This study reflects on a series of culture lessons conducted through teaching practicums and explores improvements based on action research. In the winter practicum, lessons mainly focused on surface culture, revealing a tendency toward one-sided instruction and fixed cultural knowledge. In the spring practicum, the author attempted to incorporate deep culture, but the outcome remained surface-oriented. To address this issue, the “3Ps” framework—Products, Practices, and Perspectives—was adopted to visualize and balance cultural content in the lessons. Furthermore, the concept of “individual culture” (Hosokawa, 2003) was integrated into a revised lesson plan. This aimed to encourage students to explore cultural understanding through mutual communication and interaction. The revised plan emphasized learner-centred activities that connect language and culture, moving beyond the transmission of cultural facts. By presenting a lesson plan designed to integrate language and culture, this study proposes a pedagogical approach to cultural instruction within language education.

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This paper reports on action research conducted during teaching practicums in the Japanese Language Teaching Practices program at Akita International University's professional graduate school. The author observed discrepancies in student speaking participation during classroom observations and aimed to explore approaches teachers could employ to promote active participation from all learners. The author implemented classroom practices that incorporated realia and teacher self-disclosure. The research revealed that teacher questioning strategies had a significant influence on learner responses. Through analysis, specific questioning patterns that hindered student speaking participation were identified. This study analyses the types of questions that promote or inhibit speaking participation and presents practical strategies for improving teacher questioning to facilitate oral engagement among all learners.

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This paper presents an action research study based on a teaching practicum conducted in the Japanese Language Teaching Practices at the Graduate School of Akita International University. Through conducting three semesters of practicums, the author identified issues with their own classroom language, particularly in giving instructions. To address this, certain parts of speech were extracted from the lecture, and the content of the instructions, as well as the factors that led to those instructions not being able to be conveyed properly, were analyzed. According to the results, it seems that there is a tendency to exclude information relating to necessary materials, task procedures, and time allocation. In addition, ambiguity, additional instructions, and changes in instructions have also contributed to comprehension difficulties for students. Based on these findings, this paper discusses how classroom language can be improved to make instructions easier to understand for students.

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This paper is an action research based on a Japanese language teaching practicum conducted in the Japanese Language Teaching Practices, Graduate School of Global Communication and Language, Akita International University. It examines the role of teacher support in Task-supported language teaching, aiming to improve both lesson design and classroom implementation. The winter teaching practicum revealed several issues, including insufficient task introduction, one-way teacher support, and limited feedback. In response, the spring teaching practicum focused on reconstructing teacher support by reviewing the amount of interaction, the presentation method of explicit instruction, and the role of feedback to better support learners in task completion. The author’s teaching practice was analysed using a task-based instructional framework, and this paper explores approaches to lesson design and management that promote a learner-centered task cycle.

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This paper reflects on the author's practice of asking questions during Japanese teaching practicums. Specifically, how the teacher’s questions can promote learners' responses and output by analyzing aspects of utterance control and the type of questions asked is examined. The findings indicate that for questions to function effectively, it is essential to combine several elements. In particular, using understandable vocabulary and grammatical structures, a step-by-step, well-structured introduction followed by incorporating visual aids such as photos into the slides. Furthermore, it is observed that teachers’ questions should be designed as part of a broader effort to create an environment where learners are encouraged to speak spontaneously through interactive exchanges.

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This action research was conducted as part of a teaching practicum in the Japanese Language Teaching Practices program at the Graduate School of Global Communication and Language, Akita International University. To evaluate individual learners, a “Learning Sheet” was introduced, inspired by the One-Page Portfolio Assessment (OPPA) framework. In each lesson, learners wrote reflections before and after class, and the teacher provided written feedback. The analysis of both the effectiveness of the Learning Sheet and its use by the teacher revealed that it was a valuable tool for understanding learners, building rapport, and supporting instruction. However, feedback that encouraged self-assessment and deeper learning was relatively limited, suggesting the need for more intentional use. Furthermore, several challenges were identified, such as designing opportunities for peer learning through shared reflections and integrating the Learning Sheet with summative assessment frameworks.

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This study examines five Japanese language learning games implemented by the author during three periods of teaching practicum. The games were analyzed from both design and implementation perspectives. Drawing on previous research, two sets of evaluation criteria were used: one for classifying the game types (Table 2), and another consisting of eight criteria related to instructional design and classroom practice (Table 6). The analysis revealed that while many activities successfully achieved elements such as appropriate challenge level, real-world relevance, interaction, rule explanation, preparation, and supportive learning environments, there were consistent shortcomings in aligning with learning objectives and in clearly communicating those objectives to learners. Notably, the findings suggest that rigidly applying all criteria may not always be pedagogically effective, especially for warm-up activities designed to spark interest. The study highlights the importance of teachers understanding the educational significance of game activities and applying criteria flexibly in accordance with the learning context. It concludes that Japanese language learning games can serve not merely as enjoyable class components, but as meaningful tools for supporting learners’ communicative development, provided they are used with clear educational intent and thoughtful instructional planning.

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This paper is action research on the author’s practice of “learning reflection” during three Japanese language teaching practicums conducted in the second year of the master’s program in the Japanese Language Education Practice track at the Graduate School of Global Communication Practices, Akita International University. Based on her personal experience personal experience as a learner, the author became interested in reflection and reflection sheets, and developed and used such sheets in two practicums. The sheets were originally designed to have learners write concretely about three points: “what they were able to do, why they were able to do it, and what they planned to do next.” However, the learners’ answers were often abstract. By analyzing the structure of the sheets and the author’s actions during the practicums, it is noted that the sheets lacked features that encouraged more concrete reflection, and the author also did not take actions to help learners make their reflections more specific. Based on these findings, the paper proposes an improved approach that emphasizes dialogue to support more concrete reflections.

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This study aims to analyze rapport-building behaviors both inside and outside the classroom in short-term intensive Japanese language courses conducted by the author, and to clarify the actual conditions and challenges. The analysis of classroom recordings and teaching logs suggests that the teacher’s engagement contributed to learners’ sense of security and encouraged active verbal participation. Additionally, out-of-class interactions through written comments on evaluation sheets were also observed to function effectively in building relationships with learners. However, there were instances where the use of learners’ names and interactions remained superficial, highlighting the need for more personalized approaches. These findings suggest that flexible and sustained rapport-building strategies are required to accommodate diverse learner backgrounds and course structures.

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