This paper presents action research on teachers' questions designed to elicit learners' speech. Through teaching practices in the fall, winter, and spring terms, the author identified an issue: the struggle to ask questions that could effectively draw out learners' speech and broaden classroom interactions. To address this, the author analyzed the questions posed, the subsequent learner responses, and the interactions that occurred using the IRF (Initiation-Response-Follow up) routine and the IRE (Initiation-Response-Evaluation) sequence. By examining cases where learner responses were not adequately elicited, the author identified factors in questions that contributed to this lack of elicitation. Key factors included the relevancy of lesson themes to the author and the inability to fully understand learners' responses. These issues often led to inappropriate questions. Based on these findings, the author explored various methods to improve questioning techniques. Finally, the relationship between this research and the author's beliefs is discussed.

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This action research paper examines the Japanese modified output for questions to beginner-intermediate learners. Through the teaching practices at Akita International University (AIU), adaptation of language should be used according to the level of learners. In particular, the adjustment of difficulty and vagueness of questions will be discussed based on six identified reactions from learners (i.e., proper response, single-word response, nodding, mistaken response, confusion, and no response). The basic sentence structures of Japanese were used as a guideline for judgment along with applied linguistic theories. As a result, adjustments to questioning were made to be as simple, natural, and objective as possible. This action research paper will be a guide for questioning in future classrooms.

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This paper is an action research conducted on the effective use of the author's instructions and self-made visual materials within the Japanese language teaching practices at the Graduate School of Global Communication and Language, Akita International University. During the practicum conducted in the fall of 2023, basic and practical exercises were carried out for beginner Japanese learners. However, the author's intentions implied by her instructions were not fully understood by the learners, so that they were unable to smoothly engage in the practice activities. The analysis revealed that negative factors included ambiguous instructions by the author, a lack of explanations of necessary information and procedures for activities, and insufficient utilization of visual materials. Based on these issues, this paper examines the trends in the author's instructions and self-made visual materials, and proposes improvements for effectively using visual materials and providing instructions that beginner Japanese learners can understand.

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This paper is an action research report based on reflections from three terms of Japanese language teaching practice at the Graduate School of Global Communication Practices, Akita International University. The author identified their response to the students' speech as insufficient during the autumn practice. To address this, intentional positive feedback was implemented during the winter and spring practices. As a result, in the survey conducted at the end of the spring practice, students reported that they became more confident and experienced a sense of security and trust. Based on these outcomes, the author examined the nature of the positive feedback provided, identified areas that were insufficient, and considered options for further improvement. The findings revealed that the praise lacked specificity and that there was insufficient attention to students' efforts. This paper proposes solutions to these issues and discusses appropriate positive feedback strategies for teachers to enhance student motivation.

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This paper reports on action research in Japanese language teaching practicum spanning three terms: autumn, winter, and spring. Initially, the author did not fully grasp the importance of a comfortable classroom atmosphere in Japanese classes, which resulted in challenges in building relationships with learners and among learners during the winter practicum. Reflecting on this, the author aimed to improve communication with learners during the spring practicum and felt progress in addressing the challenges from the former practicum. However, there remained issues concerning the teacher's interventions in fostering relationships among learners during class. Therefore, this paper examines and analyzes lesson plans and videos of classes from the winter and spring practicums in terms of teacher guidance behaviors aimed at creating a comfortable classroom atmosphere, and proposes improvement measures.

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This action research as conducted during and after a series of three teaching practice courses offered from the Japanese Language Teaching Practice, he Graduate School of Global Communication and Language, Akita International University. Focusing on the teaching practices conducted in winter and spring, this paper examined and discussed whether or not measures were taken by teachers to alleviate learners' anxiety in learning a second language. The results revealed that active measures were taken to address learners' anxieties about making mistakes. However, the measures addressing anxieties caused by uncertainty in understanding were found to be insufficient. In this study, cases where measures were not implemented are presented, and some ideas for improving them are proposed. The paper also discusses what measures and responses teachers should adopt to alleviate anxieties for learners studying a second language.

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This paper discusses how to improve a course by implementing Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for learners to be able to have a discussion in the target language. During the winter teaching practicum, the author conducted a CLIL course on the problems facing Japanese culture; however, there were times when learners did not use the target language in discussion activities. The analysis of how the course implemented CLIL revealed that the teaching of language and input of scaffolding necessary for discussion was lacking. Based on this, the author examined whether they provided the discussion activities with appropriate help, both in terms of the class structure and their intervention in the discussion. As a result, it was reconfirmed that there was a lack of scaffolding of the vocabulary and grammar necessary for discussion in the target language, and that the learners themselves did not have time to reflect on their individual language use. It also became clear that there was a lack of teacher intervention to help learners’ understanding and to facilitate the discussion with critical opinions. Through analysis of gathered research, the author was able to find ways to improve the process of encouraging learners to discuss more often in the target language.

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This paper examines the role of teachers as facilitators in learner-centered activities, based on three teaching practicums conducted at the graduate program of Japanese Language Teaching Practices at Akita International University. Through these practicums, the author experienced events that challenged their own teacher identity and beliefs, leading to a newfound interest in the facilitator role. The study reflects on the author's implementation of learner-centered activities during both the teaching practices in Winter and Spring, assessing their effectiveness in fulfilling the facilitator's role. As a result, this study identified areas for improvement in future educational practices and developed proposals aimed at achieving better educational outcomes. These proposals are intended to enhance teaching effectiveness and foster improved educational practices in Japanese language education, emphasizing the evolving role of teachers as facilitators in creating effective learner-centered learning environments.

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In order to nurture professional Japanese language teachers, the Japanese Language Teaching Practices program of the Professional Graduate School of Global Communication and Language, Akita International University, emphasizes both theoretical learning and practical training through teaching practicums designed to develop reflective practitioners. In this paper the author focuses on the importance of fostering professional-level organizational response skills through the teaching practicums, as Japanese language teachers play a wide range of roles. In particular, based on experiences gained in the fall, winter, and spring teaching practicums, the author analyzes the challenges of communication and teamwork among trainees and the difficulties in consensus building noted during the winter practicum, and considers the elements of self-awareness and self-transformation.

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This paper examines the author's teacher talk during the Japanese language teaching practice. In the classes that the author gave during the fall and winter teaching training, there were situations when explanations and instructions were not conveyed to the learners and activities were not carried out as expected, or when learners became silent and tasks did not progress smoothly. In addition, when explanations and instructions were not conveyed, appropriate actions were not taken, further confusing the learners. This paper examines the author's teacher talk and responses to learners in three lessons in which the teacher talk was not communicated clearly. The results showed that the author tended to use long one-sided speeches to make the content of her talk easy to understand, while at the same time, she did not use visual materials effectively, and even when she did use it, the content of them tended to be insufficient. Based on these problems, she will discuss how to give teacher talks that are more communicative to learners in future Japanese language teaching.

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This paper is an action research paper that discusses the actions which teachers should take to carry out collaborative activities with an awareness of relationship building among learners, based on reflections on three terms of teaching practicum implemented at the Akita International University professional graduate school. The author felt that there were some issues in the grouping of students during group work in the spring practicum, and began to think that the degree of relationship building among learners might affect the effectiveness of activities. This paper examines and analyze the author's environmental setting and the way author conducted the activities, and proposes improvements for the actions that teachers should take to carry out collaborative activities with an awareness of relationship building among learners.

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This action research examines a teacher approach to task-based activities during Japanese language teaching practices. The task-based activities examined in this study specifically focus on learner presentations. Effective task-based activities in this context are defined as those that facilitate ease of speaking for learners and are aligned with their proficiency levels and interests. These activities will be analyzed accordingly. The analysis is categorized into two stages: the lesson planning stage and the implementation stage, both of which are evaluated based on learners' responses. The findings indicate that aspects such as adjusting the difficulty level of tasks and providing feedback conducive to uptake yielded inconsistent outcomes. For instance, in terms of feedback, the predominant use of recasts hindered thorough correction, thereby highlighting areas where the author's teaching approach requires improvement. Based on the analysis of these issues, this paper proposes specific measures for improvement.

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This paper is an action research study on shadowing practice with video materials conducted during a teaching practicum. As a non-native speaker teacher, the author feels limited in providing pronunciation guidance to learners. Therefore, to provide learners with abundant Japanese input, the author decided to incorporate native Japanese audio into the lessons. As a method of incorporation, the author adopted the shadowing practice that had proven effective in English education. Furthermore, many learners are interested in anime and manga, leading the author to consider using video materials to enhance learners' motivation. Thus, combining the benefits of shadowing and　video materials, the author devised shadowing practice with video materials. This paper reflects on the two-week shadowing practice with video materials conducted for beginner learners during a practicum in Taiwan, identifies insights and issues regarding the creation of effective shadowing video materials, and proposes improvements.

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