• ​​​​​​Speaker: Emmanuel Manalo
• Position: Professor, Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University
• Time: November 4, 2023 09:20-10:20

Education and work experience

Emmanuel Manalo completed his PhD in Psychology at Massey University in New Zealand in 1997. Prior to that, he completed his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees, majoring in Psychology for both, at the University of Auckland, also in New Zealand.

Prior to taking up his current position at Kyoto University, Emmanuel held the positions of Professor in the Center for English Language Education in Science and Engineering at Waseda University in Japan, and Director of the Student Learning Center at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Research Specialty

Emmanuel’s research interests include the promotion of effective teaching and learning strategies and the use of self-constructed diagrams for thinking, learning, problem solving, and communication. He is currently leading funded research projects on the creation of space within the curriculum to promote the development of students’ thinking skills and competencies, and cultivating students’ English speaking capabilities in EFL (English as a foreign language) contexts through the use of portfolio-based assessment and authentic English speaking tasks and opportunities.

Emmanuel is Co-Editor in Chief of the journal, Thinking Skills and Creativity. He is author of over 170 research publications, including the book, Deeper Learning, Dialogic Learning, and Critical Thinking: Research-based Strategies for the Classroom, published by Routledge in 2019 and available on Open Access (https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429323058).

Topic 
The Indispensability of Linking to Deeper Learning

Abstract

The capacity for deeper learning (DL) is generally considered crucial to develop in order to manage effectively in the unpredictable modern societies we inhabit in the current century. But what does DL actually mean? Definitions of it range from the very broad (e.g., it is used by some groups as an umbrella term for all the skills and knowledge that students must acquire to succeed in the 21st century) to the quite specific (e.g., as the process through which learners become capable of taking what they have learned in one situation and applying or transferring that to new situations). What is unclear from many of these conceptions of DL are indications of what might be necessary for DL to occur. If we consider the most fundamental requirement of learning – which is connecting (Thorndike, 1931) – then we can determine some of the necessary connections, or linking, that might be crucial for DL to occur. In this presentation, I will propose the kinds of linking that I believe are necessary for DL to occur: linking to (1) develop learning (“understanding”), (2) combine learning (“integration”), (3) organize learning (“schematizing”), (4) distil learning (“abstraction”), (5) extend learning (“inference”), and (6) export learning (“transfer”). I will then discuss possible ways to promote more reliable linking in learning, as well as the corresponding needs to improve teaching methods and to conduct more research in this area.