The aim of this study is to develop a method of qualitative analysis for extracting characteristics from e-Learning contents, in consideration of the semantic relationship between figures and sentences. In order to extract the characteristics, we propose a method of contents analysis for “characteristics on frames” and “sequences of frames”. On the basis of this analysis, we propose a method for contents construction. Furthermore, we use this methodology to compose effective contents based on educational psychology and linguistics in consideration of individual differences. In comparison to previous research on the subject, our research is aimed to the synergy-effect in the meaningful relationship between figures and sentences; we take a qualitative analysis approach from the point of view of linguistic semantics.

In this study, we try to use “PAC & Mining” analysis for the survey of the learning motivation of three Japanese adults who are studying Portuguese. The procedure of the method is as follows. The first stage procedure is to carry out a clustering based on the similarity of words among associated items by text mining methods. Secondly, the clustering based on the similarity of a subject’s intuitive evaluation on associated items by PAC analysis is compared with the results of the clustering by text mining methods. Finally, the structure of the attitude and image of a subject are studied from these two viewpoints. As a result of the analysis of the learning motivation, it is found that the key words which are extracted by text mining methods and characterize each cluster are dispersed into many clusters or into one or few concentrated clusters in the cluster structure of PAC analysis. The concentration and dispersion of these key words show what kind of learning motivation the learner is related to. It is suggested that “PAC & Mining” analysis offers a viewpoint that cannot be obtained by the traditional PAC analysis.

One of the main aims of English education at high school is to develop students’ practical communication skills such as listening and speaking. However, it is difficult for one teacher to instruct every student individually in class. Therefore, in order to improve students’ English proficiency, especially in listening skills, we developed English WBT courseware, which includes lots of video and sound clips for self-practice. Through utilizing it with pair or group activities in the process of ‘Blended Learning’ in face-to-face classrooms, we have studied the effectiveness of the instruction with WBT. The results of the research show that the students’ level of the taxonomy of the cognitive domain toward ‘Communication’ was raised and that the listening ability of the students with low English proficiency was improved.

In remote lectures or remote classes, the non-verbal communication factor, like teacher’s stare or asking with eyes correspondence, is not efficiently transformed. Therefore, some systems are suggested for remote teaching with eyes correspondence. But through the study of those systems, a serious problem was found in those “one to many” remote communication systems with eyes correspondence, which is generally known as the name of “poster effect” or “Mona Lisa effect”. This study, surveying the past studies about remote communication systems with eyes correspondence, reexamined the efficiency of eyes correspondence from the viewpoint of communication, and using VEM, which is the system designed for eyes corresponded remote lecture, by casting a spotlight on the functions of teacher’s eyes, made a solution of that problem.

We offered 7 courses in the form of distance education from 1999 to 2007 at the Faculty of Economics in Hiroshima University. They were initially designed as face-to-face courses at Higashi-hiroshima campus, and offered to Higashi-senda campus about 20 miles apart via bidirectional distance education system. Our biggest problems in 1999 were high ratio of dropout and low level of academic attainment of the students. Therefore, we introduced WebCT as a supplement to our on-campus lectures in 2002. After applying WebCT, the ratio of dropout students declined sharply and the grades showed outstanding improvement. The improvement of educational effectiveness was more in distance education than in face-to-face lectures. This paper summarizes the effects of applying WebCT, especially on the distance education.

How to improve reading literacy has been an issue since Japan greatly dropped in ranking in the reading literacy section of the Programme for International Student Assessment arranged by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. We believe that to improve reading literacy, it is important to enhance the opportunity to 1) understand and evaluate text, 2) write one’s opinion related to the text, and 3) read various kinds of text.

Thus, we designed a method of educational practice that is able to enhance those three opportunities and constructed a Web site where the practice can be carried out. We decided to use on-line newspaper columns, which are easy to read and excellent as a teaching text. Then, we introduced this Web site in a junior high school and verified its effect on the students’ reading literacy. We obtained results showing the effectiveness of Web-based educational practice and the improvement of the students’ reading literacy.