In this Kevin Cleary Invited Speaker presentation, I would like to explore some of the more interesting facets of second language acquisition including the topics of raising children in a bilingual environment, what it means to be a competent language teacher, to be trilingual, and how to acquire languages. It has taken me a great amount of effort to learn English and Japanese, and this is a powerful tool to remember when I walk into the classroom and teach a language. I would like to reflect on my career as a language learner, language teacher, an educational technology enthusiast, and on my experience more recently advising a secondary school in Japan. Finally, I will discuss ideas on how we can improve the curriculum and teaching strategies to remain competitive in a society with declining demographics.
It is a great honor to be nominated as the Kevin Cleary Invited Speaker for the 50th JALT International Conference. I fondly remember meeting Kevin when he visited the Fukuoka Chapter and being deeply impressed by his kindness and passion for the professional development of language teachers in Japan. His influence inspired me to begin volunteering for JALT, which provided me with the opportunity to connect with other esteemed members of our organization and envision a future career in language teaching. The conference theme, “Moving JALT into the Future: Opportunity, Diversity, and Excellence,” resonates deeply with me, as I have a long history as a JALT participant, volunteer, and leader in various capacities.
JALT has provided me with numerous opportunities to develop professionally as a language teacher. I have actively participated in Fukuoka Chapter events, attended the annual international conference, and taken part in various PanSIG and JALTCALL conferences. When I first came to Japan in 1983, it was meant to be a short-term life experience. To prepare for my initial job as a language teacher, I learned the direct method (Celce-Murcia, 2014) and began teaching French and English at the Berlitz School of Languages.
Diversity is important to me because French is my first language, yet I am an English teacher. I started learning English at the age of 10 and became passionate about it by reading English books and watching English TV programs. Immersion worked for me because I believed that with persistence, I would eventually become fluent. It took about six years for me to feel academically competent in my second language. Research shows that it typically takes 4-12 years of second language development to achieve academic proficiency comparable to native speakers (Collier, 1995). My own proficiency greatly improved after reading fascinating books like The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951), The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926), and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), amongst others.
So, what does this all mean? Patience and persistence are virtues, but the desire to learn and active involvement in language acquisition truly make a difference (Gardner & Smythe, 1975).
As Krashen (1981) hypothesizes in the Monitor Theory, there are two independent systems for developing second language ability: subconscious language acquisition and conscious language learning. Krashen emphasizes that subconscious acquisition is far more important. This type of acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language, where speakers focus on communication rather than form. I can attest to this theory, as I became proficient in English through extensive interaction in the language, without much formal grammar training or conscious learning methods.
Interestingly, despite my proficiency, I still retain a slight French accent when speaking English. This may be related to the critical period for language learning and the differences in pronunciation between French and English. Moyer (2014) notes that second language learners beyond the age of 9 or 10 can exhibit native-like behavior in certain language aspects, but it is rare to achieve native-sounding pronunciation. Even now, when I meet someone new, they often ask, “Where are you from? I can’t quite place your accent!” After I tell them I am from Montréal, they usually respond, “Aha, I knew it was a French accent!” It’s subtle but still noticeable.
These experiences have profoundly informed my approach as a language teacher. One of the most important lessons I have learned is that language acquisition requires significant time and effort. This understanding has made me more patient and empathetic as an educator, as I am familiar with the frustrations that language learners face. I have also realized that vocabulary acquisition is one of the most crucial tasks in language learning. Emphasizing the repetitive learning of high-frequency words is particularly effective in helping students acquire a new language.
Although it is widely accepted that vocabulary learning is essential for overall communicative competence, many teachers provide little or no classroom attention to it, assuming students will learn words incidentally (Zimmerman, 1997). Therefore, it is important to make a concerted effort to select word lists that are most appropriate for the learners (Browne, 2021).
Reflecting on my own breakthrough in improving my academic ability in English, I remember that reading books was the most important task I could undertake. Therefore, I highly recommend extensive reading for any school program that can incorporate it into the curriculum. Research shows that extensive reading not only enhances reading ability but also leads to improvements across a wide range of language skills and knowledge (Nation, 1997).
Most recently, I have been involved in an English education advising project to help a private secondary school in Tokyo improve its English curriculum. The school aims to reform how English is taught by utilizing technology and modern pedagogy effectively. Their goal is to create an environment where English is not only taught for university entrance exams but also seen as a practical and useful language for students’ lives after graduation. This contemporary approach to optimizing English language acquisition for high school students gives me hope that we, as language teachers, can make a significant contribution to Japanese society, resulting in successful outcomes and satisfied learners.
References
Browne, C. (2021). The NGSL project: Building wordlists and resources to help EFL learners (and teachers) to succeed. Teaching With Technology 2020: Selected papers from the JALTCALL2020 Conference, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.37546/jaltsig.call2020.1
Celce-Murcia, M. (2014). Language teaching approaches: An overview. In M. Celce-Murcia, D. Brinton, & M. A. Snow (Eds.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd ed., pp. 3–11). Heinle & Heinle.
Collier, V. P. (1995). Acquiring a second language for school. Directions in Language & Education. 3–14. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED394301.pdf
Gardner, R. C., & Smythe, P. C. (1975). Motivation and second-language acquisition. Canadian Modern Language Review, 31(3), 218–233. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.31.3.218
Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Pergamon Press.
Moyer, A. (2014). What’s age got to do with it? Accounting for individual factors in second language accent. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4(3), 443–464. https://doi.org/10.147/ssllt.2014.4.3.4
Nation, P. (1997). The language learning benefits of extensive reading. The Language Teacher, 21(5).
Zimmerman, C. B. (1997). Do reading and interactive vocabulary instruction make a difference? An empirical study. TESOL quarterly, 31(1), 121–140. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587978
Robert Chartrand is from Montréal, Canada and has been living in Fukuoka since 1983. He is a professor at the Institute of Foreign Language Education, Kurume University. His research interests are in second language acquisition and educational technology. He completed a master’s degree in TESOL at the School for International Training, and a PhD in Information Engineering at the Kyushu Institute of Technology. He has served in various leadership roles in JALT for over 20 years.
