Research has revealed that students who take cumulative tests, which target both recently and previously learned items, show a superior retention of those items in comparison to those who take noncumulative tests. In this study, a modified version of cumulative tests, which was tentatively named Random-Selection Tests (RST), was designed and the effects of RST on L2 vocabulary learning were examined. In Week 1, first-year university students in Japan took a pretest that comprised 50 target words. Subsequently, they were given a word list that comprised 50 English and Japanese word pairs and asked to memorize as many words as possible outside class time. In Week 2, they took a small test that contained 10 words chosen randomly from among the 50 words. For five consecutive weeks, they took small tests on the 50 words (Weeks 2 to 6). In Week 7, the students took a posttest that contained all 50 words. The results revealed that increases in the total amount of study time and number of times a certain word appeared in small tests were directly proportional to an increase in posttest scores. The study also found that when the students had high scores, they tended to decrease their study time. However, RST benefited from spaced retrieval practice. The way in which English teachers can apply these results to L2 vocabulary instruction is discussed.

The present study investigated the relationships between foreign language enjoyment (FLE), emotional intelligence (EI), and strategy use in 67 Japanese first-year university students from three classes, learning in a distance-learning environment (i.e., online lessons). The study also explored their FLE changes over one year and the variables influencing the changes. The results of quantitative analyses showed significant positive correlations between FLE and EI and between FLE and strategy use. The results of qualitative analyses demonstrated that although the FLE values of the three classes exhibited unique and varied trajectories, they shared similar points of time in their up and down movements. These movements were related to the content of the lessons. The results also revealed that 19.39% of the participants experienced major changes in their FLE values during the online course. These changes were associated with several environmental variables (i.e., in-class and out-of-class variables). The findings and theoretical/pedagogical implications are discussed from the perspective of dynamic systems.

Considering the importance of foreign language education in the present-day global society, an English test for junior high school students was added to the National Assessment of Academic Ability (“Zenkoku Gakuryoku Gakushu Jyokyo Chousa”) in 2019. This study analyzed the test items using Item Response Theory (IRT) to obtain useful information for the enhancement of the instruction given in the English classroom at junior high schools and for the further development of the assessment. The English test consisted of listening, reading, writing, and speaking sections, and the 26 items included were created based on the Course of Study for foreign languages. The English test was administered in 96% of all the junior high schools in Japan. After checking the dimensionality of the test, item parameters are estimated using the data from 923,638 examinees who had responded to all four parts by the two-parameter logistic model (2PLM). The item parameter estimates are examined in terms of sections, abilities to be measured, criteria, modes, and assessment formats. The items with extreme values are investigated. The results indicate that junior high school students need to do more productive activities in the classroom to develop the ability to use English for communicating in real-life situations. This study confirms that the English test of the National Assessment system can be developed using IRT technologies

Outdated information influences readers’ validation process, which is the monitoring process to maintain information consistency during reading, and causes immediate comprehension difficulties. However, few studies have investigated the factors that directly govern the effect of outdated information on second-language (L2) readers’ validation. Thus, the present study investigated the effects of outdated information on English as a foreign language (EFL) readers’ validation by changing the order of information presentation. Thirty-one Japanese graduate and undergraduate students read 16 short narratives, each of which had one of four types of context sections: consistent, inconsistent, qualified-first, or qualified-second. The consistent context presented the protagonist’s information consistent with the target sentences. However, the inconsistent context proposed the protagonist’s traits inconsistent with the target sentences. In the qualified-first context, the protagonist’s current profile was presented first, and an outdated profile was introduced second. Then, the qualified-second context reversed the information-presentation order. The reading times for the target sentences revealed that the information-presentation order could influence EFL readers’validation of contextual information. It suggested that the most recently presented information among contextual information could strongly influence EFL readers’ validation.

The present study aimed to examine whether reading instruction, which provides the specific goal for reading, can facilitate readers in understanding and maintaining the coherence of multiple dimensions in narrative reading. In the experiment, 21 Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) read short English narratives containing inconsistent information regarding protagonist, temporal, and spatial coherence. The participants were asked to read the texts and verbalize their thoughts during reading (think-aloud task) under two conditions: (a) reading for comprehension and (b) reading for visualizing the scene of narratives in their minds (image instruction). Their think-aloud protocols were analyzed regarding whether readers understand and try to maintain dimensional coherence (i.e., whether they detect inconsistency of protagonist, temporal, and spatial information and try to resolve it). The results demonstrated that image instruction facilitated readers’ understanding of spatial coherence and maintaining protagonist coherence. However, it had no effect on temporal information. These findings suggest effective instructions for EFL readers’ narrative reading.

This study explored the process and products of the word part technique (WPT), in which learners relate the meanings of word parts to those of the whole word, and how semantic transparency and knowledge of morphemes operate. In this study, 16 English verbs consisting of a prefix and a root (e.g., conspire → con- + -spire) were examined, with eight verbs being semantically more transparent and eight being less transparent. A total of 70 Japanese university students memorized the target words using the WPT, divided into two groups. In the first group, the morphemes involved were known (the WPTK [word part technique with known morphemes] group), and in the second group they were unknown (the WPTU [word part technique with unknown morphemes] group). This was experimentally manipulated by the expectation of the availability/unavailability of the form and meaning of the morphemes during subsequent retrieval. The learning unit was followed by two vocabulary tests and a questionnaire to assess attention orientation during learning and learning outcomes. The results showed that the WPTK group focused more on the semantic link between morphemes and whole words, whereas the WPTU group focused more on other links. Additionally, more transparent words were retained better than less transparent ones. However, this trend was only observed when word part (morpheme) information was available during retrieval.

The main purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effects of an English-language immersion program in Japan on the development of the students’ phonological ability, and evaluate whether such an ability improves after a year-long participation in the program. A total of 63 junior high school students who had taken an early immersion program for seven years in Japan were enrolled in this study. The students took Gathercole and Baddeley’s (1996) Children’s Test of Nonword Repetition and were asked to repeat 40 nonwords. The stimuli were composed of 10 two-syllable, 10 three-syllable, 10 four-syllable, and 10 five-syllable nonwords. The average score of the group was 20.98 (52.45%), significantly higher than that of 27 Japanese university students who had studied English for at least six years in Japan but who had never taken an immersion program. Additionally, in the present study, the number of syllables in nonwords was found to affect the students’ repetition performances; the more syllables, the more difficult. Furthermore, 24 immersion students took the same test twice when they were 7th and 8th graders. Contrary to our prediction, their scores did not change during the 12 months. The results of the study indicate a difference in the development of phonological ability between English-speaking children and learners in an immersion program in Japan, where only limited access to English is available in their daily lives.

　　Working memory (WM), which can be conceptualized as a central executive function with a phonological loop subsystem, plays an important role in language processing. A listening span test (LST) has been used to measure the central executive function required for both processing and retention of spoken language. Many previous studies have reported that scores on second language (L2) and first language (L1) LSTs were correlated with success in language acquisition and development in L1 and L2. However, no L2 LST has been developed for Japanese elementary school (ES) students, whereas some L2 LSTs have been developed for university students and adults. This study developed and validated an L2 English LST for Japanese ES students considering the educational environment of Japanese ES students. A total of 53 Japanese fifth-grade students took part in the validation study. They took a Japanese LST, the newly developed English LST, and an English listening proficiency test. The results showed that scores on the English LST were correlated with those for the Japanese LST and the English listening proficiency test. Furthermore, performance on the English LST was predicted by the Japanese LST when the effect of English listening proficiency was excluded. Therefore, the L2 English LST is valid in that it measures the central executive function during L2 listening comprehension.

Corpus-based studies have revealed a disparity in vocabulary size between written and spoken texts. It has also been found that text types within the same register affect lexical size. Taken together, it is suggested that it may take analyses on separate corpora to yield accurate vocabulary size of English tests. The present study examined vocabulary size of listening and reading passages of the Eiken Grade Pre-1 test from this perspective. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether there is a variation in vocabulary size among Listening Parts and within the reading section. Samples in the present study were derived from 16 past tests. Three corpora were compiled from the Listening Part 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Another three corpora were developed from the 300-word, 400-word, and 500-word reading passages, respectively. Results on the listening corpora showed that the most frequent 3,000 word families were necessary to account for 98% of running words in dialog-based Part 1 and that it took the most frequent 4,000 word families to cover 98% of words in monolog-based Part 2 and 3. Lexical-load analyses on the reading corpora followed by an examination into words outside the criterion word lists indicated that the most frequent 5,000 word families sufficed to yield 98% coverage in all the three reading corpora. Pedagogical suggestions in light of these findings are discussed in detail.

　　For second language (L2) learners, acquiring noun phrase (NP) structures is thought to be one of the most important elements in the development of their overall L2 proficiency. The purpose of the current study is to investigate to what extent the target NP structures are included in the input Japanese English as a Foreign Language learners are exposed to, by analyzing Japanese junior high school English textbooks. The results show that while NPs premodified by This and postmodified by prepositional phrases appear frequently in the textbooks, the other target NPs do not. In addition, all the target NP structures do not frequently appear in the sentential subject positions: they are often used as other components such as sentential objects or internal elements of various kinds of phrases. Through the comparison with the results of the previous study, it is also indicated that the differences in the degree of acquisition observed in the previous studies can be explained by the frequency data obtained in the current study. Some implications toward Japanese EFL classrooms and L2 acquisition research are discussed.

　　The purpose of this study was to identify the role of formulaic sequences (FS) in a usage based approach integrated into story-based English lessons, in which procedural knowledge is developed through exemplars. It was also intended to investigate the extent to which 14-year-old Japanese junior high school students perceive the morphological pattern (-ed) and the word order characterizing the passive voice (X is cooked by Y.) as well as how they produce emergent patterns. To these ends, the research used a pre-test–post-test control group design. An FS group was exposed to structured input and a narrated story using collaborative dictogloss tasks, after which each participant was asked to write a story. A non-FS group was exposed to grammar explanations first before being instructed to produce the required output. To explore the extent to which the students’procedural knowledge improved, auditory grammaticality judgment tests were administered. The post-test indicated a significant difference between the groups. To analyze language properties that the students acquired, edge of proceedings and Guiraud’s index values were used, and a two-way analysis of covariance was conducted. These procedures revealed significant differences in main improvement effects between the groups. Overall, the FS group exhibited stronger grammatical sensitivity and higher productivity than the non-FS group. The results suggest that procedural knowledge is cultivated through retrieving FS.

　　This paper presents an exploratory practice of conducting assessment for learning to improve students’ proactive learning. This practice targeted 19 low-proficiency and low motivation private university students taking an English academic writing class taught by one of the authors. To seek a better way to conduct the class considering their proficiency level and motivation, we first aimed to gain better understanding of in what ways students manage to improve their learning proactively by using peer feedback. The overall practice lasted for five weeks and consisted of the following three parts: (a) peer feedback activity, (b) writing correction activity, and (c) scoring students’performance. We collected data from (a) and (b) by using worksheets and classified it into five categories for (a) and six categories for (b). We then scored the final products of students’ writing by using the English Composition Profile. We found that students often provided feedback on content and organization but rarely on form, mechanics, and lexis, which resulted in correspondingly scoring less on form, mechanics, and lexis in their final performance. This finding suggests that their low proficiency led to difficulties in providing feedback in terms of form, mechanics, and lexis, and therefore teachers should offer specific help with basic aspects to English writing to revise them proactively.