James Underwood
LD-SIG President
James Underwood is the current president of the LD SIG. He is currently researching how students can develop their knowledge of the SDGs alongside their academic and research skills. He encourages his students to make decisions about their own learning. When not in the classroom, he can be found running or cycling in the mountains.
Amelia Yarwood
Programme Chair
Amelia Yarwood joined the Learner Development SIG in late-2022 as Programmes Officer. When not organising forums, she is pursuing her doctoral degree through Kansai University’s Graduate School of Foreign Language Education and Research. Learner identities and emotions have always fascinated her. This fascination may stem from her career as a learning advisor, or her personal experience of being in a love-hate relationship with learning Japanese and other languages.
Emily Choong
Membership Chair
Emily Choong joined the LD SIG in 2022 and became the Membership Chair in 2023. She is active in JALT, holding national positions and volunteering at major JALT conferences. She is currently based in Tochigi and mainly teaches at university level. When not teaching, her time is spent doing research in foreign language anxiety, pursuing her MA, and going on flavourful escapes in her kitchen.
Michael Kuziw
Publications Chair
Michael (Mike) Kuziw joined the LD SIG, receiving an internal grant to expand an English storytelling program at the elementary school level. Then in 2019, he joined the editorial team for Learning Learning. Since 2022, he has also held the position of Publications Coordinator, which oversees the publications of the LD SIG. Michael is interested in early language learning, learner autonomy, self-access learning, storytelling and educational development for Ukrainian migrants. In his spare time he is involved in volunteer work with non-Japanese students living in Fukui City.
Robert Moreau
Publicity Chair/Publicity Team Illustrator
Robert Moreau has been a member of the LD SIG since 2007. From that time he has been involved with the publicity team off and on, producing covers for several of the group’s publications as well as logos for the SIG’s conferences. Along with being the publicity chair for the SIG, Robert is currently a member of the editorial team for LDJ9. His current research interests include learner autonomy and project-based learning. When not involved in matters connected to teaching and learner development, Robert has a passion for playing music and doing photography.
Ken Ikeda
Learning Learning Editorial Team (Editor)
I’m Ken Ikeda and I’m involved in the Learning Learning editorial team and the online get-togethers. I’m concerned with social identity issues that students and teachers face as language users. My concern stems from my Japanese ancestry, American upbringing, and interests in history, media depiction and privilege. I enjoy life with my wife, playing the piano, and tinkering with my writing.
Andy Barfield
Learner Development Journal Steering Group
Andy Barfield, LDJ steering group: For me, learner development often involves tangled stories of learners, learner autonomy, content-based learning, critical literacy, PBL, learner creativity, and multilingual issues. Conversations, practices, writing, and inquiries in those areas keep nudging me ld-ishly along, making teaching and learning less certain, more interesting, in unexpected ways.
Patrick Kiernan
Treasurer
TBC
Ivan Lombardi
Learner Development Journal Layout and Design
Ivan Lombardi is interested in learner motivation, autonomy, and progress in language learning, research directions that brought him to join the LD SIG in 2018. Since 2022, he has been responsible for publication layout and design making The Learner Development Journal pinker and Learning Learning bluer and redder. He likes making coffee and learning other languages to talk about coffee.
Nicolas Emerson
Website Administrator
Nicolas Emerson took on the role of LD-SIG Website Admin in late-2022. His research predominantly focuses on the intersection of technology and education. He is dedicated to exploring innovative ways in which digital tools can enhance learning experiences. In his spare time he enjoys reading sci-fi, keeping fit (or at least attempting it) and cooking.
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