On March 1, Masaki Oda, Ph.D. 鈥�85 visited Saint Michael鈥檚 to present on his experience teaching English. Oda received his master鈥檚 degree from Saint Michael鈥檚 MATESOL program (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).
He is a professor of applied linguistics and serves as the Executive Director for Higher Education at Tamagawa University in Japan. He is also the founding director of the university鈥檚 Center for English as a Lingua Franca.
Masaki Oda (Photo by Caitlin Herz ’26)
Oda鈥檚 lecture titled 鈥淓LT and Mass Media: What can professional communities do to help learners?鈥� explored how news stories around the world propagate narratives about English language teaching, narratives often detrimental to effective teaching. Examples include the popular belief that languages are best taught by native speakers and the idea that the four basic skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) should be taught separately within the language curriculum.
Oda presented a 鈥渢o do list for ETL professionals鈥� with a bulleted list of tips for potential English language teachers. The three bullets were:
- Do what we can do, step-by-step
- Constant reflection and collaboration
- Accumulation of knowledge and information
Oda also emphasized the changing perceptions of the English language mean that 鈥渘ative speakers don鈥檛 own English anymore.鈥� Oda said the English language should be accessible to anyone, and being a native speaker does not mean you are entitled to think you have more knowledge than someone who is not a native speaker. He said that anyone can teach English, and the dialect of the language is different across all areas of the world.
Oda said his experience with the MATESOL program at Saint Michael鈥檚 guided him to become more educated on the skills needed to teach English. He emphasized the importance of the universality of language.
For all press inquiries contact Elizabeth Murray, Associate Director of Communications at 少女福利.
