This article investigates differences between successful and unsuccessful learning of the English copula be by Japanese learners in terms of awareness of copular sentences in their native language (NL) and language analytic ability as measured by an aptitude test. 124 third-year junior high school students took three written tests: an English test to measure the learning of be, a Japanese test to measure awareness of Japanese copular sentences, and a "language analytic ability" test for the Japanese. The results reveal an interesting relationship between success in the English test and success in the Japanese test. Participants who have succeeded in learning be also have awareness of Japanese copular sentences, although those who have the NL awareness have not necessarily succeeded in learning be. The data also show that the measure of language analytic ability predicts the extent of the learning of be. The article suggests that learners without high analytic ability need some instructional help involving raising NL awareness in the learning of the copula be.

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The present study aims to analyze Japanese EFL learners' perception of the present perfect in comparison with the simple past. Eighty-one new students of a senior high school were given 20 test items and required to choose the most appropriate verb form from the four choices. The result showed that there were statistically significant differences among many of the types about the comprehension of the present perfect. Regarding the relevance/irrelevance to the present situation, the questions about the persistence of the subject and the persistence of the result showed a rather poor understanding. Also concerning the indefinite/definite past meanings, the students had a tendency to connect frequency adverbials and duration adverbials with the present perfect. The result suggests that the confusion between the present perfect and the simple past is closely related to (1) the intervention of Japanese, (2) the attention on the surface meaning rather than on form, and (3) the oversight of "current relevance" (Twaddell, 1960), the core meaning of the present perfect.

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The present study investigates whether or not grammaticality judgment tests reflect a learner's linguistic competence. The results of this experiment on grammaticality judgment showed the following: 1) On our grammaticality test, learners with high scores on a TOEFL-type pre-test did better than those with low scores on the TOEFL-type pre-test, notably showing that the former are stronger than the latter with Universal Grammar (UG) items. 2) Those with high scores on the TOEFL-type pre-test apparently make grammatical judgments more frequently based on their theoretical knowledge of grammar than those with low scores. 3) In making judgments, those with low scores more frequently utilized the strategy of guessing, as opposed to those with high scores. Finally, several other issues related to this study are mentioned for continued research which can help prove grammatical judgment tests to be a valid method of measuring a learner's competence and creativity of the learner language, i.e., Interlanguage.

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The present study examined Japanese learners' ability to perceive American English vowels, adopting the multiple-choice identification test used in Yamada et al. (1998). Subjects were asked to identify the word which they heard with one among the minimal sets such as [hid / head / had, etc.], where the vowels formed the contrasts. More phonological contexts than Yamada et al. had used were employed in this study and the relevance of subjects' lexical familiarity with the target words to the test was also examined. The result showed that subjects' lexical knowledge had not affected their performance and long vowels and diphthongs such as [i:], [eI] and [aI] were easy to perceive whereas [〓:]-[o〓] contrast, [〓]-[Λ]-[α] contrasts and [I] and [〓] vowels were rather difficult to perceive for Japanese learners. The difference in the perceptual ability between Japanese students who had never studied abroad and those who had studied in England for about one year was also examined.

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The present study examined the relationships of L2 listening ability to oral reading rate and reading comprehension. About 160 Japanese native speakers aged 17 and 18 studying English as a second language were tested. The tests consisted of four tasks; two listening tasks including the listening section of the CELT Form A and a short story listening test, and two oral reading tasks including Reading Test 1 and 2. In Reading Test 1, the performances of participants were tape-recorded as they read a passage aloud as quickly as possible. They were then told to answer a set of questions to check their comprehension. These recordings were later analyzed to measure oral reading rate. In Reading Test 2, all the participants were instructed to shadow a passage recorded by a native English speaker. They then completed a set of questions in the same manner as Reading Test 1. There was a moderate correlation between the total score on the CELT listening section and oral reading rate. Weak correlations were found between the total score on the CELT listening section and oral reading tests. The results indicated that good listeners read the reading passages more rapidly and comprehended the content better than poor listeners did.

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In order to tackle one of the problems with the evaluation of speaking ability, context-based rating scales were constructed. In this present study, as originally proposed by Turner and Upshur (1996), a method that produces empirically derived, binary-choice, boundary-definition (EBB) scales was utilized. After analyzing objective measures based on the participants' utterances, four elements were put into the boundary descriptors. The scales were designed for the assessment of junior high school students' speaking proficiency when two monologue tasks were assigned. It was found that the reliability, validity, and practicality of the EBB scales met necessary standards. Some of the definitions and boundary descriptors of the scales were then modified. The final, revised scales were shown to have sufficient validity. Potentials and weaknesses of the scales were also discussed.

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The purpose of the present study is to investigate how logical connectives can affect text comprehension by advanced Japanese learners of English. An experiment was designed to analyze the effects of logical connectives on text comprehension in terms of logical connective type (causal and adversative), proficiency level (high and low), and connective manipulative condition (implicit, explicit, and highlighted). The results show that the adversative connective was more difficult than the causal connective for the low proficiency group, and that the logical connective types were equally difficult for the high proficiency group. Also shown is that the subjects achieved higher levels of text comprehension when the logical relationship was expressed overtly (explicit or highlighted) rather than covertly (implicit). Based on these findings, implications for reading instruction at the university level are presented in the conclusion.

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The present study aims to reexamine Qian's (1999) empirical research, which explored the relationship between depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in English as a second language. Qian assessed the performance of the subjects with a minimum vocabulary size of 3,000 word families in general academic reading comprehension tests, while about two-thirds of the subjects in the present study have not acquired 3,000 word families. The results show, as Qian proved, that scores of vocabulary size, depth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension are significantly correlated. However, in the multiple regression analysis, this study shows that scores of vocabulary size can make a unique contribution to the prediction of reading comprehension levels, in addition to the prediction given by scores on depth of vocabulary knowledge, in contrast to Qian's results. The findings from this study reveal the importance of increasing both depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge to improve reading comprehension, and indicate that depth of vocabulary knowledge might increase in importance, as the size of the lexicon gets larger.

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This article investigates how a native speaker of English assesses the communicative writing proficiency of EFL learners. From data collected in an essay writing task in a Japanese high school classroom, this article looks at the assessment behavior of the trained native-speaking rater of English and this rater's underlying construct of writing assessment. Firstly, two raters were asked to evaluate the overall writing quality of 36 essay compositions with four different writing topics according to a 5-point holistic criterion-referenced scoring scale. Next, one of the raters was asked to assess whether each composition was convincing as a native-like English composition, with a 3-point analytic scale on 4 items: (1) the selection of appropriate words and phrases, (2) the conventions of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, (3) the method of organizing and presenting ideas and (4) the competent use of rhetorical devices to sustain the rater's attention. Then the rater was asked to present reasons for the analytic assessment with written comments when he felt that the composition was fairly strongly convincing or unconvincing as native-like English. The results of an exploratory factor analysis and a qualitative analysis of the rater's comments revealed that the rater's assessment was made on the judgment of both language-specific and writing expertise-specific criteria and exhibited that the rater's decision-making behavior was strongly influenced by the writing expertise-specific criterion.

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This study aims to investigate inter-rater reliability of free composition ratings by different methods. An experimental research was conducted to find out at least how many raters are required in order to obtain reliable ratings of free composition. In the present research, 36 essays written by Japanese high school students were scored by 14 raters by three different methods: 1) impressionistic method (six scales), 2) holistic method (six scales), 3) analytic method (five subordinate criteria). All possible combinations of raters from two raters to 14 raters were prepared and inter-rater reliability for ratings by different number of raters of all the combinations was calculated for each method. The result showed that in order to obtain reliable ratings of free composition, at least 5 raters are required for impressionistic method, 6 raters for holistic method, and 3 for analytic method.

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The present study aims to explore EFL students' second language (L2) writing processes in comparison with first language (L1) writing processes based on stimulated recall protocols. More specifically, the study examines how 'novice' Japanese EFL writers' L2 writing processes differ from those of L1. Student writing sessions were videotaped. Immediately after they finished writing, students individually viewed the videotapes together with the researcher and were asked questions about their thoughts during their pauses. These question/answer sessions were audiotaped and transcribed for pause analysis. Responses were categorized according to the coding scheme adapted from Anzai and Uchida (1981). In addition, the total time spent and time spent before writing the first sentence were measured, and the numbers of sentences written without intra-sentential and inter-sentential pauses were counted. The results indicated that there were differences in the use of writing strategies between L1 and L2 writing, but similar writing strategies were used in L1/L2 writing. The results of process analysis were complemented by those of product analysis. Finally, directions for future study are suggested.

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A single, free word association test using 60 high-frequency words as stimulus words was given to four groups of Japanese EFL learners having different English proficiency and length of time of English learning and to a group of native English speakers. The main findings are as follows: (a) The three less proficient groups showed no syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift between them, whereas the advanced group revealed a shift toward the native speaker pattern; (b) the association types of stimulus words (found when a word's results are compared to the whole results) were divided into standard (33.3%), divergent (15.0%), and other types (25.0%), as well as "no difference" between the groups (26.7%); (c) four stimulus words managed to evoke exceptionally frequent syntagmatic associations from the native speaker group and three stimulus words produced a very high frequency of paradigmatic associations from even the least proficient group; however, these unusual results were mainly generated by a high proportion of stereotyped associations across the participant groups, bringing their reliability as evidence for a counter-shift into question.

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In spite of increasing vocabulary studies, a process of vocabulary acquisition remains unclear. This may be ascribed to lack of vocabulary acquisition models and longitudinal studies that address how components of vocabulary knowledge develop. This study aims to shed light on how two aspects of EFL learners' vocabulary knowledge, paradigmatic and collocational aspects, develop over one academic year. The results show first-year university students did not increase their vocabulary size, paradigmatic and collocational knowledge despite about 75-hour instruction. This may be accounted for by the students' lack of motivation of learning English. Furthermore, vocabulary aspects showed different changing patterns. Collocational knowledge seemed to change more easily than vocabulary size and paradigmatic knowledge. This may lend support to Schmitt's (1998a) argument that knowledge of meaning sense is rather stable. The results suggest some implications on teaching vocabulary, especially on a collocational aspect of vocabulary knowledge.

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Only a few attempts have so far been made at vocabulary learning strategies with Japanese junior high school students. In the present study, the effects of three vocabulary learning strategies (Keyword Method, Written Repetition and Verbal Repetition) for learning 10 English nouns (5 concrete nouns and 5 abstract nouns) were examined with 63 first grade students at a Japanese junior high school. The subjects were assigned to one of the three learning conditions, and cued recall was assessed either immediately or after a 1-week delay. The result showed that the Keyword Method produced superior recall both immediately and after 1 week, though it did not reach a statistically significant level. It was also confirmed that word concreteness plays an important role in vocabulary learning; concrete nouns were remembered better than abstract nouns. This lead us to the question whether there was the possibility of interaction between employed vocabulary learning strategies and the other word types. Pedagogical implication has been offered for the importance of teaching vocabulary learning strategies and of noticing the effects of word type when teaching vocabulary.

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The purpose of this study is to clarify indications from my previous studies (Yashima, 2000, 2001) showing that a 1:40 ratio of unknown to known words was efficacious to guess word meanings successfully from contextual clues. The study examines differences in success rates among different senior high schools and differences in the use of contextual clue types. Differences in success rates are also examined according to students' vocabulary size. In addition, the study examines the influence of genres on mean success rates. Findings reveal significant differences in the mean success rates among schools and between the different genres used in the experiment. Also there were significant differences in students' use of local and global contextual clues. The study concludes that students with vocabularies exceeding 3,000 words can successfully guess around 60 percent of unknown words.

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The aim of this study is to investigate the factors by which college students decide the right meaning of a polyseme while reading. They were asked to read 6 texts including 6 words with multiple meanings and decide the right meaning of each polyseme. The subjects were diveded into two groups(upper-level and lower-level) by the reading and vocabulary tests. By the data collected I examined the differences between both groups about the strategy of the meaning decision of words. As a result of data analysis, as for the guessing strategies of polysemes, there seems to be no great difference between two groups. And few subjects know one meaning of a polyseme are reluctant to abandon it even when, in a particular context, its meaning is different. This result was different from that of the study of Bensoussan and Laufer (1984).

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This paper explores how Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme team-teaching experiences brought about belief-changes in Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) about English education, and makes specific comparisons between junior high (J.H.) and senior high (S.H.) JTE belief-changes. The following data were collected through a questionnaire regarding concerns and beliefs about team-teaching (TT) that was distributed to a total of 2,000 junior and senior high schools throughout Japan in late 1999. The paper first presents quantitative comparisons of J.H. and S.H. JTE belief-changes, focussing on TT lesson frequency and JTE overseas experiences; this is followed by qualitative analyses that describe and compare the top belief-change categories between J.H. and S.H. JTEs. Building upon these observations, three recommendations are proposed to the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, Culture, and Technology for the improvement of the JET Programme.

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Culture teaching is one of the main purposes of language teaching, and the textbook is the most important material in classrooms; therefore, many researchers analyzed textbooks from the perspective of culture and international understanding. Many of them are the analyses focusing on the contents and its frequency; however, considering about the purpose of culture teaching in English education, it is not enough only to focus on them. We should focus on how to describe cultural materials. The aim of this paper is to discuss the purpose of teaching culture in present English education, and based on the purpose, to analyze junior high school English textbooks. As the perspective for analyzing textbooks, three main categories are shown, contents of cultures, represented regions, and types of treatment.

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Few studies have been made in terms of comparing teachers' and students' views of English teaching materials. We conducted a survey of high school teachers and students to examine if there may be any significant difference between teachers and students in evaluating the components of English textbooks, and whether the goals for learning English would cause any differences. The results showed that teachers set a high value on the 'descriptive content' of English textbooks, while students viewed the 'grammar exercises' as more important. It was also found that the students who chose 'passing the entrance exam for university' as their goal for learning English set a low value on the 'literary' component of textbooks.

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The Three-step Auditory Comprehension Approach was adopted as the basic theory in the development of courseware used in CALL systems designed to help Japanese college students improve their English proficiency effectively. College students who used the courseware in their English classes expressed highly favorable opinions of it. Students' scores in Test of English for International Communication were found to improve by approximately 100 points when the learners' proficiency level matched the level of the courseware. However, it was found that improvement was up to 49 points less when the level of the courseware was not well matched with the learners' English proficiency level. We concluded that there is a need to develop a greater range of levels of courseware so that we can help our students improve their English proficiency even more effectively.

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The pronoun 'he' has been considered grammatically correct when referring to a person without clarifying the person's sex. In the 1970s, however, the feminist movement rapidly spread over US and other English speaking countries and the equal treatment of women and men in language came to be strongly required. As reported in Ishikawa (2001), most newspapers and publishers of school textbooks established their own writing guidelines in 1980s. Their writers are now said to avoid using the generic 'he', which can be a sexist expression, because it makes women invisible. In this paper, aiming to find out the standard usage, we will examine the pronouns referring to a person whose sex is unknown. In Chapter 2 we will survey related researches that have been done so far. In Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, the frequencies of the pronouns used in academic papers written in 1960s and in 1990s will be statistically examined. The aim of Chapter 5 is to compare the result with that of Ishikawa (2000) to identify the standard form of the generic pronoun.

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The general proficiency level of English of the Japanese is often criticised, even today, despite the fact that many practitioners of ELT have certainly "improved" their practices. In this connection, Tanaka (1999) indicates that virtually all the innovations in ELT that have been made are fragmentary, and concludes that the problem is really lack of correlation. He argues that what should be done now is to develop a firm system to support a fundamental concept, which encourages collaboration across the entire spectrum of ELT practices. Adopting such a point of view, in this paper we investigate the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF), which contains comprehensive descriptions of various concepts and elements relevant to language education. This framework encourages practitioners of ELT in Europe to situate, co-ordinate and differentiate their practices, and also to explain their practices to other practitioners. The aim of this paper is to clarify the significance of this common framework, with particular focus on its functions, and to suggest some implications for the reform of ELT in Japan. Although CEF itself is in the process of implementation in Europe, these functions, namely: (1) to help the users make choices, (2) to help the users inform other users of their practices, have been widely accepted for the purpose of co-operation among practitioners.

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A variety of methodologies have been employed in recent years to analyze the debate practices for Japanese classrooms of English. In this study, an attempt is made to historically investigate English debate in the Meiji period. The purpose of the study is to examine typical examples of English debate in Tokyo. Archival data reveal that one commercial school played a pivotal role in demonstrating English debate, taking advantage of extra-curricular activities in which historically notable teachers of English actively participated. Although this exhibition type of debate functioned as a model debate around the Tokyo area, it was largely devoid of the competitive value and spontaneity often seen in debate. Nevertheless, this particular historical study proposes the option of goal-setting for debates, and the exhibition of debates to audiences outside the classroom as a means of encouraging greater classroom accomplishment.

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The Intercultural Education Project has been established with the aim of both developing the students' English communication skills, and motivation the students to learn English through use of the information technology network. To this end, we have developed three projects; an E-mail exchange with a partner school in the UK for all graders, a Web discussion link with a partner school in Australia for 8^<th> graders, and a "Japanese Culture" exchange project with contacts in America for 9^<th> graders. With all these projects we have aimed to educate students about cultural difference between Japan and other countries, and to use the language they have learned from English Text books in instances of actual communication. We feel this project has been greatly successful, both from a point of view of increasing students' motivation to learn English, and educating them on cultural difference.

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