Luke Carson

What happens when teachers are removed from the equation, when we learn by ourselves or with peers?

Increasingly rapid change is part of our world today and tomorrow. The need to learn and to adapt is now lifelong and ubiquitous. But are educators and educational institutions preparing today’s students for this reality? Educators and institutions choose pedagogic models, design curricula and provide instruction. However, this does not mirror the learning environments that we inhabit outside of formal education, nor does it reflect all our learning time during formal education. This text provides a data-driven picture of the independent learning experience - what occurs in the minds of learners as they negotiate learning tasks without (or with less) guidance and instruction. Cognition, distraction, embodied experience, emotion, and metacognition are central to this learning.


Drawing on new empirical data, this volume focuses on university-aged learners. These are the learners who have been through our formal educational systems. Do they learn well in independent settings? Have they been prepared for this? Through an explication of this experience, this volume makes a case for how we can better prepare them for the demands of current and future learning.

"This chapter proposes the theoretical model which underpins the volume. Book blurb: Advising in Language Learning (ALL) brings together examples of advising practice and research from various international contexts in a fast-developing field. A theoretical model based on constructivism and sociocultural theory (the “Dialogue, Tools and Context Model”) is proposed and supported thoughout the book, as each of the contributions focuses on one or more areas of the model. In this volume the editors set out the general aims and understandings of the field, illustrating the innovative manner in which advisors around the world are working with learners and researching the practice of ALL."

1. Introduction 2. A suggested model for advising in language learning 3. The skills of counselling in advising: Langauge as a pedagogic tool 4. Target language or L!: Advisors' perceptions on the role of language in a learning advisory session 5. Peer advising as a means to facilitate language learning 6. Advising-in-action: Exploring the inner dialogue of the learning advisor 7. Kaleidoscope, an online tool for reflection on language learning 8. Attribution theory as an advising tool Vignette 1 The Wheel of Language Learning 9. Advising in context: Towards pedagogical and institutional integration 10. Sharing stories: Autobiographical narratives in advertising Vignette 2 The portfolio: A practical tool for advising language learners in a self-acces centre in Mexico 11. Learner contributions in an open and distance language setting Vignette 3 The role of advising and a student tracking system in the United Arab Emirates Vignette 4 Chalk and cheese: Language advising in different worlds 12. Why classroom-based advising? 13. Ethnographic encounters: A possible tool for advising in language learning 14. Communities of practice as a source of professional development in advising for langauge learning

This paper discusses language learning space creation within third level institutions in Japan – specifically self-access language centres (SALCs). Human resources are particularly important considering that language learning is, both a difficult task that can be facilitated through expert support, and a necessarily communicative, interactive endeavour. It suggests that the first issue designers of new learning spaces may wish to consider is educational staffing, and gaining institutional approval for the necessary funding from the outset if possible. As the history of SALCs clearly shows, adequate and appropriate staffing remains key in order for optimal and broad learning gains to occur. One of the earliest evaluative studies of SALCs was conducted by Gardner and Miller (1997) in Hong Kong. The finding of most salience to this discussion is that “the SAC manager’s post should be full-time as should some of the tutor’s posts” (Gardner & Miller, 1997, p. 118). As a non-traditional l...

While the word ‘threshold’ is used in language learning frameworks, a threshold concept from a learning theory perspective refers to a “transformed way of understanding” (Meyer & Land, 2006), that brings with it an ontological shift in the minds of learners. This paper discusses the possibility that the jump from learning a language to learning and using a language in certain contexts may be such a threshold concept in certain EFL contexts. This discussion follows a mapping of the characteristics of threshold concepts onto the act of learning a language for the purpose of communicative competence. This understanding posits that active communication in a foreign language can be both simultaneously more difficult and more meaningful than educators may always recognise. Drawing on what learning theory has discovered about ‘troublesome’ learning, the discussion provides a reframing of some learner journeys to becoming communicators. This paper discusses this issue from three perspective...

Teachers  talk  and  students,  as  a  group,  listen.  While  educators  have  generally  moved  en  masse  away  from such an understanding
of good educational practice, classrooms often return to this format. However, current knowledge of the individual nature of the learning experience illustrates how learners in groups have different needs, are at different stages in their development (epistemologically, in terms of content specific knowledge, and  learning  skill  development),  and  respond  differently  to  the  same  stimuli.
A  case  study  of  an  in-service training  exercise  conducted  with 
university  language  educators  (N=40)  is  provided.  It  was 
designed  to increase awareness of and reflection on teacher interactions with individual learners in classroom contexts. It illustrates how, when reflecting on interactions with students, the majority of teacher participants found a gap between  their  goals  for  and  knowledge  of  individual  students,  and  the  messages  actually  communicated through  their  interactions  with  students.  This  paper  also  provides  a  model  of  teacher/student  interaction, showing  how  the  dialogue  between  the  two  parties  can  be  at  the  centre
of  a  positive learning  experience, when  the
interactions  between  teachers  and  learners  are  individually  appropriate  and  proximal.  Waiting, watching, listening and
engaging in dialogue are key educatorpractices for improved individualized classroom communications

In line with the conference theme of ‘New Beginnings’, this plenary takes the start of a new era, the Reiwa era in Japan, as its inspiration. Rather than focusing on a specific aspect of SALCs themselves, this discussion takes a step back from the day-to-day realities of working within and developing learning spaces, and focuses rather on larger movements happening in society, with a view to what these mean for what SALCs could or should be.
Exponential change and globalisation are powerful aspects of our present and future existence that arguably require significant adjustments to educational models. My talk will make the case for a transdisciplinary approach to understanding and tackling this situation from the prospective of learner development and future needs. This discussion will be situated in the cultural context of Japan and its educations systems.
In their short history in Japan, SALCs have been a driver for educational change. Although no two SALC are the same, this plenary makes the argument that they can play a central role in promoting and developing future-focused education within their institutions.