多くの大学生が中学、高校で勉強した英文法の知識を英語の表現に正しく使用できないという現実がある。特にオーラルでは、自己表現や自然会話を行う時に、文法意識が希薄で単語を並べただけの場合が多く見られる。学生がその文法規則を知ってはいるが、いざ応用となるとなかなか上手くいかない。こういう状況の改善を目指し、本稿では、Larsen-Freemanの理論を用いて、学生はただ文法規則を知っている（knowing a rule）だけで、応用時に（putting the grammar knowledge into use）上手くできないというオーラルの“inert knowledge problem”を解決する有効な方法は“grammar practice”である、という観点に立ち、オーラルイングリッシュの授業におけるコミュニケーション活動の中で、適宜文法の練習を取り入れることによる教育効果の検証を試みた。その結果、学期末に実施した受講生を対象とした記述式質問紙調査データでは、9割弱の学生が、「正しい文法で話すべきという認識が以前よりも強くなった」と答えていることがわかった。また、授業期間中に収集したデータから、学生の会話の量が増加したにもかかわらず、文法の誤り率が減少傾向を示し、会話の総合的な力の向上が認められるなど、この取り組みの有効性が示唆された。

本研究では、小学校6年生児童の英語活動において、音楽を導入して指導することで、どのような効果があるかの検証を行った。指導は、2学期に週1時間の割合で、45分の授業の中の15分を使用し、6時間の単元で行われた。毎時間の歌の学習後、アンケートを実施し「楽しさ」、「記憶」、「理解」について自己評価を行わせた。単元の最終時間には、歌の効果の分析に関するアンケートを実施した。アンケートでは、先行研究により、「情意面」、「記憶強化」、「音声の向上」、「真正の言語」の4観点について自己評価させた。指導に当たっては、ICT技術によって加工した映像や文字を使用し歌詞の意味を理解させる手立てを講じた。教材として、8曲を提示し「歌いたい曲」を投票させたところ、児童のよく知っているメロディの曲 (「耳をすませば」原曲 ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’) が選択された。指導前、指導後のアンケートの分析から分かったことは、(1) 歌を使う場合は、児童は馴染みのある曲、軽快なリズムの曲を選択する傾向がある、(2) 歌を使用することで、児童は英語に興味をもって楽しみながら学習ことができる、(3) 歌を使用すると、児童は記憶に効果があると感じるということである。

This study examined relationships among the aspects of lexical fluency, breadth, reading rate, and comprehension. The participants were 41 students at a college of technology who had been studying English for about three and a half years. The results revealed significant relationships: 1) reading rate under time pressure is interrelated with lexical breadth and the recognition speed of high frequency words and collocations; 2) reading comprehension without time pressure is interrelated with lexical breadth but not with the recognition speed of high frequency words and collocations; and 3) lexical breadth is related both to reading rate under time pressure and to reading comprehension without time pressure. The results also showed that reading rate is not directly interrelated with reading comprehension. Therefore, it is suggested that English curricula should include activities not only to improve students’ reading comprehension and but also to increase their reading rate.

The phenomenon that phonemes in human speech carry certain images in themselves is called “phonetic symbolism”. There have been numerous studies concerning what kind of images (e.g. size, shape, and gravity) are associated with what kind of phonemes. However, human cognition is not as simple as something to be measured with the scales that are miscellaneously gathered. In order to grasp the holistic idea of the phonetic symbolism, this study investigates the possibility of applying Semantic Differential technique in measuring the images associated with phonemes. Evaluation, Potency, and Activity, which have been the three factors repeatedly found in literature as dimensions of human emotions are used. As a result, whether or not statistical differences are indicated among groups of phonemes is found to vary, depending on from which dimension the images are derived. Thus, the three-factor theory of Semantic Differential is proved applicable to the measurement of phonetic symbolism.

本論文は，日本のEFL環境でよく用いられるカタカナ英語の“オール・イングリッシュ”というタームを取り上げ、授業内でのTL使用について教師・学習者のビリーフ（信条）を比較する事を目的とした。日本人英語教師（NNEST）と大学生の参加者に34項目から成るBeliefs about Language Learning Inventory：BALLI (Horwitz, 1985)に新たにオール・イングリッシュの授業に関する質問6項目を加えた質問紙（5件法プラス記述式）に回答を依頼し、その結果の統計処理でSPSSを用いた相関分析ならびに因子分析を行うことで双方を比較した。

結果、オール・イングリッシュ授業というタームが表すTL使用の割合については教師・学習者両方が幅のあるビリーフを構築しており、学習者が全体的にオール・イングリッシュの授業に積極的に肯定しているのに対し教師はどちらかと言えば消極的であり、英語使用授業実践の困難さと母語使用の必要性を感じている様子が推察された。

The present study attempts to clarify how effective strategy training with pocket electronic dictionaries (henceforth E-dictionary) has been in a L2 reading class. The study was designed on the basis of the results of a previous study (Koyama, 2013), which concluded that the reading task with dictionary strategy training for 12 weeks might positively affect the participants’ comprehension of the texts, and also the dictionary strategies and reference skills which were taught in class had been well-retained. This improved study, therefore, provided the participants with: 1) an explicit presentation of the strategies and reference skills with projector in addition to metacognitive tasks with peer review; 2) setting the collaborative learning environment, 3) recommending using the word registration function of the E-dictionary. The results showed that the strategies and reference skills, if taught earlier, could still have been retained by adopting these tasks. We found dictionary training done under such conditions can enhance learners’ look-up frequency, although it does not necessarily contribute to the improvement in their reading skills in the present study. Some pedagogical implications are suggested based on the findings.

Previous studies have indicated that there is little explicit discussion about the usage of literature and its potential benefits in Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) instruction. This paper describes a study of literary texts in JFL textbooks. It attempts to provide an overview of the frequency of occurrence and the usage of Japanese literature in these JFL textbooks. I will, in particular, investigate features such as the targeted learning level and learning objectives of the textbooks, the literary genre and, the literary period of the texts. This analysis provides an outline of how Japanese literary texts are used in Japanese language textbooks as part of a large-scale study into the present status of Japanese literature as authentic material in JFL education.

It is pointed out that communication needs common underlying proficiency of L1 and L2. In communication, we synchronize with others without consciousness. This study is based on the idea that movement synchrony leads to emotional synchrony and that embodied simulation constitutes a fundamental and functional mechanism for empathy and understanding another person’s mind. The author researched junior high school students’ empathy with an emotional Japanese poem through analysis of their written impressions. The results revealed that the experimental group students, who had experienced movement synchrony in English activities at elementary school, empathized with the poem more than the control group students. It is concluded that focusing on synchrony with physical senses is crucial in the early stage of EFL learning.