This paper presents the results of a study that examined whether or not short film creation can be set as the project for a project based foreign language learning class in a Japanese university to improve all four of the English skills of the participants. In this study, a textbook that teaches students academic English words as well as the basics of film-making was used to provide students with reading practice, in class meetings and acting in and editing films provided students with listening and speaking practice, and script-writing and meeting minute recording provided them with writing practice. Students' communicative and teamwork abilities were measured using the TEAM Q metric, and their impressions of improvement were evaluated with a post-class survey. The results indicate that students felt their communicative, teamwork, speaking and listening abilities, and knowledge of academic words greatly improved and that their reading and writing abilities only improved somewhat. Students might have felt less strongly about their reading ability improving because many had very high TOEFL scores (550+), and the textbook level might have been too low for them. Overall, the project was successful in improving students' English, though it could be improved by adding more writing assignments.

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The purpose of this study is to examine how American TV-drama-based materials affect the listening abilities of English as a Foreign Language (EFL learners with different proficiency levels. Two classes of students from a Japanese university the higher-level class and the lower-level class, received English instruction using a TV drama as teaching material. Their listening skills and attitudes toward the lessons based on the drama were measured using listening tests, weekly journal entries, and questionnaires. The results showed that students in both proficiency groups felt their listening comprehension skills had improved though pre- and post-test scores showed that their listening comprehension improvement did not reach a statistically significant level. Most of the students felt that the fast speech rate was the most prominent cause that made their listening comprehension difficult. However, the upper-level students tended to analyze the causes of their difficulty in listening, such as phonological changes. The students in both classes were motivated to study English through the drama. About half of the students in both classes felt they were able to learn about other cultures through the drama. The results of the current study suggested that a TV drama can be used as effective teaching material regardless of the students' proficiency levels.

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This paper examines the effect of selected films on students' L2 WTC and language anxiety. The paper explores the possibility of using films in the classrooms to find whether this would lead to a better classroom environment where L2 learners are willing to engage in activities such as role plays, and students' L2 WTC is increased. For this purpose, the author conducted a qualitative research on how these materials affected students' L2 WTC and anxiety. This paper discusses the results of the analysis.

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This paper attempt s to ensure that students are deeply involved in the learning process in oral communication classes. It describes revisions to an active learning approach to teaching English and reports the changes observed in student involvement in class activities. Despite its recent popularity, interpretations of the term active learning vary widely among teachers and there are different levels of it, depending on the degree of student engagement. Thus, adopting active learning approaches in the class room does not necessarily guarantee that students will participate deeply in the learning process. In this study, episodes of the TV series Glee were used to motivate learners, and formed the foundations of the active learning approaches presented in this paper. The intended effect was to involve learners more actively and make class discussion more productive. A one-year experiment was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the strategies. The results revealed that the revisions, including the introduction of a think-pair-share (TPS) activity and a flipped classroom approach, helped secure sufficient time for class discussion and led students to play a more active role in the learning process.

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At the Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, all students must take practical anatomy courses immediately after they become 2nd year students. Each student is required to study a weekly set of English terminology, as well as Japanese equivalents, before showing up at the laboratory each week. In total, the English terminology they have to deal with reaches over 2000 words. This paper outlines how the author addressed the problem of the burden imposed upon medical students, who are confronted with the overwhelming amount of anatomical English terminology, through a number of pedagogical practices adopted over the past six years. Over this time, the author gradually gained an understanding of student practice schedules, which allowed the author and students to focus on prioritized terminology at the most opportune times. Further, the implementation of audiovisual information, such as three-dimensional or tutorial videos, allowed students to review target words and phrases both in and outside class. Six years' of trial and error has taught the author how rewarding, as well as challenging, it can be to adapt oneself to students' changing needs and requirements.

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The aim of this paper is to shed light on the discourse-functional properties of the JB-X DM-Y construction, and to clarify the mechanisms that underlie the inference denial reading. It has long been argued that the English subordinator because has two uses: causal because and inference because. The inference because clause can appear in the subject position, and it constitutes the subject of the following negated predicate. Through an examination of data excerpted from the film The Da Vinci Code (2003) and presentations on TED Talks, the JB-X DM-Y construction has a discourse function where the speaker denies the conclusion the hearer seems to have reached contextually or encychropedically, and attracts the hearer's attention to the validity or novelty of the speaker's assertion. In addition, this paper suggests the possibility that analyzing the authentic data provides learners with practical usage of a target construction.

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The purpose of this study is to examine the process of how the main characters, Bell and the Beast, in the Disney's movie Beauty and the Beast (2017) reached out to each other, within the framework of the politeness theory proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987). Based on the politeness theory, data taken from the script of Beauty and the Beast was analyzed in terms of three types of politeness strategies, positive, negative and bald on record. The strategies are illustrated with the characters' speech throughout the story. Each character's thoughts and characterizations are explained through different politeness strategies. The major findings were as follows: (1) scenes bring shifts from bald on record to a negative politeness strategy, or from a negative politeness strategy to a positive politeness strategy; (2) speech acts containing mixed strategies; and (3) Bell's speech acts which elicit the Beast's politeness strategies, suggesting that she is an independent, mentally strong woman. Finally, subjunctive speech, considered as one of the most difficult areas of grammar for Japanese English learners, are discussed, indicating the possibility of effective grammar teaching through media. It is, therefore, essential that employing politeness strategies could enhance students' communication skills through pragmatics.

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This paper shows that the linguistic characteristics of the American TV series can be derived from frequency analyses for specific kinds of expressions. It has been argued, based on general n-gram analyses for the most frequent words, that there is an association between grammatical sentence types and the complicating action of the plot that main protagonists have to resolve in blockbuster movies. Based on an analysis of spoken corpus data - scripted dialogues from Lost (2004-2010) and Friends (1994-2004) and unscripted dialogues from the Bergen Corpus of London Teenage Language (1993) - we found that grammatical sentence types are not directly related to TV series characteristics. Plot characteristics can instead be derived based on frequency analysis of gender of speakers and specific expressions relating to vague and emotional language (e.g., "kind of" and "really really"). This leads us to conclude that there are some linguistic differences in everydayness and emotion among TV series, and understanding these different characteristics will be useful for EFL teachers and learners when materials of this type are used to educational purposes.

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The social problem film is one film genre which has been around for a long time in the industry. Ken Loach is a British film maker and known for creating films about British social problems. His recent work, I, Daniel Blake (2016), deals with contemporary social welfare problems including further discussion of the role of decision makers and the screening process of who can get benefits. This paper examines the British social problem film, I, Daniel Blake that portrays angry men and women who receive unreasonable treatment under the national welfare system. As the film maker attempts to outline the harsh living conditions, hunger, anger, and cold-hearted staff, critical images against Britain's welfare system become visible. In order to understand the social problem film and its role in society, I will first introduce how the social problem film was developed, then will follow with the effects of it in relation to politics and society.

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This study aims to examine some of the differences between the original Winnie the Pooh novels and the subsequent film versions. A. A. Milne, the author of the novels, lived through periods of war and wrote Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner between the two Great Wars. In his essay on war, Peace with Honour, he referred to himself as a pacifist and outlined his notion of "Universal Peace" from a completely anti-militaristic view. In the essay, he insisted that "Preparations for defence are as dangerous to the cause of peace as preparations for aggression". As Ann Thwaite indicates, an "abhorrence of violence" and "total rejection of aggression" were characteristics of Milne himself, and this pacifism is reflected in the Pooh stories and his other writings. Actually, there is an almost total lack of violence and aggression in his stories. However, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, as the only Disney-produced film based on Milne's original stories, does include some elements related to war, such as menace and weapons. This study aims to compare the novels with the film and make clear the important and problematic changes made in the Disney film.

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