaching practice.

1. Group practice: After introducing new expressions and structures orally, students

are divided into smaller groups, each supervised by one TA. Each group is given a

task of learning new expressions. The task could be an information gap, game, or

simply grammar drills. Even in case of rather boring drills of substitution or pattern

practice for vocabulary, students enjoy doing exercises with the TAs who are a

similar age as the learners. Students are certainly more relaxed and have more

chances to speak than the students in a classroom without TAs.

2. Role play: TAs take roles depending on the situation, such as waiters and

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waitresses in a restaurant, shopkeepers in stores, taxi drivers, or office workers in

the post office, receptionists at a hospital or clinic, members of a host family etc,

learners take the roles of customers, patients, or students who stay in Japanese

families in Japan, and so on. The important point here is creating a possible situation

that the learners may encounter if they visit Japan.

3. Introducing new dialogues in a discourse: The Japanese people do not bring up

the main topic they really want to address at the very beginning of a conversation.

Often, they talk about the weather or inquire about the listener's family or work first

Then, they gradually introduce the main topic. This flow of discourse is an important

aspect of language learning. With native speaker TAs, it is much easier to introduce

new expressions in the flow of natural conversations.

4. Interviews: Either short or long interviews with TAs can be scheduled for

classroom practice. Occasionally, a TA also brings his/her visitors from Japan to the

classroom. Students have the opportunity to utilize various expressions and

vocabularies that they have learned and acquired so far. After interviewing native

speakers, students are often required to summarize the information that they got

during the interview, write reports and submit them as class-work or homework.

5. Cultural guidance: Since the language is a reflection of the culture, it is also very

important that a Japanese language teacher provides the students with an opportunity

to understand or at least to become aware of Japanese culture and cultural

differences. TAs provide the opportunity for students to experience the tea-ceremony,

paper folding, calligraphy, sometimes a demonstration of martial arts, songs, dances,

etc., all depending on the abilities and interests of the TAs. Also, TAs broaden the

student horizon by providing discussions on the issues of cultural value differences,

perception changes and so on, and by sharing their experience of living both in Japan

and Canada. In other words, the TA participation can become an important tool not

only in teaching the language and understanding of the visible culture, but also can

help students to appreciate more subtle differences in socio-cultural values and

expressions of emotions of Japanese people.

6. Participation in the student evaluation: TAs can participate in the evaluation on the

poster sessions or speech contests and other similar activities. Students seem often

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happier to have larger audience that includes native speakers.

7. Participation in oral tests: TAs can act as partners in conversations for oral tests.

Students in higher level of Japanese courses, in particular, are curious to know their

proficiency levels. In such an environment, TAs can take roles as conversation

partners in oral tests that are more natural than learners talking to learners in oral

tests. This way, proficiency levels can be more accurately evaluated.

8. E-mail partners: TAs who participate in the classroom activities and are familiar

with students abilities, can be good partners for e-mail exchange in the early stages

of learning the language. Students are willing to use the newly learned expressions

through e-mail writing. The students in higher levels are capable of exchanging e-

mail with native speakers.

9. Exchanges of Journal writing: It is often more effective for students to

communicate with TAs rather than teachers or professors through Journal Writing.

Learners are more relaxed and write more freely when addressing a TA from a

similar age group. They share more common activities and interests such as movies,

popular songs, going to parties when compared to their teachers' interests. Therefore

the main goal of journal writing which is to encourage students to communicate by

writing in target language is more easily realized.

These are just some examples how TAs facilitate learning in the classroom. There

are other possibilities depending on the objective of each class.

6. The Positive and Negative Aspects of Volunteer TAs in classroom

As I have already discussed, there are many practical and theoretical reasons for

inviting volunteer TAs to participate in a language class and, in general, students

profit from the participation of TAs. In this section, I examine the TAs1 perception

of their experiences as volunteers in the classroom.

First of all, all participating TAs agreed that through this teaching experience,

they started to think and see Japanese from different angle for the first time in their

lives. Analyzing their mother tongue objectively was an awakening experience for

some of them, since their perception of Japanese was like that of the air which one

does not really pay much attention to while breathing it.

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feedback. Native speakers can give feedback by simply repeating the sentence with

corrections. Then, students can get the message and acquire the accurate form or

expression. Also, TAs can help to create a Japanese atmosphere in the classroom

because the most of them have just arrived from Japan so they still retain Japanese

flavor or style when communicating with people they meet. For example, avoiding a

prolonged contact with the interlocutor's eyes while they talk, covering their mouths

when they laugh or talking quietly, addressing their seniors or colleagues politely,

bowing, etc. All of this, through the interaction with TAs can assist students to

better understand Japan, Japanese people and society. With the help of TAs, Japanese

language classes can become a place where students meet with Japan through

language learning.

In conclusion, inviting volunteer TAs into the Japanese language class increases

the teaching efficiency by giving students more opportunity to utilize the newly

learned vocabulary and expressions, and eventually accelerate the acquisitions of the

target language. Moreover, it encourages students to raise the socio-cultural as well

as intercultural awareness. Furthermore, this practice is mutually profitable

experience for students and TAs. Needless to say, it allows more time for the

teacher for a one-to-one interaction in the classroom and makes class more enjoyable.

References

Azuma-Prikryl, Y. 1988. "Japanese Education Overseas and the Problem of Returnees."

Master Thesis, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Danesi, M. and Di Pietro, R, 1991. Contrastive Analysis for the Contemporary Second

language Classroom. Toronto: OISE Press.

Ellis, R. 1989a. 'Classroom learing styles and their effect on second language

acquisition : a study of two learners1. System 17, pp. 249-62.

Ellis, R. and M.Rathbone. 1987. The Acquisition of German in a Classroom Context.

Mimeograph, London: Ealing College of Higher Education.

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, 2008

Fujita, N. 1997. "Situation-Driven or Structure-Driven?" In Teaching Japanese At The

College Level in the United States. H.M. Cook, K. Hijirida, M.Tahara(eds), Honolulu:

University of Hawai'i Press, pp. 119-132.

Jin, L. & Cortazzi, M. 1998. "The culture the learner brings: a bridge or a barrier?"

In Byram, M. and Fleming, M. Language Learning in Intercultural Perspective.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Krashen, S. 1981. Second Langauge Acquisition and Second Language Learning.

Oxford: Pergamon.

Krashen, S. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second language Acquisition. Oxford:

Pergamon.

Krashen, S. 1985. The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. London: Longman.

Lozanov, G. 1982. "Suggestology and suggestopedia." In Innovative approaches to

language teaching. R.W. Blair, R. Mass: Newbury House Publishers, Inc., pp. 72-88.

Otsubo, K.1991. Situational Functional Japanese. Volume one: Notes. Tsukuba

Language Group. Tokyo: Bonjinsha.

Puts, M.1997. The Cultural Context in Foreign Language Teaching. Frankfurt am Main

: Peterlang.

Sharewood Smith, M.1981. "Consciousness-raising and the second language learner."

Applied Linguistics Vol.2, pp.159-69.

Swain, M.1985. "Communicative competence; some roles of comprehensible input and

comprehensible output in its development" In Gass and Madden (eds.).

(University of the Ryukyus)

-49-

母諏話者ボランティアTA活用に関する一考察- カナダの大学の事例から- (束)

母語話者ボランティアTA活用に関する一考察- カナダの大学の事例から 一

束 陽 子

本論は､著者が1995年から海外の大学の日本語教育現場に導入した母語話者ボラン

ティァTAの活用に関して､その有効性を言語習得論の立場から検証し､考察を加え

たものである｡その結果､クラス内におけるTAの参加は､学習者のアフェクティプ

フィルターを下げ､発話力及び総合的な算出力を高める効果がある事が判った｡さら

に､学習者とTA間のインターラクションは､学習者の文化及び社会-の関心を増強

させると共に､学習者だけではなくTAとして参加したボランティアにも有効的に働

いている事が判明した｡本論では､まずカール トン大学における日本語科の現状を報

告した｡次に､クラッシェンやエリス並びにスウェインの習得論を柱に､ボランエイ

アTAクラス内導入の根拠を論述した｡そして､習得論に基づいたボランティァTA

のクラス内活動例を具体的に記述した｡さらに､新しい試みであるこのアプローチが､

聞き取り調査及びアンケー ト調査の分析から､学生に好意的に受け止められている事

を証明した｡最後に､本アプローチの長所並びに弱点を分析すると共に､授業成果を

より高める為の今後の対策を検討した｡

キーワー ド:ボランティアTA, 習得論, クラス内活動

(琉球大学留学生センター)

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