Was it 2006? The research results for “Narikiri English!,” a project led by Professor Nakahara at the University of Tokyo under the Benesse Endowed Chair for Advanced Educational Technology, which I have been involved in since I was a second-year doctoral student, have finally been published as a paper. It has been accepted. It was a long road…
Yamada, M., Kitamura, S., Shimada, N., Utashiro, T., Shigeta, K., Yamaguchi, E., Harrison, R., Yamauchi, Y., Nakahara, J. (2011) Development and evaluation of English listening study materials for business people that use mobile devices: A case study, CALICO Journal, 29(1), in printing
Some might say, “Publication in 2011??” Yes, it will be about another year and a half until it is published (laughs). The proofreading check will come when we have forgotten about it, and then it will be published. By that time, some people might have changed their affiliations.
“Narikiri English!” is English listening material for mobile devices aimed at people working in companies. The key point was to “turn the English you hear now, or will hear in the near future, into study materials.” To achieve this, we conducted interviews with corporate HR departments to create stories, translated those stories into English, and then developed and evaluated them based on those materials… it was quite a large-scale project. Over 20 people were involved in the project over two years. I was mainly involved in the design and development parts.
As I have written before, if it weren’t for this “Narikiri English!,” I would never have worked at the University of Tokyo, and I would not be in the research community I am in today. I was determined to turn “Narikiri English!” into a paper no matter what. It was rejected at times, but we persisted in writing it. In particular, Professor Kitamura at the University of Tokyo and I reviewed the paper’s narrative and structure many times together.
This brings a sense of closure. Moreover, it is in an international journal. If you are a CALL researcher, I think it is an international journal that is quite widely read. I feel refreshed. It was an important project that led me to join the University of Tokyo. For me, this marks the end of “Narikiri English!.”
Thank you to everyone who was involved in this project. I am especially grateful to Professor Kitamura for staying with me until the end, including the writing of the paper.
Narikiri English! The final curtain!!
(Unless there is some business development or research project in the future)

Narikiri English!!
http://fukutake.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp/archives/beat/projects/index.html#Narikiri

# But, from my perspective as someone who has been researching CALL, although it took a lot of time and money,
# there are really very few ESP CALL studies that have been built and evaluated as thoroughly as this one.
# They are increasing in Europe. Language education is considered even more important there than in Japan,
# and the EU provides budgets in the tens to hundreds of millions for language education research projects,
# so there is much more that can be done there than in Japan.
# As a project carried out within the limitations of Japan, I think it is quite a good one.

# Some English educators say that the effect is obvious, but since they are saying that
# without even verifying it, there is no way they can call it “obvious.”
# Well, in education, which deals with human psychology, “obvious” things never exist,
# and it is not easy to achieve high results just by providing tools and materials.
# If it were that easy, everyone would already be doing it.
# If someone were to say such a thing, they are someone who understands nothing at all.