The purpose of this study was to investigate the science-specific questioning framework based on the QUILT framework that organized a variety of teaching strategies. In this study, two strategies were attempted during the questioning framework: One was “Puzzling picture” that aims to induce cognitive conflict, and the other was “Think-Pair-Share” that aims to build discussion. Using “Puzzling picture” effectively is dependent on the questions that the teacher asks. At first, the teacher uses divergent questions to elicit various responses. After that, the teacher uses convergent questions to focus on science topics. Evaluation of the questioning framework was conducted from the perspective of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. A lesson on “change of state of the substance” was trialed on 138 grade 7 Junior high school students to find out the effectiveness of the questioning framework. The described contents of the questionnaire survey and worksheet were analyzed quantitatively, and the classroom descriptions were recorded on an IC recorder and the transcribed data were analyzed qualitatively. As a result, three important findings were made: 1) through the use of the “think-pair-share” worksheet describing the interaction with others, observation and experimental results, reasons were easily observed; 2) the questioning framework was effective in promoting students’ retention of science concepts, and the effects could be seen after a month of observing the class; and 3) students could exchange opinions in response to the teacher’s the convergent questioning after the divergent questioning. Therefore, the study concludes that the framework appeared to have been effective.

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The aim of this article is to clarify the development of teaching contents in History Education for fostering Citizenship. To achieve this aim, I analyzed the series of textbooks Think Through History published in 1997-2007 for KS3, and considered the organization of curriculum based on real textbooks. Consequently, the following five features were identified; Firstly, to develop teaching contents in History education for fostering citizenship more directly. Secondly, to develop a perspective to overcome obstacles in order to realize the democratic and cooperative society. Thirdly, to adopt the multifaceted contents and active method. Fourthly, to recommend the rearrangement of the development of teaching contents based on targets set by the practitioner. And finally, to organize the contents so that recognition and nature to be a citizen of democratic society will be reinforced partly by the rearrangement. These features are very characteristic and have a potential to change history teaching and textbooks in Japan.

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The highlighting marks (referred to here as “Shishu no Shirushi”) in Honcho Bunpan (1881-82), a textbook in the early Meiji Era, represented a literary approach created in the midst of linguistic conflicts. 1. The marks “Shishu no Shirushi” in Honcho Bunpan were put on the right side of the characters following the marks called “Ganmoku no Go” in a pre-modern commentary Genji Monogatari Hyoshaku (1854). However， whereas the marks of “Ganmoku no Go” give the readers the directions on how to read，the ones in Honcho Bunpan make the readers pay attention to the important words and phrases in the textbook. 2. Some of the marks for learning in junior high school language textbooks of modern Japan show the main points in the paragraphs, such as the ones in Nichiyo Bunkan. On the other hand, other marks indicate the main concepts associated with the themes of the stories to show the techniques for reading and to show important words and phrases in line with genres, such as the ones in Honcho Bunpan. 3. The marks “◎” in Honcho Bunpan highlight the effective expressions and indicate effective expressions in making the story interesting and skillful. 4. In the modern composition textbooks in the following Meiji Period, some marks take over the principles of the ones in Honcho Bunpan to show the readers techniques for expressions.

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One of the significant aspects of the learning content in Home Economics in elementary school is comfortable clothing. However, the meaning of comfortable clothing is only briefly dealt with in the curriculum. The previous report defined comfortableness of clothing from the perspective of clothing studies. The clothing microclimate, clothing pressure, and the feel of clothing were discussed as aspects of physiological comfort. Moreover, learning content concerning the feel of comfortable clothing was suggested for further learning. Therefore, the present study developed learning content about the clothing microclimate. Particularly, this is an experiment for facilitating the pupils’ understanding regarding the differences in the water vapor permeability of various fabrics. This method is based on JIS L 1099; A-2 (2012). The results indicate that the water vapor permeability of various fabrics has a close relationship with the chemical property of fibers and the constitutive property of fabrics. The learning content can be combined in this experiment with a sensory evaluation. First, pupils feel the difference between the clothes and the skin in insensible and sensible perspiration. Then, they learn about the moisture permeability of fabrics through this experiment. Thus, it is believed that pupils are able to scientifically understand the relationship between themselves and clothes through practical learning. It is expected that pupils will be able to choose comfortable clothing according to purpose and environmental conditions. It is possible for pupils to construct a sustainable lifestyle by using the educational content proposed here.

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The aim of this study is to investigate the use of English relative clauses in Japanese and other L2 learners’ writing. To conduct the research, the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE) was used to analyze the frequency of relative clauses in English L2 writing by advanced and intermediate university students. The results showed that subjective relative clauses were the most frequently used. In contrast, learners did not use “whose” or “whom” or “that” very often, compared to “who” or “which”. The overuse and underuse of relative clauses seemed to be the result of the syntactic and animacy effect, in addition to the instruction in the classroom.

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This study intends to develop a rubric articulating the assessment criteria and performance standards for free writing of learners at A2-level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages Japan (CEFR-J). The rubric is designed on the basis of the linguistic features of 106 learners’ free writing texts at the CEFR-J A2-level, as indicated by a multiple regression analysis (Hirabayashi, 2015a). The analysis demonstrated a model consisting of four expository variables: the number of words, the Coleman- Liau Index (CLI), the Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD), and the average length of error-free T-units. The criteria for three of these variables, excluding the MTLD, for judging the quality of the texts were also created and verified by a χ2 test. These three variables were adopted as dimensions in this study’s rubric. The dimensions consist of the following three elements: the appropriate content of the texts, equivalent to the number of words, the readability as shown by the CLI, and the error-free linguistic complexity of sentences, shown by the average length of error-free T-units. Each dimension was graded on a three-point scale. On the basis of this scale and the ratio of the standardized partial regression coefficient of the multiple regression to a holistic evaluation of the free writing text, the score for free writing by CEFR-J A2-level learners of English was decided. It was shown that there was a high correlation between the score calculated according to this rubric and the holistically evaluated scores for 106 free writing texts by CEFR-J A2-level learners of English.

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In physical education classes, some learners’ motor skills hardly improve due to their clumsiness whereas other learners can develop their motor skills to a more advanced level. Enhancing motor skills of students with underachievement of motor skill is an important task of physical education teachers. In this study, two surveys were conducted in order to develop a scale for screening university students with motor skills underachievement. The purposes of the first survey were to identify appropriate questions to be included in the scale, and to define its factorial structure. A questionnaire survey was conducted with university students (N = 312) and their responses were analyzed. Then, the questions used in the scale were narrowed down to 8 items, based on the relationships between questions and external criteria. Factor analysis indicated that the scale consisted of two subscales: ‘Underachievement of body control skills’ and ‘Underachievement of ball control skills.’ High correlation coefficients were observed between these two subscales and external criteria, indicating that the scale had sufficient criterion-related validity. In the second survey, the 8 items used in the first survey were administered twice to university students (N = 77) and testretest reliability of the scale was examined. Results indicated an acceptable level of reliability with the testretest correlation coefficients mostly exceeding r=0.8. It was concluded that this scale had adequate reliability and validity.

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This study explored how Japanese teachers evaluate essays written by Chinese learners of Japanese on the basis of generalizability theory, which is a statistical framework used for investigating reliable observations. The essays used in the present study were written by 16 learners (8 intermediate level learners and 8 advanced level learners). Two groups of raters evaluated the essays: 6 raters who have taught Japanese writing for more than five years and 7 raters who belong to graduate school and major in Japanese language teaching. The raters evaluated Japanese learners’ essays using a rubric developed by Tanaka and Nagasaka (2006), which is composed of five multiple traits (i.e., content, organization, reader-friendliness, accuracy and appropriateness). The results suggested that teachers with more than five years of teaching experience do not necessarily evaluate learners’ essays with high reliability. By employing simulated study, we further examined how the reliability would change depending on the number of raters and evaluation items. On the basis of the results, a note of caution for research on essay evaluation was sounded and pedagogical implications were discussed.

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It has been pointed out that “weakened empathetic sentiment towards others” may well be a background factor in juvenile violence. Based on the results of the teaching sessions with “sumo wrestling” and “kabaddi” as physical contact sports, the authors infer that physical contact sports may generate “empathy towards opponents” with the result of suppressing “the venting of aggressive emotion” For the purpose of this study, sessions consisting of touch football as a physical contact sport were conducted and its educational effects were analysed using the viewpoint of “suppression of the venting of aggressive emotion”, “awareness of the body” and “ability to control muscle output” as in “sumo wrestling” and “kabaddi”. The results of this analysis indicate that touch football enhances the pupils’ “ability to control their muscle output” and “awareness of the body” and also tends to suppress “the venting of aggressive emotion”. However, these educational effects were not as strong as those of “sumo wrestling”. It is inferred that such differences in effects are attributable to the different manner of physical contact.

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