The Language Teacher
SIG News and Contacts

JALT currently has 16 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) available for members to join. This column publishes announcements of SIG events, mini-conferences, publications, or calls for papers and presenters. SIGs wishing to print news or announcements should contact the editor by the 15th of the month, 6 weeks prior to publication.

Please submit news and contact listings to the Editor.

Recent SIG News

Bilingualism SIG--Our group has two broad aims: to support families who regularly communicate in more than one language and to further research on bilingualism in Japanese contexts. See our website at www.bsig.org for more information.
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College & University Educators (CUE) SIG--Information about what is going on in CUE can be found at allagash.miyazaki-mu.ac.jp/CUE/. Check for regular updates on the 15th of each month.
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Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) SIG--The CALL SIG is proud to announce the theme for the 2008 conference: New Frontiers in CALL: Negotiating Diversity. The conference dates will be Sat 31 May-Sun 1 Jun (with possible pre-conference workshops on Fri 30 May). The 2008 conference will be held at the Nagoya University of Commerce and Business Administration. Please check our website for further information. www.jaltcall.org.
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Gender Awareness in Language Education (GALE) SIG--GALE works to build a supportive community of educators and researchers interested in raising awareness and researching how gender plays an integral role in education and professional interaction. We also work with other JALT groups and the wider community to promote pedagogical and professional practices, language teaching materials, and research inclusive of gender and gender-related topics. Co-sponsor of Pan-SIG 2008. Upcoming Gender and Beyond conference in Nagoya, Oct 2008. Visit our website www.gale-sig.org/ for details.
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Global Issues in Language Education (GILE) SIG--Are you interested in promoting global awareness and international understanding through your teaching? Then join the Global Issues in Language Education SIG. We produce an exciting quarterly newsletter packed with news, articles, and book reviews; organize presentations for local, national, and international conferences; and network with groups such as UNESCO, Amnesty International, and Educators for Social Responsibility. Join us in teaching for a better world! Our website is www.jalt.org/global/sig/. For further information, contact Kip Cates (kcates at fed.tottori-u.ac.jp).
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Japanese as a Second Language--JALT日本語教育論集第９巻1号を発行しました。ジャーナルを日本語教育研究部会員に送ります。 We published the JALT Journal of Japanese Language Education, Volume 9, No. 1. The journal is sent to all JSL SIG members.
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Junior and Senior High School--The JSH SIG is operating at a time of considerable change in secondary EFL education. Therefore, we are concerned with language learning theory, teaching materials, and methods. We are also intensely interested in curriculum innovation. The large-scale employment of native speaker instructors is a recent innovation yet to be thoroughly studied or evaluated. JALT members involved with junior or senior high school EFL are cordially invited to join us for dialogue and professional development opportunities.
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Learner Development (LD) SIG--We are planning a retreat on 15 Jun at Nanzan University in Nagoya for those who want to stay overnight following the JACET/JALT conference Towards a Synergistic Collaboration in English Education. The retreat will offer a chance to talk about autonomy-related issues in a relaxed atmosphere. See TLT conference calendar for details of the JACET/JALT event. For information about the retreat, contact Martha Robertson, marrober at indiana.edu, or Jan Taniguch, jan_taniguchi at yahoo.com.
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Lifelong Language Learning (LLL) SIG--The increasing number of people of retirement age, plus the internationalization of Japanese society, has greatly increased the number of people eager to study English as part of their lifelong learning. The LLL SIG provides resources and information for teachers who teach English to older learners. We run a website, online forum, listserv, and SIG publication (see www.eigosenmon.com/tolsig/). For more information or to join the mailing list, contact Amanda Harlow (amand at aqua.livedoor.com) or Eric M. Skier (skier at ps.toyaku.ac.jp). 成人英語教育研究部会は来る高齢化社会に向けて高齢者を含む成人の英語教育をより充実することを目指し、昨年結成した新しい分科会です。現在、日本では退職や子育て後もこれまでの経験や趣味を生かし積極的に社会に参加したいと望んでいる方が大幅に増えております。中でも外国語学習を始めたい、または継続を考えている多くの学習者に対してわれわれ語学教師が貢献出来る課題は多く、これからの研究や活動が期待されています。LLLでは日本全国の教師が情報交換、勉強会、研究成果の出版を行い共にこの新しい分野を開拓していこうと日々熱心に活動中です。現在オンラインwww.eigosenmon.com/tolsig/上でもフォーラムやメールリスト、ニュースレター配信を活発に行っております。高齢者の語学教育に携わっていらっしゃる方はもちろん、将来の英語教育動向に関心のある方まで、興味のある方はどなたでも大歓迎です。日本人教師も数多く参加していますのでどうぞお気軽にご入会ください。お問い合わせは Amanda Harlow (amand at aqua.livedoor.com)。または Eric M. Skier (skier at ps.toyaku.ac.jp)までご連絡ください。
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Materials Writers--Materials Writers are proud to host Miles Craven as our featured speaker at May’s Pan-SIG Conference in Kyoto. Miles will offer a 2-hour workshop on materials creation and be involved in a number of other materials development sessions. In addition, there’ll be a large number of materials-related presentations. Even if you’re not presenting, come along to Kyoto for the 2-day event for some serious fun and professional development.
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Other Language Educators (OLE) SIG--OLE has issued Newsletter 42, containing a JALT2007 OLE-related events overview; French, Spanish, German, Japanese, and English conference announcements; the concluding second part of Alexander Imig’s European Language Portfolio paper; ample information about submissions for JALT2007; and a PanSIG 2007 update. OLE was honorably requested to include information about the extremely high profile Goethe Institute/DAAD event Learn European! - Monolingualism’s Misery (30 Mar).
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Pragmatics SIG--The Pragmatics SIG will again be a co-sponsor for the Annual Pan-SIG Conference to be held this year at Doshisha University Shinmachi Campus, Kyoto. This will be the 7th year of this popular conference. Be sure to put 10~11 May 2008 on your agenda. Check jalt.org/pansig/2008/.
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Professionalism, Administration and Leadership in Education (PALE) SIG--The PALE SIG welcomes new members, officers, volunteers, and submissions of articles for our journal or newsletter. To read current and past issues of our journal, visit www.debito.org/PALE. Also, anyone may join our listserv groups.yahoo.com/group/PALE_Group/. For information on events, visit www.jalt.org/groups/PALE.
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Teaching Children (TC) SIG--The Teaching Children SIG is for all teachers of children. We publish a bilingual newsletter 4 times a year, with columns by leading teachers in our field. There is a mailing list for teachers of children who want to share teaching ideas or questions at (tcsig at yahoogroups.com). We are always looking for new people to keep the SIG dynamic. With our bilingual newsletter, we particularly hope to appeal to Japanese teachers. We hope you can join us for one of our upcoming events. For more information, visit www.tcsig.jalt.org. 児童教育部会は子どもに英語（外国語）を教える全ての教師を対象にした部会です。当部会では、この分野で著名な教師が担当するコラムを含む会報を年４回発行しております。また、子どもに英語を指導するアイデアや疑問を交換する場としてメーリングリスト (tcsig at yahoogroups.com)を運営しています。活発な部会を維持していくためにも新会員を常に募集しております。会報を英語と日本語で提供しており日本人の先生方の参加も大歓迎です。今後開催される部会の催し物へぜひご参加ください。部会に関する詳細はをご覧下さい。
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Testing & Evaluation (TE) SIG--Nearly 100 different articles, interviews, book reviews, and opinion pieces are now online at www.jalt.org/test/pub.htm. The website features convenient keyword, topic, title, author, and chronological search engines. The Apr 2006 issue of SHIKEN was recently placed online. That issue features an interview with Barry Sullivan about testing business English and a review of one of his recent books as well as articles about standardized testing and theoretical perspectives in SLA assessment.
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