March 29, 2003, New York Hilton. Attending: Laurel Rasplica Rodd (outgoing President), Patricia Wetzel (incoming President), Seiichi Makino (incoming President-elect); Wesley Jacobsen, Yuki Johnson, Phyllis Larson, Sachiko Matsunaga, Ken-ichi Miura, Naomi McGloin, Kazuko Nakajima, Patricia Thornton, Dennis Washburn; Keiko Schneider (incoming Board member); Yasu-Hiko Tohsaku (professional development SIG chair); Tim Vance (Journal Coordinating Editor); Susan Schmidt (staff); Kathleen Ajisaka (staff). Not present: Carl Falsgraf, Ryuko Kubota, Christopher Thompson, Suwako Watanabe.
Meeting called to order at 7:05 a.m. Minutes of the previous meeting (September 2002) approved. Retiring Board members Falsgraf, Kubota, McGloin, Nakajima, and Thornton were thanked for their three years of service to ATJ. Results of the 2003 election were announced; the incoming President-elect is Seiichi Makino; newly elected Board members are Hiroko Furuyama, Keiko Schneider, and Yasuko Ito Watt. Their three-year terms begin at the 2003 annual general membership meeting.
- Outgoing President's Report
- Incoming President's Report
- Membership Report
- Financial Report
- Newletter Report
- Journal Report
- Seminar Committee Report
- Nominating Committee Report
- SIG Reports
- Bridging Project Report
- New Business
Two projects which have been ongoing in collaboration with the National Foreign Language Center are in their final stages: (1) The LangNet online database of materials has been plagued for several years with technical problems, but the NFLC has been working on them and is hoping to make public the hard work of the Japanese editorial board (and those from other foreign language organizations) by the end of August 2003. Announcements will be forthcoming. (2) The Advanced Assessment project completed a preliminary report based on team visits to study programs in Japan. Test and survey data collected from 150 students enrolled in advanced programs in the US and/or in representative study abroad programs in Japan are being analyzed, and the final report will be completed by the end of May 2003. Results of the program assessments have been sent to the Japanese institutions that participated, and they were very appreciative.
A funding proposal has been submitted to the Department of Education’s International Research and Studies (IRS) program, for a three-year research project (led by Wetzel and Dan Dewey of University of Pittsburgh). Research questions are: 1) What language gains do students make when they study abroad? 2) What cultural and developmental gains do students make on study abroad programs? 3) What is the long-range impact of study abroad on attitudes toward Japan? 4) To what extent does study abroad predict continued study of and involvement with Japan? 5) How can we characterize the impact of study abroad on participants’ lives and careers? Research and follow-up will focus on fluency, cultural knowledge, and reading proficiency.
An ATJ-sponsored Roundtable (chaired by Wetzel) held Thursday evening (3/27) at AAS focused on study abroad in Asia, its impact and ways to maximize the experience.
Wetzel will attend a special International Taikai of the Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai in August, representing ATJ and the Japanese language field in the US.
Compared to 2002, membership numbers are down. Partly this is a result of the membership renewal solicitation letters being sent out later at the request of the accountants; second renewal notices have just been mailed. Total number of members as of February 28, 2003, was 646 (471 regular members, 53 student members, and 122 institutional members). The Association has 13 lifetime members, 14 10-year members, 67 5-year members, and 5 retired members. It was noted that the number of student members has dropped particularly sharply. Last year some new methods of promoting membership were tried: sending personal e-mail messages to members who did not renew their memberships; publicizing membership at regional and specialized meetings in the field (e.g., the Association for Japanese Literary Studies annual meeting); and sponsoring a booth in the exhibit hall at AAS. A mailing to department chairs (MLA list) was suggested to promote graduate student membership.
The Association’s assets (checking and money market accounts) at the end of 2002 totalled $267,484.95. Expenses exceeded income in 2002, mainly because of a large deposit to the University of Colorado to cover salaries and overhead expenses for a two-year period.
The Japan Foundation contributed to the ATJ Seminar, with a grant to cover an honorarium to Donald Keene and a substantial portion of the audiovisual equipment expense. The Foundation’s contribution was gratefully acknowledged by the Board.
The next issue of the Newsletter will be published in early May; Board members were requested to send news items and to solicit such items from colleagues and local organizations. Abstracts of the Seminar presentations will be included in the Newsletter or as an Occasional Paper (a suggestion from Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai). Presenters will be asked to added references to their summaries before publication.
(Tim Vance, representing the Editorial Board): PDF files are now being used to prepare and print the journal. This cuts a month off the production time. It initially involved some aesthetic problems, which are now being corrected. Many are manuscripts now available: a special issue (37:1) edited by Ryuko Kubota on sociocultural issues in Japanese language teaching is almost ready to go to press. A long-awaited special issue in memory of Marian Ury (edited by Haruo Shirane) has been submitted and will be published as soon as possible. Another special issue for Samuel Martin’s 80th birthday is coming as well (edited by Robert Ramsey). But regular issues must continue to be published as well, so that young researchers will have a place to submit articles (for example, presentations from the Seminar). Dissertation abstracts are appearing in each issue now. Possibilities for dealing with the wealth of available material: mail two issues together, publish three issues in a year and mail two of them together, ask JF about a subvention for publication for special issue (up to $5,000). Makino suggested that Seminar presenters be strongly encouraged to submit their articles to the Journal.
The Seminar Committee was congratulated on the success of this year’s Seminar, which was attended by more than 200 people. Fifty-three presenters participated, including keynote speaker Donald Keene, whose talk filled a large conference room to overflowing. Next year’s Seminar Committee will consist of Board members Johnson, Miura, and Washburn. Larson was asked to participate for continuity with last year’s committee, and new Board members Furuyama, Schneider, and Watt will also be asked to participate. Outgoing Seminar Committee Chair Watanabe has prepared a detailed account of the procedure followed by this year’s committee, which will be helpful in the future. The suggestion was made that the Seminar Committee keep a record of the number of proposals submitted, so that the acceptance rate can be calculated. [Johnson agreed to serve as Chair of the Seminar Committee for 2004.]
Next year’s Nominating Committee will consist of outgoing Board members Jacobsen, Larson, Matsunaga, Thompson, and Watanabe. Outgoing Nominating Committee Chair Ryuko Kubota prepared a detailed record of the procedure followed this year, which will be helpful for the new committee. [Matsunaga agreed to serve as Chair of the Nominating Committee.]
1) Heritage Language SIG: The Heritage SIG held a meeting and organized a group of presentations at the Second National Heritage Languages conference in Reston, Virginia, in October 2002. A Web map of heritage language schools has been completed and posted on the web site; it will be updated every three months. A grant proposal to the Japan Foundation for partial funding to hold a heritage language school/hoshuuko conference has been approved; additional funding has been applied for. Two panels were organized at the 2003 Seminar; the SIG would like to propose publication of the proceedings as an Occasional Paper.
Professional Development SIG: The Professional Development SIG was established in 2002; three meetings have been held. A website has been set up with lists of resources for teachers, and a listserv with 190 subscribers has been established. Three business meetings have been held in conjunction with ACTFL and AAS conferences in 2002 and 2003: the meeting on March 28 in New York included refereed presentations. A Japanese translation of ATJ’s most recent Occasional Papers publication on Professional Development for Japanese language teachers (with additional materials added by Yashy Tohsaku) will be published in April.
The question was raised of whether it is necessary to be an ATJ member to participate in the activities of the SIGs. The SIG leaders asked the Board for direction. Discussion concluded that membership in ATJ is required for participation in SIG activities, including meetings, panel presentations, and listserv subscription. A motion to make ATJ membership a prerequisite for participation in SIG activities passed unanimously.
The Bridging Project Clearinghouse for Study Abroad in Japan and the Bridging Scholarships program remain a highly visible and successful ATJ activity. Fundraising by the US-Japan Bridging Foundation from Japan-based US corporations and foundations has been successful, and at least 65 scholarships will be awarded to students for study abroad in Japan beginning in Fall 2003. The number of applications is expected to equal or exceed those submitted last year.
Increasing membership: Ideas put forward included a special mailing to department chairs (using lists supplied by the Modern Language Association), publicizing special membership rates for graduate students through departments, and promoting membership at regional conferences and workshops.
Next year’s AAS conference and ATJ Seminar: As always, ATJ is able to propose one designated panel session at the AAS conference and also to endorse others. The next issue of the Newsletter will publicize the availability of endorsements for members’ panel session proposals. The AAS program often contains few language-related sessions, and Makino noted that one problem is that the scheduling of the ATJ Seminar and of AAS panels on Thursday night and Friday means that many K-12 teachers and instructors cannot attend. In the past AAS has not welcomed requests for special scheduling, but the Board will ask whether a time slot on Saturday could be designated for language-related panels.
Board Handbook: Bylaws and committee procedures are available for publication in a handbook for Board members. It was suggested that a history of the Association and perhaps minutes of previous meetings be added.
On-line Voting for Board Elections: A proposal received from a commercial service was discussed. The office will look into the possibility of conducting elections on-line and report at the Fall meeting. Schneider will contribute her expertise to the investigation.
Scheduling of Fall Board Meeting: September 20 or 27 are the proposed possible dates for a fall Board meeting (joint with NCJLT) in Portland, OR. September 20 is favored. The Boards of both organizations will be polled to determine which date is better.
Meeting adjourned at 8:15 a.m.