Dear JACET ESP Kanto members,

I hope this message finds you well. It is my pleasure to announce that our next meeting will be held on January 28, Saturday, 2023, on ZOOM. Please refer to the following for the detailed meeting ZOOM setup, program, title, abstract, and the bio of the speaker.

ESP Kanto January Zoom Meeting

トピック: JACET ESP関東 1月研究会

時間: 2023年1月28日 03:00 PM 大阪、札幌、東京

Zoomミーティングに参加する

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85816572991?pwd=Mm5mTnNneHNKd2pjTDZxekFQUGg4UT09

ミーティングID: 858 1657 2991

パスコード: 868079

Program:

15:00-15:45 Research Presentation & Discussion

15:45-17:00 Business Meeting

Presentation

Presenter: Glen Hill, Associate Professor at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine

Title:

Pedagogical approaches to teaching second-language students about English scientific journals

Abstract:

Scientific journals regularly publish professional peer-reviewed research around the world. The research results keep the scientific community abreast of cutting-edge knowledge in any given field, as well as serve to meet the academic mantra of “publish or perish”. The level of writing in these journals is very high in any language, but since English is the dominant one for science worldwide, STEM students, science & engineering professors, and corporate or government researchers here in Japan find themselves facing the challenges of English every day. Non-native or second-language users often find it extremely difficult to read or write journal articles, yet they are forced to do so. University students in Japan usually become involved in conducting and explaining undergraduate research through zemi courses in their third year, but their reading and writing fluency at that time is inadequate to handle journal materials. They need training sooner. The presenter will explain how to introduce the language, structure, and content of scientific journals to Japanese undergraduate students. Background on students and teachers from a science university, as well as data from company surveys, will lay the foundation for the lesson plans that the presenter has used over the years and will show in the talk.

Bio:

Glen Hill is a recently retired Associate Professor from the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine and former full-time English teacher at Ritsumeikan Keisho High School, Sapporo. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biological science fields from universities in the U.S. Prior to coming to Japan to teach English in 1998, he worked on interdisciplinary scientific teams in a government fisheries laboratory, three departments in the University of Minnesota Medical School, an American cell culture instrument manufacturer with a branch office in Japan, and the Bioprocess Department at a leading pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb. In the instrument company, he worked as a technical marketing specialist in the U.S. and Japan, trained domestic and foreign staff, troubleshot mechanical, software, and biological problems for customers, conducted R&D testing of new devices, and wrote operator manuals and lab application reports.

His English research interests include technical writing, extensive reading, and business English. A major theme of his work has been to explain to graduate and undergraduate STEM students the relevance of English for their future careers and to introduce to them the materials they may face or methods to read, write, and present them. Together with Joseph Falout and Matthew Apple, he conducted a 3-year (2012-2015) JSPS grant project 理工系を専攻している日本人学生の第二言語自己・動機づけ (The L2 Selves and Motivation of Japanese Science and Engineering Students, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research C24520691). Their results have been published in several journals and presented at conferences in Japan, Korea, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. They have just written and edited a 16-chapter reference book STEM English in Japan. Education, Innovation, and Motivation (Palgrave, 2022) and are currently surveying Japanese university STEM and non-STEM students for a book chapter on mindsets.

Although retired, Hill is currently working as a part-time English teacher in Sapporo and running an English scientific proofreading business UpHill Proofreading. He has also been the Publications Chair for the JALT CUE SIG for over a decade. Every month, he attends the JALT Zoom for Professional Development (ZPD) meetings to offer advice to English educators on publishing and conducting English research.