Abstract
This paper reports the practices of training linguistic and intellectual abilities in the Japanese listening and oral expression class. Debating is known as an effective method to acquire academic skills in logical thinking, public speaking and research in Japanese. Debating, however, is a contest, and is not a truly interactive dialogue, it cannot, on its own, sufficiently foster good communication skills. Therefore, I have tried to move 'beyond debate' by adding assertiveness and consensus-building strategies to the skills obtained through debate and tying it into classroom speech and discussion.
