JACET　ESP SIG Kanto December 2012 Meeting

Date:　　December 8th, 2012 (Sat)　15:00 ～17:00 15:00~16:00 Presentation, Q&A

16:10~17:00 Business Meeting

★★Followed by a year-end Party! (details will be announced soon!)★★

Venue: Tokai University, Takanawa Campus 東海大学高輪キャンパス Room 1204

東京メトロ南北線・都営地下鉄三田線「白金高輪駅Shiroganetakanawa」下車、Exit１から左に進み、徒歩約８min

都営地下鉄浅草線「泉岳寺駅(sengakuji)」下車、Exit A２より徒歩約10min　JR・京浜急行「品川駅(shinagwa)」下車、高輪口より徒歩約18min
Maps:

in Japanese http://www.u-tokai.ac.jp/info/traffic_map/index.html

in English http://www.u-tokai.ac.jp/international/campus/takanawa.html

Presentation:

A Systematic Approach to Teaching Critical Thinking through Debate in an ESP Context

by David Rear

Presentation Abstract:

The development of critical thinking skills has become a key goal for educators in both first and second language contexts. This presentation will demonstrate how critical thinking can be taught in a systematic and explicit manner through the medium of debate. It builds on a combination of two approaches: (1) taxonomies of critical thinking skills as developed by Facione (1990), Ennis (1987) and others; (2) step-by-step problem-solving techniques recommended in business contexts. The course takes students through a six-stage process, showing them how to define the nature of a problem, gather and organize appropriate data, evaluate the worth of that data, analyze the data to draw conclusions, express those conclusions clearly, and finally appraise performance for future improvement. This presentation will show how this approach can be used effectively in an ESP context with learners of relatively low English abilities.

Profile of the Presenter:

David Rear is an Associate Professor at Shibaura Institute of Technology, where he teaches general andESP-related courses. Before joining SIT, he was a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies, and before that the Director of Studies of Shane Language Services, a company specializing in providing communication training for businesses in Japan. His research is in the field of critical discourse analysis, and he is currently investigating discourses of critical thinking, education policy and work skills in Japan.

Contact： Reiko Fujita  (Tokai University), Charlie Robertson (Aoyama Gakuin University), Kayoko Murakami (Shibaura Institute of Technology)