Date: May 18^th, 2025

 Time: 12:30-13:30

Room: Building 3, 3rd Floor, Room 202

The JALT Critical Thinking SIG would like to invite everyone to join us for the JALT Critical Thinking SIG Forum being held at PanSIG 2025, which is taking place at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan from May 16th to May 18th, 2025. Five speakers will present on diverse approaches to critical thinking in language education. The featured speakers are:

James D. Dunn / Meiji University

Critical Thinking and Legal Ethics through Media Content

This presentation will report on an in-class series of classes which focused on giving legal students the opportunity to think critically about life, work, and legal issues. This course also focused on providing both legal and general vocabulary for future career purposes for the students in a private university legal department. For this course, a popular legal drama was used in conjunction with original class materials made by the presenter to help second to fourth year students who went on a one-month legal study abroad program. Both the rationalization for this methodology and the student reactions to the course will be shared as part of this presentation. Attendees will come away with ideas on how to integrate dramatic media into classes to encourage critical thinking as well as ways to provide students with opportunities to discuss ethical considerations in life.

Stephen Jennings and David Gann / Tokyo University of Science

Ensuring Student Authorship via ChatGPT Produced Quizzes

The presentation will relay the process of critical thinking undertaken by two teachers who, by working in parallel, utilize ChatGPT to make tailored tests for individual student essays. The presentation lays out the trial-and-error process of creating prompts that the AI would fully comprehend and use to produce suitable tests. With the aim to ensure students have indeed produced their own content for their essay, each test is created in order to evaluate the degree to which students can recall the content, have used level-appropriate vocabulary, and can answer questions generated to induce a discursive written answer. With reference to the Plan, Do, Check, Action cycle of continuous improvement of lesson activities , the presentation refers to a range of critical thinking concepts such as observation, reflection and generating promising solutions based on observable data.

Wayne Devitte / Tokai University

Critical Thinking Skills in Understanding Youjoukouza- An Ethnographic Analysis

With the number of international university students in Japan increasing, the need for them to understand lectures in a foreign language such as Japanese or English is essential. However, understanding lectures in a foreign language presents several challenges not the least of which are the affective factors that impact the listener as they attempt to follow the flow of the information, and glean the gist, and comprehend the specific points being made by a lecturer. Even when a listener understands the language being used, the listener may find that their ability to comprehend the information on a presented topic is limited by their observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, and inference skills. This presentation will present an ethnographic analysis of the observer-participant’s experience during a 33-day educational cruise where they attended 18 Japanese language lectures on various academic and non-academic topics. The lectures, intended for a Japanese speaking audience, were to varying degrees well above the Japanese language skill of the observer-participant. It will present details by which the observer-participant attempted to comprehend and engage with the lecture. It will also summarize factors, specifically critical thinking skills, that contributed to the observer-participant’s success in understanding being presented.

Wang Xiaodan / Yakumo Academy

Enhancing ESL Learning Through Debating: Challenges, Strategies, and Reflections

This presentation focuses on integrating debating into ESL classrooms for students with intermediate to advanced English proficiency. The typical class size is 8 students, occasionally expanding to 13 when exchange students join for three weeks. Initially, students faced challenges such as hesitancy to speak, difficulties in structuring arguments, and varying confidence levels. Some class activities aimed at addressing the issues, like structured debates and guided discussions, will be shared during the presentation.  Student feedback at the semester’s end highlighted improvements in speaking, confidence, and critical thinking. Many found debating made learning more engaging and dynamic. The presentation will conclude by reflecting on the benefits of including debating in the ESL curriculum, its impact on students’ language development, and suggestions for refining this approach in future classes.

To submit a presentation proposal, use the Forms link below:

https://forms.office.com/r/CqJ5yy8xpB

We hope to see you there!

Here are the presentations that will be featured:

Critical Thinking and Legal Ethics through Media Content
James D. Dunn – Meiji University

Critical Thinking and Autonomy: Integrating Self-Regulated Learning and Generative AI
Dennis Koyama – Sophia University

The Role of Exit Tickets and Learning Journals in Building Self-Reflection and Autonomy in EFL Young Learners
Pipit Prihartanti Suharto – Universitas Pendidkan Indonesia

Enhancing Student Learning with Visible Thinking Routines
Rob Peacock – Oxford University Press

Fostering Critical Thinking in EFL with Collaborative Quiz Networks
Matthew Akingbade – The Palms English After School (Gakudou) Organization

How the Use of Slang Might Enhance Vocabulary Retention, Critical Thinking, and Overall Engagement for English Learners
John David Garrett – Foreign Services Training Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

This event is open to all and is free to attend. To receive the Zoom link and code for the meeting, please register using the link below.

https://forms.office.com/r/xTpTwdpEKb

We are still accepting submissions for presentation proposals for the event as well. The deadline for submitting a proposal is January 31st, 2025. If you would like to submit a proposal, use the link below. The length of presentations will depend on how many quality submissions we receive.

https://forms.office.com/r/jWhmVMp4jW

We hope to see you there either as a presenter or an attendee!

Nicholas A. Bufton (Takasaki City University of Economics)

After the Task: Metacognition, Self-assessment and Evaluation

Patrizia M. J. Hayashi & Tyson Rode (Meikai University)

Fostering Critical Thinking and Global Citizenship through Significant Learning Outcomes

Stephen Jennings (Tokyo University of Science)

Active Learning: Reaching a Tipping Point

After the presentations, the Critical Thinking SIG Program Chair, Todd Hooper, will discuss future opportunities to present, publish, and participate in the SIG.

We hope to see you there!

The aim of this conference is to provide an opportunity for researchers and educators to share their research, methods, approaches, materials, and activities for encouraging critical thinking and the use of higher order thinking skills in the language learning classroom. Areas of interest may include, but are not limited to, higher-order thinking skills, evidence-based thinking, problem solving, logical thinking, evaluating sources, thinking dispositions, viewpoint-taking, debate and argumentation, academic writing, and of course, critical thinking.

The conference program features nineteen presentations given by twenty-three presenters, and the presenters come from three different countries, which promises that a wide variety of perspectives on critical thinking in language education will be offered.

If you have any colleagues that are interested in critical thinking in language classrooms, please share the conference website with them.

We hope to see you there!

Conference Fee (in Yen)
JALT Members 1,000
Non-JALT Members 2,000
JALT Student Members 500
Non-JALT Student Members 1,500
NOTE: All conference fees must be paid at the venue in cash.
We do not have the ability to take electronic or credit card payments.

To submit a proposal, click on this link.

The aim of this conference is to provide an opportunity for researchers and educators to share their research, methods, approaches, materials, and activities for encouraging critical thinking and the use of higher order thinking skills in the language learning classroom. Presenters will receive a 45-minute slot (35 minutes for presenting and 10 minutes for Q&A). Areas of interest may include, but are not limited to, higher-order thinking skills, evidence-based thinking, problem solving, logical thinking, evaluating sources, thinking dispositions, viewpoint-taking, debate and argumentation, academic writing, and of course, critical thinking.

If you would like to submit a presentation proposal, please fill out the form at <https://forms.office.com/r/f1Q91y10gq>. The deadline for submissions is May 31st, 2024.

If you have any questions about the conference or the submission process, you can contact the conference organizers at <program@jaltcriticalthinking.org>.

JALT Critical Thinking SIG Website: <https://www.jaltcriticalthinking.org>

Ludic Language Pedagogy Website: <https://llpjournal.org>

The theme of the conference is The Impact of AI in Language.  Takako Aikawa and Joel Tetreault will be the keynote speakers, with the CT SIG’s own James Dunn presenting on critical thinking through LMS-based classes.

For more information, see https://jaltcall.org/jaltcall-2024.  To register, please use the following link: https://events.jalt.org/event/1/registrations/19/.  Please note, registration by May 1st guarantees entrance to the Networking Reception.

We hope to see you there.