WNB23504 Basic Study in Academic Ability and Competency Design

Hiroshima University Syllabus

Japanese

Academic Year 2024Year School/Graduate School Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences (Master's Course) Division of Educational Sciences Educational Design for Teacher Educators Program

Lecture Code WNB23504 Subject Classification Specialized Education

Subject Name 学力・コンピテンシーデザイン基礎研究

Subject Name
（Katakana）　

Subject Name in
English Basic Study in Academic Ability and Competency Design

Instructor KABIR RUSSELL SARWAR

Instructor
(Katakana) カビール　ラッセル　サーワー

Campus Higashi-Hiroshima Semester/Term 1st-Year,  First Semester,  2Term

Days, Periods, and Classrooms (2T) Tues5-8：Faculty Office

Lesson Style Seminar Lesson Style
(More Details) 　

Credits 2.0 Class Hours/Week 　 Language of Instruction E : English

Course Level 5 : Graduate Basic

Course Area（Area） 24 : Social Sciences

Course Area（Discipline） 08 : Curriculum and Instruction Sciences

Eligible Students

Keywords SDG 4, ability, strengths-based frameworks, youth development, competency, psychometrics, educational psychology, can-do benchmarks

Special Subject for Teacher Education 　 Special Subject 　

Class Status
within Educational
Program
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Criterion referenced
Evaluation
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)

Class Objectives
/Class Outline A new social contract has been proposed to both ensure a right to quality education for all and leverage the transformative potential of education to create our shared future. How this can be realistically achieved, however, is a herculean task. Toward this end, academic ability and competency design choices form a major intersection across curricula and contexts. Which ideas are most appropriate for student achievement in education for the 21st century? Has the educational management community learned anything to update its practices?

In Basic Study in Academic Ability and Competency Design, you will learn and discuss key constructs and broad frameworks for learning competencies and apply them to your ongoing research projects. For grounded examples, we will pay special attention to the progress and regress of educational methods and policies for English education reform in Japan. In addition, we will discuss academic ability and competency design efforts to include intercultural competence, social and emotional learning, and can-do checklists of language skills to identify gaps between content goals and educational practices (e.g., related to subject pedagogy). Academic self-concept research, school and classroom case exemplars, and indicators of youth development are used as cross-cutting examples.

Class Schedule Lessons 1-2 - Orientation on Syllabus, Moodle, and Course Website

The Futures of Education UNESCO 2021 Report
"The Death of the English Major" (The New Yorker)
"The War on Public Education" (The Atlantic)

Lessons 3-4 -  A Brief History of Problems in Academic Ability and Competency Design (1)

The Reading Wars (United States), Hanford, APM Reports
Policy Ideals and Realities (Japan), Kikuchi & Browne (2009)
History of Language Education Methods, Davies (2013)

Lessons 5-6 - A Brief History and Current Issues in Academic Ability and Competency Design (2)

Shadow education in Japan and South Korea, Sorensen (2019)
Why Japan Needs English, Morita (2017)
Survey data (Japan), Terasawa (2021)
Global human resources (Japan), Hofmeyr (2023)

Lessons 7-8 - Proposed Solutions in Academic Ability and Competency Design (1)

Teacher training for English education in Japan, Steele & Zhang (2016)
Self-efficacy, Irie (2021)
Development and Implementation of the Can-Do Checklist, Kensaku Yoshida (podcast/video)

Lessons 9-10 - Proposed Solutions in Academic Ability and Competency Design (2)

Global Competence OECD Framework, Colvin & Edwards (2018)
Can-Do Statements (United States), Moeller & Yu (2015)
CLT, Savignon (2001)
Promoting 21st Century Skills, Norris (2019)

Lessons 11-12 - Comparative and Complementary Designs

Intercultural competence assessment, Deardorff (2006)
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Catalano et al. (2012)
Guo et al. (2022)

Lesson 13 - Psychological Literacy and Motivation Science for Ability and Competency

Hattie, Dunlosky, and cognitive load reduction
Santos & Primi (2014)
Cranney et al. (2022)

Lesson 14 - Academic Self-Concept and Experiential Education

Learning theories and instructional design
Dewey today, Beard (2018)
Complex social ecologies of academic motivation, Skinner et al. (2023)

Lesson 15 - Presentations and Conclusion

Text/Reference
Books,etc. Excerpts from Peer Review Reading List:

Colvin, R. L., & Edwards, V. (2018). Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World. OECD Publishing. 2, rue Andre Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France.

Guo, J., Tang, X., Marsh, H. W., Parker, P., Basarkod, G., Sahdra, B., ... & Salmela-Aro, K. (2022). The roles of social–emotional skills in students’ academic and life success: A multi-informant and multicohort perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Hofmeyr, A. S. (2023). Rethinking the concept of global human resources in the Japanese higher education context. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 43(1), 62-78.

Irie, K. (2021). Self-efficacy. In The Routledge handbook of the psychology of language learning and teaching (pp. 100-111). Routledge.

Kikuchi, K., & Browne, C. (2009). English educational policy for high schools in Japan: Ideals vs. reality. RELC journal, 40(2), 172-191.

Moeller, A. K., & Yu, F. (2015). NCSSFL-ACTFL can-do statements: An effective tool for improving language learning within and outside the classroom.

Morita, L. (2017). Why Japan needs English. Cogent Social Sciences, 3(1), 1399783.

Skinner, E. A., Kindermann, T. A., Vollet, J. W., & Rickert, N. P. (2023). Motivation in the Wild: Capturing the Complex Social Ecologies of Academic Motivation. In Motivation science: Controversies and insights (Bong, Reeve, & Kim, Eds). Oxford University Press.

Sorensen, A. (2019). A history of shadow education in Japan and South Korea. English and English-American Literature, 54, 1-42.

UNESCO (2021). Reimagining our world together: A new social contract for education. In Report from the international commission on the futures of education. Paris: UNESCO.

PC or AV used in
Class,etc. 　

(More Details)

Learning techniques to be incorporated 　

Suggestions on
Preparation and
Review Take a look at the podcast series and press articles if you would like to prepare for our discussions early in the course.

Podcast series:
Hanford E. (2018, September 10). Hard words: Why aren’t kids being taught to read? APM Reports.

Press articles:
Christakis, E. (2017). Americans Have Given Up on Public Schools. That’s a Mistake. The Current Debate over Public Education Underestimates Its Value—and Forgets Its Purpose. The Atlantic.
Heller, N. (2023, February 27). The end of the English major. The New Yorker. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/06/the-end-of-the-english-major

Requirements

Grading Method Discussion guides are used to accompany short documentaries and podcasts, and reading materials over directed topics will be provided and assessed with formative quizzes (40%). Finally, the practical application of this content to ongoing graduate research and didactic projects will be evaluated through summative scientific presentation (60%).

Practical Experience Experienced

Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it Materials developed and used in English classroom contexts in Japan and abroad.

Message

Other

Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes.
Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

Academic Year	2024Year	School/Graduate School	Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences (Master's Course) Division of Educational Sciences Educational Design for Teacher Educators Program
Lecture Code	WNB23504	Subject Classification	Specialized Education
Subject Name	学力・コンピテンシーデザイン基礎研究
Subject Name （Katakana）
Subject Name in English	Basic Study in Academic Ability and Competency Design
Instructor	KABIR RUSSELL SARWAR
Instructor (Katakana)	カビール　ラッセル　サーワー
Campus	Higashi-Hiroshima	Semester/Term	1st-Year, First Semester, 2Term
Days, Periods, and Classrooms	(2T) Tues5-8：Faculty Office
Lesson Style	Seminar	Lesson Style (More Details)

Credits	2.0	Class Hours/Week		Language of Instruction	E : English
Course Level	5 : Graduate Basic
Course Area（Area）	24 : Social Sciences
Course Area（Discipline）	08 : Curriculum and Instruction Sciences
Eligible Students
Keywords	SDG 4, ability, strengths-based frameworks, youth development, competency, psychometrics, educational psychology, can-do benchmarks
Special Subject for Teacher Education		Special Subject
Class Status within Educational Program (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Criterion referenced Evaluation (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Class Objectives /Class Outline	A new social contract has been proposed to both ensure a right to quality education for all and leverage the transformative potential of education to create our shared future. How this can be realistically achieved, however, is a herculean task. Toward this end, academic ability and competency design choices form a major intersection across curricula and contexts. Which ideas are most appropriate for student achievement in education for the 21st century? Has the educational management community learned anything to update its practices? In Basic Study in Academic Ability and Competency Design, you will learn and discuss key constructs and broad frameworks for learning competencies and apply them to your ongoing research projects. For grounded examples, we will pay special attention to the progress and regress of educational methods and policies for English education reform in Japan. In addition, we will discuss academic ability and competency design efforts to include intercultural competence, social and emotional learning, and can-do checklists of language skills to identify gaps between content goals and educational practices (e.g., related to subject pedagogy). Academic self-concept research, school and classroom case exemplars, and indicators of youth development are used as cross-cutting examples.
Class Schedule	Lessons 1-2 - Orientation on Syllabus, Moodle, and Course Website The Futures of Education UNESCO 2021 Report "The Death of the English Major" (The New Yorker) "The War on Public Education" (The Atlantic) Lessons 3-4 - A Brief History of Problems in Academic Ability and Competency Design (1) The Reading Wars (United States), Hanford, APM Reports Policy Ideals and Realities (Japan), Kikuchi & Browne (2009) History of Language Education Methods, Davies (2013) Lessons 5-6 - A Brief History and Current Issues in Academic Ability and Competency Design (2) Shadow education in Japan and South Korea, Sorensen (2019) Why Japan Needs English, Morita (2017) Survey data (Japan), Terasawa (2021) Global human resources (Japan), Hofmeyr (2023) Lessons 7-8 - Proposed Solutions in Academic Ability and Competency Design (1) Teacher training for English education in Japan, Steele & Zhang (2016) Self-efficacy, Irie (2021) Development and Implementation of the Can-Do Checklist, Kensaku Yoshida (podcast/video) Lessons 9-10 - Proposed Solutions in Academic Ability and Competency Design (2) Global Competence OECD Framework, Colvin & Edwards (2018) Can-Do Statements (United States), Moeller & Yu (2015) CLT, Savignon (2001) Promoting 21st Century Skills, Norris (2019) Lessons 11-12 - Comparative and Complementary Designs Intercultural competence assessment, Deardorff (2006) Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Catalano et al. (2012) Guo et al. (2022) Lesson 13 - Psychological Literacy and Motivation Science for Ability and Competency Hattie, Dunlosky, and cognitive load reduction Santos & Primi (2014) Cranney et al. (2022) Lesson 14 - Academic Self-Concept and Experiential Education Learning theories and instructional design Dewey today, Beard (2018) Complex social ecologies of academic motivation, Skinner et al. (2023) Lesson 15 - Presentations and Conclusion
Text/Reference Books,etc.	Excerpts from Peer Review Reading List: Colvin, R. L., & Edwards, V. (2018). Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World. OECD Publishing. 2, rue Andre Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. Guo, J., Tang, X., Marsh, H. W., Parker, P., Basarkod, G., Sahdra, B., ... & Salmela-Aro, K. (2022). The roles of social–emotional skills in students’ academic and life success: A multi-informant and multicohort perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Hofmeyr, A. S. (2023). Rethinking the concept of global human resources in the Japanese higher education context. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 43(1), 62-78. Irie, K. (2021). Self-efficacy. In The Routledge handbook of the psychology of language learning and teaching (pp. 100-111). Routledge. Kikuchi, K., & Browne, C. (2009). English educational policy for high schools in Japan: Ideals vs. reality. RELC journal, 40(2), 172-191. Moeller, A. K., & Yu, F. (2015). NCSSFL-ACTFL can-do statements: An effective tool for improving language learning within and outside the classroom. Morita, L. (2017). Why Japan needs English. Cogent Social Sciences, 3(1), 1399783. Skinner, E. A., Kindermann, T. A., Vollet, J. W., & Rickert, N. P. (2023). Motivation in the Wild: Capturing the Complex Social Ecologies of Academic Motivation. In Motivation science: Controversies and insights (Bong, Reeve, & Kim, Eds). Oxford University Press. Sorensen, A. (2019). A history of shadow education in Japan and South Korea. English and English-American Literature, 54, 1-42. UNESCO (2021). Reimagining our world together: A new social contract for education. In Report from the international commission on the futures of education. Paris: UNESCO.
PC or AV used in Class,etc.
(More Details)
Learning techniques to be incorporated
Suggestions on Preparation and Review	Take a look at the podcast series and press articles if you would like to prepare for our discussions early in the course. Podcast series: Hanford E. (2018, September 10). Hard words: Why aren’t kids being taught to read? APM Reports. Press articles: Christakis, E. (2017). Americans Have Given Up on Public Schools. That’s a Mistake. The Current Debate over Public Education Underestimates Its Value—and Forgets Its Purpose. The Atlantic. Heller, N. (2023, February 27). The end of the English major. The New Yorker. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/06/the-end-of-the-english-major
Requirements
Grading Method	Discussion guides are used to accompany short documentaries and podcasts, and reading materials over directed topics will be provided and assessed with formative quizzes (40%). Finally, the practical application of this content to ongoing graduate research and didactic projects will be evaluated through summative scientific presentation (60%).
Practical Experience	Experienced
Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it	Materials developed and used in English classroom contexts in Japan and abroad.
Message
Other
Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes. Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

Back to syllabus main page