naheen_madarbakus-ring@nucba.ac.jp
About
Naheen Madarbakus-Ring is a lecturer at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business in Japan. She has taught in South Korea, the UK and New Zealand. Naheen received her PhD in Applied Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington (NZ). Her research areas include listening strategies, curriculum and material development.Sessions
Selecting, Grading, and Teaching TED Talks-Based Listening Lessons more
Sun, May 1, 17:00-Tue, May 31, 23:55 Asia/Seoul
This presentation offers a three-step pedagogic framework for fellow educators to develop academic listening lessons. First, practice selecting suitable TED Talks using an aspects checklist that compares the resource to academic lectures. Second, create vocabulary profiles for the chosen TED Talk to develop lists that are suitable for learners’ levels. Thirdly, choose from different listening activities to help learners build on their background knowledge about the TED Talk. The presentation will focus on using listening journals to develop learners’ metacognitive knowledge and critical reflection that help them to plan and carry out more effective listening. Real class examples will demonstrate how to use these approaches when teaching listening. These lesson planning approaches will illustrate how we can select a suitable resource, grade the vocabulary for learners, and develop activities to use with our chosen selections in listening lessons.
Reflecting on Listening: Learner Insights from Metacognitive Journals more
Fri, Apr 29, 09:00-Tue, May 31, 23:55 Asia/Seoul
Learners encounter common L2 listening difficulties, such as time commitments, repeated mistakes, and activities in their lessons. Research suggests that journals can help learners reflect on their performance, plan their approaches to listening, and help learners attend to their real-time listening difficulties. This study analyzed 60 Japanese university learners’ listening journals to understand their out-of-class listening selections. Learners completed one homework journal for five weeks, using metacognitive knowledge prompts to reflect on their listening selections, task ease and difficulties, and their listening goals. The results showed that learners selected familiar listening resources. Learners reported that familiar accents and listening texts with visual aids were beneficial, while speed and unfamiliar topics contributed towards listening difficulties. Learners’ reported listening for key words, manipulating the speed, and listening in sections as goals in their future listening lessons. The presentation concludes by outlining how to use learner journals in listening lessons for educators to use in their own classrooms.
Using Context-Specific Word Lists to Analyse the Lexicon of Academic ELT Textbooks more
Fri, Apr 29, 09:00-Tue, May 31, 23:55 Asia/Seoul
Although textbooks in foreign language programmes provide teachers with support, attending to specific vocabulary difficulties remains challenging. Understanding the vocabulary load of textbooks can help teachers use accessible materials and clear instruction in the curriculum design process. Research suggests textbooks are not adequately covering high-frequency vocabulary, so further analysis is needed to ascertain the lexicon of textbooks and understand their suitability for learners in varying contexts. This study outlines research using a general word list and a Japanese-context word list to investigate the lexicon of two commercially published textbooks. The results show that although the vocabulary load of each unit in the textbooks become increasingly difficult, overall, the textbook is too lexically demanding for Japanese-tertiary level students, with knowledge of 8,000 words necessary for comprehension. Finally, pedagogical implications, including the use of word cards and vocabulary quizzes to assist the needs of students will be discussed.
