Centre for Language Education Research Seminar Series 

School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work

Supporting Learners Outside the Language Classroom: Theory and Practice

Speaker: Dr Jo Mynard, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan 

Facilitator: Dr Sin-Wang Chong, School of SSESW
Microsoft Teams: Please register at https://tinyurl.com/s7rzphz6. All welcome!  

Abstract: In this talk, I will look at ways to support language learners in outside-classroom contexts such as self-access centres. First, I will give a brief overview of the role of self-access language learning (SALL), for example, providing materials, spaces, and facilities for learning; ensuring access to communities of TL speakers; offering language support and practice opportunities; and providing targeted support for individual learners through advising. I will then take a fresh look at SALL through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT, Deci and Ryan, 1987; Ryan and Deci, 2017) in order to explore how we not only provide support for language learning , but also help learners to thrives as human beings, I will look at some practical ways in which we can enhance students' autonomous motivation by supporting their basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in out-of-class contexts (Mynard, forthcoming; Mynard and Shelton-Strong, 2020). Finally, I will explore the role that teachers and learning advisors have in facilitating the process of developing autonomy through the powerful use of dialogue (Kato and Mynard, 2016). 

Speaker Bio: Dr Jo Maynard is a Professor and Director of the Self-Access Learning Centre (SALC) and Director of the Research Institute for Learner Autonomy Education (RILAE) at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) in Japan. She had co-edited and co-authored several books in the areas of advising, learning autonomy, and social leaning spaces. She is one of the founding editors of SiSAL (Studies in Self-Access Learning) Journal Relay Journal and the Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning.