Eric HAUSER (ハウザー エリック)

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 3600000, indirect: 1080000)
Starting with children's picture books with no words in them, students got rid of English a la Ministry of Education, and each student started to read and listen materials of their own choice and level, thus transforming themselves into independent learners. Brief talks in English with the teacher about their reading and listening tasks during the class hours, students also benefitted from extensive speaking. Through writing down their book talk, students developed the extensive writing skill as well.

Offer Organization: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, System Name: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Fund Type: -, Overall Grant Amount: - (direct: 3500000, indirect: 330000)
The present project is an extention of the present author's previous project whose focus was on Extensive Reading and was awarded the present grant from 2003 to 2004.
The new emphasis has been on Extensive Listening, in and out of the classroom, using CD materials and films on dvd's. The basis guidelines had been established at the end of the academic year 2006 ; Don't focus on details, Skip over words and passages you don't understand, and Stop listening if the material doesn't suit your taste or level. The students started reading picturebooks for kindergarten children, and went on to read several hundred books during the academic year 2008. They start to read English books without translating them into Japanese. Likewise, Extensive Listening also starts with recorded CDs of the easiest picturebooks, leading gradually to upper levels. As in Extensive Reading, each students listen to materials of their own choice with a portable CD player.. Some of the more advanced students achieved reading speeds of around 150 words per minute, thanks to the recording and the text. Since average UEC students would not reach 50 words per minute when they simply read an English book, this is a significant step toward reading without translating into Japanese.
As for promulgation, since the joint-publication by the present author of Reading One Million Words in the Classroom in March 2005, Extensive Reading has been gradually spreading to junior and senior high schools and universities around Japan. The present author has traveled widely giving lectures and workshops and observing actual classes conducting Extensive Reading