Teaching of intonation and other prosodic features is often put on the back burner in English teaching scenes in Japan. Since there is not a recognized intonation notation system that can be employed in English language instruction, teaching intonation is considered quite challenging. This study proposes a rather simple intonation notation system to be used for ordinary English teaching activities based on the relatively recent English prosodic notation proposed by British phoneticians.

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[in Japanese]

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This study examines how "we" pronouns in middle school English textbooks reflect cross-cultural understanding. The analysis shows that the inclusive/exclusive meanings of these pronouns depend on the context created by dialogue characters. They are used to enhance mutual understanding and foster cultural respect. These findings can guide teacher support and highlight the potential for cultural understanding to enhance expression, even among students with limited language proficiency.

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The purpose of this study is to analyze learning items related to phonetic pronunciation and their tethered digital contents accessed via QR codes in the junior high school English textbooks based on the Courses of Study revised in 2017, and then to clarify trends in phonetic learning exemplified through the three revisions. The placement and distribution of phonetic related items and the contents provided by QR codes were examined.

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This research presents an example of the use of reaction paper for reflection through a web form and reports on how it was received by students. The results showed that it was generally well received by the participants, and many of them responded that their classmates’ descriptions and the teacher’s feedback deepened their understanding of the content. In addition, some participants reported that the quality of their reflection improved as a result of this practice.

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This paper aims to report the details of how the performance test of advanced English interaction and its assessment procedure were developed. Drawing on findings from previous studies and analysis of a prior performance test, several changes were made in the test from a comprehensive perspective in order to improve the interrater reliability. As a result, the higher reliability was realized in almost all the assessment criteria. However, some raters still showed the low reliability in a few criteria because of some problems.

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