CASELE Research Bulletin

Papers Read at the 39th Annual Convention of the CASELE

Academic Papers

Measures of Fluency in Speaking Do Hesitation Markers Show Fluency or Disfluency?

Eiko NAKAMURA

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 1-10
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_1

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This paper explores phenomena of learners' oral language seen in the immediate task repetition of Poster Carousel. Close examination of features usually considered as disfluency markers to measure fluency reveals different functions in different situations. The phenomena such as unfilled/filled pauses and other lexical fillers (e.g., repetitions, self-repairs, prefabricated chunks, and reformulations) in transcribed speech data are qualitatively analyzed and classified into two categories: those related to the speaker's concerns for own performance and those concerning the interlocutor's understanding. The functions of these phenomena are seen to change over successive cycles of the task. Learners' use of these devices for own performance is seen to decrease while that for the interlocutor's understanding increases. Most importantly, the shift of phenomena that emerged in oral interaction through task repetition reflects how learners overcome their language problems. The results of measuring phenomena in different ways are also compared in the data.

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The Relationships among Reading Rate, Unknown Word Density, and Text Comprehension of English Passages : The Case of Japanese College Students

Hiroomi TAKASHIMA, Naoko MOTOOKA

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 11-20
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_11

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The purpose of the present study is twofold: to investigate (1) the relationships among reading rate, unknown word density, and text comprehension, and (2) the effects of factors relating to passages and the words contained in them on reading rate, unknown word density, and text comprehension. Through correlational analyses, it was found that unknown word density significantly correlated with reading rate and text comprehension, and that the text's readability and mean lexical decision latency for native English speakers significantly affected Japanese learners' reading rate. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of the relationships between (1) processing of passages and words in them, (2) processing of single words and the same words in context, and (3) lexical processing by native speakers and nonnative learners.

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Swain and Widdowson : A Theoretical Framework for Teaching Basic Skills in Speaking and Writing at the Junior High School Level in Japan

Kazumi ADACHI

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 21-30
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_21

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This paper delineates the theoretical design of the speaking and writing activities for students at the junior high school level in Japan. First, the output hypothesis proposed by Swain is examined to see how it could offer a process whereby the Japanese learner can be guided through the speaking and writing activities. Noting some of the differences between Japan and Canada, where Swain has been doing her research, this paper analyzes her hypothesis to determine its advantages to students in Japan. The second part of this paper draws on Widdowson's idea of the language chunk as the basic unit for production and applies this notion to practical teaching situations. Finally, the theoretical process of speaking and writing activities is presented graphically, integrating Swain's model with Widdowson's insight.

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Comparison of formulas for standardizing TOIEC score improvements

Nobuyuki AOKI

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 31-39
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_31

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The author has been administering a computer-assisted English learning program called IETW to students and adult learners for more than ten years. Those who participated in the program showed significant improvements in post-TOEIC. However, the author always wondered how to evaluate the improvements of those who started from different pre-test scores and showed the same score increase. To resolve this issue, in this study the author compared three formulas for standardizing the score increases, and as a result, concluded that his own original formula is better than formulas using the natural logarithm or an approximate expression because it describes students' efforts more accurately than the other formulas and is easier to use.

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The Change in Learners' Awareness and Use of Reading Strategies in the CALL Reading Program

Sumie FUJII

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 41-50
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_41

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This study investigated learners' awareness of their reading strategies and the development of reading strategies they used when taking part in a CALL extensive reading program. The questionnaires were referred to the reading strategies list from Takeuchi & Ikeda (1999). The survey was conducted in December of 2007 and February of 2008, and 37 participants were involved in the program for eight weeks. The program was based on autonomous learning; there was no specific strategy teaching or training. Each questionnaire addressed 14 different strategies, including activating background knowledge, adjusting rate of reading, speculating from what they read, and note-taking while reading. The results show these strategies have changed regardless of English proficiency and the amount of reading.

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Concerns of English Teachers on Subject Instruction

Daisuke NAKAMOTO

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 51-60
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_51

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The aim of this study is to clarify English teachers' concerns about subject instruction, especially focusing on the differences of concerns according to their ages. For that purpose, both junior and senior high school English teachers were asked to answer a free descriptive questionnaire. The result of the free descriptions from 126 English teachers was carefully classified. Then, it was found that their concerns were divided into 4 factors: "conducting classes", "students", "roles in a school" and "society". In addition, when it was analyzed in terms of their ages (20s', 30s', 40s', 50s'), their concerns qualitatively differed through their ages.

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Translation Quality Assessment : Developing an Analytic Evaluation Scale and Considering its Validity with Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Tomohide ISHIHARA

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 61-70
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_61

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This study tries to establish an analytic evaluation scale for translation so that the translation task will be revisited affirmatively in the field of English education in Japan. Firstly, three criteria of translation assessment (i.e. accuracy, readability, appropriateness) and subsequently nine items were determined, according to the literature review on the issue of translation quality assessment. Using this evaluation scale with nine items, seven judges scored twenty-three translated products by university students. By confirmatory factor analysis using structure equation modeling, the scale developed in this study was shown as valid enough to assess the translation quality. However, the correlation of the items and fit indexes showed that some items needed further revision.

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Analyzing Idiosyncrasy of English Classroom Discourse at Secondary School in Thailand : Case Study of Focusing on Teacher Talk

Chihiro TACHIBANA

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 71-80
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_71

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This article uses classroom data to discuss the English classroom discourse in EFL context of Thailand. First of all, the concept of the difference between EFL and ESL should be given a definition in order to carry out this case study. Then, Thailand as well as Japan in the EFL context was chosen as a field of this study. From the comparative point of view with Japan, this case study explores English classrooms and analyzes the classroom discourse in secondary schools in Ayuttaya, Thailand. This study focuses on modification of teachers' speech-"teacher talk" in order to explore the specific characteristics of EFL classroom context. It is expected that the findings of this study through analyzing with a viewpoint of "teacher talk" will give us the possibility that we could construct the effective methodologies of teaching English in EFL context of Japan.

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An Analysis of Pitch Patterns of English Adjective + Noun Phrases in Model Reading and Some Educational Implications

Mie IWAI, Jun YAMADA

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 81-88
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_81

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A basic English accent rule for a noun phrase consisting of an adjective and a noun is that the head, or noun, is accented unless the adjective is contrastively focused in the context. A question of interest for Japanese learners of English is to what extent this basic principle is observed in model reading to which the learners may be exposed in their English classrooms. This study measured F_0 values of adjectives and nouns in noun phrases which appeared in model English reading on commercially available CDs used at the Japanese college level. Results revealed that, contrary to the basic accent rule, adjectives were accented about 50% to 70% of the time in clear/slow speech and clear/normal speech. The results also suggested the effects of information structure in text. Some of the educational implications arising from these results are briefly discussed.

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Papers Read at the 34th Annual Convention of the FELES

Academic Papers

Educating Human Beings in the Contemporary Society through ELT : A Socio-philosophical Analysis

Yosuke YANASE

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 89-98
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_89

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The twofold purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of human beings and to contrast the difference between aim and objective, or goal and end from the viewpoint of English Language Teaching. The analysis is conducted through the frameworks of social philosophies, particularly those by Arendt, Habermas, Luhmann, Negri and Hardt. The paper argues that the aim/goal of English Language Teaching in this global society is to develop plurilingual abilities to continue communication, appreciating and utilizing differences that communication assumes and produces. The paper also pointed out that the descriptions in Japanese ELT discourse are individualistic and technocratic and neglect the social and political dimensions of language teaching.

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Calculating the Rate of English-Japanese Translation from the Right to the Left of the Sentence : Analysis of a Meiji Era English Self-study Book

Tomoyuki YOKOYAMA

Article type: Article
2009 Volume 39 Pages 99-108
Published: April 01, 2009
Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18983/casele.39.0_99

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This paper shows a new way of calculating the rate of English-Japanese translation from the right to the left of the sentence. A simple program for the data analysis software called "R" was written in order to make the calculation process much easier. The source language text is a nineteenth century English reader for American elementary school students, which was widely used as a foreign language textbook in Japan. The target language version is a self-study book called "hitoriannai," which is an extremely literal translation used in Meiji-era Japan. The results indicate that 51% of the English words and phrases were translated backward from the right to the left of the sentence and that 49% were translated forward from the left to the right of the sentence.

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