The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of continuous retelling activities according to the proficiency level of students. Recordings of each student’s speech were evaluated in terms of pronunciation, contents, paraphrasing and the number of words. The evaluation was statistically analyzed using Two-way ANOVA. The results revealed that there was little difference among three groups of students divided by their proficiency level. Through continuous retelling activities, students came to speak more words and more information about the texts. However, little improvement was confirmed in their speech with paraphrasing the texts.

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This study examines two learners’ individual accountability in one presentation group with five learners (A, B, C, D, and E), who were not fully aware of their specific roles as individuals. Two learners’ individual accountabilities are analyzed qualitatively through their interview survey answers from the perspective of cooperative learning. The following are the results: 1) Student D served as a facilitator but did not perceive it as his/her role, 2) Student E was not aware of his/her role and did not demonstrate his/her competence, and 3) Introducing in advance such roles as “facilitator” and “follower” and the competences needed to fulfill these roles would help our learners to demonstrate their abilities and take the initiative.

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This research has two major objectives. The first purpose is to conduct a questionnaire survey based on previous research and develop a scale to measure KOSEN students’ motivation to learn English. The second purpose was to use the developed scale to examine whether motivation for learning English at KOSEN A differs among grades. As a result, the questionnaire consisting of 50 items was reduced to 24 items, and four factors were extracted. Moreover, among the extracted factors, there was statistically a significant difference between grades for “Sense of Negative Obligation,” suggesting that motivation for learning English may differ across grades.

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The purpose of this study is to examine the development of syntactic structures in Japanese EFL learners’ writing. Some studies have shown the L2 syntactic complexity produced by learners is correlated with the learners’ L2 proficiency. Recently, Hwang, et al. (2020) suggested that teaching complex syntactic rules in writing can affect the scores of an L2 listening and reading comprehension test with Korean EFL learners. In the present study, 16 Japanese EFL learners (KOSEN students) participated. Five writing tasks and two proficiency tests, TOEIC-LR and TOEFL IBT were conducted. The results showed that the use of clauses containing subordinate clauses and indirect questions in writing might affect the results of the proficiency tests. Some issues that require further study remain.

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This study aimed to compare task value across English, mathematics, and specialized subjects. Questionnaires were administered on positive task value, perceived cost, and lack of persistence in studying. The findings revealed that positive task value in specialized subjects significantly surpassed that in the other subjects. On the other hand, no significant differences were observed among subjects regarding cost perception. Concerning lack of persistence, English exhibited a significantly higher score. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis demonstrated that effort cost positively influenced lack of persistence for both English and mathematics, but not for specialized subjects. This suggests that effort cost plays a role in the lack of persistence in English and mathematics, with no such impact in specialized subjects.

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This study attempts to investigate the influence of English presentations on the confidence and intrinsic motivation of technical college students in developing their key language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. We show our English Presentation procedure and overviews our students’ questionnaire answers and reveals the following results: 1) There were significant improvements in confidence and intrinsic motivation related to listening and reading skills after engaging in presentation activities. 2) Difficulties persist in improving speaking and writing skills due to psychological hurdles. The study emphasizes the promise of incorporating English presentations into language education as a means to enhance confidence and motivation.

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The purpose of this paper is to introduce “20 Seconds Grasping and Response Methods.” The article will outline each step of the method and provide their concrete examples, after explaining the background on devising this method. Following that, the teaching effect of the method will be discussed, based on the data of the questionnaire collected from 152 fourth-grade students. According to the results of the survey, more than 80% of the students responded “very useful” or “fairly useful” for the “20 Seconds Grasping and Response Methods.” This indicates the method can play a major role to enhance their listening skills.

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In recent years, various websites and applications capable of translating from one language to another have been developed, resulting in a significant improvement in translation accuracy. In light of these advancements, this study examines the educational impact of utilizing translation sites during the process of preparing English manuscripts in classes where the ultimate goal is to give presentations in English. Additionally, the study investigates the need for instructional adjustments that consider the prevalent use of machine translation. This is achieved through a survey conducted among students at Sasebo National College of Technology to ascertain the academic grades at which they commence utilizing translation sites and the contexts in which such usage occurs. The results of this study will contribute to ongoing discussions regarding the implications derived from these observations. The findings will contribute to further discussions about the implications of these observations.

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This article is about a study on the effects of the authors’ original score report on students’ self-regulated learning. The score report is an A4 size sheet with all the student activities. Students check their progress at the beginning of each lesson. Their scores are shown with numbers and stamps, which help them visually understand their current scores. When students make a remark in class, they are given a stamp. As they make more remarks, they get more stamps, which also visually helps them understand their progress. The results of our questionnaires have shown that our score report helps students’ self-regulated learning and motivates them.

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The purpose of this paper is to report the practice of a multigrade CLIL activity with the Jigsaw Method at Kosen. The author designed and revised a CLIL activity in fifth, third, and first graders’ English classes, referring to the viewpoint of instructional design. The first graders read English reports on technology written by the third and fifth graders in the expert activity, and they combined the ideas on the reports into a new technology in the jigsaw activity. The results of the questionnaires suggest that the cooperative CLIL activity was effective in motivating the students.

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Setting up story retelling in English lessons can allow learners a large amount of time to engage in learning English. It also orients learners’ attention to both the meanings and forms of the language. Thus, story retelling can have a variety of effects on language learning. The author conducted English language instruction combining the jigsaw story retelling with subsequent output activities for first-year students at a technical college. The purpose of this study is to consider a teaching method incorporating jigsaw story retelling, and whether jigsaw story retelling can encourage learners to generate their opinions in the following output activities.

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This paper analyzes the possibility of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach as a framework for liberal arts education in the context of Kosen (National Institute of Technology). One of Kosen’s educational goals is to develop individuals who can contribute to the realization of a more sustainable society through the creation of innovative technologies. In alignment with this educational goal, the author implemented a soft CLIL class for fourth grade Kosen students. In this class, students explored the connections between their typical food choices, social and environmental issues, and technology and engineering. Analysis of the research outcomes suggests the potential of CLIL as a framework for liberal arts education, even though it may not be fully aligned with Kosen’s educational goals.

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This paper aims to report the practice of essay writing activities after debate games for the 5th year KOSEN students in an elective liberal arts class. They experienced three kinds of debate: value debate, policy debate, and public debate. They engaged in research activities, debate games, essay writings, peer-reviews, and rewrite activities. After the last game, they wrote essays to propose political plans and made English videos individually to present their plans. Questionnaires were given after each activity, and it appeared that debate activities boosted their ideas in essay writings and peer review comments facilitated their rewrite activities.

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This paper discusses the differences between the two terms internationalization and globalization. The objective of the study conducted for this paper was to develop an effective teaching method to both cultivate students’ understanding of the two terms as well as develop students’ English language proficiency. A survey was conducted to ascertain the students’ understanding of the terms, as well as gain an insight into students’ preference between the two terms. The analysis of the survey showed that students overwhelmingly preferred internationalization to globalization. The analysis of this survey helped in justifying the need to create lessons which helped to both develop students’ sense of internationalization and English language proficiency.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cooperative learning on KOSEN students. All materials were shared in advance, and students were asked to work independently in groups on assignments to determine their perceptions of cooperative work and autonomous learning. The results of questionnaire surveys were analyzed using cluster analysis to visualize the learning types of KOSEN students. The results showed that, while recognizing the benefits of cooperative learning, KOSEN students also value individual learning.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the tendencies of fifth year students when they answer TOEIC-type questions. English vocabulary tests and TOEIC-type questions have been administered in regular English classes, and the scores of the regular examinations and the TOEIC IP test have been analyzed with them. As a result, it has been found that many of the TOEIC-type questions have been interpreted as the questions that discriminated most between the upper- and lower-level students. However, an issue has emerged regarding the number of students who are able to answer the questions diligently and without missing a class, which has implied a necessity for reforms in curriculum.

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Much research has been conducted on reading and writing skills for ESL/EFL in Japan, but little research on using book reports as a valid activity and use for evaluation. A study by Takase (2007) on a year-long program showed students who were originally interested in reading in their native languages were also interested in reading in another language, but here was no link to an increased interest in reading in another language. It is hoped that motivational aspects on students may be found throughout the study, including an increased interest in paragraph writing and reading in ESL/EFL.

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This study explored the feasibility of task-based lessons (TBLs) at the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN). Seventy-five second-grade students took two TBLs based on collaborative writing tasks. The TBLs were evaluated from the viewpoints of learners’ attentional foci, quality of outcomes, and perceptions of tasks. The results showed that the TBLs worked successfully in English classrooms at KOSEN, just as the teacher had intended. During the lessons, the learners primarily focused on meaning to achieve outcomes, and their writing quality improved through TBLs. They perceived some difficulties in producing L2 and implementing tasks, but these were alleviated as the lessons progressed.

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