Debate in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom involves a multitude of English skills, and skills such as stating opinions, reasoning, critical thinking, spontaneous speech, agreement/disagreement, and the formulation of follow-up questions, are often challenging for EFL students. In Japan it can be especially difficult due to their secondary education experience, which focuses on rote learning rather than these skills. Furthermore, Japan’s collectivist cultural ‘norms’ can hinder students in this style class. Debate is an important educational tool for learning analytic and critical thinking skills, forcing students to reflect on the validity of their ideas (Nur, 2018) and how they support these clearly. It also requires questioning validity and evidence put forth by peers and producing counterarguments (Nur 2018). Debate activities engage students in not only cognitive skills but also linguistic skills, such as listening, speaking and writing, and developing argumentation skills for persuasive speech (Krieger, 2005). Debate class gives students opportunities to develop humility, autonomy and intellectual courage (Dunn, 2015), and devising a curriculum and activities that not only promote success in these skills, but also motivation is a challenging undertaking. This research focusses on an elective Debate course for 2nd – 4th years students at Keiai University in Chiba, Japan and investigates the reasons students selected the course, their main challenges throughout the course, and what changes can be made to the course to make it more aligned with students’ interests. This presentation will discuss the findings from a student survey, discussions, and students reflection papers.

Authors:
Lara Promnitz-Hayashi, Keiai University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Lara Promnitz-Hayashi is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Keiai University in Chiba, Japan. Her main research fields are CALL, codeswitching and using Japanese Popular Culture in the EFL classroom.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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