My name is Kevin Lucas and please allow me to welcome you to Linguistic Turmoil. I am currently a student enrolled in the Masters of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Education at USQ (University of Southern Queensland). My status as an external student allows me to study this course at my own pace whilst also working full-time. The current unit for which I produced this website is LIN8016 (Internet-Based Language Instruction, or IBLI for short). This page helps to introduce who I am, based on the following four areas: |
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My Bachelor's degree was completed in 1997 at University of Bristol in the joint honours of Psychology and Zoology BSc. I was a awarded an Upper Second Honours in this course. Completing this course gave me a solid grounding in scientific methodology and social scientific theory. I was particularly interested in areas such as Theory of Mind, language acquisition, social interactions (in humans and animals) and criminal behaviour. In July 2005, I began an MA in Applied Linguistics at USQ. I have completed five Units so far with either 'A' or 'HD' grades: |
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| Course Code | Course Name | Description | Status | Grade |
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| LIN5000 | The Nature of Language | Introductory course discussing the various theories of language. | Completed | HD |
| LIN8001 | Principles of Second Language Learning | Introductory course discussing the various theories of language acquisition. | Completed | A |
| LIN5002 | Methodology in Teaching a Second Language | Practical course to assist teachers in language lesson planning. | Completed | HD |
| LIN8007 | Language Testing | Practical course to assist teachers in the production of relaible and valid tests. | Completed | HD |
| LIN8006 | Computer-Assisted Language Learning | Assessment of the use of computers in the language classroom. | Completed | A |
| LIN8015 | Introduction to Sociolinguistics | Theoretical discussion of the interaction between language and society. | In progress | - |
| LIN8016 | Internet-Based Language Instruction | Assessment of the use of the Internet in the language classroom. | In progress | - |
| LIN8009 | Immersion Language Teaching | Theoretical discussion of immersion language teaching environments | Enrolled | - |
I hope to have completed this course by the end of Semester 3, 2006. |
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My teaching experience began in 1998 in Wakayama in central Japan at a large well-known language school, NOVA. This provided me with a valuable introduction to ESL and TESOL. Using a fairly inflexible and structured syllabus enabled me to examine useful practices and the theory behind them. After 18 months, I transferred to a small private eikaiwa (English conversation) school in Osaka. In this environment, the syllabi for the ESL teaching courses for children (elementary school age to junior high school age: 7-15 years old) were entirely generated by the teachers. This gave me the opportunity to develop my own pedagogical ideas and teaching philosophy. After 2 years, I felt the need to try something different and opted for an international English immersion pre-school and kindergarten called Kinderkids, based in Kobe, near Osaka. Here I could witness and participate in a full-immersion English program for children of different nationalities from ages 18 months to 6 years old. The results were astonishing. I plan to discuss this program more in the subsequent unit LIN8009 (Immersion Language Teaching). For the last 3 years I have been teaching as a part-time lecturer at Kansai Gaidai University (site in Japanese) near Osaka. This introduction into tertiary education has been extremely challenging and worthwhile. The university specializes in modern language courses, so many of the students in the English department wish to study abroad, improve their TOEIC and TOEFL scores, and utilize English in their future professions. The syllabi are all fully teacher-generated which provides a great opportunity to combine various teaching theories and applications (including CALL and IBLI) to achieve the best results. |
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Through the experience described above of ESL and TESOL teaching in Japan, the teaching philosophy that I mostly subscribe to would be a communicative and task-based constructivist approach. The ultimate aim in language learning must be being able to communicate in both spoken and written forms and be able to comprehend sufficiently through the skills of listening and reading. So the best way to achieve these objectives is to practice all four skills in equal amounts, and if possible in concurrent combinations to complete task-based learning. In my current position, I have noticed that most Japanese university students majoring in English can read and write with fair grammatical accuracy, however, they are lacking in speaking and listening skills. Due to the school education system, they also lack skills such as critical thinking and analysis. Therefore through communicative style classes in full-immersion English and the completion of tasks within and beyond their current skill base is the most effective way of improving all four macroskills. I also agree with Krashen's affective filter idea of comprehensible input as well as the extension of that idea, in terms of the importance of comprehensible output. Extending students comprehension and production by communicating to them at a level they understand and just beyond is a valuable method of teaching. Finally, I am a great believer in learner-centred learning. Japanese students have had years of teacher-centred instruction, and so it does provide difficulties for us and them when they have to adjust to a peer-learning, and learner-centred approach. However, acquisition of these new skills of collaboration, self-exploration, critical thinking and meta-cognitive processes are extremely valuable for them if they wish to use their language skills in the globalized world context. |
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A variety of areas within Applied Linguistics hold interest for me. Based on the units I have completed so far, the following research question have arisen, which I would like to pursue in further study:
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