Web writing has gradually been incorporated into second language classrooms, such as CACD (Computer Assisted Communication Devices), e-mail, Web authoring, and chat sites. Lately, as blogs and Social Networking Services (SNS) have become popular among many people for sharing information, jotting down their own thoughts and opinions, and getting messages across to each other, these devices also have been integrated into second language classrooms by many researchers and teachers as effective tools to encourage students to improve their English proficiency. Few classrooms have yet been examined, however, about whether learners' English skills actually developed in the classroom using such devices. This research examined the effects of Social Networking Service and blogging on students' writing fluency. Though writing fluency is multi-facet concept, it can be measured in terms of vocabulary, considering the fact that vocabulary accounts for large amount of variance in learners' writing performance. In this study, the writing fluency was measured by free active vocabulary gauged by lexical quantity and quality. Lexical quantity and quality were calculated by amount of tokens and types students wrote, and Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP), respectively. Twenty first-year university students in Japan registered in SNS and wrote blogs relatively freely for around several months in one semester. Results showed the slight growth of vocabulary quality over several months in one semester. Based on the results, relationships between lexical quantity and quality are discussed and effectiveness of free writing instruction and blog writing teaching in second language classroom are argued.

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This paper considers the issue of the teaching of English pronunciation and the phonology of the nominal compounds. In the first half of the paper, I review the previous literature that differentiates between some ideal model of pronunciation and the realistic goal that can in fact be prescribed for the learners; the points of reference for the former are in general thought of as Received Pronunciation and General American, while the latter concerns itself with suprasegmentals as well as certain segmentals that one needs to master in order to acquire intelligibility. I also outline some phonologically problematic features of English produced by the Japanese learners. In order to improve the teaching of pronunciation in Japan, I focus on the importance of the "Planning Stage" of pronunciation teaching (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996, p. 36); this is the stage that precedes any actual teaching, during which teachers must develop their own knowledge of English phonology and make the correct decisions as to what can be appropriately taught to the learners and how this is to be done, as well as to review the proposals that point out the lack of such knowledge and that call for more attention to the study of English as a language. In the second half of the paper, I analyze the naturally occurring speech data of the nominal compound, 'son-in-law,' and seek to show that the available descriptions of its workings are inadequate in terms of how they assign the secondary stress on its third element. I also discuss three pedagogical implications of the paper. First, since the assignment of the word stress interacts with the intonation contour, its pronunciation should not be taught without the context. Second, the teaching of the pronunciation of unstressed syllables is as important as that of stressed syllables. Third, the teacher needs to observe and describe the language in a more accurate manner.

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This study sets out to examine the role of inhibition in second language use within a second language community. While previous studies of the affective factors in second language acquisition (SLA) have, by and large, used a quantitative methodology, I conducted a qualitative analysis to study second language (L2) learners' perceptions. Of possible qualitative methods described in the literature, this study adopted Strauss and Corbin's version of grounded theory analysis. For approximately 2 months beginning in October 2007, I carried out a first data collection through classroom observations, and through semi-structured and open-ended interviews both inside and outside the classroom. During the analysis of data, I found that the concept "Risk-avoiding in L2 use" was related to the conditions that limit the use of L2, while at the same time it became increasingly clear that interpersonal and socio-cultural factors considerably influence the learners' perceptions in the use of L2. Consequently, the theoretical samplings of the collected data have been selected to illustrate the learners' plentiful experiences as these are molded by interaction with others who live in the L2 community. During data analysis, second language inhibition emerged as the central category of the grounded theory model, as this is defined as a mental operation arising from a defensive mechanism that protects the language ego, and therefore generates unwillingness to use L2. Moreover, the findings so far indicate that the underlying concept that molds second language inhibition is thickness of ego boundaries erected by learners for both interpersonal and socio-cultural protection. The attitude of mind that leads to the avoidance of risk in the use of L2 is thus the direct result of second language inhibition.

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The aim of this study is to verify whether or not speaking tasks in Japanese junior high school English textbooks are practically based on the theoretical framework of task-based language teaching (TBLT). In order to explore to what extent the speaking tasks meet the criteria of TBLT, all tasks relating to communication and speaking were selected from the textbook New Horizon English Course Volumes I, II, and III. To analyze these tasks, we created a new criteria based on the "how task-like" definitions originally made by Willis & Willis (2007). The results of this analysis were numerically evaluated and revealed that the majority of speaking tasks in the previously mentioned textbooks do not meet the theoretical framework of TBLT. It also shows that, as the grade promotes, the number of pair tasks tends to decrease while the number of tasks that primarily focus on understanding and conveying the meanings as well as those that are aimed at leaving achievements at the end of the task increase. Based on the implications of the said results, we make suggestions on how to improve the tasks with low task rate, and introduce the specific examples based on the theoretical framework of TBLT.

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During the last few decades, a significant shift has taken place in the field of education, in which the central role of the teacher has been replaced by learners (Brown, 2003). In response to this change, much attention has been focused on learner factors, such as language learning strategy (LLS). In the preliminary stage of LLS research, interest has been placed on the identification and the classification of general strategies used by good learners. LLS use is affected by learning context (Chamot, 2004; Rubin, 1975). In recent years, the internet has become an important language learning context, and LLS use in online context is considered to be a new prospective research field (see Chapelle, 1998; Hata, 2003). The present study focuses on identifying the LLS used by good learners in Computer Assisted Classroom Discussion (CACD), as well as clarifying the characteristics of these strategies. Stimulated recall interviews were conducted to collect strategies used in pre-task, in-task, and post-task of CACD. Six English learners were selected from 69 sophomores at a university in Hokkaido according to the fluency and the complexity of their output. They were asked to complete the semi-structured questionnaire and the stimulated recall interviews. In order to get a better understanding of the LLS use in CACD, a qualitative method named the grounded theory approach was adopted in the data analysis. This paper will mainly focus on the data analysis that has been conducted for strategies used in pre-task and in-task stages. The results indicate that in the CACD context, the appropriateness of strategy use is more important to language learning than the frequency of its use.

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The present study was conducted in order to examine whether there is a gender difference in the scores of English term tests in junior high schools in Japan. The scores were compared in light of total scores as well as the three components for English assessment in junior high schools in Japan: production skills (writing), reception skills (listening and reading), and knowledge and understanding concerning English (mainly grammar, vocabulary, and idioms). The data were collected over a period of nine years. In addition, the scores of speaking tests were compared over a period of two years. It was also examined how these differences changed as students became older. There were many cases where gender differences did not exist in the scores; however, in most cases when there was a significant difference, girls showed their preponderance in ability over boys. No components of term tests consistently favored boys nor girls except that girls regularly had higher scores than boys in knowledge and understanding concerning English although this occurred only when girls performed better than boys in the same grade. There were some cases wherein gender differences existed in speaking tests; however, which gender tends to have better scores is still inconclusive. In order to inspect whether girls generally tend to have better scores than boys in term tests of other subjects as well, the scores of the term tests of five subjects (Native Language, Social Studies, Math, Science, and English) in junior high school in Japan over a period of two years were compared to examine whether there was a gender difference. The results showed that although girls performed significantly better than boys in English and Native Language in most cases, gender differences were not usually shown in the scores of other subjects.2 Thus, it was concluded that although gender differences do not exist in most cases, when there is a difference, girls tend to perform better than boys only in subjects related to languages.

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In an attempt to improve students' writing abilities in English, a free-writing course was set for the second-year students in a general public high school in Hakodate. The class took place once a week for the duration of the academic year 2006. Each homeroom was divided into two groups consisting of approximately 20 students each. One ALT taught one group, and one JTE the other. The following week, the JTE taught the ALT's former group, and vice versa. This system of weekly alternation continued throughout the year. In the first lesson of each topic, the students were asked to write on a topic after a short pre-writing activity conducted by the ALT. The following week, they revised their first draft based on the ALT's feedback and the JTE gave some advice and comments on their revised work. Altogether, the students tackled 16 topics and received written and oral feedback from both instructors. This report intends to suggest an example of how a free-writing course should be set and how the instructors could support the students in the class. Through this one-year experience and some informal input from the students, the JTE would also propose a possible instructional model for a better free-writing course.

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