Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) regularly offers special seminars – the Distinguished Lecturer Series – for English teachers. Lecturers are internationally recognized scholars in all areas of language teaching and research. The first three hours of each seminar are free and open to the public. Below are more details on the series from the administrative director of the TUJ Graduate College of Education, Min Lu.

1. What are its objectives?

The Distinguished Lecturer series brings inspiring, accomplished, foremost lecturers to TUJ to report on progress and to further development in the fields of TESOL, applied linguistics, and second language acquisition. The series also provokes discussion and debate about a range of topics and subjects in the language learning and teaching field. Lecture topics are kept deliberately broad.

2. Who are the lecturers? What kind are some recent topics covered?

Experts in their fields. The series started in 1986 and over 100 eminent lecturers have shared their research and experience with the TUJ graduate education community. Recent topics include Qualitative and Narrative Approaches to Data Analysis by Dr. Gary Barkhuizen (University of Auckland), Research Lexis and Reading On-Line by Dr. Tom Cobb (University of Quebec), Autonomy in Language Learning: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives by Dr. Phil Benson (Hong Kong Institute of Education), The Architecture of Assessment by Dr. Glenn Fulcher (University of Leicester).

3. When and where are the seminars held? How can we register for a seminar?

The seminars are offered nine times a year. The first three hours of each seminar (Saturday session from 14:00 to 17:00) are free and open to the general public. It also provides a great opportunity to those who are considering advanced degrees in TESOL / applied linguistics. Each seminar can be taken for elective credit for the master’s and doctoral degrees. Prospective students and guests are also welcome to attend both days of a seminar as an official auditor for a 12,500 yen fee.

It is never too late to start learning something new. We look forward to having you join us and meet distinguished lecturers and enthusiastic and motivated students.

You can watch the latest seminar videos in TUJ website:
Motivation and Autonomy in Language Learning: Theory, Practice and Research by Dr. Ema Ushioda (University of Warwick)
www.tuj.ac.jp/tesol/seminars/form-seminar-video.html

The Route to Academic Language by Dr. Stephen Krashen (University of Southern California)
www.tuj.ac.jp/tesol/news-events/20120704-form-video.html

For the schedule of upcoming seminar, please visit www.tuj.ac.jp/tesol/seminars/index.html. Guests are recommended to sign up on the website to attend the seminar.