This paper tries to examine desirable roles of automated writing evaluation (AWE) systems in L2 writing instruction. Thanks to the development of computer technology, reliable AWE systems are now available, which provide diagnostic feedback on student essays. The author has been using Criterion^® in his writing course. Although it is a promising tool for L2 writing instruction, it also has drawbacks and limitations. To examine what it could do and what it could not do, the author analyzed corrective feedback from Criterion^®. The number of diagnostic feedback analyzed was 997. The author also interviewed 12 undergraduates who used Criterion^® in his writing course to clarify how they felt about the diagnostic feedback from Criterion^®. Based on the analysis of the data, the author argues the following three points: 1) Criterion^® is reliable enough to deal with language-related issues, 2) teachers’ role is to provide feedback on the content of student essays, and 3) how to organize a paragraph and an essay should be taught as a pre-writing activity.

With a growing number of English Medium Instruction (EMI) programs in Japanese universities, it is necessary to grasp learners’ perceptions about such programs for future program improvement. This research measured the levels of foreign language speaking anxiety of Japanese students in a university EMI program and investigated whether the anxiety levels changed during one academic semester. The result showed that the Japanese students generally felt foreign language speaking anxiety in April but anxiety levels became lower in June. A statistical difference was found between April and June. However, the highly anxious students tended to remain anxious throughout the semester. The content analysis of the answers of an open-ended questionnaire revealed that students used various coping strategies. This study obtained meaningful results that contribute to the understanding of Japanese students’ states-of-mind in EMI programs.

How should EFL teachers deal with students who seem to fail? Teachers may mainly provide EFL learners with optimistic outlook or pessimistic view to have them learn English. In EFL learning, are there any difference between optimistic and pessimistic learners, in case of success-approach or failure-avoidance. I developed two different measurements to assess optimism and pessimism, and, discriminating needs from behaviors in success-approach and failure-avoidance, explored how they are related to success-approach and failure-avoidance in EFL learning. The result shows the following. First, pessimists, who forebode that they will fail, feel motivated to learn English but won’t learn English. Second, optimists, who expect that they will succeed, will study English. Therefore, optimistic outlook can lead students close to failure into studying English.

Pattern practice is said to be boring due to the form-based instruction. However, our experiment, which blended skill-oriented English instruction with mim-mem-based practice, showed that this practice is more likely to motivate learners with lower proficiencies, especially integrative and intrinsic motivation. It seems that this effect was brought about by the acquisition of learning strategy such as repetition and recitation.

The objective of this study is to investigate how to better instruct EFL learners on speaking. Sixty-eight Japanese high school students participated in a set of skill-integrated activities, including a selfevaluation questionnaire. The purpose of this was to foster speaking skills, as encouraged by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in Japan. Their responses were analyzed by text mining. As a result, there was a tendency for students to struggle with putting English vocabulary together to produce more coherent expressions. Moreover, students were able to better understand what they could or could not communicate in English when challenged to express certain ideas either orally or in writing. It was also revealed that students improved their English skills when working together in pairs. These partnerships unexpectedly showed that the students improved their language skills by evaluating and learning from the work of others.

This is a practical report on teaching extemporary speaking skills to junior high school students. Teaching speaking skills to beginner English learners has not yet been extensively researched. This practical research was an attempt to develop the instruction of speaking skills focusing on picture description for first-year students in Hiroshima University Junior High School. There were 41 participants and the treatment sessions consisted of 6 classes. In the study, a definition of the ability of picture description and two hypotheses based on earlier literature were formulated. A pre-test and post-test were carried out and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The result of these tests show that the instruction based on the two hypotheses was effective to certain degree in improving speaking skills.

This practical report discusses whether sending weekly reminder emails facilitates independent learning for a Web-Based Training (WBT) course and decreases dropout rates. Students received reminder emails for 17 weeks detailing how much they were expected to study online per week. The results show that the overall number of students who passed the course was not increased significantly by the reminder emails. However, the receivers of reminder emails continued to study online and took the final exams significantly more than the non-receivers of reminder emails. Analyzing students’ access log to online materials also indicates that students receiving reminders accessed online materials early in the semester and continued studying until the final exam, while students not receiving the reminders started just before the final exam.

The present study examines copying as a teaching technique in terms of developing L2 reading and spelling abilities. It aims at finding the appropriate number of practice times of copying which is suitable for each learner type. The learner types were classified into four types based on the abilities of reading (R) and spelling (S): R+S+, R+S−, R−S+, and R−S−. Twelve Japanese university students were asked to read aloud from an L2 text and copy it three times (i.e. three trials). It was found that copying span was significantly correlated with spelling ability in the first and second trials, but it was not significantly correlated with reading ability in any of the three trials. It was suggested that as a practice, for S+ type learners, copying from an L2 text two times is enough while S−type learners should copy the passage three times. R+S－type learners should copy a text with slashes indicating meaningful word units.

Against the current lionization of objectivity and reproducibility in experimental studies with strong pedagogical implications for practitioners in ELT fields, this study critically examines the two concepts. Objectivity is divided into monothetic and pluralistic. The monothetic is examined from the viewpoints of transcendent and numerical objectivities, and the pluralistic from 'Wirklichkeit' and 'second-order observation.’ I argue that studies with strong pedagogical implications should be based on pluralistic objectivity. I also criticize the pursuit of reproducibility because it results in categorical neglect of specific and transient factors of practical situations and in controlling practitioners from a distance. I argue that complexity and self-reference must be theoretically recognized, instead.

Self-handicapping, including procrastination, will cause some serious problems in EFL learning. For example, procrastination will lead to their long overdue reports. Self-handicapping will try worming out of students making presentations under color of their feigned tales. It is known that they are related to learning anxieties in EFL learning. In this study, the canonical correlation shows that high pessimistic tendency with low optimistic tendency is positively related to five kinds of learning anxieties. It also shows that high optimistic tendency is positively related to self-handicapping and defensive pessimism. Therefore, it is found that optimistic tendency does not have power to drive away procrastinators and self-handicapping.

This paper presents a model English language lesson centering on oral reading while integrating the four skills of listening, reading, writing, and speaking. The teaching method is designed especially for slow learners who cannot learn English at an average rate or who have difficulty understanding both the instructions and the lessons themselves. The method that aims to overcome these problems is based on the author’s prior teaching practice at a campus of the National Institutes of Technology. This paper proposes various techniques developed during that time.