Summary writing in the first language (L1) of a text written in the second language (L2) has been used to measure L2 reading comprehension. A variety of scoring criteria for the summary writing task have been suggested and employed in previous studies, examinations, and classroom assessments. An inconsistency in the scoring may lead to misperceptions among test-takers about the intended performance of the summary task. Therefore, the present study examined the perceptions of summary writing among Japanese English as foreign language (EFL) university students, and the relationship between performance and the perceived appropriateness of the summary writing task. A total of 68 students participated in the study. They read an English (i.e., L2) passage and summarized it in Japanese (i.e., L1). Then, they answered a questionnaire about the perceived appropriateness of the scoring criteria for the summary writing task. The results showed that Japanese EFL university students judged that the amount of important information should be adopted as the scoring criteria of the task. However, their perceptions did not influence their performance. These findings suggest that the students should be made aware of the ideal performance criteria, so that they can work on a summary writing task with correct perceptions of the intended performance.

Reading-to-write (RTW) tasks have been used as integrated writing tasks because of their academic authenticity, even in Japanese classrooms. In the context of classroom assessments, accessibility to feedback and a rating scale (e.g., ease of interpretation and use) are the most important aspects. However, RTW assessments have the inevitable problem regarding the difficulty of scoring, which can influence their efficacy and feasibility in the classroom. Therefore, this study develops a classroom-oriented rating scale for RTW tasks, that is, an analytic empirically derived, binary-choice, boundary-definition (EBB) rating scale, and revises the EBB scale in a preliminary investigation using many-facet Rasch measurement (MFRM) analysis. In total, 28 writing performances elicited from an RTW task were scored by 10 raters, including four raters who participated in EBB development. The results of the first MFRM analysis showed that the first EBB rating scale functions appropriately under only two criteria. Based on these results, the first EBB was partially revised and analyzed. The revision solved the problem of the first EBB detected in the first analysis; however, several unsolved problems remained, thus suggesting room for the improvement of the present EBB rating scale.

The revised Course of Study for upper secondary schools, which was implemented in fiscal 2022, newly emphasizes the importance of spoken interaction and improvisation. In this paper I take up the issue of text authenticity and analyze dialogues in the textbooks now and those used in the late 2000s, when a more relaxed education policy was introduced, from the viewpoint of to what extent they reflect characteristic features of authentic dialogues. The results of the comparison revealed that (1) generally speaking, the dialogues of both recent and older textbooks reflect the nature of authentic conversation in terms of lexical density, (2) the dialogues of recent textbooks still have not adopted some features of authentic conversation (e.g., false starts and terminal overlaps) and they became rather worse in the adoption of repetitions and latching, and (3) though not to a sufficient degree, some improvement has been made in the frequency of hesitation devices and back-channels, and the variety of the former also increased. These results indicate a necessity for the textbooks to adopt more and a wider variety of features of authentic conversation in the dialogues.

The syllable is a basic unit of the English language. For young Japanese learners of English, whose L1 comprises morae rather than syllables, a clear explanation of what a syllable is can help the perception and production of English speech. Despite this, there is a paucity of research regarding syllable instruction, and what research there is can give conflicting ideas on when and even whether syllables should be taught. In this paper, we attempt to clarify the issues by reviewing the literature concerning syllable instruction, and by examining the way syllables and the phonemes that make up the syllables are covered in authorized Japanese junior high school English textbooks. We conclude that there is insufficient explanation of syllables and phonemic symbols in the textbooks, especially concerning the relationship of syllables with grammatical features such as comparatives, and we recommend measures to improve pronunciation teaching which include phonemic and syllable instruction.

The present study aimed to determine whether two types of summary writing instruction (text-focused vs. content-focused) could improve the summary writing of Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Following the pre-test, three weeks of summary writing instruction were administered in two groups. The post-test was conducted one week later. Subsequently, the delayed post-test was conducted one month after the post-test. The statistical analysis of the pre-, post-, and delayed post-test revealed that both groups significantly improved from pre- to post-test and from pre- to delayed post-test. Although there was no significant difference between the two groups, the scores for summary writing tended to be higher for content-focused instruction than for text-focused instruction. Thus, it can be concluded that these results have great potential to help Japanese EFL learners summarize information in expository text.

It is widely accepted that implicit knowledge is unconscious knowledge while explicit knowledge is conscious in second language acquisition. A controversial problem of implicit/explicit knowledge is how these two kinds of knowledge are related to each other (i.e., interface issue). In order to solve this problem, the measures of implicit/explicit knowledge are needed to be developed. The present study focused on the three design features (time condition, modality, and stimulus type) of the grammaticality judgement test (GJT). By incorporating comprehension questions into GJTs, the present study attempted to make learners focus on ‘meaning’ while engaging in grammaticality judgement tasks. It conducted analysis of variance (ANOVA) and principal component analysis in order to examine how the three design features affect learners’ performance in GJTs and explore how each feature is related to implicit/explicit knowledge. The results showed that the modality feature taps the purest implicit/explicit knowledge of the three design features. The results also indicated that scores on grammatical stimulus sentences of GJTs may not reflect learners’ pure grammatical knowledge.

This study examines the practice of an elementary school foreign language class which was developed from a viewpoint of multicultural coexistence. The class was designed and practiced by the university students studying in the elementary school teacher training course, taking advantage of what they had learned from a study trip in Singapore that focused on how to have a successful multi-cultural society. In the context of accelerated globalization, the number of children with foreign roots and cultural diversity is expected to increase further in Japan, therefore the importance of multicultural education in schools is brought forward. Based on the awareness of the described situation, this paper aims at clarifying the significance of English classes with perspectives of cross-cultural understanding and explores the learning of university students who designed and conducted the aforementioned elementary English class. In addition, another purpose of this paper is to obtain concrete suggestions on education for multicultural coexistence in elementary school foreign language education. This is a practical study as part of a seminar activity with the university students who will be responsible for elementary foreign language classes in the future.

This pilot study was designed to help prepare students for their independent lives at university and thereafter with regards to financial knowledge. In order to meet the needs of learners who may not have a high level of English competency, a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach was adopted. CLIL attempts to bridge the gap between language skills and subject-based learning. The current project engaged students in practical tasks related to the theme of money. Specifically, the instructors aimed to help learners make sense of the economic system and their role in it. Over the course of 10 weeks, the instructors introduced a number of basic financial topics such as investing and budgeting while providing ample support for language needs. The learners participated in individual, pair, and group tasks to become familiar with the subject matter and demonstrate their knowledge. At the end of the course, students gave a presentation on a money topic of their choice to deepen their understanding. Preliminary findings suggest that students enjoyed learning about money, and found topics covered in class to be relevant to their daily lives.

The purposes of this paper are to use the Total Physical Response approach to teach English songs to first graders in an elementary school, and to examine how they understand the meaning of the words of the songs. The words of the English songs which we taught are familiar to all the children. We tried to have a fifteen-minute lesson in each class every day for about one month.

This research was carried out from October 27th to November 20th in 2020, and thirty-two first graders participated in the lessons. Its content was based on a meaning comprehension test in accordance with the English words of the songs used in the lessons. An analysis of the data by the paired two-way ANOVA method showed that there was a significant difference between the before and after results in the meaning comprehension of the students. In general, their meaning comprehension ability had improved after one-month of instruction. In particular, they understood the meaning of the words of the English songs with their actions through the Total Physical Response approach.

The Total Physical Response approach may be one way to teach English to children in the lower grades.

This study aimed to identify the educational effects of pair-work applications for Japanese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners enrolled in English classes at a Japanese university. The classes were conducted for 15 weeks during the first semester of 2022. In every class, students participated in an English-speaking activity involving 60-minute conversation sessions. The researcher taught the classes and analyzed data collected from pre- and post-tasks respectively conducted in April and August. The study’s participants comprised 10 Japanese EFL learners who were third-year engineering students at a Japanese university. The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results demonstrated improved English fluency in the participating students. More importantly, the English classes motivated students and inculcated a more cooperative attitude in them. Short practice sessions performed during ordinary English classes at a Japanese university were quite effective in enhancing the English fluency and communication skills of Japanese EFL learners.

In medical and scientific fields, especially, undergraduates have little time for overseas study. Emphasizing glocal benefits, our university and local businesses developed highly subsidized short-term international PBL programs. While, culturally, “small town” means something different in Japan than Hawai`i, we contrasted these cultures through various programs designed for mutually beneficial learning experiences. This paper analyzes the effect that participating in such programs has had on their lives and experiences based on questionnaire responses and interviews of participants, now working or in graduate programs. Using the respondents’ own words, the authors describe how the PBL impacted their lives. The authors further discuss lessons learned and offer suggestions, and a template, for other university educators in a position to create similar projects for their students.