Robyn Spence-Brown, Senior Lecturer
Biography
Qualifications
Contact Details
Subjects Taught
Supervision
Research Interests
Publications
Biography
Robyn Spence-Brown first journeyed to Japan as a high school exchange student and subsequently completed BA (Honours), teaching (Dip Ed) and research Masters degrees at Monash University, and a PhD at Melbourne University.
She was the first local graduate to be appointed to the Japanese teaching staff at Monash University in the early eighties and is fortunate to have had a teaching and research career spanning a period of enormous growth and change in Japanese language education and Japanese Studies in Australia. She is now a Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics and Convenor of the Japanese Studies Program.
Her research interests are in the area of applied linguistics, and include work on the acquisition of communicative competence and most recently on language assessment. She has had a long interest in the teaching of Japanese at the school level, having served on various examination and syllabus development committees over the past 20 years, and is currently tertiary representative on the Department of Education Joint Standing Committee on Educational Cooperation for Japanese as well as Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Melbourne Centre for Japanese Language Education. She has also been involved in major course development projects at Monash, including joint authorship of several textbooks.
Qualifications
PhD, Melbourne Universtiy, 2004
Title of thesis: Authentic Assessment? The Implementation of an 'Authentic' Teaching and Assessment Task
Master
of Arts (Japanese), Monash University, 1987
(Course-work
and minor thesis)
Title of minor thesis: Japanese Exchange Students in Australia: Problems in Communication and Interaction and the Acquisition of Communicative and Sociocultural Competence.
Diploma in Education, Monash University, 1980
(Methods: Japanese, TESL)
Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), Monash University, 1979
Dissertation title: Handing Down the Tradition: An Examination of the National Theatre Kabuki Actors' Training School
Contact details
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Room: |
418 Menzies Building (Building 11), Clayton Campus |
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Phone: |
(03) 9905 2149 (international: 61 3 9905 2149) |
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Email: |
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Fax: |
(03) 9905 5437 (international: 61 3 9905 5437) |
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Mailing Address: |
Dr R. Spence-Brown |
Subjects Taught
Postgraduate
JAL4530/5530 Teaching and Learning Japanese
This course is designed to provide a broad introduction to theoretical and practical issues in the teaching and acquisition of Japanese as a second or foreign language. It addresses such questions as: What do students need to know and be able to do in order to interact in another language and how can we best help them to acquire this? How should we go about designing and teaching courses? The aim is not to provide definitive answers but to introduce students to a cross-section of current thinking and research on relevant issues, in order for them to develop their own teaching and learning philosophies.
Seminar discussions and activities enable students to relate the general issues to their own teaching and learning situations and to learn from the experiences of others. There is an opportunity to investigate in depth an area of individual interest in the form of a literature review.
Undergraduate
JPS2530/3530 Japanese Language Acquisition and Use
This subject is jointly taught with Associate Professor Helen Marriott. It introduces basic aspects of the Japanese language and system of communication, particularly as they relate to intercultural communication. It also examines the question of how we learn a second language (particularly Japanese) and how teaching and learning can be optimised. It seeks to relate theoretical and practical issues to students' own experience as language learners and language users.
Supervision
Currently being supervised:
- Participation in social networks and L2 learning: a case study
- Teacher-student interaction
- Group activity in a Japanese as a foreign language classroom
Recently supervised:
- (Re) constructing identities: international marriage migrants as potential agents of social change in a globalising Japan.
- Learning strategies in context: social dynamics in the classroom.
- The evaluation of communicative competence in Japanese by learners and Native Speakers.
- The acquisition of Japanese adjectives by English speakers.
- Personal networks of mature-aged Japanese students in Australian universities.
- Variations in Judgements and Evaluations of Australian Students of Japanese According to Observer Variables
- The Development of the Group Oral Test in Japanese
- Attrition in Beginners Level Japanese
- A Consideration of the "Superior" Level of the ACTFL OPI
Research interests
Language assessment, language acquisition and components of communicative competence, language teaching, distance education, interaction problems in contact situations, Japanese Studies in Australia, careers of graduates of Japanese studies programs.
Publications
Books, Monographs
1994 Unlocking Australia's Language Potential. Profiles of 9 Key Languages in Australia. Vol. 7 Japanese (Jointly with H. Marriott & J.V. Neustupny) Canberra: NLLIA, 168 pages
Book Chapters
2003 Learning from contact situations: Individual differences in the framing of a performance activity. In Nihongo kyooiku to sesshoku bamen, (Contact situations and Japanese Language Education) S. Miyazaki and H. Marriott (eds.), Tokyo, Meiji Shoin.
1999 'sutoraria, Meruborun no haisukru de oshieru nihongo kyshi no shokugy netowku ni tsuite.' (The networks of Japanese teachers in Melbourne secondary schools) in Nihongo kyiku gakkai netowku chsa kenky iinkai (ed) Nihongo kyiku ni okeru kyjusha no kd netowku ni kansuru chsa kenky (Research into the networks of teachers of Japanese) International research project report, published by Nihongo kyiku gakkai (Society for the teaching of Japanese) Tokyo, Japan
1990 'sutoraria de nihongo o manabu, oshieru', The Guide to Studying in Australia '90, 1 (with J.V. Neustupny, and K. Yoshimitsu) 56-161 Aruku
1989 'Japanese studies at Monash University', Japanese Studies in Australia, Canberra: Australia - Japan Research Centre pp. 59-66
1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989. Examiners Report, HSC Japanese, VISE/VCAB
Textbooks and Other Published Teaching Materials
1995 Interacting with the Japanese: A Comprehensive Communication Course Books 1 and 2 Second edition (Joint editor with J. V. Neustupny & H. Muraoka) Japanese Studies Centre, 323 pages. (First edition published in 1992, 237 pages and 300 pages)
1994 Interacting with the Japanese: A Comprehensive Communication Course Book 5 Study Guide (Authored with K.Ogawa (main author), S. Miyazaki, S. Enomoto and Y. Hashimoto) Melbourne: Japanese Studies Centre 950 pages
1993 National Asian Languages Project Japanese Study Manual Book 1(Jointly with Y. Itani-Adams) Monash University 455 pages
1993 National Asian Languages Project Japanese Study Manual Book 2(Jointly with Y. Itani-Adams) Monash University 500 pages
1993 National Asian Languages Project Japanese Teachers Guide Book 1(Jointly with Y. Itani-Adams) Monash University 325 pages
1993 National Asian Languages Project Japanese Teachers Guide Book 2(Jointly with Y. Itani-Adams) Monash University 241 pages
1985 Japanese Conversation for University Students. (Second author with A. Ozaki) Japanese Studies Centre, Melbourne
Refereed Journal Articles
(Forthcoming) 'The symbiosis of Japanese studies and Japanese language teaching: a view from the language teaching perspective'
2001 The symbiosis of Japanese studies and Japanese language teaching - a view from the language teaching perspective Japanese Studies Vol 21, No. 1, pp 77-83
2001 The eye of the beholder: Authenticity in an embedded assessment task.Language Testing (Vol 18, 4) 464-481
1995 'Developments in Japanese-Language Education in Australia.' Sekai no Nihongo Kyiku (with H. Marriott) Vol. 3, pp. 151-164
1993 'Japanese exchange students overseas: The effect of communicative inadequacies on presentation of self.' Journal of Asian Pacific Communication Vol. 4: 4, pp. 193-207
Conference papers
(full written conference papers published in conference proceedings,
non-refereed publications)
2002 Japanese Language Education in Australia: The K-PG Continuum Japanese Language Education in Europe 6. The Proceedings of the 2001 Japanese Language Symposium 19-37. (Paper delivered as invited guest speaker at the combined conference of the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ) and the Association of Japanese Language Teachers in Europe (AJE), Cambridge University, September 2001).
1998 'The real world and the language tester: considerations of authenticity and interactiveness in the design and assessment of language tests.' in Kobayashi N. (ed) Development of SPOT (Simple Performance-Oriented Test) for the Purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students (Report 3) 64-78
1998 'The usefulness as SPOT as a placement test for intermediate and advanced learners with Japan experience.' in Kobayashi N. (ed) Development of SPOT (Simple Performance-Oriented Test) for the Purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students (Report 3) 79-87
1996 'Some issues in the use of the "SPOT" for lower intermediate students in an overseas setting: the case of Monash University.' in Kobayashi, N. (ed.)Development of SPOT (Simple Performance-Oriented Test) for the Purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students. 35-43.
Other Articles
1992 'The needs of Japanese graduates: results of a survey of Monash graduates' The Relevance of Japanese Language Teaching Japanese Studies Centre, Melbourne, pp 41-48.
1988 'Japanese Language Education in Australia.' Kinki University Faculty of Education Research Bulletin
1988 'Nihongo kyiku kikan ankto no kekka o mite: sutoraria, Nyjiirando no baai.' (Results of a survey of institutions teaching Japanese: The case of Australia and New Zealand) (with K. Yoshimitsu) Nihongo no. 3.