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Robyn Spence-Brown, Senior Lecturer

Biography
Qualifications
Contact Details
Teaching Commitment
Supervision
Research Interests
Publications

Biography

Robyn Spence-Brown completed BA (Hons), Dip Ed and Masters degrees at Monash University and a PhD at Melbourne University in Applied Linguistics. She was appointed to the Department of Japanese Studies as a Tutor in 1981 and is now Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. She has held the role of Convenor of the Japanese Studies Program, and is currently Undergraduate Coordinator for the School of Language Cultures and Linguistics, and Deputy Associate Dean (Teaching) with responsibility for Honours in the Faculty of Arts. She is Acting Director of the Japanese Studies Centre and Chair of the Management Committee of the Melbourne Centre for Japanese Language Education.

Robyn has a long-standing interest in the teaching of Japanese at the school level, and has served on various examination and syllabus development committees, most recently as a member of the ACARA Curriculum Reference for LANGUAGES and the LOTE Forum

Languages:

English
Japanese

Citizenship Details:

Australian citizen

Qualifications

PhD, Melbourne Universtiy, 2004

Title of thesis: Authentic Assessment? The Implementation of an 'Authentic' Teaching and Assessment Task

Master of Arts (Japanese), Monash University, 1987
(Course-work and minor thesis)

Title of minor thesis: Japanese Exchange Students in Australia: Problems in Communication and Interaction and the Acquisition of Communicative and Sociocultural Competence.

Diploma in Education, Monash University, 1980

(Methods: Japanese, TESL)

Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), Monash University, 1979

Dissertation title: Handing Down the Tradition: An Examination of the National Theatre Kabuki Actors' Training School

Contact details

Room:	418 Menzies Building (Building 11), Clayton Campus
Phone:	(03) 9905 2149 (international: 61 3 9905 2149)
Email:	robyn.spencebrown@arts.monash.edu.au

Fax:	(03) 9905 5437 (international: 61 3 9905 5437)
Mailing Address:	Dr R. Spence-Brown School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics PO Box 11A Monash University Australia 3800

Teaching Commitment:

Teaching and Learning Asian Languages (Postgraduate unit)
Second Language Acquisition (Postgraduate unit)
Japanese 1 and 2

Supervision

Currently being supervised:

Different methods of responses to Australian senior secondary school student writing of Japanese.
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
A Study of the processes of computer mediated writing in Japanese as a Second Language.
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
A study of Japanese language learners in Malaysia.
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Recently Completed

An analysis of L2 Japanese learners' social CMC with native speakers: interaction, language use and language learning. (PHD) 2010.

Research interests

Language assessment, language acquisition and components of communicative competence, language teaching, distance education, interaction problems in contact situations, Japanese Studies in Australia, careers of graduates of Japanese studies programs.

Publications

Books, Monographs

Marriott, H. E., Moore, T. J., Spence-Brown, R. L. (eds), 2007, Learning Discourses and the Discourses of Learning, Monash University ePress, Clayton Vic Australia.

1994 Unlocking Australia's Language Potential. Profiles of 9 Key Languages in Australia. Vol. 7 Japanese (Jointly with H. Marriott & J.V. Neustupny) Canberra: NLLIA, 168 pages

Book Chapters

Pasfield-Neofitou, S. E., Morofushi, M., Spence-Brown, R. L., 2009, Jisshakai e no kakehashi, in Gakushuusha shutai no nihongo kyooiku - New Pedagogies for learner agency: Japanese Language Education Research and Practice in Australia, eds Chihiro Kinoshita Thomson, Koko Shuppan, Tokyo Japan, pp. 143-160.

Spence-Brown, R. L., 2009, An embedded problem: issues in the use of a pedagogic task for assessment, in Tasks and Criteria in Performance Assessment, eds Annie Brown and Kathryn Hill, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 75-89.

Spence-Brown, R. L., 2007, Learner motivation and engagement in a pedagogic and assessment task: insights from activity theory, in Learning Discourses and the Discourses of Learning, eds Helen Marriott, Tim Moore and Robyn Spence-Brown, Monash University ePress, Clayton Vic Australia, pp. 12.1-12.15.

2003 Learning from contact situations: Individual differences in the framing of a performance activity. In Nihongo kyooiku to sesshoku bamen, (Contact situations and Japanese Language Education) S. Miyazaki and H. Marriott (eds.), Tokyo, Meiji Shoin.

1999 'Oosutoraria, Meruborun no haisukru de oshieru nihongo kyshi no shokugy netowku ni tsuite.' (The networks of Japanese teachers in Melbourne secondary schools) in Nihongo kyiku gakkai netowku chsa kenky iinkai (ed) Nihongo kyiku ni okeru kyjusha no kd netowku ni kansuru chsa kenky (Research into the networks of teachers of Japanese) International research project report, published by Nihongo kyiku gakkai (Society for the teaching of Japanese) Tokyo, Japan

Spence-Brown, R., 1998, The Real World and the Language Tester: Considerations of Authenticity and Interactiveness in the Design and Assessment of Language Tests, in Development of Spot (Simple Performance-Oriented Test) For the Purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba Japan, pp. 64-78.

Spence-Brown, R., 1998, The Usefulness of SPOT As A Placement Test For Intermediate and Advanced Learners with Japan Experience, in Development of SPOT For The Purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba Japan, pp. 79-87.

Editorships of academic journals

Japanese Studies Area Editor (Applied Linguistics)
(Japanese Studies Association of Australia)

Textbooks and Other Published Teaching Materials

1995 Interacting with the Japanese: A Comprehensive Communication Course Books 1 and 2 Second edition (Joint editor with J. V. Neustupny & H. Muraoka) Japanese Studies Centre, 323 pages. (First edition published in 1992, 237 pages and 300 pages)

1994 Interacting with the Japanese: A Comprehensive Communication Course Book 5 Study Guide (Authored with K.Ogawa (main author), S. Miyazaki, S. Enomoto and Y. Hashimoto) Melbourne: Japanese Studies Centre 950 pages

1993 National Asian Languages Project Japanese Study Manual Book 1(Jointly with Y. Itani-Adams) Monash University 455 pages

1993 National Asian Languages Project Japanese Study Manual Book 2(Jointly with Y. Itani-Adams) Monash University 500 pages

1993 National Asian Languages Project Japanese Teachers Guide Book 1(Jointly with Y. Itani-Adams) Monash University 325 pages

1993 National Asian Languages Project Japanese Teachers Guide Book 2(Jointly with Y. Itani-Adams) Monash University 241 pages

1985 Japanese Conversation for University Students. (Second author with A. Ozaki) Japanese Studies Centre, Melbourne

Refereed Journal Articles

Spence-Brown, R. L., Hagino, S., 2006, Japanese language education for young learners in Australia: the theory and practice of Japanese language education in primary and lower secondary schools, Nihongo Kyoiku: Journal of Japanese Language Teaching, vol 128, issue 128, Nihongo Kyoiku Gakkai: The Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language, Tokyo Japan, pp. 46-58.

2001 The symbiosis of Japanese studies and Japanese language teaching - a view from the language teaching perspective Japanese Studies Vol 21, No. 1, pp 77-83

2001 The eye of the beholder: Authenticity in an embedded assessment task.Language Testing (Vol 18, 4) 464-481

1995 'Developments in Japanese-Language Education in Australia.' Sekai no Nihongo Kyiku (with H. Marriott) Vol. 3, pp. 151-164

1993 'Japanese exchange students overseas: The effect of communicative inadequacies on presentation of self.' Journal of Asian Pacific Communication Vol. 4: 4, pp. 193-207

Conference papers
(full written conference papers published in conference proceedings, non-refereed publications)

Mouer, R. E., Spence-Brown, R. L., 2004, Monash University, Directory of Japanese Studies in Australia and New Zealand, The Australia-Japan Research Centre, Canberra ACT Australia, pp. 82-87.

2002 Japanese Language Education in Australia: The K-PG Continuum Japanese Language Education in Europe 6. The Proceedings of the 2001 Japanese Language Symposium 19-37. (Paper delivered as invited guest speaker at the combined conference of the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ) and the Association of Japanese Language Teachers in Europe (AJE), Cambridge University, September 2001).

1998 'The real world and the language tester: considerations of authenticity and interactiveness in the design and assessment of language tests.' in Kobayashi N. (ed) Development of SPOT (Simple Performance-Oriented Test) for the Purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students (Report 3) 64-78

1998 'The usefulness as SPOT as a placement test for intermediate and advanced learners with Japan experience.' in Kobayashi N. (ed) Development of SPOT (Simple Performance-Oriented Test) for the Purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students (Report 3) 79-87

1996 'Some issues in the use of the "SPOT" for lower intermediate students in an overseas setting: the case of Monash University.' in Kobayashi, N. (ed.)Development of SPOT (Simple Performance-Oriented Test) for the Purpose of Placing Japanese Language Students. 35-43.