This poster will narrate the unfolding of an English communication course for first-year students at a National university in Japan where students have the opportunity to make meaningful choices regarding their learning. In the first class meeting, students participated in a self-assessment of their English using the CEFR-J can-do descriptors for spoken interaction and monologue (Tono & Negishi, 2020). Through the newly-gained awareness of their English proficiency, students expressed their desired focus for the successive class meetings. A majority of students wanted to prioritize explicit vocabulary learning and idiomatic language, while fluency training was a close third. Then, students worked with the instructor to draft a syllabus, schedule the class activities, and identify topics of interest. As a result, the course was divided into three units focused on self-expression, conversation strategies, and English for interaction on campus, respectively. For each unit, the first class meeting would be centered on vocabulary acquisition, the second on idiomatic expression, the third on fluency, and the fourth was dedicated to assessment. At a later stage, students requested a further focus on pronunciation, which was added to the third unit.

Tono, Y. & Negishi, M. (2020). Kyо̄zai – tesuto sakusei no tame no CEFR-J risо̄subukku. Taishukan.