The goal of this study is to contribute to the field of Japanese pedagogy by examining how Japanese native speakers and learners of Japanese as a foreign language with American cultural backgrounds take stances in discussions in Japanese. As stancetaking is a fundamental human behavior (Du Bois & Karkkainen, 2012; Iwasaki, 2015; Kiesling,…

This study examines how listening comprehension difficulties (LCDs) vary among college-level learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), with a focus on the roles of gender and language proficiency. Listening comprehension is an essential component of language learning, presenting notable challenges for EFL students. These challenges are…

The undeniable importance of reading in higher education prompted this investigation into the reading skills of a group often overlooked in previous research: master's level students studying in English-medium instruction (EMI) environments. Participants (148 master's-level students of engineering) completed the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Form G),…

As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) increasingly penetrates language education, understanding learners' continued intention to use this technology becomes crucial. This study examines EFL learners' continuance intention to use GenAI for language learning through PLS-SEM and fsQCA methodologies. Participants were undergraduate EFL…

Whereas a growing amount of attention has been directed to the role of perceptual-cognitive aptitude in successful second language (L2) lexicogrammar learning, scholars have begun to investigate the same topic in the context of L2 pronunciation learning. To date, there is ongoing discussion on the mechanism underlying L2 speech learning in…

Purpose: The study aims to explore the demographics, perceptions, and predictors of job satisfaction of Chinese/Korean faculty and American/British faculty at Japanese universities. Design/Approach/Methods: The data from a national survey of these faculty conducted in Japan was analyzed. Findings: The study suggests that Chinese/Korean faculty…

This paper aims to report on Chinese college students' emotions in English as a foreign language (EFL) speaking classrooms, including the trajectory of their emotions, and their perceived impacts of these emotions on their performances in class. Through conducting a case study among 12 Chinese college students and qualitatively analyzing the…

The recent decades have seen enthusiastic calls for reconceptualizing English as a foreign language (EFL) education, taking into account the current socio-lingual status of English and how it is used "genuinely" for communication interculturally and internationally. However, a wide gap still exists between promulgation such as…

This longitudinal study tracked ten L1 English-speaking learners' acquisition of Spanish voiceless stops /ptk/ by measuring their voice onset time (VOT) over an academic year in two distinct contexts of learning. Living in a Spanish-speaking dorm, participants in the experimental group experienced a "domestic partial-immersion," in which…

This study investigates the effects of three word-focused exercise conditions on vocabulary learning. The exercises were developed based on the involvement load hypothesis. This study also explores how individual differences (e.g. second-language English proficiency level and working memory) affect vocabulary learning outcomes. A total of 180…

Purpose: Drawing on the perspectives of cultural capital theory, this study investigated the impact of international internships on the performance of Japanese undergraduates on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) using a between-group pretest-posttest experimental design. Design/methodology/approach: Students participating…

Online language learning with virtual classrooms (OLLVC) is becoming a reality to a large number of students across contexts. Yet students' motivation and engagement in OLLVC remains underexplored. The current study evaluated 6364 university students' motivation and engagement in OLLVC and its interrelationships with environmental support, learner…

This brief report presents the results of a re-analysis of data by Yi, Man, and Maie (2023), who investigated L1 and L2 intuitive knowledge of phrasal frequency and collocation strength in multiword sequences. We utilized an individual-differences approach and examined which participant variables (age of onset, length of residence, language use,…

The present study employs regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) to investigate the effects of L2 speakers' chronic regulatory focus on their L2 pragmatic versus grammatical awareness. It involved the participation of 121 Chinese students, who are English language learners, at a university in the United States. Haws et al.'s (2010) questionnaire…

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) designed according to the First Principles of Instruction (FPI). A 15-h Japanese CLIL course was implemented. A total of 16 university students attended the course and data were collected from multiple sources, including learning tests,…