私は大学で、ChatGPTをどう活用できるか研究しています。流行だからではなく、これが学び方そのものを変えてしまう可能性があるからです。最初は、論文の校正や授業計画の手直しを頼む程度でした。ところが使ううちに、単なる校正者ではなく、自分の考えを押し広げてくれる共同研究者のような存在だと気づきました。
ただし、注意も必要です。心理学では「認知的オフローディング」と呼ばれる現象があります。テクノロジーに考える作業を任せすぎると、自分の思考力が弱まってしまうというものです。特に学生にはこの危険があります。けれども、うまく使えばChatGPTはヴィゴツキーの「発達の最近接領域（ZPD）」の考え方にぴったり合います。つまり、「自力ではまだ難しいが、少しの支援でできること」を広げるための足場のような存在です。
授業では、AIを“答えを出す道具”ではなく“考えるためのパートナー”として使う方法を学生に教えています。うまく使えば、頭をサボらせるのではなく、むしろ脳にジムの会員証を与えるようなものなのです。

I had to write the column for this month and decided to talk about a presentation I gave on vocabulary at the KGU Open Campus in August. The presentation was only three minutes – can you imagine that! I am sure you have seen many students on the trains earnestly studying English vocabulary lists from those small-sized vocabulary books. It is an excellent essential first step to learning vocabulary. We see this on the trains or coffee shops because most students in Japan do not have English classes where they thoroughly focus on vocabulary. I must look at high school student report cards yearly during the entrance exam season. I like to look at the names of their English courses. I often see titles with the word ‘grammar’ in them, but I don’t recall seeing a class with the word ‘vocabulary’ in the title – why is this? We think learning vocabulary is simple – as easy as memorizing word lists. Moreover, we mistakenly believe that grammar is more important than vocabulary. Neither of these assumptions is correct, which is why so many students struggle with learning English.
Watch for my next column, in which I will show why you should focus more on learning vocabulary than grammar!
Jason

Have you had the chance to explore AI ChatGPT? We utilized this technology to create one of the English tests. The experience? It didn’t necessarily reduce the time spent creating the test; instead, it altered the allocation of time to different aspects of test-making.
For instance, AI ChatGPT proved invaluable in quickly producing and editing texts. However, when it came to generating accurate and suitable test questions for the student’s level, it demanded more time and attention from us. It often gave us the wrong answers to the questions as well! At this stage, it felt like we were collaborating with a child. In its defense, we were like children regarding prompts. In other words, we needed to learn how to better communicate with it. This common communication issue between humans and AI has led to a new profession called ‘prompt engineering.’
A ‘prompt engineer’ possesses natural language expertise in communicating with large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT. LLMs are AI systems capable of understanding and generating language. One widely adopted prompt framework is called RISEN:
• Role: Define its role, for instance, as an expert English test writer.
• Instruction: Provide clear steps with a specific goal.
• Steps: Outline the necessary actions to achieve the goal.
• End Goal: Clearly state the final objective.
• Narrowing: Establish constraints, like limiting the test to 20 questions.
It is fascinating that we must develop new communicative skills to work with AI! I hope you found this column interesting.

Have you ever wondered why the faces we see on ancient statues and in ancient paintings seem expressionless?

Can you discern any emotions from these two portrait paintings? It has been suggested that 90% of our communication is nonverbal and done mostly through the face.  Early prehistoric art shows a complete absence of interest in the face. Even in ancient literature there is very little description of the face.  In the Tale of　Genji are there many passages describing facial features?  Common sense might suggest that this was just the style of our ancestors –  perhaps humans were more stoic in the past.

However, there is one theory proposed by Brener (2000) which is quite interesting to consider. His research suggests that the lack of detail in the human face in ancient art is because cognitively our ancestors were neither good at using their faces to show emotion or reading emotion.  Specifically, a lack of development in the right hemisphere of our brain meant that when we looked at a face. we could not process it holistically.  In other words, we could not see how all the features of our face (mouth, eyes, cheek muscle, etc.) could work together to express emotions.   For this reason, our ancestors did not show much interest in the face.  According to Brener it was from the 16^th century on that art really started to capture the complexity of human face.

I hope you are enjoying the spring weather.  I am going to tell you what I have been doing recently.  For the past year, I have been working with Jane Willis a well-known academic in language education on the digitalization of her course.  In the late 1980s, Jane and her also famous husband Dave Willis wrote a language course book that even today is still innovative.  One important innovation among many was that for all their language activities they used authentic recordings of native speakers doing the same tasks that the students would learn.  At some point in the lesson, students would analyze the recording of this talk.  One benefit of using authentic talk, is that it exposes students to language that they don’t typically hear. For example, if we look at the activity below from the course, we can see different ways to describe colors.  Instead of describing something as clearly ‘blue’ a native speaker might call it ‘bluish’or ‘a greeny blue.’ In all language textbooks colors are not taught in this way as you probably know.  Something is either blue or green but not both.  Of course, this language doesn’t appear on language tests but ironically it more accurately reflects real world use of English.  For reference ‘ish’ as in ‘reddish’ means ぽいor in this case 赤ぽい.    Besides colors we can attach ‘ish’ to describe many things including weather (coldish).

Our digitalization project has been going on for about a year, however, in actual fact it has been a work in process for about seven years. The reason is it took us a very long time to find all the course material.  Jane no longer had most of the course and so my job was to find it.   The most difficult search involved the audio cassettes which I eventually found in Italy.  Our goal for this project which Kanto Gakuin University helps fund is to make it free for everyone.  In many places around the world English education is crucial for future success but high-quality material is often unavailable because it is too expensive for schools and students.  With this project we hope to introduce teachers in such countries to this wonderful material.

Happy New Year Everyone!

I have been working with online learning for over 15 years now.  Did you know that Kanto Gakuin University was one of the first universities in Japan to use an online English proficiency test that measures all four skills through computer-based assessment?   When we were told last April that our courses would be online it was relatively easy for me to shift to that mode of learning since all of my classes were already ‘blended’.  Have you heard of the term ‘blended learning’? It simply means combining online learning with regular classroom learning in order to maximize learning and teaching.  For example, why use precious class time for learning that can easily be done online.  Class time in my view should maximize human interaction.   Anyway, I was invited in October to talk on a panel about how this current pandemic is changing education.  Well, my view is that while it may be speeding things  up a bit in the short term the major changes we are seeing in education thanks to the digital revolution have been going on for a long time.  We are very slowly moving from didactic pedagogy to a more reflexive one.  Most of us are familiar with the dimensions for a didactic pedagogy but for many of you the features of a reflexive pedagogy make take some time to get used to!   Have a look at the differences.

At the moment, I am currently writing a paper about the use of infographs in the English language classroom. Do you know what the two words make up infograph? I am not going to tell you! I am sure you can guess.

In 2004, the use of the word infographic was rarely used when doing Internet searches on Google. A quick check of Google Trends, which tracks what people around the world are searching on the Internet, shows that the word infographic in 2004 reached no higher than 2 on a world-wide popularity scale of 1-100. By 2012, the word reached 51 before reaching 98 in 2016.

The popularity of the word reflects the fact that more and more information is becoming visual. Data visualization is a growing field and industry. One reason for this is because our world is becoming more complex and visual information can often best represent this complexity. Critics claim that this increase in visual information is a ‘dumbing down’ of literacy. However, others argue that literacy is being ‘expanded’ because it requires students to consider why and how the author designed the infograph in the way he/she did.

I have included a recent infograph I have used in my classes. There are 7.7 billion in the world and this infograph is titled: The World as 100 People. Looking at the graph, you can see that 93 people don’t have a university degree – attending university is still a privilege!

One of my hobbies is to collect shoes.

My father told me when I was young that it is important to have good shoes.

Collecting shoes and in particular ‘sneakers’ has become very popular and is ‘big business.

’ One of my seminar students also collects sneakers and recently when he needed some money he sold them.

Here is video that talks about people who collect shoes. The man in the video has 3000 pairs!

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-to-make-big-money-in-the-sneaker-business

Did you know that in America they call running shoes ‘sneakers’ but in England they are called ‘trainers.’

In Canada where I am from they are called ‘runners.’

At the university during the day I often change shoes numerous times.

Changing shoes helps me stay fresh so I can teach better.

Here are two recent pairs of shoes I bought.

Do you notice that they are ‘slip on.’

Why? Because in Japan you often have to take your shoes off when entering places.

I hate tying laces!

Do you have any English classes where you decide what you want to be tested on and when you want to be tested? Sound interesting? Well, you should take our English Expression classes. In these classes, you focus on specific ‘can do’ goals. For example, can you give directions (go straight, turn left)? Once you think you ‘can do’ this you just show me when you are ready. For motivated students, there is the chance to sit face to face with me every class and show me what you can do! This is what we call individualized learning. Isn’t that an ideal learning environment?

Jason Moser（コミュニケーション学科）

In my seminars in the Dept. of Communication my focus is on helping students feel confident about communicating with English. As a specialist in language education and having learned two languages I know that a big step forward is learning not to feel embarrassed about using a new language and making mistakes with it. In my seminars we learn English by using it ? learning by doing. I also focus on developing the necessary conversation strategies that are needed to interact in English – students really enjoy this part of my course! I additionally teach practical business English, and special techniques for passing TOEIC. Finally, in my seminars we study ‘intercultural communication’ which involves learning how to interact with people from other countries. We talk about different intercultural communication issues like learning about what kind of communication styles people have. Do you know what your communication style is?

Jason Moser（コミュニケーション学科）