Although Japanese-style lesson study once attracted considerable international attention, a declining trend in its practice has been noted in recent years. This study examines the nature of lesson documentation and evaluative practices in school-based lesson study through a reassessment of the curriculum developed by the O University Affiliated School. Specifically, verbatim transcripts were constructed from archived lesson-recording videos by assigning objective observational codes through conditional classification procedures. Focusing on students’ utterances, lexical density and dialogic features grounded in established educational theories were quantitatively measured. In addition, qualitative validation was conducted using co-occurrence network analysis with KH Coder.
The results indicate that lexical density increased significantly as students progressed through grade levels, reflecting a shift toward learning that places greater emphasis on dialogue with others. Furthermore, the quality of classroom dialogue was found to be consistent with the developmental stages assumed in the curriculum. These findings suggest that simple and routine lesson evaluation practices can enable everyday teaching to function as a cyclical system for continuous curriculum improvement.

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Japanese linguistics is expected to hold the potential to “bridge” Education of Japanese as a national language and Education of Japanese as an additional language (Mori Atsushi 2024). This study attempts to verify, through concrete data, what it means to “bridge” these two fields. Using KHCoder, nouns extracted from selected texts were analyzed, the nouns were tagged with Japanese linguistics, Education of Japanese as a national language, Education of Japanese as an additional language, and the relationship of the three fields was visualized by Venn diagrams.
The verification revealed that the differences between Education of Japanese as a national language and Education of Japanese as an additional language are substantial. While insights from Japanese linguistics are indeed present in both domains, it was suggested that this presence is merely as a common element—knowledge about modern Japanese. Given the substantial differences between Education of Japanese as a national language and Education of Japanese as an additional language, the significance of “connecting” them through shared Japanese linguistic insights is likely limited. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the meaning of “bridge” these two fields. By focusing efforts on more firmly linking Japanese linguistics with Education of Japanese as a national language and Japanese linguistics with Education of Japanese as an additional language, Japanese linguistics-related subjects could contribute to more effective learning

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Speech in both first and additional languages involves the processes of conceptualization, formulation, and articulation. The difficulty Japanese native speakers experience when producing spoken English is thought to arise from the cognitive load associated with executing these processes in real time. In the present study, learners were instructed to prepare the conceptualization and formulation stages of speech in advance, and engaged in practice over several weeks to examine changes in their awareness of English speaking. The effectiveness of ICT use, such as AI translation and generative AI, during the preparatory phase was also clarified through a questionnaire. In the post‑instruction questionnaire (n = 14), all participants affirmed that the prepared speaking practice helped reduce their resistance to speaking English and contributed to improvement, and that ICT was widely used, particularly as support for formulation. These findings suggest that an approach integrating preparatory learning activities with ICT‑based support contributes to enhancing learners’ speaking awareness and expressive ability.

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This paper is a history of university adult education since 1900 to 1920’s. It focuses on the University of Birmingham which is the first civic University. Upon gaining Royal Charter in 1900, Birmingham University established an Extension Lectures Committee in 1902 and delivered university extension courses. The importance of bringing the University into closer touch with working class organisations in the Midland was growing. When the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) was founded in 1903, the University of Birmingham, principal Oliver Lodge supported it. He took the chair at the WEA Annual Meeting held in Birmingham in 1905 and supported the establishment of the WEA Midlands Section. Concurrently, the University of Birmingham and the WEA Midlands Section collaborated to establish the scheme of Social Study. It was special evening lectures the University able to co-operate in a movement which attracted many of the best artisans. Subsequently, when university tutorial classes began, University of Birmingham also followed the establishment of tutorial classes in connextion with the WEA Midlands Section across various locations in Midlands. By the 1920s, the University Tutorial Classes had become one of the main activities at the extra-mural activities of the University of Birmingham. In 1919, Birmingham University organized Industrial Certificate Department. It was the special courses for trade unionists, admitted workers as regular students, enabling them to work and study for one year with the award of the Industrial Certificates. It was a new form of the contact with city and district at Civic Universities. The University of Birmingham was a pioneer in establish these courses.

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The purpose of this study was to compare and examine the contents of the chapters on “Student guidance and the curriculum” in four foundational documents: “Handbook of Student Guidance ”(Ministry of Education, 1965), “The revised edition of Handbook of Student Guidance” (Ministry of Education, 1981), “Student Guidance Summary” (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2010), and “The revised edition of Student Guidance Summary”(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2022).
The analysis revealed that the sections describing the relationship between student guidance and the curriculum in “Handbook of Student Guidance ”, “The revised edition of Handbook of Student Guidance”, and the “Student Guidance Summary” were largely consistent, indicating the importance of implementing student guidance within the curriculum. On the other hand, “The revised edition of Student Guidance Summary” stated that it is important to implement student guidance in a manner consistent with the intent of the Course of Study. In addition, all four foundational documents indicated that subject instruction and student guidance are deeply interconnected. The same close relationship was observed between moral education and student guidance, between the period for integrated studies and student guidance, between the period for inquiry-based cross-disciplinary study and student guidance, between special activities and student guidance, and between school events and student guidance.

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This practice aims to foster attitudes that respect the backgrounds and diversity of Japanese language learners and attend to individual differences in the early stages of teacher training programs. Recognizing that conventional exchange activities tend to focus on teaching skills such as vocabulary selection and explanation strategies, this study designed a three-stage learning process grounded in Lave and Wenger's situated learning theory while incorporating the “ life history ” methodology from sociology.
The process involved: (1) sharing inquiries about Japanese language education within a community of practice, (2) peripheral participation in classes and exchange activities, and (3) writing life histories of international students enrolled in undergraduate programs (JLPT N2 level or above). Students conducted one on-one interviews, transcribing narratives without interpretation or evaluation, faithfully recording the words spoken in the moment.
Through this process, students' focus shifted from technical aspects such as “ how to teach effectively ” to understanding learners as individuals with unique experiences and narratives. This attitudinal transformation can be conceptualized not as internal individual change but as a trajectory wherein participation in the community of practice deepens from peripheral to increasingly legitimate engagement, fostering the development of essential teacher dispositions for Japanese language education.

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