This study investigates the closings of face-to-face conversations and proposes that it is vital to analyze it from the perspective of "activity". The data used in the study was collected by tracing the activities of the subjects over a period of one day. For this reason, the conversations gathered as data are contiguous to the various activities performed by the subjects during that day. The analysis focuses on "Core activities", that is, activities with the most obvious purpose in the given scenario, along with their purpose. The results show that the participants broached the closing according to the degree of success in completing the activity when the purpose of the "core activity" is clear. On the other hand even if there were no clear purposes, there was a preference in the order of topics, from significant to marginal with the marginal topics in the conversation appearing just before the closing, preceded by what can also be regarded as a climax. Thus it can be inferred that participants have certain expectations from expectations for the conversations even if they seem without purpose, and the participants organize the closings, according to their expectations of what should be achieved in the limited time. In this way, by focusing on the expectation, that is to say, the seemingly absent purpose of the activity in conversations that include casual chats, we can give a more realistic description of conversation closings.

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Despite the vast literature on employee "voice" -a set of organizational behaviors to speak up with intentions to improve one's work processes-the communicative features and underlying structure of "voice" behaviors have yet to be explored. Previous studies focus on whether organizational members speak up, leaving the issue of how they communicate "voice" unattended. Additionally, extant research overly highlights rational decision-making; consequently, theorizing about relationally-centered decision-making processes regarding "voice" is lacking. To address those limitations, the current research analyzed the data collected from 539 full-timers in Japan. The first part of the study utilizing the latent profile analyses identified five distinct "voice" strategies. Those analyses revealed that direct communication is rather atypical, and many utilize indirect strategies. In the second part, the underlying structure of "voice" was examined using multi-level structural equation modeling. The results indicated that: (a) employees' attitudes and subjective norms as well as leader-member exchange (LMX), but not communication efficacy, are associated with "voice" intentions; (b) LMX's effects are partially mediated via psychological factors; and (c) group-level LMX differentiation demonstrated explanatory power above and beyond the individual-level predictors. These results are discussed with reference to the relevant literature along with the current research's limitations and future directions.

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In the present turbulent world of globalization (globalization+localization), dynamic scholarly paradigm shifts and reforms are widely proposed and implemented in various disciplines. The field of communication studies and education in Japan is no exception in this sense. Under these academic circumstances, this paper proposes three sequentially interrelated emergent tasks for the enhancement of communication studies and education in Japan. First, the paper attempts to propose and construct a new comprehensive hypothetical concept of communication studies and education. Second, referring to the proposed concept, it suggests the essential necessity of introducing a chronological/historical approach to the field. Third and finally, in interconnection with the chronological/historical approach, the paper proposes the emergent task of introducing a regional/geopolitical approach to contemporary U.S.-centric communication studies and education. The innovating scholarly ideas suggested in this paper will serve as an enlightening and thought-provocative signpost for Japanese communication scholars, educators, and practitioners in search of new challenging and worthwhile scholarly tasks.

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