Australian tertiary Japanese language programs have long delivered learning opportunities which go beyond the classroom walls and utilise local community resources. Theoretical underpinnings of the Australian practices include sociolinguistics, sociocultural theory, and learner autonomy. The paper briefs the theories and describes the practices in the context of the 5Cs of the American Standards for Foreign Language Learning, in particular, the Communities. It then discusses and argues for the concept of “classroom without walls” and advocates its further implementation.

　When pondering the future of teaching Japanese as a foreign/second language in Japan, the three C's discussed in the symposium (Cultures, Connections, and Communities) should not be seen as three separate categories, but as mutually related components of one whole: culturally connected communities. We must keep in mind the interrelationships between the social groupings of native speakers of languages other than Japanese, who are engaged in a variety of occupations in a multilingual, multicultural context, and the mainstream of Japanese-speaking society which surrounds them. We must pursue a Japanese for communities that have welcomed people of different social backgrounds into their midst, a Japanese that can sustain cultures and communities that strive to make connections with people who use Japanese as a second language.

　This study analyzes dyadic peer-response sessions recorded during classes of a university writing program, in which both Japanese students (Japanese native speakers) and foreign students (Japanese non-native speakers) participated. Five pairs, consisting of one Japanese and one foreign student respectively, discussed the outlines for their writing task. By categorizing each utterance according to its language function and closely investigating the process of the occurrence of the utterances, we were able to make the following three observations.

　Firstly, while Japanese students basically control the direction of the discussions, both Japanese and foreign students collaborate in managing the development of their session and achieve their activity task using the expressions written in the textbook. Secondly, Japanese and foreign students exchange their opinions to achieve mutual understanding. Thirdly, although the majority of the information exchanged in the sessions tends to focus on issues concerning vocabulary and expressions, these information exchanges seem to facilitate the construction of knowledge and heighten the quality of the content of their writing.

　These findings suggest that peer-response activity tends to make Japanese native speakers more aware of their own writing in that it inclines them make it easy reading for other readers while it enables foreign students to occupy an equal standpoint with their Japanese group partners and to share the task of developing the discussion.

　This study examined the characteristics of behaviors of outstanding Japanese language teachers from the students' point of view. A total of 633 data samples were collected at five Taiwanese universities by means of a questionnaire. To analyze the data, factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted. The results indicated that the characteristics of behaviors of outstanding Japanese language teachers which students take into account are: I. concern for learners; II. teaching experience as a professional; III. technical ability of Japanese language teachers; and IV. concern for interaction. The result showed that the characteristics of behaviors which students pay most attention to are different according to level, with the first-year students seeking the most from their instructors. The four factors all decreased for second-year students, but these factors can be differentiated into factors that:(1) that keep decreasing (III. technical ability of Japanese language teachers); (2) increase again for third-year students (I. concern for learners); and (3) increase for fourth-year students (II. teaching experience as a professional,IV. concern for interaction).