Abstract
As the number of self-access language centres (SALCs) in Japanese universities continues to grow, so too does the challenge of successfully introducing them to first-year university students, whose initial experiences of self-access language learning may otherwise be confusing and even unsettling. One approach is to carefully scaffold students’ first SALC encounters by connecting them with their classroom learning experiences. This paper discusses one such approach developed at a private university in central Japan, which was based upon a two-stage ‘push-pull’ ‘materials-light, people-focused’ strategy. Teachers initially ‘pushed’ their students to visit the SALC by giving them speaking ‘homework’ to be done there. The SALC then also offered interesting interactive events designed to ‘pull’ learners to continue to come. These push-pull activities could be done with few or no materials, and emphasized interaction with people rather than materials. This two-stage, push-pull strategy served as a bridge between the language classroom and a SALC, helping learners make the first steps in their transition from being a ‘classroom English learner’ to becoming a ‘SALC English user’.
Highlights
For many first-year Japanese university students, attending a self-access learning centre (SALC) can be daunting
To help first-year students overcome this initial hesitance to step foot in a SALC, a twostage, push-pull strategy was developed by the English program on the Seto Campus of Nanzan University, Japan, for its SALC, called the World Plaza, when it initially opened in 2006
One way that classrooms were being integrated with SALCs there was through project-based learning, a strategy that Gardner and Miller had first advocated over a decade earlier: “ a project may be started in class, learners could use selfaccess facilities and libraries to continue their work;
Summary
For many first-year Japanese university students, attending a self-access learning centre (SALC) can be daunting From their experience, English has often been a language that has been taught inside the classroom under the direct supervision and control of the teacher. From the middle of the first semester, events were held in the World Plaza to ‘pull’ students there, such as having regular chat time, lunchtime discussion clubs, movie clubs, a language clinic, and guest speakers This two-stage, push-pull strategy was successful in helping many first-year students develop the habit of regularly coming to the centre. One way that classrooms were being integrated with SALCs there was through project-based learning, a strategy that Gardner and Miller had first advocated over a decade earlier: “ a project may be started in class, learners could use selfaccess facilities and libraries to continue their work; In this way classroom-based learning can be linked with a self-access centre” For Gillies, the goal is to introduce learners to the SALC through interactive and collaborative activities so that their first experiences there are enjoyable and successful
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