Teachers: Research Practice / Talk 研究／実践についての話し合い 25 minutes / 25分 A Collaborative Case Study Approach to Japanese Social Issues more

Sat, Oct 21, 14:55-15:20 Asia/Tokyo

With the Japanese government’s decade-long initiative to cultivate global human resources, foreign language proficiency and Cultural Intelligence (CQ) remain essential goals in EFL classrooms. Collaborative case studies conducted at the group level have the potential to provide students with the opportunity to delve deep into content and target specific language learning goals. Third-year students in a CLIL class completed various case studies connected to Japanese social issues to increase their knowledge and empathy of their home culture as a basis for improving intercultural competence. Through this approach, students also improved some advanced communicative goals while engaging critically with the content. The case studies outlined in this presentation have been designed and implemented to prepare students for potential future international work environments, meet specific linguistic benchmarks, and fulfil curriculum requirements. Over a semester-long seminar-type class, students undertook specially tailored case studies that required them to collaborate through researching, problem-solving, planning, and negotiating. This presentation will outline the rationale for collaborative case studies and how they were designed and implemented. This approach was used over four academic years to gauge if a greater understanding of one’s home culture improves cultural intelligence and sensitivity. The presenter will offer observations on the effectiveness of this approach.