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    (Last updated : 2024-04-22 16:30:03)
  STURGES Jamie Godley
   Department   Tokyo Keizai University  , Economics
   Position   Special Lecturer
■ E-Mail Address
  kyoin_mail
■ Profile
Since 2016, I have had the privilege of working as an instructor, program manager, and now specially appointed associate professor all in the same institution: Rikkyo University. This trajectory gave me the opportunity to build rapport with students, help grow and sustain a changing program, and oversee vital courses.

In all my classes at Rikkyo, and at previous universities (Aoyama Gakuin University, Pennsylvania State University, Toyo University, and Old Dominion University), rapport with students is the key to gaining trust with students. Students have to see me as a human, capable of making mistakes, and always learning and practicing a second language. Students have to see me as approachable, and my humor and transparency help aid in this trait. As with all international faculty at Tokyo Keizai University, students must see positive and realistic examples of people who have made the decision to live and work abroad. I work hard to ensure students see me as someone who cares about being in Japan, cares for their success, and will help them succeed.

In addition to building rapport, I encourage students to remember the solid foundation of English they have already made through grade school. That foundation can be strengthened through this program’s courses and collaboration with classmates. That foundation can further be examined through self- and pair reflection activities. For higher-proficiency students, to help ascertain their buy-in for the course, I have them consider outside-the-classroom uses for the target language. Where else do people consider different viewpoints? Where else do people consider advantages and disadvantages of ideas? I carried out and published a paper of this latter activity in 2019. It is an area I would love to bring to Tokyo Keizai University and explore with students further.

In addition to teaching Discussion at Rikkyo, from 2019 I have also helped oversee and carry out administrative matters for the Discussion course and from 2020 for newer courses including Debate. While I helped my students work and reflect, I also helped with updating and publishing the textbook, corresponding with faculty about classroom matters, maintaining materials in a shared departmental folder, and advocating for the course in departmental meetings. In 2019 I helped train and support research for the final cohort in the English Discussion Center, and then helped revise the course and help it best fit into the new Center for Foreign Language Education and Research from 2020. Incidentally I also helped modify the course even further for emergency remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Being with Discussion through so many years and eras has given me a lot of pride and education. It also helped me work deeply with the Debate course from 2020. For both courses I have continued to help update the textbooks and materials (with commercialization of the Discussion and Debate textbooks due from 2024), delegate tasks to committee members, and assist instructors with course matters. I want to bring that level of understanding, from planning, revising, and maintaining, to Tokyo Keizai University.

Along with carrying out activities and research aimed at student reflection, goal-setting, and identifying external uses of in-class target language, I have in recent years explored neurodivergent instructor identity and best practices for adaptation for program and curriculum changes (2020) and online teaching (2021). After being diagnosed with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2019, as a way to help understand myself on such a deep level, I began researching neurodiversity and faculty. This is an area I wish to continue researching. I am particularly interested in neurotypical faculty’s perceptions of neurodiverse colleagues. Despite universities becoming more and more adaptable for neurodiverse students and helping them achieve academic success, there remain myths about life for neurodiverse people after graduation. Where can they work? Can they work? I am proof they can. Although I generally do not openly tell my students of my neurodevelopmental disorders (for example, in the first-lesson instructor introduction), I have done so in emails expressing support and accommodation for neurodiverse students assigned to my classes. I wish to continue this level of support, instructor reflection, and educating others at Tokyo Keizai University.

I remain curious about researching student work and neurodiversity in teaching. I remain curious about the changing world and how next year’s freshman class will adapt to and/or change it.
■ Business career
1. 2023/04~2024/03 Aoyama University Faculty of Law Part-time instructor
2. 2020/04~2024/03 Rikkyo University Center for Foreign Language and Research Specially Appointed Associate Professor
3. 2019/04~2020/03 Rikkyo University English Discussion Center Program Manager
4. 2016/09~2019/03 Rikkyo University English Discussion Center English Lecturer
5. 2014/08~2016/04 Pennsylvania State University Department of Applied Linguistics English Lecturer
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■ Research Subject
1.   classroom activities and instructor reflection
classroom activities, student reflection, instructor reflection, teacher development, online lesson development, neurodivergency in education, adhd, autism
■ Com Research Theme
1. need for research, neurodiversity
■ Book and thesis
1. 2023/09 Book Up for Debate (Kinseido 1st ed.)   (Collaboration) 
2. 2023/03 Book What’s Your Opinion? Interactive Skills for Effective Discussion, Books I-IV, 3rd ed.   (Collaboration) 
3. 2022/09 Article Neurodivergent and Teaching in the Time of Covid-19. Explorations in Teacher Development 2(1),pp.19-20 (Single) 
4. 2022/07 Book Up for Debate, 3rd ed.   (Collaboration) 
5. 2022/03 Book What’s Your Opinion? Interactive Skills for Effective Discussion, Books I-IV, 2nd ed.   (Collaboration) 
Display all(17)
■ Academic conference presentation
1. 2020/09 Two Halves or a Whole? Reflecting on Two Approaches to English Discussion in an Online Format. (EFL Teacher Journeys 2020 Conference, JALT)
2. 2018/06 How was your Discussion? Feedback and Goal-setting for Students, by Students. (EFL Teacher Journeys 2018 Conference, JALT)
3. 2017/06 English as a Second Skin: Narrative of Teacher Development and Change. (EFL Teacher Journeys 2017 Conference, JALT)
4. 2013/03 So You’re a First-Time Practicum Mentor (TESOL Arabia 2013)
5. 2008/10 For Students, By Students: Student Newsletter Project (VATESOL (Virginia TESOL) 2008 Conference)
■ Main Courses Taught
1. 特別演習
2. 英語プレレッスンⅠa
3. 英語プレレッスンⅣ
4. 論文作成
■ Educational ability
● Made textbook and teaching material
1. 2021~2024/03/31 Up for Debate
2. 2020~2024/03/31 What’s Your Opinion? Interactive Skills for Effective Discussion
3. 2019~2020 Up for Debate
4. 2019~2020 What Do You Think? Interactive Skills for Effective Discussion