The acquisition of spoken English vocabulary is the primary objective of English language education in Japan. A significant assessment tool for evaluating English vocabulary acquisition is the Children’s Test of Nonword Repetition (CNRep). This study utilized CNRep to investigate changes in the acquisition of spoken English vocabulary over 1 year period among Japanese elementary and junior high school students who had engaged in English-as-a-foreign-language activities since the third grade of elementary school. The study involved 90 fifth-grade students from an elementary school and 65 first-grade students from a junior high school who underwent the same test at 1-year intervals. Given the binary nature of CNRep scoring, a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) was used for a refined analysis. The GLMM results revealed that junior high school students outperformed elementary school students in CNRep, with both groups demonstrating improvement in the second year compared to the first year. Furthermore, words with fewer syllables were pronounced more accurately than those with more syllables in both groups. These findings suggest that English learning in both elementary and junior high schools may contribute to enhanced speech production skills among students.

The present study aimed to investigate Japanese university students’ repertoires of request strategies and explore the relationship between their positive affective evaluation regarding the learning of the subjunctive mood and their well-being as language learners. The participants were 59 Japanese first-year students from a national university in Japan. The data were collected by using a written discourse completion test and two types of questionnaires about their affective aspects and well-being in language learning. The results revealed the participants’ limited knowledge in making polite requests and showed that the participants’ affective evaluation regarding the learning of the subjunctive mood was positively associated with their well-being in language learning. These findings provide us with two pedagogical implications: (1) instruction could be effective and necessary in helping learners create appropriate form-meaning-function associations about target grammatical forms; and (2) second language pragmatic instruction that is designed to inform learners of the value and usefulness of the English subjunctive mood could enhance positive affect or emotions (e.g., a sense of joy, meaningfulness, relevance, and self-efficacy) in second language grammar learning, further promoting the well-being of language learners.

As a part of a research project to support subject teaching of young English teachers who work in small rural schools where there are limited opportunities to learn from experienced teachers of the same subject, this study focused on the interactions between teachers and students in English classes. The study examined how the interactions changed in three lessons over a year by adopting the revised version of CARES-EFL as a framework for interaction analysis. The results of the study revealed that the ratio of use of English by the participant teacher, which was pointed out as one of the issues to be addressed in an after-class discussion with other educators, increased by more than 20% and in some cases the teacher used the mixed languages (i.e., Japanese and English) to make herself understood, while familiarizing students with English expressions. In addition, the assistant language teacher’s utterances changed from those merely presenting models for oral repetition or oral cues for a game-like activity, both of which are considered specific to language classrooms and not authentic in daily life, to more authentic ones by asking topic-related questions and changing them according to the students’ level of understanding. On the other hand, the amount of the interactions initiated by the assistant language teacher and that of the interactions initiated by the students were pointed out as an issue to be improved in the future. The study also showed some limitations of CARES-EFL and its revised version in analyzing classroom interactions.

English became an official course at elementary schools in Japan in 2020. Since then, concerns about changes and problems with the English education cooperation initiative between elementary and junior high schools [ES-JHS Cooperation Initiative] have been raised by teachers at both school levels. The present study used a survey of all elementary school and junior high school teachers in Mie Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture in order to provide a quantitative analysis of these issues. 301 valid responses were analyzed quantitatively through machine learning and data science techniques. Approximately 87% of the respondents indicated that new changes had occurred or problems had arisen. Positive changes included a reduction in students’ resistance to speaking and listening as well as an increase in proficiency in writing the English alphabet. Respondents also indicated a negative trend: an increase in the number of students who dislike English or feel inadequate when using it. Furthermore, elementary school teachers noted an increase in the number of teachers who feel evaluating students to be difficult. Of note is the large change perceived by younger junior high school teachers that the ES-JHS Cooperation Initiative is “not going well” and that a gap exists in academic attainment and attitudes. These are points which were previously unobserved. Therefore, it can be said that the ES-JHS Cooperation Initiative has entered a new stage (Second Phase). These points signal that ES-JHS Cooperation Initiative participants must adopt a new mindset and new approaches.

It has been the author’s personal experience, for as long as she has been teaching ESL in Japan, that Japan, with its large English education industry, has seldom been seen as being multilingual or bilingual. In this paper, a literature review is first done to summarize research showing that Japanese society can be considered multilingual. It also shows that many Japanese students do not consider themselves as bilinguals despite the existence of bilingualism/multilingualism around them. Next, a six-year study is presented. It found that most of the Japanese ESL students surveyed did not consider themselves to be bilinguals but believed that being bilinguals was important to them. Reasons why students think being bilingual were important or not important to them are also discussed. Finally, the paper concludes that there is a gap between not believing oneself to be bilingual and wanting to become bilingual. This paper argues that students need to understand concepts of bilingualism/multilingualism more and believe in their bilingualism with more confidence. It recommends that ESL instructors should see their students as emergent bilinguals and allow students to become more confident in their English learning pursuits while using both their L1 and L2 as invaluable tools in their linguistic acquisition.

This study investigated the complexity of a non-native English (NNE) teacher’s identity in terms of their English pronunciation in a Japanese context. To understand more about the teaching practices associated with English as a lingua franca, this study focused on how an NNE female instructor shaped and reflected her identities in the realm of second language (L2) pronunciation instruction. A literature review was conducted to examine the existing evidence on the construction of L2 identities, emphasising the impact of power relations and fluid identities in social activities. The lived experiences of a Japanese instructor, particularly those related to learning and teaching pronunciation, were examined through narrative inquiry. A thematic analysis revealed that the participant’s L2 identity changed over time, influenced by her career development and emotional attachments. Despite facing challenges such as negative feedback and biased views, the participant maintained her identity by adjusting her English pronunciation to improve her intelligibility and resisting biased views. The findings support those of previous studies on the difficulties NNE instructors face when using native-like pronunciation. In addition, the findings indicate that there is a paradigm shift towards accepting non-native-like pronunciation of English and emphasise the importance of cultivating plural L2 identities.

This case study focused on the conversational characteristics of English dialogs produced by Japanese students who had practiced speaking English for a substantial period. The study participants comprised Japanese college students divided into three groups: A, B, and C. Three aspects of the conversations between student pairs were selected and analyzed based on the basis of existing research trends: content-related episodes, scaffolded assistance, and knowledge-building and problem-solving efforts. The researcher qualitatively analyzed the dialogs produced by the students assigned to Group C, which most exhibited collaborative interactions by participants. Some typical examples of scaffolded assistance strategies were subsequently examined and discussed. The results revealed that Group C students effectively used three types of assistance strategies in their dialogs to sustain their conversations: offering word suggestions to speakers, self-amendment to benefit listeners, and providing examples that could help speakers and listeners. This case study specifically addressed typical conversation strategies to elucidate the communication attributes of free conversations featuring Japanese L2 learners. The study aimed primarily to determine the actual nature of the conversation-related behaviors and abilities of Japanese college students rather than to compare the English communication abilities of the three student groups.