The College and University Educators (CUE) SIG was established in 1993 to provide JALT members a place to voice their opinions and present their ideas. Since its inception, the group has strived to provide a voice for EFL postsecondary teachers in Japan. The diversity of our officers, the speakers at CUE events, and the educators who write for and edit our publications, reflects the importance we place on addressing the wide variety of needs of our members. We have grown to be JALT’s biggest SIG with a membership of 499 members.
CUE’s purpose is to provide a forum for addressing the specific needs of foreign language teachers at the college and university level. CUE disseminates information about research related to teaching at Japanese colleges and universities and serves as a setting to exchange information and opinions through presentation and publication opportunities. We support presenters and collaborate with other JALT groups to provide professional development and networking opportunities for the college and university teaching community in Japan.
CUE Events
CUE holds two different conferences in alternating years: the CUE ESP Symposium and the CUE SIG conference. We also hold annual forums at the JALT International Conference and the PanSIG Conference.
At the CUE SIG conference our members present their research and teaching ideas in formal presentations and poster sessions. The CUE ESP Symposium, which has been held four times, features plenaries and poster sessions by educators working in the field of English for Specific Purposes.
The 2016 CUE SIG Conference, co-sponsored by Osaka JALT Chapter, was held at Kindai university in Osaka. The conference featured 38 short presentations, 10 poster presentations, and plenary talks by Laurence Anthony of Waseda University and Makoto Ikeda from Sophia University. The 2017 CUE ESP Symposium, which was co-sponsored by the JALT BizCom SIG and Yokohama and Tokyo JALT Chapters, was held at Keio University in Yokohama. It featured plenary speeches by Masako Terui of Kindai University, Bertha Du-Babcock from City University of Hong Kong, and Sue Starfield from the University of New South Wales, as well as 24 poster presentations. In 2018 CUE will hold its 25th anniversary conference, which is tentatively scheduled for early September at Rikkyo University in Tokyo.
The Teacher Development (TD) and CUE SIG joint forum at the JALT International conference is an annual event that features roundtable presentations about classroom experiences and teacher development. CUE’s forum at the PanSIG conference usually consists of four to five short presentations on classroom practices. These popular events provide our members with an opportunity to share their ideas and experiences in a less formal setting than a typical conference presentation.
CUE Publications
CUE has two publications. The biannual, peer-reviewed On CUE Journal is an academic journal featuring research articles and discussion of curricula and other activities of broad interest to the college and university teaching community. The CUE Circular is a new quarterly publication featuring short articles about teacher concerns, motivations, and challenges, and practical teaching or learning-related topics. Submission information for the CUE publications can be found on our website <http://jaltcue.org>.
As you can see, CUE is a SIG that proudly supports a wide variety of voices across the college and university teaching community in Japan. In the coming months we will unveil our new grant program, which will begin in 2018. We will offer two annual grants: a Member Research Grant and a Member Support Conference Grant. The purpose of these grants is to help CUE members who need funding for research or conference related expenses. They will also offer an opportunity for recipients to publish their research or a review in one of the CUE publications. We encourage you to share your ideas for improving our ability to serve the needs of college and university educators in Japan. Please stop by our table at the JALT International Conference for a chat and more information about how CUE can serve your professional development and networking needs.
Wendy M. Gough
JALT CUE SIG Coordinator