Tim Greer
Kobe University
PROJECTS
I research natural interaction in bilingual and L2 contexts, focusing particularly on Japanese and English. My early work looked at identity-in-interaction among bilingual half-Japanese teenagers at an International school. More recently I am also interested in how Japanese students use English as a second language and how international students use their limited Japanese to accomplish various social actions.
JSPS Grants received
2020-2025. JSPS Grant-in-aid 20H01283 (Kiban B) Simulating the Wild through
Experiential Language Learning (SWELL) (Principal Investigator)
2017-2020. JSPS Grant-in-aid 17K03011 (Kiban C) Interactional engagement in
EFL oral proficiency testing (Principal Investigator)
2012-2014. JSPS Grant-in-aid 2450619 (Kiban C) Communicating in the real
world: International students' use of L2 outside the classroom (Principal Investigator)
2006-2008. JSPS Grant-in-aid 18720145 (Wakate B) An Ethnomethodological
Investigation into Interactional Practices among Novice Speakers of
English (Principal Investigator)
2005-2007. JSPS Grant-in-aid 17520378 (Kiban C) Materials and Curriculum
Development for College Entry-level Education on Academic Skills in
English (Co-Investigator)
Current Project
Simulating the Wild through Experiential Language Learning (SWELL)
We are currently working on data collected at TGG, a somewhat unique educational facility in Tokyo where EFL learners take part in role-plays in realistic settings, as well as task-based learning in CLIL classes. We are investigating the sorts of interactional practices in these classrooms that approximate language learning in real situations beyond the classroom.
Former Projects
LONGDITUDINAL CA: In this project I looked at how interactional practices develop over time. Some of my data compares language use across months (such as in successive trips to a hairdresser), but I am also interested in "micro-longditudinal" development, such as how an L2 speaker adapts his English across a number of interviews recorded on the same day.
L2 USE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM: This corpus involves second language talk takes place outside educational contexts, including Japanese students speaking English with their homestay families in the USA and international students speaking with a Japanese hairdresser. This project was supported by a JSPS grant (Kiban C 24520619).
TEST TALK: This ongoing project is focused around Japanese students speaking English during a range of multi-party oral proficiency tests and instructional contexts. In my analysis I examine such things as the institutionality of test talk and the use of repetition as receipt. Some of my grad students have also used this data to look at ways novice English speakers communicate with each other. This project was supported by a JSPS grant (Wakate B18720145) from 2006-2008.
MULTI-ETHNIC IDENTITY: One of my original and ongoing research interests is the way so-called half-Japanese teenagers accomplish aspects of their identity through interaction. I have gathered an extensive collection of talk in an international school and have analyzed it in terms of multi-party talk, bilingual interaction and membership categorization.
The JET Programme ALT as an affordance for learning for Japanese School teachers
Researchers: Dr. Christopher Leyland
Prof. Tim Greer
Funding body: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science ( 日本学術振興会 ) (ID No: PE13568)
Project Background:
As part of a ‘globalizing’ drive, the JET Programme began in 1987 - placing Assistant Language Teachers in Elementary, Junior High, and Senior High schools across Japan. In 2011, Japanese public Elementary Schools began compulsory English lessons for 5th and 6th graders. This is part of the government’s aim of boosting Japan’s economic growth and global competitiveness by raising the English-language ability of Japanese young people. However, there is little training to support the working relationships between ALTs and Japanese teachers of English (JTEs). In addition, few Japanese Elementary School teachers (ESTs) have sufficient specialist English-teaching experience and many lack confidence in speaking and teaching English.
