A corpus-based study (Osborne, 2008) argues various kinds of syntactic complexities induce errors in L2 writing; for example, the complexity of the subject facilitates the omission of third person singular -s (TPS). Although this argument is plausible, L2 learners do make mistakes in even rather simple sentences. We explored potential causes of omitting TPS in English essays written by Japanese EFL undergraduates using a keystroke logging system. Comparative statistical analyses were performed between the contexts where TPS was correctly supplied and where it was omitted, in both written products and writing process data. Three major findings are reported. First, in written data, no statistical differences in complexity were found between the two contexts. Second, the analyses of writing process data revealed that typing the verb initial letter requires a significantly longer time in omissions. Third, the coefficient of variation of production speed of TPS was higher than that of space key in omissions. These findings imply that verb selection is cognitively demanding for learners, and their insufficient verb knowledge may potentially cause them to fail at subject-verb agreement. This phenomenon seems to clearly illustrate the relationship between language processing demand and learners’ cognitive capacity.

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Although it is widely acknowledged that research on L2 summary writing is needed, there has not been enough investigation into its evaluation. Consequently, the number of rating scales (i.e., rubrics) developed for L2 summary tasks is limited, and it is unclear whether existing rubrics are useful in the classroom context. Therefore, as a research project, we developed an original analytic rubric for L2 summary writing, suitable for classroom environments in which Japanese university students are learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The purpose of this study is to develop and refine a provisional analytic rubric using expert judgment. We asked three researchers who are experts in the field of language testing to examine a provisional, four-dimensional analytic rubric used to assess student summaries, and to provide feedback on the usage of the rubric via an open-ended questionnaire. We conducted qualitative content analysis of the comments obtained from these experts. The results indicated both positive and problematic aspects of the provisional analytic rubric. Based on the experts’ comments and suggestions, we revised various aspects of the rubric. We expect that the revised version will serve as a valuable support tool in teaching L2 summary writing.

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This research focuses on learners’ reading comprehension when practicing reading aloud. Based on beginner-level Japanese EFL readers’ learning experiences, we examine how they increase their English reading comprehension skills as well as what is required to improve their abilities. Two university students who were non-English majors recorded their experiences in journals during the practice, after which they filled out a questionnaire and took part in an interview. We qualitatively analyzed the data by employing a case study approach, verifying the learners’ actual changes through pre- and post- reading comprehension tests. Through their experiences, one participant felt that she had improved on her chunk recognition and comprehension, while the other did not notice any changes. The differences between the two participants concerned their approach toward practicing reading. The participant who experienced improvement understood sentence structures previously unknown to her and attempted to work on them as she read. The results suggest that, when it comes to autonomous reading practices, the recognition of syntactic structures can lead to better understanding and acquisition.

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People have often intuitively sensed the link between musical ability and L2 oral proficiency. Previous studies have also shown a positive relationship between music and language. However, only a few researchers have investigated the relationship between musical ability and L2 pronunciation skills through empirical investigations in the field of memory. Therefore, this study focuses on determining the impact of acoustic shortterm memory on L2 pronunciation skills. Seventy Japanese university students participated in this study. The acoustic short-term memory capacity of the participants was analyzed and measured in this study by using two tests, the Tonal Memory Span Test and Rhythm Memory Span Test, while the L2 pronunciation skills were measured using the English Word Reproduction Test. The results of the correlation and regression analyses indicated that the acoustic short-term memory measured by the tests had significant positive effects on English word reproduction skills and that tonal memory capacity had stronger effects than rhythm memory capacity. Although this study has several limitations, the results of the study provided a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the impact of musical ability on the L2 pronunciation skills of participants. It also provided some pedagogical implications for improving L2 pronunciation teaching.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether students’ oral presentation skills affect their ability to rate presentations delivered by peers. The author examined the correlation between peer assessment and teacher assessment with reference to the participants’ presentation skills. In four separate classes, the teacher and participants evaluated individual students. Both teacher and 61 students used prepared evaluation sheets, and the correlation of student evaluation and teacher evaluation was obtained. Based on the teacher evaluation, students were divided into upper, middle, and lower presentation ability groups. The evaluation of individual students in each group was correlated to the teacher’s evaluation. A moderate overall correlation was found between peer assessment and teacher assessment (r =.529～.606), with little difference among the three groups. It was thought that the higher ability group would grade more closely to the teacher, but this was not the case. These results indicate that the rating ability of students was not related to their presentation skills. In addition, some tendencies for peer assessment were examined. In general, students tended to be more lenient compared to the teacher. Also, students tended to give evaluations that were close to their own perceived level of performance.

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Japanese person references show different characteristics than person pronouns in European languages. Watashi ‘I’ and anata ‘you’ indicate the speaker and the interlocutor in Japanese, but the usage does not completely agree with the way English speakers use I or you . Names, kin terms, and job titles are used as person references as well as person pronouns in Japanese. Choices of person references must be made according to the social relation and psychological distance between the speaker and the interlocutor and the formality of the situation in addition to the speaker’s gender, the personality, and the background. Large numbers of learners of Japanese do not command the usages of person references naturally in daily conversations. Many of them face the problem of not having substantive opportunities to be exposed to native Japanese where speakers use various types of person references. The paper takes up the usages of the first and the second person references in order to focus on the relation between the speaker and the interlocutor, and discusses the efficacy of using TV dramas as learning materials by showing the variety of the person reference in daily conversations and the diversity of speakers’ intentions of the utterance.

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In this paper, the effects of explicit teaching on the production of three English intonation patterns (rising, falling, and falling-rising) for Japanese learners were examined. As the result of explicit guidance of intonation patterns, a significant difference was found between the pre- and post-tests. This can be suggestively linked to the efficacy of the explicit instruction. In experiments on production, difference in intonation patterns influenced the easiness of pronunciation for learners. The rising tone was especially easier than the falling or the falling-rising tones. This might be due to insufficient falling width, or to the difficulty of accurately manipulating the pitch change when it is uncertain how to make a pitch fall within a single syllable. Also in the intonation perception experiment a significant difference between the scores of the post-test and those of the pre-test was found. This time, the falling tone was easier to perceive than the rising or the fallingrising tones. From the above findings, it is conceivable that the participants of these experiments have different understandings of pronunciation and the perception of intonations.

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The relationship between complexity and writing fluency as measured by productbased metrics is ambiguous and there is concern that different construct labels have merely been given to similar linguistic features. This is thought to be an adverse effect of reductionist practice, which seeks to describe a system in light of its constituent parts and the individual interactions between them. While a number of studies have been conducted investigating L2 performance and L2 proficiency based on complexity and/or writing fluency measures, few studies have empirically examined the relationship between their latent structures. We addressed this research gap on the basis of complexity theory using network analysis. Data were drawn from the WritingMaetriX corpus, which consists of 342 written essays by Japanese EFL learners. The measures were calculated using tools. To delineate a network, correlation coefficients between measures were calculated. The results indicate that the linguistic features of complexity and writing fluency are complexly intertwined and that complexity and writing fluency cannot be considered distinct factors. The results also specify the measures playing an important role in the L2 writing performance system. The possibility of network analysis based on complexity theory is also discussed.

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Phoneme Counter has been developed for three different purposes; as a research tool for analyzing English texts at the phoneme level, as a pedagogical tool for instructors to plan pronunciation lessons, and as a self-learning tool for English learners to practice pronunciation. It automatically converts all the words in any given English text into simplified phonetic symbols, and calculates the number of phonemes that appear in the text. More functions were added to Phoneme Counter ver.2.0 to help learners recognize the features of English sounds, such as stressed syllables, sound changes, and how each phoneme is pronounced. In this paper, following the descriptions of the system configuration, the procedures and the results of two sample studies will be shown in order to suggest how Phoneme Counter can be used by researchers, instructors, and learners. Limitations of the current version (ver.3.0) and plans for further improvements will be discussed at the end of the paper.

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The purpose of this research was to investigate the achievement indicators (AI) for ELT in the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Education (BPPE) established by Japan's national, prefectural, and municipal governments, and to discuss the characteristics of the AIs and the regional factors that promote / impede their formulation. A central first edition of the BPPE was published in 2007 based on the Basic Act on Education, and was revised in 2013. Each prefecture had formulated a BPPE by the end of the FY2016, and all 47 plans are currently available. However, there are too many municipal governments to gather every BPPE. In this study, the 47 prefectural BPPEs were collected and 1,000 out of 1,819 municipal BPPEs were examined using a nationwide questionnaire. In the end, approximately half of the prefectural governments and 11.1% of the municipal governments formulated their AIs. In addition, school principals frequently participated in the policy-making processes for them. Furthermore, many local governments consider that the AIs formulated by the prefectural and municipal governments reflect their individualities rather than the policy of the national government. This paper concludes that the ELT policy-making process in Japan is complex rather than having a top-down structure.

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This exploratory study investigated the effects of the first-language (L1) formulating activity during second-language (L2) writing on students’ perceived learning. The author created a student-centered learning classroom based on Wiggins & McTighe’s (2005) Understanding by Design, during the spring semester of 2017, and here discusses the findings of the study. The participating students were 69 sophomores at a private university in western Japan. They conducted a L1 formulating task to logically organize their critical arguments in their L1 to produce an easy-to-understand L2 writing text. Webbased questionnaires, including a free description element, and self- and peer-assessment on one’s written product were conducted before and after the process in order to evaluate the participants’ perceived achievements. The results demonstrated that the process had a positive influence on students’ perceptions of their own learning: The L1 use during the text-formulating process reduced students’ cognitive overloads and activated their ability to analytically consider the fundamentals of an academic paper. The author therefore concludes that this activity did enhance students’ learning. It is suggested that the teaching of argumentative L2 writing should include a more engaging and effective L1 formulating activity.

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Although studies on cognitive strategies involving the use of think-aloud methods and questionnaires in Second Language (L2) reading form a major portion of strategy assessment research, these studies have been conducted outside the classroom-learning context. In this respect, learning journals, logs, and portfolios are used by learners and teachers in the classroom context. These materials help teachers investigate the strategy usage and development of L2 learners. However, previous studies using these classroombased assessment methods have not assessed learners’ metacognition and the development of profound cognitive strategy use in their learning process. This study used five successful learners’ portfolios from among 16 Japanese university students to explore these learners’ metacognition and higher-level cognitive strategies. The results revealed that four learners used the interactive reading approach, whereas one learner indicated awareness of text genre in the first entry. In the second entry, to improve their strategy application for better comprehension of a text, all five students maintained their strategy assessment and applied higher-level strategies through their reflections. L2 classroom teachers can utilize reading portfolios to allow learners to monitor and assess their strategy use and facilitate learners’ strategy development.

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The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of collaborative conversation reflection (CCR) activity conducted in university English classes in Japan. CCR activity is an oral reflection done in pairs. The activity is designed and evaluated using eight criteria, such as making self-correction, taking roles of both feedback-receiver and provider, and engaging in an activity with strong intrinsic motivation. In the practice, participants first talk in pairs on a topic in English for 3 minutes, recording a dialogue by cellular phone. Next, in the reflection session, they listen to their recorded dialogue and discuss how to improve their utterances for 10 minutes, using a dictionary when necessary. Each pair records their conversations in the reflection session by a voice recorder for this research. After the session, each participant is required to report what they learned and how they learned them, and to answer a questionnaire on the activity. The results of the data analysis indicate that the activity helped participants be aware of their own errors and learn better vocabulary or expressions. In addition, the use of dictionaries and cellular phones played significant roles in reducing participants’ anxiety and making peer feedback more effective.

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