Numbers of studies on language transfer have been done at phonological, morphological, and syntactic levels, but there is relatively little research done in the area of lexico-semantic where L1 influence is considered to be the most persistent and pervasive. The present study focuses on semantic transfer of verb + noun collocation by intermediate and advanced level Japanese learners of English. Attempts are made to examine (a) whether or not learners at different proficiency levels differ in their performance of language transfer in the domain of lexical collocation, and (b) what the possibilities are that make certain collocates more transferable over other collocates. The results of the Acceptability Judgment Test performed by three different proficiency groups show that even learners at the highest level have difficulty in correctly accepting and rejecting the easy verb collocations that do not have the same patterns in their L1. The findings suggest the importance of negative evidence and the effects of the contrastive approach to teaching collocation in order to develop learners' language proficiency one step further.

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Processability theory (Pienemann, 1998) hypothesizes that second language learners acquire five processing procedures implicationally, resulting in six developmental stages. The purpose of this study, a replicating study of Sakai (2002), was to test the validity of processability theory by analyzing Japanese university students' oral performance in English. Although the scalability coefficient computed on the total data was not sufficiently high, the exclusion of the data for one construction (Do-Fronting) and the data from the learners who had performed tasks in a shorter time led to a higher scalability coefficient enough to claim that the data were scalable. The results suggest that it may be necessary to design a variety of tasks to elicit the structures in question and to provide tasks for a sufficiently long time.

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From an off-line experiment that controlled the level of embedding, the present study obtained the following results about the grammaticality judgments of Japanese learners of English with respect to subject-/object-extraction in different depths of embedding. 1)Japanese learners of English are less confident and less accurate in their grammatical judgments of cumulatively embedded sentences in both subject and object extractions. 2)They are more confident and more accurate in their grammatical judgments of object-extraction than subject-extraction in the cumulatively embedded sentences. 3)They tend to be more confident and more accurate in their grammatical judgments of subject-extraction in all three levels of embedded sentences without That-complementizers, while in object-extractions of the sentences with That-complementizers they are more confident and more accurate in the two- and three-clause embedded sentences but less confident and less accurate in the four-clause embedded sentences. These results were basically in line with Schachter & Yip's(1990) experimental results with Chinese and Korean speakers and proved that more deeply embedded sentences are harder for Japanese learners to comprehend. Our subjects showed a preference for object-extraction.

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In order to resolve some of the issues about the relation between Deci and Ryan's (1985) self-determination theory and L2 motivation, the present study deals with a program of research to examine Japanese EFL learners' L2 motivation in light of the self-determination theory, which suggests that motivation can be divided into three categories: amotivation, extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation. The present research is conducted in an attempt to incorporate Noels and her associates' (1999, 2000) empirical studies of the self-determination theory in L2 contexts into the motivational orientations traditionally identified by such researchers in social psychology as Clement and Kruidenier (1983) and Gardner (1985). One of the most significant findings in this study is that the intrinsic/extrinsic paradigm of the self-determination theory might be useful for describing L2 orientations in Japanese EFL learners. But future research must more deliberately determine how this framework interacts in various Japanese EFL learners.

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In preceding studies, Ichikawa (1998) proposed the Two-axis Model of learning motivation for school subjects in general. Maeda (2003) modified those items for English learning and applied the model to high school EFL learners in Japan. This study was initiated as a sequel to Maeda (2003) to: 1) investigate cross-validation of the model for supporting the results; 2) develop a questionnaire for better measurement reliability; 3) confirm the model to ensure its effectiveness; and 4) present the scale and data as fundamental material for further studies. Multistage extraction yielded 1,584 participants from 42 high schools in the survey, which included 36 revised question items for learning motivation and 64 test items for learning achievement. Participants were divided into three groups according to achievement tests. Then, Multi-group Confirmatory Factor Analysis investigated cross-validation, confirmed the model, and obtained several kinds of coefficients. Consequently, the four aims were reasonably accomplished. Discussion implies that were distinct learner types because motivation differences are difficult to explain by achievement differences.

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In the present study, 250 Chinese and 277 Japanese high school students were surveyed to assess the relationship of their motivation toward English learning and the English achievement. First, a factor analysis was conducted to know what kind of motivations the participants have, which led to the extraction of five factors. Then these five factors and the other five motivational factors selected from previous studies were used as independent variables, and a multiple regression analysis was carried out to reveal which factor or combination of factors can best predict the Chinese and Japanese students' English achievement and self-perceived achievement. The results indicated that there was noticeable difference between Chinese and Japanese students' motivations which best predict the English achievement; but motivations which predict the self-perceived achievement were almost the same.

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This paper reports on the findings from the authors' observation of English language activities at a kindergarten over a period of one year. Part A of the Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT) Observation Scheme (Spada and Frohlich, 1995) was employed to describe the various aspects of classroom practice. The authors found that there were changes in many aspects of the instructional practices, which appear to reflect shifts in instructional focuses as children grow and as they become accustomed to life at the kindergarten. The present study is the first stage of an ongoing research project which attempts to elucidate heuristics of instructors, i.e., "an instructor's decision-making strategies as s/he faces various classroom situations." Implications of the present study and points for further research will be discussed in the last section of the paper.

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The present study made an attempt to explore the relationship that might exist between verbal repeatability (i.e., rehearsal speed as measured by digit memory span) and EFL learners' listening comprehension ability. Passage sentences or sense-group segments were presented to participants for aural comprehension under three different presentation conditions: (1) [-Speed / Pause], (2) [+Speed / -Pause], and (3) [+Speed / +Pause]. In the first condition, passage sentences were delivered at slow speech rates without any significant pauses between sentences, in the second condition, the same passage sentences were presented at normal speech rates without any significant pauses between sentences, and in the third, at normal speech rates with 2-second pauses between sentences. The results showed that listening comprehension performance of learners with high repeatability was significantly better than that of learners with low repeatability. A significant effect was also observed for presentation conditions. Significantly higher comprehension scores were obtained in the third condition than in the first. It is a reasonable conclusion that EFL learners show superior aural comprehension performance in the [+Speed (i.e., speech presented at normal speech rates) / +Pause (i.e., speech presented with slightly longer pauses between sense-group segments] presentation condition.

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This study investigated the characteristics of phonological language information processing for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners from two perspectives, "the relationships between Working Memory (WM) capacity and language comprehension" and "WM capacity and the characteristics of recall errors for target words." The research utilized the "Listening Span Test (LST)" measuring for WM capacity in phonological language information and the "English Language Proficiency Test (ELPT)" measuring various factors of English abilities. The participants were divided into three groups based on LST scores. The results showed that the learners with the higher LST scores tended to get higher scores on each English comprehension section, and regarding the characteristics of recall errors for target words, the errors for target words were striking, intrusion errors were obvious, while imaging errors were few. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that phonological language information processing is not a simple mechanism that exists in a relation of "processing-storage trade-off" but a complicated one, which enhances higher level processing, despite interference from prior language information.

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A laboratory training study was conducted in order to investigate the effect of context on identification of English words minimally contrasting in /r/-/l/, /b/-/v/, or /s/-/θ/. Thirty native speakers of Japanese participated in a word identification task and perceptual training under the three stimulus conditions: (1) WD condition (words in isolation), (2) NS condition (words within a semantically neutral carrier sentence), and (3) CS condition (words within a semantically contextual carrier sentence). Identification performance for /r/-/l/ and /b/-/v/ during test phases showed that the accuracy differed significantly between the stimulus condition in the order, NS < WD < CS. This tendency was not significant for the /s/-/θ/ contrast, which showed the highest identification score among the three contrasts. These results suggest that semantic context raised identification accuracy while acoustic context lowered it when the target phonemes were difficult to identify. Furthermore, in case of /r/-/l/, it was shown that training with the CS stimuli improved the accuracy for stimuli in CS condition but not for those in other conditions. This result together with the above results implies that when language learners are provided with meaningful information during training, they are likely to learn the strategy to exploit semantic cues. Thus, perception training based on auditory input is revealed to be important in order to develop robust listening comprehension ability.

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This study compared junior high school (JHS) students who were exposed to English in elementary school (ES) with counterparts who had no exposure to English in ES in their performance on listening tests at two different times: in the 4th and the 12th months after their entrance to JHS. The results indicated no statistical differences between the two groups in the 4th month. In the 12th month, however, the inexperienced group surpassed the experienced group. Possible interpretations of these findings are presented with reference to the framework of communicative competence in second language acquisition (SLA) theory. The results imply that "familiarizing learners with English sounds in early ages," as suggested by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) (2001), may not necessarily have beneficial effects on the achievements in listening in JHS. Teachers and educators might be too optimistic if they assume that having fun in English rather than aiming at language acquisition in ES will help learners enhance their practical communication abilities.

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The aim of this paper is to pursue predictors contributing to speaking proficiency in high school and university settings, which is expected to be contributory to further research of English language teaching. In this paper, the data obtained were computed and the multiple regression analysis was conducted with the results of the "topic-based test", which was the dependent variable, and the other tests plus eight metacognitive factors were the independent variables. The result showed that the differences between the two levels of contributing factors exhibited an intriguing result from the linguistic and metacognitive perspectives. In regard to high school students' speaking proficiency, the predictor, Comprehensive English ability had a statistical significance to speaking, whereas the factor didn't emerge as a crucial predictor in university students' speaking proficiency. Regarding Grammatical ability, the data showed the negative significance in the high school setting and the positive significance in the university setting. As far as the metacognitive aspect is concerned, the divergent results turned out as follows: 'Lack of linguistic processing ability' in high school, and 'Anxiety about delivery ability' etc. in university.

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The present study reevaluates three task studies, Foster and Skehan (1996), Skehan and Foster (1997), and Robinson (2001), and explores the effects of task characteristics (one-way/two-way information distribution and few/many elements) on language performance such as fluency, accuracy, and complexity in the context of task-based instruction. The subjects were 28 Japanese university students and two types of tasks were used: information-gap tasks and a decision-making task. The results indicated a number of statistically significant effects for task types with respect to all language performance, and illustrated trade-off effects. In addition, the present study was compared with the three task studies above from the viewpoint of how task characteristics affect language performance and trade-off effects. The results proved that tasks with many elements affect accuracy, but in contrast, tasks with few elements affect fluency. In addition, tasks with one-way/two-way information distribution affect complexity. Moreover, the present study reveals that there is a strong evidence of trade-off effects between three aspects of language performance.

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This research is an attempt to examine the possibility of using oral reading as a diagnostic approach to learners' general English proficiency. Oral reading, here, is confined to 'first-sight' oral reading, and is evaluated in terms of oral reading rate and comprehension tests. In the experiment, participants were required to read passages aloud without any preceding time for comprehension. Two conditions were prepared for the oral reading: one was to read orally focusing on the reading speed, and the other focusing on the comprehension. As this task is deeply related to working memory in that it contains dual-task procedure, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate which of the two variables, learners' general English proficiency or working memory capacity, would be more reflected in the task performance. Eighty Japanese EFL learners were tested and the data was analyzed firstly based on the group made up by STEP score, and secondly on the group by RST score through 2(High and Low groups)×2(oral reading conditions)×3(difficulty levels of the texts) ANOVA. The result was that the learners' oral reading has reflected their general English proficiency more than their working memory capacity. Regression analysis was also conducted with STEP score (dependent variable) and oral reading rate, comprehension score (independent variables). The result was that comprehension score of the oral reading focusing on the meaning has reflected learners' English proficiency best in this study.

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Despite the extensive studies being done regarding the effects of background knowledge on reading comprehension, there is little research that investigates the relationships among background knowledge, L2 reading proficiency, and reading comprehension. The present study examines Japanese EFL learners' reading comprehension from this perspective, specifically if L2 reading proficiency has a stronger effect on reading comprehension than background knowledge does. The results indicate that when questions for a reading comprehension test are more difficult, L2 reading proficiency appears to be a stronger factor than background knowledge in reading comprehension. Weakening or reducing the background knowledge effect by adjusting the difficulty of reading comprehension tests is one implication of the findings, which may modify the conventional way of selecting text material for EFL reading tests.

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This study examined the relationships between the efficiencies of phonological coding and lexical access of written words and reading comprehension for Japanese senior high school students of English. The primary objective was to verify the speculations on how oral reading practice helps to develop reading comprehension skills: (a) it improves the efficiency of phonological coding; and (b) it enhances the efficiency of lexical access. The efficiencies of phonological coding and lexical access were measured as the articulating speed of written words and as Stroop interference (Stroop, 1935) respectively. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between the efficiency of phonological coding and reading comprehension, which supported speculation (a), but that there was no significant relationship between the efficiency of lexical access and reading comprehension, which refuted speculation (b). Some pedagogical implications were also suggested.

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When learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) read second language (L2) texts, they usually use their first language (L1) as a strategy to help understand the texts. Some researchers, employing think-aloud protocols, have investigated the use of L1 as reading strategies (Upton, 1997; Upton & Lee-Thompson, 2001). This study, based on the data collected through think-aloud protocols, attempts to investigate reading strategies employed when Japanese EFL learners read different types of L2 text. This study also investigates the relation between reading strategies and their L2 reading proficiency. Participants were 20 Japanese EFL freshman and sophomore students in a Japanese university, and a narrative and an expository L2 text were used in this study. The results showed that EFL learners changed reading strategies depending on the type of text they read, but more detailed analysis showed that such text effects were only on 'translating' or 'wrestling' strategies, not on 'summarizing' strategies. This study also found that the EFL learners' reading proficiency was positively correlated to use of a reading strategy called 'summarizing a paragraph or an overall text.' This may have a pedagogical implication that the use of particular strategies such as 'summarizing' will lead EFL learners to the development of reading skills; thus EFL teachers should utilize any possible opportunity to encourage their learners to employ such strategies.

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In answer to the growing rejection of a product-orientation in EFL writing typically represented in the direct correction of grammatical errors in favor of a process-orientation, the present study offers an integrated approach by adopting teacher feedback and error correction in response to learners' self-analyses of their writing. Quantitative and analytical assessment of EFL writing samples of Japanese college students and questionnaire responses of their perceived writing difficulties reveal significant improvement of their writing performance and their metacognitive development. The written protocol data which were gathered through their retrospection of writing process also support these results.

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Peer review is an activity widely used as part of process writing. However, some teachers are skeptical of its usefulness because of students' inadequacy in responding with helpful and constructive advice. Sometimes students appear to be confused in responding as peer reviewers or in revising as writers because of their peers' inadequate responses. We conducted a study to explore ways to prepare students to actively participate in peer review activities for successful critiquing. The students in this study were enrolled in elementary writing classes in the Faculty of Education at a national university in western Japan. The participants received several brief coaching sessions which included guidelines and tasks for useful peer review activities such as studying of mechanical and organizational rules of writing, learning how to respond as an effective reviewer, and role-playing as writers and reviewers. The interactions of the students in the subsequent peer review sessions were videotaped and transcribed for analysis to see the types of feedback. The students' first and revised drafts were also collected and analyzed to examine how the writers incorporated the reviewers' comments for revision and how peer review improved their writing. The research findings of this study suggest that coaching is useful in drawing students' attention to the task and improving peer feedback, through which, as we expect, their writing may be enhanced in the long run.

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A common strategy of foreign language vocabulary learning is to memorize a list of target words and their translations: the so-called paired association method. However, the number of studies focusing on the paired association method is very limited. This paper will present the results of a study conducted with 76 Japanese non English majors at Mie University in search of the most effective way to enhance the long-term retention of words memorized by the paired association method. In the present experiment, the paired association method was combined either with the input activity in which learners inferred the meanings of vocabulary items before memorization, or with the output activity in which learners placed vocabulary items into context after memorization. These combined activities were also compared with the paired association method itself.

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The objective of this study is to discuss how English is taught and what methods are used to communicate between teachers and students in English classes (English Classes and English Conversation Class) for hearing impaired students (HIS), which might be considered fundamental to the successful teaching of the language to HIS. In a way which is different from other subjects, learning English requires the abilities of hearing and speaking and these abilities present one of the major obstacles for HIS in learning English. In this study, communication in English classes is investigated by observing the real state of the English education in a college, a high school for the deaf, and a hard-of-hearing class in a junior high school; and by administering questionnaires to English teachers in junior high schools for the deaf all over Japan. The results clearly showed that English teachers should be provided with some skills to talk directly with HIS, using visual ways, such as sign language, fingerspelling, cued speech, and so on.

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In this paper, I will try to introduce the grammar class as taught at a private high school. The course textbook is written in Japanese but instruction is given in English. My focus is on how to provide students with grammar knowledge which they can use outside the classroom. A lot of written work is required as well as communicative activities. When instruction is in English, students must think and respond in English, and consequently they see English not just as a foreign language or some kind of puzzle to solve but as a tool for communication. Diagrams and pictures are useful tools for explaining grammar patterns and also to keep students' attention. The students' concentration is reinforced not just because of these teaching aids, but because they try to understand what the teacher is saying. The other byproduct is the awareness of their own understanding. They have to understand the English the teacher uses and at the same time, they have to digest the grammar system. This combination of factors encourages students to respond to their own understanding of the language which leads them to be responsible for their own learning.

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An item bank is a collection of test items that have been calibrated onto a common scale. The item response theory makes it easy to develop item banks. An item bank can be used in creating not only classroom English tests but also large-scale English tests. The development of tests with the assistance of an item bank enables teachers and test developers to save the time and energy they would have to spend on conventional test development. The biggest advantage of using an item bank is that it becomes possible to compare the results of different tests. This will improve assessment based on data analysis in education. Recently, in Japan, private testing agencies have developed English proficiency tests using their own item banks. However, very few item banks have been made available for schoolteachers to use on a regular basis. This article explains the development of an item bank for practical use in the classroom and in large-scale program assessment for high school English education. In addition, a user-friendly computer program was developed to estimate students' scores from item bank testing.

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