This study investigated the efficacy of associating a new verb with a known noun versus learning a new verb in isolation. It focused on the impact of this approach on meaning retrieval by evaluating each aspect of effectiveness through retrieval and retention. Inspired by the research design of Kasahara (2010, 2011, 2015), we enlisted 36 third-year junior high school students to memorize the Japanese meanings of 20 new verbs: 10 verb-only (VO) items and 10 verbs paired with known nouns (VN). We administered two test types, namely, the verb-only (VO) and verb with noun (VN) tests, immediately after a five-minute learning phase and after one week. The findings revealed a significant pattern: verb with noun condition (VNC) scored higher than verb-only condition (VOC) in the VN test for retrieval, whereas VOC outperformed VNC in the VO test for retrieval. Retention exhibited no substantial difference between the two conditions. Additionally, VNC in the VN test scored significantly higher than that in the VO test. These findings indicated that VNC is not necessarily superior to VOC in meaning retrieval and retention. Moreover, VNC is significantly less likely to retrieve meanings when there are no known words than when there are known words. Furthermore, the result suggested potential shortcomings in learning known and unknown words and that a certain degree of ingenuity in instruction and testing is required.

抄録全体を表示

In daily life, sports, or learning activities, individuals sometimes experience a state of high concentration and absorption referring to as being “in the zone.” This phenomenon, known as psychological flow, also manifests in second language (L2) learning, and the volume of research on L2 flow has slowly but surely increased. Given the absence of synthetic research on L2 flow, the current study aims to synthesize previous empirical studies on the construct, with a specific focus on conceptual and methodological characteristics. Five eligibility criteria were established and a systematic search was conducted, resulting in the identification of 22 studies published between 2003 and 2023 that met the criteria. The results showed that: (a) L2 flow research was most prolific in 2022 and more than half of the studies targeted university students; (b) four dimensions (i.e., control, interest, challenge-skill balance, attention) were most frequently employed to examine L2 flow; and (c) about 70% of the studies adopted a quantitative approach, with about 40% of them using Egbert’s (2003) scale. Based on these results, theoretical and methodological implications for future research are discussed, emphasizing the need for a consistent establishment of the dimensions of L2 flow and the importance of employing more diverse methodological approaches.

抄録全体を表示

We have investigated the task-likeness of speaking activities in junior high school English textbooks and clarified the differences between publishers and the characteristics of speaking activities on each publisher. In 2021, English textbooks for junior high school were revised, and all textbooks significantly changed at this revision. Therefore, we investigated the task-likeness of speaking activities on six new English textbooks revised in 2021 to clarify the differences between publishers and the characteristics of each publisher. We used task-likeness criteria developed by Usuda et al.(2014) and added two new criteria. The researchers analyzed all speaking activities of 18 English textbooks published by six publishers from the first grade to the third grade with the criteria of a five-point scale. The results showed the polarization between high task-likeness and low task-likeness textbooks and some characteristics of each publisher.

抄録全体を表示