Translation tasks in the English examination for the 2nd-grade maritime officers' certificate(navigation) are challenging for Japanese maritime students because they have insufficient knowledge of the vocabulary used therein. To address this issue, we created a word list based on a corpus compiled from 56 texts used in past examinations, employing the integrated values of both frequency and range (Ishikawa, 2018) as selection and arrangement criteria. During this process, a set of words in New JACET 8000 that are widely used in Japanese junior high school English textbooks; maritime loan words; and words with low frequency, narrow range, or low learning value were excluded. The final 278 words (the 2nd-grade Maritime Examination Word List) cover more than 25% of the corpus. If students have learned the 278 words, they can fully understand the texts and avoid referring to their dictionaries frequently, allowing them to focus on text comprehension and translation tasks. The coverage of the final list in the corpus is higher than that of two existing maritime word lists. To accurately test the usefulness of this list, clearer standards for comparing multiple word lists must be established.

This paper aims to clarify the discrepancies in educational equipment between urban and rural compulsory education schools, which is ignored as a result of the illusion that the balanced development of compulsory education has been realized by the government's effective measures for narrowing such discrepancies. This paper focuses on T city, in China's Jilin province. Results of the questionnaire investigation and interviews conducted by the author show that there are still marked discrepancies in educational equipment between urban and rural schools. Although discrepancies in the quantity of equipment have been reduced, discrepancies in quality and utility remain and call for an urgent solution. These findings indicate that the evaluation system known as the Basic Equilibrium Prefecture of Compulsory Education Development is likely to further widen the discrepancies between available equipment and students' academic abilities. Further, it will reduce educational opportunities, especially for rural students in the compulsory education stage.

With the adoption of China's reforms and opening-up efforts, developing vocational schools came to be recognized as a priority. However, current vocational school graduates often suffer not only from a lack of further education but also from a deteriorating employment environment. Owing to the above problems, the social perception that vocational education is equivalent to second-rate education has taken root.

Although previous studies have assumed that enrolling in vocational schools was treated as a "last choice," it remains possible that students choose vocational schools for factors other than these negative reasons. With this in mind, this paper examines Chinese junior high school students' intention formation processes concerning further education.

The results suggested that students choose vocational schools because it is desirable for those who cannot adapt to the orthodox culture of other schools and who wish to find a job sooner, rather than to continue studying. We also propose that vocational schools are never just "social vessels" that accept failing students, as has been previously suggested. On the contrary, these schools can serve as the place where students who are resistant to general education and school culture can make the most of their opportunities.

We made a practical study of moral education classes with the aim of curbing bullying behaviors among students by conducting classes using materials dealing with death. We led these classes for 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders and examined the characteristics of the thoughts and feelings about death among 2nd graders. The following two points became clear. First, although 2nd graders learned about death, they understand it emotionally in relation to their immediate family members and important others. This emotional feeling leads them to think about the causes of death, suggesting that the teaching materials and moral education classes on death in the 2nd grade should not only focus on cognitive knowledge, but also on content and methods that will stimulate students' emotions. Second, understanding the causes of death may lead to the control of aggressive behavior. If students can be guided to think about the causes of death, and realize what they can do to prevent it, this can lead to the development of the ability to control aggression. In the future, we would like to develop additional teaching materials and conduct studies at multiple schools.

This paper elucidates the procedures associated with the Temporary Certification Examination for Elementary School Teachers from the 1930s onward, using the Kyoto Prefecture as a case study. The "schools authorized to conduct this examination," whose graduates were permitted to take it on a school-by-school basis, were ones whose teachers were not eligible for certification without passing the examination. More specifically, they were private schools. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how graduates of private schools, especially women, who made up the majority, entered the field of elementary school teaching after passing the temporary certification examination, depending on educational background. Furthermore, this paper provides a perspective on the reality of elementary school teachers in prewar Japan, which is said to be characterized by the coexistence of a diverse group of people and a focus on private schools as an alternative to the traditional teacher training route for producing elementary school teachers.

Peer feedback has been widely examined in the field of SLA and L2 writing in recent decades. Previous research has developed across four key points of analysis: (a) products, (b) products and processes, (c) students' perceptions/attitudes, and (d) peer feedback training. Although studies focusing on these analytical points show that peer feedback is generally considered beneficial for L2 learners, how they perceive the advantages/disadvantages of feedback; address various issues such as language, content, and organization; act on the feedback received; and feel during the activity have not been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, publications have been emerging since 2019 with a focus on new research themes. Some adopt a focus on students' perceptions/attitudes, but through the lens of both the provider and receiver of the feedback, while others have also focused on L2 learners' engagement with peer feedback from three simultaneous perspectives (cognitive, behavioral, and affective). This study examines research on peer feedback for L2 writing by students in higher education studying English/Japanese published in refereed journals between 1990 and 2020. We discuss the results and limitations of existing studies and suggest some foci that may provide researchers with possible new directions.

This paper confirms the extent to which students at low-prestige universities engage in learning opportunities outside of class and examines the factors involved when they do not engage in such activities. Interviews were conducted with 10 third-year students in the education department of the private Z University. The main findings of the analysis are as follows. First, the grading system at Z University allowed students to obtain credits as long as they attended classes. Second, professors rarely imposed pre- and post-learning requirements, and when they did, they did not require a heavy learning load. Third, professors not only disclosed examination questions in advance, they also had a great tendency to do so. In addition, because of this practice, the students in the "study habits acquisition group" perceived the examinations as not requiring much study. The difficulty in motivating students at low-prestige universities to develop study habits is thus related to the methods used for grading, pre- and post-learning requirements, and examinations.