Teachers: Learning Cafe ラーニング・カフェ 55 minutes / 55分 Encouraging students to recognize and express their positionality more

Sun, Oct 22, 11:05-12:00 Asia/Tokyo

I have long tried to encourage students to 'come out' and express their positionality, which are their worldviews and positions they adopt about their research in relation to their social content (Robinson and Wilson). I have been long interested in raising students’ awareness of their positionalities. This interest stems from my background as a person of color from an English L1 context whose socio-economic background jars with the current educational context (a private women's university) where I work. Years ago, I tried to coax my seminar students to confront their socio-economic capital and social class with definitions of social identities, but their lack of response left me dissatisfied. This year I have attempted to raise awareness of students' positionality with several activities/exercises. This session will be structured with a number of mini-sessions with these activities, aimed at generating ideas and insights to encourage students to reflect and express their positionality and social identities, Also, this session will explore how students can express themselves in their position statements and graduation theses. More than finding success, I hope together, we can reflect on these proactive teacher efforts. The merits/demerits of these activities in Japan's risk-adverse society will also be considered.