The other day, I spoke as a designated discussant in a panel discussion at the BEAT Seminar on “Social Innovation in Foreign Language Education.”

First, there were presentations by Mr. Kato from RareJob and Mr. Ki from Lang-8. Mr. Kato from RareJob talked about why he started the RareJob service, why the instructors are Filipino, and provided an overview of the service. It seems they recruit instructors through active hiring processes, specifically targeting current students and graduates of the University of the Philippines, which is equivalent to the University of Tokyo in Japan. The system allows users to select an instructor from the RareJob website, book a time, and take the lesson via Skype. The price is very affordable, starting from 129 yen for 25 minutes, and there is also a 50-minute course. The monthly fee is paid in a lump sum for the month. It was a presentation that conveyed Mr. Kato’s desire to make this the first global company from the Philippines. I felt a depth that went beyond just running a business, as he is considering not just hiring Filipinos to expand the business, but also fostering cultural exchange between the Philippines and Japan.
Since my master’s degree, I have been researching the use of synchronous CMC, such as video conferencing and text chat, in foreign language education, and I received my degree in this field, so I listened with great interest. I would like to know what the actual learning effects are. I am also interested in the effect of being taught by fellow Asians, the Filipinos. Their English was truly clear. I would like to try it myself, as I haven’t spoken English at all lately. I am particularly bad at listening.
Mr. Ki’s presentation on Lang-8 was also interesting. It is tandem learning, isn’t it? It is a system where you communicate with people whose native language is the one you want to learn, and continue communicating while making corrections. You make corrections through your own social network. The number of supported languages depends on the participants, meaning it can support as many languages as there are countries of origin among the participants. When they started the business, they didn’t do much publicity in Japan, but focused on overseas, mainly in the United States. It is great because you can learn through text-based communication centered on themes you are interested in. There is authenticity in actual communication, and because it is asynchronous text communication, you can take your time to create sentences. Also, being corrected leads to learning, and I think it also strengthens social presence. Depending on the theme of the communication and the affinity with the other person, there are users who will make corrections for the entire 50 minutes. Some people even like Lang-8 so much that they make commercials for it.
I think it works well precisely because it is a communication medium that raises grammatical awareness and allows for plenty of time. It is truly a happy feeling for foreigners who want to learn your country’s language, and if you teach each other, social presence is strengthened, and you feel like you want to provide social support. I think it is a good service. Also, I think they are using social media in a way that fits well, without being bound by rigid learning views like tests. As someone who has been researching social media in foreign language education, I thought it was “clever.” However, it seems it is a bit difficult from a business perspective. I really hope they do their best.
In the panel discussion, I first introduced the theories that are important in the use of social media in foreign language learning and talked about the challenges. I believe that when using social media for learning, not limited to foreign language learning, one should be careful not to create a rigid learning environment. I think it is best to use it as a connection point to learning in main media such as face-to-face interaction. Social media is more suitable for aiming for casual learning, mainly by enriching human relationships and increasing motivation.
A question or discussion that left an impression on me was about what is different between social media and face-to-face learning. Hmm… it depends on the design, the content being learned, and the constraints, but I don’t think they are things to be compared. As I mentioned above. I think there are countless differences, but the principles of use are fundamentally different to begin with. Face-to-face learning can be a form of intensive study. Social media should be casual and keep the learning points in focus. This is the key point, and I think it is difficult. Overall, I think it is better to aim for indirect effectiveness, such as extending learning time and improving quality.

What do you all think?

Since there were many business-related participants this time, I thought they wouldn’t be interested in academic or educational topics, but some of them were. Since it was an educational seminar, not a business seminar, I thought Professors Yamauchi and Kitamura chose me, but I was a little worried if I would be okay. However, there were some who were interested in my talk, and several people asked for my presentation materials after it ended. So, I will make them public. I have also included references. If anyone is conducting research, I hope you find them useful.

There are many practical examples of using CMC, or rather social media, in foreign language learning, but as research, it is still in its infancy in Japan and there are still very few studies. When I started during my master’s degree, there were very few research papers on it in Japan, so I often read overseas journals. It is quite active overseas, and there is a CMC SIG at EuroCALL. There isn’t one in Japan, is there? I hope it will increase more and more from now on. And I would like to see more research that incorporates psychological perspectives into its theoretical background.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

BEAT Seminar Togetter
http://togetter.com/li/47376

Yamada’s materials
BEATSeminar20100904

It was featured in MyCom Journal. Thank you, Yoshinori Honda.
http://journal.mycom.co.jp/column/bizenglish/043/index.html