Talk:Thomas Lockley

CV

The article as currently written has:

Lockley first came to Japan in 2000 as a participant of the JET Programme and stayed at Tottori City for 2 years, where he worked as an Assistant Language Teacher at an elementary school. He then became a full-time lecturer at the Nihon University College of Law, before becoming an associate professor at the college in 2019. [...]

This makes it sound like he transitioned immediately from the JET Programme to becoming a lecturer at Nihon University in 2002. However, I found a paper of his from 2011 ("Pre-university experience of ICT and Self-Access Learning in Japan") where his author bio describes him this way:

Thomas Lockley lectures in international communication at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba Japan. He has worked in Japanese education for five years and also taught French, German and Japanese for four years in UK secondary and primary schools. His research and teaching interests include secondary education, motivation and self-perception.

Assuming that the experience listed is after 2000, and if his statement that he "worked in Japanese education for five years" includes the JET Programme (most often a two-year contract), that suggests he started at Kanda University around 2009. If it does not include the JET Programme, he would have started at Kanda University around 2011.

Whichever the case, this bio from 2011 indicates that he was not yet at Nihon University. Can we find any more specifics on when he was hired there? And can anyone shed more light on his time between 2002 and Nihon University? ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 23:04, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

I found this which states College of Law, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan. It says it was received 2013, accepted 2014. This from 2012 still has him listed as Kanda University of International Studies, Japan. And this from 2013 lists Nihon University College of Law in Tokyo, Japan. So from the looks of his papers, at least, from 2011-2012 he was at Kanda, and 2013 onward he was at Nihon University. Brocade River Poems 02:50, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

It isn't necessarily that binary, it is possible that Lockley was working as an adjunct or other non-tenure track position at Nihon while also having a position at Kanda. Scrutinizing individual papers won't really resolve this question, you'd need a copy of his CV or something like that. MrOllie (talk) 03:10, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

True, I was mostly just working from the papers because the question about the timeline originated from the papers as well. Brocade River Poems 03:31, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Academic activity areas

Just providing these mostly for reference.

Harper Collins[1]:

Thomas Lockley is Associate Professor at Nihon University College of Law in Tokyo, where he teaches courses about the international and multicultural history of Japan and East Asia. He co-authored African Samurai, the first book in the world about Yasuke, the African warrior who served the Japanese warlord Nobunaga, in 2019. While Visiting Scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, he did much of the research behind his new book, A Gentleman from Japan: The Untold Story of an Incredible Journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth’s Court. He and his family live in Chiba, Japan.

Otha Publishing[2]:

日本大学法学部専任講師。研究分野は言語学習。担当教科は歴史で、特に国際的視野に立った日本史を扱う。同時に日本やアジアの歴史に関する多くの研究も行なっており、弥助についての論文も発表している。本書『信長と弥助』は初の著作にあたる。イギリス出身、日本在住。

Thomas Lockley is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Nihon University. His research interests include language learning. His subject area is history, especially Japanese history from an international perspective. He has also done much research on Japanese and Asian history

Japan University[3]

研究分野 人文・社会, 史学一般
Research area: humanities, society, and study of history (general)

Lockley has considerable teaching and research activity in history beyond his other interest of foreign language study. 15 out of his 24 thesis papers are on history (and beyond that a few are on general humanities), and all his published books fall under history research. He currently teaches history classes to college students.

Just providing this for reference as it may be WP:UNDUE to describe him as a language teacher without also mentioning his primary areas of activity. Symphony Regalia (talk) 02:22, 28 July 2024 (UTC)

If you are concerned about the top WP:short description, it is meant to be as brief as possible. Since his Nihon University profile writes his primary courses as "Foreign Language Courses", it is what it is. Including all of his field of study would be way too long. -- Sameboat - 同舟 (talk · contri.) 03:05, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

For clarification, I am fine with the current state of the article. This is in response to a proposed edit by Eirikr (as explained below). Symphony Regalia (talk) 20:20, 30 July 2024 (UTC)

@Symphony Regalia, you recently reverted my edits for a second time, so I bring this here for discussion.

• Formatting for the source

The wikicode for the source currently has {{Sfn|Lockley|2017|loc=Translator afternote}}. The loc parameter is intended for the location in the text, such as a page number or chapter title. In this case, the text is from chapter or section entitled 役者あとがき in Japanese. Since this is a title, we should use Title Case: "Translator Afternote". Rendering this in sentence case instead as "Translator afternote" is potentially confusing to readers.

• Timing

As written after your revert, the second paragraph in the #Profile section includes this:

Lockley first came to Japan in 2000 as a participant of the JET Programme and stayed at Tottori City for 2 years, where he worked as an Assistant Language Teacher at an elementary school. He then became a full-time lecturer at the Nihon University College of Law [...]

This makes it sound like Lockley joined the Nihon University College of Law immediately after finishing his JET contract in 2002. As I described in the #CV section on this Talk page, that is not correct, as he spent some time as a lecturer at Kanda University before taking the job at Nihon University. This is sourced to Lockley's own biography, as he wrote in his own academic paper.

• Role at Nihon University

As written after your revert, the second paragraph of the #Profile section omits any mention of Lockley's field. This seems like a strange omission.

The same "Translator Afternote" in Lockley's Japanese-language book 「信長と弥助」 states on page 261:

現在は、日本大学法学部の専任講師であり、研究分野は言語学習。

---

Currently [written in December 2016], [Lockley] is a full-time lecturer at Nihon University's College of Law, and his field of research is language learning.

In the 2024 course listing PDF on Nihon University's own website (https://www.law.nihon-u.ac.jp/international/doc/foreign_language.pdf), Lockley himself describes his course as:

My classes are content-based English classes with a focus on the international history and culture of Japan, containing themes and stories of people from history to help you improve your English and learn content at the same time.

Note that he himself describes these as "English classes", as befits the phrase used in both the "Translator Afternote" and in the bio on Ohta Publishing's website:

研究分野は言語学習。

---

[Lockley's] field of research is language learning.

Note that this does not say "research interests include language learning", but instead it states that his "field of research is language learning".

Considering that Lockley's own mini-biographies, in multiple locations, contain this detail, we should include a mention of this in our biography page here.

I hope this explanation makes sense to you. If you still object to my earlier edit to make the changes described above, could you please explain why? ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 21:57, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

I have noticed some attempts to paint Lockley as "just a language teacher" (not referring to you), however according to essentially all sources concerning his areas of academic activity, and what he was published, this is not true. His primary area is demonstrably history and there is considerable research there.

I believe your proposed edit would imply that he primarily does language learning research when he doesn't, and I also believe it would be undue because the following paragraph already explains his research focuses in what I believe is a balanced manner.

Lockley's field of study is languages, particularly in Content and Language Integrated Learning. Lockley also does research in Japanese and Asian history. Lockley teaches history and English at school, with him teaching Japanese history from an International perspective.

No issues with any formatting fixes. Symphony Regalia (talk) 20:19, 30 July 2024 (UTC)