This thesis explores the “thematic unit theory” in Japanese language arts education for Japanese elementary school students (Shiraishi, 1973), in order to describe the development of “the unit learning theory”, one of the theories of reading instruction.

As a result of this study, it is indicated that his theory has the following four characteristics; 1) The theory provides the “book guide”, which makes it easier that learners choose what to read by themselves, and which guarantee recognitions which learners have to learn. ; 2) Each unit in each grade contains fewer lessons, compared with units in other theories. ; 3) The units for lower grade consist of fewer reading materials which are in the same genre. ; 4) The units for lower grade learners start with the “living theme” that the teacher sets.

As a conclusion, this study makes it clear that the “thematic unit theory” has been developed as the way to solve the problem of meritocracy, as well as the problem of empiricism.

This paper demonstrates the following three points:

(1) That imitation is an effective method in the creation of poetry.

(2) That a certain effect has been observed when the instructor understands the two facets of the refrain: ((1)Repetition as a method of expression in poetry and (2)Repetition as the Repetition of Learning) and when these are presented to children as a method to use in creating poetry.

(3) That Relationships of Mutual Listening and Mutuall Beneficial Learning become foundational in the classroom, the writers' self-esteem increases, and Outer Speech becomes Internalized. In that creative context, the writers imitate their own compositions and work to move beyond them. They form a creative posture that is both voluntary and active.

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the “reading life record” approach and its outcomes through an analysis of the lessons conducted by Omura Hama.

This study focuses on eight second-year junior-high students (Ishikawadai Junior-High School students admitted in the 1966 academic year) who were provided with instruction concerning the reading life record approach.

In order to make students more at ease with books without coercion, Omura devised an approach for students to consistently record any insights they might gain from books and their increasing interest in reading books.

There are two main outcomes of Omura's approach. First, ten elements were established that can facilitate teachers in cultivating the reading lives of their students. Second, a clear definition was developed of the reading life (i.e., a life that is deeply involved with book beyond merely reading books).

There has been considerable discussion about read-aloud activities in Japanese schools. However, few studies have attempted to investigate extracurricular read-aloud activities. The present study discusses how readers attach meaning to such activities, and, in particular, focuses on a theory of read-aloud activities concerned with how various readers attach meaning.

The research was conducted at N elementary school located in the city of Tsuchiura. The school sponsors such activities and has a group of volunteers. There were seven participants consisting of three volunteers, two teachers, and two junior high school students.

The research was conducted as follows. First, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with the participants. They were asked the following two questions: (1) What is the purpose of read-aloud activities in school? and (2) What is the meaning of read-aloud activities? Next, the researcher made transcripts of all the interviews. Finally, the researcher and a master's student analyzed the transcripts using the SCAT (Steps for Coding and Theorization) method.

From this analysis, we identified 45 different meanings that make up “N elementary school's theory”. Up until now, people have undertaken read-aloud activities because they believe that such activities are good for the children being read to. In contrast, the results of this analysis indicate that these activities are good not only for the children as listeners, but also for the junior high school students, volunteers, and teachers as readers. In addition, these activities are good for both the school and the community to which the readers and listeners belong.