This paper investigates the anxiety and difficulties experienced by foreign university students of intermediate level Japanese when using attitudinal expressions, "taiguuhyogen ". The data were collected in semi-open interviews following 7 role plays in which 6 factors assumed as challenging for students to employ attitudinal expressions were embedded. Based on analysis of the interview data, significant practices effective in reducing learner's anxiety were identified. These include providing explicit explanations of the reciprocal relationship between forms and functions, designing drills and application exercises in appropriate contexts, and employing role plays as series of social actions, which activate learner's episodic memory.

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At certain times, international students (IS) who reside and study in Japan evaluate Japanese students' (JS) conversational behaviors negatively. Through detailed analysis of conversations, this study explicates how such negative evaluations are constructed through the talk. The data comprises talk between IS and JS, along with the ISs' comments obtained through follow-up interviews. This paper discusses the wavs in which ISs' and JSs' conversational behaviors work to co-construct such negative evaluations.

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This course helped students reach the level of Japanese necessary to actively participate in graduate-level classes. With interactive learning materials that piques students' intellectual curiosity, they acquired the academic skills needed for creating lecture handouts, giving presentations, answering and asking questions in class, and essay-writing. Students simultaneously developed integrated Japanese competence in the four areas of language learning; listening, speaking, reading, and writing, respectively. Most students evaluated the course highly, but answers varied greatly as to which activities were specifically interesting. Most students found that their overall Japanese competence improved, but had hoped to advance more in speaking and writing.

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The purpose of this report is to evaluate the Teaching Internship Program, which provided a learning opportunity for student teachers at primary schools in Australia in 2012. Six student teachers participated in this program and answered five open-ended questions. Analysis of the answers revealed that the student teachers learned lots of things. With regard to Japanese language teaching, student teachers noticed the importance of the language-learning environment in foreign countries, the role of native speakers in the class, and culture-oriented lessons through various experiences.

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In this study, we utilized portfolio evaluations in a Japanese language class in order to facilitate students' autonomous learning habits. Students determined their target levels of proficiency based on their own self-evaluation, and they were able to reflect on their learning activities through preparing their portfolio. Some learners, however, evaluated their proficiency after class as being lower, which we interpreted as the result of the students raising their target proficiency. Students were made aware of the areas where they need to improve, and were able to find new goals of their learning by drawing up their portfolio.

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The paper discusses the effectiveness of joint classes for students of Japanese and English language classes. JSL students evaluated joint classes as a good opportunity for them to improve their language skills. Even for students who have frequent contact with native Japanese speakers, the opportunity to interact through class is desirable. Reducing the quantity of using the target language is not considered a problem. In addition, students who have a plurilingual background impact other students positively. Having native Japanese speakers as listeners motivates JSL students to learn Japanese, but designing activities and topics specifically for joint classes could further improve collaborative learning.

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This research analyzes the influence of Chinese students' native language on their interpretation of Japanese idiomatic expressions. A questionnaire was distributed to Chinese students at Japanese elementary level to determine how these students comprehend Japanese idiomatic expressions consisting of body part vocabularies and adjectives. From the investigation, the influence of native Chinese language was confirmed by examining replies regarding expressions for which there is a similar Chinese expression. The results revealed that, Chinese students interpret the meaning of Japanese idiomatic expressions by referencing similar Chinese expressions and the understanding of adjective initiatives a different nuance from a Chinese similar expression.

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For international students who belong to research laboratories at Japanese universities, participating in Japanese casual conversation is crucial to establish a good relationship with people around them. It is difficult, however, to incorporate such opportunities systematically as a classroom activity, for which specific task-oriented conversations have been considered more beneficial for the learners. This research investigates a series of sessions which allow intermediate-level learners to have casual conversations and examines how the participants manage their interactions. It was found that the classroom casual conversations activities encourage the participants to engage themselves more actively and utilize their limited linguistic performance ability in Japanese effectively.

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Language learners in Elementary-level classes are often asked to make conversations in pairs based on a model conversations and perform them to the class. However, there are few chances for instructors to catch how learners learn through this process. We therefore recorded pairs of students doing this activity on IC recorders and observed the interactions of each pair. The result concretely shows that as the activity proceeded, each learners took feedback from the instructor, their partner and other classmates, -put it to practical use, and were able to make progress with Japanese.

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In this presentation, while observing learners' actions, we noted that on the iPad, or similar screen-based devices, there seemed to be effects on learning in regards to character-based "lists." By tapping on the screen, learners were able to efficiently memorize the spelling, meaning and sound of each word. Also, by using character-based lists, which have added functions, they outlined the content, created a connection between picture and word, or quizzed themselves. Using these "lists" helped create more thorough acquisition of the material. From our observations, it can be said that touch-screen based devices with character-based "lists" are useful tools for learning.

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