Abstract:

We live in the age of Augmented Humanity, on our way to Society 5.0. So, teachers' roles must be changed to prepare for the 21st digital transformation (DX) society. We carried out two case studies from April 2020 to July 2022 to prepare students for 21st digitalized society. 1st case study from April 2021 to January 2022 examines the effects of interaction with Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) members (1 CCC vs. three students) on Japanese English learners' attitudes toward speaking English. The authors focus on how students feel about speaking English and explore the effects of presentations and frequent interactions with CCC members by analyzing their statements in questionnaires and pre-post OPIc Speaking Tests. The participants (n=17 Japanese university students) studied English and presentation skills on topics derived from epistemology and ontology. The 30-week online program emphasized training in higher-order thinking skills and integrating ICT and human dialogue with young overseas people. As a result, the students' mean score on OPIc Speaking Test improved from CEFR B1.1 to B1.2. Finally, pre- and post-questionnaires are compared to examine their oral proficiency and cross-cultural sensitiveness progress. The activities impacted the students' perspectives on studying cross-cultural communication skills and different worldviews.
2nd case study was carried out from April 2022 to July 2022, and approximately 200 university students were taught English presentations and 21st-century skills in 11 classes (9 face-to-face, two online ZOOM platforms). Individual or several group presentations on various topics were given about six times. In addition, an American professor was invited to deliver special lectures and discussions on CQ (cross-cultural IQ), Global Leadership, and Worldview Study. We also asked young people abroad to discuss in small groups with Japanese students. As for the presentations, each student made ten slides in English and digital storytelling (DS) by adding audio to the slides and gave a presentation, which each person filmed on their smartphones and submitted to group Line. During the presentation, each presenter was evaluated on a 30-point scale (6 items: intonation, delivery, logical sequence, visual aids, etc.) using PeerEval's evaluation software on their smartphones. Throughout the 15 flipped lessons, students initially presented only by reading and looking at their notes. Still, as they presented many times, they could present without reading notes, looking only at the English slides. In addition, by creating DS, students could practice their speech repeatedly and watch their presentations on the Line, making them feel more motivated to practice presentation skills and be cross-culturally sensitive.
From the questionnaire survey (50 items), students mainly learned that:
1. Students were inspired by the professor from abroad in his several lectures,
2. Interaction with young people from abroad changed their worldviews,
3. Students made much progress in giving English presentations with less anxiety.
These two case studies demonstrated the importance of interaction with people from overseas on the ZOOM platform and in person to improve cross-cultural communication during COVID-19.

Keywords:

Flipped learning, OPIC Speaking test, Cross-cultural IQ, Digital Transformation, Society 5.0.