The aim of this study is to explore how to use English songs effectively in elementary school English activities. Today, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology endorses English activities in elementary school. Its practical handbook for elementary school English activity says that its purpose is to raise pupils' motivation. This study presupposes that pupils will participate in song activities more actively if they can enjoy singing songs. From this point of view, date were analyzed by comparing three ways of presenting lyrics: no words, words in hiragana, and words written in the Roman alphabet for elementary school students. The results show that with lyrics presented in any of the three ways, the lower graders and higher graders can sing songs at almost the same level. In contrast, the middle graders can sing songs best if they are given the words in hiragana, and they perform the worst without words. In addition, this study shows that the higher the pupils' grade, the more important for their enjoyment is the feeling that they can sing.

Many empirical studies prove that reading a text with a specific focus on text structure is effective in promoting comprehension of the outline of the text. This can also be applied to reading instruction in both senior high school and university level education. Although the interaction between factors of text structure and reading comprehension performance is examined to some degree in many studies, it may also be necessary to conduct an experimental study focusing on the difference in reading proficiency level. This type of research can provide a good perspective on the instruction of text structure.

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects on reading comprehension performance when the pattern of the text structure varies. The experiment had three independent variables : hierarchical structure, discourse markers, and reading proficiency. The dependent variable was reading comprehension performance. The subjects read four different types of text, and data was analyzed statistically. One result showed that discourse markers have their own effect on reading comprehension performance. Another result showed that in certain text patterns a few differences in reading comprehension performance level between high school students and university students can be found. In conclusion, it is suggested that discourse markers may play an important role in developing reading skills and that teachers should focus on them in their instruction from senior high school level to university level.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the process by which Japanese EFL learners acquire the pragmatic competence to recognize the appropriateness of function-chains used in spoken English. It attempts to shed light on that developmental process by comparing groups of Japanese EFL learners with native speakers from the United States, and then examining the characteristics specific to those Japanese students. The following three groups of Japanese EFL learners participated in this study: junior high school students, university students with experience of study abroad for four months or over, and university students without experience of study abroad, all with varying levels of proficiency and experience in English. As for analysis of data, qualitative analysis was employed along with the quantitative results from a one-way ANOVA, which proved to be useful and complementary for the purpose of this study. Matrices were used as a means of displaying, analyzing, and synthesizing the data in order to recognize any useful and informative patterns that might emerge. As a result, the following characteristics of Japanese students were identified when compared to native speakers: the areas of difficulty specific to each group, those areas difficult for Japanese EFL learners irrespective of English proficiency level, and the areas in which Japanese EFL learners were oversensitive (overly strict) in their judgment as to what constituted appropriate language.

In letzten Jahren wurde die Beziehung zwischen der geisteswissenschaftlichen Pädagogik und dem Nationalsozialisums stark diskutiert. Erich Weniger war ein wichtiger Vertreter der geisteswissenschaftlichen Pädagogik. Doch seine militärpädagogische Denkweise während der Zwischenkriegszeit stellt sich immer noch eine umstrittene Frage dar, da sie auf Grund der Zeitumstände eine pro-nationalsozialistische Richtung aufweist.

Dieser Aufsatz beschäftigt sich daher mit den Schriften Wenigers ,Das Bild des Krieges' (1930), „Wehrmachtserziehung und Kriegserfahrung" (1938), „Goethe und Generale" (1942) und der Biographie Wenigers über dieses Zeitraum. Ich befasse mich mit dem Charakter von Wenigers Militärpädagogik, die nicht im Zusammenhang mit der ,Pro/Kontra-nationalsozialismus' Analyse stehen.

Nach Weniger bürgt das Fronterlebnis im Krieg eine pädagogische Bedeutung, d. h. die Förderung der Kamaradschaft und das Wachstum der Urteilsfäigkeit. Außerdem sollen die Erinnerungen der Kriegserlebnisse für eine Verständigung zwischen der Kriegsgeneration und der Folgegeneration sorgen. Diese Theorie gründet sich auf die Epistemologie der geisteswissenschaftlichen Pädagogik.

Allerdings sympathisierte seine Militärpädagogik mit dem NS, aber schuf sie auch die Grundlage für die allgemeine deutsche Bildung und die geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik. Dies ist ein herausrangendes Merkmal von Wenigers Militärpädagogik, welches nicht nur im Hinblick auf ,Pro/Kontra-nationalsozialismus' analysiert werden soll.

This paper aims to provide a historical description of how school report cards (Schulzeugnisse) were established in German society from approximately 1788 to 1848. School report cards in Germany are official documents providing information on the academic achievements and behavior of each pupil/student as a summarized form of evaluation. Previous research has already clarified the mechanism of the system for training the national elite, but this paper describes how the German evaluation system was accepted by the people along with the movements of society. Indeed, experts discuss school report cards in terms of educational practice of policy. With the historical approach, however, it is interesting to find that German school report cards were accepted in society not because of the needs of educational practice or policy, but because of the requirement of German federal states for students to take the final exam (Abitur) of the Gymnasium and to receive a school report card for application to universities in order to prevent antiestablishment students from entering the universities. In fact, some progressive university students staged a coup d'état just before school report cards became compulsory.

To reduce the negative effects of the national unified examination system for university entrance, various reforms have been carried out by the Ministry of Education, in China. Since 1991, two kinds of examinations, i. e. high school graduation qualification examinations and university entrance examinations have been conducted every year. The graduation qualification examination is conducted at the provincial level and all subjects are included; only those who pass this exam can take the national unified examination for university entrance.

After the introduction of the graduation qualification examination, the national unified examination has been reformed. It was changed into the "[3+2] Program" from 1995 to 1998, and since then has been further changed into the "[3+X] program". The "3" of "[3+2]" or "[3+X]" means three compulsory exam subjects for graduates: Chinese, mathematics and English, and "2" means two other exam subjects that graduates can choose from politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry and biology. The purpose of the "[3+X] Program" was to turn Exam-oriented Education into Quality-oriented Education and to balance common and individual requirements for university entrance.

However, the burden on the applicants has been heavy, because they have to pass two examinations. We therefore need to reconsider their roles.

This paper aims to explore the structure of the speaking ability of Japanese EFL learners, focusing on the relations among non-linguistic variables, learner factors and two types of speaking. Two types of speaking ability, the key concepts of this research, are defined based on Cummins' Hypothesis (1980), which proposed a dichotomy of English proficiency, including basic interpersonal communications skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). Thirty-five Japanese university students participated in a series of the survey project, including two Oral Performance Tests (OPT) and a set of questionnaires on English learning motivation, willingness to communicate (WTC), meta-cognition, and cognitive styles. Three analyses using an exploratory regression model in SEM showed that the two types of speaking are contributed differently by affective and cognitive variables and learner factors. The major findings have led to the following pedagogical implications: Enlightened and eclectic approaches are expected to be generated for Japanese EFL learners to improve each of the two different types of speaking ability effectively.