This study presents a cross-sectional study of language proficiency using TOEFL-IPT, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, future possible selves, language learning orientation, Can-Do(listening/speaking, reading/writing), international posture, and willingness to communicate in L2(L2WTC) to identify overall tendencies among Japanese University EFL learners. Around November of the year 2012 -2013, 2,665 freshman-year university students took TOEFL-ITP and answered a questionnaire. The study was conducted: (1) to investigate how students’ language learning experience relates to language proficiency, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, future L2 self, Can-Do, international posture and L2WTC, (2) to identify different groups of learner characteristics in language learning and to compare differences in these groups in students with and without childhood experience in terms of language proficiency, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, future L2 self and other affective factors. The study found that students with childhood experience in language learning showed higher motivation, future L2 self, Can-Do, international posture, L2WTC as well as higher language proficiency as assessed upon entering the university.

　　The aim of this paper is twofold: to argue for the need of recasting the construct of communicative competence (CC) in view of the low efficiency of current English education in Japan; and to contend that knowledge of and skills in conversational routines/patterns (CRPs) lie at the core of the recast CC, classroom communicative competence (CCC). We first discuss a drawback of the global sense of CC as the goal of English education in Japan on the ground that every context demands a particular CC. It is suggested that the CC, required for our students to participate in and learn from classroom experiences and to become interactive L2 users, should be context-specific and hence appropriate to the reality of the classroom. We then scrutinize the pedagogical adequacy of CRPs as the basis of CCC drawing research evidence from applied linguistic studies to date. It has been found that CRPs are heavily used in everyday interactions and have critical characteristics for efficient communication, for instance, stored and retrieved as a whole and functionally associated with a particular social discourse. However, despite their importance in successful communication and language acquisition, CRPs have been rather neglected in language teaching. This paper concludes by suggesting ways of how we can make CCC develop during the course of successive years of English education at Japanese schools.

　　The main focus of the present study is to investigate whether high-speed listening in English class is effective in enhancing word recognition of elementary-level Japanese EFL listeners. Both experimental and anecdotal evidences suggest that, with continuous exposure to a faster speech rate, listeners can normalize a faster speech rate as their new baseline and find the original speech rate slower. In order to confirm if steady exposure to a faster speech rate has a positive effect on the listener’s word recognition as well as comprehension, an experiment was conducted. In the experiment, participants in the three experimental groups were exposed to compressed speech rates at 1.2, 1.5, and 2.0 times the original rate for half a year in class, while those in the control group listened at the original rate. The results of the posttests showed that the participants who listened at 1.5 times the original rate fared significantly better than the other three groups in terms of word recognition. However, no difference between the groups was found in terms of comprehension.

　　In this paper, I argue that feedback during processing instruction (PI) plays a crucial role in enhancing the receptive and productive abilities of L2 grammar among Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The present study compared three types of PI: PI with teacher feedback and explanation, PI with feedback and without explanation, and PI without feedback or explanation. This study also compared their effects on Japanese high school students' development in the comprehension and production of the English present hypothetical conditional. During PI, when students were pushed to make form-meaning connections in the target form through a series of listening and reading practices, they did not produce any outputs. The results showed that students in the PI [+feedback, –explanation] condition outperformed those in the PI [–feedback, –explanation] condition, as measured by comprehension and production tests. This result is discussed in relation to Carroll's (2001) Autonomous Induction Theory. The findings also indicated that students in the PI [+feedback, +explanation] condition outperformed those in the PI [+feedback, –explanation] condition, as measured by the comprehension test. This result supports the use of explicit grammar instruction in Japanese EFL classrooms.

　　Applying dynamic systems theories (DST) of empirical research to second language (L2) motivation is the center of attention of recent L2 motivation research. Among DST, this study used an ecological systems approach to understand situational and contextual factors of ambivalence about communicating in English among Japanese youth. Data were collected from 127 university students using open-ended questions about reflective writings and numerical items for examining the vividness of students’ learning experiences. The data were qualitatively analyzed using a grounded theory (GT) procedure and interpreted using DST and Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1993) ecological model. The GT analyses showed situations in which students were most willing to communicate and situations in which they were least willing to communicate. These situations were interrelated with situations in which students’ possible L2 selves were generated by the interactions with teachers, friends, classmates, and family. The links between the vividness of their learning experiences and trait-like willingness to communicate (WTC) were identified. The results suggested students with more vivid learning experiences have higher trait-like WTC, although situational waves from WTC to UnWTC occur with subtle contextual changes. Pedagogical implications for treating students’ inhibitory behavior in English use are also discussed.

　　In the current study two experiments were conducted to examine how L2 speakers of English plan the verb of a simple sentence prior to utterance onset. In the experiments, a variation of Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) displayed pictured elements of an event in a sequence (e.g., buy [verb] - bed [object] - woman [subject]; bed [adjunct] - sleep [verb] - boy [subject]). RSVP was used to induce verb planning at different timings (initial or middle) in the serial presentation. The variables were position of the verb, and type of sentence elements (e.g., subject) presented around the verb. The effects of these variables on reaction time (latency before articulation) were observed. The results revealed that when speakers saw a verb in the initial position, reaction time was generally shorter, but the effect of position of the verb varied depending on the number of choices which an element around the verb had: For instance, when an element (e.g., bed) preceding a verb had two functional choices (either an adjunct as in sleep in the bed, or an object as in buy the bed) reaction was delayed. A control experiment was carried out to test the effect from the number of choices observed in the main experiment. The results of this study suggest that learners should be given a chance to practice using different types of verb (transitive, intransitive, or be) in a single task.

　　This study focused onhow timing of form instruction duringtask repetition influences development of proceduralization and accuracy of linguistic knowledge. Following a pretest using a narrative task, two treatment groups repeated narrative tasks in practice sessions. In each session, Group 1 was given time to find and correct errors in the instructional material as form instruction after the first task, and then repeated the first task. Conversely, Group 2 first received form instruction then performed the task two times. The control group was not given any instruction sessions. After the sessions, a posttest with the same pictures as the pretest was administered. The results showed that Groups 1 and 2 performed better than the contrast group, and although Group 1 performed more fluently than Group 2, only Group 2 improved accuracy. This study implies that: (1) practice using task repetition accompanied by form instruction is effective for facilitating proceduralization and accuracy; and (2) the timing of form instruction brings different effects for developing proceduralization and accuracy.

　　The present study aims to compare the effects of expanding, equally-spaced, and contracting retrieval practice on L2 vocabulary learning. Group A (n = 34) learned 20 English and Japanese word pairs (e.g., ligament-jintai) under the expanding schedule (Day 1, 1, 8, and 22). In a similar way, Group B (n = 19) and Group C (n = 29) learned the same target words under either the equallyspaced (Day 1, 8, 15, and 22), or the contracting schedule (Day 1, 15, 22, and 22), respectively. Twenty-one days after the last learning session (Day 43), all the groups took a delayed post-test in which they were required to retrieve Japanese meanings for the target words (e.g., ligament:_____?). The results showed that: (a) Group A had a better score than did Groups B and C after the second learning session; (b) Group C outperformed Groups A and B after the fourth learning session. (c) However, no significant difference was observed between the three groups in the delayed test. These findings indicate that the length of the interval between each vocabulary session does not matter for long-term L2 vocabulary retention as long as learners are given three or more spaced learning sessions.

　　The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of Japanese primary school teachers in their roles as language teachers and in relation to their workplace environments. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed to answer the research questions posed. To determine workplace environmental factors, we extracted data collected from teachers at two different primary schools. In order to capture an overview of primary school teachers in their roles as language teachers, we focused on their affective, cognitive and behavioral dimensions. A questionnaire was distributed to the teachers at these schools and group discussions were held. The results showed that the characteristics of the three dimensions of the teachers differed slightly between two schools. In addition, integrating the quantitative and qualitative data showed that: (a) the experience of teaching English may intrinsically motivate teachers, while extrinsic motivation may depend on how much they rely on various forms of teaching support; (b) co-operative activities among teachers might build common, strong teacher beliefs and a lack of such activities may cause greater diversity in beliefs; and (c) the circumstances under which teachers independently teach English may increase teaching practice diversity, while a set curricula, teacher support and other factors may lead to relatively similar teaching practices.

　　Recently, researchers have become aware that deliberate learning of new words in a foreign language may facilitate implicit as well as explicit lexical knowledge. Previous research has found the existence of mental connections between newly learned words and their meanings through priming studies. In the present study, a small-scale experiment using priming methodology was conducted to explore the possibility that learners construct a mental association between new words and other words they encounter in the same context. Graduate and undergraduate students (n = 10) memorized a word list consisting of 10 English rare words paired with their Japanese translations and example sentences. After that, the participants performed a lexical decision task that required prompt recognition of new-word targets presented on a PC screen; the targets were primed by words that had appeared in the example sentences (i.e., context primes) or by unrelated words (i.e., control primes). The response time of all participants was shortened for context primes,suggesting an implicit connection between new words and contexts in the learner’s mind. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

　　Previous studies of visual and spoken word recognition that focused specifically on the recognition of individual content words have reported the word frequency effect. A problem arises, however, when considering the fact that most high frequency words are monosyllabic content words and function words that are difficult to recognize in continuous L2 speech. No study has yet to clarify a word frequency effect in L2 speech recognition. However, instead of a word frequency effect, the present study aimed to examine whether the frequency effect is found in syllable sequences, as the unit of processing spoken words is considered to be a phonological unit of combined syllables rather than an individual word. In the study, 63 university students in Japan participated in a sentence dictation task where each sentence contained tri-syllabic sequences with high and low frequencies of occurrence based on the database of 18 authorized English textbooks used in Japanese junior high schools. The results of ANOVA and correlation analyses revealed that the frequency of individual syllables or words does not relate to the recognition of speech, whereas the frequency is significant for syllable sequences larger than a word. The findings clarified the importance of the intentional rather than incidental learning of phonological words for better speech processing in EFL settings.

　　The purpose of this study is to investigate how Japanese Learners of English (JLEs) acquire English ergative verb usages, and is to claim that difficulty of ergative verb usages in English for JLEs is due largely to the properties of sentential subject nouns. Since both Japanese (L1) and English (L2) have ergative verbs, it can be assumed that JLEs’ acquisition of intransitive and transitive usages of English ergative verbs are equally easy as long as the L1 transfer positively works. It has also been claimed in previous studies dealing with the acquisition of wh-questions and/or relative clauses that animacy of the sentential subject affects L2 learners’ correct judgement of grammaticality of sentence. Sixty-five adult JLEs with relatively low English proficiency took a grammaticality judgement task. They were asked to judge the usages of 15 ergative verbs. The results showed that (a) the JLEs have more difficulty judging the grammaticality of intransitive usages than that of transitive usages, (b) sentences with animate subjects are easier to judge correctly than those with inanimate, and (c) sentences with inanimate subjects in intransitive usages are the most difficult structures for the JLEs to judge their grammaticality correctly. Thus, the overall findings indicate that the JLEs are strongly influenced by the semantic properties of subjects that each ergative verb structure has.

　　The present study aims to develop a practical and statistically sound inventory that helps in examining Japanese university students’ foreign language learning mode preferences (LMPs). LMP, like numerous other learners’ traits such as learning styles, beliefs, and motivation, is one of the behavioral and meta-cognitive variables that potentially moderate the variance of the learning outcome under a specific learning mode. The present study conducted a questionnaire survey, sampling university students who were learning English as a foreign language (N = 1,003) in a Japanese national university and developed a Foreign Language Learning Mode Preference Inventory (ver. 1), whose items (K = 12) were all written in Japanese. The inventory yielded three subscales with relatively higher reliability coefficient for each: (a) cooperative learning preference (α = .91), (b) e-learning preference (α = .90), and (c) face-to-face instruction preference (α = .70). The factorial validity of the inventory was tested using structure equation modeling. The results showed that the theoretical measurement model fit well to the observations. Furthermore, multiple sample analyses supported the measurement invariance with the constraints of equal loadings and equal intercepts across genders. Some practical applications of this inventory, specifically in the context of foreign language teaching in Japanese higher education, were discussed.

　　Syntactic complexity has traditionally been measured by “macro-perspective measures,” which provide a paucity of angles from which to examine how learners actually elaborate a sentence. Mixing up a large variety of clauses with only “the number of clauses” or “subordination ratios” could lead to overlooking desired relationships between complexity and proficiency or task manipulation and linguistic performance. The current study attempted to capture the features of writing syntactically complex sentences through “micro-perspective measures,” such as clause types (main clauses, coordinate clauses, adverbial clauses, relative clauses, complement clauses, and non-finite clauses), and differences in learner proficiency levels. Participants were 28 Japanese EFL learners. Proficiency was operationalized via argumentative essay scores. To elicit syntactic knowledge, we offered the participants a specialized task that restricted the number of sentences in describing a plot consisting of six related illustrations. The results revealed that coordinate clauses, relative clauses, and non-finite clauses are more frequently produced in elaborating syntactic structures, irrespective of the writer’s proficiency level. Our findings also indicated that non-finite clauses are a more practical expedient for proficient learners than less proficient ones. Some pedagogical implications are also discussed.

　　Although the importance and effectiveness of the combined use of both morphemes and contexts when understanding novel words have been emphasized, little is known about the on-line integration of the two sources during EFL reading. Therefore, the present study addressed this issue by employing on-line self-paced reading tasks. Target words were pseudo compounds (e.g., pricewar), whose literal meanings are either consistent or inconsistent with their surrounding contexts (transparent and opaque compounds, respectively). A total of 41 Japanese undergraduate and graduate students read the contexts for comprehension word-by-word (reading task), and then translated the contexts into Japanese (translation task) to reveal what information the readers utilized for interpretation, and its relationship with on-line integration. The comparison of the reading times for transparent and opaque targets demonstrated that EFL readers integrated contextual and morphological information during reading; readers were sensitive to semantic relation between morphemes and contexts. However, this integration did not correlate with accurate interpretation due to the greater demand of suppressing intervention from morphological information. These results suggest that difficulty in understanding novel compounds lies in flexible semantic selection, rather than in appreciating the relation of the two sources.

　　Second language (L2) speaking assessment can be affected by raters as well as tasks and other factors. High-stakes speaking tests require that high rater reliability be assured and that such information be reported to the public. In Japan, investigations into rater reliability and the use of multifaceted Rasch analysis have been limited for L2 speaking assessment in both high-stakes contexts and classroom situations. To fill this gap, this study examines the rater reliability of the Speaking Section of the Global Test of English Communication Computer Based Testing (GTEC CBT). This test has nine tasks for evaluation and 23 assessment criteria. We analyzed 648 test takers’ responses using multifaceted Rasch analysis. The results showed that raters differed in severity to a small degree but demonstrated high rater agreement and rater self-consistency. The bias analysis indicated a small percentage of systematic biased patterns between raters and test takers and 25.78% of biases between raters and criteria. Implications for improving assessment were discussed.

　　The main purpose of this paper is to ascertain the findings from Takanami’s (2014, 2015) studies on the difficulties of spelling acquisition among Japanese EFL learners. A total of 34 Japanese university students participated in the present study. Ten test formats including six recall tasks and four recognition tasks, focusing on three fundamental abilities (i.e., decode, spell, and comprehend), were conducted for each target word to examine weaknesses and strengths in basic vocabulary knowledge among the participants. The target words were 33 high-frequency, already learned words. Test-takers’ estimated vocabulary size was tested behorehand. The results of this study confirmed that (a) the productive knowledge of the written form was the most serious deficiency in the basic knowledge of vocabulary acquisition among the learners, (b) 38% of the learners were in the category of poor spellers (S-), and (c) good spellers (S+) are always good decoders (D+) and good comprehenders (C+). This paper concludes that the various test formats succeded in showing the learners’ weaknesses and strengths in basic vocabulary aqcuisition. Thus, specifically designed test formats, which assess learners’ basic knowledge with various perspectives, should be developed for better understanding learners’ fundamental literacy skills.

　　The present study examined the effects of (a) a prefix clue in an unknown word and (b) the relationship between the use of prefixes and L2 vocabulary size on EFL learners’ lexical inferencing in reading. Previous studies have shown that L2 learners make use of morphological clues in unknown words to infer word meaning. In addition, some studies have demonstrated that the use of morphological clues contributes to L2 learners’ vocabulary knowledge through lexical inferencing ability. However, few studies have examined the relationship between the use of morphological clues and its contribution to lexical inferencing. In an experiment, a total of 35 Japanese EFL undergraduate and graduate students inferred the meanings of 11 target words whose prefixes were available for participants and 11 words whose prefixes were unavailable. All target words were presented in sentences that were not sufficiently informative to be able to infer the word meaning. The prefix availability and sentences containing target words were examined and created through two pilot studies. The results showed that prefix availability contributed to lexical inferencing, but it was also found that the effect of prefix availability on lexical inferencing might not differ in respect of learners’ vocabulary size. Finally, the possible ways of applying the findings of the present study to teaching English in the context of EFL are discussed.

　　Some Japanese universities introduce an innovative overseas teaching practicum in pre-service training, and suggest quality and ability change for students who enrol in the practicum. The study aims to explore the changes of language teachers’ possible selves (Kubanyiova, 2009; Markus & Nurius, 1986) through the experience of the overseas teaching practicum. This paper provided examples of overseas teaching practicum focused on integrating the skills and knowledge that university students need, and reported the impact of the practicum on teacher trainees’ conceptual change about teaching and on their perceptions of English education. Data were collected using open-ended interviews with the five teacher trainees who participated in the oversea teaching practicum in 2015, and analysed through steps for coding and theorization (SCAT) developed as a qualitative data analysis method (Otani, 2008). It was concluded that the trainees saw the practicum as a positive experience that caused them to increase reflection on and revitalize their teaching. Some changes were noted from pre- to post-practicum in the trainees’ ideal and ought-to selves about learning and teaching English. This paper also discussed the framework of language teacher conceptual change (LTCC) for professional development (Kubanyiova, 2012).

　　This practical research examined how the use of training portfolios in an English language teaching methodology course improves fundamental teaching skills. A questionnaire based on the Japanese version of the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) was applied before and after the course to quantitatively analyse teaching skills developments and all students were required to compile training portfolios during the course. Significant differences were found between the teaching components: teaching communicative activities, flexibility in using lesson plans, reflective adjustment to teaching, and devising lesson plans with effective techniques. The results indicated that regardless of proficiency levels, the students felt that they had developed better skills by the end of the course. A relationship between the use of the training portfolios and improvements in teaching skills was found, and the portfolios were found to encourage the development of communicative teaching skills and reflective adjustments to teaching. However, learning effective teaching skills and flexibly responding in the classroom may need additional strategies and/or time.

　　This practical report aims to propose a ‘soft’ version of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) model that employs a variety of tasks and is feasible in EFL classes. Firstly the present report attempts to compile a useful and hands-on framework of task difficulties whereby language teachers develop and manipulate their tasks to meet the purpose of the class, and/or fit with the proficiency level of their students. Secondly, based on the established framework a CLIL class titled Global Issues conducted in English was carried out on 37 English proficient university students. The classes of 90 minutes continued over a four-month semester from April to July in 2016. Two different questionnaires were completed by the participants toward the end of the term to reveal how they evaluated the class and perceived each task. The results show that overall the students were very positive about the class, partly because the class encouraged them to be engaged in a wide variety of tasks, which they noticed were new, interesting, and useful for improving their language skills, suggesting that each task works within and across the class(es). The results also show that teacher talk is a significant variable that contributes to making the class valuable for the students, highlighting the importance of non-native teachers managing their classes mainly in English to make CLIL classes accessible. In the report, discussions are made regarding how tasks should be alongside each other in a ‘soft’version of CLIL class.

　　This study reports an action research aimed at alleviating learners' unwillingness to communicate in English and at enhancing their oral performance in the same. Targeting seven low-proficient learners, two cycles of action research were conducted. In each cycle, two communicative activities were carried out using a variety of scaffolding based on the framework of task-based language teaching. Learners' affective changes were examined both qualitatively and quantitatively, and the changes in their oral performance were measured quantitatively. The result revealed that learners' unwillingness to communicate reduced slightly and their oral performance improved in terms of fluency and syntactic complexity. Apart from the product of the action research, this study also shows the details of the events that occurred in each research cycle and the teacher's interpretation of these events. Based on the product and process of this action research, the study reflects on how the teacher's perspective of teaching English underwent a change.

　　With the purpose of improving the listening skills of high school students, the author conducted classroom research on the effect of dictogloss, a task-based procedure proposed by Wajnryb (1990). The participants were 40 first-graders who took Communication EnglishⅠclasses taught by the author. The dictogloss activities were carried out 18 times, using nearly 20 minutes of each class. The task procedure consisted of four stages, that is, preparation, dictation, reconstruction, and analysis and correction, which were suggested by Wajnryb. The effect of the teaching practice was measured by the results of listening tests, free recall tasks, and a questionnaire on students’use of listening strategies. The results show, a) the students improved their scores on the listening tests, b) the students learned to get higher percentages on the free recall tasks, and c) the students got to use bottom-up strategies and metacognition as well as top-down strategies in their listening processes.

　　This practical report concerns the authors’ year-long attempt to develop learners’ critical thinking skills at high school using a MEXT-authorized English Communication I textbook. First, a list of essential CT skills to be taught was compiled, some of which were selected and assigned as attainment targets for lessons. Then, core performance tasks were invented so that learners could demonstrate their understanding of the CT skills designated in the lesson. Finally, criteria for judgment on their performance were developed. The CT skills list, core performance tasks, and evaluation criteria were all shared by the teacher and learners at the start of the lessons. One- year-long follow-up examinations of a particular learner’s written responses, ratios of the learners’grades (A, B, and C) on their performance in three academic terms, and a paired t-test of pre- and post-CT skills assessment scores all strongly suggested the effectiveness of the CT instructions. This practice is probably the first in Japan to have proposed a list of specific CT skills to be taught at school, core performance tasks for CT skills based on a school textbook, and valid criteria to evaluate learners’ performance.