Linguistic barriers cause insecurity in healthcare systems resulting in health disparities. The author and her colleagues have been promoting plain Japanese to improve communication between healthcare professionals and patients who have limited Japanese skills and different cultural backgrounds. This article introduces a project that not only benefits non-native speakers of Japanese but also those who are hard of hearing or suffer from impaired cognitive function including the elderly.

When a speaker says, Ano resutoran, oishikatta ne ‛That restaurant was delicious, wasnʼt it?’ “restaurant” is a recognized referent in the joint experience and context of both the speaker and the listener. In this paper, such a referent is referred to as “joint shared knowledge.” However, a -series demonstratives such as ano are also used in environments where joint shared knowledge has not been established. The a -series demonstratives in such cases that refer to “non-joint shared knowledge” are difficult for learners to acquire. Therefore, in this paper, we analyzed the grammatical properties of such expressions through　Japanese compositions by native speakers of Japanese, finding four types:（1） those pointing to true shared knowledge,（2） those pointing to pseudo shared knowledge,（3） those making readers infer information about the referent itself, and（4） those making readers infer information about the degree of the referent. These expressions evoke empathy in the readers or reveal the writer’s feelings. Next, based on the above analysis results, we analyzed the errors of the a -series demonstratives that refer to non-joint shared knowledge through Japanese compositions by native speakers of Chinese and Korean and considered how to treat such errors in Japanese language education.

　This article highlights the lived experience of a foreign scientific researcher who practiced and built an academic career in Japan. Ms. A, a European native, completed an English-based doctoral degree at a Japanese university graduate school and worked as a tenured faculty member at a university in Japan. Researchers conducted unstructured interviews to examine Ms. Aʼs experience during her actual practice related to the Japanese language. Ms. A revealed that she experienced difficulties in communicating with people during work, classes, and research activities due to her low proficiency in the Japanese language. She also mentioned feelings of marginality while participating in communities of practice that went beyond her competency in the Japanese language and of stress when she had to request assistance from her Japanese colleagues. Based on Ms. Aʼs case, this study suggests that the discourse about “carrying out research in English” did not lead to effective transaction, because she could not fully participate in discussions using the Japanese language. Moreover, it highlights the possible existence of a structure pertaining to the acceptance of foreign researchers in Japan, that is, the institutions in question rely on individual qualities and efforts of such researchers to fully participate in the research community.

　This study examines how learners carry out discussions and achieve tasks during group work （GW） in Japanese grammar courses by analyzing their talk and behaviors. It has been noted that the flipped classroom provides students with more opportunities for leaner-centered discussion than the traditional classroom. However, some issues have not yet been clarified: how do classroom activities affect students’ learning outcomes, and which interaction processes operate in GW? Focusing on the opening of GW, this study uses conversation analysis as a research methodology to analyze how learners develop discussions, what methods they use, and how they solve interactional problems. The analysis indicates that shifting from individual activities, such as thinking of answers and writing them down on their worksheets, to collaborative activities, such as discussing tasks, is a necessary element for promoting smooth GW. This finding provides important implications for the trouble-free use of GW in classroom instruction.

　The purpose of this study is to review the research papers on Japanese language education for young learners over the past 40 years and to suggest the future prospects of the field. In addition, it examines the frameworks within which the research has developed, with particular attention to the dynamics of the research paradigm since the 1990s. We will present the challenges and prospects for future research on Japanese language education for young learners. For these purposes, we extracted research papers related to Japanese language education for the younger generation from six peer-reviewed journals, categorized the research topics, and analyzed how they have developed in the past. As a result, it became clear that research on Japanese language education for young learners since the 1980s has progressively extended its reach and diversified its perspectives, due to the raising of issues by academic societies and their materialization through case studies, as well as the epistemological influence of postmodernism. On the other hand, we point out that a reconstruction of “school” and “teaching” will be an important for the future.

　The type of noun that can function as a verb after being combined with suru ‘do’ is defined as Verbal Noun （VN for short）. When using VN for modifying, there are usually two types of constructions, namely VN no N and VN suru/shita N. However, the case of kōtai （*no/suru） keizai ‘slumping economy’ shows that these two constructions are not always valid. In Chinese, to use a noun or a verb as modifier, you just need to add the structural particle de behind it. For this reason, Japanese learners from China are prone to such errors as *kōtai no keizai. This paper applies an approach to categorize adnominal modification relations to the study of VN no N, thereby dividing the relations between the VN and N into two types, namely “inner relation” （a semantic case relationship can be assumed: *kōtai no keizai） and “outer relation” （a semantic case relationship cannot be assumed: rikon no hanashi ‘the matter of divorce’ ）. This paper draws the conclusion that the construction VN no N featuring an outer relation is generally valid, but the construction VN no N featuring an inner relation is not valid except for extremely special cases. Finally, the author proceeds to establish the indicative criteria for the validity of the construction VN no N.

　With the increase in the number of foreigners living in Japan and the diversification of learners due to the recruitment of foreign human resources, the CEFR, the international standard for foreign language education, has been introduced into Japanese language education. While this is a major change in Japanese language education, it is also necessary to review the qualifications and training required of teachers. In this study, five Continuing Professional Development （CPD） frameworks developed in Europe to support teachers’ professional development were explored. The CPD frameworks provide descriptive statements of language teachers’ competencies according to categories and developmental stages. They include general topics in Japanese language education, such as basic theories of foreign language learning, lesson design, and learning assessment, as well as noteworthy topics such as languagew awareness and language skills, autonomous learning, and educational use of ICT. The CPD frameworks seem to be effective for teachers to recognize through self-evaluation and self-reflection what kind of competencies they have and at what stage, and to develop their professional skills.

　As the number of universities and students increases, it becomes necessary for universities to ensure the quality of education provided. The concept of bachelor competency has become one of the ways to maintain this quality, and Japanese language education is no exception to this. However, the aspect of fostering bachelor competencies for foreign students has not been given much attention from the perspective of teaching and learning management; instead, fostering language proficiency has been received greater emphasis.

　Nevertheless, in recent years, there have been several reports that examine the development of competencies in foreign students. This paper summarizes this new trend and argues that it is also important for the Japanese language teachers to critically reexamine the concept of bachelor competency.

　The purpose of this study is to visualize how four Chinese nationals who had studied at Japanese universities and were employed at Japanese companies transformed their consciousness and behavior to solve workplace conflicts. In this study, we analyzed interview data using the TEA （Trajectory Equifinality Approach） method and created an integrated TEM diagram. This revealed that the participants overcame initial conflicts thanks to support from colleagues and supervisors, as well as personal know-how acquired before joining the company. Participants’ resulting employment paths branched out from there, due to factors including corporate attitudes and policies―for example, the ability to see the results of one’s work and receive a proper evaluation of those results. Other factors included whether the company valued the employees’ feedback and acknowledged the importance of their role as a foreign member of the company. Ultimately, those whose companies met these conditions indicated a clear will to continue working at their respective companies. On the other hand, those who had repeated conflicts did not express a clear intention to continue working at their company.

　This paper investigates the developmental process of the cause-and-reason conjunctive particle kara among learners of Japanese in a JSL environment using the longitudinal speech corpus C-JAS and explores the factors responsible for non-target-like use observed in the developmental process. The results of the analysis show that the developmental process of kara begins with the use of only -kara as a conjunction, and there are also examples of dropping the auxiliary verb da, which should be inserted. Next, when the use of -dakara with the auxiliary verb da begins, the omission of da decreases. After that, it became clear that the conjunctive particle kara is acquired through the excessive addition of da together with -kara and -dakara. The target-like and non-target-like free variations observed in this process are explained using the Diffusion Model. Furthermore, it is pointed out that the omission of da is produced by the only possible connection kara at that point, and that the addition of da is influenced by the problem of the plain form of the i-adjective and the spread of the acquisition of grammatical items prefixed to kara.