The purpose of this study is to examine and compare the effectiveness of three types of instruction, including the concept of core-meaning, for learning polysemous English prepositions: in, at, and on. 119 Japanese college English leaners were divided into four groups as core-meaning-based explicit instruction (CBEI), image-schema and core-meaning-based instruction (ISCBI), translation-based instruction (TBI) and a control group. Three treatment groups were given different instructions on the target words and control group received no instruction. In order to examine the effectiveness of the instruction, a pre-test was administered prior to the instruction, and a post-test was carried out after the instruction. The results of the analysis showed that instructional types were statistically significant. Then, further analysis was conducted on each instructional type and insisted that CBEI was more effective than TBI. There was no significant difference between CBEI and ISCBI; both were based on the idea of core-meaning. However, CBEI suggested more effectiveness than ISCBI because there were no significant differences between ISCBI and other three groups. As a next analysis, each group was divided into two sub-groups according to the pre-test average score. The group above average was considered as more of a pre-existing knowledge group and the other below average group was considered as a less pre-existing knowledge group. Referring to the former group, there were significant differences between CBEI and other three groups. On the other hand, no significant differences were shown in the latter group. This study revealed that explicit explanation which includes how to interpret core-meaning and practice semantic extension, not to only depend on learners’ intuitive understanding, is necessary when core-meaning is used in the classroom. Moreover, explicit instruction worked in a more efficient way, compared to the more pre-existing knowledge group.

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We developed a method for efficiently quantifying communicative orientations in accordance to the language teaching observation scheme COLT part B (Spada & Fröhlich, 1995) by means of integrating transcripts and features in tabular format. The drawback of COLT part B is that reviewing a lesson in order to plan for the next is impractical because recordings of lessons must be transcribed. Spada and Fröhlich's time sampling procedure reduces time at the expense of skipping some transcripts and ignoring some schematic features. Our method maximizes transcript coverage. Tab and line-feed characters inserted within the transcripts allow spreadsheet applications to tabulate utterances and turns along with their speaker tags. Numerically coding of verbal interaction features provides frequency counts of verbal interaction features by speakers or utterances. All episodes in every turn are reflected in the analyses. Evaluation experiments of our method suggest that, compared to literal coding representations, transcribing lessons in our format covers more phenomena in less time.

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The advances of what is now known as the information society have seen increasing utilization of information and communications technology (ICT) in English teaching. Now ICT has widely been accepted and implemented in a variety of classroom settings. Considering the diverse nature of these classrooms, however, various factors such as classroom environment, teaching practices, and learner factors, as well as the relationships among these factors, should be investigated more in detail. In this paper, the authors first describe teaching practices employed in blended e-Learning English classes at five universities, where there were differences in class size, students’ English proficiency levels and motivation, and the students’ majors. The authors then examine how the diverse classroom environments, teaching practices, materials, and learner factors affect the following three points: (1) developments of students’ English proficiency; (2) changes in attitudes and motivations toward students’ English learning; (3) and Critical Success Factors (CSF) for e-Learning acceptance and success. In order to investigate these three points, the researchers employed the following three measures: (1) The Visualizing English Language Competency (VELC) test, a standard test measuring students’ English proficiency; (2) motivational questionnaires based on Guilloteaux and Dörnyei (2008); (3) e-Learning CSF questionnaires based on Selim (2007). Regarding the developments of English proficiency, more improvement in listening scores was observed although the mean improvement scores were different depending on the school. As for changes in attitudes, confidence in learning English increased in four out of five universities, whereas anxiety levels varied depending on the school. Regarding CSF, classes conducted by using original e-Learning materials showed higher scores in Instructor and Student factors. In this paper, possible reasons for the results, including structural differences in blended learning in each classroom, are also discussed.

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