The purpose of this study was to reveal the characteristics of analysis units for measuring listening recall protocols. Following Jimura (2007a; 2007b), the present study focused on Idea Unit based on the definition provided by of Sakai (2005) and Tone Unit on provided by Brazil (1994). Eighty-three participants were asked to listen to passages and then write down everything they could remember from them. Each of the recall protocols were scored against the two analysis units. The scores of each analysis unit were analyzed mainly in terms of validity and reliability. The main findings are as follows: (1) the criteria of Idea Unit might be stricter than those of Tone Unit for the assessment of the protocols; (2) there was little difference between Idea Unit and Tone Unit with regard to the relationship with an external criterion measure, interrater reliability and internal consistency; and (3) the identjfIcation of Tone Unit boundaries was less reliable than that of Idea Unit boundaries. Finally, this study offered important research implications illustrating the data obtained by cluster analyses.

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This paper empirically examines the validity of the oral reading hypothesis (Miyasako, 2007): oral reading practice improves reading comprehension of Japanese learners of English. Following the review of our oral reading model, four assumed functions of oral reading practice and the hypothesis, two studies are reported that mainly investigated into the effect of oral reading practice on reading comprehension of Japanese senior high school students. The first within-group study shows that students with lower reading proficiency would improve their reading comprehension through oral reading practice. The second between-groups study shows that English instruction focused on oral reading would be more effective in the improvement than regular English instruction, supporting the first finding. Based on the discussion of the findings it is revealed that the hypothesis was partially supported. Also revealed is future research that should be conducted with a view to fully examining the validity of the hypothesis.

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This study attempts to compare aural and written vocabulary knowledge (size) of Japanese university EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners and investigate their relationship to listening and reading abilities, and overall English proficiency To this end, two types of vocabulary size tests were developed using a word list tailored to Japanese EFL learners, and they were administered to a total of 332 i.miversity students. The results indicated that the aural and written format of the tests produced a differing result, although the overall tendency was the same. Item analysis was then canied out to further investigate the differences. Analysis of correlation coefficients of proficiency measires and the two formats of the vocabulary size tests revealed that both the aural and itten vocabulary size of the participants correlated strongly with the proficiency meases. Based on the findings, practical knplications are discussed for the effective use of vocabulary size tests in educational settings.

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The effects of word familiarity rated by Japanese learners on English-to-Japanese word translation accuracy were examined In Analysis I, a total of 1,674 English words were analyzed and a significant correlation between word familiarity and translation accuracy was obtained Confidence level had a higher correlation with translation accuracy, suggesting that confidence level is also useful in studying English lexical processing for Japanese learners. Analysis 2 investigated 165 words of the 1,674 mentioned above and revealed that confidence level and Imagery rated by Japanese learners accountedfor about 80% of the variance of translation accuracy. In Analysis 3, components of word familiarity were investigated Usefulness, importance, and limitations of word familiarity in second/foreign language lexical processing are discussed and compared with those of confidence level. The possibility of utilizing word translation accuracy as an independent variable, not as a dependent variable, is suggested

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Although it is said that acquiring 4,000-5,000 words are required before entering university, learning vocabulary through textbooks in daily classes is not enough. Most teachers agree that intentional learning of vocabulary is necessary for students. However, there seems to have been no concrete methods about it and it has been thought that vocabulary building depends on students' enthusiasm; so they leave it to their students. In part, it's due to the problem of forgetting. According to the previous researchers, without any revision, most of the words learned are lost from learners' memories. So learners should review new words soon after the initial exposure and then at gradually increasing intervals. It is called expanding rehearsal. Teachers cannot possibly control the intervals for each word, so CALL system is critical on this matter. I have developed an e-Leaming Vocabulary Building System and put it into practice since 2003. The points primarily concerned are that: first, the intake of lexical chunks is significant for functional language use; second, remembering their forms with phonetic aspects is indispensable. Watching my students learn through the system, it has come to light that the system has been working very effectively but some minor changes and a certain syllabus using it are required for its use. I hope this report gives teachers some suggestion towards building students' vocabulary.

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Causative verbs such as MAKE, GET, etc. are similar in their meaning but not identical. Explanations in dictionaries and references do not seem sufficient enough to grasp the differences of these constructions. In the present paper the author tries to clar the different usage of the causation expressed by <M.4KE + Object+ Infinitive> and <GET + Object+ to-Infinitive>, based on their collocational patterns obtained from the BNC (British National Corpus) , and present them with examples from the corpus so that learners of English can deepen their knowledge of the constructions and put it to practical use. Since collocations differ according to whether the subject or object of the construction is animate/inanimate, this research was conducted in view of this perspective especially in the causative MAKE, which can have either an animate or inanimate subject, and also either an animate or inanimate object. As a result of this study, it has become clear that the causative MAKE has ofien indefinite words as the subject, and collocates uniquely with verbs of physical response. It was also revealed that the causative GET has unique collocational patterns of various kinds expressing difficulty', especially in the lefi cote.xt of the node words.

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The present study is a pilot study which investigates affective variables, principally motivation and anxiety, among public elementary school students in Japan. Previous research has revealed motivational processes play a role in facilitating second language communication, and that anxiety has a negative correlation with achievement. It was on this basis that the present investigation was carried out. The participants in this study were 720 public elementary school students, from 1^<st> to 6^<th> graders, who were given a questionnaire concerning their English class. Exploratory factor analysis revealed different factor loading in the lower graders compared with the middle to upper graders. Among the lower graders, the first graders showed higher motivation, and among the middle to upper graders, the third graders showed the highest motivation and interest in English-speaking countries, declining with age. Regarding gender differences, female students showed higher motivation and interest in English-speaking countries, and male students showed higher anxiety among both the lower and middle to upper graders. Noteworthy limitations of the present study and suggestions for improvement were discussed.

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